American English fluently, and I know a couple British dialects well enough to know wtf they're on about when other Americans are looking quizzically at them in between the odd syntax and rhyming slang. I was an intermediate Spanish speaker, but that was in high school, and I've lost alot of it for lack of practice. My knowledge of the language is pretty basic now.

If I could only learn one other language, it would be Irish Gaelic, hands down. Practically speaking, it's pretty useless, and while most Irish natives do learn it in school as a cultural thing, it's only still REALLY spoken in the Gaeltachts, isolated rural regions in the west of Ireland. But if you know me at all, you know how much I love everything about Celtic culture, music, art, history, mythology, spiritualty...booze...so learning the language would just complete it. I'm also really curious about how Gaelic languages connect with modern English, and the development of the languages of the British Isles in general, because historically, what we now call English wasn't one of them. There were 2 branches of languages there, the Brythonic and the Goidelic. The Goidelic branch consists of Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx Gaelic (spoken in the Isle of Man), and the Brythonic consists of Breton, Cornish, and Welsh. Welsh is still in use in Wales here and there, but Cornish (spoken in what's now Cornwall/southwest England) and Breton (spoken in what's now England) are all but dead. I've never heard them spoken, but written, they both look like an odd mash of Welsh and French with a small touch of Gaelic bits. Breton looks the most French of all of them....which makes sense, since England and France are so close and there was so much trade and migration and so on between the two. The thing that puzzles me is, where did modern English come from? We all know it's a Germanic language, right? But we also know it's alot of bastardized French too, right? But we also know that historically, the natives of what's now England didn't speak English at all. If you've ever seen Olde English (used until the 11th century) written or spoken (Beowulf, anyone?)...it looks and sounds most like a Gaelic language with the tiniest hints of French and a few Germanic influences. It bears almost no resemblence to modern English. Middle English developed into Early Modern English around 1470. A little over a hundred years later, Shakespeare was writing, and it's all quite recognizable to us, 400 years later. So what happened in that less than 500 year period before? Where did our English come from?

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a mild linguistics geek. I would LOVE to take a class in the history of the English language alongside and Irish Gaelic class.

I've halfheartedly looked at studying Irish Gaelic on my own, but it's a really difficult language, and really near impossible to learn without someone to practice with and hear it from. I know enough random words of it to know how little sense the pronounciation rules make. Foooor example, something you might hear me say often, in lieu of "cheers" at a toast:

"SLAWN-cheh" spelled phonetically, in the Ulster dialect, which seems to be the dialect I know most of my words from. It's spelled "Sláinte." Literally, means "health."

How bout a few others to make you go WTF:

Tabhair póg dom, táim Éireannach - TOO-irr pogue dum, toyme AY-ron-ock. "Kiss me I'm Irish."

An bhfuil tú ar meisce fós? - on will too air mesh-ka fowss? "Are we drunk yet?"

And an Irish term of endearment I've always loved, "a chuisle mo chroi" - aw KWISH-la mo kree (the ch's are more of soft version of that hocking sound like you see in Hebrew or German)...means "pulse of my heart."

</geekery>

Why not? Presents are awesome. :-D

Rules:

Step One

* Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. List your 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV."). The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.
* If you wish for real life things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.
* Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ.

Step Two
* Surf around your friends list (or friends friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:
* If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use - do it. You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf - to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not - it's your call.
* There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.



1. Scarves, or novelty socks with stuff like cats, bugs, penguins, stripes, etc on them.

2. Stuff from BPAL. My favorites are Cheshire Cat, Hellcat, and I really want to try Seraphim. But all their stuff is awesome. :-)

3. Anything from my amazon wishlist: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmFtYXpvbi5jb20vd2lzaGxpc3QvT0RWTkJWOERBN1RVL3JlZj1jbV9zd19yX21zX3ds

4. Essential oils.

5. Gifty cards for book stores, craft stores, etc.

6. Walmart gifty cards-ok, I know that sounds bad, but they sell jeans that fit me bizarrely well, better than anything from a department store. Go figure. O.o

7. I can't really think of any more. :-(

8. Wait! Thought of one more! http://www.absinthe.fm/products/Absinthe/Bulk-Packs/Triple-Pack-Absinthe-ALANDIA-Strong68.html

I GOT A JOB! WOOT!

And get this...a day job that won't actually make me want to tear my eyeballs out! I'm working for Liberator Bedroom Adventure Gear! They make and sell schwanky sex furniture and also sell alot of regular toys (vibes, etc.).

HOW FUN IS THAT? Best part...I get furniture to "test." ;) EPIC!