Which will be a trifle less like musings and a bit more like the cribbings of a time-starved madman.
You get what you pay for.
They say that the Chinese word for “crisis” is a blend of the characters meaning “danger” and “opportunity.”
I wonder if that’s true, or just one of those bulls!t things “they” say.
Occasional reader Bou sends this clip along, which goes a long way towards explaining why the Navy at least gets flight pay. (click on the pic for a 3.2 meg mpg file)
Someone got just a little too excited over that whole “right for lineup thing.” Is my guess.
The whole week in Norfolk and I’m sitting 5 11-year olds while the Hobbit enjoys a quiet night out with the girls. How unfair is that?
Hey, you two over there! Whose side are you on? (Don’t answer that – I know: Ya-ya sisterhood, etc.)
Fine.
You ever feel like you’re holding on to the whole of your slippery reality with just your fingertips? Like you’ve got nothing left to throw on the fire? Zero excess capacity? Like everything might fall to dust and ruin if you so much as stumble, trip and fall?
I’m pretty much feeling that way all the time now. Could just thump myself for thinking that maybe it’d be a good idea to pursue a MS in SE while working a full time job, raising teenagers in San Diego, etc.
Don’t feel sorry for me though.
I’ll always have Paris.
Paris? Yeah – first tour of duty after graduation was to spend the summer in Tours (and weekends in Paris) learning la belle langue. Which it was a language scholarship, wasn’t it? Three months and six thousand dollars, which let me tell you, went a hell of a long way for a single ensign, whose basic requirements were pretty easily satisfied back in 1982, what with francs going 8.1 to the dollar.
This Navy gig, said your humble scribe. Pretty derned cool!
Watch the movie again, and reflect on yin and yang.
Oh. Those five 11-going-on-12-year olds ? Went missing while I was busy doing summat else, and momentarily distracted. Amazing that I didn’t notice, but it’s kind of like the dog that didn’t bark. Had a strangely hasty, agitated cuppla while trying to figure out what the hell had happened. And where had they gone?
Tracked them down not far away, the rascals, a-going for a stroll. And as it turns out, there were a couple of 11-year old boys there, God help them for having no idea what the ladies are about to put them through over the course of the next several.
I of course had a moment’s d?ɬ©j?É vu, all over again. Oh, but I shall be so very much better prepared this time, gentle reader. No surprises. No illusions.
But you know, if you wanted to, you could, em… Pray for me anyway.
That’d be OK.
Huh? What’d I do??
*looking around in total innocence and confusion*
The old wives tale about the word crisis is partially true. In Japanese, which uses many of the same Kanji as Chinese, Crisis is kiki ?ɬ
The old wives tale about the word crisis is partially true. In Japanese, which uses many of the same Kanji as Chinese, Crisis is kiki å±æ©Ÿ,　（I’ve included the kanji but they may not be viewable unless you have Japanese IME on your computer). The first Kanji is the one for (abenai) danger the second (hata) is chance or opportunity depending on context.
PS, good thing the wire worked as advertised!
Occasional? What’s with this occasional stuff? I read every day! Humpf! I just don’t comment much.
Which now that you mention it Skip is one of those things about Japan and the Japanese that always amazed me: You have one kanji character with an associated meaning and sound, and place it next to another character, with its association and sound, and get not just a new meaning, but also an entirely unrelated sound.
How on earth do they ever learn that stuff?
How on earth do they ever learn that stuff?
The Second Mrs. Pennington’s undergrad degree is in Nihongo (we met in Tokyo while she was an exchange student), and I used to ask the same exact thing. I never got an adequate answer. I think it just comes easy to some folks. But that doesn’t explain how the entire Japanese population manages to learn the language. I’ve often wondered how they use PCs. You sure can’t have a kanji/hiragana/katakana keyborad, now, can you?
that would be “keyboard.” Sheesh. Typos R Us!
Do you think that Hornet driver had any need for caffeine for, say, a couple of weeks after? Or the deck crew, for that matter.
As for the 11-year-olds… With our two girls (now 27 and 28, both married) and their brother (22) on their own and out of the house, well, it’s your turn for prayers, all right.
Things will be interesting for while, though. :}
Jeez, it always gets interesting when a nugget get “hinky” on final. It really gets your attention when they are port of the foul-line!
Actually the Japanese don’t really learn the language in the sense that we learn our language. They know their spoken language very well, but written knowledge of Kanji comes over time and sheer rote memorization. The two readings drive me nuts and is why even after 6 years here I still only know about 1000 Kanji (out of over 2200). Japan is also the only country that the TV has subtitles in their own language. I think that is because they have a lot of words that sound alike so it allows the viewer to understand the context of the sentence.
And then there is the whole problem of honorific speec vs everyday speech and when to use it.
Japanese key boards have hiragna which they use to put together Kanji. With a key stroke they can change hiragana to katakna. The S.O. is amazing to watch as she types out an e-mail. She has it down cold and is really fast.
Wow! Didn’t stick THAT landing, did he?
There are two things on aircraft carriers that I just can’t quite believe actually work: the arresting wires, and the little hold-back thingy on the catapults. Got to be magic involved somewhere.
Huh.
Which side am I on?
I usually sleep on my right side… unless I’m otherwise preoccupied, in which case I prefer the top side.
*wink*
The top side is good. For you.
I’m guessing.
Good guess.
*grin*
Lex, I shall pray for the Kat to gain acceptance like the Biscuit before her. It’s awful when acceptance is withheld (she says from experience, with a deep sigh even after 20 years).
You ever feel like you?ɬ
You ever feel like you’re holding on to the whole of your slippery reality with just your fingertips?
In the (probably paraphrased) words of the Master, Steven Wright:
“You know when you’re leaning back in a chair and you almost fall, but you catch yourself? That’s how I feel all the time.”