Words Have Failled to Express . . .

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Didn’t finish NaNoWriMo this year, so I’m leaving the icon up as a reminder of my loser-dom. However, someone created a lovely “loser” icon, which Jodi at Jodiferous is featuring on the Dec 1 post on her blog. (http://www.jodiferous.com/)

However, I have resolved to write more in the upcoming year. I actually almost submitted a poem I wrote to The Sun magazine, but chickened out at the last minute. The poem wrote itself, I had very little to do with it . . . I was going through a very sad time, and the poem sat in my head, just wanting to get put on paper. Then once it was there, it felt like a weight had lifted from my soul. It is very rare that writing does that for me, but it does happen . . . and is starting to happen again. It is scary, feeling that much emotion and trying to express it . . . and sometimes I am afraid of how others may interpret it . . . but I know I should do it anyway . . .

My ESL semester is coming to an end . . . the last class is on December 13^th. This was a very interesting semester – it didn’t go quite the way that I had hoped – but I had a core of 5 very engaged, curious students who asked great questions and always wanted to go the extra step. Last week, we did a lot of work on past tense verbs, regular and irregular, and pronunciation. They seemed quite baffled by it all, since you know there really is no rhyme or reason to how English works, so we had a very interesting discussion where I told my students that the most important thing that they could do to improve their English is to listen to as much English being spoken as they can, and for the many words in English that sound the same and have different meanings, what they have to go on is the CONTEXT of what is being said. It will take a while to understand everything, but their patience will be rewarded. There was quite a bit of attendance drop off this semester, and I wasn’t as good about following up with those who disappeared. The semester started so chaotically, I never really got into the comfortable groove that I needed to be in . . . I hope next semester runs much more smoothly.

Apprentice recap: I only saw the second half, but that’s all you really need to see anyway. Am so happy that Randal and Rebecca won, and am so glad that Alla got fired . . . for a second it looked like she might hang on, and I thought that she was getting WAY too hardcore, ruthless to stay in contention. Besides, what was up with those outfits that they were wearing at the Microsoft presentation? They weren’t going to a beach party . . . and their ad was awful - way too many tiny words, and too many screen shots, which always tend to freak people out and keep you from wanting to actually use the software . . .

I am glad the holiday season is here . . . I am one of those annoying folks who actually likes the music of the season, so sue me. Such beautiful songs . . . my favorites are “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and “Gabriel’s Message” – yes, I know they are kind of obscure ones but there is something so haunting and beautiful in them both. Hoping to get the new Diana Krall Christmas album sometime real soon . . . it is really sad that there is such a short shelf life for listening to Holiday music – if I could, I would play my Harry Connick Jr, Ray Charles, and Ella Fitzgerald Christmas albums all year round . . .

I’d love to know – What are your own favorite holiday songs?

Everyone have a lovely weekend . . . I’ll leave you with this:

Sand

By Patty Seyburn

It's not mine

but I should have seen it coming —

the gradual pulverizing — you know,

eventually it will all disappear,

as will you.

I did not mean for everything

to get smaller.

I did not mean for the rich, richer

and the poor, poorer,

nor for everything to be fair

though my translators

bandy about "justice" and "righteousness"

with abandon

as though words were meant to correlate to thoughts.

As though ideas matter.

And things matter.

Do dunes compensate?

I did not invent intent.

You did.

And the way indented footprints disappear

on the ocean's arrival?

That was yours, too.

How eloquent.