The Weekly End (Pretend Holidays, Steven Pressfield, and the F-word in Arabia)

This is what the Dude is up to this morning. And since I have beyond-zero where that comes from, I have for you… things other people created and much babble about my own nonsense. Lucky you.

This week, like so many these days, it mostly blur. We added many new items to the art shop in preparation for the annual Christmas Show in Denton and I’ve been attempting to assemble some semblance of the holidays around here where, as we say, “it’s always Summer and never Christmas.”

But never fear, I found this great  fireplace app ($ .99) to channel that hearthen glow through my Apple TV, and matched its ambiance with the ($ .69) Gregorian Christmas album. When I can keep all the lights on my tree lit at the same time and prevent the a/c from blowing out my candles, I can almost imagine it’s Christmas somewhere.

Reading & Film…

I started Steven Pressfield’s War of Art and he’s kicking my butt. I’d say ass because that’s really more like it, but I wouldn’t want to upset anyone. But seriously? If there is anything you’re wrestling to do, overcoming a bad habit maybe, or starting a new venture, or purposing toward your craft… you should probably read this book yesterday.

Also, his perspective on humanity is just so spot on, I’ve now added several of his other works to my to-read list. I’m amazed. Just… amazed.

As for movies, we chanced seeing Catching Fire at our local cinema, where generally the odds of hearing the film over the chattiness of the crowd are never in your favor. But we had surprisingly good luck and LOVED this movie. Why has no one been talking about it? I’m so confused. Or did I just miss the hub-bub?

Also on my favorites list for this week…

• This post from Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Anne Bogel which typifies why I like her blog so much.
• And Star Wars snowflakes? Yes, please.

And for the funniest thing I’ve read in ages…

The 2013 Hater’s Guide to the Williams Sonoma Catalog. But – WARNING. There is a lot of foul language in here. If you so much as twitched some elbow-skin when I said “ass” a while back, do NOT read this. Otherwise, grab a tissue for your eyes, darling, and invite your husband for a read, too, because he’s been keeping these sentiments silently in his heart for years. Don’t forget: I warned you.

A now for a brief aside about the f-word and living in Arabia. I mean, since you asked and all…

This American mother-of-cuss-words is used all the time around here. Songs and television shows playing in public will fling long strands of effing this and that and, since most hearers aren’t American-English speakers, no one blinks an eye.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Native Arabic speakers who are learning English have no idea how strong the word is in American English because, when the movies they watch (and they learn most of their English through movies) translate the f-word into Arabic, they refuse to use such strong language. So they use a very mild word instead, turning all the f-words into the force equivalent of “darn” or similar.

Thus they learn that the f-word is what you use when you “forget” your homework and need to express your distress to your teacher. My husband’s students roll this word out all the time despite his exhortations to choose another word. After all, they know from the hundreds of translations they’ve seen that he must be over-stating the matter.

Fascinating, no?

But more importantly…

Here’s an iPhone/iPad/Mac trick you may not know:

If you ever need a special character, like ñ or è or ü, just hold down that character on your keyboard and select the option you were looking for.

Great, right?

So what was on your list of favorites from this week?