happy news!

On wednesday of spring break, I went on a little road trip to Salem with my beau. We have been dating for several months, and now we are engaged to be married! It's funny sometimes, how a person can think they have everything figured out, and then God surprises them in a big way. When I went back to university in the fall of '04, I thought I pretty much knew what to expect over the next five years. School. Internship. Career-type job. Buy a house. But marraige? Getting married generally involves dating first (since there aren't match makers like in the old days)...I was not expecting any such thing! Anyways, this is my happy news!

springtime in Portland

It is now spring break, one whole week off from the university. How will I spend it? Studying, of course ;) Researching two topics in linguistics.
Topic one: Subculture expressed through language variety. This may end up being a power point presentation. It will be about the use of special 'in crowd' slang and language use to express membership in a minority group. How does this language use give members of the group a feeling of solidarity? In what ways is this language inclusionary, and to what extent can it be exclusionary? How does group slang originate and how is it spread among a group?
Topic two: Israeli English. This will be a brochure done as independent study next term (well, very likely) so it is good to get started on it now. I already have several articles on the subject, that I have already read. I think that the brochure would cover the use of English in Israel, why it is important (mentioning things like the necessity of passing matriculation tests in English in order to study at the university) and how it is taught. I could also include some resources about teaching English in Israel. The brochure would, hopefully, be distributed at the Jewish Community Center.
Aside from that, I also need to work on a presentation on nutrition for those with special dietary concerns- such as diabetes and celiac and food allergies. That will be for the health and wellness week at PSU, which is coming up pretty soon.
And aside from that, it will be a relaxing week.

rough draft poem

Raising our voices
in one accord,
let's shout out a song
of praise to the Lord,
telling his deeds,
oh, tell them once more!
How He stretched out the heavens
from the tiniest core
thus making vast spaces
where none were before.
August 2005
I've been thinking about this subject for some time, this is just the latest attempt at a poem...

a few poems

digest and reflect
After a good argument, like a good meal
one likes to digest and reflect.
If the words do sit well-
and not with craftiness- can stand the test;
then one must carefully consider them
to be indeed just and scrupulous.
Billings 1998

Sun Myth
Over the mountain, peeks
the sun,
and her fiery tresses flow about her,
tendrils escaping to fly across the heavens.
Gathering her dignity,
she assumes her place.
As a prima donna she holds the stage captive until the last
possible moment.
Turning then, she flips her hair,
her fiery hair,
and it floats across the sky
behind her.
Bozeman 1994?

An Alley
Mon ami Abby,
she is an ally cat-
astrophic. Tin cans posted
on garbage pails that
reek of old fish.
Abby, normally
has little traffic,
except for Tom.

Cuisine
A good meal has two sides
that pair like bosom friends,
for we know very well that cuisine
is art as well as science.
Science on side A of the coin
the chemistry of mixtures and heat,
art on the opposite side
for the eye and the tongue a treat.
Billings 1998

When it rains...

On the news last night, I heard the statistics that we Oregonians have suspected. Not only is there a lot more rain than last year, we have actually had about 300% the average rainfall for the last month. Not that I am complaining. I love the rain. The air smells fresh and clean, the grass grows green, the sound of it is soothing, and it fun to go out walking with an umbrella (and a cup of hot coffee).
Also my cat (S. Augustus Kitty) is not always trying to get outside. He got out the door the other day, and made it down five steps before changing his mind.

Now here is something I have never seen before. I got in a piece of junk mail for my other cat, Ariel Ana Took. Not that it does them any good; Ariel only accepts checks and love letters.

Winter Term 2006

The Lexicon, what is it? The mental dictionary. It includes everything you know about a word: how it is spelled, how it sounds, what it means, and how it is used. In addition it studies the organization of that information in the brain and how it is retrieved.

Sociolinguistics, what about that? Well, this class is more than just a random blend of sociology and linguistics. We will be learning about how people use language in society in different ways. Politeness, for example, is expressed in many different ways. What is polite in one group can be considered impolite in another.

Writing Research Papers. This will be a fun class, and we will learn some helpful tips on note taking, writing rough drafts, picking a topic, and all sorts of useful things. (I only wish I'd taken it sooner)

Dance for fitness. Not at all what I had expected, but better. More like Flamenco and a lot less like 'jazzercise'.

Second Year Hebrew. The best term yet, I can see it already. Now we are getting to the very interesting things, the more complex grammar. The verb structure and sentence composition. We should make great progress this term.

A few good quotes

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one. C. S. Lewis

With our loss of the sinse of majesty has come the furthur loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. A. W. Tozer

...have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Ranier Maria Rilke

We crave nothing less than perfect story; and while we chatter or listen all our lives in a din of craving- jokes, anecdotes, novels, dreams, films, plays, songs, half the words of our days- we are satisfied only by the one short tale we feel to be true; History is the will of a just god who knows us. Reynolds Price

Man's maker was made a man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die. Augustine

Little Augustus

There is a little cat-
a really wondrous beast,
who'll take a little snack
if he cannot get a feast.

But when his belly's full,
he'll curl up in the sun.
He'll dream of grand adventures,
and trophies he has won.

When the lad's in Africa,
he is a sight to see.
When he shakes his mane and tail,
all mammals turn and flee.

He travels with the circus,
and flies the great trapeze,
soaring through the air
like a bird upon the breeze.

When he sails the roughesty seas,
he never is afraid-
though fighting be his lot,
and piracy his trade.

He loves to be in office,
whether president or king,
or even as count jester-
if he doesn't have to sing.

When cooking up a storm,
he really makes a mess-
but all his tasty dishes
prove he is a chef.

Sometimes a little noise
disturbs his peaceful sleep.
He will wake up thinking of
the secrets he will keep.

And if the lad has secrets
he'll never ever tell,
for he speaks no word of English,
and perhaps it's just as well.

The end
This poem story was inspired by my cat, S. Augustus Kitty.

Do Fairies Go Bootless?

I started working on this story in 1995, and it has been 'a work in progress'

Tourist fairies stroll downtown-
meandering in from woods and downs
trekking from mountain villages hidden.
Identity disclosure? strictly forbidden.
The boots are a must for stealthy disguise
as for their feet? I theorize:

Perhaps hinds feet nimble and true,
turning quick and graceful as dancers' do,
like a home-body hobbit's, silently swift,
aerodynamic for maximum lift.
Disguise tucks foot in boot,
no dancing, no playing the flute.

But when days are warmly sunny,
made for bare feet and full tummies,
sand trickling between toes,
ticklesome grasses in the breeze blow:
No fairy could miss splashing through streams,
laughter sparkling as moonlight gleams.

method

This week in SLA, we discussed data gathering methods, and interpretation. Today, however, 'method' is something else entirely- a cleaning product that comes in french lavander scent. It smells wonderful! I used it on my kitchen and bathroom floors, and the whole house (o.k. it's really a studio apartment) smells like a field of lavander- not chemically, juct soft and pleasant. I would highly recommend this cleaner.

data collection

Our first assignment is due on Tuesday in SLA (second language acquisition). The idea is to record conversation and elicited immitation from a language learner. We will have a structure/functor/phoneme in mind, and we will try to get the learner to use it in conversation. Then we will have the learner repeat back sentences (written to include the form for study). After that we will transcribe the sentences and five minutes of dialogue. After that we will analyse the dialogue using two different methods, TLU (target like use) and SOC (supplied in obligatory context). This is going to be a very interesting class!

Spinach artichoke dip

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated parmasan cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsly chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup shredded Monteray Jack or mozzarella cheese
toasted baguette slices, assorted crackers or pita chips, if desired.

Spray the inside of a 1 to 21/2 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. mix mayonnaise and parmasan cheese in medium bowl. Stir in artichoke hearts, spinach and bell pepper. Spoon into slow cooker, sprinkle with monteray jack cheese.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm with baguette slices. Dip will hold up to 3 hours.

I haven't tried this one yet, but it looks tasty!

principles and paramaters

an analogy comparing driving a car and principles and paramaters taken from Second Language Acquisition: Overall there is a principle that drivers have to keep consistently to one side of the road, which is taken for granted by all drivers in all countries. Exceptions to this principle, such as people driving down motorways on the wrong side, rate stories in the media or car chases in action movies. The principle does not, however, say, which side of the road people should drive on. A parameter of driving allows the side to be the left in England and Japan, and the right in the USA and France. The parameter has two values or settings- left and right. Once a country has opted for one side or the other, it sticks to its choice: a change of setting is a massively complex operation, whether it happens for a whole country, as in Sweden, or for the individual travelling from England to France. So, a universal principle and a variable parameter together sum up the essence of driving. The principle states the universal requirement on driving; the parameter specifies the variation between countries.

mashahoo vs. mishahoo

מישהו רוצה משהו טוב
mishahoo rotse mashahoo tov?
mishahoo= somebody, noun (subject)
mashahoo= something, noun (object)
rotse= wants, verb- male singular, present tense
tov= good, adjective
mashahoo tov= something good (to eat is implied- and one is usually thinking of something sweet, like cake-עוגה ooga)
In a question like this one, the male singular is always used. The answer can be male or female, singular or plural. The same sort of thing is done in English in questions such as Who wants to go to the movies? wants is third person singular.

a puzzle

Fur is a plural non-count noun. How would one express fur in the singular?
a piece of cake- a piece of fur?
a strand of hair- a strand of fur?
a speck of dust- a speck of fur?
None of these options really sounds right. Any thoughts?

vacation time

Wednesday morning I will be flying up to Montana for a happy occasion. My brother is to be married! The last time I visited was in January after an absence of about a year and a season. I remember being so excited on that trip that the MAX ride to the airport was like a ride at Disneyland and when the flight attendant finished her safety presentation, I almost started clapping. This trip is all the more happy because my brother is marrying.

a mystery...

Here I am, cleaning up evidence at the scene. Obviously not a top notch crime solver, but I'll do my best Shirlock Holmes impression and figure out what happened here: He (but who?)came barralling down the inner staircase, trying to get out of the building as quickly as possible. I am guessing this because he only used the hand railing at the corners, like someone soaring down a staircase will do. And I know that because of the mess his hands left behind. Which I am cleaning up. What happened to this poor man, was he stabbed and bleeding? Should I have called in the FBI? No, now that I have your attention I must admit it: this is another vomit story. (How could I do that to you, gentle reader?) But back to the investigation at hand. I take this person to be male (no evidence for that) athletic (running down the staircase) and a non-resident (must have been going home(because the vomit(yes, I know, and I am sorry(well, sort off))leads from the sixth floor all the way down(not up- we have an elevator)) It was well digested, the color suggesting speghetti. It appeared over the Memorial day weekend, which leads me to suspect that this was not caused by illness but by partying. Although I could be mistaken. well, one more mystery for my building...

it's in the past

In English, to express something that took place in the past, there are several options. For example: I walked, I was walking, I did walk, I had walked. Or if I had planned on it, but it didn't work out: I was going to walk.
In French there are more. The passe compose, the imparfait, the plus-que parfait, the conditionel passe, the subjonctif passe. Aside from these, there are four more that are only used in literature. Encoced in the meaning of these tenses is duration of time, relation in time to other past events, and mood.
Hebrew on the other hand, has one past tense- only one! That makes it nice for a beginning student. Also the endings are regular. One still has the variations of the seven different benyanim (and we've really only learned pa'al) But still, this should be less challanging than french... More to come on Hebrew past tense- I still haven't figured out how to post in Hebrew characters...

May Belle 1989-2005

this poem is written in honor of Maybelle Mary Anne Murry Fleece Marie, a cat with enough spunk and personality to fit her name.

She was born in May,
blythe, bonny and gay,
with spunk, purrs, and play,
her fur: soft and gray

she played with a dart
how funny and smart!
in all the cat's arts
she knew her part

in a move left behind
her clever little mind
worked a path to find
in the nick of time

handsome she did grow,
she played in the snow,
but home was her show,
she'd stay and not go

call her and she'd come
and though there were some
cat-folk thought it dumb
she just said, "ho, hum"

after years of good play,
how now to turn gray?
but youth crept away,
it would go and not stay

she soars now with wings
in heaven she sings
before our good king
who gives us good things

There's a mess on the loading dock

They said it was vomit, but upon closer inspection (did I have to inspect it? Of course, professional curiosity!) it appeared to be spilled spaghetti sauce.
It was yesterday that I started cleaning something I thought to be bubble tea. It was pink, a deceptively cute color. The chunks of this, that, and the other aroused my suspicions- confirmed by my coworker- it was actually vomit!
And for some strange reason or other, I then felt compelled to relate this discovery (alas, in some detail) directly after lunch. Oops! Well, we all have strong stomachs here. I just hope that this doesn't turn into the theme of the week. Last week's themes were broken glass and broken (raw) eggs. Thursday morning Luis and I spent a whole hour de-egging the elevator- oh, la la, quelle horreure! They did such a complete job of it! Of course, it could be a lot worse. I am just glad that we don't clean the way cats clean...