Joe's Blög

Thus making my last heading/title comment about being “dash” heavy a bit funny.

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So as I was thinking about the doting Italians it occurs to me that really everyone is treating me quite well (maybe too well – it’s like someone sent out a memo at work saying “be nice to Joe. He has no friends” ). I almost feel like everyone is treating me as a son, brother, cousin, close friend etc. even though I am none of those things.
I’m not quite sure if this is normally how Italians treat each other, but it’s a bit odd to me (not bad – actually it’s great).

It made me think of how pretty girls (or beautiful people – if you will) often get preferential treatment on a daily basis. You see a nice looking person in need and you’re more inclined to help them.
If this sort of behaviour starts when you’re 4 years old and continues for your whole life you would consider it “normal”, but when you’re 30-something and it suddenly starts it’s confusing to say the least.

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http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/07/ipad-popular-with-aviation-crowd-in-oshkosh/

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See how clever I am. I turned “eating” into an adjective to describe thosehungry angry verbs.

So today I was awoken by thunder. I was leaving as the rain arrived and it turned into the storm of the century (or thereabouts). By the time I got to work I was soaked. My clothes could not have possibly held any more water.
Like a lot of coastal towns there are drainage problems, so it was a looooong slow ride avoiding traffic and standing water. My favourite part was when a car coming the other direction hit a gigantic puddle and I wasn’t expecting it, but a massive wall of water hit me square in the face It was awesome!

I was fully prepared to sit in wet clothes all day, but the Italians are so doting that someone made a phone call and brought me a change of clothes and shoes (despite my repeated objections – they just sort of ignore me now when I tell them I’m fine). I sat in someone elses shoes (but no socks) for most of the day.
My feet hurt.

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I really need help.

English was about the only subject that I consistently did well in in school, yet I seem to have forgotten all of the technical stuff (like types and parts of speech). I hit a wall tonight while trying to really learn Italian (or by really trying to remember some english rules).

I’m still not clear on the best way (for me) to learn a second language. Is it just drilling words and their tenses or learning phrases or what (and does gender have anything to do with the best way to learn?).
Anyways I may have a tutor lined up. Which is to say I asked for some tutoring and the victim said yes she would. It’s just a matter of setting up a time. I have a feeling that I will be the worst student in the world. I was told by a german that I ask stupid irrelevant questions (that may not be the exact quote) when I was trying to learn German. And to be honest my questions were mostly irrelevant to learning the language. I seem to be more interested in etymology (word origins) and such rather than actually paying attention to learning new words etc.
Why is english considered a germanic language when it seems much closer (to an amateur) to latin/italian than german?

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As I was watching this I kept thinking how much Noam sounds like Jefferson. I’m sure I can’t be the first person to think that, and I don’t give too much credit to philosophers/intellectuals from the 1700′s (not because they weren’t intelligent, but because we hopefully have digested and improved or disproved their ideas accordingly). . . but I do love love a good “smart people” discussion.

Since I’m on politics I’d like to find a way to tie this into my current (and longstanding) aggravation of american conservatives and their idiotic focus on such a narrow range of issues ( the range of issues is mostly what they were told to be concerned about on that particular day). Those issues border on irrelevance to me.

Luckily I can’t ever make the effort to tie anything into my other anything so you’re all off the hook

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It was 4 years ago this week (July 23rd I think) that I left the States for Germany. That seems like so long ago. It’s kind of a fuzzy recollection from the past. Like high school or living in Coos Bay.
Just something that happened a long long time ago. I did it. I’m done with it.

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So had the company party on Friday night. Pics to follow. A great time was had by all. Or at least by me.

I also got a card from my nan yesterday. That made my day.

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A colleague told me I looked “elegant” today. huh? what?
This has to be the most horrible misuse of the english language I’ve ever come across

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As you probably noticed you are now squinting at your screen and struggling to read this. . .ain’t technology grand

I seem to have some problems with some punctuation signs and umlauts not working. . .so I’m not sure if my smiley faces will look like smiley faces or just random misplaced punctuation.

I should explain the subject from yesterday. . .apparently a 1,000 year old man is coming for a visit. . .does that mean the median age of the guests is 30?

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