Big Damn New Year Wishes

This morning was great, talking with a friend on chat I began wishing for us in the new year and the Big Damn Wish was born.

Wishing for you and yours:

May our outlook be
as sunny as Kaylee,
as glib as Wash,
as fierce as Zoe,
as self-confident as Jayne,
as calm as Book,
as sensual as Inara,
as tenacious as Mal,
as open as River,
as full of potential as Simon,
and as comforting as Serenity.

Die-hard Browncoats may quibble with the adjectives I've chosen (and boy, was it hard to choose just one for each character). Those unfamiliar with the 'verse of Firefly and Serenity may be confused, but rest assured this is a wish of the best of things for all of us in the new year.

The Ten Year Languages Plan

I was talking this over the other day with a self-proclaimed language geek (the kind who can actually teach himself languages). I never thought I'd get as far as I have learning another language (my second being Spanish), and now that I've started, I'm anxious to learn a few more.

Although I don't expect fluency in them all, here is the list I came up with and a very loose timeline for the languages I'm going to try and become familiar with between now and when I'm 50.

1. Spanish (Including this because I'm taking Spanish 4 next semester, which is text heavy, and I really hope to keep working on listening and speaking the language).
2. Latin (need 2 semesters for my B.A., and will be a good basis for language #3 and others)
3. Italian (no real reason, kind of seems like a gimme after Spanish and Latin.
4. Arabic (the U.W. or someone related has a 4-6 week immersion class in the summer, which seems really fun and challenging - I almost did this two years ago instead of starting at MATC).
5. Japanese or Mandarin - This seems kind of capricious, doesn't it, like "my Asian language", but both of them are really tempting and I feel like saying I want to study them both is like saying "oh, I'm not serious about trying either one." I'm guessing I'll do Japanese because Japanese culture has been of interest to me for a longer time (via my dad and his interest esp. w/Zen Buddhism). This is the "when I'm 50" language.

French is in there between Italian and Arabic. Probably after Italian I can study that one at home and do pretty well. I took it in school (okay, Middle and half a year in High School), and I think I can probably figure lots of it out after Spanish, Latin and Italian.

Plus, I'll be all chicken to start something COMPLETELY different, so I'll be procrastinating.

Just this morning after my shower, I was practicing Spanish and I started crying because I couldn't remember something. The 8 year old came to the bathroom and asked me what was wrong, and I said I was just feeling frustrated because I was having trouble remembering something and being too hard on myself. And I am. Too hard on myself. And having trouble remembering.

Write it

When all else fails, take a notebook, a pencil (or a pen, because years later a pen is less likely to have smudged, at least a ball point or a sharpie is), and start writing.

Write in a cold quiet corner of the room full of coats at Thanksgiving in an apartment full of people for whom conversation is coming easier than it comes for you.

Write in the middle of the night in the dark hotel room.

Sneak into the bathroom and write for a few minutes when you will not be missed.

And later, when you have nearly forgotten that you took that time to write, go back and read your story.

And smile.

Because despite everything, every heavy-handed metaphor and each awkward bit of dialog, you see that you are a writer, in some way, you are a writer, and you are meant to write.

Keep that notebook going. Fill it and then get another one. Make the stories in it real if you have to, if that will fuel you to write more.

You are a writer. In some way. At this time. You are a writer.

You are living. Write it.