I'm studying Italian this year...and I think my blood is boiling about it, in the best possible way! I think it's a sort of feeling of homeland. I feel this way when I think of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania...especially Pittsburgh. It becomes a sort of ferocious blood boiling if anyone back-talks my city...I feel like I could throw a mountain! But I also feel like I could throw a mountain in a good way when I think of it; it's also how I feel as I study Italian.
I have very little experience with the language before this...I studied Latin and then Japanese. The strangest thing is that I can find words in Italian that correlate to both languages! Latin, yes, obviously that's gonna happen...but Japanese, yes, it does really happen like, um...well, there's that whole "the word that means the English word is the same as the English word except a different pronunciation or just slightly different spelling" and then there's other things, like "hai" and...well, "banana"...okay, so not THAT much is the same.
But it makes me really excited, because these three languages seem very connected in other ways. Mainly, almost all Latin and Japanese pronunciation rules are EXACTLY THE SAME. Italian sorta does it's own thing thing, but the Latin background gives me a good boost, and knowing the Japanese pronunciation lets me apply it to the Latin words and...yes, in a round-about way, it works perfectly!
I guess I'm just very grateful for all of these connections, and just lucky, and thrilled that Italian feels like MY language. Like, it's what I was meant to learn...again, that feeling of homeland. I think we all have it, for wherever our origins lie...more than ever, I really want to go to Italy and see the town and the hill where my family is from, and eat the food they would have eaten, and, yes, I'd love to go to Venice for a while, too. I know it smells funny and everything, but I don't care! It's a gorgeous and mysterious city, sort of like an anomaly of cities...it's a unique gem of the world.
I think being surrounded by things that are beautiful, both in the transcendental sense and in the universal aesthetic sense, just lifts up the heart and mind. You feel like trying to find something greater, trying to be better...I think that's why churches have always been so beautiful. We should be so thankful for them. It's sad that so many people direct their hate and bitterness towards it all throughout history, but the fact that we keep going and restoring and striving...it's hopeful and sad and wonderful.
There is a purple butterfly bush right outside my window. I've gotten used to seeing it there, and so I don't notice it as much as I should. Or rather, I take it for granted. This is just a tragedy. I think it happens no matter where you go, no matter what you're surrounded by...maybe I'm just crazy to be a person who stares at the sunsets and moon. But it's always good to notice the beauty around you, I think. Taking it for granted, then losing it....it's sad. It's sad in such an every-day way, that we don't think about it much, which just makes it sadder.
Oh, I read Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale in a few hours last night. I really liked it....though, I think I liked the first book better. And yet! I think I will appreciate and grow to love Palace of Stone more over time as I set out on my own and really go out into the world by myself more. I must keep that in mind, and do my best to appreciate the sentiments and ideas in the book...there is a lot that is beautiful and true, and gives it its own magic. I just have to make more effort to appreciate it...so I pray I shall!
Ah...I just went to the Simple Abundance website looking for the September update. It's not there, but I looked into an excerpt of one of the books, The Journal of Well-Spent Moments. An idea that stood out to me was this:
"Listen to your favorite music, especially if you haven’t listened to it for a while. Don’t multitask,
don’t read, just listen. Ask yourself why this music speaks to you on such a deep level.
Does it make you dream, or cry, or feel energized?"
I think it's rare that one actually thinks about music...Fulton Sheen said that the music we love is the music that's already in our hearts. Our music says so much about us, and how often do we really ponder it! What does it tell us? What do we really feel about it? Where does it tell us we're going in life? How will we live listening to the messages this music gives us?
Well, that brings me to my last part in this entry, my original reason for making it...I have no picture this time, but I want to share this song instead. And the picture....ahh, the beautiful, innocent surrealism and natural loveliness and hint of summer childhood...it tells me the story and message of this song.
Buona giornata!
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