"Everyone's a superhero. Everyone's a Captain Kirk."

Three down. Forty-nine to go. This week I will begin to memorize "99 Luftballons" in the original German (Task #8). Also, since tomorrow is conveniently February 1 and a Monday, I will begin my one month hiatus from fast food (Task #10). I just thought of this, but February is a short month. I didn't plan it that way, but it'll work out nicely.

I guess I need to operationally define "fast food" (Can you tell I'm currently taking a Behavior Modification class?). "Fast food" consists of any restaurant with a drive-thru or drive-in-and-order-in-your-parking-spot (a la Sonic). Sit-down, non-fast-food restaurants, such as McAlisters and Chile's do not constitute "fast-food" (obviously), and are up for grabs within reason. Those restaurants may only be eaten at once every 10 days, unless it is a family dinner that I did not plan myself as a way to cheat.

And now, for fun, here is the English translation of 99 Luftballons (originally sung by Nena)!

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone.
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, Something's out there.
Floating in the summer sky.
99 red balloons go by.

99 red balloons.
floating in the summer sky.
Panic bells, it's red alert.
There's something here from somewhere else.
The war machine springs to life.
Opens up one eager eye.
Focusing it on the sky.
Where 99 red balloons go by.

99 Decision Street.
99 ministers meet.
To worry, worry, super-scurry.
Call the troops out in a hurry.
This is what we've waited for.
This is it boys, this is war.
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Knights of the air
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero.
Everyone's a Captain Kirk.
With orders to identify.
To clarify and classify.
Scramble in the summer sky.
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 dreams I have had.
In every one a red balloon.
It's all over and I'm standing pretty.
In this dust that was a city.
If I could find a souvenier.
Just to prove the world was here.
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

SO, Creaves, they DO say "Captain Kirk!" Our ears did not deceive us!

99 Luftballons music video

Task #24- Write a Letter to Someone in the Military

So, near the end of each month, I'm going to review my progess. This month took me a while to get started, but I have now successfully completed three tasks: 9, 14, and 24.

Task #24: Write a letter to a person in the military.

Yesterday, I did some research on different organizations that send letters to troops. My friend/classmate gave me the names of two great organizations that I had actually seen in my own research. She said both of these organizations were really great ways to support and thank our soldiers! Adopt a Soldier and Cup of Joe for a Joe.

I decided upon Cup of Joe for a Joe for now and bought a soldier a cup of coffee and sent a message. Not a letter technically, but same general concept. It was easy and yet will brighten up a soldier's day and let him or her know that he/she is appreciated. Also, when you donate/write the message, you have the option of sending your email address to the soldier(s) you sent the coffee to, and they have the opportunity to respond to you, which is so cool!

I plan on looking more into the Adopt a Soldier Program as well. It is time I got off my lazy, ungrateful butt and started telling these people how thankful I am and our country is for their courage, sacrifice, and commitment to our country. I hope you will join me in this!

Hello! Task #14 is Complete!

Okay, Task 14 is done! I have it documented on a video, which I am currently trying to upload. Here are some cool facts about some of the greetings I learned.

*Did you know that Lithuanian is a very difficult language? There are different greetings for different times of day (including evening and night) as well as for different ages and genders of people.

*Punjabi- Sat sri akal. This is a greeting used among Sikhs. Greetings used in Punjab (the language) depend on the religion of the one being greeted. The entire phrase is "Jo Bole So Nihaal, Sat Sri Akaal," which essential means, "Blessed is the person who says "God is Truth." Sat sri akal/sat shri akaal is such a commonly used phrase (such as our "Hey" or "How are you?") that is is often used in shorthand as SSA when used in text messages, emails, etc. (http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Sat_Sri_Akal)

*In Punjabi, if speaking to a Hindi person, the greeting is "Namaste" (the phrase often used in yoga).

*Welsh- Shwmae
Thanks to Gillian for helping me learn how to pronounce it correctly!

*Yiddish- sholem aleikhem (Translation: "May peace be unto you.")

A sweet family portrait

Here is the new family photo. Hooplah is front and center, Filbert is on the left, and Gertrude is kind of hidden in the back on the right.

People, this is what grad school does to your brain. It turns it to mush. You will start talking to cactii and calling them your family. Pretty soon, I might start walking around asking people "Have you seen my cactii? They're very friendly. They're not mean like most cactii."

By the way, I'm on my way to completing Task #14. Merhaba selam! (Turkish!)

I like to talk to plants.

Icelandic greeting: done (I can't spell it, but I can say it- gothan dahg!)
Bengali greeting: done (Namaskar!)

Two down. Eight to go.

I'm going to try to put up a video blog entry where I (clumsiliy) say all 10 greetings. It may or may not work. We'll see.

In other news:
*Did you know there are now Almond Joy Pieces (like Reese's pieces, but more tropical)? The clerk at Wal*Mart and I were dancing for joy over the find. Really, we were dancing. The people around us just kind of stared. Obviously they don't appreciate Almond Joys the way we do.

*This weekend was spent with about 40 relatives, 20 of whom I'd never seen before in my life. We bonded over homemade pickles, catfish, and mullets.

*My generous grandmother gave me a pot with three cactii in it today. I named them, because I intend on talking to them. Filbert, Gertrude, and Hoopla (who was originally named Hooray) are their names. I can tell them apart and hope I don't kill them. I have a thumb of death. What makes things worse is that I thanked my grandmother for them. "Don't!" she scolded. Saying thank you for plants is apparently bad luck. But cactii seem pretty hardy, so maybe they'll last a week or two with me.

Hi, Hello, How Ya Doing?, What's Up?, Hey, Howdy, Yo...

1. Icelandic - góðan dag (formal; pronounced gothan dahg), hæ (informal; pronounced "hai")

2. Lithuanian - laba diena (formal), labas, sveikas (informal; when speaking to a male), sveika (informal; when speaking to a female), sveiki (informal; when speaking to more than one person).

3. Punjabi - sat sri akal

4. Swahili - jambo, Habari (hello), Habari gani (How are you?)

5. Thai - sawa dee-ka (said by a female), sawa dee-krap (said by a male)

6. Welsh - shwmae (South Wales; pronounced shoe-my), "Sut Mae" North Wales( pron "sit my") or "S'mae" ( Pron "S' my") or simply "Hylo"

7. Yiddish - sholem aleikhem (literally "may peace be unto you"), borokhim aboyem or gut morgn (morning), gutn ovnt (evening), gutn tog (day), gut shabbos (only used on the Sabbath)

8. Turkish - merhaba selam (formal), selam (Informal)

9. Greek - γεια σου (pronounced yah-soo; informal), γεια σας (formal)

10. Bengali — namaskar (In West Bengal, India)

Just for fun:
Ung Tongue - Hello (This is a made-up language, like Pig latin. This is pronounced Hung-ee-lung-lung-oh.)

Klingon - nuqneH? [nook-neck] (literally: "what do you want?")

(http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Hello-in-Different-Languages)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language)

Now, I just need to start memorizing them. I will only memorize one or two general greetings per language, instead of focusing on morning, afternoon, and evening greetings. Grad school is taking up a huge portion of my memory space.

Yodel-ay-ee-ay-ee-ay *coughs* ay-ee-ay-ee...

I have my work cut out for me. (Task #50)

This week's goal is to memorize how to say "hello" in ten languages (not including English, Spanish, French, or Pig-Latin). (Task #14