mathiological disorder

Rachel is too busy to write here because she is doing claculus all night when she gets home. I will try to keep you up to speed on current events for us, while the mad mathmatician goes at it tooth and nail....

Hi

Rachel is "speaking in tongues" right now...the tongue is Calculus-Manius...and I am not a prescribed interpreter per"regulation" so she should really cease..BUT...I sort of like her semicoherent rants and hisses"...quadriatic...retangulate panel of land..Pathagliate theorem...", I am not even exaggerating here. It seems to do her good and that does me good.

Whew...Cancer and Bottled water?

"In the United States, plastic water bottles are regulated by the FDA as "food contact substances" and held to the same safety standards as food additives.This means, among other things, that the FDA has reviewed test data on the safety of the plastics used in water bottles -- including the potential for hazardous chemicals leaching or "migrating" from the plastic into the water -- and established that they pose no significant risk to human health. The water itself is also tested and must meet basic quality standards similar to those set by the Environmental Protection Agency for public drinking water.That is not to say that bottled water is absolutely free of contaminants, nor that chemical leaching never takes place. Studies done on water bottled in FDA-approved polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for example, did find trace amounts of potentially hazardous substances believed to have migrated from the plastic. The important point to take away, however, is that these amounts were very small and well within the safety limits set by FDA and EPA regulators. According to Dr. Rolf Halden of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, consumers face a much greater risk from potential exposure to microbial contaminants in bottled water -- germs, to you and me -- than from chemical ones."
American Cancer Society: Plastic Water Bottles http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MED/conten…

Whoa, Rachel...come up for air...

That was DEEP...I feel like a chimp now with all the Scrapple I write here and she is getting all sincere and factual...
Listen people, Rachel just gave me WAY too much credit for what has been going on here. I think this is some rare strain of Stockholm Syndrome where she is a shut-in captive and all she has had to listen to is my mess, her own semi-coherent musing and I-tunes @ .99$ a pop...

She is describing th 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, about things falling into disorder/disarray if left on there own...blah,blah..She has just sat here this last month and deliberately tuned her heart to what is most vital and prioritized herself into a focused, motivated, efficient bumblebee...MY bumblebee..my Pink Bumblebee...

TIWTMH...ha!

Actually if you all must know what the REAL meaning of Superfatting is.... Well, it is a little know fact in the military that AR 600-9 is a program where a unit is self sustaining via cannibalism. we Superfatten certain preselected members of the unit and they carry around our daily protein and fat requirements until such time as it is needed. In this way the army is cutting down on the financial burden to the taxpayer of longterm healthcare of the superfatted staff and defrays the feeding cost of the unit as a whole as well as reducing the need for freezer space and power needs. I think that the Army got the idea originally from Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal" written in 1729 about relieving Ireland's famine and financial burden. The Army has refined the whole process and it is only practiced outside of US territorial waters AND during time of war. That is what superfatting REALLY is.


A person so inclined and properly motivated can cut through cell bars with dental floss and toothpaste...T or F?

I am a thrift store enthusiaficionado...I like my khakis broken in already and my t-shirts on the vintage side. I draw the line at socks and shoes though, usually.

Name an Eskimo watercraft that ends in K besides kayak?

I can't wait to get a slick, powerful (easy to clean) blender and a nice produce section so I can make my wife healthy, bright smoothies and slushes all the time...

She is nearly spasmodic and acting sort of torettes-ish over this foreign language that she is learning called calculus. It seems to be a replacement cipher of sorts, a type of code where letters become numbers and I become the unknowing participant in the calculus disco...

I like to have a couple of phrases handy at all times in case something pops off and I need to handle it through verbal aikido (the new judo)...sort of all purpose sound bites like"... it is not what it appears to be..", "I'll be the judge of that", "so the saying goes...", "a giraffe of a different color..."look both ways before you sneeze..."...things to buy some time to think or escape while my conversation companion is trying to figure out what they missed..."it is lost in transliteration..." it is helpful if they are or sound like well worn clichés that seem deeper than they really are...kind of like the seemingly deep blue of the cobalt abyss in a port-o-potty that is in actually mere inches...that my fellow blogovinites is an awesome analogy, in my faux humble opinion.

This Is Where The Magic Happens...

adieu blogoroos

ANTENNA!

So in breaking my traditional routine this morning...or early afternoon by now, I had a sudden inspiration to blog. So my internet time just got bumped up before finishing my math section of the day. I was overcome with one of those deep, inspiring feelings that takes me to parts of my mind concerning world peace, curing cancer, the history of humanity, etc.

I never realized Pre-Calculus could be so heavy, but then again, sometimes lifes suprises show up in the most random things. Like amputating your thumb, for example. Who knew that not only healing from a broken thumb, I'd also heal (or at least begin the pattern of change) a series of habits that were in sore need of some tender loving care (also known as TLC).

It's fascinating to me how when you start to put your life in order, it spreads. As it spreads you wonder how you could ever let it go into chaos. But then with the burdens of life and weight of the world, things begin to slip and keeping that order gets more and more difficult so you go back to chaos because it's the easy way. It's a vicious cycle, and avoiding/prevention/overcoming isn't for the light of heart. As Michael says, "Be a hard target." (Military term for not taking unnecessary risks, watch your "6" or back, don't be negligent, etc.)

On a side note: Michael is now hooked on Sudoku, which makes me happy since it's something we can do together. But every now and again he'll just suddenly "X" out the entire puzzle and claim, "Liar! Satan's involved in this puzzle!" and then move on to another one.

So, what's the point of this rambling? Well, the people who know me can attest to my MANY dreams. All of these amazing things that I want to accomplish, finish, win the Nobel Peace Prize for. You get the idea. The only thing is the overwhelming plethora of dreams kind of put me in stasis and I don't even know where to begin. I have all of these rationalizations as to why I should "wait and see" instead of just beginning.

With the amputation of my right thumb, things really began to change. First, I was pretty depressed, which Michael can attest to. I was incredibly frusterated because you never realize how wonderful hands and thumbs are until you're unable to use a finger, or the whole hand. That minute dexterity and opposable-ness of a hand with working thumb is a really incredible creation. Especially when it's your dominant one. There was just an overall feeling of helpless, useless sludge that kind of overwhelmed me during the first week or so of the thumb incident.

So I finally took action. I really don't know what triggered it. Maybe it was the pity party I was holding for myself every day was starting to lose its lustre and become boring. So I caught up on sleep, and then Mike planted a seed of just accomplishing one thing for the day. Maybe putting away the laundry, or neatening up our bedside table, or signing up for my next online class. Something that wouldn't take more than five minutes or so. Well, I started doing that, and soon my day was filled with a bunch of things to finish before I could have any "fun time." Well, that didn't work at first so I found mixing a couple of fun things in to the not-so-fun dispersed it enough so that I'd get everything done. It wasn't just this long line of burdens that completely demotivated me. After two or three obligatories I had something to look forward to. A payback, so to speak. Something good as a result of my effort. Rewarding myself. I also found that starting on the computer would ruin everything so I had to put any computer duties last.

Soon my day was filled with things that were nurturing and fufilling and causing me to see the little steps needed to make the big dreams come true. Some conversations with Michael caused this to happen. One day we were discussing my various interests in the medical field and he responded, "Which classes do you need for all three? Maybe you could focus on those for now?" That got me thinking in regards to education where's a good place to start. It's focused my studies too. I spend time everyday doing one section of my math class. I'm a little behind with the days due to my book arriving late, but I'm steadily moving forward. Instead on focusing on the overwhelming need to catch up and possibly skip something I'd need to understand. I'm focusing on moving forward with the class and really taking the time to know what I'm learning.

Getting into the practice of doing the important stuff first has been a huge lesson I've been learning. It's key for things like time management, but as I've been spending time with other endeavors I've also come to understand why doing the important stuff first is so...well...important. Doing the things that pertain to your big goals first gets them done, which also means you're more likely to get those big goals finished.

Every morning I read the Bible first. It sets the day right. I'm much more positive with the rest of my day, and much more motivated to get the important things finished. Coincidence? I think not. There's something to be said with scripture study. There's this search to it. A constant search for the deeper meaning, understanding, truth. What surrounds a verse, what's the history, culture, and meaning? What's the verse just plainly saying without the understanding of the outside? What is your understanding of it? It also is a wall of protection. The more you surround yourself and fill yourself with something nourising the easier it is to recognize something that's not. Kind of like people who recognize counterfit money. They're constantly around real money so that they know it so well when the counterfit is shown they'll recognize it immediately.

I've been also reading about money, which has been a slightly emotional endeavor. Suze Orman is my author of choice. I review with Michael what I've learned, and he gives his own input. The biggest gift from learning about money is really understanding the long-term value of investing and saving. Also just the plain differences between investing and saving. There's still some things in there concerning different types of accounts, trusts, insurance, etc. that I'm not completely clear on, but I'll come to understand with time as I research it more. But it's also put into perspective what small goals to work on, and as those goals grow where to transfer and what to do with that growth. I never really valued compounding and time until I read about investing and time and how important that is.

As all of this has been going on, it's also spread into other areas. Maybe as a result of smoothing out my own chaos, it's prevented me from keeping a constant stream of chaos around me. Either in a messy room, or caring a bit too much what people think about me. Michael is also a huge part of it. The things he says stick with me. Plus, he's very talented about seeing the beginning process of where to begin, and the steps along the way. So the big things I want have taken on a much more achievable level. What's started is this excersize where I write down the large goal, and what are the small steps I can do now to get there. It's a very neat excersize. It provides a lot of hope to make my dreams become a reality. Kind of like a home that's a fixer upper. First step? Make sure the foundation is secure, and then go from the most important to the more frivolous. Plus, the small steps make it fun in a kind of weird way. It's similar to solving a puzzle. And after all the hard work that goes into it there's the sense of accomplishment, and satisfaction with yourself. And because you've focused on the important first, it's a well made product that will stand the test of time.

So here I am getting ready to face the outdoors after this long period of reclusiveness. Kind of like nourishing seedlings. Making sure they're watered, blowing them with a fan so their roots become strengthened. All the little steps needed so they can flourish outside. I'm my own little seedling and gardener all in one. Cool, huh? Doing the right thing is never easy, but then everyone would do the right thing. And that would be an entirely different world we would live in.

Who knew amputating one's thumb could really be such a gift? One of my favorite things that Michael has said is, "Something can happen and it can either make you bitter or sweetened." He's said it in regards to the constant frusterations and struggles I've been going through here. Where I'd come home in tears from just pure stupidity at work. And he'd say, "Just think, this is making you so much more flexible, and expanding your current capacities to handle certain things. It'll make you that much stronger when life's suprises happens along the way when we're living our life together."

So even an amputated thumb can sweeten a person. Who knew? So I'm getting ready to finish another small section of my math class, but it doesn't put me off. Instead as I finish it I think that I'm that much closer to finishing my goals. One less math class section I have to complete, one more deeper understanding of a certain section of the Bible, one less confusing part of money, and another day spent doing something that will eventually lead to where I'd like to get to in my life. There's really no rush. It'll happen because I'll let it.

R.

"Rachel...quick....

I need a seven letter word for an insect's ear?.....just checking...

Dreams

So ironically enough my husband has been lovingly reminding me to blog as his blogging excitement levels have become much more motivated. So instead of the situation in the beginning where I felt like I was pushing a donkey up a hill in getting him to blog, he's now the one pushing me. His previous title referred to something called "superfatting" which is a soap term. Basically when making homemade soap you need to have enough oil to lye ratio so that the soap isn't irritating. So superfatting is where you increase the oil by about 5-10% of what's called for just to make sure you have enough oil bound to those pesky lye molecules. It also makes a much more moisturizing soap, and the best ratio of superfatting is one that leaves your skin feeling moisturized sans greasy. Another way to superfat is to lessen the amount of lye called for in a recipe and keep the oil called for the same. All in all it's pretty simple. Typical of Michael's style, he really loves the word superfatting. He claims it's a military term that's used in regards to the chow hall where everyone goes to "superfat."

So I've got a doctor's appointment on the 27th. This is the one that changes my working profile. Pretty cool. I'll be doing radio watch after that for a few weeks, more than likely. Then when they feel I'm ready for full duty, I'll be going back to my original routine. I'll really miss this time off, that's for sure. I am kind of looking forward for work again, but I'll miss having time to read in the mornings, or take a mid-day nap, or have lunch with Michael. We've gotten a lot of extra time together from my injury, and it's been really nice. So our time will be cut into while I'm back to doing what I do.

We've been talking about apartments and furniture and cooking in a real kitchen again. Things we're looking forward to when we get back. I really miss the real world. We talk about hiking trips, kayaking trips, camping trips. Michael finds pictures online of all the places he wants to take me to. They're absolutely beautiful. So we have a lot to look forward to once we get back.

My Calculus class is moving along at its own pace. It's not quite as fast as I'd like it to go, but I'm getting there. The important part is that I'm understanding what I'm learning. So certain parts move a bit slower than others. I find doing extra problems, step-by-step helps.

Speaking of Michael...YES he is writing a book, and Hancock House has been keeping in contact with him about publishing. It's pretty cool, and I'm very excited for him. The book is called, "50 Uses for a Bootlace." I don't know if any of you know what paracord is (also known as 550 cord) but he has come up with well over 50 uses for bootlaces made out of paracord. The cool thing about paracord is it has these "guts" of thin, white string that make it so useful. His latest knot tying extravaganza has been making fish/bird netting out of these "guts."

Michael came home with dinner, and he's, "pretty much the most professional saran wrapist." He's currently trying to get our ice-cream out of its wrapping. He also wants to know the internal strength of each one of those 550 cord guts is. Our internet is currently down, slightly frustrating, so I'm finishing this thing up and saving it in a word document until I can post it properly.

Anyway, all is good on the home front. We're moving right along. It's hard to believe that not only is today five months of marriage, but in about 2 weeks we'll have been in our Mesopotamian paradise for five months as well. We've almost hit the halfway mark. As I go back to work I'll be breaking in a pair of new combat boots like Michael. I really hope they don't cause the blister damage that Michael went through, and is finally starting to heal from.

Well, I think that's all for now in the Woolley household.

R.

Sandals

Well...I have had these sandals for 3 deployments now. I got married to Rachel wearing them too. I doubt that she's going to let me wear them at our "fancy" wedding with this suit, but I think they'd look good.

I actually had over 24 hours in a row off last week to be with Rachel..very cool..We solved world hunger, cured cancer and fixed the economy, watched some haj copies of flicks, flossed or fangs, drank coffee, mastered entry-level sudoku ( I just lied)...and slushed it up royally...

Rachel is punching holes in about 500 pages of study materials to put in these colorful binders she got in the mail. She is wearing my "power-bracelet", it pretty much makes you better at whatever you're doing. Right now she is a masterful hole-puncher and super-wife.

She said that I am a donkey in her last blog, which from my recent research tells me that I am a domesticated ass. We all have goals...

it's 1921...I just returned from the outhouse, plastic, not porcelain, (closer)...it has got to be 130 degrees in there...it's between 90 and 100 at dusk here...the muezzin is doing his thing off to the SW... I actually like the sound of it.. I know what he is saying/singing or at least I used to know...I don't completely agree with it but I still like the sound of it...They are trimming/pruning all the date palms here lately and it seems that there has been a second blooming of acacia/mimosa/locust from them smell, which is a relief...

My blister is healing, not so annoying. Rachel's thumb is looking so much better, good enough that it doesn't make me sick when I eat. Trauma doesn't bother me unless it's someone I love.

We got another care package from "My Grandma..." very sweet..

Back later to finish this I need to go fetch chow...

Super-fatting...yea baby...

Good news...I got a second letter from the tentative publisher of my bootlace book, still encouraging...I hope that the economy doesn't influence whether or not they print it. I'm going to tell them that this book is EXACTLY what the ecomony needs...it could solve world hunger....along with my next book..."50 Uses for an Inner-Tube"...

I have a nice stingy blister on my right heel from breaking in some new combat boots...fun...

I have been coveting this Kum adjustable brass manual pencil sharpener and this other Alvin brass bullet manual ps...I just look from time to time, I use mechanical pencils anyway. Rachel uses art pencils...I dream of meeting all of her sharpening needs...

I found a thimble for my sewing kit, my last one was stolen from me by Josh Marples when he was contracting for Falcon Security up in Mosul in 2007, he borrowed my needle vial too but I really only miss the thimble. He said it was to sew a ghillie suit..maybe he is still sewing? probably not... I am a simple man, but I am still a man..don't ever steal a mans thimble...dang dude...

I looked up the difference between burros, donkeys, asses and mules...just in case someone asks...I also had a Ukrainian tell me that if a cat has 3 colors or more it's a female. I was like "..what about tigers man? or leopards?" He said" house cats"...anyway he was right according to the cat experts on the internet.

Rachel is still the Mesopotamian Scrabble Champion. She is the Sudoku Reigning Champ as well. She is just too humble to tell you all...so I did.

Is there some reward or prize for all this writing? It does serve some purpose , right?

Anyway, be safe. m

Entrepreneur

Well, my recent escapades on the internet have let me to the topic of eco-friendly, green products and the like. A few days ago Michael and I were discussing making our own soap, and the benefits of it. We wound up reading about how soap is made, the differences between homemade and manufactured soap, etc. It was incredibly fascinating. Well, that spurred a whole series of ideas for me. Homemade soap? Why not try other homemade cosmetic items that are good for the body as well as the environment. I also had some ideas in the clothing industry that would be along similar lines.


Anyway, I think it would be something worthwhile to invest in, or at least see where it can go for various reasons. One, it's good for the planet. Two, more and more people are becoming aware of their footprint on the earth and want to lessen it. Three, larger companies are trying to find cheap ways of creating the same thing that are more directed towards fooling people with some fine print. So I think it would be worthwhile to create wholesome, organic products that are worth a consumer's money. Plus, it would be rather exciting experimenting with things like this.

This whole thing is very inspiring. I've found some rather amazing review sites that not only go into what organic beauty products are worthwhile, but also do entire entries on different ingredients that are no-nos as well as major yes's. It's pretty incredible the information that's out there. A lot of ingredients I discovered are also not that well known to a lot of the cosmetic industries, and have some pretty incredible qualities.

But the big thing that's come of this is to be much more aware of what you use on your body, especially cosmetics. There's some really neat make up out there that's 100% organic. So I'm definitely interested in seeing what can be created through my own means. Of course, all of this will happen once we're back from the desert. It's still nice to dream.

Michael grabbed a bunch of movies today from the local shop. Two dollars for a movie ain't bad, I must say. He recently stated in his head, "Man, I am married" while picking out a couple chick flicks for his wife. But he also assured me he's confident enough in his manhood to pick up a few girly flicks for me. He kept bringing home action film after shoot em up film, and I gently informed him that the next time he goes to the video store could he please pick up something a bit more...calm? Romantic comedy maybe? Please?

He gave me this funny look and I told him that it's not that I'm not enjoying the movies you're bringing home, I am as they are very good, but can we mix it up? He felt that was a valid argument. So now we watch a romantic comedy, mixed with a good drama, mixed with an action film. The rotation is quite nice, and covers all areas of film.

I think that about covers it for now. Back to my research and precalculus class, Hooray!

Sudoku...JNT

Japanese number torture. It should be Sadoku, as is SADistic. Many people don't know this but sudoku is named after Japan's version of Guantanamo, a small island off of the S. coast of Japan used as a penal colony since WWII through a memorandum of understanding between the USMC and Japan. Torture, deprivation, exposure to the elements, harsh unforgiving treatment by overzealous brutal captors...all for"fun". I actually did a year there back in the 80's. We called it "the Rock" back then. The locals call it Okinawa, which I am certain means Sudoku in Japanese. I came to this realization as Rachel taught me the ins and outs of this diabolical # crossword puzzle that we do for "fun".

I hear that carcinogens are released from plastic bottles into the water they contain when they are exposed to sunlight. Our drinking water is palletized and sits in the sun non-stop from when it is made over at the H2O plant here on Victory until it is dispersed around the FOB or LSA and eventually brought into our room. At the least it is exposed for at least 2 solid weeks to the sun. I wonder if I have reason to be concerned?

We are good. We are planning our mid-tour leave and what we want to do when we return at the end of this trip. Rachel is dozing/healing...the A/C is off for generator maintenance...2 hours now every Wednesday...We had our first 24 hours together uninterrupted, so cool. Rachel is tearing through the Bible these last two weeks, before it was at a moderate pace of a chapter or two at a time, now it's by book... She is also bracketing our finances and plotting the $ future for us. Bill Gates look out.

Have I mentioned that She is NOT a morning person? I am.

Our neighbor is a burgeoning guitar maestro. Our CHU is a trailer box divided into 3 partitions by, I think high grade rice paper and paint, with 3 separate doors. We share a roof and floor and the audio from video games and action movies, unattended but faithful alarm clocks, ruminations of the best deodorant and socks, un-oiled hinge squeaks and the gentle rocking of the trailer on its gravel and sand foundation.

I have been working on some dance moves that I aim to dazzle Rachel and the tribe with at our next wedding...I give her a little hint and taste of them from time to time but I am holding back the good stuff...pizzazzle-zing...boo-wop-bop...bop..

Anyway, just wanted to catch up..do my part..Rachel's awake got to go...

This was a lovely weekend. Michael and I got to have almost the entire weekend together. Such a continued amount of time has been pretty rare due to conflicting schedules when we first arrived. With my thumb in its healing state we've gotten a lot more time together since Michael comes by with lunch and eats with me.



So as of late I've been waiting for my class to start. It's supposed to start tomorrow, but I have YET to see my book. I think they mailed it kind of late. So hopefully I'll get it in the next couple of days. My time I've decided to fill with blocks of different things so that I feel like I've accomplished something by the end of the day. I mix the fun with the necessary/not so fun so that I don't feel so overwhelmed by the necessary/not so fun and then just eventually skip it all and go straight to the fun. Hah!



Right now I look crazy because I've got on these rubber gloves over my hands that have been smeared with vaseline. I leave them on for about an hour and my hands are nice and silky. It's a pretty nice, cheap trick. With all of this dry air around, my cuticles have taken a beating, plus my thumb enjoys it too. I soak it in peroxide for awhile and then put my moisturizing gloves on and poof! My hands aren't dry, scaly things that create more issues than necessary. I also have a bad habit of picking at the skin around my nails, which drives Michael crazy. So now when I start to pick at them, I put on the vaseline and the gloves. When I started doing that Michael's response was: "I positively reinforce this course of action."



My thumb is healing along nicely. A whole ton of dead skin just peeled off today. I spent about an hour getting the stuff off and trying to cut it away neatly so that it's not so grizzly. It's actually beginning to look more and more normal. I'm just waiting for the nail to fall off. It came off completely from the injury, and they stitched it back on to protect the nail bed while it heals (the nail bed got about 4 stitches on it). It's ready to come off, but the scab underneath is what's holding it on right now.



I've been researching things I can learn how to make for sellable goods. Maybe on Etsy. Of course, all of this is speculation right now. Also, I'd like to make it kind of a side project. Hopefully it won't take on too much of a life of its own. Michael and I were reading about soap today.

One cool thing I found was a brides across america thing where various bridal retailers would hold various wedding dresses in their shop and give them away for free to brides/fiances who are either in the military or married/engaged to men in the military. Cool, huh? To qualify either you or your husband/fiance or both have to be on active duty statis and have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Yup. I think it's pretty awesome. And it might not work out for me, but it's just good to know it's an option and it's out there.

Anyway, I'm coasting along just fine. I'm pretty excited about my math class. I'm finding a new interest in school due to finding my way career-wise. So that's nice. I think next I'm going to take a psychology class. I've organized all of the different careers I'm interested in and combined which classes are mandatory for all of them and then when it starts to branch off. So that way I get the foundation completed so when I decide to specialize, that part is already knocked out of the way. Well, not much else going on. We're happy and getting through this adventure very well. So...TTFN, ta-ta-for-now!

Care packages

You all have no idea how many care packages we have gotten, I don't even know...I lost count at 10 or so...Rachel's tribe have sent more boxes in the last 4 months than I have gotten in 3 trips here...it is humbling...and amazing...I am the benificiary of their kindnesses...I thank the Lord for the boxes of goodies, Rachel's family and the mail system here that has drastically inproved..I can remember getting a box of decaying food sent at Xmas in '04 that showed up in the middle of '05...Anyway, very cool being married to a leafling with a tribe who holds her so dearly...We have all these pics from magazines they've sent up on the walls, very groovy...blah blah blah...

Well....

Listen blogosphere,
I stopped by here to catch up with what is out there about us and now I see that I need to seriously recalibrate the factual content of this blog for you all out in Blogovia, standby...

First of all, her family who where all in cahoots, sent us a RIGGED Scrabble game that has this invisible,to the naked eye, alphabet painted on the backs of the letter tiles, but she, Rachel, has a special psyop topsecret coating developed at the hush-hush military branch of the corp. that her mother works for, on her eyeglasses that allows her to see the invisible ink...she easily picked out full 6 and 7 letter words the whole game AAAAAAND...got ALL of the good letters...when my suspicions were aroused early in the game she chose a bunch of slag letters(antennae) to throw me off...I supsected something was amiss so I licked a piece of saran-wrap that I had colored red and green with dry erase markers..the combination of my saliva film and the 3D effect of the dry erase colors mixed with the optical quality of the saran wrap all united to duplicate the lense treatment on Rachel's specs...and I too could see these faint but obvious markings on the backs of the letter tiles in the draw bag...She, Rachel my amazingly clever and her deviously intricate sophisticated scrabble throneship will soon be unraveled at the next Mesopotamian International Scrabble Championships..MISC.

Next... her meds make her "loopy", interesting adjective she chose...I think BIZARRE would also fit in that slot, with the z on triple letter value...Lets just say that at between 1-3 A.M.( while we are sleeping) my wife now appears to VIGOROUSLY phantom sort laundry, wash a widow, fold origami, thread a sewing machine and thrash around like a FBT( full body tourette's) pirahna victim in our little twin bed that we have the luxury of sharing. I can't tell you if this is all medication induced because she did them prior to the thumb-loping, but not as frequently or as fervently...Let's just say these actions are med-enhanced/induced... She also says colorful things like, "exspresso snowflake...".."disco thunder-ball..."Anyway, we are both glad she is now drug free and I will continue to observe her nocturnal behaviors and report back more later...

Work is the same, busy..I have not had a day off since we got here. ...now it is really hot and with these sandstorms...this one has lasted 7 days...days are getting all smeared into the same thing...sort of a sad groundhog day sort of thing...My escape is to come home to my cool wife and get stomped at Scrabble or catchup on the day...read...PT...I know its Friday by the menu at the dining facility.

I got this suit sewn at the tailor, it is gray. I picked it up this week, it fits , for now.

We talk about driving all over the place when we get back, rock climbing, camping, swimming, hiking, woods, weeds, rivers, Americans...food, groceries, clean things...blah blah...

It really is a luxury to share that twin bed with Rachel everyday.

greeting blogophytes

Ahoy,
We are trundling along here in our sunny clime. I am not a twitteroo or much of a declared extrovert, with strangers, but I shall endeavor for the amusement of my immortal beloved.

What fascinates me is the way that we mesh and thrive, not just endure. I marvel at how things are. I find it hard to believe that this other precious human being wants to be around me, let alone, share the future.

I would like to use this medium and time to let you all AND Rachel know that she will be helping me illustrate a book I wrote the last time that I was visiting this tourist hotspot, called "25 uses for a bootlace", the book, not this locale. I have yet to figure out why we/she hasn't mentioned where we are in her posts, OpSec, privacy,blogovian etiquette, rules of the road...?She left it vague and I can take a hint...She didn't even tell you what we do. I think the idea is that if you are reading this then you already know us and therefore fill in the blanks...

I am trying to get diagnosed with low-blood -sugar-induced-Tourette's-syndrome, LBSITS or TBLISS, so that I may say exactly what I think without fear of consequences, you know, "Hey, sorry man, I have LBSITS, it was the condition not me..."

She reads to me nearly every night, I brush her hair...Life is good. I intentionally married an artist, among other criteria, and she has decorated our humble room here with the most beautiful, provocative and comforting pictures. I think she had a feng-shui moment going or something, with the placement and harmony of the snaps along with the overall effect. So cool.

I fly all over and I am trying to figure out how to convert all these miles to civilian frequent flyer miles, probably not happening...She trundles much more than I...

We run together nearly every other evening, the Mimosa/Acacia/ Locust trees here smell like Virginia I am told.

apparently I will be an alpaca farmer in the afore mentioned future and hopefully the progenitor of a strong pride of happy little piglets...

adieu Bloggeroo

SCRABBLE

So, I've asked Michael to write up here a couple of times to no avail, after all the man is pretty busy. So I figured I'd put something up. We received a couple of weeks ago two huge packages from my Dad and Kris. The first package was all magazines, which kind of blew me away. The second had all sorts of fun things including the games we asked for of SCRABBLE and Chess. Michael had been talking all kinds of game the entire time we were expecting these packages to when we got them, "Are you ready to have your butt whipped at Scrabble?" was the first thing he said when I got them out of the box.

So! A few days ago we did our first Scrabble game, and not only did I win I also got my first seven letter word of "ANTENNAE." A seventy point word, I might add. Michael only lost by about 12 points I think, he was catching up pretty fast after that. So then I look at him and ask, "I thought you were some crazy Scrabble champion?" And he smiles and says that he talks a lot of game just for intimidation purposes. He was still a really good opponent, though. We were pretty neck and neck there for the majority of the game.

So I'm pretty chuffed with myself. Michael keeps threatening my reigning scrabble champion that he's dubbed me.

Thumb update: Michael's taking out the stitches in my thumb tomorrow. I'm taking a shower today with the stitches still on so that the nail doesn't fall off as it's just stitched on right now. I'm going to have to regrow an entirely new nail as a result of this injury. So shower tonight, stitches removal tomorrow. I'm off my meds now. They were making me incredibly loopy. I've got more motion in it and can use it very very very gently.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm getting ready to watch a movie and just relax for a bit until Mike gets back.