Current Music: Jurassic Park theme & Free Willy theme

You know your Dutch soap operas are too predictable when an American can feed the actors their lines. I was watching GTST on Thursday (talking thoughtlessly in Dutch to the TV and the characters the way I always do during that show), and the old guy Robert made this whole romantic meal for that woman (forgot her name again)… wine, lots of candles, etc… and even though they’d had similar stuff in other episodes, you just knew that this time they were going to hook up. So afterward, he was putting on his coat to leave and the woman looked at him and said “Robert?” And he looked at her, and I said mockingly, “Wil je blijven?” A second later, the woman echoed me. I laughed for about ten minutes, LOL! Maybe I know Dutch after all! ;)

Am I a nerd because I feel satisfied after doing homework? S went out somewhere tonight – I don’t know where and I didn’t ask, probably just next door to the Germans’ or something – but he didn’t even ask if I wanted to come. Guess he’s given up on me… LOL! Oh well. Anyway, I couldn’t have gone anyway because I had to do the homework that I’d put off all weekend. That sentence diagram took FOREVER! There was only one, but it took me at least 20 minutes. Well, no wonder… the sentence was “The deceitful cat from China promised the rather unfortunate mouse that he would leave a piece of cheese on the floor in the kitchen”… you try to relate all those words and phrases together, haha! But I’m always happy doing those… it’s fun, like putting a puzzle together.

And the Boswell homework went fast. We’re learning right now when to use a te and when not to – which verbs require one and which don’t, etc. That’s something I asked about a long time ago, and nobody could give me a good answer. So I just sort of learned it through listening, but I didn’t realize that until tonight. When I started the homework, at first I tried to follow the rules – checking to see if the verb in the sentence was on the list, etc. – but that was slow and dull and the paragraph (about the Elfstedentocht) was fairly interesting, so after a couple of sentences I just stopped thinking and just started reading the paragraph aloud. And as I read, I automatically put in the ‘te’ or left it out, without even thinking. Very weird… kind of like my brain wasn’t connected to my mouth. Anyway, so apparently I just sort of instinctively ‘know’ that – not in all cases, but in the common ones, the ones I’ve heard most often. That’s cool. I wonder what my linguistics professors would think of this? I know this is my second (third, really) language, but I learn parts of it as though it were my first – with no conscious idea of the rule behind it, just knowing that it is, knowing what sounds right. Maybe I’ll ask them on Tuesday.

I have been on the computer ALL DAY. I got up late and went to various chatrooms, etc. for a while, then started MSNing with some people I met through those, then MSNed with D for at least two hours (I lost track :)), then took a homework break, then chatted with the other D… and now I have a (probably computer-induced) headache and am eating vruchtenhagel from the carton (again) to try to stave it off with caffeine. But I have a feeling that all that’s gonna happen is I’ll be up all night, LOL!

I have a four-day weekend in October – where should I go? And who wants to come along? ;)

D and H may come to Utrecht on Thursday – yay!

Time for Jess to sleep now… morgen: geen Engelse Taalkunde, wel Boswell. (Ik wou het liever andersom…)