Imported Facebook Note

Can't Handle Pynchon

Why learn German? Why? German? Why? Why German?

People have been asking me that a lot lately... why German? I didn't think learning German is that out of the ordinary... there are, as far as I know, a whole lot of people who learn German as a second language... look at the popularity of the Goethe Institute, for instance... the market is there.

About five years ago, I had mentioned that I wanted to learn German... Csaba (who speaks English, Hungarian, German, Danish, Spanish, and some Russian) told me that there is absolutely no reason to learn German, as every German with whom I could possibly want to speak with would speak English... and that if they didn't speak English, I probably won't want to speak with them (why did he learn Danish, I might have asked). I was too busy with learning Russian at the time anyway and so put off the German thing...

But I keep hitting the wall each time I try to read Rilke... I've read over ten different translations of the Duino Elegies... and re-read Gass's _Reading Rilke_... and I've come to the conclusion that I have to learn German... but no one seems to accept this as a good enough reason...

And but so the other night while at work, just as the Sean is going on about how there's no use for German in Tofino, we pull up behind a motorhome with German plates-- just German plates... the post 1994 EE style German plates... German plates in the front, German plates in the back... with no indication of any registration in the Americas. People were camping in this motorhome on Main Street... Sean knocks on the door, and this old couple who opened the door spoke only German! Aha! and what, praytell, did you say was useless? I directed them to a campground in international pidgin, and gave Sean a knowing look... German is uber useful in Tofino.

Now... how did a German motorhome with only German plates make it to the streets of Tofino? Surely, they did not import it for my benefit (though there really was no more dramatic way to prove a point than to plop down a German motorhome (complete with unilingual German occupants) right in the heart of downtown Tofino)... how did it get here with those German plates? How do people who speak neither English nor French manage to get *that* into Canada? Well, if I spoke German, I would have found out... but as it was, I'll probably never know.

So... the adventure has begun... I am learning German. The only odd part about it is that I can't seem to say anything in German without making a Dr. Strangelove face (baring teeth and all) and using a Dr. Strangelove voice...

As for everything else, I finally managed to get my brakes on the Aerostar fixed. The lights had been on for a while, but everything seemed to be working okay... and as it turns out, I wasn't exactly in mortal danger... but I should definitely have gotten it looked at earlier. The mechanic remembered me from June 2007... and asked me what I did with my Pathfinder. You see, a year ago, I drove to Tofino with a couple of friends visiting from Toronto, and somewhere on this side of Sutton Pass, the car started leaking water under the glove box everytime I made a left turn... I took it to the only garage in Tofino and this guy fixed it (unblocked the AC water egress hose whirlygig with a compressor) and didn't charge me anything for it, but allowed me (upon some insistence on my part) to buy him a tuna burger... at that point in time, I was a tourist here... in fact, it was during that trip (June 1-5) that I got an offer on my apartment in Burnaby for the full asking price... and a week and a few days later... I came out for a job interview and ended up buying the place I'm in now... and now a year and a month and five million changes later, he remembers me and my car as if very little time has passed... which, actually, is sort of true... which makes it sort of cool...

And... I've had excellent luck with the B&B guests for the last few days... there has always been at least a few people that I really like... it's taking the edge off my misanthropy.

Yes, I'm now on Dave Egger's _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_... I'm taking a pass (for now) on _Gravity's Rainbow_ ... it's just a bit much for me right now... maybe September will be better for it... The last time I felt this overwhelmed by a novel, it was Joyce's _Finnegan's Wake_... (I was just informed this evening that there's a David Eggers who was a pro surfer at some incredibly young age and rose and fell and is now in his thirties and no longer surfs... but the guy who told me also said that he lives with his father in Florida or something of the sort... which means it can't be the same Dave Eggers... (I just googled it... different dudes... born the same year, two months apart! Hah!))

I should sleep. (how's that for an abrupt ending?)