Tuesday we have another quiz in Arabic. It's our 3rd, but the first that I'll say actually covers a lot of material. Clearly, the class is shifting out of first gear. To date, we've been learning the alphabet, with a smattering of phrases thrown in. Now, we're continuing with the alphabet and learning vocabulary in earnest. This is the "memorizing laundry lists" phase of the class. It's going to suck donkey balls.
One thing that's less challenging than I thought is reading and writing Arabic. It is a very, very orderly and structured language from a written standpoint. I think, here, that having a background in music and computer languages is a bit of an asset. This is also the 3rd alphabet I've learned, after the Latin/English alphabet, and the Korean alphabet. (4th if you count the Greek alphabet, due to fraternity participation, but I don't count that since I never read or wrote a word in greek.)
People who can read and write music learn a structured syntax that is used for expressing moderately complex topics. I took 2 semesters of music theory and sight-singing/ear-training in college. So, although not a music major, I have more music training than most. (That doesn't count the 4 years I spent teaching guitar, where I always made sure my students had, at least, a minimum understanding of reading music.)
Computer languages are pretty much the same way. I learned a lot of them, not many of which I could do anything with today. However, they ranged from the relatively english-like (COBOL and BASIC), to the utterly abstract (assembly language).
I also wonder if my formative language development plays a part in any of this. I didn't speak English at all until I was nearly 4 years old. I spoke Korean up to that point. I don't have a lick of Korean right now, other than a handful of phrases and a basic, but vanishing grasp of the alphabet, both of which I got when I was 19 years old. However, my proficiency with English is considerable. I often wonder if that's due to simply innate intellect, or whether the experience of abandoning a language and learning another one had anything to do with it.
After this semester, I don't know if I'll do any more classes in Arabic, though. I may just get the Rosetta Stone program and study on my own. Blocking off this time on Tuesdays and Thursdays is proving to be a bigger hassle than I thought. In the Spring, with Logan's travel baseball in full-swing, there's just no way I can do it. It's already a lot to deal with when it comes to being home when Logan's mom has to work.
She gets called in on short notice to work night shifts at the hospital. Also, when she has more notice, she usually doesn't tell me, which leaves me scrambling to arrange a sitter at the last minute. Honestly, sometimes I just wonder, can't we make a little effort, here? It's not for me, it's for the boy. He doesn't need to be in the middle of a bunch of drama.
We don't get along, I get it. Hence the need for the whole divorce thing. However, there's no need to be uncivil, and we're already effing up the kid's life enough already. He doesn't need to sense tension about who is going to be here to watch him.
I try not to get too worked up about it. There's nothing to be done. I just do everything I can to shield my boy from all the idiocy. I just marvel that people can act like such vindictive children sometimes.
I am thinking of just taking the plunge and buying the rowing machine. I'm really at a plateau, weight-wise. Need to do something to shake things up and break out of it. I've checked into used ones, but at best, you save maybe $200 or $250. To me, that just doesn't justify it.
The big concern here is money, obviously. It's a grand and I'm really trying to watch my finances these days. Things are still tight at the biz and we're not out of the woods, yet. OTOH, I've got good momentum going on my fitness routine these days and I need to keep that going. Personally, I'd categorize myself at the high side of being in okay shape. I no longer feel overweight, per se. However, I'm not that far from it. If I were down in the 180s, I think I'd feel like I was actually in good shape and I need to put some effort in to get there.
The food poisoning I had yesterday appears to have run its course. Who knows what brought that on.
I didn't run yesterday. I really need to get my workout room set up in my new house. I should go buy a dehumidifier and get the thing going down in the basement. I've got a really large basement. Of course, all that takes is money, right?
On an encouraging tip, we have some positive news on the cost side of things in the coming months. Our warehouse rent is going to drop by $200 starting Oct 1. In December, we pay off the two Chevy Trucks we bought when we were brand-new. That will free up over $1,000 a month in cash-flow. So, I keep reminding myself that if I survive 2010, then in 2011, all other things being held equal, I'll be able to drop another $12,000 in the bank.
The trick, of course, is surviving 2010.
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