"we're going to get those re-entry proceedures up to you Jim - we're going to get them just as soon as we can..." - Deke Slayton.
Yeah that's right, how the hell do ya get back home? so far out there with a crippled mission and all your support networks are working overtime to solve the problem. And all the time, the clock is ticking. Will the parachutes open? will the heatshield withstand the forces and stresses of re-entry? will all the switches short-circuit when systems are powered back up? - its like driving a toaster through a car wash.
Well, I don't know if it is time to consider returning to my previous life atall. There are times when it is seemingly the only sensible thing to do. Then almost within hours I find things feel better and I decide to tough it out. Strange. It is of course all down to security - security of my home which depends on the security of my work which in turn depends on my ability in the language I am desperately trying to learn. When the language goes badly and i don't understand really important things, then it all seems to fall apart and the master alarm and caution and warning lights begin to flash like the opening barage in the battle of el Alamein.
I don't know. Maybe the best thing is just take things minute by minute hour by hour day by day and so on.. but we have a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery area.
I don't need to know that.
