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So, I was standing outside our office building, waiting for a coworker to pull up his car to get some training materials. Two guys come up and stand in the doorway of a vacany store next to me. They take out a joint, light it up, and start smoking it. Now Massachusetts has made possession of marijuana legal, but you still can't smoke it in public. I did not say anything to them though.

I have a job interview tomorrow.

Learning different languages has made me appreciate how similar some of them are.

For example, in Filipino (the official language of the Philippines, which was supposed to be a mixture of different local languages BUT is overwhelmingly based on Tagalog - this means that many Filipinos not from the Tagalog region are not fluent in it) and in Tagalog (the language of much of the northern island of Luzon), we have many loan words from Spanish (e.g. all the days of the month, all days of the week except Sunday, many nouns for food and clothing and things). This comes from the Spanish era which lasted almost 400 years. So, it's fairly easy for me to read Spanish because many words are similar (which my native Spanish-speaking colleagues are amazed by, and the Spanish-speaking Latin Americans now regard the Philippines as a sort of distant cousin).

English also has many words that are borrowed from French. So, often if I don't know the French word, I try the English word (with a French pronunciation, lol - don't pronounce that last letter!!). Often it works. Communication, information, transportation, reunion, developpement, resources. Of course, most of the nouns are rather abstract, but still it helps.

I also learned French first, but the vocabulary is similar to Spanish, so it helped me with that.

Also, many Japanese words are borrowed from Mandarin Chinese, so that helps too.

Now I'm dabbling in German and Dutch, and I'm surprised at how many words are similar to English.

I don't think I'll ever achieve native fluency, but I'm already conversational in French and Spanish. I think I can reach that level in Dutch or German with a bit of work. And now, it makes sense why so many Europeans are at least conversational in multiple languages! Europe is so small, and with free movement and close regional integration, it's practical to learn other languages. And because of the similarities, it's easier than, say, someone Japanese trying to learn a European language.

Would you pay to see Murder Phone: the Quislet, Esq. Story? What if Chris Evans played Quislet, Esq.?

Which reminds me, I haven’t finished my workout for the day yet. though I did spend a couple hours walking around Paris again

Tampo is a Filipino concept wherein a person withdraws his attention and affection from someone close, because of a perceived slight. It's akin to sulking, but may use such underhanded methods as the silent treatment, resisting attempts to be cajoled, withdrawing oneself physically and muttering.

No new country entered the UNESCO World Heritage list this year. But next year, Rwanda and Monaco might get their first World Heritage properties.

Some of the Hallowe'en movies I am watching this year:

The Atom's Family:
A creepy, mysterious, and altogether ooky-- but small-- extended family terrorizes a peaceful suburbia. Their house is a museum.

Young Martin Stein:
A village watches in fascination and horror as the grandson of a mad scientist re-creates his grandfather's bizarre experiments in the fusion of human flesh. Features a performance of 'Puttin' On The Ritz' by The Nuclear Man.

Brainiacula
This vampyre is too smart for his own good.

Did Young Martin Stein blow up the kids too?

Careen means to go wildly from side to side. The book I am reading about pirates told me of the origin of that word. Wooden ships would get barnacles and other sea life attached to the parts below water. To get rid of them and replace broken board, and plug leaks, sailors using ropes would tip the ship on its side and fix the part that had been below water. This was call careen.

Amstelveen is a city right beside Amsterdam.

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Thanks for the demonstration!

Well, I am not usually one for going out to the movies. I'm getting too old to sit for two hour straight.

However, I understand that the Aquaman movie has a guest appearance by Topo, and the Spiderverse movie has a guest appearance by Peter Porker, the Spectactular Spider-Ham!

I may not be able to wait until they come out on video.

Even when I was younger, I had trouble sitting still for two hours straight. Well, not really trouble. But I prefer activities that stimulate my mind more.

That cute and catchy, classic Italian pop song "Mama Maria," is actually about smoking pot.

My knuckles are dry.

I don't like dry humor, but I'm not sure what to call its exact opposite. Wet humor?

Toilets are wet too, and the source of much humor.

Christmas Card (2), c1945 par amylsacks, on ipernity