can't wait contd.

i cannot wait to get home because my mom knows how to remove stains off anything. i have three pieces of clothing that i'm not giving up on until my mother calls it.

can't wait contd.

another thing i can't wait for is not having to beg an old lady for heat at night in the fall/winter, although i am thankful for the survival training and apparently my training has resulted in my preferring a much lower temperature at night than others generally do.

i can't wait to not to have to clean the drain after every shower i take too.

i can't wait to go home

I cannot wait to be surrounded again, for better or worse, by my own culture.

I'm also looking forward to telling my poor family many stories of my time in Korea, like the story of the Korean man who took me for a Russian prostitute ~ a story that just cannot be told in any other way than in person. A retelling of his behaviors and what he did to me without a visual demonstration would be tiresome to understand if told through only written word.

I also cannot wait to return to a life of anonymity among colleagues at work.

I'm not looking forward to re-training myself to guard my belongings from opportunistic thieves and I will always fondly remember how comforting it was to live in a country where you could leave your cell phone on the bar and go dancing and come back (days later!) and it still be there.

I'm not looking forward to hearing English spoken all around me. A natural counter measure for living so many years in a country where English is hardly ever spoken is to completely tune out Korean chit-chattery while isolating and amplifying any English sounds that happen to be within ear shot, because they are just so rare. I'm not looking forward to retraining myself to ignore the English discussions going on around me.

I cannot wait to get back into a culture that has more bans and restrictions on public smoking; to get back into a country where less than 99% of the entire male population smokes.

I cannot wait to be able to do for myself; make calls to get business hours; inquire about service details, check for availability, order pizza

I will miss public transportation of Seoul and I will loath raging road hogs of the US.

I will miss being able to walk around at night alone and not be even slightly worried for my safety. i will miss the complete harmlessness in walking past a group of teens which is like the kiss of death in the US, to walk past a large group of teens all by yourself, you would have no idea what squirrely idea one of them might get and then with peer pressure and a desperation to be accepted by the group a dare could end up a crime. you never know who's on drugs or who's carrying a gun in the US. here in korea you can walk around with the confidence that no one is doped up on drugs or packing any heat.

I will dearly dearly dearly miss Korean food, and gimbab which you can pick up at the drop of a hat at nearly every corner block in Seoul for 2.50$ and eat it as an entire meal. But the truth is that I haven't been eating as much Korean food as I desire. All the friends I have left in Korea don't like Korean food and good Korean food restaurants don't serve single patrons because #1, they want to keep the tables open for a 2 or more person party who will buy more food and because #2, they put a lot of work in serving each table, especially with the banchan. HeeJoo and I went out for dinner at least once a week which I loved but she lives in England now. Nobody at work cares to go to a restaurant because they love the fact that the company cafeteria provides 3,000 Won subsidized lunches and dinners so they always prefer to eat there. I cannot eat there anymore because I have identified the cafeteria food as the source of my digestive issues. They use some ingredient which I cannot digest. Lunch at the cafeteria at work means by 5pm I'll be buckled over with intense gas pressure, bloating and abdominal pain. So, I haven't even left Korea yet and I already miss Korean food.

i cannot wait to go back home where the official documents that i don't read and sign are written in English and where there is more than a half-inch space provided for ramming my loooooooooooong signature into.

i cannot wait to go back to a country that understands the use of a person's last name is a way of showing respect. here, they don't even make an attempt to give a shit for your foreign alphabet soup of a last name. you are susan, period. and that's how they will make your name plate for your desk: "Susan". until you ask them to kindly print your full name on the dang thing, just like everybody else's name plate in the company.

Oct's new words

it was a slow month for new words

concertmaster - I think I came across this when I was doing my blog post about an orchestra
somatization - I read this word when I was reading "Date or Soul Mate?" by the co-founder of e-Harmony; this would be a characteristic on the "can't have list"
treasure trove - omg, I was trying to write this and it took me ages to get the word trove! I tried very hard to believe it was "trooth" wtf?

body thought

this is a combination of stuff i wrote a long while back and stuff i wrote today.

thoughts on my body:

it's the same one that i've had, more or less, since even before puberty.

i remember seeing a photograph of a prepubescent me at the beach in my bathing suit and thinking i looked like an uprighted rectangular block propped up by two sticks (those would be my legs).

no curves, no waist, just hips upon which the rest of my body was evenly stacked.

and i vaguely remember thinking that my body would eventually undergo a foretold womanly transformation.

i'm here today to tell you that i own that same body in that picture.

yes, i've undergone a transformation -- there's more fat here and there -- but there's only so far one can deviate from genetic predetermination. no amount of dieting or exercising will shrink my pelvic cavity, for example. i could lose all the fat and muscle in my body and from the side look as thin as a piece of paper but the moment that you turn the perspective and view from straight-on, there would be those same childbearing hips.

having seen bodybuilders on TV and studied the shape variations of the same muscle in different bodies - muscles that have been trained to look their absolute best - looking distinctly different from person to person has lead me to trust that genetics has more to do with determining our looks, such as the shape of our hind ends, than diet and exercise do. in fact, the frequent stair climbing and dancing that i do has done something incredible to my butt ~ it put a muscle inside it. not just any muscle, but a big butt muscle. and that butt muscle is looking exactly as it genetically should, whether i like the way it looks or not. my but is big because it was born that way.

i don't know how or when or why i became so very butt-obsessed, but i am. i am terribly self-conscious about the size and shape of my rear end. i never leave the house or any bathroom without checking to see if there is any way i can fix my clothes to try to minimize its appearance. i think all clothing manufacturers have conspired against my butt too, making clothes that do not give me enough room back there to sit or bend without pulling in material from all other directions. i have even paid a therapist to talk with me about my big butt. and after she realized how futile her anti-big-butt-statements were she let the pendulum swing the opposite direction, accepted my way of thinking and suggested that i appreciate the benefits of my big butt, such as having a better chance of avoiding hip fracture at an elderly age and living longer. that day my therapist also mentioned another client of hers who was so desperately in fear of anyone seeing her in her bathing suit that it was holding her back from living a normal life. so her assignment was to go over to a neighbor's house, in her bathing suit, and ask for some sugar. and she did it. and her life went on. and this debunked her unfounded fears that life would end if people saw her in her bathing suit so she was able to drop her distorted view of her body and carry on as a normal functioning person of society who plays with her kids at the pool in the summer. although i'm no where near ready to serve up a platter of my butt to my nearest neighbor, i'm always trying to reason with myself that my butt is exactly as it is supposed to be. it's taking me a long time to get it.

the irony of coming to a country where i knew and expected to be unfortunately bigger than most other women my age is that when i stood naked in front of a room full of korean woman of various ages (at the public bath houses) well of course most of the time i got the full on stares of wonder and unapologetic curiosity -- and /that/ takes discomfort to a-whole-nother level; being naked and stared at like you're an alien that has landed from outer space, but there is just so very little variation of shapes, sizes, colors between the people of korea that if you throw in one slight variation it must stand out like a sore thumb to them -- but anyway, in some cases i got multiple (as in, not once, not twice, but several) compliments (on several different occasions at several different places) such as, "ooooh, S-line" and "너무 예뻐요" (so beautiful).

what? this body doesn't look like an uprighted rectangular box to you? please, do go on ...

it wasn't until it just kept happening that i began to see myself through the eyes of these other women. the first time it happened was actually in Thailand. i was in my bikini out next to the pool and a bunch of korean woman walked by and started talking about/to me in korean saying these things. they see an S-line. i see a box. hummmmm, why the disconnect? i suppose this being a country of walking sticks it's quite rare to see my kind of hips on a person in real life which they may have only ever seen in Baroque art. i may not be able to find clothes that fit me in this country but i have never had a korean ajumma look at my naked body and tell me i need to eat more kimchi and vegetables. which, believe you me, if they think you're fat, they will tell you. they will say, "you fat. you eat more vegetables. korean food number one. make you skinny. eat korean food." i know this because i have heard this brutally honest opinion delivered on a number of occasions.

~~~

regardless of how well i have convinced myself that a skinnier-sue would be a happier-sue, which is something that i've been telling myself for about as long as i have been aware of my body, i have finally debunked this myth.

it's those damn days when you feel uncomfortable in your clothes and can't find things to fit your shape well (tight in the thighs and loose in the waist or fine in the waist and not enough coverage in the rear), or when you have to unbutton your clothes after you eat or when you can see in the mirror that tire bulging out from under your clothes, or when your clothes ride-up most uncomfortably in between (the front of) your legs, or when you wear something nice and then get up from sitting and all the creases that have been made in the fabric that has gathered up and been pressed in the swallowing fold created where your legs bend at your well-fed waist making you look like a fool in ill fitting clothes ... because of all of those damn days filled with those damn reasons, i just can't help but to think that comfort and ease and beauty and happiness are linked up with body weight.

yes, i want to be able to squat or sit with folded legs in my lap without feeling like i'm squeezing sausage out of it's skin. is that too much to ask? i want to bend over and pick up something i dropped without feeling like i'm about to sever my body in half. i want to be able to kneel without the back of my pants being yanked down exposing my underwear. skinny people have the luxury of not ever needing to want these things, so it seems to me.

here it is, the lesson that has taken too long to learn and which will undoubtedly be too easy to forget: skinny does not equal happy.

do you want to know how i know this for a fact? i was skinner last year than i am now, yet i was not any happier than i am now. i was no more satisfied with my body then, than i am now.

i used to be so disciplined about what i put in my mouth but that was before i started working full time. after i started this job i gained about 6 pounds. sitting around for 9 hours a day and killing time by drinking calories is just a "deskies" way of life. i hate this way of life. i hate it, i do. i really enjoy the work but i hate living on someone else's schedule. in this way i know i could never, without great sacrifice, adjust to having a baby or even a husband as the simple fact of eating when i'm not hungry, or not eating when i am hungry, feels so suffocating.

regardless, the skinny=happy theorem doesn't demonstrate to be true, and i'm not sure that it ever has. my own thoughts have been lying to me for so very long. what's going on here? when i see skinny i think happy. why? and why don't i see skinny when i look at myself? and how do i achieve that feeling of body satisfaction and happiness that i was so sure would come to me once some magical amount of my weight was lost: find better fitting clothes? walk around naked? destroy all mirrors? have a double hip-replacement? get butt reduction surgery? never drop anything or if i do, buy another one to replace it? the answer is still unknown to me. in the meantime i think i need to let it sink in that skinny does not equal happy, that Natalie Merchant's "these are the days" is true, and that Baz Luhrmann's "you're not as fat as you imagine" is right.

HSP and HSS

An HSP who is an HSS (High Sensation Seeker) also will find ways to have lots of new experiences, but won't take a lot of unreflected-upon risks.

from Wiki

HSP

I'm compelled to talk more about this, even if I'm talking to myself.

I am astounded and astonished at the familiarity of these descriptions of the HSP – Highly Sensitive Person. The "coming-home" feeling I get when I read this list (below) is more than inspirational. I feel like I'm reading about my best friend, someone I know oh so well, through and through.

I'm always saying, "No that's okay. It's not your fault, I startle easily." I've watched the video performance of Rach 3 by 백혜선 about 50 different times and it /still/ causes me to stop in my tracks to intently listen to its passion, and I get Goosebumps and sometimes cry spontaneously at its grandiose conclusion without knowing why I cry, just that it's my natural reaction. I cannot tolerate coffee because my heart races and hands shake. These are things that I already know about myself and here they are all collected in a list of other truths about me.

I can hear the first bus come through our neighborhood at 5am when no one else does. My sleep is so easily broken by my own unconsciously intentional processing of sounds that I spend 10% of my sleep each night hearing noises, 20% of my sleep trying to ignore the processing of said noises and willing myself to fall back asleep. So difficult this process can be that when I'm awaken I spend about an additional 10% of time stressing about hearing more noises and not getting the sleep required for the next day. So, for example, my noisy housemate might have noisy sex for 12 minutes but to me that equals almost 1 and a half hours of sleep disturbance. I'll still be processing the sounds and stressing about having heard them and wondering if/when I'll hear them again while my noisy housemate has already peacefully and blissfully entered REM.

I smell smoke when no one else does. I'm hot when no one else is. I'm cold when no one else is. I'm irritated by irritating noise when no one else is. I pick up on odors that no one else smells. I collect details that no one else notices. And now I know I'm not crazy or neurotic -- I just happen to live among people not like me, raised in a country where sensitivity is scoffed and devalued. (My mom might also be an HSP.)

This new resource on the HSP touches right to the very core of my being. I cannot explain why I'm having such a profound reaction to discovering that there is such a thing as a Highly Sensitive Person and a highly sensitive nervous system. I just know that I'm so utterly satisfied and elated that I'm not alone. And I'm even excited to know that educated and learned people know about me and apparently have studied people just like me and have written research papers and books about the study of my inner me. I'm not queer to them. They understand me. This is so comforting.

Once a good friend told me he was a Tortured Artist. That never made any sense to me; I thought it sounded foolish too, but today, right here and now, I know, if he believes to his core that he is a Tortured Artist they way that I believe to my core that I'm a Highly Sensitive Person, then I finally get what it meant for him to say such a thing about himself to the world.

This news might be inconsequential to some, boring to others and perhaps foolish to all but discovering the existence of the Highly Sensitive Person is a defining moment in my life. And I know exactly what I want to do now: I want to embrace all that I have tried to wash out or reconfigure of who I am.

The following is a list of common truths among Highly Sensitive People, pulled from the resource cited above; this list could have been made about me and me alone:

• I am easily overwhelmed by strong sensory input.
• I seem to be aware of subtleties in my environment.
• Other people's moods affect me.
• I tend to be very sensitive to pain.
• I find myself needing to withdraw during busy days, into bed or into a darkened room or any place where I can have some privacy and relief from stimulation.
• I am particularly sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
• I am easily overwhelmed by things like bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens close by.
• I have a rich, complex inner life.
• I am made uncomfortable by loud noises.
• I am deeply moved by the arts or music.
• My nervous system sometimes feels so frazzled that I just have to go off by myself.
• I am conscientious.
• I startle easily.
• I get rattled when I have a lot to do in a short amount of time.
• When people are uncomfortable in a physical environment I tend to know what needs to be done to make it more comfortable (like changing the lighting or the seating).
• I am annoyed when people try to get me to do too many things at once.
• I try hard to avoid making mistakes or forgetting things.
• I make a point to avoid violent movies and TV shows.
• I become unpleasantly aroused when a lot is going on around me.
• Being very hungry creates a strong reaction in me, disrupting my concentration or mood.
• Changes in my life shake me up.
• I notice and enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, works of art.
• I find it unpleasant to have a lot going on at once.
• I make it a high priority to arrange my life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations.
• I am bothered by intense stimuli, like loud noises or chaotic scenes.
• When I must compete or be observed while performing a task, I become so nervous or shaky that I do much worse than I would otherwise.
• When I was a child, my parents or teachers seemed to see me as sensitive or shy.

Two additional resources, more academic in nature, of the Highly Sensitive Person's Sensory Nervous System, by Clint Clark:
The Highly Sensitive Person or the HSP Sensory Nervous System (Part 1 of 2)
The Highly Sensitive Person or the HSP Sensory Nervous System (Part 2 of 2)

Some great bits and pieces from the above links are:

An ultra-sensitive nervous system is susceptible to overarousal from stimuli, either too much or too little (bored), including physical pain internally and over processing cognitively (analyzing and trying to solve a problem or wrestling with an emotional issue or a fear). Until my sister told me that I was over processing cognitively, I was not aware that I was over processing cognitively. Up to that point I had assumed everyone else thought about the same things I did with the same degree of intensity.

Although sunglasses can reduce intense or glaring light, they can also reduce visual clarity, (because we are looking through glass), and therefore reduce the picking up and processing of subtleties. This is so true about me; sunglasses block the sun but I feel like they block my ability to process information. I have always thought this.

Listening to something too softly to be understood, listening to music with words that are undistinguishable, or "walls of undistinguishable sound" such as crowd sound (people all talking at once), reduces the picking up and processing of subtleties within each situation. I have had to ask people to repeatedly repeat themselves and they think it's their English skills which are lacking but I assure them that I cannot hear what they are saying when there are other noises around. My ears pick up all foreground and background noises, and try to process them all at once but what happens is that I cannot hear either the background or foreground information. All sounds come at me with the same level of magnitude so it literally is just like a wall of indistinguishable sound.

A large "empty" open space such as an indoor arena can create overarousal (too little going on), whereas a large crowded space can also create overarousal (too much going on). Many HSPs find that one on one, with one person at a time, is optimal. This is exactly true about me. I much prefer one-on-one time, than one-on-many.

Being too close to a person while in conversation can create overarousal, whereas being too far from a person (such as talking on the phone) can also create overarousal (not enough information due to a lack of visual information). This is precisely why I don't like talking on the phone. If I cannot see you I feel like I cannot understand what you are saying; or that the barriers are too great and I lack any interest in trying to overcome them to achieve successful communication. I'd prefer to plan a date and meet you in person than talk over the phone.

Freedom is very noticeable and cherished by HSPs and they will go to great lengths to find it. They are very sensitive to control of any kind or "being pushed" and need to be allowed to practice what is optimal for them compared with non-HSPs. I think I wrote exactly this in my last match.com profile. As soon as I feel like I'm being pressured by a friend to do something I go numb. The last friend who pushed and pressured me I dropped like a hot potato and I haven't looked back, for my own health it had to be done. She was a non-HSP.

~~
I always thought, with much disappointment, that I had a problem staying focused and maintaining attention but now I know that I'm not focus-deficient, there's just not enough bandwidth to process all the information that my highly sensitive nervous system so rapidly and ferociously consumes. Lower performing process threads are terminated and the connections are returned to the pool for use with tasks of higher importance and intensity.

HSP's cannot turn off their sensitivity. They can regulate the information coming into their sensory / nervous system by removing or reducing the stimuli, but they cannot turn off their sensitivity.

AMEN

I excitedly look forward to learning more about HSP, their strengths, their contributions, how this enhances their relationships and heightens physical sensations, how they cope day to day and what they do for fun. I have never wanted to belong to a club, but if there were an HSP club, I would so want to belong. Those are my people.

Welcome to the House of Sue

OMG, welcome to a day in the life of Sue. i found this online link about sensitive nervous systems and it was like reading my inner genetic code! seriously, if you ever wanted to know what it was like being me, this is it. this is so uncannily it! here is my genetic code:

• Feel emotions more strongly than others.
• Feel overwhelmed by noise, crowds, stress, chaos, bright lights, and/or physical discomfort. [i'm constantly squinting and covering my eyes and having a scrunched face in reaction to bright lights ~ always! and i hate hearing people yelling or screaming on the radio; i can handle crowds but the minute they start talking or yelling to me all at once i want to crawl in a hole and cry; and if my mother has said anything about me it's that she doesn't want to be around when i give birth because i don't do pain. and she's right, as much as i'd like to think that i'm tough, i don't do pain well.]
  
• Find that alcohol, drugs, medications and environmental pollutants have a greater effect on you than others. [and i'm convinced this is why i never got into drugs or have a preference for regular alcohol consumption]
  
• Have low self-esteem due to feeling “weak” in comparison to others.
• Feel lonely and like an outsider because you are so “different” from the non-sensitive norm.
• Have a highly developed sense of empathy to the point that you feel others’ pain intensely. [this is something that i actually told my therapist but she told me, 'no, the pain you carry is yours' and her response didn't then, and never has, resonated as right for me. but this single bullet point is resonating like a bell tolled inside my head]
  
• Be so sensitive to the moods and personality of others that you can “read” them but often find this exhausting and need much time alone. [there's that glorious word combination: time alone]
  
• Find that violence, cruelty, and anger disturb you greatly. [cannot watch violent movies and get sick to my stomach when i see abused animals; the video about debarking makes my knees weak]
  
• Have trouble dealing with conflict. [if my life were a book, this would be the subtitle]
  
• Often need to withdraw from people and the world to recover. [i have been called a hermit and been made fun of for staying in my room a lot, well a lot is from their point of reference, not mine]
  
• Find that other people can see you as too “intense” and/or “serious”. [i think that i've been told this a time or two and the funny thing is that i can see my intensity in the frame of reference of others]
  
• Suffer greatly from things that other people take in their stride, such as the hassles of traveling or commuting.
• Relive and replay events and experiences. [sometimes i cannot imagine a better way to spend down time than to relive the past ad nauseam]
  
• Have a vivid imagination and varied interests and so tend to try to do too many things or do too much because you find so much so interesting.
• Not handle time pressures well. [if my life were a book, this would be the title]
• Be highly observant and note small things, details and changes. [people have said how crazy my observational skills are; i notice and memorize all the shoes and their positions in the foyer and can therefore easily know who's home and if someone has left; i also notice, not by intention, the regular habits of those i work with like JaeEun's regulated bathroom breaks -- like i can tell you at what time she goes to the bathroom and washes her cup clean -- and i noticed who is in the office and who is not, not by choice, i just know by the fact that i'm living and breathing and unconsciously continuously recoding and updating these small details; and one of my favorite things to do whenever i go home is to look around the house and see what has changed since my last visit; also, i freakishly know exactly how i've left things and can tell with spooky accuracy when something of mine has been used and returned by others; like i can tell when a book is not sitting in the same position as i left it]
  
• Sometimes feel raw and exposed and battered by the world.
• Have trouble with employment unless you can find a job that doesn’t overly stress you. [if my life were a book, this would be on every page]

Rach 3

this is a follow on from the last post ....


i have since fallen in love with Rach 3 and when i need a punch of inspiration i watch (백혜선) Baik HyeSeon's performance of the Finale Alla Breve (3rd movement) with the Russian National Orchestra. i stumbled upon it one day a while back and downloaded it and have watched it repeatedly. Here it is (broken into two videos) on YouTube:

... [searching for the links on YouTube for you] ...

OH SNAP! I just found the first movement posted 1 week ago on YouTube, thank you ProfessorHigins. so i will try to gather all the videos of all movements of the Rach 3 performed by this talented woman. people, if you're like me you'll be shocked as H E double hockey sticks that this piece is over _40_ minutes long. The woman is playing the piano for over 40 minutes. An athletic performance~

I bought tickets for myself and a friend to go to an orchestra last month. There I got to see Mahler's Symphony No. 1 performed by 13 principals of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and 100, hand selected up-and-coming young Korean musicians lead by Swiss Charles Dutoit - Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic - at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts last month*. only three pieces were performed. when we arrived i grabbed a program and saw that the performance was split into a 40 minute segment and a 60 minute segment separated by an intermission. i quickly assumed that there would be one piece performed in the first 40 minute segment and then the last two pieces would be performed in the last 60 minute segment. WRONG. Mahler's Symphony No. 1 is a 60 minute piece. people i sat there, in the second row and watched an entire orchestra play music for 1 firggin hour. no commercials.

it.was.amazing.

OK, enough jibber jabbering. without further ado ....

The Rach 3 by 백혜선 and the Russian National Orchestra
(i ♥ youtube)

NOTE: if you watch nothing please at least spend 8 minutes on the first video of the Finale Alla Breve. towards the very end is my favorite part but you cannot experience its richness and sadness without listening to the part that leads up to it. ^^ and then, once you've seen all of the first video of Finale Alla Breve, you've got to see the second one where she kicks the piano's ass. no kidding. this woman is burning calories, let me assure you of that.

Allegro Ma Non Tanto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJO6gU_xM7Q - 8 mins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i76_lJq9HI - 9 mins


Intermezzo Adagio
[not yet posted :-( but this is an 11 and a half minute movement]

Finale Alla Breve
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9esulkAKjk - 8 mins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QRuLZ7bcGM - 5 mins


*it's so hard to talk about classical music. none of the words are short and easy. there are like 22.3 words to describe one event. it's nothing like being able to say, "tonight, live at Wolftrap, Pink" which everyone can get so easily. with classical music you have the original composer, the bizarro nameless names like "No. 1", "No. 2", "No. 3", etc. which the composer's called their pieces, which by the way are broken down into 3 movements, which themselves have their own names, then you have the names of the performers performing the composer's piece and then there's the guy that conducts the whole thing (and don't forget about mentioning his credentials and where he's from) and if there's a concerto piece (music written for an orchestra and a solo instrument, for example a piano concerto or a violin concerto) then there's the name of the concerto soloist and his/her credentials, and then there's the name of the place where it's all said and done, and then there's the name of that specific musical event. whew. a dissertation is needed just to tell people what the hell you spent your money on! ... but so well worth it!

september's new words

alla breve - I discovered this word when I was learning about and listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (aka "Rach 3" mentioned to me several months back by a piano friend)
intermezzo - I discovered this word when I was learning about and listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (aka "Rach 3" mentioned to me several months back by a piano friend)
Vomeronasal - I discovered this word when I was reading something about human pheromones
adagio - I discovered this word when I was learning about and listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (aka "Rach 3" mentioned to me several months back by a piano friend)
allegro - I discovered this word when I was learning about and listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (aka "Rach 3" mentioned to me several months back by a piano friend)
finale - I discovered this word when I was learning about and listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (aka "Rach 3" mentioned to me several months back by a piano friend)
abut - I just knew this word but want to add it to my monthly dictionary for some reason
amine - I discovered this word when I was reading something about human pheromones
apocrine - I discovered this word when I was reading something about human pheremones
contradistinction - I don't remember where I found this word but I think it was used by one of the translators
Fungibles - I wish I can remember where I came across this word, but I don't; seems like I heard a male voice saying this word, maybe it was something I was listening to - a book on tape; also, something about a house fire comes to mind; strange how the mind links things up but, at the moment, isn't making a direct connection
Odorant - I discovered this word when I was reading something about human pheremones and deoderants
one-off - I always thought that it was "one-of" as in "only one of something" so I was curious when i heard people say "one-off"
otolaryngology - I discovered while making an appointment at an ENT hospital