Sneaking in tongues

Image courtesy Google Earth.

Not for any useful purpose, but I've begun to study other languages by means of the "foreign" subtitles added to many of the movies and programs posted on YouTube. I've decided to start with Norwegian, as it seems slightly less complex than some other languages I've encountered. Plus, as a bonus, there are similarities to Swedish, Finnish and Danish. It's sort of like a Buy Three Get the Fourth One Free Sale. Of course, there're those odd letters, like the forward-slashed o (ø) and the haloed a (å), but I'm thinking they just threw those in to make it look hard. I'm not so easily fooled.

After the Scandinavian lingoes, I'll work my way through Northern Europe. I studied German in high school and I've a leg up on Polish, as I already know several prayers (thanks to my Mom) and a number of cuss words, thanks to misbehaving in front of my Dad).

And so, as they say in Oslo, Jeg bare tuller.

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I'm still standing

Er, well, sitting, actually. In my new big-brand-name leather recliner. My former beloved recliner was, alas, a cheapie from a discount furniture emporium and soon gave up the ghost.

I'm just checking in here to mention that I am more likely to make entries at Uncle Genie's Other Blog as my life, in general, has become more static since I gave up the travel trailer, snow-birding, and driving altogether. Not quite as much of the day-to-day worthy of mention now that I am an apartment dweller.

But the brain keeps ticking over, and that stuff's more likely to show up on one of my other blogs.

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On standby

I realize, of course, that there are millions of blogs on the internet. Short of devoting myself full time to developing a blog with commercial appeal, it is unlikely that this blog will attract any attention. What I write here is, consequently, purely for my own amusement.

For the time being, I have chosen to amuse myself elsewhere.

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I'm hangin' up my spurs.

It's gotten to be a bit much, all the rigmarole that is required of my gratifying and enjoyable snowbird lifestyle.

So, I've decided to rent an apartment in Tucson. In addition, I'm going to sell both my GMC Suburban and my travel trailer.

As much as I love my Colorado mountain home, and as much as I dislike living in a city, health problems and increasing physical limitations suggest the need for an urban setting and the services it can provide. Much to my regret, Colorado's San Luis Valley is way too rural to provide that service base.

Since I need to go urban, I figured I might as well live close to the kids and grandkids. Besides, Tucson's always been on my short list of most tolerable cities—if you have to live in a city. Moreover, after the Rocky Mountains, I like the Sonoran Desert best.

Giving up driving is a choice I never thought I'd make—at least not voluntarily. The notion pretty much took me by surprise. But I don't enjoy driving like I used to, nor do I feel as proficient, and gas prices have really put the kibosh on the trips I had planned to make. Where once I put 20K+ miles a year on a car, nowadays it's under 3K, most of it in snow-birding twixt Tucson and South Fork.

I think I can depend on public transport in Tucson. Granted, I will miss the convenience of my own car, but I'll unload some significant expense items as well as some major headaches. In addition, I look forward to being able to afford to travel by Amtrak.

As the slogan points out, nothing is perfect.

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Lost in time

6:17 A.M.

I'm sitting here and I realize I have absolutely no idea what day of the week it is. Not a clue. Seems like maybe the last hazy recollection I have it was possibly a Monday...or maybe a Tuesday.

Early morning traffic noise suggests it's a work day, so I guess that narrows it some.

Okay, if I had'a guess, since I'm thinkin' it doesn't feel like it's been a week since I last noticed, I'd say late in the week, maybe Thursday.

(Check my computer.) Ta-Da! Friday! Close enough for government work.

So that would make it what? Like maybe the 6th or 7th. (Check my computer again.) Ah, the 6th. Now we're cookin' with gas!

I am very easily amused.

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Wordsmith

My MS Bookshelf American Heritage Dictionary (1992) does not include "equanimous." While surprised, I handled the revelation with equanimity.

In truth, I thought the adjective was "equananimous," about which inaccuracy I was not so equanimous. A web search showed me the error of my ways.

Other than continuing guilt for my historic lack of moral fiber and the never-ending struggles to keep my health-care clinic and mail-order pharmacy straight and timely on my prescriptions, my greatest chronic aggravation is the discovery of word usage and spellings about which I have spent the major portion of my supposedly educated life ignorant or sloppy.

It seems that wordsmithing must continue to be the subject of on-the-job training. I'm just annoyed that I've carried so much erroneous information in my head for so many years, and I wonder what other words I "know" that are, in fact, mistaken.

    Illustration by Theodor Kittelsen

    for Johan Herman Wessel's
    The Smith and the Baker.**