. . .So a friend just recently directed my attention to www.bash.org, which turned out to be pretty funny. (Well, some of it anyways. Some of it was really nasty, and the other third was pretty crude.)
. . .Well, my weekend was pretty good. Did some shopping on Friday night -- got two new tops and a really thin, white jacket which I've yet to have the oppertunity to try out. =D
. . .My saturday was pretty good -- I made some personal breakthroughs with Chinese grammar and also made up for all the sleep I missed during the week. Didn't end up gong anywhere at all, but I did manage to sit in front of the TV until 2:00am or so.
. . .Sunday I sorta... ... overslept... ... ... and yah... For the rest of the day, I pretty much sat in front of the TV as well, using the commercial breaks to doodle in my notebook. I mean err... "studying" yessss....
That night wasn't too great; either I shouldn't have finished that entire tube of Pringles or God wasn't pleased at me missing church, but whatever it was, I ended up going to bed with a tummyache... ...the kind that made me feel like throwing up... and made me ghastly pale.
. . .This morning was pretty cool -- because of an allusion in this essay, we ended up talking about "Romance of Three Kingdoms" and the actual history behind it. I still think Zhou Yu is cool, even though he was a bit.. umm... insecure about his intelligence. Hehe.
. . .This afternoon, however, was a little more disturbing. There was this 50-year old balding fat man who was (hopefully) a client of my uncle's. I had to break their conversation because of an incoming phone call for my uncle. So there was me sitting at my computer, laughing out loud at the odd moment. But yah. Suddenly, this client saunters up to me and presents me with his business card.
me: "oh... thank ... you...(?)"
him: "so, how long have you grown your hair?"
me: "Err... about 4 years now?"
him: "wow, it's so beautiful..."
me: *mentally cringing*
. . .So now I have a Chinese business card from a strange Chinese man. Meanwhile, on the animal farm...
2003/11/17
2003/11/14
Fashionable Taste
. . .I just came to the sudden realization that I have little if any taste in fashion at all!
. . .This realization dawned on me just now while I was sitting here, trying to design an autumn jacket for myself, and thinking about shopping in a local night market. Apparently, I'd enjoy wearing almost any namebrand? Or is that so? All the newer stuff I've bought (and I think look good on me) are actually name-brands. And while I'm quite selective in the store, I still find that I'm not exactly a fashion fountain of ideas. All the characters in my sketchbook are wearing something relatively unimaginative -- either something so neutral that anybody could be wearing it, or a poor imitation of centuries-old fashion.
. . .It's very alarming, when one realizes that one's imagination is nothing more than a hollow imitation of someone else's originality. Or am I being premature about all this?
. . .I suppose I should wait 'til tomorrow -- after I go shopping, to see whether I just blindly follow whatever's on display in the brandname stores, or if I do indeed have a personal sense of taste.
. . .But in the meanwhile, I gotta build up my biceps and delts, etc if I want to get away with wearing a black, sleeveless double-fold turtleneck top/sweater. =P
. . . . . .UPDATE 5:58pm (my time)
. . .So I was doodling in my minisketchbook, and I've decided to sacrifice it in the name of fashion. So hopefully, starting next week, I'll find out a way to post my lil' ideas, completely open for criticism/comments. And if I somehow become devoted enough, it might even get its own lil' blog corner. =D So right now I'm playing with colour concepts for a certain autumn jacket I'm designing.
. . .This realization dawned on me just now while I was sitting here, trying to design an autumn jacket for myself, and thinking about shopping in a local night market. Apparently, I'd enjoy wearing almost any namebrand? Or is that so? All the newer stuff I've bought (and I think look good on me) are actually name-brands. And while I'm quite selective in the store, I still find that I'm not exactly a fashion fountain of ideas. All the characters in my sketchbook are wearing something relatively unimaginative -- either something so neutral that anybody could be wearing it, or a poor imitation of centuries-old fashion.
. . .It's very alarming, when one realizes that one's imagination is nothing more than a hollow imitation of someone else's originality. Or am I being premature about all this?
. . .I suppose I should wait 'til tomorrow -- after I go shopping, to see whether I just blindly follow whatever's on display in the brandname stores, or if I do indeed have a personal sense of taste.
. . .But in the meanwhile, I gotta build up my biceps and delts, etc if I want to get away with wearing a black, sleeveless double-fold turtleneck top/sweater. =P
. . . . . .UPDATE 5:58pm (my time)
. . .So I was doodling in my minisketchbook, and I've decided to sacrifice it in the name of fashion. So hopefully, starting next week, I'll find out a way to post my lil' ideas, completely open for criticism/comments. And if I somehow become devoted enough, it might even get its own lil' blog corner. =D So right now I'm playing with colour concepts for a certain autumn jacket I'm designing.
Angel Tears
. . .Don't you just hate seeing something terrible happen while you're just standing by and watching it happen? Don't you feel worse when you try to help, but you just end up making things more complicated?
. . .I've been in this position more than once, and I still have no idea how best to handle the situations. It makes me wonder how me, a person with very limited social skills, can successfully befriend two different people who would like nothing better than to kill each other.
. . .And so I'm standing there, trying to figure out the situation, only to learn that this "lovers' quarrel" is nothing more than miscommunication.
. . .But the idiocy on my part is this bloated ego of mine that convinces me that I can make everything right and A-o.k. So I go ahead, talk to both parties to figure out what they think of the other person. And sometimes, it turns out that they're looking at totally different things. E.g. maybe the first person thinks that language is important, and the other person thinks that actions are important. So the first person is mad at the second person for not speaking well, and the second person is mad at the first person for not being more careful with body language.
. . .Of course, those are only stupid examples to illustrate my point. So the first person doesn't want to tell the second person that the second person's speech bugs the first person. And the second person doesn't want to tell the first person that the first person's body language is offensive to the second person.
. . .And it's not like I can tell them for them because I'm already sworn to secrecy. But then it's not like they're ever gonna resolve it between themselves because neither is the type to go up and have a talk, getting everything out into the open.
. . .*sighs* I just hate standing by, not being able to do anything and see a friendship whither because neither is willing to give sunlight or water to the once budding flower of their friendship.
. . .Meanwhile, OATUS(On A Totally Unrelated Subject), I've just caught wind of a DVD movie that Squaresoft-Enix is releasing in summer 2004 (in Japan). It's called "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children". After watching the 12 Mb trailer, I'm hooked already!!!! Though Sephiroth doesn't look as pretty as he did in the PS game. =P For 'more' on the subject (which isn't right now cuz they're still making the website), please visit http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dvd/ff7ac/
. . .Well, that's all for now. Something about an oral test on Monday on this essay thing we're studying right now.
. . .I've been in this position more than once, and I still have no idea how best to handle the situations. It makes me wonder how me, a person with very limited social skills, can successfully befriend two different people who would like nothing better than to kill each other.
. . .And so I'm standing there, trying to figure out the situation, only to learn that this "lovers' quarrel" is nothing more than miscommunication.
. . .But the idiocy on my part is this bloated ego of mine that convinces me that I can make everything right and A-o.k. So I go ahead, talk to both parties to figure out what they think of the other person. And sometimes, it turns out that they're looking at totally different things. E.g. maybe the first person thinks that language is important, and the other person thinks that actions are important. So the first person is mad at the second person for not speaking well, and the second person is mad at the first person for not being more careful with body language.
. . .Of course, those are only stupid examples to illustrate my point. So the first person doesn't want to tell the second person that the second person's speech bugs the first person. And the second person doesn't want to tell the first person that the first person's body language is offensive to the second person.
. . .And it's not like I can tell them for them because I'm already sworn to secrecy. But then it's not like they're ever gonna resolve it between themselves because neither is the type to go up and have a talk, getting everything out into the open.
. . .*sighs* I just hate standing by, not being able to do anything and see a friendship whither because neither is willing to give sunlight or water to the once budding flower of their friendship.
. . .Meanwhile, OATUS(On A Totally Unrelated Subject), I've just caught wind of a DVD movie that Squaresoft-Enix is releasing in summer 2004 (in Japan). It's called "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children". After watching the 12 Mb trailer, I'm hooked already!!!! Though Sephiroth doesn't look as pretty as he did in the PS game. =P For 'more' on the subject (which isn't right now cuz they're still making the website), please visit http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dvd/ff7ac/
. . .Well, that's all for now. Something about an oral test on Monday on this essay thing we're studying right now.
2003/11/13
A River Flows
. . .So I haven't really blogged in the last little while, huh. Two days ago I had this loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong talk with Tao Bai Ren about society, what's the 'best' way to act/be, how to treat other people, etiquette, differences between western and eastern mentalities and why she shouldn't make assumptions about me.
. . .And it was so long that she made me miss an episode of my lil' Chinese show.
. . .Anyways. Yesterday was my second lesson with the kiddies. Kevin was a lot less focused. And Vivian seemed pretty keen. I taught them a bit about weather and reviewed dates, so hopefully, they can now say what kind of day it is. (e.g. "cloudy, freezing, warm, dry, etc.")
. . .I think tomorrow the teacher wants me to sing for the class to determine whether the class should go as a whole for some sort of singing competition.
. . .And as you can see, I'm not terribly witty or senscient right now.... *thud*
. . .And it was so long that she made me miss an episode of my lil' Chinese show.
. . .Anyways. Yesterday was my second lesson with the kiddies. Kevin was a lot less focused. And Vivian seemed pretty keen. I taught them a bit about weather and reviewed dates, so hopefully, they can now say what kind of day it is. (e.g. "cloudy, freezing, warm, dry, etc.")
. . .I think tomorrow the teacher wants me to sing for the class to determine whether the class should go as a whole for some sort of singing competition.
. . .And as you can see, I'm not terribly witty or senscient right now.... *thud*
2003/11/11
Phoenix!
. . .Ew, not the American city. Just woke up from a lil' 5-minute nap. Amazing how refreshing a few minutes of rest'll do for your conciousness. ^_^ so yah.
. . .So yersterday after class, I camped out at "Daan Park" (大安森林公園) for a few hours, reading that Chinese novel. (I'm now at page 95. How sad is that, eh??) So while feeling slightly frustrated at my slow reading speed of Chinese (even though I know it's both a combination of not knowing enough words as well as familiarity of simply reading in a different 'medium' as it were, from English.
. . .Anyways, at around 1:00pm, I headed back to the University to sit in to my teacher's beginners' class, to try to pick up some teaching techniques for kiddies. It was sooo slow. But I guess they're supposed to start off slow, right? I got some strange looks from the British student (he looked about 56 years old), and some from the Indonesian boys, but that was about it.
. . .A 48-ish American man seemed to be getting really lost, so I offered to help. But he didn't really want any. And the teacher didn't understand English, so she couldn't really communicate with him. So after getting impatient at the constant miscommunication (it's quite interesting, being fluent in both languages and seeing them not being able to get their points across), I intervened and resolved the issue in like, 2 minutes.
. . .Afterwards, I was asked to help translate some short dialogues for the school -- it was apparently a lesson plan introducing the concept of "best". I did that, and also acted as interpreter for the American... He was apparently quite frustrated and almost angry at the speed of the class, feeling that he wasn't able to catch up to the rest of the class. Anyways, eventually, a sort of extra-help thing was set up so I hope that goes well. It's funny though. He was saying how he was already getting help from someone with a PhD... ...but that person had a PhD in math.. And I think it's pretty universal how linguistics tie with mathematics. (see previous entry.)
. . .I'd offer to help, but I don't think he feels he needs any more.. Since he says he already has a lot of native speakers helping him. Though, of course, the more seasoned reader of my blog should already know my opinion of just getting any random native speaker as a substitutionary teacher. As I already said to him, although the native speaker will be able to tell what sounds right and what doesn't, it doesn't mean that they'll be able to grammatically (and nay, linguistically) quantify why something is valid or not. Though from what I've seen in the university, those people don't really know English either, so I question their ability to cater to the needs of the English-speaking true beginner.
. . .This sorta just made me think about learning in general -- is it better to start from many sources and sorta go through a filter process, ending with only the best sources, or is it better to start with one source, at least getting consistency in education, and later finding later sources to perhaps verify or correct past flaws in one's initial education?
. . .Run-on sentence, I know. Ahaha. But seriously. Come to think of it, I've largely relied on myself for learning mostly anything, which a dear friend of mine says is an admirable quality (something about having the supposed self-discipline to stick to something)... ...and something about being "always so dedicated to whatever [I'm] into at the moment".
. . .Yay for me, I suppose, but gives me a horrible basis to figure out how exactly to be a good teacher. Since I've basically been my own teacher. heh. Though I find that a lot of it has to do with personality and humour. My Writer's Craft teacher was always fun, but my OAC English teacher was ... ... well, she's been described as an 80-year old, hemorrhoid lesbian. ... .. with a nasty, scaly hide. I know, I'm not too generous when it comes to describing people I don't like. but you've gotta appreciate the diction, no?
. . .I mean, the ability to articulate one's thoughts into real words instead of a combination of sounds and actions is what I find to be a true sign of fluency in a language.
. . .So by following that definition, I'd most definately be fluent in English (which my Writers Craft teacher said too. "Very fluent, I'd say!" he said. But in Chinese... I'd have to say I'm merely 'proficient'. Most people are like, "just being able to be understood is good enough" as if I'm supposed to take comfort in knowing that my Chinese isn't perfect. But just give me 5 years of uninterrupted study and I can almost guarentee I'll easily surpass at least 70% of the Mandarin-speaking population.
. . .What I actually find most entertaining is people whose native language is English, who don't know English very thoroughly, and are already trying to becoming something totally different. (A certain classmate in my Japanese class comes to mind...) He had amazing Japanese diction (pure dictionary work, in my opinion), but he couldn't hope to properly speak, both because he didn't have enough practice, and also because he hadn't properly grasped the differing concepts of time in either language. (e.g. the difference between "I have eaten an apple" and "I ate an apple")
. . .Not that I'm criticizing him or anything... ... learning another language is already an admirable act, regardless of one's abiltiy and adaptability to alternate linguistic modes of thinking. (If that term doesn't already exist, I'm sooo making it one when I get my PhD in Linguistics.) =P
. . .In a linguistics book I picked up once, it said that everything is translatable from one language to another, with varying degrees of literary elegance and effeciency. Which is very often why words are 'borrowed' from one language to another. (though it's not like they're ever gonna return them....)
. . .For me, a word should only properly be termed as borrowed if it's used in place of a native word, while they're trying to make their own word for it. E.g. In Japanese, "Baseball" can be considered a borrowed word, because now they've tossed it back to English; they have their own word for it now. (Yakyuu -- 野球)
. . .Otherwise, I think a more appropriate term is "assimilated" or "adapted", though I suppose the former sounds too intimiating. (As if "accusative" doesn't to describe Latin grammar.)
. . .Aaaaanyways, back to my point. So yah, learning languages is a real challenge, no matter who you are. (Unless you're me. In which case it's just expected. lol)
. . .So after my tedious literal translation of that short dialogue (which is so wrong for so many different reasons), I went back to reading that Chinese novel... (at page 95/377... I have like, another few months to go... Man, I feel so... .... normal. Ew... make that feeling go away!!!)
. . .I'm feeling pretty happy. Both friends finally received my letters. ^_^ One of them, Alison, showed it to her roommate, who was apparently, absolutely shocked at the umm... non-conformist standards I had from most males' penmanship. (If indeed most males can be said to possess any form of penmanship at all.)
. . .And my conversation with her ended up with both of us trying to figure out what the antonym of personification is. Poly-something-morphism. yess.. lol.. help me out here, anybody... Anybody??? =D
. . .So yersterday after class, I camped out at "Daan Park" (大安森林公園) for a few hours, reading that Chinese novel. (I'm now at page 95. How sad is that, eh??) So while feeling slightly frustrated at my slow reading speed of Chinese (even though I know it's both a combination of not knowing enough words as well as familiarity of simply reading in a different 'medium' as it were, from English.
. . .Anyways, at around 1:00pm, I headed back to the University to sit in to my teacher's beginners' class, to try to pick up some teaching techniques for kiddies. It was sooo slow. But I guess they're supposed to start off slow, right? I got some strange looks from the British student (he looked about 56 years old), and some from the Indonesian boys, but that was about it.
. . .A 48-ish American man seemed to be getting really lost, so I offered to help. But he didn't really want any. And the teacher didn't understand English, so she couldn't really communicate with him. So after getting impatient at the constant miscommunication (it's quite interesting, being fluent in both languages and seeing them not being able to get their points across), I intervened and resolved the issue in like, 2 minutes.
. . .Afterwards, I was asked to help translate some short dialogues for the school -- it was apparently a lesson plan introducing the concept of "best". I did that, and also acted as interpreter for the American... He was apparently quite frustrated and almost angry at the speed of the class, feeling that he wasn't able to catch up to the rest of the class. Anyways, eventually, a sort of extra-help thing was set up so I hope that goes well. It's funny though. He was saying how he was already getting help from someone with a PhD... ...but that person had a PhD in math.. And I think it's pretty universal how linguistics tie with mathematics. (see previous entry.)
. . .I'd offer to help, but I don't think he feels he needs any more.. Since he says he already has a lot of native speakers helping him. Though, of course, the more seasoned reader of my blog should already know my opinion of just getting any random native speaker as a substitutionary teacher. As I already said to him, although the native speaker will be able to tell what sounds right and what doesn't, it doesn't mean that they'll be able to grammatically (and nay, linguistically) quantify why something is valid or not. Though from what I've seen in the university, those people don't really know English either, so I question their ability to cater to the needs of the English-speaking true beginner.
. . .This sorta just made me think about learning in general -- is it better to start from many sources and sorta go through a filter process, ending with only the best sources, or is it better to start with one source, at least getting consistency in education, and later finding later sources to perhaps verify or correct past flaws in one's initial education?
. . .Run-on sentence, I know. Ahaha. But seriously. Come to think of it, I've largely relied on myself for learning mostly anything, which a dear friend of mine says is an admirable quality (something about having the supposed self-discipline to stick to something)... ...and something about being "always so dedicated to whatever [I'm] into at the moment".
. . .Yay for me, I suppose, but gives me a horrible basis to figure out how exactly to be a good teacher. Since I've basically been my own teacher. heh. Though I find that a lot of it has to do with personality and humour. My Writer's Craft teacher was always fun, but my OAC English teacher was ... ... well, she's been described as an 80-year old, hemorrhoid lesbian. ... .. with a nasty, scaly hide. I know, I'm not too generous when it comes to describing people I don't like. but you've gotta appreciate the diction, no?
. . .I mean, the ability to articulate one's thoughts into real words instead of a combination of sounds and actions is what I find to be a true sign of fluency in a language.
. . .So by following that definition, I'd most definately be fluent in English (which my Writers Craft teacher said too. "Very fluent, I'd say!" he said. But in Chinese... I'd have to say I'm merely 'proficient'. Most people are like, "just being able to be understood is good enough" as if I'm supposed to take comfort in knowing that my Chinese isn't perfect. But just give me 5 years of uninterrupted study and I can almost guarentee I'll easily surpass at least 70% of the Mandarin-speaking population.
. . .What I actually find most entertaining is people whose native language is English, who don't know English very thoroughly, and are already trying to becoming something totally different. (A certain classmate in my Japanese class comes to mind...) He had amazing Japanese diction (pure dictionary work, in my opinion), but he couldn't hope to properly speak, both because he didn't have enough practice, and also because he hadn't properly grasped the differing concepts of time in either language. (e.g. the difference between "I have eaten an apple" and "I ate an apple")
. . .Not that I'm criticizing him or anything... ... learning another language is already an admirable act, regardless of one's abiltiy and adaptability to alternate linguistic modes of thinking. (If that term doesn't already exist, I'm sooo making it one when I get my PhD in Linguistics.) =P
. . .In a linguistics book I picked up once, it said that everything is translatable from one language to another, with varying degrees of literary elegance and effeciency. Which is very often why words are 'borrowed' from one language to another. (though it's not like they're ever gonna return them....)
. . .For me, a word should only properly be termed as borrowed if it's used in place of a native word, while they're trying to make their own word for it. E.g. In Japanese, "Baseball" can be considered a borrowed word, because now they've tossed it back to English; they have their own word for it now. (Yakyuu -- 野球)
. . .Otherwise, I think a more appropriate term is "assimilated" or "adapted", though I suppose the former sounds too intimiating. (As if "accusative" doesn't to describe Latin grammar.)
. . .Aaaaanyways, back to my point. So yah, learning languages is a real challenge, no matter who you are. (Unless you're me. In which case it's just expected. lol)
. . .So after my tedious literal translation of that short dialogue (which is so wrong for so many different reasons), I went back to reading that Chinese novel... (at page 95/377... I have like, another few months to go... Man, I feel so... .... normal. Ew... make that feeling go away!!!)
. . .I'm feeling pretty happy. Both friends finally received my letters. ^_^ One of them, Alison, showed it to her roommate, who was apparently, absolutely shocked at the umm... non-conformist standards I had from most males' penmanship. (If indeed most males can be said to possess any form of penmanship at all.)
. . .And my conversation with her ended up with both of us trying to figure out what the antonym of personification is. Poly-something-morphism. yess.. lol.. help me out here, anybody... Anybody??? =D
2003/11/10
*thud*
. . .I'm losing my ability to write. So tired today. And I'll need lots of energy tomorrow. *sighs* maybe once I start editing my friend's essay, my mood'll change.
. . .Now, I'm not a pessimist (just a cynic), but I noticed that nobody ever bothers to comment on the longer entries... I wonder if it's cuz they can't afford the time to read through it all, or if they just don't know what to say, or if they're unthinkably insincere and only read the beginning and the ending. *sniffs*
. . .But yah... poeple never seem to give any input on the issues that seem to matter more.. it's more about jokes and laughs about what linguistic blunder I've done, or what sort of miscommunication I've endured.
. . .Where's the love? Are all my friend's just fair-weather friends? (do you guys even know the term?) :'(
. . .Now, I'm not a pessimist (just a cynic), but I noticed that nobody ever bothers to comment on the longer entries... I wonder if it's cuz they can't afford the time to read through it all, or if they just don't know what to say, or if they're unthinkably insincere and only read the beginning and the ending. *sniffs*
. . .But yah... poeple never seem to give any input on the issues that seem to matter more.. it's more about jokes and laughs about what linguistic blunder I've done, or what sort of miscommunication I've endured.
. . .Where's the love? Are all my friend's just fair-weather friends? (do you guys even know the term?) :'(
2003/11/07
Crime and Punishment
. . .No, I haven't read the book yet, although it also is written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I bought it at a bargain/second=hand bookstore, apparently affiliated with Shir Da University. Since it was used, I got the Penguin books unabridged version for $2.76 Canadian, baby! Ahaha. But I promised myself not to read it 'til I finished reading at least 10 Chinese novels. After all, that's why I'm here in Taiwan, right? To learn Chinese...
. . .Meanwhile, I had to do my report for school... ...read an 'interesting' memory from my childhood -- which was our theme. After I finished reading it, my teacher asked if the other classmates understood what I said. There was a resounding echo of "no..." So my teacher had to basically restate/rephrase basically everything I had said. Yarg. But I'm happy. After class, I asked my teacher what she felt my actual proficiency was. She said that although I didn't know some of the most basic grammar points, my proficiency was quite high -- around "upper intermediate 3", which would be 4/15 proficiency levels higher than my original assessment by the University.
. . .And after talking some more, apparently the university normally *does* have a written test for assessing proficiency, but for some god-forbidden reason, I was 'exempted' from it... ... it's such a big farce, in my opinion... Professionalism at the University level, I mean.
. . .But yah. Test on Monday on some crazy essay. Gotta memorize and learn weird archaic Chinese again. (yay me!) It's been one freakishly hot week since Sunday cuz of the typhoon. (yes, I blame it all on you, typhoon!) But weatherman said it'll be cooler on Sunday... *crosses fingers*
. . .Meanwhile, I had to do my report for school... ...read an 'interesting' memory from my childhood -- which was our theme. After I finished reading it, my teacher asked if the other classmates understood what I said. There was a resounding echo of "no..." So my teacher had to basically restate/rephrase basically everything I had said. Yarg. But I'm happy. After class, I asked my teacher what she felt my actual proficiency was. She said that although I didn't know some of the most basic grammar points, my proficiency was quite high -- around "upper intermediate 3", which would be 4/15 proficiency levels higher than my original assessment by the University.
. . .And after talking some more, apparently the university normally *does* have a written test for assessing proficiency, but for some god-forbidden reason, I was 'exempted' from it... ... it's such a big farce, in my opinion... Professionalism at the University level, I mean.
. . .But yah. Test on Monday on some crazy essay. Gotta memorize and learn weird archaic Chinese again. (yay me!) It's been one freakishly hot week since Sunday cuz of the typhoon. (yes, I blame it all on you, typhoon!) But weatherman said it'll be cooler on Sunday... *crosses fingers*
2003/11/06
Happy Tides?
. . .Kinda happy. Yesterday was my first day teaching two little 10-year old kids, Kevin and Vivian. And I was late. By 30 minutes. So Vivian's mom wasn't too happy. And Kevin's mom didn't sound too impressed either.
. . .But ahaha, boy they're so cute!!! They were so nervous at first, not really speaking much. So I started asking a lot of questions. "Did you want to be here or upstairs? Did you go to school today? What's your favourite colour?" And so on and so forth.
. . .Vivian seemed a bit more keen. And after whipping out my sketchbook, they started to become very interested. Attention span of a child is hilarious! With friends like Shelly, I've had all the training I need to be with kids! Hehe.. so in a sense, thank you Shelly for being who you are.
. . .And I want my money back, Oxford Seminars... Stupid people. Dun know what they're talking about. So anyways, I started pointing to different parts of my illustrations and asking them questions, "what part of the body is this? is it an ear or an eye? What about this? horn, tail or wing? How old does the woman look?" Ah, they're funny. And they have this amazingly 2-track mind about it too! They speak to me in minimalistic English while they talk to each other in Mandarin. I wonder if they know I can understand them.
. . .Heheh.. and we like, finished a pack of cookies during the session. Kids are a bit wild, but nothing I can't handle... ... yet. ^_^
. . .OATUS, I've been recently trying to revive my french. Trying to remember the 'exceptions' for the passé composé. Always avoir except for uhh... .... something for être. Hmm... gotta go back and learn my verbs... ... and conjugation! je suis, tu est, il/elle es, nous something, vous ette, ills/elles sont. or something.... ahh... man, my french is too messy... T_T
. . .And on yet another side of the complex life of Joseph Tam, I've been reinitiating contact with close friends and family. ^_^ Suddenly found out that a certain friend has had a gf for 10 months. Didn't see that one coming. But she seemed a nice enough person online.
. . .Ooh... Dinner time... will finish blog later.
. . .But ahaha, boy they're so cute!!! They were so nervous at first, not really speaking much. So I started asking a lot of questions. "Did you want to be here or upstairs? Did you go to school today? What's your favourite colour?" And so on and so forth.
. . .Vivian seemed a bit more keen. And after whipping out my sketchbook, they started to become very interested. Attention span of a child is hilarious! With friends like Shelly, I've had all the training I need to be with kids! Hehe.. so in a sense, thank you Shelly for being who you are.
. . .And I want my money back, Oxford Seminars... Stupid people. Dun know what they're talking about. So anyways, I started pointing to different parts of my illustrations and asking them questions, "what part of the body is this? is it an ear or an eye? What about this? horn, tail or wing? How old does the woman look?" Ah, they're funny. And they have this amazingly 2-track mind about it too! They speak to me in minimalistic English while they talk to each other in Mandarin. I wonder if they know I can understand them.
. . .Heheh.. and we like, finished a pack of cookies during the session. Kids are a bit wild, but nothing I can't handle... ... yet. ^_^
. . .OATUS, I've been recently trying to revive my french. Trying to remember the 'exceptions' for the passé composé. Always avoir except for uhh... .... something for être. Hmm... gotta go back and learn my verbs... ... and conjugation! je suis, tu est, il/elle es, nous something, vous ette, ills/elles sont. or something.... ahh... man, my french is too messy... T_T
. . .And on yet another side of the complex life of Joseph Tam, I've been reinitiating contact with close friends and family. ^_^ Suddenly found out that a certain friend has had a gf for 10 months. Didn't see that one coming. But she seemed a nice enough person online.
. . .Ooh... Dinner time... will finish blog later.
2003/11/04
Mixed Messages
. . .Despite the best efforts of our most gifted linguists, linguisticians, grammaticians and writers, people will always have a personal way of perceiving, handling and using any given language. I say 'fugstigate' for tersity and literary elegance, but a pratical, pragmatic businessman from America may perceive such obvious fluency in a language to be condescending and pretentious.
. . .Of course, pretentiousness is only valid if one's credentials are either ludicrous, unrelated or well below-par. From this, one could almost say that although we, in the English language, haven't as finely distincted forms of speech as say the Japanese do (in plain, polite, respectful and humble language) we obviously do have these forms in our daily communication.
. . .But of course, without clearly defining these forms of speech, it's up to the speaker and the listener to determine what they find to be obtuse, crude, rude or offensive. On the other hand, it's also up to the speaker and the listener to determine what they find to be kind, polite, humble or respectful.
. . .As it appears to be in any established civilization, the forms of respect seem to use 'bigger words' and simple ideas or contructs become elaborate, flowery lines of poetry. Compare this to the stark construct of what we perceive in modern American movies, where it's cool to presume a familiar tone with strangers -- something which I find to be rather presumptuous.
. . .But sadly, most people are rather paradoxial in their perception. They look at those of the older generation and find them pompous, criticizing their sesquipedalian use of English, saying that they should acquiesce to the level of the listener. Hypocritically, they don't seem to ever adjust their own presumtuous form of speech when talking with another person, or even trying to understand where the other person is coming from. Communication should be bi-directional, but most people seem to be too caught up in criticizing others to realize their own ignorance.
. . .Which brings to mind a line I learned at a young age, "practise what you preach". I shall admit that I too am very guilty for sometimes doing something contrary to what I say ought to be. But thankfully, I've sharp (and sometimes vengeful) friends and associates who are very quick to point out when I'm being self-contradicting.
. . .While I dare not make a commentary on what I term "American society", I shall share ideas which I've read from an essay back in high school. In the essay, the author presented the idea that the central difference between Canadian society and American society is that of a mossaic and a melting pot.
. . .The author continued by explaining that in the mossaic, all the individual colours are preserved, but they fit and weave together to form a beautiful tapestry. That is to say, while there is a common ground upon which Canadians interact, those of the staggering percentage who are of immigrant status, or of immigrant descent are able to preserve their own cultural heritage. Which, in my opinion, is saying that there is no definitive qualities in the term "Canadian culture" because what exactly happens in Canadian society is essentially dependent on the cultural identity of the resident.
. . .On the other hand, the author(probably Canadian), compared American society to a melting pot, where all the beautiful and distinct elements(or ingredients) are all mixed together to form a solution (or colloid, if you're lucky). In this essay, the author explained that although there is an equally staggering percentage of residents who are immigrants or of immigrant descent, most induhviduals(a borrowed term from Scott Adams) seem to cast away whatever richness their ethnic culture had to offer for the pugent, probing scent of what was termed 'American Society'.
. . .And vehemently avoiding any talk of how USA is perceived in the various nations, their politics and/or history between other countries, it is at the very least commendable that what we now term "America", though technically only one of many countries of North, South [and Central] America, has been strong enough to at least develop their own distinct sense of culture, society and values.
. . .The only criticism I'd dare to venture is that USA seems to be a bit too ego-centric. Yes, USA is a scary world power. Yes, USA is very influencial. And yes, USA is perhaps the strongest [or most influencial] nation economically, militarily and culturally. But from my experience, and from the numerous humerous anecdotes I hear from my various Canadian friends from their experiences in America, as well as an online quiz (hosted by National Geographic, I think), the average anecdotal American seems to be disasterously ignorant of anything outside its borders.
. . .Admittedly, it's usually only the extreme cases who make it into the anecdotal annals of Canadian ridicule, but in my conversations with many people, most seem to either agree or hold a similar perspective of the melting pot vs. the mossaic(or tapestry) imagery.
. . .Which really gets me thinking. Aside from a very attractive idea I picked up from Record of Lodoss Wars, I wonder how grand it is for people to have 'good, wholesome American values' when it only seems to promote arrogance in themselves and ignorance of the world outside. (And believe it or not but there's a vast world outside of the United States of America.)
. . .It is with little wonder that most people here in Taiwan and HK (whom I've met anyways), look down on most ABC's and CBC's, calling them 'white-washed', 'westernized', etc. And it's no wonder that I've had such a hard time proving them wrong because of their already blinding stigmatism that led them to believe that I was a Westerner just because I was raised in Canada.
. . .So while I'm not blaming the hordes of ABC's and CBC's who perhaps haven't had a linguistically disasterous childhood as I had, I do feel that both in the Far East and in the West there is an alarming lack of acceptence for 'originality' and 'individuality'.
. . .Asia probably has it worst; if you're not a male doctor, lawer, mathematician, scientist, computer geek or engineer, you're pretty much looked down upon as a failure. It's sad to see that those 3000 years of highly developed and refined culture extinguished because of the money-grubbing, greedy, pragmatic attitude of most modern Oriental people.
. . .At least in America, there's a fighting chance of earning a living as a foreign cultures' expert, linguist, artist, musician or actor. But here, in Taiwan, actors and models are looked down upon, finding them to be of 'cheap quality' and noting that after their popularity wanes, most of them don't seem to have any other skills upon which they can rely.
. . .So while American values may give the illusion of promoting ignorance, they at the very least encourage individuals to explore their interests and do "what they feel is right".
. . .And while most modern people cannot hope to appreciate artistic and skillful linguistic agility, equating "emotion" and "feeling", I stand firm in my conviction and persistence in encouraging what appears to be a dying art in what once was known as Literature.
. . .Of course, pretentiousness is only valid if one's credentials are either ludicrous, unrelated or well below-par. From this, one could almost say that although we, in the English language, haven't as finely distincted forms of speech as say the Japanese do (in plain, polite, respectful and humble language) we obviously do have these forms in our daily communication.
. . .But of course, without clearly defining these forms of speech, it's up to the speaker and the listener to determine what they find to be obtuse, crude, rude or offensive. On the other hand, it's also up to the speaker and the listener to determine what they find to be kind, polite, humble or respectful.
. . .As it appears to be in any established civilization, the forms of respect seem to use 'bigger words' and simple ideas or contructs become elaborate, flowery lines of poetry. Compare this to the stark construct of what we perceive in modern American movies, where it's cool to presume a familiar tone with strangers -- something which I find to be rather presumptuous.
. . .But sadly, most people are rather paradoxial in their perception. They look at those of the older generation and find them pompous, criticizing their sesquipedalian use of English, saying that they should acquiesce to the level of the listener. Hypocritically, they don't seem to ever adjust their own presumtuous form of speech when talking with another person, or even trying to understand where the other person is coming from. Communication should be bi-directional, but most people seem to be too caught up in criticizing others to realize their own ignorance.
. . .Which brings to mind a line I learned at a young age, "practise what you preach". I shall admit that I too am very guilty for sometimes doing something contrary to what I say ought to be. But thankfully, I've sharp (and sometimes vengeful) friends and associates who are very quick to point out when I'm being self-contradicting.
. . .While I dare not make a commentary on what I term "American society", I shall share ideas which I've read from an essay back in high school. In the essay, the author presented the idea that the central difference between Canadian society and American society is that of a mossaic and a melting pot.
. . .The author continued by explaining that in the mossaic, all the individual colours are preserved, but they fit and weave together to form a beautiful tapestry. That is to say, while there is a common ground upon which Canadians interact, those of the staggering percentage who are of immigrant status, or of immigrant descent are able to preserve their own cultural heritage. Which, in my opinion, is saying that there is no definitive qualities in the term "Canadian culture" because what exactly happens in Canadian society is essentially dependent on the cultural identity of the resident.
. . .On the other hand, the author(probably Canadian), compared American society to a melting pot, where all the beautiful and distinct elements(or ingredients) are all mixed together to form a solution (or colloid, if you're lucky). In this essay, the author explained that although there is an equally staggering percentage of residents who are immigrants or of immigrant descent, most induhviduals(a borrowed term from Scott Adams) seem to cast away whatever richness their ethnic culture had to offer for the pugent, probing scent of what was termed 'American Society'.
. . .And vehemently avoiding any talk of how USA is perceived in the various nations, their politics and/or history between other countries, it is at the very least commendable that what we now term "America", though technically only one of many countries of North, South [and Central] America, has been strong enough to at least develop their own distinct sense of culture, society and values.
. . .The only criticism I'd dare to venture is that USA seems to be a bit too ego-centric. Yes, USA is a scary world power. Yes, USA is very influencial. And yes, USA is perhaps the strongest [or most influencial] nation economically, militarily and culturally. But from my experience, and from the numerous humerous anecdotes I hear from my various Canadian friends from their experiences in America, as well as an online quiz (hosted by National Geographic, I think), the average anecdotal American seems to be disasterously ignorant of anything outside its borders.
. . .Admittedly, it's usually only the extreme cases who make it into the anecdotal annals of Canadian ridicule, but in my conversations with many people, most seem to either agree or hold a similar perspective of the melting pot vs. the mossaic(or tapestry) imagery.
. . .Which really gets me thinking. Aside from a very attractive idea I picked up from Record of Lodoss Wars, I wonder how grand it is for people to have 'good, wholesome American values' when it only seems to promote arrogance in themselves and ignorance of the world outside. (And believe it or not but there's a vast world outside of the United States of America.)
. . .It is with little wonder that most people here in Taiwan and HK (whom I've met anyways), look down on most ABC's and CBC's, calling them 'white-washed', 'westernized', etc. And it's no wonder that I've had such a hard time proving them wrong because of their already blinding stigmatism that led them to believe that I was a Westerner just because I was raised in Canada.
. . .So while I'm not blaming the hordes of ABC's and CBC's who perhaps haven't had a linguistically disasterous childhood as I had, I do feel that both in the Far East and in the West there is an alarming lack of acceptence for 'originality' and 'individuality'.
. . .Asia probably has it worst; if you're not a male doctor, lawer, mathematician, scientist, computer geek or engineer, you're pretty much looked down upon as a failure. It's sad to see that those 3000 years of highly developed and refined culture extinguished because of the money-grubbing, greedy, pragmatic attitude of most modern Oriental people.
. . .At least in America, there's a fighting chance of earning a living as a foreign cultures' expert, linguist, artist, musician or actor. But here, in Taiwan, actors and models are looked down upon, finding them to be of 'cheap quality' and noting that after their popularity wanes, most of them don't seem to have any other skills upon which they can rely.
. . .So while American values may give the illusion of promoting ignorance, they at the very least encourage individuals to explore their interests and do "what they feel is right".
. . .And while most modern people cannot hope to appreciate artistic and skillful linguistic agility, equating "emotion" and "feeling", I stand firm in my conviction and persistence in encouraging what appears to be a dying art in what once was known as Literature.
2003/11/02
Taste
. . .Taste the rainbow. Or, buy some skittles. I prefer the latter; more sugar.
. . .This weekend was a colossal waste of time. Ended up clocking more hours in front of the TV than in my book... which would have been SO much more productive. Ah well. Reading shall yet be done!
. . .Speaking of reading... I shouldn't be here blogging... ^^;
. . .Ahaha!! Found a really funny quote by Don Hirschberg, "Calling atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair colour". Also finally found that hilarious quote I loved. It's by James D. Nicholl, "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
. . .Recent conversation suddenly inspired me to rant a bit about communication. In previous entries, I've stressed the importance of fluency of English for sake of seamless communication. But as my fiercely contrasting conversation partner as pointed out, such tacit fluency in English can also come across as pretentiousness for the more practical English conversationalists.
. . .As I've said many a time, I'm a dying breed. Those who share my form of speech and ideas are dead or dying or all too few. The world is always changing, and perhaps I should take a step back and allow the new generation to thrive.
. . .This weekend was a colossal waste of time. Ended up clocking more hours in front of the TV than in my book... which would have been SO much more productive. Ah well. Reading shall yet be done!
. . .Speaking of reading... I shouldn't be here blogging... ^^;
. . .Ahaha!! Found a really funny quote by Don Hirschberg, "Calling atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair colour". Also finally found that hilarious quote I loved. It's by James D. Nicholl, "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
. . .Recent conversation suddenly inspired me to rant a bit about communication. In previous entries, I've stressed the importance of fluency of English for sake of seamless communication. But as my fiercely contrasting conversation partner as pointed out, such tacit fluency in English can also come across as pretentiousness for the more practical English conversationalists.
. . .As I've said many a time, I'm a dying breed. Those who share my form of speech and ideas are dead or dying or all too few. The world is always changing, and perhaps I should take a step back and allow the new generation to thrive.
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