First shapeways order!

I made it! My first order at Shapeways (the custom 3D printing company) has been done. I sent 3 ring designs and one design for a small ceramic dish. That last one was just because I wanted a reference piece for future ceramic designs, so it was whipped up in about an hour and a half. In sharp contrast to some of the ring designs... Even more, the ring design I showed earlier (okay, a small part of it) has yet to be completed, it still needed so much work that I decided to focus on the easier designs for now. But, I'll have it finished with the next batch.

Or the one after that. Or after that...

This week is going to be extremely busy at my part-time job, and after that I'm free for two whole weeks (yay!). If everything goes well, I'll receive my products the week after that (I'm very curious), and from then on I'll have loads of work to do: making good product photos, doing some promotion, setting up my own website, working on the next designs and such.

But, my two holiday weeks are for the well-needed fun and relaxation. I've promised myself that I'm only allowed to do some simple tasks to prepare for the arrival of 'the goods', if, and only if, I really feel like doing so. Sounds safe, huh?

To help the holiday feeling kick in at my first day off, I've assembled a little holiday kickstarter pack for myself. A collection of goodies and little presents to bring out that summer feeling. It think assembling it must have been at least as much fun as unpacking it will be...

Language barriers and other nasty yet not completely inovercomable issues

Writing in a tongue that is not your native one can be quite a challenge. Especially if your aim is nót to sound like a boring drone. Sad fact is, the extended playful vocabulary and lingual subtleties to create wordsmith-wrought textual masterpieces usually don't come with the text-books.

Good thing is, I never expected this to come easy. And that's why I'm going to practice (an alternative would be to watch all Monty Python episodes until they can be dreamt, but let's keep that plan B for now).
A 'little' warning might be useful here: I will no, and absolutely no doubt at times completely hit beside the plank.

...

Yes, that was a Dutch proverb 'de plank misslaan' (mishitting the plank). It means that one is not 'off' as in 'missing the nail with your hammer', but 'off' as in 'missing the whole piece of wood', probably ending with a very sore toe or a rather flinchy audience.

Okay then, let's start with Lesson One: Expressing emotions!

Interpunction... check! It's mainly the same in both languages. Always nice to have a head start.

Now then, happiness. I have 'yay', 'yaaaaay' annd 'hurray!', although that last one sounds a bit birthday-themed really. Gotta find some more.

Okay, expressions of frustration. I have 'aaargh' (who wouldn't get that), 'blegh', 'bloody hell', 'that darn/wretched/friggin thing/person/weather' and a lot of words that would no doubt not be suitable to type up here. Check, with additional plans to check out an episode of 'Hell's Kitchen' for extra reference. I'm sure that ought to do it.

Now surprise: 'whow', 'holy moly/cow/something else', 'wowzers' (Inspector Gadget, anyone?), the slightly eyebrow-raising worthy 'holy crap batman' (call me Dutch but I've never laid a connection between a costume-clad guy, manure and divinity) and the more civil, Martha Steward-like 'my gosh'. Covered, I guess.

Moving on to expressions in the 'yeah right' category. I've always been impressed by the comedic potential of well-timed 'my foot'; 'suuure' and 'whatever' work fine, and a less elegant 'pffft' will probably convey the message as well.

Closing off with a more advanced expression: the slightly mocking, not-completely-serious kind of happy. Hmm... For me, it's rather easy in Dutch:
- there is the slightly formal and out-of-fashion-for-at-least-a-century 'hoezee'
- we've got 'joeghei', pronounced 'yoogh-hai' which I doubt has ever been used as a non-mocking expression. A bit like -insert sarcastic, deadpan voice- 'I finished all my boring tasks and was told that, because I did that well I was promoted to doing that the whole day for the next month, yoogh-hai'.
- and of course the all-known 'joepiedepoepie', i.e. 'yoopiedepoopie', translation would be somewhere near 'yoohoo the poohoo'. Ah, Dutch is such a refined language.

After some digging, the words 'golly' and 'whoop-tee-doo' came up, but there must be more. Writing down: homework for next lesson. Check.

Next time, Lesson Two: Use of formal language not even remotely near desired context. We hope to see you again... same channel, same time!