Catch-up post.
Aug. 7th, 2009 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damkiannaMy birthday was Monday; sadly, it was not wholly stress-free, since I had to do an interview, but it was pretty close. I got an early present over the weekend, so that some birthdaying could be done while my dad was still at home - it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous antique typewriter, whose only flaw is that its spacebar is a little bit overenthusiastic. (Also the part where I can't save anything is very weird. There's no Ctrl key! I am so lost!) Bonus: I now understand why the Shift key is so named.
On my actual birthday, I got only one more present - my sister's present for me hasn't arrived yet, but that just means when I do get it (this weekend, I'm hoping) I'll have plenty of time towatch enjoy it. Whatever it is. Because I don't know. **cough**
Anyway. I got a Polaroid camera - the sort I remember from grade school, where the teacher took pictures and everybody fought over who got to wave it around 'til it developed. My mom went all old school on me this year. :D The cake was awesome, as always.
A few more wildlife encounters to document, also. The fuzzy cheerful one would be a very close pass by a deer in the car, going up the lower curve of the road my house is on; it was standing right by the guardrail, staring over it at me with its enormous eyes. The somewhat less pleasant one would be the one where Calvin caught a squirrel at the end of the walk, and, well. Suffice it to say that it did not end especially well for the squirrel, who now presumably roams the Great Pine Tree in the sky.
I'm up to Chapter Sixteen of the Great AU, now - I got a push to work on it instead of all the random crap I've gotten caught up with thanks to M, who agreed to give me a few select edited portions of her NaNo from 2007 in return for all the chapters I had so far (nearly thirteen, at the time) plus a new one by the weekend. I got so caught up in it that I finished Chapter Fifteen, too, and spilled over into the start of Sixteen. Which I'm hoping to finish this weekend, and possibly Seventeen, too. Naturally, I also wrote another pair of Irrelevant Shipfics, but let's just pretend that didn't happen.
M's NaNo is fairly interesting. I'm sworn not to share any details with anybody, but suffice it to say that it's rather different from the others I've managed to guilt out of her - those three were more swords-and-sorcery, and this one's modern. Although still not lacking in magic, of course.
Also, this song has been dogging me recently, so.
J'ai compris que les années se passe vite; c'est inquietant.
Je me rends compte que Kelissa aurait sept ans le vingt septembre;
que chaque jour, des hommes s'auto-détruisent à la hache,
et pour s'enfuir les plus fort traversent les mers à la nage.
J'ai vu l'écart entre la belle et la bête.
Ici, la guerre a la patate mais à la peine est la paix.
Dans la rue, tu sais les délits profitent aux hommes;
dans dix ans, le kilo de came sera au prix du kilo de pomme.
J'ai compris tard que les regrets me pénalise,
et ça fait mal quand je réalise que si peu de rêves se réalisent;
que j'avance pas; que leur justice ralentit;
que la France n'est pas si belle, ma prof d'histoire a menti;
que dans la vie faire la paix n'est pas rentable.
J'ai compris que faire la paix c'est la cauchemard du marchant d'armes.
Je réalise la nuit des courses poursuites dans la ville,
mais n'ayait crainte puisque la mort n'est que la suite de la vie.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
Oh, these feet carry me far;
oh, my body, oh, so tired.
Mouth is dry;
hardly speak -
holy spirit, rise in me.
Here, I swear,
forever is just a minute to me.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
J'ai compris ce qui allait pas d'ou venait le mal dans nos ZUP;
que les voitures qui prenaient feu ne rentraient pas dans vos urnes;
que tous les jours des amis meurts au cachot,
comment certains sont prêts à tout pour obtenir un plat chaud.
J'ai compris que l'être humain ne fait rien d'autres que saigner;
que dans la vie se faire du mal est plus facile que s'aimer;
que les voisins c'est pas "les filles d'à coté";
que dans le pays des droits de l'homme des familles vivent à l'hotel,
comprenait le poids des mots, des fois la vie fout le cafard -
les voleurs se font coincer mais les violeurs ont le BAFA;
que dans la vie j'ai toujours senti ce gêne
a quel point j'ai grave du mal a dire je t'aime à ceux que j'aime.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
oh, and understand
'cause all men die;
('cause all men die)
'cause all men die.
('cause all men die)
And, of course, the translation - again, the work of my fading high school French.
I've come to understand that the years pass quickly; it's disquieting.
I've reminded myself that Kelissa will be seven on September twentieth;
that every day, men destroy themselves with axes,
and the strongest swim the oceans to escape.
I've seen the gap between the beauty and the beast.
Here, war is embraced, and peace is a risk.
In the street, you know that men profit from crime;
in ten years, a kilo of cocaine will be as cheap as a kilo of apples.
I understood too late that regrets are penalties,
and it hurt me to realize that so few dreams are realized;
that I won't get anywhere; that their justice is slowing;
that France is not so very beautiful, my history teacher lied to me;
that in life, being peaceful is not profitable.
I've come to understand that peace is the worst nightmare of arms dealers.
I see the way night chases the city streets,
but I'm not afraid, because death is just what comes after life.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
Oh, these feet carry me far;
oh, my body, oh, so tired.
Mouth is dry;
hardly speak -
holy spirit, rise in me.
Here, I swear,
forever is just a minute to me.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
I've come to understand what isn't coming from the same places as the everyday wrongs in the streets;
that the cars that caught fire didn't fit onto your ballot;
that every day, friends die in the dungeons,
and how certain people will do anything for a hot meal.
I've come to understand that being human means nothing more than always bleeding;
that in life, hurting yourself is easier than loving yourself;
that the neighbors are never just "the girl next door";
that in countries with human rights, families live in hotels,
understanding that words have weight, that sometimes things are all wrong -
that thieves are caught, but rapists are given diplomas;
that in life I have always felt the shame
of being as terrible as I am at telling the people I love that I love them.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
oh, and understand
'cause all men die;
('cause all men die)
'cause all men die.
('cause all men die)
A BAFA is not quite a diploma, if I'm remembering correctly; it's more like some kind of youth leadership certificate. A ZUP is a zone à urbaniser en priorité, a "priority urbanization zone", which doesn't really condense to any succinct English phrase I can think of ("slum" has something of the same feel to it, the same sort of connotation, judging by the way one of my French teachers explained it, but it's not the right word - and, of course, the denotations are totally different).
Man, I get such a nerdtastic thrill out of translating things. :D
On my actual birthday, I got only one more present - my sister's present for me hasn't arrived yet, but that just means when I do get it (this weekend, I'm hoping) I'll have plenty of time to
Anyway. I got a Polaroid camera - the sort I remember from grade school, where the teacher took pictures and everybody fought over who got to wave it around 'til it developed. My mom went all old school on me this year. :D The cake was awesome, as always.
A few more wildlife encounters to document, also. The fuzzy cheerful one would be a very close pass by a deer in the car, going up the lower curve of the road my house is on; it was standing right by the guardrail, staring over it at me with its enormous eyes. The somewhat less pleasant one would be the one where Calvin caught a squirrel at the end of the walk, and, well. Suffice it to say that it did not end especially well for the squirrel, who now presumably roams the Great Pine Tree in the sky.
I'm up to Chapter Sixteen of the Great AU, now - I got a push to work on it instead of all the random crap I've gotten caught up with thanks to M, who agreed to give me a few select edited portions of her NaNo from 2007 in return for all the chapters I had so far (nearly thirteen, at the time) plus a new one by the weekend. I got so caught up in it that I finished Chapter Fifteen, too, and spilled over into the start of Sixteen. Which I'm hoping to finish this weekend, and possibly Seventeen, too. Naturally, I also wrote another pair of Irrelevant Shipfics, but let's just pretend that didn't happen.
M's NaNo is fairly interesting. I'm sworn not to share any details with anybody, but suffice it to say that it's rather different from the others I've managed to guilt out of her - those three were more swords-and-sorcery, and this one's modern. Although still not lacking in magic, of course.
Also, this song has been dogging me recently, so.
J'ai compris que les années se passe vite; c'est inquietant.
Je me rends compte que Kelissa aurait sept ans le vingt septembre;
que chaque jour, des hommes s'auto-détruisent à la hache,
et pour s'enfuir les plus fort traversent les mers à la nage.
J'ai vu l'écart entre la belle et la bête.
Ici, la guerre a la patate mais à la peine est la paix.
Dans la rue, tu sais les délits profitent aux hommes;
dans dix ans, le kilo de came sera au prix du kilo de pomme.
J'ai compris tard que les regrets me pénalise,
et ça fait mal quand je réalise que si peu de rêves se réalisent;
que j'avance pas; que leur justice ralentit;
que la France n'est pas si belle, ma prof d'histoire a menti;
que dans la vie faire la paix n'est pas rentable.
J'ai compris que faire la paix c'est la cauchemard du marchant d'armes.
Je réalise la nuit des courses poursuites dans la ville,
mais n'ayait crainte puisque la mort n'est que la suite de la vie.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
Oh, these feet carry me far;
oh, my body, oh, so tired.
Mouth is dry;
hardly speak -
holy spirit, rise in me.
Here, I swear,
forever is just a minute to me.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
J'ai compris ce qui allait pas d'ou venait le mal dans nos ZUP;
que les voitures qui prenaient feu ne rentraient pas dans vos urnes;
que tous les jours des amis meurts au cachot,
comment certains sont prêts à tout pour obtenir un plat chaud.
J'ai compris que l'être humain ne fait rien d'autres que saigner;
que dans la vie se faire du mal est plus facile que s'aimer;
que les voisins c'est pas "les filles d'à coté";
que dans le pays des droits de l'homme des familles vivent à l'hotel,
comprenait le poids des mots, des fois la vie fout le cafard -
les voleurs se font coincer mais les violeurs ont le BAFA;
que dans la vie j'ai toujours senti ce gêne
a quel point j'ai grave du mal a dire je t'aime à ceux que j'aime.
And I'll take everything,
(Je prendrais tout ce qui à prendre,
les joies et les larmes)
in this life;
(dans cette vie)
I'll join everyone,
oh, and understand
'cause all men die;
('cause all men die)
'cause all men die.
('cause all men die)
And, of course, the translation - again, the work of my fading high school French.
I've come to understand that the years pass quickly; it's disquieting.
I've reminded myself that Kelissa will be seven on September twentieth;
that every day, men destroy themselves with axes,
and the strongest swim the oceans to escape.
I've seen the gap between the beauty and the beast.
Here, war is embraced, and peace is a risk.
In the street, you know that men profit from crime;
in ten years, a kilo of cocaine will be as cheap as a kilo of apples.
I understood too late that regrets are penalties,
and it hurt me to realize that so few dreams are realized;
that I won't get anywhere; that their justice is slowing;
that France is not so very beautiful, my history teacher lied to me;
that in life, being peaceful is not profitable.
I've come to understand that peace is the worst nightmare of arms dealers.
I see the way night chases the city streets,
but I'm not afraid, because death is just what comes after life.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
Oh, these feet carry me far;
oh, my body, oh, so tired.
Mouth is dry;
hardly speak -
holy spirit, rise in me.
Here, I swear,
forever is just a minute to me.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
when I die.
I've come to understand what isn't coming from the same places as the everyday wrongs in the streets;
that the cars that caught fire didn't fit onto your ballot;
that every day, friends die in the dungeons,
and how certain people will do anything for a hot meal.
I've come to understand that being human means nothing more than always bleeding;
that in life, hurting yourself is easier than loving yourself;
that the neighbors are never just "the girl next door";
that in countries with human rights, families live in hotels,
understanding that words have weight, that sometimes things are all wrong -
that thieves are caught, but rapists are given diplomas;
that in life I have always felt the shame
of being as terrible as I am at telling the people I love that I love them.
And I'll take everything,
(I'll take everything there is to take,
the joys and the sorrows)
in this life;
(in this life)
I'll join everyone,
oh, and understand
'cause all men die;
('cause all men die)
'cause all men die.
('cause all men die)
A BAFA is not quite a diploma, if I'm remembering correctly; it's more like some kind of youth leadership certificate. A ZUP is a zone à urbaniser en priorité, a "priority urbanization zone", which doesn't really condense to any succinct English phrase I can think of ("slum" has something of the same feel to it, the same sort of connotation, judging by the way one of my French teachers explained it, but it's not the right word - and, of course, the denotations are totally different).
Man, I get such a nerdtastic thrill out of translating things. :D
