Saturday, February 28, 2015

Translation

This translation from Italian to English without a dictionary is not nearly as much fun as one might assume.  Ten sentences, 90 minutes....argh.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Stuff and Nonsense

Daughter went down to New Orleans with her college for Mardi Gras.  Met a pickpocket.

Reading As You Wish, about the making of The Princess Bride.  Its not bad, but Golly everyone is so awesome, so talented, so amazing, the author can't keep from murmuring Yippee! every three paragraphs.  One of those books where I am really glad for the library. If this were a movie, we'd have said Tivo it -- and possibly not watched the whole thing.

Continuing my Italian Studies, if you can call what I do studying.  Making a teeny tiny amount of progress. For some reason, French people seem fascinated that I am doing this.  One said You're not giving up on French, are you?  Of course not.  For one thing, I can speak that language.

Been exchanging notes with a French-Canadian girl I know who just had a messy breakup with her boyfriend.  At one point, I gently suggested that she talk with the local Suicide Prevention folks -- and she said I did.  They didn't help very much.

I was not happy to have to get this new laptop, and I still can't do things that I want to do on Windows 8.1 -- basically, have it look and act just like Windows 7 -- but man, to have a PC that boots from dead cold to operational in eight seconds (okay, ten, once I sign in, because Microsoft insisted) is freaking awesome.

Actually taught my mento something. One thing in one class, where he's failing multiple things in multiple classes.  Still, that's something. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Dreams

Just because a dream last night had to do with the Italian preposition constructions NEL and NELLA doesn't mean I'm thinking about Italian too much.  Really.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Dummy

I've started studying Italian, but of course my level is very, very low.  Virtually non-existant.  I'm not even at the point of thinking I wonder how I would say that in Italian? So, while I was at a bookstore over the weekend, I leafed through a copy of, what else, Italian for Dummies. Didn't help.

Below dummy?  That is an interesting place to be!