Refraction

(That’s a programming NOT operator for those of you who, like me, are programming-illiterate.)

Anyway, cover letters suck. Especially when you’re responding to a job posting that tells you nothing about what you’re actually doing besides “implementing experiments” and “preparing test materials.” Um, that’s great, Ms. HR director… now run that by me again?

The other requirements are equally banal. “Must have attention to detail and good record-keeping skills.” “Must be able to follow instructions.” Who ISN’T able to follow instructions? Seriously!

On the other hand, French class was cancelled today and I spent some time discussing my academic future with one of my Chemistry classmates, who tried to convince me that third year is the hardest one (I have to admit, I think he’s right–I won’t be taking quantum OR physical in fourth) and that sticking in Honours might not be such a bad idea.

Oh well. At worst, if I’m unlucky, the decision won’t be in my hands at all.

My offline friends know I’m a language fiend. I’m not particulary good at most of them, but I like to collect them. 😀 And books about them. 😀

So I’m keeping this post to remind myself of exactly what language-learning books I have and to show them off 😀

French

• Le bon usage, a giant French grammar of everything and anything you could possibly need to know (okay, I’m exagerrating, but this is one huge book. It’s bigger than my dictionary.)
• Grammaire pratique du français d’aujourd’hui, another grammar book, but written in French for non-Francophones.
• Grammaire complète, a grammar I bought in Québec. Now that I have it I’m not too sure I need it anymore. It uses odd capitalization (le Subjonctif; le Conditionnel) but it has really cute pictures XD
• French Prose Composition, it’s an exercise book for English to French translation. There are no answers though, just a very interesting preface. XD
• Ensuite, a random French textbook I bought at a library book sale. I don’t know where this went, actually.
• C’est la vie, ditto.
• Collins-Robert Pocket French Dictionary, still going strong after many years of service!
• La petite Larousse, 197x, I can’t remember when exactly it was published, but it’s old. It has pictures though, helpful for when you can’t figure out what kind of tree an ‘epinette’ is (it’s a pine, I think.)
• Le micro Robert, dictionnaire linguistique que j’ai acheté au Québec. It’s awesome.
• Mettre de l’ordre dans ses idées, a book all about connecteurs! 😀 Cost me an arm and a leg but given the emphasis my prof in Québec put on them, I think it’s well worth the cost.
• Larousse: Difficultés Grammaticales, a small little reference book for those little details of French grammar. Surprisingly cheap, too 😀
• Plus a whackload of literary works (Voltaire, Ionesco, etc.)

Japanese

• French-Japanese dictionary, it is t3h awesome. Case closed. I can’t really use it, but still…
• Japanese for Busy People, Vol I (kana edition), a cute find, but unfortunately I am already familiar with 90% of the lessons presented here (not that I recall them exactly: I never liked numbers in Japanese.)
• Japanese for Busy People, Vol II.
• 250 Kanji Essential for Everyday Use, Vol II (or some such title). Haven’t even looked at this.
• Conversational Japanese: the Cortina method, this book is so old it comes with an offer for a free record. XD

(I am getting tired of these comments, and in any case, they are only interesting for the French ones, anyway.)

German

• Pocket Oxford German Dictionary
• Berlitz German Grammar handbook
• Teach Yourself German
• Teach Yourself German Grammar
• Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik

Chinese (Mandarin)

• Chinese: an essential grammar
• Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day, ‘gift’ when I was, oh, 5, and HOW IT SHOWS.

Chinese (Cantonese)

• Elementary Cantonese, Vol I, currently on loan to someone somewhere.

Spanish

• Collins Spanish Dictionary
• Teach Yourself Spanish

Vietnamese

• Essential Vietnamese Phrases

Russian

• The Penguin Russian Course

The key for this is not-secret-at-all-sigh. Go here to recover the cipher text, and then here to decrypt the cipher text.

Packsack braw dissuade arousal snarks mater gigging? Induing dodgem,
curb ersatzes salicin, mums. Smoggy purses, armoire foams, banjo
grouty, meekest. Hipness couteaux, laughs paleal duple, muddily.
Fumelike grandma engrain, cessions saggers annul. Exigency, poorish,
overfish aphagia campier diarists. Allured aniline sinewy dildoe
farouche. Monogeny oversews adipous pa kyrie cakey. Bipedal patties
overlies, monodic loreal apothems cozey! Kickups eupeptic hyetal,
glinted.

Claque pagod dulcimer fanners. Eurythmy kathodal meatless dawdles
deeded, bilsted, frocked. Dormie abashed infests misplead adoze!
Spavined bemuse phytane sialic linga kabars, diabasic nowt. Psilocin,
poinding sannops lambkins bootlick amir contras carafes. Deleaved
mambas outgnawn bawsunt! Chromas, footbath anemia. Affinal buckayro
revealer bannocks cutes ripping. Diesel goopiest releves. Sarapes
hajes piquancy blackfly keynote azotemic.

Readies, sampled mugs alyssums belaying. Corymbs pung, shipping kebab
curriers ataxia jacana. Haverel entraps echinus dummkopf brook,
landman. Races collapse cockle bedunce. Coterie silexes indulins
hireling. Satchel lowballs becrowd frenches fending familial. Bowlines
hydragog posteens chute sardius spinnies medfly. Cocobolo mynheers
penuckle demeanor! Equites outloves jiujutsu, bedchair bomber blite
petalody rarebits.

Halve, earthier, noosed botchy rachitic. Acetic, liquor, shrike
grumbles. Recopied axonal romances bewraps defacers beetle rodent.
Alkalify jukes cider clubhand. Birler bewailer kippers patellae.
Markkas rutting rowan curricle gurgling. Bootjack lastly meltable
brig. Lithic manner briars misbills perfect. Fray kultur smoochy.

Catenoid bimorph mismake spirant clerkish, notes? Pasture quatre
someway cedarn. Meowed roads, calfskin calotte. Handloom jagg immixing
doxology heathers salmons. Bipod hoards hustings bitten beaky poof
regauges appetent. Merits impreses jarinas predicts. Cobalts cloggier
reverted mopier cetanes alkalize punctate signify helipads. Heroized
kotows, omit begonias.

Ratchets opticist nihils beastie enthrall shader indulge nascence.
Shlocks, compos idyll anele grecized nilgau ruthful.

Hoptoads snooked priestly braiding bestuds mezereum outshot dupes,
lockable. Rabat laetrile phi, roupy loves pit. Airers salacity
parables sigh sipes galliass laboured!

Cliched bignonia, sleeked rookiest airship. Apposite firemen setulose
ferule cineoles, ericoid compend. Askos enthrals goatee, entail keister
rut. Ficoes, pitchman lippers sharable, omicron, dormin. Necktie
mayhem knapped, crocein. Readding aggrieve payers response. Icy,
catlings punkier snuggled effete balsams sards discord. Bakemeat,
chuddars, snidely leash. Caboodle outstand eelier distract ewes.
Prefer coulter heeded haunting, faenas.

Doums issuing hodden gib limiter. Auricled fallows, murid quartet
bezels gelidity. Buttals diplont, cleaving intitule avarice spondees
shirr preens. Purloin echinoid rippler, schedule, deticker outbound
booze! Jerks spiels, bailiff mounted biding, pecks. Outkill boffola
seer botryose doornail. Sinology retinae messaged blackout. Arterial
arching maya alary coccus mortises basks repump flatten decibel.
Arsenide, devested pretax. Rebored carryons mumped fulgid.

Sensa nonvocal honied bureaus, leadsmen. Hepatoma lathing forebays
bedizen kabaka foxier. Adhere cunners godchild reliques drunk rubbed
slurp furcular! Sloper gummites religion sapajou doven iodizers.
Rumplier, secretin gassiest purls jambes lungis chirped. Avoset cess
buzzy ovation slums overholy depolish, lopper.

On nous a enfin permis de parler anglais!

Malheureusement que ça veut aussi dire que c’est la fin du programme. 🙁 Je voudrais rester–je me sens enfin à l’aise ici, mais non–c’est comme ça depuis toujours: lorsque je me sens à l’aise, c’est la fin. Blah.

Ben mes amis, je vais vous voir dans quelques jours! Karaoké!! J’ai hâte de chanter karaoké!

Mes colocs, pour la plupart, sont géniales mais il y en a une… que je n’aime pas. Heurusement que c’est presque la fin! Je suis quelqu’un qui n’exige pas beaucoup (selon moi, en tout cas), mais je vous laisse la decision:

– elle a emprunté ma fourchette et mon bol sans me l’avoir demandé, et de plus mon bol a maintenant des ébréchures
– elle a cassé mon assiette (j’ai emprunté l’assiette, le bol, etc du caféteria pour un dépôt de 5$)
– elle est desordonnée, elle ne ramasse pas ses affaires
– elle ne fait pas ce qu’elle dit
– elle est très combative, très gauchiste: si vous dites quelque chose qui ne lui plaît pas… préparez-vous pour une lecture

Au fond: je ne l’aime pas. ARRRGH.

Hier, je suis allée à Québec (la ville). *_* C’était vraiment beau, je l’adore. De plus, je me sentais plus à l’aise dans la ville. C’était simplement merveilleux!! Et j’ai finalement trouvé un disque de KYO (mais malheureusement pas Calogero).

Ben, à plus tard. Il me reste 21 jours seulement, mais à vrai dire je me tiens à retourner. Vraiment. Mes amis, nous avons la chance d’habiter dans la plus belle ville du monde. Je me suis rendu compte à quel point le communauté ici est homogène: au super-marché, j’ai achété une carte d’appel, et le cassier m’a dit: «Tu peux regarder le taux pour ton pays.» Moi: « …. (je viens du Canada….) …. C’est beau.»

Bonjour, j’écris cette entrée de la salle des ordinateurs dans le centre social (c’est comme notre ”Student Union Building.” Un peu.)

En tout cas, le campus ici est très petit! Il n’y a que six résidences pour les étudiants. Chaque résidence a huit appartements, dans lesquelles se trouvent quatre chambres. Ben. Moi, j’habite avec trois autres filles. Une d’eux vient de ma ville! Peut-être que tu penses que ça c’est une bonne chose, mais moi, je ne l’aime pas. En fait, je regrette de ne pas avoir choisi de vivre dans une famille. Même si la cuisine est mauvaise, même si ma mère d’acceuil est méchante, je pense que ça aurait été meilleur. *le sigh* En tout cas, j’ai fait ma décision.

!!! De plus, nous avons eu un examen écrit et puis un examen oral. Moi, je suis dans la classe la plus avancée!!! Le prof qui m’a interviewée, lui, enseigne cette classe, donc… j’espère qu’il sait ce qu’il a fait. 🙁 Je lui ai parlé déjà , et il m’a dit simplement que j’ai déjà suivi les cours de grammaire et ça serait meilleur si je suis un cours non-traditionnel.

Eh ben. D’ailleurs, j’ai fait le connaissance de quelques gens ici qui sont très sympas. Quand il ne s’agit pas du cours ou de mes camarades de chambre, je suis très heureuse et contente ici.

Pour ceux qui veulent une carte postale: SVP de me fournir votre addresse par COURRIEL. Malheureusement je ne les ai pas mémorisées.

Postcrossing is such a wonderful site. I signed up about two weeks ago, and I sent my first postcards last week…. and one of them has already been received! This gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

Basically, the point of Postcrossing is to swap postcards with other people from around the world. You send one, and then you get on a “to-receive” list. Eventually, you (hopefully) receive another postcard! This is seriously fun stuff.

I need to think of some cool things to write on cards. I don’t want to write boring cards, but cards that will brighten up people’s days and make them smile. Or at least make them think. Something creative.

I really encourage you all to sign up, though, if you’re into this kind of thing. X3 If you want to collect a certain type of postcard: sunsets, or night scenes, or “local colour”–I’m sure the community will be happy to oblige.

Speaking of postcards, anyone who wants a postcard from Chicoutimi need only ask. I’ll need your address, though, naturally 🙂

If I’ve learned one thing recently, it’s that I am not cut out for a full-time career in retail.

I am exhausted, which explains why I haven’t been in touch, or replied to emails (I read them and think, I’ll reply to this later.) Well, I’ve been working day shifts lately, and since my dad’s got these few weeks off work, we’ve been going out for dinner and the night market. I liked the Mandarin restaurant, because I didn’t have to say a thing at all! The night market is also much more amusing when you can eat, as opposed to wandering around because your mother is stuffing her face with food that you can’t eat.

See, the thing that really sucks about my job is that I never get to sit down, which means I’m standing (and running, and clambering up ladders) for eight hours. I reviewed the dress code for no particular reason today, which says I’m not allowed to wear ‘overly casual shoes’ since that ‘does not promote merchandise authority.’ I’m not good with flats for two reasons: a) lack of arch support; b) lack of height–heels are the way to go. (Besides which, our flats are ugly. But that’s another story.)

I worked 38.5 hours last week. It’s going to be something like that for this week, too, and I’m working the full 40 the week before I leave. On one hand, I was not expecting to work this much, and this will pad my budget for my trip nicely; on the other hand–grrrsummertourists!nohabloespanol!toomuchtodo!nofoodtoeat!.

Someone actually asked me for winter boots today. What was slightly more disturbing was that she started off the conversation with ¿Hablas español? I need to take a Spanish course at some point in the near future so that I can stay sane. And Korean. I need to learn some kind of basic Korean. “I don’t speak Korean” would be a good start.

Oh, and German, since I told Mrs. French that I’d be fluent by 2010. XP

My days off are jam-packed as well; I still have to buy:

• luggage
• summer clothes; I can survive the summers here, but I think it’s a lot warmer in Québec
• material to make that darn sheer summer poncho
• something I can wear to a ‘formal’ event in the summer

Not to mention that installing a simple game on the Linux box is taking the better part of my patience. I’ve spent about three hours on that, now, and it’s still not working. I’m going to cry.

I feel like I’ve abandoned my blog, an irrational sentiment since there are people out there who have dead blogs.

It occurs to me that I always feel emo around my birthday. My sense of trepidation only increases as the day approaches, and I wish I knew why, especially since for most people birthdays are glorious occasions. It’s not the whole ‘getting old’ thing; I can deal with that. (And, let’s be honest: I’m not really that old. Both Sarah and Sam, for example, are older :D) Rather, it’s a combination of ‘getting old and taking responsibility’ and general emo-ness–or just the last vestiges of teenage angst getting out of my system. I despise teenage angst, generally, and I think I fall into that trap far too often for my own good.

Then again, this past birthday was somewhat more muted than usual given that I couldn’t eat anything, and was reduced to waiting for my beautiful ice cream cake to melt into ice cream pudding before I could eat it. That was upsetting. So was not being able to eat the chocolate cookie centre: I even poked at it for a good three minutes before deciding, No, this is not going to work.

Looking back on it, I have been fairly un-emo-ish throughout this whole “recovery from surgery” deal. You can’t afford to be emo when you have to monitor your fluid intake and make sure you’re getting enough calories and nutrients. There’s simply no time. Plus, the whole plaintive ballad thing doesn’t work so well when you can hardly talk.

Plus, I survived a month on nearly liquid food. That has to be worthy of a medal, or something.

On the upside, though, pretty much everyone who’s seen me has promised to take me out for some kind of delicious food when I’m ready to eat it. That makes me happy :dorkygrin: