das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk.

[highways]

This afternoon I was IMing unicorn and thor and I put my head down on my keyboard, and when I picked it up again it was an hour and a half later and after I worked out the what the fuck happened? where the hell am I? I had to go to German. Which is, by the way, Taiwan's one opportunity for me to feel superior, since as much as its grammar might kick my ass on a regular basis, in my class I am the only person who's a native speaker of a Germanic language—except, maybe, the professor, I don't know where she's from—plus English has a vocabulary overlap with German of like, sixty percent. Basically I know more than everyone else in the classroom by doing nothing, studying nothing, just by existing. This makes me feel super smart even though I did nothing to earn it.

In all other circumstances I am an illiterate idiot. One who can segment Chinese, though. Even if I can't understand it any better than I could when I got here three weeks ago, which is frustrating, I know my subconscious is up to something because word boundaries are super obvious to me now, I can recognize other non-native Chinese speakers by their accent, and really the whole language sounds a lot different than it did before.

And writing in English gets harder all the time. This entry? It took me forever, and I know the wording in places is awkward as hell. It's probably because I haven't had an actual face-to-face conversation with another native English speaker in days, but goddamnit, I have been here for three weeks. THREE WEEKS. It's like my brain is all, fuck this, DIVERT RESOURCES, SHE DOESN'T EVEN USE ENGLISH ANYMORE ANYWAY.

Edit: BEHOLD, A FANDOM LINK, "Hey, Inception Fandom. Let's talk about Yusuf for a minute." by effex. Yes, lets. Includes a bunch of fic recs I'll probably check out tomorrow, because tbh he's one of the few characters in that movie with a distinct voice at all. So far I've only really read fic about him actually.

Comments

[thor]

I WONDERED WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU

and hurray for English, being a germanic language! but the fact you are forgetting it is hysterical! it's only been a couple weeks, man! AHARHARHARHARHARHARHAR maybe we should skype with the mic I now have so you don't forget your native language too soon.

I'm actually in school on these AWESOME FUCKING MACS THEY ARE AMAZING I SO WANT TO STEAL ONE right now so I can't check that link right now or they will FIND IT and BLOCK IT. Like they might do to DW... Uaaagh!

[highways]

ARE YOU AFRAID IT WILL NOT BE A SAFE LINK FOR SCHOOL. BECAUSE I DON'T REMEMBER IF IT IS OR NOT.

Yeah, I think my passive language skills are fine, which means I will understand every dumb word that comes out of your stupid mouth, don't worry. And you forgot the word milk when you were in France. Don't think I forgot about that.

[thor]

OH SHIT WE ARE LEAVING NOW

All my words are smart. Oh, and you haven't forgotten any words like that? You will... YOU WILL

LATER

[highways]

I only have one American friend so if I did, nobody would know. I could claim whatever weird thing I said was hyper-modern slang.

[jae]

Are you seriously learning German through Chinese? Wild! I've learned one foreign language through another before, but never two languages that were that far apart.

-J

[highways]

Fortunately no! Or unfortunately, depending on your perspective. They voted on the issue on the first day of class, and since it's an elective it's dominated by very motivated language geeks who wanted a chance to practice their second language (English) in order to learn their third or fourth or whatever. And the teacher speaks both Chinese and English equally well and didn't care, and I was honestly pretty relieved.

My classmates still discuss stuff in Chinese though. Sometimes we do that lazy thing where they talk to me in their native language, and I answer in mine, and we all sort of understand each other.

[jae]

Okay, now I'm even more confused. How could they vote on that the first day of class? I mean, wouldn't they have to have long since determined what language, say, the books would be in, or whatever? And surely the teacher had already prepared at least some of the lessons for an entire semester's worth of work!

-J

[highways]

The book is only in German! Which I find sort of frustrating, since I have to then look up all the new words in a different source, but it's probably convenient for the publishing company to ship it internationally to different countries. I think the class was always intended to be taught in English but so were most of the courses I'm taking and like, some of the teachers are either talking in Chinese an awful lot, or have decided that to hell with what it says on the schedule, they're teaching it entirely in Chinese. So this could've gone either way, really.

[thor]

BRITTANY ARE YOU GONE AND ASLEEP YET

[highways]

Much as I wish it were so, no.

climax is making me do things, I can never rest.

[thor]

Bwahahahahahahahah! Most excellent indeeeeed! It's like, late right now for you!

[highways]

Fuck you.

[highways]

I must finish this man.

[thor]

I bet you wish you were asleep! You know, I got a lot of sleep last night and I'm not even a little tired.

ARE YOU NEAR FINISHING whatever it is because i don't know because it's blocked and i can't get to it because i don't know how to pass that thingy on these macs. D: because.

[highways]

god are you good for anything jw

CHARACTER

NAME: Yusuf
SERIES: Inception
TIMELINE: Immediately post-movie
BACKGROUND: Yusuf runs a medical clinic in Mombasa, Kenya, but his more lucrative business is on the side–or rather, downstairs, where he sells specialty cocktails customized and formulated for the dream sharing industry. Yusuf's brilliance and professionalism has given him a reputation in the field, one that leads Eames to recommend him to Cobb for a job that requires only the best. Yusuf rarely goes into the field, as that's something his profession rarely requires, but he can't refuse the opportunity Cobb provides: a chance to make a great deal of money, and a chance to create the sort of compounds that only the physics of the dream world allow.

He joins the team, and then the movie happens. Yusuf is badass and afterwards presumably goes back to Mombasa, perhaps struggling under the immense burden of all the cash he just made, to tinker in his lab once again.

ABILITIES: Yusuf's talents include the possession a sharp mind, a dry wit, a vast knowledge of chemistry and pharmaceuticals, and the ability to only panic slightly under pressure. He speaks English, Hindi, Urdu, and can get by in Swahili. Because none of these are of a supernatural nature, the 30% ability rule does not apply to him.

PERSONALITY:

[thor]

Wait now I have to go for like five minutes STAY WHERE YOU ARE SISTER

STAY

I WILL BE RIGHT BACK

PROBABLY

[highways]

oh goddamn if i throw up i blame you

[thor]

oh hi again.

how are you?

:D

[highways]

writing my

app
die

[thor]

... but i don't want to die.

[highways]

who cares

[thor]

me?

[highways]

i can live with that

[thor]

i can't

[highways]

i can live with that

[thor]

but

but

[highways]

you distracted me from my app


also coincidentally after speaking to you i feel like throwing up and passing out and maybe dying, is this actually a coincidence

[thor]

of course it is.

but you can die now, it's okay.

[highways]

hate
you

[thor]

nope.

[thor]

i'm supposed to go now. DX

if you are not asleep later. i wont be either! except i wont be tired, but you will be. :D

hahahahahaha