STEAMER'S BLOG
So grows the obsession....
Tuesday, December 12, 2006 1:58 AM
I was working the other day with the student fireman I mentioned a couple of entries ago - the one with whom I was working on the Nathan hydrostatic lubricator (snerk snerk snerk...) He's qualified now, so the other day I went from working with him to working on him.
We were discussing our preferences toward motive power and he wanted to know if I had a picture of my favourite engine as the background wallpaper for my cell phone. My answer was a resounding No - wanna see what my wallpaper is? He says sure. So out comes my phone, and sitting pretty on the screen is our beloved <i>Serenity</i> floating serenely in orbit above some planet or other."Why am I not surprised?" he says.
Snickering, I climb off the engine loudly singing the last line from "The Ballad of Serenity". I've almost got him. Just a little more time, says I, a little more time and maybe an extra DVD set to lend out.
So, that was the other day. Today - let no off-day pass without a couple of hours' hang-out at Borders. Just for shits and giggles, I browsed the foreign-language section and uncovered a wealth of Chinese tutorial: and as any good Browncoat knows, this is the one bookstore section you have to ransack before you can be taken genuinely as a serious <i>Firefly</i> geek.
Asking my folks to get me "Chinese for Dummies" for Christmas ought to be a step in the right direction toward converting them. BUT, to tide me over until then, I picked me up a nice little pocketful o' pages called "Making Out in Chinese." Mind you, this is not what it sounds like: 'making out' in this case doesn't necessarily mean kissing and fooling around, although it does have some phrases you can try on That Geisha in the Window: it has far greater pertinence to getting by, coming through, having a successful mission in China. Not to mention, it's just damn fun. Especially the "Curses and Insults" chapter.<i>Qing gei wo duo yi dian?</i>
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