done

[susandennis]

Whew. I'm off the hook until tomorrow when I get back on the same hook. Ugh.

I rode home on a bus that is nearly two hours behind my regular one. It was crowded - standing room only for a part of the ride. I sat next to an older guy talking to another older guy in the next seat in Spanish.

Why do people who speak languages I don't understand feel the need for speed? I want to tell them to slow down, I won't understand it even slowly so there's no need to rush. These guys were blahdy blah blah (or the Spanish equivalent) with just enough English to make me listen. Blahdy blah four-forty, blah, blah... Blah next Tuesday blady blah. There's a slim chance that if they were speaking French I could pull out the odd mot or deux but pretty much only if they were talking about the pen of my aunt.

It did make me think of my LJ friends mindme and vetch and Jason Stone who hear languages they can't readily translate every day every where they go.

I have a sty in the same eye that wears my contact lens. It is very very tired and sore after having to focus so intensely for so long today. This morning I had to pry my eye open to even get the lens in. I think it's a little better but still sore. Stys are better than a broken arm but still very annoying.

When we finally do get moved into our new building I will have a new office mate. Her name is Kathy and she told me today that she is leaving in January. So she will be my office mate for about a month.

Oh and a bit of fun Mom news. When she first went into the hospital last August, they screwed with her medicine and whatever they did made her hands shake so badly that she hasn't been able to write or even hold a pen and for a while she could hardly feed herself. It was very frustrating for her and depressing. Her doctor has been dicking around with the medications and this morning she did the crossword puzzle!!!! She was so excited she could hardly stand it.

Comments

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

Awwww on the crossword puzzles for your Mom. Some newspapers have them online, if that would be easier for her.

As for the bus and other languages....I took the bus for a couple weeks when my car was worked on. It's a 10 minute ride. I think that another rider (one) and I were the only ones who didn't understand the Spanish that was
going on in about 6 different conversations around us. Quite annoying, yes..and some way too loud. Ugh.

[susandennis]

Oh I didn't mean to imply that hearing the conversation was annoying! It was really interesting. Not annoying at all.

And yes, there are very good online crossword puzzles, but 1) Mom's not online and 2) she really would rather do the one that's in the newspaper every morning.

[pinkrose70.livejournal.com]

The reason it was annoying for me was because there were about 6 different conversations going on, loudly all around me, none of which I understood....so it seemed "chaotic."

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

Great for your mom!! Always nice to hear good news.

Oh, in spanish (Espanol) Tia is Aunt and Pluma is pen. LOL.

That is pretty much what I remember. Lapiz is pencil.

[treebreeze.livejournal.com]

Yay for Crossword puzzle excitement. Life's little gifts are the greatest treasures.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

These guys were blahdy blah blah (or the Spanish equivalent) with just enough English to make me listen. Blahdy blah four-forty, blah, blah

When I was a child (sometime around the last Ice Age) I had a Viennese piano teacher. Once in a while she would get a phone call from her mother during a lesson, and would go on at great length in German (of which I didn't understand a word) with occasional interpolations of phrases such as "cottage cheese" or "forty-second street shuttle". I found this vastly amusing.

[fredli.livejournal.com]

To me Spanish is soothing to listen to. It's like a gentle slurring sound. Very familiar even when I don't understand the words.

Eavesdropping

[(Anonymous)]

It is amazing how I will listen to ANYONE's conversation in the US. But, then if I don't find it interesting, I can generally tune them out.

In Paris, I barely even hear the people on the bus or the metro when they are talking to their friends. I really have to force myself to listen to what they are saying in order for me to have an idea of what they are talking about. Then, if I do decipher something, the effort does not seem worth it.

Every time I return to the US, I feel this sense of joy at being able to eavesdrop on people's conversations. How pathetic is that?

Jason
http://jasonstone.typepad.com