On to something new...

Last night's session was the last night shift for at least a week, and I am happy to say it was rather slow. It was the crew's day for private conferences with family and with the flight surgeons, so almost all available time during Russian VHF ground passes and via the Orbiter communications system that's aboard the station was devoted to private conversations.

Tomorrow, I start working with the folks who generate the daily "execute package," which coordinates the crew's activities for the next day. I'll be doing this for at least a week, and then - with things being the way they are - it's anyone's guess as to what I'll be doing.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning around the new home office. I've packed two large garbage bags full of stuff that I finally got into the mood to throw out. Things are moving along smoothly.

More (maybe) after The X Files, which promises to be interesting.

Cheers...

Getting out of a rut...

There is, of course, a lot to be said for pressing on and mastering ever-deeper nuances of one's knowledge. As skilled as I am in my work, I am only at the point where I know that I actually know very little. The simultaneous sessions over the past week have pointed that out from time to time, when I have had to improvise or gloss over something that I simply could not formulate in time.

On the other hand, the single-minded pursuit of the mastery of one, and only one skill set has a tendency to put you in a rut. And I hate ruts.

So, I've decided to start learning Japanese. Again.

Not that I really started, ever. Back when I lived in Colorado, and before I moved to Texas, I used to do a lot of software reviews for various magazines. One review was for a product called Power Japanese, which I reviewed by actually doing the lessons. I continued with the CD for about a week after the review was sent in to the editor, and then the effort pretty much petered out.

Who knows? It may again. I look at this as a part-time endeavor; something like a hobby, but not anywhere nearly as expensive as, say, photography. So, for the time being, I've resurrected the CD, found some of the documentation, and am at it again.

The approach undertaken in Power Japanese is different from most approaches to learning a language, especially one whose writing is not easily understood. It starts by teaching the student "hiragana," which is a system of 46 symbols used to write the sounds of the language. Once you're finished with the hiragana, the course then presents "katakana," which is another set of symbols that are used to spell out foreign and loan words. (There is a third kind of written form, called "kanji," which are ideographs that are similar to those used in Chinese, but Power Japanese doesn't deal with those.)

Actual conversation and sentence structure isn't hammered until the basics of the written language are mastered. This makes sense to me, as the traditional "parrot" method of language teaching has never worked well for me.

In reviewing the product's Learner's Dictionary today, I noticed something I missed those years ago, and it helps explain something I once read about the language of the D'neh (Navajo). Japanese, D'neh, and other languages rely on special "counter" words that are used to count particular kinds of objects. This made no sense to me, until it was pointed out that such counter words are also used in English, as in a "slice" of bread or a "piece" of pie.

It is such small epiphanies that make the effort worth while. And learning a foreign language - when done with a passion - is something that gives you almost an extra set of eyes when dealing with the world.

Segue.

Tonight's The X Files was one of those episodes that shift the focus away from aliens and toward the "more-things-on-heaven-and-earth" side of the house. It's fun watching John Doggett start to come to the realization that he - is - no - longer - in - Kansas (if you get my drift :^). However, Scully is moping way too much. In summary, it's a good start to the season.

Cheers...