Flotsam and Jetsam

A few unresolved thoughts from Monday, as I sit at the kitchen table and feast on avena (as it was known in my house as a child), toast with jam and organic coffee:

• I suppose I’m such an outspoken critic of injustice because I watched my mother practice this principle for all of my life. My brothers and I used to joke that she had a habit of “collecting” people, the way a person collects stamps or antiques. Rare was the Sunday she went to church without a bag of clothes or books for a family less fortunate than ours.

Going Greek, going, going, gone!

It was bound to happen. If you go to a class often enough, the odds are pretty good that you will learn something. After two-and-a-half semesters of ancient Greek, I can now read and translate passages. I can look at a verb and, on a good day, I can tell you if it’s in the present active indicative, 1st aorist indicative or subjunctive tense. I never thought I’d make it to this point, but here I am. Hallelujah. The semester will be finished in roughly five weeks. Amazing.

 To give you an idea of what I’ve been struggling with, take a look at the link. When your eyeballs have had enough, select an English translation from the drop-down to compare.

So you want to know where I’ve been, do you?

Two words: school and appendicitis.

School is the usual exhilarating but tedious bear that demands constant attention. This first year has been difficult but I’ve survived. Greek continues to be difficult but I’m beginning to see patterns, which is encouraging. Our course book is quite good in that it encourages the memorization of patterns. If you understand enough of the rules, you’re not stumped as much when you encounter a difficult passage.

“What?!?? Appendicitis?!? Why are you still blathering on about Greek?”

Point taken.