Classes, Writing, and Thoughts and Such

Classes: For the most part this as been a typical week. Things are still busy at work, but I'm used to it by now. The one exciting thing about this week is that I start my Italian class tomorrow. It meets every Thursday for two hours and it goes until the end of March. Every time I have taken a language class the class met Monday through Friday. You get a lot of practice and you don't have that much of a chance to get rusty. Since this class meets only once a week, I have to find a way to practice. I suppose I'll figure something out. I already talk to myself a lot, so I guess I'll just have to start talking to myself in Italian. And I also have a feeling that taking this class will inspire me to read a little more Greek and Latin. Or maybe I'll be encouraged to learn another language.

Classes and Writing: As I mentioned in an earlier post, taking this Italian class came from a pact I made with one of my good friends. We were both in somewhat of a rut and wanted to do something new and different. I vowed to take a new language class, and she vowed to take some writing classes. So far she is putting me to shame. She already took a class in food writing, and now she is in a poetry class/workshop. She has to present one of her poems to the class tomorrow. She had two poems and couldn't decide which to present, so she shared them with me and asked which one I thought would be better for the class. Both poems were absolutely beautiful, and that led me to different thoughts as I was driving home from work today. I've been thinking about it all night, actually.

Classes and Writing, and Thoughts and Such: (I have a feeling that what follows will be random and all over the place.) The pact that I made with my friend, the classes we're taking, and the poetry she wrote made me think about a lot of things. For one, I'm really blessed to have such a great group of friends who I would place in the brainy, gifted, talented, and creative group. Even long after we've graduated from college--or *cough* several colleges and grad school--we've never stopped learning and we're always hungry to learn more. Several of us have continued to take classes whether it is to further our careers or skills, to delve into our hobbies, or to indulge in our own personal pursuits. And what makes it more exciting is that our interests run the gamut of editing, stockdog training, poetry, photography, language, and much more. I personally indulge in language and I want to indulge even more. I already know ancient Greek, Latin, and Dutch. I'm taking Italian. I would like to brush up on my German (took that in high school), and I would like to learn French and Spanish and maybe Russian. It would also be cool to learn Hebrew and Sanskrit.

Another thing that I've been thinking about tonight is writing. My friend wrote some beautiful poems, and many of my other friends are also great writers. It makes me hungry for more, and it makes me wish that everyone out there was a great writer. And when I say great writer, I'm not necessarily implying great with spelling or grammar. Although that's nice too. I'm thinking more about content. Since I'm a blogger, I'm always looking for a good blog to read. I've found a few good ones, but, let's be honest, there is a lot of garbage out there. If I roll my eyes and shake my head, that means the content isn't cutting it. I didn't have that reaction when I read my friend's poetry, and I don't get that reaction when I read the blogs of some of my close friends. When I read something, I want to laugh. I want to feel touched or moved. I want to feel good, or I want to feel motivated or inspired to do better things or to be a better person. It is honestly hard to find writing that is capable of that. Frankly, it's hard to find people who are capable of that! Fortunately I have some wonderful people in my life who are. I'm not sure how successful I am at returning the favor to my wonderful friends, but I hope that I have something to offer...

Current mood: inspired
Current music: a random selection. Currently Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac