Ummm... Okay, it's been a while.
Apr. 23rd, 2003 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitsap_charlesAnd I scarcely know where or how to begin.
Writing has always been hard for me; I want to say exactly what I want to say, but the words keep wriggling into strange and unwanted configurations, obscuring the precise shade of meaning I seek with their constant writhing and coiling. "The perfect is the enemy of the good," someone said; and so when I try for the perfect phrase (and too often fail) I find I cannot write at all.
Plus, I have a dearth of spare time in which to write— between school (classes, laboratories, and homework) and spending time with my beloved![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
riverheart, I scarcely have time for sleep, food, and the other necessities of life. Email, chat, keeping up-to-date with LJ… all of these go by the wayside.
That being said, I find I have a few things to say.
School is going well, very well indeed. (For those of you keeping score at home, having been unable to find employment in my former profession— Mainframe Systems Analyst— in September 2002 I enrolled in my local community college's Network Administration curriculum under the auspices of a "Dislocated Worker" program.) My first quarter comprised 15 credit hours (three five-hour classes; a course load of twelve or more credit hours is considered "full-time") in which I earned two 4.0 grades and a 3.9. The Winter 2003 quarter, which ended in March, saw me take four five-hour classes— a serious overload, but necessitated by my desire to complete the curriculum (1) by the end of 2003, and (2) before the grant money ran out. I earned three 4.0's and a 3.6, for a quarter average of 3.9 and a cumulative GPA of 3.93. This quarter (Spring 2003) I'm taking twenty hours again, and will need to do so yet again in the Fall quarter. I'd hoped to be able to take fifteen hours in the summer, but the three specific classes I'd need will almost certainly not be offered, so I'll have to continue my studies into the first academic quarter of 2004 and hope I can renew the retraining grant. In time I shall seek employment in my new field, and once again may be counted among thewage slaves gainfully employed.
On the personal front, matters are mostly all right except when they aren't.riverheart and I are growing closer every day. Heart, mind, spirit, body— all are becoming more and more as one. In good time we will unite our households, and then unite in matrimony.
And yet, all is not well with me. By action and inaction, I have offended a number of people: to you (and you know who you are) I humbly apologize. I owe several folk a more personal expression of apology and atonement; when my email client is once again talking with my ISP, I will be contacting you directly— not to seek to resume friendship (unless that be your own desire), but to achieve closure and balance in your (and my) spirits.
(This, by the way, is why this post is not friends-locked; at least one of those who I have deeply offended has not enscribed me in their friends list, and so this note is open to be read and (it is to be hoped) accepted by them.)
In other news, life goes on. I'm able to visit my daughter in Tucson for a weekend every month, I play and run role-playing games from time to time, and I even have a small but social life as well (despite having had to take an evening class this quarter). River notes here that the mortgage is finally paid off, so the home we will share and the land whose stewardship we hold is now free and clear of encumbrance.
And so, in my (<sarcasm mode=on>) copious spare time (<sarcasm mode=off>) I'll return to writing here more often, dispensing my wisdom (hah!) among the journals of others, and responding to the growing stack of email awaiting my urgent attention. (But what if I don't want to increase my breast size?)
And getting involved in the political process more directly; another four years of the Unelected Pretender will, I fear, put paid to what little remains of democracy, liberty, and freedom in this treasured land. Indeed, the 2004 election may be the last chance we have to avoid a repressive corporatist theocracy (or theocratic corporatism) which to my eyes is merely awaiting its "Reichstag fire" to seize and hold the reins of power.
Vote early, vote often. Thank you, and good night.
Writing has always been hard for me; I want to say exactly what I want to say, but the words keep wriggling into strange and unwanted configurations, obscuring the precise shade of meaning I seek with their constant writhing and coiling. "The perfect is the enemy of the good," someone said; and so when I try for the perfect phrase (and too often fail) I find I cannot write at all.
Plus, I have a dearth of spare time in which to write— between school (classes, laboratories, and homework) and spending time with my beloved
riverheart, I scarcely have time for sleep, food, and the other necessities of life. Email, chat, keeping up-to-date with LJ… all of these go by the wayside.That being said, I find I have a few things to say.
School is going well, very well indeed. (For those of you keeping score at home, having been unable to find employment in my former profession— Mainframe Systems Analyst— in September 2002 I enrolled in my local community college's Network Administration curriculum under the auspices of a "Dislocated Worker" program.) My first quarter comprised 15 credit hours (three five-hour classes; a course load of twelve or more credit hours is considered "full-time") in which I earned two 4.0 grades and a 3.9. The Winter 2003 quarter, which ended in March, saw me take four five-hour classes— a serious overload, but necessitated by my desire to complete the curriculum (1) by the end of 2003, and (2) before the grant money ran out. I earned three 4.0's and a 3.6, for a quarter average of 3.9 and a cumulative GPA of 3.93. This quarter (Spring 2003) I'm taking twenty hours again, and will need to do so yet again in the Fall quarter. I'd hoped to be able to take fifteen hours in the summer, but the three specific classes I'd need will almost certainly not be offered, so I'll have to continue my studies into the first academic quarter of 2004 and hope I can renew the retraining grant. In time I shall seek employment in my new field, and once again may be counted among the
On the personal front, matters are mostly all right except when they aren't.
riverheart and I are growing closer every day. Heart, mind, spirit, body— all are becoming more and more as one. In good time we will unite our households, and then unite in matrimony.And yet, all is not well with me. By action and inaction, I have offended a number of people: to you (and you know who you are) I humbly apologize. I owe several folk a more personal expression of apology and atonement; when my email client is once again talking with my ISP, I will be contacting you directly— not to seek to resume friendship (unless that be your own desire), but to achieve closure and balance in your (and my) spirits.
(This, by the way, is why this post is not friends-locked; at least one of those who I have deeply offended has not enscribed me in their friends list, and so this note is open to be read and (it is to be hoped) accepted by them.)
In other news, life goes on. I'm able to visit my daughter in Tucson for a weekend every month, I play and run role-playing games from time to time, and I even have a small but social life as well (despite having had to take an evening class this quarter). River notes here that the mortgage is finally paid off, so the home we will share and the land whose stewardship we hold is now free and clear of encumbrance.
And so, in my (<sarcasm mode=on>) copious spare time (<sarcasm mode=off>) I'll return to writing here more often, dispensing my wisdom (hah!) among the journals of others, and responding to the growing stack of email awaiting my urgent attention. (But what if I don't want to increase my breast size?)
And getting involved in the political process more directly; another four years of the Unelected Pretender will, I fear, put paid to what little remains of democracy, liberty, and freedom in this treasured land. Indeed, the 2004 election may be the last chance we have to avoid a repressive corporatist theocracy (or theocratic corporatism) which to my eyes is merely awaiting its "Reichstag fire" to seize and hold the reins of power.
Vote early, vote often. Thank you, and good night.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-23 02:00 pm (UTC)But seriously - not enough people who are laid off realize that there are means to help them get back into the workplace.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-23 02:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-23 02:45 pm (UTC)I got several emails recently with the subject "She's in Heat!". At first, I thought these were porn-spam, but when I saw not only the original mail, but the replies, and realized that these were from people that I have known online for years, I recognized the source.
It's not porn-spam. It's from the Toller list (a dog list to which I belong).
I get those "increase your penis size" emails all the time, along with email addressed to someone named Daniel. I get refinance spam all the time, too. I also get spam telling me that I need no longer receive spam. I feel no urgent need to increase my penis size, thank you; my name's not Daniel; if I wanted to refinance Paradux Hill, I wouldn't go through a spammer; and sending me spam to sell your spam-filter is not the way to get my business. Sometimes I think I delete over 50% of my email.
And getting involved in the political process more directly; another four years of the Unelected Pretender will, I fear, put paid to what little remains of democracy, liberty, and freedom in this treasured land.
Yes indeed. For the next couple of years, I plan to devote at least some (and later, more) of my own CST to getting Democrats elected. ("CST" Well-slang for Copious Spare Time, invariably used sarcastically; common usage includes "I'll get around to it in my CST", which generally means "Don't hold your breath waiting; you'll turn blue and die".) Here, though, I'm serious; I want to spend my time with you, working on our land, getting things together in the house, etc., but I also recognize the urgency of putting legwork and volunteer time toward getting the current administration out of office, so I'll be canvassing and volunteering for the Democrats.
I'm not really "at home" with any single political party, and the Dems have too often been corporate and big-money sellouts in recent years. There are, however, some good progressives entering the national scene as possible presidential contenders; I can think of at least two that I would gladly volunteer for. One of them is Dennis Kucinich; the other is Howard Dean. The major departure is that during this election cycle, I'm not putting my energy behind third parties. This time, it's just too important to get the Reps out.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-23 05:58 pm (UTC)*whistle*
Way to go, Charles!!
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-25 09:24 am (UTC)I will say, good job in school. I know it's hard.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-30 06:03 am (UTC)"I'm too mad to talk to you" tantamount to the behavior of the little kid who stands on someone's lawn screaming "You're too nasty to play with and I don't wanna"?
Re:
Date: 2003-04-30 08:22 am (UTC)And for
Which I'm not going to do with you either.
And I did think his grades were good.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-01 01:17 pm (UTC)And for riverheart, I wanted to make it understood that the time to talk isn't here, but that I'm not going to continue to fight or argue about it.
Re:
Date: 2003-05-01 03:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-01 03:44 pm (UTC)