Good Times/Last Times

Good Times/Last Times
Originally uploaded by nukeit1.

Well, with only 4 days of freedom left, I am feeling a little bit anxious; actually, a lot. I find myself not being able to eat very much and just the stress of trying to put together everything in my life so that my mother can take care of everything for the next 10 months. I am worried that I might be forgetting something because once I reach California, I am pretty much training nonstop, so I won't have much time to do my personal matters.

Here is just a picture taken last Wednesday evening at Applebee's. I thought it looked happy.

Finally!

Hey everyone, I finally got with the 21st century and purchased myself a digital camera. It is a Olympus 300. I like it so far, and it pretty much is just meant for the rough life of the desert coming up next year. Now, I will be able to send you all back some pictures of what I am doing and such on a CD or something. Maybe flickr them; who knows what I can do now.

Christmas Eve

Family, girlfriends, beer, board games, vulgarities, name calling, and even a hand gun. How else could you spend your holidays?! I think I know some other ways.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I Love Snow

That's right, I love snow and I am proud to say it LOUD! You can have a lot more fun in snow that with any other kind of precipitation. I can't wait to go skiing again this season.

Well today, as most of you know, it snowed like fish and gerbils. I got bored from being inside, I decided to shovel snow like a psycho. I spent like 2 hours shovel, spending a little time on the back porch, then moving to the driveway. I even shoveled half the street in front of my house so it would be easier to get in and out of the car. You should see the mounds of snow in front of my house. It is like 5 feet high and about 40 feet long. It did start wearing on my back, perhaps that a sign of old age. I don't know. Anyways, I finished around 8PM and now there is like another 2-3 inches that came back. Guess I will just hit the shovel early in the morning. It also looks like more snow tomorrow and negative low temperatures for Friday. I can't wait.

Joel and I tried to get out for a bit and did not get far. About 8PM, Joel left his house, got stuck twice, and 10 minutes later, arrived at my house. Then, he picks me up and we get like 2 blocks and get stuck on Marion Dr. and Rt. 444. After about 15 minutes of pushing and what have you, a Jeep came by and tugged us free. We then drove to IGA to turn around and get to a intersection down the street from my house. And what do you know, got stuck again. Lucky, we were on a hill and were able to get turned around and decide it would be better if Joel takes his parent's SUV to get me home. No further problems after that. Total trip time: 1 hour. Total distance traveled: less than 5 miles.

Combat Life Saver

I am now a certified combat life saver compliments of the Marine Corps. It was a very fast paced and very informational 3 days. Now, we just lack the practical application of it all, which is supposed to take place when we are in 29 Palms. One thing I didn't care too much about the class was all the horrific pictures of troops and other people having suffered from war and such. I saw some really jacked up people, like this one guy was blown up by a pipe bomb and he really no longer had a body; more like a dozen pieces. Oh, and seeing someone who took a shotgun to their head wasn't too pretty either. On the good side of things, I feel more confident in my first aid abilities and hopefully won't have to use it, but if I do, I know what to do. This marks then end of my annual training for this fiscal year. I don't want to learn anything else for awhile.

On a nice little side note; thanks for the Marine Corps for giving me a flu shot last week. Now, I feel like crap and can't stop coughing, sneezing, and really just don't feel all that great. Another quick little bit of information, I finally got DSL hooked up at my house. Now I can take advantage of the full potential of the internet and play XBox Live. Too bad I only got 18 days left. (Look for Columbus, OH)

Last Day of Annual Training

Today is the last day of annual training with my unit in Columbus. Let me tell you, I've never thought that I would ever sit for so fricken long and partake in so many classes in 10 days. I thought they generally sent dumb guys to infantry; I guess I was mistaken, not that I am saying that I am dumb or anything. Today should be pretty easy, just a gear inspection I think. Should be done around 1300 I hear, but who cares because after that, I get to drive my happy butt to Brookpark, near Cleveland, for 3 more days of training. I am taking a Combat Life Savers course; basically advanced first aid. I get to learn to stick people with needles and I don't know if I would like to learn that cause it is a little weird for me to do that. Well, I will let you all know how it turns out. I think it will be a better experience than this last week. Time will tell and so will I.

Just to Let You Know...

What are the 5 things I want to experience in the next three years?

1. Combat - same time, I don't
2. Graduate from Wright State University
3. Enjoying life and good health
4. Move out of my mother's basement, f'er real
5. Show courage in a time of great fear and let my testament of Jesus Christ save a few good Marines

Annual Training

Well, since Dec. 4th, I've been in Columbus doing the annual training for the Marine Corps. It isn't the whole 2 weeks like normal, but rather just 10 days. I got some good news to report: yesterday I was kinda promoted billet wise to fire team leader. So, now I am responsible for 3 other Marines. In addition, the hotel room I am staying in has free Wi-Fi. The bad news is that I found out over the weekend that instead of leaving on Sunday the 12th, we have to stay till Monday the 13th. Then on top of all that, after they let us go, I have to drive to Brookpark (near Cleveland) for 3 more days of training. True, I did volunteer for this Combat Life Savers course, but they told me last month that it was during this week's training, but it isn't. So, I took another one from the Corps and won't be home till next Friday the 17th. Which leaves me with only 17 days left before I leave. I am now starting to think about everything that I wanted to do and things I need to get done before I leave. Throw in Christmas and New Year's, that doesn't leave me with a lot of time to get things done.

It is starting to hit me that I might be gone for a long time. We were told that we should expect to be activated for a whole year, and maybe even longer. Some more good news, I just got issued a bunch of new gear and equipment. It is a lot better than the crap we had before including the lighter kevlar, better goggles, better pack, and the SAPI plates for the flak jacket (so that I can take a 7.62 round to the chest and not be injured).

I tell you what, I am getting sick of all the stupid crap we have to do around the drill center like busy work and endless classes. Today, we had a 4 hour class with only a 5 minute break. I was fighting myself to not fall asleep. I was in like a daze and not really learning anything. I can understand the fact that we need to know this stuff to help stay alive and fight better, but they are just drilling us with knowledge at every minute and keep telling us to stay busy going over this or going over that. 10-11 hours a day of this stuff starts to wear you down mentally and it has only been 3 days. God help me.

Why I Joined the Corps

Tonight's the night...dark and rainy...the perfect night for killing. They won't expect us tonight. They'll just hear the rain. But we are ready. Swift. Silent. Deadly. Your rifle is loaded and locked. Your bayonet is fixed. Your eyes study the shadows. Tread lightly. Watch the Marine in front. Repeat the signal. We will make the first move. It's a rush just before it happens. Muzzle flashes and the crack, crack, crack, of rounds. It's a beautiful thing--a fire-team rush. Face-to-face with the enemy. Get up close if you can. Thrust the bayonet in. Don't forget to twist on the way out. Once you grate the ribs you'll know he'll drop. The rainwater mixes with the blood. Dark red at first... then diluted to runny lines of cloudy pink. The smell of wet gunpowder... Ahhh, you gotta love that. Savor it. You've done your job. It was him or you. That is what we do. Listen to the rain. Stare into the night. Move on. There are others waiting to die tonight.

Cafe Boulevard

I'm sorry, but I have to apologize for something I did today. I went to a French restaurant today for dinner. My mother took me out to dinner for my birthday, which was a couple weeks ago, to Cafe Boulevard in the Oregon District in Dayton. It was a very nice place to eat. I ordered the boneless pork chops because it looked like the safest bet for me, but I was wrong. It came with apples, walnuts, and bleu cheese topping and with some kind of zesty sauce. It did not taste good at all. Though, it did come with some asparagus and these little round things of mashed potatoes fried, which was quite interesting and good. For the first time ever, I told the server that I did not like my pork chops and he took it away and I ordered something else. I got the plainest thing on the menu I knew the French couldn't screw up too much; grilled chicken with some veal glaze. It wasn't too bad.

As I Promised

Here is a little something for you people out there.

What are 3 things about myself I have tried to change, and have not yet changed?
1. Procrastination with school work
2. Consistent quiet times with God
3. Be more tactful with people

What are 3 things I wanted to change (either about myself or about anything else) and I did change?
1. I am more confident in who I am
2. Learned to play the guitar
3. Learned how to dress well

Kudos to Dell

I have to give Dell some points on their customer service in regards to fixing their computers. My cute little dog decided to chew up my AC power cord while I was using the laptop and it was plugged in. Unfortunately, the dog was not shocked and luckily I was able to stop it before it chewed the wire through. I believe the wire was shorted a bit and cause my motherboard to get jacked up. As a result, I could no longer recharge my battery, but everything else still worked while it was plugged in to the AC power. I contacted Dell about this, of course I left out the part of the dog chewing the cord, and they sent me a box to ship my laptop back to them for repair (it is still under warranty). My laptop was picked up on Monday evening on Nov. 29 and was returned to me this morning. It took less than 3 days for it to travel to Tenn., get it fixed, and then sent back to me. I was greatly amazed. Dell replaced my system board and gave me a system Bios update. Good job Dell! Now I can take it with me to Columbus next week and have it to entertain me during my training.

Can't Keep the Fans Waiting

Well, its been a grip since the last time I posted anything here, so I will try to not do that again. After all, I do have fans to please.

One thing that I wanted to do with this blog, and have not really started, was to blog about some things that people that know me, might not know about. So, I will start tomorrow with a little something something to allow people to get to know me better and why I act the way I act sometimes; which isn't a bad thing is it?