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seven inches taller than the moon
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| Elst minning mín |
[Apr. 26th, 2012|09:11 pm] |
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Bara siðustu viku var ég að tala við mömmu mína um nýu hænurnar hennar, og ég man þegar við bjuggum á bóndabæ þegar ég var ungur. Dag einn flúðu hænurnar frá hænsnabúinu og flugu upp í tré. Mamma mín þurfti að ná þeim. Hun notaði kúst til að fæla þeim út. Mamma mín sagði mér að ég væri nýorðinn tvegga ár á þeim tíma. En það er ekki fyrsti minning mín. Ég á eina eldri, minningu en hun er óljóst. Ég man þegar ég var í vöggunni minni, og mjög hungraður. Hun er ekki áhugaverð minning. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 18th, 2012|02:11 pm] |
Ég og sonur minn fórum; Me and my son went.
Ég fór með syni mínum; I went with my son (who is old enough to take care of himself).
Ég fór með son min; I went with my son (who is a child and cannot take care of himself).
The first two sentences mean the same thing, even though they use different cases and inflections for everything except the initial pronoun. The third is a small change from the second, but introduces a big shift in meaning that could be insulting if used in the wrong place. It implies the person accompanying is a child or otherwise not an equal. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 7th, 2012|08:09 pm] |
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I am considering buying a house in Iceland. Prices are fairly low at the moment, about 2002 levels, and the dollar is strong. Tourism is strong and the rental market lacking in supply. I could rent out a room for 50% of the mortgage payment pretty easily. The only problem is that it totally sucks to own property abroad as an American because everything gets taxed twice. |
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| Socrates knew less |
[Mar. 21st, 2012|01:07 am] |
I know less than usual right now, and it feels pretty good.
In Icelandic we are translating proverbs for practice. "Morning time brings gifts of gold." "A small bump unbalances a heavy load." "Catch the goose while he is there." "No use covering the well after the children fall in." |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 17th, 2012|05:54 pm] |
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There are just so many little things that need to get done. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 2nd, 2012|01:01 am] |
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Starting a boardgame night using a collection left by a defunct game center. Renting a space, bringing snacks, taking donations. Doing taxes for two countries and two companies. Working double time. Walking on eggshells. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 27th, 2012|02:15 am] |
Esja stands in white across the dark green of the harbor to the north, the broad snowy face catching the low southern light under the dark clouds. The mountains and the crests of the waves are the brightest things in the world on these lengthening latewinter afternoons in Reykjavik. No matter what else is going on, all I have to do to remember why I am here is walk out my front door and turn toward the sea.
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 22nd, 2012|03:25 pm] |
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I have lost a lot of eyelashes lately. I think I have needed a lot of wishes. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 21st, 2012|06:11 pm] |
I have been preoccupied with the thought of what it means to be a good person. I wasn't a great brother for a lot of the time I was growing up. I haven't been the best of friends, either. In some cases, I know what I did wrong, and I try to do better, but in so many cases I don't know what the right thing is. I can be selfish. I can be afraid of conflict. I try to counter both of those things with awareness, but I don't always succeed. I want to make people happy. But in the end I think you have to go by results. Actions versus words. And the results are that I make people I care about less happy. I don't know what needs to change to change that.
A friend told me that she didn't see how you could believe that, that you made people more sad than happy, and still go on. But it's easy: you hope, and you try to do better.
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 3rd, 2012|02:42 am] |
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Life is snow boots and aurora borealis, water slides and coming home at 2am because it is a weekday and we all have work in the morning. I have a pension plan in a country with roughly one seventh the population of the US prison system. I have slipped on the ice a dozen times, but fallen only once. Walking home late at night I try to skate down my street in as few steps as possible. My record is three blocks in three steps. In Icelandic I am learning how to decline people's names, and becoming familiar with the dative and accusative cases. A whole layer of meaning in that I am not used to. In Icelandic, the verb to feel does not take a nominative subject. You do not feel happiness, or sadness, or joy in Icelandic. You are the object, not the subject, marked by the dative case. Emotion is a universal force, and it is happening to you. |
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interminable's journal