The Crafty Linguist’s blog

I have been neglecting this blog for aaages, I know.  But I have started a new blog due to a major life change (reasons why are explained over there!!!).  So, if anyone is interested, I'm now in

sparklelemon.vox.com

Please, come visit!  I'll re-add my contacts to my new blog.  Hope to see you there!!!

Oh my dear Vox neighbours, I am SOOOOO happy!  As you may know (for those of you who read my last post), I was all hyperventilated because my very first Blythe had arrived but was stuck in customs and there was the looming possibility of my having to pay 60% import taxes, therefore leaving me broke.  But guess what?  She's here!!!!!  She arrived Friday, but my camera had no batteries, so that's why I haven't posted photos of her.  And what's more, in a true customs miracle, I wasn't charged extra!  Hurrah!  So let's get down to business... Everyone, I'd like you to meet Javiera!  Why Javiera?  It's a very popular Chilean name, and I've always liked it!  I always thought that if I have a daughter, I'll name her Javiera, but since obviously I have no children, I'll just stick to my dolls for now! hehe  Here she is having a rest after her long trip from Japan:

She's more than great, she's perfect!!!!!  She's quite the  little techie as well!  As soon as she got here, she asked me whether she could check her email.  Here she is, surfing the Net away:

It's boiling here in Brazil, so as soon as I have some time, I'm going to 'tropicalise' her and make her a cute bikini!  I've even bought the fabric, but just haven't had time to get down to it.   I'll have so much fun with her!  WELCOME JAVI!!!!!   Oh, I just have one question sand was wondering if anyone could help me.  Her hair seems a bit blah, and I wanted to wash it to see if it improves.  But then I though, if I wash it, won't it get all mouldy and yucky?  Specially considering I live in tropical hell?????

So as you know, I finally took the plunge and purchased my first Blythe (a PiccaE).  Well, I got this incredible seller from eBay who lives in Japan and shipped Picca in less than 24 hours (wow, talk about Japanese efficiency!!!!).  And my dear Picca arrived in the country yesterday.  However, she is now in that most terrifying of places, feared by all international shoppers.  That arid no man's land.  Yes, she is in customs.  And the extra fun thing here in Brazil, is that customs t=doesn't have a phone number, so there's no way to reach them directly.  Fun huh?  And to top it all off, if they decide I have to pay extra (and believe me, they will), it's not 10, not 20, not even 30% of the total price.  Nope, it's 60%!!!!  SIXTY!!!!!!  Damn it, I'll pay it (grudgingly, but I will), I just want my Blythe!!!!!!  I panic because customs here has a tendency of just keeping things forever.  The other day I purchased a pack of ephemera from Etsy.  It was basically collage stuff (ie: an envelope stiffed with old pieces of paper (albeit cool, old pieces of paper).  Anyhoo, it was supposed to take 2-4 business days because I payed express delivery.  guess how long it took.  Over. Three. Weeks.  Yes, that's FIFTEEN business days.  Oh dear....  I think I'll just meditate.  OOOOMMMM!!!!! 

Let me tell you Voxers about Brazil.  It is a world power and First World country.  Poverty has been eradicated with not a slum in sight.  Hungry people?  Pah, a thing of the past!  With every Brazilian well fed, they are truly om their way to culinary nirvana.  What?  What's that I hear you say?  A huge massive no?  That's not what you've heard about Brazil?  that's not what Brazil is like you argue?  Well, I have news for you, the government (or at the very least, the state of Paraná) thinks that's how Brazil is.  Well, surely they must, because that's just about the only vaguely plausible explanation for what happened today.

Here's a little snippet from today's 8 o'clock news:
"In inner Paraná, tonnes of potatoes are being disposed of due to a lack of buyers. The State had a surplus production and the prices collapsed. In Guarapuava, a city that's 300 km away from Curitiba, farmers are selling 1 kg of potatoes for less than  R$ 0,10 [that's about USD 0.04/ £ 0.02].

Yet they are still unable to sell what they reaped. The surplus goes to the town's rubbish dump, which receives about 10 tonnes of potatoes every day."

Yes, that's right, 10 TONNES of potatoes.  Every. Single. Day.  This could have been used to feed 10,000 people.  The potato is also very nutritious! According to the British Potato Council (yes people, it really does exist!) "Pick up a potato and you're holding an amazingly nutrient dense food". But obviously Brazil is rich and there are no poor people so what the heck, let's just throw them away!

Now, it seems clear to me that the government is a bit understocked as far as the imagination department is concerned, so I, lovely girl that I am, though I'd give them a hand.  I just devised this handy list (*drum roll*):

20 COOL THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE WITH POTATOES

1)  Boiled potatoes
2)  Roast potatoes (very British with your Sunday roast!)
3)  Chips (again, with fish, super British!)
4)  Mashed potatoes (classic!)
5)  Jacket potatoes (a personal favourite!)
6) potatoes gratin (très française!)
7)  potatoes bread (typical Brazilian savoury bread, when you're feeling tropical!)
8)  shepherd's pie
9) Leek and potato soup (for those freezing winter days)
10) Tomato and potato bake
11) Crispy skins with devilled bacon dip (ideal for parties)
12) Bubble and squeak frittata (gotta love it, if only just for the name!!!)
13) Potato Gnocchi with Asparagus Tips and Parmesan
14) Potato pancakes
15) New potatoes and smoked salmon eggs benedict (Dahling!  For when you feel extra posh!)
16) Potato dumplings (Straight from Luxembourg!)
What?  You don't want to eat potatoes? Well, if you really must personally avoid them, you could always...
17)  give them to some animal.  Like pigs!  They'll sure appreciate a potato!  So will guinea pigs apparently.
NO?  not good enough?  You don't want ANYONE human or animal eating these damn potatoes?  Hey, no worries, why don't you...
18) go organic!  Use them as natural compost.
19) make Potato stamps
20) Go artistic!  Make a modern art pieces about the meaning of life made solely of potatoes!

So you see, all those poor potatoes dumped and unfulfilled.  they could be doing so many things, fulfilling their little potato dreams!  How they would rejoice at feeding a hungry little tummy, but that's not to be for these doomed potatoes.  It's too late to save the, but I would urge the Brazilian government to avoid more obscene waste.  And I hope you join me in saying out, loud and proud: SAVE THE POTATO!!!!

My Blythe story is quite unusual I think, because when I first 'met' Blythe, I had no clue who she was, i just thought she was cute! 
*deep cinema trailer-like narration voice*  It all started in 2002 when I lived in England.  I was at Topshop (aka my place of fashion worship, but that's another story) and was just wandering around as I did every week, when a book caught my eye.  It was the "This is Blythe" book, and i just looked at it and couldn't take my eyes off this weird-yet-extremely-cute looking doll.  And the photos!  Who would have though a doll would be photogenic?  I mean, really?  I read a bit of the intro and it mentioned that it was only made during one year in the 70s.  At that point my mobile rang or something so I didn't read the rest, so I just stayed with the idea that Blythes were no longer available (duh! silly me!).  I thought that was a shame because I would have loved to have one!

Anyway, many, many months later, I found out that yes, you could indeed still buy Blythes, and I actually had the possibility of buying one, but that's when I found out the other peculiar trait of Blythes.  $$$Their price!$$$  Let's just say it was slightly...er... 'prohibitive' for me, so once again, i was left Blyth-less (not to mention very pissed off indeed).  Well, to make a long story short, now that I'm a 'grown-up' (debatable, but let's just pretend shall we?) with a job, I finally managed to have enough money to get what is (especially on a ridiculous Brazilian salary) a ridiculously expensive (yet also ridiculously cute!) doll!  Yes boys and girls, after 5 years of meeting Blythe I have finally officially bought my very first Blythe!  

But the story does not end here... I was browsing through the TIB forum and slightly panicked, because I was torn between 2 dolls: the Ashton Drake red hair doll, and th Picaddilly Encore. Anyhoo, I was looking at said forum and  discovered in this topic, that red head wasn't exactly 'right' to say the least.  I read this after I bought my doll.  I wish I could say that (luckily!) I finally decided on Piccadilly through vast Blythe expertise, but nope, I just decided this because Ahton Drake seller had quite a few negative feedbacks, so Picadilly it was! 

So here's my question and cry of help to all you Blythe connoisseurs out there (and I know there are a few, because that's one of the reasons I joined Vox! hehe): I'm now panicking that the Piccadilly i bought is not real either.  I mean, if it's not, I'll love her just the same, but I'd just like to know.  Any opinions on the issue?  And for future Blythe purchases, how can I tell which are good and which not?  Bare with me because I'm a Blythe beginner, so I will be asking lots of probably silly questions!  Cheers for the patience! 

One way or the other though, I can't wait for Picca to arrive.  It's probably going to take forever since it's coming form Japan.  I haven't decided what to name her yet, but I have decided that since she's going to be a little Latina, she's going to need a good, long South American name! hehe Watch this space.

So... I'm not very inspired tonight, writing-wise, so I thought I'd just share some pictures.  One thing that you should know about me, and that I haven't yet shared here is that I live for art.  I eat, breathe and sleep art!  Any form of it, painting, drawing, design, sewing, collage, you name it, I've done it!  "Er... I though you were a linguist?" I hear you ask.  Yup, I am indeed. "Er... why?  You just said you lived for art...".  I do.  and probably that's why I don't do it for a living.  Allow me to explain.  When it was time to choose a Uni course, I had my heart set on fine art.  Speaking of hearts, that piece of news nearly gave my Dad a heart attack thinking of me ending up under a random Chilean/Brazilian/British/any nationality bridge surrounded by my paintings.  So we struck a deal: I would do a more 'sensible' degree (in this case European Studies, ie Politocs, Management and Languages), which by the way, I really enjoyed (because I'm also a huge nerd, but more on that on another post) and if at the end I still wanted to do something artsy, he would back me up.  He obviously thought I'd grow out of it.  But nope.  Pas moi.  At the end of the 3 years, proudly holding my degree I said, "er... Dad..., remember our deal?" 

So off I happily went for a Fashion Design diploma much to the joy of my Mum who always said I should follow my heart. Now I thought it would be artistic heaven, but you know what?  Although I got to draw 24/7 for a year, it kind of took the fun out of it.  somehow being pressured into creating took all the creativity out of it.  It's like it became a chore rather than the joy and escapism it had always been.  So what did I do?  I became a linguist seeing as I had 5 languages floating around in my head that were being used to not much more than writing kilometric emails, and reading the respective Vogue/Economist/Time/any number of other magazines in each language.  As I love languages, it suited me perfectly, and now once again, my art gives me the pleasure it always did!  In fact, I will soon (probably/hopefully next month) be opening an Etsy shop *cough*shameless self promotion *cough*!  Anyhoo, I've posted some of my old sketches and stuff.  What I hope to do with them is copy them and embroider them onto bags.  Anyone think that's a good idea?  Please, always feel free to comment/give constructive criticism when I post arty stuff.  I love feedback!   Wow, looks llike I was a bit inspired after all huh?  hehe Good night everyone! 

Television (especially the ‘reality’ variety) never ceases to amaze me.  I lived in Britain for 5 years, from 2000 to 2005 during my whole HIgher Education.  Now anyone who knows me even vaguely will know that I am the biggest Anglophile in the world.  I love all things British, my best firnd in thw rold is British and when I lived there I was made to feel at home by everyone even though I’m form, literally, the other side of the world (Chile!).  

Why am I going on about my love of Britain and the British?  Well, because recently I discovered the whole Celebrity Big Brother hoopla that’s going on on the other side of the pond.  And I must say, if I’d never been to Britain, if I’d never met a British person and saw that Big Brother show, I’d honestly run a mile.  Which begs the question: why in the good Lord’s name was Jade Goody picked to represent the British “celebrity”?  i mean, really?  True, I’ve never met her (neither am I inclined to do so...), but from the way she presents herself in fornt of the whole nation, the whole world even, I just have to say... well... nothing really, because every time she launche sinto one of her sensless diatribes I’m left frankly speechless.  And not in a good way.Her remarks about Shilpa are just appalling.  

To be fair, maybe they were not said with racism in mind, but even so, could someone please explain to me since when overt bullying become acceptable?  Some people have said that it’s not her fault, that she’s ignorant and doesn’t know any better.  Maybe at first yes, it wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t the most cultured of people (yes, East Anglia is indeed in England!!!), but after amassing winnings reported to be over 8 million pounds, surely it is her own fault that she is not more cultured.  She could have very well chosen to spend some of that money on educatioin, and she would cerainly be a better person for that.  Now I’m not saying I’m Einstein reincarnated, but I’ve always believed in education, and surely if she wants to stay in the limelight (which she obviously does), something which will expose her to millions of people everywhere, some of them young minds which, God forbid, may look up to her, she should learn more about the world and the different people and cultires within it.  

Like my English teacher used to say, “all you really need in order to learn are two things: a public library and the will to do so”.  I’ve always agreed with that and it is perhaps that which most bothers me about Goody; that she seems to choose not to learn or engage in something more useful and productive than an endless strimg of reality show appearances.  I also find it appallling that Channel 4 is condoning this king of public spectacle.  But I guess that they are willing to sink very low for the sake of ratings...  

I’d like to end by saying this to those who for some reason or other have watched the show and are unfamilia with Britain and the British: Goody is by no means a fair representation of the British.  They are a truly great nation and deserve better than to be represented by such a person and such a show.

Oh the excitement!!!  I've been a member of Craftster for quite a bit now, but for some reason only discovered about ATCs about a month ago.  And now I'm addicted!  Curse you Craftster!!!!! 

Anyhoo, here's my first attempt at ATCs.  Clockwise from top left:
"Peacefully Sleeping Married Green Apples"
"Cheeky Hummingbird Sipping Woodland Queen's Bubbly"
"Happy Sitting Buddha"

And in case you're thinking I'm a bit bonkers, I should mention these were for the "Green Glass Door" challenge.  Come to think of it, also something I discovered very recently.  Shame on me for being (among other language-related things) an English teacher and not knowing this game. Booo me!

10. Anybody with two years of high school language (or a foreign-tongued grandmother) can translate.

9. A good translator doesn't need a dictionary.

8. There's no difference between translation and interpretation.

7. Translators don't mind working nights and weekends at no extra charge.

6. Translators don't need to understand what they're translating.

5. A good translator doesn't need proofing or editing.

4. Becoming a translator is an easy way to get rich quick.

3. Translation is just typing in a foreign language.

2. A translator costs $49.95 at Radio Shack and runs on two 'C' batteries.

And the #1 misconception about translation and translators: (*drumroll please*)

1. That marketing copy that took a team of 20 people two months to put together can be translated overnight by one Person and still retain the same impact as the original.

Yes indeedy do, I have a blog!  "Who the hell are you?", you ask.  Well, let's get started...

Seriously, who are you?
I'm a translator and interpreter by profession, and an artist at heart.  And I LOVE crafting!
So, why the crafty linguist?
Er... because I'm a linguist, and I'm crafty! (Or at least, I like to think so.)
What the heck is "there's a fried egg on the floor"????
Ah yes... the classic 'fried egg on the floor' question.  To make a long story short, when I went to Uni and my friends discovered I spoke five languages, they wanted me to teach them some sentences. But did they care about normal, sensible sentences such as "Hello, my name is ____ "?  Oh no, not my friends!  They wanted randomness in it's purest form, hence, the "there's a fried egg on the floor" thing, which was by my favourite sentence by a mile!
Are you taking the piss?
Nope, afraid not.
So why did you get a blog?
Because everyone seems to have one.
So are you saying that if everyone was jumping on bridges, you'd do it too?
No comments.
So, what will you be writing here?
The random rantings of my mind.
You mean you're not going to enlighten us about the meaning of life and give the solution to world peace?
Afraid not... Sorry.
But, whyyyy???
Oh, bugger off...