"Most famously Apple refused to fix a phone that exploded in weather that wasn’t even cold by Norwegian standards. Finnish consumer authorities commented that a mobile phone sold in Finland must be able stand the local conditions unless the seller explicitly stated that the phone can’t be used during the winter."
http://helsinkippusa.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/scandinavia-is-too-cool-for-iphone/
Tee-hee.
January 30, 2011
Playlist
I'm trying to burn this playlist to a CD to listen to in the car. I'm failing miserably, no idea why. :(
Stay the Night - James Blunt
21 Guns - Green Day
Bloody Sunday - U2
It's My Life/Confessions - Glee Cast
Suerte - Shakira
Wherever, Whenever - Shakira
Waka Waka - Shakira
Take Me Back to the Islands - Idlewild
American English - Idlewild
In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction - Idlewild
Live in a Hiding Place - Idlewild
Love Steals us from Loneliness - Idlewild
A Modern Way of Letting Go - Idlewild
No Emotion - Idlewild
You Held the World in your Arms Tonight - Idlewild
I'm Gonna Be/500 Miles - Proclaimers
There's a Touch - Proclaimers
Driftwood - Travis
Writing to Reach You - Travis
Haru yo, Koi
Stay the Night - James Blunt
21 Guns - Green Day
Bloody Sunday - U2
It's My Life/Confessions - Glee Cast
Suerte - Shakira
Wherever, Whenever - Shakira
Waka Waka - Shakira
Take Me Back to the Islands - Idlewild
American English - Idlewild
In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction - Idlewild
Live in a Hiding Place - Idlewild
Love Steals us from Loneliness - Idlewild
A Modern Way of Letting Go - Idlewild
No Emotion - Idlewild
You Held the World in your Arms Tonight - Idlewild
I'm Gonna Be/500 Miles - Proclaimers
There's a Touch - Proclaimers
Driftwood - Travis
Writing to Reach You - Travis
Haru yo, Koi
January 28, 2011
Nostalgia Continues
Dot and the Kangaroo, Dot and the Koala, Once Upon a Forest, Fern Gully, and especially Seabert... so many of the 80's shows, and the shows I grew up watching, were all hippy save the world stuff. :) Amazing how anyone in my generation grew up to stop caring about the environment.
Watching the first episode of Seabert now, and a couple things come to mind. First, that it's actually a bit complex and interesting that Tommy initially likes his Uncle Smoky... too bad he turns out to be an evil poacher. :( They could have developed this conflict more, but it's kind of interesting that it's at least there.
Second - I love how Tommy just goes playing in Greenland all by himself, with his jacket unbuttoned. That's... safe.
Watching the first episode of Seabert now, and a couple things come to mind. First, that it's actually a bit complex and interesting that Tommy initially likes his Uncle Smoky... too bad he turns out to be an evil poacher. :( They could have developed this conflict more, but it's kind of interesting that it's at least there.
Second - I love how Tommy just goes playing in Greenland all by himself, with his jacket unbuttoned. That's... safe.
Nostalgia
I'm converting our last VHS tapes to DVD. The great majority are home videos, but I'm also converting a few of Melissa and my favourite shows - the stuff we had in the car for long rides. :)
I'm now working on The Grinch Grinches the Grinch from a very old tape with a dozen things on it, that my grandma gave us. The plot is - the Cat and the Hat makes the Grinch mad by blocking the road for his picnic. The Grinch responds by making inventions that screw up people's senses - creating dark and weird music and changing people's voices, etc. The Cat and the Hat reminds the Grinch of his mother, and the Grinch feels bad and makes things normal again. But he still steals Christmas later on... :)
The show reminds me of something I've thought about a few times - that cartoons used to have difficult words etc in them. Kids learned new words, or just got used to the idea that they wouldn't understand every word they came across. I thought it made things more interesting, and I don't remember anyone getting confused or upset about it. For example, in this episode, they use these words; acoustic, psychopathic, deplore, uncouth, acoustical, implausible, and more.
I also found a lot of things back then to be unintentionally frightening. For example, they just showed an advertisement for this electronic Simon Says game. It shows graffiti-people coming off a way in a dark alley to challenge a little boy to Simon Says. They play furiously, while the voice over says, "and if you lose, you get the razzz..." 'the razz' causes the loser to turn into a graffiti person and get trapped back on the wall with a scared look on his face. Let me tell you this - I had no desire to buy this game - the chance that it might actually imprison me in a wall as a chalk drawing was more than a little frightening. The same went for all the foods that they would advertise by showing the kids transforming when they ate them... :S I didn't want to be 'crunchitized' or turned into one of those silvery Capri Sun characters.
On the same DVD, I have the pilot episode for the planned (never made) Little Golden Book Land series, and trio of 5 minute cartoons from the 1950's - The Clockmaker's Dog, the First Flying Fish, and Happy Valley.
I'm now working on The Grinch Grinches the Grinch from a very old tape with a dozen things on it, that my grandma gave us. The plot is - the Cat and the Hat makes the Grinch mad by blocking the road for his picnic. The Grinch responds by making inventions that screw up people's senses - creating dark and weird music and changing people's voices, etc. The Cat and the Hat reminds the Grinch of his mother, and the Grinch feels bad and makes things normal again. But he still steals Christmas later on... :)
The show reminds me of something I've thought about a few times - that cartoons used to have difficult words etc in them. Kids learned new words, or just got used to the idea that they wouldn't understand every word they came across. I thought it made things more interesting, and I don't remember anyone getting confused or upset about it. For example, in this episode, they use these words; acoustic, psychopathic, deplore, uncouth, acoustical, implausible, and more.
I also found a lot of things back then to be unintentionally frightening. For example, they just showed an advertisement for this electronic Simon Says game. It shows graffiti-people coming off a way in a dark alley to challenge a little boy to Simon Says. They play furiously, while the voice over says, "and if you lose, you get the razzz..." 'the razz' causes the loser to turn into a graffiti person and get trapped back on the wall with a scared look on his face. Let me tell you this - I had no desire to buy this game - the chance that it might actually imprison me in a wall as a chalk drawing was more than a little frightening. The same went for all the foods that they would advertise by showing the kids transforming when they ate them... :S I didn't want to be 'crunchitized' or turned into one of those silvery Capri Sun characters.
On the same DVD, I have the pilot episode for the planned (never made) Little Golden Book Land series, and trio of 5 minute cartoons from the 1950's - The Clockmaker's Dog, the First Flying Fish, and Happy Valley.
January 24, 2011
German Logic
I've rested. The Spanish has had time to settle. It's time to move on to Part II - it's time to learn German.
Right, so I've actually been learning German for awhile. 3 years in High School, leaving right as things started to pick up... then, in University, a semester here and a semester there. Perhaps more importantly, German was always second or third or even fourth place. Spanish was my major and Norwegian my secret hobby, and there was always some flavour of the month as well - Italian before Italy, Finnish before Finland, Catalan when I found a class for it. I never gave German my undivided attention. It's had to get by with bits and pieces.
So I'm hopeful about how my German will improve over the next months. I have a foundation laid, but I get confused by prefixes, I'm uncertain about my vocabulary, I largely ignore genders, and it just doesn't come as naturally to me as some other languages. But yesterday I started studying using the awesome flashcard website Vokker, and I can already see how the situation might change. There is a logic to German, even if it's a new sort of logic.
The word Zapfen, for example, is always masculine, whether it refers to retinal cones or pine cones, spigots or icicles.
Right, so I've actually been learning German for awhile. 3 years in High School, leaving right as things started to pick up... then, in University, a semester here and a semester there. Perhaps more importantly, German was always second or third or even fourth place. Spanish was my major and Norwegian my secret hobby, and there was always some flavour of the month as well - Italian before Italy, Finnish before Finland, Catalan when I found a class for it. I never gave German my undivided attention. It's had to get by with bits and pieces.
So I'm hopeful about how my German will improve over the next months. I have a foundation laid, but I get confused by prefixes, I'm uncertain about my vocabulary, I largely ignore genders, and it just doesn't come as naturally to me as some other languages. But yesterday I started studying using the awesome flashcard website Vokker, and I can already see how the situation might change. There is a logic to German, even if it's a new sort of logic.
The word Zapfen, for example, is always masculine, whether it refers to retinal cones or pine cones, spigots or icicles.
January 23, 2011
Three Things
- Our Avon lady was selling Flip Video cameras for half the normal price. Mom got me one for a last sort of 21st birthday-holiday present. :)
- I had some income for the first time in a while last night. One of Melissa's coworkers called me to babysit her overnight shift (5 pm - 3 am). It was a lot of hours and they were easy at that. She said she'll call me a few more times before I leave, too. :)
- I'm getting lazy. I've recovered from last semester but haven't put myself to any real use yet. Just cooking and trying to write on my travel blog daily and sometimes thinking about studying a little German maybe.
- I had some income for the first time in a while last night. One of Melissa's coworkers called me to babysit her overnight shift (5 pm - 3 am). It was a lot of hours and they were easy at that. She said she'll call me a few more times before I leave, too. :)
- I'm getting lazy. I've recovered from last semester but haven't put myself to any real use yet. Just cooking and trying to write on my travel blog daily and sometimes thinking about studying a little German maybe.
January 21, 2011
This is what I mean
A girl from my University is studying this semester in Barcelona. I happened upon her wordpress and left a friendly little message, saying that she had a nice blog, that I spent the last semester in Spain and she should feel free to contact me with any questions etc. No response. Mkay. In her blog post today, some misspelled Spanish. Mkay.
And more of this nonsense:
"The longer I am in Barcelona, the more I realize how cool their life is. No one has a worry in the world- they’re simply enjoying life and what it has to offer."
Really?? No one has any worries in Spain? I'm sure there's no economic troubles, disease, death, betrayal, stress, etc in other countries. Worries are an exclusively American thing. I'll try to remember that next time I have any problems. If I moved to Spain they'd all be fixed for sure.
"Spaniards respect each other and believe in having a worldly view. I bet a lot of Spaniards could tell American students a lot more about the United States than they know, which is a serious problem."
Spaniards respect each other? What? What is your evidence for such a blanket statement? Are you implying that Americans don't? And the second part is just plain wrong. A small percentage of Spaniards might know a bit more about American politics than the average citizen here, for example, but in four months, I only met four or five Spaniards who had even heard of my home state, and those only because they had personal ties to it in some way or another. I'm not saying they should - just that they don't.
The main idea of the entire post is that Americans are really ignorant compared to the rest of the world. Well, yes and no. I've known tons of up-to-date Americans. I've met loads of ignorant Europeans. This sort of ranting gets us nowhere. The post isn't even well written, imho. The girl's a journalism major. :S
And more of this nonsense:
"The longer I am in Barcelona, the more I realize how cool their life is. No one has a worry in the world- they’re simply enjoying life and what it has to offer."
Really?? No one has any worries in Spain? I'm sure there's no economic troubles, disease, death, betrayal, stress, etc in other countries. Worries are an exclusively American thing. I'll try to remember that next time I have any problems. If I moved to Spain they'd all be fixed for sure.
"Spaniards respect each other and believe in having a worldly view. I bet a lot of Spaniards could tell American students a lot more about the United States than they know, which is a serious problem."
Spaniards respect each other? What? What is your evidence for such a blanket statement? Are you implying that Americans don't? And the second part is just plain wrong. A small percentage of Spaniards might know a bit more about American politics than the average citizen here, for example, but in four months, I only met four or five Spaniards who had even heard of my home state, and those only because they had personal ties to it in some way or another. I'm not saying they should - just that they don't.
The main idea of the entire post is that Americans are really ignorant compared to the rest of the world. Well, yes and no. I've known tons of up-to-date Americans. I've met loads of ignorant Europeans. This sort of ranting gets us nowhere. The post isn't even well written, imho. The girl's a journalism major. :S
January 20, 2011
Things I'm Learning
I've learned about Reddit and added it to my free advertising repertoire, next to Stumble and Twitter.
I've learned that a good way to avoid cliches might be to remix cliches with the current theme. (I notice Rick Steves doing this in his stories - changing 'a stone's throw away' to 'a condom shot away' for example.)
I've learned that the niche thing is real. That's the kind of thing you have to learn by doing, I suppose. It's just so much harder to advertise an all-purpose sort of site, and, surprisingly enough, it's harder to think of good material. There are blogs that are just about 'travel' of course, like Everything Everywhere, but that guy really knows what he's doing. Normal people have to pick a region or a type of travel, and some of the more successful blogs choose both. I haven't, yet. My travel blog is multipurpose and that's probably one of it's biggest flaws. But the truth is I don't know what I want my niche to be yet. I've practiced doing blogs with themes - like my study abroad in Spain blog. I can do that. But right now I'm still playing around.
I've learned that a good way to avoid cliches might be to remix cliches with the current theme. (I notice Rick Steves doing this in his stories - changing 'a stone's throw away' to 'a condom shot away' for example.)
I've learned that the niche thing is real. That's the kind of thing you have to learn by doing, I suppose. It's just so much harder to advertise an all-purpose sort of site, and, surprisingly enough, it's harder to think of good material. There are blogs that are just about 'travel' of course, like Everything Everywhere, but that guy really knows what he's doing. Normal people have to pick a region or a type of travel, and some of the more successful blogs choose both. I haven't, yet. My travel blog is multipurpose and that's probably one of it's biggest flaws. But the truth is I don't know what I want my niche to be yet. I've practiced doing blogs with themes - like my study abroad in Spain blog. I can do that. But right now I'm still playing around.
January 14, 2011
Things I'm Doing
The point is to get started. Once I've gotten started, I rarely write less than 2,000 words. Sounds like an easy lesson to learn, but it's taken me awhile.
I've been researching the 'best travel blogs' and adding them all to my blog reading list. This list is becoming more important to me than the newspaper.
I've 'refurbished' my travel blog and I'm going to keep up with it this time. A post a day, no if ands, or buts. Seriously: http://vandrelysten.wordpress.com/
I've been researching the 'best travel blogs' and adding them all to my blog reading list. This list is becoming more important to me than the newspaper.
I've 'refurbished' my travel blog and I'm going to keep up with it this time. A post a day, no if ands, or buts. Seriously: http://vandrelysten.wordpress.com/
January 13, 2011
Scapegoats
How easy it is to jump ship, to go over on the side of the 'rest of the world', to wash our hands of America's problems. How much harder it is to look at the situation in all it's complexity, to realize that a stereotype about America is still a stereotype, to combat ignorance in all its forms - both at home and abroad, about our home, even when American-bashing is a popular pastime that seems to bring the fairly-well-educated from around the world together like nothing else.
January 12, 2011
Germany Excitement Building...
When I was in Spain, if I tried to think about Germany I just had a big numb, blank spot in my mind. I worried that I wouldn't like it as much as Spain. I was just loving Spain so much that I couldn't see past it.
I can now. I'm pinning things I'd like to see while I'm in Germany in Google Earth right now. Ohhhh yeahhh I'm getting excited...
Small towns and big cities, the Netherlands and Belgium and Luxembourg and Germany, lots of things close by. And I should go see Esther, Damaris, Cynthia, and Nadine.
And farther afield... I've got to visit Lea in Austria. And the two of us talked about a road trip through Slovenia and Croatia. And I wouldn't mind at all hopping up to Denmark if I got a good opportunity. And I need to visit Liisa in Finland again as well. I'm just going to have to get on it the moment I arrive, and stay on it. It's all a matter of cheap flights and what works out, and other than Austria there's nothing that I'll die if I don't get around to. But I also need time to enjoy Bonn, and Liisa, Lea, Cynthia, Esther, Nadine, and Damaris have all talked about visiting me as well! Even Zahra's talking about coming in for awhile so we can go around.
I can now. I'm pinning things I'd like to see while I'm in Germany in Google Earth right now. Ohhhh yeahhh I'm getting excited...
Small towns and big cities, the Netherlands and Belgium and Luxembourg and Germany, lots of things close by. And I should go see Esther, Damaris, Cynthia, and Nadine.
And farther afield... I've got to visit Lea in Austria. And the two of us talked about a road trip through Slovenia and Croatia. And I wouldn't mind at all hopping up to Denmark if I got a good opportunity. And I need to visit Liisa in Finland again as well. I'm just going to have to get on it the moment I arrive, and stay on it. It's all a matter of cheap flights and what works out, and other than Austria there's nothing that I'll die if I don't get around to. But I also need time to enjoy Bonn, and Liisa, Lea, Cynthia, Esther, Nadine, and Damaris have all talked about visiting me as well! Even Zahra's talking about coming in for awhile so we can go around.
January 10, 2011
Swallowed, but not Digested
I like this:
"On the outskirts of Konya lies a suburb called Mehram where the ugly tower blocks of the city give way to small groups of stone houses that were once steppe villages. Mehram has been swallowed by the encroaching city, but among the winter apple trees, the mud walls, and the snow-dusted pathways, the trace elements of a rural past, you can sense that Mehram has not yet been digested.”
"On the outskirts of Konya lies a suburb called Mehram where the ugly tower blocks of the city give way to small groups of stone houses that were once steppe villages. Mehram has been swallowed by the encroaching city, but among the winter apple trees, the mud walls, and the snow-dusted pathways, the trace elements of a rural past, you can sense that Mehram has not yet been digested.”
- A Fez of the Heart, page 192
It's one of those things you almost don't trust yourself not to reuse later, consciously or unconsciously.
The Trouble with Writing
Tina suggests that I write about my favourite sound. I like the idea, but if I'm giving off the impression that I'm struggling for material, then I'm using the worst possible excuse. No, material isn't the problem. The problem is that there's too much waiting to be written about, having been experienced, and too much waiting to be experienced while I'm still young and strong and free. It's hard to sit down and struggle with the right adjectives when I really just want to keep moving.
I'm all about photography lately. It's so much more immediate, it's creative too but at least the way I do it it's sort of an automatic, intuitive creativity. Not so much struggle. And some people say it takes away from their experience, to be so focused on recording, but it's not that way for me at all - if anything, things intensify through the lens, like the rays of the sun focusing until they're hot enough to start a fire.
But right now I'm home. It's time to write. Once I get started I even enjoy it, but it's so hard to start. Writing club is on Wednesday, and it's Monday evening, so it's time to start thinking seriously. Do I write about the Badlands of South Dakota? Or the buffalo and the cactus and the prairie dog towns? The walk across Scotland? Ben Nevis? The Islands? Spain? As if I can write about Spain in less than 10,000 pages. But I should start somewhere. I need to learn to be more consistently productive.
I'm all about photography lately. It's so much more immediate, it's creative too but at least the way I do it it's sort of an automatic, intuitive creativity. Not so much struggle. And some people say it takes away from their experience, to be so focused on recording, but it's not that way for me at all - if anything, things intensify through the lens, like the rays of the sun focusing until they're hot enough to start a fire.
But right now I'm home. It's time to write. Once I get started I even enjoy it, but it's so hard to start. Writing club is on Wednesday, and it's Monday evening, so it's time to start thinking seriously. Do I write about the Badlands of South Dakota? Or the buffalo and the cactus and the prairie dog towns? The walk across Scotland? Ben Nevis? The Islands? Spain? As if I can write about Spain in less than 10,000 pages. But I should start somewhere. I need to learn to be more consistently productive.
Telenovelas Revisited
While Mary and I were trying to troubleshoot her TV problems last night, we accidentally turned on a Spanish soap opera. I haven't done a thing with Spanish since I left Pamplona (or, okay, Miami), so I was a bit surprised at how easily I understood it. Then again, they were speaking slowly. I switched to Spanish news. I understood everything. The stories, the advertisements. And all the time I was worried that I wasn't really learning anything.
Just now, I turned on the TV again. Because I sort of miss Spanish. I don't know how to describe it. Just understanding easily, but without it being boring. If English is so natural to me that it fades away, tasteless like pure water, then Spanish is something different, chicken broth maybe. It flows, but it's got a bit more flavour. I can see through it, but it leaves something of itself, its own texture and sound. And I enjoy it.
And the little things. Like the guy on the soap opera says, "me voy a pudrir en el infierno." And I giggle, because I know it's just, "I'm going to rot in hell", but it's not just that. It's a different language, different words, and different grammar that has slightly different connotations. And I'll never understand them, not 100%, as a native speaker would. But that's okay, because I understand them my own way as the native speakers wouldn't, and that's what makes me giggle, because to me it's something like, "I'm going to putrefy in the inferno."
It makes life more interesting, is all.
Just now, I turned on the TV again. Because I sort of miss Spanish. I don't know how to describe it. Just understanding easily, but without it being boring. If English is so natural to me that it fades away, tasteless like pure water, then Spanish is something different, chicken broth maybe. It flows, but it's got a bit more flavour. I can see through it, but it leaves something of itself, its own texture and sound. And I enjoy it.
And the little things. Like the guy on the soap opera says, "me voy a pudrir en el infierno." And I giggle, because I know it's just, "I'm going to rot in hell", but it's not just that. It's a different language, different words, and different grammar that has slightly different connotations. And I'll never understand them, not 100%, as a native speaker would. But that's okay, because I understand them my own way as the native speakers wouldn't, and that's what makes me giggle, because to me it's something like, "I'm going to putrefy in the inferno."
It makes life more interesting, is all.
January 07, 2011
Reading List
I've got a stack of fresh books from the library. I basically went to the travel selection and kept taking things off the shelves until my arms were comfortably full.
I got the Fodor's guide to Germany, so I can read up on what'll be nearby when I'm in Bonn. (especially what I can get to with my transport pass!).
Next, I picked up Rick Steves' Postcards from Europe. The Trip Itinerary is largely composed of places I'm likely to visit while I'm over there - Chapters 1-4 are entitled Amsterdam, To the Rhine, Club Rothenburg, and Munich. I'm sure I'll get some good insight especially from those chapters, but more importantly, Rich Steves is one of the most famous travel journalists of all time, and I'll be able to see something about him and the profession from reading the book - how he operates, what his code of ethics is, etc.
The next book is the most random - it's called My 'Dam Life - Three Years in Holland, by Sean Condon. It's pretty much straight humor, but hey, I'll be a stone's throw from Holland while I'm in Germany, and it's what the library had about it.
The last two books for some reason ended up being about Turkey. A Fez of the Heart, by Jeremy Seal, and Looking for Osman, by Eric Lawlor. I'm 3/4 done with Fez of the Heart, which was the first of the pile that I really started in on. The man is obsessed with hats to the point where sometimes I just need to put the book down and laugh at him, but he's one of those authors that is constructively obsessed - he convincingly paints a picture of the history, culture, and politics of Turkey in terms of the Turban, the Fez, and the 'western hat'. He has a funny habit of literally translating the names of towns as he enters them, and then referring to them by this funny-sounding English name for the rest of the novel. In a lot of languages, it's pretty normal to have towns with common nouns for names. In English, not so much. We've got Bath, for example, but usually we have older forms or words taken from other languages, so when Jeremy hangs out in Pomegranate, Soapmakers, or, best of all, Warrior Pistachio, it's lovely.
I got the Fodor's guide to Germany, so I can read up on what'll be nearby when I'm in Bonn. (especially what I can get to with my transport pass!).
Next, I picked up Rick Steves' Postcards from Europe. The Trip Itinerary is largely composed of places I'm likely to visit while I'm over there - Chapters 1-4 are entitled Amsterdam, To the Rhine, Club Rothenburg, and Munich. I'm sure I'll get some good insight especially from those chapters, but more importantly, Rich Steves is one of the most famous travel journalists of all time, and I'll be able to see something about him and the profession from reading the book - how he operates, what his code of ethics is, etc.
The next book is the most random - it's called My 'Dam Life - Three Years in Holland, by Sean Condon. It's pretty much straight humor, but hey, I'll be a stone's throw from Holland while I'm in Germany, and it's what the library had about it.
The last two books for some reason ended up being about Turkey. A Fez of the Heart, by Jeremy Seal, and Looking for Osman, by Eric Lawlor. I'm 3/4 done with Fez of the Heart, which was the first of the pile that I really started in on. The man is obsessed with hats to the point where sometimes I just need to put the book down and laugh at him, but he's one of those authors that is constructively obsessed - he convincingly paints a picture of the history, culture, and politics of Turkey in terms of the Turban, the Fez, and the 'western hat'. He has a funny habit of literally translating the names of towns as he enters them, and then referring to them by this funny-sounding English name for the rest of the novel. In a lot of languages, it's pretty normal to have towns with common nouns for names. In English, not so much. We've got Bath, for example, but usually we have older forms or words taken from other languages, so when Jeremy hangs out in Pomegranate, Soapmakers, or, best of all, Warrior Pistachio, it's lovely.
January 06, 2011
Writing Club
I wrote the previous blog post two nights ago, while I was staying up late trying to get something down for Writing Club. It didn't turn out very well but I'm glad I made the effort. I already feel a lot less rusty.
Writing club was good although there was only 1 person out of my favourite 5 in attendance. The winter crowd is a bit different through and I was happy to finally meet some people I'd heard about for awhile.
There was one new guy (new for me, I mean) who I had mixed feelings about. He dominated the conversation a little bit, and there was something about it that I kept wanting to discuss the various things with him... until I felt bad that the two of us were speaking too much. Also some of his mannerisms I found a little bit annoying, but I think he means well and his advice was good. His writing was good too, but it's always a bit funny for me when I'm in club and one of the older members (and lets be honest, they're all older) starts throwing in references to sex etc. In the segment he read from his memoir, he mentioned that he always used a Polaroid to take sexually explicit photos because he didn't want to have to have them developed by a third party. A pretty normal thing to do, but I have to admit I have a hard time not giggling when such words come out of the mouth of a man with grey hair.
Jerry #2, (my favourite of those who came), read a great piece about living in Karachi some years back - making friends with the hard men of the desert, shooting rabid dogs, and, my favorite part - bringing a Rhesus monkey home from Bangladesh in a burlap bag, and on an airplane. He wrote that back then the Pakistani airplanes were pretty lax, that people would unfurl prayer mats in the aisle, and start fires on their tray-tables to make tea - no one thought anything of the thin stream of liquid that at one point trickled out of the burlap bag and across the aisle. He didn't want to write it, but he also mentioned that women often rode those flights in their burkas, and got sick inside of them. I can't imagine! Jerry #2 is amazing. He's lived everywhere and had the craziest sort of adventures. He has at least two books - one about living in the Middle East, and one about fixing up an old place in Portugal when he was still young (60s - 70s). I have no idea where he got the funds to do all of this.
I really look forward to the group's Wednesday meetings when I'm in town.
Writing club was good although there was only 1 person out of my favourite 5 in attendance. The winter crowd is a bit different through and I was happy to finally meet some people I'd heard about for awhile.
There was one new guy (new for me, I mean) who I had mixed feelings about. He dominated the conversation a little bit, and there was something about it that I kept wanting to discuss the various things with him... until I felt bad that the two of us were speaking too much. Also some of his mannerisms I found a little bit annoying, but I think he means well and his advice was good. His writing was good too, but it's always a bit funny for me when I'm in club and one of the older members (and lets be honest, they're all older) starts throwing in references to sex etc. In the segment he read from his memoir, he mentioned that he always used a Polaroid to take sexually explicit photos because he didn't want to have to have them developed by a third party. A pretty normal thing to do, but I have to admit I have a hard time not giggling when such words come out of the mouth of a man with grey hair.
Jerry #2, (my favourite of those who came), read a great piece about living in Karachi some years back - making friends with the hard men of the desert, shooting rabid dogs, and, my favorite part - bringing a Rhesus monkey home from Bangladesh in a burlap bag, and on an airplane. He wrote that back then the Pakistani airplanes were pretty lax, that people would unfurl prayer mats in the aisle, and start fires on their tray-tables to make tea - no one thought anything of the thin stream of liquid that at one point trickled out of the burlap bag and across the aisle. He didn't want to write it, but he also mentioned that women often rode those flights in their burkas, and got sick inside of them. I can't imagine! Jerry #2 is amazing. He's lived everywhere and had the craziest sort of adventures. He has at least two books - one about living in the Middle East, and one about fixing up an old place in Portugal when he was still young (60s - 70s). I have no idea where he got the funds to do all of this.
I really look forward to the group's Wednesday meetings when I'm in town.
January 05, 2011
Writing
I'm having some trouble writing. Not functionally. Just well.
It's probably just a matter of having been in Spain, away from English. Nothing a little practice can't get me over. Probably. :)
It's probably just a matter of having been in Spain, away from English. Nothing a little practice can't get me over. Probably. :)
January 01, 2011
New Years Resolution
My New Years Resolution is like I wrote in the Christmas card I sent to Liisa this year - to be more grateful, more happy... because we're not just dreaming any more, we're there... and the grass is green.
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