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.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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
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
Monday, July 6, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Days Off
So due to my thumb, I'm pretty much in stasis right now. Today I accomplished one thing, which makes me feel better about all of the sleeping and doing nothing. I signed up for my next online class. It's MATH 141, or Precalculus I. Michael's idea to do the one thing a day...maybe two. There's a pile of magazines by our bed I could probably neaten up a little bit later today. Anyway, it helps with the useless feelings that accompany having a gimp right thumb.
I've been working through a book at night called God's Word to Women. Really good. Goes into the translation of the Bible concerning verses about women. I'm trying a chapter a day. Then maybe on top of that I can start doing more around the wedding. I'm just feeling like I'm in a lull right now.
One good thing. Michael got us a woobie! In case you're wondering what that is. It's a type of blanket that can also be used for a shelter or to lay down on, but it's a good insulator to keep you warm in all kinds of weather. This one's special because it's not quilted so it's an even coating of warmth, and there are no cold spots. It's very puffy, and hypoallergenic due to the down being synthetic vs. goose. It's waterproof and dries quickly, and it's by Kifaru! I think that's a pretty nifty name.
Here's a picture of it. The one that's around the guy is the woobie. The one he's sitting on is the old military kind that's good, but not as amazing as this one. It's like this weightless cloud of warmth, and keeps you at the perfect temperature, plus it's super silky. Anyway, Mike and I really like it, we're happy with the purchase, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's into camping and the great outdoors. It's light, can fit into a tiny space when you've got to put it in your gear, and keeps you perfectly warm. Wonderful investment.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Thumb Incident
Well...and interesting thing happened a couple of days ago. I nearly lost my thumb. Interesting hunh? So how did this very fascinating thing happen? I shall tell you. I do a lot of various jobs for my platoon along with being their over worked medic. One of those jobs is drive a monstrous vehicle called an MRAP. The thing is a power house, and I feel like I've conquered the road whenever I drive that thing. Anyway, before we leave the wire I put this thing down, and it's rather clunky and awkwardly shaped and has some sharp edges to it. As I was putting it down, my hand slipped and it smashed down on my other hand's thumb. Fortunately, it attacked my right hand's thumb so it makes living all the more fun...I'm right handed by the way.
Anyway, the nail came completely off, it sliced through the bone completely and about three quarter's of the way through my entire thumb, and the rest of it was just wiggling there like it lost it's will to live. Thankfully that piece found its will again when the wonderful series of medical personnel took care of it and stitched it back together. Aside from the massive amount of pain, it's really not that bad. Cleaning it and changing the bandage can be somewhat shocking. It looks like something out of Frankenstein. BUT the good news is all the tissue is viable so no complete amputation necessary my partial amputation was enough to get its point across, and my joint isn't damaged, my nerves are healing which means sensation is coming back...sometimes painful, but it's still sensation. And in a short two weeks the stitches will be removed, and in about five to six the bone will be healed. Yay!
Did I mention that this occured the day BEFORE the last paper of my english class was due? Yes, it was. I finished it in time with a wonderful dose of Percocet to make me blissfully forget about the pain from typing. And that's what's setting the incredible tone of this entry right now. Anyway, I got an A in the class. Go me, and a bag of chips. Now I'm starving and waiting for my husband to get back from his mission. Unfortunately he's in his least favorite place probably in the entire world. Go figure. So he'll be home soon, which means CHOW, another 2 percocet, an antibiotic. Yes, I'm taking 4 a day which equates to 2,000 mg of cephalexin a day. Since you're wondering, I'm sure. Then shower and bed since I'll be in another world by that point. Apparently I'm slightly insane right now. I don't know why, but Michael has all of these crazy stories concerning me, what I do during my sleep, and how I'm hateful in the morning. I don't believe a single word of it. It's just not possible. Why would I shout out, "THE SLEEPING BAG IS PISSING ME OFF!" I swear I don't hold anything against the sleeping bag.
I would include pictures of my thumb since I took a bunch in my stupor. But I don't think they're for the light of heart. It's seen its better days, I'll just put it that way. Anyway, that's the latest.
Anyway, the nail came completely off, it sliced through the bone completely and about three quarter's of the way through my entire thumb, and the rest of it was just wiggling there like it lost it's will to live. Thankfully that piece found its will again when the wonderful series of medical personnel took care of it and stitched it back together. Aside from the massive amount of pain, it's really not that bad. Cleaning it and changing the bandage can be somewhat shocking. It looks like something out of Frankenstein. BUT the good news is all the tissue is viable so no complete amputation necessary my partial amputation was enough to get its point across, and my joint isn't damaged, my nerves are healing which means sensation is coming back...sometimes painful, but it's still sensation. And in a short two weeks the stitches will be removed, and in about five to six the bone will be healed. Yay!
Did I mention that this occured the day BEFORE the last paper of my english class was due? Yes, it was. I finished it in time with a wonderful dose of Percocet to make me blissfully forget about the pain from typing. And that's what's setting the incredible tone of this entry right now. Anyway, I got an A in the class. Go me, and a bag of chips. Now I'm starving and waiting for my husband to get back from his mission. Unfortunately he's in his least favorite place probably in the entire world. Go figure. So he'll be home soon, which means CHOW, another 2 percocet, an antibiotic. Yes, I'm taking 4 a day which equates to 2,000 mg of cephalexin a day. Since you're wondering, I'm sure. Then shower and bed since I'll be in another world by that point. Apparently I'm slightly insane right now. I don't know why, but Michael has all of these crazy stories concerning me, what I do during my sleep, and how I'm hateful in the morning. I don't believe a single word of it. It's just not possible. Why would I shout out, "THE SLEEPING BAG IS PISSING ME OFF!" I swear I don't hold anything against the sleeping bag.
I would include pictures of my thumb since I took a bunch in my stupor. But I don't think they're for the light of heart. It's seen its better days, I'll just put it that way. Anyway, that's the latest.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
School: A Continued Heartache
Well, after reading the beautiful post by my husband and smiling as a result I quickly realized that I was doing a wonderful job of procrastinating my school work. I have two papers left for this online english class I'm taking. TWO! And it gets harder and harder for me to finish it when there's so many other things to do. Like read magazines I've read three and four times already, or look at how messy our room is right now, or look at new crafty artists and whatnot on Etsy.
The wedding plans are kind of on hold right now. So far Michael's had a fitting for his suit, and it's probably going to be ready by the end of the month. At least, that would be the ideal situation. We're probably going to order my dress in the next month. Yes, I found it online. It's beautiful. I'll have an entry completely dedicated to wedding party bliss, but for now this entry is dedicated to school and procrastination.
Okay, so a little background. I've had a continued love hate relationship with school, and a constant fluctuation on what I want to do with my career. Do I want to be a doctor? An artist? A writer? A nurse? A psychologist? A social worker? A teacher/professor? The possiblities never cease to amaze me. The ones that have stayed pretty constant are something medical vs. something artistic/writer-ish.
Well, after lots of discussion with my life partner we came to an agreement of sorts. The best course of action is to focus on the short term goals with the question of long term goals working themselves out as I slowly accomplish the short term. So, something medical would mean I would need the necessary pre-requisites in classes. That means that I need to finish school. A very noble goal indeed. One I'm finally ready to take on. So I started with a nice, friendly English class back in April, and the class finishes June 23rd. It's seven assignments, and I've completed five with all A's so far. I have two assignments left, and they're the most involved, of course. I know the topics I want to do, and right now I'm delaying the research I'm doing for one of them with this blog.
So since I'm already in discussion of short term goals and this class, I'll start with the assignments for the class. The first assignment was a narrative essay. I did it on being a woman in the military in Iraq. I got a 100 on it. The second assingment was a sample Resources page. Another 100. Then the third assignment was a compare and contrast essay. The topic was already chosen and was comparing seeing a movie in theatres vs. at home. And guess what, I got a 100. Then around this point I'd finished all the reading and the corresponding journals we're supposed to write around what we're reading. 10 journal entries...and drum roll please, a 100! Then the latest assignment I've completed was the analysis essay where you analyse an ethical situation in a community you're involved with. So I did mine on patient autonomy in emergency medicine. Basically, the patient's right to choose whether they want the treatment or not. And I got a 99. Hah! I guess I was getting cocky or something, I don't know, but I'm not complaining. It's still an "A."
Now the last two. One is a persuasive or argumentative essay. They both kind of go hand in hand. I'm doing mine on freedom of speech. It's directed towards a library getting ready to ban a book. The other paper is a research paper, and I'm doing it on family. How families focused on raising their kids' imaginations and teaching them skills vs. video games and t.v. and not a lot of quality family time. At least, that's what I'm leaning towards. I haven't completely decided on that one. BUT two more papers...or rather one and a half. I'm almost done with the outline and necessary research for the first of the two. Right now I'm researching censorship, and I'm trying to find a third thing to feed into freedom of speech aside from laws and censorship. Something a little more powerful.
Now, I thought I'd end this entry with my short term goals. Goals that I'll be able to finish by March-ish of next year. Basically, finish by the end of the deployment.
-Read the entire Bible (I'm almost done with the NT, and my husband and I are in the third OT book Leviticus)
-Be completely debt free. (I'm well on my way to getting this one taken care of, which is a huge weight off of my shoulders.)
-Finish five online classes (Almost done with my first one. To celebrate finishing my last paper I'm going to sign up for my next class. Probably a math class.)
-Get a 300 on my APFT. (Army Physical Fitness Test. My husband and I are trying to PT as close to everyday as possible, but with the constant stream of missions I'm on I get really drained.)
-Leave here as close to E-4 promotable as possible (The online classes help, 300 PT helps, and then I need to start cracking down on correspondence courses, and all of that starts to add up when it comes to promotion points.)
-Go to at least one soldier board while I'm here. (This one's tricky because I've got so much on my plate right now.)
Then there's planning my wedding, doing what I can when it comes to our medic station and extra training we're doing at our local CSH (Combat Support Hospital). And then there's just the constant stream of missions. I've gone on over 100 easily. I'm also trying to keep in touch with family and everything and life's just a little crazy right now. I just need to get through the next nine months. So that's a little piece of my pie right now. So now I'm going to go back to my paper and wait for my husband to get home.
The wedding plans are kind of on hold right now. So far Michael's had a fitting for his suit, and it's probably going to be ready by the end of the month. At least, that would be the ideal situation. We're probably going to order my dress in the next month. Yes, I found it online. It's beautiful. I'll have an entry completely dedicated to wedding party bliss, but for now this entry is dedicated to school and procrastination.
Okay, so a little background. I've had a continued love hate relationship with school, and a constant fluctuation on what I want to do with my career. Do I want to be a doctor? An artist? A writer? A nurse? A psychologist? A social worker? A teacher/professor? The possiblities never cease to amaze me. The ones that have stayed pretty constant are something medical vs. something artistic/writer-ish.
Well, after lots of discussion with my life partner we came to an agreement of sorts. The best course of action is to focus on the short term goals with the question of long term goals working themselves out as I slowly accomplish the short term. So, something medical would mean I would need the necessary pre-requisites in classes. That means that I need to finish school. A very noble goal indeed. One I'm finally ready to take on. So I started with a nice, friendly English class back in April, and the class finishes June 23rd. It's seven assignments, and I've completed five with all A's so far. I have two assignments left, and they're the most involved, of course. I know the topics I want to do, and right now I'm delaying the research I'm doing for one of them with this blog.
So since I'm already in discussion of short term goals and this class, I'll start with the assignments for the class. The first assignment was a narrative essay. I did it on being a woman in the military in Iraq. I got a 100 on it. The second assingment was a sample Resources page. Another 100. Then the third assignment was a compare and contrast essay. The topic was already chosen and was comparing seeing a movie in theatres vs. at home. And guess what, I got a 100. Then around this point I'd finished all the reading and the corresponding journals we're supposed to write around what we're reading. 10 journal entries...and drum roll please, a 100! Then the latest assignment I've completed was the analysis essay where you analyse an ethical situation in a community you're involved with. So I did mine on patient autonomy in emergency medicine. Basically, the patient's right to choose whether they want the treatment or not. And I got a 99. Hah! I guess I was getting cocky or something, I don't know, but I'm not complaining. It's still an "A."
Now the last two. One is a persuasive or argumentative essay. They both kind of go hand in hand. I'm doing mine on freedom of speech. It's directed towards a library getting ready to ban a book. The other paper is a research paper, and I'm doing it on family. How families focused on raising their kids' imaginations and teaching them skills vs. video games and t.v. and not a lot of quality family time. At least, that's what I'm leaning towards. I haven't completely decided on that one. BUT two more papers...or rather one and a half. I'm almost done with the outline and necessary research for the first of the two. Right now I'm researching censorship, and I'm trying to find a third thing to feed into freedom of speech aside from laws and censorship. Something a little more powerful.
Now, I thought I'd end this entry with my short term goals. Goals that I'll be able to finish by March-ish of next year. Basically, finish by the end of the deployment.
-Read the entire Bible (I'm almost done with the NT, and my husband and I are in the third OT book Leviticus)
-Be completely debt free. (I'm well on my way to getting this one taken care of, which is a huge weight off of my shoulders.)
-Finish five online classes (Almost done with my first one. To celebrate finishing my last paper I'm going to sign up for my next class. Probably a math class.)
-Get a 300 on my APFT. (Army Physical Fitness Test. My husband and I are trying to PT as close to everyday as possible, but with the constant stream of missions I'm on I get really drained.)
-Leave here as close to E-4 promotable as possible (The online classes help, 300 PT helps, and then I need to start cracking down on correspondence courses, and all of that starts to add up when it comes to promotion points.)
-Go to at least one soldier board while I'm here. (This one's tricky because I've got so much on my plate right now.)
Then there's planning my wedding, doing what I can when it comes to our medic station and extra training we're doing at our local CSH (Combat Support Hospital). And then there's just the constant stream of missions. I've gone on over 100 easily. I'm also trying to keep in touch with family and everything and life's just a little crazy right now. I just need to get through the next nine months. So that's a little piece of my pie right now. So now I'm going to go back to my paper and wait for my husband to get home.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
I like reading my wife's college homework essays and journals. I like getting her favorite foods and watching her light up when she sees them. I like coming home not expecting her and she is here. I like making up my own dances. I like planning in great detail all of our wilderness and metropolitan adventures, I like listening to how my wife's day went in the sequence that she remembers it ...
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