Les amis de moi!

Man... my stomach is still pretty much in a knot. I don't know if it's from eating nothing but frozen microwave dinners for a week, or just from the anxiety of still not quite settling in, or what... it's not awful, but it's sure uncomfortable.

BTW, heard my first voices through the ceiling last night... the good news is, it took a man screaming at the top of his lungs at a crying child in the middle of the night for me to actually hear a voice through the ceiling. The bad news is, a man was screaming at the top of his lungs at a crying child in the middle of the night. :X Honestly I couldn't hear the kid very well though, part of me's wondering if it wasn't actually a bird or something (I do hear bird sounds from my bedroom, but I can't tell if they're coming from outside or upstairs. Though there are definitely kids upstairs, based on the footstep sounds.) Anyway, even then everything was really muffled, I probably would've slept through it. Was just kind of a "hmmm :X" situation. Thankfully that's not the people I introduced myself to about the garage situation; they live next door to the people above me. They're asian! Asians are quiet, right? :D

Anyway! Time to chill out today. I've been spending so much time unpacking and sorting stuff out that I haven't ever really vegged out in here since like the first couple of nights... having a 'day off' might make this place feel a LOT more like home... might try boiling some pasta tonight if I can find good directions on google!

Current Music: Witches - 그녀의 비행기

Please Check My English II
Thanks to everybody who helped with that ghastly paper of mine. Could you please have a look at this short list of key skills and tell me whether I am using the right words here?

Konzentration: concentration
Kontaktfähigkeit: ~~ability to communicate well~~ communication skills
Kritisierbarkeit: ability to ~~react well to~~ handle criticism
Teamarbeit: team work
Ausdauer: ~~stamina~~ perseverance
Misserfolgstoleranz: ~~tolerance to failure~~ persistence in the face of setbacks
Selbstständigkeit: self-reliance
Sorgfalt: diligence
Verantwortung: responsibility
Antrieb: impetus
außerdem: Rechnen, Schreiben, Lesen: furthermore: ~~calculating, writing, reading~~ literacy and numeracy skills

All these skills (or competencies, ahem) and some more are supposed to be essential in becoming fit for a job. (So if e.g. "stamina" is only used for athlets, or if "diligence" is too goodie-goodie a word in this context, then please tell me.)

Thank you!

By the way, over the years we learned that we cannot teach/practice impetus. All we can do is offer seminars to our students that seek to let them experience the enjoyable sides of a job.

Translation work in the US
In a university translation course, the professor included in the back of the course manual several contacts for finding translation work. This was years ago, and I've lost track of that course manual. One of the contacts was for the government, but the way it worked was quite interesting. It sounded like you could take on a document at a time and turn it in as your time allowed. When you next find your schedule light enough, you request another document. Even contract work sounds too strict for the way this was described to us. Does anyone know of a system like this?

Thanks.

Carmelita?
Hello again.

I have a question about color. In Spanish, brown things have always been 'carmelita' to me. My family has always used this word (my parents and I were born in Cuba, though I only lived there a year), and within my Spanish-speaking community this has always been the word for brown.

However, I see that 'marron' and 'cafe' are more common outside of Cuba. The first sounds too much like 'maroon' for me to use it, and using 'cafe' just feels weird. 'Carmelita' comes naturally.

Now, my parents told me that a possible explanation for 'Carmelita' was a group in Cuba called the Carmelitas which wore brown robes. I haven't been able to find anything about carmelita being brown (not even a wiktionary entry) or having to do with this group (or maybe I'm just really dense). Does anyone else use this word? Does anyone know the origin of this word? Why is it so obscure outside of Cuba?

latin grammar (singular plural)
Hi all,

Wonder if there is someone who can clear this confusion I have about information in this book i'm reading.

The book; Lingua Latina by (need I go on) Hans Oerberg.

My confusion:

In the beginning chapter of the book even, we see examples of singular and plural forms of words. For example, Oppidum (town)

"Brundisium oppidum est. Brundisium et Tusculum oppida sunt."

Here you can see that the word ending changes from -um to -a from the singular to the plural respectively.

This is clear.

However, when I look in the index where the vocabulum is listed, I read;

oppidum -i n 1.33

Now, the 1.33 explains the first occurrence in the text,
the 'n' explains that it is of neuter gender,
and I thought the other part was to show the plural ending of the word.
However, if that is so, it is wrong.
But I assume they didn't get it wrong.

What does the -i mean in this case? Anyone?

thanks in advance, and kind regards,

sean

Kathy Griffin, you biiiiiiiiitch~♥ How did I get by without Comedy Central for so long X3

Got me a clock that shines the time on the ceiling! How cool is that. Tonight will tell if it makes me mental or not. :D Also got some birdie decorations at the dollar store, to make the place a bit more lived-in; most of my art/posters is still out in the west island, and my mom has picked up the hell-cold my dad had last week, so I'm staying away. XD

Still getting worn out real fast... (or possibly, getting warn out just as fast, but without my regular computer chair to curl up in, having nowhere to go but bed when I do. XD)

Had my first condo guest tonight! :D The legendary Andrew Pinchefsky. :D Left furry porn up as my wallpaper! No reaction. I was hoping for at least something. ;p

He says he likes the condo, though! Which makes me feel better. I mean I like it, but I don't quite love it yet, and of course I've got the commitment anxiety, but it was nice hearing an impartial third-party!

Thank god weekends are two days long! Wore myself out exploring the mall and doing shopping today. TOMORROW is cartoons and IMing! BTW, third Bell appointment is for Thursday, and I have made contact with the folks upstairs who own the garage! Now let's hope they can actually get it open or whatever. I am prepared for the worst at this point. :D

Current Mood: settle-inny?

Comedy Show at the Nest
Every Tuesday night at 8pm at the Comedy Nest, Montreal Improv brings you the best improv comedians that they can get their paws on.

Up this week:

Brent Skagford, Bryan Walsh, Dan Beirne, Francois Vincent, and Marc Rowland.

Our regular price is only 5$ but since Nov. 10th is our World Premiere Launch Party, we're making tickets 2 for 1.

Hot!

Tests for Al Kitaab?
Hello all!

I was studying Arabic in school, but was forced to take a light class load to allow myself more time to work. (Darn finances!)

Anyway, I got lax in my study habits and I need to force myself back into studying. To sort of get myself back into the groove, I am about mid way through the book, and I would like to take a few tests over the first half of the book to help test my knowledge and refresh my memory of the vocab / concepts that were covered. Would any of you have either some blank tests you could scan in, or perhaps some sort of .pdf format tests that I could use? Any assistance in this would be massively helpful.

Part two of this: Anyone have some good study tips for working over information solo? I wasn't able to take the class, but I don't want to let that stop me from advancing my skill and understanding.

Thanks everyone!

Selling assorted

Hi guys, selling off some fantasy and mystery books, mostly softcover and in very good condition, and a couple of DVDs. Softcovers are $3, hardcover are $10.

( Books under the cut )

Current Mood: awake

Cyrillic Reading Speed
I studied Russian for about 5 years (some 10 years ago now, scarily enough) and a bit of Serbian in college, and as a result I can decipher Cyrillic script with relative ease, however when it comes to long words or generally reading fluently it's a bit more of a challenge. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to increase reading speed in Russian besides brute-force finding things to read (e.g. common Cyrillic roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc.).

Also, if anyone knows how to pronounce the characters added to the cyrillic alphabet in former Soviet countries (or how some of the pronunciations of existing ones shifted), that's be neat, too!

Thanks in advance!

perhaps its time certain people admitted they were wrong on Iran
Pro Democracy reformists clashed with police to disrupt the government's annual anti-US rally.

as one can see here it is becoming clearer and clearer that Obama's approach is effective, and empowers and motivates the opposition movements there. Bush's approach, on the other hand, forced them into the background and empowered the hard-liners. In this article, in fact, you see the effects of obama's approach: Not only is the opposition more active than it has been in years, but in this case they are actively supporting the US as part of their protest, disrupting the government's annual anti-US rally commemorating the hostage crisis on the anniversary of the embassy seizure.

And yet still you have republicans and neocons of various stripes lobbying for a hard-line stance against Iran. How is that so many people can have such an aversion to reality and results-based assessments? How is it that so many people can cling so strongly to beliefs in policies that have been unequivocally demonstrated to be counterproductive or at minimum considerably less effective than the alternative? It boggles the mind, really.

Auto body shop (carrosserie) recommendation
Hi!

I'm looking for a good auto body shop to get some work (minor rust in strange places) done on my car. I'm not looking for the cheap and dirty fix, but someone who does good work that will last.

West Island, Decarie area, or NDG areas are preferred.

Thanks!

Public Beauty Supply Stores
Are there any open to the public beauty supply stores in Montreal where one can buy toner for beaching their hair?

Montreal (Real Christmas Trees)
I'm wondering when and where someone can buy real Christmas trees in Montreal and how much they usually go for.

Thanks

Power's out! And after phoning the "dude the power's out" hotline, I am informed by a recording that this is scheduled maintenance, and it's going to be off until 2 this afternoon... am I crazy or should they have maybe phoned and told people?

Anyway, so much for sitting around and watching cartoons for my first day off :P Looks like I'm hitting the mall, if they've got power...

Had a bunch of dreams about moving! It was weird.. Had my first bout of homesickness last night as I was hanging my laundry; was suddenly reminded of hanging it in the basement and seeing whatever my dad was watching on the TV down there... Wasn't awful though; I'm still astounded by how well I'm holding it together, stress notwithstanding. I guess getting my own space really was the right thing to do...

Anyway, I should save my phone juice :P Today I gotta go pester the neighbours who own the garage... I left them a note last night, hopefully they'll phone me first, I hate barging in on people. (Though, it's the condo administrator's fault that I need to!)

Current Music: Van Dyke Parks - Roosevelt in Trinidad

If psychiatrists were banned from serving in the military, 13 soldiers would keep living. Discuss.
These analysts aren't doing any good in the army. In fact, they're just taking space in the payrolls and drive nuts themselves if you don't give them maintenance after X years or service or XXX interviews, whichever comes first.
Huh ?

What does aleatory calculation mean?
I´m reading a book about Heian Japan /the world of the shining prince by ivan morris/ and its in this sentence:
"....Bureau of Divination (Yin-Yang Bureau as it was called), which was in charge of astrological, calendrical and aleatory calculations, the discernment of good and evil omens and similar activities that were supposed to help the government shape its policy by acting in accordance with the fundamental process of growth and change in the natural world."

thank you for your advice.

homeless people
Hey all,

I have a question about the word for a homeless person in Russian. I heard a few days ago that the russian word for homeless person "бомж" is an acronym for "без о... место жить" (without ... place to live). Can someone tell me the word for the letter "o" and tell me if this is true, or if the acronym established itself after the word had been in use for a while. Also curious to me is the similarity between the word "бомж" and the english word "bum", or is this just coincidence?

Thanks for the input.

INTRO/A howdoyousay question...

Hello, my name is Monique.
I'm a half Mexican, half African American girl
who was raised by her Mexican American mother.

I currently have a very simple question (at least in my head)
How do you say:
I want to be the villain.
In a variety of languages.

It's a line I wrote in a story, and I'm really interested in getting it tattooed.
I was told that in Spanish it could be both.

Quiero ser el canalla.
or
Quiero ser el villano.

If any of you could give me an exact translation to it in Spanish,
or any other language for that matter,
I would so greatly appreciate it.

Current Mood: contemplative

「へん」だなぁ〜〜
A little Osaka-ben question! If you don't know how to read Japanese, just hover over the text for a transliteration.

As I recall, true Osaka-ben substitutes 〜へん for 〜ない (as opposed to Osaka-fied Tokyo-ben, which changes it to 〜ねぇ), however for a moment tonight I got stuck on what to do for ない on its own (e.g. 時間がない "I've got no time"). Using へん on its own sounds off, and I seem to recall hearing あらへん a couple times in that context, but I thought I'd check here and see if someone else knows for certain.

While we're on the subject, thought I'd also inquire as to how it came about. My best guess is that it evolved from 〜ません to 〜まへん, then shortening to simply 〜へん, but that's just a guess.

Thanks!

Current Mood: curious

Can one find American Spirit Cigarettes in Montreal?

"dancing is living"
A howdoyousay question: "dancing is living" in a variety of languages. Not simply "dance is life", but the more active sense of the original phrase--that is, to dance is to live and be alive; when you're dancing, in that moment, you are truly living/enjoying life.

(...when such a distinction is possible; I know the phrase won't work that way in every language.)

Eastern languages/scripts are preferred, as this may be for a bellydance t-shirt design, but anything and everything is appreciated.

Word for Arctic Fox In Japanese? :?
Hi! I love arctic foxes / snow foxes (they're sort of my mascot, I guess) and I've looked online, but I can't find an answer to this: is there some word for them in Japanese? I was wondering if maybe it was just a compound of the kanji for snow and fox, but... I know that such a term would have to be fairly recent in its development, because arctic foxes (as far as I know) never live in Japan, so perhaps the name is katakana? :/

If anyone knows, I'd really love the kanji, kana and romaji names for arctic fox. I use "snowfox" as an online handle, and I've joined several Japanese-language websites, and it would be really convenient to know the kanji etc. for my favorite animal...

Also, they're just awesomely fluffy.
This part is solved. Snow foxes are ホッキョクギツネ. Thank you! :D

PS: Is there a Japanese-language term for tabby cats / domestic cats with striped patterning? What about grouper fish? They're my other favorite animals.

^^; Thank you in advance.

Ninth Week of Nursing School
This week was my last week of Clinicals at Mercy. I'm almost sad to go, but excited about moving on. I can't believe it's week 9 already.

Skills I performed at Mercy Clinicals-
Bandaging and wound care
Feeding patients
G-tube feedings
G-tube flushes
Colostomy care- observation
C-Tub Baths
Bed Baths
Occupied Bed Changes
Range of Motion Exercises
Oral Care
Peri Care
Cath Care
Hoyer Transfers
Vital Signs and Assessments
Weights

I also spent an afternoon this week at Geri-Psych, which is for the old crazies. It was extremely interesting, I got to spend most of my time there in the charts and it's so bizarre seeing how psych diseases age. Also, charting behaviors is a whole can of worms.
We began Nutrition this week in Mrs. Dupee's class and it really does tempt me to fore go moving to an RN level and just getting a BS in Nutritional Science.
One of the teacher's sons died in a car accident this week. She subbed for our A&P class just last week. There has been so much death this last week. A man I cared for just the other day in the hospital passed. The man who I did my chart for is still at CCU.

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