New words

Here I am, late at night, writing again. I'm trying to learn some more English vocabulary here at the start of 2010. I figure, if I'm not yet willing to put in the time to learn another language, the least I can do is actually know my own.

This blog entry may get a little tedious.

Here goes:

Gall - noun - impudence, effrontery - verb - To vex or irritate greatly

I'm trying to work myself up over the course of recent events, as, short of the adequate provocation, I'm not usually one to have the gall to insult my boss.

The scene set by these relics; my old house, the chain link fence surrounding the lawn, our neighbors' monstrosity of a building violation; now all reduced to a speck in my rearview mirror, nothing left to gall me except the prospect of returning once more and remembering what lies behind all my impostures.

Cynosure - Something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance or interest; or something serving as a guide

I see it in the distance, the rot of modern civilization; shitpile to some, cynosure to me and my companions, the entire city's waste stains the horizon before us.

He reluctantly admits that she has become a cynosure to him, heralding the return of his set aside faith in humanity. He is tired of his judgments and tired of his disdain. Our time on the Earth may end, he thinks, along with the very concept of value, and the holding dear of even a single life. Yet still, even in that looming possibility, I will die with a prayer on my lips and not a curse, the most elegant skies for the wretchedest bile.

Fain - gladly/willingly

I had been seen by the pamphleteers. No time left for a quick escape, I ran towards them, insinuating by my gesticulations that I fain would speak to them for a while, but for my great haste and wild demeanor. They gave me a brochure, put in a kind word for jesus and reminded me that anything, ever, that I might need to know would be found in the bible. They were also taking bets on the date of the rapture. I put $20 on May 3rd, remembering that I had enough money left in my savings to double down, should my wager go south.

Surfeit - Excess, an excessive amount; and excessively full feeling (of food and drink); a disgust or unease at excess/fullness. Verb (no object) - to indulge to excess in anything - Verb (w/ object) To bring to a state of surfeit by excess of ____

We are surrounded by surfeit. Each American moment is saturated and spilling over. The spirit chokes and the soul starves. Poverty and violence, violence and poverty.

And as I stay weeks and months in the mountains, I surfeit on the feeling of solitude. The stale memory of the suburbs helps me to rationalize away my responsibilities.

The last days of the reunion serve only to surfeit Laura, as she finds herself yearning for the present; she is underwhelmed by the past.

finished at 4:15 am