Jimmy O'Regan

Pan Tadeusz is THE classic of Polish literature. I’ve started to post a bitext on my blog (http://joregan.blogspot.com/) – first a section in English, then the same section in Polish—I find that if I already understand what something says, it sinks in quicker.

The English translation is roughly of the same vintage as the Polish, so both parts of the text have the same sort of ‘old’ feel to them. If anyone wants more, like vocabulary notes, old vs. new Polish, or even smaller chunks of text, just leave a comment.

I found a project I’m interested in, saw a business opportunity, and went for it. So maybe my next goal should be ‘start making money’ :)

I had been planning to get my son’s name tattood in Ogham since shortly after his birth; I only recently got around to actually doing it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49502976979@N01/110172616

It’s not really amusing by itself: ‘dniało’ is the first word in ‘Ironia Pozorów’. It took me several hours to track down what it means (something like “it dawned” or “it became day”).

Most of the people I asked about it looked blank when they first heard it, and all said the same thing: “That’s an old word! Don’t read that book! No-one uses those words!”

Except one guy, who had never heard it. So I had to explain a Polish word to a Polish guy in English.

Hey, I found it amusing.

‘zajebiście’ is the Polish for ‘cool’ or ‘great’. It looks like it came from Russian: ‘zayebis’ means “may you be fucked until you die from it” or something similar, but because of the way Russian swear words are, it normally means “cool” – ‘yeb’ or similar means ‘fuck’, at any rate.

The amusing thing for me is the ‘faken’ added in the middle: think “absofuckinglutely” :)

I found some translations of a few of Adam Mickiewicz’s Crimean Sonnets (In Polish)

The translator did a wonderful job of preserving the rhyme of the originals, while preserving the theme. (See Pielgrzym for an example).

It’s “Weak and Powerless” by A Perfect Circle. I’m not going to quote lyrics, everyone knows how to google.

It’s so damn simple… It’s just a matter of cutting the bullshit and actually doing it.

I got called on it today:

“I thought you quit smoking”
“You don’t understand. It’s difficult. It’s like taking your life apart piece by piece and relearning to do everything”
“Some things are easier to do when you’re not smoking :)”

And… I gave it deeper thought than I ever have before, because it was like I had been lying, and in a way I was: I was telling myself (and everyone else) the same standard crap and making the standard half-assed attempts to placate friends, family, and myself. Never once had I ever decided “this is my last cigarette” and believed myself. No wonder it never worked.

I had started reading “Allen Carr’s Easy Way To Stop Smoking”, and it was a revealing read, even if I didn’t get past the introduction: “It never seems to occur to them that smokers do not smoke for the reasons that they shouldn’t smoke. The real problem is to remove the reasons that they do”.

Today, I decided to have my last cigarette and used that NLP trick to attach some revolting images to the act of smoking, which seems to have worked: I got a gust of smoke in the face today and almost threw up.

So… even though my last cigarette was at 1.03pm yesterday, and I’ve only been a non smoker for 13 hours, I feel justified in ticking this complete: I actually believe it this time.

Phase 1: A few quiet drinks with my brother

Phase 2: The mother of all drinking sessions

Both of my brothers, my cousin and I went drinking. My brother went to a shop while the rest of us were in the pub and bought us each a bottle of Buckfast - horrible, horrible tonic wine - and made me drink mine. My cousin wouldn’t drink his, and I was so drunk that when my brother handed it to me, saying there was only a drop left, I believed him (the bottle was full!)

So, then my other brother and I went to a club, where the drinks cost £1 each, and he was served doubles because he knew the bartender… Tequila all round!

I was so drunk that I had to crawl along holding the railings outside the place where I live just to move forward… and slept on the ground when they ran out.

The next day, I had the mother of all hangovers.

Phase 3: Party in Limerick

My cousin drove my brothers and my friend’s girlfriend down. My friend and I were going to take the train, because I had tickets, but we missed the first train because we were too busy drinking.

When we eventually got a train, we ended up stranded in Limerick Junction because there was a train strike. Eventually, they got us a taxi.

I don’t remember much of the night. I do remember downing a bottle of creme de menthes the next morning as mouthwash though :)

Eh… I’ll just link ‘cos I don’t feel like typing stuff again.

“Do you smell carrots?”

(I laughed :)

I really like this book—I have a Russian grammar book, but it doesn’t have anything about particables in it. I’m not anywhere near the stage¹ where I’d feel comfortable trying to use them, but having come across their use in Polish, I thought I’d have a look.

I also found this book but the fonts are completely screwed up, so it’s basically useless to me.

¹ I’m still learning to read Cyrillic. I’ve gone slightly past the 4-year-old reading level, but still occassionally mix ц and ч.

Quite apart from the fact that that goal is mired in the language of defeat, this is a different goal, though it is basically all in how you look at it, but hopefully the use of a different term will be enough to shut up the whiny kind of non-smoker who would make me want to light up just to blow smoke in their faces.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to avoid most of the patronising crap about health (listen to Bill Hicks - non-smokers die every day!), money (I can afford to smoke, thanks), and will power (I’ve managed to avoid punching every non-smoker who has ever tried to lecture me - I’ve got lots of will power).

Mostly, I think I’ll just avoid thinking about it as a pleasure I’m denying myself, because that hasn’t been true for years. That’s why I’m doing it.

A friend of mine is a big (big!) Pink Floyd fan, and I know he hasn’t done this yet… maybe I should get him “The Wizard of Ozz” for Christmas :)

Where phase 1 was this goal, and phase 2 is “listen to Pantera and Damageplan while getting drunk”—phase 2 is well under way :)

I’ve been listening to more music recently than I have in years, been eating batteries in my MP3 player, and heard most of the albums I’d been meaning to get around to over the past few years.

My MP3 player is up there in my list of best purchases.

(From dict.pl)

płatek śniegu: snowflake

prószyć: to sprinkle

zamieć śnieżna: blizzard

kulka śniegu: snowball

bałwanek: snowman

I’d add:
śnieg: snow

Jest zimno: It’s cold

Zimno mi: I’m cold (not “Jestem zimno”—my book says that’s more like “I’m frigid”)

(= Polish for “tasty”)

We met at a teen disco thing, introduced by a mutual friend, but became penpals because I got thoroughly grounded two days before our first date. We ended up going out with each other for two years, and had a son together.

are me :)

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