So here I am now

[aadler]

 
Busy with this and that. Among other things, the alternator on my car went out suddenly, making it necessary for 1) our son to drive me and Susan upstate to get her to the VA for her scheduled shift, 2) me to drive our son back to center-state so he’d have a car to drive to and from class, and 3) me to wait around for the alternator to be repaired, then drive back to rejoin Susan. Updates under the cuts.

First Cut — Military Issues

I had just skimmed the surface up till now, but the last few days I’ve begun getting seriously into my Rosetta Stone Arabic program. It helps a lot that I’m already familiar with the alphabet through having studied Farsi — and most of the sounds are the same, no more difference than the pronunciational differences between English and Spanish — but in structural terms, Arabic is a considerably more difficult language. I’m enjoying it, but I’m glad that I bought all three levels, because I don’t actually have classroom instruction in this one, and need all the material available.

I got an e-mail from my unit training officer advising of an online language opportunity; I’ll contact him this week to find out more about it, but (naturally) I’m inclined in that direction. We’re already preparing for next year’s deployment, and I have to believe that having some knowledge of the language would go a long way toward preparing me.

This next weekend, my unit will have another three-day drill, but at least we’ll be at home station this time instead of out in the field. Make no mistake, field training is invaluable, but there’s also something to be said for coming home at night rather than sleeping on the ground. At last contact, I understood that my one-month assignment to the Joint Readiness Training Command was definitely scheduled unless something happened to negate it; I’ll confirm during drill, then have a bit less than a week to prepare for departure.

Close First Cut

Second Cut — Personal Issues

We’re close to the end of the year. If I do go to JRTC, I’ll be away during Susan’s birthday and Thanksgiving (which, I believe, occur on the same weekend this year). I’ll be back in time for Christmas, though, and for our second first anniversary. (The first first was in 1983.)

Tomorrow, after I pick up Susan from work (and then get some medication for her at the pharmacy), I’ll be driving to center-state. We’ve arranged for our daughter to begin attending inquirer’s classes, toward preparation for entering the Catholic Church. By now, she’s the only one of us who hasn’t yet come into the fold: not because she was disinclined, she was just busy. (Done now. She finally advised Covenant Players to consider her no longer available unless her health suddenly changed for the better before December. Since she’s been recuperating for two months now, with only slow progress, the latter is unlikely.)

Close Second Cut

Third Cut — Fic Writing Issues

While Susan and I were in center-state with the kids on our return from Europe, I took the opportunity to key in all the new material I’d written (while at the National Training Center) on “Queen’s Gambit”. It’s at 27,000 words now, and maybe three or four chapters from being done. I told sroni that I’d calculated that I could finish the story this year if I did only one page a day, assuming 300-350 words to the page. That works in theory, but in practice it means I have to WRITE the page per day. The last several days … well, there always seems to be something else I’d rather do. I’ll get there eventually, I always do. Be nice if I could just make a beginning on it.

Close Third Cut

Life is not all I would wish it could be. But it ain’t bad.

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, I can't imagine how invaluable it would be to have a working knowledge of the language. Sorry about your car troubles; wish I could say that hasn't been a problem with me, but ...

[aadler]

Language? We’ll see.

Car troubles? Settled now.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Well, in my line of work around here it's good to have a working knowledge of Spanish, so you can tell whether they're saying "ambulance" or "I hid the gun in my pants".