(no subject)
Dec. 1st, 2011 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittydesadeI'm not even going to try to transliterate until I have less chaos and more sleep. Also, today's kanji practice will be writing "this year/week", "last year/week", and "next year/week" until I get them all straight. Oi.
Example: a guitar Eric Clapton used - これはエリック・クラプトンが作ったギターです
A picture Picasso drew - これはPicassoが書いたえです。
A piano Beethoven played - これはBeethovenがひいたピアノです。
A jacket Elvis Presley wore - これはElvis Presleyがきったジャケットです。
A car Kennedy rode in - これはKennedyが乗った車です。 （のった）(Not being morbid not being morbid...)
A letter Gandhi wrote - これはGandhiが書いた手紙です。
A photo Hitchcock took - これはHitchcockがとったしゃしんです。
A telephone Bell made - これはBellがつくった電話です。
A cap Mao Tse-tung wore - これは毛沢東がかぶったほうしです。
Я здесь уже один месяц. Я уже поменяла свою программу. Я вам писала о курсе испанского языка для иностранцев. Я сразу поняла, что этот курс лёгский для меня, и я першла на испанскую литературу. Что интересно, в испанских университетах можно свободно выбирать курсы.
Я здесь уже три недели. Я уже люблю мои курсы! Я вам писала о курсе кубинскую литературу. Я сразу поняла, что этот курс не трудный для меня, а очень инетресний. Читаем Хосе Марти и Педро Гутьеррез... and then I lost the plot.
The problem with winter is that you don't want to get out of your warm bed/the hot shower. Moo. Also the cat comes and sits on your chair for no apparent reason and then every time you get up for shower or breakfasting you have to evict the cat before you can sit down again. Also, this post kind of turned into a CS-how-to. I am deeply sorry. Sort of.
We've had kind of a chain reaction of revelations going on here now. The most recent one I've had is sort of the secret to becoming awesome. It's not much of a secret, but I'll tell you anyway, because I don't believe in keeping this secret. And like all good secrets, when you tell it, no one believes you. Are you listening?
Step 1: Find what you love to do/be.
Step 2: Find what you're good at, or what you can learn and practice and become good at.
Step 3: Find where those parts one and two intersect.
Step 4: Do a lot of that.
Step 5: Keep yourself fed, watered, rested, and housed.
Step 6: You are now awesome.
No, seriously. It's that simple. Note I say simple and not easy, because very rarely is anything as easy as it looks on paper. In this economy, Step 5 alone is pretty damn difficult. But if you're lucky enough to be able to keep yourself fed, watered, rested, and housed without breaking either the bank or your free time, the rest of it really is that simple. Swear to Goddess.
At the beginning of Courtesan School I decided that my kind of awesome was a polylinguistic, crafty dancer/writer. I knew how to speak a few languages, I knew how to do a few crafts and was/am surrounded by people who know more, I knew how to dance (12 years or so of ballet/modern! Oi.) and enjoy it, and I love writing. I get cranky and low self-esteem when I don't write. So, clearly, this was the kind of courtesan I wanted to be. At the beginning of Courtesan School it was never about, you must study or do this specific thing. I think we all had a fair bit of floundering because some of us were more confident in what we wanted to do or be, and everyone else saw the actions rather than the confidence and went clearly I must do that. It's not about that. I do languages and dancing exercise and writing and making things because that's the person I want to be. My friend does music and languages and domestic badassery because that's who she wants to be. I have another friend who does all the studying of theatre and performance arts ever because that's who she wants to be. And, you know. We all go after it with the tenacity of a rabid badger who's been poked by a stick, because there's no substitute for the high of being who you are as hard as you can. And then sleeping all the sleep afterwards, of course.
(Self-care, I think, is the part of all this self-esteem life coach crap that people leave out a lot. You can't maintain the same fervor 24-7, you just can't. You need to have downtime, take care of yourself. The trick is finding out what downtime means to you, too, and what's good for you. What low-energy activities help you. For me, it's reading, spinning, playing a computer game or two, or just curling up on a bed and petting a cat.)
The hardest part is finding out who you are. Which is also, in a way, why it's the first question. And to that, all I can think of to say is, you find out what you love to do. What makes you happy to do, not for fame, not for glory, but because when you have done that thing or made that thing or when you know that thing, you feel good about it. Simply for itself. I love studying languages because picking apart grammar and finding similarities makes me happy, I found out a grammatical similarity between Irish and Russian and babbled about it to at least three people, only one of whom was at all interested. I dance because when I'm done with that song or step or piece, I feel bouncy and happy. I write because ... I have stories in my head and I want them to be out on paper. Or screen. I craft because making pretty things is fun for me. And then I put all these together and it becomes a whole courtesan prototype for me to aim towards. And you might like languages or dancing, or you might lift heavy things and put them down again because you like how it makes you feel. Or you might like making music. Or you might like making food things. Or you might like looking at birds, raising dogs, weaving baskets underwater in a ninja outfit. Which means you had damn well better get your underwater ninja basketweaving on, because no one else is going to do it for you and make you feel as good as you will when you do it yourself.
Get out there and be awesome. You can do it. I have faith in you.
(This post brought to you by the letters S, Y, and by the number 3.)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-01 02:37 pm (UTC)EEEEEEEEEEE ALL THE AWESOME!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-01 02:49 pm (UTC)ALL THE AWESOME WE HAS IT.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-01 02:58 pm (UTC):D YES WE DO! All the tired, too, but that one passes.