A Day In The Life

Drat, the Blackhawks decided to follow the trend and get upset on the first game of the playoff series. C'mon guys! You're so much better than that! Sunday, baby! I am hoping to get some knitting time in tomorrow (I can't knit during Blackhawks games - I get too worked up to even sit still most of the time - but I'm not as emotionally invested in any of the games tomorrow and have to rest up for a midnight CQ shift anyway, so that should be good knitting time. Assuming I can remember what to do with sticks and string...)


I wish I had had a better idea of what to expect when I was getting ready for my tech school. Granted, the Vandenberg schoolhouse is generally much much more easygoing than some of the bigger training bases (Sheppard and Keesler come to mind - we are MUCH smaller), so this is pretty base-specific but would still be good info for those going into space or missiles. So maybe if there's someone out there like me who got their tech school and then tried to find information on what it will be like, this might help.

A typical day here looks like this:

0400-0450
People who want first breakfast start waking up and getting ready for the day. If you want a hot non-processed breakfast and are in class, you go to first breakfast. Only Phase I detail airmen have the option of going to second breakfast, because the rest of us are in class.

0515-0530
People who don't go to first breakfast start waking up and getting ready for the day. People who do go to first breakfast load up into the van and head out.

0545
Everyone starts heading downstairs/back from the dining hall

0600
Morning formation in the dayroom. The ropes take accountability, the morning MTL makes any necessary announcements.

0615-0630
People in classes start forming up and marching over to the schoolhouse, which is about a quarter mile (if that) from the dorm in an almost straight line. No big deal.

0630-1100(ish)
Morning classes. March back to the dorm when your instructors release you. (Ours has never kept us past 1045 but missiles often stay until 1115)

1120-1130
Bus picks us up at the dorms to take us to the dining hall for lunch. Phase I must go to lunch, the other two phases don't have to (we have mini-fridges and can keep food in our rooms - lots of people do breakfast this way so they can sleep in later). Often used as naptime for those who don't have to go to the dining hall.

1215
Bus picks us up at the dining hall and brings us back to the dorms.

1230
Classes form back up and march back over to the schoolhouse.

1245-1430(ish)
Afternoon classes. March back to the dorm when released. The MTLs will usually make us stay down in the dayroom and "study".

1500
MTLs release us to go to our rooms to get ready for PT (M/T/Th) or Airmen's Time (W) or Final Formation (F). Usually more naptime for those who are good with the 20-minute power naps.

1545
We start forming up for PT/AT/FF

1600-1700
PT/AT/FF (AT and FF very rarely go past 1530, PT will usually go the entire hour). For us, Mondays are usually circuit/strength days, Tuesdays are runs (3-5 miles) and Thursdays (depending on the MTL's mood) are "fun" days - ultimate football/frisbee, soccer, dodgeball, etc.

After that, we're released for the day and the MTLs escape (or turn into vampires or whatever it is they do when they aren't at the dorm - btw, MTLs are military training leaders and are basically the sergeants in charge of dorm life. They do our room inspections, open ranks, PT, any drill stuff we do, and take care of discipline problems in the "house". They aren't academic teachers. "Ropes" are students who have been designated as leaders within the dorm - different colors have different levels of authority/responsibility). You can get dinner at the dining hall (if you're a Phase I you have to, the other phases can eat elsewhere if they want, but hey, free food, right?), shower, change into civvies, study, clean/do laundry, run errands (on and off base), go to the bowling alley or ministry center, use your personal electronic devices (if you can get a decent connection, which is hard - go to the bowling alley if you're Phase II or above and can't get off-base =P ) During the week, we all have to be back in our rooms by 2200. The weekends are much more lax - you pretty much make your own schedule, as long as you're following your phase rules, make your bed checks Friday and Saturday nights (2200 for Phase I, 2400 for Phase II and yes, they will wake you up to make sure you're in your room), and are accounted for at the GI Party at 2000 on Sunday. Our GI parties aren't bad - just a few end of weekend announcements and a couple rooms get assigned to do stuff like vaccuum the carpet in the hallways or clean the CQ latrines that barely anyone uses. No big deal.

I don't know anything about the missile classes, but the space instructors that I've met so far have all been great. Knowledgeable, and very very approachable. My class spends about 90% of the time laughing and we would hang out all the time if we were allowed to. The other classes tell me theirs are similar. And the academic instructors can also help with situations going on in the dorms, too, and can be counted on to talk to the MTLs if they feel there is a problem that is affecting an NPSer in the classroom. I've personally seen my instructor do that a few times, and if he can't deal with it, he'll get someone up the food chain who can, which is heartening to see. I very much prefer being in class to being in the dorms, because I actually get treated like I have a head on my shoulders there. Dorm life definitely delves down to the lowest common denominator very quickly, and I am very much NOT 18 years old. And having a car and driving privileges will automatically make you everyone's new best friend, which can be both fun and irritating.

But anyway, if anyone is looking on the 'Net for information about tech school at VAFB, I hope you find this and it helps!

Easing Up (A Little)

Survived two weeks so far. Phasing up on Monday, which means I can leave the dorm in civilian clothes, drive, personalize my room, and LEAVE BASE in my blues (but I can change if I go to the dojahng, as long as I wear the blues leaving and coming back). I still have to be back and in my room by 2200 during the week and 0000 on the weekends, but I can actually go see Sir and Ma'am and Mrs. S (all of whom have been texting me telling me to get my ass back to class) and my knitting and TEDDIE! And I can watch the playoffs on a REAL tv without having to fight for it. And get a real internet connection.

Life isn't completely terrible, though. I have a couple of nicknames here now, which I'm told is a good sign. The ones I've heard have been Blackhawks (by the resident Wings fans, due to wearing my jersey for Sunday games) and Trouble, which is, of course, highly original and I've never heard before =P Class has been pretty cool. It's a good group of people, and we have a lot of fun. (We went bowling on Friday afternoon. Seriously.) I only missed one question on our first block test (I had a brainfart and couldn't remember if "I" in the phonetic alphabet was India or Indigo and of course guessed wrong), and I think I did pretty decently on the PT eval, too. My run time wasn't as good as I wanted it, but it was definitely passable AND we were running directly into the wind AND we ran the outside of the track when it turns out that the 1.5 miles is actually measured from the INSIDE of the track, so we actually ran farther anyway. So I'm not going to get too worked up about it. And we're in our orbital mechanics block right now, which is kind of my love. (Yes, I'm a space geek, I think that's been established.) There's also a launch coming up soon, so that should be cool.

Four more weeks until total freedom. Yay!

So class actually started today and it will definitely make life more bearable. There are about ten of us, one of them is one of my flightmates from the 216th (prior service), one is a dormmate, and the rest are all prior service. I'm not the lowest or the highest rank, the instructor is pretty cool (if a bit scatterbrained, but it's fun) and the material doesn't seem too bad so far. Nothing new, anyway.

And we played ultimate frisbee for PT today (apparently Mondays are circuit, Tuesdays are distance runs, and Thursdays are "fun" as long as we keep up our PT scores). Got an eval on Monday, though. We'll see how that goes. Should be fine - I'm not worried about passing, just about bragging rights, quite honestly.

Now just gotta make it through the next about nine days and I'll at least be able to drive and leave base in the evenings (even if I do have to come back at night to sleep). Finding myself slipping back into the BMT mentality of living meal to meal and taking it one day at a time. I hate it, but, like Basic, it's not hell. It's just not pleasant either and if I could do it any other way, I would.

Dorm Life

Is actually worse than it was the first time around. I hate it already - too much drama, not enough hockey (it doesn't help that the hockey I do get is in time to watch them LOSE. AGAIN.).

I'm the oldest here by approximately a decade. Okay, not quite, but the next youngest person is three years younger than me. This, plus the fact that there aren't really very many of us but we're all in different stages ranging from people who have been here for months to people who came in today (like me), makes it irritating. And the fact that I got pulled aside today to hear that I'm a "unique case" that the MTLs will be keeping an eye on. Not only am I one of, if not the, highest ranking student right now by virtue of being an A1C AND having graduated Basic four months before most of these guys, but I also have had four months "off" ("OFF?!" Do they know ANYTHING about my unit??), and I'm local. So apparently this makes me very interesting to the MTLs. On the one hand, this could work in my favor. On the other, it could work very much against me. And I'm new, which makes me very interesting to the other students, particularly the girls (I'm the only female who came in this week). A bunch of 18-19 year olds who think they feel superior is really irritating. I don't mind listening and getting tips and learning the ropes, but it's pretty annoying. My roommate doesn't seem too bad so far, though. And I guess I am very lucky because I actually get to start class really soon, which means I can get the hell out of here soon. The dorms are actually pretty nice, don't get me wrong. It's the people in them that drive me nuts. I cannot get through these phases fast enough!

I didn't like living with other girls (except maybe Marcy, we got along pretty well) in college, I didn't like it at Basic, and I REALLY HATE it right now when I have a perfectly good (solo) apartment with a GOOD internet connection AND tv AND a kitty less than 20 miles away. Blargh. (Oh yeah, did i mention the 5 mile run we did for PT today? That would count as one of the better parts of the day, even though my feet hurt like crazy. Yeah, it's been THAT good.)

Now I get to go make my room inspection ready and hopefully go to bed early. Don't want to deal with this day any more.

Take Me Out To The Ball Hockey Game!

Dear Chicago Blackhawks,

Thank you for entertaining me with an insanely fun game the other night in Los Angeles. We must do it again sometime soon! I think it was a mutually beneficial arrangement and needs to continue - I get to have fun at the games and in return, I would graciously accept the duties of being your good-luck charm/cheerleader/plainclothes coach. We can try it out for a few games to see how it works, but I have full confidence in our respective abilities. I'm sure it would be a very minor expense for you guys, and have great return for everybody. Please let me know what you think of this offer.

Sincerely,
kt

Seriously, though...That. Was. Awesome! You know things are going to go well when the very first song to start off your drive is "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis.
Which is not only a very fun, energetic song, but is also the 'Hawks goal song. So a very good omen. Of course, I get on the road late, as always, and hit traffic as early as Santa Barbara. And, of course, I got somewhat lost in Downtown LA, but then I thought maybe these guys might know the way and decided to follow them. Good call, as it turned out, so thanks, anonymous Kings fans!

So despite leaving four and a half hours before the 7:30p game, I only got here (okay, so that's actually the Nokia Center, which is across from the Staples Center, but it was a cool shot, okay?) a few minutes after 7:00p and then had to wait for Jen to get there and of course there was confusion trying to find each other, so we barely got to our seats in time for the National Anthem (they had a female Air Force lieutenant colonel there to represent the military that night, woo!), and I didn't get to see warmups at all, which I hear are the best time for pictures. I shall have to be more expedient next time.

But anyway, our seats. Um, how shall I put this? They ROCKED! We were four rows up from the ice, right behind the Kings' penalty box (Jen's pic, all she had to do was lean forward a little during one of the many times Ivanans was in there during the game. This time he had company!) and just oh so slightly kitty-corner from the Blackhawks' bench I'd SWEAR Jonathan Toews looked right at me and smiled at one point, but I'm sure it was my imagination. Sharpie, however, did come over at the end of the first intermission and decided to use the area right in front of us for stretching. The man is, to hazard a guess, approximately a billion times hotter in real life, but that might be a conservative under-estimate. And he has the most amazingly impish smile, but unfortunately, they move too bloody fast on the ice to get good pics of their faces! The only times I could catch any of them standing still, they had their backs to me. Still, it's not every day that there is an Olympic gold medalist less than ten feet away from you! (Even if his usual partner in crime, Seabrook, was out for the game because of that ugly hit he took Wednesday night. Glad to see an 8-game suspension come out of that! Seabs apparently skated in practice today, though, which is heartening, to say the least!)

Laddieboy finally decided to be gracious and pose for me, though, which I thought was very sweet of himOh, and we were absolutely surrounded by Blackhawks fans, too which made it even more fun! Picture deliberately blurry because I couldn't get it to focus without the flash, but with the flash, I lost the colors, and I thought the colors were more important for this one! (In addition to the goal song omen, the very first jersey I see near the Staples Center? A bright red Blackhawks one, of course! Another good omen! I was driving and didn't get a pic of him, though!)

Kings' fans are odd birds, though. I mean, they were friendly enough, no nastiness or anything, but they seemed pretty quiet. Maybe all games are really like this and just seem louder on tv. I dunno. The lack of a play by play also made it seem really quiet, but it was totally made up for by the fact that we were seeing it live in front of us. The other thing that really surprised me was the total lack of response when the opposing team (us) scored. I mean, I wasn't expecting them to play Chelsea Dagger, of course, but there was absolutely NOTHING. Not a goal siren, not an announcement, not even a flashing red light. I mean, I get making a big deal out of a home team's goal, but is it normal to have absolutely no recognition for the away team?? I thought that was weird. The first goal was down at the farther end from us, and the only reason we knew it had happened was because we saw the guys start piling on Brouwer and thumping him on the back. It took forever to change the scoreboard, too, so a lot of us were doing the "did we really score??" looks at each other before they finally lined up for the puck drop at center ice. The other two goals we scored were down at the nearer end to us, and we saw them quite clearly. Chicago fans have never been accused of being quiet! Oh, and I'd always thought it was kind of silly for there to be so many shots of players on the bench watching the JumboTron during games, but now I get it. Sometimes it was a little hard to see what was going on at the farther ends away from you, and it was easier to keep an eye on things via the screen. And yes, Kane really does do that with his mouthguard. Constantly, even on the ice. He's gonna get his teeth knocked out one of these days, and that would be bad =(

It was Jen's first hockey game ever, and my first pro hockey game (I have vague memories of being at a Rivermen's game in Peoria when I was little), so we had fun doing the whole starstruck thing a lot. A better pic of me: A better pic of Jen:There were two guys maybe a couple years younger than me (Jen is a couple years older) next to me, and two little boys with their dads, who were obviously pals, in front of us. All in Blackhawks jerseys, of course. They were SO much fun to watch watching the game! And, of course, we all had to work together to teach them the proper (kid-friendly) cheers, since the Kings fans weren't doing them right. (It's "Lets Go Hawks!", hel-LO!) Jen is not really an avid hockey fan, she usually only watches it during the Olympics, but she was pretty fun to hang out with. We had fun teaching her the game, and, of course, we all really liked the fight!

I do have to give the Kings goalie, Quick, props. They had something like 35 shots on goal and he stopped all but three. And got his helmet knocked off by one! (That's my boy, Sharpie!) But, all good things must come to an end, and after 60 minutes of playing, the powers that be decided three goals was enough for one game and picking on the Kings even more would be unsportsmanlike, so everyone packed up and went home, and I finally got a decent shot of the Captain and Alternate Captain together (if only they were turned around!)
I really can't explain how much fun it was to be there. If I lived anywhere near Chicago, I'd spring for season tickets, or at least one of those six- or ten-packs. (I assume they have those in Chicago. The teams here have them, anyway.) Don't get me wrong, there are advantages to watching it on tv - hearing the plays explained, actually seeing the whole rink (which is not as big irl as it looks on tv!), being in your own home - but man, is it cool to feel the thuds as the players hit the boards and hear the crack of the puck as it gets passed from stick to stick! You really appreciate the speed of the game and the skill it takes a lot more when you're up close!

And today wasn't too bad either! (I mean, aside from the fact that both the Sharks and the Red Wings lost, which is always cause for a good day.) I spent the night in downtown LA at the Ritz Milner, which is just down the street from the Staples Center. (Not the Ritz Carlton big fancy oolala hotel, which is also near the Center, but the Ritz Milner, which is much smaller and cheaper, but still clean and safe, which is all I really care about in a hotel room when it comes right down to it.) While I could only live in one if I absolutely had to, I do like the space efficiency and bustle of big cities' downtown areas. Having a grocery store as the first floor of a building, or a restaurant on a middle floor, instead of in their own individual buildings, is a source of amusement for me. And just a few blocks away you get into the hispanic markets, which are just colorful and loud and crowded and vibrant.

So I played tourist for a bit, and then headed over to my old stomping grounds and had lunch with John and Eduardo, which was a blast as always. We didn't realize until I was halfway home (John and I often talk on the phone when I'm driving out of LA, usually because I get stuck in traffic) that today exactly is our fifth anniversary. We've been harassing each other officially doing shows together for five years now. I say I deserve a medal, or at least a pin. He says I don't get anything until ten years. We'll see who wins that battle ;-) Anyway, there may be a small, private show in Santa Barbara at the end of May, so cross your fingers that I'll be around for it!

And I think I've officially had more drinks than hours of sleep now, so I'm going to crash and start my weekend tomorrow. And dream of hot Blackhawks and Stanley Cups and magic =)

Beware the Ides of March

(Keep in mind this is also after a weekend where my Blackhawks had not one but TWO games IN THE BAG and then lost, AND one of my favorite players got injured so badly he'll be out for the rest of the season AND I found out that I'm not supposed to "aggravate" my ankle for pretty much until I go to tech school, unless I want to be killed by certain people who worked hard to get me into said tech school, which means no martial arts, so I wasn't really on a good streak anyway.)

6:30a: Instead of being woken up by my favorite songs, as usual, I wake up to a very faint beeping noise. My phone apparently hadn't gotten fully plugged into the clock and wasn't triggered by the alarm. The clock compensates by making a pathetic buzzing. Not a fun wake-up call.

7:30a: Feeling pretty good for being ready not just on time, but early, despite the alarm clock and having to wear blues today. Step outside to decide if I want my jacket or not, and the door promptly blows shut behind me, locking me out. Luckily, the maintenance guy lives across from me.

7:40a: Leave for work, feeling lucky that I did not hit the sides of the garage door while backing out (I have a fear of that, our garages are narrow!) on a day when luck is clearly not on my side. But now I'm ready, I have my stuff, I'm on the road to work on time despite Fate so far.

8:00a: Stop at the last stoplight before the road turns into the highway and decide to take a sip of my iced coffee to celebrate still being on time. Just as I think "hey, that's not the lid they usually put on these cups," said lid and said cup decide to separate in my hands, and iced coffee literally explodes all over my car. It's all over my uniform, on my face. It's dripping from my hair, and the steering wheel, and the dashboard, and has completely FLOODED the center console, which of course houses my phone, phone jack/radio, and Bluetooth headset when I'm driving. I manage to pull over after the light changes, rescue the phone from its coffee bath, manage to send a text to my captain, and the thing promptly dies.

8:10a: Manage to get turned around to head home to change, swearing vehemently over the apparently dead phone, the stained uniform, and the cold iced coffee puddle I'm now sitting in. Am stopped at an intersection, my light turns green, I start into the intersection, and manage to slam on the brakes in time to avoid getting t-boned by some friggin idiot who decided the red light didn't apply to him. Now I'm cold, wet, stained, phoneless, pissed AND shaken. And I haven't even made it to work yet!

8:30a: Finally make it home and get the car cleaned out enough to at least be not completely gross. Park sideways between the garages so I can easily get to the Dumpster with the sopping wet paper towels. Dry the electronics off as best as I can, and turn them off. (Phone does decide to work properly upon rebooting, which I am extremely thankful for.) Decide to leave my car parked where it is while I run upstairs to change into any clean blues I have available. I have my long sleeve shirt (which requires the tie tab, which must be straight) and my skirt (which I don't mind wearing usually but requires hose rather than socks). Am halfway through changing when the doorbell rings. Decide to ignore the doorbell, as I'm still in the process of buttoning up my shirt, and hear the complex manager start yelling and banging on the door asking if I was okay. Realize I'm going to have to deal with her unless I want the entire building's attention and jerk the rest of my uniform on. Apparently she saw my car parked at the odd angle and immediately assumed something must be terribly wrong. Assure her things are (relatively speaking) fine and head out the door again, remembering to grab an old towel to sit on in the car.

8:50a: Get another coffee from McD's, adamantly telling the lady that they'd better put the right lid on it this time. It was a different lady, so she probably thinks I'm insane.

9:30a: Finally make it to work, and realize after I've checked in with the captain that my belt is not even close to being straight with the rest of my uniform. Get my orders for tech school. Try to find out what I'm supposed to bring and where/who I'm supposed to report to when. No one knows, and there's no information online. Training NCO promises to look into it.

10:30a: Go to the shared printer to get a course outline I'm working on and notice the guy who's taking over the student flight has printed out some information for them about Basic. Some of it is no longer current. Feel the need to let him know this and end up spending the next hour and a half arguing with him about how BMT actually is versus how he thinks it should be.

12:00n: Look down at my legs during the above conversation and realize there's not just a run, but a large hole in my nylons. Right on the back of the knee, very visible. Make a run to the BX to get new hose.They don't have the size and color I really want, so I have to settle for a darker color.

1:00p: Back to work and have absolutely no concentration on the job at hand. Decide to continue research, thinking Training NCO will come get me when she's ready to go talk to the people she wanted to go talk to with me. Resurface four hours later, having not found anything I was originally looking for but lots of fascinating things that had absolutely relevance whatsoever. Consider the day absolutely wasted at work, and feel guilty that I actually got paid for it.

4:30p: Get halfway home before remembering that I'd wanted to stop at the commissary for groceries so I wouldn't have to stop in town in uniform. Decide I have stuff for spaghetti at home and continue on.

5:00p: Get home. No spaghetti noodles. There are lasagna noodles, though. Get the bright idea to put them in one of my disposable mini bread pans layered with some of my sauce and throw it in to the oven even though I don't have any cheese for a real lasagna. Feel pleased with my brilliant idea and get out a bottle of cheap white zinfindel. Press the corkscrew against the cork, which immediately pops DOWN into the bottle, splashing wine everywhere. Come very close to throwing things around the room in frustration.

5:15p: Open box of lasagna noodles to start layering the whateverI'mmaking while the oven preheats. Pull one out, and am greeting by several little black faces looking at me. There are BUGS in my unopened box of lasagna noodles. (Granted, I have no idea how long I've had the box, it was in the very back of the pantry.) EW. No pasta tonight. Settle for frozen pizza again. I do love pizza, but I'd just had it the night before.

7:00p: Tune in the hockey channels and realize Detroit is getting beat. Watch that game for a few minutes before realizing that with the way my luck has been going, if I keep watching and cheering for the Flames, literal flames will probably start raining down on the rink, mass hysteria will break out, and Detroit will end up winning. (Sure enough, they did, too. Without the carnage and mass hysteria, though. Unless you count being a Red Wings fan as a hysteria.) Instead, hook up the laptop to the tv (which was actually successful for some reason) and continue getting caught up on Season Two of Castle, which I am very behind on. Have brief text convo with my brother, who I am trying to convince to come out to visit. Am unsuccessful again.

10:00p: Come online to check scores and email and start this post. Curse seems to be fading - one of my magic crew is able to go with me to the game on Thursday. The Sharks apparently lost to the Ducks (who saw THAT coming?!) last night, which cuts their playoff lead over us to only two points. That's the best news I've had all day. And the way my day has gone, I'm going to take it and end on a good note. Tomorrow can't be worse, right??

Puckbunny-ness

I'm so excited! I got tickets to the Blackhawks/Kings game down in LA March 18th!! And not just any tickets, but pretty good ones! (Center ice, row 4, glass seating!) And I found a Patrick Sharp third jersey for a steal on eBay, so I'll even have something appropriate to wear! Now, just to find someone to go with me! ;-) My goal, of course, is to run away with Sharpie after the game, but seeing as that isn't likely to happen (and I'd have to go through the whole 'dealing with foreign nationals' routine, since he's Canadian - a definite downside to having my job), I'll just have to try to take lots of pictures. I think the magic crew is gonna try to get together that weekend while I'm in town, too, so that should be enough consolation for only getting to make smoochie faces through the glass.
We were awesomely represented at the Olympics, though, and that game was friggin' amazing! And our boys have handled it all with a lot of class - a lot of respect for everyone they played, and even better, a lot of love for "coming back home and winning things together now!" What more can you ask for in a sports team??

ETA: I have had Saving Abel's "New Tattoo" stuck in my head for two days now. It's driving me nuts!

I've got a brand/new tattoo
The colors in it remind me of you
I've got a brand/new tattoo
The colors in it remind me of you
Blue is for the bruise that you left on my heart
Red is for the color we're about to paint this town -
Oooo, I got a new tattoo!

Closing Ceremonies

In my own personal Olympic tradition, I did not finish either of my events on time. I can live, however.

That hockey game will go down in history. Wow. Go Blackhawks. That's all I can really say. No one deserved to lose that game. Team USA, you did us proud. Team Canada, see you again in four years ;-)

Thank you Vancouver and all of Canada for a beautiful, exciting, thrilling, and outstanding two weeks. Tears were shed, smiles were shared, history was made. In other words - it was quintessential Olympics.

"I declare the Games of the 21st Olympiad closed and, in accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now at Sochi to celebrate with us there the Games of the 22nd Olympiad".

Southpaw?

I think I mentioned that I'm terrible at the new boxing/MMA-style sparring that we're doing in FIGHT now. Despite the fact that I use a right hand stance for pretty much everything (drills, kickboxing class, etc), when it comes to that kind of sparring, I would spend the two minutes feeling awkward, clumsy, frustrated, and, well, getting beat (which, if you know me, just gets me MORE frustrated). I'd work with my partners and try to do more drills during the matches, and really did try to incorporate stuff that Sir was trying to teach me, but I just haven't been able to get things to start clicking for me. Last night we did knife sparring before MMA sparring, and it occurred to me that I knife fight left-handed (for a couple of reasons, but needless to say that it's gotten to be my strong side), so during MMA sparring, I switched to a southpaw stance, figuring that I couldn't do any worse than I had been previously. It wasn't magic. I'm not some great fighter now, but I did feel MUCH more comfortable in that stance and suddenly things started clicking for me. I even got in a hit on Mr R! When I talked to Sir about it after class, he just shrugged and said it was probably because in tkd sparring, we like to put our fastest side (my right) forward a lot so we can throw really fast jabs and round kicks and then will switch stances to get the power side (also my right) behind to add momentum to them. We don't switch stances so much in MMA sparring, though, so it comes down to either developing the speed and balance as a righty or the power as a lefty. He said I looked a LOT more confident, though, and to keep playing around to figure out what works best for me. My left foot has always been my balancer, so I think keeping it back in the southpaw stance allows me to have more range of motion, while having the right foot in front lets me snap out stronger kicks faster. Unfortunately, because of spending four years training as a righty, I have a wicked right cross and left hook that don't work in a lefty stance, hence why I'd have to build up the power on the left side. I dunno. We'll see. All I know is that, for once, the sparring was FUN, even if I still took a lot of hits.

On that note, gotta run off to work. Go USA!! We want the gold medal game!!

Raining Again

-Olympic knitting is going about as well as US Olympic hockey. Going strong but a lot can still mess it up. Keeping fingers crossed.

-Work is very interesting. It changes a lot. I'm doing a lot of different things right now that actually make me feel like I'm Doing Something Useful, which is awesome, particularly considering the fact that I'm technically not really trained to do any jobs, according to the AF. So that's kind of a victory in and of itself. I'm glad my almost-full-week of being in at 0700 is over, though.

-Class is going better, although I've been on base late the past couple nights and haven't made it to everything I wanted to. Chrissy is going to come to kickboxing with me tomorrow, though, so that should be fun!

Think that's about it!

Recharging my solar batteries

Last post was 21 January?! Geez! Where have I been?? I'm not sure I even know! But now that the rain seems to have abated for a while, my 70-degree sunshine has returned, it's time to bask in three-day weekend gloriousness. (I'd started writing this a few days ago, but had to deal with pics, hence the backdating.)

Mostly, I've been on base. I spent a week doing instructor cert class, then promptly got put on orders for another week (that whole 'one weekend a month, two weeks a year' thing...this would be my two weeks), and 'well, since you've been working on suchandsuch, can you do thisandthat, too?' and got put on orders for, well, pretty much until I go to tech school. And tech school dates are up in the air again. Officially, I'm going in late April just to the school on base for a couple weeks, but The Powers That Be would like me to go, like, yesterday, and then summer in Colorado on the government's dime. Unfortunately, even TPTB can't just wave a magic wand and make it happen, as much as they would like to, but they're doing pretty much everything short of that. So we'll see if that can happen. In the meantime, they're keeping me busy with helping build paperwork for some of the classes my unit teaches, and I get to sit in on a tryout class next week. It's kind of cool, although it makes drill weekends a bit weird, because I'm fine with going in and talking to the officers and they to me, and I know where things are and how to take care of a lot of things that my 'official' (traditional) sergeants/supervisors don't get just because they aren't there all the time and I end up showing them stuff. Weird. Oh well.

And, because this is a knitting blog, I can proudly say that I've completed the January Hat Trick:
for which I nabbed Bragging Rights (for completing at least one Hat Trick, there were some people who did two or three complete ones! Wow!) and the Selke Award for Best Defensive Forward for both striped hats (no idea, but it's all in fun)! Congrats to all of the Puck This HatTrickers!

And, in the spirit of combining knitting with Winter Games, I am again participating in both the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics. I'm doing a couple of hedgehogs for the Squint Squad and a baby blanket for Puck This (one of my former PCPA co-workers is due this summer). Y'all know what the hedgehogs look like - they'll go to some friends of mine when completed - and the blanket is turning into something like this:
It's just garter stitch strips, and I have a strip and a half done already, which is pretty good considering how many times I've frogged and restarted it. I had played with the idea of doing the whole thing with intarsia squares, but strips travel better and I kept changing my mind on the layout of the squares. I'm pretty settled on this one, though. I haven't quite decided on a border, other than it will be pink (they're expecting a girl). It may end up just being a garter stitch border, but I'm toying with the idea of making it a bit lacy or frilly. My first idea was a Boo Berries Wave Scarf, which I still love, but the self-striping jacquard colorway that I found....well, frankly, I hate it. I couldn't get it to the proper gauge to make the stripes come out pretty, and that particular colorway turned into a bunch of thin stripes that would be a royal pain to match up. I think one of the two-color colorways in that series would work much better (such as was used by the designer), but this batch is going back to the store!

Hmm, what else? I've redone my apartment and at least Teddie and Chrissy heartily approve. The two rooms I'm most proud of are the bedroom closet and the living room.
Closet before:
Underused and messy, right? So (and also in compensation for my dresser, which is on its last legs), I decided to actually use it as, well, clothes storage. Closet after:
My pride and joy, though, is my "new" living room. This is the room before:
Cluttered, unorganized, uninviting, and, well, unfriendly. Not a place friends could come over and crash and watch movies/tv. Heck, not even a place *I* could crash and watch tv - I generally watched television at my desk on my computer. Gets the job done, but loses a lot. So, one weekend, a tax return, a massive trip to Best Buy, and a fantastically helpful and knowledgable employee (who knew?!) later, I now have this:
and I LOVE it! It's awesome that I can be making dinner, sitting on the computer, or on the couch and still have a great, sharp, clear picture. I went down in tv size so I could get a Blu-Ray player, and I gotta say, Star Trek in Blu-Ray HD is freakin' amazing! I also can't get over watching the Olympics in HD. I know it sounds like a commercial, but that opening sequence/flyover of British Columbia to start NBC's broadcast of the Opening Ceremonies was literally breathtaking. (And hockey games are pretty cool to watch, too, although I think I scare the neighbors with the cheering. Oh well!)

I'm still in the process of finding a workout routine that builds up my running, keeps me able to do the 1.5 mile speed run, and keeps me training for martial arts. I talked to Sir for quite a while Wednesday night after tkd, and he told me that I'd be midterming (possibly for the last time as a first degree, depending on how I do) in April. Learning the form is fine (the new forms are actually REALLY fun) and I'm about halfway through it already, but I'm really out of shape for sparring, and I really don't have the time or energy to add those classes into my current schedule. He suggested taking out one kickboxing class, and focusing on hitting at least two tkd classes, one sparring class, and Thursday night FIGHT (we've added kickboxing-style sparring to FIGHT, which is cool, but rather different to get used to!) class every week. I think this week I'm going to try doing kickboxing and tkd on Monday (today), running and FIGHT on Tuesday, tkd and sparring on Wednesday, running and FIGHT on Thursday, tkd on Friday, and a long run on Saturday. I have to find a good time/place to run, too. Running in the morning forces two showers a day, which my skin doesn't like at all, even if the morning one is a really quick rinse-off (I had problems with that at Basic - it dries my skin out like crazy), pretty much eliminates running on base if I want to eat breakfast (and I do now), but makes it dark and creepy to run at home. I rather prefer running after work, when it's light out, but if I want to run on base, I either have to give up my music (headphones are banned for road running on base) or run on a treadmill at the gym, so running at home is preferable then, but then I have to find some time to eat dinner before the evening's classes. I'm thinking that this week I'll try eating as soon as I get home from work (which is what I usually do, around 5:00p), go running around 6:30p, and then go straight to FIGHT at 7:30p. I'm a little nervous about having the endurance to run at least two miles and then go straight into a FIGHT class, but we'll see.

Anyway, I am still alive, still kickin (often literally), and enjoying life. And I will try to update more frequently, at least for Olympic updates!

Amateurs

I made you a wildly entertaining, multimedia, Pulitzer-prize-winning blog post somewhere, full of cool things like January Hat Trick Goals and warping boards and attempting to warp a table loom for the first time (Karen, that book ROCKS! Thank you for the recommendation!!) and how I'm so not cool for forgetting about knitting group this past week and can't go next week because of class on base and how I have yarn to get rid of and how I almost have my apartment redone the way I want it and how I'm saving up for a big screen TV because I want something nice to watch the Olympics on (okay, other reasons, too, but priorities!) and how I'm sick of the rain and the power outages (seriously, I've lost power at least once EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. It's getting really old!)...

...but I eated it.

*All I have instead is this - California, you do the sunshine thing really well, and are even pretty decent at earthquakes, wildfires, fog, wind, mudslides and floods. However, three claps of thunder and a handful of lightning bolts do not a thunderstorm make. I understand that practice makes perfect, but you've been practicing off and on all week and it hasn't gotten any better. Go back to doing what you're good at, please, and leave the real thunderstorms to the professionals. Thank you.

Catching Up

So I finally get a chance to share again! First off, I have to brag. My mom did her first half-marathon yesterday! Congrats!!

As far as MY trip, I totally lucked out in the fibery/crafty department over the holidays. None of these were actually Christmas gifts*, but they followed me back West anyway.
This quilt was made by my great-grandmother many years ago. My grandma gave it to me last week, and she remembers the dresses the fabric scraps for the quilt came from. It's nice to have something of Great-Grandma's here in California, of all places, with me. It's also an extremely well-made and warm quilt! Yay me!

*Okay, so this one actually was a Christmas present...nineteen years ago.
When I was about nine or ten, my grandparents did a lot of rag rug weaving. They have several floor looms, but I was usually too small for those, so my grandfather built this 4-harness table loom for me (the apron has my name and the Christmas year on it). Between a lack of space at my parents' house and insane shipping costs to California, it's stayed at my grandparents' house, occasionally used, all these years. I'm really excited to have it back and to be playing with my new toy all over again!
I've been playing around with the cotton warp that was already on there and some plain old Red Heart yarn. I'm a bit nervous about warping the thing by myself, so I've just been figuring out different harness patterns. For some reason, though, I can't seem to do a twill pattern. The treadles won't move in that pattern, and I'm not sure why. I will have to keep working on that. I'm going to try to head down to Solvang when Village Spinning and Weaving reopens and see if they have any classes or suggestions or something.

I also came home with a bit more projects and a bit less yarn (okay, not counting the bag of yarn my grandma gave me from a friend of hers' stash):
A New Angle afghan is starting to look pretty cool, if I do say so myself. And I do! You can really start to see the optical illusion of the pattern, which has been fun. It's turned into great hockey-watching knitting, because it's just garter stitch and I don't have to look at my hands. Ironically, my actual project for my hockey KAL (the Puck This! Ravelry group's "January Hat Trick") is not good hockey-watching knitting. It was originally supposed to be a Fake Isle Hat, but my colorwork tension isn't good enough to make it look nice, so I decided to go with just a plain checkerboard pattern to practice.
I'm still trying to decide what I want to do for the Ravelympics, though. I haven't settled on anything, and part of the problem is that (as of today) I don't know exactly what my schedule is going to be. I have a guaranteed tech school seat for the one I have to do here at Vandenberg for the end of April, which will go into early June, and then straight into seasoning and full-time orders if I want them (and I do). However, I was talking to the DO today at drill, and he wants me to do the school here ASAP ("you should be doing this, like, tomorrow, Trummel!") so that I can go to a 10-week secondary school in Colorado Springs. There are only, like, three more classes for that particular school left, so this summer is really my only chance to get this training if I want it. It isn't necessary to do my job, but it makes me that much more knowledgeable (and marketable to contractors) and more valuable to the unit. So I am now going to be on a "okay, you're guaranteed to be here in April, but be ready to drop everything at any time before then, too" situation again. If I don't go before April, I'll knock out the instructors courses I need for the whole "my unit actually teaches active duty people" part of the mission, as well as get trained to be a PT leader and probably either go on temporary orders to help create curriculum for the courses we teach the active duty or there's also the possibility of going back to my old job as Recruiter's admin assistant again. He's offered it to me, but there are some details that still have to be worked out. I'm also starting ERAU classes up again next weekend (ASCI 602 this term), so that will give me something to do, too.

On top of all of that, the DO has decided that the entire unit needs to be able to at least walk a 10K by April, and we did a 5K today (I didn't time myself, but should have). It was definitely do-able, and I didn't break any records or anything, but the idea of doing double that is a bit intimidating. We're supposed to add a mile each drill until we do the 10K consistently. I think I'm going to start running on T/Th/Sa mornings, since those are the days that I usually only have one martial arts class in the evenings. Sir's been more than thrilled to have me back in classes to beat up, and I actually think the workouts in all the classes have gotten stepped up, so that's been fun. I'll probably start working on my form again this week, which is going to be harder than just stepping into the PT, though!

Alright, I think that catches about everyone up on the important things. The cross-country drive back wasn't too bad, although I was clearly not the only one who noticed the lack of warm weather:
I have never seen him do that before, but when we were on the road in rooms where he couldn't get under the bed to hide and it was below about 40 degrees in the mornings (outside, not inside, I'd never let a room get that cold if I had any choice in the matter!), he would bat my face until I lifted my arm to swat him away, then scurry down the opening in the sheets and curl up to sleep under the covers. I can't decide if he's smart or just spoiled. (He did surprisingly well on both the driving portions of the trip and staying at my parents, though. He eventually would come out even if there were other people around, but he startled easily. We were both very happy to get home!)

Going to TRY to make it to knitting up at Woodstone tomorrow. We'll see!

Breathing Room

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas and is getting some quality time in to start the New Year off right!

I did make it to my parents house safely Wednesday night, after getting horribly delayed in New Mexico on Monday. (Something about a propane truck and a car getting friendly on the interstate, which then shut down said interstate for the next TEN HOURS and diverted ALL of that traffic onto little mountain roads that should never have that much traffic on it. But I digress.) Teddie was actually pretty good about the whole traveling thing. He's decided he prefers the back seat to the front, though, and he likes hotel rooms with king sized beds ("Aw, Mom! This is perfect! Where are you gonna sleep, though??"). He's been spending a lot of time under the bed here, though. It's not the extra three cats and the large Labrador that seem to bother him, it's the people. He's never been what anyone would call a sociable cat in the first place, so having a minimum of two extra people around almost constantly seems to drive him a little batty. However, we do know that he comes out at night, when no one is home, and, apparently, when I'm the only one home, as he's currently laying on my arms, which is making typing this uncomfortable.

My car, however, is in a state of shock. It's never even HEARD of this cold white wet stuff that falls from the sky and is pretty much buried out in the drive way. All you can see is the California license plate. Poor car! I'm going to dust it off in a bit and see how it handles on the roads (which aren't too bad as long as you aren't stupid), so I can go into the local YMCA and finally get a decent workout in. I'm pretty sure all I've done for the past week has been eat either holiday goodies or fast food on the road while driving, so I definitely need the workout!

I brought my New Angle afghan out with me to work on (I ended up NOT having to make slippers, yay!), and there's a pretty decent LYS in a town just south of here that I'm planning on hitting up. (She is generally my source for the Mountain Colors Twizzle, so I like her.) I also, for the first time, have the opportunity to actually bring my own loom back to California. Yes, a weaving loom. Some of us started weaving many many moons ago (like, maybe twenty years or so? When I was younger and long before the recent craze for it started anyway). My grandparents had big looms and wove rag rugs and things with them, and my grandfather built a tabletop loom for me one year for Christmas. Unfortunately, we never had enough room in my parents' house to store/use it, and I certainly didn't have the money to ship it to California when I moved out there, so it's stayed in my grandparents' basement all these years. But this year, I have my trusty car with me, with a lot of room in the back, so it will finally get to come home where it belongs. Now I want to go searching for inspiration for that craft, too!

Great American Road Trip

So the big plan was to get on the road by 0730 this morning. Unfortunately, Teddie is not packed (he claims he doesn't have a thing to wear, and doesn't believe me when I tell him he will - for once - NOT be overdressed in his long fur coat. Males!), my laptop cable has gone missing along with (as far as I can tell) a whole laundry load of dark clothes (including my FIGHT gear and some favorite pjs, that I haven't seen since I got back), and my garage door is broken. The laptop is irritating me the worst right now - I still need to get caught up on Fringe and White Collar and I'd love to re-watch Leverage, too. Mrph.

Going to try to make it to Albuqurque/Kirtland AFB today. We'll see.

Knitting!

Because this IS a knitting blog (in theory, anyway), I thought I might pass on the fact that I did finally finish the Diagonal Lace Scarf last night. It's made of my absolute favorite yarn (Mountain Colors Twizzle), and pics will be up in the near future (maybe). It wasn't really made with any particular purpose in mind, but now I'm thinking I'll ship it off to a friend in Alaska. She makes me little craftsy things when the mood strikes, and somehow, I can see her with this. So once the ends get woven in (and a pic taken), this wooly silky purply goodness will probably be headed far far north. (While I can't say that I would NEVER go to Alaska, because I do hear it's beautiful, I can say it's not on my top ten vacation spot ideas. Unlike, oh, the warm Carribbean. There IS a reason I live in California, y'know. I do enjoy my 70-degrees-and-sunny December days.)

Off to make yet another pair of felted slippers. Because SOMEONE lost hers. Ahem. (Actually, I think I have to make another pair of those for my brother, too. Or did I do that last year? It kind of all blurs together.) I wonder if I have any more leather soles...

On a positive note, I think my Christmas shopping is done. (I have to see if I can find one more thing, and if I can, then I'm going to return one of the things I already bought, but if not, well, that person is stuck.) It's kind of nice to not have to ship things and pray they'll get there in time this year! (I'm packing the gifts and the cat and maybe a couple warm changes of clothes and driving out to the Midwest this year for the holidays. Various friends throughout the country are already putting dibs on my drive back West, from Louisville to Seattle. That drive should be interesting, at any rate!)

A1C Trummel

I don't even know how to start this post. Obviously, I'm back from Basic Training. I graduated (as an honor grad, as my mother will happily tell you) on 11 December and got home to Santa Maria Monday morning. I'm kind of still in a fog, though. I'm jet-lagged, trying to get back onto West Coast time, and trying to get caught up with everyone and everything I've missed and get back into the swing of "real" life, but also trying to work in the discipline that got drilled into me over the past two months and still being so darn TIRED that nothing is really working right. I did go to classes at the dojahng Monday night, and they felt good. I am about half-decided on just writing the rest of this week off, though. I'm leaving this weekend to drive out to Illinois for the holidays, and I'm thinking that taking one week completely off of life in between won't kill me. But then I think I'm not being disciplined and feel guilty again. We'll see. (I'm also having a crazy urge to knit another Rogue, how weird is that?) I did get to spend the weekend with my parents and my brother, who all flew down to San Antonio and braved the absolutely freezing weather most of the time to watch all the ceremonies and hoopla and take pictures. (Y'all will have to wait until I get the pics from them, sorry.)

Like I said, I'm not really even sure what I want to say here. It's not like you can explain Basic Military Training to someone who hasn't done it. It's such a unique experience. People tend to either go "omg, that's horrible, why would anyone ever put themselves through that?!" or they think they understand and that it's no big deal and anyone can do it. Less than 7% of Americans ages 18-30 actually qualify for any military service. Less than 2% actually ever do it. Of those 2%, there are only 47 other people in the nation who went through the same things I did with the same people I did, and all 48 of us have our own unique viewpoints on it. How do you explain the sheer exhaustion and confusion of Zero Week, the smugness of getting your nametapes sewn onto your uniforms during Fourth Week after overcoming the obstacle course and the gas chamber, the constant awareness and weight of BEAST (Sixth Week), the studying and tutoring to help one of our girls who barely spoke English with the final written test in Seventh Week (and the tears when the whole flight cheered and mobbed her when she passed it), the sheer pride at hearing your TI call you his airmen after Retreat in Eighth Week? It really can't be explained, just experienced.

There are three things you always are at Basic. You're always hungry, you're always tired, and you're always in trouble. Basic Training is both really hard and really easy at the same time. My instructor team was very tough on us, but also very fair. Although it's part of their job to stress us to the max, they also never set us up for failure. Things were always explained, and usually you even got one chance to fix a mistake. (Heaven help you if you weren't paying attention or didn't fix it the first time, though!) As long as you maintained your military bearing, treated them with the respect and etiquette they taught you, and weren't being stupid, the TIs were mostly easy to deal with. If you just listened and did what you were told, the actual training part of BMT is easy. The hard part of BMT is living with your flight for two months. 50 females together in one room NEVER SHUT UP while they're awake (some of them don't shut up when they're asleep, either!). Someone ALWAYS has an opinion that absolutely must be shared, which usually led to arguments, which turned into screaming and cursing matches. That, for me, at least, was the hardest part of BMT - far more difficult to deal with than TIs, PT, BEAST, lack of sleep and medical mishaps combined. (Note that "lack of food" didn't make that list. After Zero Week, where it felt like you had a total of thirty seconds to eat for the whole week, you get to actually taste your food and realize that while it's not 5-star surf-n-turf, it's a heck of a lot better than regular cafeteria food, there's usually quite a variety, and portion sizes are relatively large. We burn a LOT of calories while in Basic, so you're still always hungry, but I can't think of any time where I didn't have enough to eat.)

I wrote letters to my parents explaining things as they happened, and I'm hoping they saved them, because posting them here would explain things a lot better than I could now. The hardest week for me personally was Fifth Week, not because of anything we did that week as a flight, but because that's when I was really dealing with a seriously major infection in my hand, so I was tired and sick and a little scared and really fed up with the girls arguing and that was the one time that I really thought "I can't do this anymore. I have to give up, I have to go home. I just can't do this." Of course, that passes. Life passes too quickly, and they keep you too busy, to really get bogged down in those kinds of thoughts. You just don't have time for self-pity there. It's both the longest and shortest two months of your life. There are lots of tears, but also lots of laughs. There is bitter disappointment and shining pride. I'd never do it again unless my life or a wingman's depended on it. But it's worth it.


This was one of the songs that they played every Sunday before chapel. It's John Michael Montgomery's "Letters From Home" and pretty much guaranteed to make you cry if there's ever been anyone you cared about in the military (not even males are immune). The first couple weeks, you cry because it makes you homesick, the rest of the time, you cry because you know how true it is. (It doesn't sound quite right without an Air Force "hooah!" after every time he says "letters from home", though!)


John Michael Montgomery - Letters From Home

~Sh@wn~ | MySpace Video

"My dearest son it's almost June
I hope this letter catches up with you, and finds you well.
It's been dry but they're calling for rain,
and everything's the same old same in Johnsonville.
Your stubborn old daddy ain't said too much
but I'm sure you know he sends his love."
And she goes on, in a letter from home.

I hold it up and show my buddies
like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy,
and they all laugh like there's something funny 'bout the way I talk
when I say "Mama sends her best y'all."
I fold it up and put it in my shirt,
pick up my gun and get back to work,
and it keeps me drivin' on,
waitin' on letters from home.

My dearest love it's almost dawn.
I been lying here all night long
wonderin' where you might be.
I saw your mama and I showed her the ring.
Man on the television said some things, so I couldn't sleep,
but I'll be alright, I'm just missin' you,
and this is me kissing you.
X's and O's, in a letter from home.

I hold it up and show my buddies
like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy,
and they all laugh cause she calls me "honey"
but they take it hard, cause I don't read the good parts.
I fold it up and put it in my shirt,
pick up my gun and get back to work,
and it keeps me drivin' on,
waitin on letters from home.

Dear son, I know I ain't written
and sitting here tonight alone in the kitchen it occurs to me
I might not have said it so I'll say it now.
Son, you make me proud.

I hold it up and show my buddies
like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy
but no one laughs, cause there ain't nothing funny when a soldier cries,
and I just wipe my eyes.
I fold it up and put it in my shirt,
pick up my gun and get back to work,
and it keeps me drivin' on,
waitin on letters from home.



Thank you

Crossing Into the Blue

See you in nine weeks!

Prayers, thoughts, and letters are all greatly appreciated. Talk to my mom if you'd like my address while I'm gone.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement! I will miss you all until I get back!!

Good News/Bad News

Good News:
My orders are supposed to be in by noon tomorrow and I am definitely, 100% going to Basic next week. ("You're bought and paid for, kiddo. Have fun!") I got lots of "helpful" advice over the weekend and even continuing into the week of how to best survive Basic. Frankly, I just want to get it over with. Anticipation is the worst, it's always better to just do it. Dive into the deep end and go!

Bad News:
I am sick. But I don't know what I have, other than a lot of coughing and a fever that comes and goes. I do have a slight headache, but that could also be due to either caffeine withdrawal or the fact that I just started my period, too, so I can't count that as a symptom. No upset stomach or achiness or fatigue (other than general results of Long Weekend Going Straight Into A Longer Week Syndrome and a PT test). Apparently most of the full-timers at the unit are sick - Recruiter went home early yesterday and when I stopped in to check on my orders today (I didn't actually go to work today, because of the fever, but I had a few things that had to be taken care of), the girls said both of them and the Chief were all sick, too. Yay. I don't FEEL sick most of the time, just when I'm coughing, but I also don't feel well either. All I gotta say is that it had better Go Away Fast! (My brother has already threatened me within an inch of my life if I don't graduate on time, something about vacation days burned. As much as I enjoy irritating my baby brother, I'm on his side about this one!)

Good News:
I passed the DO's test on space and JSpOC basics this weekend without studying. (Okay, I should have studied the JSpOC stuff more, because I should have gotten the highest score and didn't, much to the delight of the intel flight captain.)

Bad News:
I was one of only three people out of 18 who passed it. The student flight did an 8-hour crash course on Saturday (mostly just to see what we could handle). I lucked out in that I'd had most of it before, thanks to ERAU, but even my brain was about to explode by the end of the day and we didn't even get through all the material. Then the test was on Sunday morning. (I took it after everyone else, because I also had a PT test that morning. It's always a great morning when you get to walk into the DO's office and get "How was the test?" "I passed, Sir." "Good, pass this one.") We were kind of being guinea pigs, though, and some of the guys who just came back from tech school took it and didn't pass either. So we don't feel too bad about it. I think it was frustrating for some of them, though.

Good News:
I passed my PT test with scores good enough to not only get into, but graduate from Basic already. This is good because it means my scores will only get better during the 9 weeks I'm gone. (I missed getting a certificate by 1.25 points, sigh!) Also, my elbow didn't hurt. I mean, it wasn't thrilled, but frankly, my arms could be stronger, and it wasn't nearly the pain I used to have in it. More along the lines of "hey, wait, I'm working and I don't like work. Please stop? Well, okay, if you insist" instead of the "OMG STOP NOW OR I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET IT FOR THE NEXT THREE DAYS!" that it would have been even six months ago. Maybe Basic will be survivable (and the delay in going was a good thing).

Bad News:
I still have to drop two minutes off my 1.5 mile run and learn how to do a pullup (not part of the standard PT, but used at Basic) if I want to even have a chance at being an Honor Graduate (they get an extra day pass into town with family and an extra ribbon). That seems like a lot. The extra pushups and situps I'll need I'm sure will come from the daily PT, but that's a lot of time to take off a run. Hm. Also bad is that my coughing started after doing the run outdoors. We weren't allowed to run outside on base (the air quality from the fire last week still sucked), so we drove out to a high school in Santa Maria. Frankly, I'm wondering if that's why I'm still coughing.

Good News:
I was able to take care of a few things that need to be dealt with before I leave today, despite trying to avoid the public as much as possible.

Bad News:
There is still a LOT to be done (not really, but it seems like it) before I leave, the least of which is cleaning the apartment. Sigh!

Now food and a hockey game if I can find one.

Wow!!!!!

Completely stolen from Amie, but definitely worth the watch!!