Life and Times

[soc_puppet]

I dedicated myself to posting at least once a week, and by golly, I'm gonna do it! (I like to try and answer comments around the time I update, unless something is particularly attention-grabby for me, or I'm lower on comment-responding spoons than usual; it seems like the latter is in play for now 😅) Lessee, what to talk about...

- You know those removable chair cushions for, like, kitchen chairs and deck chairs and stuff? The kind with the ties at the back? I was getting really tired of dealing with the ones on our kitchen chairs breaking or coming undone, so I replaced them with some canvas belting strips and snaps. Two 3"/7.5cm strips to a side, two snaps to a strip, and voila! Stress is much more widely distributed. I may share a photo eventually, but I also might not.

- Dunno how much I've updated people on actual job related staffing and suchnot, but I'm up three coworkers! One who started right before the previous one up and left, and two who started shortly after. One of my new coworkers is originally from India and has a pretty strong accent; while my audio processing isn't usually too bad with native English speakers or even just accents I'm more used to, since I can frequently guess what words they mean from context/expected sounds, I've been having more trouble with her accent. So, rather than feel like (and possibly be) a jerk, I decided I should learn more about her native language! Turns out she knew three languages from before she learned English; I gotta say, I was already hella impressed that she learned English in the first place, because English is a beast to learn. Knowing four languages total? Mad respect.

Anyway, I'm hoping to at least learn a little bit more about the other languages she told me she speaks, and hopefully shorten the remaining communication gap. She already did the heavy lifting; it's my turn to do some work. I'm planning to look up some basic structure and pronunciation things, some general "what are the differences between English and Hindi/Gujradi/Marathi" stuff, rather than three entire languages, but I also wouldn't be surprised if I happen to pick up a few basic phrases as part of learning the other bits.

- Speaking of my job, I mentioned possibly wanting to pick up another shift or two to my boss. Hours have been a little short recently, and with greed-driven inflation being what it is, I wouldn't mind a little extra money in my pockets. 29 hours a week at this job just about broke me before Covid, but I think I can go up from 20 to 25 and not be in terrible shape. Pretty sure there were other factors in play with that as well.

- I finally started playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus! I'm not very far in just yet; only just faced Kleavor. I will fully admit to being willingly distracted from the main plot by gathering items and sidequests 😛

- Nothing particularly important for this point, I just really want a haircut.

I think that's it for now! Seems like a certain amount of my posting energy is going to Thursday Recs at queerly_beloved; I really do need to get post-by-email set up, so I get get some scheduled posts going, maybe ease up the load on my brain some.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I like your project to meet your quadralingual coworker half-way. How/where do you begin?

(I’ve got a pentalingual+ pal I met in the previous century, when I was a conversation partner with English language learners. Learning English is so hard! My memory is too fuzzy to learn a new orthography, so I’m sorry that learning Mandarin, Cantonese or Taiwanese is beyond me.)

[soc_puppet]

My plan is to start by finding out which sounds exist in English but not Hindi/Gujradi/Marathi, and possibly vice-versa; after that, I might move on to some basic grammar, and maybe watch some Buzzfeed India videos to get more used to the cadence. Maybe some more general cultural stuff. And then maybe for fun I'll see what I can learn about the general region she's from.

Honestly, I'm really glad I asked her! I wasn't planning to at first, since I didn't want to accidentally imply that I am planning to learn a whole new language or something, but then I looked up the common languages in India, and did you know that India has twenty-two official languages? After that, I decided asking her outright would be less trouble! She ended up being very enthusiastic about it, and told me some basic facts about the region where she came from. I think she liked having the opportunity to talk about her homeland 😊

You’ll … get far with your plannish plan!

[jesse_the_k]

I can see why you're a SMOF.

I undertook self-directed language learning once, when I was young and flexible.

I read Joanne Greenberg’s 1970 novel In This Sign and I wanted to learn ASL so much! Luckily, a Gallaudet graduate posted a "students wanted" ad in my local coop, which kept me busy for a year. It was just before ubiquitous videotape/VCRs were a thing, so in-person classes were the order of the day. (Frankly, all sign classes need to be in person. Learning sign from video is like learning oral language via CB radio.) I connected with generous members of Madison’s Deaf community and took more classes. My Deaf teacher encouraged me to take a "communication assistant" screening test (not to be confused with an actual interpreter) and I did some work in my town. It was the hardest and most rewarding thing I ever did — completely occupied both sides of my brain. So it was the first thing I lost when I got sick.

[mistressofmuses]

I like that modification to the seat cushions! Those terrible little ties break so often!

I hope you are able to pick up some extra shifts at work, without getting into the too many hours and burnout territory.

[soc_puppet]

Those ties are so annoying, I tell ya! My solution is working pretty well so far, too 👍 Honestly, I'd prefer something that was even more secure than this, but figuring out how to wrangle that with stools that have rotating seats was more of a project than I wanted to get into 😂

Luckily, my boss is pretty awesome about that. When she started as pastry chef, we discussed what sort of hours I liked to work; she mentioned that, in her previous position, the person in charge wanted to try and get everyone on full tie, and she ended up having to explain that some people just do better with fewer hours, and sometimes it was better to have a few employees on part time who could pull a few extra shifts now and again when things got busy. Anyway, current plan is for another four hours a week or so, as business allows. I am cautiously optimistic!

[mistressofmuses]

I'm glad your boss is pretty good about hours and things. I'm glad she defended part-time work as being better for some people, because it really is sometimes. I hope you're able to get some extra hours, as well - sounds like you should be!

[vriddy]

Good luck with the extra shifts, I hope it works out fine!

I've have some success with setting up post-by-email for my comm before, if you hit some issues feel free to let me know :D Yay to life in comms and queer recs!!!

[soc_puppet]

My boss is pretty cool about schedule stuff, so I'm pretty optimistic 👍

Will do! And thank you! It's not a whole lot of life, but it is something, and hopefully it will inspire more in the future.