Spam Grammar

"Can you remember me, my name is Clarissa , At last here is found thy email"

Oh wow! I don't think anyone has ever used "thy email"—not even the Amish. It wasn't translated by a bot. It came from someone whose knowledge of English involves the King James Bible (or possibly, but much less likely, Shakespeare). (Or a bot programmed to create 17th century sermons.)

For the benefit of any spam translators who might come across this post, it should be "thine email," as email starts with a vowel sound. Otherwise the 16th century recipients whose servants read it aloud to them might think it's simply thy mail.

This one is correct, though "shalt" doesn't need two "l"s.

This one isn't correct, but as it's humor based on a bad translation, it's fun that it's not quite right.

Mayhap the creator of this graphic felt that "thy own self" was more modern than "thine..." or perhaps didn't think Shakespeare's Polonius was supposed to be using it correctly. It seems to me that quoting Shakespeare would work better by ... you know ... quoting.

The top part is okay, but the bottom is screwy.

The second line would only be slightly less jumbled if "whilst thou ridest thine steed" had been used (rather than "while your rides" thy steed). What's the original of this one? I don't get the joke.

Except that the spam e-mail was somehow baffling sincere in its intent to be communicating in e-mail-appropriate English, I would figure it was just more of the mountain of "Ye Olde Thiseth and Thateth" godawfully pseudo early-modern English.

A still morning

It looks like snow outside. Smells like it, sounds like it (the echoey air when a bird sounds or a foot falls).

Holly is sick in bed, so I'm going to the gym without her.

Kirby called. He is still employed, but 600 other Blizzard folk are not, as of the 29th, and his shift "yesterday" started late Wednesday night, which is when they found out who stayed and who would leave with a quite-decent severance gift, but sudden unemployment. High security measures during and after the layoffs. Kirby's nearest involvement was telling his team members which should go to one room, and which should go to a different room. Eleven of his team of twenty-some was let go. He said he had survivor's guilt. He was glad to have his job, and he likes it, but the mood was dark, and security was heavy.

Keith came in a couple of days ago frustrated to have learned that he won't get a raise next year. But Keith, too, is still employed.

Compared to families where the main support person has become unemployed during the recession, I know we're fortunate. Marty isn't working, but he's going to school and we can afford to support him. Holly's working a little here and there, and going to school and singing and doing yoga, and we can afford to support her, still.

I'm working on tallying up my travel expenses and book sales, printing costs and office supplies over the past year. I have a hobby/vocation that supports itself at about a break-even level, but that does take the pressure off of Keith to pay for me to help other people unschool (as he has done several years in the past).

I have solemn gratitude this morning, rather than the usual bubbly gratitude.

Bric A Brac

So... I got up too early and full of awakeness, and got up to start sorting through all my papers from last year for taxes. Fun, huh? (Not fun for me.)

So I was sorting through my receipts from the UK, throwing away the things that weren't deductible and remembering how much I love museums and books and charity shops (not, not, and not deductible).

I thought I would add this to the knowledge base of anyone who didn't know and might care a teensy bit: In the U.S. when you buy something from a thrift store and it wasn't worth a category of its own, they call it misc (for miscellaneous). In the UK, it's BRIC A BRAC (a term I knew for the little statues grandmothers put on little shelves). Or on a receipt that's not all upper case, capitalized with a weighty three capitals: Bric A Brac

I hope someone needs to know this and can maybe win some money on Jeopardy, or Countdown.

Here's some bric-a-brac (American spelling):



I bought that round Elizabeth II cup, second from the left, for Bea Marshall. I have the receipt sitting right here. Marie Curie Cancer Care charity shop, 107 GLoucester Rd. Bishopston, Bristol. June 30, 2011. I mailed it to her, worried that it might break, but it didn't. I sent it because when I had visited her earlier in Sheffield, she'd asked me who my favorite member of the royal family was. I said Charles, because I felt sorry for him. So I got a Charles and Diana memorial teacup. I think it was supposed to be a commemorative teacup, but poor Charles. So I thought an older Elizabeth might be good for her everyday teacup collection.

No good way to get this home, but England is swimming in cool teapots:



And egg cups:



I almost bought that one. Then I thought a photo of it was plenty.

They have a much better quality of bric-a-brac than the U.S. has:



... though maybe when it's useful like a teapot it should be dishes. According to what I can learn from my receipt, though, if it's not toys, books, or womens accessories, it must be Bric A Brac!

My beautiful quilt

A year ago I was in Pennsylvania and thereabout. Lori Odhner had given me a beautiful quilt, for speaking at her "Caring for Marriage Conference." Today I found a photo and pulled it out and cropped it. Chara Odhner had set up a self-operating portrait operation with a fancy camera and lights and backgrounds and props, but I used my new quilt as my prop. Gravity and luck posed it very nicely.

Look what I did today!

You can see below that some of the things I had already created previously.
That's how it goes in my universe. :-)

(Here is the reality of it: http://sandradodd.com/reality)

January's gone and February's moving along

I haven't posted for a month! That's rare. We had company after the symposium, and then some more, and then some more. Joyce took some cool photos January 3 on a day out at the petroglyphs and Old Town.

We took our picnic lunch to sit on the plaza in Old Town, near the gazebo.

Holly said, "People get married there," and just about then a couple, one witness, and an officiant show up to do a wedding. They didn't have a photographer, so I took some photos, got an e-mail address, and sent them to the bride.

Elsewhere in Old Town, also by Joyce:

I invited some people over one day when Heather Brown was here, to talk about unschooling.

Heather, Amy Childs and her daughter Nikiah went for a quick hike, and later sat in the hot tub in our back yard.

In around that, I've been corresponding with people about visiting and speaking in ten or twelve places in the next year and a half. Some of those are already set, especially the 30 of June, in Leiden, south of Amsterdam. http://sandradoddleiden.wordpress.com/
A Day in Leiden with Sandra Dodd
learning about unschooling

I've moved my speaking schedule to a blog, and it's set up so that one can subscribe to one section (tour or set of talks):
http://speakingsandradodd.blogspot.com/

The symposium was good; I'm tired

I'm exhausted, still, and today Joyce and Carl leave.  We've been going, going, going and having houseguests and friends still at the hotel and tomorrow will be my first day of "just us" since Christmas.

Tomorrow I'm going to the hotel to create a contract for a symposium next year.  The Daniel family intends to come back again, from England, and Joyce and Carl Fetteroll intend to return as well.   I hope when they get home and recover from their own exhaustion they still feel that way. :-)

The feedback forms were very positive, but had suggestions I hope to implement, about having more panels or roundtables.  Rather than three presentations per day I'll probably schedule four, but I still plan to have long breaks for lunch and dinner so that people don't have to rush away or rush back.

We can't guarantee beautiful weather next year; it might be colder.  We hit 60 degrees one day!  I saved it:

My plan for 2012 is December 27-30, which will be Thursday night through Sunday morning, and people can go home for New Year's.