How I am today - Linguistics and baby kicks

Today, I am frustrated. And worried. I am trying to start, and finish a term paper for my last term's linguistics course, which I deferred until after Christmas. I foolishly picked the date to hand it in as tomorrow, even though I have a pretty big test in Art History, on Wednesday, which includes a take-home essay. I have tonnes to do, but I have also got a big mind block for my paper.

I have to write an essay about whether or not language shapes the way we think. I think it does shape how we think, and when I'm speaking in another language I find I am thinking differently. But how to explain why? And it's not a research essay, per se, it's a 'report', based on some assigned readings, so it doesn't help that I haven't gone and done some original research to spur on my thoughts. The whole assignment revolves around some papers about the well known 'fact' (which is not actually true) that 'eskimos' have hundreds of words for snow. Most people that went to university have been taught this at some point, and newspaper columnists love to talk about it too. There are a few problems with the theory though:
1) There is no 'Eskimo' language, there are many different languages spoken by Inuit people.
2) The languages used to support this theory actually don't have 'hundreds' of words, but only a couple.

It's really quite shocking, because academics seem to have made this up, this idea of hundreds of words. So I have to use this example of how the myth evolved, to talk about whether or not language shapes our thought. It's a pain in the butt.

On other news, I'm pretty confident I'm now feeling the baby kicking. Not constantly, but every so often I feel something which I thought before was just my stomach grumbling, but now seems stronger and less stomach-y. It's very exciting, and of course a relief, since I am good at worrying about everything. Tomorrow we (I) have an ultrasound appointment, and we should learn the good news that everything with this baby appears fine and normal. I will be anxious tonight.

Martin is currently cooking chili, a huge pot, including exotic ingredients like oregano and cocoa powder. I can't wait to taste it, but it is still hours away. Weather in S/W Ontario is FREEZING like really cold, -15C in the day. What a rip-0ff! It's warmer in Regina, Thunder Bay, Calgary, probably even Edmonton! It's been like this for at least a week now. A bit is exciting, but I'm starting to really hate it, especially because the streets are so slippery.

Anyways, this is getting a little boring now, so I better sign off. If you have any brilliant advice on the essay business, please write me!
Amanda Lynn

What's New

Hello! I've just found out from my very smart brother that you can post a comment on this blog without signing in and creating stuff by accident, like a blog. All you have to do is post anonymously, you just press post a comment and when it asks you to sign in, press post anonymously and ...Bob's your uncle. Or in my case, my Great Uncle and my Cousin.

I thought I would post a quick update - my life continues, we saw the midwive on Friday, and heard our baby's heartbeat, actually for the second time for me, but first for Martin. There kept being these noises which interupted it - it turns out it was the baby moving! I didn't know that but the midwife told me - it sounded like when you hit a microphone. We taped the sound, and I'm going to try and use it basically as a soundbed or background for a video piece I have to make for my studio art class. It's 'art video' so there is no story involved. If I figure out how, I will post the video, once made, to this blog so you can all see it.

So that's all, I must go to bed, so we can go to our brand new church tomorrow, called Unity of London. It's our second week, if we end up liking it I will post more....

don't forget to leave me a post... anonymously. (Of course you can still sign your name in the body of the text).
xoxo Amanda Lynn

The Dilemmas of Brilliance

So I just finished a first draft of a 3 page paper for my first year Art History survey course, which means its an introductory class. It's a review of an art exhibitition, and in my opinion, my review is very good. That's mostly due to Kathleen, my awesome teacher from a 3rd year art theory and criticism class I took last term who taught me everything I now know. But anyways, I took that course and now I'm well equipped to write a first year review of an exhibition.

My conundrum is this: I'm taking an exact quote from myself, from a paper I wrote for Kathleen last term for this new exhibition review. I'm trying to figure out which is worse: plagiarizing myself by not referencing myself, or actually referencing myself in a first year paper. My loving husband, himself a professor, told me tonight "I hardly ever reference myself". Ha! So I guess that means me, a semi-developmentally delayed 34 year old 2nd year undergrad student should really never do it. Of course hubby was not trying to be as pretentious as that sounds, but we laughed about it pretty hard!.

Anyways, let me know what you think I should do. (The paper is due Friday)
Amanda Lynn

I'm Evolving, I'm Evolving!! Now if only I could draw

Hello! I'm pleased to say that I figured it out!! Here I am posting a new comment to my very own blog. I've just returned from school, art school, where I am living out my dream, by learning how to make my own art. There's one problem though. I think I can't draw. My teacher Professor Awesome is highly unconcerned with this, and even told me he thought my thinking that I can't draw is a result of "years of mistreatment through the education system"!!!! He is truly my dream teacher. And of course he's right. Except. I still can't draw. I certainly feel that way. We do stuff that seems crazy, like 'blind contour drawing' which means looking at your subject (today a naked woman) and NEVER looking at the paper, so it's 'blind'. It's really great as it is meant to liberate you from the Grade 8 teacher yelling at you inside your head saying "YOU SUCK", or atleast meant to liberate me from mine.

Anyways, so that's fun, but the ones which last 10, even 20 minutes of trying to draw the model in some pose and make it look realistic are much harder. I've told my classmates they will see me cry before the end of the year, and I was pretty close today. All Professor Awesome wants me to do is "Work hard and draw exactly how you draw, exactly your way that no one else can do", but all I want to do is be "perfect little girly drawing perfectly nice so you all know I'm a good girl", and it's hard to just draw like me when I'm trying to be perfect little girly who draws perfectly. I wonder what drawing perfectly would look like - it would probably be really boring actually. The one thing you can say about my drawings are that they have a lot of 'life energy', they're very squiggly like Van Gogh's paintings. Only his didn't suck. I tried to cross that out, but I guess this blog doesn't offer that option. Anyways, I don't really totally think I suck any more. Just mostly think it - that's an improvement.

So I have to get my courage up, because I have to hand in a drawing project in 1 week, which is about 35" x 65" on white cardboard, which is supposed to be one thing morphing or turning into another thing. It makes me think of boy's drawings in highschool, a dragon transforming into fire or something. Very not me. And Professor Awesome has forbidden anything from nature, like flowers, trees etc. He says it's because he's seen too many smiling flowers... can you really blame him. So my idea for subject matter is a baby turning into a mattress. Why? I have no idea, it's just the only hint of inspiration I have. I'm going to photocopy and blow up a photo of me as a baby, and after I post this, try to find an image of a bed to do the same. Uggh... I guess I don't have to get an "A" on every project, right?

Well folks, that's all for now. Tomorrow maybe I'll write something on John the Baptist - I'm learning lots of Bible stories from my Art History class.

Best regards,
your cousin

Oh my Gawd it worked

Well Folks, it appears I really have my own blog!!! How fun! I have recently been reading other people's blogs, and in fact only learned what the heck a blog is last fall. Two blogs I love (am addicted to?) are www.alittlepregnant.com and www.chezmiscarriage.blogs.com, both are written by women with fertility problems, and both of them I found while I was surfing the internet for any decent on information, after I had a miscarriage this summer (Aug. 2004). It turns out - internet not so good for miscarriage information, but very good for a community of women with fertility problems or 'challenges'. Mine by comparison appear to be short lived. My husband Martin & I are expecting our first child in June 2005!!!! Officially I'm supposed to be passed the barfy-barfy stage, but unofficially, I'm still pretty barfy, although some wunderdrug called Diclectin seems to limit that. Hopefully Diclectin is actually as safe as they doctors and midwives tell me. So, That' s all for my second post to my very own blog (WOW). FYI, my cousin's blog (the forerunner to my own fate as a blogger) is http://www.furrerfamily.blogspot.com/. There seems to be a dearth of commenters there, so head on over and leave a comment there, as well as here (that is if you can figure it out more than me!).

All the Best,
Cousin Mandy

A beginning!

Hello There, this seems to have been mistakenly created, as I tried to post a comment on my cousin Claudette's web page for her and her family. Hence, the name, Cousin Amanda. I am more than a cousin in this world, but apparently for the purposes of this blog, I am Forevermore Cousin Amanda. So please leave me comment and tell me if you are related to me, or not. There's a good chance you are, if you're Canadian, as that's just how big my family actually is!.

all the best,
Cousin Amanda