If only I'd known

      From Loretta:

I’d planned to celebrate the start of spring with a new spring Barbie but on St. Patrick’s Day we got more than a foot of snow, so around here it still looks like winter.  But it’s spring.  Out for a walk yesterday, I saw a little girl in a driveway.  Foot deep snow all around her.  She was coatless, bouncing on a pogo stick.
      Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out the seasons in Venice, where my WIP begins.  A recent puzzle to solve was when, exactly, people went on summer holiday, known as villeggiatura.
      Once again, as was the case with LORD OF SCOUNDRELS, I find myself wishing I spoke fluent Italian.
      It reminds me how I’ve always wanted to learn that language.  But this seems to be one of those things, like the great books I never got around to reading (last week’s blog) that I’m never going to get around to.
      There are too many things I’d like to learn.
      Pat recently blogged about learning history from novels.
      Well, I like learning history--and art, and music, and language, and, well, lots of things, from writing novels.
      Not the political history that schools bore their young victims with--Dates & Wars History, I call it.
      The fun history--as many of you commented--is the details of everyday life.  What a corset looked like and what it felt like.  How the laundry was done in a big English country house.  What a bed looked like, how many mattresses, and what they were made of.
       So here my new characters are in Venice, and I’m trying to figure out, for instance, where this building is in relation to that one, which means dealing with all those Italian names for walkways and bridges and schools and churches and such.  And what would someone say if he trod on someone’s foot?  And what are some good expressions of disdain, of anger.  Oh, if only I had learned Italian.  Sigh.  And then I realize there’s a special version of it that’s Venetian, which I ought to know, too.
      Italian isn’t the only missing area of knowledge in my world.  There’s architecture.  What’s a pediment?  What’s the difference between a Gothic and a Renaissance building?  What’s a lateral window?  A heraldic cartouche?  A mannerist arcade?  It would be so much easier to understand the layout of that palazzo if the architectural terms in the books I consult weren’t a foreign language to me.
      And speaking of foreign languages, how about music?  Somewhere along the line I developed a deep affection for Italian opera.  But despite piano lessons, and some self-taught guitar playing, my music knowledge is about zero.  I know what I like but don’t know anything much about it.
       And what about Greek and Latin?  My heroes would have learned it from an early age.  That’s mainly what they were taught, all though school, and university.  How cool would it be to be able to read those bits of Greek and Latin that Lord Byron and his friends casually drop into their letters and diaries?  Alas, the few years of Latin I had early on didn’t take, and all I remember is the first line of Caesar’s Gallic Wars.
      And what about how to ride a horse?  Whenever I need special horse knowledge, I have to consult my friends who know about horses.  It would be so great to know about horses.
      Well, life is short and you can’t do everything.  I’ve written books and I know some stuff that some other people don’t.
      But I don’t know a fraction as much as I wish I did.
      What about you?  Is there one or five or ten things you always wished you’d learned but never got around to?

Comments

[Kalen Hughes]

French. Took 8 years, can barely remember any.

Latin. The only class I ever flunked (it was supposed to be 101, but everyone else had had 2-4 years in high school and the professor told me she couldn't "hold back the whole class just for me!" Grrrrrrrrrrrr).

Music. I have vague memories of learning to read music and to play the flute. Very, very vague.

Cricket. I wished I paid more attention when my best friend’s dad kept dragging us to cricket matches back in high school.

Art. I know a bit, but not nearly as much as my friends who were art history majors. I really wish I knew more.

Antiques (esp. furniture). I suppose this is just one more thing I’d clutter up my narrative with, but I do wish I had a more extensive knowledge of 18th century furnishings.

I can see more books in my future . . . don’t throw me in that briar patch. LOL!

[MelissaB]

Well, so far I've made do without learning anything from Carol Tuttle, and I think I'm comfortable keeping it that way. : )

Me? I'd like to learn to learn more about music. I enjoy listening to all kinds, but I would love to have a real understanding of the theory of how to put it together and, of course, its history.

[Elaine McCarthy]

As a teenager one of my goals in life was to become fluent in seven foreign languages. Thus far, I can ask directions in two, but probably wouldn't be able to understand the answers!

I would love to know ALL about opera, including how to sing it.

I'd like to go back to college and have four more years taking entirely different courses: economics, history, philosophy, even math, which I always disliked because I thought I was supposed to dislike it. I was in my 30's before I discovered I was good a it!

Had we but world enough and time...

[Kay]

Sounds to me like a trip to Italy is in order.

I always wanted to learn how to play the piano. I have one, it collects books.

[Susan Wilbanks]

If I could go back half my lifetime and give my 18-year-old self a good talking-to, I'd tell her to switch into the College of Arts and Sciences and major in history, because she's never going to use that marketing degree anyway. And take French instead of Spanish, because that's the language she'll most regret not having once she starts writing historical fiction. Greek and Latin would come in handy, too, but I married a Classics minor, so I can usually get him to come up with a rough translation in a pinch.

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie:
It's been proven that learning something new--how to play the guitar, or taking a history class, or learning to ride a bicycle--keeps you young because it keeps the brain young. You build more dendrites and the synapses fire better. As a result, it helps keep you mentally alert in old age. BUT once you've mastered the new thing, it's old hat and you have to move on to something new to learn. (That's my unscientific paraphrasing of an article I read years ago)

So learning new things is good for you. I love blues harmonica, and embarked on harmonica lessons once. It drove the cats crazy. They'd come racing up to me, yowling pitifully, ears flattened, anxious expressions on their faces. So I went to the barn to practice, and while the horse seemed to like it, the cats followed me to the barn, yowling even louder.

I'd love to brush up on my Spanish. I can read it and pronounce it, but the comprehension isn't there anymore.

I have always wanted to learn how to play the steel drums.

I did teach myself how to do a really good Canada goose imitation, but as a party trick, it has its limitations. *g*

[Sherrie Holmes]

Drat! Forgot one more thing. I love love love tap dancing and clogging. Could watch it for hours. Would really love to be able to tap dance.

[RevMelinda]

I have been an Arts and Letters girl for my whole life--languages, literature, theatre, art, then later on theology and history.

Now that I am Older and find myself working in hospice, I am wishing that I knew more about medical matters: i.e., anatomy and physiology (how does the body work and what weird things can happen to it?) and pharmacology (how do drugs work, which drugs are best for what, and why don't they work the same way on everybody).

I'm fascinated by forensic medicine (CSI), deformities (Mutter Museum, anyone?), weird injuries (like the guy who survived getting a post driven through his head), and epidemics (plague, flu, mad cow). Has anyone else read the book by Mary Roach called "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers"? It's fascinating!

Melinda
thinking this is Too Much Information and hoping you still like me

[Kalen Hughes]

STIFF is a great book. My sister (she of the true crime obsession) gave it to me.

[shscott21]

You mean there's more to Latin than knowing that all Gaul is divided into three parts?

I wish I just knew more of EVERYTHING. It does seem that the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. As Sherrie noted, curiosity keeps you fresh and involved and alive.

I wish I knew how to sail -- not just goofing around and following orders, but really how to DO it. I wish I knew how to ice skate, like my kids. Like Loretta, I wish I had a better grasp of Italian and French, so I could read more original sources and not rely on translations for research.

And Loretta, I wish we both had enough spare moolah to go on a research junket to Venice to find out the definitive TRUTH about those pointed sticks.

Susan/Miranda

[susanna in alabama]

There are so many things I want to learn - how to play a dulcimer, how to make amazing bread, how to write a wonderful story. Those things are on my to-do list. I want to learn archaeology, upholstering, interior design. I wish I'd majored in folk studies. I wish I'd kept up with my piano lessons. I wish I'd traveled to Europe and Australia in my 20s. But I've got half my life in front of me - I hope - so I always think there's still time to gain skills in many things. Not expert status (except in writing - that's my central goal), but sufficient to enjoy the pleasures available in each.

I'm with RevMelinda on CSI, et al. My graduate work is all in criminal justice, and I've read "Stiff" and many other forensic books. Other good ones are "Corpse" by Jessica Snyder Sachs and "Death's Acre" by William Bass of the Body Farm. Ones I've wanted to read are "Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body" by Armand Marie Leroi and "The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100" by Robert William Fogel. Fascinating stuff.

For two years I did newsletters for a local research institute doing bioengineering research, and it was fascinating. A part of me wished I could be a scientist in their field, but practicality says no (i.e. the D in zoology and F in pre-calculus).

[Susan Wilbanks]

"But I've got half my life in front of me - I hope - so I always think there's still time to gain skills in many things. Not expert status (except in writing - that's my central goal), but sufficient to enjoy the pleasures available in each."

I feel the same way. Writing comes first, but one of these days I want to take up reenacting, probably Revolutionary War because it's closer technologically to the Regency/Napoleonic era than the ever-popular Civil War reenactments. And I want to take up ice skating again--I learned as an adult and was just beginning to occasionally land waltz jumps from a standing start when I got pregnant and stopped. My daughter turns 3 next month, and I haven't been back. :-( I'd also like to play violin, and my local community college offers a class on Japanese swordsmanship that tantalizes me every time the catalog hits my mailbox. Oh, and I'd like to learn to make cakes from scratch, especially my mom's chocolate cake with divinity-style frosting and my mamaw's burnt sugar cake.

I doubt I'll get to all of that, but hopefully I'll get world enough and time for some.

[CM]

Twenty thousand million things I wish I knew. In no particular order:

* Sky-diving
* Horseback riding
* Languages, in particular, French, Russian, Chinese.
* Quantum Electrodynamics. Really, really kicking myself for never taking this when I had the chance. It just sounds cool.
* Scads of history. I know almost nothing. I've been filling in so many gaps.
* Lots of economics.
* I still wish I'd been able to finish Finnegan's Wake. I loved reading it. I just wish I knew what it meant. :(
* A million musical instruments, but I kick myself every day for giving up violin when I was 14 and I wish I could play the piano a little bit.
* I would love to be able to swing dance. And salsa.

[Maggie Robinson]

Art. Not only art history, but the time for oil painting and brushing up (ha) on my watercolor and sketching techniques. I'd like a room to store all my collage materials and art supplies.

Gardening. I wish I were more aware of herbs and homeopathic medicine. I'd love to design a massive garden where everything lived happily with companion plants. And I'd know all the Latin names.

Astronomy. I know the Big Dipper, but there's a whole lot more out there. Did anybody say infinity?

[AnneGracie]

I'm not going to add to any of the wish-lists of things, but I'll share a story. When I was in the first year or my first real job (I don't count the dog and cat boarding kennels I worked in as a kid) a woman I worked with was about to turn 40. It seemed pretty old to me then. ;-)

Anyway, she made a list of 10 things she'd never learned and wanted to, and she set about learning them. I remember the day she first wobbled to work on a bike -- she'd never learned to ride one. She also learned to swim and to play tennis. I can't remember the other things on her list, but I know that in the end she did them all!

Me -- I'm not nearly so organized. But she still inspires me, even though it's years since I've seen her.

[Jane George]

Loretta, perhaps a research trip to Italy and Greece? Language, and architecture, and opera,oh my!

Susanna, dulcimer? Awesome. Mine is the borrowed mandolin sitting in the closet. And the French that got rusty...and the yoga that's gotten creaky from a bad case of chair-butt.

And bellydancing I haven't tried yet. Also am designing tattoos that will celebrate the day I'm able to quit my day job. (am currently ink-free)

But the biggest promise to self is that I will indeed have another horse!

AnneGracie, thanks for the inspiration. When I need a kick in the pants I like to watch a movie about re-making oneself, like Sliding Doors, or read a book like the one I'm currently reading, Crusie's Anyone But You. Gosh, that Fred!

[LorettaChase]

Oh, beautiful comments. So many wishes I can relate to. Did get to the Mutter Museum--in the days of the amazing Gretchen. I've dreamed of belly dancing too. Learned to tango, then forgot because of lack of practice. How I do wish I could go back and talk to my 18 year old self--but would she listen?

[Nina P]

Hey RevMelinda -- I'll trade you my medical and science courses for your Art and words. I aced Biology in college.

I want to learn French. Actually, just having a friend who could speak French would due for now.

I also want to learn to belly dance. There's a class were my daughter dances and I think I really should sign up.

And I want to learn how to fence. Actually I want to learn how to use a broad sword, but I think that's a bit out of style. I also want to learn how to catch an arrow like Wench Susan.

Nina

[merry]

Things I would like to learn:

Latin, just to be erudite and Spanish to be useful.

And just because I like old-timey music, I'd like to learn how
to sing harmony with out loosing the notes.-- more about the structure of music and particularly vocal harmony.-- and how to play the old hand made banjo I bought years ago.

These are the things that are probably pipe dreams and I may never do.

Then there is the one thing that at present I am serious about learning-- I am studying ballet, though I am no longer young and my body knows it. Nor am I thin. It is a delight because I have been lucky enough to find a world class teacher who is teaching middle aged adults instead of the usual teenagers and young things.
Merry

[Julie Poorman]

Hi Loretta. I know you live somewhere here in New England (not sure where but I knew that St.Pat's nor'easter!). I have lived here for the last five years but for the forty years prior to that I always lived west of the Mississippi. So, when it came to horse riding - I always rode a western bit & saddle.

Two years ago I decided to quit smoking and also decided the ONLY way for me to do that was to find a reason to get out of the house on Saturday and Sunday mornings. So, Saturday mornings were riding lessons and Sunday mornings were golf lessons. Both readily available here on the south shore (Quincy, MA).

The lady who taught my lessons likened riding English to learning to drive a stick shift. Learn to do that and you can drive anything. Learn to ride English and you can ride anything.

I think she was right and she was a very good teacher. If you want to do a four weekend course in riding lessons - email me and I will give you the website. It was great fun and while I still prefer the lazy woman's ride (definitely western is a LOT less work) at least now I have a better idea of why horsemen in Regency novels all have great thighs!

[meardaba]

Hey Nina, if you're serious about wanting to learn how to use a sword (rapier or broadsword) look up your local Society of Creative Anacronisms (SCA) and they'll teach you! They're usually a really fun bunch of people who love to shoot arrows and stab each other with pointy things. And they're world-wide.

I would love to improve my Spanish, though focussing on my German right now takes priority. I also wish I knew how to play the guitar, but I am so lazy when it comes to practicing.

Or maybe I just wish I knew how to be self-disciplined!

[Francois]

I'm not sure it's better to know more about music - sometimes that knowledge can be a bit distracting when you just want to enjoy the music.

I took up Jazz Dance last year and it is the best thing I've done for ages. On the other hand Languages have finally died a death. I'm just not gifted that way - enough to order dinner in French, German and Spanish is about the limit, and it's nice to be able to just give up there.

[Nina P]

Meardaba, thanks for the tip! :-)

Nina, loving the Word Wench community.

[Melissa]

I fantasize about what I'd do if I won the lottery and didn't have to work anymore. First off I'd go back to college, and take all electives in:

Photography, with an emphasis on black and white pictures.
Pottery, to learn to throw pots
Basic drawing skills (I have none at the moment)
Singing--to prove to my family I /can/ carry a tune
Yoga

Then I want to find somewhere in the USA to learn English Georgian/Regency dancing. I see it described so often in my books that I'd really like to learn how to dance a quadrille, a waltz, a country dance, a minuet and so many more.

But of course I must occasionally buy a lottery ticket if I want time to do all these things. :)

[Barbara]

Just wanted to say how much I love those Barbie dolls.

[LorettaChase]

I had to thank you, Barbara. Your comment arrived while we were in the midst of a Barbie photography session. Look for fresh pix in the coming weeks.