BEDA concludes: Wicked

For the past week or so I have been suffering from an earworm. Thankfully, despite the name, this isn't one of the less savoury parasites but rather the inability to get a song out of your head (Wikipedia informs me that I could also refer to this as involuntary musical imagery, but come on: earworm is a much better name). I suffer from earworms a lot and they vary widely. Sometimes I have a song that I don't know very well and the lyrics fade very quickly into dum de doo nonsense words. Sometimes the tune loops around I find myself repeating the same lyrics over and over. These are the worst types- it's much better when I know a song intricately and can play it completely in my head, but this type of earworm is rare.

This current earworm is even rarer- it's not a single song but an entire musical. A week ago I didn't know Wicked particularly well. I'd seen it, I'd listened to the soundtrack a couple of times; but I only had a passing knowledge of the music off the top of my head. Thanks to this earworm I have now listened to the soundtrack played through several times in quick succession, and so I felt the need to blog about it because I've noticed many little trinkets hidden in the lyrics.

For those of you who don't know, Wicked is set in Oz- the same magical land in which The Wizard of Oz is set. If you don't know The Wizard of Oz then I have no qualms spoiling it for you, because its target audience is so young that the story line is more predictable than the outcome of Taylor Swift's next relationship. Wicked is aimed at older children who have outgrown The Wizard of Oz and tells the back story of the characters. In Wicked the protagonist does not wake up and find that it was all a dream but instead has to deal with a vindictive world and learn valuable life lessons a bit more complex than "There's no place like home" (actually the story is about imagining people complexly). Dorothy is a character, but is so insignificant that they don't even have an actor to play her. Basically, Wicked is a much better story, and I will aim not to spoil it, even if that means not including my favourite line.

The Wizard and I, a version that looked ok to share.

I'm going to be concentrating on foreshadowing, because that's what I noticed most. Specifically I'll look at the song The Wizard and I in which Elphaba dreams about her bright future once she has been raised to glory by the Wizard. Although none of her dreams come true (obviously- she becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, first clue was that she was born green), the song is rife with foreshadowing. Here are some lines from The Wizard and I:

Once I'm with the Wizard, my whole life will change!

 Which is such an ambiguous line. Not particularly surprising that the change wasn't in the direction she expected.

When people see me they will scream!

Meant in the way people scream for Bieber, not in the way that people scream when confronted with a Wicked Witch. It happens nonetheless.

I swear someday there'll be a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with me!

Which also happens. Is everyone familiar with the song Ding Dong the Witch is Dead? Ok, that song is about a different witch (the Wicked Witch of the East is also a secondary character in Wicked, whose story is possibly more heartbreaking than Elphaba's [pun intentional if you spotted it]) but you see what I mean.

I'll be so happy I could melt.

Which is so obvious that I think I noticed it when I first saw the show, so I'll follow it up with a line from the song Thank Goodness:

 I hear her soul is so unclean clear water could melt her.

Which I definitely noticed when I first saw the show, but this one was even easier to spot since it was highlighted by another character commenting:

Water will melt her? People are so empty headed they'll believe anything. 

Which is itself foreshadowing something else, so I'll leave that there.

Aside from having spotted all the foreshadowing, I have been appreciating some of the songs because they really are very good. Kind of want to go see it again, but Les Mis is higher on my to re-see list of shows. Anyway, BEDA's been great, next up is the cold dark silence of May, or CDSM. Doesn't roll off the tongue does it?

Beda #29: Evil Dead

I don't really know why, but lately I've found myself enjoying horror movies much more than I ever imagined.  In my younger days, even throughout most of high school, I never felt the need to watch them, even after I'd overcome my fears that while walking home a clown would drag me into a sewer (It) or my car would be possessed (Christine) or I'd make like human lava and spew out of Mt. Cama like Johnny Depp (Nightmare on Elm Street).  However, I suddenly have the urge to watch as many classics as possible, so when my school had an Evil Dead Fest Marathon, complete with guest actors/crew/directors and a display of props, I couldn't resist.  I shall impart to you some information about each and their impression on me below (no worries about spoilers).

The original Evil Dead (1981) is a cabin in the woods during spring break type deal.  A group of college kids accidentally release an evil spirit by playing a tape with a translation of the ancient Book of the Dead.  Craziness and death ensue.  Evil Dead was obviously filmed on a low budget and didn't have much support, but is still very good, despite sometimes losing focus and having crazy looking make-up and special effects.

Evil Dead 2 (1987) is basically a remake of Evil Dead, again starring Bruce Campbell, and is a work of genius.  It's my favorite in the series because it's the perfect balance of scary, gory, and humorous.  The story is much more cohesive, and with a bigger budget, they were able to pull off some cooler effects, and improve the cinematography.  Campbell really shines in this, as it's a one man show for the first half of the movie.  He is extremely entertaining, perfectly executing Three Stooges-esque slapstick humor, and you can tell that the entire cast had an amazing time filming this.

Army of Darkness (1992) continues where Evil Dead 2 left, taking Bruce back to medieval times to face an army of the undead.  This is probably the craziest of the franchise, being composed of 95% percent Bruce Campbell shenanigans almost to the point of hamming it up at a Jim Carrey level, and 5% mega-battle at the end.  It is filled with great one liners and has one of the best posters I've ever seen, so as long as you can get over the major cheeseball factor it is a good movie.

The whole reason for this fest was the premier of the new Evil Dead (2013), so at midnight we finally got to experience the main event, and it was completely terrorizing.  The plot was surprisingly well constructed for a horror movie, and was great to see with a huge, enthusiastic audience (there were many moments filled with large cries of horror/cheers), but it was more gross than anything else.  In the original series, the gore was either incredibly fake or just suggested with silhouettes, making it funny and easier to handle.  The new Evil Dead had access to modern special effects and the budget to pull them off, so everything looked way too life like for comfort.  Although it was very very gruesome, it was still pretty enjoyable, and filled with many throwbacks to the other films, which was nice.

So there, now you know a little bit about the Evil Dead series and will hopefully take the time to watch all or one of the above, it will definitely not be wasted.  If anything, you will learn a valuable life lesson: if you come across a creepy book in a cabin in the woods that is bound in human flesh and written in blood, DO NOT TOUCH IT, DO NOT OPEN IT, AND FOR BRUCE'S SAKE DO NOT READ IT ALOUD.  SERIOUSLY.  C'MON.  WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT???

BEDA Bonus Fact: My favorite little tree smells are jasmin, cinnamon, and applewoods.

BEDA 28: LOVELY LAVATORIES AND TERRIBLE TOILETS: A RANT ABOUT PUBLIC RESTROOMS

Today’s blogpost is all about toilets! Public toilets, to be specific. I originally thought I’d write about the Netherlands getting a new king in two days (because that’s all anybody talks about here), but I realized in time that that would be terribly uninteresting. Then I asked Mia for topic ideas and she suggested that I should write ‘a rant about public toilets’. So, I decided I’d rather gross you out than bore you. Let’s get started!

There are tons of different kinds of public toilets, depending on their shape, size and location. For instance, I was in France once on a school trip, and when we stopped the bus to pee, the toilet turned out to be just a hole in the ground. It’s quite hygienic and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, I suppose, but it’s also highly uncomfortable and not suitable for stiff, old people and awkward teenagers alike. Needless to say, almost everybody preferred to pee elsewhere and retreated into some bushes nearby. 

However, most toilets you come across in day-to-day life will have a bowl, a seat* and maybe a lid. They can be pretty or ugly, they can be sparkly clean or covered in mysterious stains, and you can find them anywhere. I’ll discuss just a few of the possibilities.

TOILETS AT SCHOOL
Restrooms at schools, especially at high schools, seem to double as a venue for important meetings. At least at my school, the bathroom was the place where everyone (but mostly the girls) would go first when they got to school. They’d renovate what the weather had left of their make-up and just talk to friends and classmates. I’ve seen girls unpack entire beauty cases and bring curling irons, all the while chatting and sometimes arguing with others.  It may seem like a vain or shallow activity, but even though I was never a big make-up person, I liked that pre-class ritual and we really did discuss some worthwhile things in that restroom.
Applying make-up wasn’t one of the activities I used the restroom for, but it was oftentimes the place where I executed my joke ideas. I wasn’t a big trouble maker or anything (because everyone always immediately knew I’d done it), I just did little things I thought were really funny. Throughout the years, I put up all sorts of notes in the toilets that ranged from warnings such as ‘Watch out for Moaning Mertle’ to official-looking pamphlets that read ‘Flush twice for the Ministry Of Magic’, which included the rules of the Ministry and a fake autograph from Cornelius Fudge.

By the way, I usually didn’t operate alone. I have a good friend who was almost always prepared to be my partner in crime. She, for instance, was the one who came up with the idea of throwing red food coloring in the boys’ toilet bowls to freak them out. I choose my friends wisely.

TOILETS AT WORK
In my experience, toilets in workplaces are usually very acceptable, but at my current job at a restaurant in my town, I hit the toilet jackpot. Not to brag or anything, but we have beautifully decorated restrooms, with soft towels and amazing soap, the smell of which makes you imagine yourself standing in the middle of a field of gorgeous flowers. The only downside is, that I am the one who has to clean them at the end of the day. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve found. Seriously. Even thinking about it makes me vomit in the back of my mouth a little bit.  

TOILETS IN BARS
I don’t set foot in bars or pubs frequently, so I don’t have a lot of experience to share, but I imagine that alcohol, darkness and aiming urine into a bowl make for a bad combination.

TOILETS IN SPACE
As I was researching the topic for today, my mind went from one pee-related thought to another, and I ended up wondering how much the most expensive toilet would cost. I expected to find fabulous photos of golden thrones, or bowls covered in rhinestones, and I did come across some of those, but I also found this article and discovered something ten times worth the search: A SPACE TOILET. I was very excited about this, especially when I read that it can RECYCLE PEE INTO WATER. NASA had it built in 2008 and it cost them an astonishing 19 million dollars.
It’s worth the money though, because if you use a normal toilet in space, well, I don’t think I have to describe the scene for you to develop a graphic image in your head. Let’s say you’d be glad you’re wearing a space suit and helmet.

PUBLIC TOILETS THAT AREN’T TOILETS AT ALL
Sometimes people do their business in places where they’re not really supposed to do so. Occasionally, they just pull up one leg and gush some pee right up against a fire hydrant close to their home, just to let everybody know that it’s in their territory. It’s a way of claiming ownership. Just last week I a guy urinating over his bicycle, and, even weirder, I once witnessed a woman taking off her pants and squatting down to take a leak in the middle of Piazza Navona in Rome, her pee slowly filling the ridges between the cobblestones of the ancient square. What, did she think she owned the place?
But who am I to talk? I distinctly remember using my parents’ backyard as a kitty litter box when I was very little. I made a habit of digging a hole in the ground, peeing in it, and then covering my tracks with some soil. I’m no expert on the subject, but I think that’s an effective method for fertilization.

Anyway, that’s all for today. I  know there’s much more to say on this topic. I haven’t even touched on bathroom in hotels, on camping sites or in the Room of Requirement, I failed to mention the (questionable) wonderfulness of toilets at gas stations and I entirely left out the kind of toilet where the walls don’t reach from floor to ceiling, which allows for you to get live updates from the stall next to yours, in the form of waterfall sounds and paper fumbling. I’m sorry for neglecting those and other topics and offer you my sincerest apologies. Maybe another day! In the meantime, please share your most memorable toilet experience in the comments.

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* Fun fact for the linguistic people: In Dutch the word we use for toilet seat is the same word we use for glasses (The ones for your eyes, not the ones you drink from).

BEDA 27: End of Undergrad

It's going to be a short post today

Today is going to be a long day.

I've kind of been dreading today for a multitude of reasons the main one being I'm moving out of my first apartment and headed back to live with my parents for a while.

I've graduated and am now OFFICIALLY an alumni.. err well... I will be in June when they hand me a piece of paper that claims that I did a thing.

I knew that I wanted to go to university when I was 13 years old. You see my Girl Guide Unit were kind of lazy. Instead of going on and end of the year camping trip the leaders (and the leader's daughters) decided we would partake on a new kind of adventure urban camping. Where we staying in a hotel and did classy things. Like go shopping. As you can guess I was not all that thrilled. It wasn't until we took a tour of University of Toronto did I realize that this trip had some form of merit. That weekend I realized that I would never be happy until I went away to school.

Which as we all know, I did. I went, I saw and I conquered.

I learned a lot of interesting things, watched a lot of weird and scarring films (for example I cannot look at the moon without thinking about Luis Brūnuel's short film Un Chien Andalou which you can watch here, but be warned it's a little weird and disturbing) and I've read a wide range of books. I probably never would have developed my love of Ibsen if it weren't for the copious drama courses I have taken over the years.

But I digress....

This is the first time in my life where I haven't really known what the next step is. I know where I want to get, I'm just not exactly sure how to get there.

So while I pack a truck with all my worldly possessions I leave you guys with a question. What are your plans for the future? More school? World adventures? World domination?

I give you my life in boxes (and bags)

BEDA #26 - The best questions are the stolen ones

I almost forgot to do this, so I'm just going to pick questions from everyone's past question posts and answer them!

THE tree scent question: 
I've never actually registered the smell of many types of trees in my memory. It's kind of just all trees. I'd probably go with Pine cause it feels so fresh. Or the general smell of a rainforest. It's kind of heavy scented, a little bit musky, but smells like what Oxygen should smell like.

What constitutes a good night in?

Cup of tea, some fruits, maybe chocolate and the internet.

Describe each of your toes. 

The big toe kind of leans in to the second toe. I think they like each other. The fourth toe is quite a bit shorter than the third toe, so I think it's insecure. The tiny toe is happy to just be a toe, but wishes there was more toe nail (but seriously, my tiny toenail is tiny.When I went for a pedicure, the lady laughed at me and asked what the heck was she suppose to be painting)

If you could have any skill uploaded to your brain via plug in your neck (matrix style), what would you like to learn?

Physics/Engineering knowledge. It baffles me.

What would your patronus be? 

Probably a raccoon. Beady little eyes, tiny hands meant for evil scheming gestures. Sounds like a good match.

BEDA 25: Question Time!

*insert obligatory tree scent question here*

We always make fun about this, but it's actually quite a good question. I think my favorite tree smells are pine, Christmas tree (Caucasian fir, in my family's case) and the other tree that is also called pine but grows in the south (Italy and Greece; it reminds me of summer and vacation). I also went to our garden today to do some research, so I smelled all our trees and I have to add cherry blossoms to the list. It's on a tree, so it should count, right? Also, one of our neighbors was watching me and probably thinks I'm crazy now. Well.

Favorite TV show character (cartoons count)?

Oh, that's a tough one. Hmm... hmm... 

What's the grossest/most interesting medical condition you've come across since studying?

We learn about a lot of gross things. Some of the 'eww' moments were definitely STDs (I think we all have seen enough pictures of those), diabetic foot syndrome (I hate feet) and worms. There are pinworms which crawl through the colon about 15 cm per hour, then crawl out of the anus and lay eggs there. And then they die. There are also worms which preferably migrate into the eyeball.

I really have problems saying what's the most interesting medical condition. I asked my boyfriend if he remembers me telling something, but he confirmed my suspicious: I mostly only talk about dead people.  I'll come back to you about that if I remember something/come across something!

Do you like fishing? Why/Why not?

Funny you should ask. Funny that I got an email today from the Bookdepository, trying to sell me books about fishing *glances at Mia suspiciously*

I never really went fishing, so I can't tell you if I like it or not, but I'd rather say I would not like it. I don't like killing animals for fun and besides I'm way too impatient to fish.

What constitutes a good night in?

A really good night in includes: my boyfriend, pizza, a movie, a bottle of wine and a new episode of a TV show that aired that day.

Favorite genre of books? Some favorite books in that genre?

I don't really have a favorite genre per se. If I think about it, I read a lot of YA, but I would definitely not say that it's a genre I like in general. I do like crime and thrillers, for example the books by Henning Mankell and the Hannibal Lecter series. I also like books with character development. I don't even care so much about suspense and the plot, but I like when you really get to know the characters. Casual Vacancy and a book my Haruki Murakami were the last ones in that 'genre' that I read.

What constitutes a good night out?

Friends, good music and that amount of being drunk where everything is funny and great, but you are not too drunk or feel bad. And optional going for a kebab at 3 am.

If you were to write a story about medieval England, what would your main character's favorite flavor of gruel be?

I like that you phrased it 'write a story about' and not 'if you would be'. In my story, my character would probably be poor, so most days they could only afford gruel made with water. On special occasion, they would have milk and that would be my character's favorite flavor. With a dash of cinnamon.

(I don't know if they had cinnamon in medieval England and I also had to look up gruel. I'd do better research for my story.)

Favourite way to consume the potato!

Mashed or french fries!

What can't you live without?

Uhm, internet? My computer? Well, that's maybe not entirely true, I could go for a couple of days without those. On a longer term I would have to say water. Not in the 'people need to drink' kind of way, but that I hate drinking flavored stuff all the time. My boyfriend only drinks Cola and you can't drink the tap water there and they never have bottled water in the house. After a while there I go so crazy that I don't want to drink anything at all anymore. We usually have to make an emergency trip to the shop then and buy water for me.

BEDA 24: The Labyrinth of Suffering

First, a quick introduction. What will follow is an essay I wrote two years ago, after reading John Green's Looking for Alaska for the first time. I wrote this as an English class assignment when I was seventeen, and I didn't edit it for this blog. So, just for the record, I know "impossible" is spelled with too s's. Another thing that is present in this essay is that I thought my teacher was a materialistic and stupid. It turned out he was a pretty nice guy. Oh well, to the essay:

Life Is Kind Of Just All About Nothing (And Setting Your Own Goals)

OR: ALASKA’S QUESTION ― HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS LABYRINTH OF SUFFERING?

For me, the labyrinth of suffering embodies our doubts and confusion in life, the fact that we really don’t know anything at all. We don’t know why we are here or where we will go. We don’t have perfect, universal definitions for Good and Evil. There is no all-knowing guide to tell you what is the right thing to do, what is the right path to take. And as we wander through the labyrinth’s mysterious passageways, the only tool we have to decide which direction we go, which life decisions we make, is our gut feeling. We never have security, and that is our torture. So, if you follow that theory, the way out of the labyrinth must be finding the True Meaning of Life. I used to think that if you accomplished that, you could make it out of the labyrinth alive.  I thought that once you found The Meaning, you would be Free and Wise and live a happy, meaningful and fulfilling life. But I have quite recently changed my mind, and I guess you could say that my perception of finding our way in the labyrinth has gotten somewhat more pessimistic.

                On my quest to find Meaning, I spent some time trying to figure out what the most important things in life were. I wanted to make a hierarchic list of what was the most important thing, and then the most important thing after that and so forth. Things I nominated to be on the list were love, other people, relationships, improving yourself, adding something good to the world, faith,  and improving the world. Those seemed very noble goals to me, but 1) most are imposible to achieve ―for instance, how do you know that you improved yourself or the world and made a change for the better, if there are no clear lists and definitions of good and evil?― and 2) it is impossible to list them hierarchically, because we simply don’t know what most important in life is. How can you be sure whether relationships are more important than family? Who tells you if faith has more value than helping others? Not knowing the answer to all of those questions adds up to the fact that we don’t know The True Meaning of life in general. And I believe that that is because there is nothing to know. With all these uncertainties and all this room for subjectivity, there cannot be a universal True Meaning or Goal.

                That being said, it is impossible to get out of the labyrinth of suffering. True Meaning is a made up concept and so, if that is the key to escaping suffering, we will never find it. Realizing that, I was kind of overcome with nihilism, because then, the questions all human beings long to answer ―Why are we here? What are we supposed to do with our lives?― are unanswered and unanswerable. But people have been asking themselves these questions for centuries for a reason. It’s because we need some sort of drive and motivation, I mean, if there’s no goal in life, what’s the point of living it? It’s like Miles Halter said about the Afterlife: ‘People can not bear the thought of death being a big black nothing’, but neither can we bear the thought of life being the exact same thing. So we set our own goals: we imagine that our true calling is spreading a faith, or raising a child, or doing our jobs. We think the Absolute Meaning of life is the girl we love, our children, our families, our knowledge or ―in stupid people’s minds― our money.

I’m not going to say that those things aren’t a good drive (except maybe making money) and I don’t mean to be condescending and say that they are insignificant life goals just made up by people who can’t accept that there is no goal. I will say none of those things, because the goals in life should be the goals we set for ourselves, as long as we don’t pretend that there is some sort of universal Meaning of life every human being should strive to Understand.

Ultimately, what we all have to do, I think, is realize that there is nothing special to reach, that there is no Meaning, no ultimate wisdom or Golden Truth, no way out of the labyrinth. But instead of feeling crushed by nihilism, I think we have to acknowledge it, be okay with it and just set goals for ourselves. We simply need to pay attention to the things that are important to us. That way, we will be in the labyrinth, but we won’t feel stuck. I guess that’s the closest we can get to understanding and happiness. So, love your girlfriend, raise your children, spread your faith, acquire knowledge, and, if you insist, make money. 

BEDA #20: Zombie Matt Answers Questions

Hey guys!

It's been a really tiring but awesome and fun weekend! I went to the Pacific University conference to present my paper, listen to a whole bunch of papers and think... a lot. So now that it's 2 am according to my body clock and I'm totally exhausted, it's the perfect time to answer some of your questions! :) Some of the bigger ones I'll leave out until a later day, because I can barely see the screen straight I'm so tired (or I might just give really stupid sarcastic answers).

How big a role does religion play in your life?
Right now I'm much more spiritual than religious, but religion has played a huge role in my life, both in negative and positive lights. I definitely would not be who I am today without religion.

How is your Nerdfighter club going?
Well, not as well as I would have liked, but I got super busy with senior year and we never got people organized beyond the Facebook group.

What's your favorite tree smell?
Pine and oak.

Describe each of your toes.
My toes are shy. They don't like the spotlight.

If you could be any kind of beer, which one would you be?
The Russian in me says vodka. The Scottish/Irish in me says Guinness.

"Answer The Question!"

Han Solo, Rick Deckard or Indiana Jones?
Gonna go with Solo here. I mean, he has a space ship. He does things. In space.

If you were a llama, where would you get your hair cut?
Nowhere, I would be a llama. I just would not care. I would just eat that grass and be a llama. With my llama ways and llama feelings.

What is love? (and no… ‘baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more’ isn’t a valid answer)
Love is….JUST A FOUR LETTER WORD! AAAHA!

(you can thank Bob Dylan for this)

What is air?
It appears to be a three letter word. This is interesting! Air is a valuable resource and should be mined for gold.

Guilty pleasures?
Of course when someone asks me, nothing comes to mind. Except for the really inappropri-- I mean, I remember nothing! Food! Tasty unhealthy foods! Soda!

If you could have any skill uploaded to your brain via plug in your neck (matrix style), what would you like to learn?
A skill? Hmm. Math. All of the math. Or the skill of being really, really good at social situations. I’d manipulate my way to the top or just half-accidentally end up there because I‘d be a likable networking master!

Jedi or Sith?
I would like to say Jedi. I mean, I like to follow the rules and all that. But then a friend and I had this conversation last night…

Me: Honestly, I would do it [referring to a time-consuming solution to the lack of course books problem] if I didn't feel like everyone else should suffer because I've suffered too. 

Me: Maybe some day I'll just drag a chair over to the course books section of the library, with popcorn in my hand, and sit there and watch the miserable people who won't be able to get a course book in time and so have to come to terms with the fact that they will either have to bump the exam or get a book for an over-night loan, meaning they'll have one night to read it.

Me: I'll just sit there and watch, watch their misery. "That's right. Now you know how it feels too. Feel that rage building inside? Give in to it. That's right. Just giiive iiiin."  

Me: ...I might be a Sith of some sort.

What color would your lightsaber be?
Blue.

If you could only listen to one record for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
Any of the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks composed by Bear McCreary.

What alien species known from books, TV shows, games or movies would you be if you could pick one?
Right now, without thinking too much about it, I would say Turian (Mass Effect).

BEDA #18 - My Birthday!

Yesterday I turned twenty!

It was overall a very unexciting day. I had class all morning, work all afternoon, and a fair amount of homework to do after I got home. But I will share a few highlights.

Highlight #1: Right before I woke up in the morning, I had a dream that my boyfriend had abruptly turned into a psychopathic serial killer and was out to murder me. It was incredibly vivid and pretty horrifying. But I was incredibly relieved when I woke up.

Highlight #2: I got a midterm back that I did very well on. This was a relief since almost the entire class did horribly on the first one (myself included). I was particularly glad because the data problem, which is worth a lot of the test, seemed to me to be able to be reduced further to fewer underlying representations, but I made the judgment call that it would be strange and wouldn't work too smoothly so I stuck with three. And that judgment call was the correct one!

Highlight #3: My boss at work made me brownies! They were delicious. Additionally, I spent the last hour of "work" chatting with my boss and my coworker. I actually lost track of time and clocked out late.

Highlight #4: I am not sure if I've mentioned this before but I'm currently the co-Editor in Chief of a campus publication called Vagabond. We publish student and staff works written in languages other than English, as well as visual art. We are all new to the group (long story) and really haven't known exactly what we were doing all year. However, WE ARE FINALLY GOING TO PUBLISH. We actually have a layout to be printed and distributed. It's going to be pretty fantastic.

Highlight #5: I went to a new pizza place with some of my friends last night. It was rather Italian in that you purchase a personal pizza that's made in front of your eyes. It was both delicious and relatively inexpensive and I will definitely be returning in the future.

Highlight #6: After we got back from pizza my roommates and I ate some mochi and some mochi ice cream (of which I definitely prefer the non-ice cream sort) and these waffly things called "butter cookies". I also got a Toblerone and a laptop case.

Highlight #7: My boyfriend gave me sunscreen for my birthday, which was exactly what I wanted and asked for. It's getting fairly bright outside and I am fairly pale (and moley).

Overall it was a pretty good birthday. My top birthday activity of choice is just hanging out with people I like. And I got to do that quite a bit! Now it's time to feel slightly old but not THAT old.

Also...does anyone else have a problem with writing the date on their birthday? I kept wanting to write 1993 on things. It was a bit frustrating.

BEDA #17: Final year – expectations vs reality, and what I wish I could’ve know at the start

Okay, I’m currently writing this in a sleep deprived, caffeine and adrenaline high state, so I apologise if this makes no sense, and if any advice I give is not relevant to anyone other than myself.

Expectation

When I’d pictured my final year at University, it was always a stressful year. This is the year that really counted towards everything, and it was obviously going to be harder material than previous years, as we would have to use all the knowledge and information we’d gained during the course of our degree. It was also the year with much more freedom in picking how you wanted to focus your studies, and a chance to apply what we’d learnt to useful situations.

I’ve struggled at lot being at University. I never really suffered from homesickness, but university sickness as I would call it. I didn’t feel able to plant roots at uni, as it’s such a temporary part of my life. I longed for stability, routine and normality the whole of the first two years of my degree and it was something that I was never going to achieve whilst studying. The way my course works means that I can be set work with only a weeks’ notice to be handed in, which is okay if your lecturers plan ahead and communicate with each other, but in reality, I often ended up with four pieces of work due in a two day period. I was expecting third year to be more of the same, or to be even harder.

All this being said, I thought final year wouldn’t be so bad, for one reason, which was I would be done soon enough, and I could stick it. I wouldn’t miss University at all, and I’d barely miss the people because I hadn’t really made any close friends, just lots of people I didn’t mind spending time with. It was all going to be okay, because I would get an okay degree, live at home whilst studying for my postgrad, and get the routine and structure in my life that I wanted.

Reality

Whenever I’d heard people talk about what it was like to be a third year maths student, everyone said how hard it was academically. So I was rather surprised when actually, it wasn’t much of a step up in difficulty from my previous two years. It wasn’t a walk in a park, don’t get me wrong, but it no way was it to a point I couldn’t function as a normal human being as many third students seem to struggle to do. Whilst I had more choices this year, it wasn’t like I expected. I found that a lot of subjects that I’d previously enjoyed such as probability, were now so theoretical all the joy had been sucked out of them, and subjects that I’d found dull suddenly got interesting. If I could choose my modules again, I’d of picked almost completely different ones.

Life at university has still just been just as chaotic and unstructured, but I’ve definitely coped better. I was in good accommodation this year, and it made a world of difference, knowing that I could come back to a clean kitchen, and a well furbished room, and get an uninterrupted night of sleep. Although I was anxious that most of our continual assessment this year was going to be mini tests, and I’m not one for tests at all, they actually weren’t too bad, and when I came to the big exams, I was so much more prepared. For the coursework I had to hand in, our lecturers actually communicated, so that we didn’t have multiples due at the same time, and if we did, we were told further in advance.

One thing which I hadn’t put too much thought into was how much time sorting out my plans for next year would take. I mean I’d known for a very long time exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to study, and got all of the necessary work experience. Writing my application was stressful enough – trying to sum up everything about yourself in 47 lines of text, particularly when you’ve got as much experience and extra-curriculars as I do is a challenge. What I really hadn’t factored in was how much time it would take to prepare for an interview. There was so much I had to prepare to bring on the day, and so much research and reading I had to do, to make sure I didn’t look like an idiot, but also to impress.  Mixing weeks worth of preparation, whilst also trying to maintain a good degree average has to be one of my best accomplishments to date.

With regards to finishing, by the end, it wasn’t something I looked forward to as much as I thought as I would. I finally made a really good friend this year, and I know that I’m going to miss her a lot. When we got to our final few weeks, I think I realised how weird leaving was going to be. Whilst I was at school, there were all sorts of celebrations, and special things to prepare you for leaving, and to say your goodbyes. At University, it all just sort of fizzles out towards the end, and people just leave as and when there exams finish. I know we’ve got graduation to celebrate with, but it’ll be different as everyone will be busy with their families.

There’s a really odd feeling at university right now. I feel lucky that I’ve something to go on and do next year, when so many of my friends’ and course mates’ futures are so uncertain. It’s not however quite the security I imagined though. Although I’m going to be going to a local University, I could have placements an hour and a half plus away from home, meaning I’m going to have to move out again. It’s going to long hours, and lots of pressure, but I know it’s going to be worth it.

I’ll be honest; this year has been completely different from what I imagined it would be. I’m glad though. I’m getting to the point now, where I know all my hard week is going to be worth it, and it’s a relief.

Things I wished I’d known or done:

·         People who are good friends are not necessarily good housemates

·         Although first year doesn’t count towards your degree, it’s worth putting in the effort. You’re going to use the skills you learn for the rest of your degree, and it’s important to get into a good work routine.

·        Do not underestimate how important it is to keep your notes organised, or how much you’ll hate past you when you get to exam time and you haven’t.

·        Do not make friends with only one group of likeminded people, otherwise you might find yourself needing advice and support with no one able to help you.

·         Socialize and enjoy things outside of lectures as much as possible in your first two years, as there isn’t much time for doing that come third year.

·        Just because accommodation is cheap, does not mean it’s best. Sacrificing your happiness and health to save a few hundred pounds is not worth it.

·         Lecturers want you to do well, so ask them if you get stuck and they’ll be sure to help as much as they can.

·         Interview preparation is more important than the interview itself.

·         There is nothing wrong with going to see a counsellor if you need it – sometimes problems are too big for one person to deal with alone.

·         Never say no to free food/stuff.

·        It’s only three years of your life, so enjoy the freedom you have now, as you’ll look back in the future enviously at the opportunities you had.

For those of you in final year (I’m not sure if there are any others) – good luck. For those of you who’ll still be going next year, I hope something that I’ve written can be helpful to you :)

DFTBA

BEDA #16: Let's talk about weddings

So because my brother got married last month, it's a topic that has been omnipresent for the past 6 months. Particularly because I helped plan the reception so I am well versed in the details involved.

Often, I'd be complaining to my friends about how stressful the wedding planning was going and how much it was a pain in the ass, only to be replied with either "But weddings are beautiful!" and "Wait til it is yours". To which I mostly reply that I would much rather elope, and am subsequently greeted with a lot of "WHAAAAT?"

Which brings me to my point - are weddings really that necessary? I mean, I get it. It's a celebration that every person gets once (or twice.. or thrice) in their life. It's an opportunity to have the day of your dreams to celebrate being married to the love of your life in front of your friends and family. Its a nice excuse for people to get together, dress up and party.

But really - I don't see how it's worth all the stress and months of planning that are put into it. From menu choices and linen to table arrangements, there's an infinite amount of detail that needs to be decided. I can think of many other uses of my cognitive resources. Weddings involve blood, sweat and tears that eventually culminate in one single day where you're likely to be too out of your mind tired to really enjoy.  Also, family all in one enclosed location? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

If you're asking why don't I just have a small wedding? Yeah, I can't do that. By default Asian standards, weddings are huge affairs. From tea ceremonies with family in the morning to wedding receptions that have like 400 people (every single relative must be invited. Even if you have spoken to them a grand total of once in your life. My brother and I used to joke about how it's akin to inviting the whole "kampung", i.e. village. But really, this would be considered a small-ish wedding. Weddings in India can last up to a week and have thousands of guests. /shudder). And because there are so many people around, it doesn't become about celebrating the couple anymore. It's more about trying to entertain and feed everyone. Mind you, my plans for eloping might actually involve people coming along so it's not like it'll be completely devoid of people.  Like my best friends, who I probably want around. Or maybe not.

So many girls I know have dream weddings that they've been planning in their heads for years and simply can't wait to be able to make it a reality. I don't, and sometimes I wonder whether I am weird. I have no opposition to getting married and what not, but I don't think the wedding is really all that necessary.

What are your thoughts on weddings?

BEDA #15: Tooth Fairies, Racist Holidays And Other Lies My Parents Told Me

Going to the dentist was never one of my favorite pastimes, but my last visit was especially unpleasant. I was sitting in the chair, my mouth opened uncomfortably wide and my eyes squinting in the light of what looked like a miner’s torch on top of his head, as I tried to read my dentist’s facial expression. Even though it was hard to make out much of his face behind his glasses and mouth mask, I didn’t think he looked particularly worried, so I relaxed a little, until:

                ‘It looks like your upper left wisdom tooth doesn’t have enough space. As it stands now, it’s likely that it will push your other teeth out of place.’ He said.

                ‘What does that mean?’ I asked anxiously, speaking as clearly as I could in spite of having medical tools and what felt like ten sticks of cotton wool in my mouth. I feared the worst, and with good reason, because:

                ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to remove it sometime in the future.’[i]

I, having worn braces for over four years only to get my teeth in the somewhat straight state they are in today, was rather upset by this news. I was also very scared at the prospect of possibly having dental surgery, so, naturally, I whined to my mother about it. She, however, had a word of comfort:

                ‘Look at it from the bright side!’ she said, with an unconvincing smile.

                ‘I fail to see a bright side to this situation.’ I replied, sadly.

                ‘Well, there’s always the tooth fairy.’ She sniggered.

I could only laugh about this comment, so I guess it cheered me up slightly. It did, however, also make me think about the tooth fairy as a concept. I suppose it’s not surprising that an important aging process like losing your baby teeth is surrounded by a myth, but sometimes I can’t help but think the adults were just trying to find out how many nonsensical stories they could make their kids believe before they would start asking questions, all the while laughing at their our stupidity.  This made me think about other lies parents tell their children, and especially the lies my parents told me. Less than true stories I was told as a kid certainly weren’t limited to the existence of a tooth fairy.

For example, whenever there was a rainbow in the sky, my parents used to say that the chickens were celebrating carnival. I know that sounds ridiculous. I can’t even imagine how I could ever have believed that, but apparently I did, because in second grade, after my teacher asked the class when rainbows appeared, I raised my hand in Hermione-like fashion and replied enthusiastically:

                ‘When the chickens have carnival!’

My mom, who heard the story through my confused teacher, still likes to recount the tale and laughs herself silly at my foolishness. I wasn’t a little Einstein as a kid, it appears. I must have thought colored light beamed from chickens having a great time, which is kind of sad, because, really, most chickens don’t have a very great life at all. Oh, dear, I didn’t mean for that dark turn to happen. Moving on!

Another curious and rather cruel thing my parents used to say, was that my sister and I weren’t their biological children, but that they had found us under the bridge near our house. Again, this is a weird thing to say and it makes me doubt my parents’ sense of humor. I imagine they got the inspiration from the stories of Moses and Romulus and Remus, but I am at a loss as to why they applied a similar story to us. But then again, this came from the same people who, whenever we asked where they were going, replied in acted seriousness: ‘We’re leaving the country on a little white horse.’

The things I’ve mentioned so far really seem to have had no purpose whatsoever, but my parents also fed us some lies to teach us lessons. For instance, to keep us from chewing on our own hair, they told us that this could lead big hairballs to form in our bellies, which we would then have to throw up the way cats do. This gory, yet kind of awesome warning was very effective, although I don’t really get why chewing on your hair is such a terrible habit.
Likewise, to keep us from pulling weird faces and sticking out our tongue at random people on the street, we were told that if we did either of those things, and the clock started to chime, our faces would fix and stay weird forever. I don’t know if it was as a result of this story, but to this day, I have never stuck out my tongue at anyone.

Maybe the most wide-spread of lies parents tell their children, is the one of Santa Claus. After all of this, you might be surprised to know that my parents told me Santa was fake from the start[ii]. Santa Claus isn’t very popular in the Netherlands, and even though we celebrated Christmas and decorated the house with some Santa Claus figurines, it wasn’t about getting gifts from that fictional character. We celebrated another holiday instead on December fifth. This very typical Dutch holiday is called ‘Sinterklaas’, and the story around it, is that at the end of every year, Saint Nicholas comes to visit from Spain. He arrives with his helpers in November on a large boat, so he can give all the Dutch kids gifts on the evening of his birthday, December 5^th. Saint Nicholas’ arrival is a grand spectacle including a parade that thousands of people go to watch, and it airs live on national television.  It involves special Sinterklaas songs, actors dressed up as Sinterklaas and his helpers, and the throwing around of cookies. Then, from the day of his arrival up until the actual celebration, Saint Nicholas visits towns[iii], leaves gifts and candy in children’s shoes, and every evening there’s a news show all about him, which is no less serious than the regular eight o’clock news. Basically, the entire country works together to trick the children.

[A sidetrack, but I wanted to note something problematic about Saint Nicholas’ helpers, otherwise known as ‘black Petes’. The thing is that they are black, whereas Saint Nicholas, who is basically their boss, is white. You can interpret this as sending the message to little children that white people are in charge of black people. Also, the story of Sinterklaas tells us that, to deliver presents to children, black Petes would climb through the chimneys to get into their houses, which is given as an explanation for their dark skin color. These things are both extremely racist and factually incorrect. On top of all this, there is actually a Sinterklaas song that literally translates to “Even though I’m black as soot, my intentions are good”, which is just so wrong that I don’t even know what to say about it.]

Anyway, to return to the story, Sinterklaas is one of the best kept secrets in my country. Yet, believe it or not, I figured out that Saint Nicholas wasn’t real before I figured out that chickens weren’t responsible for rainbows. I was seven years old when I realized that the handwriting on the presents I got for Sinterklaas was that same as my mother’s and my parents tell me that I “cold-bloodedly confronted them about it and didn’t seem surprised in the least”. Maybe I was a little Einstein after all.

Why was I writing about all of this again? Oh, right, I’m getting my wisdom teeth removed.  Well, that sucks. As to conclude this post, I still have no idea why parents tell their kids weird lies. I suspect they just like to sit back and laugh about it.

So, that’s all for today. I have to go leave the country on a little white horse.

---

[i] By the way, have you ever noticed how dentists and doctors always say things like “it looks like”, “it seems that” and “I’m going to have to”? Even in Dutch, they tend to use similar euphemisms. What’s that about? It’s not like it make things any less scary and/or painful…

[ii] I’m sorry. I really hate to you if you didn’t already know. I hope you were sitting down.

[iii] Here’s a clip of me playing the saxophone at the Sinterklaas parade in my town last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaUBHdcgfdg

Half your age plus seven

Following a recent discussion (which I feel I cut short with my telling a shocking story- sorry about that...) about appropriate dating ages, I thought that I would write about that. But first I will write about my family, because I like my family.

So yesterday I threw a family party (well, my mum threw a party- I mostly sat still and tried not to get in the way of organizing stuff) in honour of my 21st birthday (a few months late, but there hadn't been any suitable dates previously) which is a great opportunity to catch up with 2nd cousins who live too far away to chat with normally.
Also present were a group of people who are from a different branch of my family (grandfather's side, whereas everyone else was on my grandmother's side). While I had met some of them before, I was not of an age that I would remember. This included a 14 year old girl, who with high heels and make up looked about 18 and her 19 year old boyfriend, who with being rather slim and not particularly tall looked around 15. We'll leave their 8 month old out of it for now.

Also present were my favourite second cousins- 2 girls of 14 and 16, and the people with whom I spent most of my time at the party. We were discussing the nicknames that the younger girl has for the elder's friends. Ginger is fairly self explanatory; Creep follows her around school; and Paedo said he wouldn't say no to the younger. All the names are given in the spirit of fun and secondary school banter, but I thought that maybe Paedo was close enough in age to be allowed his fancy. So I brought up the formula that I have kept in the back of my mind for years for use in case of doubt.

(I first came across the half your age plus seven rule here and thought nothing of it. Randall Munroe, like all good engineers, is wont to come up with such things. It seems, however; based solely on the number of times I've seen this rule mentioned since; that this was a thing before Mr Munroe. In any case, on further inspection it seems to work so well when its results are tested against common sense (that ever illusive misnomer) that its source is irrelevant.)

The natural thing, when faced with a formula containing the variable of one's age, is to calculate it for oneself. The younger of my cousins was quick to point out that both the lower and upper age limits for a 14 year old are 14. So I conceded that below this it's not a great formula-but that maybe below 14 dating is something best done within a year age-wise, and in any case it probably shouldn't be a major part of one's life before then. My mum intervened at this point to suggest that we discuss something else. Anyway, I figured that a 16 year old might do reasonably well with a 14 year old if they were good friends and if... if... if... then the half your age plus seven rule need not apply.

And so the meandering machinery of my mind gets to point of this blog post; so un-subtlety foreshadowed earlier. The mother at the next table. She is tall for her age and after her size is coupled with her unsmiling demeanour she can strike quite an imposing figure. Although I spoke to the group as a whole and to several of them individually, I was quite at a loss as to how I could go about speaking with her, so our personal interaction was limited to an exchange of smiles (her's fleeting). The 19 year old father seemed much more relaxed and was often holding the baby. Again, I was unsure how to approach him, but as he was willing to join in the games (anyone else know the chocolate game? If you roll a 6 you get a go at eating chocolate with a knife and fork while wearing a hat, scarf and gloves until someone else rolls a 6- brilliant fun) I formed something of a good opinion of him. Not to mention that a smile to him was much more readily returned (I put a lot if stock by someone's willingness to smile- as I usually prefer to keep quiet, it's an easier form of socialising).

And so to conjecture, accompanied by the inevitable judging that must go on in all such cases. It is clear, I think, that this couple has no business having a baby. I don't know the circumstances of the conception, so I'll leave that and move on to whether they ever had any business being a couple. From seeing the mother, I felt that she was trying to appear grown up. What are grown up things? Make up? Clubbing? Sex? The father seemed decent enough- I'd imagine he's working (although I could be wrong). Did he know her age when they first met?

And so the half your age plus seven rule is violated. Is it right? Whatever that means. Is it creepy? I really didn't get that impression. These people lead lives in a culture I can only imagine. Who am I to judge?

(very serious post... I'll find something cheery to talk about next time)

BEDA #12 - R.I.P. LucasArts

Well, I’m going to talk about a topic that’s relevant for me (and I hope to someone else in this blog “crew”. By the way, if there’s an actual person who cares about this, let’s be best friends please).

Last April 3rd, Disney announced that they were closing the Lucasarts Game Developing Studio. This hit me awfully hard, considering that it’s one of the most iconic adventure games developers (if not THE most). Also, it means a lot to me. Adventure games sorta made me the kind of person I am today.

 Lucasarts produced some of the most beautiful pieces of code I have seen in my entire life, they strewed my love for puzzles, they taught me how to appreciate a good story and how to tell it, and how to apply my sense of humor at any situation.

The Secret of Monkey Island was the first game I’ve ever won. I was 7 years old; I still can remember mocking my brother, who was 13 at the time, because I was able to solve some puzzles that he couldn’t.  It was a wonderful experience. What’s better for a kid than swordfights with “insults” and pirates?! God knows I’ve always loved pirates...

Anyway, from then on my love for graphic adventure games never stopped growing. I can’t pick favourites without turning this into a game catalogue but I’d like to name a few, such as the Indiana Jones ones. An archeologist who fights nazis equals awesomeness. Another one is Day of the tentacle, a bunch of “freaks” trying to stop an evil mutant tentacle from conquering the world BY TRAVELING THROUGHT TIME. Or Full Throttle! A badass biker fighting against a malicious business while listening to the most kickass soundtrack ever made.

And let’s not forget The Dig, a really scary and beautiful sci-fi masterpiece written by non-other than Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Loom, a wonderful fairytale mixed with a revolutionary interface based on music notes.  Grim Fandango, their first 3D game, in which a “parka” goes on an epic quest to save an innocent soul in hell-world, based on Mexican folklore and full of pop culture references.

I know I said I wouldn’t turn this into a summary list of Lucasfilms’ games, but I’m actually falling short.  There are a lot more games to talk about and a lot more to say about the ones I have mentioned. But I don’t want to bore you; I just want you to understand how epic they are.

OK, let’s wrap up this nostalgia trip. Even though they aren’t completely closing the studio, they are “just” changing to a “licensing model”, and that the company hadn’t published an adventure game in a very long time, it stills feels like the death of a very important member of my life. When you used to spend endless afternoons playing in incredible scenarios, having the most wonderous adventures beyond imagination, the people who made it possible kinda become your friends. Well, more than friends, I mean friends don’t take you to fight nazis and evil mutants (unfortunately).

 I just really hope that some of the original developers could take a grip of their licenses. Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman (who have been doing some really good work with those licenses on the last years)… my bets are on you, guys.

To conclude this post, let's listen to this beautiful piece of midi music:

Also an special thanks to Mumi, who helped me to avoid some awful spanglish mistakes.

BEDA #11 - Aaaaaahhh

That is basically how I feel right now. Oh? You want to know why?

1) Because I have a midterm tomorrow that it isn't really possible to feel prepared for. I felt decently prepared for our first midterm in this class, but then the data analysis problem ended up being very very VERY hard, and there isn't much you can do to prepare for that.

2) I am currently planning a two-week trip to Europe with one of my best friends. She has never been traveling really before and neither of us has traveled alone/planned a trip, but I am having to be the leader in this planning expedition which is difficult for me.

3) I am still trying to be dedicated to VEDA (as well as BEDA).

4) I was leaving from my professor's office hours today and there was a bird in the stairwell trying to get out. It was just repeatedly flapping against the window, hopping back and forth, flapping its wings in vain at a window that couldn't even be open. I wanted to tell someone/do something but I had no idea who to tell or what to do. So I just left. And I feel AWFUL.

5)  I've recently been in the sort of mood where you hate the sound of other people's laughter. So I've been avoiding people which causes me to be alone/lonely which causes me to be more upset.

6) It's an absolutely beautiful day.

My housemates are all downstairs chatting and eating and relaxing. And I have to figure out how to use big PRO to draw right-headed Japanese trees, repeatedly go over 5 only semi-helpful handouts, and maybe even catch up on reading.

WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR THIS DAY

Oh well now you all know my life

BEDA #10: More Tap Dancing!

Since I was little I've always really enjoyed musical theatre.  My mom used to take me to see small productions every so often, and paired with a stroll in the surrounding park and ice cream, it made for a  perfect day.  I suppose to some the concept can seem a bit odd, but really, what's more natural to us than singing and dancing?  Life is filled with moments where people wish they could express themselves in those ways, a bit of tap dancing on a sunny day or a slow mournful tune accompanied by lots of violins when a passing bus splashes you with street slime.  Musicals just make fulfilling these urges acceptable and profitable.

This topic has been on my mind as of late because this week I'm playing with the orchestra pit for "The Drowsy Chaperone"(which is a fantastic play, I highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance).  Basically, it's a musical within a comedy.  A man in a chair (that's actually the character name) plays this vinyl of a stereotypical 1920's musical and provides commentary while the play occurs in his living room.  Hilarity ensues.  It's completely cheesy and over the top, but that's what makes it so awesome.

Here is a quick snippet:

Now if you'll excuse me, today is a lovely Southern California day and I'm going to go outside and tap dance to celebrate.  Might even throw in some jazz hands...

Snapple Fact of the Day (cue funky bass): #44 - The bullfrog is the only animal that doesn't sleep.

BEDA #9: Chill mal, ist doch alles easy, baby.

Language are a funny thing. I think we've already established that. Today I want to talk about a) anglicisms, b) germanisms, and c) words that do exists in German, but not in English.

Lately I've started to notice how many words in German are being replaces with English words by now. Of course that's nothing really new, but I never realized how extreme it is by now.
I was sitting in the tram and since I can remember there was always a woman's voice announcing the stations and from time to time she says: "Bitte vergessen Sie nicht, Ihren Fahrschein zu entwerten" (which translates to Please don't forget to stamp your ticket). So that day I sat there and suddenly she said: "Bitte vergessen Sie nicht, Ihr Ticket zu entwerten". Same woman, same sense, different word. I hope you can imagine how shocked I was that after more than 15 years (I don't know about before because I'm not that old, but I assume it was the same) they suddenly changed that one word - to an anglicism. Do people nowadays don't understand German anymore? Did our bus services want to be cool? I'll never know. (I suspect the being cool thing. A few years ago they changed all the displays and signs to all lowercase letters (even the street names and you know that in German capitalization is important because we capitalize all nouns and some other stuff too) and at that point I even wrote them a letter of complaint, telling them how unacceptable I find that. I never got an answer, though).
Anyhow, there are anglicisms everywhere. People seem to have the need to use English words for terms that have a perfectly fine German expression. It's not Winterschlussverkauf anymore, it's mid-season sale. Magister and Doktor became Bachelor, Master and PhD. Kaffee zum Mitnehmen is a coffee to go.
Then there are the words that sounds English, but don't even exists in English. Handy is a mobile phone, a Beamer is a projector. And the English words that were completely germanized, my favorite among those: abgefuckt (which means something like something or someone that looks bad).

In the same manner there are German words in English and it always makes me giggle when those come up. Kindergarten, Rucksack, Doppelgänger, Poltergeist, Wanderlust, Wunderkind. If you think about it, those are all words that have no real English equivalent. I think that in those cases it makes sense that you would adopt a word from a different language. And still there are many words that we have in German, but which don't exist in English. Some examples: Schadenfreude (to be happy about somebody else's bad fortune), fremdschämen (to be embarrassed for somebody, for example friends who are misbehaving), vorgestern (the day before yesterday), übermorgen (the day after tomorrow), Geisterfahrer (somebody who is driving against the right direction on a motorway).
I like that topic, so I will find some more examples (source: my mind and mostly Google). Neuschnee (new snow), Fahne (regularly flag, but in the not-existing-way the way you smell after you drank alcohol), Rabenmutter (a bad mother).

Oh, and there is one missing English word that I would actually need. I'm hungry and I'm starving. I'm thirsty and I'm dying of thirst?! We have a word for that: verdursten. I'm not sure why I need that so often, but I do.

What other words like that do you know? And non-english people, do you also have so many anglicisms in your language?

BEDA #8: Looking back and seeing things. Also, about stuff.

This is a post about who I am (quickly, for those of you who don't know that) and how my life got a bit weirder (for me, at least) (but then, it's my life, so I'm the one who can judge best wether or not it is weird) (at least I think that's how it works). Also, about learning.

Soooo... As some of you might know, I used to be in the French « Classes préparatoires au grandes écoles » system, (aka classes to prepare you to get into a grande ecole), and I got into a Grande École, mine being known as the ENSG, national superior school of geology.
When I arrived, I was completely lost. I saw parties everyevening, people skipping classes, teachers out of fucks to give, and a lot of drinking ; 2nd year students making weird things, no one to give a damn, little groups of people creating around subjects that I did not/could not care about, a grey and dull city (I'm in the suburbs), fog all the time, when it was not raining/snowing. Did I like being here ? Honestly, no. I was really wondering what the heck I was doing there.

Do I like rocks ? Well, yes. Do I like learning about them ? Yes. And what do I learn here, by the way ?

Well, that's an interesting question. We learn about geology and rocks and stones, and half of what we study here is math/physics/computersciency oriented. But this isn't really important. (I mean, programming in python is cool, however, it's not the most useful thing I learned). Looking back...

What I learned was, and still is that... Working is not that important, actually. Because where we are, our grades no longer matter, we just have to pass semesters, whereas before, grades were really... the new goal of your life, or something like that.
Also that friends are important. And when I say friends, I'm talking about meeting new people, and learning that the students you looked down upon because they always get in late and disturb the class (when they come, because they usually are so tired because of parties) are actually some of the nicer people around. So it's also about getting over the prejudices you might have, because, hey, you gotta grow up sometimes and get past what you were told ! It's also about knowing that you can be alone sometimes, and that's ok.
Then, as you can see, it is about making choices, and looking back, and deciding whether or not you'll keep on doing that or this, because that's what you used to do; also, choosing whether or not you'll help others, whether or not you'll collaborate with the group, and deciding what you trade for what. It's about growing up.
It's about progress, learning things (like cooking or drawing), making things (like music, again), creating beauty in the world.
It's about dance and parties and alcohol, and the fact that you can have a glass or two and still be you, it's about boys and girls, and the fact that you can try to ask someone out ; the world will still be there if it fails, and, hey, people can graciously say no, so it can be worth a try sometimes.
It's also about learning that that guy, the guy that you find so cute, is not that pretty in the eyes of another person, and that girl whose face you don't like is someone else's crush. « Tous les gouts sont dans la nature », as we say in France (giyf ^^). Everyone has a shot, but not with everyone.
It's about getting out of your comfort zones, and trying to be more comfortable with yourself. Trying to stop thinking all the time about what you might look like when you dance, what people might think of you if you say that or that. It's about learning that you can be liked for who you are, for what you say, that you can be loved. It's about trusting others, others trusting you. It's about caring less and caring more.
It's about acceptance.
It's about life.
Or something like that.

(by Clementine)

BEDA 7: OMG Bacon is going to kill us!!!! (or is it?)

So I asked for topic suggestions for what I could write about, and I decided to combine two of them. My favourite American stereotype - which happens to be all Americans are fat (in particular going into their over-consumption of bacon), and also to teach everyone something maths related. Also, I just thought I'd let you know that I've done research for this post (get me). So let it begin.

British 'newspapers' are particularly notorious for decreeing pretty much every food source is putting you at risk of death. In particular many of you I'm sure will have heard the Daily Mail cancer song, and if not here it is:

This is the article, which I'll be taking about, it's probably worth reading, but if you don't fancy taking the time to do so, I can summarize into two bullet points:

• Bacon increases your chances of getting cancer by over 20%
• Eat bacon, and you will die.

WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO EAT BACON?!

When you read the article through you panic. It's based on a study by The World Cancer Research Fund - that sounds like a credible source doesn't it?

After you've finished hyperventilating over the fact that this God given food source may result in death, and after you've contemplating whether a life without bacon, is a life worth living, the analytical and sceptical part of your mind might kick in. You've been eating bacon all your life, and so do most of the other people you know too. Most of them wont have got cancer - something fishy is going on here.

Now newspapers never outright lie about something. However they do very often misinterpret data. This right here is a massive case of misinterpretation. The article is correct in the sense, that yes, eating processed meats does increase your risk of getting cancer by 21%. But, here comes the important part - we need to find out what the initial risk of getting cancer is in the first place. A little bit of research, will lead you to find the initial risk of getting colorectal cancer (the one the study is based around) is 5 out of 100. A 21% increase gives us 6 out of 100 people. Or put another way, if 100 people eat bacon every day, 1 more will develop this form of cancer, so it makes absolutely no difference to 99 out of 100 people. It doesn't seem quite so scary now does it?

It's okay though, you'll probably think most people know not to take newspapers too seriously. The problem is, many people in fact do. I'm not sure how many of you will have heard about the MMR problems we had and our currently have in the UK, but I'll quickly explain. In 1998, a very poorly conducted study linking autism to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination, was reported in the press. It caused unprecedented widespread panic, and so many children weren't given this incredibly important jab. Now I wont go into too much detail about how vaccinations work, but there is a critical percentage of the population which needs to be vaccinated in order to prevent an outbreak. This percentage wasn't met, and as a result, many children have, and will still in the future feel the effects of this life changing illness, or die needlessly.

So who is to blame? Well, the study was a load of rubbish to begin with, so obviously they are partially responsible.  However the media, did not check the credibility of the information, and this was what resulted in the panic. So the media is just as dangerous as the threats which they publish.

The moral of this story - don't believe what you read in the newspapers, and get someone who knows what they're talking about to check things out.

This post is a little heavy going, so feel free to ask me any questions if there's anything you don't understand, or want to know more about.

To lighten the mood, here's a picture of my honorary niece (boyfriend's sister's daughter), at only a few hours old:

Needless to say, I'm going to be a doting Auntie!

DFTBA x