#CentolutionSkill

[centolutions]

#31) Play a new instrument

This one is compliments of Grace for two reasons.

I had asked for family members to give me some Centolutions to add to the list for 2021.  This was one item Grace gave me to add.  I wasn’t able to complete it that year, so it carried forward to this year.

On my Christmas gift wish list for last year, I had listed various used instruments withe the idea being, if I got a gift as an instrument, I would be more likely to follow through.  Grace gifted me with a table-top steel drum.

First, the instrument is great!  I love the sound.  The size is right for me - I can hold the mallets well and the distance between the ‘outdents’ (the raised metal point for each note) is appropriately spaced for easy reach for my arms.

Second, it’s pretty easy for me to ‘sound out’ the music and can combine the ‘play by ear’ with reading some notes.

Two things to go from tinking to sufficiency:1

1) Finding songs that fit the one-octave, major note scale the drum supports.

2) Practice

[centolutions]

#63) Learn to say "Thank You." in a new language

One of the people on contract at work was leaving the team.  During his ‘farewell’ call, I asked if he spoke Pushtun, the most commonly spoken language around Kabul, Afghanistan where he grew up.  He said he did, so I threw out a “Namanaa”, which he was appreciative to hear.

Come to find out he owns a gas station and a kabab restaurant, so the next time I’m driving through his current hometown (outside of D.C.), I’ll look him up to see if I can re-use an Afghani ‘Thank You’ in person. 

[centolutions]

#70) Learn to say “Thank You” in a new language

I’ll claim Polish and Nepali.

I work with a surprisingly large number of people who grew up in Nepal.  I never thought of Dayton as a hub of Nepalese activity, but - whatever the reason - there are dozens of people at my company who emigrated from Nepal.  And since I sat next to one of those people during the work day (back when we were allowed to go into the office), I asked her how to say “Thank you” in Nepali.

“Dhan'yavāda”, she responded.

“That’s very close to ‘dhanyavaad’”, I replied, repeating what I had learned in Hindi a few years back.

Ah, Dave, never pass up a chance to show off!

At the end of last year, on our trip to Beth and Karl’s wedding (did I mention before they got married?), we end up in the last hotel begging for the last available room in a town shutting down for the night due to a snow storm.  The hotel owners were, I guessed, Polish (a picture of Pope John Paul II hung next to a map Poland in their lobby office).  When we finally got the room, I decided to learn how to thank them in their mother tongue.

“Dziękuję Ci“