Random Thoughts

I'm making tiny amounts of progress with Italian.  I still can't speak it (more than one or two sentences), but I'm starting to be able to read it.  It helps that I went through this with French, so my expectations are a little more realistic.  Though realizing that realistic means 'don't expect to have a conversation for another two or three months, easy, and even that one will be short' is a little depressing.

I see where women in Iceland are posting pictures of their breasts to protest the idea that they can't but guys can.  I wish them luck, but I honestly don't see that making a difference.

The governor of Indiana is trying to back away from his homophobic legislation.  That laws like that could get proposed and passed makes me shudder. But conservatives like it, and they vote.  Liberals can't be bothered. Yeah, me too. 

Cooking a steak the other night was an adventure.  We don't do that very often.  It really did not turn out well. It doesn't help that I can't say what was wrong with it -- it certainly was cooked through -- but something was.  It just didn't taste as good as I had hoped it would.  This was part of my attempt to learn to like French foods -- this was Steak-Frites, which, disappointingly, simply means Steak with Fries.  I asked a French friend how to say 'medium-well' in French, and she said soignante, which is most definitely not the case; soignante would translate to bloody.  Turns out that bien cuit literally means well cooked, and though some places are aghast at the idea, they at least recognize that people do want it.  And not just tourists.

The Questionable Content comic strip is changing.  I generally like the changes.  For the first time in a while, I've wondered what's goingn to happen to the characters.  Before, I read it but the days were interchangeable. 

We're going down to see the daughteroid for Easter.  My pleasure at seeing her is moderated by her request that I spend some time to 'fix her PC' because she thinks it's too slow.  I have no idea what to do about that, and I resent, a little, that she's asking.  Of course, I'm not too thrilled at her request for a replacement PC, either.

Thinking about the big trip next year.  I really want to see a lot of people; my wife really wants to see three spots in Italy (that happen to be separated by about 2/3 the length of the country.  I would love to just move over there, but that's not going to happen.  My wife's already a little irritated at how often I would go if I could.  She's been generous, I recognize that.  But.

Not reading much lately.  Not to say I don't have several books to read, but it seems that all I want is basic action type novels.  I think my desire for complex books died about ten years ago.