Languages!

Oh dear. If I don't become a bit more interesting very soon, I'll bore myself to death. I don't think I've ever heard of "Death by boring oneself.", but I do start to believe it can be achieved. I should get a hobby. A proper hobby. I know a lot about this one online game and try to help out people on the forums there, but it's not all that productive or conversation-starting now, is it?


I do want to learn a new language or six. I have it all planned out. First I want to learn Dutch and German because my native language, Afrikaans, was derived from other languages including Dutch. I can understand most Dutch words. And I can understand some German as well purely because of my Afrikaans background. Then I'll move on to French, Spanish and Italian. And right at the end as I believe it might be difficult: Cantonese or Mandarin. I still have to figure which one out those last two. 


So, how exactly? I found a website called Livemocha.com that seems to have beginner to intermediate courses for free. I just tried a bit of the Dutch course. But they do want me to speak words out loud, record them and then have random strangers judge my speech. I manage to come across as an idiot in my own language, do I really want to be making a fool of myself and bore others in multiple languages? Is it really worth it? Hmmm...


I'll go through with it and see. I am doing this for my child, after all. Yes, I want little Long to have a great advantage in life. I want my tiny future pacifier-user to be able to talk to everyone in the world. I thought it was a brilliant idea when first I watched The Boondock Saints and I still think it's a brilliant idea. So, little Long, mommy will make a fool of herself just for you. I think I'll be saying that a lot for the next 70 - 80 years... 


My word, it's a long time to commit yourself to a person, isn't it? I've fully committed myself to my husband for that duration, but in all fairness, I knew him quite well at the point of commitment. This tiny little person growing inside of me is still a stranger in a lot of ways. I'm stumbling blindly into a new relationship, probably one of the biggest, most challenging and yet most fulfilling relationships of my entire life. But I know nothing about this ickle kick-boxer. All I know is that I can't wait to get to know him better. 


Thankful!
I'm thankful for diversity. Sure, we humans can hate those who are different, but is there any point to it? I want to celebrate the differences instead. In fact, life would be awful if we're all the same.