Learning a New Language

I've been studying Japanese on and off, for years now. I went through phases of learning basic greetings and conversation starters, to days of the week and how to tell time. At this point I can read and write in two of the three alphabets (Kanji will probably take the rest of my life). However, in high school I took 4 years of Spanish. Now I'm nowhere near fluent but I do understand some basic stuff like sentence structure and some vocabulary. The problem I have is because for so long my brain was programed to view "Spanish" as THE foreign language that I speak, it was my default. So now because I've been learning Japanese and not using my Spanish my brain is fried. If someone speaks to me in Spanish I'll have a Japanese answer pop up first. This is no good. A friend of mine is currently taking a French course and he speaks both English and Spanish. Since I told him of my issues with two foreign languages he's answered questions in class using Spanish instead of French. Much to the dismay of his teacher I'm sure.

So have you ever experienced such a thing? What's your second language and what's the third one that gives you trouble.

SPEAK OUT! (c) Martin "Raw Dawg" Payne

Car Crazy

With all the things going on with Toyota I felt I had to show why German cars(VW-Audi-Porsche-Mercedes) are the best engineered cars. 

Everyone knows how much of a car junky I am well I gonna share some clips on an Engineer who built a machine of all machines. Ferrari, Lamborghini, it's not that I don't love those cars but when you can't drive your machine everyday and have the same performance. Why...

A Beautiful Day for a Stroll

I don't know much about this song or the people who made it but I am a fan of the subject matter. Plus it was illustrated/animated so beautifully I had to share it with you. Thanks to Bluster Primero for sharing this with me. You can check out his site here.

Record Makers Promo from CreativeApplications.Net on Vimeo.

Hump Day Humor

I had to take it back and share some of my favorite episodes of cartoons when I was a little one with no care of my own. To sit in front of the TV was great but to have a large bowl of cereal and a big spoon to accompany me was even better. So here we are with great way to keep the week moving with a few good laughs.

Nightmares (NYC 70's) - Imagination or Reality

I saw this documentary and I felt it contained so much of what we (fellow NYers, who have lived here for more than 20 years) have been feeling about this great city. It contains the struggle, the anxiety, the fear and the triumph that every underdog goes through.

To set it off I thought it would be fun to listen to some Dana Dane


One of the main things I remember saying to people is how sterile the city has become. Due to gentrification (shhh don't say that word) and all the new comers to the city who have no concept of paying dues. It's as though there is a sense of "I deserve" just because of ego. That's straight shit, in order to have a rep you'd had to have put in work = time. This isn't about being known by everyone but known by the select few in the right places. Relationships are crucial to survival. Just to get a clearer picture of what it was like back then watch the first episode, but I know once you start you will see it all the way through.