Delayed Again

So the latest news on my life. . .

May is out, there are no slots. So I have to go at the end of July.

Benning Georgia, in August. . . *sighs* That messed with my plans quite a bit.

I just hope I can make it before the year is through, but with my luck, something will happen in June that will further delay everything. Here's hoping.

Kitty Sculpture

I rendered this strange abstract cat sculpture in 3DS Max. Then I made a virtual gallery and put some of my other artwork in there as well.

I'm starting to get the hang of this software! And it makes me so freakin happy!



I really need to learn to fine tune the modeling aspect itself, but I'm finally figuring it out!

For some reason I like to do cat themed sculptures.

Brief Delay in Plans

I got the results of my foot back yesterday. We went in for an X-Ray and it came back broken. Fourth Metatarsel on the right foot. I'm going in today again to see my doctor and have him give me a recommendation on what to do to get it taken care of.

One thing for sure, Drill Sergeant School is out for March. But not all is lost. I just have to flip my schedule around for a bit.

I was originally supposed to go to DSS in March and come back in May, where I was going to have to finaggle getting back into school and all that jazz. Actually, this works better. For one, I won't be missing Helena Handbasket and I might be able to finaggle Bloomsday in. And I won't get thrown off of my schooling for my degree.

I just have to keep myself from getting hurt again.

But they say I might be able to be back on it in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably still be able to negotiate the March Snowboarding Season.

Depart Already!!!

So I've got an appointment to see the Doctor at 8 this evening, because apparently they're booked up with the flu. Since I have to keep my foot on ice and elevated, and overall off of it (which leads to me relaxing on the couch with minimum activity *grumbles*) I decided since its new movie day, that I wanted to go rent a couple of movies to keep me occupied. So I sent my brother after the movies, one of them being The Departed, which I've been wanting to see for quite some time.

Despite the horrible movie review done of it in one of my classes earlier.

So I send him after the movie and while he's getting ready, he keeps trying to confirm the movie with me. "The Guardian, right?"

"No, the Departed."

Shortly thereafter, as he's getting his shoes on. "The Forgotten?"

"No, that was an awful movie! The Departed!"

A minute later, "Unforgiven?"

"Departed!!!"

So he finally leaves, I'm like trying to give him mnemonic clues just so he would get the hint, like how he needs to depart the house to get the movies. A few minutes later, he comes back, with The Unknown.

Which I've seen. . .

Maybe he'll get it this time.

Well, That Nixes That

I went to a church activity tonight where we went and played Balloon games, this is basically a singles thing where a bunch of single adults get together and have fun and socialize and hopefully pair off so that they get married and one day have kids.

The Balloon games were fun and all, and afterwards we set up a volleyball net and started playing volleyball. I used to play in High school but haven't played in probably two years or so (actually, in Kosovo I think was the last time I played).

Anyway, we were playing and I was in the front center kind of setting the ball for people when the ball came over and I tried to block while the guy on the other side tried to spike it, or something.

Well, I hit the floor and he landed on my right foot. I went down almost immediately from the sharp pain that followed.

Ouch.

Well, game over, I told them I was done for the count and had to take care of my foot. Driving proved to be doable, as long as I don't have to make a hard break, and when I got home, I looked for an Ice pack and maybe a wrap to wrap it in.

Nothing. Which left me a trip to the nearest place that would have this kind of stuff for sheer conveniance, which is Walmart, the devil's store. Walking was difficult so I found myself on a cart skating my way around, trying to keep off my hurt foot until I got to the ace bandages and ice packs and all that good stuff.

Coming home, I got the icepack ready and finally took off my shoe and assessed the damage. I can touch it fine, no real sharp pain. This is going to hurt like crazy tomorrow. Its really starting to plague me now.

I'm hoping its a bad bruise, but now that my shoe is off, I'm having trouble putting any weight on it whatsoever. Called in to work to let them know I can't come in so I can at least take the day and keep it elevated (and hope it gets better).

If it doesn't, I'm going to have to make an appointment with the doctor and see if I've got a hairline fracture or something. Either way, well, gees, I had this sneaky suspcion that something was going to happen to me before I had to go to Drill Sergeant School.

I just thought it was going to happen on account of snowboarding.

Well, no more running or snowboarding for me until I'm sure that this thing isn't going to debilitate me. And if it is bad, this might mean I have to postpone school until Summer.

Damn.

Running and the Army

Meanwhile, Drill was this last weekend and it taught me something very valuable.

I need to run more.

I have NEVER done that poorly on a run before, though I'm not exactly thrilled with our track by any means. So for the next two weeks, I've made up my mind that I'm going to run daily. I took a nice easy run today and it actually felt good despite the fact that it smoked me on Saturday. Tomorrow I'm going at it again. And the next day. And the Next. Each day getting progressively harder and longer.

Well, I have a month to scrape two minutes off my run time. This is doable, because its not like I have been running and conditioning myself and suddenly have to shave off two minutes, its that I haven't been, so if I work myself, I see this as doable.

It should be pretty easy actually. I mean, I have to do 2 miles in 18:36, which is a nine minute mile. That's seventy points on the Army Physical Fitness Test, which is where I have to be. By the end of school, I'm hoping to be up there in the seventeens, and then I want to maintain that (I still want to buy a dog) as I want to be able to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to training soldiers because if I can't, they will eat me alive I'm sure.

We were going over more modules (this is where you recite, ver batum, what Attention, the Rest Positions at the Halt, and the Hand Salute among other things is, so that you know it forward, backwards and in your sleep) and got to know the Drill Sergeant Creed.

The fourth stanza is the one I want to be able to live by.

"I will Lead By Example, never requiring a Soldier to attempt a task that I would not do myself."

That's kind of one of the reasons I joined this specific unit. I want to be up there, training troops and earning their respect.

One thing I regret though is not having the combat patch on my shoulder while I do this. Its kind of an honor issue I guess, here I am, training soldiers to go into combat which they will undoubtedly see, and I haven't been there to experience it myself.

Kosovo sure didn't count.

By next drill, I'll have my E6 Promotion Packet in. I should be pinned by the time I get back from Drill Sergeant School.

New PJs

Ok, so I mentioned I got some new pajamas and that pictures are coming.

Well, when I got them, I felt kind of weird telling somebody to take a picture of me so I can blog about the experience, so I kind of got a picture of them as an after thought.



I'm actually wearing an old BDU (that's the old camouflage) T-shirt with them, but they have a tanner colored shirt that you are actually supposed to wear with them instead. Everybody calls the new uniform (ACU, Army Combat Uniform) Pajamas because that's kind of what they look like.

I love them already. They are light and comfortable, the entire unifrom is about as heavy as the pants on the original uniform.

I leave for school in a month, I was wondering if I would get any in by the time I had to leave because I didn't want to be the reservist showing up for an active duty school in the uniform they're phasing out.

I had to go run errands before I got home, and I try not to spend to much time in public wearing the uniform because despite the fact that its supposed to conceal you with your surroundings, it screams "LOOK AT ME" when your out in public. I got thanked by about four different people this weekend while I was walking around.

It's good to hear people still care.

I Finally Got My Pajamas!

Yay!!!

Pictures to follow.

Air Time

Went Snowboardign again. Fourth time this season. Yes, I'm starting to pick up momentum now that I'm on a roll.

I went with my sister and her neighbor, who is actually a pretty good snowboarder. I prefer to go with me at my level or better because it really encourages me to get better.

We started out with my yellow board. I switched out the bindings so that they fit and I realized that I REALLY like that board.

Except for before, my bindings were to big, which doesn't give me enough support when riding. Now they are to small, which makes for a pain when you are getting on and off the lift and you can't get your foot out.



Um, no, this isn't a military issued Gortex Jacket with rank insignia that I'm not supposed to wear in civilian clothes. Why do you ask???

I had to switch boards after a couple of runs, to my smaller board that I use more with jumps and free style. I'm more confident on it becuase I have more control I think, and its not as fast.

I got a few pictures, my favorite are always the little things you don't generally capture on film, like the little nuances of snowboarding, like going along side a hill (instead of down) with no momentum. I call this the Snowboard Shuffle.



Anyway, I did get a few action shots.



I just cleared maybe a couple of inches off the ground on that one, and my sister got the tail end of the landing. The white thing you see is my pass btw.



More Air that time, and as I look at this, I realize that I could probably do a little better if my feet were further apart. I have no idea what my right arm is doing, I never said I was very graceful, I just said I'm getting air and landing it.



My favorite shot. To bad you don't see the shots immediately before and after this one, and it blurred slightly. It looks like i'm doing something pretty tight, like I'm doing toe grab or something. No, I'm just falling on my rear after completely biffing this jump. I then had to go to the lodge and recouperate for the next hour.

I'll feel this one tomorrow for sure.

Tech N9ne

Ok, my apologies as this is actually old news. . .

Three weeks ago, Tech N9ne was in town. Before I got my job back at Hastings and have lately been promoted to Music Associate for some odd reason (out of Movies, Books and Music, I know the least about Music) I really had no idea who Tech N9ne was.

Well, like I mentioned before, they came into Town and performed a few concerts, however, due to the crowded nature of concerts, or for some other reason I'm not entirely sure why, they decided to hold a signing at a Hastings Store. And they chose mine because of all four Hastings in my town, my location sells the most Rap CDs or something.

Yeah, Tech N9ne's a rapper.

We had people lined up fairly early on, and technically I wasn't working, but I came in anyway just to see the commotion. To promote the fact that he was in the store, we had an edited version of his latest CD playing overhead, but being rap, it was still pretty risque and we still got a ton of complaints afterwards.

I got to clock in for about an hour, just to peruse the store becuase we had a lot of juveniles that just got out of school and we are a high theft location. But I still got to get a CD signed.

Waiting in line, with Tech N9ne to the left.

Look, he's famous!

Actually, for a rapper, which is a genre of music I'm really picky about, I actually like his stuff and even purchased a CD and got it signed. Actually, the edited version sounded fine to me, I have a feeling the language might be a little more then I can handle.

I must be getting old.