Merry Pedantic Christmas

Christmas carols are a fun part of the Christmas season, at least until you are hearing them for the twentieth time on the radio, but there are a few of the over-educated among us who can put a fun twist on the familiar. Here is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as Cicero might have sang it.

Rudolphus, naso rubro,
naso nitidissimo,
si umquam eum spectes,
dicas eum fulgere.

Reliqui tum renones
deridebant ludentes,
semper vetabant eum
apud ludos ludere.

Deinde ante Natalem
Santa venit, et
"Tu, Rudolphe nitide,
traham meam duc nocte."

Dein, ut renones amant,
exclamantes hilare:
"Rudolphe, naso rubro,
in annalibus eris!"

There are more Latin Christmas carols here.

Of course many people know Latin, but how many could sing it like like a Saxon bard.

Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor --
Næfde þæt nieten unsciende næsðyrlas!
Glitenode and gladode godlice nosgrisele.
Ða hofberendas mid huscwordum hine gehefigodon;
Nolden þa geneatas Hrodulf næftig
To gomene hraniscum geador ætsomne.
Þa in Cristesmæsseæfne stormigum clommum,
Halga Claus þæt gemunde to him maðelode:
"Neahfreond nihteage nosubeorhtende!
Min hroden hrædwæn gelæd ðu, Hrodulf!"
Ða gelufodon hira laddeor þa lyftflogan --
Wæs glædnes and gliwdream; hornede sum gegieddode
"Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor,
Brad springð þin blæd: breme eart þu!"

If you can read this, you spent WAY too much time in school.

The Next Chapter

Some time has passed and I am finding out just how difficult change can be. I used to know what I would do each day when I woke up, but after a break of nearly a year, I have forgotten most of the habits that drove my life. That is probably a good thing over all, but creating an entirely new life is as difficult as breaking individual habits one at a time.

I am slowly getting my house in order. This is not an easy task with both my brother and myself living here. I have some cleaning to do and organizing to do so that we both fit. My front yard also is still waiting for my attention.

I have not yet talked to my employer about my return, but I will have to do that soon. I may return sooner than I thought. I have only been home for a week and a half, but I am already getting a little anxious to have something to do with my days. I can do nothing, but only when there is something to do. When there is nothing to do, I am lost, but I am not so adept at finding something to do so that I can do nothing occasionally.

I am not sure what i will be doing with this blog going forward. I have enjoyed writing and would like to continue, but I don't know what I will be writing about, or how often. When I was posting almost everyday, it was a pleasant escape from the drudgery of staff work. Right now, I sit down to write and nothing comes to me. As I said before, if I have nothing to do, I am lost. I am not even sure that the title of my blog works anymore. This will all shake out over the next few months. I will find a niche and hopefully, it will still be somewhat interesting. Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog. I hope you will continue to find something worthwhile here.

In closing, I would like to recommend the following:


More will follow.

Home At Last

I am still on active duty officially until 21 December, but until then I am on terminal leave. The Navy is still paying me, but I have accrued 28 vacation days that I get to use up before I separate from active duty again. the only thing that I have to do is report in to my Reserve Center on Monday so they know that I am back and endorse my orders to that effect. Beyond that, I don't know what I will be doing for the next month. I am going to relax for a day or two and then begin working on getting my life restarted.

Almost Home

I have finished everything that needed to be done. All that is left is getting to the airport tomorrow. If I don't miss my flight, I will be in Utah tomorrow afternoon at 1:45 and home maybe by 4:00.

For my sister in San Diego, I am sorry that I won't be here for Thanksgiving, but thank you for the invitation. I hope to see you again soon anyway.

Back in The USA

It took almost 30 hours, but I am back in the USA again. My group mustered at 1830 local time in Kuwait to ride to the Kuwait Airport. The only place that there wasn't a line to get through was boarding the plane itself. There were at least four other lines that we had to get through first. It was a good thing we started so early, because there was just barely enough time to get on board for a 0040 departure. Naturally i had the middle seat of the 2-5-2 configuration on the Boeing 777 for the 14 hour flight to Washington Dulles Airport. oddly, for such a long flight, it seemed to go quite fast, partly because I slept for about seven hours off and on and partly because I watched two movies that I had missed - Wall-E and Get Smart.

After sitting for 14 hours it was a pleasure to stand for the hour or so that it took to get through customs and security again at Dulles. On the flight to LA, I talked to a gentleman in my row for almost three hours, something that I hardly ever do. If you know me, you know that I can't even talk to friends for three hours straight, much less strangers. After LA, I had another short hop to Oxnard and finally to Port Hueneme Naval Station where I will demob. I spent about an hour checking and then found my room at the BOQ and went to sleep. I think I slept for about 10 hours, which for me is a record.

I almost didn't get a room, because my credit card company helpfully closed my account while I was in Iraq, because I wasn't using my card. It is remarkable how difficult it is to get along in the workd today without a credit card. I am going to have a lot of work to do getting all of that retarted when I get back home.

As for getting back home, the NMPS staff is trying to get me through their process and cleared by Friday so they can send me home on Saturday. They have a large group coming through then and don't want me to get stuck here because of the volume. So, it looks like I will be back in Utah sometime on Saturday. I don't have a flight plan yet, but I will let you know. See you soon.

Kuwait Update

All of the business of getting out of theater is done now, except for the actual departure. Life is pretty laid back right now. They encourage casual dress, either civilian attire or PT gear, and nearly every minute is free time. It is called the Warrior Transition Program. For most of us it is a chance to decompress and start practicing being a civilian again. It is also a chance to not be responsible for anything at all for a couple of days before life intrudes again.

I will be leaving tomorrow night very late and will probably be traveling for close to 24 hours before I finally get to my next stop. The first leg alone is 14 hours long, non-stop. Hopefully I will spend a lot of that asleep, but certainly not all of it. I will have about a week in California outprocessing there before returning to Utah, which means I should have less than ten days to go. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Back In Kuwait

Yesterday was a long day. I was up at 0330 to get ready and finish packing for a 0540 show time at the airport. We didn't take off until just after 1000. After arriving in Ali Al Salem, we flight joined another for the trip to Camp Arifjan. First we had to load our gear into a truck, then partially unload it, because we had accidentally started loading gear that wasn't ours, then finish loading it. A two hour convoy finally brought us to Camp Arifjan where we had to unload the truck and sort ourselves into our assigned tents.

Today is a day off and most people are using it to sleep. Tomorrow, we start outprocessing. Mine will be fast. I turned in most of my gear and my weapons in Baghdad, so I have very little of that to do. All I have left is my armor. It is fortunate that I left my weapons behind. I gave them a good cleaning, but an armorer would probably have made me do it again before taking them back. Anyone who has weapons here will have to satisfy an armorer before thay are done.

I am not sure what I will be doing today, but looking forward to home. I might in fact be home for Thanksgiving. I think that whoever made my travel arrangements sent me out four days earlier than I was supposed to go.