I had a killer class this morning. Sometimes learning gets me high as a kite, and today was that type of day. Call me a dork if you want to (I DARE you), I'll say it straight up: my grammar lecture RULED.
I remember when I was learning French, things got really interesting about year three. That was when we started mixing things up a little bit - some subjonctif here, some futur ant�rieur there. Making the jump from saying, "I have a red house" to "I would have had a red house if we hadn't painted it purple" was such an exciting leap... as I was only 12 or 13 at the time, I remember thinking, "Oh, so wow? Other languages have different layers like that, too?" Please forgive me for being stupid. I just told you, I was young. Regardless, I don't think I conciously was aware of how complicated it actually was -- in all languages I've studied to date, the grammar exercises are usually based on just plugging-and-chugging elements into a formula at the top of the page -- but I DO remember being really thrilled when went from understanding basic phrases to more intricate verb structures.
Which is why today was so cool in class. In one day, we covered the imperfect, past perfect and future perfect. It's so easy in Arabic! (I can't believe I just wrote that) We also dipped a little into the subjonctive, but the prof stopped after his first point for timing reasons. I was like, "No!! No!!! Keep teaching me about the subjonctive!!!" But then I decided not to say that out loud, because I would like to maintain whatever friends I might have made in my class thus far.
However, the excitement of it all inspired a 2-hr Arabic marathon with a coffee by my side. The concentration level was very high, and I almost missed my RDV because I was so absorbed in the subject. The only thing that managed to break my spell was an old Frenchman yelling into his cell phone at the table behind me - I don't know why he had to tell EVERYONE in the caf� about his plumbing problem. I actually pulled a Parisian on his ass and gave him The Look and then sighed heavily. He didn't know how to read my very clear signals, so I eventually just got up and changed tables for my remaining ten minutes of work.
And then, I met up with TheKnitter for lunch (we work in the same 'hood) before I went to work. Or tried to go to work. Just five or ten minutes before I was to head on my merry way to "the office", my boss called to tell me not to come in today. I was a block away, so good thing he called me beforehand.
But still, I'm not bitter. I wandered over the Chatelet and said hello to Vegas. I was asked to do a voiceover in a film while there, so there was an unexpected purpose (other than a social one) to my visit. Really, it was just that the afternoon was beautiful and I wanted a bit of a walk before going back to the house.
I got home about an hour later, and ten minutes after that, The Boy's brother - GanglyMan - knocked on the door. He came loaded with catalogues from editors, and I spent the next hour or two choosing books for our project. Meanwhile, I organized drop offs for a couple sales I have organized, and I met up with several different buyers. One of them was sort of hot and I couldn't really talk to him without getting all weird, so that was a tricky transaction. The others went swimmingly.
So here it is: eight o'clock and I have already learned three new verb forms in Arabic, visited with a friend, gotten a role in a movie, made some spare cash, and gotten a shit ton of work done. This is my second "day off" in a row, and I am again amazed out how much I can get done. Let me repeat: I need a day off every day! Think of all the work I could do!
; "Sun River 5K")
; "Catching fish")
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