PBDC 23/31: I'm Loving

When it came time to pick which foreign language path I was to traverse in high school, I chose French. Living in California, this was in the minority opinion with such a high Spanish-speaking population. But, I did get an opportunity to use my developing bilingual skills while still in high school. I believe it was the summer of '98, and I was blessed with the amazing opportunity to join my church youth group on a trip to Italy.

We had a considerable layover in Paris, and I got to order everyone's food. Somewhere in between a fractured request for a tuna sandwich and more sodas, this is what happened (in French, but in English, for your enjoyment):

Pierre (or whatever his name was): I don't mean to be rude, but why is the Asian speaking French and not the white people?

Me: Because we're from California, and more students take Spanish classes than French. I'm the only one in the group that is taking French.

Pierre: Interesting. Well, thank you for learning our language.

I didn't do much with French after high school, with the exception of a random phrase here or there whenever speaking a foreign language comes up in conversation. J'aime les pommes de terre. (I like potatoes.)

Just over a couple months ago I heard about Duolingo. It's a free app that sets you up with bite-sized lessons in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. I haven't yet cracked any lessons in French, because I chose to start down the path of Espanol since I now have reasons for it to be useful--customer service at work.

I haven't yet used it at work but I have found it wonderfully simple to find a few minutes each day to squeeze in a little Spanish homework. Go ahead, say it, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," but I'm not one to consider myself old, and learning is learning whatever your age is. Je suis un ananas. (I am a pineapple.)

It's fun more days than not, and the biggest challenge has been learning in a different style than what I've normally preferred, but it's still awesome. I've learned more than a few words, and have been able to successfully string together sentences instead of just regurgitating phrases I've memorized.

Yo no leo los diarios. (I don't read  newspapers.)

¿Tu bebes cervezas? (Do you drink beer?)

El sombrero azul es para mi abuela. (The blue hat is for my grandma.)

I don't think this is all part of me having "school withdrawals" or subconsciously regretting not going into grad school after finally achieving B.A. status, I think it's just my desire to want to always be learning something. Anyone that says that don't need to learn anything else is essentially saying they know everything, or at least everything they need to know. Either way, that's not my preferred attitude, and I hope I never get to where I'm thinking that myself.

Bonjour, Je m'appelle Marlon. (Hello, my name is Marlon.)

Yo no duermo en una cuna. (I don't sleep in a crib.)

Merci, et bonsoir.

Gracias, y buenas noches.

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 20/28: The Written Word

"I don't have a bible in my apartment." That was my thought when I read the prompt for today. And then I told my Catholic guilt to pack it up and kick rocks. A three-word prompt of "the written word" can certainly be interpreted as a suggestion for religious text, but that's the thing, it can be interpreted as such.

Yes, I acknowledge that there is a distinct difference between "written" and "printed," but this execution of artistic license fits right in with my point. If you haven't noticed, the label on the container is read "Lavender hand soap," and the contents are a neon pink.

"So they reused the container and bought different soap."

Excellent deduction, my dear Watson. Bloody good job.

Words are wonderful things. I have a few tattooed on my body (yes, implying more than one), and if you had not heard already, you can visit the latest one in the post from Day 9: Under.

Within these words, are letters (at least, in English and a few others, but I'm not a linguist so I won't get into a discussion about characters and glyphs and the like). And these letters can be interpreted and molded to a degree as well.

The URL for this blog is dailyownx4.blogspot.com, and I'll let you in on a little secret. The first cluster of letters, "dailyownx4" can help you remember how to pronounce my last name--Deleon.

Daily-like daily newspaper, daily vitamins, daily workout.
Own-as in I own this town, you just got owned, and Jane and John own a house.

The "x4" was added since "dailyown" was unavailable when I registered for my Gmail account, and it's a reference to the different disciplines I've been privileged enough to train in: acting, directing, music, and singing. Those were the four I thought of at first. I occasionally change it up depending on how I'm feeling about a particular skill set, bundling acting/directing into one label of "theatre" and adding "dancing" into the mix. In more recent past, "writer" has replaced "dancer," but the concept still applies.

Fun fact: One of my recruiters shared a story with me about how the number four is the most important number in the world, and since I have yet to find it refuted in the last 15 years, I'm sticking with it. We can chat about this at a later time.

But yes, I read dailyownx4 as "Deleon times four."

That being said, I want to address my given name, Deleon. I've seen it written a few different ways, a couple of which I have used myself.

• de Leon
• De Leon
• deLeon
• DeLeon

I've been informed by my elders that the traditional form of "de Leon" is the preferred form. I don't mean any disrespect to the de Leon line by my letter regrouping resulting in "Deleon." I have a perfectly good reason of why I've interpreted it this way (there's that "i" word again...)

When I enlisted in the Navy, my paperwork listed my name in all caps as MARLON DE LEON. I don't have a legal middle name, but I can get to that later. That being said, quite a bit of my papers had been lost early on in my in-processing to basic training, and eventually we had discovered the issue. Someone had thought that "DE" was my middle name, and that my last name was "LEON," so they filed my paperwork under "L" instead of "D" as I had informed the petty officer at the desk (who, of course, was not pleased with my "failure to recognize" my own name and was then holding up the process).

On our uniforms, last names are embroidered on each piece, in all caps, without spaces, labeling me "DELEON."

I used to sign my name "de Leon," but having written my name altogether (aka without the space) for several years, and only capitalizing the "D" with it at the head of my surname, I molded it into what it is today--Deleon.

Every once in a while, someone will write/type my name with a space in it, or automatically go for the lowercase "d" and uppercase "L," but if I have the opportunity to edit how it appears, I go with my preference.

So there's a little trivia about me. I'll share the story of my middle name at another time, but I'm seriously considering making "Danger" my middle name,