Sawnja, the name I recently gave myself as the author of this blog (hakkaku→mumblebee→sawnja. It's the third one), was taken from an expression of my hometown dialect. It's transcribed そうにゃよか with hiragana characters, pronounced saw-nya-yoka, and it means "very good" or "very nice" in Kumamoto, a prefecture located on the island of Kyushu. Among all these words in our dialect, そうにゃよか is mainly used by older people, and my grandmother used to say this phrase often.
"Oh that jumper you are wearing is saw-nya-yoka."
"That is a saw-nya-yoka bag!"
Gran Midori's compliments used to make me feel good and a little embarrassed at the same time.
The phrase makes me nostalgic. I associate it with my grandmother. Thoughts of my grandmother lead to the memories of my chidhood; when Gran Midori was still active and driving the big blue lorry, and when Gran Kiku and Granddad Shigeyuki were still alive. My the other granddad died in WW2 when my mother was only a little girl.
I've lived my life with a policy of no regretting, no looking back, but these days I can't help myself but missing what's gone.
Sometimes I seriously wish I could time-travel to when I was 11, even just for a day, so that I could spend all day listening to my grandparents. There are so many things I want to ask them about and thank them for. And I want to do that being very much aware that it, the time I spend with them, is never going to come back.
18 May 2013
15 May 2013
It's Sunday Morning
"It's Sunday morning, and Sawnja is worshipping her favourite church."
Husband says as he comes downstairs, finding his wife in her usual Sunday spot in the living room.
I'm holding an empty mug and a plate of toasted rye roll with butter and honey, watching the second half of Jamie Oliver's 30-minute show on More 4.
This is only the first episode, there will be 4 more, I brief him. Of course, he replies. Husband asks if I'd like more tea or coffee.
"Coffee sounds good."
He bends his body, rests his lips on my hair as gently as a pair of feathers and takes the mug from my hand.
Sitting in an armchair with some hot drink and watching gorgeous food being made one after another by Jamie are some of my favourite ways to spend a lazy Sunday.
13 May 2013
Passive Aggressive A.I.
This morning, I got hooked on this speech command function of my mobile. You see, when your hormomes are not contributing to your mental health, you have to try anything to cheer yourself up.
"Text Husband", I put my lips near the phone and speak.
"Texting Husband. Say your message", responds the phone. The robo-voice sounds like a woman in her mid-40's to mid 50's.
"Good morning, how are you?" I say the most common greeting expression suitable for 7-ish am.
"Good morning how are you. You can say send or try again."
"Send."
The phone sends the message and closes the function automatically.
I press the button to summon the function again and say,
"I'm testing my speech command function."
My phone understands it perfectly and sends it swiftly to my husband. Oh this is fun!
I say another sentence. This time she gets it wrong. I try again. She still doesn't get it right.
"But she often misunderstands me." I say, and this time she shows the exact words.
"Send." I command and she sends it.
Oh my god, I thought, this is like a teeny baby step to Tony Stark's artificially intelligent computer.
"Oh my god I have my own Jarvis!" Although she doesn't read between the lines and put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, my voice can't hide the excitement. I was almost reaching the high point of my day.
"Oh my god I have my own job this. You can say send or try again", she goes.
"Oh my god I have my own Jarvis", I correct her.
"Oh my god I have my own joe this. You can say send or try again."
"J.A.R.V.I.S"
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."
"Jaaaaarrrrviiiiisssss."
"Gile's. You can say send or try again."
Okay, she has a long way to go before reaching Jarvis.
"You are so stupid." I sigh.
Then, Ms Speech Command Smarty Pants shuts herself down.
A few moments later, I manually type a message describing what just happened and send it to my husband.
"Passive aggressive behaviour from your phone." He replies.
"Yeah, big attitude coming from a robot." I text.
"How's that for artificial intelligence?"
"Text Husband", I put my lips near the phone and speak.
"Texting Husband. Say your message", responds the phone. The robo-voice sounds like a woman in her mid-40's to mid 50's.
"Good morning, how are you?" I say the most common greeting expression suitable for 7-ish am.
"Good morning how are you. You can say send or try again."
"Send."
The phone sends the message and closes the function automatically.
I press the button to summon the function again and say,
"I'm testing my speech command function."
My phone understands it perfectly and sends it swiftly to my husband. Oh this is fun!
I say another sentence. This time she gets it wrong. I try again. She still doesn't get it right.
"But she often misunderstands me." I say, and this time she shows the exact words.
"Send." I command and she sends it.
Oh my god, I thought, this is like a teeny baby step to Tony Stark's artificially intelligent computer.
"Oh my god I have my own Jarvis!" Although she doesn't read between the lines and put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, my voice can't hide the excitement. I was almost reaching the high point of my day.
"Oh my god I have my own job this. You can say send or try again", she goes.
"Oh my god I have my own Jarvis", I correct her.
"Oh my god I have my own joe this. You can say send or try again."
"J.A.R.V.I.S"
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."
"Jaaaaarrrrviiiiisssss."
"Gile's. You can say send or try again."
Okay, she has a long way to go before reaching Jarvis.
"You are so stupid." I sigh.
Then, Ms Speech Command Smarty Pants shuts herself down.
A few moments later, I manually type a message describing what just happened and send it to my husband.
"Passive aggressive behaviour from your phone." He replies.
"Yeah, big attitude coming from a robot." I text.
"How's that for artificial intelligence?"
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