So one of my friends told everyone to blog today. I have nothing to blog about. So I will write all sorts of random thoughts that I've had over the course of the day.
I received my Maths assignment. The teacher said is was easy. I started counting the pages and stopped after 10.
Excuse me, I don't care how easy it is, something that takes that much paper is going to be tedious and horrible. Don't get my hopes up by saying it's simple.
He also said it wouldn't take me too long. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.
Anyway. I came home early today due to being sick again. I planned on going to bed. No, really, I did. I wanted to sleep and get over this.
I just, you know, wanted to check Twitter and Tumblr first.
It was a slippery slope. I started by reading a few things, and next thing I knew I had 18 tabs open and 3 hours had passed. Damn it, interwebs.
I couldn't help it though. I didn't know about these riots around England until I got home, so I started looking up the stories. And by the time I'd finished reading about these (surprisingly scary sounding) riots, I'd totally forgotten about going to bed.
40 pages of Tumblr later, and there was no longer any point to sleeping. I mean, once it hits a certain point in the afternoon, I can't nap without finding it impossible to sleep that night. Oh well.
A week ago, our English teacher told us all what grades he thought we should have at the least. He told me A+.
...I haven't had an A+ since year... 10? 9? Something like that. Usually I get an A-. I think I had a B+ once last year.
...Good to know that he's realised that my assignments are usually completed the morning they're due and aren't really a true reflection of my abilities, I guess.
Okay, so I'm now cleaning my room. I was going to watch Supernatural, and then I was going to browse Google Earth, but I've ended up cleaning. How did this happen? I have no idea. But anyway.
I took a bag to the bin earlier. Like, one of those huge black bags that you could fit 20 cats in. I don't know why I'm measuring in cats, but you get what I mean. And that was just stuff I'd found under my desk. My room is a mess. Anyway. The bin was covered in tiny little flying bugs. It was terrifying. I've never run away from something so fast in my life. And now I'm worried that I have bugs in my hair. It was terrible.
I have erasers that are shaped like different types of sushi on my desk. They're pretty awesome. Also, I have 962 379 steps total on my Pokewalker. Speaking of which, I haven't used my Pokewalker at all today, and yet I seem to have 10 steps.
How?
How?
I don't even.
I was going to advertise a song here but the title is in Katakana and I don't have a Japanese typing thing on this computer. I could type it on the laptop, but that'd involve opening Blogger on there and I am much too lazy to do that. Oh well. I will advertise it later.
Download Helper (the Firefox add-on) is being a bitch. It keeps stopping half way through a download and is all "download complete" but when I watch the video I'll see maybe 10 minutes before it cuts out. Pfft. Finished my ass.
That saying makes no sense whatsoever.
My Extension English teacher asked if I was enjoying my book. And, for the first time in a long while, I was able to say that yes, I was enjoying a book that I had to choose for English. Quite a lot, actually. It's very stream-of-consciousness styled, and I like that. It's also an existentialist novel, which increases my love for it tenfold. It's also very pessimistic and funny and hey, who doesn't like self-depreciative humour?
The book is Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, for anyone who is interested. It is beautiful and absolutely horrid all at once. A brilliant piece of work, I must say.
I had this conversation with Dad after going to a university open day.
Dad: So, I assume you're studying in Japan abroad? I think it'd really help you become fluent in the language.
Me: Heh. Yeah...
Dad: ...you seem tentative?
Me: I... I kinda really massively want to travel to Italy instead...
Dad: Japanese is your main language, though.
Me: Yes but... well, Italy is beautiful and the language is amazing and I love pasta and they have so much art and everyone I know who has traveled loved Italy and if I went to Italy then everything would be Italian and nothing would hurt-
Dad: Look, I understand. Sort of. Well, I can try to understand, and I still think you should go to Japan. Wasn't Japanese -> English translations your ambition? Do you love Italian television and media enough to translate it?
Me: ...Stop being logical. I want to go to Italy. Damn it.
I've stopped cleaning my room and now I feel guilty. But I am a sentimental fool and don't want to throw everything out. Like birthday cards! I hate throwing them out. I get like, 10 a year, and I feel the urge to collect every single one.
I had to take the cash out (found another $50 note!!! Grandma ily), close my eyes, throw the card away and pretend that it didn't happen. Yeah.
18th birthday in 5 months and 11 days. I'd better get a lot of cash from that one. Loljks I'd rather not have a birthday at all. I feel so old. Aren't I supposed to start worrying about age when I'm 30 or 40? I don't want to have responsibility and stuff. I want to be a child forever.
DAMN IT DOWNLOAD HELPER. THE LAST VIDEO THAT WORKED WAS OVER 150 MBS. THIS ONE IS ONLY 6. I AM NOT A FOOL. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE LYING. YOU DO NOT LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME. YOU ARE NOT HELPING. YOU'RE BARELY EVEN DOWNLOADING.
My desktop wall paper is of the Master Sword. I wish I could delete all memories of the Zelda franchise so that I can re-experience it all over again. That would be amazing.
Everyone who has ever been in a fandom needs to read this. Yes. This. Let me post it once more: http://hesychasm.livejournal.com/187818.html
"Fandom is focus. Fandom is obsession. Fandom is insatiable consumption. Fandom is sitting for hours in front of a TV screen a movie screen a computer screen with a comic book a novel on your lap. Fandom is eyestrain and carpal tunnel syndrome and not enough exercise and staying up way, way past your bedtime."
"[...]Fandom could never be just a phase. Fandom is where you found a friend, a sister, a kindred spirit. Fandom is where you found a talent, a love, a reason.
Fandom is where you found yourself."
Yes yes yes.
Hey soulmate let me love you~
I think Fandom is where I discovered other people just like me, and that probably got me through the hell that was year 8 and year 10.
Really. I don't think anything, or anyone, else could have helped as much as the strangers I'd met on the internet.
That seems strange. Oh well. What, pray tell, is 'normal'? Why focus on the supposedly normal things? It's the strange oddities in life that make it interesting, no?
Pfft I'm going into a weird, almost-but-not-quite-philosophical mood. I'm going to stop before I start ranting or writing weird things. Oh no, your subconscious is showing.
I shall return to cleaning my room. I'd proof-read this but I will realise how totally random and terrible it is, and then it won't get posted. So if you see any grammatical errors, or spelling errors, or just errors in general, then please, get the fuck over it. K thanks ^^
Blow into this paperbag, go home, stop grinning at everyone.
Paperbag Writer - Radiohead♥♪
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Aug 9, 2011
Jul 10, 2011
La Bella Lingua
A few days ago I started writing about the top languages that I wanted to learn (I will post that eventually, by the way). Most of you probably know that, at uni, I'll be studying Japanese and Italian, and after uni I might have a go at German (there's no way in hell I'll ever be fluent at all three of course, but it'd be nice to know some basic German on the side, right?) or Macedonian. Truthfully, Sicilian would probably be my ultimate favourite, but where the hell would I learn that?
Usually I fangirl over Japanese because it's different to English, it's very rounded and pretty sounding, their writing system is a lot more creative than the Roman alphabet could ever be and... well, anime and manga is originally written in Japanese, so it must be good. I adore Japan, and I really, really love the language. Unfortunately, it's just me. My family are... well, they're accepting of it, but they aren't fans of the country at all, and most of my friends are into other languages and cultures. Not that that's bad; it's always good to be an individual. It just makes it hard to truly fangirl when you don't have anyone to fangirl with. I can fangirl at them, but that's hardly the same.
Anyway. As I outlined in my language blog post that I have not posted yet (whoops), my great grandmother, who knew seven languages or something, loved Italian the most. I found out a few days ago that her daughter, my grandmother, loves traveling around Italy. I don't know where Italy is in comparison to all the other countries she seems to love, but it's definitely somewhere near the top of her favourites list.
I started to see a trend here, so I pestered my aunts on the other side of my family to see their opinions. As it turns out, they love Italy even more. One of them told me that Italy was her absolute favourite place, especially Sicily. Which is brilliant because it really seems that Sicily doesn't get the love it deserves (neither does the language, but that's a rant for another time).
I told her that I wanted to go to Italy and Spain at some point. She replied with "Spain is brilliant. It was this atmosphere that you have to love. But Italy will always be my favourite. It's beautiful. It has such amazing landscapes, and it has this really extensive history you just end up immersed in. The language is really pretty, too."
...well then.
I'm easily influenced, so I've started to look up more on the country and the language. I've always adored Italian. Pfft, they say France is the country of l'amour, but it's got nothing on how romantic Italian can sound. As I said earlier, I love Japan. My interest in Japanese culture will always top my interest in Italian culture. But when it comes to the languages, Italian may actually come up on top. It's more melodic and bright sounding, and the consonants are just so much sharper and more crisp.
Er, I'll stop fangirling over that now. I spent awhile looking at different places in Italy (Rome is gorgeous and Venice is so one-in-a-kind, but I still love the entirety of Sicily~) and then started looking up a heap of words. Why not add some Italian to my vocabulary, right? I like to think of it as getting a head start on my uni stuff. Yeah. That's my excuse.
Anyway, today I have decided that andiamo is one of my favourite words. It means let's go, basically, but to me it sounds a bit more urgent. It's a very pretty word. It just rolls off the tongue so easily. I dunno, I just like it a lot. Is it bad that I first heard the word through Hetalia?
I've also learnt that Italians use the term che cavolo as something similar to "what the hell". Thing is, it literally translates to what cabbage. So next time something weird and befuddling happens, make sure to exclaim what the cabbage?!?, alright? ^_^
Ti amo, hai capito? ♥ I absolutely adore how this sounds. Heh.
Italiano; la bella lingua indeed.
Usually I fangirl over Japanese because it's different to English, it's very rounded and pretty sounding, their writing system is a lot more creative than the Roman alphabet could ever be and... well, anime and manga is originally written in Japanese, so it must be good. I adore Japan, and I really, really love the language. Unfortunately, it's just me. My family are... well, they're accepting of it, but they aren't fans of the country at all, and most of my friends are into other languages and cultures. Not that that's bad; it's always good to be an individual. It just makes it hard to truly fangirl when you don't have anyone to fangirl with. I can fangirl at them, but that's hardly the same.
Anyway. As I outlined in my language blog post that I have not posted yet (whoops), my great grandmother, who knew seven languages or something, loved Italian the most. I found out a few days ago that her daughter, my grandmother, loves traveling around Italy. I don't know where Italy is in comparison to all the other countries she seems to love, but it's definitely somewhere near the top of her favourites list.
I started to see a trend here, so I pestered my aunts on the other side of my family to see their opinions. As it turns out, they love Italy even more. One of them told me that Italy was her absolute favourite place, especially Sicily. Which is brilliant because it really seems that Sicily doesn't get the love it deserves (neither does the language, but that's a rant for another time).
I told her that I wanted to go to Italy and Spain at some point. She replied with "Spain is brilliant. It was this atmosphere that you have to love. But Italy will always be my favourite. It's beautiful. It has such amazing landscapes, and it has this really extensive history you just end up immersed in. The language is really pretty, too."
...well then.
I'm easily influenced, so I've started to look up more on the country and the language. I've always adored Italian. Pfft, they say France is the country of l'amour, but it's got nothing on how romantic Italian can sound. As I said earlier, I love Japan. My interest in Japanese culture will always top my interest in Italian culture. But when it comes to the languages, Italian may actually come up on top. It's more melodic and bright sounding, and the consonants are just so much sharper and more crisp.
Er, I'll stop fangirling over that now. I spent awhile looking at different places in Italy (Rome is gorgeous and Venice is so one-in-a-kind, but I still love the entirety of Sicily~) and then started looking up a heap of words. Why not add some Italian to my vocabulary, right? I like to think of it as getting a head start on my uni stuff. Yeah. That's my excuse.
Anyway, today I have decided that andiamo is one of my favourite words. It means let's go, basically, but to me it sounds a bit more urgent. It's a very pretty word. It just rolls off the tongue so easily. I dunno, I just like it a lot. Is it bad that I first heard the word through Hetalia?
I've also learnt that Italians use the term che cavolo as something similar to "what the hell". Thing is, it literally translates to what cabbage. So next time something weird and befuddling happens, make sure to exclaim what the cabbage?!?, alright? ^_^
Ti amo, hai capito? ♥ I absolutely adore how this sounds. Heh.
Italiano; la bella lingua indeed.
Jun 15, 2011
Ways to Start an Assignment
This is how I'm getting myself to start my assignment. Whoop whoop.
- I have started by purposefully going on MSN and telling people about how much I am procrastinating. They tend to be all "DO YOUR ASSIGNMENT BITCH" and prompt me so many times that I end up working.
- Close all tabs except what is needed. And maybe have some downloads going in the background. I mean, that's not /too/ distracting
- No music.
- I have the desktop on, and that makes plenty of noise, but usually I'm working on the laptop alone which leaves the room in silence. When this happens, I end up finding a site that plays white noise or a site that plays the sound of rain. Either helps me concentrate.
- As a way of convincing myself that I'm still sorta having free time, I end up playing with a bunch of my little Shimeji things on screen. Right now I have Romano crawling around because I'm kinda maybe in love with him~
- Vanilla green tea. It doesn't taste amazing or anything, but it smells really nice and seems to help me concentrate. Plus it makes me feel warm and, you know, it's cold right now.
- The Shimeji really are excellent. You can mess around with them while thinking and, when you're typing, you don't need to focus on them at all. They're just sorta half-there, if that makes any sense.
- Stuffed toys for cuddling when not typing.
- The shortcut for GTA needs to be visible on my desktop so I can remember that, once I'm finished, I can happily go run over a bunch of random civilians if that makes me feel better.
- Sims 2 is good as well, in case I feel like building instead of destroying.
- My Pokewalker is looking at me. It's like "yeah you can walk 10,000 steps a day but you can't even write 2000 words. You fail" and it makes me feel bad.
- Closing Blogger. The final step before working on an assignment.
Wish me luck, people. =3
- I have started by purposefully going on MSN and telling people about how much I am procrastinating. They tend to be all "DO YOUR ASSIGNMENT BITCH" and prompt me so many times that I end up working.
- Close all tabs except what is needed. And maybe have some downloads going in the background. I mean, that's not /too/ distracting
- No music.
- I have the desktop on, and that makes plenty of noise, but usually I'm working on the laptop alone which leaves the room in silence. When this happens, I end up finding a site that plays white noise or a site that plays the sound of rain. Either helps me concentrate.
- As a way of convincing myself that I'm still sorta having free time, I end up playing with a bunch of my little Shimeji things on screen. Right now I have Romano crawling around because I'm kinda maybe in love with him~
- Vanilla green tea. It doesn't taste amazing or anything, but it smells really nice and seems to help me concentrate. Plus it makes me feel warm and, you know, it's cold right now.
- The Shimeji really are excellent. You can mess around with them while thinking and, when you're typing, you don't need to focus on them at all. They're just sorta half-there, if that makes any sense.
- Stuffed toys for cuddling when not typing.
- The shortcut for GTA needs to be visible on my desktop so I can remember that, once I'm finished, I can happily go run over a bunch of random civilians if that makes me feel better.
- Sims 2 is good as well, in case I feel like building instead of destroying.
- My Pokewalker is looking at me. It's like "yeah you can walk 10,000 steps a day but you can't even write 2000 words. You fail" and it makes me feel bad.
- Closing Blogger. The final step before working on an assignment.
Wish me luck, people. =3
Procrastibation.
I'm not going to explain the word 'procrastibation'. C'mon guys. It should be obvious.
Anyway, I'm procrastinating, like I usually do. Not procrastibating (I would hardly advertise that online, guys) but just normal procrastinating. I have an assignment due tomorrow that I've hardly started. That's okay. I'll do it in the morning. That's how I did the last assignment. Woke up at 3am, finished it by 6am. I'm damn good like that.
You can't blame me for procrastinating. It's a stupid assignment. The task sheet is badly written and the teacher annoys me. Yeah, that's totally reason enough to not do an assignment. Moving on.
Pretty sure I looked at the task sheet, looked at the teacher and thought "what". Just like this gif. Yeah.
Anyway, I'm procrastinating, like I usually do. Not procrastibating (I would hardly advertise that online, guys) but just normal procrastinating. I have an assignment due tomorrow that I've hardly started. That's okay. I'll do it in the morning. That's how I did the last assignment. Woke up at 3am, finished it by 6am. I'm damn good like that.
You can't blame me for procrastinating. It's a stupid assignment. The task sheet is badly written and the teacher annoys me. Yeah, that's totally reason enough to not do an assignment. Moving on.
Pretty sure I looked at the task sheet, looked at the teacher and thought "what". Just like this gif. Yeah.So how am I procrastinating this time? Unfortunately, I am not procrastibating. I don't think masturbation is a very productive way to pass the time. No, I'm listening to music, reading fanfiction and browsing Livejournal. Oh wait, that's what I normally do when something is due. Hm.
I'm a very predictable person, I suppose.
Then again, I'm not completely predictable. Guess what music I'm listening to. It's not indie, progressive rock or alternative for once. It's not in English or Japanese. Yeah, I've gone way out there. Sort of. I am listening to Italian rap.
Well, I'm listening to a bunch of songs in different languages about different countries. It just so happens that In Italia by Fabri Fibra (Ft. Gianna Nannini) is playing at this current point in time.
I figure I should listen to some more Italian if I want to learn the language... then again, there are a lot of languages I want to learn. Japanese, German, Macedonian, Greek, Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Portuguese, Latin and... Corsican, perhaps? Northern or Southern Corsican, I'm not picky.
I'd also like to learn Venetian, Sicilian and Neapolitan, but I may be going a bit over the top with the whole Italy thing. Corsican also counts, even if it's also spoken in France.
I'm too easily influenced. I started liking Finnish because of Tenuto Tuo, and it was Phantomess and Clearly Unfocused who got me into Spanish. But whatever.
L'italiano by Toto Cutugno is playing now. Which is quite a strange contrast when compared with the last song.
I should stop babbling on about languages now. Just for the record, I am studying Japanese and 'standard' Italian at uni. That will not change. However, I'd like to do German and maybe Sicilian one day in the future. Maybe. Depends on how difficult it is to learn Japanese and Italian... but hey, I'll keep those as my goals, anyway. It's nice to have goals, even if you probably won't reach them. It's free to dream big, right?
Right.
(The word 'procrastibation' was totally stolen from [title of show] which is absolutely hilarious and everyone should go watch it. Yes, right now. Yes, you. Go watch it. You won't regret it. Alright kiddies, go procrastibate and have fallacious arguments with your friends, mmkay?)
I'm a very predictable person, I suppose.
Then again, I'm not completely predictable. Guess what music I'm listening to. It's not indie, progressive rock or alternative for once. It's not in English or Japanese. Yeah, I've gone way out there. Sort of. I am listening to Italian rap.
Well, I'm listening to a bunch of songs in different languages about different countries. It just so happens that In Italia by Fabri Fibra (Ft. Gianna Nannini) is playing at this current point in time.
I figure I should listen to some more Italian if I want to learn the language... then again, there are a lot of languages I want to learn. Japanese, German, Macedonian, Greek, Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Portuguese, Latin and... Corsican, perhaps? Northern or Southern Corsican, I'm not picky.
I'd also like to learn Venetian, Sicilian and Neapolitan, but I may be going a bit over the top with the whole Italy thing. Corsican also counts, even if it's also spoken in France.
I'm too easily influenced. I started liking Finnish because of Tenuto Tuo, and it was Phantomess and Clearly Unfocused who got me into Spanish. But whatever.
L'italiano by Toto Cutugno is playing now. Which is quite a strange contrast when compared with the last song.
I should stop babbling on about languages now. Just for the record, I am studying Japanese and 'standard' Italian at uni. That will not change. However, I'd like to do German and maybe Sicilian one day in the future. Maybe. Depends on how difficult it is to learn Japanese and Italian... but hey, I'll keep those as my goals, anyway. It's nice to have goals, even if you probably won't reach them. It's free to dream big, right?
Right.
(The word 'procrastibation' was totally stolen from [title of show] which is absolutely hilarious and everyone should go watch it. Yes, right now. Yes, you. Go watch it. You won't regret it. Alright kiddies, go procrastibate and have fallacious arguments with your friends, mmkay?)
Jun 13, 2011
Pickles Have Many Names
I have spent the day reading Catch 22 so I can start and finish an assignment on it. The draft for this assignment was technically due last Thursday, however I had not finished the book. Truth be told, I didn't even plan on finishing the book. Hence why I am rushing to finish it now as the actual assignment is due in 3 days.
Unfortunately, I fail at keeping at one task for an extended period of time. As a result, I've ended up doing various things along with reading my book, such as discuss uni options, read fanfiction, follow Tim Schou on Twitter, follow a bunch of Hetalia roleplayers online, listen to the Eurovision contestants from this year, listen to Plastic Tree, look up a translation of the lyrics of two Plastic Tree songs, analyse these lyrics, sing along with the original Japanese lyrics, look up other Visual Kei bands, browse Facebook, eat chocolate, feta cheese, jelly crystals, cookies, lamingtons, bread and noodles, read messages about Belgium from a close friend, fight with Songbird for not playing my music, fight with Adobe Flash Player for crashing on multiple videos, watch videos of cats jump into boxes, fight with my sister and listen to a website that plays recordings of thunderstorms on a loop.
I've been very productive.
All of this reading and procrastinating has given me a hunger for pickles, actually. We have a jar, however there are only five pickles in the jar, so I only had one. Which sucks because I am really craving more.
Actually, the jar calls them 'Dill Cucumbers' and has something in Polish underneath that. Wikipedia calls them pickled cucumbers along with the above names plus variations of these names. They also call them 'gherkins'.
The thing with pickles/pickled cucumbers/dill cucumbers/gherkins is that they are a little bit sour and very salty. And I love salt. So you can understand my sudden craving. I adore salt. Today has been a very sugar filled day and I am sick of it. I want my salt, kthx.
I have 100 pages to go of Catch 22. Gosh dang it to heck.
I suspected that Plastic Tree were big on cutesy, kinda romantic, kinda sad lyrics. And I was right. Which is amazing because, as I've said before, my grasp on the Japanese language is rather small and failworthy. I looked up the lyrics to スピカ/Spica and アンドロメタモルフオーゼ/andro metamorphose. They are very good songs. Very emotional songs. I already knew the gist of Spica which is why I looked up the translation, but I didn't know much about Andro Metamorphose. I just looked up the lyrics because I liked the music.
Here are my favourite parts of each song
スピカ/Spica. Spica is the brightest star in Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in our sky.
まだ 星の光が 忘れそうになった思いを繋げるなら
覚えた星の名前が 隠れてしまった未来を照らすのなら
きっと となり同士 ふたりぼっち 白いスピカ
Which translates to:
If the light of the stars still connects me to a love I’d forgotten
If the name of the star I’ve just remembered illuminates a future that was hidden
We’ll surely be side by side, just the two of us, a white Spica
アンドロメタモルフォーゼ/Andro Metamorphose is probably the most difficult title to remember. I don't know why. Anyway.
名を呼んで 名を告げて
透明じゃない僕にして
食べかけの月が僕を冷たく睨んでる
未来まで一緒にさ 行けたならよかったな
してあげたい出来ない事がたくさんあるんだよ
Translation:
Call my name, tell me my name
Make me visible
The half-eaten moon glares down at me coldly
I wish we could have made it to the future together
There are so many things I want to do for you, but can't
Yeah, so, they have very good lyrics.
Heh, when I scroll back up and read the first two paragraphs of this post, I feel like wincing. When I read something, I tend to adopt the voice used in that text (or at least, attempt to adopt it) and end up writing in a similar way. I think I was trying to write in a voice similar to that used in Catch 22, but it got a little muddled when I looked up pickles/pickled cucumbers/dill cucumbers/gherkins on Wikipedia, and I ended up with... well, whatever I wrote in the beginning of this post. Cool.
Unfortunately, I fail at keeping at one task for an extended period of time. As a result, I've ended up doing various things along with reading my book, such as discuss uni options, read fanfiction, follow Tim Schou on Twitter, follow a bunch of Hetalia roleplayers online, listen to the Eurovision contestants from this year, listen to Plastic Tree, look up a translation of the lyrics of two Plastic Tree songs, analyse these lyrics, sing along with the original Japanese lyrics, look up other Visual Kei bands, browse Facebook, eat chocolate, feta cheese, jelly crystals, cookies, lamingtons, bread and noodles, read messages about Belgium from a close friend, fight with Songbird for not playing my music, fight with Adobe Flash Player for crashing on multiple videos, watch videos of cats jump into boxes, fight with my sister and listen to a website that plays recordings of thunderstorms on a loop.
I've been very productive.
All of this reading and procrastinating has given me a hunger for pickles, actually. We have a jar, however there are only five pickles in the jar, so I only had one. Which sucks because I am really craving more.
Actually, the jar calls them 'Dill Cucumbers' and has something in Polish underneath that. Wikipedia calls them pickled cucumbers along with the above names plus variations of these names. They also call them 'gherkins'.
The thing with pickles/pickled cucumbers/dill cucumbers/gherkins is that they are a little bit sour and very salty. And I love salt. So you can understand my sudden craving. I adore salt. Today has been a very sugar filled day and I am sick of it. I want my salt, kthx.
I have 100 pages to go of Catch 22. Gosh dang it to heck.
I suspected that Plastic Tree were big on cutesy, kinda romantic, kinda sad lyrics. And I was right. Which is amazing because, as I've said before, my grasp on the Japanese language is rather small and failworthy. I looked up the lyrics to スピカ/Spica and アンドロメタモルフオーゼ/andro metamorphose. They are very good songs. Very emotional songs. I already knew the gist of Spica which is why I looked up the translation, but I didn't know much about Andro Metamorphose. I just looked up the lyrics because I liked the music.
Here are my favourite parts of each song
スピカ/Spica. Spica is the brightest star in Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in our sky.
まだ 星の光が 忘れそうになった思いを繋げるなら
覚えた星の名前が 隠れてしまった未来を照らすのなら
きっと となり同士 ふたりぼっち 白いスピカ
Which translates to:
If the light of the stars still connects me to a love I’d forgotten
If the name of the star I’ve just remembered illuminates a future that was hidden
We’ll surely be side by side, just the two of us, a white Spica
アンドロメタモルフォーゼ/Andro Metamorphose is probably the most difficult title to remember. I don't know why. Anyway.
名を呼んで 名を告げて
透明じゃない僕にして
食べかけの月が僕を冷たく睨んでる
未来まで一緒にさ 行けたならよかったな
してあげたい出来ない事がたくさんあるんだよ
Translation:
Call my name, tell me my name
Make me visible
The half-eaten moon glares down at me coldly
I wish we could have made it to the future together
There are so many things I want to do for you, but can't
Yeah, so, they have very good lyrics.
Heh, when I scroll back up and read the first two paragraphs of this post, I feel like wincing. When I read something, I tend to adopt the voice used in that text (or at least, attempt to adopt it) and end up writing in a similar way. I think I was trying to write in a voice similar to that used in Catch 22, but it got a little muddled when I looked up pickles/pickled cucumbers/dill cucumbers/gherkins on Wikipedia, and I ended up with... well, whatever I wrote in the beginning of this post. Cool.
May 29, 2011
Good Enough
I have 1082 words for my English and it only comes in at 6 minutes long.
It was supposed to be 7 minutes, minimum. Oh well. Maybe I'll pretend to trip over half way through and spend a ridiculously long amount of time trying to get back up again to continue speaking.
I have this chronic fear of public speaking. If an assignment is meant to be 5 minutes long, I'll write it out to be around 6 minutes long because I know I'll panic on the day. And then on the day I'll only just make it over 5 minutes. I rush so I can get off stage quicker, I guess. I don't know if I expect people to laugh or to try and trip me or what, but something makes me panic every time.
Yeah, I kinda expect something like this to happen
It was supposed to be 7 minutes, minimum. Oh well. Maybe I'll pretend to trip over half way through and spend a ridiculously long amount of time trying to get back up again to continue speaking.
I have this chronic fear of public speaking. If an assignment is meant to be 5 minutes long, I'll write it out to be around 6 minutes long because I know I'll panic on the day. And then on the day I'll only just make it over 5 minutes. I rush so I can get off stage quicker, I guess. I don't know if I expect people to laugh or to try and trip me or what, but something makes me panic every time.
Yeah, I kinda expect something like this to happenBack in Primary school I was the vice captain of my grade. I had to speak every week on assembly, and I had no issue whatsoever. What happened? Oh well. My 12 year old self is crying at my failness, but that's okay.
I don't want to work anymore. My brain is fried. I just want to start memorising so I can go read/watch Hetalia and Higurashi (I do like anime that start with H, it would seem). I need to revise my favourite characters list for Hetalia. So here we go.
Hetalia faves:
1. Romano
2. England
3. Spain.
4. Denmark (for the hat, pretty much)
5. America
I have a love/hate thing for North Italy. I sometimes adore him, but sometimes I think "oh Italy, you don't deserve everything you've got =_="
Also, Higurashi faves:
1. Rena
2. Keiichi
3. Rika
4. Hanyuu
5. Shion
I don't like Mion much. And Satoshi is cute, but... I don't like his personality. So shoot me.
I really love gif images right now. Here, have another one.
Is it weird that I could watch America doing backflips all day? Here's a larger version if you're into that ♥
I don't want to work anymore. My brain is fried. I just want to start memorising so I can go read/watch Hetalia and Higurashi (I do like anime that start with H, it would seem). I need to revise my favourite characters list for Hetalia. So here we go.
Hetalia faves:
1. Romano
2. England
3. Spain.
4. Denmark (for the hat, pretty much)
5. America
I have a love/hate thing for North Italy. I sometimes adore him, but sometimes I think "oh Italy, you don't deserve everything you've got =_="
Also, Higurashi faves:
1. Rena
2. Keiichi
3. Rika
4. Hanyuu
5. Shion
I don't like Mion much. And Satoshi is cute, but... I don't like his personality. So shoot me.
I really love gif images right now. Here, have another one.
Is it weird that I could watch America doing backflips all day? Here's a larger version if you're into that ♥
May 28, 2011
Procrastinating Again
I have an English assignment to do. I need to speak for 7 minutes next week. I have only 500 words. I don't think I'll reach the time limit with that
...Well, I could just pause a lot...
I could keep writing, but instead of doing that I've been playing Grand Theft Auto, looking up Portal, studying Japanese, analysing lyrics, helping other people with their English and basically doing anything that isn't my English.
Well, at least I'm using my mind in some way, rather than just watching TV or something. Analysing lyrics is actually quite fun. I've gone through a lot of different styles of music today. Here's a portion of what I've listened to.
So, what befalls the flawless? ♪
The Leaving Song Part II by AFI. This was the first AFI song I listened to, actually. It's good when I'm in an angry and/or depressed mood but don't want to listen to sad music. Definitely listen to it the entire way through guys.
And let this music into your heart, sweet love ♪
Tuesday by Raphael Gualazzi. No, this is not a response to Rebecca Black's Friday. I've been listening to this guy after hearing the track Madness of Love in Eurovision. He's pretty epic. And he sings some songs in Italian. I love Italian ♥
And I know you won't deceive me like the rest, and there's nothing you need to explain ♪
Blue Veins by The Raconteurs. I wish I could find lyric videos for both this song and the last one I posted =_= but anyway. I don't have much to say about this song. Just... listen to it. Please.
I've managed to relate all of these to my own life. I need to stop doing that. Pretty sure none of these songs were written about me.
Here, have a Harry Potter gif.
...Well, I could just pause a lot...
I could keep writing, but instead of doing that I've been playing Grand Theft Auto, looking up Portal, studying Japanese, analysing lyrics, helping other people with their English and basically doing anything that isn't my English.
Well, at least I'm using my mind in some way, rather than just watching TV or something. Analysing lyrics is actually quite fun. I've gone through a lot of different styles of music today. Here's a portion of what I've listened to.
So, what befalls the flawless? ♪
The Leaving Song Part II by AFI. This was the first AFI song I listened to, actually. It's good when I'm in an angry and/or depressed mood but don't want to listen to sad music. Definitely listen to it the entire way through guys.
And let this music into your heart, sweet love ♪
Tuesday by Raphael Gualazzi. No, this is not a response to Rebecca Black's Friday. I've been listening to this guy after hearing the track Madness of Love in Eurovision. He's pretty epic. And he sings some songs in Italian. I love Italian ♥
And I know you won't deceive me like the rest, and there's nothing you need to explain ♪
Blue Veins by The Raconteurs. I wish I could find lyric videos for both this song and the last one I posted =_= but anyway. I don't have much to say about this song. Just... listen to it. Please.
I've managed to relate all of these to my own life. I need to stop doing that. Pretty sure none of these songs were written about me.
Here, have a Harry Potter gif.
May 26, 2011
I'm Not Doing This During Class. Definitely Not.
I am confused.
I’m writing this in my spare period at school. And I am very confused.
I’m putting off my school work to muse over my life, because I am doubleplusconfused.
I am so confused that I’m not taking words from 1984 and changing them for my own purposes. I do not have any real reasoning behind this. Pretend that links back to me being confused, kthx.
Well, now that I think about it, I’m not that confused. I have theories behind why certain things are happening, and I don’t think I’m too far off (though I’m sure I’m not a hundred percent correct. I can’t be right. I mean... that doesn’t even... I’m not going to think about that). I can comprehend what’s going on, so much so that I’m formulating my own little ideas about this all. So clearly I am not confused.
But... well, that word seems to suit my thoughts better than any other. Yeah, I get what’s going on. But there’s still some factor that’s utterly... perplexing... and I’m not quite sure what it is that makes things perplexing, nor can I explain this any better. I just can’t. I’m going to blame the English language and say there just aren’t enough words to describe this. I like insulting the English language though, and I have a feeling that there aren’t any languages that could describe this situation efficiently enough.
I won’t go into detail. No one wants to know about my social life. Just know that I completely understand everything that’s going on, and yet I still manage to be completely and utterly confused. Maybe... Maybe I understand what's going on, and I get the theory behind it, but on an emotional level my brain just goes whaaaat. Yeah. Yeah, maybe.
You know, the English language has so many synonyms, and yet we still aren’t specific enough in some areas. In Japanese, the words watashi, watakushi, atashi, ore and boku all translate best to I. They are different, but it’s close to impossible to show that in our language. Fail to us.
I should go do some work now. So much stuff is due... I can’t focus though. Gotta hate being unable to focus. I suppose, at the least, I could go make some notes or something. Ciao.
I’m writing this in my spare period at school. And I am very confused.
I’m putting off my school work to muse over my life, because I am doubleplusconfused.
I am so confused that I’m not taking words from 1984 and changing them for my own purposes. I do not have any real reasoning behind this. Pretend that links back to me being confused, kthx.
Well, now that I think about it, I’m not that confused. I have theories behind why certain things are happening, and I don’t think I’m too far off (though I’m sure I’m not a hundred percent correct. I can’t be right. I mean... that doesn’t even... I’m not going to think about that). I can comprehend what’s going on, so much so that I’m formulating my own little ideas about this all. So clearly I am not confused.
But... well, that word seems to suit my thoughts better than any other. Yeah, I get what’s going on. But there’s still some factor that’s utterly... perplexing... and I’m not quite sure what it is that makes things perplexing, nor can I explain this any better. I just can’t. I’m going to blame the English language and say there just aren’t enough words to describe this. I like insulting the English language though, and I have a feeling that there aren’t any languages that could describe this situation efficiently enough.
I won’t go into detail. No one wants to know about my social life. Just know that I completely understand everything that’s going on, and yet I still manage to be completely and utterly confused. Maybe... Maybe I understand what's going on, and I get the theory behind it, but on an emotional level my brain just goes whaaaat. Yeah. Yeah, maybe.
You know, the English language has so many synonyms, and yet we still aren’t specific enough in some areas. In Japanese, the words watashi, watakushi, atashi, ore and boku all translate best to I. They are different, but it’s close to impossible to show that in our language. Fail to us.
I should go do some work now. So much stuff is due... I can’t focus though. Gotta hate being unable to focus. I suppose, at the least, I could go make some notes or something. Ciao.
Apr 28, 2011
Why Learning Shakespeare is Totally Redundant (For Me, At Least)
So I'm studying Shakespeare at school. Again. Which is funny, because I was talking about this with my Dad just the other day. My Dad is a smart man, so imagine my surprise when he told me that he never liked Shakespeare. Okay, maybe it's not surprising, but... well, Dad is a bit of a literature nerd, so I always thought... eh, well, I'm not complaining, because I despise Shakespeare and think that learning about his plays is a waste of my time.
Studying Shakespeare makes very little sense, if you ask me. And if you ask Dad, apparently. Not that you should be contacting my Dad about Shakespeare. Seriously guys, that's weird, please don't try to engage him in a conversation regarding some old dead guys stories.
Ahem. Shakespeare's plays were amazing for his time, and I mean, if you want to learn about important literature from the past, then obviously his work will be vital to study. That said, his works aren't very... uhm, informative for those studying only core English today.
His language is dated (duh) and I will never understand his comedies. The jokes just get lost on me. And yes, the tragedies are, you know, tragic, but not full-on or memorable enough for me to care.
I've always hated the characterisation in Shakespeare (or lack thereof, depending on the chosen text. Yes, I went there. I'm not going to bitch about the two-dimensional characters used though) and I've never truly fallen for any of the plot lines.
I just... don't like Shakespeare.
And how are you meant to get the students to pay attention if you're teaching them works that use language we can't properly understand? Granted, I can read his plays without too much hassle now, but when I first started I had an online Shakespearean dictionary open. Nobody wants to look up every third word as they read. Trust me on that.
It's not just the language though. I tried so damn hard to get into Romeo and Juliet. I read the play, I watched both versions of the movie, I watched the anime, I read an online novelisation... none of it stuck. And I mean, the movies, the anime and the original play are so different, so you'd think I'd enjoy at least one of them... One of the movies stayed true to the era it was written for, the other featured a modern-day setting, and the anime was set in a futuristic 'neo-Verona' with flying horses. They are clearly very, very different, but... I don't know what it is about that story, but I never truly liked any of the adaptions. There's just... something there that never sits quite right with me.
I've read a number of other plays by him, but to no avail. I haven't bothered to look up other adaptions of his works. I don't see the point. I know I won't like it. At all. I will give him credit where it's due; as I said, his work would have been amazing when it was written. It just hasn't aged well, if you ask me (And hey, if people are going to tell me the Nintendo 64 games haven't aged well [which, you know, they haven't], then I have every right to say the same about Shakespeare).
Perhaps this is why I've given up on pursuing a career in English literature outside of school. I don't know many literary nerds who agree that Shakespeare is grossly overrated for our time. x3
Also, we should study T.S. Elliot. Oh my God I am in love with his poetry. Why can't we study that instead, what is this I don't even-
Studying Shakespeare makes very little sense, if you ask me. And if you ask Dad, apparently. Not that you should be contacting my Dad about Shakespeare. Seriously guys, that's weird, please don't try to engage him in a conversation regarding some old dead guys stories.
Ahem. Shakespeare's plays were amazing for his time, and I mean, if you want to learn about important literature from the past, then obviously his work will be vital to study. That said, his works aren't very... uhm, informative for those studying only core English today.
His language is dated (duh) and I will never understand his comedies. The jokes just get lost on me. And yes, the tragedies are, you know, tragic, but not full-on or memorable enough for me to care.
I've always hated the characterisation in Shakespeare (or lack thereof, depending on the chosen text. Yes, I went there. I'm not going to bitch about the two-dimensional characters used though) and I've never truly fallen for any of the plot lines.
I just... don't like Shakespeare.
And how are you meant to get the students to pay attention if you're teaching them works that use language we can't properly understand? Granted, I can read his plays without too much hassle now, but when I first started I had an online Shakespearean dictionary open. Nobody wants to look up every third word as they read. Trust me on that.
It's not just the language though. I tried so damn hard to get into Romeo and Juliet. I read the play, I watched both versions of the movie, I watched the anime, I read an online novelisation... none of it stuck. And I mean, the movies, the anime and the original play are so different, so you'd think I'd enjoy at least one of them... One of the movies stayed true to the era it was written for, the other featured a modern-day setting, and the anime was set in a futuristic 'neo-Verona' with flying horses. They are clearly very, very different, but... I don't know what it is about that story, but I never truly liked any of the adaptions. There's just... something there that never sits quite right with me.
I've read a number of other plays by him, but to no avail. I haven't bothered to look up other adaptions of his works. I don't see the point. I know I won't like it. At all. I will give him credit where it's due; as I said, his work would have been amazing when it was written. It just hasn't aged well, if you ask me (And hey, if people are going to tell me the Nintendo 64 games haven't aged well [which, you know, they haven't], then I have every right to say the same about Shakespeare).
Perhaps this is why I've given up on pursuing a career in English literature outside of school. I don't know many literary nerds who agree that Shakespeare is grossly overrated for our time. x3
Also, we should study T.S. Elliot. Oh my God I am in love with his poetry. Why can't we study that instead, what is this I don't even-
Jun 24, 2010
So Alright is Not All Right?
Man, even the title looks wrong to me. I'm going to blame my generation (and possibly gen X as well) for this one.
I was writing fanfiction when I had a revelation. So you can have words like 'all together' that, when put together, mean something entirely different. Like 'altogether' is different to 'all together'. but 'alright' and 'all right' don't seem to have different definitions. I ended up Google-ing it (mum tried to help but in the end we both had to use the internet) and discovered that alright is not actually a word.
Personally I think it is a word. I use 'all right' if someone were asking if you were okay. i.e. "Are you all right?". However, I'd use 'alright' if it were just a reply, like a synonym to 'sure'.
i.e. "Want to go see a movie?"
"Yeah, alright."
In other contexts, I kind of vary between the two. But as a general rule, I use 'alright' more often. It looks more casual and perhaps natural than 'all right' does. I'm not sure why. I use it as a contraction, I guess. In the same way as I use 'don't' instead of 'do not'. 'Alright' doesn't appear to be as formal as 'all right' and therefore, I prefer using it in fanfiction and normal online conversation. Is this the wrong thing to do? Apparently so.
Ah well, English is an evolving language, so I suppose it's only a matter of time before 'alright' makes it into our major dictionaries.
I was writing fanfiction when I had a revelation. So you can have words like 'all together' that, when put together, mean something entirely different. Like 'altogether' is different to 'all together'. but 'alright' and 'all right' don't seem to have different definitions. I ended up Google-ing it (mum tried to help but in the end we both had to use the internet) and discovered that alright is not actually a word.
Personally I think it is a word. I use 'all right' if someone were asking if you were okay. i.e. "Are you all right?". However, I'd use 'alright' if it were just a reply, like a synonym to 'sure'.
i.e. "Want to go see a movie?"
"Yeah, alright."
In other contexts, I kind of vary between the two. But as a general rule, I use 'alright' more often. It looks more casual and perhaps natural than 'all right' does. I'm not sure why. I use it as a contraction, I guess. In the same way as I use 'don't' instead of 'do not'. 'Alright' doesn't appear to be as formal as 'all right' and therefore, I prefer using it in fanfiction and normal online conversation. Is this the wrong thing to do? Apparently so.
Ah well, English is an evolving language, so I suppose it's only a matter of time before 'alright' makes it into our major dictionaries.
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