Israel

Perhaps some of you have not heard that I am planning on going to Isreal in the summer. It will be a two week trip with one of my teachers. I am getting really excited. I am planning on spending my Christmas working to save for the trip. I am actually looking forward to that because I will be working with my brother James in St Louis.

I along with 14 other students will be traveling together. When we leave for Israel we will fly to London where we will visit the British Museum. That is going to be a real nice bonus to the trip since there is a lot of artifacts in the musem that were taken from Israel. Then we will leave for Israel itself and spend 14 days traveling around visiting the sites. We visit tels from Dan to Beersheba, we will tube down the Jordan River, and we will get to walk the hills and
valleys where David walked.

I really cant wait. I need to do some research on the different places that we will visit so I may post them to the blog when I type them up.

Mazal Tov

I have always known that the english language yet I didn't realize how much of our slang comes from Yiddish. Yiddish is a mix of German and Hebrew. It is actually more than just a mix of the two but for my understanding that is what I have reduced it to. Yiddish was a very common language before the two world wars since then it has decreased significantly.

In my search I found that I have been speaking yiddish all my life and I didn't even realize it, and for some words I feel a slight embarrassment now that I know the root. Some of the common words that I use are: tush, tuchus, schnook, schmo (I knew a girl who called herself this, it means stupid person), putz, glitch (a common computer term), klutz and even bagel is yiddish.

It is not all that thrilling to find out that words that you know are from another language, since almost all the words I know are from another language. What I like is learning new words from that language. So here is what I found
boychik : boy, young man.
noodge : to pester, nag, whine;
nosh : snack
nudnik : a pest, "pain in the neck";
nu : multipurpose interjection often analogous to "well?" or "so?"
zaftig : plump, chubby, full-figured, as a woman

Well there is my yiddish lesson for the day. I find that most of the yiddish words we took mean something along the lines of a stupid person. I guess we never have enough words to describe stupid people and to laugh at them in our turn. 
Yet on closer inspection I would suggest avoiding the word schmuck.

Today is greet your friends in Yiddish day. Mazal Tov! 

phobia

Today I came accross lalophobia which is the fear of speaking. There are a few people who I am convinced have this but I am not naming any names. This is not to be confused with glossophobia which is the fear of public speaking and this the quite common in my opinion. These sent me on spiral into the world of phobias and I fear I shall never return.

We have androphobia the fear of men and Venustraphobia the fear of pretty women. The Ephebiphobiacs are afraid of youth while the Gerontophobiacs fear old people in return.

My personal favorites are:
Aibohphobia — a joke term for the fear of palindromes, which is a palindrome itself.
Arachibutyrophobia — fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia — fear of long words.

This sent me on a quest to come up with my own phobias and so I declare this to be make up your own phobia day.

Here is what I got:
Mordwixedophobia- the fear of spoonerisms.
Enderophobia- the fear of being a third.
Comeuppancemasticagumaphobia- the fear that if one throws their gum on the ground they will inevitably step on gum in the near future.

There you have it. If you happen to come up with some clever phobias send me a letter because I have come down with a sever case of technophobia.

Johnny Bloom
2570 Asbury Rd
Dubuque, IA
52001

Table Talk

I really enjoy watching people who are good at what they do. There is this kind of pleasure that goes with seeing someone do something that has a high level of difficulty while making it look easy. This is why I like to watch sports, or even a carpenter or an artist. Skilled labor, like my brother who sets tile, is impressive when done by someone of his ability. Yet there is one trade that is often overlooked but is very impressive when done by a skilled person, talking.

We all can talk, and most of us can communicate but there are some people who can "talk". I am not talking about those people who chatter on and on. I am talking about the people who have refined their skills in the area of communication and can lead a conversation or host a dinner. These people are professionals, they are deipnosophists. For those academicians out there, deipnosophist is derived from two Latin words meaning "dinner" and "a wise man".

The art of talking at one time was recognized as a skill more than it is now and often that skill was employed around the dinner table. My mind turns to the many Jane Austin stories I have read or heard in which people had form and structure to their dinner parties and the weight of the conversation was to be carried by the host. So while passing judgement on a party, not only the food and accommodations were taken into account, but also the conversation.

I dont know why we have lost this respect for the deipnosophists among us. Maybe it is the technological age which allows people to live and form relationships without ever talking. Or maybe it is the degeneration of the family and the loss of the traditional family dinner. Whatever the case may be, I respect those who have honed their skills of communication and have become professionals of table talk. I have also made it my endeavor to sharpen my skills in this area though I am but a novice in this lofty profession.

New Computer

I am still alive here in Dubuque. I just got a new computer and it happens to be a really nice one. I bought it used but like new, it still had all of the original in store stickers on it. It has a 3 year warrenty which means that I will be able to hold on to it for a while, until it is obsolete. I will also be blogging a little bit more now that I have my own computer.

Recursive Blogging

Today I am blogging about blogging. It is such a strange thing really when I think about it. I spend all of this time living and doing things and my thoughts are, "wow this will make a good story." Yet I do enjoy the moment but my completion of the enjoyment is in telling others. Thats why I like to blog. The big fish or the made soccer goal are not enjoyable when kept to one's self. Rather when we tell others we take joy in what took place.

Also there is a skill involved, not only is my joy complete in telling the story but I labor over the right way to tell it so that it represents the feelings of the moment when the event took place. By capturing the mood or irony of a situation, one can turn even an ordinary event into a good story if they have the skill. Thus there is a joy to telling that I look forward to even while I am doing the very thing I will be telling.

physiognomy

physiognomy \fiz-ee-OG-nuh-mee; -ON-uh-mee\, noun:

1. The art of discovering temperament and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially by the features of the face.

I do this all of the time but I have never thought to stop and think about it. So today me and a friend spent a little time wondering what kind of faces convey what kind of temperament. Like a round face, or big ears, or a mole on the nose. What does a square face or a tan face convey? Try looking at people and guessing their temperament by their face, it is a good game. I declare October 11 physiognomy day.

I will survive

At first I was afraid I was pretrified,
kept thinking my blog had just dried up and died
and I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry but now I hold my head up high

and you see me and I got work to do
but I'm here and your the one I'm posting too
you thought you'd just drop by and expect me to be free
and now posting even though this is not the place I'm suppose to be

Well everyone my computer up and died and now I have to go to the computer room to post to my blog. It is very inconvenient but I really like doing it so I will try to continue.

I just got back from a long trip to kansas. It was a good trip though and it was really nice to see people. It was just long enough to make me realize how much I miss all of the people whom I havent seen in a while. So ultimately it leaves me kind of sad.

I have a big greek test tomorrow so I am going to study and pray for endurance because I am tired.

Goaaaaal!!!

I scored my first goal in soccer today. I was so excited. I jumped around and hugged people. I have been wanting to get a goal for a long time and the longer I went without a goal the more ther times that I missed my shots began to weigh on me. This however was a good goal. I dribbled past a defender and chipped it over the goalie. I kept in mind all of my previous mistakes and kept my cool. When that ball went in the net though I went crazy. I ran around hugging people and jumping up and down. It was our 5th goal so the other team was probably wondering why I was so happy but I didnt care. Within a few minutes I had another chance for a goal and missed and that is weighing on me so I am in seach of my 2nd goal now.

Trains

I went to the Mississippi River with a group of people and hung out on the beach there. While we were there a train came by. I put a penny on the track but it rattled off. I also stood pretty close to the train as it went by. It is amazing to me the size of the trains. This one was supper long and the cars were massive. The train went speeding on and on and on and I stood there in sheer amazement at something man had made. When I walk the streets of gold some day, I will be amazed and will continue to be amazed for all eternity.

today is: give your friend a quarter day

On Voice Lessons

I have recently taken up voice lessons at a local music school across the street. My teacher is Mr Williams. He is a rotund man who always greets me with a pleasant smile. I really like him and I am looking forward to more of his tutelage. He wears sweater vests and has a nice trimmed beard. While he is a tenor he has helped me find my range which fits pretty comfortably in the baritone range. I could probably sing bass as well but I have more power in the baritone range.

I have been working on mostly scales so far and I have been able to increase my range a little. He has also given me some old folk songs to sing which I am enjoying. I wish I could play the piano because I would love to be able to learn a few more. Currently my song that I am trying to get is "Jacob's Ladder" it has a low spiritual feel to it which I enjoy.

We are climbing Jacobs ladder
We are climbing Jacobs ladder
We are climbing Jacobs ladder
Children of the Lord.

EPA

I am not a linguist but I have the utmost respect for them. Anybody who can spend hours in front of a mirror practicing clicking and uvular fricatives is pretty high on my list (Cliff N). I do however love to speak the lingo of the linguists even though I don't really know what I am saying. That is where I got the title for my Blog. Egressive Pulmonic Air simply means to speak. Well it is not as simple as that but that works for me. In the past every time I tried to put a theme to my blog I lost interest. So i decided that this blog will be whatever comes to me. I guess I will see what happens.

In honor of Steve Stucker my childhood weatherman I like to make up personal holidays. He had one for every day of the year and he had a bunch of dogs. I got to meet him once at a balloon fiesta. Anyway today is: Thank Your Parents Day.