Does it all have to be about race? YES!

Paul Mooney at his best. His stand up (i.e. sit down) is pretty raw. As my roommate said, if you were at a bar and had a few drinks with him, this is what he would say... this isn't a "bit"! There are so many one-liners I don't think quoting would do it justice, just watch. I actually thought the people he was interviewing were actors at first, but apparently, they're real... HA!

91 goals in a year. WOW!

Messi scored an all-time record 91 goals for club & country in 2012, surpassing Gerd Muller's record of 85 set in 1985. I'm proud to be a fan and to have witnessed most of this history live. We are watching a true legend!

Left foot, right foot, header, free kicks... he does it all! Congratulations Leo. ¡Ya sos el dios de fútbol!

He also won a ridiculous 4TH Ballon d'Or in the sweetest jacket ever. ¡Felicitaciones!

Charleston, South Carolina

Had soooooo much fun visiting my lovely friend Nika in South Carolina. What a well-preserved, quaint, beautiful, friendly town that has really never abandoned its unique qualities but still stays atop the trends in so many ways! Hearty southern cookin', great scenery and fun people really made this town stand out to me! Can't wait to go back :-) Check it out:

subtle yet deep

In the quest to narrow down my speciality in linguistics, I find myself fascinated by the very top and very bottom of this diagram. Is this too ambitious? Unguided? Disconnected from the reality of the field?

No, au contraire, for the arrows that connect these intriguing linguistic disciplines are my guide to all the subtleties and complexities that are language. It's beautiful!

Perspective

"Does the universe have a purpose?"

Some simple & rational perspective on the purpose of the universe from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on @minutephysics. These are the simple, blunt & frankly obvious reasons why I don't find religion... worth it. I'd rather hold out for some real empirical answers. I mean, we've come this far, and at the same time, have barely scratched the surface in so many disciplines.


For now, why not just live, love, laugh and learn everyone?

Stern with Tarantino on Django & ... everything

Howard Stern interviews Quentin Tarantino on Dec 5 about, well, everything, but his new movie Django (trailer) in particular. Stern's voice is nostalgic for me and I've never heard an interview with Tarantino, so I was intrigued; but the first thing that caught my attention was when O globo tweeted that Quentin talked about how much hasheesh he smoked with Brad Pitt when filming Inglorious Bastards (and I learned this word in Portuguese via that tweet: haxixe, pronounced 'a-shee-shee'). As a hookah freak, I had to hear him say it, which happens at about 18:20. And they didn't smoke sheesha, they smoked hash... oh well, still funny, and an interesting interview in general.

the last 5 months...

wow, so much has happened since my last post in june. i always think about my blog but never seem to get to it. i have a goal to commit more time to it now, as i really seem to gain insight on my life path and the people in my life when i write. here's what's happened and some big things i didn't mention since my last post:

• graduated with my MA (Spanish - Sociolinguistics)
• accepted to Penn State's MA/PhD program (dual-title: Hispanic Linguistics & Language Science)
• moved across the country and now living with 4 other students in Pennsylvania
• my best friend got married! congrats joe & caitlin :-) my best man speech was pretty good, too
• supporting my sister through her divorce. she & her kids deserve better!
• my 2 year old nephew can talk!
• broke up with my girlfriend... now i'm single and ok with that
• joined NFL and NBA fantasy leagues... go james harden & cam newton!
• presented at my first professional academic conference: "1st International Pragmatics Conference of the Americas & 5th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics"
• met up with an internet friend in real life that i met 13 YEARS AGO on aol instant messenger... now i'm going to see her again in december! thank you, internet
• visited my friend in NYC who also started grad school on the east coast
• i voted. and he won! also proud of my home state Washington for going gay & green :-)
• made contacts from the UK while in Charlotte and might present at a conference in East Anglia this summer!

my academic plans for the near future include preliminary research on the Spanish spoken in Belize, predictability of a language's default vowel, the English of the rural Pacific Inland Northwest, as well as progressing my Portuguese to a fluent level, possibly teaching English in the Dominican Republic this summer, performing pragmatics research in the UK, and, of course, doing something cool for spring break... TBD ;-)

there you go blog. im sure im missing something, but posting this still feels good :-)

Spring Semester 2012

Camel, Ostrich & Horse Races at Turf Paradise

A day trip to Sedona, Arizona

 

Graduating from ASU. My family, friends & professors!

 

my carry-on held...

12 pairs of socks
4 pairs boxers
26 shirts & sweaters
8 shorts & pants
a beach towel
2 beanies
3 belts
a merry christmas & casino receipt from mama
a happy holidays card from dad
a button
and a passport.



Enough to save $25 and NOT check a bag!

resolutions

i get pissed every year at how bad i am with my resolutions. this will short and sweet bc i know what i have to do and don't want to waste any time dwelling, procrastinating, yearning, etc... here they are:

-posture!
-get more music!!!
-eat out only once a week
-save 15% of paycheck
-1hr/day exercise with weekly time trial (1 mile on track)
-1hr/day reading news/current events
-1hr/day french & portuguese
-4hrs/day thesis

come on ryan, i know you can!