things i like #12

Wow, the last "things i like" post I made was a full year ago. I haven't posted much on this blog lately because it requires way too much brainpower to string together full sentences about Interesting Topics rather than just fragmented ramblings about things immediately connected to what i'm doing at that very moment.

Anyways, this is dedicated to the broken escalators at Tesco on Magdalen Street which bar customers from going to the basement, where the snacks, sugary things, and health and hygiene items are stocked.

- when you open a new dove soap bar and you run your fingers over the dove logo stamped onto the soap, which because it's new feels really harsh and hard but also substantial and strong; also the smell of dove soap
- my chemical romance
- rilakkuma paraphernalia
- being able to rip off a piece of tape with your teeth in one go
- my new(ish) sienna uniqlo pants. the color is just so beautiful, im obsessed with it!

things that i go back to a lot and will never get sick of (things i like #11?)

- 10 things i hate about you
- the social network
- oceans eleven
- the lord of the rings
- moonlight
- how it feels by jenny zhang
- having a coke with you by frank o'hara
- howl's moving castle (both the book and the film)
- percy jackson

things i like #10

i've been feeling like complete and utter shit for the past few days but here are some things that were ok

- the new toothpaste i bought and the way it feels in my mouth and on my teeth, it encourages me to really brush vigorously. the noise it makes. somehow it's different from the slippery one i had before
- vanilla iced lattes from the china center
- slowly watching the level of honey recede from the small bottle that i bought after daily use. currently it's at around 60%
- seeing people in the street that i recognise, even if i don't speak to them. today i was going to lunch and saw el-amin in the window at the bank and did a double take and made him come and watch me eat, which was probably a little cruel because he's fasting but he seemed down and i'm not free at non-meal points in the day.
- the fact that the mint-blue tank top i'm wearing at the moment is a shirt that i really hated for a few years and suddenly like again because when i wear it with mom jeans it makes me feel really butch. i imagine myself glinting with sweat as i fix a motorcycle and then ride away on it with my soft girlfriend. it's nice that this shirt has returned to my good graces. i usually abandon clothes once i stop liking them and i would've thrown this away but i didn't and that was a good idea

and yet despite these things being nice they did nothing to make me feel any better. i'm sick and exhausted and working myself to the ground and i just need summer to come so that i can be on vacation even though i won't really be 100% on vacation and will still have 489842898 to do. i just need to survive another 9 days. im burning out.

things i like #9

- when wind blows across fresh, untouched snow and the top layer of powder gets blown away. the wind acquires a white color, and it looks like the whisper of ghosts.
- the smell of jasmine
- spotify discover
- sweet potato fries
- being in love

things i like #8

- that feeling you get when you do a whole page of complicated algebra and it all cancels out to give a beautifully simple answer like the number 2
- the feeling of warm sunlight against your skin. it feels like gold.
- zac oyama from collegehumor
- new socks
- the artificial smell of cherries

Things I Like #7

- birdsong
- rumbling loud crashing thunder
- when you're listening to music and you take off your earphones / leave the room for a while without pausing, but continue singing the song in your head, and when you return to your music it matches up perfectly
- fresh, thick, untouched white snow, sparkling under the sunlight
- Migros ice tea

Things I Like #6

- walking by a vent and catching a whiff of the sweet smell of fresh laundry
- jeans that have one big slit on each knee
- mcdonald's CBO burger
- in the morning when the frost on the grass has all melted, except for the white patches that are in the shadows because the sunlight hasnt' touched them
- angsty c-pop ballads in minor key

Things I Like #5

- the smell of fresh cucumbers
- the change in Mr Coates' facial expression, voice, and body language when he's about to say something he thinks is funny (I love Mr Coates, he's such a well organised teacher and is so cute... "When I worked in Malawi/Malaysia/at a summer camp in America/at a fish and chips shop...")
- cello music
- spring (I used to think my favorite season was summer, but in the summer we take so many things for granted. There are already signs of spring -- some small yellow flowers, light birdsong, the smell and feel of freshness, the warmth of sunlight on your skin at 3 in the afternoon... spring is such a beautiful season, when all the daisies start cropping up in the field at school and everyone starts to spend lunchtimes outside, just laying on the grass and picking daisies and there's such an atmosphere of anticipation... it really is a season of hope and rebirth!)
- the clinking sound when something gets sucked into the vacuum cleaner

Things I Like #4

- Ocean Vuong's poetry
- Putting lipstick onto your top lip, then pursing your lips and seeing the imprint appear on your bottom lip. Then going over it and making it brighter.
- Refreshing my emails on my phone
- Thick braids
- Dane Dehaan

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On translation:

Deborah Smith began studying Korean in 2010 and translated The Vegeterian by Han Kang to practice her language skills. The English version was published in 2015. It won a Man Booker. She and the original author split the prize money.
The more I think about being a translator of (modern) prose literature, the more appealing it seems to me. I could do French to English and Chinese to English. I think the fluent-in-theory-but-dy1ng-in-practice relationship I have with French and Chinese, and my excellent English (if I may say so myself) is a good combination. Or Spanish? Or I could even do a new language from scratch, like Smith. My list of languages I want to learn next are:

1. Cantonese (but in terms of literary translation, of course Hong Kong literature would probably need knowledge of Cantonese to translate, but still isn't impossible with Mandarin and some guidance)
2. Korean (I feel like it'd be easier than...)
3. Arabic
4. Sanskrit (not very practical for modern translation!) 
5. Czech

I don't know why Czech. I've had this very romantic view of Prague ever since I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone in year 7 and I also loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. And, of course, Kafka. Prague is just such a beautiful name.

Speaking of Kafka, I'm still lowkey reeling from Kafka on the Shore which I read over the summer. I don't understand it. But it was so interesting. The only other Murakamis I've read are Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and 20 pages of a Spanish version of After the Earthquake. He won't stop thinking about sex during moments when it's not necessary. Anyway, I feel like you could write a whole book analysing Kafka on the Shore. I haven't thought about it yet. It's just sitting in my mind, like a bookmark. Maybe someday I'll dwell on it. 

Things I Like #3

- Kinder Buenos
- the brand of mustard they have in the school cafeteria. its taste and the smoothness of the bottle's shape, and the satisfaction of opening its black cap and clapping it shut after. the color.
- tea sets
- the robustness of my nails when they get to the point where they need to be trimmed again
- when the lake is filled with fog and you drive by it on the highway on the mountainside. past the railings and the village lower down the slope it is oblivion, an expanse of white. if it is sunny, it glitters.

Things I Like #2

Things I Like #1 (12.12.16)

Things I like #2 (09.01.17):

- the market failure chapter in economics

- escape rooms

- european history bee and bowl questions

- the weiyun logo

- director caps, dad hats, baseball caps whatever you want to call them