#128 - 1 Radio Exam Left + Turkey + Humor
Well I have now completed, again with 100% score, :-), my General level exam for amateur radio licensing. That is the second of three exams. Just one more left. That one is called the Extra. Don’t ask me where they came up with these names for these different levels of exams. That is, naturally enough, the hardest of the three and 50 questions instead of 35 out of a pool of about 700+ possible questions. But I have the trick for studying for these exams down now and I think I will try to take it next Sunday.
I have to say that I’m pleased with myself about the month of November. I passed 2 amateur radio licensing exams plus completed the Wilderness First Responder course. Woo hoo! And after much angst, I’ve finished building 3 complete medical bags. A separate blog article on that. It was quite a chore. I’d welcome comments about that if anybody sees stuff missing.
Small rant … about rabid beliefs. I’ve seen evidence, a plethora of evidence, all over the place. People with rabid opinions about who they believe in and who they don’t - all seemingly based on their tribal allegiance. What f…ing insanity! Get a grip people. Nothing is ever that cut and dried. Try spelling the word compromise for the love of freaking God. Screw Republicans. And screw Democrats for that matter. Screw anybody that thinks that only their particular tribal view on life is the only right one. Anybody that cannot comprehend that compromise is essential to the success of the human race … well… Maybe you don’t need to be a part of the human race. And get DATA to support your opinions! And from RELIABLE sources! NOT social media! Do people really need to be told this? Apparently yes. Rant over. Sorry. I realize none of my readers fall in this category, but I had to just get it off my chest. 😊
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I am giving some serious consideration to visiting Turkey sometime in late January or early February of next year. As some of you may know, I lived and worked in Turkey in the early 90s and I fell in love with it. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the language. I’ve never made any secret about it, but my roommate Mark, started researching it and found a lot of very interesting information.
First of all, they are one of a relatively small number of countries that allow Americans in now. For those of you who don’t know, quite a few countries have closed their borders to incoming Americans due the abysmal stupidity with which all levels of governments here in the U.S. have handled the pandemic. Turkey doesn’t seem to be one of them. In addition to that, the infrastructure has vastly improved, and the cost-of-living is remarkably low. I can probably get there, for about $500-$600 a month, an apartment, which you couldn’t touch here in Las Vegas for anything less than $1300-$1400.
My old stomping grounds :-)
So, with that in mind last few days I have been revisiting my Turkish language skills. After all I haven’t spoken it conversationally for about 25 years. With the new tools at my disposal, that I learned about from learning Spanish, I’m amazed at how quickly it’s coming back. The last five days of probably seen me learn about 700 words, all of which I basically knew before, but I had to remind myself about them. And the other interesting thing is that there is a plethora of resources, all them vastly better than what I had 30 years ago, to learn Turkish with. And I am availing of them. YouTube, much better written grammar books, and in a week or two I will start with a live Turkish tutor online by Zoom. I’m really looking forward to that. I will of course keep you posted on this.
And I found a bunch of files in a humor folder – so I thought I’d include some in the blog posts from time to time 😊 - And yes - I edited out the ones that weren’t really that funny.
“1. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the **** are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind-of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?
23. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.
Ladies.....Quit Laughing.
”