Talk about NASTY

Things are going alright lately. I got an email from the ex-asshole because I, heaven forbid, went to his office and dropped off some of his stuff that had been at my house. Apparently, a LTC that was there thought I was actually stealing stuff, but I wouldn't need the key that he had given me specifically for putting his belongings back in my office... His door wasn't even all the way shut. And then he had the nerve to say:

"Well I got counseled by my boss on giving my keys to a government facility away. Nice. Could've just gone in during work hours and got with Vanessa to do whatever it was you were doing. As it is, LTC Gloor was pissed and wants to do an inventory of everything in the building and bring your chain of command into it. I took the ass chewing and tried to calm him down but now he's got a Memorandum of Record you were in his building, late at night without authorization so if anything ever comes up missing they'll be looking to you, and subsequently me. Thanks, just what I wanted for christmas."

The strange thing is he thinks I care. If LTC Gloor is going to get me, then fine. Come'on, what the hell can you do to me?  Bring it.

And then, lashing out as he usually does on a subject that he knows is a sensitive one to me:

"If you wouldn't keep breaking into my shit I wouldn't have to contact you. Here's an idea, why don't you go eat something to make yourself feel better."

Breaking in. Hum. Interesting. Can you really break in somewhere if you have the keys? Just curious. He told me to do it anyway. That much is true. It's just sad how the lies have to come out like that. He can't be mature or an adult about anything. It's was always like this. Something happened that he didn't like and there you go, lash out like a little child. Try to go for the most senstive spots that he thinks will hurt me. It's funny. I honestly think now that he always lied to me. I think he lied to me about so many things... Probably everything.

Apart from stupid-shit exes, my current boyfriend and I are doing very well. Things are great... We'll see how the deployment goes... We sleep twisted up in each other at night... its way nice. Didn't get enough sleep last night, but its hard to sleep with this ridiculous nonsense going on around me.

Back lost in the sauce

Finally, back off leave.

I had a good time really. And I really needed it.

And now we have a new President. Pretty cool stuff. I really don't have a whole lot to say right about now.

I HATE MY BIRTHDAY HOW CLEARER CAN I MAKE IT

Why can people just not leave me alone on my birthday. I've begged, asked nicely, and I'm going to start getting nasty.

Thought this conveyed my annoyance with the Presidential election.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. For instance, no "normal human being" would have the gall of any Speaker of The House to stand up and criticize a current President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the Speaker of the House? The leader of the majority party. He/She and fellow House Members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to do so.It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.If the tax code is unfair, it's because they made it unfair.If the budget is in the red, it's because they put it in the red.If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they put them in IRAQ .If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because the want it that way (and believe me, they do!)
There are no insoluble government problems.Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation,' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.They, and they alone, have the power.They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

WTF

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/worlds-heaviest-man-is-getting-married/n20081002074709990023

How can this guy get married and I'm still single. There is something wrong with the world LMAO

Dumpy.

I'm feeling rather dumpy today. There are reasons for these feelings of mine, but I don't know. I guess everything is rather dull as well.

Something that I've been thinking about lately is that I really am annoyed at the Army. Maybe somehow it's all my fault... but really I feel as though my hands are tied.

The number one, most important reason why I wanted to be in the Army was to live overseas. This is what I wanted. I wanted to move back to Europe for a little while. Like three years or so. In fact, that's the only way I would stay in the Army in the first place. Even if I had to go straight to a unit that is deploying... at least I'd be coming home to somewhere cool like Germany or something. I really don't understand how after spending a tour in Kuwait that I got no choice on where I got stationed when I got back. In fact, my branch manager didn't even tell me I was to be posted at Drum... I found out by looking at my ORB and seeing my projected assignment.

Somebody please tell me how I can get to Germany. Somebody's got to need a SIGO.

Gas Shortage in the ATL

I don't particularly find humor and others' misery, but I did find the gas shortage thing in ATL particularly funny. My parents live there, if you didn't know, and they were rather worried about running out of gas.

Some pics:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-91819

Maybe we should start walking more? Or people in ATL should stop driving so many SUVs.

Even my boyfriend's jeep takes two and a half tanks where my car takes one.

I also find it funny that they are trying to limit people to $50 of gas... Hell, $50 doesn't get you much nowadays.

I guess he's aight

Joe Biden is an SU Law Alum. I guess he's alright. He was elected to the Senate at 29... Damn. Makes me feel somewhat unaccomplished.

He was kind of a hottie back in the day... I go for a man with a nice smile.

<--JOE

Seeing this picture, I should probably post some from Lauren's wedding. Lauren looked amazing too. Though I admit, I'm kind of annoyed that I gained a tad of weight before the event. I hate how my arms didn't look like their lovely defined selves; that will be quickly remedied. I'm rather worried about next year too. I'm curious as to how I'm not going to turn into a blimp over there. I'm kind of hoping that the food sucks, not on any part of our cooks, because they're always great. But you can't make filet mignon out of rump roast. Anyway, I need to go fix somebody's computer. What the hell is new.

Article

You've gotta read this article:



http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1841108,00.html



Would something like this then render speech obsolete? Like the kind where you sit down and talk to somebody in front of you? Think of how this could work with cell phones in the future.

Say what?

So... I've noticed a lot of attention on something the public likes to call drones. They're talking about what us military people call UAVs. Rightly so, we're keeping with the military tradition of acronyms. Anyway, UAV stands for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Types of UAVs include: the Raven, Predetor, Warrior, Global Hawk, etc. One of the most misleading things that is said lately is that UAV's are, as described in wikipedia is that they are "unpiloted aircraft." This is however, untrue. Someone is controlling almost all these aircraft at all times. Saying that they are unpioleted is te same as saying that if a plane is on autopilot, then they are unpiloted. Believe it or not, because there isn't someone in these aircraft, doesn't mean they aren't piloted. Soldiers who fly these things even get flight pay while operating them. This sort of makes sense to me:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1842216-2,00.html

Having the same training as a guy that actually flies in a plane doesn't seem to make sense when you well... don't.

Econ 101 and the D word

I just wanted to make sure got this little tidbit out there.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/17/news/economy/colvin_recession.fortune/index.htm




This article defines pretty much what I've been confused about. What the hell are they talking about? Remember this quote?

Obama called the fall of both Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch & Co. "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression" of the 1930s.

Whoa! Holy crap... There isn't a single QUARTER of loss of Real GDP. What does that mean, oh, no recession maybe?

(http://www.gmanews.tv/story/120523/Obama-blasts-Republicans-on-economy)

Maybe if those wealthy A-holes had any sense of business ethics and weren't so worried about lining their pockets... This stuff doesn't happen over night people. If this was happening, it has been happening for a while now.

About recession/depression:

http://economics.about.com/cs/businesscycles/a/depressions.htm

People other than me have been talking about this as well.

http://sbvor.blogspot.com/2008/04/recession-of-2008-that-wasnt.html



The top article pretty much sums it up though. People believe that we're in a recession (even though we're not... and not depression note, and not even close) because of often media and pop-culture it seems like. And what pisses me off even more is that Obama is capitalizing on people's opinions, similar to how Bill Clinton won against G H Bush. Regardless if Clinton was capitalizing on (and spreading) ignorance, he still won the election, even if George was right.



My Dad once told me that his fav president was G H too... There must have been good reason for that. I mean my Dad was standing next to Regan when he said, "tear down this wall." He was also there for the infamous "I am a jelly doughnut like you" translation blunder. Oh wait... that was JFK. Oh well. I wonder if he was there for "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by the way he eats jelly beans." Anyway... I guess the moral of the story is that you say what people want to hear, not what is actually true.



Since I have ADHD, I figure I'd add this too on the tangent... Abe Lincoln's quote: "If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" That guy did have quite the mug.



As for the presidential election, I really did get pissed off by the Great Depression remark. Granted, pretty much none of the people who would read this would have existed back then, or even parents would have existed, I think depression and the history we have learned about that black time in American history is scary stuff.

Bottom line: The problem lies with Congress. Why is everybody so obsessed with the President? The problem lies with that vacation-taking group called the Legislative branch. And I understand it. I don't know who my congressman/woman is. Hell, I don't even live in the state where I'm registered...

That's the bomb

I was looking for some of my fav soaps for my mom to send me while I was deployed and came across this post/review for some of the products:

3 out of 5:
"I love your bath bombs (hate the militaristic name, though). However, it takes way too long to receive your products! Thanks, alicebdavis@gmail.com" Date: 4/29/2008 Rated by Buyer: alicedavis4

Ok. What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you post something so ridiculous?? Just so we get this out there... Bomb is not always militaristic. In fact, many times bomb is even used is not in a military-like way. Like the bombing of the World Trade center. Or the bombing of the USS Cole. Or the bombing of the subway in Madrid. All of the above were not military in nature at all. Violent, yes. But lets see what else bomb can mean.

How about to bomb a test?

Or these are the definitions presented on dictionary.com:

-An explosive weapon detonated by impact, proximity to an object, a timing mechanism, or other means.
-An atomic or nuclear bomb. Used with the.
-A container capable of withstanding high internal pressure.
-A vessel for storing compressed gas.
-A portable, manually operated container that ejects a spray, foam, or gas under pressure.
-A large amount of money.
-A great success.

In football slang I know it's a forward pass.

Dealing with computers, it's a a spectacular program or system failure... AKA BLUE
SCREEN OF DEATH!

In Jazz it's a sudden, unexpected accent or rhythmic figure played by a drummer during a performance. I really do like jazz too. I should download more on iTunes. I like swing too. That's fun music.

Talking about nuclear power, its a lead or lead-lined container for transporting and storing radioactive materials.

Sometimes I just enjoy making fun of other people. I make fun of myself all the time. If I do that, surely, everybody else is game.

Thought of what I wanted to say earlier.

Pics from promotion... yeah.  I think I remember what I was going to write earlier too.  Did you see that the two presidential candidates raised like 63 and 47 million a piece?  Too bad all that money won't be going to all the people who really need it.  Talking about all the schools that suck and need funding and all the kids who are in 8th grade and can't read... 110 million would probably help, right? 

Nothing witty comes to mind.

All I really wanted to say was that I feel fat today... But I figured that was tacky. I know there were a couple of things I wanted to say, but at this poing in time, nothing comes to mind. Oh well.

Feel lil' guity.

I wanted to quickly clear something up for somebody that I might have confused. I feel rather bad about my mix of words in an earlier post. Of course, I never intend to intentionally hurt anybody with my postings on here, but I was out of line.

I have loved before. I think to say that I have never loved before is an unfair understatement. I have loved before. I've just never been in love. I see a difference between the two. For a perfect example, I loved Brad, the man that lied to me about being married and having a pregnant wife back in the states. For those of you that don't know the story, please don't make me rehash it. Here's the recap: Met a guy in Kuwait. Tall, blonde, blue eyed all-American type. Had a good sense of humor, was very charming, Brandi falls for him. Lies first about his age. Then tells me he has a psycho ex that does all sorts of things to him. Lies about his dog, of all things. Tells me his sister got the dog fat when it was really his wife... ok anyway. I was with this guy for nine months before he bothered to tell me that he was married and had a son. Oh, did I mention that his son was born while we were together? Oh yeah, forgot about that. He moved up to Drum to be with me or escape his wife, who I'm pretty sure wasn't as psycho as he says at all... Probably was pissed that her husband had an affair while he was deployed while she was pregnant with their son. Yeah. I would have buried him, not just tried to ruin his career. And you know, its not even like he fessed up about any of this. I had to pry it out of him. I found out that he was not 28 as he said but in fact 32 by looking at his ID because his lies didn't add up. My best friend noticed that a woman named Nancy was calling his cell non-stop while she was staying with me. He wasn't honest with a single thing. And even now, I still don't know who he is. The BLUF, to use an Army cliche, is that Brad not once loved me. He might have been attached to me, but lying to me about pretty much his entire life tells me that he didn't love me at all. And this isn't my opinion, its a fact that the person you love you are honest with... Maybe telling little white lies isn't that big of a deal (does this make me look fat?), but the whole life story is not right at all. Even now it makes me sick to think about.

Good news is that I've reentered the dating pool and am dating a dashing (he he) young officer in my unit, who is a huge charmer. Even my Mom likes him. You know what's even more surprising is that Dixie likes him! I am content now. He has some crazy friends, but I adore them.

Anyway, now that I feel shitty, I guess I'm going to go eat lunch at home. I feel like I haven't gotten a thing done this morning.

I should be balding with the amount of hair falling out of my head.

Have you ever shedded a lot? I do a lot for some reason. Maybe it's stress.

Anyway, I'm getting kind of annoyed at work. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box. But I'm sick of people acting like I'm dumb. I'm about to start getting nasty with people who start lecturing me like I'm an idiot. I'm freakin young yes, I haven't had people to properly mentor me or whatever cliche Army way you want to say it, I've learned just about everything I know by screwing something up because most people would rather see me fail. I'd like to think I'm just getting all the fuck ups out of the way and someday soon maybe things will start going better because I will have screwed up enough for their to be not so many places where I could fuck up anymore... Ugh. If that makes any sense at all...

This whole thing is giving me a rather large headache. That seems to be the theme for this week. Week of many headaches.

I've got a case of the Mondays.

I need another vacation. Things have been a bit hectic. I have a pretty large headache.

So, I got a nice phone call and email from a guy I thought would be finally out of my life. It was a great feeling to have finally forgotten about somebody like that. I really have no love for somebody like that. Here's a sample of an email:

I want my AC, two books of cds, and anything else I own put back in my office this week. Funny, by allowing you to use that stuff, I'm still taking better care of you than you ever did me. You'll always be the girl who abandoned the man she supposedly loved while deployed. whore

Mind you, this is the same guy I sent like five care packages, even though we weren't together. But I never did anything. In retrospect, ever talking to him was a BAD idea on my part. Have you ever had your instincts tell you something that you decided to completely ignore and then it come back to bite you in the ass? Well, it came back and comped off most of my ass in this case. I've been kicking myself in the ass for not listing to my gut. My gut told me, "You don't want him. He's not your type. He's... annoying." I should have known better when the first lie surfaced. It's crazy how not once did he fess up. I had to pry every one, lie that is, out of him. I am glad to have moved on with my life... I feel like a whole new person without such a drag of a person around.

And then I get this email later in the day:

I'm sorry for calling you that. it's just hard. Everything reminds me of you. I'm glad you're happy

I'm happy to say that I really don't think about him at all.

Somebody like this makes me not want to ever be with anybody at all. I went to Lauren's wedding this weekend and was asked if I ever wanted to get married at some point. As happy as my dear friend seems, things in my life are not like that. As much as I once wanted to get married at one point in my life, I haven't figured out what the point is for me. I haven't been with somebody who really has made me believe that marriage is a worthwhile endeveur. There have been a couple of men who have once or twice sparked my interest and were what most women would call marriage material... But lets be honest. What the hell do I have to offer a guy? "Hey, nice to meet you, we may fall in love, but in 3 months I'm going to the other side of the world, in one of the most remote, obsecure countries in this grand world of ours... and I might be able to call or email most of the time, but I won't be able to see you for another at least 6-8 months (preferably 8 just bc it works easier to have like 4 months left when you get back...) And then when I get back, I'll likely be going somewhere else; I'm trying to get into law school somewhere in the south where I can be close to my fam for at least a little while and then who knows." Ugh. My life is depressing. I want to take that step out into the unknown, but with my heart the way it is, I don't know if I can handle getting it crushed/liquified again.

I don't feel like I'll be able to keep a guys interest as it is. This is Brandi being depressed. I'm sorry I had to let you into a not so pretty part of me :(

Politics. No. Really.

When I saw Sarah Palin on the tube for the first time, it was due to her pregnancy with her fifth child. In my mind, I saw a successful mother of four about to do number five. Wow. That's what I've always wanted... I really want a family (someday maybe) and would really like to have some sort of career to speak of. But then, just as she breaks as the VP nominee, we hear about her seventeen-year old daughter who is five months pregnant. Opps. Yeah, big opps. But what did I want to say here really...? I really wanted to mention the fact that while in many other countries, the rates are a lot lower. My only experience is with Belgium where I don't remember any girls being pregnant in my school. And there, I can say for sure that the reason why they weren't pregnant wasn't because they didn't have sex. Sex was more accepted I guess... Everything from more acceptance of the body which could be shocking to most Americans... Like for example that they had "Show girls" of all movies on regular TV
(reminder: Commercials had naked women in them too)

I would say I felt as though many young women had better self-esteem too.

Check out the figures:
17 Belgium: 287.051 births per 1 million people
1 United States: 1,671.63 births per 1 million people

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_tee_pre_percap-health-teenage-pregnancy-per-capita
DEFINITION: Number of births to women aged below twenty. Data for 1998. Per capita figures expressed per 1 million population. Convienetly, this was the year that I was living in Belgium at the time. So I do remember what it was like.

Want to get grossed out? Here you are. Numbers for USA are rather skewed, to say the least.

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fsest.pdf
Just something to think about. But I can certainly say that just because you're a teen mother doesn't mean you're "bad" or whatever. That's so stupid. I really don't think you're a bad parent if your kid gets pregnant either... Anywho.

Weekend.

I'm finally starting to hear about our deployment to Afghanistan. Looks like we could possibly be leaving with the "torch" party before the end of November. So soon! that means I only have like two more long weekends to go. I need to go visit friends near DC, and then I really need to go to Boston. Time seems to be running out a bit.

Rain. Fitting.

Ugh. Today has been a crappy day. And outside it looks like crapola. Fits my mood. Today has been a crappy day at work. Why? The BS that I thought I left in my old unit craned its ugly head. Really a kick in the pants, if I had anything to kick.

I really wanted to go and walk Dixie today too, but I have a feeling if I did that, I'd get horribly rained on. Then again, with my luck, it won't rain at all.

A couple days ago I got a wake up call. A reminder that mistakes you make seem to keep coming back and back and back. And to think, Brad had the nerve to contact me again after I had told him never to contact me again. What the hell. I thought that I'd be able to move on with my life... but now I'm being dragged right back in. Its a very frustrating feeling. The stress that had finally subsided thanks to a certain somebody being out of my life and also out of that crappy-ass unit. Sigh. Insult on Injury, I have to get counseled.

Latest and Greatest

Isn't Tom adorable? For some reason he likes to make funny faces in pictures rather than show me that sexy smile of his. I'll get him to lighten up eventually and smile for pictures. Only because I think he looks so damn good. :)

I found my old blog too. Kind of rather a bit a lot embarrassing. Sigh. I'll let you indulge: http://www.blogger.com/profile/07317881766511352343

It's funny though really, 5 months ago I wasn't in such a good place. Hell 4 months ago I wasn't either, but things have started to look up. Time to myself without a certain manipulative lying SOB who I should have kicked to the curb two years ago when I met him, really did me a hell of a lot of good. I just wonder about some things. I really have never been in love before. I can say that pretty confidently at this point. If I thought I loved somebody, I was never at the same place with them. Either I'm in love and they're not or they're in love and I'm not. Or it was puppy love in like middle school. I shouldn't kid myself. Maybe things will change soon. I hope they do. I'm pulling for a particular brown-eyed boy to rock my world.... or wait.....

Some things I thought I should bring up... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/12/cute-girl-mimed-opening-c_n_118349.html Holy crap. Whats the deal with this girl China had lip sync because the girl really singing wasn't cute enough?! What in the world is with that? "The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen" (From the site above). Now lets see... Since when has the way a little girls teeth look been in the interest of any nation? I mean, there are plenty of ugly people out there that we allow to be representatives of our gov't in real life. Not just a young kid that will probably grow out of anything that they're talking about. And really, who the hell cares? Seems like a cute kid to me. Although, I will admit, I have that syndrome where I think all Asian kids are cute no matter what. I think that was Tom that was telling me about that; all Korean kids looked cute as hell. My best friend is half Thai and when I look at pictures of us when we were kids, she was a way cuter kid than me. Hahaa... Her mom always had her in pig tails with that thick yarn in her hair. I always remember her dressed in yellow. Eh, anyway. I'll have to find some of those pics. Sal would looove that. Watch the video, that's funny stuff. Should you have stuck with the "ugly" girl and not had the other one look like a dork lip synchin'.

Next, I heard about people wanting to debate lowering the drinking age. Apparently, a bunch of college presidents signed on to opening a nation-wide debate about this. It is odd that of all countries that allow drinking, the US is the only country in the world that requires one to be 21 to enjoy a frothy brew, or whatever your drink of choice happens to be. The majority of all countries in the world think that 18 is a sufficent age for drinking. Why is the US so different? In my personal experience in college, I can remember the effects of "bar raids." I remember the conversation about Conrad's getting "raided," and subsequently shut down because of underage drinking. I remember most clearly what happened to college students that wouldn't go into bars. They'd get drunk behind closed doors in the apartment or frat house. And since if you're behind closed doors, you might as well just start smoking weed. And if you start smoking weed, you might as well start snorting coke... And they did. And they did worse. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that that's what happening... They can't drink since its illegal, and then why not do other things that are illegal? I remember thinking in college that it was rather sick that the cops were so proud of how many college students they caught underage drinking... in a town with a horrible crime rate. I know one of my sorority sisters got her Honda broken into 3 times. A guy from ROTC got a breifcase stolen out of his pickup. And bacon was worried about college students having a good time drinking beer in a bar(walking, not driving to the bars, I might add). And speaking of ROTC and serving your country... Responsible enough to join the Army, sign your life away, and not drink a beer? Old enough to die for your country (and there are those who have), and you can't have a beer during a redeployment party? What the hell is wrong with that picture? In a lot of places you can get legally married before being able to drink a beer. Messed up priorities? Yes. I think so. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1101839726.html

All right. That's enough for today. Our play "FOB" is supposed to get "attacked" soon. I happen to be out in the field training... but its late and I'm bored.

Drinking age to 18? It's about damn time.

Serving in the Army has always been unique. We can serve our country, get sent into a war zone and even die for our country. But have a beer in celebration of a redeployment? Oh, sorry, no can do, Soldier. On a side note, for reporting purposes, Soldiers are not allowed to deploy if they are not 18.

At Syracuse University where I graduated in 2005, the effects of underage drinking crackdowns were students going and doing things inside behind closed doors, either drinking or worse. Most of my sorority sisters and other women I know went to first weed, snorting crack and worse.

In addition, at 18 we are able to vote. According to the Gov't we are responsible enough to chose our nations leader, but not have a glass of champagne at a election party.

I know that the shock of switching over would be big, but... Eventually, it would make a hell of a lot more sense.

All I'm trying to say is that some things just don't make sense. Why not change them?

Todays another... Blah.

I've started this blog thing once already and couldn't keep with it much. Although, I am believing that I want to make some money off of all the shenanigans that is my life as of now. I've been in the Army for just over three years and by the time I get out in 201o, I'll have spent half my career in a combat zone. At this point, I see us deploying to Afghanistan in the end of 2008, beginning 2009. Although I admit, I'm not completely devastated about going over again. Most women my age are either getting married or are about to or at least have a serious boyfriend. I got out of a horrible relationship about well, 5 months ago now, and have just recently started seeing somebody who has really surprised me, in a good way (Tom). I guess we'll just see how far that progresses. Good men are few and far between. Lauren seems to think we're "serious," and told an E6 named Noah I met last weekend that was trying to hit on me. Nice. Oh, Tom was there too. Not that I was interested in an E6 in any capacity, but... I'm actually missing him right now, another welcome surprise. And that makes me happy. :)

The debacle of my life has been progressing rather well lately, though my job keeps me busy.

Right now I'm torn because my dog is being boarded at Watertown Animal Hospital. I guess I just worry about that little ball of fur. She is too much fun really. I can't wait to pick her up on Friday, at least I hope that I can pick her up then. I've been missing her like crazy. She's my alarm clock and most importantly, she makes sure I get up in the morning. She's been so good too. I've started leaving her in a (large) crate during the day while I'm at work, like my Mom did with her (which I of course feel guilty about as well). I hope the WAH at least takes her outside a couple of times. My Mom said that when she took her to get boarded, one of the women there fell in love with her.

I really am not thrilled with having to go to the bathroom in a porta john again. After living a year in Kuwait, I pretty much had my fill of port-a-johns. Reminds me of SGT Kraft calling the blue stuff in them "porta-juice." And then some jokes about there oddly being a difference between a nasty and nice porta john. Most people I don't think can distinguish between any port-a-john... Did you know there are whole blogs and such devoted to all the nonsense that Soldiers write in porta johns? http://midnight.hushedcasket.com/2006/05/16/port-a-john-graffiti/ The guy on this page apparently is a master blogger. I guess he'll be my inspiration. A saying found on his page: A man’s ambition is mighty small when he writes his books on the outhouse wall.

I'm not thrilled with sleeping in a tent again either. Living in a tent for half a year was not my cup of tea, although its odd how used to it I got. All the sand. The flies, man they were everywhere... The sound a tent makes during a sand storm... Remember when you were a kid in PE and were playing with a parachute? When everybody shook it really hard to make the chute go every which direction? The wind here is not nearly that bad of course.

What my home in Kuwait looked like is up at the top. Yeah. I know, my arms are freaks of nature. On the plus side, at that point I had managed to find a bed (and a foot locker and ply wood shelf, which was, I might add, totally illegal too). No telling what sort of festering cooties were in it, but it was a mattress all the same.

Sometimes I wonder how I haven't gotten pretty sick in the Army. Apart from the mystery desert grunge, nothing has really ever happened to me from all the questionable water, hand "washing" stations, and general filth of being in the service. I'm not sure if I ever have children what sort of mother I'd be if I let my kids eat skittles off the ground once they drop them... God knows I've dropped a whole box and eaten every one. As I look up in the TOC, I see mold on the insides of the tent we're in. I know that can't be good. On the AC vent at that.... Maybe that's why my nose is stuffy... oh well. At least its not the black rock buggers you get over seas (Anybody who's been knows about it). Every single person gets sick when they deploy to the Middle East. You might as well just bring a big tub of petrol um jelly and continue to shove it up your nose while you're there. I know when I didn't my nose would bleed because of how dry it was. Dirt is better than hurting and bleeding.

Maybe I should do some work. Maybe. Workin' for the Weekend is a sad existence.