late, even for internation events

Well, yesterday was International Blogging Day, where everyone's supposed to promote the blogs they read regularly, as no one has exact same tastes, and you never know what you'll find. I'm still going to post, even though I've only very recently gotten back into reading blogs - a lack of time and regular access didn't help me in the last little while. I used to read like a madman, now I have to watch or a whole evening can disappear in a flash. Like tonight seems to be. Anyway, for future reference, these are the rules, I guess.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting

2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2006

3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a a link to the recommended Blogs

4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and

5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2006 and a link to BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

Again, oops. Anyway, here's what I've been enjoying lately, in no particular order.

1. Megnut. I used to read megnut all the time. She's writing a food blog now, and I've found tonnes of interesting stuff about food there. Plus a few yummy-looking recipes.

2. a peek inside the fish bowl. I've been reading Andrea's blog for ages, it's one of the few that survived the drought. insightful, funny, a great eye, and quite the artist. good thoughts on a range of items, common and not.

3. Cardhouse. I've mentioned it before, it's really off the wall, but this is one of my favourite sites on the net. He (or the robot, anyway. I always think about how Zoidberg says robot in Futurama (RO-butt) when I visit cardhouse) comes up with the most obscure sites and obtuse observations.

4. Uncommon Thought. A very political blog written by a very astute professor in Oregon. Excellent articles. Very left slant, but it's the truth, folks.

5. Cooking for Engineers. Yes, we've all seen the jokes about engineers cooking. This site is built for those with analytical minds, but the results are no joke. I've gotten some fabulous recipes from here. Worth a peek.

Got any recommendations of your own?

traditions are weird

Here's a weird little fact that Chris just found out tonight. You know gnocchi, those little pieces of pasta made with potato (and pronounced nok-ee, which I, ever the uncultured one, never knew)? For some odd reason, it's a porteňo (people from Buenos Aires - city dwellers) tradition to eat gnocchi on the 29th of each month. Why? Because they're odd. Who knows. What's funny/interesting/strange is that government workers here are known by the same name (it's pronounced the same in Spanish) because of the habit of coming in at the end of the month to sign papers and so forth.

Stay tuned for more weird Buenos Aires traditions in the future!

photogenic

I forgot to mention, if you haven't noticed, the first set of pictures from Buenos Aires are up on Flickr now. It's different, but not Asia different. I'm still trying to find myself here.

no begging, but borrowing becomes stealing

We went last week to try and get library cards - Chris can read Borges and I can read Mi Pinata Perfecto II (the first was OK, it involved less smashing that I'd like. Also, I just realised smashing presents a defecit in my Spanish vocabulary. Hm). We were obstructed from doing so, however, by the requirements to get one. No $5 fee and some form of ID here, no sir. We needed to fill out a form, bring in a piece of government ID (passport or national identity document) and a bill with our address on it IN ADDITION TO all of that information provided by a local citizen - the guarantor. That's a lot of work for a library card, and a lot of responsibility to heap on someone else (guarantors can be help responsible for debt. They're also popular for landlords in apartment rentals, as local laws favour tenants.)

Why is all this needed? Because, apparently, there's a major problem with book theft here. Bookstores suffer the same problem. People would just walk off with books (right out of stores, even!), or would check them out of the library and never return them (before they insituted registering your entire life, I would venture). We haven't ascertained WHY they do this (and books are cheap here, relative to most countries. Maybe not something a local could pick up every day here, but they're not going to break the bank), but it's a problem. Even the master librarians do it, and they tend to walk off with the rare, expensive editions sitting on the shelves. Argentina is a nation that's quite proud of its writers, counting such greats as Borges (even though, in his mind, he was writing to and with European thought) as citizens, which makes this trend even more bizarre.

All of this leads to no library card for me, which is sad, as the local library seems to have a lot of old, musty books that you can only get at if you have a card. And really, even though they may be in Spanish, who doesn't like browsing through old, musty books?

"he died doing what he loved"

I have a friend whose uncle died while he was working at his passion - sky-diving. His video will, I found out later, told all watching it that they were the ones losing out, as he had gone doing exactly what he wanted. I would hope the Crocodile Hunter felt the same about his too-short life.

I can't believe Steve Irwin is gone. In a way, it makes sense that he went in a relatively random, one-in-a-million chance, as he generally knew what precautions to take. All it takes is one time and unfortunately, this was the time for him.

My brother took me to his zoo when I was in Australia, and I learned a lot about him while we were there and afterwards, gaining a new respect for him. I mean, everyone knew who he was, but I found out a lot more about what he did. The zoo, in the first place, was created by his parents, installing a love and respect for animals in him. I'm watching an old show on Animal Planet featuring him and his father and others about his early days in crocodile hunting. The man spilt tears on television talking about the day a farmer killed his dog while they were out hunting.

Anyway. The zoo was the best I've ever been to, before or since. Yes, it was a zoo, but much was done to try and give as much room and natural and proper environment to the animals. The shows were done to show off the animals, but nothing was forced, no whips or any abuse was even thought of - if the elephants wanted to leave the ring during a show, then they left the ring (saw that one on Animal Planet, too). He did take animals out of their environment, but some, like the crocs, would be killed if they weren't removed (such as some of the huge ones he captured). He loved what he did and cared for the animals in his zoo. He was a bit over the top, but really, who doesn't know someone that you love simply for that reason, even if they get on your nerves sometimes?

If you want to read about his honors and tribulations, amongst other things, you can read his article on Wikipedia (with full details about his death, if you're interested). The Herald has a nice obituary, and the Telegraph has a tribute that includes some gentle criticism from someone with an idea of what she's talking about.

I never met him - I was disappointed, rumour was he was around, but I guess it wasn't true - and now I never will. The natural world lost a respected defender today, and we lost one of our strongest bonds with them. As one note anonymous fan left at his museum, "Crikey Steve, we will miss you."

a peck on the cheek

One thing I really love here is the hello/goodbye kiss on the cheek. My teacher explained that's it's a relatively recent phenomenon here, only appearing in the last 20-25 years (his father doesn't do it at all), so really, only young people generally do it (except, of course, young girls to older men). It's just a nice feeling to be that little more intimate with someone, giving a little more feeling to greetings and goodbyes.

spanishing up the place

Well, I made it through my first week of high-intensity Spanish and survived (though not quite as well as I had wanted to, as this was supposed to be written last night). We've both been doing a couple of hours a day at the University of Buenos Aires in the language department, a building that's gracefully falling apart in the middle of the financial district. It was a nice start, but it wasn't really going to get me very far. We had gone on a tour and gotten a coupon (go coupons! Both of us were raised by mothers who watched money very carefully, so we both love coupons!) for half off a course at a language school. Being the slow season, that translated into one-on-one instruction at half the normal rate for a month. Hard to turn that down. I also inherited a coupon (yes!) for a free basic tour and language lesson in various places throughout the city. I was almost beyond it, except it offered some terrific basic stuff that I hadn't learned yet, plus we were led around by a local who had traveled quite a bit (well, to the big three western countries, anyway) and was just a terrific person.

All that added up to eight or nine hours a day, which is, let me tell you, a lot of time to be speaking a language you've known for three weeks. But, in all honesty, it's the best way. This is the first time I've gone for full hard-core immersion (watch for my upcoming video, NC-17) in learning a language (both my regular classes are instructed solely in Spanish, with English used only to define a word when either I don't have the level of Spanish or it is so intangible that it would be a waste of time), and it's given me a lot more confidence. Well, actually, confidence with my teacher, actually (which, for me, is still a big step) - talking with strangers has still been bred out of me from too many childhood campaigns, but I'm working on it.

The most interesting part, in my opinion, has been watching where English and Spanish meet, head-on or tangentially. With an extreme interest in etymology (hence the subscription to the Nerd Patrol, er, I mean, A Word A Day), I've been able to guess the meaning of at least 30% (say) of the words I've been given (another 20% or so are multisyllabic, which are usually the exact same thing as in English. Ah English, corruptor of other languages). Some of them follow interesting lines. For instance, today I learned probar, which roughly means to try, but only (usually) in the sense of food or clothes. Simply looking at the word, you can see that it shares a root in construction and meaning with probation and probe. There are also a lot of words they use that we have, but may not use: valiente means brave. We don't use valiant much anymore. And some, while not close to the 'common' words in English, keep true to their Latin roots: oso is bear, which you can see in bear-related words.

I did enjoy the 'story-telling'ness of Chinese when I was learning it - how many words developed their current meaning, and the translations into English, i.e. volcano is fire mountain in Chinese. Spanish offers something similar, but it's easier to latch onto, having so much in common with English (there were even Germans who lived in Spain hundreds of years ago who affected pronunciation, making it easier for me to learn Spanish centuries later! Thanks guys!). Learning a language, I'm finding, is a great way to relate to your own, like having someone introduce you to your old best friend, years later.

[later] I should've said three big English-speaking Western countries - US, UK, and Australia

things i have collected

• Marbles. I don't actually remember collecting these, but I remember a jar of them in the basement. So I must've. No?

• Lottery tickets. This was back in the day when there were themes - the Zodiac, Egyptians, Wonders of the World, and the like. Not the simple BINGO or slots or whatever they have today, it's no fun any more. I would mortify my mother, butt up from a lottery kiosk in a store, searching for good tickets. In my whole time collecting (I had somewhere around 3000, I think, when I stopped after three or four years), I won just once, finding a ticket that hadn't been fully scratched. It was worth ten dollars. This collection was detested by my mother for years, and I believe it's gone now. I seem to remember keeping a few, but I have no idea where they are.

• Shells. This was a short-lived one, consisting mainly of shells found when we visited my cousin's house one summer in Vancouver and went to the beach.

• Coins. These started with some old Canadian coins from my brother's and my first lemonade stand and was strengthened by a few American coins and an infusion of Mexican pesos from my uncle's time down there. I still have the cottage cheese container with those coins in it.

• Stamps. Yup. I was a stamp nerd. Went to meetings once a month on a Friday night at the local activity centre. I don't remember much of what went on at them. I do remember patiently soaking corners of envelopes on early Sunday mornings to get stamps off. I don't know what ever happened to those stamps. I never got any rare ones, to my recollection.

• Pencils and Erasers. Not so much a collection as a hoard. I would take all the pretty pencils and erasers I received from one source or another and never use them. For looking only.

• Hardy Boys books. I had a bunch of these. Not the older ones, mind you, like Pirates of Smugglers Cove (or Smugglers of Pirates Cove, whichever one it was.) No, these were the hip new ones. Soon, however, I found it was expensive to buy a book and read it once and never pick it up again. Then commenced the scouring of town libraries until I had read their whole collection. Books are better (in some ways) when they're someone else's.

• Crap to put in my wallet. I used to take every wallet-sized card that I got and put in my wallet - periodic tables, cards with saints on them, letters from people, all sorts of ID cards, real, fake, and extraneous, and even change, in one wallet. My wallet eventually became almost like a block of wood, capable of stopping a bullet. If I got shot in the butt, that is. I pared it down when I found it was uncomfortable to sit on and was affecting my posture, possibly giving me spinal problems.

• University Engineering T-shirts. Mainly from my university, though I had some from others. They were always punny and nerdy and very Engineering. I think I still have one or two somewhere for wearing. They were for university only.

• Rocks. This was a short-lived collection both times I tried it - for some reason, carrying pieces of stone around with me appeals much less when I move. The first time was as a kid and was reasonably short-lived. I bought some neat-o rocks from the museum, cleaned up like a kid on the first day of school, which came with a piece of paper explaining their origins and uses. It didn't progress much past the first batch - you know how expensive museum stuff is. The second time was with the intent of a stone from every place I go to, but that lasted all of two places. Leaving Taiwan killed that idea, and I found that though I liked looking at cool stones, even taking pictures of them, actually having them does not give me excitement.

• Hello Kitty Magnets. These were awesome. They came out in Taiwan for her (its?) 30th anniversary and were super-successful, so much so that they introduced a second mini-set with Hello Kitty at various tourist places in Taiwan that did even better. 7-11, the marketers, solely credited the magnets for a multi-million dollar profit jump that quarter. I started by dismissing them, I didn't need them at all, just a waste of time. Then I found myself opening the packages, as I would often stop by 7-11 for a quick snack (dried mangoes and peanuts, the original forbidden fruit. And nut), and suddenly I had half the collection. I was hooked. I was trading with my friends, getting my kids to keep their eyes open for ones I didn't have, picking up phone cards only at 7-11s so I could get a large handful of magnets...I was in with both feet. I did end up with them all, though with more extras than I could shake a stick at.

• Music. Like so many others of my generation. I can honestly say I've never found another person who loves both ska and barbershop as much as I do.

• Money. Started this when I went to Asia. Money is so nifty between countries! I tried for all the coins and bills up to somewhere between five and twenty dollars Canadian (a single bill), depending on the denomination. This one's ongoing - I have plans for it in the far future.

• Sand. This was another that started while I was visiting my brother in Australia. A bit of sand from every beach I visit. Not very much, and never from places where it is forbidden, but I have found some interesting bits. It's neat to see it afterwards, all the different textures and colours. There's also some dirt from a couple of interesting places. Another ongoing collection.
  

finally, a term

I'm a self-professed flexitarian. God bless Urban Dictionary. It's almost a necessity here in Argentina, what with their entire diet centered around beef (delicious, tender beef), and I definitely wouldn't want to be a full vegetarian (I know one, it's tough to go out for him) or, heaven forbid, a vegan (just met one, can't even imagine it, although there is a vegan grocery store here, oddly enough).

Chris was a vegetarian before she left the U.S., but decided to change so that she wouldn't miss out on Asian food. Like here, meat is, really, part of life, part of the culture, and a base for the culinary arts. Sure, there's great veggie stuff, and believe me, we tried all that we could, but there are times that I can't say no.