SPEW Babble #42

[CoolCatElly]

Wow, away one day and I'm behind on a page of posts!

WELCOME DINNY! I'm Elene, one of the triplets. Isn't it strange not to be the newest newbies anymore guys?

RE: French - Oh French is awesome. I don't know what French teachers you've had Ariana, but mine have always been amazing Some of my best school memories were spent in French lessons... * reminisces*

Jenny: OO Secret Spew!? Sounds awesome, can't wait to do that. So sad that we were too late for the Spooky Swap :-/

Spew Chats: Well... What about this weekend sometime? Since school and work might get in the way if we do this week. I'm available anytime :-)

[Evora]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Jen, Jess, Ariana, Elene, Alyssa, Vorona, and Hannah! (I love mentioning everyone's names) I definitely feel special

I'm so used to thinking of you as Evora, I might have troubles with Dinny.

Lol! It's alright, you could still call me Evora. . . Veronica *bwahaha* Just kidding! Evora's like my professional name, ha.

Really, thanks for all the welcoming! I'm all giving you big hugs through the computer now!

Also, I'm so excited for the "Secret Spew", and pretty much everything else in SPEW I can't say anything concerning the French language or Ben Franklin, because I don't know a single thing about those (although I do know that Ben Franklin was an extraordinary scientist, politician and activist, and one of USA's founding fathers. He signed the consitution, didn't he?)

Much love!

[ron lover]

I wish I was taking French, but sadly I'm in Spanish. We don't have a French teacher, so I didn't want to take it.

Jen:
What concerts are you going to, Alyssa? I went to one last weekend, which was so much fun. Concerts that cost $20 and that only have about 100 people there are the best, in my opinion. I love my Aussie music

Those kind of concerts are my favorite. I'm glad you had a good time! REO Speedwagon is the first one, and like two days after is Bullet for my Valentine and Escape the Fate. I'm so excited for the latter. Third and fourth favorite bands in one place.

The Chronicals of Vladimir Tod is a vampire book. I hate vampire books, but this one is more about this boy growing up than vampires (in a way), so I like it a lot. It's a series starting with Vlad's eighth grade and going up to his senior year in highschool, and it goes through problems a boy would go through, and problems a young vampire would go through. I don't think I'm doing this series justice, so just know that it's amazing and its my second favorite series.

I watched my first episode of Doctor Who the other day! It was pretty good.

[lucca4]

REO Speedwagon is the first one, and like two days after is Bullet for my Valentine and Escape the Fate. I'm so excited for the latter. Third and fourth favorite bands in one place.

!!

I love REO Speedwagon!! My absolute favorite songs by them are "Time for Me to Fly" and "Take it on the Run." I had no idea they were mentioned before on here!

And Jenny: ThANK YOU! For telling me about the Secret Spew Swap for Christmas!! I was so disappointed missed the Halloween one...

For the SPEW CHAT! Any time (well, not like three in the morning or something) during weekends works for me--I'm swamped weekdays.

xx Ariana

[h_vic]

I watched my first episode of Doctor Who the other day! It was pretty good.

Doctor Who is just awesome. Which Doctor and Companion was it?

I've been reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger recently and at one point the characters are watching an episode of Doctor Who and it rather scared me that I recognised the episode, but one of the characters (who's a ghost) also came out with what is currently one of my utter favourite lines that I've come across in anything recently: Is it sad to fancy David Tennant when you are dead?

SPEW chat-wise, I won't be about this weekend at all - I'm off to Belfast to stay with my cousin and her husband and their utterly adorable baby.

[Vorona]

Ariana - yes, I have a Master's in French. Tried to get one in Russian, too, but that didn't work out so well. I really should have just gone for a Ph. D. in French instead. Now my life is all confused! On the other hand, I think it's confused in a good way. Also I started reading City of Bones. I like it so far - thanks for the recommendation!

I'm thinking of getting a new AIM account for the SPEW chat, since I don't remember my name on the original one. I have Trillian, though, so maybe it will tell me. Or maybe I accidentally got rid of Trillian. I went through and deleted a bunch of programs I never use, and that might have been one of them. Anyway, I've got a strange schedule, so I might not be able to make it anyway. Saturdays, I work in the morning, then do my errands (groceries, etc.) and have a writing group . . . but I'm usually free in the evenings.

Sundays, I mainly do household stuff like laundry, bills, cooking, etc. I live with my parents, and my dad cooks most nights, but I cook on Sundays. Anyway, I'm usually around all day Sunday.

Elene - yes it *is* strange not being the newest. But we'll manage, I think .

Evora - As it turns out, I've always liked the name Veronica, so you can call me that, if you like.

Doctor Who: I really, really want to see this. Alas, I think it's going to have to be after I move out of my parents' house. As it is, I watch too much TV with them (I can't seem to leave when they start watching Good Eats or Jeopardy), so I can't really justify watching *more* TV just by myself. But I really want to see it. Pretty much everyone who shares other tastes with me has said it's amazing.

Hannah - Have fun in Belfast with your cousin and her baby.

I think I'm all caught up now.

Edit: As it turns out, my AIM Screen name is Vorona394. Go figure. And I do still have Trillian and it remembered all my information.

[lucca4]

<3 <3 <3

Great, amazing, superb news!! The seventh season of House restarts on my BIRTHDAY!!! I'm so, so excited, plus it's kind of fate because I love that show. I'm taking Intro to Sports Medicine next year, and you get to watch House and figure out the diagnoses. SO COOL!

Anyway, was an exact date for the SPEW chat decided? As far as I know, I'm free Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. Oh, and I'm on PST, which is 9 hours behind however the British abbreviate their time and 3 hours behind EST.

I don't know what French teachers you've had Ariana, but mine have always been amazing

I've only had one, and she is suckish . It really stinks, because the teacher that teaches at the high school just out of my area is British and supposedly super super nice. I wish I had a nice teacher, because I think I'd like the class so much more...

yes, I have a Master's in French. Tried to get one in Russian, too, but that didn't work out so well. I really should have just gone for a Ph. D. in French instead

So are you going to teach French at a college level or something?
Oh, and by the way, how do you pronounce the difference between au-dessous and au-dessus because when my teacher pronounces it it sounds EXACTLY the same both times...

I'm off to Belfast to stay with my cousin and her husband and their utterly adorable baby.

Oooooh! Have fun in Ireland! I did not just look that up...of course not...

xx Ariana

[Vorona]

Unfortunately, with a Master's, these days, all you can teach is part time, either at community colleges or other universities. There are professors teaching in colleges who have just a Master's, but there are so many who are entering the market with a Ph. D. that it's pretty much required. So, I'm back in undergraduate school to get my teaching certificate. I don't know yet whether I'll do middle school or high school.

au-dessous vs. au-dessus is really the same difference between "ou" and just "u" in French. So, for example, vous is "ou", while "tu" is "u".

ou = easy. It's pretty much the same "ou" as in "you".

u = not easy. Basically what you do is form your lips as if you were going to say "ou", but then you make the vowel of "ee", while keeping your lips in the "ou" shape. A way to practice it is to say "ee" and while you're saying it, gradually close your lips.

Also, if it helps (but it might not, so if this is too complicated, ignore it), when you say "ee" and "u" the back of your tongue is almost touching the roof of your mouth, and it's near to the front. As a result, they're considered high, front vowels. "ou" is also high (the tongue is near the roof of the mouth), but it's a back vowel, so the upper/back part of your tongue is near the back of your mouth.

This is kind of hard to do without anything audio or visual, so I hope it helps. Anyway, so au-dessus is pronounced with the "u" sound, and au-dessous is pronounced with the "ou" sound. And French is pretty regular, so the phonetics follow rules (unlike English, where we have two different sounds for "short a", but no phonetic rule distinguishing them: father vs. Mather, for example. Unless it's nasalized by -m or -n, "u" by itself is *always* that same sound. And "ou" is always "ou". Just like "au" is always "o".

I could go on forever, so I'm going to stop now . Oh, and I'm still really liking City of Bones.

[Evora]

Veronica! I may perhaps some day in the near future, be in need of your superb French abilities. I had my French class today, and oh my goodness, I was the stupid one in the class. I can't understand what my cuckoo teacher was saying! And that was basic French! Really sad.

And Elene, I love your avvie. It's so. . . magical XD

My half-day was disastrous. I hate it. I hope it never goes on for the rest of the year! Gah. I hope you SPEWlings (me included) had a fantastic day at school!

[ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor]

Jess has been giddily school-free for seven years and counting. There are times when I wish I could go back...and then I remember why I couldn't escape fast enough. I hate responsibility and obligations and deadlines. They are icky and undesirable.