It seems appropriate that I am writing this blog about my favorite band in the whole world just as I’m expecting a snowstorm. Why is this appropriate? Well, one of the songs on their new album is called “Get on Your Boots” and I’m looking for my boots to prepare for the snow that won’t go away. Maybe it’s not as funny as I think it is.
Instead of entitling this blog My Favorite Things and whatever number applies to it, I just thought I’d write about my favorite band under another heading.
Yes, I’m talking about U2. I’m so excited that on Tuesday, I’ll be able to hear new music from the Gaelic Gods. It’s been quite a while since their last album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” came out – 2004 as a matter of fact. So I’ve spent a good 4 years replaying and singing all the songs in their vast collection waiting for the next album to come out. Finally it will be here in just 3 short days.
As with every other album they’ve released, I will play it non-stop until I know every single word of every single song. This should take at least a week. I need to be able to live and breathe every bit of this new album and then…it’s time to wait for their concerts. That’s in the plural because I will try to see them at least twice!! If I have to go to another city, it doesn’t matter. I love these guys so much! I’d cross any ocean to feel the power of their words, to sing close to Bono, to experience the thumping of Adam Clayton’s bass and the soaring chords of the Edge’s guitar, for my heart beat to pound in time with Larry’s drums.
Sadly, I’m at a loss for words today. I can’t capture the excitement that I’m feeling about this big event. Tuesday will be like a national holiday for me.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Two Birds
Two birds sat on a small ledge
With little space between them
Peering into each other’s eyes
On a daily basis.
The exact hues of orange, blue and green in
Different spots,
Unnoticed by the creatures
All around them.
Silently feeling
The warmth they generated from
Within towards their counterpart.
The weather around them changed
The seasons progressed and one
Year moved into the next.
One bird made the subtle
Approach
Acknowledged
Accepted
They cooed together.
To gain a different view
One of the pair moved to another ledge
And then
They both went missing
And their disappearance was finally noticed.
“What happened to those two birds?”
With little space between them
Peering into each other’s eyes
On a daily basis.
The exact hues of orange, blue and green in
Different spots,
Unnoticed by the creatures
All around them.
Silently feeling
The warmth they generated from
Within towards their counterpart.
The weather around them changed
The seasons progressed and one
Year moved into the next.
One bird made the subtle
Approach
Acknowledged
Accepted
They cooed together.
To gain a different view
One of the pair moved to another ledge
And then
They both went missing
And their disappearance was finally noticed.
“What happened to those two birds?”
10 Items or Less?
Ah, there are so many grammar mistakes that one encounters on a daily basis. Some are seriously offensive and others intrude upon daily life because people don’t know the rules. These intrusions screech and scratch at my eardrums on many occasions.
The usual grammar suspect today has to do with countable and non-countable nouns. What in God’s green earth am I talking about now? Some nouns – you know, those words that are often the subjects of our sentences – are divided into ones that you can count (One Brad Pitt, Two Brad Pitt? etc). While others are so small or in quantities that you can’t count – such as sand, rice or milk. These items are known as non-countable nouns. Let me give you a list of some:
Milk, Money, Water, Coffee, Air, Bread, Snow, Sugar, Salk, Hair, Food, Clothing, Candy.
Now, when it comes to these non-countable nouns and expressing comparisons in situations where your quantity is smaller than another person’s, you use ‘less’ to describe that quantification. For instance, you would say ‘I have less money than Oprah and less water than Evian and less coffee in my cup than Juan Valdez’. But if you can count an item (usually it will have an -s on the end in the plural form), then a negative comparison would be ‘I have fewer eggs in my basket than Foghorn Leghorn’ or ‘she has fewer freckles than Howdy Doody’.
The title of this blog is actually incorrect. Items are things that can be counted so the signs in every English speaking grocery store should say 10 items or fewer or whatever the quantity of items or fewer.
As I used to tell my ESL students, English is so hard that native speakers always make mistakes and this is one super faux-pas in my book.
When thinking about non-countable nouns, there are 4 categories in which they fall:
1) Nouns that have no distinct separate parts. Look at the whole: Milk, Oil, Water, Yogurt, Air, Soup, Bread, Butter
2) Nouns that have parts that are so small or insignificant to count: Rice, Sugar, Salt, Snow, Sand, Corn, Popcorn, Hair, Junk, Stuff.
3) Nouns that are categories of things – the members of the category are not the same: Money (dimes, pennies, dollars, etc.), Food (cookies, veggies, meat, etc.), Mail (letters, postcards, bills, etc), Clothing, Furniture, Makeup, Candy.
4) Abstract Nouns: Love, Time, Truth, Advice, Luck, Beauty, Fun, Information, Noise, Intelligence, Experience, Art, Work, Education, Noise.
The usual grammar suspect today has to do with countable and non-countable nouns. What in God’s green earth am I talking about now? Some nouns – you know, those words that are often the subjects of our sentences – are divided into ones that you can count (One Brad Pitt, Two Brad Pitt? etc). While others are so small or in quantities that you can’t count – such as sand, rice or milk. These items are known as non-countable nouns. Let me give you a list of some:
Milk, Money, Water, Coffee, Air, Bread, Snow, Sugar, Salk, Hair, Food, Clothing, Candy.
Now, when it comes to these non-countable nouns and expressing comparisons in situations where your quantity is smaller than another person’s, you use ‘less’ to describe that quantification. For instance, you would say ‘I have less money than Oprah and less water than Evian and less coffee in my cup than Juan Valdez’. But if you can count an item (usually it will have an -s on the end in the plural form), then a negative comparison would be ‘I have fewer eggs in my basket than Foghorn Leghorn’ or ‘she has fewer freckles than Howdy Doody’.
The title of this blog is actually incorrect. Items are things that can be counted so the signs in every English speaking grocery store should say 10 items or fewer or whatever the quantity of items or fewer.
As I used to tell my ESL students, English is so hard that native speakers always make mistakes and this is one super faux-pas in my book.
When thinking about non-countable nouns, there are 4 categories in which they fall:
1) Nouns that have no distinct separate parts. Look at the whole: Milk, Oil, Water, Yogurt, Air, Soup, Bread, Butter
2) Nouns that have parts that are so small or insignificant to count: Rice, Sugar, Salt, Snow, Sand, Corn, Popcorn, Hair, Junk, Stuff.
3) Nouns that are categories of things – the members of the category are not the same: Money (dimes, pennies, dollars, etc.), Food (cookies, veggies, meat, etc.), Mail (letters, postcards, bills, etc), Clothing, Furniture, Makeup, Candy.
4) Abstract Nouns: Love, Time, Truth, Advice, Luck, Beauty, Fun, Information, Noise, Intelligence, Experience, Art, Work, Education, Noise.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
My Country ‘Tis of Me
I’ve been working on getting a dual citizenship for Italy for a couple of months now. Since my parents were born in Italy, I can get Italian citizenship through them. It’s something I thought about a lot as I was growing up because I often felt it could come in handy in some situation. Actually, I probably would have fervently pursued this option more if the November elections had turned out differently.
Growing up, I always wondered where I belonged. I never completely felt American – I had all these weird traditions that none of my friends had. But I never felt Italian either because I didn’t know anything about the history except what my parents had told me, which wasn’t very much. But I loved the language, literature and culture and it often pulled on my heartstrings and I sensed longing for the boot shaped country.
Anyway, the last couple times I’ve been to the Italian consulate...it’s been quite an interesting experience. Actually the first time was fine. The agent explained all the types of documents I would need and he basically said that I just needed to get those and I’d be fine.
But as with everything Italian, there is always another story. And I got the second half of the story this past week. I went with all the documents that I had prepared according to how the first agent had explained. So I thought I was set. How incredibly naive of me? This agent told me that the first agent was wrong. I could not get the citizenship by just petitioning through my mom (who had all her documents in order and who is far more tied to Italy because her family still lives there). I had to have my father’s papers too. In fact, they didn’t even have any record of my father’s naturalization at the consulate in NY or in Italy. I knew that my dad had been having some trouble finding his documents so I hypothetically asked what would happen if we could never locate the originals. The agent told me that my dad would have to petition Homeland Security to get a copy of his naturalization papers. I took note of this but what annoyed me is what he was basically suggesting. That if my dad couldn't find his documents that perhaps he wasn’t here legally. Perhaps I was over analyzing as I am wont to do but...still. What was he implying or was I inferring incorrectly? Hmmmmm?
He proceeded to tell me all the things I needed to do IF my dad’s papers were in order. And IF they weren’t, then I could just forget about it. When I got on the bus to head back home, I was livid. Why did I need to go through all this legwork when my mom had everything in order and the forms say you can petition for citizenship from whichever parent you choose? As I discussed this with my good friend, who had also gone through this process, we concurred that there was always another story to every darn situation with the Italian consulate. I began to wonder if I really wanted to pursue this anymore....so as if I hadn’t had my confusions about nationality before, I now continue to add to this list of doubts.
Growing up, I always wondered where I belonged. I never completely felt American – I had all these weird traditions that none of my friends had. But I never felt Italian either because I didn’t know anything about the history except what my parents had told me, which wasn’t very much. But I loved the language, literature and culture and it often pulled on my heartstrings and I sensed longing for the boot shaped country.
Anyway, the last couple times I’ve been to the Italian consulate...it’s been quite an interesting experience. Actually the first time was fine. The agent explained all the types of documents I would need and he basically said that I just needed to get those and I’d be fine.
But as with everything Italian, there is always another story. And I got the second half of the story this past week. I went with all the documents that I had prepared according to how the first agent had explained. So I thought I was set. How incredibly naive of me? This agent told me that the first agent was wrong. I could not get the citizenship by just petitioning through my mom (who had all her documents in order and who is far more tied to Italy because her family still lives there). I had to have my father’s papers too. In fact, they didn’t even have any record of my father’s naturalization at the consulate in NY or in Italy. I knew that my dad had been having some trouble finding his documents so I hypothetically asked what would happen if we could never locate the originals. The agent told me that my dad would have to petition Homeland Security to get a copy of his naturalization papers. I took note of this but what annoyed me is what he was basically suggesting. That if my dad couldn't find his documents that perhaps he wasn’t here legally. Perhaps I was over analyzing as I am wont to do but...still. What was he implying or was I inferring incorrectly? Hmmmmm?
He proceeded to tell me all the things I needed to do IF my dad’s papers were in order. And IF they weren’t, then I could just forget about it. When I got on the bus to head back home, I was livid. Why did I need to go through all this legwork when my mom had everything in order and the forms say you can petition for citizenship from whichever parent you choose? As I discussed this with my good friend, who had also gone through this process, we concurred that there was always another story to every darn situation with the Italian consulate. I began to wonder if I really wanted to pursue this anymore....so as if I hadn’t had my confusions about nationality before, I now continue to add to this list of doubts.
Monday, February 9, 2009
High Risk
I've been hearing this term for quite some time. And I'm sure you think it has to do with finance and banking but it doesn't. It has to do with what doctors call pregnancies over 35 years old. And I've heard it a lot because most of my friends are getting to or are 35 and have become pregnant. What I want to tell doctors and people who claim this is high risk is to shove it! It really makes me so livid to hear this. As if pregnancy isn't hard enough and that a woman isn't stressed enough, they have to mention that their pregnancies are 'high risk'. You know what? I think you should stop saying this phrase. Keep it to yourselves doctors and people! Mark it in your darn patient folder and never say it to the woman who is pregnant.
What I think is a better idea is for you to get working on the research that makes this situation less high risk? How about that? How come tons of money is thrown away to assist men the age of Moses to keep an erection until they croak? Does anyone else think that's insane?? Why not spend some time in science to find a way to help women continue to produce eggs even after their darn biological clock starts ticking? Huh?? How about that?
The darn high risk is that we need women to keep populating the world so how about we help them make that easier instead of more difficult!! Who the heck wants a baby from a shrivelled up man in his 80s who can barely put his own pants up anyway??
Tons of women die in childbirth every year. Why is this still happening with all the technology that we have? Perhaps we should funnel money where it makes more sense? But maybe that's just too logical for insurance companies and doctors!!
What I think is a better idea is for you to get working on the research that makes this situation less high risk? How about that? How come tons of money is thrown away to assist men the age of Moses to keep an erection until they croak? Does anyone else think that's insane?? Why not spend some time in science to find a way to help women continue to produce eggs even after their darn biological clock starts ticking? Huh?? How about that?
The darn high risk is that we need women to keep populating the world so how about we help them make that easier instead of more difficult!! Who the heck wants a baby from a shrivelled up man in his 80s who can barely put his own pants up anyway??
Tons of women die in childbirth every year. Why is this still happening with all the technology that we have? Perhaps we should funnel money where it makes more sense? But maybe that's just too logical for insurance companies and doctors!!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Favorite things continues or #5
I'm way beyond late for this post...I had meant to send it out on 2/2 in honor of the Grand Marshall of ceremonies, the ground hog.
I love Ground hog's Day! I can't explain it and I don't entirely know when I began to feel this way but this is one of my favorite days of the year. Perhaps it's because it's one day where we can hope that something silly will decide the future (I guess there are lots of examples of that). Or because the groundhog is such an arbitrary animal to be so interested in. I have no idea...but I love this day.
This year depending on your location, you will get an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter. How random is that? Local Staten Island Chuck said early spring but his more famous cousin Punxsatawny Phil (the famous one from the Bill Murray movie) said more winter. Why can't more days be silly like this? Why is everything always so serious?
Also to note Chuck had a little bit of scandal this year...he ended up biting the Mayor of New York when he picked him up. Now, could anything or anyone else get away with such behavior? No and if some random person saw his shadow today and decided to tell the media there would be 6 more weeks of winter, how do you think we'd react?
That said, I hope the next couple weeks are interesting. Chuck and Phil, as always, thanks for you hard work!
I love Ground hog's Day! I can't explain it and I don't entirely know when I began to feel this way but this is one of my favorite days of the year. Perhaps it's because it's one day where we can hope that something silly will decide the future (I guess there are lots of examples of that). Or because the groundhog is such an arbitrary animal to be so interested in. I have no idea...but I love this day.
This year depending on your location, you will get an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter. How random is that? Local Staten Island Chuck said early spring but his more famous cousin Punxsatawny Phil (the famous one from the Bill Murray movie) said more winter. Why can't more days be silly like this? Why is everything always so serious?
Also to note Chuck had a little bit of scandal this year...he ended up biting the Mayor of New York when he picked him up. Now, could anything or anyone else get away with such behavior? No and if some random person saw his shadow today and decided to tell the media there would be 6 more weeks of winter, how do you think we'd react?
That said, I hope the next couple weeks are interesting. Chuck and Phil, as always, thanks for you hard work!
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