Range Day

Well, in other news, I finally went to the range today to qualify. I'll be brief and to the point.

19 out of 20 in the Prone Supported (this seems to be rather consistent)
16 out of 20 in the Prone Unsupported.

35 out of 40, Sharp Shooter baby! WooHOO! Which brings me up in the Order of Merit list and guarantees me a slot in the next Schutzenshnur!

Um, actually, I think my slot was guaranteed in the next Schutzenschnur (which is not the upcoming Schutzenschnur but the one following it), but that is a long story of its own. Let's just say I've moved from an Alternate to a definite slot. *squee!*

(I like Elbow Pads. They work great on plywood)

I Fought the Law and I Won

Ok, for those of you who have been curious for the last couple of days, my blog was down. This was in respect to a direct order I recieved from my Chain of Command. It was also in regards to me posting pictures when I was ordered not too. Now, granted, I probably shouldn't have posted the pictures and I posted them anyway, but from my understanding of military regulations, and my research on it, it seemed to me that my posting the pictures was not in violation of any military regulation, other then a disobeyment of a direct order that I thought was not entirely lawful.

Turns out that it was a violation of my first ammendment rights and they cannot tell me to shut down my website. Granted, soldiers have a more limited freedom of Speech then civilians do, but it is still there. As long as my pictures are not pictures depicting anything that has to do with the mission, sensitive items, damaged vehicles or anything of that sort or of that nature, I can post it. I will refrain from posting pictures in the military setting period, just so I can relieve this burdon of my blog off my command's shoulders (because believe me, they are sick of it), I will probably refrain from talking much on military matters anyway.

So anyway, the jig is this. I can post pictures on my website, and I can continue to post blog entrees on my website, as long as they don't violate the regulation on them. So my blog cannot be shut down. Higher up the chain confirmed this, and the Inspector General confirmed this. I am within my constitutional rights to post on this blog and have this website. I am not providing information to the enemy.

But I will refrain from mentioning the journey getting to that verdict, as honestly, I am still a soldier and I need to be respectful of my chain of command.

But believe me, it hasn't been a pretty fight.

Song Translations

1. Take the lyrics to a favorite song.
2. Go to Google Language Tools and translate the lyrics into German; then from German to French; and finally from French back into English.
3. Post the results verbatim.
4. Invite your friends to guess the song based on the newly mangled lyrics.

I originally did this song that I love and I feel like it fits my personality, but I'm not sure how well people would know it. So went back and found a song that I knew my family would at the very least get.

All my bags are packed, I must have gone ready, me outside your door,
me are hated here to awake you until saying on re-examining.
but to be born it to break, early Morn, it taxi to wait to roast its horn.
Already, I, am could me die thus solitairement.
If you embrace me thus and if you smile for me, it explains me why that you hold me, me wait, as you do not leave me will never go.
if you cause abandoned ' me on a jet, it does not know, when I am back again.
OH -, baby outward journey hatred me.

There are thus many marks which I leave you in the passage have,
therefore much marks me around, me played you declare themselves, that now they do not mean thing.
Each place that I go me, thinks of you that of each Song I sing myself for you sings, if I turn over, me take your wedding ring.
If you embrace me thus and if you smile for me,
it explains me why that you hold me, me wait, as you do not leave me will never go.
if you cause abandoned ' me on a jet, it does not know, when I am back again.
OH -, baby outward journey hatred me.

is now time to leave you, another mark come made me kiss you, then narrowly your eyes, is me on my manner.
dream over the days, for, if I should not only go to come over times that I should not say:
if you embrace me and if you smile for me, you declare me that that you await me, hold me, as you do not leave me will never go.
if you cause abandoned ' me on a jet, it does not know, when I am back again.
OH -, baby outward journey hatred me.
I leave on a jet, do not know, when I am back again.
OH -, baby outward journey hatred me.

I also did it to the chorus of a famous christmas song.

Jingle bells, Jingleglocken, jingle completely. OH - that the recreation should assemble to him in open a sleigh the horse one.

Hehe, good fun!

The Damage to my Pop Culture Knowledge is Apparent

So I was waiting in line for the phones watching the football game (sidenote, yes I tried to call home, but all the lines were down, so I'll try later tonight) and it made it to the Half Time show. I was just listening when it mentioned something along the lines of a 'Female Artist with the number one selling album of 2005', and I casually wonder who this might be. I'm a little out of the loop, like I mentioned, I was wondering if it was somebody like Beyonce Knowles, who knows.

And then they say "mariah Carrey" and I do a double take, thinking 'huh?' Mariah actually made a come back???

Then I heard a song she was singing, one I've heard in the Coffee Shop one to many times, and then thought 'that's Mariah Carrey?'

What am I going to do with myself when I get home? I have to work at a job that depends on me knowing what's current, what is going to happen when somebody mentions a movie and I go 'huh?'

*sigh* I guess I'll manage.

Technical Difficulties

So, like I mentioned before, today was Thanksgiving. And to prepare for this day, I was given an assignment.

It was called, 'slide show'. More appropriately, it was termed 'funny slide show' but for all intensive purposes, I will just call it 'slide show'.

I actually inheritated this project from somebody else who was busy doing other things, I guess. And I have found all this free time recently (well, people seem to think I've found free time) so they have given me all of these tasks, this being one of them.

Well, since I've been collecting pictures for the website fiasco as well as the yearbook, truthfully I was a perfect candidate for the job. That, and 89.5% of the task force seems to be computer illiterate. So I looked through the thousands of pictures I have accumulated (many of which I had even taken) and looked for mildy humorous ones. I sent out emails asking people to send me stuff. Begging at times. And considering that half the task force these days hates my guts (or so it seems at times), sometimes this can be a tricky task.

So anyway, I had acquired about 450 pictures of various people doing funny stuff, some pictures only mildly so, and had arranged them from the point of Fort Lewis, Hohenfels, at work, at play, just setting them up in different categories. I sifted through them some more, making sure I had enough pictures, dumping ones that just didn't work and put together a little powerpoint presentation using all of these pictures, and dumped them all into a file when I was done with them. I also encorporated about 7 videos or so, hoping to space those out throughout the show.

As the day came closer, more people would give me pictures, some of them sent anonymously (for obvious reasons it soon became apparent) but I had them organized, captioned if necessary, and put in a row.

Getting the equipment together turned into a pain. But it all got together and I felt satisfied.

And then I discovered that the file for the slide show had grown to be so big, that it was freezing up my computer (which lately is already on the fritz, so this wasn't helping.) We're eating dinner, people saying what they are thankful for, getting awards (I got my solitary Certificate of Achievement, I think I am now the least awarded person in the Task Force, GO ME!) while I'm trying to figure out how to get this thing going.

And then they turn the attention to me, and I've got the 100+ people of the task force (half of which already hates my guts remember) staring at me waiting for the slide show, and all I can say is "having technical difficulties, please give me a second while I move to plan B"

I had to sort through and get rid of one or two 'innappropriate' pictures that didn't make the original cut and move some others and forego powerpoint altogether. Then I put on the default slide show, and every one got to see 'slide show' with a bunch of pictures at random. Videos were shown at the end.

Overall, I think it went fairly well. I got one criticism that I had to many pictures of PM in there, as well as a certain Sergeant or two, but I worked with what I had. I had several pictures of me doing stupid stuff because I don't take myself seriously and I don't care if people laugh at me. If people wanted to send in pictures, I had given them ample opportunities in the form of three emails (not to mention that I've put out notices in the past asking for people's pictures for Yearbook and Website purposes) so some people were not represented at all. And there were quite a few pictures that ended up in the slide show that I didn't intend to make it.

Now I got a bunch of people asking for the pictures and what not. But half the task force still seems to hate my guts so its all good.

Turkey Trot

Ok, so my section has sort of given me the morning off it being Thanksgiving and all. And we need to be able to celebrate something, right?

So anyway, one of the things I realized I hadn't done is sign up for one of the 5K 'Fun' runs. I have been in Bondsteel for over ten months and I had never ran Radar Hill. This was a travesty.

So today, I ran a 5 K run and got a T-shirt out of the process. I should have done more of these since I've been here. The T-shirts are pretty cool. I'm going to wear this when I run Bloomsday next year.



They made them one size fits all. I look awful because I just finished running up Radar Hill.

I personally was won over by the image on the shirt :)

What Does R.I.S.A.W.N. Mean Anyway?

Just because I could, Memes! Rather strange ones, but hey, I got a kick out of them!
My Sexy Name



My Cyborg Name



My Monster Name



I'm a bit partial to the Cyborg name.

Stuff

The Snow started to stick yesterday. And it came and went all day today. Kosovo is covered in fluffy white stuff.

Which is good news for me in regards to the Ski Resort. I might be able to get up to Brezavica by the end of this deployement if it all works out.

Everything's packed, a sucky time to have a birthday, I can't even ask people to send me stuff from home, because I would get it, say 'wow, this is cool!' only to turn around and ship it back home again. So my family has offered to have a Birthday/Christmas Party for me when I get home. Which will be sometime in January or February.

Yesterday wasn't exactly the best birthday I ever had, for the most part it's been quiet, except for SSG Eades singing a Happy Birthday song to me this morning, which cracked a smile in my otherwise gloomy demeanor. Nate and a few of my battle buddies from Task Force Tornado also brought over a bag of goodies last night. But mostly over the last couple of days I've been deep in thought. Not depressed or anything like that, just contemplative of where my life is going.

An incident occurred over the weekend that I would have rather not happened. It was a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time and quite truthfully, like most of the rest of this year, I would have rather not gotten involved. I have a bad habit of wanting to do the right thing I guess, sometimes at the expense of others who do, shall we say, things they shouldn't be. I would rather if they want to do something stupid, that they would leave me out of it or not clue me in that they are doing it, and for the most part, this task force (or rather, the people in it) have been pretty good at doing just that.

I feel bad because the incident with my roommate at the beginning of the year happened because I didn't make things clear for her when we initially started rooming, and it turns out that she's not doing anything that nobody else in the task force isn't doing. (er, did I say that right?) And she's turned out to be a nice person, in fact we greet each other when we cross paths as I try to make it known that I feel no ill will to her.

I guess that's one thing about me that I've always known, its one of my great weaknesses coupled with one of my great strengths, how I can get angry as all living hell at a person and days later not hold a grudge against them. Unfortunately, people may hold a grudge against me, and all I can do is remember that this is only a year of my life, I've got two more months to go, and I will never see most of these people again. I can try to end it on a positive note (which I'm not sure I'm succeeding at, especially within my Task Force) or I can be sour and moody until I make it home.

Well, I've still got my goals forefront in my mind, rain or snow, i want to get the Schutzenshnur, and I've still got a mission to make it to Brezavica and snowboard with my friend Andrea who works for UNMIK (which reminds me, I need to email him), and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I do have a lot to be thankful for, and being in a place like this really makes that come forefront in my mind. I need to keep that attitude.

Quarter Century Milestone

To think, 25 years ago a small being came into the world.

Today, that little person turned into me.

What the heck happened???

Time Draws Nearer

People are already counting the days until they get to go home. I refuse to do so, mainly because my experience with the military has taught me you don't count the days to anything. Because they will give us a specific date, we'll get all hyped up on that, and then something will happen and it gets delayed for another week or so.

I know the timeframe, I'll be glad if we get out of here within two weeks of our projected 'we're going home' date.

And because my re-up date has come, and gone, I'm getting a bunch of questions and emails and stuff asking me if I want to re-enlist.

It's like the Godfather. You think you got out, but they pull you back in!

Meanwhile, I'm busy at work making a slide show for the amusement of people within my task force, to include a lot of pictures of myself so people get to laugh at my expense. I have no problem with this, because 'usually' I don't take myself that seriously anyway. But sometimes people need to take me a little more seriously then they do.
Anyway, I'm going home in a couple of months. What do I have to look forward to?

• I can Wear whatever I want!
  
• Share the road with other cars, trucks, whatever, and be able to drive 65 MPH.
  
• Not sharing the road with Kosovo Harleys, Horse Drawn Carts and tractors going about 5 KPH.
  
• Things will be in Miles instead of Kilometers again!
  
• I will not longer require a converter for my appliances!
  
• Fast Food consists of more then Cinnabon, Burger King, and Anthony's Pizza.
  
• Fine Dining is more then just going to eat at KFOR Main.
  
• Television will consist of more then 5 scrambled channels without every other commercial being about anti Terrorism and OPSEC.
  
• Goodby to IPKO, my unreliable internet provider (well, reliable as far as Kosovo goes)
  
• I can see a movie the day it comes out like everyone else, instead of waiting for three or more months to see it at the Theater.
  
• Guys won't be so desperate when the male female ratio will no longer be 20:1.
  
• I can shop at more places then just the PX.
  
• I am not required to wear a hat every time I step outdoors.
  
• I can wear earrings.
  
• Bubble Bath!
  
• As much as I love shooting big guns, I will be glad to be rid of my 'security blanket' when I leave this place. Having a rifle with you 24/7 is a PITA.
  
• I don't have to share my bathroom with 19 other women.
  
• No longer will I have to see a nice pile of crap in the toilet every time I have to go number 2. (Long story. Its the toilets here. They're weird)
  
• I don't have to share my Bedroom with anybody.
  
• I can Drink if I want to! (Ok, so I don't drink, but that is what will be on top of many people's lists)
  
• I get to pay for Gas again! (oh wait, that's negative)

So that's what I'm leaving here that I can't wait to see the end of. Except that last one. But while I'm on that same token, this is what I'll miss about this place.

• Free Food (granted, its gross, but its free!)
  
• Transportation is paid everywhere I go.
  
• Tax Free Zone!
  
• No Rent.
  
• No Bills other then the ones I left behind.
  
• Meeting people from all over Europe.
  
• Greece and Bulgaria.
  
• MWR is Cool.

Edit - D'oh! MWR stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation, they are our morale center that keeps us motivated by providing phones, entertainment and what not.

Hmm, I'll make another list right before I leave.

Two Problems with the Army

This is a Rant. One that may even get me in trouble. But it needs to be said. I wish the pentagon would take note.

I have recently been witness to two issues with today's army that I disagree with. As a side note, this is my personal opinion on the matter and it doesn't really reflect my unit but rather the army as a whole. It just so happens that it is apparently everywhere including my unit.

And its driving me nuts.

The first issue is promotions. Right now the Army is trying to retain as many soldiers as it can and by doing this it is promoting everyone whether they deserve it or not. Which has shown to me a drastic decline in the NCO Corps. I have most certainly witnessed this first hand, from soldiers who have no business being leaders promoted from Specialist to Sergeant. In a lot of ways, in an attempt to make people feel important and motiviate them to stay green, they are cheapening the rank.

I hear that even ten years ago, to be a Buck Sergeant meant something. It meant that the army had enough faith in that soldier's leadership skills and discipline that they had what it took to lead troops, whereas today, you've been in with enough time in grade, they give you the stripes whether you earned them or not. Sometimes they don't even mind that you've been to Basic Sergeant School (PLDC, now WLC) or not. In fact, most people hadn't been when they got here. They got promoted anyway.

To take this a little further, my task force has about Five E-4s and below. The rest are sergeants and above. I could go on for fifteen minutes about who is wearing the rank of Sergeant unwarrented and why they don't deserve it. Its gotten ot the point that to be an NCO merely means you're a glorified Private, doing the grunt work while getting paid a little bit more. I mean, somebody has to do it, right? So they are wearing the rank of Sergeant, being paid for the rank of Sergeant, but they sure in hell aren't acting like Sergeants.

I'm not saying that I earned the rank of Sergeant. I have expressed in the past that I feel that I was promoted to soon to adequately learn the ropes of being a Sergeant, having been pinned with just over three years in. That's one of the reasons why I wasn't put in for my Staff Sergeant, because I hadn't successfully developed as a Sergeant since I've been in the army. I still have a lot to learn and have not been comfortable in my stripes.

In the early 80's, they did away with the ranks of Spec5-Spec8, these were basically the Specialists who were not leaders but knew their job and did well at their job. For some reason, the army decided to cut these ranks because apparently anybody in the army should at this time be a leader in the army. Well, I hate to break it to you, but there are people in the army that are just not cut out to be leaders, and to push a rank on them that they have no business wearing not only hurts them, but hurts the army as a whole. I'm not saying they aren't good soldiers, there are plenty of good soldiers that are probably among the best people this army has, but they lack the leadership skills to make good leaders as well. You can't force somebody to be a leader when that is not in their blood. That's how I feel about the matter. I am not a leader, I don't feel like a leader, I feel far more comfortable holding the rank of a Specialist then I do a Sergeant. I've been a sergeant for three years, and I still feel the same way. I'm to independent and to much of a lone shark to be a successful leader, especially in the Preventive Medicine field. Maybe my leadership skills can be displayed in other ways, but I sure in hell haven't shown them here.

Which brings me to my next point, Awards. Now, I'll let you in on a little history with me. I have four Certificate of Achievements singed by Colonols and 3 Army Achievement medals. They were all earned in my first three years in the army. Guess what? I haven't earned jack squat since I got promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Because I haven't shown my full potential as a Sergeant, because I don't make a good sergeant. The thing is, I'm fully aware of that fact, but I've hit a stalemate in my career.

My NCOIC talked to me about my performance and he didn't think I did my job to my full potential. I had to agree with him, as one of the things I learned on this Deployment is that I'm in the wrong job field. Its hard to succeed at something when you are doing something you do not like to do. I have no passion for preventive medicine. At least I can realize that and admit it.

So anyway, as far as I'm aware, I am not getting an award for my service in Kosovo. I'm getting the gimme medals, the stuff that I get for just being here, but I'm not going to be receiving any other type of medal. And that's ok, I didn't deserve them, i did my job, performed well, btu did not go above and beyond so why should I get them? To give me something when I didn't deserve it only cheapens the value of the award, they should be something earned through going above and beyond on your duties, not for just doing your job. I've been proud of recieving my awards in the past, though one of those awards I didn't feel I had earned then either.

The problem is, like the rank of sergeant, awards are getting to the point of you need to give them to your soldiers just so you can keep them happy and their morale high. Even if they are worthless soldiers who don't deserve them. I've been witness to quite a few awards given out in the last two months to soldiers who have done nothing to warrent them getting these awards. I attended an awards ceremony about a month ago and it made me sick to my stomach with the amount of BS being spouted within that room. I could barely stand it. I have refused to go to awards ceremonies since.

I would not be surprised if I am the only E5 in this task force that doesn't get an award, only because I have the only NCOIC who believes that it should be earned, not given out. And I applaud him for that, as I agree with him. At this rate, if I were to recieve one, I would feel like I might as well use it to blow my nose and wipe my ass, that is how much that award has been cheapened by the army who just shovels them out by the barrel full. Because as I look around and see the caliber of soldiers who are recieving them, and receiving them for lackluster and sometimes incredibly poor performances, what does that say about me? It just made me look like I belong on the bottom of a shit barrel.

So, from what I understand, I am getting a Certificate of Achievement, because they wanted to do something for me to help me in my promotion points. The problem is, I already have four of those, all signed by a Colonol. I can only use two toward promotion. Another one is as good as me using it as a target on my dart board. Apparently, people felt it necessary to dump out awards to undeserving soldiers to help them with their future promotions when they have no business holding the rank they do anyway.

Thanks for cheapening my army, no wonder I have a desire to get out? I hear the Marines still take things seriously in that matter, when you get an award as a Marine, you actually deserve it, and Sergeants are only made up of those who are true leaders. I might try joining them instead.

First Snow of the Season

So, it's snowing today! The first snowfall in Kosovo for this season. Which makes me a little giddy with joy as if it is snowing down here, then it has to be snowing in Brezavica.

Brezavica is the Kosovo ski resort. As soon as it opens up and they allow trips up there, I'll be gone for the day. Snowboarding. Which is my passion.

And I will take pictures, lots and lots of pictures.

The downside of snow however, is that snow is cold. Although I love snow, I don't like the cold. Especially when we're going to the range soon and if there is snow on the ground, that means I better be bundled up. Because I must qualify. And if I qualify expert, I'm going to the Schutzenshnur, and right now I have two goals for the rest of my time in Kosovo. Well, other then to make it home relatively sane and whole.

Goal Number Uno - Go Snowboarding in Brezavica.
Goal Number Dos - Qualify on the German Schutzenshnur.

They are both so close yet so far away. I might not get to do either, depending on how things go, if things heat up in Kosovo or not, or whether the weather just doesn't cooperate. As if it snows to much and the roads aren't good, we won't be able to go to Brezavica. And the snow can also cancel the Schutzenshnur. If the roads are considered to hazardous to take us to the German Camp that is.

But to think, i did pretty good in my time here so far. I did the Dancon, which is something I wanted to do, I climbed Big Duke. I've seen Greece and Bulgaria. I learned Kajukenbo, started learning the Guitar and am at a point that I could practice and teach myself from here on out. I got back into my art (though perhaps not in the direction I would have preferred to pursue). Helped out with the Yearbook, learned some Software trades with that. Discovered what I enjoy and don't enjoy about the army and more specifically my job. If I go home thinking that this year has been a waste, I really need to look back and consider all of the things I did that was good.

And I also got a huge compliment from the UPL OIC yesterday with my participation with the Urinalysis, no, not my favorite job here, but one I took seriously and tried to do the best I could. And apparently it showed. I have often felt frustrated at my job performance while stationed here, wanting to do better but somehting seemed to be holding me back. I've been analyzing my performance within my section a lot lately. I've got some hypothesis on that, in regards to how I think and my relationship with the people I work with, but perhaps that specific discussion is not appropriate to bring up in the form of my blog. Perhaps its just something I need to bring up with my chain of command. With a straight face and a calm demeanor, just something I need to talk to them about, to make sure that what happened with me doesn't happen again in the future.

Meanwhile, well, its snowing big fluffy snowflakes right now, and my science class is ended for the day, I did well on my first test, and now its back to work I go.

After I grab a quick bite to eat at the chow hall.

The Physics of Whoop Ass

So, I got back into Kajukenbo this week. We kind of went less into forms and more into gut instinct and what you can do if you find yourself in a situation where you just have to let loose on the guy and take him out quick and painless, for you at least.

We were kind of going over the rudementary forms over the last couple of days, cutting down to the bare basics, and its been kind of nice, seeing that this might be the last time in Kosovo that I can do Kajukenbo, but fortunately there is a basic Karate class afterwards that I can still attend that runs four times a week. I'm really thinking about jumping in on that starting next week (or the week after, depending on my schedule). But whatever the case, when I get home, I will definitely find a dojo in town and really start focusing on this more. I really do enjoy it.

Meanwhile, as an added bonus, today we went over Knife Techniques and some things you can do to defend yourself if you come in contact with a knife. Or if you have to fight and all you have is a knife. Which is Ok as long as the other guy doesn't have a gun. Good stuff.

I want to get better at the weapons aspect of Martial arts. Especially swords. And I think I want to get into knives.

Does this make me weird?

French Guys crack me up :)

(I don't care what they say about this, I'm posting it anyway!)



No, I'm not being disrespectful to the flag, this is called Trading Patches. We were goofing around. Anyway, this is one of my buddies from the Dancon that I met. We traded Patches, MRE's, Weapons (just to take a picture with) and emails. Apparently that may not be the last I ever hear from him.

Bunnies!

This is Poptart. I drew him for a girl in an art trade.

I really need to draw less illustration and more like this. In fact, after this deployment, I think I'll consider myself done with Illustrations.

Well, for a while at least.

The Current Opinion Column on Politics

So, I've mentioned a few times that I've been out of the loop on current events, don't really know what's going on back in the states half the time, and really am not feeling the effects of cost of living or what not back home, as I don't pay insurance or gas or any other living expenses while in Kosovo.

However, I do find myself subject to the news and every so often you hear something about an opinion poll on politics or what not, and I hear things about how much the government hates black people on account of Katrina, and in fact when I was in Europe, I ran into some New Orleans refugees who were telling me that it wasn't as bad as the news made it out to be. In fact, their neighborhoods had survived just fine.

So when i'm getting substandard reports and hearing all of these statistics about approval ratings or what not, I just sigh and shake my head. I guess I'll feel the brunt of the force when I get back home.

But what's really funny about it all is how it all seems to come back to Bush. Everything is Bush's fault, as if the government is responsible for every aspect of our lives and can control the weather. I laugh at this.

So, with Bush's approval ratings at an all time low, do I have any regrets at giving him my vote? Of course not. For one, though perhaps Bush will not be remembered as one of our greatest presidents and has in fact made some mistakes in his presidency, I will never know if the alternative would have done better in the same circumstances, he very well could have done even worse. Could he have done better? Perhaps, but the thing is we will never know.

Though I wish Bush would have responded sooner to the Cindy Sheehan crowd with something along the lines of this. I was getting a bit dissapointed in him for not standing up and taking the heat sooner.

Because frankly I was getting sick of the 'Bush Lied' mantra myself, with all the high power libs jumping on the bandwagon and pointing fingers at everyone else other then themselves and not taking responsibility for the fact that they did in fact vote to go to war. That was their decision. If they are looking at it as being 'misled', suggesting that they didn't wouldn't have made the vote if they had known, then they have no business being under public office, as we're paying them the big bucks to make those tough choices. If they are just going to go under the policy of Hindsight, then I can't trust them to make an honest judgement if they have no foresight.

Besides, if you want somebody to blame, you'll have to blame the American people for electing these officials. And if you think you have to blame somebody about voting for Bush, you can blame me, as I still have no regrets over my choice. I don't believe Kerry would have done a better job.

My Little Booth of Doom

I think the hearing booth is going to be the death of me. And everyone else who enters into it.

We have one hearing booth. Just one. And its disfunctional. The handswitch doesn't work unless you press it just so (which means a lot of coaching of the people who enter the hearing booth), not to mention that they placed the location for the hearing tests at the worst conceivable location in the hospital.

Right outside the window is the Medavac landing pad, as well as Ground Ambulence. The hallway outside the door is one of the busies hallways in the Hospital. Its nestled between the office of the First Sergeant and the Company Commander.

You are constantly having to creap out into the hallway and whisper a 'SHHH!!!" to people passing.

And back to the switch. Yeah, it all leads to that switch. You have to press it just right, it should cancel out the series of three tones, and if it doesn't, your not pressing it right. If it speeds through the frequencies before you can adequately be tested on them, you're not pressing it right. If Mr. Monotone comes over the speaker to tell you that 'you are pressing the hand switch when no tone is present' and there is most definitely a tone, you're not pressing it right. If it gets louder and louder despite the fact that you are pressing the button, you're not pressing it right.

Sure, this will undoubtedly lead to bouts of frustration as people will want to press the response switch harder or swing it against the wall, but alas, this makes it WORSE! Instead, you have to take a deep breath, relax, and at the next tone, press it again.

After fifteen minutes of this insanity, I can allow people out of my 'booth of doom' to inform them that their 'torture is complete', while I finaggle with a printer that can only be fed one sheet of paper at a time.

This machine goes down soon for calibration. Oh how I can't wait.

Spam

Email:

We are pleased to inform you that we have located a few girls within a
couple miles of your location that are willing to meet with you (some wish to meet discreetly ;-)
Please be advised that this is NOT your typical dating service, privacy is of the upmost concern and your satisfaction & discretion is top priority.

*sigh* I wish these spammers would have the decency of getting my sex right, or at least my sexual orientation. Besides, I have a feeling that any females within a few miles of my location are probably not the type I would want to be doing anything with.

At least they haven't been asking me if I want to grow a penis lately.

Six Years Ago Today

Six years ago today I first took the oath of enlistment. I can't really believe how fast time has flown, in a way it's kind of scary to notice how as the older you get, the faster time goes by.

Before I know it, I'll have grey hair and require a walker. *shivers*

Of course, just turning 19, only five months out of High School, I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into. A part of me was enlisting for the adventure that was the army, another part of me was seeking out a way to gain my independence from my family, in a way to 'grow up'. And a part of me just didn't know what I was going to do.

The latter part of me still remains going strong. Though I often look back in my time in the army, and just after getting back from training and going to school, I wished that I had waited to get my AA degree first and then went active duty. Sometimes I dwell a bit in the past, trying to figure out how life would be if I had done something different. But then I realized something as I looked back on my life in general.

For all the bad things that have taken place, as the timeline flows something happens as a result of each and every choice I make, directly and indirectly. I could look back and think to myself 'yeah, it would have been better if I had done that instead', but do I really know this for certain? They say Hindsight is 20/20, but in truth, you still don't know every consequence that will happen with that action.

So, do I look back and wish I had done it differently? The answer is no, because what good has come out of my life in the last six years may never have happened, I've learned a lot about myself and have had experiences I may have never encountered otherwise. And I don't know if doing it differently would have produced the same results, or had even made it worse.

I do realize that upon my enlistment I probably should have picked a more compatable MOS, but I wouldn't have had the experiences I had or met the people I had met if I had done it any other way. I enlisted when I did for a reason and I'm where I am at for a reason.

For a long time I had often dwelled on the what ifs, looking back on this deployment even, I realized that maybe things weren't perfect, but a lot of good stuff happened that may never have happened otherwise.

Now the question is, should I reenlist? And what will the future bring?

Army Time

So, where am I at in my military career?

I'm not sure. But looking back on this deployment, I can tell you what I like and don't like about the military.

I've often griped about my job here, especially within the hospital, and muttering how much I hate my task force. And then I thought about it and discovered 'you know? Maybe I don't hate my task force. I just don't like working in a hospital, and that's where I'm at.' Because the people within my task force are by and large really good people who work hard at their job (and most of the time I don't even know what they do exactly) But the problem with the Hospital is that a hospital in teh army is not the army. Its a hospital. I love the army for the army, not because I wear green everyday and go to work in a clinical environment. Gag.

Several people have told me that I should work in the S1 shop or do something more with a computer and I'm thinking "are you crazy? I don't want to work on a computer 24/7, that would drive me nuts! I enjoy working on the computer on my own terms, but making that my job would make me loathe it. And I think that's part of my problem here. I literally work in an office on my deployment. True, I get out of the office to do things with my work, but it isn't work I like to do. Mostly because I 'HATE' inspections. But my idea of enjoying my job means not being in an Office. And that has been a problem. Kosovo wouldn't be bad, if I were doing something else. I have a computer, I could get online anytime I want on my own hours. Several people have mentioned that they would prefer to have an office. I generally get bored in one if I'm not busy with a handson assignment.

Well, working in the SAV-T will always remind me of what I love about the army. I loved Basic Training, didn't mind AIT but wish we weren't in the classroom so much and then I got back to my unit and thought 'this is it?'

I love the army to do army things. I think that was one of the reasons I was drawn to being a drill sergeant, not because it was an excuse for me to yell at people (though that's got its perks) but because if I were to do that, I would be doing what i love to do. And that is the army. I think actually my ideal job in the army would be a basic grunt, or even a training NCO or something along those lines. But since 11B (infantry) is closed to women, I have to look at other options.

I don't know if I'll reenlist or not, I'm doing to go home, let my family try to talk me out of it, take some time off and relax while working a simple but relatively easy job at the local Hastings for a few months and maybe explore some options.

We'll see if the army can successfully talk me back into the fold. Or one of those recruiters can sweet talk me. Just as long as I don't get caught up doing a job I don't want to do.

Or getting stuck in a hospital again.

Frappr Map

I don't know exactly what this entails, but I just made a Frappr Map. I saw one on Aaron's Blog and I thought I would post it.


So, um, apparently its for groups, but its just to see who's watching my blog or reading my stuff and what not. I thought it would be kind of cool, however it makes me sound like I have multiple personalities or something.

Maybe I should have called the map Incoherant Ramblings instead???

Rifle Marksmanship, again.

I trained on the SAV-T today. Because of my lackluster performance in the Prone Unsupported despite the fact that I'm pretty freakin' lethal in the Prone Supported, I decided I would see if I could get some extra training and maybe up my performance a bit.

See, we're having a range day *soon* and I'm going to go to this range with every intent on qualifying. And I better qualify Expert Damn it!

So at the SAV-T, I was sitting there with elbow pads shooting in the prone supported, prone unsupported, with the type of qualifying card we generally use here in Bondsteel. It looks like this. You have to put two rounds in each target in the Prone Supported (laying down with your rifle laying on a Sandbag. . . or something) and then two more rounds in each target in the Prone Unsupported (just lying down with no support on the weapon).

So I practiced putting rounds in targets in a similator. They had us practicing with M4s, saying that it is more difficult to qualify with an M4 then an M16.

So we did it just like we usually do, and my first round? 38 out of 40.

We did a few other excercises, like quick shooting, working on double tapping targets and shooting two to the chest and one to the head, among other things. Second score? 37 out of 40.

We did it again, just to keep in practice. Again, 38 out of 40.

What in the heck is my problem? I can go to the range, hit 19 out of 20 in the Prone Supported, and totally flake it in the Prone Unsupported. They tell me it might be my trigger squeeze, or heck, it might be the flack jacket doesn't fit me and they force me to wear it. My bad that I actually didn't practice in the SAV - T today with my flack jacket on, but hopefully, when I go back to qualify later, I can kill those targets mercilessly. I plan on hitting near if not at 37 out of 40. I just have to get a grip on the rifle in the prone unsupported. That's what I'm missing.

Because if I can actually qualify, and qualify near expert, I will jump the gun on the german Schutzenschnur and they can't keep that sucker away from me now. And I don't care what they say, I'll even post pictures! Somehow. Maybe.

More on that Deck o' Bloggers Stuff

Bumped! - because that saves on space.

Beth looks pissed. She wants that Queen of clubs and she'll order anyone around if she has to to get it. But meanwhile she makes a valid point in regards to the latest info on the cards.

John, the (Imperial) Armorer and Master of Castle Argghhh!!! is not in the cards listing. Hmm, if I nominate him, he gets ten points (and I can do this if I haven't nominated anybody for the clubs card yet, and I technically didn't nominate myself). However, another one that should be in the cards I would think is SGT Stryker.

But I can only nominate one!?! Argghhh!!!

Hmm, can I split the points and give them five points each?

(time for some german class)

Update - I realized I never nominated anybody for the Hearts Suit. I think I'm going to nominate my archnemesis SarahK, though I have to admit that there are quite a few other blogs that I was tempted to throw my vote toward.

Now they're voting on Hearts, the Clubs are over. I think I made the cards, though I didn't get a face card, Beth seems to have nabbed the honor of Queen of Clubs. She seems a worthy opponent for the honor, I tip my hat to her. However, the totals aren't in, (nominations are ten points) and often times my website doesn't do trackbacks. So I might get a low card, I might not. Somebody else might beat me out of the running.

We'll see. But if I do make a card, who'll buy a deck? They'll work on making an actual deck if there's enough interest!

Anyway, go over to Aaron's and vote for the Hearts. My vote's going to SarahK.

Update Again - er, so anyway, I misunderstood the meaning of what Higher Beings, Mortal Humans and Playful Primates meant. I didn't know what the Truth Laid Bear was, basically an ecosystem of Weblogs. Turns out I'm a rather Large Mammal, or something. And not even a large one at that.

So, um, I can endorse somebody, but it means nothing if I nominate them. No extra points from me (I should read the fine print more in detail in the future)

But the good news! I think I got a card! Probably the four or five of clubs, somewhere around there. Hmm, I'll take it!

The Star Spangled Banner - Handle with Care

Today is Veteran's day, for those of you who did not know. As such, on my first deployment, I have attained true Veteran Status to the point that I can sign up at my local cahpter of the VFW.

Well, on any patriotic event here in Kosovo, we have a formation. Today was no different. I'm not going to comment much on the formation itself, besides the fact that it was foggy and cold, and fortunately very brief, but I would like to make a point to bring up today's rendition of the National Anthem.

I don't know where to begin.

See, to me, the Star Spangled Banner has in times past envoked emotions within me that have led me to shed tears. It is a powerful song of incredible influence over a crowd. I remember standing up at Basketball games in High School and face the flag with everyone else in the crowd as my throat would start to hurt and I tried to keep myself from crying. It has often had that sort of impact on me. I have always loved this song.

The one fault of the song is that not just anybody can successfully sing it. I know I can't, not at the top of my lungs at least. In fact, one of the greatest criticisms of this song is the fact that it attains octaves that most normal human beings can't reach.

It is a song that can bring you to tears, or cause you to cringe in pain.

Today, I cringed in pain. I stood there in formation, at the position of Present Arms, trying not to do anything to give away my displeasure at how the song was performed. It was sung by three or four people trying to harmonize together (I don't know the exact numbers because I could not see the stage due to the brilliance of putting the tall people to the front of the formation and making all of us pipsqueaks stand toward the rear) who I would wager by themselves would have performed the song well. But singing it together, well, at one point I thought they were screaming into the microphone, it sounded awful. I don't think they even practiced before hand, because if somebody would have heard them singing together, they would have canceled that right then and there and found a different arrangement.

This performance rivaled that of Rosanne.

I love my country. I pray that I never have to cringe at the performance of its national anthem again.

Hmm, Scary

You Are a Little Scary

You've got a nice edge to you. Use it.

How Scary Are You?

They should have made a question about how people react to pictures of you holding a m203 grenade launcher.

Err, maybe not.

The Problem with History Books

Ok, History used to be one of those subjects in High School that I loathed. I wasn't much of a history buff, I didn't really care much about what happened in the past, mostly because I was very much a dreamer and mostly spent my time in the here and now. Or rather, some daydream that couldn't possibly exist.

Sometimes I'm still very much like that.

Anyway, that changed my Sophomore year of highschool, when I took American History and for some reason, how the teacher taught it, I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned muchly. Mostly because I actually absorbed what I was learning. Funny how not a lot of people liked this teacher because of his method of teaching wasn't very popular, but it clicked with me.

Still, I won't claim to be much of a history buff, because most of what you learn about history is either not entirely accurate or the basis of the historian who wrote the book you're reading's agenda. So sometimes crucial facts to be regarded are conveniantly left out.

Therefore, I haven't always been a huge fan of history and still am not. True, I like to learn about things from the past in small doses, but I've learned you can't entirely trust your source 100% of the time.

Well, anyway, I still have an interest in history and while ordering Lileks' latest book "Mommy Knows Worst" (Hilarious! Buy it!) on Amazon, I wanted to get something so I wouldn't have to pay for shipping with it. So I ordered the Politically Incorrect Guide to American History to get my 25 bucks and hence free shipping.

When I get both books in, my NCOIC (who's a major history buff, and yet a Democrat) asked to borrow the Guide while waiting for me to finish Lileks. He had it for a couple of days but found some misconceptions in it himself, as he said that there was an obvious conservative agenda with the book. I told him that I agreed that there probably was, but that's when you use history books to balance each other out. Such as this one. Besides, I've always taken history books with a grain of salt, especially if you find an error within it.

I still wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt, as maybe there is some spin on it, it should at least give me some facts or maybe just trivia in general that I can use.

Well, I started reading it, thought it was interesting myself, until I came to the chapter about Clinton. In one of the headings under this chapter it goes into detail about Clinton's escapade while in office. Sure, I don't deny any of this happened, except when I got to page 243 in regards to the dillema of the Balkans, where he points out how Yugoslavia seperated peacefully at first with Slovenia, and then violently with the seperation of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina, and 'the city of Kosovo'.

???

Having lived here for the last ten months, I know first hand that Kosovo is not a city. Its a province, like a state. There is no city or town that I know of within Kosovo that is itself named Kosovo (like New York, New York). Hmm, this strikes me as similar as the City of California, or Texas. Or even the city of Massachussetts.

True, maybe its just a small typo, and not even that big of a deal, but Damn! If you find something like that right away that you can debunk from first hand knowledge, you wonder what else is wrong with the book! Grr, that's frustrating. Maybe I shouldn't look into it. I guess I can still read it to get an idea of history from a different point of view then the usual history book, but still. It's frustrating.

You find one thing you can contradict, and it throws the entire thing out of whack. That's the true problem with History books.

Oh well, so far it has still proven to be interesting. I wouldn't condemn it just yet, but to rather use it as a balancing point with other history books to get the whole story, not just part.

Deck Of Bloggers

Ok, I just ran across this in my mailbox for the Carnival of Cordite (I honestly should email him more stuff) and found out about the Deck o' Bloggers 2005 at Aaron's CC:

Apparently I'm nominated for the Queen of Clubs (Queens and Hearts reserved for female bloggers, and clubs reserved for Milbloggers. ???) That would be cool, its a face card. I can picture it now.



Gah! Nevermind, maybe I don't want too!? Anyway, it looks like that might be a tight race. Beth at MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has already called dibs. She's got a head start on me. No fair!

Oh well.

(pssst! You can vote in the sidebar! Top female Milblogger automatically gets the Queen of Hearts_Typo! Clubs)

Of course, they also have me linked through my now decidedly defunct Milblog. I had to link that thing to bring people directly to this joint.

Anyway, this has been going on for the last four or five days, but I'm now just hearing about it. That's what I get for being out of the loop on things.

I'm not exactly sure how this nomination thing goes, but I nominate the Gullyborg Blog (Resistance is Futile!) for the Jack of Spades. Because he asked me to, and he was the one who informed me on this whole spiel.

I don't know who else to nominate (I've been out of the loop on the blogosphere for a while) except for my buddies over at Silent Running. But since I don't know what each card stands for, I just know they can't be nominated for Hearts or Clubs. So what does Spades and Diamonds mean? I'll nominate them for one of those categories.

And I nominate either Scott Ott, James Lileks, or FrankJ for the Joker. One of them has got to get it, right?

Can I do that? Is that how they do this?

I don't know, I kind of stumbled in on this.

This Little Piggy is Finished. . .

. . .I think. I'll wait to see if Murray has any other requests on how to fine tune the little oinker.



For those of you coming into this post a little late in the game, this is in direct response to this post HERE. The one with me deciding to make a Crusader Pig verses a Boarhog, and if I did a Crusader Pig, which style should I use?

I kind of made one completely different, but fine tuned it a bit so he's not so uneven and crooked. Though, well, if I dwell on him, I'll point out all his flaws. That's what I get for being a highly critical type artist. Blah.

The boarhog is here.

Those took far longer then they probably should have. You can buy Boarhog and piggy merchandise at the Risawn Down Under Shop. All proceeds go to getting me down under. My minions are behind it.

update So. . .I am told that this little piggy is supposed to look cute and unintimidating. I was asked to fix the eyeballs and make them big and round, not pointed and angry. And make a few other changes.



I'll keep you updated on whether or not this is the finished product.

Update Again Ahh. . . all is well, Murray is satisfied.

I can't tell you to honestly go buy stuff however, because I'm not allowed to ask for money on my website while I'm on active duty. So. . . you can go over to Silent Running and THEY can tell you to buy stuff.

I Quit!

Ok, the Nanowrimo is going nowhere. Mostly because I had my sights set on working on one story, and now that I did that, suddenly I don't want to work on that story, I want to work on any 'other' story that I'm working on. Because I have about fifteen in my inventory that I go back to and start dawdling with at any given time.

And right now, I can't get myself to work on the story I laid out.

I shouldn't feel bad about 'failing' the Nanowrimo, mostly because I started my first story back in '99 and it ammassed over a thousand pages since then. And I know I got over 50,000 words into it in November alone that year. So quite truthfully, I unofficially won the very first Nanowrimo.

Strangely enough, that was the first time I started to really write. I didn't write much before then.

Besides, with me being tasked to help with the Urine testing for FMPP, now finishing up the Yearbook and getting started on the Slideshow and Task Force Christmas party, being completely in charge of the Hearing Booth and most likely get slammed with that before it gets pulled due to calibration purposes, my desire to start school (did I mention Science is a Go but Harry Potter might not be?) and now this sudden influx in drawing desires, do I really want to burdon myself with this novel when I would rather write other stories anyway? I'd most likely just skirt around and come back to it anyway.

Besides, Just Like Heaven finally made it to Bondsteel, and I want to see my evil Twin and Napoleon Dynamite.

When I get back to the states, I'm going to hear all of these songs on the radio and mention how cool they are and people will be griping about how much the radio has played them for the last eight months. And I won't have a freakin' clue as to what's current with movies. I hope that doesn't hurt me to bad when I go back to my old job of working retail in a Movie/Music/Book store. (but hopefully it will be temporary)

Boar Hog Crusaders

So, there's the finished Boar hog. I guess I could go back and make adjustments to it in Photoshop, as I did it in colored pencil and the colored pencil didn't scan very well. So I already tweaked it in photoshop, but I think there are a few more adjustments to be made, and if I stare at it for to long, everyhting that is wrong with it will pop out at me.

Gah! I hate being my own worse art critic.

Since the boarhog was the most popular, I did it. Next up, a simple image of the 'cute' pig as well. Look for that in the not to distant future.

Meanwhile, my foot is cluing in the rest of my body that its time to go to sleep. As for some reason I've lost all feeling in it.

(you can buy stuff with the Boar Hog through Silent Running, it goes to benefit the Risawn Down Under fund. My minions are working to get me to New Zealand and Australia. Do I have cool minions or what?)

Yearbook Immortalization

So, we're busy finalizing the yearbook. And because I got finnagled onto the yearbook staff at the last minute, the Yearbook people get to have pictures in the yearbook of ourselves, kind of like our own page, you know!

I was trying to debate what to put in there to represent me, and I was looking at some of the silly pictures I took during this deployment. Because I never take myself seriously, and people would be good to know not to take me seriously either.

So, I was originally going to post this picture.

Because it shows me at work doing Preventive Medicine type thingies. And it's kind of a funny picture where I'm not really acting serious, you know, just a way to laugh at myself.

But then I came to realize that I have a perfect picture to put in there. One that makes made me slightly infamous.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to any of the photoshopped versions, I only have the original, Air Hose and all. But you know? That's ok.

This tells it all. And immortalized in a yearbook. Yeah, what am I thinking?

The yearbook staff got a kick out of it. And further kicks out of the Merchandising link. NOw their asking me why I haven't capitalized on the image more? I think Murray is working on helping me with that issue.

Did I mention November would be Nuts?

Latest on Nanowrimo?

I don't want to even mention where I'm at in this story. But I'm not going to sweat it, I have a tendency to write a lot when I'm in the mood. I wrote 15,000 words in a few days once (during this deployment), so if I can focus on it, I think I can manage. Its just that procrastination trait that is so prominant in my personality that I have to keep an eye on.

Meanwhile, the army is keeping me busy this month, which is a good thing, because if they keep me busy, the time goes by quicker. This month I'm basically helping out with the Urinalysis again (our section has it) and I'll be doing that every few days, along with manning the hearing booth. I'm also helping out with the Year Book and managing the Task Force Slide Show for Thanksgiving as well as helping conduct the Christmas Party for December. Then there is the usual reports, such as the DNBI report among other things. And we're getting ready for our replacements for 'when' they get here (that's classified) Man, I'm busier now that I got fired from my regular job then I ever was before! (er, I didn't really talk about that for good reason) And if I'm lucky *crosses fingers and hopes*, I might get a slot for the Schutzenshnur. What is that strange german word you might ask?

Its a German Marksmanship badge. Which would look freakin' SWEET on my Class A's (that I will never wear now that I'm getting out of the military, for now) But it is a big maybe. If I can get to the range, I think I can get it. I just have to hope that I can get a slot. And as it appears, there is a good chance I might get a slot, if things work out alright. Its on my calender, just in case.

And between all of this, I'm trying to write a 50,000 word novel and do a bunch of art exchanges just to keep my time occupied.

HAH! That's real funny. Now about that 50,000 word novel I'm 'working' on. . .

Instant Novel

I've decided to officially start the Nanowrimo tomorrow, however I also felt like today I would brainstorm a bit more on what I would write about.

I've got about a bajillion little stories or plotlines in my head, however one that I had held onto and wanted to continue was a story I started with a few other friends of mine that we never did anything with, and hence my part of the story as it stands can be continued in a completely different direction then the way we had begun.

Since I already wrote a chapter of it, maybe it doesn't entirely fit the criteria of the Nanowrimo, but I'm going to use it anyway. Its just been sitting there for the last two or so years doing nothing. Shame to let it go to waste.

The story is takes place on Earth, though with a slight alternate version of Earth, as will be apparent when the story goes on. Its got a slight fantasy twist to it, and it takes place in the present or not to distant future.

The first Chapter is online already. You can read it here. If you see some things that are weird or wondering why I'm going in that direction or else saying "that can't happen!", don't worry, I've got it all figured out. I had planned out this plotline two years ago. Though granted, I had expected other people to be involved and I would have played off them. But it works.

I'll keep you posted as it progresses.

As the Months Go By

November 1st. Day One of Nanowrimo. How many words have I gotten done?

Nada.

Today was a busy day, and now i have to get ready for German Class. So I think I will officially be starting tomorrow. I'm not to horribly worried, I got the story I decided I would write in my head. In fact, I'm continuing a story I had started before (I'm not going to count the already written total, however). I think I might even post it online as I write it. I'm not too concerned about people stealing it actually, I don't really care if they do. Well, actually, i do mind a wee bit, though I'm not sure if I'll get the required 50,000 words (but when I get in the habit of writing, I'm a writing fool). I also didn't officially sign up either, I'm kind of doing this on my own. But no big deal. Ok, that was remedied, I'm officially signed up now.

Meanwhile, I've been tasked with the Yearbook, and I got to working on that and trying to finish it up today. It goes. Not entirely smoothly and all, but I think eventually this too shall pass and then I can move onto bigger and better things. Like Slideshows.

Also, I will be winding down and posting less and less on my blog as the next few months progress, I may even stop completely for a short while on account of three things. One, I'm going to be busy and I don't want to worry about blogging, and two, I'm offering it as a courtesy to my command who politely asked me that as things start getting crazy and we are getting ready to leave that I shouldn't be divulging information to the rest of the world. I think I can grant them that request, so probably around mid December, my blogging may come to a complete halt (with an occaisional Merry Christmas Post thrown in for good measure) and I'll start up again when I get back to the states.

Third reason was Nanowrimo. I'll be busy writing my story in my limited spare time. Between work, school, and finishing that boarhog and miscellanious other art trades.

Blisters are doing better. I can actually walk normally now. I'm going to still see if I can get out of the run on Thursday however.

The rest of this week is going to be nuts! Heck, what am I saying? The rest of this year is going to be Nuts! Wish me luck!