Samhain Winter Moon
Greg says I’m working now at the level of an undergraduate who has finished school. Still a long ways to go. He also said he was very pleased with my progress. Nice to hear. I’ve been studying Latin for 4 years now and have become accustomed to the plateau, slog, plateau, slog nature of the work.
Recently it felt like I’d been slogging, not able to lift myself up to the next level. Then, Greg pushed me to try a new method. I did and I’m now working faster and more precisely. Even so, the closer I get, the more the smaller details stick up, stub my toe. That is, what used to be approximation, close but ok, now has to turn into literal Latin, then idiomatic English.
Somewhere ahead of me is trust. A point where I can trust my own work without a need to consult Greg. At least not very often. That’s more years yet ahead.
Here’s what I would like to achieve with this work: 1. My own translation of 
Metamorphoses and the resultant embedding of its stories in my memory. 2. A commentary for certain parts. 3. The renewal of interest in Ovid at the elementary, middle school, high school and introductory college level.
These are, I know, ambitious goals, but they nest together, one reinforcing the other. Number 3 represents my belief that these stories in their original form are so good that they can easily compete with graphic novels, movies and simplifications. Hey, who wouldn’t like a good story like Pentheus where a mother literally tears her son apart?