The joke's on us

I was trying to find information about the origin of April Fool's Day (which is today), but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer. A few sites, even About, say that "The origins of April Fools' Day are obscure."

WHY?

There's certainly no shortage of historical information about April Fool's hoaxes, so why can't we have some reliable info about why today is April Fool's Day?

(Yeah, I know, I can go to the library, but I have to go get food and sleep soon, and I was hoping I could find the info online.)

The river really is green

Every year in honor of Saint Patrick's Day, the city dyes the Chicago River green--seriously. Here's a cute report about it by a TV pro who is now doing radio (lucky guy who's also really nice).

Happy Hello Kitty Christmas!

The brainy and seemingly high-energy Mad Minerva posted this picture, which is one of many in her Hello Kitty Monstrosity collection (which isn't grouped or categorized, as far as I can tell).

Happy Independence Day!

July 4 is a celebration of the Declaration of Independence, which was signed in 1776. A lot of hot dogs and hamburgers are going to be consumed throughout the U.S., I'm sure.

Happy Canada Day!

To the Metrolingua visitors from Up North: Happy [belated] Canada Day!

Here's some info:

It celebrates the creation of the Dominion of Canada through the British North America Act 1867, which came into effect on July 1, 1867, uniting three British territories — the Province of Canada (southern Ontario and southern Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick — into a federation.

The holiday itself was formally established in 1879 and was originally called Dominion Day, making reference to the Canadian-originated term 'dominion' to describe the political union, at a time when the Fathers of Confederation were hesitant to use a name such as the Kingdom of Canada. The name was changed to Canada Day on October 27, 1982.

Chinese Christmas

This is cool: last year I went to someone's house on Christmas Eve, and was one of a handful of non-Mandarin speakers there. Since I'd studied it a tiny bit, I did my best to try to guess some of the words people were saying, even using my Japanese to infer the meaning, but after a while, I just got lazy and stayed in the English world with those who were willing to speak it with me.

Well, this year, I'm going to someone else's house, but it's going to also be filled with a bunch of Mandarin speakers. And since it's happening tonight, it's too late to take out my Chinese books and cram for such an occasion. The cool thing is that since a lot of the folks there are from China, they haven't been inundated with Christmas, so to them it's a new and/or different experience. The host has decked her place out with Christmas decorations, and even though it's not a new thing for me to see them, I'm going to be seeing all that stuff differently, because to her, it's fresh and something that she never did back at home. So I can celebrate Christmas Eve with people who are discovering it, rather than those who are just doing what they "should".

I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas and never had "tree envy" or any Christmas-related resentment, and now that I'm older, I still pretty much don't care about it, but it's refreshing to be with people who are exploring it as part of Western culture.

Jesus celebrated Chanukah?

I just told someone who goes to Bible school that Jesus celebrated Chanukah (or Hanukkah, depending on how you transliterate it), and they didn't believe me. So I'm posting this info for anyone else who doesn't know, either:

From John 10:22-30 (New Living Translation):

It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah. He was at the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade. The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father. But you don't believe me because you are not part of my flock. My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. The Father and I are one."

John 10:22-23 in the Amplified (which tries to take all words and meanings into consideration, thus the brackets are theirs): "After this the Feast of Dedication [of the reconsecration of the temple] was taking place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the temple area."

And finally, the New International Version (NIV) of the same: "Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade."

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving--I would've done a post about it yesterday, because I wanted to post a link to the Thanksgiving Quiz I created last year, but I totally OD'ed on my computer. I've been using it so much, so intensely, that yesterday after I did some work and read stuff and chatted and emailed, I just had to say "enough".

So now I'm back on it, and even though I have to work some very crazy hours for the next couple of days, I have to say that one of the things I'm extremely thankful for this year is working in radio, even if it's still only part-time (almost impossible to get full-time work in it). I love it, I love where I work, my coworkers are great, I just feel very lucky. In the past, I would say that I'm thankful for my health, my husband, etc., but this year, I'm extra thankful because I have not felt so alive in years.

And the person to thank for getting me on this path is Rick Kogan, who's got the best media gig around.

Presidents' Day

Presidents' Day isn't happening until February 20, but it's going to be an important (or at least significant) day for me because I'll most likely be on the air in the morning. I'm just mentioning it now to prepare, and to wonder "out loud" if I should change my name on this blog because, just in case, people might be doing a search for my name and could arrive at this "incredible" site. Seriously, though, if things are going to progress via my offline name, then maybe I should mark the Web with it. I don't know what to do. Maybe I have to confer with someone who's already grappled with this issue.

Happy dog!

Happy Chinese New Year!

According to Mad Minerva, it's the Year of the Dog, so here's hoping this won't really be a dog year--I need some good things to happen.

The year's first post

2006 has arrived in my time zone! Happy New Year!

Glad it's over

Well, today is the last day of 2005 (at least in my time zone), and I'm glad this year is over. It wasn't a horrible year, just sort of an uneventful one, especially compared to what is coming up. The upcoming year will bring challenges and new experiences, which is what I've wanted for a while. I felt like I was slipping into a rut, but I don't forsee much more slippage for a while, if ever again. Well, it's hard to say that, but the freshness of doing the part-time media gig will keep me stimulated for a long time.

International holidays

I have had an international holiday weekend. First, I went to a Christmas Eve party where I was surrounded by several Chinese Mandarin speakers and lots of tasty homemade Chinese food. I think it's time I resumed the study of Chinese. It would come in handy to at least laugh at the jokes with everyone else, or at least know which food item they're talking about.

Then on Christmas, I went to a service where Luke 2:10-11 (But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord") was read in the following languages:

Swahili
Japanese
Mandarin
Cantonese
Spanish
English
Thai
Hebrew
Telegu
Hausa
Malay

For a language fan like me, it was exciting and worthy of nerdy appreciation. And some people sang in Chinese, Thai, and Swahili, so it added a special dimension to the multilingual celebration.

After that, I went to a Christmas party to eat delicious and artery-busting Scandanavian food (Swedish pancakes, sausage, cheese, cakes, fruit soup) among European-decent people and Asians, most of whom stayed away from the food. Their loss.

Finally, I ended the day with the first night of Chanukah (Hanukkah). The best food to eat on Chanukah are latkes, which are potato pancakes. The key is to have good homemade latkes, and I think I've eaten the best throughout the years (a German recipe), so I've been satisfied.

The only way to reverse the international weekend is to make sure that I exercise all that wonderful food off so that I don't have to make any weight-related New Year's resolutions.

Jesus and Chanukah

It's interesting that Christmas and Chanukah (or Hanukkah--who knows what the correct transliteration is) are on the same day. Actually, it won't be Chanukah until the sun sets. But the two holidays will intersect sometime today.

Without going into a lot of detail, there's a lot of paranoia going around about the whole "Merry Christmas" issue among people I know, on both sides of the "aisle". So I'm going to show the world that Chanukah is mentioned in the New Testament. What's ironic is that Christmas is not a Biblical holiday, though the birth of Jesus, of course, is mentioned in the Bible (even though the birth was probably in the fall instead of the winter).

And Jesus was around when Chanukah (the Feast of Dedication) was happening (horrors! to some Jewish people who don't believe he was Jewish).

From John 10:22-30 (New Living Translation):

It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah. He was at the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade. The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father. But you don't believe me because you are not part of my flock. My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. The Father and I are one."

John 10:22-23 in the Amplified (which tries to take all words and meanings into consideration, thus the brackets are theirs): "After this the Feast of Dedication [of the reconsecration of the temple] was taking place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the temple area."

And finally, the New International Version (NIV) of the same: "Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade."

Snow in Bethlehem

I was going to do a smart-aleck post about the fact that we see a lot of manger scenes with snow, but since Bethlehem is in the Middle East, and it doesn't snow there, why should we put up with the inaccuracies?

But then I found an article about snow in the Middle East from a few years ago, and even found an image of Bethlehem covered with snow.

I wanted to post the Bethlehem image here, but I'm afraid the site will be mad because they don't want their images shared publically without purchase. So please see the proof yourself.

So the image posted here shows Jerusalem in snow, from the BBC.

House of bread

It didn't hit me until much later, even though I studied Hebrew when I was growing up: Bethlehem is "beit lechem" (בית לחם), which means "house of bread." And then I read this: "Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty..."

Coincidence? He was born in Bethlehem, the "house of bread," and then made that statement. I'm sure there are more bread references in the Bible, but I'm sort of too lazy to find them or think too deeply about it.

Holiday cheer

I don't know who created it, but there's a funny seasonal greeting floating around out there that should not offend anyone:

From us (the "Wishor") to you (hereinafter called the "Wishee"), please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all and a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year [2005], but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the Wishee.

And then there's a list of seven terms that completes the legalese, including:

Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.

Just trying to contribute to the holiday cheer amidst all the madness.

Quiz answers

Here are the answers for the Thanksgiving quiz:

1. False - It was in the early 1620's.

2. False - It was three days.

3. True. See the turkey post.

4. False - They only brought chests and boxes.

5. True - They ended up in Massachusetts because they couldn't get to Virginia.

6. False - Many were poor farmers with little education.

7. True.

8. True - Buckles weren't popular until the 17th century.

9. True - They were Puritans who separated from the Church of England.

10. False.

Thanksgiving quiz

Here are ten statements about Thanksgiving--true or false?

1. The first Thanksgiving feast was in the late 17th century.

2. The feast was two days.

3. They did not eat turkey.

4. The Pilgrims brought furniture with them.

5. They wanted to go to Virginia, not Massachusetts.

6. Many were highly educated.

7. Some Pilgrims lived in the Netherlands before going to America.

8. They did not wear buckles.

9. The Pilgrims were separatists.

10. They ate cranberries at the first feast.

Click here for answers. The statements are based on information at the History Channel and a Plymouth site.

Feast of Trumpets

Today is Rosh Hashanah, so downtown Chicago is pretty quiet. It's considered the Jewish New Year, but in Leviticus, it's called the Feast of Trumpets:

23 The LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' "

That's all it says. There's no mention of a new year there. So why do people consider it a New Year? Here's an explanation:

The name "Rosh Hashana" literally means "Beginning of the Year." You may wonder how this can be, since it is called the first day of the seventh month! The reason is that the Jewish calendar is built on two cycles-the religious calendar beginning in the Spring, and the civil calendar beginning in the Fall. In the Torah, the months are never named but only numbered, beginning with the month of Nisan in the early Spring, which is the first month according to the religious calendar.

Since the source of the holiday is the Bible, I'm tempted to say "Happy Feast of Trumpets." But that will confuse people, and I wonder if they even know what any of this means.

National Punctuation Day

Language Hat announced that it is National Punctuation Day on August 22, which means in the Central Time Zone, where I'm located, there's only a half hour left of this special day.

LH also provided a link to the history of punctuation.

It's funny how events can converge, because I've just started reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

In fact, since I'm posting this important news right now, my husband is reading that book, and I've just informed him that it's National Punctuation Day. So it's a weird coincidence for both of us.

Why we celebrate

A while ago, when I was in the midst of an awful teaching experience, I was talking about Independence Day, and the students had no idea why we celebrate it. Those ignorant students (who were about to enter college) weren't immigrants, but were born in the U.S., and their ancestors had come over at least one hundred years before. I guess the students had been brainwashed in the schools for so many years that they had avoided the history they should know. So, to prevent further ignorance, I'm posting the text of the Declaration of Independence--the reason why Independence Day is celebrated every year on the Fourth of July.

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

56 signatures appear on the bottom of the document.

Recently, I was talking to a European, who was surprised that Americans don't think of themselves in terms of a "people" or ethnic group. How could we? There are different ethnicities in this country. What matters is that Americans want to be and remain free, and of course, there are different opinions about what freedom means. The great thing is that we have the freedom in this country to discuss it, protest over it, complain about it, vote over it. Many countries in the world do not have that luxury.

The United States is the first country to be founded on a creed, not an ethnicity. This is what our President said:

Unlike any other country, America came into the world with a message for mankind -- that all are created equal, and all are meant to be free. There is no America race; there's only an American creed: We believe in the dignity and rights of every person. We believe in equal justice, limited government, and in the rule of law. We believe in personal responsibility, and tolerance toward others.

Of course, reality doesn't always measure up to the ideals, but at least they exist, and this nation is a work in progress.

Happy Canada Day

Jordan announced that today is Canada Day:

It celebrates the creation of the Dominion of Canada through the British North America Act 1867, which came into effect on July 1, 1867, uniting three British territories — the Province of Canada (southern Ontario and southern Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick — into a federation.

The holiday itself was formally established in 1879 and was originally called Dominion Day, making reference to the Canadian-originated term 'dominion' to describe the political union, at a time when the Fathers of Confederation were hesitant to use a name such as the Kingdom of Canada. The name was changed to Canada Day on October 27, 1982.

I didn't know about this holiday until today. And since I'm going to Toronto in a few weeks, I guess July is going to be Canada month for me. Maybe I'll put that Canadian sticker on my car, to show solidarity with our great neighbor to the north.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S., which is why things seem slow in the online world, and why people are taking a day off from work and school. Here's some info about it:

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers...By the late 1800s, many communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day and, after World War I, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America's wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. (Veterans Day, a day set aside to honor all veterans, living and dead, is celebrated each year on November 11.)...Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Also, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Which reminds me: I'm still working on the American Culture tips I promised a while ago, so when they're finished, I'll alert the masses when the site is updated.

Get your baskets

When I was in German class last week, our teacher (who's German Catholic) told us about people in her neighborhood (who are Polish Catholic) who get their baskets blessed on Easter. All of us asked her to repeat what she said, because we'd never heard of that before, even though Chicago's a Catholic town. Da Mayor certainly doesn't do it. Nobody I know has ever done it.

I didn't seek out an explanation, but I saw that Arthur Chrenkoff, who immigrated from Poland, talked about it in his blog, and linked to a Polish site that says:

The blessing of the Easter food, or the "Swieconka" is a tradition dear to the heart of every Pole. Being deeply religious, he is grateful to God for all His gifts of both nature and grace, and, as a token of this gratitude, has the food of his table sanctified with the hope that spring, the season of the Resurrection, will also be blessed by God's goodness and mercy.

The usual fare on the Easter table includes ham and kielbasa, cakes of all kinds - particularly babka; eggs - some shelled or some decorated. There is usually a Paschal Lamb or "Baranek" made of butter, some cheese, horseradish, salt, vinegar and oil.

The food is brought to the church and blessed by the parish priest on Holy Saturday. The food can also be blessed in the home. After the blessing, the food is usually set aside until Easter morning when the head of the house shares the blessed egg, symbol of life, with family and friends.

I guess I have to hang out around Milwaukee Avenue more often.

Happy New Year!

Today is Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year), but I celebrated it a few days ago at a church potluck. When I was there, I saw the Chinese character for "fortune" turned upside down. Even though my Chinese is really lame (ie, practically non-existent), I knew the character didn't look right. But this explanation from Taiwan made sense:

"Spring couplets are paper scrolls and squares inscribed with blessings and auspicious words, such as 'good fortune,' 'wealth,' 'longevity,' and 'springtime.' The paper squares are usually pasted upside down, because the Mandarin word for 'upside down,' dao, is a homonym of the word 'arrival.' Thus, the paper squares represent the 'arrival' of spring and the 'coming' of prosperous times."

So should we make more New Year's resolutions? I'd like to say mine is to make progress in Mandarin, but at this point, it seems more like an intellectual exercise, though I eavesdrop on Mandarin conversations to try to figure out if they're saying the few words that I know. I'm still reading Beginner's Chinese by Yong Ho, which is a great book, and have even broken out my copy of 実用中国語会話, (Jitsuyo Chugokugo Kaiwa--Practical Chinese Conversation) where each phrase is translated from Chinese into Japanese and English. But all the explanations of grammar, pronunciation, and other rules are in Japanese, so it's good practice for the Japanese Proficiency Test.

Happy Rosenmontag

Today is Rosenmontag, which is part of German Carnival: "Officially it starts am elften elften elf Uhr elf (11th November at 11:11am) and continues in a fairly low-key way for about three months before the Tolle Tage (Crazy Days) which climax on Rosenmontag, the 42nd day before Easter."

I had no idea this holiday existed until I got an email from my German class: "Am Montag, 7. Februar 2005, ist Rosenmontag, der wichtigste Tag im deutschen Karneval."

That announcement corresponded in its simplicity to the English translation, which gave me hope: "Monday, February 7th, 2005, is Rosenmontag, the most important day in German Carnival."

But then the email became wordy, which made the invitation to a gathering before German class a little scary: "Wir würden uns freuen, wenn Sie vor dem Unterricht ab 17:00 Uhr zu uns in den Lesesaal zu Donuts und Getränken kommen würden."

Note how the English translation is simpler (of course): "You are cordially invited to donuts and soft drinks in our reading room starting at 5 pm. Classes will begin as usual at 5:30 pm."

Maybe the German-speaking world needs to discover the joys of periods (punctuation) to prevent the onslaught of their language on simple-minded English speakers.

Never vergessen

January 27 is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

See these sites for pictures:

Auschwitz in the 40's
More pictures from that time
Auschwitz in the late 70's and early 80's

When I visited Germany with my family, we went to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

My great-grandmother died in the Sobibor Concentration Camp:
"Built in March 1942 as a part of Aktion Reinhard in the General Government in Poland Sobibor operated from May 1942 until October 1943 for only one purpose: to kill as many Jews including children as quickly as possible. No selections were made for work or death - victims were brought to the camp in cattle cars and all but a handful were gassed immediately after arrival."

Another relative of mine was in Auschwitz when he was a teenager. And survived.

Find out more about The Holocaust here.

Don't forget.

Broke one, kept one

So far, even though it's only Day 2 of the New Year, I've already broken a resolution.

Actually, I started breaking it yesterday, during the Monk marathon. I was reading the credits, and noticed that Tony Shalhoub is both the star of the show and is an Executive Producer. Which got me thinking: he's so "lucky" (meaning that he's worked hard and it's paid off) to do something of quality, which is creative and unique, and which also must pay well. And then it creeped up on me: Envy, one of my resolutions. I was supposed to avoid it.

Coincidentally, there is an ad for Stargate on the Monk site, which in the past had caused Envy to annoy me, because it seems like a cool, intelligent show to work for. So there I was faced with two sources of it, but I survived.

At least I've been keeping my other resolution: to study Japanese, which I did last night and this morning.

Resolutions

I usually don't make New Year's resolutions, but I feel like I have to for 2005. So here are some:

1) Study for the Japanese Proficiency Test.
2) Finish the non-fiction book I'm working on.
3) Do the work for the fan sites. (Actually, that's more short-term. I should just shoot for next week.)
4) Find an interesting job.
5) Resume studying German.

Those are all tasks I should do. Of course, there are other resolutions, such as overcoming envy and fear of failure, and there will probably be others added to the list. But those will all keep me busy for a while.

In just over an hour, it will be a Happy New Year for those of us in the Central Time Zone. Hooray!

Christmas activity

I was walking down Michigan Avenue and heard someone say, "I can't wait until Christmas is over. I'm so sick of this." He must've been experiencing advertising overload, in addition to the rest of the pre-Christmas frenzy. Isn't Christmas supposed to be a one-day holiday?

For those of you who have OD'd on Christmas, here's a little pun, which John Deaver sent me:

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to leave. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off.  "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

And if you are interested in getting some Christmas-related ESL help, check out this site.

They didn't eat turkey?

According to a primary source, it doesn't sound like the Pilgrims ate turkey at the first Thanksgiving feast. Here's what Edward Winslow wrote in 1621:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

A Thanksgiving site says that "Tough, resourceful, able to fly and hard to catch, turkeys were not the first choice of either Native Americans or early colonial hunters."

I wonder if other Americans know that.