Gealach

This is a story about my dad, Ireland, and the Moon. And also the past and the future. It happened nearly exactly forty years ago.

My dad's parents were very big on their Irish heritage, and they made sure that my dad and his brothers and sister learned some Irish. Part of that was sending them away from Dublin to the countryside, where the language was still spoken, and in an immersion program. The idea was that by not speaking or hearing English all that summer, Dad would be able to speak functionally in Irish. Ireland did have television in the 1960s, but it was all in English -- I don't know if they now have Irish-language programming, though all of the street signs in Dublin now are bilingual.

As it happened, that was the summer of 1969, and Dad, like any young geek, wanted to see men land on the Moon. He wasn't confident he could explain to his guardians why this was so important. Perhaps because they were trying to reclaim a past lost to them, and Americans landing on the Moon was such a futuristic thing. So, he ended up sneaking out to the nearest town and watching it there. Wikipedia tells me that the landing was at 20:17 UT on July 20th and the first moonwalk was at 3:00 the next day.

I don't have that difficulty, of course -- I've watched Shuttle launches from my computer, and attended the Mars Phoenix landing party at Cornell. Neither does Dad -- as it happens, he owns property down near Cape Canaveral, and was able to see the Mars Phoenix launch. Until he heard the rocket go up, he thought it was just a spring break party late at night on the beach, and then he realized that he was probably hearing spectators of the launch, rather than rowdy college students.

On the other hand, while Dad can read Irish well enough to be amused when a Irish-style pub in Laramie, Wyoming does a bilingual menu*, he still trips over it when speaking. At my sister's wedding, he read a traditional blessing in his mother's tongue, punctuated by his apologies about his shoddy pronunciation. Of the attendees, maybe his sister and two of three brothers (the third was not present), plus Mom's sister's husband, would actually be able to tell. I don't speak a word of it myself -- the title of this post was gotten via googling for an English-Irish dictionary, and typing 'moon' in it.

* I don't remember the name, but it was next to a bar called The Library, that was right across from the dorm I stayed in for my internship. Apparently they sold T-shirts saying 'Don't lie -- tell your parents you're at The Library'. For that matter, he even complimented the owner, who told him she had an Irish-speaking friend do the menu.

Gealach

This is a story about my dad, Ireland, and the Moon. And also the past and the future. It happened nearly exactly forty years ago.

My dad's parents were very big on their Irish heritage, and they made sure that my dad and his brothers and sister learned some Irish. Part of that was sending them away from Dublin to the countryside, where the language was still spoken, and in an immersion program. The idea was that by not speaking or hearing English all that summer, Dad would be able to speak functionally in Irish. Ireland did have television in the 1960s, but it was all in English -- I don't know if they now have Irish-language programming, though all of the street signs in Dublin now are bilingual.

As it happened, that was the summer of 1969, and Dad, like any young geek, wanted to see men land on the Moon. He wasn't confident he could explain to his guardians why this was so important. Perhaps because they were trying to reclaim a past lost to them, and Americans landing on the Moon was such a futuristic thing. So, he ended up sneaking out to the nearest town and watching it there. Wikipedia tells me that the landing was at 20:17 UT on July 20th and the first moonwalk was at 3:00 the next day.

I don't have that difficulty, of course -- I've watched Shuttle launches from my computer, and attended the Mars Phoenix landing party at Cornell. Neither does Dad -- as it happens, he owns property down near Cape Canaveral, and was able to see the Mars Phoenix launch. Until he heard the rocket go up, he thought it was just a spring break party late at night on the beach, and then he realized that he was probably hearing spectators of the launch, rather than rowdy college students.

On the other hand, while Dad can read Irish well enough to be amused when a Irish-style pub in Laramie, Wyoming does a bilingual menu*, he still trips over it when speaking. At my sister's wedding, he read a traditional blessing in his mother's tongue, punctuated by his apologies about his shoddy pronunciation. Of the attendees, maybe his sister and two of three brothers (the third was not present), plus Mom's sister's husband, would actually be able to tell. I don't speak a word of it myself -- the title of this post was gotten via googling for an English-Irish dictionary, and typing 'moon' in it.

* I don't remember the name, but it was next to a bar called The Library, that was right across from the dorm I stayed in for my internship. Apparently they sold T-shirts saying 'Don't lie -- tell your parents you're at The Library'. For that matter, he even complimented the owner, who told him she had an Irish-speaking friend do the menu.

Writing Update...

I just finsihed a Slayers fanfic about Xellos -- pick your poison, Insanejournal or Dreamwidth. (Also, FF.net, Mediaminer, Ficwad and Skyehawke, and a link in TheSlayers@LJ -- I crosspost like a crossposting thing.)

"The Weight of Secrets", my Zelda fanfic for areyougame, is done and at the beta *waves to yuuo*. Also, I just realized I forgot to name some minor characters. Oops.

As for my SciFiBigBang@LJ project, it's barely out of the prologue, but I have a Plan. Like many plans, it may change as I write. But, here. Have a graphic.



For the more artistically inclined, I have some exchange art that I finished:



Just realized that TRALLT's Harper (left) looks a lot like how I draw my character, Zack Marshall. Aside from both being blond Americans born in the latter half of the 20th century and being somewhat athletic, they don't have that much in common. Oh, and maybe having an embarrassing first name -- Harper is an Ashley, and 'Zack' is technically a middle name legally changed at 18. (Zack's full name is Francis Zackary Peter Marshall.)

Writing Update...

I just finsihed a Slayers fanfic about Xellos -- pick your poison, Insanejournal or Dreamwidth. (Also, FF.net, Mediaminer, Ficwad and Skyehawke, and a link in TheSlayers@LJ -- I crosspost like a crossposting thing.)

"The Weight of Secrets", my Zelda fanfic for areyougame, is done and at the beta *waves to yuuo*. Also, I just realized I forgot to name some minor characters. Oops.

As for my SciFiBigBang@LJ project, it's barely out of the prologue, but I have a Plan. Like many plans, it may change as I write. But, here. Have a graphic.



For the more artistically inclined, I have some exchange art that I finished:



Just realized that TRALLT's Harper (left) looks a lot like how I draw my character, Zack Marshall. Aside from both being blond Americans born in the latter half of the 20th century and being somewhat athletic, they don't have that much in common. Oh, and maybe having an embarrassing first name -- Harper is an Ashley, and 'Zack' is technically a middle name legally changed at 18. (Zack's full name is Francis Zackary Peter Marshall.)