Testing Methods

Now I have two yellow belts.

That statement probably needs explaining, and as such, I will explain it. Yesterday, I had my examination in Jujitsu for yellow belt, and, due to the fact that it is nearly impossible to fail the first belt test in any martial art (and, if I do say so myself, that I did rather well), I passed with flying colors. Strangely, or so it seemed to me, the actual test was of very little event; myself and the one other student at my level performed all of the techniques we had yet learned for one of the instructors, and were then told to go down to the martial arts store and buy a yellow belt (incedentally, they'll sell you any color of belt you ask for; if you really wanted a black belt, they'd give it to you...just be wary of walking into a gym wearing it), and that was it. No formalities, no running around shouting "yes, SIR!", no to-do at all. The reason this strikes me as odd is that when I earned my other yellow belt, this in Tae Kwon Do, there was all of that foomph; a panel of blackbelts staring at us while we ran, jumped, shouted, etc.. I somewhat prefer the method of testing in this Jujitsu class, as it puts a great deal less stress on those testing (the only person even watching the test was my dad, who was used to coming to to my Tae Kwon Do tests, which were awash with spectators). On the other hand, the informality of it made it seem like a great deal less of an accomplisment; I was always quite proud of myself after a Tae Kwon Do test -- the instructors would come up and tie the belt on you and they'd all shake your hand and say "good job," and you'd turn around and bow to the audience, and then turn back around and bow to the panel, and then you'd go sit down and watch the next group test, while playing with your new belt and feeling incredibly relieved, despite the fact that almost no one ever failed a test. I do seem to recall seeing someone not pass, but it wasn't someone I knew, and as such, it didn't really effect me. That kind of formalities, though, really aren't my thing, and the simple test in Jujitsu strikes me as a better way of going about such things.

PLaATJ,
--Gazebo

Trauma? Not Quite...

So, as is the way of things, events that happen on Saturday are reported on Monday night. Let's hear it for my reliability and dedication...
As for what happened on Saturday that merits reporting...I got up, ate breakfast...yeah, yeah, fast forward to the exciting bit, right? Okay. At around two o'clock, I walked into a jazz club by the name of Stampen, carrying my guitar. Needless to say the statement "I walked...carrying my guitar" is redundant, as I never go anywhere without it, but in this instance it's relevant, I swear. But I digress. I walked into Stampen for the express purpose of participating in what they call a "bluesjam," which was essentially an open mic, with a focus on...you guessed it, blues (no points for guessing that one). It took me all of a minute to realize that I was the only one with an acoustic guitar. Disregarding this, I took my turn at the mic, and played "Under the Bridge" and "The General." As I did so, I was literally shaking, despite not being cognitively afraid. It struck me afterwards that this was my first real public performance, and that was nothing unexpected. In spite of that revelation, the shaking was still quite distracting.
To make a long story short, I played like crap, or so I thought. In retrospect, though, Under the Bridge didn't go too badly, and what's important is that I did it at all; one has to start somewhere. That's what I'm telling myself at least. In any case, I plan to do it again, so it can't have been that traumatic. Or maybe I'm just insane. Only time will tell *cackle*...

In other news, Nasa (a friend of mine's nickname, not the American space agency) has been so kind as to format my transcriptions of the Latin inscriptions of last week into a more conventional text (lower case, with actual macrons and æ's). Unfortunately, my digital expertise does not extend to converting the pdf into a file type that Blogger can handle, but if anyone's interested, email me (or him, if you know him) at smithw12321@gmail.com, and let me know, and I'd be happy to send it to you.

PLaATJ,
--Gazebo

Upsala Cathedral -- Latin Inscriptions

As promised, I have the pictures of the latin inscriptions in the Upsala cathedral, here for your viewing pleasure. Though I have not managed to translate them, I have included transcriptions of the latin, as best I could make out -- errors are, of course, bound to happen, so for you latin scholars out there, feel free to correct me. Enjoy!

Note: In my transcriptions, I use a lower case letter to indicate a macron, and brackets to indicate two letters (usually a and e) joined together. Ex: [AE]

The tomb of Carl Linneus and son:

OSSA
CAROLI LINNE
EQV AVR

MARITO OPTIMO
FILIO VNICO

CAROLO A. LINNE
PATRIS SVCCESSOR
ET
SIBI (?)

************************

Another tomb:




IOHANNIS SCHEFFERI
ARGENTO RATENSIS
IN
ACADEMIA UPSALIENSI
ELOQUENTI[AE] IURIS NATUR[AE] ET GENTIU
PROFE SFORIS
COLLEGII ANTIQUI TATUM AFSESSORIS
ET
BIBLIOTHEC[AR]II REGI
NEC NON
UNORIS EIUS
REGIN[AE] LOCOENI[AE]
DORMITORIUM

*************************

On yet another tomb of some sort:


GOSTAVIS REGVM GENEROSO NOBILIS ORTV
QVI PATRIIa REGIS CHRISTIERNI FRAVD SVBACTa
SERVITIOQ GRAVICVDAQ TYRANiDE PRESSAM
ASSERVI VARIO TANDEM CERTAMINE VINDEX:
QUI REX COMvNI SVENCORVM VOCE CREATVS
ET LEGES VETERES ET IVRA ANTIQVA REDVXI
QVI PACe PEPIGI Cv DANO ET REBVS IN ARCTIS
AVXILIv TERRAQ TVLI PELAGOQ PETENTI:
QVIQ LVBECeSe DOMVIFERO IN [AE]QVORE CIASSEM
OVI SMALANDeSES IN IVRA VETUSTA SVBEGI:
CVIVS OF ADVeTv MOSC FER ARMA RELIO[AE]



ET QVADRAGENOS REX FELICISSIMVS ANNOS
QVI PATRIAM REXI, LAVDEMQ, DECVSQ PARAVI
GOTHORVMQ FVI SCIPIO, QVO CARA RVENTVM
FVLTA SALVS, VELVTI PR[AE]SAGIIT OMINE NOMEN
HIC IACEO TER QVINQ SENEX VBI LVSTRA PEREGI
CHRO ANIMa FAMa TERRIS HVIC MeBRA SEPVLCHRO
SCETRA MEIS MORIENS COMMISI REGIA NATIS
HIS GRATI OBSEQVIVM SVEONES PR[AE]STATEIFIDEIIE(?)
RV VERO EX NRO QVI SaFVINE SCEPTRA TENEBIS
IVSTICIAM COLITO COELORVM QVERITO REGNVM
PARCITO SVBIECTIS ARCETO VIRILITER HOSTES

Alas, it's sideways. Oh well...
ARMA MAGNI
DVCA TVS
FINLANDI[AE]

And again...
ARMA DVCATVS
VILANDI[AE]

MEMORARE NOVISSIMA
ET IN [AE]TERNVM
NON PECCABIS


HIC CATARINA IACET GOSTAVI REGIA CONSORS
SAXONI[AE] MAGNO QV[AE] DVCE NATA FVIT
SPONSASVE [AE]TATIS TER SEXTO HVC VENERAT ANNO
VIX PAST TRES ANNOS TVNERE RAPTA CADIT
NON VITALE TAMEN LVMEN SINE PROLE RELIQVIT
VNO NAMQ THORI PICNORE MATER ERAT
ILLA SED IN PRIMIS HAC NOMEN LAVDEMERETVR
SYNCERA COLVIT QVOD PIETATE DEVM
ATQ VEREOVNDVM SERVAVIT CASTA PVDOREM
PAVPERIEVSQ PVAM FERRE SOLEBAT OPEM
NVNC ANTMAS INTER DECIT CATHARINA BEATAS
ET RIDET MVNDI CAVDIA SPERNIT OPEN


HIC QVOQ GOSTAVI COivX IACET ALTERA REGIS
MARGARIS [AE]ATIS GEMMA NITORQ SV[AE]
QV[AE] GENVS EX VETERI DEDVSIT STIRPE LEONv
QV[AE] CAPITA IN CLYPEO NON SINE LAVDE GERIT
CVIVS IN ILLVSTRI FORMO(Q/O Y/X)(?) MODESTIA VVLTV
ET PVDOR ET PROBITAS FVLSIT ET ALMA FIDES
QV[AE] ERMONE GRAVIS MISERO NON DVRA CLIENTI
PAVPERIBVS COLVMEN PR[AE]DISIVMQ FVIT
QV[AE] DILECTAVIRO ET PATRI[AE] FOECVNDA SALVTI
BIS QVATER EST THALAMI PIGNORE FACTA PARENS
TRES VQVIDEM NAIOS ET NATAS QVINQ RELIQVIT
PAS QVORVM IN COELO VOTA SALVETE FACIT

As you can see, some of the pictures are not of the highest quality, for which I apologize; it's hard to hold my dad's camera steady enough, especially when the light is not very bright. All the same, enjoy it. I'll have a regular post up sometime in the next couple of days...

PLaATJ,
--Gazebo