«Футболисты тоже люди»

Footballers are People, too! Or so says Oleg Luzhny (I don't know who he is, or if that's how you spell his name in English). Anywho, I've been trying to brush up on Russian lately, and I came across this today. Yeah, it's in Russian, but it's basically Oleg bellyaching about people having expectations of him, and how his team's having a really bad losing streak is just 'bad coincidence,' неприятная случайность. 'Footballers are people too! We all make mistakes, blah blah.' I don't know what those guys are making, but it seems most people with cleats that play for a league that's televised in Europe are considered veritable gods. I don't think he needs to grovel too much. So, just win your games, Oleg. это не слишком трудно...

5 Months, 2 Days, 16 Hours, 3 Mins

... at least when I started writing this. We'll see how many subscribers (a.k.a. none) I had, since they'll be the only ones prompted to check and see if this thing is still being updated. Because it hasn't.
Chinese is the best. I love it. Great people, love the language, busy as I've ever been, but that really won't ever change, will it?
I've been um, nostalgaic (?) lately, with stuff. Stuff I haven't done in a long time: I'm listening to super old music (like, recently super old, e.g. from Junior High) and reading old books and stuff. It's funny to look back and read your blog (maybe not so much funny as embarassing, not unlike old photo albums).
I spent tons of time with languages I haven't touched since. At one point, I could introduce myself and chat casually in Swahili. Gone. Almost in Romanian. Gone. Hungarian. Never could. German. Was going well. I am now embarrased. Russian? Here's the best news: A good friend of mine is learning Russian, and wants to practice and use it and stuff. That's AWESOME! I never really used Russian with anyone when I was seriously studying it. Shame. But anyway, I've been working on my Pimsleur again, and am 6-8 lessons into the second 'course' or whatever. It's fun.
So, for old times' sake, let's share some exciting linguistic facts:
Lithuanian is, ostensibly, the closet [living] language to Indo-European. Lithuanian. Not Persian, not Albanian or Armenian or Greek or any of that. Weird.
While we're in the Baltics, Latvian is Tonal.
The Zulu word (I feel like I've shared this already) for 'tomorrow' is mañana (not necessarily spelled that way). Strange, no? Well, not as much as you may think. The Spanish settled in [what is now South Africa] in (some year I don't know, but it seemed before the Dutch did. At any rate, they were there a long time ago), and at the time, Zulu speaking people were farmers or whatever, and didn't run businesses and weren't trying to take over the world, i.e. they had no word for 'tomorrow,' because the concept was unnecessary. The Spanish came and introduced the concept because they were so stuff-driven, and needed that structure. Whatever.
Nothing else exciting for the moment, and there's no guarantee I'll ever be back here.

我恨夏天。

我说过了。
Or something like that.

What Have I Been Working on?

So yes, this is what I did last night. Did it take an hour? No! 当然不!!! It took two and a half. But I've got it down on paper in Chinese and pinyin, but I think I can pretty much recall the whole thing without having to cheat, except for when I choke. Very exciting. It's coming along well, and I'm really enjoying it, although I was in a conversation the other day with a friend, and all the words he couldn't remember in Chinese came to me in Russian. I need to transfer mentally. When you start playing around like this with different languages (some semi-seriously), you begin to see the glaring advantages of studying multiple languages, and how that different outlook helps you tremendously to understand concepts that may seem foreign at first. Love this book. Anyone that has even a mild interest in linguistics or international communication should cough up the $14 and go get this. Especially if you want to acqure an unbridled lust for languages and a very efficient way to pick them up during commercial breaks. Tres intelligent.

ReacTable

List: Things I Could Do If I Slept Polyphasically

So I’ve been all psyched up about polyphasic sleeping (Oh, and don’t be mistaken: this is not an invitation to tell me how awful or dangerous or stupid an idea it is. Thanks in advance). I may try the biphasic thing first, but in either case I would be awake for a significant period at night. Biphasic I would sleep probably 5:30-7:00 am and pm. This seems to be easiest. Polyphasic would be a half hour nap at 6:30 and 12:30 am and pm, and that’s a little more difficult to deal with, but would probably be better. Again, either way, I’d be up a great deal of the night, and the idea of basically creating free time between 1 and 6 am is so appealing I can hardly stand it. Therefore:

List: Things I Could Do If I Slept Polyphasically (that is, things I could accomplish at night and take out of my daily routine, thus freeing up time during the daylight hours):

1. Study Chinese like a maniac
2. Laundry
3. Run/Work out
4. Study for meetings, etc. (English and Chinese)
5. Clean
6. Write
7. (I’d even mow the lawn if I didn’t think the neighbors would set my house afire)
8. Catch up on emails (and other necessary correspondences)
9. Wii
10. Finishing my Italian and Turkish language programs (now moving into non-necessary items, those “hey I’d do this if I had more time” type things)
11. Start sketching again (blah)
12. Read more recreational books
13. Brush up on Russian
14. Find more stuff to do with my time

So, what it boils down to is this: since I’ll probably become biphasic if anything, since it’s a little hard to ask my peers to let me sleep for a half hour in the middle of the day or right when evening service starts. So say I sleep like I said above: two 90 min naps every 12 hours. That means I’m sleeping 21 hours a week. People, that means (Depending on your current sleep habits) you’re gaining at least 21 hours a week (assuming you only sleep six hours a night; I’m closer to seven, so in my case it’d be 28 hours). Think of what you could do with an extra 28 hours a week, or an extra four hours each day.

Also, the simple idea is this (for those of you that won’t read the above link. Check out the other links at the bottom of that article. Steve Pavlina’s blog is excellent): if you use a cell phone for a three hour phone call, you’re bordering on the entire life of the battery, meaning you’ll have to charge it longer before it’s fully ready to go. OR, you can charge it every 45 mins or something, meaning it’s ready to go much quicker. Same is true with us: the longer we’re awake, the longer the brain takes to repair, reboot, defrag, organize and rest. If we sleep at more frequent intervals, we don’t need to hibernate before reaching REM sleep and getting the same healthy benefits of slumber. (Again, this is not a request for calling up the relative insanity of this idea. I know… I’m gonna do it.) Also check out Randy Gardner… wiki him or something.

Useless?

I’m feeling more and more like this blog does not have a raison d’etre. That could be partially my fault. It has no focus, no theme, no defined audience (save the two people that read it because I read theirs), and I’m getting awfully low traffic here. Solutions? (Well, for one, how ‘bout a few more comments, people? Not that I haven’t overanalyzed everything and left nothing to be said, or posted about something completely inane, but recognition is nice)

1. A theme. Yes, it was supposed to be this language stuff I guess, but I seem to have lost that now that I’m focused on Chinese. I’m also going to be taking a Japanese class occasionally (read: as often as I want or have time), but none too intensely. So that means there’s very little Hungarian, Romanian, Swahili, Farsi, Aramaic, Punjabi, or Xhosa experiences anymore, which is fine, because they were a diversion from my focus languages at the time: Russian and German (the former being my favorite, the latter being far easier), but since I’ve moved to Chinese, that’s it (and Japanese because it sounds prettier).
2. (almost like #1) updates on a hobby: do I have a hobby? The clear answer here is: no. Unless it’s wikipedia-ing (we need a noun like ‘to google’ for wikipedia; is it to wiki? And what’s the past tense?) arbitrary grammatical constructions of anamorphic languages… yeah, that’s a real creative outlet. So I’ve decided I need a creative outlet of some kind. I have few of those talents. I’d like to spend more time with photography, and I think I got some good captures from this weekend. They’re on Flickr. I would also like to spend more time on the piano. I’m familiar with very little, but that takes time time time (and it’s time...) So I dunno about that. If I had enough time, I’d really like to get back into writing stuff and posting it in installments here, but I haven’t written in a while. I’ve got some good stuff on hold and all, but haven’t felt right about progressing with it, since I don’t feel in the correct frame of mind to keep it true to what it should be.
3. Something having to do with the ‘there needs to be a word for that,’ project. A collaborative effort seems nice, but it also seems at the expense of quality and usefulness, no? We’ll see how Eric feels, but I’m leaning toward an online equivalent to my Moleskine where a few of us can work on or edit current entries and stuff, as opposed to everyone and their brother submitting words that already exist or are based on their own names and mean “supercoolawesomeness,” as there’s a lot of that on Addictionary.

In short (not), I need to come up with something to do with this thing, salvage it somehow, so without anything definitive to write about regularly (it’s okay to write about unremarkable things knowing that someone’s reading them. This is the html version of talking to a brick wall, and if I’m gonna do that, I’ll talk to a REAL brick wall so I can at least hear myself), it's been difficult, and has become somewhat of a vestige. It seems, however, that the blog has become a necessary part of an individual’s identity, non? Well, let’s see what happens here, as the future of ForeignWords ever hangs in the balance.

Adieu.

Imperial

I know it's already on My Flickr, but it was a nice introduction to this post, I thought.
Yesterday was a very long day. Very long. Tiring. Stressful. I sat in traffic for nearly two hours to go about 16 miles. Chinese group meeting at 6, and I got there about twenty minutes early, so did I work on a presentation? Did I clean out my car or go get something to eat (since I hadn't had anything but a smoothie in the past 6 hours)? NO! I went to the piano dealer I called earlier in traffic to go play the Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand piano. Check out the notes on my Flickr pix about it. It's nothing shy of the best in the world, and it was 15 seconds off the tuning fork when I came in to play, and had been pitched and all. Yay.
I had very little time to do what I needed to do there, and sat down to play a few things, and tinker w/ chords and whatever, and it just feels so good. I wish I could actually play a few things and be expressive with them, but it's amazing.
I also listened to great music. I had tons of new tracks queued up on my fauxPod (the photo of which makes it look far cheaper and less sturdy than it really is), and I set it to shuffle. Boy, did she pick out some great tunes, and it came out being a great playlist, so I've got a smattering of about twenty tracks I'm going to put together that work for yesterday's happenings. It soundtracked my day.

Chick rock

So apparently I listen to way too many female artists (Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette, PJ Harvey, Bjork, Rachael Yamagata, Sarah McLachlan, Emily Haines, Joanna Newsom, Regina Spektor, Charlotte Martin [jibblies], and somebody told me to listen to Kate Bush yesterday, [some of these are new forays for me, too]). That's what I'm told anyway. The music library (aside from Amos) probably isn't overwhelmingly female, but whatever. I've really been getting into more PJ Harvey lately, and got two or three more of her albums and they're excellent. I've also been influenced into listening to Bjork, and she's growing on me, although she's less straightforward musically than what I'm used to. Anyway, I found this interesting [read: incredible] and thought I'd share.


PJ plays guitar in her typical grunge/bluesy style, but I've never heard Bjork sing like this before, and it's awesome.

In her defense...

Interesting. Where’s The Beekeeper when you need her? I still like it, but this new one is awesome!!!

Seems everyone is harping (not like Joanna Newsom though) on how awful the last album was, and I saw the above story on my iGoogle today, and snickered…

Unstuck in Time

What's new, you ask? Well, just who do you think you are?

The New Album comes out tomorrow, and my copy is being two-day'ed to my house, so it should get here either Wednesday or Thursday, because it's apparently already shipped. So that's exciting. Been very busy, very busy.
I was also doing some research on vowel harmony and consonant mutation. That's exciting.
I had a smoothie for breakfast yesterday.
I need to make some more rice.
Played Nintendo Wii (waay awesome) for hours yesterday.
I hope to get a cool new pen this weekend.
(just hitting the high points.... more later, maybehaps.)

Flash(y)cards

I have an awful headache. Neither the large cup of coffee, nor a good lunch, nor the seventeen and a half glasses of water I've had as of yet have done diddly squat, so I took something.

I love Chinese. I went with gameyy to the Chinese meeting on Sunday and it was so awesome. Loved it. I had convinced myself it was going to be impossible to read Chinese because enough squigglies in a very small shape all look similar after a while, right? WRONG. That made me happy, and I started to notice more characters throughout the rest of the meeting. I spent a few hours last night and a few nights previous making flashchards. Instead of having a 3x5 with one word written horizontally and it's translated equivalent on the opposite side, flipped horizontally to view, I have a diferent method. I USUALLY divide the 3x5 into five sections vertically, so I can write five words. Then, flipping ~end over end~ (vertically) the translated equivalents go on the opposite side, so the word at the top in English is still at the top in Chinese. However, these flashcards are not a one-to-one translation. I have the English, Chinese, and pinyin, all of which I need to learn, but don't want to be dependent on the pinyin, so I had to make them work in all directions. So here's what I did. Instead of having five sections on the front and back, I divided the front five vertically so that there were ten boxes: the five on the left are for English, the five on the right are for the pinyin. The backside still has only five boxes, with the Chinese characters listed. So what I can do is fold the card vertically so that it's English-to-pinyin (or vice versa) or can leave it opened so that it's English/pinyin-Chinese (or vice versa). I think it's smart.

...when pianos try to be guitars

It's been two years now, and she's at it again. May 1 is just around the corner, and I preordered my copy today. I love a good concept album.

I left my heart in Hong Kong

...too bad Hong Kong doesn't have as many syllables as San Fran/cis/co. Oh well
I'm looking over the pictures I still have yet to upload, and I'm deciding which to put up, etc., and it's (depressing is too strong a word)(so is disheartening)(and sad) strange, to see a place like Guilin in pictures, where you see so far beyond what is actually there, since you remeber not only the sights, but the smells, sounds, etc., and miss it so much. I know some people on our tour weren't terribly pleased with Guilin, but I loved it. I'm working on backfilling stories from Guilin into the pictures I've uploaded, and it'll take a little while, so even if there isn't any new content, please peruse them occasionally, as I think linking to them here is too redundant unless they're outstandingly interesting.
That having been said, I posted the pictures from Guangzhou, some of which I was very happy with, and I don't even remember taking a lot of them. Cool city; it didn't make a huge impression on me, though, as we saw two places and had lunch. I hear a lot about it, and it was too bad we couldn't have explored. Oh well. Next is Hong Kong, and even being there was bittersweet, because I had expected it to be the crown jewel of the trip even before I left, but getting closer to arriving there, it was also my cue that the trip was coming to a quick end. It's been a week since our last full day in Hong Kong, and depressing is not too strong a word to use here to describe my feelings for having left Hong Kong (not that I had any choice to stay), and realizing that a week ago (local time) we were doing this thing, or that thing, and what an excellent time I had. So, this leads us to two things:
1. I'm not going to post the pictures of Hong Kong all willy-nilly like I did of the other cities. This is not only because I want them to be good, but also because it's going to take some preparation to look at them and reminisce on what's at least a week old and look back on it all (as corny as it sounds), and
2. I am suddenly moved to write nostalgic emails to some of the people on the trip that I grew close to, just to commemorate the trip, and finish up some stuff that was too corny or cliche to do face to face. Also, this is an effort to ensure that everyone understands we ARE NOT simply going our separate ways and never speaking to one another again.
I did not mean for this post to be some sob story about coming home; it was more 'hey I put up more pictures,' ostensibly. It's been a long day.

So, How 'bout this weather we're having...

Wow... The sky just got dark and started rumbling, and for some reason I am so looking forward to this thunderstorm. It hasn't started yet, but I hope it pulls through.
The weather in Guilin was very similar to Hawaii (from what I remember and from what my TC says), and also to what I imagine any more southeast Asian country would be like: lush, warm, a little humid, wet, but lush is the keyword. I'm so sick of 'vegetation,' like pine trees and pollen and grass, although the dogwoods are awesome, and look like some of the blossoms we saw in Asia. Very cool, but as much as I despise, abhor, resent and loathe hot summer weather, the Guilin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong (the 'lush' was lost after Guilin) climates were not that bad. Guilin was somewhat muggy, yes, but I loved it. The Li river ran through it, and I don't know if that made it better or worse, but I could've gotten used to it. Guangzhou was more citified and a little too muggy (with nothing to show for it) for my taste (albeit a cool city), and Hong Kong is on the coast, which makes it totally awesome. Guilin reminded me a little (and it's NOT just because I enjoy it way too much) Goa, India, in the Bourne Supremacy, where people were laid back, and it had a cool lively yet rural feel, with the markets and huts and booths, etc. Excellent. I don't know how all of this came about because of some thunder. Sorry.
Looking through the Xi'an pictures, and I hope H'n'B has some incredible ones with her zoom lense, because mine are blurry or grainy or far away or generic, and I'm trying to find some 'artistic' ones to post. They'll be up by Thursday, hopefully. That's all.

Progress

Posted pictures all the way thru to Beijing, which I just finished. Very few are titled or commented about as to where taken, and when, etc., but I'm going to backfill all of that before starting the upload of the Xi'an pictures. Enjoy what's up there now, and comment, because a few of you were there and don't need to be informed. Anyway, I'm working on it, and it'll come along in the next few days, along with the Xi'an and Guilin pictures... see you soon.

En Route to Asia

So, I realized in uploading some of my photos to My Flickr that it may be a bit redundant when I upload them here, so what I’m going to do is link to the photos, and then elaborate on some of the stuff that I said more briefly (or not at all) on Flickr. Sound good? Okay. (Also, please let this be your warning that there are tangents aplenty related to these photos, so you’ll get all the scoop on those HERE, not on Flickr.)
We’ll start with THIS ONE and THAT ONE. The one of the cards is a game of rummy about to begin. On the plane on the way out there, since it was supposed to be night time (in the time zone we were coming FROM, as I recall, but not in the air at the moment) they closed all the shades and cut the lights, making it all dark and sleepy. It was also ‘movie time’ as one of the flight attendants said, and was it ever… boring. So we played cards for a long time. Rummy, it was, and it was pretty even I think. We had a running game going, and had all intentions of keeping up with it at later times on other planes and in other terminals, but somewhere along the way the tally was lost, so we kept a mental note. As I said on Flickr, that was before LF caught the death and was completely and entirely miserable. He looked to me to be sleeping, but later said he didn’t for even a second, which made me feel even horrible-r for him… Anyway, the flight out there was miserably long (I speak of it only mildly since I wasn’t dying), but I DID spill water all over myself and was thankful for a change of clothes. It seemed so much longer going out than coming back, but I didn’t know that on the way there, so it was surprisingly less dreadful on the return, which was nice, because I was in no mood for anything else to be unhappy.
The second photo is one of a foreign exchange student sitting at the window a seat over from me. The girl between us was the one I got to talking to that explained that she and 21 others were foreign exchange students coming back from some college in Illinois. It was super cool because she wrote down her name in Japanese, and we talked about where she lived and what it was like to be in Japan, what they did for fun, where they went on vacation, etc. They (all of them) were so timid and peaceful, and it was really enjoyable to talk with them about things. I felt like the world’s biggest goofball for not speaking any Japanese, because they struggled with English, but did the best they could and we communicated fine. At one point, when I said we were visiting China as well, she asked me if we were going to see “in China, they… they have a big… a big… um, a long castle….” And I guessed the Great Wall. She was so thrilled to get that across, and it made me laugh, not at her, but because it was awesome. More to come later.

Back Home

Hello from the same place I always post. There was very little online contact in Asia, so I didn't post. I am however, currently conquering the mass of media I brought home with me, and am trying to find a reasonable way to share a moderate amount of it without getting out of control. For those of you that want out of control, LF and I will catch up with you in person and relate everthing down to the finest detail (as is my nature). That having been said, I cannot currently relate to you (especially in this environment [my dreary office looking over my dreary street where everything is the same], one so different from mine the past three weeks of kind, gentle, compassionate, helpful people and beautiful scenery) the absolute elation, joy, and deep sense of internal change and paradigm shift the past three weeks has brought me. There is no worthy attempt to begin any semblance of telling stories about every little five minutes of awesomeness that I spent with specific people here or there (and to you people I owe deep gratitude for sharing all of this experience and to continue to be willing to do so, Thank You), so I have decided on something. It's going to take efforts on more than one front to accomplish this, so I'll be using this blog (considering devoting an entirely brand new one to the trip, but since it's all post-travel, i don't know) as well as my Flickr to relate it piece by piece. Each (probably not) day (but more like semi-weekly) I hope to share (on the blog) a single photo (or maybe two) of something in particular and the story that goes with it. These will be in chronological order, and will begin in Atlanta, thru Detroit, etc... I will also be uploading pictures onto Flickr, and these will be only the neat looking ones, with cool stuff or scenery, or whatever. For those of you that want the whole gamut, email me, because i'm not posting all 2,000 pictures, especially of people, and group photos, etc. There is some sense of anonymity that i still cherish. I will also NOT be sharing the most intimate, deeply felt changes that Asia has effected in me and all that I am. I know it sounds corny, but it's more than true. For those details, drag me to Starbucks and buy me a coffee. That should get you a few hours of deep, heartwarming, soul-searching conversation that may, in fact, change your life as well. I'm signing off now to finish organizing pictures, and you may get the first installment of these by Monday. We'll see. Thank you all for reading.

A very good song

Youtube can quickly become the bane of anyone's existence, but I found this, and it's worth watching, because it's a really good song. I know H'n'B won't like this, but it's too bad. I actually favor another performance she did of this better, but it's still an awesome song, and it's dedicated to someone in both versions.

Smooth(ie)!

I made a smoothie today for breakfast, and although the components may not sound appealing all together, they worked out really well. Started with a banana (I hate bananas), a handful of frozen blueberries, some strawberries, a cup of strawberry/banana yogurt, a little honey, and orange juice to mix. I added a few ice cubes, but those contribute neither any flavor nor nutritional value. It was delicious. Only problem is, I’m freezing my tookus off (how does one spell tookus? Tuckus doesn’t cut it, but tookus is too Dutch).
I have almost finished packing, but will completely un- and re-pack before Sunday. I have decided to remove a few things and add some others, etc. and this will aid me in being more aware of how everything fits anyway. So, as a shoutout to H’n’B, whom I called in a sedated nervous breakdown:
1. Everything now fits in the security pouch when I take out the $50.
2. Weight limit was bogus. LF assured me its closer to 40 lbs.
3. I’ll be buying a suitcase of some sort in Hong Kong and will be checking luggage on the way home. Good thing I won’t be getting a suit made until the last city on our trip so I’m not schlepping that along.
Pleased with how everything fits. Extra pair of shoes was going to be a worry, but I managed them. All seems to be going well, and I think I’m finally coming to the realization that I’m going to Asia. Last minute to-dos:
1. razor blades (for shaving)
2. deodorant (trying to hunt down something in particular)
3. a few more spandex/non-cotton items
4. (Not an errand) camera battery charger should be arriving today.
5. One last load of laundry
6. deciding on what actual book(s) I’m going to read
I’ve got a short-list, but realized that although the list is based on that top-100 thing I love to read by, most of them are early 20th century soap opera womanhood love stories… We’ll see… I’ve gotta come up with something….

Beautiful Day

I had some time between errands on Saturday that I put to good use; I had to pick my brother up at the local library, and there were almost two hours of down time until that happened. What did I do? Well, of course, I parked my car behind a chiropractor’s office and my camera and I strolled around another old town here in the area (more industrial than mine). (My town is unique in that it is one of the only old town/village things anywhere near here that has been in existence for almost 100 years, (therefore still existing) and has never had a railroad.) Anyway, check out my Canton Street photoset. I got some I’m pretty happy with, and there are some that I rushed through that I could have done a better job with. I don’t understand how H’n”B (and others, I’m sure) make it taking pictures of stuff, because I’m not tall tall, but even I feel like I should carry a step ladder with me to get good shots on occasion. Anyway, the weather was beautiful and I was able to get some photos that I’m very pleased with. As the sun started to go down, I got some silhouette photos I really liked, and it was a great day. It’s amazing how atmosphere can be created. I usually don’t think of this street as being highly sensory, or stimulating, but I got there and there were people coming and going (not enough to make too much noise that would ruin the ambience), there were incredible smells from these quaint French and Italian restaurants, and one of them was playing Norah Jones in the background. It was bright and sunny, and the scenery was beautiful; everything was awesome. I planned my walk so I would double back very little, and it was very enjoyable. So what this amounts to is little more than shameless plugging… Not really, it was just so incredible.

The Best of...

...me!

In my efforts to get a messenger bag that 'works,' I spent some time at Old Navy and Target, more to look at stuff I WON'T want to buy so I'll have an idea of what I DO want to buy. Well, the first stop was Old Navy, and I bought a bag there. I liked it, but was a little skeptical. I felt like I was wasting time, so I decided to get it. The size is great, and the material is rugged, but I didn't know if it had enough pockets, etc. I broke down and went to the cashier expecting to fork over the $25 it was going to cost. Turns out, my total was just barely over $6. Six!!! That thriled me. It wasn't until this morning that I realized the little journal I bought for the trip fits swimmingly into the little interior pouch. It wasn't until this morning as well that I noticed some extra pockets and pouches that fit my mp3 player, pens, etc. and that thirlled me.
That having been said, I was happy with my purchase, but strolled into Target to finish up some other odds'n'ends. I saw a lady shelving women's shoes, and her nametag read 'Lana.' I asked her a question I already knew the answer to, and she responded with rolled r's and non-English vowel qualities. I asked her where 'Lana' came from, and she said 'It's Russian.' Need I relate my ecstasy? We talked for probably fifteen minutes, and (maybe it was just the coffee, but) I was as comfortable and conversational as I've ever been. We discussed our families and backgrounds, and she wanted to know where I grew up in Russia. She laughed when I told her I was American, and then apologized profusely when she realized I was serious. She speaks German as well, but not very much, so we continued in Russian, but I was on top of my game and kept my cool. I have her contact information and will be ~following up~. I didn't discuss the reasons for our foreign language interest, but she lives in our territory, so we'll see. It was amazing.
Things are almost completely finished coming together for Asia. Holy crap: it's just over a week away.

Hello, Tokyo

So I’ve come to the realization (as have two of my travel partners here and there) that this time two weeks from now, I will be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As already mentioned in one of the links, when I got my visa, welcome letter, passport, etc., it hit me: I’m actually going to be walking around and rubbing shoulders IN CHINA! Not the little part of NYC, but the REAL CHINA. Not the little part of San Francisco, but the REAL JAPAN. Wow.
Chores as of late? I finally got the spare camera battery and a 2GB SD card for DIRT cheep. I also need to get the wall charger for my camera so I don’t have to schlep the cradle and cable that go with it for to synchronize it on the… how you say… computer I won’t have with me?
I spent some extra cash on some non-cotton stuff that’ll dry quicker and be easier to handle while there: some t-shirts and socks and stuff, but I’m still a little nervous about how heavy and bulky my jeans, etc. are going to be, despite that you can wear jeans more than once, drying them once seems to take days… so I’m not sure about that. I already have the world’s coolest khaki jacket with all sorts of zippers and pockets and stuff. That makes me happy.
Concerns: are H’n’B and I going to want to spend a half hour on every reddish leaf that has fallen to the concrete and a pool of water, thus making ourselves the object of hatred by every other member of our travel group? Certainly not. I guess I don’t have many concerns… or ones that can be discussed at any constructive critical length, but that phrase just solved another one…
What books will I be bringing? Hmmm. That last phrase was a quote from J.D. Salinger’s “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.” His books are always a joy to me, and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything like what I’m currently working on, since it’s somewhat depressing and also bulky. Seems appropriate, and somewhat cliché, I know, to bring this book along, but I always carry Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” with me when I am. I read it in California, and Savannah, and other places, and it’s enjoyable. We’ll see. Any suggestions? I was thinking “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” or something very character driven.
I’ve also decided I’m learning Persian at the expense of Turkish and some of my German. Someone asked me yesterday if I had considered giving up the other three I was learning to focus on just one. “No.”

Looking back, I wish this post was somewhat more organized and thoughtful. At least as succinct as H’n’B (I’ve never been succinct) or as literary as LF’s, but I’m in a hurry and haven’t had so much as a smell of coffee yet. I’ll get back to this and write some literary monologue about my thoughts and concerns on some deep level of consciousness, with a literary style matching that of James Joyce (in his early days, of course, before ‘Portrait’ or ‘Ulysses’).

Tootles.

So I’ve come to the realization (as have two of my travel partners here and there) that this time two weeks from now, I will be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As already mentioned in one of the links, when I got my visa, welcome letter, passport, etc., it hit me: I’m actually going to be walking around and rubbing shoulders IN CHINA! Not the little part of NYC, but the REAL CHINA. Not the little part of San Francisco, but the REAL JAPAN. Wow.
Chores as of late? I finally got the spare camera battery and a 2GB SD card for DIRT cheep. I also need to get the wall charger for my camera so I don’t have to schlep the cradle and cable that go with it for to synchronize it on the… how you say… computer I won’t have with me?
I spent some extra cash on some non-cotton stuff that’ll dry quicker and be easier to handle while there: some t-shirts and socks and stuff, but I’m still a little nervous about how heavy and bulky my jeans, etc. are going to be, despite that you can wear jeans more than once, drying them once seems to take days… so I’m not sure about that. I already have the world’s coolest khaki jacket with all sorts of zippers and pockets and stuff. That makes me happy.
Concerns: are H’n’B and I going to want to spend a half hour on every reddish leaf that has fallen to the concrete and a pool of water, thus making ourselves the object of hatred by every other member of our travel group? Certainly not. I guess I don’t have many concerns… or ones that can be discussed at any constructive critical length, but that phrase just solved another one…
What books will I be bringing? Hmmm. That last phrase was a quote from J.D. Salinger’s “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.” His books are always a joy to me, and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything like what I’m currently working on, since it’s somewhat depressing and also bulky. Seems appropriate, and somewhat cliché, I know, to bring this book along, but I always carry Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” with me when I am. I read it in California, and Savannah, and other places, and it’s enjoyable. We’ll see. Any suggestions? I was thinking “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” or something very character driven.
I’ve also decided I’m learning Persian at the expense of Turkish and some of my German. Someone asked me yesterday if I had considered giving up the other three I was learning to focus on just one. “No.”

Looking back, I wish this post was somewhat more organized and thoughtful. At least as succinct as H’n’B (I’ve never been succinct) or as literary as LF’s, but I’m in a hurry and haven’t had so much as a smell of coffee yet. I’ll get back to this and write some literary monologue about my thoughts and concerns on some deep level of consciousness, with a literary style matching that of James Joyce (in his early days, of course, before ‘Portrait’ or ‘Ulysses’).

Tootles.

The Posse...

Check this out. Huge news for all of you, I’m sure. May 1 cannot come quickly enough. Bring it on

Fun Filled Day

I spoke to people in five languages yesterday (yes, one of them was English). I wouldn’t call them conversations necessarily, because some of them only consisted of “Hello. How are you? I don’t speak [language]. Thank you. Goodbye,” but they were what they were. They were as follows:
1. English
2. Russian- talked to a Ukrainian waitress at a swanky bar-type Mexican restaurant in Russian, as well as another character below.
3. Turkish- cashier at Marshall’s. Name was Sima; asked if it was Persian. She said yes, but that her parents were Turkish. Started talking; she said she didn’t really speak it, but she still had an accent. Maybe she couldn’t understand me at all, so I said ‘My Turkish is bad.’ (Turkcem kötüdür.)
4. Romanian- Employee at Target speaks Romanian. Said the very little I could say, but amounted to a small teeny tiny conversation. Asked her if she spoke any other languages. She said Russian, so I all but attacked her with Russian, and then she told me that despite her having studied it for 12 years, she doesn’t like it, so she hasn’t learned it. However, she did say she speaks…
5. French, and asked me if I spoke it, and I said coolly: ‘pourquois pas?’ and finished off with the other somewhat incoherent things I could say in French, and I’m sure she saw right through it, but she smiled and that was it.
All in all, those escapades made my day. What ISN’T making my day is the STUPID issues I’m having with my media player screwing up my fauxPod. For some reason it thinks I told it to remove tons and tons of my media at random, and it isn’t getting put back into the list of ABSENT media files to sync NEXT TIME, and now my library has gaping holes in it. It ALSO saw fit to create doubles (and sometimes triples) of highly unnecessary photos I never intended to carry around with me, like one of mom’s friends wedding showers. (Good thing I had triples of 100 pictures of a bunch of women standing around candles and cake, right? Cuz that doesn’t take up 2GB of storage unnecessarily.) So now I’m (hopefully) rebuilding the stuff and filling in the holes without adding quads of stuff I’ve already got on there. Sorry, WMP 11, although you’re cool with some new awesome features, you’re also a forerunner of Vista: I just think you’re unnecessary, and it’s too bad you lost some of your totally awesome features, like the ‘jump to artist/album’ from the search function, etc. You’ve lost some awesome features, WMP 11, and some new ones that you have are about as useful as a RadioShack in an Amish village, (or redundant/useless item of choice in compromising situation of choice).
For the love o’ Pete…

Addiction in kind

For those of you that haven’t been in close company with me lately, I have a new addiction as well. (This seemed an appropriate answer to H’n’B’s post about her football addiction) Mine is more substance related, though… substance sounds so shady and illegal when paired with the words ‘addiction,’ ‘abuse,’ ‘dependence,’ … you get the idea…
COFFEE!!! I’ve had coffee experiences lately, and there are too many to relate, but they involve baristas and stuff… need to know basis.
It all started a few hours before the Superbowl. Picture it: a nice cool afternoon before going to (what can arguably be called) an old friend’s house for the party. I’ve made plans to meet some friends at Starbucks before heading over there. I get there early and peruse the shopping center where I find a Persian restaurant. I went in to get a menu and their hours of operation, and to my pleasant surprise, they had a Persian newspaper!!! Having gotten the desired information from the (not unattractive hostess) I strolled out with my newspaper and to go menu. Seeing fit to order my coffee before they arrived, I decided to get a size that would last me long enough that I wouldn’t be finished when Affie and her friend got there late. I strolled in to order my coffee and asked what they had. My past experience with Starbucks coffee has been not so pleasant, and I never did have a taste for it, but I thought for some reason I’d give it another try (my subconscious was so right). I can’t remember how it happened, but instead of ordering a plain medium coffee or doppio, (I think it involved the mind-numbing headache I had) I decided to pull out the big guns and order the ‘bold’ brew they had. Was I ever pleased…
Incredible. It’s an Indonesian thing, and dark, heavy, and almost thick. It’s got a bite to it, and is really delightful. Funny thing is, I would have never been able to drink something like this before. I suddenly love it.
You see, black coffee has been one of those things I’ve wanted to like for a long time. (We all have things we want to like, be it social reasons, chic factor, but there are things we do not like that we try to, and for me it was coffee.) I could drink black coffee, but only with some trepidation and slow going, or a handful of sweets by my side. That’s over. I was also never able to taste the ‘aromas,’ or ‘flavors,’ or ‘hints,’ of flavor that people describe in anything, be it coffee, wine, sand… but I’m noticing them now. So, as corny as it sounds to describe the coffee above as earthy, bold, spicy, (even nutty), and almost entirely non-acidic, it’s what I get from it. Delightful.
This has started a kick for me. Like a kid in a candy store (or a linguist in an international airport), I’ve been jumping around to get my hands on all the Starbucks brews and coffees. I welcomed home my first pound of coffee last week, ground for a drip brew. It was a pound of the Komodo, mentioned above. But since then, my other favorites have been Gold Coast (awesome, but not nearly as earthy and pungent as Komodo, since it’s got more Latin and Italian blended in with it; still super bold, but a little sweeter) and especially the Sulawesi (very similar to Komodo, but more elegant, less in-your-face, and smoother; not as big, but with even less acidity; it’s amazing). The Ethiopian Sidamo tastes like a blender full o’ flowers and perfume (yuck), and I’m not impressed with the Café Verona because it’s too acidic for my taste, despite that it’s supposed to be their most popular… Estima, Guatemala Antiqua, Yukon are some others I’ve tried. I’m still waiting to try Sumatra and Kenya, as well as the Espresso and French Roasts. Obsessive? Maybe. Expensive? Sort of. Delicious? Absolutely. I realized when I dig through my pockets for change enough to buy a $1.60 coffee, it can be considered a dependency. I have been getting these afternoon headaches, though, between 2:30 and 4, and the caffeine does the trick. I don’t drink sodas or anything, and the coffee is much better, so that’s been making me happy. That is all.
(~What’s that haunting aroma?~ a la Will Ferrel in ‘Kicking and Screaming.’)
تحيات حارة

O The Things You Can Think

My Goodness:

1. Italian is coming along slowly [read: it's not]
2. I've been assigned my Romanian again.
3. Hungarian is also inactive
4. Someone told me they wanted to learn Persian with me, but I'm not holding my breath
5. Showed off at Turkish again this weekend
6. Russian is arguably taking a backburner
7. German is as lively as ever
8. Still don't' like Cambodian or Esperanto…
9. Starting the cramming with Chinese and Japanese

 

Language stuff has been busy lately, and it's just too bad I can't devote my time and energy into ONE (or a few) things. Hungarian is NOT a serious endeavor (yet), and my Asian languages are only temporary (unless I fall in love with them there). Sunday before the Superbowl, I drank a golly good coffee and read a Persian newspaper at Starbucks. It was enjoyable. I was also across the street from a Steinway showroom, and the only thing keeping me from heading over there was the Superbowl (and my not so vibrant interest in Steinway).

Does anybody else think she looks like the pianess herself?

Speaking of which, there are like nine or ten some odd people that I've talked to that now want tickets to see her when she comes to town. I'm hoping she plays at some sweet venue and not at Bob's Big Carnival Saloon. Symphony Hall would be nice again. We'll see.

I don't have that much to say right now. I was going to do that concert analysis that Affie did, but I'm just not feeling it at the moment. However, I close with a combination of a few things discussed above, for those of you that watched the Superbowl and followed a few of the links above… or want to see her live. Enjoy. (I'm actually surprised at how good this is.)

(also check out my new email signature that I decided to leave on this email, just for those of you that don't get it all the time anyway)

 

With best regards

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

С наилучшими пожеланиями

Saygılarımla

Cordialement

تحيات حارة

 

Brilliant

Rosetta Stone is no Pimsleur, but this ad is awesome. Next to it is a picture of the quintessential farmboy w/ a Rosetta Stone box. Awesome!

Help me out here....

Test

Thid is little more than a test...

Hobbies...

So I have picked up some new hobbies and been able to resurrect a few I haven’t had time for:
I bought a camera. It’s no DSLR or anything paparazzi, but it’s teeny enough to fit in almost any pocket I have (except for those stupid ones sewn into the other pocket in your jeans, on the right side. I do use that one for chapstick or my pocket knife sometimes, though…). Me and H’n’B went to a few places after I got it and drove around taking pictures. I got a few I’m proud of and she got some that were awesome, nay, stunning. I’ve been using it egregiously ever since, and have gotten a Flickr page. Check it out. I’m actually really happy with some of the stuff I’ve gotten.

I’m working on technique and have started to realize that the things I see that would make awesome photos need this thing or that thing before they’re gonna be anything special. For instance, I have a color thing: I’m not quite the greatest at identifying colors. Not red/green or anything, but I had to ask someone the other day what color my car was because it looks blue to me, and I didn’t think I had a blue car. Turns out it’s dark green… I tried to point out the orange [whatever it was] to somebody the other day, and they picked up the yellow one, DOOFIS… turns out the widget they picked WAS the orange one. I meant the yellow one. That sort of thing. ANYway, things that I see that would be framed well or make for an interesting subject often times lack a striking quality, like color contrast or sharp shadow. I see things that look really good, or may have cool angles, but they aren’t what they could be because of the (lack of) color. I’m getting better at that and have been on a red crusade. Because (as I’m told) red and green are opposites on the color wheel, red is striking against green (to most people, including me, because I don’t have that deficiency), and therefore looks striking in nature. I’ve been looking for red stuff, and despite the fact that there isn’t much GREEN now because it’s WINTER, red is still super cool. We have a plethora of old red barns or brick buildings or things that are pretty neat. So that’s what I’ve been working on.

Also, I have picked up my piano-ness again. It seemed like it came and went, non? Well it’s back. I had some friends over this past weekend and was helping one of them with a piano thing, and sat down myself to work at a few others. I love it, although the Wurly is coming out of tune because of the weather change (and the fact that before I had it, it wasn’t tuned for twenty years… poor thing). Anyhow, my piano store closed down, so I don’t have any place to go play the Bechsteins anymore. I’ve been looking at (and have had some small obsession lately) with the musical equipment that famous mainstream pianists use. Some of them are listed more than once with different manufacturers, and some are listed as Yamaha artists, when in fact, they’ve been seen with Baldwins (Rufus Wainwright). But that’s okay: Amy Lee and Ben Folds both play Baldwins. Sarah Mclachlan, Alicia Keys, James Blunt, Charlotte Martin, Vanessa Carlton (x4), Elton John, and John Ondrasik ALL play Yamaha (as well Tim Rice, from Keane). I’m surprised at this, because there’s a certain something to be said for playing a piano that’s handmade, or at least helped along. Of all the (even American) piano manufacturers, there are still some really excellent names. It’s that whole ‘God is in the details,’ thing. Mason & Hamlin, Steinway (Hamburg), (old) Baldwin all make nice fancy pianos. They’re still not the Stradivarius of pianos like Bechsteins and Bösendorfers (what the Awesomeness plays exclusively) (and maybe even Seiler and Fazioli), but it seems strange to me that these classically trained, post-Julliard concert pianists who are so particular about the fruits and veggies served in their dressing rooms aren’t as particular about the quality of their instruments. There’s nothing to say that the aforementioned pianos aren’t high class (geez, you could buy a fancy sports car for the same price tag, and some are easily six figures), but there IS something to be said for a fully handmade piano that’s been broken into that has some personality, etc. I dunno. (stop).

I’ve also been vehemently interested in progressing in my German, so I’ve started a notebook to carry around with me to jot notes, thoughts, definitions, etc. I also have a pocket dictionary assigned to my car, as well as a new 1500 page dictionary (for $3) in my room. Mein Deutsch ist geht zehr gut. (I still can’t spell or write very well…)

I think that’s all for now. I must go, and will post again hopefully before August.

 

“Life is like a piano... what you get out of it depends on how you play it.”