Obligatory Snowboard Pics

I just realized I haven't posted many pictures since, well, since I was ordered not to. Then I got that order revoked and didn't really follow up on posting a lot of pictures afterward.

Well, I've been boarding twice this season, and will be hitting the mountain at least a couple more times this season to make up for lost time and take advantage of excellent conditions. Unless another kid pushes me on purpose and I'm imprisoned for child abuse because I kicked the crap out of a minor.

If he didn't get lost in the crowd, I would gotten that little fart too.


That, right there, is one of my primary motivations for boarding.
Just, check out that view! It's incredible!


Different day, different mountain, same basic effect.
Its snowed a bit here recently, as is evident by the pile on that ski lodge. . .


. . . and those trees. . .


I've decided I need more action poses.
The problem is, getting people to take them.

I'll be riding at least a couple more times these season, as previously mentioned.

Yay for me! Now I have to find victims to ride with.

Server Status and Mountains

Operation Move Websites To New Servers is moving along without much of a hitch, except for the fact that because my laptop is in the shop, I'm having to use the old desk top to do this, and I've been working on it quite a bit for the last few days.

Unfortunately, everybody else wants to use the desk top too. From eBay to Spider Solitare or just checking email. I can say that I have claim to the computer, as it was originally mine, however I can't be greedy. Besides, I gave up claims to it when I deployed (it went to the folks like my former car, may god rest its soul)

Meanwhile, somewhat spontaniously, I bought a Pass and a Half from the local mountain. I don't know how many Kodak moments I'll get out of it, but I'm going to get the pass all organized tomorrow and maybe hit a few runs, try to be home in time for church. Fortunately, my church doesn't start until three in the afternoon. Truthfully, I don't like church starting that late, but in situations such as wanting to do something like snowboard in the morning, it works.

I've only boarded once this season so far (i thought I would go up a lot more then that, but finances and a desire to curb myself, as well as gas prices have kept me in check) so I'm going to hit the mountain as often as I can for the rest of this month. In April, another mountain has free skiing for the end of its season, I think I'll hit up on that, as my mountain will be closed by then *sob*.

Its such a great season so far, its a pity they're planning on closing so early. They got dumped with snow these last few days I know.

This is a Test

I just moved my entire website to another server. You may have noticed this if you visited it yesterday, it was down for all of a couple hours.

In the meantime, I'm also looking at ways to make money off of another one of my passions, my webcomic Creature. Two fold reasons, because its former host Comic Genesis sucks and I would like to find a way to make money at something I plan to do long term.

That is all.

*this post is a test to make sure my new server allows me to post to my blog*

Activity needs to be Upped a few Notches

This week so far has been a week of bleh, between me going through my mountains of stuff and working. And also going on some sort of diet.

Actually, rather then a diet, I just need to get active again. We were marching around on Sunday at a pace greater then a thirty inch step and my shins felt it the next day. I've never had prepatory shin splints from marching. So I've been taking it fairly easy these last couple of days so that my shins can recover, and then my plan was to run. or do DDR or jump around on the trampoline or something.

Actually, one of my plans was to hit a pawn shop and buy a bicycle. I want to start biking more, low strain on the knees and a way to get into shape. Also, I could handle running more. My main concern is my knees. They aren't in the shape they once were.

The other plan was to get into some kind of martial arts. They don't have a lot of offerings here in Spokane at the moment. I have one class I know of that I can get into that has two classes a week for an hour a piece, but I would rather get into a longer class thats more frequent.

Meanwhile, I've been busy sorting through things with the television playing in the background. I'm finally through Season 2 of Smallville. I've been doing it a bit differently then other shows, instead of buying the season, I've been renting it a disk at a time. But Smallville is a keeper, I promised myself to buy the series if it ever came into the store used. Sure enough, Seasons 1 and 4 came in yesterday. Along with Season 1 of Charmed. Several people mentioned Charmed as well, so I picked that up too.

I've cleared out a ton of my books and movies, btw. Which gave me a lot of in store credit at my employer to buy things like boxed sets of Smallville and Charmed.

Unfortunately, one generally isn't active when they watch the TV. That's why i should incorporate sit ups during my viewing entertainment.

Drill Weekend

This weekend was drill weekend for me.

It also confirmed some facts for me as well. One, I discovered that I don't like working in an Army Hospital at all. Well, I knew this to be true, but this weekend all but confirmed it. I just sat there in formation wondering what I was doing. See, technically, I don't have to drill for 90 days. I just came to drill today because I have to drill out my contract and I felt the need to find something to do on those weekends.

So this weekend's mission for me? Find a home. However, keep in mind that unless I stay a 91S, wherever I find a home at is expecting me to commit to their unit by doing the training necessary to qualify in the needed job skill.

Which = possible reenlistment.

So I'm looking for a home that fits my perameters and I can drill with for a while until I get the knack for what they want and I can reenlist or maybe just drill out the remaining contract.

I went to the hospital yesterday seeing how things were back there and noticed it hadn't changed much. Now, don't get me wrong, I like a lot of people in the hospital here. I just don't like being in a hospital. It doesn't fit me.

I knew of another unit however that had always seemed to catch my interest. So I checked them out. And I really liked what I saw. And if I reenlisted with them, I don't think it would be that bad.

I'm still within my 90 days however, so I might not be able to switch over to them by next month, but there is a good chance I'll be a part of them by May.

Now I have to put in some hours of my own time, commit a lot of stuff to memory, and relearn everything I learned in basic. Next month I get to help run a range. Good times!

Today I got dropped for anticipating a command. I hate it when I do that. But in the meantime, I also think that I'll have fun with this assignment.

The last Three Weeks have Signaled Career Change

In relation to the last post, I've come to discover that my current job is not right for me. There is a handful of reasons why I went back there.

I need just enough money income right now to maintain my current lifestyle, which includes a car payment, insurance, rent and that kind of stuff, and I just want to do something I enjoy, while getting a nice little employee incentive on the side (in this case, kick ass discounts!)

Well, since coming back, I've found myself working there more then I want to, and after a couple weeks of work, I got paid today.

For the last year, I've been getting a pretty comfortable paycheck. I took one look at this one, realizing I was dealing with idiots that were making me highly frustrated, and thought to myself 'what am I doing here?'

I guess one of the reasons for me to come back and work at this place is to help me realize that I need to move on and find something better. That will, you know, actually make me happy. In other words, I need to find something I actually enjoy doing as opposed to doing something that is moderately enjoying at times and other times makes me want to bash skulls. This paycheck isn't worth the stress.

I think I'm going to say no to anybody who asks me to work more hours, while I focus on doing several things, such as A) find a better job and B) go back to school.

I'm thinking of hitting the community college for Spring Quarter, pick up a few extra credits on the side while I fine tune some of my skills. My parents have told me I may have a knack for free lance journalism. Hey, I've maintained a blog with some readership for over a year. It might work.

I just have to sharpen my skills a bit.

6 Degrees of Adam Morrison

I graduated in '99 from Mead High School.
While I was at Mead, for three years I did stats for the men's varsity Basketball team. Being short, I think I was largely invisible to most of them.
A couple of years after I graduated, a kid named Adam Morrison came to Mead.
From what I hear, he helped take the team to state, which is more then can be said for the three years I was doing stats for them.
He got a scholarship to Gonzaga University.
He's currently on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a consideration for player of the year.

When a local kid makes the cover of Sports Illustrated, this is undoubtedly big news. We got a huge shipment of Sports illustrateds in to meet the demand. And how we did the wait list was retarded.

We kind of got a late shipment in, so we started taking down people's names and told them to call us back. Now, when you just take down people's names for a magazine that can be bought just about anywhere with a newstand, there is a good chance that these people may end up getting this magazine somewhere else.

Unfortunately for me, I looked at this issue with logic, and a thought about Customer Service, as opposed to the brilliant item at hand that would undoubtedly leave a couple people pissed.

We took down the names of about 12 people, when the first shipment of magazines came in. It was our regular shipment, and totaled about nine magazines. We were expecting more, we just didn't know when they would come in.

One gentlemen came in looking for the magazine and put his name down on the list, at number 13 or something. He said he would be back around noon, though of course, there was no guarantees that we would get more magazines by that time. He mentioned that he lived kind of far away and it would be inconveniant for him to come back after he was done with his class.

Well, luck be have it, we hadn't gotten our second shipment in yet, and out of the nine people on the list, one person had claimed the magazine.

Statistics would show that of the original nine people that put their name down, some will not come back to get it. Especially when we took down their names and expected them to contact us. I even told the GSM (Guest Service Manager) on duty that I would bet him money that those people would not come back.

The gentlemen came back to get the magazine, he was number 13 on a list when we were expecting more magazines in, and the GSM refused to give him one. That customer knew we had magazines and left very irritable. I would wager that he was at a point where he wouldn't come back to the store. So we lost a sale and potentially we also lost a customer.

So, here is where Kami Logic comes in. We have 9 magazines. We have a list of over thirteen people on a list. We are expecting more magazines, one gentlement not in the nines comes back before we get the shipment. So far, of the nine magazines, we've only had one person come back to claim it.

This is the gamble. Do I guarantee to piss this customer off in favor of 8 customers that may or may not show up, or do I make the effort to please the customer that is right here in the store at the risk of pissing off one of those eight customers that I sold the magazine to? Now, keep in mind, this is to assume that all eight of these customers will be back in the store before we get another shipment in.

Does my logic make sense? I would rather take a risk and please a customer that is right there with money in hand wanting to make the purchase rather then slap him to the side in favor of making sure 8 out of 8 customers have their magazine in case all 8 people make it before the next shipment arrives.

Guess what? My odds were correct. Within an hour of that customer leaving, I think 2 people came and picked up the magazine before the next shipment arrived. So we lost the customer, in favor of pleasing 6 other customers that never showed up before the shipment.

I wasn't suggesting we do that for every customer, I've just known in my experience in retail that you often have to deal with your customers on a case by case basis. Some customers need to be treated differently then others. And seeing that this man came in the store, put his name down, left, and then came back makes him a special case.

When I left, our shipment of over 50 magazines came in. Overall, about 15 people vouched to put their name on a waiting list. Five or six came back before the rest of the shipment came in. We denied at least one the sale.

I discovered, after getting really irritated with this whole process, that maybe I need to get out of the customer service business.

Becuase I discovered that I don't deal well when I'm working under somebody I disagree with. Especially since technically we are actually in the same position (I'm a GSM too, I just wasn't working in the capacity of the GSM at the time, and I've held the position longer then this other guy has).

When other people came in, he started ranting about the problem to them.

I'm beginning to suspect that I might not be working there much longer. I have several reasons to quit.

Clutter

Well, it took me long enough, but I finally got my computer into the shop. They say I'll get it back in 45 days, but maybe as soon as 2 to 3 weeks. I'm ok with that, got everything backed up and now I have to depend on Pyro, my old Desk top that is on its last leg. But I think it will be ok. I just have to go easy on the old thing. Like I need to go easy on those USB ports on my laptop.

Currently, I have a goal in mind. Just one goal I'm working on accomplishing, outside the going back to school. This is kind of a short term goal, but in accomplishing this goal, I have to make a few steps to get there. And its the journey to the goal that is important.

That goal? I'm going to get a Ferret.

You may look at this and say to yourself, 'huh?' Well, I want a ferret. But a ferret is a high maintenance pet. You have to be prepared to take care of them or they are apt to stink up your place. I don't want my ferret getting all stinky.

What's more, while currenly living with the parents once more, they have told me that I cannot own an animal while I'm here (and expect it to live here at least). Which gives me an incentive to get out of here. But even if I do get out of here, I've got this enormous clutter problem I need to deal with. See, being an artistic type, I tend to hang onto a lot of things. Like clutter. Anything really. I've got an enourmous amount of crap.

Ferrets don't do well with clutter. In fact, they tend to make it worse. Which gives me an incentive to get organized.

Whether or not I ever end up owning a ferret is the big question. I might not. But my goal is to try to get to a point where I can own one with no problems.

Now the question is can I get there?

We Bloggers Must Stick Together

A Blogger's Disclaimer. Now THIS is something I could have used in my year in Kosovo. Why didn't I think of this? Instead of putting a disclaimer up every other week. It would have been easier.

Meanwhile, found a girl who seems to have shared my pain, except she did it in the sand box. Or, perhaps more appropriately, she found me.

Female Soldier Bloggers unite!

Boy, this girl thinks like I do. Most of the time :)

At this point, i don't think I'll ever experience the Sand Box, especially if I take the career path I'm looking at (I'll tell you more about it when I find out more about it). I'll consider this a good thing, as nobody really wants to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever. But honestly, I was more then willing to go if they wanted to send me.

What's funny, how much I've come to discover about the government and how wasteful it is while working for it. This tends to make a person annoyed, especially when you know that the government is funded by your money. I could say that I pay my own salary in a way, but the crap one sees happen with the government and contractors and so on makes a person want to throttle their representatives. Grr. . .

I should get back to blogging about issues. Every so often I do that, but usually they just turn into rants.

Consumer Brilliance

Ok, I've got a biff about a current item on the market presently. Its called the PlayStation Portable. Perhaps you have heard of it?

Well, the PSP, for all intensive purposes, like, for playing video games, seems like a pretty cool little gadget. We sell them in my store and all and I've become quite familiar with them. Much like a Nintendo Game Boy, it has games that are created specifically for it. Ok, fairs fair, but what is with the miniature movies?

You can buy a movie for a PSP to watch on its tiny little screen. Movies for the PSP cost the same amount as if you were to buy a regular DVD. Heck, sometimes they can be more. But the kicker to it is the only place you can watch this movie is on that tiny little screen of a PSP.

I can see the benefits of watching a movie on the go, like on a long car ride or some other type of trip, where you can watch it in peace. But, well, you can only watch a movie in that format on a PSP. At least, as far as I know.

Question: what is up with all of these people that think that spending $20.00 on a 2 hour movie to watch on a tiny screen is a good idea?

Answer: I don't know, but I'm seeing sucker written all over the place. In the meanwhile, if I want to see a movie, I think I'll stick to DVDs. Thanks.

Work is Life

I have a confession to make. I'm a sucker.

Right now, I am basically working just what I need to work to maintain my bills. Which doesn't require me to work that much. This gives me some free time to sort through my stuff and get my affairs in order while I prepare to go to school and what not. I do have a plan however, it involves getting my own place, after I have significantly downsized my current possessions.

Meanwhile, well, I'm a sucker. I don't have to work that much, but if somebody comes up to me, begging me to take a shift that they are trying to get rid of because they are sick/ the shift conflicts with school/ they just want the day off, I undoubtedly grind my teeth, give them a dirty look, and tell them I'll take it.

What's wrong with me? Why can't I ever tell a person 'No! I don't want your freakin' shift! I just want to sit at home and burn crap in the fireplace I've been hanging onto for the last ten years for closure! I don't need hours!'

Well, actually, the burning of stuff in the fireplace is a bit more information then they need to know (but it has proven very theraputic!) but still, for some reason, I can't tell a person no when they ask me to cover a shift.

But hey, its not so bad, right? I mean, it could be that I really do need the money and I can't get enough work, so I'm counting my blessings in the meantime.

Now, I have to mail out the last parcel from my first eBay sale and get the ball rolling on my next one.

Meanwhile, the army overpaid me on my last paycheck, so for the next year or so of drilling, a portion of my drill paycheck will be going to paying back that debt. How am I not surprised???

Woes from Work

When I was looking into a job change with the US Army, somebody mentioned if I wanted to do LPN. To tell you the honest truth, I would like to just get out of the Medical Field altogether. I don't think I could ever do the LPN bit and I'll tell you why.

I don't do puke, crap, urine or mucus. Which brings up the question of what will I do if and when I come upon having kids of my own?

One thing I don't like about people in the people pleasing business of customer service, is when we offer a public toilet and people decide that they need to use our facilities to do a doozy of a number two, so much so that it plugs up our plumping where we have to get the plunger out. Gross.

I don't get paid enough to deal with other people's poop. In a lot of ways, that is where I cross the line. But when we're closing, gosh, we got to clean the bathrooms too. I walk into the male restrooms and low and behold, some customer left me a present. I overhead paged some back up assistence while I started trying to unplug the thing.

People, if you really have to go and you know you're going to clog up the toilet, don't go to a public restroom to do it, please for the love of all that is holy. Just do it in your own private toilet. Don't leave it for some other poor soul to have to clean it up after you. It just plain stinks!

Television Shows

Like Movies, only its TV.

I recently gave some opinions on movies, but I thought it would be fair to do the same with some recent television shows I've checked out and watched (and in some cases, got addicted too)

Another thing I can do via my employer is rent TV shows that have come out on DVD. I guess I could also watch TV shows on their native habitat, but I don't like commercials very much. So, here's a review of some TV shows on DVD and what I thought about them.

Own and Watched at Least One Season - 'Nough Said.

Freaks and Geeks - the first TV show that I actually bought on DVD. I first saw this with my friend Marnie. It only lasted a season, about 18 episodes, and its a bloody shame. This show had promise. I don't know what it was showing on, but with its rotten luck, most likely Fox, which is notorious for canceling shows if they aren't instant hits. I think they ended it on a positive note however, giving the characters some closure.

Sliders - I watched the first couple of seasons of Sliders when it originally came out and found it pretty fascinating then. I still like it, although at times I note it can be rather preachy. Though I've also come to note that it seems like every world they visit is actually worse then our own, which kind of yells 'Yay for us!' Still, I've always had an interest with alternate dimensions. Which may be why I found this series so interesting in the first place.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I've only been harping about it for the last two months. I've known about Buffy since it came out, but I never watched it. Then one day I had to shine a pair of boots and clean a rifle and I prefer doing both of the above objects while watching the TV. I had HitchHikers Guide but felt it wasn't enough, so I bought the introductory disc of Buffy as well. Its all history from there.

What in the world is with Season 4? I love it when Hollywood tries to make a stab at what the military is really like, it is rather laughable. Still, I'm a sucker for Buffy now.

Angel - Buffy fallout brought me to Angel. Because Angel is one of my favorite characters out of the first three seasons of Buffy. This series is more adult then Buffy. Season 4 kind of brought major disappointment in the manner of the Jasmine storyline. The whole storyline gave me the squirmees, and when I got the squirmees from a show, it is never good news. Redemption came with Season 5, because Spike came over from Buffy and almost took over the show. That's both good and bad, good because Spike's one of my favorite characters out of the franchise, and bad becuase the show isn't about him, its about Angel. My own pet peeve is they ended this series without any closure, they better damn well hurry with that Spike movie I keep hearing rumors about.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - This is my guilty pleasure. Because when I was a wee kid of about 8 years old, I was seriously hooked on this show. When they came out with it on DVD, for pure nastalgic reasons, I had to buy it. In the process, I picked up the remake as well, just to see where they were going with it. Original - I probably wouldn't watch this if it weren't for the fact that I was so in love with the series as a kid. Theres just something about warping back to a time where things were a lot simpler and ninja turtles were the bomb. The animation now can be a bit painful to watch, but the story is the same and I wouldn't have it any other way. I grew up on these guys. Current - the current series is more stylized and geared toward an older audience (and hence, more Mature, the turtles don't have the same infatuation with pizza from before) from the original series, and I confess that if I weren't a fan of the original, I probably wouldn't be in the process of collecting this series as well. Still, I wish they had actually released the DVD in chronological order from the individual episodes. Damn them for screwing up my mojo, I have yet to see this show on Television and hence forth I'm not following it like its supposed to be followed. Sucks to be me.

Simpsons - You know, I have started collecting this on DVD (the first four seasons at least), but have yet to watch it in that format. Still, Simpsons have been out for how long? Who hasn't seen this show? DVD is different due to lack of commercial interuptions. And Simpsons are just classic.

Twilight Zone - The original series from the 60's, this stuff is pure classic. The storylines are original and its just fun to watch. That, and you can pick up any episode at random and watch it without feeling like you're jumping in the middle of something. I've got one more set to buy and I'll have this entire thing. Unfortunately, when I decided to buy it, they decided to re-release it in another format (this time by Seasons). Curse them.

Gargoyles - The animated Disney Cartoon. The first season was reasonably priced, the first half of the second season not so much. I don't think I'll be picking that up any time soon. It didn't catch my attention enough to warrent buying both at this time. Hmm, maybe later?

TV Shows on DVD in Process of Watching - This is something I'm currently in the middle of.

Firefly - I picked this one up because I've heard nothing but good about it. I probably need to watch the pilot again, because I decided to watch it while I was working on eBay, which meant my mind wasn't entirely on the show, and I likely missed somethings. So far, for a Sci-Fi western, it has proven to be suitably quirky and entertaining for my tastes.

On Deck - I plan to watch these in the not to distant future.

Smallville - Everything is screaming at me that this is bad news, do not buy this unless you want a repeat of an obsession to rival that which is currently happening in regards to Buffy. However, I've heard a lot of good about this show, and there's further good news! It is available to rent so I can rent the first couple of discs and make sure its something I want to get addicted too. A good friend of mine also recommended it as something to avoid for the reasons I mentioned above (he too got hooked on it) and further more, Buffy Fallout! James Marsters is guest starring in the current season as a villain, and I've become a James Marsters fan. Damn it.

Life or Something Like It - I'm a Freaks and Geeks fan. This is made by the same people who brought us Freaks and Geeks. I purchased it, never watched it, so now i need to make an effort to do so. Don't know if it is of the same caliber, don't know. It got canceled.

Aqua Team Hunger Force - I have heard so much about this bizarre series that i need to just sit down and check it out. I've already made the first step, I've got Season one on DVD during one of my impulse purchases at the PX.

Lost - Sooner or later, somebody is going to make me watch this. I better just get prepared for that.

Would Like to Buy - Name says all. If chance would have it, maybe one day I will own these. But they are purely wishlist, nothing more.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - I would love to pick up the entire series of Next Generation on DVD for similar reasons to Ninja Turtles. Catch? This series is expensive. Like a Hundred dollars a pop per season. I've overcome the fascination I endured over Next Generation a long time ago, this would be a pure Nastalgic purchase. And at that price, it's not worth it to me. Maybe I can find it used somewhere for cheap? Hmm, unlikely.

ST - Deep Space Nine - See above. And further more, these are the only two series in the Star Trek franchise I am interested in purchasing. Voyager wore out its welcome by season 2. The original series never caught my attention and I was out of the Trekkie phase by the time Enterprise debuted.

Avoiding Like the Plague - Erm, these are shows that I have no intention of watching. Ever.

Sex and the City - Not because it is bad, but because it sounds like something I wouldn't normally watch. I'm just not into shows like this. However, if I do brave a chance and sit and watch it, I'll probably end up collecting the whole series as well. I will save myself the time and financial burdon and forego ever seeing this series.

Friends - In a lot of ways, much like Sex and the City. I have seen episodes of this and it is actually really funny. Which is further reason to avoid. I will not have a show sap my life force away. That, and I'm not into Sitcoms anymore. Sitcoms are not worth watching on DVD.

Full House - I used to watch this show as a kid, but it doesn't hold the same nastalgic feelings like Ninja Turtles do. There is no way I'm going to collect the DVDs of it.

*******************

That is probably all I can think of at the moment. Yeah, Television. As you can see, I don't have a whole lot of series on my list, considering how many there are out there these days. Like I said, I don't normally watch TV. I don't like having that much life force sucked from my brain as it is.

Oh the Shame!

I may have made a cardinal sin.

I let a block of Swiss Chocolate go bad.

It was one of those things where you don't want to eat it, you want to save it and everything, you know? But the thing about Chocolate is it doesn't get better with age, like wine or some other alcoholic beverage that I don't know anything about. Especially since I think it was sat next to a heater on the flight home from Kosovo. Damn that Swiss Chocolate going bad! Swiss Chocolate is a rare pleasantry that can't go bad!

What's more, this is a sin times 3. Three bars of swiss chocolate. Oh the Shame!

In other news, I found that I can discover the finer points of military life when I'm discussing the military with an inquiring mind who wants to know. I got into the topic of discussing my European Vacation and military life in Kosovo (the finer parts) and got into a good conversation about it. I did mention my main peeve with the reserves, (the inability to decide on whether or not I am going to be deployed) but I think overall the military is getting a lot better at this. I think a soldier knows they will be deployed somewhere like a year in advanced now.

This will all be changed once we wage war on North Korea.

I'm also thinking about buying a Ferret.

Movies

Now that I'll be watching movies a lot more *rentals more then anything, I don't think I can go into the previous DVD buying binges I was once known for* I decided to maybe do some reviews on what I thought. Bare in mind, my opinions in regards to movies don't mean a whole hill of beans because I'm easy to please and I rarely look into the deeper meaning of movies. I'm just in it purely for the entertainment value.

Red Eye - I don't really watch thriller type movies, but for some reason this one peaked my interest. I actually saw previews to it while in Kosovo. I liked it, and it was a clean thriller. Very little cussing, some implied situations, but overall it does what its supposed to do, get you at the edge of your seat. It did me. And that's saying something, like I said, I don't generally watch thriller type movies. Or rather, horror movies for that reason.

Wallance and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit - I've been a fan of Wallace and Gromit since the mid '90's, and was rather pleased to hear that they came out with a full length feature film. Somebody had recommended in Kosovo to watch it, unfortunately I never got around to it. This falls right in line with the shorts. It's good clean fun, made me laugh out loud more then a couple of times, and I sincerely enjoyed the film. Just good clean fun the whole family can enjoy. For that reason I usually enjoy family flicks. hehe.

Sad to say, this is all I've really seen lately. My current TV Show is Firefly, like I mentioned before, I haven't quite gotten into it, but I started watching it while I was distracted.

Um, if anybody has any movies that have come out on DVD in the last ten or so months that are enjoyable popcorn fodder, please by all means send them my way. To save you the time, here is a short list of what I have seen.

Million Dollar Baby - Good flick, tear jerker.
Just Like Heaven - Great date movie, clean, Reese Witherspoon = I have to see it.
Corpse's Bride - Typical Tim Burton Animation, quirky and a bit morbid. I wish the theater had a better sound system.
Domino - Any movie which makes jokes at the expense of actors from Beverly Hills, 90210 is all right with me. + Kiera Knightly = I have to see it, for different reasons then Reese.
Walk the Line - I'm a Johnny Cash fan. Plus, as mentioned before, Reese Witherspoon.
King's Ransom - I think the only reason why I saw it is because we were bored and had to do something with our time. And in Kosovo, movies are free. In other words, yeah, funny, but not laugh out loud and sometimes uncomfortable humor.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - I'm a Potter Fan. This is a given, I have to see this movie.
Underworld: Evolution - I was disappointed. Especially since I've recently acquired a Werewolf/Vampire fascination (not to the point of disturbance with me going all goth however).
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Quirky humor. I think this one is geared to the fans, but I do admit I enjoyed it.
Mr and Mrs. Smith - This has a lot of guns in it. But can I say I think these two have become seriously overhyped? I'm done.
Saints and Soldiers - I don't care what Murray says, past the historical innacuracies I liked it.

I may have missed a couple. But actually, my movie watching compared to years past has been limited.

Maybe every couple of weeks i'll post a couple more reviews.

The Problem with the 91 Sierra

For those of you who don't know, my job within the army is 91S, Preventive Medicine Specialist. In theory, this job is really important to the army. The job itself is the prevention of Disease and Non Battle Injuries. Anything dealing with the prevention of Disease and Non Battle Injuries is detailed by my job.

The problem with this is it doesn't necessarily need a soldier to do the job. As is evident by the fact that more and more parts of the job is being contracted out to the civilian sector, leaving the crap parts of the job to the soldier. One of the reasons why I didn't particularly enjoy my times in Kosovo.

Another problem with the job is nobody knows what a 91S does outside of the Preventive Medicine Unit. In a hospital, often times everybody looks at the 91S as the red headed step children of the unit. Because we don't deal directly with patients or what not, we often get tasked to do other things. One of the job listings of the 91S should be 'Mundane Details' and 'Peon'. If the first sergeant needed something to get done, she would look first at the people who don't have patient care issues. More often then not, this would be Preventive Medicine.

Because nobody knows what Preventive Medicine does, it is somewhat of a Sham Job. That has its positives, to be sure, but because it is a sham job, it also gives an air of being a job that isn't very important. We could make ourselves as busy or non busy as we want to be. Unfortunately for me, I prefer to be busy when I work. With a goal in sight. I never really felt like I got this from my unit.

So, one of our main tasks in Kosovo tended to be Inspections. I hate inspections. I loathe them with a passion. I even mentioned this. But I didn't complain about doing inspections, I just mentioned that I didn't like them. More of a statement then anything. I just made it to the wrong people. One of the reasons why I hated doing inspections is because a lot about the inspections is its a judgement call on the part of the inspector. I like things to be written down, black and white. when I did inspections and found people telling me that I shouldn't do something, or somebody else putting something down as being a bigger deal then it was, I was always the one who wasn't listened to. My opinion never seemed to matter. And it seemed when we had one big joint inspection, the only person who made any mistakes always seemed to be me, according to the infinite judgement and wisdom of my former NCOIC, who I have mentioned time and again, is an enormous pompous Asshat.

I loathe the man with a passion. Just thinking of him makes my blood start to boil and I want to bash his head in with the buttstock of my M16.

Other people in my section often made mistakes too. I noted them, I mentioned them to the enormous pompous Asshat, but he didn't seem to care. He would turn around and point out my mistakes, because the other people in my section were angels that could do no wrong and I was the bastard stepchild.

Which brings me to another point of what was wrong with my section. It consisted of a number of soldiers from another unit (I can't mention exact numbers because that would be telling unit strength) who had all worked together and knew each other fairly well. Then there was me. I was the bastard stepchild from day one and I never fully fit in. What makes this worse is that this unit was overstrength as it was. The head sergeant, (who is he who I greatly loathe) never really did anything because he was incredibly lazy. I did mundane jobs here and there that really were not that big of a deal, but looked like a lot on paper (I was never really trusted to be able to do my job I think). The other soldiers in the unit could have easily took over my job duties and did their own with plenty of room to spare. What am I driving at? My section was overstaffed. By two soldiers.
I was one of those two soldiers, the idiot who supervised me was the other. Considering how small my section was, this was a lot. And often times we were made to stay a certain length of time just because we had to have somebody man the office. Often times I sat on my ass surfing the internet with lack of nothing better to do.

Another problem with my job? A lot of time is spent cooped up in an office. You know why I joined the army? Because it's the freakin' army! I love the army for the shooting of things that go bang, for the dirt and marching around and doing grunt hooah army stuff. I don't like sitting in an office staring at a screen all damn day. I could never be an office peon because I would so quickly get bored with that.

I need another freakin' job! Unfortunately for me, I'm in a job that is understrength according to army standards. I'm limited to the jobs that I will be allowed to do.

You know, I would go on another deployment in a heartbeat, honestly I would. I just don't want to go as a 91S, which in my opinion, has grown into one of the most pointless jobs in the army. Apparently, there is a lot of that to go around.

Trust Issues

I've discovered as of late that I don't trust people like I used to. Well, to tell you the truth, I always had a certain amount of mistrust in regards to people around me, but lately I've discovered that it is hard for me to trust people that aren't family.

I think dealing with certain people in Kosovo killed a lot of my trust. In particular, somebody who I put a lot of trust and faith in who ended up stabbing me in the back multiple times. Something in my head was screaming at me to notice the warning signs and I didn't. I'll be paying for that for a long time to come too I wager. Jackass.

The roommate situation with my brother isn't quite working, for a variety of reasons. One, I'm rooming with boys, and how I've been raised, this goes against my better judgement. Now if it was just me and my brother, it would be just fine, but the third wheel is causing a bit of an issue. That, and actually, he keeps making me feel like I'm imposing on them. Well, the other roommate is the second issue I'm having. I don't really get along with him, and I don't trust him. And I can't live with somebody I don't trust. I don't think he'll take advantage of me or anything in certain ways, but he's already shown that he will try to take advantage of me in regards to weasling his way out of paying for stuff. I won't take any of that, and that really does rub me the wrong way.

Moving on, I don't know where I'm really going or doing right now with my life. I'm in a blah moment, I wanted to get this all figured out while I was in Kosovo and I'm not getting anything figured out. Moving back in *temporarily* with my parents while I sort through my stuff and get back into painting again. I really need to paint again. And if I do, believe me, this blog will focus a lot on that.

School is definitely on the agenda this fall, though I still don't know what I want to get a degree in. I was thinking education, I have a desire to teach. . . something, it has always kind of interested me. Funny, another part of me had often wanted to get into acting. Not for the fame part, strange, having a blog has told me that this is about as much fame as I can handle. Just the job itself has always sounded like fun. The chance to just be something you're not. Maybe that's why I always loved Halloween. A part of me can't act, but another part of me can. And I've been a lot less inhibited as of late. I think that's another lesson I learned in Kosovo.

That, and I can't trust people.

For those of you interested in knowing where I go from here in regards to the army, I'm still in for at least a year and a half. I'm debating on what I'm going to do, I don't want to stay as Preventive Medicine, I feel the job is becoming completely worthless and I have to be in a job with a purpose, or more importantly, a point. But I've hit a catch 22 in regards to that in that I don't want to reenlist until I get into a job I know I want to do and love, but I can't get that job unless I have more time left in service. Bah, leave me alone already!

But I'm safe from deploying. For now. Unless I volunteer for a deployment. And I don't see that happening any time soon. I need another job I actually feel comfortable deploying under first.

I Hate Insurance Companies

Ok, I have a confession to make. I am far from a stellar driver. I have miraculously escaped many a accident on slippery icy roads in the past by merely pure unadulterated luck.

I also happen to own a lead foot.

In other words, I have had my fair share of speeding tickets, one of the more recent ones was just under two years ago while driving through the previously autobahn like Montana with its newly enforced speed limits. It caught me by surprise. I had done so well to clear my record that I was six months from a completely free driving record and I nabbed two speeding tickets within two weeks of each other. These things like to come in pairs to ruin your life.

Well, one of the upsides of being in Kosovo for a year is that no matter what happens, what happens in Kosovo stays in Kosovo and doesn't show up on your driving record. And fortunately this includes two minor accidents involving a HMMW-V. My record is clean of that, it happened in a foreign country.

Unfortunately, I did happen to get into an accident in January of 2004 as well. An accident I was not at fault for but still has managed to show up on my drivig record. Grr I hate that. Now i have to prove to my insurance company that it wasn't my fault and the other guy had to pay me for the damage. Unfortunately, if you've read my blog recently, you would know that right now my life is in disorder and I can't find anything, including former accident information.

Ergo more ranting of a policy that makes some sense but is still rather annoying

And then there is the discriminatory discount. I wonder if I could fight this? See, insurance companies offer a discount to their customers if the customers have been insured over a period of time without a break in their insurance. Ok, fine, offer a discount to people for maintaining their insurance, but what about poor souls like me who really find it a bloody waste of time to keep insurance on a car they no longer have when they are out of the country for the last year or so? People like Military? This discount is a slap in the face, how can I maintain a discount without paying the liability insurance of $70 bucks a month? What the hell is that? What is the freakin' point? But her answer, 'well, in six months time you'll get it back'. So? How do you deal with a discount you aren't allowed to have because though you had it before deploying overseas with the US military, you decided to forego the insurance when you got rid of the car because it was a freakin' waste of money. I'm single, I have no reason to keep a car on its last leg insured, there is no point in me being insured. But because of my break in keeping up with my insurance, I am no longer eligeble for this discount.

And here I am, serving my country in a (*cough cough*) war zone and I can't be waived for not having insurance because of it. Ok, I'm annoyed, for a variety of reasons, and they all compounded on each other.

Plus, well, this girl just grated on my nerves and made me want to slap her. What the hell, chica? You know the type, the overly nice ones who refuse to help you?

I don't like my current insurance. I think I'm going to try changing it this week.

And when did insurance get so freakin' expensive? Why is owning a car such a necessity these days? I learned that horrible lesson of why a car is important for keeping one's sanity while I was spending a pointless eleven days demobilizing in Fort Lewis. But now that I have a car, I really found I don't like driving it anywhere. Driving's a pain in the fourth.

That is one lesson we can take from the Europeans. They got great public transportation. Our public Trans is severely lacking. All we got is a bus system on its last leg (though a few years ago I learned a valuable lesson in the importance of having a working public transportation system when I lost my car for a few months. That was hell on earth right there). I had a rant there to. However, the US isn't set up to have a Public Transport system like Europe does because of how spaced everything is, especially here in the west. I did take a subway in Boston, that was valuable to have, wouldn't have gotten anywhere without it. Big cities, Public Tran (is there another name for this?) is important. In smaller cities, its still important but harder to justify. Curses.

Fortunately I've got a radio. I spent about five minutes at a stoplight tonight listening to the radio and thinking about life in general without realizing that I hadn't pulled up into the stoplights' sensors and it would therefore stay perpetually red. It took somebody else to pull along beside me before I snapped to my senses and realized that I was daydreaming (in the middle of the night, but still).

Find the not at fault thing for the insurance this week. Another thing to add to my growing doomsday list of things to do.

This is an example of a rambling done at one in the morning. It loses all train of thought by the end of the rant.

Entertainment News

I'm still horribly behind the times with the entertainment industry. Spending a year on a peace keeping mission in a third world country can do that to you.

In an attempt to catch up, I've been listening to the radio a lot while driving. I caught a few songs that I thought were pretty sweet, and already I've heard them so much I'm sick of them. Why does radio do that?

Today, I was driving and listening to one station when "Wake me when September Ends" starts playing. Look, I think this is a good song and all (yes, I'm a Green Day fan, to the shock of many) but since I've been home I seem to hear it at least twice daily while driving around, which has grated my teeth to the point that I bolt for my channel surfing button the moment I start hearing it (along with at least four other songs that have reached this level of repetativeness) and switch to another station that plays similar type of music. They are just coming out of a commercial break, and I breath a sigh of contentment, when low and behold, they start playing THE SAME BLOODY SONG!!! GARRR! What is wrong with these radio stations, is it a conspiracy with competetive radio stations to play the exact same song at the same time to drive their demographic mad?

Still, for the most part, a lot of what I'm hearing on the radio is fresh and new to me, and I've even broken down and bought a couple (used) CDs from my work. One was Gorillaz' new CD Demon Days, which is somewhat ironic from my earlier rant. I first heard of Gorillaz while I was in Bulgaria, we had German MTV on and (unlike American MTV) they actually had music videos, albight the same ones over and over again. I saw one of their music videos and the first time I saw it, I thought it was weird, the second time it started to grow on me, and by the sixth time I heard it in two days, I started getting annoyed by it. But I never saw the music video again, seeing I was back in Kosovo after three days. But the video stuck with me.

I saw a used copy of Demon Days so I picked it up to check out the rest of their sound. So far I need to listen to the CD a bit more so that the sound can grow on me.

And of course, my latest find happens to be Alanis Morrisette, Jagged Little Pill. Ok, so this is an old album and all, but I love Alanis Morrisette and this happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time (seeing as I know the entire thing by heart). Well, she redid it completely in Acoustic and I fell in love, as it is the same album done completely differently. I enjoyed muchly.

In other Entertainmnet News, well, what can I say? By the evidence that I have mentioned it once or twice, I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel) fan. I knew buying that Introductory DVD to the series was a really really bad idea. Because I knew I would be hooked if I saw it. Curse my foresight and not listening to it and heeding its warning!

I haven't seen hardly any movies since I've been back however. Ok, I've seen Underworld Evolution (don't waste the time or money), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (IMAX), and the 40 Year Old Virgin. To name a couple. Only two in the theater, I've only purchased a couple of movies and watched them while working on other things (like sorting through my stuff in my room) which has caused me to not really pay attention to some movies. I've found that throwing on an episode of Buffy keeps me occupied enough that I have something in the background but it is still relatively fresh in my mind that I can step away from it for a moment and work on something and glance up now and again to see what's going on.

I started watching Firefly as well, but as it is a new series, I haven't quite gotten hooked on it yet, unfortunately I tried to play it as background toward me working on other things (like sorting through my piles of crap and eBay) and I have come to discover that this is causing me to lose the flow of the series. That, and other then Star Trek and Star Wars, I never really got into the Sci Fi picture much. I've always been more of a fantasy geek. So I haven't managed to grow and addiction to this series like I did Joss Whedon's other cult hits preceeding it.

And after being hooked on Buffy and going back to Sliders, I can't get into the story arc like the Buffy series. I still like the concept behind Sliders, but in a lot of ways it gets really preachy and cheesey. I hate that. Not to say that the forementioned series doesn't have plenty of its moments of velveeta as well. Sometimes I want Buffy to shut the hell up.

In book news, I haven't read much of anything over the last few months. In fact, I'm selling a ton of my books. To think that I used to be such a bookworm in the past? Hmm.

eBay went pretty well this week. I was expecting to do ok, and I did better then Ok. I did awesome, wooHOO! I was planning on putting up some more stuff this week, but I got a bit sidetracked with work and stuff. So I'll have another set of things up next week. It will give me some time to get things set up I guess.

My sister is doing eBay as a form of income, she's doing awesome at it, I'm thinking of possibly getting into it myself. I think I would enjoy it more then working retail, and I can pick my own hours. Be as busy as I want to be. For now, I'll just sell things that are lying around my space.

That sounds like the plan for now.

Curse of Collections

The process of getting back into Civilian life is almost complete, save for the fact that I feel like I'm sleeping in a storage unit. On a cot. Now I'm working on going through my clothes, I think I'll sell clothes next on eBay. And a few more things of books. The dragonlance is out of my system now, that feels good. I have hung onto those for so long, collecting them that I got to a point that I was just collecting them because I collected them. I didn't even read them anymore. I realized that was kind of stupid and pointless. Kept the hardcovers, a couple of paperbacks, got rid of everything else.

Now all I collect is money. Er, foreign money that is. One of the few things I collect. I tried collecting stamps for a while, that didn't last to long.

Smile Time is the best Angel Episode. Ever.

Next series to watch is Firefly. Brother has it, supposedly. Except, well, he can't find it. So as soon as it shows up, I'll watch it, and I've got Serenity to watch as well.

I used to collect DVDs up the yahoo, however despite the fact that I'm working in a Movie/Music/Bookstore again, and working there with a lot more money then what I had before, I've been doing good at not buying DVDs at random. In fact, I think I'll be doing a lot more renting. Though they took my employee discount away for some reason, despite the fact that I was technically still employed there. Curse them. Its fixed now, but I didn't get them on discount when I could have used the ferkin' discount.

I do have a Coo-coo clock to hang up. I'll run it through the brother where he would suggest I hang it.

Have I bored you yet???

Work and eBay

eBay items are going well. It makes me happy to sell off practically my entire collection of Dragonlance novels. I collected them for years, one of my happy little addictions. But I haven't read them since the War of Souls novels really. Kept the hard covers, got rid of everything else. Its all just peachy.

I'll be putting up more items this coming weekend. Gotta go through my things and just start dumping it. I think clothes are going to be the next thing I sort through, and more books.

Meanwhile, it is the first week I started back on my civilian job again. For those of you who don't know, I work at a retail joint that sells books, movies and music, along with other miscellanious items of note. For a long time (well, before i got the job) i saw this place as primarily a bookstore/rental place.

Anyway, my first days back has me helping them reset the store. We just started buying back used books, however the store is not currently set up to really adequately take in the used books, so they are resetting the book section. I'm helping out by helping take down things so they can remove the fixtures.

I nearly got killed by a fixture. It fell on top of me, but somebody caught it before it could adequately squash me. I'm ok. I think.

Funny, my favorite part of my job is helping the customer find whatever they need. When they are happy, I'm happy. I've discovered a long time ago that I really enjoy making somebody's day. It makes me all warm and toasty inside.

I'm still working on the schooling issue. I just have to finish filling out info for financial aid and apply to my school of choice. I have decided to set aside a day next week to do this, cause it looks like I'll have some free days coming up next week.

This week, I'm just going to focus on not getting killed by any fixtures.

Kosovo Yardsale

Well, time for me to get rid of . . . stuff. I'm doing it in the form of an online yard sale, courtesy of eBay of course.

Um, right now, I'm going through all of my Dragonlance Books and relieving myself of a good majority of the paperback volumes in the series (hardcovers I keep) so if you ever wanted to read this series, well, now is the chance to check it out for relatively cheap!

I also got Gary Larson books (finally got his grand daddy volume, so I don't need the smaller books anymore) and a GPS system for sale too.

I'll post stuff online as I get around to it, things will rotate most likely.
My Yard Sale

Kalsanilasa is my secondary ID, story behind that one. However it isn't very interesting.

You're Host is a Dork

When I was the tender age of 19, I just got back from basic training and acquired my very first computer. It came with a net cam, and I started recording video on it.

I was rather eccentric with it as well.

Case in point,



In case you ever wanted to know how to pronounce Risawn. . .


(for some reason, the sound system gave me a lisp) This was kind of an idea of introducing myself to the world with my website back in 2000. My parents kind of warned me that I might not want to display myself entirely on the internet so prominently, so I never displayed it. That, and my website had like 15 megs of space at the time and a couple of videos would have shot that all to hell real quick.

Well, now its too late.

What can I say? I've always been a bit of a dork.

Good Times

So, work is back on. Go back next week and help shift the entire book section.

I'm just excited to get back to work.

In other news, came over to the parent's place and ended up spending the afternoon with my mom as she shopped around for an external Hard Drive and a new camera, as we dropped her other camera yesterday when she was taking pictures of things to sell on eBay. When we took it in, they took a quick look at it and deduced that it had broke in half. Or something. Something not good anyway.

So, External Harddrive, eBay, cameras, yes, I feel like I'm back at home.

Now I'm moving onto Gargoyles, the animated series. Good times.

I'm trying to get Creature updated again too.

Junk makes me Overwhelmed. A bit.

This room is a disaster. I didn't realize exactly how much crap I had until I found that I had no place to stick it all. I was thinking of building a Desktop PC but I'm starting to change my mind, I have no place to stick it.

First idea is to go through all of my books and weeding through the ones I don't want. I've got choices of what to do with these, one idea is taking them to the local used bookstores and seeing if they'll give me credit for them so I can go and buy other books or whatever they sell in these bookstores.

I need to also go through my assortment of clothes and dump the stuff that will never see the light of day on my body again. We're having a yardsale, I need to get rid of some things and the funds of said yardsale will be going to our yearly family trip to Seaside Oregon.

I feel a tad bit overwhelmed at the present. *sighs*

Gah! Fangirl issues!

I have wireless internet in my house, and my computer really hates it. Give it about five minutes and it will just kick me off. Or tell me its not connected or something. Garr. . .

Oh well, I think I'm going to try to get this thing into the shop this weekend.

The rest of this post will be about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You are warned.

Meanwhile, I've learned that it is best to pace out television shows instead of just watching them as quickly as possible to get out from watching them. I'm having Buffy withdrawals, because I was kind of upset with how Angel ended. It was kind of a drop away, Angel didn't end with a climatic battle, it ended before the battle took place, just to keep it open that these characters may or may not survive. Apparently Angel was canceled rather suddenly, and when watching the show you can tell that there are unresolved issues at hand.

So, my whole spiel about Buffy and Angel.

I think I was drawn to the characters more then the storylines. There were plenty of bad plotlines to go around, one that comes to mind is the whole government conspiracy the army is doing sneaky things under Sunnydale thing was rather lame. I personally found it barable because it was the Season that Spike became a regular. I also found the fourth season of Angel a bit lame with the whole 'Jasmine' and Cordelia going evil plotline. It was a dissapointment, rushed, ya know?

And the best relationship was Spike and Drusilla. (Spike didn't work with Harmony or Buffy, in my opinion) I think all my favorite characters were Vampires. Well, now I got the whole thing on DVD, call it my splurge since coming back from over seas, so I can go back and watch the episodes I liked. The truly unique episodes were excellent, and they did very well with ones that were humorous. (the Angel episode Smile Time definitely comes to mind, this episode could have gone really wrong but it turned out hilarious.) Drama sometimes worked and sometimes turned cheesey. But I liked how they were able to poke fun at themselves throughout the series. Like the unusual deathrate in Sunnydale.

I had never watched this show while it was on the air, unless I caught snibbits of episodes. Now that I'm hooked on it though, I'm stuck with wanting to know what happens next. Are they going to make a movie? Hmm. . .

I have a strange desire to draw spoof cartoons.

The Brush Off

The last week has basically been me feeling a tad bit overwhelmed, staring at my piles of crap that is filling my room and knowing that I really need to do some house cleaning. I'm a packrat of the worst sorts. And I felt like I needed some time to just, well, vedge. So I completely ignored my blog and inbox for the last few days, in case any of you were wondering. So don't take it personally.

Been home for a week and a half and went into 'blah' mode. Which means that I really need to focus on going back to work. Getting some purpose back into my life, that sort of thing. The last week has been spent doing a lot of reflecting, thinking about what I'm going to do now, and watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel). Boy, I knew there was a reason I didn't watch Television. I tend to get hooked on things (Star Trek comes to mind) and Buffy is no different. But its still a pity they had to come to an end. I hate seeing things come to an end. Especially when the characters tend to grow on you.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks lost the superbowl. Not that I honestly mind, I thought it was cool that they went, but I spent Sunday on Silver Mountain in Idaho. Got pictures, maybe I'll post them. Later.

For now, well, my things await me. And I shall sort through them and get rid of them if I can muster it.

Semblence of Life

So, I'm back home, catching up on things, and knicking away at that to do list.

Buy Car, Check. I went with a little Mazda Protege. Its a great little car and has everything I wanted. 5 Speed, great gas mileage, four door, front wheel drive, and a bit of a kick on the road. Me likes. We will see how much me loves when we make it up the mountain this coming week.

I've seen most of my family now, its strange how a part of me feels like I haven't been gone for very long at all, but then I sit down and think about what happened over the last year and realize that indeed, it has been that long.

I've got my job back at my former employer. So they are again my current employer once more. Its strange to think how much I actually missed that job. I think I missed the people I worked with, I don't know if I'll go back to that location for long, I'll likely transfer before to much time passes to a location closer to home.

Got a few more items left on my list. One of them includes acquiring a bed. There is also the pleasure of taking care of medical coverage, in case I knock my head upside a mountain and come back with Global Transient Amnesia after a day of free snowboarding. Again.

I also have to go through a lot of crap. I think I'm going to have a yardsale on eBay. Um, I guess I can alert everyone as to when that happens when the time comes.

And I'll be in the army reserves for at least another year and a half, or so I've discovered.

What else can I say? Well, it feels good to be home. Now I'm going to continue this trend of staying off the computer and having a semblence of life.

Home Free!

The army is done. I just have to clear hand reciepts at my home unit, request for a transfer to the IRR (inactive ready reserve), and then its home free, via car ride with the family.

These last couple weeks consisted of a lot of hurry up and do nothing. They could have easily gotten us through this process in four days, but they chose to spread it over eleven. A lot of days consisted of doing one thing and then we had the rest of the day off to go to the mall and. . . walk around and gawk at how easy we've had it for the last year.

Anyway, I will be home tonight. Its kind of strange to think that these people I've been hanging out with for the last year I may very well never see again. . . and with a few exceptions, I'm totally fine with that.

Well, now I get to continue on with my life and manage my money so I don't go into debt. First things first, I need a car.

My Rack

Get your head out of the gutter already! I just wanted to display my rack.



There may be an exception to this rack, and when I discover exactly what that is, I'll update it. Now, it is easy for any soldier to have a chest full of medals. And I'll tell you why.

Army Achievement Medal - (w/ 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters) I came on my deployment to Kosovo with three unsung AAMs. Although the Army Commendation Medal is more prestigious then the AAM, they give at more ARCOMs then AAMs. Fancy that. I got my AAMs from the POLLEX in Devens Massachussetts, Golden Medic Excercise in Camp Parks, California, and a Mederette in Suriname South America. And I got them all before I hit E5. Because after I got E5, things didn't go as smoothly back in the unit.

Army Good Conduct Medal - This is a Kosovo ribbon. Meaning I got it for not getting in trouble while on Active Duty in Kosovo. Normally I wouldn't get this ribbon because of my lack of being on Active Duty normally, but they make an exception for Reservists who serve on active duty for more then 9 months with no prior military experience. Its a ribbon you get for not getting into trouble. Though some would contest.

Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal - I got this for being a good girl for three years while in a Reserve Unit. I've had this ribbon for a bit now. As long as you behave, the ARCAM is a gimme medal.

National Defense Service Medal - You get this one while serving in a time of war, on Active Duty. You don't have to actually serve in the war, as long as you serve in the military. You would think I would have gotten this a long time ago, but I finally got it when they mobilized me for Kosovo.

Kosovo Campaign Medal - (with Bronze Star) I would consider this medal unique to a lot of the others, in that you specifically have to serve in Kosovo to get it. You don't have to do a lot in Kosovo, just as long as you serve for a period of time in order to get it. Not a lot of people have actually served in Kosovo, so its one of the few medals that I have that is kind of rare.

Global War on Terrorism (expeditionary)
Global War on Terrorism (service) Um, I'm at a loss. I got one of these. I just don't know which one I have. Go back and do some research I guess, I got a piece of paper which tells me which one I got. YOu get this for being involved in the Global War on Terror. In some way shape or form. They are a little different.

Armed Forces Reserve Medal - (w/ 'M' Device) I'm not exactly sure why I get this medal, but it is another Kosovo Medal I got while serving in Kosovo. I don't think I did anything but serve in Kosovo but there was something involved with that that earned me this. Hmm. I'll call it a gimme.

Army Non-Commissioned Officer Development Ribbon - Every time you go to an NCO school, you get one of these. I've been to PLDC. So I have one. I could have gone to BNCOC while I was in kosovo, but I forego the experience on account that I lost all motivation for staying in (another blog post that I will discuss later) and decided it wasn't worth my time. I kind of wish I had now. But the timing was always off and I could never seem to fit it in.

Army Service Ribbon - This ribbon has acquired a whole lot of nicknames. Fruit Loop Ribbon and Gay Pride Ribbon being a couple. You graduate basic training, for being a member of the US Army, you get this one. My first ribbon. Man, your uniform looks mighty barron with just this.

Army Overseas Service Ribbon - You serve overseas for a period of time, like 9 months or so. You earn this. It was questionable whether or not we would get this, somebody said that the Kosovo Campaign Medal basically took presidence over this one. But they gave it to me anyway.

Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon - Say that one ten times fast. I went to Suriname, I came back with a new shiney on my uniform.

So, that is a description of new stuff for my uniform. Well, badge wise, I also got some new stuff. I am now authorized to wear the Bronze Schutzenschnur, though it appears that it is made for the Male uniform with no thought to how females are supposed to wear it. Dang those pesky buttons.

I'm also now authorized to wear a sharp shooter marksmanship badge for Rifle. I can also wear the Expert Badge for Grenades, seeing as it is still on my paperwork.

As soon as I get home, I'll square away my uniform and piece it together. And maybe wear it one last time. Unless my brain escapes temporarily and I reenlist.

Life in these United States

I have discovered Battle Bean. High Speed Internet access. Outlets galore. I can download an episode of Red vs Blue in under a minute. You know how long its been since I've been on a server this fast?

Well, its been a long time. Though my computer is still in need of some serious maintenance. It gets a trip to the doctor (Best Buy) as soon as I get back.

I'm ready for Angel Season 2 and Buffy Season 6. However, currently they are not anywhere to be found. . . on post. And I'm kind of limited to my ability to get off post by availabilty of vehicular transport. So I did the next best thing.

I got Season 3 of Sliders. Yay, Sliders!

Ft Lewis is close to home, I'm in my home state and all, and honestly in retrospect it doesn't feel like I've been gone for a whole year. Kosovo feels like so long ago and I have only been back for a week.

This DeMob process could easily take less then a week to do if they just smoked us and sent us home. But they are spreading it out, giving us a lot of free time this week. Which means lots of trips to Seattle and Mt Rainier and what not. And sitting in the barracks watching Buffy, Angel and Sliders.

Ok, I'm going to write posts with substance as soon as I get home. I promise.

Go Seahawks!

When the Hometeam goes to the championship, everybody becomes a sports fan.

Don't Panic

When I refresh this, it might work. . .

Um, my website was down. Before you start conspiracy theories thinking that the army is out to get me and shut me down for good, rest assured that this is not what happened. It was actually a lot more innocent then that.

Well, see, I was out of the country for a year. I wasn't able to keep on top of certain things as well from out of the country. This included things like Credit Cards.

My Debit Card expired last month. I used it to update my account. But when the webserver doesn't get paid, it tends to shut things down. Including websites.

Fort Lewis is kind of lacking in the internet department. I've been online a grand total of twice since I've been back. This is numero two.

Hopefully the internet thing works out ok.

Deployment Complete

I just flew back into the states in the last hour.

It feels good to be back.

Cars R Us, continued

I had a strange dream. See, I'm kind of shopping a bit for a car at present, though more looking for what's available rather then actually buying one. The whole car scenerio showed up in my dream.

It started off as an ancient Toyota, like circa 1970s. I was thinking "dude, this isn't what I want" but I was told to take it out anyway. So me and my dad hop into this car and take it for a spin. Only somehow it turned into a truck. With two massive steering wheels. That forced me to drive with my face pressed against the windshield.

Eventually dad just said that this probably isn't a car I need to look at. I agreed.

Looking at what is available, I'm beginning to know what I want in a car and what I don't want. This will hopefully narrow it down.

Manual Transmission.
At least 25 MPG, (prefer 30 or better)
Color will not be Red
I'll go 1996 or newer
Prefer four door
Sorry LT, but No Trucks!
Foreign Make

And hopefully I can drive it without having my face pressed against the steering wheel.

The chronicals of Buffy the Vampire Slayer continue. I'm just ending Season 3 now. Season 4 is on deck.

Other then that, I'm still bored. Nothing going on, nothing at least, that I'm at liberty to talk about.

Awkward silence insues.

Did I mention that I'm bored?

Days Go By. . .

So, my days now consist of staying up until 3 in the morning, sleeping in until noon (working on that time zone thing), taking my computer to the chow hall and surfing while I eat, and watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Other then the fact that I can only remark that Sunnydale High has a lot of deaths within the faculty and student body to not be noticed by authorities, I fear that right now I don't have a whole lot to say.

Except that perhaps I'm a wee bit bored?

Blame Bush!

Ok, even in Kosovo, I can follow the news. One of the stories I've been following is the whole Coal Miners issue in West Virginia and how ate up that story has gotten and how sorry I feel for those people who were given positive news and rejoiced at learning of the fate of their loved ones and that they were still alive and then they learn the heartbreaking truth that their loved ones are in fact dead.

The story had me astounded when I learned what had happened.

But what get's my gall is that somehow, this is all Bush's fault. (I probably shouldn't add to this dude's thunder. He looks to be acquiring enough attention as it is.)

Yes, Bush needs to take responsibility for every little disaster that happens within the US. The fact of the matter is, the government is a huge beurocratic organization that has a lot of responsibility over the what happens in every little nook and cranny that goes on in the country. That's why we have State Governments and City Governments and different branches of Government responsible for different aspects of what goes on in every little world. Each one of these organizations wants a piece of the pie and wants a little attention. One person cannot take responsibility of every little thing that goes wrong in the country. You have to take a look at each situation independently, look at the facts, and try to correct them from there, from within the organization. And when the government gets so huge, it becomes this bloated monster and sometimes its hard to control all of these little organizations, even at the level of the president, especially when there is so much to oversee. Because some of these organizations are not directly under his jurisdiction.

Sure, maybe Bush should have looked more into safety issues within the mines, but I feel he may have had other pressing matters to attend to. The thing is, tragedies like this is what generally tend to alert people of the problem, and then they go about to correct it.

Hindsight is 20/20, its always easiest to blame the highest level of government and leave it at that. That gets people nowhere. We can't always foresee a disaster before it happens, sometimes it takes a tragedy such as this to get things accomplished. To blame Bush on something like this is rediculous.

When you start playing the blame game, in my opinion, you go to the lowest levels and start working your way up. When you find the person that is most responsible with the greatest opportunity to actually fix the problem (and to boot, most likely the subject matter expert of the issue at hand), then you go to that person to get things accomplished. Blaming Bush is not going to fix anything. He's a busy man with a lot on his plate and everyone wanting his attention. Its easy to blame the head of the beast. But by automatically blaming him for everything that goes wrong just means you're looking for a scape goat.

I think that's another title for President in this country. Official Scape Goat for everything that goes wrong.

Hat Tip: Silent Running

Home is on the Horizon

Well, I can't exactly give dates on here, but its getting to be that time again. Between watching AFN and getting up to date on the news back home, reading the tabloids so I'm up to date on the latest celebrity gossip (one reason being out of the country is nice!) and getting all of my crap mailed off, I'm finally on the verge of coming home.

This deployment has definitely been full of its ups and downs. For starters, I met some people I'm priveleged to have known and I'll never forget. I've been to parts of the world I never thought I would ever see. And I got a history lesson in person. Big Duke, the DANCON, doing the Schutzenschnur, seeing Greece, little things like that I will always remember. I picked up a few new hobbies, learned a few things on the side, and learned some things about myself and people in general that I would never have learned if I hadn't stepped away from the shelter of my family and just got up and did this. For that, I'm thankful that I came on this deployment. I don't regret coming here, and overall I've enjoyed my experiences here, though I wish certain circumstances were a bit different.

The let down of this whole deployment has been the army in general. I came here seeking a few things in regards to my personal development with my career in the army and I didn't get that like I wanted to until the last month of my deployment. I've learned a lot, but I didn't accomplish what I had expected to accomplish. If I were to do it over again, I would, in a heart beat. But hindsight is 20/20 like they say.

I just found out my former unit is in Kuwait, preparing to go into Iraq. A part of me wishes I was still with them. But now is the time to move on. Right now, I need to look back and learn from this experience, and look ahead and see where I can take myself in future missions. Or if the army is even for me.

I mentioned that I was on a Blog Hiatus, and then I started posting anyway. Well, now its for real. I might post thoughts and comments in general, but military matters are one of the untouchable topics until I get back at home.

In the mean time, see you all later.

Celebrating New Years

Well, this wouldn't be a proper New Years post without me telling everyone all about my New Years, right?

Oh yes, it was one of those novel things I can tell people about years from not.

I was on Guard Duty. I will not explain the circumstances of what I was guarding or what not, but Guard Duty came and me and my battle buddy ordered pizza and watched the Kosovars celebrate with Fire Works. And Tracer rounds. I think a few people shot up flare guns.

We watched from the distance and observed. It was a quiet moment.

No big ball dropped in Times Square. Our New Year came a full 6 hours ahead of Dick Clark. I had half a mind to call home afterwards and tell everyone I was calling them from 2006. Eerie, the Future! Mwahahahahaha!

It doesn't really feel like 2006. I spent a grand total of seven and a half days in the states last year.

Today was spent doing another MASCAL excercise. This was kind of a final thing, more for practice then anything. I was in shock again, kind of the mental patient thing though I downplayed the whole psycho aspect. In the end I went into a Asthma attack and that ended the whole play thing for me. I got a lot of compliments for staying in character, though I'm not really asthmatic so I couldn't tell you how to work it in the real world.

Dinner was Crab Legs. Messy. Sometimes, on special occaisions they will spoil us with a special treat. Like Crab Legs. They did a good job cooking them. Unlike July 4th where they butchered the Lobster. That was a crying shame.

Here's looking to a promising 2006. Happy New Year to all of you back in the states and around the world.

I'll be home soon.

New Years Resolutions

So, every year I make New Year's Resolutions. This last year, how did I do?

1) Get out of debt - (piece of cake!)

This was one of my motivating factors for deploying. I wanted to get in control of my finances. I have most definitely succeeded in this endeavour.

2) Drive on the Autobahn in a Porsche.

Um, in a Porsche? Whas was I thinking?

But I did drive the Autobahn in a BMW!

3) Max APFT.

Hah!!! (failed)

a) this will require me to work out regularly. I hear Bondsteel has some good gyms available.

Hah hah hah *cough cough*

Um, failed this one too. But I did pick up Kajukenbo and a few other ways of working out. I definitely intend to keep it up when I get back to the states.

4) Upkeep webspace from Kosovo

For the most part, did this, at least with the Blog I did. Can't say the same thing for a lot of the rest of the sight. And as much as the army tried to shut my blog down, I kept it going.

5) Learn how to edit videos.

I learned how to do this, but I didn't do what I wanted to do, which was my motivation for learning it in the first place.

6) See Prague, Budapest, Norschwanstein, etc. . .

Um, scratch Prague and Neueswchwanstein, but I did see Budapest and the etc. . . part. So did my mom. She had fun. So did I. :)

7) Don't get Shot.

Um, this is an unnecessary resolution for Kosovo. I'm more likely to get shot by friendly fire. Honestly.

8) Make a decision on what I want to do when I come home.

*sighs* I'm still not sure. So this is a failed resolution.


So, that's the status of Last Year's Resolutions. I need to make a new set. Yay! Now, let's see how well I keep them. Check here same time next year.

1. Run Bloomsday
   
2. Find a Dojo and get back into some kind of Martial Art.
   -Stick with said martial art unless I get an acceptable reason to get out.
   
3. Buy a car (guaranteed to get this resolution done)
   -Make it a dependable, economical, inexpensive car.
   
4. Make a final decision with the army. Stay in? Get out? New MOS? ???
   
5. Get back into Painting.
   
6. Get Creature up and running again.
   
7. Go to school.
   -Make a decision on a major.
   
8. Look through these current prospects and make a decision if there is anything there or not.
   -If there is, explore it more.
   -If there isn't, work on new prospects.
   -Work on that dating issue altogether.
   
9. New Zealand/Australia. Somehow, someway. I hope.
   
10. Pilgrimage to Utah to visit friends and family and check out famous Utah powder conditions for Snowboarding Purposes.
    
11. NanoWrimo in November. Maybe.
    
12. Website. Just, well, it needs something else. Facelift maybe? Who knows?
    -MOre in line of a webserver change.

Eh, that's enough off the top of my head for now. Will give myself a week to add too/change current resolutions and then they are in stone. We'll see how this year goes.

2005: Year in Review

01. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Ooh, a lot of things! Some of them I'm not at liberty to talk about :P

Traveled Europe should probably top that list however.

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Um, this is a subject for another post. See Here.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not anyone this year that I know of real close, well, other then some cousins of mine, whom I've lost track of.

04. Did anyone close to you die?
My grandmother passed away about two weeks ago.

05. What countries did you visit?
Hmm, let me see. Germany, Kosovo (part of Serbia), FYROM, Greece, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland. And if you count it, I hung out in Iceland for about two hours.

06. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
How about a life not jurisdicted by the United States Army? And more time in the states!

07. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
There are a few dates, May 2nd was the LIT concert, December 1st was my last straw with my NCOIC, January 8th was the day I left the states, January 27th was the day I arrived in Kosovo, June 1st was the day me and Nate made it official, September 3rd was the day we broke up. Every day from September 24 - October 12, which was Leave time and spent in bliss, September 22 I got in a car accident.

Um, I got a lot of dates actually.

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Seeing as much of the world that I did. Also, the Schutzenschnur was a thing that I wanted to do. Also, doing as much extracurricular activities as I have accomplished, like the DANCON and Big Duke. Things like that really.

09. What was your biggest failure?
My work output this year should have been a lot better. I blame myself and a certain somebody that will remain unnamed, but they know who they are and they know that I can't stand them. In fact, putting up with them and trusting them for as long as I did will be my biggest failure.
I also had planned on doing a lot more then I ended up doing. Like maxing out my PT test. I didn't do to hot on that portion of my New Years Resolutions. Again, another post. Will get there in a minute.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
How about I finally talked to somebody about my mental state? Other then that, nothing serious. I stressed my leg playing Volleyball and couldn't run for about three weeks.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Guitar. Though I didn't keep up with it like I wanted to, I plan on doing that when I get back home. I also love my new WACOM drawing tablet. :D

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Certainly not mine.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
One person who shall remain nameless but goes above and beyond in this area.

14. Where did most of your money go?
My bank. And there it shall stay until I go home and buy that car.

Otherwise, my vacation to Europe. Which was worth every penny.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Er, Deploying to Kosovo? (hey, this was left here from the last year I did this!

Also, Greece, Bulgaria, going on Leave. . .

16. What songs will always remind you of 2005?
I've been so out of the loop that no song really reminds me of 2005. Most songs I hear are from years past.

I guess that one song "Don't you wish your Girlfriend was Hot like Me", but I won't even mention what picture in my head this song evokes.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
I'm doing wonderful now. But I was doing pretty good this time last year too. Although I was kind of sad to be leaving my family for a year.

ii. Thinner or fatter?
About the same really. I want to get into better shape.

iii. Richer or poorer?
Definitely Richer. Something about a deployment pads your wallet a bit.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I regret not going to Bulgaria twice. I should have gone again but what's done is done. And how it worked out, well, I couldn't have gone a second time.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I could go on. But perhaps my blog is not the place to discuss this.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
I slept in until Noon. And then I went to church. Opened one gift from my roomie, who's a sweetheart (and Ironically, she's Muslim.)

22. Did you fall in love in 2005?
You know, I'm not sure. . . yet.

23. How many one night stands?
(I'll keep last year's answer) I think I need to get laid before I think about this.

24. What were your favourite TV programmes?
Hehe. BWAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!

What TV Programs? Who am I kidding, when have I ever sat down and watched TV?

Well, anyway, I've been busy collecting the Seasons of Sliders, Twilight Zone, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I stand by my love of Mutants.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
My goodness, I can not for the life of me think of a more appropriate question then this one. I normally do not hold ill will toward people and think that Hate is a very strong word but. . . YES!

26. What was the best book you read?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Shut up now, I'm a Harry Potter Fan.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rockabilly and All Girl Cover Bands.

28. What did you want and get?
If I wanted it, I bought it.

29. What did you want and not get?
Freedom and a change of wardrobe.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I liked Domino and Just Like Heaven, but I am so out of the loop that I can't accurately answer this question.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Surprisingly, not much. I think they allowed me to sleep in. And I mailed stuff home.

25

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being in another section and under a different person then who I was under.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Green, brown and tan. Black Combat Boot. Accessorize with M16.

M16 goes with everything.

34. What kept you sane?
Um, this question doesn't apply to me as I am most certifiably insane.

But otherwise, my shrink. Literally.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Who uses the word 'Fancy' in this society.

For some reason, I'm not into any celebrities at the moment, or for that matter, at all during this year. You know how many movies I watched? Well, not very many.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Anything that dealt with Kosovo. Which is mainly a non issue to the rest of the states.

37. Who did you miss?
Everybody back home in the states. My friends and family mainly. THis is a stupid question in my circumstances.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Nate. And all of his buddies. And some of my foreign friends. And a few others that choose to remain anonymous.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
I learned how to stand up for myself and not take shit off nobody. A valuable lesson indeed. I will definitely retain this one.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Jet Plane by John Denver. Well, part of it anyway.