Archive for the 'Q.O.T.W.' Category
October 14 2008: QOTW: The Three Month Plan
Filed under Life & Q.O.T.W. & Uni/Work with 19 Comments
I found out today that one of the guys in my Understanding Contemporary China class writes for the blog Stuff Asian People Like (see all articles by Shaun). This is why my class is awesome, because we have awesome bloggers, a relatively attractive tutor, and tutorials that somehow end up with discussions about the latest Hollywood movies and watching the SNL takes on Sarah Palin.
Regular university classes are coming to a close for me on Thursday, potentially forever, depending on my applications for further study and whether they’re accepted. I have one more essay due on Monday (which I conveniently thought was due in two weeks time, so that’d probably end up being a rush job because I’m much too lazy to start it now), and an exam in early November, and then I’m free.
Free to do what though, that is the question. While I have some tentative plans lined up for the next few months (birthday celebrations, possible extended road trip up to Sydney with some girl friends, a trip to Adelaide in February, and the ubiquitous four to five days at work each week, with the possibility of volunteering a couple of hours a week at my local MP’s office), it will otherwise be a rush of job applications, study applications and self-improvement (i.e. reading a lot of non-fiction and swimming a lot of laps).
I do have two vaguely new and interesting plans, both of which will involve online enterprises. The first, I’d like to work on improving my Chinese by working on translations of Chinese pop songs. I’d like to provide translations on this blog that have the Chinese characters, the ping yin, and the English meaning of the lyrics. Ideally I’d be able to do this at the rate of one a week, though in reality, I’ll probably procrastinate and not do this.
The second involves my ideal part-time job, as an online seller of clothing and accessories. The way I figure it, my skills in life lie primarily in the “saving money by bargain shopping” field. Why not do something that parlays this skill into a viable money-making venture? What I aim to do is shop the way I do now - getting items at 75% off, 80% off, 90% off. What I’ll do then, is list all these items on eBay, and hopefully make at least 50% profit on top of the original price (e.g. sell at 150% of original price), after seller fees and the like.
So those are my plans for the next couple of months, assuming no spanner in the works.
Question of the Week: What do you have planned for the next couple of months?
October 5 2008: QOTW: A Problem Of Pronunciation
Filed under Q.O.T.W. with 27 Comments
I have a problem.
I have a broad vocabulary (if not extensive, certainly broad) when in print. I can write multi-syllabic words like no one else, even if I don’t do so when blogging (don’t want to be pretentious now do I?). However, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never had the opportunity to be party to certain words being used in conversation, I simply don’t know how they’re pronounced, though I certainly understand the meaning and the contexts in which it can be used.
For instance, the word soporific (when used in the context of speech). I would probably substitute a similar word like “monotonous” or “droning” in its place when speaking aloud, though I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in print. The problem lies in the potential pronunciation. I’d naturally gravitate towards soap-ah-riff-ik as the correct pronunciation, though I realise this choice is probably coloured by my life experiences (e.g. Asian accent, Australian accent).
Then, the time my dude fella gave me shit (i.e. mocked/teased me for those unfamiliar with Aussie slang) for pronouncing “deterrent” as de-de-rent instead of the Australian norm of der-ter-rent. My pronunciation was affected by some old sitcom I had once watched, with a character who spoke in short. sharp. static. bursts. Deterrent in his manner of speaking became de-de-rent. Toronto would become te-ron-oh.
Question of the Week: Do you have the same problem pronouncing certain words? If so, which ones trip you up?
September 25 2008: QOTW: Connections Of Music And Dance
Filed under Media & Q.O.T.W. with 12 Comments
Okay, I lied. That wasn’t my last post about SYTYCD, but this will be for this year. Maybe.
I’m a Top 40 kind of girl, and I listen to the type of radio stations that alternative indie types like to sneer at. I’m not ashamed of this in any way - you like what you like, and there’s no point in sneering at mainstream music simply because everyone likes it. Everyone has to like it for a reason, whether or not you see it as a legitimate reason. Anyway. The station I listen to often plays music such as:
- Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - No Air
- Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
- Duffy - Mercy
- Nelly feat. Fergie - Party People
All the above are songs that are not only popular in the music charts, but which were also featured in routines on Season Four of SYTYCD. Now the point of this entry: the quality of the dance is measured by how often it pops into my mind as soon as I hear the song.
For instance, I’ll never again be able to listen to songs like No Air, Bleeding Love, and Mercy without thinking of the dances that went with it. They’re simply inextricably entwined now - Katee and Joshua dance in my mind to No Air, Mark and Chelsea dance to Bleeding Love, and Katee and Twitch dance to Mercy. Songs like Party People however, remain simply a song, as I wasn’t impressed with Comfort and Mark’s dance to it.
Question of the Week: Do you associate particular dances, actions, events, etc. with certain songs?