(no subject)
A carnivorous sponge ranks among the top 10 winners for International Year of biodiversity.
The nice thing about having an online blog is that it's very easy to go back and reminisce on your past self (fondly or depairingly is another matter). The not so nice thing that I've noticed is that my past self was actually a damn sight more coherent and much better read. There are very few entries written in the past two or so years that I can say that about (it's one thing to have changed your mind - that's natural and expected. But it's the reasoning behind that change which is the important thing) and practically none in the entries written far more recently (I only have to go back a week and think 'did you actually mean any of that nonsense?') I feel I've somehow regressed. That was always my worst fear, harbringer of senility that I considered it to be, and it's sad I've succumbed to it in spite of the fact I have more access to blogs and journals and books and so on. But maybe that's part of the problem: too much information. Maybe it's the fact I feel I've heard so much of the same stuff over and over that I forget, in my rebellious contrarianism, that sometimes, the same points are repeated because they're, you know, right. Originality is not always the signifier of intelligence and certainly not of some keen sense of perception.
Anyway, just got an email from one of the numerous jobsites that I'd subscribed to ages ago, telling me there's some jobs available. In New Zealand. Fruit-picking.
I had to wonder, is this one of those little, practically insignificant things that hints at a much wider problem, or is it just one of those little, practically insignificant things? Either way, the prospect of flying to the other side of the world to pick fruit sounds infinitely rewarding and infinitely amusing.
EDIT: The 'o' button on my iBook started being silly - I think it has some inconveniently situated crumbs somewhere - and that was when I typed a sentence with possibly the most 'o's ever needed.
I suppose I should be grateful I'm not writing in Igbo, though now I think about it, I think there are more 'i' sounds that seem to be required when writing.
Bleargh.
Just appeasing my inner Pollyanna, I suppose. What other languages should I be grateful I don't have to write in if I've got a dodgy 'o'?
EDIT 2: Looking around for some Igbo language CDs and I came across this post in a Naija forum:
Come here - Bia ebe a
Shut up! - Mechie onu!
Come and give me a hug - Bia tie m obi
Who is there? - Onye no ebe ahu?
Have you lost your mind? - I na apu ara/Ara ona agba gi (one of those general purpose questions, really)
Somebody farted - Onwere onye nyuru ahu
Good night - Ka chi fo
Comfort me - Kasie mu obi
Run away - Gbafuo
Give me your hand - Nye mu aka gi
Your breath stinks - ume gi na esi ajo isi (somehow I don't think anyone will be much impressed if I were to say this)
Sit down - Noro ala
Shut the Door - Mechie uzo
The nice thing about having an online blog is that it's very easy to go back and reminisce on your past self (fondly or depairingly is another matter). The not so nice thing that I've noticed is that my past self was actually a damn sight more coherent and much better read. There are very few entries written in the past two or so years that I can say that about (it's one thing to have changed your mind - that's natural and expected. But it's the reasoning behind that change which is the important thing) and practically none in the entries written far more recently (I only have to go back a week and think 'did you actually mean any of that nonsense?') I feel I've somehow regressed. That was always my worst fear, harbringer of senility that I considered it to be, and it's sad I've succumbed to it in spite of the fact I have more access to blogs and journals and books and so on. But maybe that's part of the problem: too much information. Maybe it's the fact I feel I've heard so much of the same stuff over and over that I forget, in my rebellious contrarianism, that sometimes, the same points are repeated because they're, you know, right. Originality is not always the signifier of intelligence and certainly not of some keen sense of perception.
Anyway, just got an email from one of the numerous jobsites that I'd subscribed to ages ago, telling me there's some jobs available. In New Zealand. Fruit-picking.
I had to wonder, is this one of those little, practically insignificant things that hints at a much wider problem, or is it just one of those little, practically insignificant things? Either way, the prospect of flying to the other side of the world to pick fruit sounds infinitely rewarding and infinitely amusing.
EDIT: The 'o' button on my iBook started being silly - I think it has some inconveniently situated crumbs somewhere - and that was when I typed a sentence with possibly the most 'o's ever needed.
I suppose I should be grateful I'm not writing in Igbo, though now I think about it, I think there are more 'i' sounds that seem to be required when writing.
Bleargh.
Just appeasing my inner Pollyanna, I suppose. What other languages should I be grateful I don't have to write in if I've got a dodgy 'o'?
EDIT 2: Looking around for some Igbo language CDs and I came across this post in a Naija forum:
Come here - Bia ebe a
Shut up! - Mechie onu!
Come and give me a hug - Bia tie m obi
Who is there? - Onye no ebe ahu?
Have you lost your mind? - I na apu ara/Ara ona agba gi (one of those general purpose questions, really)
Somebody farted - Onwere onye nyuru ahu
Good night - Ka chi fo
Comfort me - Kasie mu obi
Run away - Gbafuo
Give me your hand - Nye mu aka gi
Your breath stinks - ume gi na esi ajo isi (somehow I don't think anyone will be much impressed if I were to say this)
Sit down - Noro ala
Shut the Door - Mechie uzo