It's time for me to start working on my weekly translation. At least the field of the text, linguistics, is my cup of tea. Besides, I like translating. It's varying and in the process I learn of things I very likely wouldn't have even heard of.
I also had a pleasant surprise this morning when the sixth season of the X-Files arrived via mail. Sure, I still haven't seen the fifth season (should arrive later this week or during next week), but since I had already seen a certain episode from the 6th season I watched that. "How Ghosts Stole Christmas" was the name of the episode. Absolutely hilarious! Chris Carter can write some very funny episodes. But Darin Morgan rocks, too!
"There are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified one than autoerotic asphyxiation."
- "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", 4th episode of the 3rd season, written by Darin Morgan -
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The Meme of the Day:
"I would prefer not to."
A phrase from Herman Melville's short story 'Bartleby the Scrivener'. A nice and polite and indirect way of telling someone you won't do something, and leaves the other party feeling guilty if they try to force you to do that something.
Right now, on a normal week, I would be enjoying my translations lecture. Stupid lecture-free week!
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Currently I'm (or should I say, s h o u l d be) typing in my various essays. That pain-in-the-ass Macbeth is still breathing on my neck and I should proceed to the next phase of the dialogue exercise (add the phatic uttarances, that is; next and to my luck the last phase is to make a fine distinction between the speakers through the language they us, in this case the other should speak very stereotypic women's language and the other should have a distinctive dialect). Then there is the fly-in-the-ointment translation studies paper to finish, not to mention the usual weekly school work: translation (task 7, I think), reading A Portrait a little further (this is probably the nicest part of the week, alongside the translation), doing my weekly homework for the English development course... But I have to do these all. If not because they give me some masochistic pleasure but because that is what I am to do; and besides, I probably learn something useful. So now that I've had my daily whining I could actually do something worthwile (can somebody tell my, by the way, where the name Wentworth [the Prison Break guy] comes from?).
And I miss Wanderer to lighten up my day. This week sucks (to use such a teenager verb...)!
Your sin has been measured. You have committed many sins, but Wrath is the mortal sin that has done you in. Just below, discover your full sinful breakdown and learn what it is about you that codemns you to hell.
Wrath - Very high
Pride - High
Greed - High
Lust - Medium
Envy - Medium
Gluttony - Medium
Sloth - Medium
For a long time now I've been looking at the employment statistics and it looks (statistically) somewhat unlikely I'll get a job that actually corresponds to my degree-to-be (Master of Arts/ Filosofian maisteri). So, during the weekend I finally reached a conclusion to give me a peace of mind: I will apply to Polytechnic (or "University of Applied Sciences", as the confusing title they wish to use says...). My plan is to have a second degree that I would actually find interesting, and that's why I've decided to get closer to my childhood dream of being a doctor and start studying to become a nurse. Therefore, unless I manage to screw up the psychological test in the entrance exam (which may not exactly be that unlikely), I am to be a psychiatric nurse by the same time USA returns the control over South-Korea's military back to South-Korea, by 2012.
The only thing that bugs me is that the unit for the lectures given in the curricula of the above-mentioned field are held in another part of the town than the one I usually habit. I guess I'm just chronically lazy. And quite frankly, the fact that I need to get to know to a new place frightens me.
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The Meme of the Day:
The song "Love me or hate me" by Lady Sovereign keeps going on in my head.
Language Savvy
(You scored a 290 out of 400 on language knowledge.)
"Congratulations! You know your stuff! You've scored higher than most people would and you probably have taken a linguistics or cultural science class to boot. Most likely you are bilingual or even multilingual. You are also probably fascinated by languages and want to learn more of them in the future. When you travel to a foreign country, you make a point to learn some of the language instead of imposing your own. It's people like you who help promote the exchange of languages worldwide. Keep it up!"
Okay, as usual I overreacted. The version of the handout I got was formated by the e-mail system. Actually it turned out exactly the way I designed it (apart from the fact that the papers weren't stapled together very neatly but, as was very visible, in a hurry).
The presentation itself... why is it that I had no problems remembering what to say and how to put it but the delivery is so bad? My voice trembles and I could make a milkshake only by placing it on my hands for the time of the presentation. This is why I do not want to be a teacher. Every teacher on this planet should get eternal respect only for having the guts to do it every day, to go in front of a punch of people (well, if you can call a hundred heads "a punch") and speak with a calm voice. Well, I suppose it's some kind of an improvement; I didn't go red this time nor did I sweat even though the class room was very hot (the sun had shone in the whole morning). And I did manage to keep the actual facts and things to say together w i t h o u t checking my notes. But I still hate the fact that my mouth starts resembling the Sahara desert during presentations. Nonetheless, the overall outcome of my part of the presentation was, in my opinion, good. I don't know what the teacher thought about it but I think I'll ask in two weeks (we have some kind of a lecture-free week next week).
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I've been in near proximity with Her again. She is so beautiful (do I hear someone throwing up somewhere?). No, seriously, it just never ceases to amaze me how divine she appears. Every time I see Her I realise it all over again, and I am once more left to wonder it. I no longer cherish the sweet yet deceiving thought of getting to love Her openly. But it doesn’t mean I couldn’t spend all this time and space to contemplate her beauty and kindness and intelligence here, time and time again.
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Our main feature for today is the fact that 23rd of February is Dana Scully's birthday (ta-ta-ta-tat-ta-taa). So, let us sing together: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Dana, happy birthday to youuuu!" I already watched one episode of The X-Files that it particularly Scully-centred ("Beyond the Sea", 1. season), and I'll continue with "Tempus Fugit" and its sequel "Max" tonight. In the former Scully is actually having a birthday.
I have here a collection of Scully quotes that I find astute or funny (or both). Enjoy.
[talking of a guy who has an ability to, literary, talk anyone to do anything he wants]
Mulder: [Robert] Modell put the whammy on him.
Scully: Please explain to me the scientific nature of the Whammy.
***
Scully: You lied. You have seen this before, I can tell. You lied to them.
Mulder: I would never lie. I willfully participated in a campaign of misinformation.
***
Scully: Spontaneous human combustion.
Mulder: [grinning] Scully!
Scully: Well, isn't that where you were going with this?
Mulder: Dear Diary, today my heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combustion.
Scully: Mulder, there are one or two somewhat well-documented cases.
[Mulder nods, grinning]
Scully: Mulder, shut up.
***
Scully: Nothing happens in contradiciton to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it.
***
Scully: Last time you were so engrossed, it turned out you were reading the "Adult Video News."
***
Scully: I noticed you dropped everything fast enough in order to help her out.
Mulder: I was merely extending her a professional courtesy.
Scully: Oh, is that what you were extending?
***
Mulder: He just wants some dating advice.
Scully: From whom?
Mulder: Yours truly.
[Long silence]
Mulder: Hello? Scully?
Scully: Mulder, when was the last time you went on a date?
Mulder: I will talk to you later.
[hangs up]
Scully: The blind leading the blind.
***
[after doing some Christmas shopping]
Scully: One more "Silent Night" and I would’ve started taking hostages.
***
Scully: Begin autopsy on white male, age sixty, who is arguably having a worse time in Texas than I am, though not by much. I'll begin with the Y-incision.
[She picks up the scalpel provided to her and the blade falls off]
Scully: Yee-ha.
The presentation for tomorrow... I just got my partner's "genral introduction" notes via e-mail. She had added my carefully formated notes after her notes... SHE COMPLITELY RUINED IT! This is why I want to do all the handouts, so that their formation is perfect and that the spelling is perfect. She had apparently just copied and pasted my section without paying even slightest attention to the handout's appearance. I mean, this presentation gives one thirds of my entire grade and since the handout is a crucial part of the bloody presentation I expect it to be done perfectly if someone volunteers to write it. She didn't write it! She copied the information from Wikipedia, and complitely ignored the fact that the handout has to please the eye as well as provide F A C T S !!! Wikipedia isn't necessarily facts! I am furious! My grade depends on her part of the presentation, too, for chrissakes! BELGIUM! Why, why, why couldn't she put the lines even, to stick with consistent indentations, fuck, get the damn capital letters correct. I formated my notes perfect and she ruined them!
I have to, one way or another, slip it into the conversation with the teacher that it wasn't me who is responsible for the handout appearance.
So, now I have finished typing in my presentation notes for the forthcoming Friday, printed out every other material for it, copied the exercise that's part of the presentation, and now I just need to get the transparencies for some of the notes.
At the moment I'm also trying to fight the temtation to order the fifth season of X-Files from Discshop. I know I shouldn't... almost 50 euros. But still... Well, what the hell, I can resist anything but temptations. So let's go for it. A prize for an excellent presentation.
BLOODY HELL! I just checked and realised they're on sale!!!!! YAY!!!! I'm so getting it!
Okay, so they are temporarily out of boxes. I'll just wait until I come home from a exhausting lecture some day and realise they've arrived. I'll be walking in ecstacy for the rest of the day.
You are The High Priestess
Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.
The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.
There is only one thing, and one thing alone, that can restore my so-called normality after being as angry as I was yesterday: jigsaws. I spent eight hours last night making a puzzle of Colosseum of 1000 pieces. I now have an almost finished (only the sky is missing) and, more importantly, fluorescent Colosseum jigsaw on my desk (see the picture below). When I realised it really does glow in the dark I just couldn't bear the idea of going to bed and be so very aware that it would look so cool to have it finished and see how it really appears in the dark. So I stayed up 'till 3.30 a.m. last night just to see it. And it did look very nice. Too bad the phosphorus doesn't last so long; I could watch it much longer but the outlines start fading quite soon after the lights have been turned off. I also have The Eiffel Tower from the same Clementoni puzzle collection. I’m going to make that next week when I have a little more free time.
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And as for the cause of my outburst last night… I can either dwell on it forever or I can do something about it. I am going to do something about it. That should make me feel a whole lot better, knowing that I’ve had some effect even if it doesn’t affect the outcome relatively much. Let us just hope I’m able to stick to the case and not get sidetracked or, fact forbid, angry again. That certainly mustn’t happen.
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I just read through what I’ve been writing and realised that this is exactly why people don’t consider my English as fluent as it should be. Actually, I could speak exactly the kind of English with all the colloquial equivalents for the formal pet words I have, but I just don’t want to. It’s boring to speak like everyone else, don’t you think? If you have a large vocabulary and you’re able to (more or less) pronounce them correctly, does it really matter whether they’re formal or informal or something in between as long as you’re understood. And it’s kind of a personality statement to choose to speak the way I do. If some forms of assimilation or intrusive r’s don’t come naturally to me, why force them? It ain’t gonna sound no more natural. See, I can use speech type of language if I want to; “ain’t”, “gonna”, double negation… And at least I use the weak forms for auxiliaries all the time.
I hate all those slimy, good-for-nothing, whining, double-faced, backstabbers who just don't have the guts to tell the actual persons in question what's bugging them! Oh, no! They just have to go to complain to other people out of mere cowardice. Get a backbone, you bastards! Just get a backbone and show even a tiny little bit of decency. It won't kill you. You're supposed to be part of the elite of the society for studying in the university, but no, you just refuse to let others see even a small glimpse of that intelligence you're supposed to have instead of going along the flow of the moranic flock of sheep who are just scared to death to think for themselves. It is so much easier to follow other people's opinions if there is even a slightest chance you might show independent thinking. Yippee-ka-yay, motherfuckers. Congratulations. You've just earned a life-long loathing from me.
