So I've been here for about four weeks, and I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what is going to happen after I am done here. Afterall, that was one of my goals, to figure out what life will hold for me when I'm done with this deployment.
Its also offering me a chance of self discovery and a glimpse of what the army is like on active duty.
See, I've been in the reserves for about five years now, and come later this year, my initial deployment will be over and while i'll have to at least extend while I am here, I have the option of reenlisting or getting out when I get home. And reenlisting entails a lot of different things. Will I want to continue in the reserves? Will I want to change jobs? Do I want to go active duty? Do I want to change jobs while on active duty? Where do I want to go? If I get out, what will I do then? Go to school? If so, what do I want to get a job doing? What do I want to get a degree in? Where's my personal life headed? And on and on.
If you can't tell, I'm an indecisive person. I think about things like this all of the time but I can never decide on exactly what direction to head. And I'm at a point in my life where I really should be focusing on this more. I should have an idea of where I want to go and what I want to do, and I really don't becuase I can't decide what I want to do and when I do come across something that sounds interesting to me, I look more into it and look at my life and where I am now and wonder if myself and my personality are compatible with that.
Right now, I've got a little bit of stability. In that, I'm here in Kosovo for the next year, this will get me out of debt and on a clean sheet of paper and I won't have a whole lot of choice in which direction I want to go for at least the next year. For this I am thankful. But after that, the field is wide open. There is about few dozen directions I can take in the position I am in, and I have the problem in trying to go two different directions at once.
Which leaves me right back where I started.
I got a year to think about it. That is my ultimate goal is to know when this is over.
And stop beating myself up about it.
A blog about a girl who speaks her mind and talks about whatever she wants. So its a blog about everything, and absolutely nothing, all at the same time. . .
2.19.2005
2.16.2005
Lesson of the Day: Mail is Good.
Another lesson learned. I like Care Packages. Even IF they are from myself.
Today wasn't one of the better days. I'm still getting used to how things go around here, trying to get into some routine while getting adjusted to doing things that I've only been briefly trained on and busy beating myself up over mistakes.
i'm also trying to get used to the people in my section. I like them, for the most part, but every once in a while, somebody will rub me the wrong way and if I'm having a bad day to begin with, I start shooting daggers with my eyes and grumbling under my breath and, well, it ain't pretty.
Especially considering I have a weapon at arms length at any given time.
So things progressively went from bad to worse and its not the big things that get me, its the many many little things that seem to attack all at once. Like everything going wrong in Air Sampling. Coupled with a freakin' 10 page long accident report because I brushed up against a barrier and scratched the Paint on my HMMW-V. And DHL was 25 minutes late and I was 10 minutes early, meaning I waited for 35 minutes. And the knowledge that I will be working until at LEAST 1800 hours. And skipping lunch because I had to much work to do. And, well, I could go on but you get the picture.
Then the mail guy came and I asked him if anything came for me and I got not one, but TWO packages from Amazon! From Myself! But, that's ok, they are books and now I have something constructive to read.
One's just light reading, called Dragon Rider (its aimed at the same age group as Harry Potter, but I love reading books at this age group because they are usually clean and really aimed at creativeness, and thats something I need, becuase it's how I escape) I also got Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man, because I really don't like Michael Moore and the title made me curious (and i read a thing or two about it). Then there is the Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, because anything with a name like that has to be interesting, plus its about debunking lefty looniness. And two books on blogs. Because I wanted to know what Hugh Hewitt had to say about them (Blog) and I wanted to know what I was doing right and wrong and how to make it better (the Weblog Handbook).
Yes, Books are good for me. I'm sure things will eventually calm down around here and I will get into some kind of groove, but meanwhile I'll have to try to maintain my sanity and remind myself that it really isn't THAT bad.
Afterall, I could be in a desert. Though I volunteered a few times for one of those rotations and nothing ever came of it. I can't really complain afterall, I did volunteer for this one.
Today wasn't one of the better days. I'm still getting used to how things go around here, trying to get into some routine while getting adjusted to doing things that I've only been briefly trained on and busy beating myself up over mistakes.
i'm also trying to get used to the people in my section. I like them, for the most part, but every once in a while, somebody will rub me the wrong way and if I'm having a bad day to begin with, I start shooting daggers with my eyes and grumbling under my breath and, well, it ain't pretty.
Especially considering I have a weapon at arms length at any given time.
So things progressively went from bad to worse and its not the big things that get me, its the many many little things that seem to attack all at once. Like everything going wrong in Air Sampling. Coupled with a freakin' 10 page long accident report because I brushed up against a barrier and scratched the Paint on my HMMW-V. And DHL was 25 minutes late and I was 10 minutes early, meaning I waited for 35 minutes. And the knowledge that I will be working until at LEAST 1800 hours. And skipping lunch because I had to much work to do. And, well, I could go on but you get the picture.
Then the mail guy came and I asked him if anything came for me and I got not one, but TWO packages from Amazon! From Myself! But, that's ok, they are books and now I have something constructive to read.
One's just light reading, called Dragon Rider (its aimed at the same age group as Harry Potter, but I love reading books at this age group because they are usually clean and really aimed at creativeness, and thats something I need, becuase it's how I escape) I also got Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man, because I really don't like Michael Moore and the title made me curious (and i read a thing or two about it). Then there is the Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, because anything with a name like that has to be interesting, plus its about debunking lefty looniness. And two books on blogs. Because I wanted to know what Hugh Hewitt had to say about them (Blog) and I wanted to know what I was doing right and wrong and how to make it better (the Weblog Handbook).
Yes, Books are good for me. I'm sure things will eventually calm down around here and I will get into some kind of groove, but meanwhile I'll have to try to maintain my sanity and remind myself that it really isn't THAT bad.
Afterall, I could be in a desert. Though I volunteered a few times for one of those rotations and nothing ever came of it. I can't really complain afterall, I did volunteer for this one.
2.14.2005
Shameless Plug for a Friend's site
I don't know how welcome she is to get a massive influx of readership, but one of my best friends from elementary school days (when I was of but a wee lass of 5 we were in Kindergarten together) has a blog. It is mostly about her baby that she has (which still blows me away, because we were really good friends through about third grade before we were seperated by a move and part of me still imagines her and her sister as we were back then) and I mainly posted this post for my family's benefit, but you can benefit too. She just started blogging so it seems. Go wish her well. She's one of the coolest people I know.
And I'm a definite judge on the coolness factor.
And I'm a definite judge on the coolness factor.
Valentine's Day
So, tis another year, and another February 14th, and everywhere around the world (or at least, those that celebrate it), people will be celebrating the holiday of Valentine's Day.
I want to let you in on a secret.
I hate Valentine's Day. In fact, I've always hated Valentine's Day, ever since I was a child. And I will tell you why.
As a kid, Valentine's Day consisted of buying a bunch of cheesey cards from the super market and being forced to give one to everybody in the class. Whether you liked them or not. It didn't matter how cool Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse were, or for that matter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, every single freakin' card had a stupid saying on it that made you cringe that you had to find one to give to that one slimey kid who picked his nose in the back of the class. You also got those nasty candies that said little things on them like "I Luv U" and "be mine" that tasted like sugared saw dust.
Why did I hate it? Because it was a superficial holiday! I didn't want these people to be my valentines, and for those who I really actually did like, I didn't have the guts to go up to them and actually give them a real valentine. So you were stuck with the cheesey store bought ones. I mean, you got one from everybody, how could everybody in the class be your Valentine? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole holiday? I mean, you couldn't hurt anybody's feelings, could you?
Truthfully, it seems like some kind of underground agenda for the Gay Rights Movement. I had both Girls and Boys give me valentines. I gave both girls and boys valentines. And Boys giving each other valentines. And girls giving each other valentines. It doesn't matter what your sexuality is, this is a Bisexual Holiday! GAAAHHH!!! It's getting engrained into the minds of Children!
I'm sure I'll change my mind when I finally meet the guy who has it in him to sweep me off my feet (I am not sure if this can be accomplished however, I'm a pretty stubborn troop) and maybe one day I'll look forward to Valentine's Day. But until then, I'll leave this day for the Card and Candy Makers to get their kicks out of. As well as the love-sick types.
Or maybe I'm just a born anti-romantic. I never got the whole 'Love' thing.
I want to let you in on a secret.
I hate Valentine's Day. In fact, I've always hated Valentine's Day, ever since I was a child. And I will tell you why.
As a kid, Valentine's Day consisted of buying a bunch of cheesey cards from the super market and being forced to give one to everybody in the class. Whether you liked them or not. It didn't matter how cool Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse were, or for that matter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, every single freakin' card had a stupid saying on it that made you cringe that you had to find one to give to that one slimey kid who picked his nose in the back of the class. You also got those nasty candies that said little things on them like "I Luv U" and "be mine" that tasted like sugared saw dust.
Why did I hate it? Because it was a superficial holiday! I didn't want these people to be my valentines, and for those who I really actually did like, I didn't have the guts to go up to them and actually give them a real valentine. So you were stuck with the cheesey store bought ones. I mean, you got one from everybody, how could everybody in the class be your Valentine? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole holiday? I mean, you couldn't hurt anybody's feelings, could you?
Truthfully, it seems like some kind of underground agenda for the Gay Rights Movement. I had both Girls and Boys give me valentines. I gave both girls and boys valentines. And Boys giving each other valentines. And girls giving each other valentines. It doesn't matter what your sexuality is, this is a Bisexual Holiday! GAAAHHH!!! It's getting engrained into the minds of Children!
I'm sure I'll change my mind when I finally meet the guy who has it in him to sweep me off my feet (I am not sure if this can be accomplished however, I'm a pretty stubborn troop) and maybe one day I'll look forward to Valentine's Day. But until then, I'll leave this day for the Card and Candy Makers to get their kicks out of. As well as the love-sick types.
Or maybe I'm just a born anti-romantic. I never got the whole 'Love' thing.
Awaiting the Z Monster
I was stricken with Insomnia, and made my way to the MWR building to make a phone call home, to be reminded that everyone had just gotten in from Hohenfels and now we have a rush for the phones.
So, I made my way to the computers instead.
It was only toward the end of my time on the computers that I thought to check Red Vs Blue for a new video. Oops. It's going to take it 20 minutes to download and I'm at the end of my time.
Hmm, there's computers open, maybe they'll me linger?
So, I made my way to the computers instead.
It was only toward the end of my time on the computers that I thought to check Red Vs Blue for a new video. Oops. It's going to take it 20 minutes to download and I'm at the end of my time.
Hmm, there's computers open, maybe they'll me linger?
2.13.2005
Sob
Hmm, commentation through Haloscan is down. Which makes me sad, because one of my favorite things about blogging is the comments.
So I am sad.
But I am happy that I can temporarily fix this problem. I used to have commentation through YACCS, I can just redo that again. I guess I will.
As soon as HALO SCAN Comes back up, I will move the comments over there. I like HaloScan much better then YACCS.
Update There is a saying that applies to me. Patience is a virtue I don't possess. I guess I could have given Haloscan a chance to come to its senses, as it undoubtedly would.
And so it has risen from the death of Cyberspace and is alive once more. Good to see the comment bar again.
I'm all for instant gratification though. *sigh*
MORE UPDATES Its not haloscan at all! Its...these...darn...government...computers!!!
Haloscan has become a blocked site! I have to go to the MWR building to read any comments! This can't be!
*sob* I am sad again.
So I am sad.
But I am happy that I can temporarily fix this problem. I used to have commentation through YACCS, I can just redo that again. I guess I will.
As soon as HALO SCAN Comes back up, I will move the comments over there. I like HaloScan much better then YACCS.
Update There is a saying that applies to me. Patience is a virtue I don't possess. I guess I could have given Haloscan a chance to come to its senses, as it undoubtedly would.
And so it has risen from the death of Cyberspace and is alive once more. Good to see the comment bar again.
I'm all for instant gratification though. *sigh*
MORE UPDATES Its not haloscan at all! Its...these...darn...government...computers!!!
Haloscan has become a blocked site! I have to go to the MWR building to read any comments! This can't be!
*sob* I am sad again.
2.11.2005
Set up Shop!
Silent Running has set up a shop for me. You can check it out here!
I guess I'll be adding that to my linkage on the side.
I guess I'll be adding that to my linkage on the side.
What Constitutes Divinity?
Anybody who has been reading this blog for some amount of time ought to know by now the ongoing in joke in regards to my claim to fame, a picture depicting my staunch support for President Bush while I hold a kick-ass M203 Grenade Launcher. I don't think I can kick the dead horse enough.
Anyway, Silent Running asked me to be their Patron Goddess, to which I said 'why not?' and then they sent me a T-shirt.
I've come up with a few problems with trying to pose for the T-Shirt. One, well, there really isn't anywhere to pose when I get off duty, as it is rather cold out and I don't feel like going outside in a T-shirt (not to mention that this puts me out of uniform) so I have to pose indoors for now, and my room is actually kind of nasty looking.
Then there is the whole idea behind the title of Goddess. Goddess tends to depict images of unearthly, beautiful, and I don't know about you, but I'm thinking Feminine.
I have never in my life looked at myself as Feminine, so it cracked me up to begin with that somebody wanted to make me their official Patrod Goddess (truthfully, i think the M203 is what initially won them over) And since I cut my hair since then, that has taken away even more from my femininity so now I look at this and think "how in the hell am I going to fit the Goddess Ideology with nothing but a T-shirt, Combat Boots and an M16?"
I guess that means I'll just keep up the Bad Ass routine. Maybe that'll keep the minions pacified?
Anyway, Silent Running asked me to be their Patron Goddess, to which I said 'why not?' and then they sent me a T-shirt.
I've come up with a few problems with trying to pose for the T-Shirt. One, well, there really isn't anywhere to pose when I get off duty, as it is rather cold out and I don't feel like going outside in a T-shirt (not to mention that this puts me out of uniform) so I have to pose indoors for now, and my room is actually kind of nasty looking.
Then there is the whole idea behind the title of Goddess. Goddess tends to depict images of unearthly, beautiful, and I don't know about you, but I'm thinking Feminine.
I have never in my life looked at myself as Feminine, so it cracked me up to begin with that somebody wanted to make me their official Patrod Goddess (truthfully, i think the M203 is what initially won them over) And since I cut my hair since then, that has taken away even more from my femininity so now I look at this and think "how in the hell am I going to fit the Goddess Ideology with nothing but a T-shirt, Combat Boots and an M16?"
I guess that means I'll just keep up the Bad Ass routine. Maybe that'll keep the minions pacified?
2.09.2005
Picture Gallery
One of these days, I will have the capabilities to upload pictures onto Exposure Manager and let people leaf through them at their leasure. However, such is unfortunately not the case.
*sighs*
Meanwhile, you can get a couple glimpses at me working hard.
Washing the HMMWV.
During the MASCAL, looking grumpy as usual (my flak vest and LBV are now more compatible I would like you to know, but I still look bloated whenever they call the MASCALs. This is me pulling QRF duty, and basically freezing.
This was doing water samples, back at Lewis actually. We do water samples so much simpler here at Bondsteel, instead of the BAC-T set, we use Collilert, which is presense absence and a hell of a lot simpler.
And at Hohenfels, waiting on the laundry usually meant I took my laptop out and listened to music and sorted through things. I tucked myself in a corner and went to town.
I just wanted to reiterate that it does indeed snow here. This was the first freakin' day in Bondsteel.
When we first got here, the fog was so thick you couldn't tell the ground from the sky. After about a week we actually got to see the Bondsteel Skyline. It is very beautiful in the summer I can hear. What am i saying, it's beautiful when it isn't hazed over!
I'm going to check up on that wireless internet we supposedly get in our rooms here. And then I get to chew out my bank.
*sighs*
Meanwhile, you can get a couple glimpses at me working hard.
Washing the HMMWV.
During the MASCAL, looking grumpy as usual (my flak vest and LBV are now more compatible I would like you to know, but I still look bloated whenever they call the MASCALs. This is me pulling QRF duty, and basically freezing.
This was doing water samples, back at Lewis actually. We do water samples so much simpler here at Bondsteel, instead of the BAC-T set, we use Collilert, which is presense absence and a hell of a lot simpler.
And at Hohenfels, waiting on the laundry usually meant I took my laptop out and listened to music and sorted through things. I tucked myself in a corner and went to town.
I just wanted to reiterate that it does indeed snow here. This was the first freakin' day in Bondsteel.
When we first got here, the fog was so thick you couldn't tell the ground from the sky. After about a week we actually got to see the Bondsteel Skyline. It is very beautiful in the summer I can hear. What am i saying, it's beautiful when it isn't hazed over!
I'm going to check up on that wireless internet we supposedly get in our rooms here. And then I get to chew out my bank.
2.07.2005
One of my Pet Peeves with America
That we are a sue happy nation.
how come I didn't find out about this until now? I mean, how are people being able to get away with suing somebody who was just trying to be nice?
I think that is one of the biggest problems with this nation. Something happens to somebody that sends them to the emergency room and the first thing they do is try to find somebody to blame. And in this case, it was two teenagers trying to do something nice for their neighbors.
I think the lady who sued them needs to go see a shrink or something because if such a petty little thing such as two people out on the porch at 10:30 sends her into an anxiety attack, then I think she has some problems of her own, because most normal people wouldn't be freaking out.
I guess I could sue Schweitzer for causing me to lose my memory last year after I went snowboarding all day, or maybe I should sue Toyota, because they provided a free lift ticket. Heck, it might be their fault, after all, I still don't remember it.
But what did I do? I sucked it up, found a payment plan to pay for the emergency room myself and got on with my life. That was a one time thing, I didn't look for somebody else to blame, because the only person to blame is me. It was my choice and I took responsibility for what happened.
If somebody else really is responsible, then fine, work it out with them unless you have to take them to court. But in this case, the family offered to pay the bill and the woman STILL took them to court.
Its good to see that a lot of people have looked at this thing and said to themselves "no, this can't be right. People shouldn't be suing others due to acts of kindness." I heard about somebody trying to gather money to pay the girl's final bill ($900, at least the woman wasn't awarded punitive damages) and amazingly it appears that people have come together and raised the money and then some. Heck, I would have sent a check if I thought it would help.
I do believe that the court systems might need to get slightly revamped in this country to stop crap like this from happening and disallowing people from taking full advantage of the system and practically winning the freakin' lottery.
My favorite joke in this regards, click here and read on. Nothing like trying to sue McDonalds because their coffee was to hot, eating at McDonalds made them fat, or because McDonald makes their French Fries with Beef Byproducts.
how come I didn't find out about this until now? I mean, how are people being able to get away with suing somebody who was just trying to be nice?
I think that is one of the biggest problems with this nation. Something happens to somebody that sends them to the emergency room and the first thing they do is try to find somebody to blame. And in this case, it was two teenagers trying to do something nice for their neighbors.
I think the lady who sued them needs to go see a shrink or something because if such a petty little thing such as two people out on the porch at 10:30 sends her into an anxiety attack, then I think she has some problems of her own, because most normal people wouldn't be freaking out.
I guess I could sue Schweitzer for causing me to lose my memory last year after I went snowboarding all day, or maybe I should sue Toyota, because they provided a free lift ticket. Heck, it might be their fault, after all, I still don't remember it.
But what did I do? I sucked it up, found a payment plan to pay for the emergency room myself and got on with my life. That was a one time thing, I didn't look for somebody else to blame, because the only person to blame is me. It was my choice and I took responsibility for what happened.
If somebody else really is responsible, then fine, work it out with them unless you have to take them to court. But in this case, the family offered to pay the bill and the woman STILL took them to court.
Its good to see that a lot of people have looked at this thing and said to themselves "no, this can't be right. People shouldn't be suing others due to acts of kindness." I heard about somebody trying to gather money to pay the girl's final bill ($900, at least the woman wasn't awarded punitive damages) and amazingly it appears that people have come together and raised the money and then some. Heck, I would have sent a check if I thought it would help.
I do believe that the court systems might need to get slightly revamped in this country to stop crap like this from happening and disallowing people from taking full advantage of the system and practically winning the freakin' lottery.
My favorite joke in this regards, click here and read on. Nothing like trying to sue McDonalds because their coffee was to hot, eating at McDonalds made them fat, or because McDonald makes their French Fries with Beef Byproducts.
2.05.2005
Kami Time
I learned an important lesson this week after working long hours, having limited sleep, getting interrupted with the bloody MASS-CALs and overall freezing my ass off. Ok, so truthfully it was something I already knew but was just reiterated, a little.
Kami needs Kami Time. If Kami doesn't get Kami time, Kami get's cranky and pissy and has nothing intelligent to say other then to curse at any one who gets in Kami's way.
Needless to say, I didn't get much Kami time until roughly last night. I feel so much better now that I got Kami Time.
What is Kami Time you might ask? It is when I get a moment to myself, that's all. Just a couple hours or so. I enjoy my time. Ask anybody in my family. I like to be by myself every so often. If I don't get to be by myself every so often, I am not a fun person to be around. My fellow unit members might have picked up on that too.
However, I'm hearing rumors of another MASS-CAL going on in a few short minutes, so I should probably make myself scarce.
Kami needs Kami Time. If Kami doesn't get Kami time, Kami get's cranky and pissy and has nothing intelligent to say other then to curse at any one who gets in Kami's way.
Needless to say, I didn't get much Kami time until roughly last night. I feel so much better now that I got Kami Time.
What is Kami Time you might ask? It is when I get a moment to myself, that's all. Just a couple hours or so. I enjoy my time. Ask anybody in my family. I like to be by myself every so often. If I don't get to be by myself every so often, I am not a fun person to be around. My fellow unit members might have picked up on that too.
However, I'm hearing rumors of another MASS-CAL going on in a few short minutes, so I should probably make myself scarce.
T-shirt News
Let me tell you a story.
It all started with a picture. A picture largely taken in jest. It has become semi famous amongst gun advocates and some right wing web-blogs. It is a picture of me toting an M203 Grenade Launcher.
You know the picture.
The picture was taken on a sunny October afternoon. It was then filed away into my hard drive and then it sat there.
The presidential elections came and went, to the dismay of millions.
Some decided to whine and bitch about the outcome. Others felt the need to poke fun at the whiners and bitchers and set up counter websites in patriotic jest. I dug out that picture from my archives of old pictures and plopped the words “I am not sorry” along the bottom and donated it to the counter websites.
I crosslinked it to my blog just for kicks and giggles.
All hell broke loose and my quiet and usually spontaneous blog spiraled out of control and I got about three dozen marriage proposals in the course of three days.
Er, I wasn’t prepared for that. On top of all of this, I was receiving orders to deploy to the Balkans as well, so my life was kind of busy.
Fast forward to mid December. I was in Fort Lewis in the middle of mobilization and everything had quieted on the Blog-Front. And I get an email asking if I would become Patron Goddess of some conservative website that is all for the right to bare arms and hot chicks that like to bare them (amongst other conservative topics).
I laugh, and am promptly told my time is up. I close down my inbox and don’t answer right away, on account of my limited internet access and very busy life.
Finally, come January, I remember this email I got and decided that it would be rude not to answer it (along with the sixty other emails in my inbox also currently awaiting to be replied to and I vow heavily that I will indeed reply to them, eventually). My reply? “Sure, whatever.”
Immediately I am informed that I am being sent a T-shirt and they are expecting photos. Ok, no big deal. However, I don’t yet have an address to send the T-shirt to.
Fast forward to Hohenfels Germany. It is cool that I am in Germany, sucks that I’m in Hohenfels. The food is lousy, and I am promptly placed on the Hohenfels Weight Control Program. Also considering the fact that I walked damn near everywhere I went and was often skipping meals (and eating beef Jerkey and Gummi Bears instead, Nutritious) I probably lost a good three or five pounds in the week that I was there. But I did get an address to send my mail too!
I was in Hohenfels for about two weeks or so. To long in my opinion. Finally we fly over to Kosovo, where after two weeks of eating Dog Food and Egg Loaf, I am introduced to Chow Hall Heaven.
The outgoing people were commenting on how everyone tends to gorge themselves the first two weeks of getting here. I was no exception. The food, it was edible! And there were so many choices! I’ll take that, and that, and that. . .
Um, let me just say that I’m now starting to limit my choices at chow time.
Then, just today, I get my first package in the mail. Sweet! Packages are awesome! And low and behold, what does it hold?
An Official Patron Goddess T-shirt from Silent Running (with a warning that I have minions).
Um, I tried it on for good measure and took some pictures just to try it out and see how they would turn out, because Dad Nab It, the minions want their T-shirt Photos!
I think I need to start hitting that gym and start eating less grease and more salad before I get a decent picture for the masses. Because right now I’m feeling less Goddess and more Cow. And I don’t think the minions are Hindu and worship cows.
And I ain’t just saying that because I’m female and by default think I’m fat. Because I’m usually comfortable with the way I look. Just, um, five weeks of wearing nothing but Camouflage and it tends to camouflage my body even from me.
I vow to look drop dead sexy by the end of this deployment.
Crosslinked : Silent Running
It all started with a picture. A picture largely taken in jest. It has become semi famous amongst gun advocates and some right wing web-blogs. It is a picture of me toting an M203 Grenade Launcher.
You know the picture.
The picture was taken on a sunny October afternoon. It was then filed away into my hard drive and then it sat there.
The presidential elections came and went, to the dismay of millions.
Some decided to whine and bitch about the outcome. Others felt the need to poke fun at the whiners and bitchers and set up counter websites in patriotic jest. I dug out that picture from my archives of old pictures and plopped the words “I am not sorry” along the bottom and donated it to the counter websites.
I crosslinked it to my blog just for kicks and giggles.
All hell broke loose and my quiet and usually spontaneous blog spiraled out of control and I got about three dozen marriage proposals in the course of three days.
Er, I wasn’t prepared for that. On top of all of this, I was receiving orders to deploy to the Balkans as well, so my life was kind of busy.
Fast forward to mid December. I was in Fort Lewis in the middle of mobilization and everything had quieted on the Blog-Front. And I get an email asking if I would become Patron Goddess of some conservative website that is all for the right to bare arms and hot chicks that like to bare them (amongst other conservative topics).
I laugh, and am promptly told my time is up. I close down my inbox and don’t answer right away, on account of my limited internet access and very busy life.
Finally, come January, I remember this email I got and decided that it would be rude not to answer it (along with the sixty other emails in my inbox also currently awaiting to be replied to and I vow heavily that I will indeed reply to them, eventually). My reply? “Sure, whatever.”
Immediately I am informed that I am being sent a T-shirt and they are expecting photos. Ok, no big deal. However, I don’t yet have an address to send the T-shirt to.
Fast forward to Hohenfels Germany. It is cool that I am in Germany, sucks that I’m in Hohenfels. The food is lousy, and I am promptly placed on the Hohenfels Weight Control Program. Also considering the fact that I walked damn near everywhere I went and was often skipping meals (and eating beef Jerkey and Gummi Bears instead, Nutritious) I probably lost a good three or five pounds in the week that I was there. But I did get an address to send my mail too!
I was in Hohenfels for about two weeks or so. To long in my opinion. Finally we fly over to Kosovo, where after two weeks of eating Dog Food and Egg Loaf, I am introduced to Chow Hall Heaven.
The outgoing people were commenting on how everyone tends to gorge themselves the first two weeks of getting here. I was no exception. The food, it was edible! And there were so many choices! I’ll take that, and that, and that. . .
Um, let me just say that I’m now starting to limit my choices at chow time.
Then, just today, I get my first package in the mail. Sweet! Packages are awesome! And low and behold, what does it hold?
An Official Patron Goddess T-shirt from Silent Running (with a warning that I have minions).
Um, I tried it on for good measure and took some pictures just to try it out and see how they would turn out, because Dad Nab It, the minions want their T-shirt Photos!
I think I need to start hitting that gym and start eating less grease and more salad before I get a decent picture for the masses. Because right now I’m feeling less Goddess and more Cow. And I don’t think the minions are Hindu and worship cows.
And I ain’t just saying that because I’m female and by default think I’m fat. Because I’m usually comfortable with the way I look. Just, um, five weeks of wearing nothing but Camouflage and it tends to camouflage my body even from me.
I vow to look drop dead sexy by the end of this deployment.
Crosslinked : Silent Running
2.03.2005
Why I love Blogs
I'm a large advocate to a system of checks and balances. Which is one of the reasons I love blogs so much. They tend to check the MSM and they are known for checking each other.
And I am totally open to being checked.
Apparently I should have checked myself before, but I just thought the story was interesting, and not entirely unbelievable. Oh well, I'm just glad I can love Germany again.
Hat tip: Jack of Clubs
And I am totally open to being checked.
Apparently I should have checked myself before, but I just thought the story was interesting, and not entirely unbelievable. Oh well, I'm just glad I can love Germany again.
Hat tip: Jack of Clubs
2.02.2005
Movie Reviewing
One thing I used to love a lot is movies. i used to work at a movie theater and while I worked there, I saw just about everything that came out because it was free.
Well, here, I'll get the opportunity to watch a lot of movies for free once more.
Anyway, i just saw a movie that really pissed me off. Some parts of it were funny, yeah, but it was so damn inconsistant and was trying to hard to be the first one, which I loved.
That movie was Meet the Fockers. They could have done a lot with this thing and instead they went over the top and it came out as one forced laugh after another. Bloody hell at times I was squirming uncomfortably wondering when it would end. Granted, there were funny moments, but I wanted to slap the Fockers because they were bloody hipocrits.
I think what pissed me off was the fact that the Fockers were liberals of the worst sense. All about being open with one's self, in the case of this movie, a little to much to the embarrassment of their son and the whole 'self esteem' thing throughout the movie, congratulating on a 10th place finish. And then they ridicule the host who's a bit more withdrawn and conservative for being, well, conservative.
I didn't realize how much I hated this movie until after I had finished watching it and slept on it a bit.
Or maybe it was because Barbara Streisand was in it and there is something about her that really bugs me.
Damn, i could go on and rant about this movie. And I had been really looking forward to it too.
Curse you, Hollywood for continuing to release crap like this! I am mad at you! I haven't seen a decent movie since the Incredibles! (at one time I wanted to work for Pixar, still do in fact)
Well, here, I'll get the opportunity to watch a lot of movies for free once more.
Anyway, i just saw a movie that really pissed me off. Some parts of it were funny, yeah, but it was so damn inconsistant and was trying to hard to be the first one, which I loved.
That movie was Meet the Fockers. They could have done a lot with this thing and instead they went over the top and it came out as one forced laugh after another. Bloody hell at times I was squirming uncomfortably wondering when it would end. Granted, there were funny moments, but I wanted to slap the Fockers because they were bloody hipocrits.
I think what pissed me off was the fact that the Fockers were liberals of the worst sense. All about being open with one's self, in the case of this movie, a little to much to the embarrassment of their son and the whole 'self esteem' thing throughout the movie, congratulating on a 10th place finish. And then they ridicule the host who's a bit more withdrawn and conservative for being, well, conservative.
I didn't realize how much I hated this movie until after I had finished watching it and slept on it a bit.
Or maybe it was because Barbara Streisand was in it and there is something about her that really bugs me.
Damn, i could go on and rant about this movie. And I had been really looking forward to it too.
Curse you, Hollywood for continuing to release crap like this! I am mad at you! I haven't seen a decent movie since the Incredibles! (at one time I wanted to work for Pixar, still do in fact)
groundhog's day
Hmm, it's groundhog's day today. To celebrate it, i decided to recessicate my lagging webcomic which had promptly died, oh, about the same time I gained exposure on the internet, politically (which is something I always avoided with a webcomic. My comic readers are primarily of the liberal persuasion.) thing is, the comic is just a little bit younger then my blog. Fortunately, the comic is there in its entirity unlike my blog, which is missing all entries priar to this summer, when my entire website crashed and burned horribly. Somebody asked who the guy was. I have to admit that I can't draw myself with short hair and mad too and retain my femininity. Which is non-existant in the first place.
Though this comic is now not entirely true, just found out today that they are indeed sponsering MWR trips to Big Duke, which means I will get opportunities to Ski. Not sure about snowboarding yet, but if I'm allowed to ski, I'll take skiing.
Then I had to do a MASS-CAL exercise and promptly began hating cold weather again when I lost all feelings in my toes.
Punxsutawney Phil is going down, man, he is going DOWN!!!
Though this comic is now not entirely true, just found out today that they are indeed sponsering MWR trips to Big Duke, which means I will get opportunities to Ski. Not sure about snowboarding yet, but if I'm allowed to ski, I'll take skiing.
Then I had to do a MASS-CAL exercise and promptly began hating cold weather again when I lost all feelings in my toes.
Punxsutawney Phil is going down, man, he is going DOWN!!!
1.31.2005
Wonder what retention would be like if this was imposed?
This thing has been out for over a year and I am just NOW seeing it? What is my problem?
That is some funny crap man.
That is some funny crap man.
A bit of Political Hub-Bub
But not in the sense that I normally post, because I don't want to tread on toes, considering I am now a member of the Active Military and should not be getting to political.
Just because of that, I'll post a link and leave it at that.
Damn, those Iraqis really seem to be hating us Americans, aren't they?
In other news, which I'm sure is making its rounds around the Blogosphere just as the above is (though I retrieved it from other sources, my blog rounds haven't been the same since I deployed *deep sigh*), the status of Germany and its Unemployment laws really make you wonder. I can see that there was good intentions behind this, but it has certainly paved a road to hell. There has to be some moral high ground that should take presidence. I shouldn't be forced to take a job that goes against my religious beliefs for instance. Fortunately, nothing like this is going on in the US (right now) and I am comfortably employed.
I guess that means I shouldn't be moving to Germany any time soon and go through unemployment.
Just because of that, I'll post a link and leave it at that.
Damn, those Iraqis really seem to be hating us Americans, aren't they?
In other news, which I'm sure is making its rounds around the Blogosphere just as the above is (though I retrieved it from other sources, my blog rounds haven't been the same since I deployed *deep sigh*), the status of Germany and its Unemployment laws really make you wonder. I can see that there was good intentions behind this, but it has certainly paved a road to hell. There has to be some moral high ground that should take presidence. I shouldn't be forced to take a job that goes against my religious beliefs for instance. Fortunately, nothing like this is going on in the US (right now) and I am comfortably employed.
I guess that means I shouldn't be moving to Germany any time soon and go through unemployment.
Vow to refrain from Boredom
Well, I'm starting to get in the groove of things, I even have access to the computer in my office as well as the all important password to all sorts of government stuff.
I feel special.
Weather is still frigid. Somedays its cool yet sunny, other times its snowing big fat snowflakes, and sometimes it stings your face and your ears lose all of their feeling. But there is always snow on the ground. Going out amidst the locals, its actually rather pretty. I hear once the snow melts we will get to see the trash. Hmm. . .
So far since I've been here, I've been outside the wire about four times. I go back outside the wire again this week another three times, which is the case with my job. I'm beginning to see that this is one of the many perks about my job. My mobility. I will get to see the region, and I will see a lot of it.
And I've been to both the Greek and the Pole/Ukrainian Camps. The Americans stationed there have it tough. We visited them on a Saturday, they were playing Halo2 on a big screen TV.
Must be tough to be analysts.
I've decided I need an Xbox. My current addiction to RedvsBlue makes me want to play Halo. And we have a lot of time on our hands during our off hours.
Actually, i also want to direct videos. I vow not to be bored here.
But apparently, with all of the jobs that are going to be piled on my plate while I'm here, I won't be.
I feel special.
Weather is still frigid. Somedays its cool yet sunny, other times its snowing big fat snowflakes, and sometimes it stings your face and your ears lose all of their feeling. But there is always snow on the ground. Going out amidst the locals, its actually rather pretty. I hear once the snow melts we will get to see the trash. Hmm. . .
So far since I've been here, I've been outside the wire about four times. I go back outside the wire again this week another three times, which is the case with my job. I'm beginning to see that this is one of the many perks about my job. My mobility. I will get to see the region, and I will see a lot of it.
And I've been to both the Greek and the Pole/Ukrainian Camps. The Americans stationed there have it tough. We visited them on a Saturday, they were playing Halo2 on a big screen TV.
Must be tough to be analysts.
I've decided I need an Xbox. My current addiction to RedvsBlue makes me want to play Halo. And we have a lot of time on our hands during our off hours.
Actually, i also want to direct videos. I vow not to be bored here.
But apparently, with all of the jobs that are going to be piled on my plate while I'm here, I won't be.
1.28.2005
Pictures from Kosovo
Ok, to those of you who didn't think I was serious about the Bill Clinton Worship in Pristina (which got bombed to hell in 1999).
He's also got a street named after him. Case in point.
Anyway, along with other pictures of Kosovo is the real estate around here is interesting. Granted it is winter, but there is a lot of buildings around here that have the potential to be really nice, if they would finish them. Hmm. . .
And the propping up of the floors with sticks is particularly amusing.
And these people aren't very rich, their houses are usually missing windows, but at least they have their MTV. Sattelite Everywhere.
Aside from Kosovo, I flew in here on a C130 for the first time, got a picture with my helmet looking all ate the hell up.
My weapon is my battle buddy. It is with me 24-7. I think I might get sick of it after a while, but to tell you the honest truth, as long as I am required to have it on my person all of the time, Uncle Sam pays me another 250 a month and waives my income tax so I think I can live with that.
In other news, though I saw Team America World Police about three months ago, it is just coming to the theaters here. The team we are replacing saw it not to long ago and have been quoting it mercilessly. Unfortunately, I have fallen suit. Damn them.
Movies are free here, though they are usually about three to six months old in the theaters. This will make things difficult in regards to star wars (curses).
Luckily, there is a 'cd/dvd' shop outside KFOR Main that sells Cds and DVDs for dirt cheap. The thing about them is they are generally still theaters. Yes, that's right, they are all pirated. I picked up the Incredibles and Meet the Fockers for a paltry 6 Euro. I just had to pick up a pirated movie just to say I have one. But don't worry Disney, I will indeed buy a Real version of the Incredibles when it comes out. I still haven't seen Meet the Fockers, so I can't say the same thing about it. (but I liked Meet the Parents soo. . .)
He's also got a street named after him. Case in point.
Anyway, along with other pictures of Kosovo is the real estate around here is interesting. Granted it is winter, but there is a lot of buildings around here that have the potential to be really nice, if they would finish them. Hmm. . .
And the propping up of the floors with sticks is particularly amusing.
And these people aren't very rich, their houses are usually missing windows, but at least they have their MTV. Sattelite Everywhere.
Aside from Kosovo, I flew in here on a C130 for the first time, got a picture with my helmet looking all ate the hell up.
My weapon is my battle buddy. It is with me 24-7. I think I might get sick of it after a while, but to tell you the honest truth, as long as I am required to have it on my person all of the time, Uncle Sam pays me another 250 a month and waives my income tax so I think I can live with that.
In other news, though I saw Team America World Police about three months ago, it is just coming to the theaters here. The team we are replacing saw it not to long ago and have been quoting it mercilessly. Unfortunately, I have fallen suit. Damn them.
Movies are free here, though they are usually about three to six months old in the theaters. This will make things difficult in regards to star wars (curses).
Luckily, there is a 'cd/dvd' shop outside KFOR Main that sells Cds and DVDs for dirt cheap. The thing about them is they are generally still theaters. Yes, that's right, they are all pirated. I picked up the Incredibles and Meet the Fockers for a paltry 6 Euro. I just had to pick up a pirated movie just to say I have one. But don't worry Disney, I will indeed buy a Real version of the Incredibles when it comes out. I still haven't seen Meet the Fockers, so I can't say the same thing about it. (but I liked Meet the Parents soo. . .)
Carnival of Kitties
Now its time for KITTY BLOGGING!!!
This weeks honorary member, the mascot of Kamenica.
Um, these people technically aren't supposed to have mascots, but I'm not saying anything. Besides, this kitty was friendly. I'm sure the vets gave her the needed shots so she can hang around a while longer.
This weeks honorary member, the mascot of Kamenica.
Um, these people technically aren't supposed to have mascots, but I'm not saying anything. Besides, this kitty was friendly. I'm sure the vets gave her the needed shots so she can hang around a while longer.
1.26.2005
More in Kosovo
Like I mentioned before, I'm now in Kosovo. Internet is more consistant, unfortunately it is still a bit finicky. These next couple days are going to be fairly interesting, they went ahead and gave us the tour of the camp today and went over some things and now I have the rest of the day off.
Apparently, these next 12 months are going to yield a few things to us, including educational opportunities, a chance to get my butt in some serious ass-kicking shape, a mission that includes like seven countries (including possibly Italy), and a lot of free time.
The task force has designated this to be a non drinking deployment, which appears to be upsetting some people, but I don't care as it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I don't drink. Which makes a lot of people starving for things to do. The Task Force we're replacing appears to be seriously beefed up, they must get a lot of time in the gym.
I have a feeling that Amazon and Ebay will become near and dear to me. The PX is good, supposedly the best in the Balkans and the second highest grossing one in the chain (because the other multinational forces like to shop there too, as well as eat our food).
And I've seen quite a few people in foreign uniforms wandering the region. We share this specific sector with Greece, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and a fifth country that escapes my mind at present (only because they represent 1% of the task force here). The Norwegians are here on post too. I see a lot of Germans, Italians and French wandering around as well.
What's really hilarious is the locals. So far they appear to be really cool, and they LOVE the Americans. Its kind of an interesting thing we've got going on here. The Albanians love us because we came in and bombed the crap out of the Serbians back in '99. The Serbians love us (though they don't love us as much as the Albanians do) because we are preventing the Albanians from completely over taking Kosovo. That, and we protect their churches and other various places of importance. Long story.
In Pristina, largest city in Kosovo, they have a shrine to Bill Clinton with various signs exclaiming "thank you" and a big picture of him hanging off of one of the buildings. They love him here.
I will get plenty of opportunities to talk to the locals. They have both Serbs and Albanians on post working under contract so I'll get a chance to interact with them. They don't always speak great english, but we'll see how much Albanian and Serbian I can pick up before I leave.
This should be an interesting year. I'm looking forward to getting to work.
Apparently, these next 12 months are going to yield a few things to us, including educational opportunities, a chance to get my butt in some serious ass-kicking shape, a mission that includes like seven countries (including possibly Italy), and a lot of free time.
The task force has designated this to be a non drinking deployment, which appears to be upsetting some people, but I don't care as it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I don't drink. Which makes a lot of people starving for things to do. The Task Force we're replacing appears to be seriously beefed up, they must get a lot of time in the gym.
I have a feeling that Amazon and Ebay will become near and dear to me. The PX is good, supposedly the best in the Balkans and the second highest grossing one in the chain (because the other multinational forces like to shop there too, as well as eat our food).
And I've seen quite a few people in foreign uniforms wandering the region. We share this specific sector with Greece, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and a fifth country that escapes my mind at present (only because they represent 1% of the task force here). The Norwegians are here on post too. I see a lot of Germans, Italians and French wandering around as well.
What's really hilarious is the locals. So far they appear to be really cool, and they LOVE the Americans. Its kind of an interesting thing we've got going on here. The Albanians love us because we came in and bombed the crap out of the Serbians back in '99. The Serbians love us (though they don't love us as much as the Albanians do) because we are preventing the Albanians from completely over taking Kosovo. That, and we protect their churches and other various places of importance. Long story.
In Pristina, largest city in Kosovo, they have a shrine to Bill Clinton with various signs exclaiming "thank you" and a big picture of him hanging off of one of the buildings. They love him here.
I will get plenty of opportunities to talk to the locals. They have both Serbs and Albanians on post working under contract so I'll get a chance to interact with them. They don't always speak great english, but we'll see how much Albanian and Serbian I can pick up before I leave.
This should be an interesting year. I'm looking forward to getting to work.
1.25.2005
1.24.2005
Entertaining Oneself
I was coming back from chow for the evening when I was approached by my NCOIC (sergeant in charge for you none military folk) who asked me about guard duty. As in, would I mind pulling it on Monday from nine in the morning to nine at night. That didn't sound so bad, as long as I could get on post on Tuesday so I could mail a few things home.
As I did laundry this evening, I was further informed of another problem, in how SSG D says it, "do you want the good news or the bad news?"
I basically got an hour and a half notice that I was pulling an all nighter shift tonight from nine at night to nine in the morning guarding weapons.
Fortunately, they provide us with internet access, and we can bring our own computers with us and watch movies, or what not.
I can keep myself entertained on the computer for hours, however usually at home my entire sleep schedule is out of whack. Well, if I think I'm back in the states, its only 7:30. But in Europe, its 4:30 in the morning. Which consists of me staring blood shot thinking "only four and a half more hours. . ." I've been on a nice little sleep schedule of waking up before seven on most days.
I can think, I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. I've got all day to sleep in tomorrow. Just think, I'll be on Pacific Standard Time again (if only for the day).
But I'm getting a serious attack from the z monster. So what does one do with situations such as these?
Hop online and get a Sponser membership to Red Vs Blue and plan on watching those for the rest of the morning. They even have the copies from the BNL tour last summer, back before I knew they existed and I couldn't tell what was on the screen due to the massive whitewash by the usually non-existent Auburn sun!
I also watched Napoleon Dynamite again (AWESOME!) and enjoyed it's nerdy goodness, and relished in the fact that I am in deed, a nerd. I guess I could put it back on and watch the wedding scene over again.
Then there is of course, Livejournal Memes. My friends get me started on these, I thought I would expand on them. Most specifically, this one. Feel free to post anonymously in reply.
And of course, surfing through my pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Not only that, but I'm on a computer with a USB port! That means, downloading pictures!
Now I have a bunch of movies I picked up for fairly cheap (or at least tax free) that I could pop in to entertain myself. But I guess I'd rather post to my blog delusional comments made in an exhausted state that I'm bound to regret later.
Actually, I think I'll stick to Red Vs Blue.
As I did laundry this evening, I was further informed of another problem, in how SSG D says it, "do you want the good news or the bad news?"
I basically got an hour and a half notice that I was pulling an all nighter shift tonight from nine at night to nine in the morning guarding weapons.
Fortunately, they provide us with internet access, and we can bring our own computers with us and watch movies, or what not.
I can keep myself entertained on the computer for hours, however usually at home my entire sleep schedule is out of whack. Well, if I think I'm back in the states, its only 7:30. But in Europe, its 4:30 in the morning. Which consists of me staring blood shot thinking "only four and a half more hours. . ." I've been on a nice little sleep schedule of waking up before seven on most days.
I can think, I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. I've got all day to sleep in tomorrow. Just think, I'll be on Pacific Standard Time again (if only for the day).
But I'm getting a serious attack from the z monster. So what does one do with situations such as these?
Hop online and get a Sponser membership to Red Vs Blue and plan on watching those for the rest of the morning. They even have the copies from the BNL tour last summer, back before I knew they existed and I couldn't tell what was on the screen due to the massive whitewash by the usually non-existent Auburn sun!
I also watched Napoleon Dynamite again (AWESOME!) and enjoyed it's nerdy goodness, and relished in the fact that I am in deed, a nerd. I guess I could put it back on and watch the wedding scene over again.
Then there is of course, Livejournal Memes. My friends get me started on these, I thought I would expand on them. Most specifically, this one. Feel free to post anonymously in reply.
And of course, surfing through my pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Not only that, but I'm on a computer with a USB port! That means, downloading pictures!
Now I have a bunch of movies I picked up for fairly cheap (or at least tax free) that I could pop in to entertain myself. But I guess I'd rather post to my blog delusional comments made in an exhausted state that I'm bound to regret later.
Actually, I think I'll stick to Red Vs Blue.
1.23.2005
It's SNOWING!
It's snowing here finally. When it was warm here, it was subzero temperatures back home. Now that it's cold here, home is suffering from spring type weather.
That ok, I like snow. I'll be ok.
In fact, when it finally started snowing, I wanted to pose with my instrument of death. See how happy I am?
You know, this camouflage stuff really doesn't do a very good job camouflaging in this white fluffy stuff.
Now the question is, ask me again in a month if I mind the snow. I might give you the look of death and mumble a curse on your children.
1.19.2005
Parental Spawned
My dad created a blog. He emailed me to let me know.
I have no idea what TWIMC means.
I'm waiting to see what else he writes.
Update - Ok, now that i think about it, its a little bit obvious.
Meanwhile, i was mentioning the whole 'dad blogging' thing to my mom and she mentioned that she didn't know why my dad started a blog. To tell you the truth, it kind of surprised me too. I don't think he knows what he's getting into. Believe me, I love my dad, but he really isn't the type to get into blogging and keep with it. He's to busy doing other things.
I have no idea what TWIMC means.
I'm waiting to see what else he writes.
Update - Ok, now that i think about it, its a little bit obvious.
Meanwhile, i was mentioning the whole 'dad blogging' thing to my mom and she mentioned that she didn't know why my dad started a blog. To tell you the truth, it kind of surprised me too. I don't think he knows what he's getting into. Believe me, I love my dad, but he really isn't the type to get into blogging and keep with it. He's to busy doing other things.
Computers in Hohenfels
Somebody made this suggestion. I thought I would expand on it.
I love jump drives. I just got one and between my laptop and anybody else's, I can just take things as i need to.
However, when it comes to the internet, there is one problem. Only three places have internet access.
The library (no USB ports)
The Surf-Net (again, no USB ports, and time is limited)
The commander's office (USB ports yes, freedom to surf? Nada)
I have been instructed that while I am here, connecting to the Network with my own PC is a no-go. I do it just once, my computer will be confiscated and returned to me when I get home. In a little over a year.
I think I can wait until Kosovo.
I love jump drives. I just got one and between my laptop and anybody else's, I can just take things as i need to.
However, when it comes to the internet, there is one problem. Only three places have internet access.
The library (no USB ports)
The Surf-Net (again, no USB ports, and time is limited)
The commander's office (USB ports yes, freedom to surf? Nada)
I have been instructed that while I am here, connecting to the Network with my own PC is a no-go. I do it just once, my computer will be confiscated and returned to me when I get home. In a little over a year.
I think I can wait until Kosovo.
1.17.2005
Stupidity
I have learned a lot in my lifetime. I still have a lot to learn as well, but one lesson that I had learned before that only got reinforced this weekend is that nobody is immune to stupidity. And there are different kinds of stupidity as well. Those who say stupid things and those who do stupid things.
Eh, you can see where I'm going with this, right?
See, I blew a trip to Neuschwanstein this weekend, due to the fact that I almost missed the bus. A trip to Neuschwanstein is even a new years resolution. I could have had it knocked out halfway through January. But NOOO!
I had to do something stupid.
We were given three simple rules. Don't drink (which was difficult for some people, as we were in Munich, the Oktoberfest capital of the world), stay in groups of two or more, and be back to the bus by 17:45.
I broke the latter two. The bus was leaving at 1800. I miss it, I had to take a train back to Munich. I made it by a minute.
I'd go into detail, but I am running out of internet time (damn these computers). Long story short, I had two trips scheduled this weekend and I blew the second because I screwed up on the first.
I'll expand on this later.
LATER - Alright, so while we are walking through Munich, eating at expensive German Resteraunts and sightseeing down the Marienplatz, I stuck pretty well with my group of two other people. Lot to see, damn I wish I had a way to upload pictures (will I be busy when I get steady internet!)
We had to be back at the bus at 1745. No ifs ands or buts about it. After Dachau (yes, I saw the concentration camp as well, very fascinating) where one soldier got caugt up in reading the information and put the rest of us behind by a good 20 minutes, the time issue was key. That, and the busdriver swore he was leaving at 1800 and not a minute later.
Anyway, we were walking back to the bus and I still had a good hour and fifteen minutes to dink around. My group merged with another, and out of the confusion, well, I seperated from everybody. Subconsciously, I think I did it on purpose.
Anyway, I wanted to find a bookstore, really bad, and started asking people about Bookstores and where there was one nearby. I was directed back to the MarienPlatz and told of a bookstore there. I went back, and found a bookstore. Seven stories of books. In german. I decided, to work on my german speaking skills, picked up book one in the Harry Potter series, auf Deutsch! I also picked up the first Movie in german too, with English Subtitles!
Can you tell I'm working on my German?
Well, in my confusion to get back to the bus, I decided to cut across the street and go a slightly different way then I came. Mistake Numero Uno. See, I was thinking american streets, which are nine times out of ten set up in a grid pattern of sorts. This is an old european city, it is built around a circle and all roads go inwards. My thought was I would just go due south and hit the main road where the bus was and catch it going back east. No, i never hit the main road, at least I never noticed it, and went not South but South West. And kept going.
After a while, and asking several people in german "wo is das Deutches Museum" and getting a long response from one about where to go in german, and I had no idea what she was saying because my german is not very good, I decided to wing it. I made it a point to ask "Sprechen Sie Englisch" after that. Becuase I was led on a wild goosechase.
Finally, after being told that I was about a 25 minute walk from the Deutches Museum, which was right across the street from the bus stop, I decided to take a taxi (becuase I wouldn't have made it on foot). My luck? The taxi driver doesn't speak much english but got the whole "Deutches Museum, mach schnell bitte!" down pretty much. He went about as fast as the traffic allowed, but I don't think I could have gotten it through his head to stop right at the bus instead of the Deutches Museum. He had to do a U turn and I threw 7 Euros at him and told him to keep the change as I booked it for the bus.
A counseling statement and no more MWR trips while we are in Hohenfels is my punishment. Tis ok, as I am forever grateful I made the bus. *sighs with relief*
I wonder if that can be my stupid act for this trip?
Nah, I doubt it.
Eh, you can see where I'm going with this, right?
See, I blew a trip to Neuschwanstein this weekend, due to the fact that I almost missed the bus. A trip to Neuschwanstein is even a new years resolution. I could have had it knocked out halfway through January. But NOOO!
I had to do something stupid.
We were given three simple rules. Don't drink (which was difficult for some people, as we were in Munich, the Oktoberfest capital of the world), stay in groups of two or more, and be back to the bus by 17:45.
I broke the latter two. The bus was leaving at 1800. I miss it, I had to take a train back to Munich. I made it by a minute.
I'd go into detail, but I am running out of internet time (damn these computers). Long story short, I had two trips scheduled this weekend and I blew the second because I screwed up on the first.
I'll expand on this later.
LATER - Alright, so while we are walking through Munich, eating at expensive German Resteraunts and sightseeing down the Marienplatz, I stuck pretty well with my group of two other people. Lot to see, damn I wish I had a way to upload pictures (will I be busy when I get steady internet!)
We had to be back at the bus at 1745. No ifs ands or buts about it. After Dachau (yes, I saw the concentration camp as well, very fascinating) where one soldier got caugt up in reading the information and put the rest of us behind by a good 20 minutes, the time issue was key. That, and the busdriver swore he was leaving at 1800 and not a minute later.
Anyway, we were walking back to the bus and I still had a good hour and fifteen minutes to dink around. My group merged with another, and out of the confusion, well, I seperated from everybody. Subconsciously, I think I did it on purpose.
Anyway, I wanted to find a bookstore, really bad, and started asking people about Bookstores and where there was one nearby. I was directed back to the MarienPlatz and told of a bookstore there. I went back, and found a bookstore. Seven stories of books. In german. I decided, to work on my german speaking skills, picked up book one in the Harry Potter series, auf Deutsch! I also picked up the first Movie in german too, with English Subtitles!
Can you tell I'm working on my German?
Well, in my confusion to get back to the bus, I decided to cut across the street and go a slightly different way then I came. Mistake Numero Uno. See, I was thinking american streets, which are nine times out of ten set up in a grid pattern of sorts. This is an old european city, it is built around a circle and all roads go inwards. My thought was I would just go due south and hit the main road where the bus was and catch it going back east. No, i never hit the main road, at least I never noticed it, and went not South but South West. And kept going.
After a while, and asking several people in german "wo is das Deutches Museum" and getting a long response from one about where to go in german, and I had no idea what she was saying because my german is not very good, I decided to wing it. I made it a point to ask "Sprechen Sie Englisch" after that. Becuase I was led on a wild goosechase.
Finally, after being told that I was about a 25 minute walk from the Deutches Museum, which was right across the street from the bus stop, I decided to take a taxi (becuase I wouldn't have made it on foot). My luck? The taxi driver doesn't speak much english but got the whole "Deutches Museum, mach schnell bitte!" down pretty much. He went about as fast as the traffic allowed, but I don't think I could have gotten it through his head to stop right at the bus instead of the Deutches Museum. He had to do a U turn and I threw 7 Euros at him and told him to keep the change as I booked it for the bus.
A counseling statement and no more MWR trips while we are in Hohenfels is my punishment. Tis ok, as I am forever grateful I made the bus. *sighs with relief*
I wonder if that can be my stupid act for this trip?
Nah, I doubt it.
1.13.2005
World and States
Now to the important stuff.
Yes, I am in deed, in Germany. Not a whole lot to say about it as of yet, because I'm stuck on a military installation at the moment. We flew over here on Monday, stopped in Maine and Iceland for a short time to refuel, lost nine hours due to the time change (which truly does suck), and got bussed to a little place called Hohenfells which is not as bad as I thought it would be (people kept mentioning how much it snows and how cold it gets here, and it really hasn't been much different then Washington so far).
I used to have a map on my computer showing all of the states and countries i've been. I need to dig that out again and use it. Hmm. . .
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourAlbuquerque travel guide
That is my current State Map. Some of those states are airport only states. But I'll count them anyway.
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands
And this is my current country map. Not much will be going on in the states for now. The world map will be updated regularly. This should be fun.
Yes, I am in deed, in Germany. Not a whole lot to say about it as of yet, because I'm stuck on a military installation at the moment. We flew over here on Monday, stopped in Maine and Iceland for a short time to refuel, lost nine hours due to the time change (which truly does suck), and got bussed to a little place called Hohenfells which is not as bad as I thought it would be (people kept mentioning how much it snows and how cold it gets here, and it really hasn't been much different then Washington so far).
I used to have a map on my computer showing all of the states and countries i've been. I need to dig that out again and use it. Hmm. . .
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourAlbuquerque travel guide
That is my current State Map. Some of those states are airport only states. But I'll count them anyway.
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands
And this is my current country map. Not much will be going on in the states for now. The world map will be updated regularly. This should be fun.
My Policy on Iraq
I don't know why, but I get a lot of questions about Iraq. Mainly because I'm in the army and every time I mentioned that I was deploying, most people immediately assumed I was headed to the middle east. Well, I almost went there, but I didn't go so Iraq really doesn't apply to me. At this moment.
That being said, my opinion on Iraq is mostly supportive yet indifferent. And I'll explain why.
First and foremost, I had some reservations about going into Iraq. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy war if we went in. However, I do believe that Saddam Hussein was an evil man and the prevention of the Iraqi war was by and large in his hands. I do believe that the world is a better place without him. Unfortunately we should have taken him out during the First Gulf War. We didn't. I feel we had unfinished business there.
Another thing, I do not read negative press about Iraq, or at least try to avoid it. Why you might ask? Because I am doing myself no favors by looking at all of the things that are going wrong in the war and the casualty count and so on and so forth when the probability of me going there is high, and my former unit is once again on the radar to go this coming summer. Chances are, they'll make the rounds this time.
If my views toward the Iraq war were negative and I felt that we made a huge mistake going there and I continually bashed my Commander in Chief on his policies and then got sent to go there, would that help me? No. In fact, my morale will be shot. I will be miserable and i will put myself and every one around me in danger.
We should have done things differently, we should have initially gone in there with more troops, or maybe we should have waited a little longer before going in. It is unfortunate that we have to focus a lot of our energy into this war but the fact remains, we're there now. Hindsight is 20/20, but we started this, we must finish it, and pulling out now is not the way to do it. I would rather focus on the terrorists and draw them to Iraq then have to fight them on our home turf.
I am not going to do myself any favors by criticizing the war and destroying my motivation for being there. That is one of the worst things I can do for myself. It will only get me killed that much easier. And due to the fact that I almost went there multiple times, I chose to remain positive in our outlook and focus on the good that was coming out of Iraq, and ignore the negative press. This is war. I can understand that. There will be some horrible things that will happen, but that has happened in war since the beginnings of time. The more I look at war and read about it, I begin to understand the horrors behind it, and the true irrationality behind it. War disgusts me. It is a truly horrible thing.
Nobody hates war more then those who have to fight it. But the true warrior understands the need that sometimes you have to fight for something greater then yourself. Is fighting in Iraq worth dying for? I guess that depends largely on how you look at it. You can view this as a war for oil, or you can view this as a fight to give millions of people freedom from oppression under a tyrant who butchered his own people. Maybe the reasonings behind this war are shady, but I'll view it how I want to view it. There are Iraqis who are supportive of us and want us to be there. There are some who will try to fight us at every turn. It is unfortunate that they can't see what we are trying to accomplish, and that fighting us will only make us stay longer.
And this is an all volunteer army. I knew that going to war was a great possibility if I signed up. If I have any regrets about going to Iraq or Kosovo, I have nobody to blame but myself.
Sometimes I wish things ran a little more smooth in the military, but alas it is an imperfect institution run by imperfect people. And nobody is perfect. Mistakes will be made, and mistakes have been made in Iraq.
All I can do is do my best if I get sent there.
However, right now none of this really applies to me becuase my attention is currently directed at the Balkans. Not Iraq.
So please, don't ask me my opinion on the matter. Because right now all I care about is getting through this deployment in one piece.
Then I'll think about Iraq.
UPDATE - Ok, I have an Alibi to this post. I avoid negative press, yes, but I do read up on it a little bit to learn from the mistakes of others, such as Abu Ghraib and where things went wrong and how someone such as me, a preventive medicine specialist, can prevent things like that from occuring again. That is the only use I have for the negative press, to learn from it so that I don't repeat the same mistakes, though death counts won't tell me anything unless I know how they died.
And then I go about preventing those deaths. See, that's my job.
That being said, my opinion on Iraq is mostly supportive yet indifferent. And I'll explain why.
First and foremost, I had some reservations about going into Iraq. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy war if we went in. However, I do believe that Saddam Hussein was an evil man and the prevention of the Iraqi war was by and large in his hands. I do believe that the world is a better place without him. Unfortunately we should have taken him out during the First Gulf War. We didn't. I feel we had unfinished business there.
Another thing, I do not read negative press about Iraq, or at least try to avoid it. Why you might ask? Because I am doing myself no favors by looking at all of the things that are going wrong in the war and the casualty count and so on and so forth when the probability of me going there is high, and my former unit is once again on the radar to go this coming summer. Chances are, they'll make the rounds this time.
If my views toward the Iraq war were negative and I felt that we made a huge mistake going there and I continually bashed my Commander in Chief on his policies and then got sent to go there, would that help me? No. In fact, my morale will be shot. I will be miserable and i will put myself and every one around me in danger.
We should have done things differently, we should have initially gone in there with more troops, or maybe we should have waited a little longer before going in. It is unfortunate that we have to focus a lot of our energy into this war but the fact remains, we're there now. Hindsight is 20/20, but we started this, we must finish it, and pulling out now is not the way to do it. I would rather focus on the terrorists and draw them to Iraq then have to fight them on our home turf.
I am not going to do myself any favors by criticizing the war and destroying my motivation for being there. That is one of the worst things I can do for myself. It will only get me killed that much easier. And due to the fact that I almost went there multiple times, I chose to remain positive in our outlook and focus on the good that was coming out of Iraq, and ignore the negative press. This is war. I can understand that. There will be some horrible things that will happen, but that has happened in war since the beginnings of time. The more I look at war and read about it, I begin to understand the horrors behind it, and the true irrationality behind it. War disgusts me. It is a truly horrible thing.
Nobody hates war more then those who have to fight it. But the true warrior understands the need that sometimes you have to fight for something greater then yourself. Is fighting in Iraq worth dying for? I guess that depends largely on how you look at it. You can view this as a war for oil, or you can view this as a fight to give millions of people freedom from oppression under a tyrant who butchered his own people. Maybe the reasonings behind this war are shady, but I'll view it how I want to view it. There are Iraqis who are supportive of us and want us to be there. There are some who will try to fight us at every turn. It is unfortunate that they can't see what we are trying to accomplish, and that fighting us will only make us stay longer.
And this is an all volunteer army. I knew that going to war was a great possibility if I signed up. If I have any regrets about going to Iraq or Kosovo, I have nobody to blame but myself.
Sometimes I wish things ran a little more smooth in the military, but alas it is an imperfect institution run by imperfect people. And nobody is perfect. Mistakes will be made, and mistakes have been made in Iraq.
All I can do is do my best if I get sent there.
However, right now none of this really applies to me becuase my attention is currently directed at the Balkans. Not Iraq.
So please, don't ask me my opinion on the matter. Because right now all I care about is getting through this deployment in one piece.
Then I'll think about Iraq.
UPDATE - Ok, I have an Alibi to this post. I avoid negative press, yes, but I do read up on it a little bit to learn from the mistakes of others, such as Abu Ghraib and where things went wrong and how someone such as me, a preventive medicine specialist, can prevent things like that from occuring again. That is the only use I have for the negative press, to learn from it so that I don't repeat the same mistakes, though death counts won't tell me anything unless I know how they died.
And then I go about preventing those deaths. See, that's my job.
Defining Trolls
Ok, so why do people e-mail me to insult me? I got another piece of 'hate mail' in my inbox of somebody telling me how i must feel special to feel so tough when a poor little Iraqui girl has no arms somewhere because the big bad americans bombed her house.
Ok, so that pertains to a preventive medicine specialist how?
I was telling my dad back when about Trolls when my website first got its surge of readers from out of nowhere and at the time, I thought of a troll as a big green ugly thing that waits under a bridge to try to lure the billy goats. At least, that's where I thought the monikor was derived. But my dad, who is a fisherman, explained it better to me. Trolling is a fishing term, you cast your lure into the water and you troll it through the water, trying to lure the fish into biting.
So, what do trolls do on websites like this? They try to post something provocative and usually written in a nasty manner to catch people's attention and try to get them to bite. Then once they bite, you can start this big massive argument going that really doesn't change anybody's opinion and only causes tempers to rise and people to get really irritated at one another.
NEWS TO TROLLS!!! In the military, my job is environmental science, preventive care and education. I carry a weapon in self defense only. I don't bomb people, my job is to make sure people don't get sick. I must have one of the most liberal oriented job fields in the military. Seriously. I'm not kidding. In fact, I can name at least five people that at one time was in my chain of command that voted for Kerry this last election. Give it up.
And with my next post, I'll finally address that issue of Iraq and where I stand, because I promised what's her name that I would give her my honest opinion on the matter. STOP TALKING TO ME ABOUT IRAQ AND TRYING TO GIVE ME A GUILT TRIP ALREADY!!!
(I think I prefer thinking of trolls as big ugly monsters that hide under bridges trying to lure billy goats)
Ok, so that pertains to a preventive medicine specialist how?
I was telling my dad back when about Trolls when my website first got its surge of readers from out of nowhere and at the time, I thought of a troll as a big green ugly thing that waits under a bridge to try to lure the billy goats. At least, that's where I thought the monikor was derived. But my dad, who is a fisherman, explained it better to me. Trolling is a fishing term, you cast your lure into the water and you troll it through the water, trying to lure the fish into biting.
So, what do trolls do on websites like this? They try to post something provocative and usually written in a nasty manner to catch people's attention and try to get them to bite. Then once they bite, you can start this big massive argument going that really doesn't change anybody's opinion and only causes tempers to rise and people to get really irritated at one another.
NEWS TO TROLLS!!! In the military, my job is environmental science, preventive care and education. I carry a weapon in self defense only. I don't bomb people, my job is to make sure people don't get sick. I must have one of the most liberal oriented job fields in the military. Seriously. I'm not kidding. In fact, I can name at least five people that at one time was in my chain of command that voted for Kerry this last election. Give it up.
And with my next post, I'll finally address that issue of Iraq and where I stand, because I promised what's her name that I would give her my honest opinion on the matter. STOP TALKING TO ME ABOUT IRAQ AND TRYING TO GIVE ME A GUILT TRIP ALREADY!!!
(I think I prefer thinking of trolls as big ugly monsters that hide under bridges trying to lure billy goats)
1.09.2005
Update on Ebay
I sold for $31.00 on Ebay! (well, actually it was the jacket for sale, not me) To somebody in France. My sister was pumped. She was also a hair bit shocked at the traffic I sent to her.
I did mention to her that I got some pretty damn cool readers.
I did mention to her that I got some pretty damn cool readers.
Explaining 'Risawn'
I have often been asked where I came up with the name 'Risawn' and what it means. In fact, the question was posed this evening, and I gave the short version. (then the phone cut out, curse cell phones, though I don't know what I'm going to do without it for the next year, but I shall hold onto it until the bitter end!) This is the slight background to my moniker. In case you were wondering.
I discovered that I actually like to write (though at the time I wasn't very good at it, but you are never good at anything you start) in my senior year in high school and started to write a rather lengthy story in the process.
Being that my story was in a fantasy type setting, I tried to make the names as unusual as possible. I didn't want a bunch of characters named Bob and Fred running around.
About halfway through the story, I created the character 'Risawn', a character which isn't like me much at all. The name came about by putting a bunch of random letters together to get something phonetic out of the mix and the name 'Risawn' was born. As soon as I created it, I really kind of liked it.
Fast forward about June, right after I graduated. Believe it or not, I had never really played around on the internet before this. But alas, I discovered the internet and started dinking around on it. Then I discovered Email, and decided to make an email address. I thought about this character I had created and thought 'what the heck, I'll use that as my Alias' and tried it. It took.
It has proven to be fail safe, nobody else on the internet goes by Risawn. So the name became my internet alias (I don't use it in real life at all), and for the last five years, I've used it on just about everything I need to make an account for. I even got it as my domain name. If you see anybody or anything on the internet going by Risawn, it's probably me, or somebody posing as me.
So then, what does Risawn mean? Absolutely nothing. Just a name, a nonsensical word posed with a bunch of random letters, thought it sounded cool.
I discovered that I actually like to write (though at the time I wasn't very good at it, but you are never good at anything you start) in my senior year in high school and started to write a rather lengthy story in the process.
Being that my story was in a fantasy type setting, I tried to make the names as unusual as possible. I didn't want a bunch of characters named Bob and Fred running around.
About halfway through the story, I created the character 'Risawn', a character which isn't like me much at all. The name came about by putting a bunch of random letters together to get something phonetic out of the mix and the name 'Risawn' was born. As soon as I created it, I really kind of liked it.
Fast forward about June, right after I graduated. Believe it or not, I had never really played around on the internet before this. But alas, I discovered the internet and started dinking around on it. Then I discovered Email, and decided to make an email address. I thought about this character I had created and thought 'what the heck, I'll use that as my Alias' and tried it. It took.
It has proven to be fail safe, nobody else on the internet goes by Risawn. So the name became my internet alias (I don't use it in real life at all), and for the last five years, I've used it on just about everything I need to make an account for. I even got it as my domain name. If you see anybody or anything on the internet going by Risawn, it's probably me, or somebody posing as me.
So then, what does Risawn mean? Absolutely nothing. Just a name, a nonsensical word posed with a bunch of random letters, thought it sounded cool.
1.08.2005
Ramble, Rinse, Repeat
What do you get when you take a company sized element of troops on their last weekend in the states and inform them that once they set foot on the plane heading to Germany (of all places), they will be forbidden to partake of alcohol?
You get a bunch of drunken troops.
That's why I'm avoiding the mandatory party. I'm not much of a drinker, I think I was hit on at least a half dozen times.
I guess I could go back and people watch. Drunks are fun in that aspect. But apparently this is the last time I will have internet access for real (they're taking back these nifty borrowed laptops tomorrow) and I was hoping that there would be a new RedvsBlue to keep me company tonight, but alas, such is not the case.
I guess I'll check the forecast for Hohenfels instead.
Oh yeah, posted this in the Milblog, but it warrents being here too. I don't know, Not Sorry was kind of one of those fluke shots that turned out perfect. For kicks and giggles, I wanted to see if I could do it again.
Um, Nope! My hair was doing things to me that day.
I think it's back to the barracks for me now.
PS - Thumb Drives are the greatest thing since Sliced Bread.
You get a bunch of drunken troops.
That's why I'm avoiding the mandatory party. I'm not much of a drinker, I think I was hit on at least a half dozen times.
I guess I could go back and people watch. Drunks are fun in that aspect. But apparently this is the last time I will have internet access for real (they're taking back these nifty borrowed laptops tomorrow) and I was hoping that there would be a new RedvsBlue to keep me company tonight, but alas, such is not the case.
I guess I'll check the forecast for Hohenfels instead.
Oh yeah, posted this in the Milblog, but it warrents being here too. I don't know, Not Sorry was kind of one of those fluke shots that turned out perfect. For kicks and giggles, I wanted to see if I could do it again.
Um, Nope! My hair was doing things to me that day.
I think it's back to the barracks for me now.
PS - Thumb Drives are the greatest thing since Sliced Bread.
My Sentiments Exactly
Eh, just read this post and it tells you exactly how I feel on the matter, no point in explaining further.
You know, honestly, the democrats must really be in trouble or should take this as a hint to pull their heads out of their fourth point of contact when a highly liberal comic strip is ripping on them.
Hearing more crap on the Goober election here in Washington, but kind of gave up hope when it appeared that King County is F***** up. No surprises there. I still think Rossi should concede, and I would really enjoy it if it is proved that there was some major foul play on the Democrat's part and they gave it to him. Ah, who am I kidding? Maybe he should wait it out a little longer before giving up.
I'm not to fond of the Democratic Party.
You know, honestly, the democrats must really be in trouble or should take this as a hint to pull their heads out of their fourth point of contact when a highly liberal comic strip is ripping on them.
Hearing more crap on the Goober election here in Washington, but kind of gave up hope when it appeared that King County is F***** up. No surprises there. I still think Rossi should concede, and I would really enjoy it if it is proved that there was some major foul play on the Democrat's part and they gave it to him. Ah, who am I kidding? Maybe he should wait it out a little longer before giving up.
I'm not to fond of the Democratic Party.
Saturday Kitty Blogging!
Ok, so I read Time Magazine recently and discovered a phenomenon on the internet that I hadn't noticed, Friday Cat Blogging, mentioned in an article that was discussing the impact of blogs on this election.
I always wondered why so many people had pictures of their Cats on the internet.
Well, I want to take part, however I don't own a cat. And I can't guarantee that I have internet access every day, for instance, yesterday. Which was friday.
There are cats on Fort Lewis however. SO I thought I would take pictures of Stray Kitties and post them.
Look, it's a Cat Sighting!
I think I'm going to try doing this, I bet I could get pretty creative with Cat Blogging.
I always wondered why so many people had pictures of their Cats on the internet.
Well, I want to take part, however I don't own a cat. And I can't guarantee that I have internet access every day, for instance, yesterday. Which was friday.
There are cats on Fort Lewis however. SO I thought I would take pictures of Stray Kitties and post them.
Look, it's a Cat Sighting!
I think I'm going to try doing this, I bet I could get pretty creative with Cat Blogging.
1.06.2005
More from the Local Political Arena
Ah yes, every once in a while I have a concession to make.
My concession this time around? The Washington Goobernatural Election (Butchered on purpose). Rossi should concede.
The facts, I voted for Rossi, Rossi won the election and two recounts (or maybe just one, I may be a little off on those numbers and I've heard several accounts). Gregoire challenged and drug it on, demanded a hand recount, and won the final recount and with it the title of governor of Washington state.
I'm pissed at Gregoire, and if the tables were turned I would be pissed at Rossi (though not as much because I am obviously biased) However, as close as this election is, I believe that Rossi should concede (though at first I wanted him to fight) the election just to one up Gregoire and show people that Republicans aren't the whiney bastards that Democrats are. I hope that Gregoire can fix the problems of Washington State but I doubt it, and her record as Lietuenant Governor was far from steller. Unfortunately, this was in her hands from the start and I said it before. For the good of Washington, she should have conceded after the first recount instead of forking the bill on us. I don't think she'll have an easy term, especially at first considering the election was so close in a highly Blue state and a lot of people will feel like she stole it, kind of like I still do, as I don't believe that you should be allowed to hold recounts until you get your votes.
And I wouldn't be surprised if there was some dirty tricks played during this election, on both sides of the table. (my personal policy on politicians is you don't trust them)
Besides, now the Democratic Party gets refunded their money and your's truly, as a Washingtonian Tax Payer, get's to foot the bill of this last bloody recount that was insisted upon by Chris Gregoire to insure her victory.
I didn't really mind her before, she pissed the hell out of me during the recount, but I hope she really can help Washington because if she screws it up any more, it only screws me and the rest of Washington State.
And if she doesn't help things, maybe Washington can remember the mess she made of this last election that caused them to foot the bill and maybe they will vote her out of office.
My concession this time around? The Washington Goobernatural Election (Butchered on purpose). Rossi should concede.
The facts, I voted for Rossi, Rossi won the election and two recounts (or maybe just one, I may be a little off on those numbers and I've heard several accounts). Gregoire challenged and drug it on, demanded a hand recount, and won the final recount and with it the title of governor of Washington state.
I'm pissed at Gregoire, and if the tables were turned I would be pissed at Rossi (though not as much because I am obviously biased) However, as close as this election is, I believe that Rossi should concede (though at first I wanted him to fight) the election just to one up Gregoire and show people that Republicans aren't the whiney bastards that Democrats are. I hope that Gregoire can fix the problems of Washington State but I doubt it, and her record as Lietuenant Governor was far from steller. Unfortunately, this was in her hands from the start and I said it before. For the good of Washington, she should have conceded after the first recount instead of forking the bill on us. I don't think she'll have an easy term, especially at first considering the election was so close in a highly Blue state and a lot of people will feel like she stole it, kind of like I still do, as I don't believe that you should be allowed to hold recounts until you get your votes.
And I wouldn't be surprised if there was some dirty tricks played during this election, on both sides of the table. (my personal policy on politicians is you don't trust them)
Besides, now the Democratic Party gets refunded their money and your's truly, as a Washingtonian Tax Payer, get's to foot the bill of this last bloody recount that was insisted upon by Chris Gregoire to insure her victory.
I didn't really mind her before, she pissed the hell out of me during the recount, but I hope she really can help Washington because if she screws it up any more, it only screws me and the rest of Washington State.
And if she doesn't help things, maybe Washington can remember the mess she made of this last election that caused them to foot the bill and maybe they will vote her out of office.
The Awe of Technology
Behold, the new army.
Guard Duty includes computers, which allows for internet access while watching a bunch of wooden crates storing weapons.
Check Email (if it would work), update blog, mess with music files, watch a movie, and guard weapons, all at once.
Guard Duty includes computers, which allows for internet access while watching a bunch of wooden crates storing weapons.
Check Email (if it would work), update blog, mess with music files, watch a movie, and guard weapons, all at once.
Ramblings about nothing in General
The last few days have been pretty eventful, however most of it appears to be more along the lines of Dogtags Material.
Meanwhile, I miss my hair. It looks really good and everything when I take time to do it, however being in the military, I am forced to stick a hat on my head every time I go out doors. Which in turn produces hat head. Hat head has turned into a problem indoors at first, however fortunately I have managed to get rid of my part.
I have a feeling my part will be back.
It was actually kind of funny at first. There were a lot of people who stared at me when I first showed back up from Leave and asking what I had done to my hair. Some people even told me it looked really good. Others didn't really wish to say anything. Meanwhile, I acquired another nickname, GI Jane. I made a note that Demi Moore did indeed Shave her head for that movie, whereas I still have hair.
In other news, my sister had done something that lead to a pleasant biproduct. See, she took all of these old photographs and scanned them and downloaded them into a program with the intention of making a DVD set to music. All of these pictures ended up getting downloaded onto my laptop because I have a DVD burner on it.
The DVD was unsuccessful, but now I have a large amount of pictures on my laptop. I set my Screenserver to play these pictures and now I have pictures from home to keep me company while I'm away. And because they play completely at random, new pictures show up every time.
I'll be in Germany by next week. That happened a lot sooner then expected. And apparently, it will be VERY cold there.
Also, I'm staying in the same general area now that My dad did when he went through basic training back in 1968 (he was drafted). He brought me back from Leave and for the first time in 36 years, saw North Fort Lewis. It was kind of fun to watch him remember basic training and talk about what he did as he tried to orient himself. My favorite story arose from the old shoppette set up on stilts. One time he was caught smiling by a drill sergeant and the said drill sergeant made him do pushups under the PX. I promised him I would get pictures. Apparently there is talk that they'll be tearing these old buildings down in the next couple of years, so they might not be here when I demobilize.
Heck, I better get pictures for myself as well.
Meanwhile, I miss my hair. It looks really good and everything when I take time to do it, however being in the military, I am forced to stick a hat on my head every time I go out doors. Which in turn produces hat head. Hat head has turned into a problem indoors at first, however fortunately I have managed to get rid of my part.
I have a feeling my part will be back.
It was actually kind of funny at first. There were a lot of people who stared at me when I first showed back up from Leave and asking what I had done to my hair. Some people even told me it looked really good. Others didn't really wish to say anything. Meanwhile, I acquired another nickname, GI Jane. I made a note that Demi Moore did indeed Shave her head for that movie, whereas I still have hair.
In other news, my sister had done something that lead to a pleasant biproduct. See, she took all of these old photographs and scanned them and downloaded them into a program with the intention of making a DVD set to music. All of these pictures ended up getting downloaded onto my laptop because I have a DVD burner on it.
The DVD was unsuccessful, but now I have a large amount of pictures on my laptop. I set my Screenserver to play these pictures and now I have pictures from home to keep me company while I'm away. And because they play completely at random, new pictures show up every time.
I'll be in Germany by next week. That happened a lot sooner then expected. And apparently, it will be VERY cold there.
Also, I'm staying in the same general area now that My dad did when he went through basic training back in 1968 (he was drafted). He brought me back from Leave and for the first time in 36 years, saw North Fort Lewis. It was kind of fun to watch him remember basic training and talk about what he did as he tried to orient himself. My favorite story arose from the old shoppette set up on stilts. One time he was caught smiling by a drill sergeant and the said drill sergeant made him do pushups under the PX. I promised him I would get pictures. Apparently there is talk that they'll be tearing these old buildings down in the next couple of years, so they might not be here when I demobilize.
Heck, I better get pictures for myself as well.
1.03.2005
Fandom Down Under
Ok, one of the many humorous things that came about from my brief run in with fame was the following that came with it. (along with a couple dozen marriage purposals, found hundreds of links such as that)
I got an email a while back from Silent Running (a New Zealand Blog) asking if I could be their patron goddess. I laughed at the time, but didn't return their email until recently, due to lack of time. Apparently I created a stir with the New Zealand Crowd by agreeing.
Question, do these T-shirts you want me to pose in go with camouflage pants and combat boots? Because that's about all I'll be able to wear with them.
But good news, I'll have a perpetual M16 in my hand so I can pose with that as well!
PS - Julie, I think you are acquiring a following as well.
UPDATE - Now you can buy a shirt claiming to be my minion through Silent Running (who turns out, is not limited to the realm down under or so they informed me)
I got an email a while back from Silent Running (a New Zealand Blog) asking if I could be their patron goddess. I laughed at the time, but didn't return their email until recently, due to lack of time. Apparently I created a stir with the New Zealand Crowd by agreeing.
Question, do these T-shirts you want me to pose in go with camouflage pants and combat boots? Because that's about all I'll be able to wear with them.
But good news, I'll have a perpetual M16 in my hand so I can pose with that as well!
PS - Julie, I think you are acquiring a following as well.
UPDATE - Now you can buy a shirt claiming to be my minion through Silent Running (who turns out, is not limited to the realm down under or so they informed me)
1.02.2005
Hair today, Gone Tomorrow
Leaving back for Fort Lewis Today, however I needed to get one final thing taken care of before I left.
It's called my Hair. It is incompatable with the United States Military and has been a Bane of my existence for as long as I can remember wearing a uniform. Being a blonde, my hair is really fine and wispy. In other words, it doesn't like to stay put unless I cake a nice glob of Super Duper Extra Sports Gel in it to hold it in place.
And sometiems that still doesn't work.
Case in point, the following photograph. It's pokin' out. That is a no go.
So I went over to my sister's house and asked her to give me a haircut. As in, Chop it ALL off. So she did. I decided to do a PhotoBlog of my trials in getting my hair whacked.
I had to start with a picture of me before.
Well, if anything, at this point it needs a serious trim, and my roots are beginning to show.
So Chop CHOP! It came off!
There's the uneven look, but that's a bit faddish for army standards. Hmm, still we can play pranks with the leftover hair.
Ok, my goal was to get it short, while still maintaining a slightly feminine look. See, women have kind of an unfair rap in the military. The stereotype is that all women in the military are, and pardon my language, Whores and Dykes. I am neither, though I've been mistaken for both. HOwever, I didn't want my hair style causing people to question my sexuality, but make it short enough so that I could not worry about it for the next few months, besides a trim here and there to keep it within regs.
And so, it continued to come off. Strange, that is my natural hair color, I haven't seen it that color in, well, a long time. My intention was to keep it that color so I wouldn't worry about it. However, after trimming it up, I decided it wasn't short enough.
I look like a boy. More came off, and I wanted to try something where I could spike it up a bit.
The Lesbian jokes were flying, let me assure you. I didn't care, in fact, I was expecting them. My family is kind of like that. Anyway, my sister insisted I should do something about the coloring and put in some highlights, or something. Anything. I tried to withstand her due to the fact that 99.9% of the time my hair will be under some type of a cover (unless I'm indoors, and then I'll have hat head) but eventually I caved in.
That could be used as an incriminating photo if I don't watch it.
How it turned out? Um, the following. My family insists that it fits my personality and they like it. I like it too, but I think it will be a while before I can fully accept the fact that I chopped all of my hair off.
So this is the final look. My sister, who has been very successful at Ebay (with a lot of help from me, *snicker*) let me model some of her clothes with my new haircut. That was great fun.
She has a way of making people look really good. I just hope I can duplicate the style on my off days.
Click to View the Ebay Page!
It's called my Hair. It is incompatable with the United States Military and has been a Bane of my existence for as long as I can remember wearing a uniform. Being a blonde, my hair is really fine and wispy. In other words, it doesn't like to stay put unless I cake a nice glob of Super Duper Extra Sports Gel in it to hold it in place.
And sometiems that still doesn't work.
Case in point, the following photograph. It's pokin' out. That is a no go.
So I went over to my sister's house and asked her to give me a haircut. As in, Chop it ALL off. So she did. I decided to do a PhotoBlog of my trials in getting my hair whacked.
I had to start with a picture of me before.
Well, if anything, at this point it needs a serious trim, and my roots are beginning to show.
So Chop CHOP! It came off!
There's the uneven look, but that's a bit faddish for army standards. Hmm, still we can play pranks with the leftover hair.
Ok, my goal was to get it short, while still maintaining a slightly feminine look. See, women have kind of an unfair rap in the military. The stereotype is that all women in the military are, and pardon my language, Whores and Dykes. I am neither, though I've been mistaken for both. HOwever, I didn't want my hair style causing people to question my sexuality, but make it short enough so that I could not worry about it for the next few months, besides a trim here and there to keep it within regs.
And so, it continued to come off. Strange, that is my natural hair color, I haven't seen it that color in, well, a long time. My intention was to keep it that color so I wouldn't worry about it. However, after trimming it up, I decided it wasn't short enough.
I look like a boy. More came off, and I wanted to try something where I could spike it up a bit.
The Lesbian jokes were flying, let me assure you. I didn't care, in fact, I was expecting them. My family is kind of like that. Anyway, my sister insisted I should do something about the coloring and put in some highlights, or something. Anything. I tried to withstand her due to the fact that 99.9% of the time my hair will be under some type of a cover (unless I'm indoors, and then I'll have hat head) but eventually I caved in.
That could be used as an incriminating photo if I don't watch it.
How it turned out? Um, the following. My family insists that it fits my personality and they like it. I like it too, but I think it will be a while before I can fully accept the fact that I chopped all of my hair off.
So this is the final look. My sister, who has been very successful at Ebay (with a lot of help from me, *snicker*) let me model some of her clothes with my new haircut. That was great fun.
She has a way of making people look really good. I just hope I can duplicate the style on my off days.
Click to View the Ebay Page!
1.01.2005
Traditions
In my family, there is a tradition that as a child I didn't think to much about. I just thought everybody did it, much like I thought most families were like mine and most people thought the way I did back then.
We celebrate the New Year's Baby, where we leave our shoe by the door on New Year's Eve and the next day it is filled with all sorts of goodies.
Strangely, though my grandfather who started it in our family is Swedish, the tradition is actually Greek (though the Greeks leave their shoes by the fireplace, and it is St Basil who brings the goods at midnight). However, the New Year's Baby originates from Greece as well so it all fits. I celebrate a Greek Tradition and I don't have an ounce of Greek Blood in my veins.
My mom (who's birthday happens to by New Year's Eve), had trouble finding a shoe to put my loot in. So she used a combat boot this year. Very fitting :P
Since Serbia is close to Greece, maybe I'll still be able to celebrate next year as well?
We celebrate the New Year's Baby, where we leave our shoe by the door on New Year's Eve and the next day it is filled with all sorts of goodies.
Strangely, though my grandfather who started it in our family is Swedish, the tradition is actually Greek (though the Greeks leave their shoes by the fireplace, and it is St Basil who brings the goods at midnight). However, the New Year's Baby originates from Greece as well so it all fits. I celebrate a Greek Tradition and I don't have an ounce of Greek Blood in my veins.
My mom (who's birthday happens to by New Year's Eve), had trouble finding a shoe to put my loot in. So she used a combat boot this year. Very fitting :P
Since Serbia is close to Greece, maybe I'll still be able to celebrate next year as well?
The Quintessential New Year's Post
A year ago, like every year, I put up a list of New Year Resolutions. Let's see how I did.
1- Get Website back online
Well, at the time, I had completely deleted my website. It was part of my way of coaping with the fact that the army was toying with me at the time, the whole "you're deploying to Iraq, Wait, we changed our minds." I was a bit frustrated, and I took it out on my website. It was zapped from the face of the internet. I actually put it back on shortly after New Years, however, it was deleted again sometime in September, but that wasn't quite my fault.
a) get it functional and half way interesting
That is up to debate.
2- Find a decent paying job.
I work at a slighly above minimum wage job, which actually pays pretty well considering Washington minimum Wage is at $7.10, however, this was not accomplished do to the fact that the army was, well, toying with me and their decision on whether or not they were going to Mob me. I was slated to go somewhere a half dozen times and I didn't feel it necessary to find another job. THis was accomplished sometime in November, when the Army said 'we got a job for you' and now I'm on Active Duty. Much better pay.
3 - Get at least CUSA and CAP1 paid off.
Done. Then my Sister Used the CUSA and I added more to CAP1. But they were both paid off at one time this year.
4- Run Bloomsday this year. No, I mean it!
Ran the bloody whole thing. Was hurting for a week.
5- Move out on my own, one way or another.
Eh, army killed a lot of my motivation to do this, because I didn't know what was going on. Hence, never moved out, well, until about November.
6- Jump a snowboard.
I'm getting into intermediate/Expert area, but the snow isn't the greatest here, usually it get's icy. When you fall on ice, it hurts, so I don't really focus on dare devil tactics. I can't afford to get hurt. HOwever, toward the end of last season, I had successfully gone Airborne many times without falling, but I have yet to catch serious air.
The snow hasn't been great this year so far either. I'll be missing the rest of the season.
7- Read one new book a month.
Did really well for about, oh, four months, then I got distracted.
8- Sign up for Martial Arts (I've always wanted to take a class)
I still vow to do this one day. I wish I could have when I was younger.
9- BNCOC
Army terminology, tried to sign up, the Training NCO wasn't very cooperative however. I think he had more on his mind.
10- Speak acronymics less.
HAH!
11- Rekindle friendships with Suzanne, Andrea and Marnie, Carla, etc. . .
Attempted to with Suzanne, however she moved and I never got her phone number, mission accomplished with Andrea and Marnie, lost Carla's information. Damn.
12- Date at least once a month (I mean, I really just need to take a chance on the opposite sex!)
This is really quite a lost cause on me.
13- Break some bad habits of mine.
I'm trying to remember what those bad habits were.
14- And of course, it wouldn't be a new years resolution if I didn't include Lose Five Pounds.
a) Then Tone Up Body
b) And Run more. A lot more.
c) And work out more in general.
My weight has continually fluctuated by a margin of five pounds. And its right after the holidays, so I'm on the upper end of that scale. As for working out, well, that's a lost cause as well.
So how did I do? About fifty/fifty. And what do I have for this year?
1) Get out of debt - (piece of cake!)
2) Drive on the Autobahn in a Porsche.
3) Max APFT.
a) this will require me to work out regularly. I hear Bondsteel has some good gyms available.
4) Upkeep webspace from Kosovo
5) Learn how to edit videos.
6) See Prague, Budapest, Norschwanstein, etc. . .
7) Don't get Shot.
8) Make a decision on what I want to do when I come home.
Hmm, simple, let's see how I do? (of course, Resolutions are always up to change)
1- Get Website back online
Well, at the time, I had completely deleted my website. It was part of my way of coaping with the fact that the army was toying with me at the time, the whole "you're deploying to Iraq, Wait, we changed our minds." I was a bit frustrated, and I took it out on my website. It was zapped from the face of the internet. I actually put it back on shortly after New Years, however, it was deleted again sometime in September, but that wasn't quite my fault.
a) get it functional and half way interesting
That is up to debate.
2- Find a decent paying job.
I work at a slighly above minimum wage job, which actually pays pretty well considering Washington minimum Wage is at $7.10, however, this was not accomplished do to the fact that the army was, well, toying with me and their decision on whether or not they were going to Mob me. I was slated to go somewhere a half dozen times and I didn't feel it necessary to find another job. THis was accomplished sometime in November, when the Army said 'we got a job for you' and now I'm on Active Duty. Much better pay.
3 - Get at least CUSA and CAP1 paid off.
Done. Then my Sister Used the CUSA and I added more to CAP1. But they were both paid off at one time this year.
4- Run Bloomsday this year. No, I mean it!
Ran the bloody whole thing. Was hurting for a week.
5- Move out on my own, one way or another.
Eh, army killed a lot of my motivation to do this, because I didn't know what was going on. Hence, never moved out, well, until about November.
6- Jump a snowboard.
I'm getting into intermediate/Expert area, but the snow isn't the greatest here, usually it get's icy. When you fall on ice, it hurts, so I don't really focus on dare devil tactics. I can't afford to get hurt. HOwever, toward the end of last season, I had successfully gone Airborne many times without falling, but I have yet to catch serious air.
The snow hasn't been great this year so far either. I'll be missing the rest of the season.
7- Read one new book a month.
Did really well for about, oh, four months, then I got distracted.
8- Sign up for Martial Arts (I've always wanted to take a class)
I still vow to do this one day. I wish I could have when I was younger.
9- BNCOC
Army terminology, tried to sign up, the Training NCO wasn't very cooperative however. I think he had more on his mind.
10- Speak acronymics less.
HAH!
11- Rekindle friendships with Suzanne, Andrea and Marnie, Carla, etc. . .
Attempted to with Suzanne, however she moved and I never got her phone number, mission accomplished with Andrea and Marnie, lost Carla's information. Damn.
12- Date at least once a month (I mean, I really just need to take a chance on the opposite sex!)
This is really quite a lost cause on me.
13- Break some bad habits of mine.
I'm trying to remember what those bad habits were.
14- And of course, it wouldn't be a new years resolution if I didn't include Lose Five Pounds.
a) Then Tone Up Body
b) And Run more. A lot more.
c) And work out more in general.
My weight has continually fluctuated by a margin of five pounds. And its right after the holidays, so I'm on the upper end of that scale. As for working out, well, that's a lost cause as well.
So how did I do? About fifty/fifty. And what do I have for this year?
1) Get out of debt - (piece of cake!)
2) Drive on the Autobahn in a Porsche.
3) Max APFT.
a) this will require me to work out regularly. I hear Bondsteel has some good gyms available.
4) Upkeep webspace from Kosovo
5) Learn how to edit videos.
6) See Prague, Budapest, Norschwanstein, etc. . .
7) Don't get Shot.
8) Make a decision on what I want to do when I come home.
Hmm, simple, let's see how I do? (of course, Resolutions are always up to change)
12.30.2004
Corrupting Newbies
Ok, if you haven't noticed, I'm a snowboarder. It is one of my passions and the main thing that has me looking forward to winter.
Today, I went snowboarding, and I dragged a newbie who has never been with me. I tend to do that a lot. See, my reasoning is if I can corrupt them into snowboarding with me once, they become a future snowboarding partner when I really feel like getting crazy.
There are three ways I snowboard. By myself, with people worse then myself, and with people better then myself. I prefer to go in that order reversed. Unfortunately, most people I know are worse then myself or have never been, which are almost the same thing. So whenever i get the chance, I talk people into hitting mountains with me.
Though I've had instances where they came off with the lame excuse of taking the hamster to the vet (yes, somebody brushed me off with that very line).
So anyway, today, I corrupted one of my troopies. See, she is a soldier who recently joined the military yet was still in high school, and her unit was on the other side of the mountains, so we kind of babysat her for a while until she went to basic. That was fun.
She has turned into a pretty good troop. That, and she went to the same exact basic training company I did. I got a kick out of that. I could have done so many mean things to her on account of that but I didn't. *kicks self*
Anyway, the story of Lisa, as that is all you shall know her as. Lisa has lived in this town all of her life and though there are five ski resorts within a two hour drive, she had never been. I felt the need to remedy that.
She picked it up pretty damn fast. We finally pulled the camera out at the end.
Lisa is riding here, this was the last run we did, for reasons which I will go into momentarily.
Conditions were interesting. It snowed about three or four inches. The snow covered Ice. Falling was not fun, especially in certain spots where the snow had been worn away, leaving nothing but ice.
Lisa fell right on a patch of ice and banged her knee. She called it quits about this time.
She was still on the mountain, but had to get down, so she converted the snowboard into a sled. I call this, Board Sledding!
Lisa got going pretty fast for a moment, but lost control of her direction. She fell off, and the board kept going. I saw this coming from a mile away and kept yelling "get it! Get it!"
Damn I wish I got a picture of her chasing after it.
This is the board, in the ditch.
This is Lisa, going after the snowboard.
This is Lisa and the board trying to get out of the ditch. About this time I was thinking "you know, I should have gone after it, considering Lisa banged her knee on the ice!"
This is Lisa, laid out exhausted after getting the snowboard.
Well, then there was me. See, I let Lisa use my board and because she is taller then me, I let her use my boarding pants, so I kind of mix and matched my gear. *warning, boarding terminology in use* I've actually got four snowboards (I carry extras for newbies to get them hooked), three are strap ins and one is a switch step in bindings. Because all of the support is in the boot on my Switch Gear, the boot is a bit big. I usually use my other pants to cover over the boots, but unfortunately, Lisa was wearing them. So I reverted back to my other pants.
They have suspenders that I often forget to strap. And I'm wearing Camouflage with a bright blue knit cap.
The result?
I think I'm going for a fashion statement here. And it ain't workin'.
Oh well, who cares? I had fun.
Today, I went snowboarding, and I dragged a newbie who has never been with me. I tend to do that a lot. See, my reasoning is if I can corrupt them into snowboarding with me once, they become a future snowboarding partner when I really feel like getting crazy.
There are three ways I snowboard. By myself, with people worse then myself, and with people better then myself. I prefer to go in that order reversed. Unfortunately, most people I know are worse then myself or have never been, which are almost the same thing. So whenever i get the chance, I talk people into hitting mountains with me.
Though I've had instances where they came off with the lame excuse of taking the hamster to the vet (yes, somebody brushed me off with that very line).
So anyway, today, I corrupted one of my troopies. See, she is a soldier who recently joined the military yet was still in high school, and her unit was on the other side of the mountains, so we kind of babysat her for a while until she went to basic. That was fun.
She has turned into a pretty good troop. That, and she went to the same exact basic training company I did. I got a kick out of that. I could have done so many mean things to her on account of that but I didn't. *kicks self*
Anyway, the story of Lisa, as that is all you shall know her as. Lisa has lived in this town all of her life and though there are five ski resorts within a two hour drive, she had never been. I felt the need to remedy that.
She picked it up pretty damn fast. We finally pulled the camera out at the end.
Lisa is riding here, this was the last run we did, for reasons which I will go into momentarily.
Conditions were interesting. It snowed about three or four inches. The snow covered Ice. Falling was not fun, especially in certain spots where the snow had been worn away, leaving nothing but ice.
Lisa fell right on a patch of ice and banged her knee. She called it quits about this time.
She was still on the mountain, but had to get down, so she converted the snowboard into a sled. I call this, Board Sledding!
Lisa got going pretty fast for a moment, but lost control of her direction. She fell off, and the board kept going. I saw this coming from a mile away and kept yelling "get it! Get it!"
Damn I wish I got a picture of her chasing after it.
This is the board, in the ditch.
This is Lisa, going after the snowboard.
This is Lisa and the board trying to get out of the ditch. About this time I was thinking "you know, I should have gone after it, considering Lisa banged her knee on the ice!"
This is Lisa, laid out exhausted after getting the snowboard.
Well, then there was me. See, I let Lisa use my board and because she is taller then me, I let her use my boarding pants, so I kind of mix and matched my gear. *warning, boarding terminology in use* I've actually got four snowboards (I carry extras for newbies to get them hooked), three are strap ins and one is a switch step in bindings. Because all of the support is in the boot on my Switch Gear, the boot is a bit big. I usually use my other pants to cover over the boots, but unfortunately, Lisa was wearing them. So I reverted back to my other pants.
They have suspenders that I often forget to strap. And I'm wearing Camouflage with a bright blue knit cap.
The result?
I think I'm going for a fashion statement here. And it ain't workin'.
Oh well, who cares? I had fun.
12.28.2004
Doing Nothing
So, I'm home for the holidays, and I have been doing absolutely nothing. And it's been GREAT!!!
Ok, so I lied, I haven't been doing absolutely nothing, just a whole lot of nothing. Coupled with Sleep, Laziness and all around Vedge Mode.
Christmas wasn't a big deal this year, only the fact that I got to spend it at home. Over the last few days I've been catching up on a couple of video series, well, mainly one, which is almost to embarrassing to say because I'm watching a Kid's Series and I'm 24. But I was a Kid when I used to watch it, and since they remade it, I had to catch up and watch it again and see what I saw in it then.
Yes, I admit it. As a child, I was seriously addicted to Turtles. I loved them, watched them every day, collected the cards and used my meager allowance on buying action figures. Ninja Turtles were bigger then SpongeBob and Pokeman are now. And I was one of many young minds engulfed into the following.
But like most kids, I grew out of it, and for a time was almost ashamed to admit that I watched Ninja Turtles. It even went through the phase that it was nerdy to actually like them. Kind of like Power Rangers *barf* (never liked those).
So anyway, in a moment of trying to rekindle the nastalgia, I found the first five episodes of the original turtles and bought it for kicks, and having not seen it for about, oh, eleven years, got a kick out of it and remembered that I used to dig these guys.
So what did I do? I got the new series on DVD and watched it. And got hooked.
Mikey's still my favorite :P
Ok, so I lied, I haven't been doing absolutely nothing, just a whole lot of nothing. Coupled with Sleep, Laziness and all around Vedge Mode.
Christmas wasn't a big deal this year, only the fact that I got to spend it at home. Over the last few days I've been catching up on a couple of video series, well, mainly one, which is almost to embarrassing to say because I'm watching a Kid's Series and I'm 24. But I was a Kid when I used to watch it, and since they remade it, I had to catch up and watch it again and see what I saw in it then.
Yes, I admit it. As a child, I was seriously addicted to Turtles. I loved them, watched them every day, collected the cards and used my meager allowance on buying action figures. Ninja Turtles were bigger then SpongeBob and Pokeman are now. And I was one of many young minds engulfed into the following.
But like most kids, I grew out of it, and for a time was almost ashamed to admit that I watched Ninja Turtles. It even went through the phase that it was nerdy to actually like them. Kind of like Power Rangers *barf* (never liked those).
So anyway, in a moment of trying to rekindle the nastalgia, I found the first five episodes of the original turtles and bought it for kicks, and having not seen it for about, oh, eleven years, got a kick out of it and remembered that I used to dig these guys.
So what did I do? I got the new series on DVD and watched it. And got hooked.
Mikey's still my favorite :P
12.24.2004
Tis the Season
A few months back, my brother Jerardo was looking for a video game for Xbox that he just couldn't seem to find. However, I could order it through my work so I did.
For some reason, it proved to be a pain to get a hold of because it wouldn't come in for quite some time.
Anyway, I left for training, am back in town on Christmas Leave, and low and behold, the game came in a few days ago.
So I bought it with all these intentions of wrapping it up and surprising him with this hard to find game.
*grumble grumble* He bought it four days ago.
Now I know what my parents mean when they lament about how hard he is to shop for.
The thing is, I'm the same way.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
For some reason, it proved to be a pain to get a hold of because it wouldn't come in for quite some time.
Anyway, I left for training, am back in town on Christmas Leave, and low and behold, the game came in a few days ago.
So I bought it with all these intentions of wrapping it up and surprising him with this hard to find game.
*grumble grumble* He bought it four days ago.
Now I know what my parents mean when they lament about how hard he is to shop for.
The thing is, I'm the same way.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
Merry Washington Christmas
Well, there's 'good' news for washingtonians this christmas eve. Chris Gregoire is finally putting an end to the governor fiasco. See, she 'won' the last recount so now she's governor.
Governor my ass. You don't hold recounts until you get your votes, that's bullcrap.
The lady pisses me off to no end. I would have been fine with her as governor if she had won fair and square, but she didn't. Unfortunately, this entire thing was in her hands to begin with. She should have conceded before and not many people will take her seriously as governor if she gets it.
Look at it this way. This was a solid blue state that went to Kerry pretty easily. Yet it was that close for governor, meaning that several people crossed party lines wanting to get Gregoire out of there. Doesn't that say something about her?
Yeah, I think it does. She strung it out this long, now Rossi is fighting. I hope he does.
It might have to be held in another election, which I sincerely hope it doesn't but at this point that might make more sense. If it does, I say hold another election, whoever wins, wins, and no more of this bullcrap. If luck holds out, enough people who voted for Gregoire might be so pissed at her for dragging it out that they will either sway at the polls or stay at home.
Unfortunately, either I'll have to sit it out or vote absentee.
Governor my ass. You don't hold recounts until you get your votes, that's bullcrap.
The lady pisses me off to no end. I would have been fine with her as governor if she had won fair and square, but she didn't. Unfortunately, this entire thing was in her hands to begin with. She should have conceded before and not many people will take her seriously as governor if she gets it.
Look at it this way. This was a solid blue state that went to Kerry pretty easily. Yet it was that close for governor, meaning that several people crossed party lines wanting to get Gregoire out of there. Doesn't that say something about her?
Yeah, I think it does. She strung it out this long, now Rossi is fighting. I hope he does.
It might have to be held in another election, which I sincerely hope it doesn't but at this point that might make more sense. If it does, I say hold another election, whoever wins, wins, and no more of this bullcrap. If luck holds out, enough people who voted for Gregoire might be so pissed at her for dragging it out that they will either sway at the polls or stay at home.
Unfortunately, either I'll have to sit it out or vote absentee.
12.21.2004
Not a Whole Lot
Somehow, tomorrow, I have to get my brother on post.
Then I can leave for christmas.
More in Dogtags.
(I'm learning how to drive in Europe. This should be interesting.)
Then I can leave for christmas.
More in Dogtags.
(I'm learning how to drive in Europe. This should be interesting.)
12.19.2004
Getting Off Fort Lewis
You never realize how much you like having a car, until you are stuck without one. Cars are wonderful, glorious things to have and if you have one parked outside in your driveway, you should go out and stare at it and realize how lucky you are to have a functional car that you can use to get from point a to point b.
I have a car. It is currently 300 miles away and signed over to my parents, technically making it no longer mine. In other words, I don't have a car.
I am stuck on an army base with no form of transportation other then shuttle busses that are destined to only go certain places and consequently they are not places I want to go.
See, this is the thing. Today is Commander's time, and it is time I didn't expect to have off. Woe is me, eh? But what does one do with oneself when they find themselves with a day off and stuck on an Army Post?
They try to find a way OFF!
I got a shuttle from North Fort to Main Post easily enough, which brought me to the wonderful and glorious PX. Not exactly where I wanted to go, because I'm still on Post. So I decided to find a way to get around and enjoy myself and use this opportunity to take back that disfunctional memory stick (which turned out to work fine).
I tried to find a bus. It's sunday. Busses don't run that far south on Sunday. I tried to get a taxi. They wanted to rape my wallet. I tried my feet. I have to be back by formation tomorrow, and I don't want to walk that far.
I rented a car. Surprisingly, for what I can do, renting a car was actually cheaper then taking a taxi. Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?
Well, I now have a car and I want to use said car, and using it consists of me actually driving it, not sitting in a kinko's catching up on my blog.
Tomorrow is the range. Tuesday is. . . other mass unpleasentries (watch my mood drop from cheerful to homicidal)
Today, I have a blessed rental, though it runs like crap, but then again, it's a rental.
Thursday, I'm home sweet home!
I have a car. It is currently 300 miles away and signed over to my parents, technically making it no longer mine. In other words, I don't have a car.
I am stuck on an army base with no form of transportation other then shuttle busses that are destined to only go certain places and consequently they are not places I want to go.
See, this is the thing. Today is Commander's time, and it is time I didn't expect to have off. Woe is me, eh? But what does one do with oneself when they find themselves with a day off and stuck on an Army Post?
They try to find a way OFF!
I got a shuttle from North Fort to Main Post easily enough, which brought me to the wonderful and glorious PX. Not exactly where I wanted to go, because I'm still on Post. So I decided to find a way to get around and enjoy myself and use this opportunity to take back that disfunctional memory stick (which turned out to work fine).
I tried to find a bus. It's sunday. Busses don't run that far south on Sunday. I tried to get a taxi. They wanted to rape my wallet. I tried my feet. I have to be back by formation tomorrow, and I don't want to walk that far.
I rented a car. Surprisingly, for what I can do, renting a car was actually cheaper then taking a taxi. Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?
Well, I now have a car and I want to use said car, and using it consists of me actually driving it, not sitting in a kinko's catching up on my blog.
Tomorrow is the range. Tuesday is. . . other mass unpleasentries (watch my mood drop from cheerful to homicidal)
Today, I have a blessed rental, though it runs like crap, but then again, it's a rental.
Thursday, I'm home sweet home!
The Infamous "To Do' List
I'm notorious for To Do lists. I make them all the time, every once in a while I even post them online and will cross things off as I accomplish them. Tis very gratifying.
Anyway, I got a hell of a lot of things to do when I get home. Unfortunately, at this time, I can't think of everything I have to do. Maybe this will be a list in progress? Aren't they all?
This is a living and breathing To Do List, in constant metamorphosis. Let's see how long it lasts before it decomposes into a puddle.
Anyway, I got a hell of a lot of things to do when I get home. Unfortunately, at this time, I can't think of everything I have to do. Maybe this will be a list in progress? Aren't they all?
Take extra crap home- Sew Tags on Uniforms
Go Snowboarding- Eat Home Made Won Tons
Fix all of the 'ate up' programming on my weblogs so they actually lead somewhere when somebody clicks on them. (Dogtags is a mess)- Well, its a lot better now, however I can't do a whole lot with the crude HTML because my system is down.- Update all dead links
- Get PhotoGallery Up
Go Snowboarding- Pay off at least One Credit Card
Sleep in until noon at least one day.(make that three days)- See christmas Lights - Scratch that, we mised them
Take Pyro (my Desktop) in for a check up.(fixed it myself)- If car isnt' already cleaned, clean car.
- Go Snowboarding. (doesn't look like I'll get to go a third time)
- Get pictures taken.
- Solve the Inbox Dilemma. (soon, very soon)
- Cut Hair (or find suitable alternative)
This is a living and breathing To Do List, in constant metamorphosis. Let's see how long it lasts before it decomposes into a puddle.
Bad Ass
You know, I should have put something up about this a long time ago, but I was, um, a little caught up in briefings and Flu Shots and firing ranges and what ever else.
I nearly forgot about my little bad ass brawl
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right.
I nearly forgot about my little bad ass brawl
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right.
Girl Issues
I'm having hair problems. I'm having a dilemma on what to do with my wig.
When I was in Basic, that became standard fan fare from the Drills. "Erickson! Fix that wig!"
I got this really fine, thin hair, and it just kind of, well, it doesn't like to stay put unless I put heavy duty hard core axel grease in there. So I got fly away strands that I can't seem to get to go anywhere.
I'm thinking about chopping it. And really chopping it. Short. Really short.
Problem is, I like my hair long. I've had it short before, but I can't seem to pull it off without having my sexuality questioned. And that always gets old.
I like my hair long, but constantly pulling it back in a bun tears it up. In a year and a half, I will have to chop my hair regardless. I don't like putting axel grease in my hair every day so that it stays plastered to my head and stays in place.
I might start the new year with a butch hair cut. My mom won't be thrilled. But hey, I just want to get through this deployment in one piece and with as few distractions as possible. My hair is a distraction.
And cutting it short might take care of the men as well.
When I was in Basic, that became standard fan fare from the Drills. "Erickson! Fix that wig!"
I got this really fine, thin hair, and it just kind of, well, it doesn't like to stay put unless I put heavy duty hard core axel grease in there. So I got fly away strands that I can't seem to get to go anywhere.
I'm thinking about chopping it. And really chopping it. Short. Really short.
Problem is, I like my hair long. I've had it short before, but I can't seem to pull it off without having my sexuality questioned. And that always gets old.
I like my hair long, but constantly pulling it back in a bun tears it up. In a year and a half, I will have to chop my hair regardless. I don't like putting axel grease in my hair every day so that it stays plastered to my head and stays in place.
I might start the new year with a butch hair cut. My mom won't be thrilled. But hey, I just want to get through this deployment in one piece and with as few distractions as possible. My hair is a distraction.
And cutting it short might take care of the men as well.
12.13.2004
I should just shut up already
Alright, alright, maybe I should just shut up already and from this point on, post as I go without saying that I'm not posting anymore.
I found another computer. its a bit of a walk away and I only have a thirty minute wait on it.
Although my own personal thoughts are kind of at a scramble right now, this blog is gearing down. Check Dogtags for more information.
PS - Reserves is a cake walk in the mobilization area, that and I'm in the medical field so it's a double whammy. No lockdown whatsoever. And I took somebody else's advice. EFMB should be my priority (expert field medical badge for you civilians out there)
I found another computer. its a bit of a walk away and I only have a thirty minute wait on it.
Although my own personal thoughts are kind of at a scramble right now, this blog is gearing down. Check Dogtags for more information.
PS - Reserves is a cake walk in the mobilization area, that and I'm in the medical field so it's a double whammy. No lockdown whatsoever. And I took somebody else's advice. EFMB should be my priority (expert field medical badge for you civilians out there)
12.08.2004
Well, this appears to be it, for real this time
Well, it looks like I have to wander back up to hotel now where I will sit in the confines of my room bored to tears while and gearing up for a rather hectic day tomorrow. They are really breaking me in, I get to get up at 0430 so we can be at the drill hall to draw weapons and be down to the barracks by 0800. I don't know what exactly is in store for me these next few days, I just know I'm getting Gassed on Saturday.
I think I'll write a running journal of the events as they happen.
I'll be back around in about two weeks. If I am running around sooner, I'll be back sooner. Until then, adios. And Happy Channukah. (did I butcher that?)
PS - I updated the "earn" column to add a couple badges that I want to get for a triple stack. I will get these, I will get these. . .
Vedging in Seattle
I've discovered a really cool thing about technology. They have free internet access in some of the most bizarre and coolest places. Like the Seattle Center.
This is me. Right now.
I look like hell because I'm in the middle of a Mobilization and I'm getting over a cold. But this is my last night as a normal human being and starting tomorrow, everything is up in the air in regards to internet access and actually getting the opportunity to go out and wander. From what I understand, I could very easily be on lockdown.
I haven't been on Lockdown since Basic Training. Anyway, my NCOIC has been telling me that everything I have experienced in the army, Basic Training, AIT, Annual Training, Drills, well, that ain't the army. Tomorrow, I enter the Army. These last couple days? just padding to help me transition from civilian to soldier.
I give myself two and a half weeks to get in the mindframe I should be. The ironic thing is in two and a half weeks I'll be heading home for Christmas for ten days.
Ah, who am I kidding? I bet tomorrow I jack something up.
Now because everything is closed by 5 due to the whole winter thing and I didn't even get to my hotel room until 4:30, that means I think I'll just vedge here at the Seattle Center and surf the internet for a while. It's kind of chilly and I have no idea when I'll get to do this again.
This is me. Right now.
I look like hell because I'm in the middle of a Mobilization and I'm getting over a cold. But this is my last night as a normal human being and starting tomorrow, everything is up in the air in regards to internet access and actually getting the opportunity to go out and wander. From what I understand, I could very easily be on lockdown.
I haven't been on Lockdown since Basic Training. Anyway, my NCOIC has been telling me that everything I have experienced in the army, Basic Training, AIT, Annual Training, Drills, well, that ain't the army. Tomorrow, I enter the Army. These last couple days? just padding to help me transition from civilian to soldier.
I give myself two and a half weeks to get in the mindframe I should be. The ironic thing is in two and a half weeks I'll be heading home for Christmas for ten days.
Ah, who am I kidding? I bet tomorrow I jack something up.
Now because everything is closed by 5 due to the whole winter thing and I didn't even get to my hotel room until 4:30, that means I think I'll just vedge here at the Seattle Center and surf the internet for a while. It's kind of chilly and I have no idea when I'll get to do this again.
Why Do People Do This?
I got a troll in my email (I only call her that because of how she phrased her email), and by the phrasing of her email, I felt that she was accusing me of being a closed minded bigot if I refused to answer her.
It was only because of this that I felt I should answer her, but not to really give her a reply to her email, it was more of a kind reminder that I was annoyed by her accusation that if I kept silent it means that I don't want to give an argument on why I think the way I do.
Here is that part of the email, point blank.
I'm not saying that she was trying to make a valid point, which she actually was, but it was more to the point of basically saying that if I don't reply to her, then my minds made up and I have no desire to look at the other side and to get in a debate on the subject.
Believe me, I'm always up for a good debate. In fact, I would have loved to expand on her question with my own thoughts. But it's just the fact that truthfully, my time is precious and I have very little that I can respond to, and believe me, there are about two dozen emails sitting in my inbox that I want to return and I can't.
I want to return your emails, I honestly do! I would love to reply to every email I get! I can't! Please please please please PLEASE don't do this! It's annoying!
If I am Silent to your email, it's because I don't have time to respond to it. That's all there is to it!
It was only because of this that I felt I should answer her, but not to really give her a reply to her email, it was more of a kind reminder that I was annoyed by her accusation that if I kept silent it means that I don't want to give an argument on why I think the way I do.
Here is that part of the email, point blank.
"It's been my past experience that people will only believe what they want to believe, and will find a way to justify anything, but what I do find is
if they cannot think of a reply, they will choose silence. This makes me think
that perhaps they have no reply."
I'm not saying that she was trying to make a valid point, which she actually was, but it was more to the point of basically saying that if I don't reply to her, then my minds made up and I have no desire to look at the other side and to get in a debate on the subject.
Believe me, I'm always up for a good debate. In fact, I would have loved to expand on her question with my own thoughts. But it's just the fact that truthfully, my time is precious and I have very little that I can respond to, and believe me, there are about two dozen emails sitting in my inbox that I want to return and I can't.
I want to return your emails, I honestly do! I would love to reply to every email I get! I can't! Please please please please PLEASE don't do this! It's annoying!
If I am Silent to your email, it's because I don't have time to respond to it. That's all there is to it!
12.06.2004
More on Badass Championship
Personally, I like Aaron's version of how it will go.
Meanwhile, 'not' SarahK has a poll up on which one of us is going to win. It looks deadlocked.
*prods readership ever so subtly*
Meanwhile, 'not' SarahK has a poll up on which one of us is going to win. It looks deadlocked.
*prods readership ever so subtly*
12.03.2004
Latest
Well, the unit administrator is graciously allowing me to use his computer as we go through my stuff and get it squared away. I had to *sniff* give up my rental car and move into the drill hall until we officially mob.
These next few weeks will be hectic.
These next few weeks will be hectic.
12.01.2004
Is this thing never going to quit???
So, two badass tough chicks well known on the internet for their love of guns dooking it out. What will these people think of next?
(odds are apparently in my favor)
Hat tip - SarahK, and her evil twin.
Moral Reasonings
Ok, so I had this come up a couple of days ago in a talk during lunch. And we got into a heated debate about it, or at least it could have been heated if I wasn't dragging my butt exhausted due to the fact that I had a grand total of two hours of sleep the night before.
I don't exactly remember how it came to this topic, but it arrived due to a topic that should be adamently ignored while you are in uniform. We were discussing politics, and we eventually came upon the topic of Gay Marriage.
First, let me state my opinion on Gay Marriage, because that is what it is, an opinion and nothing more. I personally do not agree with Homosexuality based on my religious beliefs and the fact that I find Anal sex to be downright disgusting, and the fact that it is proven that the homosexual 'lifestyle' (term used loosely based on that discussion) is dangerous in the spread of communicable diseases and STD's (my line of work in the military, though I admit heterosexuals are not exempt either)among other things.
However, I do not see it as my place to tell other people how they should or should not live. I do not believe in ammending the constitution to ban gay marriage because I have a slight libertarian view on this topic. I don't like the government getting involved in my personal life and choices, and I admit that if I were gay I would still feel that way. If this came up to vote in my own state, to tell you the honest truth, I'm not sure how I would vote. Despite my conservative leanings, I might actually vote against a ban.
However again, I do not believe that the government should also condone homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle in public school sex education, for a variety of reasons. For one, the government is starting to tread on moral ground, and therefore when the government is teaching you something that is contradictory to what you are teaching them, who is your child to believe? School or their parents? And if they decide to side with you as opposed to their education on the matter, how seriously are going to take the rest of their education? But then again, I don't believe that it should be condemned, because condemnation breeds intolerance, and I know something about that.
What eventually this breeds down to is I told the person I was having this debate with that I don't believe the government should be involved in what I teach my children to be right and wrong. If I choose to teach my children that homosexuality is wrong, his argument started to come along the lines of, 'if your teaching your child this argument and they later decide that they were gay, wouldn't that put a strain on your relationship with your child?'
I basically ended the conversation here, because I was bloody tired, but I wish I continued. The truth is, I believe the freedom of choice, and my own understanding is we live by a series of choices. I will teach my children on what I believe is right and wrong, as they are my children and that is my right. However, if my child decided they were gay and chose to live that 'lifestyle', they would know where I stand on the subject but it wouldn't make me love them any less. There are many lifestyle choices that we can make that will cause contention with our parents, I shouldn't have to change my basic moral beliefs to appease somebody else, even my own children. What does that say about me if I did?
If I taught my children that smoking is wrong and dangerous to your health (which I believe to be correct), and my child then chose to smoke, would that make me love them any less? Of course not. I might be disappointed, but I shouldn't have to decide that smoking was ok because my child was doing it. I can only continue to love and support them, and let them know that in this circumstance, I disagree with their choice but continue to love them.
Of course, what I said instead was that I don't intend to have children because they drive me nuts (I go through these feelings quite constantly, I have 9 nieces and nephews and keep saying to myself that my siblings can take care of the gene pool and leave me out of it.)
Anyway, the gist of the conversation is I don't believe that the government should be involved in anything based on moral reasoning, which includes sexual behavior, unless involving children who don't know any better and non consenting adults. But then again, legalizing Gay Marriage brings up a whole new series of issues that will need to be involved and frankly I don't know if I want to get into that discussion, because face it, this is a hot topic that I find even myself torn in several directions regarding.
I can see why this is a concern for so many people however. For a long time, homosexuality was something that many considered to be vile and wrong and was only practiced in privacy. It wasn't talked about and those that were open were generally shunned. Then it became more and more accepted as an alternative 'lifestyle', and though ten years ago, gay marriage was considered preposterous, now it is considered realistic.
Seeing how far the homosexual lobby has come makes me wonder how long it will take for NAMBLA to gain more clout and become more acceptable by mainstream society. And that in itself is freaking terrifying. When is enough enough? Where does the government draw the line in their interferance on what should or shouldn't be recognized?
More of my own rambling two cents on the matter. Honestly, I don't know what anybody can gain from this.
I don't exactly remember how it came to this topic, but it arrived due to a topic that should be adamently ignored while you are in uniform. We were discussing politics, and we eventually came upon the topic of Gay Marriage.
First, let me state my opinion on Gay Marriage, because that is what it is, an opinion and nothing more. I personally do not agree with Homosexuality based on my religious beliefs and the fact that I find Anal sex to be downright disgusting, and the fact that it is proven that the homosexual 'lifestyle' (term used loosely based on that discussion) is dangerous in the spread of communicable diseases and STD's (my line of work in the military, though I admit heterosexuals are not exempt either)among other things.
However, I do not see it as my place to tell other people how they should or should not live. I do not believe in ammending the constitution to ban gay marriage because I have a slight libertarian view on this topic. I don't like the government getting involved in my personal life and choices, and I admit that if I were gay I would still feel that way. If this came up to vote in my own state, to tell you the honest truth, I'm not sure how I would vote. Despite my conservative leanings, I might actually vote against a ban.
However again, I do not believe that the government should also condone homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle in public school sex education, for a variety of reasons. For one, the government is starting to tread on moral ground, and therefore when the government is teaching you something that is contradictory to what you are teaching them, who is your child to believe? School or their parents? And if they decide to side with you as opposed to their education on the matter, how seriously are going to take the rest of their education? But then again, I don't believe that it should be condemned, because condemnation breeds intolerance, and I know something about that.
What eventually this breeds down to is I told the person I was having this debate with that I don't believe the government should be involved in what I teach my children to be right and wrong. If I choose to teach my children that homosexuality is wrong, his argument started to come along the lines of, 'if your teaching your child this argument and they later decide that they were gay, wouldn't that put a strain on your relationship with your child?'
I basically ended the conversation here, because I was bloody tired, but I wish I continued. The truth is, I believe the freedom of choice, and my own understanding is we live by a series of choices. I will teach my children on what I believe is right and wrong, as they are my children and that is my right. However, if my child decided they were gay and chose to live that 'lifestyle', they would know where I stand on the subject but it wouldn't make me love them any less. There are many lifestyle choices that we can make that will cause contention with our parents, I shouldn't have to change my basic moral beliefs to appease somebody else, even my own children. What does that say about me if I did?
If I taught my children that smoking is wrong and dangerous to your health (which I believe to be correct), and my child then chose to smoke, would that make me love them any less? Of course not. I might be disappointed, but I shouldn't have to decide that smoking was ok because my child was doing it. I can only continue to love and support them, and let them know that in this circumstance, I disagree with their choice but continue to love them.
Of course, what I said instead was that I don't intend to have children because they drive me nuts (I go through these feelings quite constantly, I have 9 nieces and nephews and keep saying to myself that my siblings can take care of the gene pool and leave me out of it.)
Anyway, the gist of the conversation is I don't believe that the government should be involved in anything based on moral reasoning, which includes sexual behavior, unless involving children who don't know any better and non consenting adults. But then again, legalizing Gay Marriage brings up a whole new series of issues that will need to be involved and frankly I don't know if I want to get into that discussion, because face it, this is a hot topic that I find even myself torn in several directions regarding.
I can see why this is a concern for so many people however. For a long time, homosexuality was something that many considered to be vile and wrong and was only practiced in privacy. It wasn't talked about and those that were open were generally shunned. Then it became more and more accepted as an alternative 'lifestyle', and though ten years ago, gay marriage was considered preposterous, now it is considered realistic.
Seeing how far the homosexual lobby has come makes me wonder how long it will take for NAMBLA to gain more clout and become more acceptable by mainstream society. And that in itself is freaking terrifying. When is enough enough? Where does the government draw the line in their interferance on what should or shouldn't be recognized?
More of my own rambling two cents on the matter. Honestly, I don't know what anybody can gain from this.
Kinkos + Laptop + Free Internet = :)
Well well well, what do you know? I could have saved myself some money by dragging my laptop with me about a half block yesterday. To bad I forgot my plugin for my scanner. That'll have to wait until tomorrow.
The next two days consists of me getting prepared for deployment by getting everything that I need to get done done. Now. You see, we had some dates on our orders but very little else. We didn't know what we needed to do now because we didn't know how much time we would have later.
Turns out, we will have a lot of time. I think I'll check out and familiarize myself with my laptop.
The next two days consists of me getting prepared for deployment by getting everything that I need to get done done. Now. You see, we had some dates on our orders but very little else. We didn't know what we needed to do now because we didn't know how much time we would have later.
Turns out, we will have a lot of time. I think I'll check out and familiarize myself with my laptop.
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