Pass The Brass

SMule: Ocarina [Zeldarian] from SonicMule, Inc. on Vimeo.

Today I will be kicking off my final days here as I begin clearing. Technically I don’t pick up my clearing papers till tomorrow, but there are base level things I can get rid of while Im here. I’ve got a good handful of errands to run so no time to waste!

For some reason I am really angry right now…I can’t imagine why though.

I would like to take this time to remind everyone that I only have twenty more days here…

I feel a small urge to begin writing summaries, releases, pent up aggressions and the like, but I don’t feel that the timing is right just yet.

A thought just occurred to me…. The reason why I have lost my spark in my writings. I do not write with enchantment because my life has lost it’s enchantment. My life is filled with two things: Work, and more of the same. No wonder my writing is now bland. My life has become so. Instead of being worried about being bored, I worry about fiscal responsibility. How freakin boring can you get?! I need to reverse this whole growing up process. The Army has taken too much of my childhood from me.

Time to revert.
I think I’ll be a bum for a few years and get back to my roots.

So we had the Detachment photo and personal photos taken today. It was a lot less BS than we went through back in school so that’s good. Regardless, I ordered a handful of various assortments of nothing. I know my mom’s going to wring my neck when she finds out. Lucky for me the company puts em online and she can order from there. =D *Crisis Averted*

Put up a few shots on my Flickr Page.

No, Chuck aint comin to town, but it sure as hell is cold round these here parts.

The temperature dropped a good twenty degrees from yesterday so that pretty much means it is now winter round here. Being in the good ole “Dirty South” this is a mix of good and bad. Good in that we are entering into a nice brisk holiday season…bad in that no one here can drive worth a dang! The moment you see snow begin to fall you can guarantee at least 5 traffic accidents within the hour.

All my southern peeps who can drive be sure to rant and rave about how unfair my generalizations are. I come from a full four season area in the Great North West so I have earned my winter driving badge. *obnoxious grin*

Lemme tell ya bout the time I almost caved in the entire rear end of my mom’s Infiniti…

So there we were, my sister and I, headin back home on the back roads of Ideeho where they don’t plow to the best of their ability so you always have a nice thick layer of ice to drive on and do cool stunts. (read: look like an idiot when you are flying all over the road out of control) We’re on a particularly long stretch of road, double wide, and I look over to my sister and say “Hey, check this out!” *RED ALERT* *RED ALERT* *BAD IDEA IN PROGRESS* (But still cool ;D) So I proceed to cut the wheel and send the back end out off to the side as we drift down this ice covered road. I cut the wheel back to whip the tail back to the other side and proceed to repeat this for a few slides when suddenly I realize each correction is just a little bit over…and over…and now all of a sudden we’re spinning a 360 and then sliding ass first into a snowbank.

*PHEW!* That was awesome!! Then we both look back and are staring into the cold hard stare of a T-Rex. (Constructed of steel, of course) Holy crap that woulda been bad. Good thing there was a snow bank there or I wouldn’t exist right now.

Sadly, 2WD vehicles don’t like to pull out of snow banks very well. Some dude drove by on a Quad and asked if he should go grab his truck and come pull us out but I opted for the traditional rocking method. I put my sister behind the wheel and applied pressure to the rear end of the vehicle to help facilitate it’s release. About an hour later and we finally wedge free! YAY! OK, stories over, go away now.

This month could not creep by any slower if Superman decided to fly around the earth opposite it’s rotational spin…. I hate this. Oh and I had to get a new haircut….dangit.

***EDIT***

Oh, and I should probably document my physical “degradation” in that I scored a 244 on this last PT test by running a 15:01 on the 2 mile. Whoops. There’s just something about this whole “lack of motivation” that just gets in my way. Oh and it doesn’t help when you have someone pacing you in a car and…well, basically talkin’ smack. Heh.

Here’s to Army standards!!

Right about now I can’t remember the last time I just sat down at my computer and just played games for hours straight. I’ve met a few new friends and have just been spending my time outside these last few months.

So I have given up my antisocial status of playing games online and have moved on to the more socially acceptable killing time outside…just sitting there. HAHA! Sometimes I feel like I’m back in high school, “Whutchu wanna do?” “I dunno…whutchu wanna do?” Althoguh when my family and I lived on the west coast it was pretty easy to find a fall back plan seeing as the beach was the all around thing to do. I still miss it.

All of this to say that I have really started to change my social patterns in preparation for the “real world”. I think I’m doing rather well. Makes me wonder if the whole video game antisocial behaviorism’s were even there. Although I think I am being foreshadowed by certain other lifestyles lack of social etiquette. I am discovering more about myself though which is kinda funny. You would think after 24 years you would pretty much know yourself but every day has something new for ya.

As I sit and think about how my lot in life has shifted I look at how things have turned around. I am very much not the person I was when I joined. I come away with a very different outlook on life and all the madness within. I can see how I have given up some of my literary finesse as I drifted through. It still hurts me to an extent to admit that. I can still write with some of the best of them, but my pep…my zest has really seems lessened these days. Hopefully it is simply a lack of inspiration. I want to cure that when I change lives here in a few months.

Some of the things I want to draw inspiration from:
My niece’s and nephew first and foremost! I have missed too much of their growing up as it is. I can’t wait to watch them grow and discover life…all the while reminding us of how beautiful life can be.

Idaho’s great outdoors! Camping, hunting, hiking…all of that good stuff! I can’t tell you how much I miss just a simple cruise through the woods. It’s little things like that which bring about bursts of fresh air in such a droll and depressing modern times. It just brings you closer to God.

My walk with God. I have lost alot of what I had. And yet at the same time I have learned so much more about Him and His graces. How could I walk away completely from the one being that sustains me!?! I survived an entire year in Irak amidst turmoil that most people never even see…to say that was all chance would be stupidity. I owe God more than I could ever repay. I need to bring my focus back…return to my first love.

Start a career and family. I was never one for the whole dating scene. I always thought it as pointless and a means to a wrongful end in our decrepit society. Despite my ideals I have still tried at a couple failed relationships which were merely God’s way of pointing out that I really was not ready. I don’t expect God to drop a wife in my lap, but I do expect He will set up the time and place where we meet. And I do look forward to the day. For some reason, the whole family life appeals to me so much more than the wild “carefree” existence that is encouraged these days.

Well, that bout sums up how I’m feelin’ today. I’m really lookin forward to some good ole BBQ with friends now.

Thanks for stoppin by. Hope your Lord’s Day was as peaceful as mine.

So I’m gettin right bout 10-55 the other night and as we’re hangin’ out at the usual spot in the van down by the river I get a lil spark of reminiscence and I recall this one band I used to listen to way back in the day. By the way, thought trains like this have a dual effect in that they either thoroughly depress you or you get all excited. This particular thought process inspired some good ole feelings. So I immediately went and downloaded all the songs I could on this artist. Hard to find stuff, lemme tell ya.

The band in question is none of than those silly mormon, radioactive rash guard wearing, masked crusaders….THE AQUABATS! yah they were good for two albums then proceeded to kill their career via stupidity.

So yah…check out their earlier track “Playdough” if you are above the age of 24 and enjoy some good ole fashion reminiscence.

Our story begins on a hot, southern afternoon. A small column of black colored tactically geared men approach a house…

Your heartbeat is in your ears.

Oh great.

That’s the last thing you need up in your head right about this time. As if that mission brief you just got didn’t have enough crap to cram in the small filing cabinet you have left in your memory banks. Don’t even get me started on the short term…

You get to be the second man in the door on this mission. Good stuff.

You’ve never been the real hard charging type, but that doesn’t mean you don’t love a good adrenaline rush every now and then. And this is most definitely one of those rushes. Adrenaline junkie is a term of endearment to you. You smirk as this quick train of thought runs through your mind as you approach the building.

As you snap out of your little day dream you realize you’ve been walkin all over the heels of the Shield Man. Crap…yer gonna hear about that after this is all said and done.

That is…if he makes it through this one…or worse. You don’t like to think about that when you go in. You’ve got one main priority up front: Save Lives…when possible. You love adding that last part even though your boss kicks your chair out form under you every time you tack it onto the end of his line. Oh crap! Door time! Let’s do this…

Doors closed. Easy fix; call for the Breacher. He’s got a 60 pound Ram that says we’re comin’ in.

Things never do start off easy, do they? Why can’t the bad guys ever do us a favor and blow themselves away? We love it when that happens. They weren’t goin easy on us this time. Sucks…

Doors open…the hallways dark…and quiet?? It’s usually not quiet unless somethin’s wrong.

Shield Man’s in with no problem, you shift left and pick up your sector of fire. Oh nice…a closed door just on the left with your name on it. But you like action. Sometimes.

You get the ready signal from your partner at your back and you enter. Quick, fast and in a hurry as they like to say. Funny when you think about it. All the rushing we do normally just gets us into trouble. Heh…if only they’d ever established that rule of life. Just take it easy. Take it slow and everything’ll be cool. You remember your good friend back in Irak used to tell you that all the time whenever the mortars would come in. Ah…there’s a happy place to go to. Remembering your good friend..

The thoughts fade away. Reality comes flyin at you hard n fast. Bout as hard n fast as a barrage of gunfire to be precise…

As you feel each round of searing lead tear through your thighs, even your mind can’t escape this nightmare…”Heeeere’s JOHNNY!!”

Barricaded subjects at both corners of the room opening fire on you as soon as you enter. As soon as the rounds hit you know you’ve just been screwed out of the rest of your life. You feel the blood pouring from both legs as both of your arteries drain the life out of you. But you’re not done yet…

As you take the punishment you try to send a little hot lead right back downrange. Stupid saying…stupid missions….it’s all stupid right now. You hate all of it. There’s no purpose to this crap! You hate it!! You decide taking your rage out on these bastards is the only way to solve all of the problems in the world right now. Uh oh…might be kind of hard now that your legs have just given out.

Ah what a crappy way to go.
But you’ll show them. You aint dyin’ alone!

On your way down you give one last ditch effort to wing a round at that third guy you just found in the corner that you are falling into. Just one round…one..very well placed round. Dude never saw it comin it happened so fast. But damn if only every one of your shots were like that. You crumble to the ground…a bloody mess. You look down at the rather large puddle forming below you. Wow…blood smells funny.

As your consciousness is fading fast due to the rapid blood loss you look over at the sorry bastard who caught the business end of your pistol. As you glance over at him, what little blood you had left in your face flushes immediately…

…you are now staring into the horrified dead eyes of a 16 year old boy…unarmed…lifeless.

You don’t have time to repent…no time to walk towards the light….death has come for you at a very inopportune time.