Day 156

As the wise rat Nicodemus said, "You must move your house to the lee of the stone". (I'll let you try to guess the movie.) We here are there. When referring to the doldrums, is it acceptable to refer to it as doldrumic? Seems like it's a made-up word, but it is appropriate. We've been in Iraq now for just over three months. Everybody has their job figured out; everybody is settled; everybody has a routine. We have a few more months like this, and then shortly we'll begin the process of packing for the voyage back to the land of milk and honey, or snow and ice, or housing and stock market free-fall; whichever you prefer. It's not bad. It is just like any other job. Sooner or later you find your niche and slide into the comfort zone. However, here, one can't simply jump into the car and head off to the Olive Garden for a good meal and a cold beer. We travel from room to chow to work to chow to work to chow to room; repeat until redundency becomes reduntant. I have much to occupy my time in the off-hours; movies, books, piano playing, visiting. I have not yet found three people here who play pinochle. Must be a North Dakota game. Speaking of pinochle, I don't know that I have yet boasted of my triumph. In July of 2008, while returning from a performance in Turtle Lake, in the back of the bus, playing four-handed pinochle, with the assistance of my partner and an extremely fortuitous pass, I ended up with a thousand aces in my hand. I saved the scorecard. All my stuff is in storage, but if pressed, I know I could find that sheet of paper in less than five minutes. Yeah, me! Of course, I'd have to be home for that search to commence, but if there is anybody who is unable to wait for me to return, I'm sure we can contrive some emergency to get me home sooner. :)