the curse

So it's weekend in my world, and a cold one at that. The Madrid winter has finally hit, its satanic freeze bringing sorrow to lonely souls and dampness to homeless children's feet.

Yea, that's right. Satan's freeze. It's that bad, and don't think you're getting out of it if you live in Madrid. Maybe if you go south at a rapid pace, for instance, you might follow the birds' example and fly, then you'll avoid its brittle claws. Maybe if you move to Jamaica or something, you can actually live a whole life without worrying about this major problem (but you'll probably be subject to other wraths, like those of God, which involve heavy rains and rapid winds).

Anyway, scientists have done many valuable, reliable studies, consistently finding that hibernation whenever possible is absolutely necessary and, in fact, required, in order to survive the long spell of winter. If not, a springtime exorcism might be in order.

I don't know about you, but the thought of Satan or any one of his ice-sleigh-pulling gremlins possessing my soul is quite horrifying. Better safe than sorry, so I'm always sure to take heed of scientists' recommendations.

In fact, I've been messing around at home and logging in hours of hibernation this very evening, something that usually leads to all sorts of different discoveries from things like that bra I had thought gone forever to how to say words like "grueling" in spanish. In such an occasion as the latter, I have just now come upon a groundbreaking discovery involving the english language, which will probably change the way you have thought about and seen the world during the entirety of your puny existence.

Just kidding, though not about everything.

But I did make a minor discovery, which can be just as ground-breaking in its own "this made me chuckle despite my grumpiness about the shit weather" sort of way. Looking at the word "curse" and it's many translations (that is to say, meanings) a little while ago in the english/spanish dictionary, I found that the fourth definition of the noun form of this word is actually the following: (menstruation) (colloq & euph) the ~ la regla. Granted this is a translation dictionary, but upon looking it up in the real dictionary, well, it lies there as well. Was anyone else unaware of the fact that "the curse", in reference to menstruation, was a term in the english dictionary? On top of that, I really loved how the translation dictionary lists it as a euphemism, which I suppose isn't false, although the irony just really gets me.

La regla in Spanish is actually just the period, and there is no stigma to this word, which, let's admit, totally exists in American english. You probably just squirmed a little in your chair upon seeing it!

Anyway, goodnight.