Weekend Update
Just a few assorted thoughts, unsorted:
Friday afternoon I breezed through Russian lesson 3, and then train-wrecked in lesson 4. I'll be repeating it, possibly twice.
Sabbath morning a good friend gave me a chart of Cyrillic characters, РУССКИЙ АЛФАВИТ, and pointed me toward www.MasterRussian.com, which appears to be an excellent resource.
Another good friend recently expressed a feeling of intimidation that I'm starting to study Russian. It's been a little while since I've had to deal with that concept (that I intimidate somebody), and I'm still not sure what to do with it. I definitely find motivation to study and excel in an area where I will not be alone: all my life it's been easiest to find interest in that which interests others. I like to think that I handle it very non-competitively, gently, humbly, not crowing or gloating about how rapidly I learn or become skilled, trying to avoid comparisons with others who are learning along with me. I certainly want to be awesome with many skills, ranging from musical to lingual to mathematical and many more. But I also want those I'm with to also be awesomely skilled in the same things. Skills that will be inapplicable within my circle of friends will hold less interest for me than those that I can touch on and keep fresh with the people I know best and appreciate most.
Knowing that certain friends are learning Russian makes me eager to learn Russian, not so I can learn more Russian or be more fluent, but so that we will have that much more in common. But if my interest is going to repel a friend and cause them to loose interest, especially in something necessary for a graduate degree, then it may be important for me to back off, or at least wait a while.
Sabbath morning I conducted and Vicki played double bass with a small string ensemble for both services at the Sligo SDA church. We performed Velvet Morning by Sean O'Loughlin, Pavane by Ravel, and Deep River by another composer whose name I forget at the moment. Most of the players were friends or former students of Evonne Baasch, a well-known string teacher here. The performance went very well, and it was a joy to get to conduct again. Perhaps some of the same players would be interested in a longer-term ensemble: we'll see.
This evening my family and a couple of close friends will be visiting the Rainforest Cafe in Tyson's Corner. This will be a family first, and our friends are going along to help, er, interpret the experience. <smile> I'll let you know how it goes.
** UPDATE **
We liked it. We may not go back frequently, but we're happy to have gone this time. The food was, as predicted, not exceptional, but quite enjoyable. And there's enough variety for vegetarians to be content. Aside from all the décor, (huge fishtanks, jungle trees, gorillas, enormous parrots, cockatoos and toucans and even elephants) their pride and joy is a brownies, ice cream and whipped cream desert called the Volcano, which is their closest connection to Farrell's, as it comes with a lit sparkler stuck in the top and one or more staff calling "Vo_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_lcano!" as they carry it to your table.
Friday afternoon I breezed through Russian lesson 3, and then train-wrecked in lesson 4. I'll be repeating it, possibly twice.
Sabbath morning a good friend gave me a chart of Cyrillic characters, РУССКИЙ АЛФАВИТ, and pointed me toward www.MasterRussian.com, which appears to be an excellent resource.
Another good friend recently expressed a feeling of intimidation that I'm starting to study Russian. It's been a little while since I've had to deal with that concept (that I intimidate somebody), and I'm still not sure what to do with it. I definitely find motivation to study and excel in an area where I will not be alone: all my life it's been easiest to find interest in that which interests others. I like to think that I handle it very non-competitively, gently, humbly, not crowing or gloating about how rapidly I learn or become skilled, trying to avoid comparisons with others who are learning along with me. I certainly want to be awesome with many skills, ranging from musical to lingual to mathematical and many more. But I also want those I'm with to also be awesomely skilled in the same things. Skills that will be inapplicable within my circle of friends will hold less interest for me than those that I can touch on and keep fresh with the people I know best and appreciate most.
Knowing that certain friends are learning Russian makes me eager to learn Russian, not so I can learn more Russian or be more fluent, but so that we will have that much more in common. But if my interest is going to repel a friend and cause them to loose interest, especially in something necessary for a graduate degree, then it may be important for me to back off, or at least wait a while.
Sabbath morning I conducted and Vicki played double bass with a small string ensemble for both services at the Sligo SDA church. We performed Velvet Morning by Sean O'Loughlin, Pavane by Ravel, and Deep River by another composer whose name I forget at the moment. Most of the players were friends or former students of Evonne Baasch, a well-known string teacher here. The performance went very well, and it was a joy to get to conduct again. Perhaps some of the same players would be interested in a longer-term ensemble: we'll see.
This evening my family and a couple of close friends will be visiting the Rainforest Cafe in Tyson's Corner. This will be a family first, and our friends are going along to help, er, interpret the experience. <smile> I'll let you know how it goes.
** UPDATE **
We liked it. We may not go back frequently, but we're happy to have gone this time. The food was, as predicted, not exceptional, but quite enjoyable. And there's enough variety for vegetarians to be content. Aside from all the décor, (huge fishtanks, jungle trees, gorillas, enormous parrots, cockatoos and toucans and even elephants) their pride and joy is a brownies, ice cream and whipped cream desert called the Volcano, which is their closest connection to Farrell's, as it comes with a lit sparkler stuck in the top and one or more staff calling "Vo_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_o_lcano!" as they carry it to your table.
posted by Daniel | 2:56 PM
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