This existential grammar analysis brought to you (indirectly) by Chomsky, Malinowski, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky

Right now, I should be studying for a not-really-syntax midterm tomorrow.

Let's be completely honest, without the proper motivation, that was just not going to happen.

So, blogosphere, I choose you to focus my not-really-syntactic powers.

Playlist to be blasted: Especially in Michigan - Red Hot Chilipeppers

Jumper - Third Eye Blind

Disposable Teens - Manson

Maybellene - Chuck Berry

Sleep Now in the Fire - Rage Against the Machine

Mandrake Root - Bedouin Soundclash

Natural Right - " " " "

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard - Tom Waits

Behind the Mask - Goldfinger (hate the message, but it has a good beat)

Spirit of the Radio - Rush

Longshot Kick De Bucket - The Pioneers

Once again, if you don't have these tracks: grooveshark.com

Yeah. It's gonna be a long night.

Study item #1

Adjetivos - ingles y espanol.

Right. English. I think I got those.

Spanish - two different categories,

los especificativos que son necesarios - antes del sustantivo

los explicativos que consiste en informacion extra - despues del sustantivo

I think I preferred "studying" for the philosophy midterm. Por lo menos, I got to play around with the existence of my immortal soul.

Interestingly enough, los explicativos can appear in the form of epitetos and also serve to clear up ambiguity.

Know what else clears up ambiguity? Some good old fashioned x-bar theory.

...or an eraser.

That's what I'm talking about.

Syntax.

Not this grammar jazz.

Is it useful? Yes.

Am I still un poco decepcionada by the misnomer of the class?

Ciertamente.

Study Item # 2:

Proposiciones adjetivas o de relativo - ingles y espanol. uy.

Once again. English. Got it.

Spanish: el que, la que, que, (dentro de/mediante/según) el cual, la cual, los/las cuales, lo cual, cuyo/a/s, donde

yeah. got it.

Relativos. Relative. Yes. It is all relative.

Proposiciones gramaticales, class titles, time, space, the motives behind Raskolnikov's killing spree, consciousness, midterms...the grades one receives on said midterms

In the words of Jay Malinowski, "what's your natural right, if it's all relative to mine?"

...he later said, "no, we won't make no bread."

Which is quite indicative of my future situation if I don't pass my midterms.

I won't be makin NO bread.

Or - mejor dicho - it perfectly sums up my thoughts on this not-really-syntax final.

No, not-really-syntax. I won't make no bread (i.e. play along with your grammar under guise and disregard my love of descriptive grammar).

Prescriptivism is dead.

Prescriptivism remains dead.

And we have killed it.

(That one's dedicated to you, Michael Ewing)

Study Item #3

Facebook.

Brb. <--How you like THAT one, prescriptivists?!

Study Item #4

Traduccion - ingles a espanol

Well. Guess I either know that or I don't.

I'm going to be banking on the steel trap for this section.

Study Item #5 (addendum per beccaniles)

Two words (depending on which linguist you talk to):

X-BAR

THEORY

1) adjective placement and ambiguity...check

2) proposiciones de relativo: placement, meaning, ambiguity - all resolved

3) translation...two more words: Universal Grammar.

So.

Examen parcial de sintaxis comparada ingles-espanol

answers: existence is relative

prescriptivism is dead

X-bar theory

I think I've got this in the bag.

Buenas,

beccaniles

El circulo entero

Playlist for this entry: 'Walk of Life' - Dire Straits, 'What it is' - Mark Knopfler, 'What goes around comes around' - Catch 22, 'Drive' - Dispatch

I would first like to apologize to Khrista Watson for not posting something sooner, as I promised her I would.

However, I hope the following will suffice as an excuse.

...and the previously mentioned promised entry.

I'm always amazed at the irony that is my life. El titulo de este blog surge de mi primer experiencia en Madrid, i.e. once upon a time in a metro...somebody jacked my money and bank cards, leaving me stranded were it not for the wonderful lifesaving presence of Laura. It seems as though now, we've come full circle.

Many of you already know the story; nevertheless, I would like at this point to recapitulate in bullet form what has happened in order to prove beyond a resonable doubt that I have at some point in my short life, angered the cosmos.

-8 hour bus ride to Barcelona from Madrid

-2 days of fun running around the entirety of Barcelona

-botelloning con Laura in the entrance of parc guell because we were too tired to actually see the park after climbing the mountain to reach it.

-sitting near the beach with blistered feet before catching the bus back to Madrid

- backpack (complete with 120 gig Zune, clothing, passport, camera, residency papers, phone, turkey sandwich, ultrasound picture of future niece/nephew, bank cards, flashdrive, homework, book for philosophy class, jar of nutella, bit of queso manchego, Complutense student id, apartment keys, toothbrush, shower items, you get the picture) jacked by man asking directions

- running to police station to file report

- running from police station to internet locutorio to print off a new bus ticket

- ending up at bus station

- boarding bus and returning to Madrid with only the shirt and pants I was currently wearing, newly opened foot blisters, money on loan from Laura and enough life examining thoughts to fill the 8 hour bus ride...almost.

So. What can we extract from this experience?

1) there is no absolutely no geographical reason it should take 8 hours to reach Madrid from Barcelona (and vice versa)

2) Barcelona is the Miami of Spain.

3) certain distractions in life (i.e. music, phone, literature) /are/ necessary for maintaining one's sanity. when those all suddenly disappear - along with the basic necessities of life, it's amazing how quickly ones hypothetical thoughts turn from topics such as:

- midterms looming in the near future

-a list of sacrifices one would make in order to have a 10 minute conversation with Dostoevsky or Borges

-"what color is that man's shirt? seriously. I don't think there's a name for that."

to:

"that hut over there on the field looks abandoned. I could probably sleep there without being noticed...and it's far enough away from the highway and closest town that I wouldn't have to worry about being murdered in my sleep...though, if I were to be shot or stabbed or something, i have two shirts on. I could use the outer shirt to bandage my wound, while grabbing that rock and hurling it at my pursuer...and I'm wearing my keds. I can run pretty easily in my keds...not to mention, I now have no backpack...so without all of that weight, I could move and hide more easily. is that wheat? i could eat that for a while."

4) travelling with Laura Ferguson tends to follow the strict pattern of:

1 - fun, new, exciting experiences

2 - loss of (my) personal possessions

3 - owing my existence and next paycheck to Fergs

...decide for yourself whether this seems a little...suspicious. :) but seriously, thanks, Fergs.

5) Seeing la iglesia de La Sagrada Familia in person was absolutely breathtaking.

Nevertheless, though I am currently an individual in patriotic limbo (no passport or papers), I have by now obtained a new phone, residency card, set of apartment keys, pen, copy of Del sentimiento tragico de la vida, and am borrowing an extra ipod from un hombre buenisssssimo que se llama Cole.

Though strangely enough, my thoughts still revolve around self-preservation tactics...though the hypothetical situations demanding my self-preservation have once again returned to the realm of the extraordinary.

Never know what's gonna happen in Espain. Hell. I never thought I'd get substantially robbed 2 veces en 3 meses, ergo a sudden apocolyptic degeneration of society isn't really all that fantastical.

That said, let's count the blessings here. Upon returning to my apartment in Madrid, my computer, guitar, a half-used package of Natural American Spirit (con aviso en espanol, por supuesto) and a bottle of horrendous scottish whiskey graciously welcomed me.

Thank you, Jesus.

On a totally unrelated note, seeing the completely un-metropolitanized pueblos entre Madrid y Barcelona really sparked my curiosity and spirit of adventure. I would very much like at some point to take a little excursion alone or with a few people to a few of these towns on foot.

...with only photocopies of my important documents. Screw legality. This is getting to be un rollo.

Anyone currently in Espain interested, hit me up on facebook and we'll work something out.

Finally, while I wish I could have provided vosotros con fotos de la excursion a Barcelona, mi cámara ahora es propiedad de otra persona. Lo siento.

Buenas noches,

Becca Niles