dilluns, d’octubre 23, 2006

Llifo ar Ddyfroedd Duw (Welsh)

Heno
rhwng y coed a'r maes
y gwreiddion a'r dail a'r ffrwythau
mae heddwch
a thangnefedd

Heno
rwyf yn nofio ar lyn tegid
yn llifo dros y tonnau tawel
yn ddi-bryder
mae Duw yn cerdded efo fi erbyn hyn

beth bynnag y bo

y bydysawd efallai
a'i gerdd theta hir a chudd
sibrwd cyntaf y cwestiwn mawr
y gair gwreiddiol sy'n hwylio o hyd
ar donnau du y Bod Mawr

A dyma fi
enaid bach ar goll ar y môr mawr hwn
yn llifo ac yn aros i weld
lle bydd y teit yn tynnu fy llinyn arian
ar y daith fawr hon o fan i fan

Llifo, llifo rwyf
yn dal i obeithio
y bydd y tonnau yn fy nhywys i
o ban i ban
am byth

dimarts, d’octubre 03, 2006

11 Layers of Robert [Some silly ego stroking] (English)

An online friend from Myspace posted this on his profile there, so I decided to post it here instead and fill it out for me...

11 Layers of Robert:

LAYER ONE: ON THE OUTSIDE
Name: Robert
Birthday: 12/10/1971
Current Location: in my home office on the north side of Schenectady, NY
Eye Color: officially, according to my driver's licence, grey
Hair Color: Dark brown with hints of grey (August changing to September ;) )
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac Sign: Sagitarius

LAYER TWO: ON THE INSIDE
Your fears: none, really, but I would just as soon die neither young, nor alone
Your perfect pizza: Pizza? Please... Although if I must, pineapple, ham and cheddar cheese
Goal for future: Keep moving, if you stop, that's when "they" get you...

LAYER THREE: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW:
Your thoughts first waking up: Goddam Mother Fucking Sonofabitch, it's morning
Your best physical feature: Eyes
Your bedtime: midnightish
Your most missed memory: I look back a lot, but I don't really miss the past, just some of the people from it.

LAYER FOUR: YOUR PICK:
Pepsi or Coke: Pass
McDld's or Burger King: Pass
Single or group dates: Single
Adidas or Nike: New Balance, I'm getting old, sheesh...
Lipton Tea or Nestea: Nestea, who can resist a tea whose name means "almost" tea in Welsh, honesty in advertising at last!
Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate.
Cappuccino or coffee: Coffee, black and thick

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?
Smoke: From time to time, and when I do, usually a stoagie, and I'm always three sheets to the wind.
Take a shower: Daily
Think you've been in love: Yes, goddam it, fuck all, love is a bleeding, rancid cunt replete with chancres...
Believe in yourself: Always; I'm the only one I'm sure is here for chrissake, the rest of the universe may well be a part of my diseased imagination...

LAYER SIX: IN THE PAST MONTH
Drank alcohol: Yes, of course, are you nuts? I'm drinking right now!
Gone to the mall: Eww, but, yes
Been on stage: Sage on a stage, baby...
Eaten Sushi: No
Been dumped: Quite possibly
Gone skating: No
Dyed your hair: No, but I should, Just for Men, take away my grey!!

LAYER SEVEN: HAVE YOU EVER:
Played a stripping game: No
Gotten beaten up: No
Changed who you were to fit in: nah, one reason I'm single (of the many)

LAYER EIGHT: GETTING OLD:
Age you're hoping to be married: Marry, schmarry, only if I move to Québec

LAYER NINE: IN A GIRL/GUY
Best eye color: whatever, just no cataracts
Best hair color: dark
Clothing style: heh, who cares?

LAYER TEN: WHAT WERE YOU DOING:
1 MINUTE AGO: This survey
1 HOUR AGO: having a slash (That's chav for shaking a weasel, having a piss, gitchyer minds outa the gutter for fucksake!)
1 DAY AGO: drinking scotch and chatting online
(at this hour, sheesh, but I had just gotten home from my night class.)
1 YEAR AGO: drinking scotch and chatting online
(at this hour, again, sheesh, but in general I was in my current job, my current home, etc, my life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation...)

LAYER ELEVEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE:
I LOVE: the dawn on the autumn leaves as I drive to work
the taste of Penderyn on my tongue
the look of joy in another person's eyes because I have made some small,
postive impact
the company of friends while their hands and hearts are warm
the memories of my yesterdays and the promises of tomorrows yet unborn
the realization that all I have until I die is time to create, recreate and enjoy the
rose moments I find.
I FEEL: unrequited, time slipping away faster than I would wish, too damn much life to live
and not enough time to live it, old age lurking about the peripheries of my life, and
following it, the boogey-man of death...
I HATE: in reality, very little, although neo-cons don't inspire love within me
I HIDE: my porn, guests really don't need to find it laying about
I MISS: My dead loved ones
I NEED: Another glass of Single Malt, but other than that, I need very little. My life is full of many riches, and my wallet is rarely empty
I WANT: I hate the expression "I want." I would like a BMW 7 series, more room to buy more
precious treaures, and some sad fucker who's not too hard on the eyes to share it with
me. But you know what they say, you can wish in one hand...

Repost as: "11 layers of [Your Name Here]"

diumenge, d’octubre 01, 2006

Pennseythun Bras! A Great Weekend (English / Welsh / German / Cornish [in the title])

Such a weekend...

They should all be this way! This is why being alive, inspite of the dismal iniquities of life, is worth it after all.

Friday I returned home and planned, utterly, unabashedly, to do absolutely nothing. I drank beer and watched the season premiere of Dr. Who. I spent an evening being a total Whovian geek sliding with alcohol one inch closer to mid-life, and I'm not ashamed at all.

Saturday I woke as late as I could, and pulled myself together in a respectable manner to journey west to Johnstown for the local French club's Dégustation. It was lovely, even though the weather was rough around the edges. In Isabelle's back yard, under and assortment of canopies, we enjoyed fine wine, fine company, and fine nibbles. We had three reds and three whites to try, and my favorite of each was the "Enfant Terrible" and the "Domaines de Pouy" respectively. Among our nibbles were some mini-quiches, mini-samosas and caviar. A very genteel afternoon indeed.

After the dégustation, I went to Anna's house, and then we went north to Clifton Park, where we tried Salty's Pub. Although it's located in a little slice of suburban sprawl-hell, the place was great. They bartenders know how to follow instructions and make good martinis, and the food was copious, tasty, and rather cheap. Then Anna and I headed south again, and picked up a movie about a lesbian comic. I don't remember the title, but it was a decent movie.

Today, I woke rather early in the morn and popped a bara brith (see note below) into the oven. I had been thinking of going to church, but the lure of my bed was too strong, so once the bara brith was in the popty, I was back yn y gwely till it was done. It was lovely to awaken once again, but to the smell of bara brith baking in the oven. I got the bara brith wrapped up and made myself presentable. I had to leave my warm little loaf off at my friend Pam's house so she could take it to the Gymanfa (see other note below), while I was off walking in the rain at the Albany AIDS walk around Washington Park.

The weather really was crap, but the walk went on, and I found my church group and had a nice, but soggy puddle-jump. As we were assembling, Welsh Society member Darhon's husband, Paul, a Lutheran minister, found me in the crowd, and we both resolved to make it across town to Hamilton Union to get some Welsh snacks after the walk. Additionally I was pleased that FUSS had around 20 walkers present ranging in age from around 8 or 9 to 50-something. We must have been one of the larger church groups!

Due to the inclemency of the weather, the walk was abbreviated, but even so, as we approached the end, the skies opened up and nearly drowned us. Soggy, I wended my way back to my car, and put-putted up Western Ave. to the nucleated settlement of Guilderland and Hamilton-Union church where I met the Gymanfa halfway through. I knew some people in the Welsh Society would take ombrage that I wasn't there, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to be in two places at once, and so, having raised money for the AIDS walk, I had to make that a priority. Nonetheless, I was still able to attend at least part of it, and belt out a couple Welsh hymns, and especially the Welsh national anthem, which I sang as loudly as I could, well in the most socially acceptable way a person who sings flat can... since relatievely few of the people there could sing it at all, even with the words in front of them! Afterward, I made my way to the Social Hall, where I grabbed some of my own bara brith and an assortment of other goodies. One of the best things our current president Leslie has done, although she did it long before she was president, was make our te bach (light tea) more Welsh, setting a precedent where people would make traditional Welsh bake goods. I was happy to see that of the three loaves of bara brith, mine was the first to be gobbled up!

One of the people in attendance, much to my surprise, but also joy, was the Reverend Tim Lake. It was good to catch up with him and hear his news, although not all of it was excellent. One of the funny things about the day was even though I didn't go to church, I saw no fewer than four clergy whom I know personally: my own minister Priscilla, Sam from the Albany Church, Paul and Tim!

After the Te Bach, I came back home and changed my closed to go on a date in Saratoga! No reason to give too many details on that point now, but it was a lovely time. We had some nice martinis, and a nice meal, and a long conversation. No, poppets, no sex, but I do have a second date next Sunday, and being that next weekend is the Columbus Day (eg. The Lost Italian's Day(eg. The Lost Genoan's Day)) holiday, Sunday will really be like Saturday, and that means it should be a very nice date indeed!

All told, it was a most lovely weekend, ein sehr, sehr schönes Wochenende!!

Notes:

Bara brith: a lovely loaf made with dark brown sugar, flour, an egg, and currants soaked overnight in a half pint mixture of strong black tea and whisky liquer. It goes wonderfully well with Irish butter and British Blend tea. I am of the opinion that I make the best bara brith west of Azores.

Cymanfa Ganu (also Gymanfa Ganu): A coming together to sing hymns. Begun in the 19th century during the religious revival in Wales, it's a tradition which has fixed itself solidly, and for this iconoclast, sadly in the midst of Welsh Americana. It is generally accepted as an obligatory event for most Welsh Societies, often called St. David's Societies.