Sunday, October 25, 2009

Educational Entertainment?

I threatened to put these links up some time ago, but today I'm going to follow through and do it. Have you ever wished you could speak another language? Have you tried to learn a new tongue? Numerous studies have shown that the learning process moves ahead more quickly when set to music. (That's why you've heard your orthopedist humming, "Thigh bone's connected to the hip bone...") Language-learning also benefits from the use of song. Therefore, I offer you a catchy little tune in a variety of languages so you can decide which one you'd like to work on first. Which is your favorite?

German (the original, I presume)
French
Spanish
Brazilian (also known as Portuguese?)
Hungarian
Swedish
Hebrew
And, for translation purposes, English


Are you overwhelmed by the thought of learning a whole new vocabulary? Syntax got you down? This little gem will help you to sound like you speak another language, without the extra bother of memorizing new words. Here are a few samples:

Jamaican Creole
Canton
Nepali
Tagalog
And for my brother, who loves the food, Basque.

There you go, off on another armchair adventure courtesy of The World Wide Web and yours truly. But please be careful -- blue cheese does not go well with Gummi Bears.



The Speech Accent Archives belong to George Mason University. Quite a fascinating study.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Football and Prayer

Last night was the homecoming game. At this school, tradition is carried out in utter consistency from year to year. At least, that's what I've observed over 14 seasons. The princesses are driven in a parade of convertibles to the 50-yard line, where they are met by their parents and escorted past a JROTC honor guard and onto the field. After they've all been introduced, last year's queen is driven into view. She gets out of her car and walks out to crown the new homecoming queen. Hugs, hugs, tears, and back to the cars for the return trip to the side of the stadium.

The cars this year were beautiful, gorgeous, poetic 1957 Ford Thunderbirds. I drooled over them. Mint green, creamy yellow, white, black, red, and gunmetal gray. I swooned over them. The serious rain last night made the owners keep the lids on tight, but this was the way the cars were designed to look most of the time, right? I feasted my eyes on them.

No wayward fireworks, no streakers, no bad surprises in last night's festivities. Yay! I can't even recall any injuries on the field. It was a good night.

Except...

Late in the fourth quarter, at a quiet moment, I heard something bad. The crowd around me heard it, too, and there was a collective gasp. It appeared that a child had slipped on the wet steps. Dad scooped him/her up and ran for the exit. Despite the fall, this little one was not crying. Head injury? Loss of consciousness? A minute later, I began to notice people craning their necks toward the area where the ambulance always parks. My concentration for the game was blown. I'll spare you the details, but I was very concerned for that family. Eventually, the ambulance moved. Before the game was over. That meant... well, I can't be sure, but I've been praying for the child ever since. I am ever thankful for the availability of emergency medical assistance. Even though I'm still scared about that situation, I trust that the child received excellent help in whatever way necessary.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Reading... and Thinking

It certainly would be a good thing if I were to post something meaningful or entertaining here, say, daily. Since I often check in on other blogs, you'd think I'd have the sense to write something for my reader(s) more regularly. But there are days... weeks... that go by without any particular hilarity or insight. I'm still chuckling about something, and I'm certainly pondering and wondering, but it doesn't seem worthy of a blog post.

In the past, I've written reaction pieces after reviewing a small portion of Scripture. Those Old Testament folks -- the ones with the clay feet that sometimes ended up in their mouths -- are interesting characters to analyze. But these days, I'm reading the Old Testament prophets. Ugh.

"You did wrong! You will be punished!"

Over and over again, that's the message. There's some great imagery, some scary stuff, but it's judgment, judgment, judgment. Not exactly the kind of material I'd like to put out there for just anyone to read, you know? Such a terrible downer.

Fortunately, if I ever get all the way through the major and minor prophets, there's good news coming. After all those downers, there'll be a gigantic upper. "Yes, you did wrong. Yes, you most definitely deserve to be punished. But there's an alternate ending to this story." It's a real-life choose-your-own-adventure but with an outcome that's beyond all expectation.

I'll keep putting in my time, reading and absorbing, walking through my days, writing when there's something worth your time reading. There is good news coming. Hang in there.