Howdy

[Grigory]

Just when I thought there were no message boards on Taoism... Good to know I was wrong!

 

I'm not much of a Taoist (nor a bum, though in this economy - who knows?), but I do my best to keep things simple whenever I can. Been interested in this topic for a while now... I even wrote a wee Kindle book about it. Who knows, one of these days I might even start a blog and try to get the word out. Don't know if it's just me, but it seems like a lot of people could use a break and some Tao Te Ching while they're at it.

 

I guess this is the obligatory part where I write about myself? 26, male, proud owner of a malfunctioning improbability field, a bit of an entrepreneur and it looks like I'm cursed to wander the world until I meet The One. (So far, it's been Siberia - Seattle - Reno - Omaha - Las Vegas - Texas. O_o )

 

I'm still trying to wrestle my profile into letting me change the user settings... Either you guys have a particularly peculiar set of defenses against spammers, or technology has moved on while I wasn't looking.

 

Looking forward to hanging out with y'all,

Grigory (rhymes with "story")

[Maddie]

Welcome to TTB's Grigory. So are you from Siberia? My ex-wife is from there lol, and now I'm in Texas... funny.

[voidisyinyang]

yeah five posts to get into the main forum.

[Grigory]

Welcome to TTB's Grigory. So are you from Siberia? My ex-wife is from there lol, and now I'm in Texas... funny.

If she's anything like me, she's probably had enough snow to last her a lifetime, too. ) I'm still in Vegas but will probably get a work transfer to Texas in a couple of months. I'm still a bit bummed out that Vegas gets chilly (not cold, mind you - just chilly) in the winter. TV lied to me! O_o

[Grigory]

yeah five posts to get into the main forum.

Yup, just saw that. Odd rule. :^/ The only options appear to be:

a) "necropost" in old Lounge threads that seem interesting;

be a phony, organize a one-man welcoming committee and "welcome" other users by posting in their intro threads;

c) wait for peeps to reply to my thread and engage them in a witty banter that would allow me to leave the kiddie table and hang out with adults.

[Maddie]

If she's anything like me, she's probably had enough snow to last her a lifetime, too. ) I'm still in Vegas but will probably get a work transfer to Texas in a couple of months. I'm still a bit bummed out that Vegas gets chilly (not cold, mind you - just chilly) in the winter. TV lied to me! O_o

Well if Siberia wasn't enough we lived in Alaska for 8 years haha.

[voidisyinyang]

Yup, just saw that. Odd rule. :^/ The only options appear to be:

a) "necropost" in old Lounge threads that seem interesting;

be a phony, organize a one-man welcoming committee and "welcome" other users by posting in their intro threads;

c) wait for peeps to reply to my thread and engage them in a witty banter that would allow me to leave the kiddie table and hang out with adults.

 

this whole website is the kiddie table. haha.

 

Yeah I live in Minnesota and I lived in Alaska also -- so saying Las Vegas is cold - that just hurts! haha.

 

We had snow here a few weeks ago and it got down to freezing a week ago.

 

Qigong master Chunyi Lin calls Minnesota the "tibet of the U.S." haha.

 

http://springforestqigong.com - check out the youtube channel of healing testimonials of late term cancer, severe epilepsy, a rare lung disease requiring transplant, etc.

 

Club foot -- lots of amazing miracle healings.

[xor]

So you're from Siberia... curious if you speak any of the more local languages from there?

[Basher]

Welcome Grigory,

any plans for a sequel to your book, perhaps "Taoism 102" ?

 

Basher

[Grigory]

Yeah I live in Minnesota and I lived in Alaska also -- so saying Las Vegas is cold - that just hurts! haha.

I said it's chilly - not cold. I had been under the impression that it had perfect bikini weather 24/7/365... *cue sad violin music*

 

So you're from Siberia... curious if you speak any of the more local languages from there?

Er... Well, there's Russian, of course, and very (very) basic German, Japanese and Spanish, though none of those are really local haha. When it comes to traveling, languages and luck in general, I'm a lot like Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's books

 

Welcome Grigory,

any plans for a sequel to your book, perhaps "Taoism 102" ?

Not really, but I have a pretty elaborate plan on creating an online hub and go-to center for Taoism. It just might work! Stay tuned for details...

 

*finishes typing his 5th post and runs off to explore the rest of the forums whilst laughing maniacally*

[Basher]

Taoism - One Stop Shop, excellent idea.

Keep us all posted.

Basher

[xor]

Er... Well, there's Russian, of course, and very (very) basic German, Japanese and Spanish, though none of those are really local haha. When it comes to traveling, languages and luck in general, I'm a lot like Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's books

 

LOL yeah I wouldn't expect to hear alot of Japanese or Spanish there. I have some interest in the native languages there, especially the uralic ones and how they compare with Finnish.

 

*finishes typing his 5th post and runs off to explore the rest of the forums whilst laughing maniacally*

 

[Grigory]

LOL yeah I wouldn't expect to hear alot of Japanese or Spanish there.

Actually, Spanish is ridiculously close to Russian in terms of grammar and pronunciation. Even some of the words are the same! ("Biblioteca" and "y," for example.) I stopped studying it after one year because it was so easy that it felt like cheating... Took a few years of Japanese instead. Really easy language in terms of pronunciation and fairly easy to conjugate, but ye gods - the whole kanji thing is ridiculous! You need to know at least 2,000 of those tiny buggers just to get around, and ~5,000 to be fluent. That was the point where I quit...

[xor]

Actually, Spanish is ridiculously close to Russian in terms of grammar and pronunciation. Even some of the words are the same! ("Biblioteca" and "y," for example.) I stopped studying it after one year because it was so easy that it felt like cheating...

 

I have done one course of Russian and hear it spoken almost every day, it still seems harder to follow to me than Spanish which I only see/hear on occasion. Once you know some basics you find many words are same as English(or even Swedish). Maybe Spanish really is an easy language?

 

Took a few years of Japanese instead. Really easy language in terms of pronunciation and fairly easy to conjugate, but ye gods - the whole kanji thing is ridiculous! You need to know at least 2,000 of those tiny buggers just to get around, and ~5,000 to be fluent. That was the point where I quit...

 

Japanese is strangely similiar to my native Finnish even if the words are completely different. My Japanese teacher(native speaker) also said the languages are surprisingly close.

 

I also quit learning Japanese on account of the Kanji department but for a different reason. I wanted to understand the original use and began to study Chinese instead... still a work in progress.

[Grigory]

Maybe Spanish really is an easy language?

In a way. It's also oddly close to Russian in many respects - more so than it rightfully should be. It's kind of like the case of distant cousins who look alike. Languages are funny like that.

 

Japanese is strangely similiar to my native Finnish even if the words are completely different. My Japanese teacher(native speaker) also said the languages are surprisingly close.

The funny thing about Japanese is that it's not directly related to any other language in the world. They're still trying to figure that one out hahaha. I've heard that its structure is kinda-sorta-not-really similar to Turkish due to the giant Black Sea migration east a few thousand years ago, but who knows.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Grigory

[xor]

In a way. It's also oddly close to Russian in many respects - more so than it rightfully should be. It's kind of like the case of distant cousins who look alike. Languages are funny like that.

 

I've always thought Russian is surprisingly close to Swedish too. Mostly modern English feels like a distant cousin to other European languages.

 

The funny thing about Japanese is that it's not directly related to any other language in the world. They're still trying to figure that one out hahaha. I've heard that its structure is kinda-sorta-not-really similar to Turkish due to the giant Black Sea migration east a few thousand years ago, but who knows.

 

Well some still take the Ural-Altaic theory seriously where Japanese, Korean and Fenno-Ugric are considered related. The only problem why it isn't accepted generally is really lack of shared words. The question is then why did these old cultures learn grammar(including honorifics similiar to the Japanese -san that used to be in Finnish) from each other but not words?

Edited May 31, 2013 by Guest

[gentlewind]

welcome Grigory.

 

Namaste,

 

gentlewind