So Mio is captured at last. The climax of the story arrives with just a handful of new words, among them 'en tjener - servant', 'en velling - gruel', 'usynlighet - invisibility', and 'forbauset - surprised'. The EVIL KNIGHT KATO is just as evil in person as our heroes had imagined from afar. The air in his room is thick with his evil thoughts, which oddly enough can also make noise.
He struggles with what to do with Mio and Jum Jum. The choices are: Turn them into cursed birds, or rip out their hearts, replace them with stones, and make them his servants. Mio really, really wants to be a bird instead of a stony-hearted servant. In the end, the EVIL KNIGHT KATO decides to lock them up to die of starvation, a good plot device as, unlike the other two options, it allows them the hope of escape.
"Her i min borg dør en av sult på en eneste natt," sa han. "Så lang er natten og så stor er sulten i min borg at en dør på en eneste natt."
"Here in my fortress one dies of hunger in a single night," he said. "The night is so long and the hunger so great in my fortress that one dies in a single night."
In another scene taken straight from LOTR, Mio and Jum Jum sit around in their last minutes and try to remember the Shire. I mean, The Island of Green Meadows, of course. Unlike Frodo, however, Mio can remember it, although it seems to them a long, long time ago. With the last of their strength, they play the pretty song one last time on their flutes. The cursed birds come up to the window at that, and then go away again.
Jum Jum goes to sleep. Mio is not far behind him, but he finds the the little spoon he found earlier in the story in his pocket again, and brings it up to his mouth out of hunger. And, lo and behold, it is filled with bread and water, and is filled with bread and water every time he tries to eat out of it. When he is so full that he can't eat any more, he decides to share a bit with Jum Jum, who is unconscious. Soon they both feel better and are so relieved that they are almost happy, even though they can't think of another way to escape.
Then Mio goes to put on his cloak again, and puts it on inside out. They discover that this makes Mio invisible, thanks to the stuff the weaver-woman fixed it up with. This is all fine and good, but it makes one wonder why Mio and Jum Jum weren't told about the magical properties of the spoon and the cloak right off the bat...
They sit around for awhile thinking about how this might help them. Jum Jum offers to raise a ruckus, and then distract the guards when they come in, letting invisible Mio escape. But Mio won't leave Jum Jum there. It is a sweet scene. Jum Jum says,
"Jeg ville så gjerne at du skulle flykte og redde deg hjem til Landet i det Fjerne. Og likevel kan jeg ikke være annet enn glad for at du vil bli her hos meg. Jeg prøver å ikke være glad for det, men jeg kan ikke la være."
"I want so badly for you to flee and go safely home to the Land in the Distance. But just the same I can't help but be glad that you want to be here with me. I am trying not to be glad, but I just can't help it."
They needn't have worried. The cursed birds come back, with Mio's sword! The sword can after all cut through stone, so of course it can cut through steel. Mio leaves Jum Jum and sneaks away, invisible, running past all of the guards and fighting THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO at last. The battle isn't too long, even though Mio makes sure it is a fair fight by announcing himself and taking off the invisibility cloak. Now see, if I were a 10-or-so-year old boy and I had to fight the king of all evil, I would take whatever cheap shots I could, but whatever.
The mood changes briefly when Mio disarms KATO.
"Da rev ha med ett den svarte fløyelsjakken sin opp i brystet.
-Pass på at du treffer hjertet!- skrek han. -Pass på at du hugger rett gjennom steinhjertet mitt. Det har gnaget der inne så lenge og gjort så vondt!-
... Jeg så at ridder Kato lengtet etter å bli kvitt sitt hjerte av stein. Kanskje det var slik at ingen hatet ridder Kato så mye som han selv gjorde det."
Basically, he pulls his cloak up to his breast and screams, "Make sure you go through the heart! Take care to cut right through my stone heart! It has been there so long and hurt so much!" And Mio sees that, "Perhaps it was that no one hated knight Kato as much as he himself did."
THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO dies. All of his evil minions disappear, and as soon as Mio and Jum Jum leave the fortress, it collapses too. Miramis comes back, and he has with him the little foal stolen from the dark forest. Then they find all of the children that had been the cursed birds, waiting on the beach. They are all there - except for the little weaver's daughter, Milimani.
"Hun fløy mot fakkelen,' sa broren til Nonno."
"She flew against the torch,' said Nonno's brother."
That's a solemn scene, again. And the children all sing a little song, before they bury her.
"Milimani, vår lille søster, lille søster som sank i bølgen, sank i bølgen med brente vinger. Milimani, å, Milimani sover stille og våkner aldri, og aldri mer flyr Milimani med triste skrik over mørke bølger."
"Milimani, our little sister, little sister who sank in the wave, sank in the waves with burned wings. Milimani, Ah, Milimani sleeps still and never wakes, and never more shall Milimani fly with sad shrieks over the dark waves."
BUT Mio decides to bury her in the cloth her mother made, and it has more magic properties and brings her back to life.
"Så blå som sjøen er,' sa hun. Det var det eneste hun sa."
"How blue the sea is,' she said. It was the only thing she said."
Then everyone rides home on horses and it's happy and delightful and many of them play in the rosegarden together, and then Mio goes home to his father. And in the last page of the book, he thinks about his old life in Stockholm and how happy he is here in the Land in the Distance.
THE END.
January 31, 2009
Could It Be So Simple?
After my encounter with the Danish girl Lucia and I talked a bit about Spanish and Norwegian, namely, my varying degrees of proficiency in the two. This is what it boils down to:
I have been learning Spanish for 6 1/2 years, steadily, in school and with time spent on it out of school. I have spent 5 weeks in Spanish speaking countries, but only 2 1/2 were spent using Spanish often.
I have been learning Norwegian for 3 years off and on, and I've probably spent 4-6 months total earnestly studying it. I have spent 3 weeks in Norway, but only 4 days were spent using Norwegian often.
Therefore, I should be much better at Spanish in pretty much every respect. The great mystery is that I am not.
My vocabulary is definitely bigger in Spanish. I routinely forget words in Norwegian that would be laughable for me to forget in Spanish. This evens out the playing field noticeably.
My cool headed understanding of grammar is also decidedly bigger in Spanish. If I have the time to collect my thoughts on paper, even without a book, then it is about 98% correct where I'm not trying to stretch myself or get fancy. In Norwegian it might be 85%.
But. When I'm actually speaking, the distance between the two narrows to almost nothing. I have approximately equal accents and fluency in each of them, about equal command of grammar in the heat of the moment, and I am actually more comfortable speaking in Norwegian than in Spanish.
I've tried to think of various ways to explain this. My current theory is remarkably simple and... well... logical. It doesn't take into account certain things, like the way that it is easier for me to remember passages in Norwegian than in English, but on the whole I think it may explain a good deal of the difference.
1.) Since I was taught Spanish in a school environment, I am more used to being tested. Therefore I get more nervous speaking, am more likely to hear my mistakes, and are more likely to be emotionally crippled by hearing the mistakes, instead of just thinking, 'ah, they understand', and moving forward.
2.) Since I was taught Spanish almost exclusively (My teacher from last semester was a native, and Lucia and Jorge have helped a bit here and there. ;)) by Americans, and Norwegian almost exclusively (Evan... XD) by native speakers, this may help to explain something about my accent and my general 'feeling' for things that are difficult to translate or explain, like the modal indicators in Norwegian. My American Spanish teachers were excellent, but they were Americans, struggling with the same things I do, deep down, and probably making just enough mistakes or avoiding just enough insecurities or speaking a Spanish just influenced enough by English to impair my own 'feeling' of the language. And aside from just teachers, being in school exposed me to my classmates (! :O) Spanish quite often. Often I heard and sorted out their mistakes, but inevitably I absorbed some of them as well.
Anyway, this is the new theory, quite simple but I think there might be truth in it. :D
I have been learning Spanish for 6 1/2 years, steadily, in school and with time spent on it out of school. I have spent 5 weeks in Spanish speaking countries, but only 2 1/2 were spent using Spanish often.
I have been learning Norwegian for 3 years off and on, and I've probably spent 4-6 months total earnestly studying it. I have spent 3 weeks in Norway, but only 4 days were spent using Norwegian often.
Therefore, I should be much better at Spanish in pretty much every respect. The great mystery is that I am not.
My vocabulary is definitely bigger in Spanish. I routinely forget words in Norwegian that would be laughable for me to forget in Spanish. This evens out the playing field noticeably.
My cool headed understanding of grammar is also decidedly bigger in Spanish. If I have the time to collect my thoughts on paper, even without a book, then it is about 98% correct where I'm not trying to stretch myself or get fancy. In Norwegian it might be 85%.
But. When I'm actually speaking, the distance between the two narrows to almost nothing. I have approximately equal accents and fluency in each of them, about equal command of grammar in the heat of the moment, and I am actually more comfortable speaking in Norwegian than in Spanish.
I've tried to think of various ways to explain this. My current theory is remarkably simple and... well... logical. It doesn't take into account certain things, like the way that it is easier for me to remember passages in Norwegian than in English, but on the whole I think it may explain a good deal of the difference.
1.) Since I was taught Spanish in a school environment, I am more used to being tested. Therefore I get more nervous speaking, am more likely to hear my mistakes, and are more likely to be emotionally crippled by hearing the mistakes, instead of just thinking, 'ah, they understand', and moving forward.
2.) Since I was taught Spanish almost exclusively (My teacher from last semester was a native, and Lucia and Jorge have helped a bit here and there. ;)) by Americans, and Norwegian almost exclusively (Evan... XD) by native speakers, this may help to explain something about my accent and my general 'feeling' for things that are difficult to translate or explain, like the modal indicators in Norwegian. My American Spanish teachers were excellent, but they were Americans, struggling with the same things I do, deep down, and probably making just enough mistakes or avoiding just enough insecurities or speaking a Spanish just influenced enough by English to impair my own 'feeling' of the language. And aside from just teachers, being in school exposed me to my classmates (! :O) Spanish quite often. Often I heard and sorted out their mistakes, but inevitably I absorbed some of them as well.
Anyway, this is the new theory, quite simple but I think there might be truth in it. :D
January 30, 2009
Potluck
I was thinking about making cream cheese swirl brownies, but I didn't have a brownie pan, so I was just lazy and made some slice and bake cookies instead. My pan was still small, though, so I had to make one batch and then, right as I was about to put in the second, the British girls came down to bake a cake for the same event. That's fine, because they had a lot of organizing and stirring to do before they would need the oven, so I hurried and put in another pan of cookies. But around the same time that the timer would have gone off, they started using the blender... And a few minutes later I though, "What happened to the timer...?" Sure enough, the cookies were burnt. Not horribly burnt, mind you, but I didn't want to take them to the potluck, so I fed them to my friends at Laws, who loved them. And Tomomi was so sweet, she washed all of the dishes because she ate one of the cookies! :D
Later Pai picked me up and we left. I found out that Kanchana goes by Ju, and Chaowalit goes by Pai. XD It finally makes sense now! I knew I couldn't be pronouncing Kanchana THAT badly...
"Ju" made a delicious soup for the party. It was a Thai mushroom-chicken type soup. They warned me that it was spicy, but it was that kind of spicy that is warm and fine in your mouth, and then burns as you swallow. Which is actually the kind I prefer, because the flavour seems to be changing as you eat it. It's a really warm feeling soup. I kept getting more and more tiny bowls of it. The Serbian dessert (some sort of egg, cream, sugar concoction) was also really good.
I met a lot of people at the party, although I found out that most of them are a lot older than me. It's funny, how ordinary people walking down the street mistake me for being quite young, but at a party I always wind up talking to upperclassmen or graduate students. I met a senior here named Austin Coates who studies Journalism and spent the last semester 'at sea' - he's spent a pair of days almost everywhere, including South Africa and with a host family in India. So he's definitely got some cool stories. His plan for next year is to drive the Wienermobile... okay... XD
I met Mammajamma Jess Fischer at last. It turns out that it is her apartment where most of the parties are held. (Austin Coates lives there too) I also (finally) met the Danish girl. But more on that later. ;)
Later Pai picked me up and we left. I found out that Kanchana goes by Ju, and Chaowalit goes by Pai. XD It finally makes sense now! I knew I couldn't be pronouncing Kanchana THAT badly...
"Ju" made a delicious soup for the party. It was a Thai mushroom-chicken type soup. They warned me that it was spicy, but it was that kind of spicy that is warm and fine in your mouth, and then burns as you swallow. Which is actually the kind I prefer, because the flavour seems to be changing as you eat it. It's a really warm feeling soup. I kept getting more and more tiny bowls of it. The Serbian dessert (some sort of egg, cream, sugar concoction) was also really good.
I met a lot of people at the party, although I found out that most of them are a lot older than me. It's funny, how ordinary people walking down the street mistake me for being quite young, but at a party I always wind up talking to upperclassmen or graduate students. I met a senior here named Austin Coates who studies Journalism and spent the last semester 'at sea' - he's spent a pair of days almost everywhere, including South Africa and with a host family in India. So he's definitely got some cool stories. His plan for next year is to drive the Wienermobile... okay... XD
I met Mammajamma Jess Fischer at last. It turns out that it is her apartment where most of the parties are held. (Austin Coates lives there too) I also (finally) met the Danish girl. But more on that later. ;)
Another Voice From the Past
I walk into the German classroom. The teacher turns to me, and, in German, says,
"Miranda, I heard something interesting. I heard that you could write Elvish"
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Especially in German, I was at a loss for words.
"Wo hast du das gehört?" I managed. (Where did you hear that?)
"Mo Canellas," she says, and it all makes sense. Now I remembered the conversation from a couple days back, when I realized that she had Maureen in one of her classes. But still. Wow. And I wonder what they were talking about that led to that fact being shared.
"Is it painful?" she asked, sensing my continued shock.
"No, it isn't painful," I said, a little bit offended at the question, if truth be told. That was a part of me. A long ago part, but part of me just the same, and I wouldn't even chose to cast it away, if I could. No, it isn't painful, I'm not ashamed, "I'm just surprised."
"Miranda, I heard something interesting. I heard that you could write Elvish"
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Especially in German, I was at a loss for words.
"Wo hast du das gehört?" I managed. (Where did you hear that?)
"Mo Canellas," she says, and it all makes sense. Now I remembered the conversation from a couple days back, when I realized that she had Maureen in one of her classes. But still. Wow. And I wonder what they were talking about that led to that fact being shared.
"Is it painful?" she asked, sensing my continued shock.
"No, it isn't painful," I said, a little bit offended at the question, if truth be told. That was a part of me. A long ago part, but part of me just the same, and I wouldn't even chose to cast it away, if I could. No, it isn't painful, I'm not ashamed, "I'm just surprised."
The Future of This Blog
Here's the dilemma.
I am becoming a more active blogger. I blame journalism classes, and a new, more writing focused, plan for my life. In the past it has bothered me that this blog is such a hodgepodge of things, without focusing on any of the facets, which seem to be, mainly,
1.) Reflective pieces, based on my life.
2.) Ordinary diary-like summaries of my life, sometimes accounts of the day to get a feeling for what life is like, sometimes updates on important life changes.
3.) Updates on my projects, etc. (Like learning languages, or books I read)
4.) Random things I find and want to share, like music or the occasional News story.
Of these, all but the last will be very nice to have as a 'diary' of sorts when I look back on it later in life. Even the last shows what I'm thinking about and interested in, but it's less in that direction. And in fact it may be the least appealing part of the blog, because I don't do it consistently enough to draw readers who want that. As it is, I imagine that I have 2-6 regular readers, and I know who about three of them are for sure. It's always hard to tell - sometimes, and sometimes surprisingly quickly (as if they read often) I get a comment by someone I didn't think was following. Although, very few comments from anyone nowadays. There are a few people who I would like to read my blog, because, well, I would read theirs if they had one. XD But now I'm just approaching emoness, haha. Oh, and Jashen, I really try with yours, but a lot of it is kind of impenetrable for me... XD Anyway, I am still going to keep that part, but, as I talk about in the next sentence, I am not going to expand upon it.
The thing is, that being in the journalism school is I think making me think more about what goes onto my blog. It's not really making me not want to put anything I have been putting up, but rather wanting me to put up new things. There is a small part of me who wants to blog more news. But I am resisting this because there are tons of people who do this way better than my time or interest would allow me, and it's not something that "Only I can do, exactly the way I do it" so to speak. The other thing I want to do more blogging of are well put together memoir type things. The first category, reflections, may or may not fit into this category. What certainly does are those things that if all goes perfectly I will be doing for a living in 5 or so years - travel journalism, namely. And I'd like to do a bit of childhood, adolescent memories before they start fading too much. I think this part is not entirely spurred by journalism, but also by life changes - I'm realizing that I'm about to lose some things that I had stubbornly told myself were forever. ;)
To sum things up, the idea is that if I do indeed start doing more of this sort of thing, and I find that it's crowding the blog to add that to what I already do, or, more likely, if I find that these pieces that I spend more time on are quickly disappearing into the sands of my more random blog posts, there is a chance that I will make a second blog for them, as I did for my fiction story that didn't really work out, 3 or 4 years ago.
I am becoming a more active blogger. I blame journalism classes, and a new, more writing focused, plan for my life. In the past it has bothered me that this blog is such a hodgepodge of things, without focusing on any of the facets, which seem to be, mainly,
1.) Reflective pieces, based on my life.
2.) Ordinary diary-like summaries of my life, sometimes accounts of the day to get a feeling for what life is like, sometimes updates on important life changes.
3.) Updates on my projects, etc. (Like learning languages, or books I read)
4.) Random things I find and want to share, like music or the occasional News story.
Of these, all but the last will be very nice to have as a 'diary' of sorts when I look back on it later in life. Even the last shows what I'm thinking about and interested in, but it's less in that direction. And in fact it may be the least appealing part of the blog, because I don't do it consistently enough to draw readers who want that. As it is, I imagine that I have 2-6 regular readers, and I know who about three of them are for sure. It's always hard to tell - sometimes, and sometimes surprisingly quickly (as if they read often) I get a comment by someone I didn't think was following. Although, very few comments from anyone nowadays. There are a few people who I would like to read my blog, because, well, I would read theirs if they had one. XD But now I'm just approaching emoness, haha. Oh, and Jashen, I really try with yours, but a lot of it is kind of impenetrable for me... XD Anyway, I am still going to keep that part, but, as I talk about in the next sentence, I am not going to expand upon it.
The thing is, that being in the journalism school is I think making me think more about what goes onto my blog. It's not really making me not want to put anything I have been putting up, but rather wanting me to put up new things. There is a small part of me who wants to blog more news. But I am resisting this because there are tons of people who do this way better than my time or interest would allow me, and it's not something that "Only I can do, exactly the way I do it" so to speak. The other thing I want to do more blogging of are well put together memoir type things. The first category, reflections, may or may not fit into this category. What certainly does are those things that if all goes perfectly I will be doing for a living in 5 or so years - travel journalism, namely. And I'd like to do a bit of childhood, adolescent memories before they start fading too much. I think this part is not entirely spurred by journalism, but also by life changes - I'm realizing that I'm about to lose some things that I had stubbornly told myself were forever. ;)
To sum things up, the idea is that if I do indeed start doing more of this sort of thing, and I find that it's crowding the blog to add that to what I already do, or, more likely, if I find that these pieces that I spend more time on are quickly disappearing into the sands of my more random blog posts, there is a chance that I will make a second blog for them, as I did for my fiction story that didn't really work out, 3 or 4 years ago.
Voices From the Past
In One Day:
1.) Stian emailed me to say that he was changing his messenger address, and we ended up chatting for some hours.
2.) I noticed that a certain 'Bernhardt' changed his status picture on MSN, thanks to Windows Live's new status updater thing. Facebook wannabe! But seriously, Bernhardt. WOW, it's been a while.
3.) Gwen invited me to a group for Land of Mystics Alumni. WOW. I need to do a post about Land of Mystics. I'll plan on it.
1.) Stian emailed me to say that he was changing his messenger address, and we ended up chatting for some hours.
2.) I noticed that a certain 'Bernhardt' changed his status picture on MSN, thanks to Windows Live's new status updater thing. Facebook wannabe! But seriously, Bernhardt. WOW, it's been a while.
3.) Gwen invited me to a group for Land of Mystics Alumni. WOW. I need to do a post about Land of Mystics. I'll plan on it.
January 29, 2009
Àtjan
Wow. This takes the screaming thing to a beautiful and strange extreme...
Just what I needed right now...
Evil Things and Religion
I'd like to take a moment to discuss the the Google Quote of the Day:
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
- Steven Weinberg
Aside from seeming rather... radically atheist for such a mainstream website, it's a curious quote.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
- Steven Weinberg
Aside from seeming rather... radically atheist for such a mainstream website, it's a curious quote.
Wir Beide
Weißt du eigentlich
was du bist für mich?
alles andere als normal
und jederzeit loyal, royal
du bist mein fundament
keine die mich so gut kennt
keine die mich sieht wie du
old Shatterhand ich winnetou
Immer werden wir so bleiben
jung und frei, schön wir beide
stehen auf der guten seite
jahr für jahr
immer werden wir so bleiben
lachen über schlechte zeiten
deine schmerzen sind auch meine
jahr für jahr
Weißt du eigentlich
was du tust für mich
wenn du meine lasten trägst
und dich mit meinen feinden schlägst
ich vertraue dir mehr als mir
und ich liebe dich dafür
dass du bist wie du isst,
dass du niemals vergisst
was das wichtige ist
wir beide
Immer werden wir so bleiben
jung und frei, schön wir beide
stehen auf der guten seite
jahr für jahr
immer werden wir so bleiben
lachen über schlechte zeiten
deine schmerzen sind auch meine
jahr für jahr
- Juli
was du bist für mich?
alles andere als normal
und jederzeit loyal, royal
du bist mein fundament
keine die mich so gut kennt
keine die mich sieht wie du
old Shatterhand ich winnetou
Immer werden wir so bleiben
jung und frei, schön wir beide
stehen auf der guten seite
jahr für jahr
immer werden wir so bleiben
lachen über schlechte zeiten
deine schmerzen sind auch meine
jahr für jahr
Weißt du eigentlich
was du tust für mich
wenn du meine lasten trägst
und dich mit meinen feinden schlägst
ich vertraue dir mehr als mir
und ich liebe dich dafür
dass du bist wie du isst,
dass du niemals vergisst
was das wichtige ist
wir beide
Immer werden wir so bleiben
jung und frei, schön wir beide
stehen auf der guten seite
jahr für jahr
immer werden wir so bleiben
lachen über schlechte zeiten
deine schmerzen sind auch meine
jahr für jahr
- Juli
Wes þu hal...
I got out of my P.A. class right as the sun was setting, and that was good, because it was warm today, and the snow was melting and running in rivulets against the pavement, and will freeze when it gets good and blue-dark. Stankowsky field has a large patch with snow still, where the shade of the hill protected it from the warmest of the suns rays. The lacrosse team was running across this section, leaving shadowy footprints in the white show, and behind them the main field looked like green grass, and another team without uniforms relaxed there, and the buildings behind that were lit by the last golden rays of the sun. It felt like looking across seasons, backwards, naturally... Lovely.
Because I spoke with him today, he came to my mind. And I was glad, glad that the image on my heart is fading, that the memories seem black and white and distant, because if I loved him now as I loved him then, it would rend my heart to know what he's planning to do, and where he's planning to go. As it stands, it's only this shudder and this sigh, and "Ah yes, it's your life, and none of mine at all, but... Wes þu hal."
Because I spoke with him today, he came to my mind. And I was glad, glad that the image on my heart is fading, that the memories seem black and white and distant, because if I loved him now as I loved him then, it would rend my heart to know what he's planning to do, and where he's planning to go. As it stands, it's only this shudder and this sigh, and "Ah yes, it's your life, and none of mine at all, but... Wes þu hal."
January 28, 2009
Bad Day For Languages and Miranda
1.) In German class I finally found an area in which the rest of the class is far superior to me. And that is gender. Pretty much, at Parkway West, you could get all the way to level 3 without losing more than a negligible handful of points for knowing absolutely nothing about gender. I probably have a vocabulary of 20-30 German words that I am positive about the gender of. This isn't so for my class. And what's more, they seem quite sensitive to it, which is going to make me stop chattering very much. I said "Es gibt ein Hund", and there was a long, awkward silence before one of them said, "Einen hund?" Not really even like they were confused, more like they pitied me or something. Grrrr... So tht was sad/embarrassing. I'm trying guys, I am, I'll never learn a word without properly learning it's gender again, but... cut me a break for the first few weeks?
2.) I accidentally used the tu form once for my Spanish professor.
3.) One of the students in my group was continuing to use 'realizar' like the normal sense of English realize. I had always been taught that the Spanish realizar could only be used like in the English phrase "to realize your dreams", etc. So I told him that it might be better to use "darse cuenta", and while I was explaining the distinction the professor came up and listened. To his credit, he waited for me to finish, but then he basically said that it wasn't true. I was shocked, but I mean, he has the fancy pants degree in Spanish, not me, so I didn't really argue, I just was like, "Oh... In my high school they taught me something different. I'm sorry."
Then he went on for SEVERAL MINUTES, for the whole class, writing on the board Realizar = Notar, Darse Cuenta, Cumplir. (Realizar = Notice, Realize, Achieve) He said repeatedly that it wasn't a false cognate, that it actually could serve both meanings in Spanish. I was so confused, I couldn't believe I was hearing correctly. Of course we all wanted to use realizar instead of darse cuenta, it's easier to conjugate! But Altadonna and Kiser had been insistant. I was totally humiliated, too, especially in front of the student I had corrected. That will teach me, I guess.
When I went back to the dorm, I asked Maria about her take on the realizar thing. She sided with me 100%. So I looked online, and the internet agreed with me too. Finally, I called Lucia and she agreed with me. Finally, I checked a good monolingual Spanish dictionary and couldn't find anything supporting the idea that realizar could be used like darse cuenta. I hope he won't hate me, but I was just confused and unhappy, so I drafted an email to him, using the dictionary definition and asking if I misunderstood what he was saying in class, because I still feel confused about what I was taught for so many years. Lucia checked it to make sure it wouldn't make him too mad at me, haha.
But yeah, I'll feel a bit better (certainly less confused) if he admits the mistake, or even says that I misunderstood what he was saying in class, but I doubt he'll announce it to the class, so I'll still look stupid and purposefully mean to them. Great first impression, eh?
2.) I accidentally used the tu form once for my Spanish professor.
3.) One of the students in my group was continuing to use 'realizar' like the normal sense of English realize. I had always been taught that the Spanish realizar could only be used like in the English phrase "to realize your dreams", etc. So I told him that it might be better to use "darse cuenta", and while I was explaining the distinction the professor came up and listened. To his credit, he waited for me to finish, but then he basically said that it wasn't true. I was shocked, but I mean, he has the fancy pants degree in Spanish, not me, so I didn't really argue, I just was like, "Oh... In my high school they taught me something different. I'm sorry."
Then he went on for SEVERAL MINUTES, for the whole class, writing on the board Realizar = Notar, Darse Cuenta, Cumplir. (Realizar = Notice, Realize, Achieve) He said repeatedly that it wasn't a false cognate, that it actually could serve both meanings in Spanish. I was so confused, I couldn't believe I was hearing correctly. Of course we all wanted to use realizar instead of darse cuenta, it's easier to conjugate! But Altadonna and Kiser had been insistant. I was totally humiliated, too, especially in front of the student I had corrected. That will teach me, I guess.
When I went back to the dorm, I asked Maria about her take on the realizar thing. She sided with me 100%. So I looked online, and the internet agreed with me too. Finally, I called Lucia and she agreed with me. Finally, I checked a good monolingual Spanish dictionary and couldn't find anything supporting the idea that realizar could be used like darse cuenta. I hope he won't hate me, but I was just confused and unhappy, so I drafted an email to him, using the dictionary definition and asking if I misunderstood what he was saying in class, because I still feel confused about what I was taught for so many years. Lucia checked it to make sure it wouldn't make him too mad at me, haha.
But yeah, I'll feel a bit better (certainly less confused) if he admits the mistake, or even says that I misunderstood what he was saying in class, but I doubt he'll announce it to the class, so I'll still look stupid and purposefully mean to them. Great first impression, eh?
A Little Bit of Magic
Today as I was walking to the elementary school to see Joshawn it suddenly began snowing. It was that sort of magic, quick, light and bright swirling snow... and I realized that the wind was blowing it out of a tree and towards me. And naturally I looked at the tree - and it was as green as summer. Not a pine tree, either... just an ordinary tree with long thick leaves, shaking in the wind and sending showers of snow like fairy dust on unsuspecting students.
January 27, 2009
Today!
Today it was nasty and cold so that my nose felt like it was going to fall off and my legs were numb through my jeans. If it was even a degree or two colder I might begin to feel justified wearing clothing made for such weather, but such clothing is cumbersome and distinctly uncool, so I go on with just the gloves and the rather warm coat, beginning to use the hood. It was also snowing, though, which was nice. There was a small ice storm last night and my sister got off school in St. Louis. Apparently Southern Missouri had two inches of ice. Here nothing was cancelled, of course, though I gave some thought to skipping my first class. I went out, though, and found mostly harmless if ugly slush.
I 'cooked' today for the first time since I got back to school. It was nothing ambitious, but I've been so lethargic about such things that I felt that it was good for me anyway. I am trying to use up all of my brown rice, since I really don't like it, but then again, if you don't compare it with white rice, it's really not so bad. And I know it's healthier, but oh well. So I made some of that with my last bit of Indian tomato sauce. Perhaps this weekend I'll try to buy some more of that, since it's a very important part of my diet here at Mizzou. One pack (with rice, and if I'm very lucky, meat) feeds me 3 or 4 meals, so it's an excellent deal, really. Not having ready access to meat makes me feel so un-American. But it's good, too. :D Only Americans feel like they need meat at every meal...
In other news I called my mom today for the first time in a while, since the cell phone charger that I left at home finally arrived. :) It was a bit funny, because she kept commenting on how happy I sounded... well, I was crying last time we spoke, so I must be improved since then, but I'm only at about 75%... We talked about cars and whether I needed one for next year. It would undoubtably be more convenient for me to have a car then, but as long as I get the P.A. job, which is all but guerrenteed, I don't need one to work... and given that we'd need to insure and store it for the two years I spend abroad, I had to say that it just didn't make sense to get my 'new' car yet. In case you were wondering, the plan is that I will get a decent used car my senior year of college, and have that while I finish my education and start my career - basically, as long as I take good care of it. :D
I had my first candidate class for the P.A. position today. It's a bit pointless, given: A.) It is mostly to prepare you for the interview, which I have already had once and done quite well on, B.) Anything else that might be mentioned will be covered fully in training, once I get the position. Still, it's also relatively painless. Oddly though I ran into the girl who took 'my' position as C.A. - the one I was offered in Lathrop, but never found out about, because Marina turned it down for me. She was acting pretty fancy about getting the job, which of course I would have done in her sitution too, but given the circumstances I had to almost literally bite my tongue to keep from saying something along the lines of "Oh yes, that's the job I was offered, but I turned it down. :)"
I ran into Anlan, my new friend from last week, in Government today. We have almost identical schedules, but the classes we share are all big lecture halls, so we haven't really run into each other since the day we met. Anyways, we sat together and afterwards, with 15 minutes left in the lunch period, we went across the street to Eva J's and ate together. Mayumi was there with who I can only assume is her English conversation patner. Eva J's is the smallest dining hall, and much calmer than Dobbs, with somewhat better food and a permanent baked potato bar that is dangerous. I should never have gone to Finland - then I would still be safe in my potato-hating zone. As it is I give my arteries a bit of punishment every Tuesday. I tried to make up for it by eating a huge bowl of applesauce, (I can't eat apples anymore, because I'm allergic to them raw), a tall glass of milk, a few peas, and no dessert. I also ate some saffron rice and some stir fry. All small portions, except for the applesauce. And that's healthy eating for me. XD
American Journalism and American Government continue being decent but slightly boring. I actually think that all my professors are good this year, compared with the mixed bunch from last semester, but some of the classes just aren't exactly my cup of tea. I appreciate the need for me to take them, but they are required credits that I will be happy to have over with. Compare this to my love for Anthropology but hate for Anthropology Professor, I mean Graduate Student, last semester. The American Journalism professor tries so hard to use technology that it's almost funny, but it's sweet in a way. American Government professor wears Hawaiian T-Shirts and throws in strange little stories and remarks at just the right times to keep you listening. I have mixed feelings about such practices, of course. In a class that I love intrinsically they tend to annoy me, as if the professor doesn't trust us to pay attention or be interested in the subject itself, as if we are children who must be entertained. But then, in classes like Statistics and Principles of American Journalism, I don't mind the proverbial spoonful of sugar.
I really love to teach. Even little things. Today Tomomi asked about dialects in the US, Missouri dialects in particular, and she was so interested in everything that soon we were talking not only about dialects but about the history of American Music - Bluegrass, Country, Blues, and Jazz. Then Mayumi told us her 'funny story' for public speaking class, and I critiqued it and tried to help her capture a sense of humour in English. I know that she has one, of course, as we often share jokes that sort of transcend language, but this will be hard for her, because she feels that she has to memorize the script and it's scary for her to stand up in front of people and speak English. We'll see how it goes. :)
I 'cooked' today for the first time since I got back to school. It was nothing ambitious, but I've been so lethargic about such things that I felt that it was good for me anyway. I am trying to use up all of my brown rice, since I really don't like it, but then again, if you don't compare it with white rice, it's really not so bad. And I know it's healthier, but oh well. So I made some of that with my last bit of Indian tomato sauce. Perhaps this weekend I'll try to buy some more of that, since it's a very important part of my diet here at Mizzou. One pack (with rice, and if I'm very lucky, meat) feeds me 3 or 4 meals, so it's an excellent deal, really. Not having ready access to meat makes me feel so un-American. But it's good, too. :D Only Americans feel like they need meat at every meal...
In other news I called my mom today for the first time in a while, since the cell phone charger that I left at home finally arrived. :) It was a bit funny, because she kept commenting on how happy I sounded... well, I was crying last time we spoke, so I must be improved since then, but I'm only at about 75%... We talked about cars and whether I needed one for next year. It would undoubtably be more convenient for me to have a car then, but as long as I get the P.A. job, which is all but guerrenteed, I don't need one to work... and given that we'd need to insure and store it for the two years I spend abroad, I had to say that it just didn't make sense to get my 'new' car yet. In case you were wondering, the plan is that I will get a decent used car my senior year of college, and have that while I finish my education and start my career - basically, as long as I take good care of it. :D
I had my first candidate class for the P.A. position today. It's a bit pointless, given: A.) It is mostly to prepare you for the interview, which I have already had once and done quite well on, B.) Anything else that might be mentioned will be covered fully in training, once I get the position. Still, it's also relatively painless. Oddly though I ran into the girl who took 'my' position as C.A. - the one I was offered in Lathrop, but never found out about, because Marina turned it down for me. She was acting pretty fancy about getting the job, which of course I would have done in her sitution too, but given the circumstances I had to almost literally bite my tongue to keep from saying something along the lines of "Oh yes, that's the job I was offered, but I turned it down. :)"
I ran into Anlan, my new friend from last week, in Government today. We have almost identical schedules, but the classes we share are all big lecture halls, so we haven't really run into each other since the day we met. Anyways, we sat together and afterwards, with 15 minutes left in the lunch period, we went across the street to Eva J's and ate together. Mayumi was there with who I can only assume is her English conversation patner. Eva J's is the smallest dining hall, and much calmer than Dobbs, with somewhat better food and a permanent baked potato bar that is dangerous. I should never have gone to Finland - then I would still be safe in my potato-hating zone. As it is I give my arteries a bit of punishment every Tuesday. I tried to make up for it by eating a huge bowl of applesauce, (I can't eat apples anymore, because I'm allergic to them raw), a tall glass of milk, a few peas, and no dessert. I also ate some saffron rice and some stir fry. All small portions, except for the applesauce. And that's healthy eating for me. XD
American Journalism and American Government continue being decent but slightly boring. I actually think that all my professors are good this year, compared with the mixed bunch from last semester, but some of the classes just aren't exactly my cup of tea. I appreciate the need for me to take them, but they are required credits that I will be happy to have over with. Compare this to my love for Anthropology but hate for Anthropology Professor, I mean Graduate Student, last semester. The American Journalism professor tries so hard to use technology that it's almost funny, but it's sweet in a way. American Government professor wears Hawaiian T-Shirts and throws in strange little stories and remarks at just the right times to keep you listening. I have mixed feelings about such practices, of course. In a class that I love intrinsically they tend to annoy me, as if the professor doesn't trust us to pay attention or be interested in the subject itself, as if we are children who must be entertained. But then, in classes like Statistics and Principles of American Journalism, I don't mind the proverbial spoonful of sugar.
I really love to teach. Even little things. Today Tomomi asked about dialects in the US, Missouri dialects in particular, and she was so interested in everything that soon we were talking not only about dialects but about the history of American Music - Bluegrass, Country, Blues, and Jazz. Then Mayumi told us her 'funny story' for public speaking class, and I critiqued it and tried to help her capture a sense of humour in English. I know that she has one, of course, as we often share jokes that sort of transcend language, but this will be hard for her, because she feels that she has to memorize the script and it's scary for her to stand up in front of people and speak English. We'll see how it goes. :)
so every body goes green
http://earthfirst.com/whos-who-in-green-joss-garman/
On the side of this article, I saw the following comments:
- baby girl: i want to go green and i will do some thing about it so every body goes green and the high school and...
- Autumn: HI tori i was just saying hi wats up?
- tori: going green needs to take affect i wnat mt kids annd any one else to see the animals that are in trouble
- Autumn: I don’t want to go green because i already am going green so yepps!!!
January 26, 2009
Leijonakuningas 3: Islanti
I spent a few hours last night trying to get my computer to play region 2 disks so I could watch my Finnish copy of Lion King 1 1/2. When it finally played, I realized that the subtitled didn't line up with the words... not only were they not translations of each other, they weren't even close to being the written form of what was said. Given that, I elected to watch the Icelandic version. I actually understood a decent amount, maybe 15-20%, of which it was maybe 1-2% English - Icelandic Cognates, 5-8% Norwegian - Icelandic Cognates, and 9-10% Faroese - Icelandic Cognates. I can well imagine that if you were fluent in Faroese, you could probably make out about 50% (or more?) of Icelandic. Anyway, it was a fun exercise. And I get to sleep in tomorrow! :D
Obama stopped Google!
Google's US Query Volume actually dropped significantly during the inauguration speech.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCbRZP9llIO2UOh8yKEGZsMRiaj11icBi-TvOn9LjcSmLfewEl9a_RcEpga5QGejdf4KsxJBYwDT7ZXtco7Y9ZhVqmzDw9pmvv545nUvx0qZkxOclDb3vs9dBtIDVjw-kfU2vRQ/s1600-h/query_vol.png
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCbRZP9llIO2UOh8yKEGZsMRiaj11icBi-TvOn9LjcSmLfewEl9a_RcEpga5QGejdf4KsxJBYwDT7ZXtco7Y9ZhVqmzDw9pmvv545nUvx0qZkxOclDb3vs9dBtIDVjw-kfU2vRQ/s1600-h/query_vol.png
Competence and Lack Thereof
With every day that goes by here at Mizzou I am painfully aware of how competent I am, compared to most Freshmen. I don't take all the credit for this myself. I also appreciate that I had an excellent education through the Parkway school district, for example. Still, I know that Mizzou students are considered a pretty good bunch, all in all. So why do I feel like I was more challenged in high school? Why do I feel shocked and amazed by the ineptitude that surrounds me? Oddly enough, Tabi and Clint agree with me. (They're the only two I've talked to about this). Now, they're both smart, and, examining Foreign Language for an example, Tabi has lived in France and Clint has spent a reasonable amount of time in Germany, Spain, and Costa Rica, so they have head starts. But still!
My German class. I'm not going to lie, it's challenging for me. As German Intermediate II - Language and Culture, it's the class students normally take after a few years of college German. Most of my classmates studied German for 3-5 years in high school, and 1-3 semesters in Uni. I know I'm good at languages, so we'll adjust for that and ignore the fact that I can tread water in the class. What scares me is that they seem to be treading water as well. :O At first I noticed that, although my speaking ability in German is despicable and I wince at myself every time I open my mouth, not only am I STILL more comfortable speaking in front of others (seriously, is Parkway the only school district that pushes this?), my German isn't noticeably worse than theirs. Okay, I thought, so Parkway taught me to be brave... they probably have a better fundamental knowledge of German. I bet they can read better than me, for example, or that their Grammar is better. The boy who sits next to me is pretty smart, but we have about the same record of not knowing words in the readings, and my understanding of Grammar (if not my actual usage) is a bit better. Okay, I thought, so I have studied half a dozen languages, including Latin, I understand grammar a bit better than most... but still... :( He's studied German for 6 years, the same amount that I have studied Spanish. Now, I know that at 3 years of Spanish I was better with Spanish than I am now at German, but I'm at 6 years in Spanish and my Spanish blows any of the German students in this class's German out of the water. And that's just a fact. This isn't meant to be a bragpost. I'm honestly more concerned about the curriculum and what they're doing wrong than what I'm doing right. I thought it was just hard work... but while I've always put a little extra emphasis into Spanish, and of course, my devotion alone produces results in Norwegian or the others, I have almost embarrassingly neglected German.
My German class. I'm not going to lie, it's challenging for me. As German Intermediate II - Language and Culture, it's the class students normally take after a few years of college German. Most of my classmates studied German for 3-5 years in high school, and 1-3 semesters in Uni. I know I'm good at languages, so we'll adjust for that and ignore the fact that I can tread water in the class. What scares me is that they seem to be treading water as well. :O At first I noticed that, although my speaking ability in German is despicable and I wince at myself every time I open my mouth, not only am I STILL more comfortable speaking in front of others (seriously, is Parkway the only school district that pushes this?), my German isn't noticeably worse than theirs. Okay, I thought, so Parkway taught me to be brave... they probably have a better fundamental knowledge of German. I bet they can read better than me, for example, or that their Grammar is better. The boy who sits next to me is pretty smart, but we have about the same record of not knowing words in the readings, and my understanding of Grammar (if not my actual usage) is a bit better. Okay, I thought, so I have studied half a dozen languages, including Latin, I understand grammar a bit better than most... but still... :( He's studied German for 6 years, the same amount that I have studied Spanish. Now, I know that at 3 years of Spanish I was better with Spanish than I am now at German, but I'm at 6 years in Spanish and my Spanish blows any of the German students in this class's German out of the water. And that's just a fact. This isn't meant to be a bragpost. I'm honestly more concerned about the curriculum and what they're doing wrong than what I'm doing right. I thought it was just hard work... but while I've always put a little extra emphasis into Spanish, and of course, my devotion alone produces results in Norwegian or the others, I have almost embarrassingly neglected German.
January 25, 2009
I Remember the Way
I pretend not to look and not to notice, as you, and all your little habits, which I hate because I cannot turn to them any longer, they rot in the tree and their smell is carried by the wind. I’d prefer a middle ground, but there doesn’t seem to be one. Jokes and pain get caught in the wind, and the wind rushes them into me. I won’t fall or stop or even tremble. I’ll keep walking through winter, and through emptiness. I remember the way from darker days. The sun doesn’t seem to shine so bright, but it still shines.
Ice Skating
What an awful song:
I've had a little bit too much, much All of the people start to rush, start to rush by How does he twist the dance? Can't find a drink, oh man Where are my keys? I lost my phone, phone What's going on on the floor? I love this record baby but I can't see straight anymore Keep it cool, what's the name of this club? I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance Wish I could shut my playboy mouth, oh oh oh-oh How'd I turn my shirt inside out? Inside outright Control your poison babe, roses have thorns they say And we're all getting hosed tonight, oh oh oh-oh What's going on on the floor? I love this record baby but I can't see straight anymore Keep it cool, what's the name of this club? I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance Dance, dance, just, j-j-just When I come through on the dance floor checkin' out that catalog Can't believe my eyes, so many women without a flaw And I ain't gon' give it up, steady tryin' to pick it up like a car I'ma hit it, I'ma hit it and flex and do it until tomorr' yeah Shawty I can see that you got so much energy The way you're twirlin' up them hips 'round and 'round And now there's no reason at all why you can't leave here with me In the meantime stay and let me watch you break it down And dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance Woo! Let's go! Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic Got my blueprint, it's symphonic Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic Got my blueprint electronic Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic Got my blueprint, it's symphonic Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic Got my blueprint electronic Go! Use your muscle, carve it out, work it, hustle I got it, just stay close enough to get it Don't slow! Drive it, clean it, lights out, bleed it Spend the lasto (I got it) In your pocko (I got it) Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance
Haha, nevertheless we listened to it on the way to the ice skating rink, and it rang in our heads as we went, and the feeling of it seems captured in the pictures we took.
There's a silly game we play, you know, where you lose the game if you think about the game. We all thought about the game so many times that it's inevitable that looking back at the photos we will all think of it and lose again.
Oh, the bright green idiocity.
I want to go ice skating again in a bit. This was my first time in a few years, and right as I was getting the hang of it again, my legs and ankles were sore. But it was a nice day!
Zombie Attack, and Brødrene Løvehjerte
Eventually I did go to the common room last night, and we talked mostly about what we were going to do in case of a Zombie Attack. All of them were far more knowledgeable about zombies than I was, so I mostly sat the conversation out. (For example, I didn't know that you could be zombie infected before you turned into a zombie...) We decided to see whether there was roof access, and not to take the elevator. (We live in a 9 story building, not counting the floor to the roof, on the second floor). Wouldn't be so bad, except that as we passed the elevator it opened creepily (this was like one in the morning, so there wouldn't have been much normal traffic) and we all started muffle-screaming and running. Peter and Nate ran up all 10 stories. I made it up 8 before I had to change to a walk, and Tabitha and Laura made it up 6. Then we sat up there for a few minutes. The door was locked, so we decided that we would have all died at that point. Then we went back down. Our legs were mush the whole night, even after a few more hours of sitting and doing nothing. I was too tired to do flash cards, I quickly realized, as I could no longer interpret the grammatical shorthand on them. So those went away.
I tried to start reading Brødrene Løvehjerte, but that was equally hopeless. I could read the story, but I had no desire to really learn anything from it, so I decided to leave it for another day. Then we all had a discussion based on the first chapter about what we would do if our terminally ill brother, who would die in a few weeks, was in the third floor of a burning building. I felt like an evil, evil person, because I was the only person who said that they wouldn't go back in. Honestly, though, I've never been in a situation that extreme, but when I'm in a dangerous-stressful situation, I'm actually quite rational. And considering that he was terminally ill, that he was on the third floor, and that the building had already been burning a while - I really don't think I would do it. His being on the first floor might well change that, as would his not being terminally ill... :( And to the objections of my friends, no, of course I don't want him dying that way... but I don't want to die that way just so he can live two more weeks. If it was a whole lifetime we were talking about, or I had a higher chance of success, probably I would do it.
Then there was some gossip and a lot of talk about a tv show I had never seen, so I basically tuned out of those discussions as well. Then came a discussion about the official language of the United States, and I made a self discovery - I care surprisingly little about most hot topics. Or rather, it just exhausts me to debate them, because my points of view are so complicated, and because I know that what I think matters quite little. Take abortion. I wouldn't have an abortion. If I was under 15, or I was going to die in childbirth... yeah, I might consider it. I actually don't think rape would be a consideration for me, it's more about my health and the health of the baby. But what about other people's abortions? That's mostly what we're voting about. I can't really deny it to another person based on my personal beliefs. I guess that there are extremes at which I would be rather disgusted with the person for having one, but they are probably suffering because of their choice anyway... and I'm still not sure that a law is the best way to go about preventing them. The evidence is clear that people do it anyway.
Similarily, about the official language... I just don't care. We don't have an official language now, and I think that's fine. Languages change. I still remember my mom being freaked out once, because she was worried that Spanish would become to the official language, and she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone. Mother, dear mother, let's talk basics.
1.) Spanish will not become an official language before English.
2.) Spanish will not replace English, it will in most cases merely coexist alongside it.
3.) We already have Spanish written on most products, and signs at Walmart, etc, and it hasn't killed anyone.
4.) Plenty of countries have done just fine with multiple official languages.
5.) If Spanish ever does overtake English, it will take generations and generations and generations, because even if the majority speak a new language, a 'minority' old language can still hold much higher prestige that it is considered better and more official, at least for a while.
6.) If Spanish ever does overtake English, you will be dead, and your descendants who are affected will be speaking Spanish and not care.
7.) It would be a very, very stupid move for us to get rid of English, seeing as it is increasingly the global language.
8.) At the same time, it would possibly smart for us to all have to take a Spanish course in school (think Swedish in Finland, but more practical... because Spanish is spoken in so many countries).
So seriously, guys, just relax. There's really no way for this to happen in our lifetimes and against our wills.
I tried to start reading Brødrene Løvehjerte, but that was equally hopeless. I could read the story, but I had no desire to really learn anything from it, so I decided to leave it for another day. Then we all had a discussion based on the first chapter about what we would do if our terminally ill brother, who would die in a few weeks, was in the third floor of a burning building. I felt like an evil, evil person, because I was the only person who said that they wouldn't go back in. Honestly, though, I've never been in a situation that extreme, but when I'm in a dangerous-stressful situation, I'm actually quite rational. And considering that he was terminally ill, that he was on the third floor, and that the building had already been burning a while - I really don't think I would do it. His being on the first floor might well change that, as would his not being terminally ill... :( And to the objections of my friends, no, of course I don't want him dying that way... but I don't want to die that way just so he can live two more weeks. If it was a whole lifetime we were talking about, or I had a higher chance of success, probably I would do it.
Then there was some gossip and a lot of talk about a tv show I had never seen, so I basically tuned out of those discussions as well. Then came a discussion about the official language of the United States, and I made a self discovery - I care surprisingly little about most hot topics. Or rather, it just exhausts me to debate them, because my points of view are so complicated, and because I know that what I think matters quite little. Take abortion. I wouldn't have an abortion. If I was under 15, or I was going to die in childbirth... yeah, I might consider it. I actually don't think rape would be a consideration for me, it's more about my health and the health of the baby. But what about other people's abortions? That's mostly what we're voting about. I can't really deny it to another person based on my personal beliefs. I guess that there are extremes at which I would be rather disgusted with the person for having one, but they are probably suffering because of their choice anyway... and I'm still not sure that a law is the best way to go about preventing them. The evidence is clear that people do it anyway.
Similarily, about the official language... I just don't care. We don't have an official language now, and I think that's fine. Languages change. I still remember my mom being freaked out once, because she was worried that Spanish would become to the official language, and she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone. Mother, dear mother, let's talk basics.
1.) Spanish will not become an official language before English.
2.) Spanish will not replace English, it will in most cases merely coexist alongside it.
3.) We already have Spanish written on most products, and signs at Walmart, etc, and it hasn't killed anyone.
4.) Plenty of countries have done just fine with multiple official languages.
5.) If Spanish ever does overtake English, it will take generations and generations and generations, because even if the majority speak a new language, a 'minority' old language can still hold much higher prestige that it is considered better and more official, at least for a while.
6.) If Spanish ever does overtake English, you will be dead, and your descendants who are affected will be speaking Spanish and not care.
7.) It would be a very, very stupid move for us to get rid of English, seeing as it is increasingly the global language.
8.) At the same time, it would possibly smart for us to all have to take a Spanish course in school (think Swedish in Finland, but more practical... because Spanish is spoken in so many countries).
So seriously, guys, just relax. There's really no way for this to happen in our lifetimes and against our wills.
January 24, 2009
How I'm Feeling, If Anyone Cares ;)
I am in a zone of not caring and no emotions. I really am not upset or emo or anything, just detached, uninterested, and I can't help it, and I'm not trying to.
I've been in my room all day. I ate breakfast and a handful of pita-chips for dinner, but that's it. Tomorrow I'm going Ice Skating with friends, and last night we went to the rec center and went swimming. It's not as if I can't get out and do something. It's just that most things don't seem to be worth it.
I'm doing my class work. I'm going to class. It's all fine, I'm just disinterested. I don't feel like going out into the common room hardly at all. I guess you could say I don't like some of the furniture there. Especially the piece with the terrible hat.
But that's not all. It's a mixture of that and the family changes and who the hell knows what else. And to be honest all I consciously feel about it is guilty that I'm sitting around doing nothing. But I'm going to just go with it for a week or so and see if it works itself out.
I'm sitting on my bed with my back against the wall and the wall is positively shaking with strange songs and laughter and I can almost smell the alcohol from here. From the hallway I truly can. In the lounge they're all making conjectures about what's going on in there, with funny little grins on their faces. And I wonder, I truly do wonder who is happiest.
I've been in my room all day. I ate breakfast and a handful of pita-chips for dinner, but that's it. Tomorrow I'm going Ice Skating with friends, and last night we went to the rec center and went swimming. It's not as if I can't get out and do something. It's just that most things don't seem to be worth it.
I'm doing my class work. I'm going to class. It's all fine, I'm just disinterested. I don't feel like going out into the common room hardly at all. I guess you could say I don't like some of the furniture there. Especially the piece with the terrible hat.
But that's not all. It's a mixture of that and the family changes and who the hell knows what else. And to be honest all I consciously feel about it is guilty that I'm sitting around doing nothing. But I'm going to just go with it for a week or so and see if it works itself out.
I'm sitting on my bed with my back against the wall and the wall is positively shaking with strange songs and laughter and I can almost smell the alcohol from here. From the hallway I truly can. In the lounge they're all making conjectures about what's going on in there, with funny little grins on their faces. And I wonder, I truly do wonder who is happiest.
January 23, 2009
Mio, Min Mio: Update Three
This is long overdue. :) But I got back to school and things got crazy, so here it is now, almost a week after I finished the project. When I wrote the last update, Mio and Jum Jum had entered the Land Beyond, although I had only summarized their decision to go there. I started reading again on the plane ride to Florida, and then I just couldn't stop or bother to look up vocab. I zipped through the last third of the book and finished just about as we landed. Then I had to go back and do all the vocab, which took like three times as long as the reading itself. :) But I still think that going through it this way is worthwhile.
Mio and Jum Jum travel into Mordor. I mean, the Land Beyond, of course. ;) There were actually a number of similarities between the two, even above and beyond that they are both places corrupted by complete and irredeemable evil, and that the authors must have had similar ideas about what such a corrupted place would look like. Bad water, dead seas/marshes/forests, dark hard mountains, stony plains.... But the most copy-cat of all the passages was this, when they are looking up at the EVIL KNIGHT KATO's fortress. (Borg sounds even cooler, though. ;))
Det lignet et ondt øye, det vinduet, et rødt, uhyggelig og skrekkelig øye som stirret ut i natten og ville oss vondt.
My translation: It looked like an evil eye, that window, a red, unpleasant and scary* eye which stared out in the night and willed us harm.
* - I think the Norwegian words here are a bit better than 'unpleasant and scary', but those are the most accurate.
Compare that to this:
But Mordor has it's volcano, and likewise the Land Beyond has a few features of it's own. One of these are the Forheksede Fuglene - The Cursed Birds. They fly over the dark and wild water of the dead sea constantly, with dead eyes and crying out mournfully. We find out that most of the children the Evil Knight Kato took were turned into these birds.
Mio and Jum Jum are lucky enough to meet one of the friendly (actually not being sarcastic here) residents of the Land Beyond early on. They hear someone moaning and groaning that they are starving to death, and follow the voice (it's apparently very dark and hard to see, so that they can hear a soft voice long before they see the house it's coming from) to a little shack that's falling apart. There's an old man inside, who is referred to as Gamling - Old Man, but it's so cute, like Oldling, until we find out that his name is Eno. Mio and Jum Jum give him some bread, and so he tells them that they have to be super careful, because most people here are evil (really?), and that there are many evil spies, but that there are still some good people, including a guy who can give them a sword. They will find him in the deepest hole in the blackest mountain, after they pass through the dead forest.
When they leave Eno, (we are treated on the last page of his part to an illustration of him, in a little pinstripe suit, and I couldn't help but laugh, or wonder where he had gotten his clothes in that awful land), Mio and Jum Jum see Miramis getting stolen, and Mio has a difficult moment trying to decide between calling out and making an attempt to save his horse, or watching Miramis taken away to some bad fate while he only watches, thereby saving himself. Of course he must pick the latter, because the former would help no one, but it's still a difficult decision, and he cries, and the two of them are very disheartened as they carry on with their quest.
In the dead forest we first become aware of two patterns that are to be repeated again and again in the Land Beyond section of the book. One is that Jum Jum will take up two lines to make a statement to the effect of,
"If only the way hadn't been so hard, if only the forest hadn't been so dark and awful, if only we hadn't been so small and alone!"
He changes the specifics depending on what part of the realm they are working their way through, and sometimes, without a clear pattern, alone is switched with 'afraid'. I estimate that he says this about 8 times.
The other pattern is that right when Mio and Jum Jum are about to get caught, the landscape itself seems to interfere to save them. For example, a hole in a large tree might open up for them to scurry inside of before the spies pass by. This sort of thing is common enough in fantasy, but what is really striking and repetitious about it in Mio, Min Mio is that it's handled with two somewhat lengthy passages each time, and these passages resemble one another very closely, with the specifics of course switched out.
First they are about to get caught, and make a remark about it being the end, and shivering close together. "And then something strange happened". They are delivered, the confusion of the enemies may or may not be elaborated upon, and then, as they leave their hiding place, Mio reflects upon why they were helped. It looks something like this:
"It was as if the earth (forest, sea, mountain, you name it) itself had helped them. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was that the earth too hated the evil knight Kato. Perhaps it had once been covered in soft green grasses that the wind rustled through at night, and was wet with dew in the mornings. It seems to me that the earth could never forgive someone who had burnt away it's soft green grass.
Thank you, nice earth, I said, but it was still."
This formula is repeated for the trees in the forest, the earth, the mountain, the ocean, and the cliff wall.
Myself I felt ambiguous towards this repetition. I can imagine some advantages to doing it this way, for example that it is a device commonly employed in folktales, so it made it more like a legend, but it did throw me out of the story, which is a no-no. :) I wonder if reading it as an older reader and reading it in a foreign language slowed me down and made me overthink it significantly enough that a younger, native reader would not have been bothered.
In the mountain they get lost and have to play their flutes to find each other again, which leads to a nice line:
"Den lød så ren og vakker der inne i det svarte berget, nesten vakrene enn på Grønne Engers Øy."
"It sounded so pure and beautiful in the dark mountain, almost more beautiful than it had on the Island of Green Meadows."
Then they meet a guy who looks like Gimli. You can really feel his growling that shakes the entire mountain, and his anger and frustration at having been kept chained in a cave for thousands and thousands of years. They are extraordinarily fond of that saying, btw, and it frustrated me that the lifespan of the inhabitants of the world are never defined. They think thousands and thousands of years is a very long time, but not as much as we do, and it seems like some characters, like this one and the weaver woman, have lived that long without anyone thinking it odd. This is something that bothers me a lot because I like to write stories, and I like to know how the system works in other stories, but all in all tis a minor thing.
The swordsmith gives them a sword that he has been forging for thousands and thousands of years, but has just finished tonight. It can cut through stone, and therefore it is the only sword that can kill the EVIL KNIGHT KATO, who we finally learn something about. He has a heart of stone, that must be cut through with this sword to defeat him. And he is missing one of his hands, so in its place he has a claw of iron.
The best line in this section is when Mio asks the swordsmith why he is yelling 'death to the Evil Knight Kato' when he is Knight Kato's swordsmith, and the swordsmith roars,
"Fordi ingen hater Ridder Kato så mye som hans egen sverdsmed gjør."
"Because no one hates Knight Kato as much as his own swordsmith does."
Mio and Jum Jum escape from the mountain through a passage the swordsmith has dug through the mountain and to a narrow inlet in the sea, with a little boat there. They take the boat to the fortress (the crazy waves first seem to want to kill them, but later appear to have helped them get to the fortress).
I have to say that this chapter, Den Dypeste Hulen i Det Svarteste Berget (The Deepest Hole in the Blackest Mountain) was not my favourite. Most of it was simply puzzling for me, and not entirely because of language.
- Why did Eno tell Mio and Jum Jum that they had to go through the dead forest to get to the deepest hole in the blackest mountain, when after they go through the forest they realize that the have gone in a circle, and end up back at Eno's house... and just happen to be by the deepest hole in the blackest mountain?
- The mountain opens up and lets them in to save them from the spies. Or does it? It also leads to the deepest hole in the blackest mountain. It seems awfully plot devicish to tie these two plot ends together like that.
- There is a weak light in the mountain that just barely allows them to see a few feet ahead of themselves. They later find out that it is coming from the swordsmiths forge. But even the light from a huge fire only goes so far through winding cave passages, and they wandered for hours looking for the forge.
- The swordsmith is really hard to find through the mountain tunnels - so difficult to find, in fact, that another plot device (the dwarf's secret passage) allows them to get out quickly and takes them to the fortress. More about that later, but the secret passage is, by its nature, hidden from Knight Kato - so how does he get his swords? Does he send his slaves in through the twisty narrow passages? This is completely impossible if we assume that going through the side of the mountain is the only way into the passages, and only slightly more possible (still very implausible) if it has a normal cave entrance. I daresay if it had had an entrance close to the forge, Mio and Jum Jum would have found it, based on the account given of their wandering.
- Okay, so let's assume the implausible - that Knight Kato sends some slaves in through these winding and twisting passages to get his swords. Kato has still been to see the dwarf there at least once, because he chained him there himself. So are you telling me that Kato crawled on his belly in order to get there? (Mio and Jum Jum are young boys, and they couldn't always walk upright in the passages... :() Not buying it.
- The dwarf's secret passage I really don't buy at all. I guess that he has had 'thousands and thousands of years', but still... the whole idea, that although he is chained up and can never come out of his chains while Knight Kato lives, he nevertheless, straining the chains as far as they will go, manages to tunnel through the mountain all the way to the sea, and somehow obtains a little boat to keep there. ??? Even Mio and Jum Jum seem to find this a bit strange, as they ask "Why do you have a boat if you can't row it?" To which the dwarf replies, "I can too row. I stretch my chains really, really far, and I can row one or two boatlengths". Yeah, see, that doesn't quite count as properly rowing to me. I tried hard to work with the idea. The tunneling, picky logistics aside (which way is the ocean?), would permit him to get fresh air and see the sky and touch the sea. These are all desirable things, so I guess he has a motive. But where does he get the boat, and why? I tried to imagine that he might lay down in the boat, looking up at the sky, and feeling the water beneath him, or something like that... but given how nasty the ocean is there, and everything, it just doesn't make sense. Also, it's implied that he has very little leisure time, and if Knight Kato hasn't heard about his secret passage\inlet\boat, then he must not be spending a lot of time there, or he'd be caught.
This next chapter is called A Claw of Iron to remind you about Knight Kato's missing hand and replacement claw.
Once Mio and Jum Jum are at Knight Kato's Fortress, (Ridder Katos Borg, darnit, and it's getting harder and harder to translate things into English when I think of them in Norwegian, haha!), they must scale a cliff. This is tricky, and when they are right at the top the spies come by again. By now we know that Knight Kato suspects that Mio is here to fulfill the prophecy, and he is worried. The spies start looking with a torch over the edge of the cliff, but right before they see Mio and Jum Jum, just when I fully expected the cliff to make a new ledge right above them, something unusually unusual happens. The cursed birds fly up at the spy and one knocks the torch out of his hand. This breaks from the usual help from nature pattern in two ways - we know that these are no ordinary birds, but cursed children - and the bird that flew into the torch catches on fire, and then sinks into the waves, dead...
Continuing on, Mio and Jum Jum enter the fortress and climb a really awful staircase. One pattern I forgot to mention before is that Mio occasionally (3 or 4 times) will say that it is "the kind of staircase you sometimes dream of, where stairs disappear and trapdoors open and send you to your death, etc", and things to that end. It's a creepy staircase that goes up and up and Jum Jum says that he's afraid at one point, and when Mio turns, Jum Jum is gone. This is a creepy part, because Mio can't even shout for Jum Jum, or he will be caught. Mio is very, very upset and continues alone, but he doesn't see that the stairs end (it is dark), and so he falls, and just manages to hold onto the edge. He waits there a while, and then hears Jum Jum telling him to take his hand so he can help him up. He does this, then realizes that the extended 'hand' was something else entirely - A Claw of Iron.
Cliffhanger! :O
The exciting conclusion to our story comes with the last update. :D
Mio and Jum Jum travel into Mordor. I mean, the Land Beyond, of course. ;) There were actually a number of similarities between the two, even above and beyond that they are both places corrupted by complete and irredeemable evil, and that the authors must have had similar ideas about what such a corrupted place would look like. Bad water, dead seas/marshes/forests, dark hard mountains, stony plains.... But the most copy-cat of all the passages was this, when they are looking up at the EVIL KNIGHT KATO's fortress. (Borg sounds even cooler, though. ;))
Det lignet et ondt øye, det vinduet, et rødt, uhyggelig og skrekkelig øye som stirret ut i natten og ville oss vondt.
My translation: It looked like an evil eye, that window, a red, unpleasant and scary* eye which stared out in the night and willed us harm.
* - I think the Norwegian words here are a bit better than 'unpleasant and scary', but those are the most accurate.
Compare that to this:
But Mordor has it's volcano, and likewise the Land Beyond has a few features of it's own. One of these are the Forheksede Fuglene - The Cursed Birds. They fly over the dark and wild water of the dead sea constantly, with dead eyes and crying out mournfully. We find out that most of the children the Evil Knight Kato took were turned into these birds.
Mio and Jum Jum are lucky enough to meet one of the friendly (actually not being sarcastic here) residents of the Land Beyond early on. They hear someone moaning and groaning that they are starving to death, and follow the voice (it's apparently very dark and hard to see, so that they can hear a soft voice long before they see the house it's coming from) to a little shack that's falling apart. There's an old man inside, who is referred to as Gamling - Old Man, but it's so cute, like Oldling, until we find out that his name is Eno. Mio and Jum Jum give him some bread, and so he tells them that they have to be super careful, because most people here are evil (really?), and that there are many evil spies, but that there are still some good people, including a guy who can give them a sword. They will find him in the deepest hole in the blackest mountain, after they pass through the dead forest.
When they leave Eno, (we are treated on the last page of his part to an illustration of him, in a little pinstripe suit, and I couldn't help but laugh, or wonder where he had gotten his clothes in that awful land), Mio and Jum Jum see Miramis getting stolen, and Mio has a difficult moment trying to decide between calling out and making an attempt to save his horse, or watching Miramis taken away to some bad fate while he only watches, thereby saving himself. Of course he must pick the latter, because the former would help no one, but it's still a difficult decision, and he cries, and the two of them are very disheartened as they carry on with their quest.
In the dead forest we first become aware of two patterns that are to be repeated again and again in the Land Beyond section of the book. One is that Jum Jum will take up two lines to make a statement to the effect of,
"If only the way hadn't been so hard, if only the forest hadn't been so dark and awful, if only we hadn't been so small and alone!"
He changes the specifics depending on what part of the realm they are working their way through, and sometimes, without a clear pattern, alone is switched with 'afraid'. I estimate that he says this about 8 times.
The other pattern is that right when Mio and Jum Jum are about to get caught, the landscape itself seems to interfere to save them. For example, a hole in a large tree might open up for them to scurry inside of before the spies pass by. This sort of thing is common enough in fantasy, but what is really striking and repetitious about it in Mio, Min Mio is that it's handled with two somewhat lengthy passages each time, and these passages resemble one another very closely, with the specifics of course switched out.
First they are about to get caught, and make a remark about it being the end, and shivering close together. "And then something strange happened". They are delivered, the confusion of the enemies may or may not be elaborated upon, and then, as they leave their hiding place, Mio reflects upon why they were helped. It looks something like this:
"It was as if the earth (forest, sea, mountain, you name it) itself had helped them. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was that the earth too hated the evil knight Kato. Perhaps it had once been covered in soft green grasses that the wind rustled through at night, and was wet with dew in the mornings. It seems to me that the earth could never forgive someone who had burnt away it's soft green grass.
Thank you, nice earth, I said, but it was still."
This formula is repeated for the trees in the forest, the earth, the mountain, the ocean, and the cliff wall.
Myself I felt ambiguous towards this repetition. I can imagine some advantages to doing it this way, for example that it is a device commonly employed in folktales, so it made it more like a legend, but it did throw me out of the story, which is a no-no. :) I wonder if reading it as an older reader and reading it in a foreign language slowed me down and made me overthink it significantly enough that a younger, native reader would not have been bothered.
In the mountain they get lost and have to play their flutes to find each other again, which leads to a nice line:
"Den lød så ren og vakker der inne i det svarte berget, nesten vakrene enn på Grønne Engers Øy."
"It sounded so pure and beautiful in the dark mountain, almost more beautiful than it had on the Island of Green Meadows."
Then they meet a guy who looks like Gimli. You can really feel his growling that shakes the entire mountain, and his anger and frustration at having been kept chained in a cave for thousands and thousands of years. They are extraordinarily fond of that saying, btw, and it frustrated me that the lifespan of the inhabitants of the world are never defined. They think thousands and thousands of years is a very long time, but not as much as we do, and it seems like some characters, like this one and the weaver woman, have lived that long without anyone thinking it odd. This is something that bothers me a lot because I like to write stories, and I like to know how the system works in other stories, but all in all tis a minor thing.
The swordsmith gives them a sword that he has been forging for thousands and thousands of years, but has just finished tonight. It can cut through stone, and therefore it is the only sword that can kill the EVIL KNIGHT KATO, who we finally learn something about. He has a heart of stone, that must be cut through with this sword to defeat him. And he is missing one of his hands, so in its place he has a claw of iron.
The best line in this section is when Mio asks the swordsmith why he is yelling 'death to the Evil Knight Kato' when he is Knight Kato's swordsmith, and the swordsmith roars,
"Fordi ingen hater Ridder Kato så mye som hans egen sverdsmed gjør."
"Because no one hates Knight Kato as much as his own swordsmith does."
Mio and Jum Jum escape from the mountain through a passage the swordsmith has dug through the mountain and to a narrow inlet in the sea, with a little boat there. They take the boat to the fortress (the crazy waves first seem to want to kill them, but later appear to have helped them get to the fortress).
I have to say that this chapter, Den Dypeste Hulen i Det Svarteste Berget (The Deepest Hole in the Blackest Mountain) was not my favourite. Most of it was simply puzzling for me, and not entirely because of language.
- Why did Eno tell Mio and Jum Jum that they had to go through the dead forest to get to the deepest hole in the blackest mountain, when after they go through the forest they realize that the have gone in a circle, and end up back at Eno's house... and just happen to be by the deepest hole in the blackest mountain?
- The mountain opens up and lets them in to save them from the spies. Or does it? It also leads to the deepest hole in the blackest mountain. It seems awfully plot devicish to tie these two plot ends together like that.
- There is a weak light in the mountain that just barely allows them to see a few feet ahead of themselves. They later find out that it is coming from the swordsmiths forge. But even the light from a huge fire only goes so far through winding cave passages, and they wandered for hours looking for the forge.
- The swordsmith is really hard to find through the mountain tunnels - so difficult to find, in fact, that another plot device (the dwarf's secret passage) allows them to get out quickly and takes them to the fortress. More about that later, but the secret passage is, by its nature, hidden from Knight Kato - so how does he get his swords? Does he send his slaves in through the twisty narrow passages? This is completely impossible if we assume that going through the side of the mountain is the only way into the passages, and only slightly more possible (still very implausible) if it has a normal cave entrance. I daresay if it had had an entrance close to the forge, Mio and Jum Jum would have found it, based on the account given of their wandering.
- Okay, so let's assume the implausible - that Knight Kato sends some slaves in through these winding and twisting passages to get his swords. Kato has still been to see the dwarf there at least once, because he chained him there himself. So are you telling me that Kato crawled on his belly in order to get there? (Mio and Jum Jum are young boys, and they couldn't always walk upright in the passages... :() Not buying it.
- The dwarf's secret passage I really don't buy at all. I guess that he has had 'thousands and thousands of years', but still... the whole idea, that although he is chained up and can never come out of his chains while Knight Kato lives, he nevertheless, straining the chains as far as they will go, manages to tunnel through the mountain all the way to the sea, and somehow obtains a little boat to keep there. ??? Even Mio and Jum Jum seem to find this a bit strange, as they ask "Why do you have a boat if you can't row it?" To which the dwarf replies, "I can too row. I stretch my chains really, really far, and I can row one or two boatlengths". Yeah, see, that doesn't quite count as properly rowing to me. I tried hard to work with the idea. The tunneling, picky logistics aside (which way is the ocean?), would permit him to get fresh air and see the sky and touch the sea. These are all desirable things, so I guess he has a motive. But where does he get the boat, and why? I tried to imagine that he might lay down in the boat, looking up at the sky, and feeling the water beneath him, or something like that... but given how nasty the ocean is there, and everything, it just doesn't make sense. Also, it's implied that he has very little leisure time, and if Knight Kato hasn't heard about his secret passage\inlet\boat, then he must not be spending a lot of time there, or he'd be caught.
This next chapter is called A Claw of Iron to remind you about Knight Kato's missing hand and replacement claw.
Once Mio and Jum Jum are at Knight Kato's Fortress, (Ridder Katos Borg, darnit, and it's getting harder and harder to translate things into English when I think of them in Norwegian, haha!), they must scale a cliff. This is tricky, and when they are right at the top the spies come by again. By now we know that Knight Kato suspects that Mio is here to fulfill the prophecy, and he is worried. The spies start looking with a torch over the edge of the cliff, but right before they see Mio and Jum Jum, just when I fully expected the cliff to make a new ledge right above them, something unusually unusual happens. The cursed birds fly up at the spy and one knocks the torch out of his hand. This breaks from the usual help from nature pattern in two ways - we know that these are no ordinary birds, but cursed children - and the bird that flew into the torch catches on fire, and then sinks into the waves, dead...
Continuing on, Mio and Jum Jum enter the fortress and climb a really awful staircase. One pattern I forgot to mention before is that Mio occasionally (3 or 4 times) will say that it is "the kind of staircase you sometimes dream of, where stairs disappear and trapdoors open and send you to your death, etc", and things to that end. It's a creepy staircase that goes up and up and Jum Jum says that he's afraid at one point, and when Mio turns, Jum Jum is gone. This is a creepy part, because Mio can't even shout for Jum Jum, or he will be caught. Mio is very, very upset and continues alone, but he doesn't see that the stairs end (it is dark), and so he falls, and just manages to hold onto the edge. He waits there a while, and then hears Jum Jum telling him to take his hand so he can help him up. He does this, then realizes that the extended 'hand' was something else entirely - A Claw of Iron.
Cliffhanger! :O
The exciting conclusion to our story comes with the last update. :D
Fun with Clustermaps
As you may have noticed, I added a little map that keeps track of where in the world my visitors live. It's fun to see little dots pop up here and there, wondering what attracted them, and I've identified most of the big spots as friends. But maybe the person responsible for many of the 48 Great Britain visits and the one responsible for the 9 in Southeastern Norway might want to introduce themselves? XD
You're so Drive...
Last night Mimi and Richard came in to see Mayumi and I after going to the club, and they seemed a bit drunk here and there, but they kept stating emphatically that they weren't, and I actually believe them, because Mimi is just that way, and you could kind of tell that Richard was playing around. But while we were all laughing and talking, someone asked if we knew our next door neighbor, that they left their key in their door. That would be Mitsuki, also recently returned from the club, who came in next after Mimi and Richard left.
Mitsuki has this beautiful full moon face, but when she has been drinking, her nose and eyes look kind of squinty and her face is red, the same as when she cries. So she looked like that, and Mayumi asked her if she was drunk, and she said that she wasn't, she had only had four drinks. Now, Mitsuki can't weigh more than 10 pounds more than I do, and I know from that chart they always push at us that I'm legally over the driving limit after one drink.
So I laughed and said, "Mitsuki, what do you mean? You've already had four times more than you could drink and drive!"
And she got really confused, and kept saying, "No, I didn't drive! I didn't drive!"
But Mayumi got it, and Mitsuki's English is very good, better than Mayumi's, so I knew she was drunk right then because it's always the other way around. Then Mitsuki, trying to figure it out, started asking, "Drive? I am not drive? What? I don't know drive?" And then somehow Mayumi and I made eye contact and decided to have a little fun, so we started saying,
"Yeah you are, you don't know it because you're so drive, go to bed, you're too drive," stuff like that. She leaned over and took Mayumi's electronic dictionary, typed in drive, and started saying, "No, no, it's not here, there is only verb!" And we teased her a few minutes and then told her the truth.
It was really funny
^^
Mitsuki has this beautiful full moon face, but when she has been drinking, her nose and eyes look kind of squinty and her face is red, the same as when she cries. So she looked like that, and Mayumi asked her if she was drunk, and she said that she wasn't, she had only had four drinks. Now, Mitsuki can't weigh more than 10 pounds more than I do, and I know from that chart they always push at us that I'm legally over the driving limit after one drink.
So I laughed and said, "Mitsuki, what do you mean? You've already had four times more than you could drink and drive!"
And she got really confused, and kept saying, "No, I didn't drive! I didn't drive!"
But Mayumi got it, and Mitsuki's English is very good, better than Mayumi's, so I knew she was drunk right then because it's always the other way around. Then Mitsuki, trying to figure it out, started asking, "Drive? I am not drive? What? I don't know drive?" And then somehow Mayumi and I made eye contact and decided to have a little fun, so we started saying,
"Yeah you are, you don't know it because you're so drive, go to bed, you're too drive," stuff like that. She leaned over and took Mayumi's electronic dictionary, typed in drive, and started saying, "No, no, it's not here, there is only verb!" And we teased her a few minutes and then told her the truth.
It was really funny
^^
January 22, 2009
Video Game Comic Strip Class
After showing Mayumi a funny comic strip that shows what happens with Kirby tries to eat ordinary food....
Mayumi: "Okay, now, study!"
Miranda: "But I am studying! This is Video Game Class!"
Mayumi: "Oh yes, I hear that it is very difficult class!"
Miranda: "Yes, Video Game Comic Strip Class"
Mayumi: "It is 8000 level class!"
Miranda: "Yes, I am the first Freshman ever to take it."
Mayumi, with pure adoration shining in her eyes: "Wow, it is historical event, now!"
<3 for Mayumi.
Mayumi: "Okay, now, study!"
Miranda: "But I am studying! This is Video Game Class!"
Mayumi: "Oh yes, I hear that it is very difficult class!"
Miranda: "Yes, Video Game Comic Strip Class"
Mayumi: "It is 8000 level class!"
Miranda: "Yes, I am the first Freshman ever to take it."
Mayumi, with pure adoration shining in her eyes: "Wow, it is historical event, now!"
<3 for Mayumi.
Deutsch, Deutsch, Und Mehr Deutsch
Yesterday I had four classes, which means that I've now gone through all of the dreaded class introductions. What does it say about me, I wonder, that even two years ago, I looked forward to class introduction day as being predictable and easy and just a matter of zoning out in a big class or trying to make a good impression in a small one, whereas today I want it over with... I want to get to the meat, even in Statistics and other classes I'm less than thrilled about.
Still. My Statistics teacher seems great. He's funny, and our T.A. is nice, and what else could you ask for in a class you just need to get through? Career Explorations in Journalism is the kind of filler fluff I had expected, except that I had expected it to be in a small group setting, and it's definitely a lecture hall. That leaves Spanish and German. The Spanish teacher I had met before - he was a sub for us once last semester, and he scared us all with his fast, difficult to decipher Spanish and his lack of patience with us. I was worried, but I found myself warming to him a bit the first day, so it can be hoped that that trend will continue. He may have a manner that makes people think they are under-performing without meaning to - I know Altadonna did, and I grew to adore her. :) I also figured out his Spanish - he's from Cameroon, grew up speaking his tribal language and French, and added English and Spanish later on. Strangely, while his accent (and voice) was a lot harder to understand than my high school teachers or even Monica, from last semester, I found myself starting to like it. It had a sort of wet, tropical warmth to it, if that makes any sense. A few of the peculiarities reminded me a bit of Costa Rican Spanish, although there was none of their tendency to sound like chickens now and then. :) We'll see how that goes.
Then there was Deutsch, Deutsch, und mehr Deutsch. I was really worried about that class, because I only took levels 1,2, and 3 in high school, and I only consider year 3 to be of any real merit - in levels 1 and 2 in high school you are still dealing with the masses who just need their language credit, and don't care, and it moves SOOO slowly. I learned more Spanish in year 4, for example, than 1 and 2 combined. So yes, year 3 in high school counts as year 1 in University, but instead of lining up for year 2 (Beginning German 2), I signed up, based on a computer exam, for year 5 (Intermediate German 2: Language and Culture). In the back of my mind, the utter failures I've experienced the last 3 times I've tried to speak German were buzzing like flies.
The first time I opened my mouth, "Uch" came out. I almost clamped my hands over my mouth, horrified. I had meant, of course, to say "Ich". But I swallowed and started over, with Ich. And things went, slowly, but steadily. My mistakes were drilling themselves into my skull, I could only hear them once they were freed into the air, but the words kept coming, slowly and steadily, out of my mouth. And I only went into Norwegian once, just once, like walking quickly on wet sand and letting your foot sink a little too deep with one step.
"Ich habe zwei gang in Deutschland gewesen."
A bit of confusion registered on my speaking partners face, so I quickly altered my statement.
"Ich habe zwei MAL in Deutschland gewesen."
Understanding returned. The teacher seems very nice. The students seem nice. There's an interesting mix, with the omnipresent white afro and the somewhat unusual adult student both making their appearances in our small class of seven. They have all had the normal amount of German that precedes getting to this class.
So I stayed late, and asked the teacher:
"Ich habe eine kleine Frage... Ich verstehe Sie gut, aber... spreche ich gut genug, für diese Klasse?"
"Ja ja," she said, "Keine Frage!"
So I felt good. :D I still think that I won't be the best student in the class. I still think that I won't be able to approach each assignment with my cocky, 'what can I do to make this more interesting and mine?' attitude that I employ for Spanish and employed in high school German and occasionally in English, when I had some free time. No, I'll be hopping just to get a good grade in the class. But I think I can do it, I think I am in the right place.
Still. My Statistics teacher seems great. He's funny, and our T.A. is nice, and what else could you ask for in a class you just need to get through? Career Explorations in Journalism is the kind of filler fluff I had expected, except that I had expected it to be in a small group setting, and it's definitely a lecture hall. That leaves Spanish and German. The Spanish teacher I had met before - he was a sub for us once last semester, and he scared us all with his fast, difficult to decipher Spanish and his lack of patience with us. I was worried, but I found myself warming to him a bit the first day, so it can be hoped that that trend will continue. He may have a manner that makes people think they are under-performing without meaning to - I know Altadonna did, and I grew to adore her. :) I also figured out his Spanish - he's from Cameroon, grew up speaking his tribal language and French, and added English and Spanish later on. Strangely, while his accent (and voice) was a lot harder to understand than my high school teachers or even Monica, from last semester, I found myself starting to like it. It had a sort of wet, tropical warmth to it, if that makes any sense. A few of the peculiarities reminded me a bit of Costa Rican Spanish, although there was none of their tendency to sound like chickens now and then. :) We'll see how that goes.
Then there was Deutsch, Deutsch, und mehr Deutsch. I was really worried about that class, because I only took levels 1,2, and 3 in high school, and I only consider year 3 to be of any real merit - in levels 1 and 2 in high school you are still dealing with the masses who just need their language credit, and don't care, and it moves SOOO slowly. I learned more Spanish in year 4, for example, than 1 and 2 combined. So yes, year 3 in high school counts as year 1 in University, but instead of lining up for year 2 (Beginning German 2), I signed up, based on a computer exam, for year 5 (Intermediate German 2: Language and Culture). In the back of my mind, the utter failures I've experienced the last 3 times I've tried to speak German were buzzing like flies.
The first time I opened my mouth, "Uch" came out. I almost clamped my hands over my mouth, horrified. I had meant, of course, to say "Ich". But I swallowed and started over, with Ich. And things went, slowly, but steadily. My mistakes were drilling themselves into my skull, I could only hear them once they were freed into the air, but the words kept coming, slowly and steadily, out of my mouth. And I only went into Norwegian once, just once, like walking quickly on wet sand and letting your foot sink a little too deep with one step.
"Ich habe zwei gang in Deutschland gewesen."
A bit of confusion registered on my speaking partners face, so I quickly altered my statement.
"Ich habe zwei MAL in Deutschland gewesen."
Understanding returned. The teacher seems very nice. The students seem nice. There's an interesting mix, with the omnipresent white afro and the somewhat unusual adult student both making their appearances in our small class of seven. They have all had the normal amount of German that precedes getting to this class.
So I stayed late, and asked the teacher:
"Ich habe eine kleine Frage... Ich verstehe Sie gut, aber... spreche ich gut genug, für diese Klasse?"
"Ja ja," she said, "Keine Frage!"
So I felt good. :D I still think that I won't be the best student in the class. I still think that I won't be able to approach each assignment with my cocky, 'what can I do to make this more interesting and mine?' attitude that I employ for Spanish and employed in high school German and occasionally in English, when I had some free time. No, I'll be hopping just to get a good grade in the class. But I think I can do it, I think I am in the right place.
I've Got a New Plan
I've got a new plan for the summer and that means I am happy. :D As long as I have something to work for, I feel good, as a rule. I have my main plan and my back up plan, and I need to talk to parents about both/either, but it should be fun. :)
January 21, 2009
Meh
I am kicking myself for being so upset by all of this. I'm awfully spoiled, and anyways, it's not as if I haven't experienced drier periods. I just feel rather alone - because this move will not only separate me from my family, it will also separate me from old friends... and as only deeper relationships have real meaning to me, I have to spend a while utterly rootless.
But aside from that, what's getting to me is that it's just a spell in the twilight zone between a challenge and a wonderful, exciting time. Either one I can deal with, but the space in between is hard. :(
I suppose I'll deal with it by studying harder... Keeping busy. :)
But aside from that, what's getting to me is that it's just a spell in the twilight zone between a challenge and a wonderful, exciting time. Either one I can deal with, but the space in between is hard. :(
I suppose I'll deal with it by studying harder... Keeping busy. :)
Family's Move
I just feel like things are about to get really hard for me, and even though I understand the reasons for it I still feel... I don't know the word for it, just that - I came to Mizzou mostly for my mom's sake, so that it would be close. She lured me in by promising that we could go to the lake easily, etc... And now, if they leave, I'm here alone, without a car, with all my stuff in a lonely damp storage bay in Camdenton. The whole spirit and life and homeliness of Missouri will be gone, leaving me with... ???
It doesn't help that she's cancelled the cruise, either. Especially not when Christmas was lighter in preparation for it, and we cancelled or went without two or three vacations in preparation for it... and honestly, it would be easier for me if it was an economy thing, but instead I just feel like...
Why now?
All predictions seem to be that Florida will stay down for a while. If they waited one more year, Mel would finish high school here, I would be studying abroad and would never be in the awkward situation of being here without a car, we could afford the cruise, the uncertainty with my Dad's income would be mostly dissipated, etc, etc.
I know we'll make it work as it is, but it's just a lot to digest, all at once.
And I know a lot of people live away from their families for college, I know that, but there are two things they have that I don't:
1.) That sense of adventure and newfound independence, the change of scenery, the whole feeling of going away to college.
2.) Their family's home is still their home, they still have their bedroom with all of their things in it...
It doesn't help that she's cancelled the cruise, either. Especially not when Christmas was lighter in preparation for it, and we cancelled or went without two or three vacations in preparation for it... and honestly, it would be easier for me if it was an economy thing, but instead I just feel like...
Why now?
All predictions seem to be that Florida will stay down for a while. If they waited one more year, Mel would finish high school here, I would be studying abroad and would never be in the awkward situation of being here without a car, we could afford the cruise, the uncertainty with my Dad's income would be mostly dissipated, etc, etc.
I know we'll make it work as it is, but it's just a lot to digest, all at once.
And I know a lot of people live away from their families for college, I know that, but there are two things they have that I don't:
1.) That sense of adventure and newfound independence, the change of scenery, the whole feeling of going away to college.
2.) Their family's home is still their home, they still have their bedroom with all of their things in it...
"Denmark is a Happy but Expensive Place"
The Post Dispatch had a bit about Denmark in the travel section a few months ago. "Denmark is a Happy but Expensive Place" was well written and thoughtful, though a bit sparse on descriptions for my liking - but the author is male, after all, so what can you expect? :D It reaffirms that travel journalism is what I want to do with my life. ;)
Rick Steves, the author, briefly describes Legoland, and the cute, 'miniature golf' feeling of Denmark, before moving into an analysis of the culture. "I've been wondering how the Danes pull it off," he writes. "I think their success relates to handling the "free rider" problem through their social contract. Danes seem to keep in mind the consequences of free riders - If I do it, I can get away with it, but if everyone does it, the system will collapse. They do things considering what would happen to their society if everyone cheated on this, sued someone for that, took advantage of that technicality, or ignored a rule there. Europeans trade 'individualism' for 'socialism'. The Danes seem to take it to an extreme... But I am intrigued."
Other nice bits:
"In Denmark you have to work quite hard to find a crack to fall through. A few people with alcohol problems manage to be homeless. Yes, we are the most contented people."
"We Danes believe a family's economic status should have nothing to do with the quality of the health care or the education their children receive."
"The society is designed in a way that encourages people to use less, chew slower and just sip things."
And I learned that the Danes write "Tak for Alt" on tombstones. Awww! :,)
Rick Steves, the author, briefly describes Legoland, and the cute, 'miniature golf' feeling of Denmark, before moving into an analysis of the culture. "I've been wondering how the Danes pull it off," he writes. "I think their success relates to handling the "free rider" problem through their social contract. Danes seem to keep in mind the consequences of free riders - If I do it, I can get away with it, but if everyone does it, the system will collapse. They do things considering what would happen to their society if everyone cheated on this, sued someone for that, took advantage of that technicality, or ignored a rule there. Europeans trade 'individualism' for 'socialism'. The Danes seem to take it to an extreme... But I am intrigued."
Other nice bits:
"In Denmark you have to work quite hard to find a crack to fall through. A few people with alcohol problems manage to be homeless. Yes, we are the most contented people."
"We Danes believe a family's economic status should have nothing to do with the quality of the health care or the education their children receive."
"The society is designed in a way that encourages people to use less, chew slower and just sip things."
And I learned that the Danes write "Tak for Alt" on tombstones. Awww! :,)
January 20, 2009
Tired.
I had a lot of things that I wanted to get done today, which didn't all happen. Still, I bought notebooks for the semester, and Foliotek, which I needed for two classes. I went to the pool with Laura, Laura, Tabi, Justin, and new Tom, which was fun. I got a microscopic amount of work done on my room, and I almost finished working through the genealogy information I dug up. It's really confusing and hard to read, but I've got it worked out from me all the way to THE Charboneau, and it's there that I'm missing a link or two between him and when the first Charboneau's came to America. Tomomi and Mitsuki came in and talked to me for a really long time. :D That was nice, but I wasn't in a great talking mood, and they kind of let me do most of the talking, and we were all standing... I just kept getting more and more tired and weak feeling. Mitsuki left and then Tomomi stayed for a while and we talked more. I had planned to study German, do some really good class preparing, or room clean, or all three, but I felt so weak and tired that I just studied modal particles in German and Norwegian for a few minutes, and then went to bed. I have no idea why I'm so tired... okay, well, I have some ideas, but I hope I recover soon...
Overdose of Americana
Today was my first day of The Principles of American Journalism and American Government. The two classes took place roughly at the same time as the inauguration. Both of them decided to show Obama's full speech in class. The first time it was nice. The second time I kind of felt like cutting off my head. I was also getting really hungry because I didn't eat a proper breakfast.
Nevertheless, some nice lines:
"These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."
"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
Nevertheless, some nice lines:
"These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."
"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
First Day Emo
I'm blogging for one of the usual reasons - I am still gathering the strength to face the day before me. I slept terribly last night. I think it was a combination of having to get used to a small, hard bed, the massive amount of light that comes in our windows from the street, the noise from the hospital, having a roommate a few feet away, warmer temperatures, and weird forms of exhaustion. All except the last are things I adjusted to last semester and am sure that I will adjust to again, but it didn't make for a great night.
I was trying to finish cleaning my room last night, but I had to sit down at one point because my legs almost collapsed under me. I wondered why I was so tired, and then it hit me. Yesterday I woke up in Orlando Florida, rather early, went through airport nonsense, flew to St. Louis, went through more airport nonsense, packed the car with Mizzou stuff, drove to Mizzou (I actually drove :D), brought all the stuff up to my dorm room, unpacked it, cleaned 70% of my room, and stayed up until midnight. (Which isn't that late, but it made for a long and busy day, especially considering the one hour time difference between here and Orlando)
The newness and excitement is gone from living in the dorm, but I feel surprisingly neutral towards even some of the worse elements of it. The light streaming through the window is difficult for me, as is the high temperatures Mayumi likes in here. (Especially when I'm in all day). Still, the rest of it - communal showers, vomit smell, small spaces - I have totally accepted as a stage of my life, and I actually take a strange distant pride and fascination in it, if that makes any sense. It almost makes me feel good to live more simply, to live with less.
I'm going to go through now and check which textbooks I still have to buy and plan a map to get to my classes. I might read a bit to prepare for the history class, but I'm not worried about doing that for the journalism one, because they said that we'd be watching the inauguration in class.
New People:
- All of them except for one is English speaking. Someone hates me. XD
- Laura has a new British/Welsh roommate, named Bethan(y?).
- There is a new Australian guy named Tom who is nice and I think has been hanging out with my group. :)
- There is apparently a Danish girl who is nice, lives off campus, but hangs out in Laws sometimes. Now, Denmark/Danish is the least familiar to me of all the varieties of Scandinavia, but it would still be nice to talk to her. :D
I was trying to finish cleaning my room last night, but I had to sit down at one point because my legs almost collapsed under me. I wondered why I was so tired, and then it hit me. Yesterday I woke up in Orlando Florida, rather early, went through airport nonsense, flew to St. Louis, went through more airport nonsense, packed the car with Mizzou stuff, drove to Mizzou (I actually drove :D), brought all the stuff up to my dorm room, unpacked it, cleaned 70% of my room, and stayed up until midnight. (Which isn't that late, but it made for a long and busy day, especially considering the one hour time difference between here and Orlando)
The newness and excitement is gone from living in the dorm, but I feel surprisingly neutral towards even some of the worse elements of it. The light streaming through the window is difficult for me, as is the high temperatures Mayumi likes in here. (Especially when I'm in all day). Still, the rest of it - communal showers, vomit smell, small spaces - I have totally accepted as a stage of my life, and I actually take a strange distant pride and fascination in it, if that makes any sense. It almost makes me feel good to live more simply, to live with less.
I'm going to go through now and check which textbooks I still have to buy and plan a map to get to my classes. I might read a bit to prepare for the history class, but I'm not worried about doing that for the journalism one, because they said that we'd be watching the inauguration in class.
New People:
- All of them except for one is English speaking. Someone hates me. XD
- Laura has a new British/Welsh roommate, named Bethan(y?).
- There is a new Australian guy named Tom who is nice and I think has been hanging out with my group. :)
- There is apparently a Danish girl who is nice, lives off campus, but hangs out in Laws sometimes. Now, Denmark/Danish is the least familiar to me of all the varieties of Scandinavia, but it would still be nice to talk to her. :D
January 19, 2009
Moving Back In
I'm back in the land of smells like vomit. :D The pipes in one of the bathrooms backed up while I was away, so it's closed and apparently smelling like a lot of things a lot of people hoped were long gone. I'm not too tempted to check it out. What I have checked out by necessity is the dishes and trash room. On a good day it's not the nicest of living areas, but no one has emptied the trash in weeks, it's filled the room except for a narrow walking space, and one of the two sinks is filled with vomit.
I am facing two challenges:
1.) Fitting a whole bunch of new stuff into an already saturated 1/2 of a dorm room.
2.) Getting ready for classes to begin, literally overnight.
I started with a little bit of spring cleaning. First was the refrigerator. Little drips from before winter break have turned into reeking pools of god knows what, and it doesn't look like Mayumi did much to keep things livable. Her milk spoiled a few weeks ago, by the looks of it. I was able to admire the damage from outside the closed container, and it was really quite something. The milk had actually separated into three layers, and much of it was yellow-green. I tried to find unobtrusive places in the trash room for this and other victims of my longer than expected absence. I ended up taking everything out and going at it again and again with a hot wet rag. I also defrosted the freezer, which was beginning to look like a bona fide ice cave. I found a small frozen pizza hidden under the avalanche.
Next I tackled the under-bed space. I reorganized some drawers and laundry baskets. I'm not sure how much it helped, in retrospect, but we'll see how the new system works in practice. I mopped the floor down there and around my nightstand as well. The dust bunnies were breeding the Fibonacci sequence. I started unpacking then - I got all my kitchen implements out and accessible, though I hope Mayumi is okay with my using up more of the top of the dresser. She should be - she uses my appliances, after all, and they require more room than bag of jolly ranchers she usually keeps up there. She has added a 'Giant Sunflower' that apparently can grow to be up to ten feet tall. I read the instructions, and after two months it's supposed to be planted outside. I guess she's planning to deal with that when we get to it. She told me she's been watering my Poinsettia, but that it's dying anyway. I don't know anything about plants, but although almost all the flowers have dried and fallen off, the main part seems healthy enough. :P Well, it's not like I'm terribly attached to it anyway, so we'll just see what happens. I never thought of myself as a plant person at all, but in the absence of a pet, it's not bad to have around.
I've put all my books up and they look nice. :D I need to give JoShawn his presents before they take over my room, though. I found a pretty good spot for them, but foot by foot they're being unreasonable. XD The problem is that it's semi-against the rules of Big Brothers Big Sisters to give presents, but my mom sent all this stuff - first just old books of puzzles and stuff, and then new mittens, etc... and I dunno what to do with it if I don't give it to JoShawn.
I got all of my textbooks, delivered to the door. I didn't think that was possible, or else everyone would do it, so I went and stood in line with the others for Early Bird, only to be told that I wasn't in the system. On a hunch, I went to my mailbox, and sure enough, there was a big package there. I ordered a while ago, so I might have to go back and buy new assignments, but the bulk are here.
I think I'm going to do okay with this stuff, but I have reached my half of the room's maximum livable capacity, so I have no idea what I'll do if I get any birthday presents in March. :D Anyway, genius that I am, I left my bed for last, so I have a bit more work to do before I can sleep. My first class is at eleven, which is nice. I can sleep in until nine, shower, do the required readings for my two classes, plan my route, and leave. First up: Principles of American Journalism and... American Government. What a patriotic schedule! Haha. Well, tomorrow is the inauguration, so I guess that it's fitting. ^^
I am facing two challenges:
1.) Fitting a whole bunch of new stuff into an already saturated 1/2 of a dorm room.
2.) Getting ready for classes to begin, literally overnight.
I started with a little bit of spring cleaning. First was the refrigerator. Little drips from before winter break have turned into reeking pools of god knows what, and it doesn't look like Mayumi did much to keep things livable. Her milk spoiled a few weeks ago, by the looks of it. I was able to admire the damage from outside the closed container, and it was really quite something. The milk had actually separated into three layers, and much of it was yellow-green. I tried to find unobtrusive places in the trash room for this and other victims of my longer than expected absence. I ended up taking everything out and going at it again and again with a hot wet rag. I also defrosted the freezer, which was beginning to look like a bona fide ice cave. I found a small frozen pizza hidden under the avalanche.
Next I tackled the under-bed space. I reorganized some drawers and laundry baskets. I'm not sure how much it helped, in retrospect, but we'll see how the new system works in practice. I mopped the floor down there and around my nightstand as well. The dust bunnies were breeding the Fibonacci sequence. I started unpacking then - I got all my kitchen implements out and accessible, though I hope Mayumi is okay with my using up more of the top of the dresser. She should be - she uses my appliances, after all, and they require more room than bag of jolly ranchers she usually keeps up there. She has added a 'Giant Sunflower' that apparently can grow to be up to ten feet tall. I read the instructions, and after two months it's supposed to be planted outside. I guess she's planning to deal with that when we get to it. She told me she's been watering my Poinsettia, but that it's dying anyway. I don't know anything about plants, but although almost all the flowers have dried and fallen off, the main part seems healthy enough. :P Well, it's not like I'm terribly attached to it anyway, so we'll just see what happens. I never thought of myself as a plant person at all, but in the absence of a pet, it's not bad to have around.
I've put all my books up and they look nice. :D I need to give JoShawn his presents before they take over my room, though. I found a pretty good spot for them, but foot by foot they're being unreasonable. XD The problem is that it's semi-against the rules of Big Brothers Big Sisters to give presents, but my mom sent all this stuff - first just old books of puzzles and stuff, and then new mittens, etc... and I dunno what to do with it if I don't give it to JoShawn.
I got all of my textbooks, delivered to the door. I didn't think that was possible, or else everyone would do it, so I went and stood in line with the others for Early Bird, only to be told that I wasn't in the system. On a hunch, I went to my mailbox, and sure enough, there was a big package there. I ordered a while ago, so I might have to go back and buy new assignments, but the bulk are here.
I think I'm going to do okay with this stuff, but I have reached my half of the room's maximum livable capacity, so I have no idea what I'll do if I get any birthday presents in March. :D Anyway, genius that I am, I left my bed for last, so I have a bit more work to do before I can sleep. My first class is at eleven, which is nice. I can sleep in until nine, shower, do the required readings for my two classes, plan my route, and leave. First up: Principles of American Journalism and... American Government. What a patriotic schedule! Haha. Well, tomorrow is the inauguration, so I guess that it's fitting. ^^
January 16, 2009
Mio, Min Mio: Update Two
I meant to do Mio, Min Mio in three updates, with this update taking it as far as I have read so far, which is right into the hole in the mountain. But I thought a large passage from this chapter was so beautiful that I wanted to give it it's own update. :)
The plot has officially started. Along with such new vocabulary words as twisted, cursed, and burn away, readers watch as Mio discovers his destiny in a somewhat unusual way. He heard a snatch of a story from the well that whispers in the evenings, but only enough to tell him that a kings-son who rides in the moonlight should ride through the dark forest. Rightio, so that he does, even though his dad seems really emo about it. Mio logically thinks that because his dad is being emo, the dark forest is dangerous, but his father the king assures him that it's not. What could be dangerous about a forest that sleeps in the moonlight? He asks. Mio goes to best-friend Jum Jum and says that he's going to ride through the ominous sounding dark forest. Jum Jum says something along the lines of, "Well, finally!"
And so they go. They go across the island of green meadows and over the morninglight bridge, (or sort of, because it becomes the moonlight bridge at night, but they take it down at night... so only near dawn or dusk... but they can still get over the ocean when it's gone because Miramis the golden/white horse can fly), and then past some mountains, and they are in the dark forest, which makes Miramis very happy because he is from the dark forest and all of his friends live there. Mio has a moment of wondering whether Miramis wouldn't be happier in the dark forest with his friends, but Jum Jum and Miramis convince him that everyone is happy with the current situation. Everyone rides through the forest together and Mio's cloak gets torn.
In a little cottage in the forest they meet a creepy old weaver woman. She is weaving 'legend cloth' or something to that effect. And as she weaves, she sings: "Moonbeams, moonbeams, the red blood of the heart, silver and silver and purple, apple blossoms, apple blossoms make the weaving fine and soft, softer than the night's breeze in the grass. But the sorrowbird sings over the forest." I'm not kidding about this. In an odd conversation that somehow moves very quickly and dramatically, although some of the basic interchanges are illogical, the weaver woman reveals that her daughter, too, has been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO, the border to whose dark realm is just outside the dark forest. Also, the white horses that live in the dark forest (Miramis' herd) weep blood for their foals, who have been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO.
Mio declares that he is going to go to the Land Beyond and kill THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO. Jum Jum says, "I know". Mio is like, "How do you know? I only knew myself a minute ago!"
And then comes my favourite part of the book so far.
"Du vet så lite du, Mio," sa Jum Jum. "Jeg har visst det lenge at du skal til Landet Utenfor. Det vet alle."
"Vet alle det?"
"Ja da," sa Jum Jum. "Veversken her vet det, de hundre hvite hestene vet det. Hele Den dunkle skogen vet det, trærne hvisker om det og gresset og epleblomstene her utenfor, alle vet det."
"Gjør de det?" sa jeg.
"Hver eneste gjetergutt på Grønne Engers Øy vet det og spiller om det på fløytene sine om natten. Nonno vet det. Farmoren hans vet det og Jiri og søskene hans. Brønnen som hvisker om kvelden vet det. Alle sammen vet det, sier jeg jo."
"Og min far kongen?" Hvisket jeg.
"Din far kongen har alltid visst det." sa Jum Jum.
"Vil han at jeg skal dra dit?" spurte jeg, og jeg kunne ikke hjelpe for at jeg skalv litt i stemmen.
"Ja, det vil han," sa Jum Jum. "Han sørger, men han vil at du skal gå."
"Ja, men jeg er jo så redd," sa jeg og begynte å gråte. For først nå kjente jeg ordentlig hvor redd jeg var. Jeg tok Jum Jum i armen.
"Jeg tør ikke, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Hvorfor vil min far kongen at akkurat jeg skal gjøre det?"
"En gutt av kongelig blod er det eneste som kan gjøre det," sa Jum Jum. "Bare en gutt av kongens blod kan gjøre det."
"Men hvis jeg dør da?" sa jeg og grep Jum Jum hardt i armen.
Han svarte ikke.
"Vil min far kongen at jeg skal gå allikevel?"
Veversken var holdt opp med å veve, og det var så stilt i stua. Sorgfugl tidde. Trærne rørte ikke et blad, ikke en susen var å høre. Det var helt stille.
Jum Jum nikket.
"Ja," sa han, men han sa det så lavt at jeg nesten ikke kunne høre det. "Din far kongen vil at du skal gå dit allikevel."
Da ble jeg helt fortvilt.
"Jeg tør ikke!" skrek jeg. "Jeg tør ikke! Jeg tør ikke!"
Jum Jum svarte ikke. Han bare så på meg og sa ikke et ord. Men Sorgfugl begynte å synge igjen, og det var en sang som nesten fikk gjertet til å stanse i brystet mit.
"Han synger om den vesle datteren min." sa vevesken, og tårene hennes falt på veven og ble til perler.
"Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Nå går jeg. Nå går jeg til Landet Utenfor."
Da gikk det en susen gjennom Den dunkle skogen, og fra Sorgfugl kom det en trille som det aldri hadde lydt maken til i noen skog i verden.
"Ja, jeg visste det," sa Jum Jum.
"Adjø da, Jum Jum," sa jeg og kjente at nå holdt jeg på å begynne å gråte igjen. "Adjø da, kjære Jum Jum!"
Da så Jum Jum på meg, og øynene hans var så snille og lignet helt på øynene til Benka. Så smilte han litt.
"Jeg slår følge med deg."
Jum Jum var min venn, min virkelig venn. Jeg ble så glad da han sa at han ville slå følge med meg. Men jeg ville ikke at han skulle komme ut for noe vondt.
"Nei, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Du kan ikke være med dit hvor jeg går nå."
"Jo, jeg blir med deg," sa Jum Jum. "En gutt av kongelig blod ridende på en hvit hest med gullfaks og med en eneste venn til følge - akkurat det er det som er forutsagt. Du kan ikke forandre på det som har vært bestemt i tusen og tusen år."
"I tusen og tusen år," sa veversken. "Jeg husker at vinden sang om det den kvelden da jeg plantet epletrærne mine, og det er lenge, lenge siden nå. Tusen og tusen år."
Vi gikk ut gjennom døren, fulgte stien mellom epletrærne og steg til hest. Da løftet Sorgfugl de sorte vingene sine og seilte opp mot fjellene.
De hundre hvite hestene sto stille og så etter oss da vi red bort mellom trærne. De fulgte oss ikke. Epleblostene lyste som snø i måneskinnet. De lyste som snø ... Kanskje jeg aldri kom til å få se så vakre, hvite epleblomster mer.
My Translation:
"You know so little, Mio" (this is repeating several, usually in a funny way). said Jum Jum. "I have known for a long time that you would go to the Land Beyond. Everyone knows it."
"Everyone knows it?"
"Yes," said Jum Jum. "This weaver knows it, the hundred white horses know it. The whole dark forest knows it, the trees whisper it and the grass and the apple blossoms out here, they all know it."
"Do they?" I asked.
"Every shepherd boy on the Island of Green Meadows knows it and plays it on their flutes in the night. Nonno knows it. His grandmother knows it and so does Jiri and his brothers and sisters. The well that whispers in the evening knows it. Everyone knows it."
"And my father the king?" I whispered.
"Your father the king has always known it." said Jum Jum.
"Does he want me to go there?" I asked, and I could not keep my voice from shaking a little.
"Yes, he does." said Jum Jum. "He is sorry, but he wants you to go."
"Yes, but I am so afraid." I said and began to cry. Suddenly I felt precisely how afraid I was. I took Jum Jums arm.
"I daren't, Jum Jum," I said. "Why does my father want me to do it, and no other?"
"The only one who can do it is a boy of royal blood," said Jum Jum. "Only a boy of the blood of the king can do it."
"But if I die there?" said I and gripped Jum Jum's arm hard.
He didn't answer.
"Does my father want me to go regardless?"
The weaver stopped weaving, and it was so still in the room. The Sorrowbird was silent. Not a leaf on the trees stirred, not a rustle could be heard. It was completely still.
Jum Jum nodded.
"Yes," he said, but he said it so softly that I almost couldn't hear it. "Your father wants you to go regardless."
Then I fell into complete despair.
"I daren't!" I screamed. "I daren't! I daren't!"
Jum Jum didn't answer. He only looked at me without saying a word. But the Sorrowbird began to sing again, and it was a song that almost stopped my heart.
"He is singing about my little daughter," said the weaver, and her tears fell onto her cloth and turned to pearls.
"Jum Jum," I said. "I am going now. I am going to the Land Beyond."
Then there was a rustle through The Dark Forest, and from the Sorrowbird there came a sound the likes of which have never sounded in any forest in the world.
"Yes, I knew you would." said Jum Jum.
"Farewell then, Jum Jum." I said and felt that I almost began to cry again. "Farewell then, dear Jum Jum!"
Then Jum Jum looked at me, and his eyes were so kind and looked so much like Benka's eyes. Then he smiled a little.
"I am going with you."
Jum Jum was my friend, my true friend. I was so moved when he said that he would go with me. But I didnæt want him to come to any harm.
"No, Jum Jum." I said. "You can't come where I am going now."
"Yes, I can." said Jum Jum. "A boy of royal blood riding on a white horse with golden mane and with a single friend - it was foretold precisely that way. You cannot change what has been known for thousands and thousands of years."
"Thousands and thousands of years," said the weaver. "I remember that the wind was singing about it on the evening I planted my apple trees, and that is a long, long time ago now. Thousands and thousands of years."
We went through the door, followed the path between the apple trees and mounted Miramis. Then the Sorrowbird lifted itself on it's strange wings and sailed up towards the mountains.
The hundred white horses stood still and watched us as we rode between the trees. They didn't follow. The apple blossoms shone like snow in the moonlight. They shone like snow ... Perhaps I shall never see such beautiful, white apple blossoms again.
The plot has officially started. Along with such new vocabulary words as twisted, cursed, and burn away, readers watch as Mio discovers his destiny in a somewhat unusual way. He heard a snatch of a story from the well that whispers in the evenings, but only enough to tell him that a kings-son who rides in the moonlight should ride through the dark forest. Rightio, so that he does, even though his dad seems really emo about it. Mio logically thinks that because his dad is being emo, the dark forest is dangerous, but his father the king assures him that it's not. What could be dangerous about a forest that sleeps in the moonlight? He asks. Mio goes to best-friend Jum Jum and says that he's going to ride through the ominous sounding dark forest. Jum Jum says something along the lines of, "Well, finally!"
And so they go. They go across the island of green meadows and over the morninglight bridge, (or sort of, because it becomes the moonlight bridge at night, but they take it down at night... so only near dawn or dusk... but they can still get over the ocean when it's gone because Miramis the golden/white horse can fly), and then past some mountains, and they are in the dark forest, which makes Miramis very happy because he is from the dark forest and all of his friends live there. Mio has a moment of wondering whether Miramis wouldn't be happier in the dark forest with his friends, but Jum Jum and Miramis convince him that everyone is happy with the current situation. Everyone rides through the forest together and Mio's cloak gets torn.
In a little cottage in the forest they meet a creepy old weaver woman. She is weaving 'legend cloth' or something to that effect. And as she weaves, she sings: "Moonbeams, moonbeams, the red blood of the heart, silver and silver and purple, apple blossoms, apple blossoms make the weaving fine and soft, softer than the night's breeze in the grass. But the sorrowbird sings over the forest." I'm not kidding about this. In an odd conversation that somehow moves very quickly and dramatically, although some of the basic interchanges are illogical, the weaver woman reveals that her daughter, too, has been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO, the border to whose dark realm is just outside the dark forest. Also, the white horses that live in the dark forest (Miramis' herd) weep blood for their foals, who have been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO.
Mio declares that he is going to go to the Land Beyond and kill THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO. Jum Jum says, "I know". Mio is like, "How do you know? I only knew myself a minute ago!"
And then comes my favourite part of the book so far.
"Du vet så lite du, Mio," sa Jum Jum. "Jeg har visst det lenge at du skal til Landet Utenfor. Det vet alle."
"Vet alle det?"
"Ja da," sa Jum Jum. "Veversken her vet det, de hundre hvite hestene vet det. Hele Den dunkle skogen vet det, trærne hvisker om det og gresset og epleblomstene her utenfor, alle vet det."
"Gjør de det?" sa jeg.
"Hver eneste gjetergutt på Grønne Engers Øy vet det og spiller om det på fløytene sine om natten. Nonno vet det. Farmoren hans vet det og Jiri og søskene hans. Brønnen som hvisker om kvelden vet det. Alle sammen vet det, sier jeg jo."
"Og min far kongen?" Hvisket jeg.
"Din far kongen har alltid visst det." sa Jum Jum.
"Vil han at jeg skal dra dit?" spurte jeg, og jeg kunne ikke hjelpe for at jeg skalv litt i stemmen.
"Ja, det vil han," sa Jum Jum. "Han sørger, men han vil at du skal gå."
"Ja, men jeg er jo så redd," sa jeg og begynte å gråte. For først nå kjente jeg ordentlig hvor redd jeg var. Jeg tok Jum Jum i armen.
"Jeg tør ikke, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Hvorfor vil min far kongen at akkurat jeg skal gjøre det?"
"En gutt av kongelig blod er det eneste som kan gjøre det," sa Jum Jum. "Bare en gutt av kongens blod kan gjøre det."
"Men hvis jeg dør da?" sa jeg og grep Jum Jum hardt i armen.
Han svarte ikke.
"Vil min far kongen at jeg skal gå allikevel?"
Veversken var holdt opp med å veve, og det var så stilt i stua. Sorgfugl tidde. Trærne rørte ikke et blad, ikke en susen var å høre. Det var helt stille.
Jum Jum nikket.
"Ja," sa han, men han sa det så lavt at jeg nesten ikke kunne høre det. "Din far kongen vil at du skal gå dit allikevel."
Da ble jeg helt fortvilt.
"Jeg tør ikke!" skrek jeg. "Jeg tør ikke! Jeg tør ikke!"
Jum Jum svarte ikke. Han bare så på meg og sa ikke et ord. Men Sorgfugl begynte å synge igjen, og det var en sang som nesten fikk gjertet til å stanse i brystet mit.
"Han synger om den vesle datteren min." sa vevesken, og tårene hennes falt på veven og ble til perler.
"Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Nå går jeg. Nå går jeg til Landet Utenfor."
Da gikk det en susen gjennom Den dunkle skogen, og fra Sorgfugl kom det en trille som det aldri hadde lydt maken til i noen skog i verden.
"Ja, jeg visste det," sa Jum Jum.
"Adjø da, Jum Jum," sa jeg og kjente at nå holdt jeg på å begynne å gråte igjen. "Adjø da, kjære Jum Jum!"
Da så Jum Jum på meg, og øynene hans var så snille og lignet helt på øynene til Benka. Så smilte han litt.
"Jeg slår følge med deg."
Jum Jum var min venn, min virkelig venn. Jeg ble så glad da han sa at han ville slå følge med meg. Men jeg ville ikke at han skulle komme ut for noe vondt.
"Nei, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Du kan ikke være med dit hvor jeg går nå."
"Jo, jeg blir med deg," sa Jum Jum. "En gutt av kongelig blod ridende på en hvit hest med gullfaks og med en eneste venn til følge - akkurat det er det som er forutsagt. Du kan ikke forandre på det som har vært bestemt i tusen og tusen år."
"I tusen og tusen år," sa veversken. "Jeg husker at vinden sang om det den kvelden da jeg plantet epletrærne mine, og det er lenge, lenge siden nå. Tusen og tusen år."
Vi gikk ut gjennom døren, fulgte stien mellom epletrærne og steg til hest. Da løftet Sorgfugl de sorte vingene sine og seilte opp mot fjellene.
De hundre hvite hestene sto stille og så etter oss da vi red bort mellom trærne. De fulgte oss ikke. Epleblostene lyste som snø i måneskinnet. De lyste som snø ... Kanskje jeg aldri kom til å få se så vakre, hvite epleblomster mer.
My Translation:
"You know so little, Mio" (this is repeating several, usually in a funny way). said Jum Jum. "I have known for a long time that you would go to the Land Beyond. Everyone knows it."
"Everyone knows it?"
"Yes," said Jum Jum. "This weaver knows it, the hundred white horses know it. The whole dark forest knows it, the trees whisper it and the grass and the apple blossoms out here, they all know it."
"Do they?" I asked.
"Every shepherd boy on the Island of Green Meadows knows it and plays it on their flutes in the night. Nonno knows it. His grandmother knows it and so does Jiri and his brothers and sisters. The well that whispers in the evening knows it. Everyone knows it."
"And my father the king?" I whispered.
"Your father the king has always known it." said Jum Jum.
"Does he want me to go there?" I asked, and I could not keep my voice from shaking a little.
"Yes, he does." said Jum Jum. "He is sorry, but he wants you to go."
"Yes, but I am so afraid." I said and began to cry. Suddenly I felt precisely how afraid I was. I took Jum Jums arm.
"I daren't, Jum Jum," I said. "Why does my father want me to do it, and no other?"
"The only one who can do it is a boy of royal blood," said Jum Jum. "Only a boy of the blood of the king can do it."
"But if I die there?" said I and gripped Jum Jum's arm hard.
He didn't answer.
"Does my father want me to go regardless?"
The weaver stopped weaving, and it was so still in the room. The Sorrowbird was silent. Not a leaf on the trees stirred, not a rustle could be heard. It was completely still.
Jum Jum nodded.
"Yes," he said, but he said it so softly that I almost couldn't hear it. "Your father wants you to go regardless."
Then I fell into complete despair.
"I daren't!" I screamed. "I daren't! I daren't!"
Jum Jum didn't answer. He only looked at me without saying a word. But the Sorrowbird began to sing again, and it was a song that almost stopped my heart.
"He is singing about my little daughter," said the weaver, and her tears fell onto her cloth and turned to pearls.
"Jum Jum," I said. "I am going now. I am going to the Land Beyond."
Then there was a rustle through The Dark Forest, and from the Sorrowbird there came a sound the likes of which have never sounded in any forest in the world.
"Yes, I knew you would." said Jum Jum.
"Farewell then, Jum Jum." I said and felt that I almost began to cry again. "Farewell then, dear Jum Jum!"
Then Jum Jum looked at me, and his eyes were so kind and looked so much like Benka's eyes. Then he smiled a little.
"I am going with you."
Jum Jum was my friend, my true friend. I was so moved when he said that he would go with me. But I didnæt want him to come to any harm.
"No, Jum Jum." I said. "You can't come where I am going now."
"Yes, I can." said Jum Jum. "A boy of royal blood riding on a white horse with golden mane and with a single friend - it was foretold precisely that way. You cannot change what has been known for thousands and thousands of years."
"Thousands and thousands of years," said the weaver. "I remember that the wind was singing about it on the evening I planted my apple trees, and that is a long, long time ago now. Thousands and thousands of years."
We went through the door, followed the path between the apple trees and mounted Miramis. Then the Sorrowbird lifted itself on it's strange wings and sailed up towards the mountains.
The hundred white horses stood still and watched us as we rode between the trees. They didn't follow. The apple blossoms shone like snow in the moonlight. They shone like snow ... Perhaps I shall never see such beautiful, white apple blossoms again.
January 14, 2009
Subzero
To all of my friends who use Celsius - I am sorry, but you simply cannot understand the idea of subzero temperatures the way we do over here.
Tomorrow the low will be below zero degrees Fahrenheit, with the windchill around -17 Fahrenheit. The equivalents in Celsius would be a temperature of -18, with a windchill of -27.
So no, we don't have a nice, steady, snowy winter here in Missouri. In fact, we haven't even had any decent snow this year, and we've had a day or two where it could have been mid fall, from the temperature.
But don't ever get to thinking that we don't know what cold means.
Tomorrow the low will be below zero degrees Fahrenheit, with the windchill around -17 Fahrenheit. The equivalents in Celsius would be a temperature of -18, with a windchill of -27.
So no, we don't have a nice, steady, snowy winter here in Missouri. In fact, we haven't even had any decent snow this year, and we've had a day or two where it could have been mid fall, from the temperature.
But don't ever get to thinking that we don't know what cold means.
Another Norwegian Book
A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Norwegian
This book is good stuff. I think I'll follow along with it as I read my three Lindgren selections, and likewise treat it as though I were preparing lesson plans with it. The Preface mostly introduces dialect differences and Nynorsk vs Bokmål. I know the basics of all of that, but this book has some lovely tables that illustrate some specific and common sound changes, etc. (Nynorsk uses more dipthongs: Bokmål Ø to Nynorsk AU is common, etc) So I think it is worth some study. There is a huge section on verbs that I think I should go through, and also some 'Essentials of Grammar', whatever that entails. It's a thin and non intimidating volume. :)
This book is good stuff. I think I'll follow along with it as I read my three Lindgren selections, and likewise treat it as though I were preparing lesson plans with it. The Preface mostly introduces dialect differences and Nynorsk vs Bokmål. I know the basics of all of that, but this book has some lovely tables that illustrate some specific and common sound changes, etc. (Nynorsk uses more dipthongs: Bokmål Ø to Nynorsk AU is common, etc) So I think it is worth some study. There is a huge section on verbs that I think I should go through, and also some 'Essentials of Grammar', whatever that entails. It's a thin and non intimidating volume. :)
Before the Appraisal
A cloud in the winter sky casts a small section of the woods into darkness. The others are bathed in the usual cool light. This scene unfolds through my kitchen window just as it does from Pride Rock, although I smile at the implication that lower Burgundy is the Shadowlands. The heaters my mother has scattered throughout the drafty kitchen ensure that my feet are no more numb than my exposed hands on this cold day, and I can feel all of the familiar textures - hardwood and marble and carpet and rugs - alternate under my feet as I pass. I can hear Tidbit's feet as well, the sharp click of her nails follows me throughout the house. Another familiar sound emanates from the dishwasher, the urgency of whose efforts almost resembles the crashing of waves.
Soon, we will sell this house. We are getting it appraised today, and sometime soon - a year, or two, or five; no later - we will sell it and move away. I think about the familiar things, and it isn't only the sensations but also the tiniest details. As an elementary school child, I found faces and animals everywhere - in the marble, in the sponge-painted walls, even in the faux-wood grain of our cheapest furniture. The clearest of these was the little rabbit in my old computer desk, but it's gone now. We chopped up the desk to fit it in the trash, and then we set it out by the curb. I don't even have a picture of it. Momentarily, this makes me sad. How easily I could have snapped a picture of the image that, so like a game of hidden pictures, enchanted me so as a child. But then I think of Loung Ung and her sister Geak, of which there was 'no surviving picture' as of First They Killed My Father, and suddenly it seems absolutely ludicrous, and I laugh. Even so, I think I'll take a picture of the badger in the marble floor.
I'd like to avoid riddling this post with cliches. I'm not even torn apart over any of this. I just feel like climbing up onto the kitchen island and laying on my back there, watching the clouds tear past through the skylight as if the whole world is turning and changing to the pace of my breathing.
Soon, we will sell this house. We are getting it appraised today, and sometime soon - a year, or two, or five; no later - we will sell it and move away. I think about the familiar things, and it isn't only the sensations but also the tiniest details. As an elementary school child, I found faces and animals everywhere - in the marble, in the sponge-painted walls, even in the faux-wood grain of our cheapest furniture. The clearest of these was the little rabbit in my old computer desk, but it's gone now. We chopped up the desk to fit it in the trash, and then we set it out by the curb. I don't even have a picture of it. Momentarily, this makes me sad. How easily I could have snapped a picture of the image that, so like a game of hidden pictures, enchanted me so as a child. But then I think of Loung Ung and her sister Geak, of which there was 'no surviving picture' as of First They Killed My Father, and suddenly it seems absolutely ludicrous, and I laugh. Even so, I think I'll take a picture of the badger in the marble floor.
I'd like to avoid riddling this post with cliches. I'm not even torn apart over any of this. I just feel like climbing up onto the kitchen island and laying on my back there, watching the clouds tear past through the skylight as if the whole world is turning and changing to the pace of my breathing.
January 13, 2009
Mio, Min Mio: Update One
I started reading this book in Norway, and I got about four chapters into it. I am now rereading it. I read the first chapter and it went very smoothly. Neither that time nor in Norway did I use a dictionary at all. But then I decided that even though it helps somewhat with my reading comprehension to go straight through, I would learn more words if I looked up what I didn't know. When reading Kristin Lavransdatter I plan to look up only those words which definitely obstruct understanding, but Mio, Min Mio is easy enough that I can look up any words that I am unsure of and still proceed at a reasonable pace. So now, as I go, I am looking up words in my lovely, green Norwegian -> English dictionary and writing them down on a sheet of paper. At the end, I may go through and make notes of the words that are most important for me to actually, actively learn, but even just doing it this way, I think that I am adding about 85% of these words to my passive vocabulary. So far the vocabulary list is pretty nice, with a preponderance of scenery words, as usual. I have learned the words for poplar trees, wild rose bushes, and jasmine, as well as straw-roof, beehive, and knoll. But I have also learned to say 'to line oneself up' and 'to quench thirst', and even a few words that I probably should already know, like disappear and surprise.
I have gone through the first four chapters and plan to finish the fifth one tonight. There is still not a very gripping plot, but there are hints of some encroaching darkness which I'm sure will hijack things pretty soon. So far the story is that this boy named Bosse (Bo Vilhelm) disappears from Stockholm. The back of the book and the opening pages support the idea that this will be some sort of mystery book. I admit that I really hate this sort of false advertising, but oh well, that's how it goes.
The book is first person, and once you actually start reading you see that the boy has not been kidnapped or anything of the sort, but actually, due to a set of rather unconvincing circumstances and coincidences, frees a sort of genie that was sent to go get him anyway, because he is the son of the king of a faraway land (or other world, depending on how you want to look at it), and must be taken there. So Bosse goes away to this other world. Apparently this doesn't create any problems because he has adoptive parents who don't care about him and only the one best friend who appears to be of any value. I find this whole 'vanish without a trace and make no real mention of it' thing a little fishy, especially as with what I know about the book's plot as a whole, the author probably could have gotten away with just putting him in the alternate world to start with without upsetting anything - except that she would have to be more creative about introducing minor info dumps. Again, that's how it goes.
I guess that those are my only two problems with the book. What has happened so far is that when Bosse and the Genie arrive, Bosse recognizes his father the king, (he is always referred to like that: 'Min far kongen'... lit... 'My father the king'), and his father the king recognizes him as his son Mio. Bosse is now named Mio. :S (See earlier paragraph... they went to some lengths to establish his name as Bosse/Bo Vilhelm only to completely disregard this).
Now Mio goes around and sees his fathers beautiful, amazing and fun rosegarden, gets a new white/gold horse named Miramis, and makes a few friends: namely, the son of the rosegardener, Jum-Jum, and a shepherd boy, Nonno. All parents here are very pleasant and serve mostly to provide bread to laughing little boys. It is always the best bread Bosse, I mean Mio, has ever tasted. They do things like playing hide and seek and learning ancient melodies to play on wooden flutes, and it's a little hard to date the world, because even though everyone is living in cottages (except for Mio and his father the king's palace) and raising sheep, etc, Mio and his father make model airplanes a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean that they do that, and they explore the rose garden together, and that's all they seem to do together, even though Mio says that his dad is his best friend and that they hang out all the time.
That's where I am now. They have mentioned an EVIL KNIGHT KATO a few times. His name makes everything cold and scares animals and trees. Most recently, it appears that he has kidnapped Nonno's brothers sometime in the past. But oddly, people are seeming rather unconcerned with him for the moment. My prediction for the next three chapters or so is that a crisis of sorts brings this situation to a head and Mio has to go defeat the EVIL KNIGHT KATO, probably to save his friends.
I have gone through the first four chapters and plan to finish the fifth one tonight. There is still not a very gripping plot, but there are hints of some encroaching darkness which I'm sure will hijack things pretty soon. So far the story is that this boy named Bosse (Bo Vilhelm) disappears from Stockholm. The back of the book and the opening pages support the idea that this will be some sort of mystery book. I admit that I really hate this sort of false advertising, but oh well, that's how it goes.
The book is first person, and once you actually start reading you see that the boy has not been kidnapped or anything of the sort, but actually, due to a set of rather unconvincing circumstances and coincidences, frees a sort of genie that was sent to go get him anyway, because he is the son of the king of a faraway land (or other world, depending on how you want to look at it), and must be taken there. So Bosse goes away to this other world. Apparently this doesn't create any problems because he has adoptive parents who don't care about him and only the one best friend who appears to be of any value. I find this whole 'vanish without a trace and make no real mention of it' thing a little fishy, especially as with what I know about the book's plot as a whole, the author probably could have gotten away with just putting him in the alternate world to start with without upsetting anything - except that she would have to be more creative about introducing minor info dumps. Again, that's how it goes.
I guess that those are my only two problems with the book. What has happened so far is that when Bosse and the Genie arrive, Bosse recognizes his father the king, (he is always referred to like that: 'Min far kongen'... lit... 'My father the king'), and his father the king recognizes him as his son Mio. Bosse is now named Mio. :S (See earlier paragraph... they went to some lengths to establish his name as Bosse/Bo Vilhelm only to completely disregard this).
Now Mio goes around and sees his fathers beautiful, amazing and fun rosegarden, gets a new white/gold horse named Miramis, and makes a few friends: namely, the son of the rosegardener, Jum-Jum, and a shepherd boy, Nonno. All parents here are very pleasant and serve mostly to provide bread to laughing little boys. It is always the best bread Bosse, I mean Mio, has ever tasted. They do things like playing hide and seek and learning ancient melodies to play on wooden flutes, and it's a little hard to date the world, because even though everyone is living in cottages (except for Mio and his father the king's palace) and raising sheep, etc, Mio and his father make model airplanes a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean that they do that, and they explore the rose garden together, and that's all they seem to do together, even though Mio says that his dad is his best friend and that they hang out all the time.
That's where I am now. They have mentioned an EVIL KNIGHT KATO a few times. His name makes everything cold and scares animals and trees. Most recently, it appears that he has kidnapped Nonno's brothers sometime in the past. But oddly, people are seeming rather unconcerned with him for the moment. My prediction for the next three chapters or so is that a crisis of sorts brings this situation to a head and Mio has to go defeat the EVIL KNIGHT KATO, probably to save his friends.
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