You must be thinking...what does she have to say now? I always think that. Well, whatever it is - it's interesting to some and significant to one...me.
Back in 1983-84 I attended the Defense Language Institute (DLI) to learn Italian, but I learned another skill as well. I was to be stationed at an US Army and Italian Air Force Nike Hercules missile site (which is another story). Learning a language wasn't easy for me.
The story actually starts back in 1974-75 in my 9th grade year at Tutt Junior High School in Augusta, Georgia. I had my choice of taking French, Spanish, or Latin. I chose French...and I have no recollection why. I made due. Not the best grades. In fact - okay, if you heard this story before skip down to where you don't know the punch line - my Dad asked me one evening at dinner, "How can you remember all these jokes but you can't remember your French words?" I told him, "Talent". Now kids, I don't recommend that if you don't want to be scolded. But it's true I'm a natural comedian...at least I think so.
Of course you can't just take one year of a language so in 10th grade at Teheran America School, in Teheran, Iran (yes, you read that right), I took my second year under the tutelage of Ms Mallard. Now if you hold your nose and say the name it'll sound French. Or, if you're like me, you just pronounce it like the duck. I really did feel sorry for this teacher. She did her best. At the end of the year, she gave me an offer I couldn't refuse - she would pass me, all be it with a "D", if I agreed not to return to her class the next year. Now, who can refuse something like that?
So you see, it isn't in my make-up to learn a new language. But God having a real good sense of humor, directs my life and I end up at DLI. I am now getting paid by the Army to sit in a classroom for six months, five days a week, eight hours a day to learn Italian. Can you say excruciating? This is where I learned a new skill...or maybe I just perfected it. It's called "creative avoidance". Now that I think about it, I learned it back in Junior High and wrote a paper on it: How to Clean Your Room Without Really Doing It. I got an "A" but my Mom no longer allowed me to close my door when I "cleaned" my room...go figure...
So, you ask, what is this "creative avoidance"? Well, it's this...my posting on my blog...going out to get a haircut...just finding something else to do than what really needs to be done. Why? Because I'm at an impasse in my writing my Chapters 1 and 2 of my dissertation. Chapter 1 is 95% done and Chapter 2 is 75% done and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ever feel that? You know you're doing a great job but afraid if you hand it in you'll fail. With all my learning and being soooo close to getting the first three chapters done (which is the dissertation proposal)...I'm afraid of failing.
I didn't say it makes senses or it's logical...it just is. Failing is the one fear that many can empathize with. I really do need my haircut though...
...and a PhD means...yup...I'm still working on that...
