OPD and the weekend

[zdashamber]

So, how's the police thing going? Well, as you know, Bob, I'd been told I was definitely on the list for the 30th obstacle course/shrink thing. And yet, you can no doubt discern from the thrust of the previous sentence, after getting no communication the week of (all the warning I got the first time) and calling Thursday "I'll check and call you back," and (as ever, not called back) calling Friday "Um... Maybe if you just show up at 8? Let me check... [new lady on the line] No, we have sooo many applicants we can't take you this time, and the next one isn't until the 21st of October."

I pretty much spent Saturday shaking my head with a bemused grimace. I'm a pretty phlegmatic person, but occasionally I was tempted to leaven that with choler. I'd have been more choleric, but it let me run my Amber game until the wee hours Friday night. I did, however, take the time Friday to fire off an application to the Sunnyvale Police/Fire combo opening that Mariya pointed out awhile back.

More with the bemusement? I stopped by the morning of the 30th to see the obstacle course in action, and discovered that the wall was, in fact, 5 feet, and moreover, chain link. Trivial. Later that day I learned from the newspaper that they'd gotten a new wall so more people would pass, but recuits would still have to manage the 6' sheer plywood wall before graduating the academy. How did the reporters get any info? I suppose that's why they make the big bucks.

So instead on Saturday I did far more strenuous things. I helped aiyume move, and now I have interesting bruises and he lives in a much closer, tremendously nicer place. Two down, three to go, when it comes to people who helped me move... After that, hung with Rezaul and Mimi and Sam and watched "Troy". Eeeg, Brad Pitt annoys me. But the movie gets better with distance, and it inspired me to delve into Wikipedia and read up on the Illiad... They all die. Hum.

The other annoying thing about Troy was its immensely dated view of religion... Or, if not "dated", is there a way to say "Something that will clearly stink of our times in very short order"? The whole cutesy "Oh, we're such rebels, Achilles Our Hero woos women by claiming gods don't exist, and we make sure that we show the Achilles Heel myth is just the result of stupid superstitious soldiers, and we blame the whole Troy-losing thing on a pushy priest and a pathetic Priam"? Pfeh. "Religion is bunk" is as stupid as "The Reds are out to Eat Our Babies".

Comments

[kittentikka.livejournal.com]

The Illiad has my favourite last line of any book. "Such was the burial they gave to Hector, tamer of horses." I've read it in three translations, though, and only one was interesting.

I studied it in school, so I haven't see Troy. But a Greek friend said she was so used to having the myths trampled on that she just enjoyed it. Kind of like me and _Constantine_.

Hey, though - assuming the assault course is on your own, take heart. Last assult-course I did included monkey-bars, and it turns out you can float across those on adrenalin, so walls should be easy enough if you can ramp it up.

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

If you could remember the interesting one, I'm of a mind to read the Illiad. I did a Woodstock/Illiad crossover skit in elementary school, but that's the closest I've gotten to it...

I'm not worried about the obstacle course any more. A 6' wall was a significat problem, which I could master 50% of the time, but a 5' wall is trivial. Thanks for the words of encouragement! Under what circumstances were you doing an assault course?

[kittentikka.livejournal.com]

The circumstances will remains sealed until I appear on 'This Is Your Life'!

The translation I liked most was the Penguin one over here... Pause while I look it up...

Damn. Can't find the name of the translator. It's a strange story to read, because it's a sung story written down, so there's lots of repetition and such. Go for a modern translation, which will be as much concerned with readability as with accuracy. Anything published in the last few years should suffice, but get the Odyssey as well. That's far more readable, and can be used as a break from the windy plains of Troy.

[colomon.livejournal.com]

Actually, what worked best for me was to get a audio book version of a nice poetic translation. (I want to say it was Fitzgerald? This was a dozen years ago, so my memory is fuzzy.) The book was simply meant to be listened to, it really sings that way.