Random Personal Update

Published on August 28, 2007 By pseudosoldier In Life Journals

Food - I made a package of Monischewitz hummus mix about an hour ago, chilled it and ate it with onions and a wheat tortilla. You could tell it was "intant," but it was still very tasty. I'll likely have some sort of packaged meal that includes meat (like a Lean Cuisine or maybe a microwaveable chili bowl) later before going to bed early.

I heard about and read about an Egyptian dish during class today: koshari. It's traditional Egyptian (and to an extent Sudanese) and is basically rice, lentils, macaroni, tomato sauce and maybe some deep-fried onions. It sounds good to me, but I'm more likely to make it when I have more time. But it put me on the track of thinking... Middle East foods, shwarma, is the jar of Tahini I have still good (nope, I threw it out awhile back), felafel, hummus... so, I had some hummus. There's still another package of the dip mix in the box, and I have a box of instant felafel and a box of instant tabouleh, so maybe I'll have a big Middle Eastern insta-meal in the next couple of weeks.

Listening - Just finished a CD's worth of "authentic bellydancing music," which I wasn't too impressed with. I may be predisposed to dislike it, however, since it's a pirated copy of a fairly expensive CD set. I'm not a fan of pirated works at all, so I feel like I'll probably nuke it and trash it, maybe soon. Before that I was listening to Arabic BBC. Later I'll probably listen to Al-Jazeera reruns and might go to sleep watching an old Egyptian film.

Yeah, I'm studying for my annual language proficiency test. It's tomorrow morning, both parts, and I'm very worried about it. On the bright side, I'm so much more prepared for it this year than last (3.5 weeks of actual refresher class this year), but on the downside... it's the newer test (DLPT V) and we're facing a very low pass rate, Army- (and DoD-)wide. At least I still get "grandfathered" to last year's scores if I bomb it.

Other Education - I got my transcripts in a few days ago, which show that I have my second AA. The first was due to my efforts in language school and this one is a direct result from the NonCommissioned Officer's Academy courses that I've taken. Should look nice on A) my wall and

my NCO Evaluation Report.

Beer - Yes.

UFC - I missed this past weekend's event as I didn't feel up to sitting in Buffalo Wild Wing's by myself. This coming weekend I'll be able to tape the free show on Spike, but will have to wait to watch it as it isn't proper viewing for a 5-year old.

Yeah, he turned five just yesterday and I couldn't be there. And not because I'm deployed or anything, but because she decided that she'd rather be with someone else. Oh, yeah, I'm still bitter about that.

Weight Loss - Uh, no. I mean, I haven't gained any (maybe a pound or two) since the boys left, and I feel better definition in some muscle groups, but I haven't really worked on it, no. Once I start teaching again next week, I'm looking at trying to get in three extra PT sessions a week, at least, in the gym in the (I'd like to say afternoon, but we won't get out of class until the) evening. I'm going to have to pack three+ meals the night before, every night, if I do that though.

Color Guard - I have two Battalion events this month (taking up the weekends that I don't have my sons) and two events on the 11th (one of which I don't have to do, al-hamd ila Allah). I'm still the coordinator for all of that... and the BN coordination has unfortunately fallen by the wayside while I've been studying al-lugha al-arabia.

It's a good sign that fragments of sentences in my head come out in Arabic, really; I'm relieved it hasn't happened out loud. ("Hey, ta'arif anika wearing your badge kharij al-banaya, right?") My comfort level with the language is WAY above where it had been, and I regret somewhat that I won't continue at this level of exposure over the next few months. I'll have to put some additional personal effort in, I suppose...

Eh. Random enough. MySpace is down and I'm still not sure how much info I want to put on Facebook. I was only there for singrdave initially, anyway, and now I've become a sort of conduit through which he connected to other online friends. Anyway.

Enough! Beer! (Two separate thoughts, those were.)

Comments

singrdave

on Aug 29, 2007

Hey Pseudo, thanks for the update.

MySpace is down and I'm still not sure how much info I want to put on Facebook. I was only there for singrdave initially, anyway, and now I've become a sort of conduit through which he connected to other online friends.

Which I appreciate. I have been able to find a bunch of people, including Taliesin, through Facebook. Feel free to peruse my family photos, etc., of recent birthdays and sightseeing visits all over the place.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!