jack white

the misfits phase has passed.

with jack white's solo album out i have started listing to it, the white stripes rare tracks and everything else he's ever done, plus a little led zeppelin.

i know i've said it before, but seriously, i love everything he's done.

i hope he's still touring when i get home.

i wish i was in the country for his show with the alabama shakes...dammit.

onward.

how can you not weep at the beauty of the world.

the bravest journeys are never taken alone.

i want to write. (and not just this blog but stories and poems and novels and!)

no time now.

one choice down.

one to go.

my hair doesn't seem to be getting any longer.

this month i focus on arms and abs.

i am so excited for my t-rex tattoo.

i really have the most amazing network of friends EVER.

barefoot shoes on the way.

derby focused circuit training.

about a month until i see my wub.

i need to get a datebook and start marking down my plans.

holy crap, i am tired.

one last thing:

it's SGT Barnes now. (i made a havoc patch! that is v. 1.0)

the 90 day funk

so the past week or so (basically since MAJ Kue left) has been kinda crazy. people have been super touchy and seem to just be in sour moods. i'm pretty relaxed about my job here. it's not that tough, just a lot of follow-up, tracking and now that i am a sergeant, paperwork. hooray.
i don't even want to get into what i'm going to be responsible for as a section leader...

our last day with MAJ Kue

moving on.

so i'm a sergeant now. wooooooooo! i feel like it is a long time coming and there is a lot to be said of the MP's now that i have the experience of being with another unit. while i will always love the MPs and without getting too complicated about it, they're jerks.
i know i have mentioned going officer if i end up staying in, but really, when i think about the kind of person i am, i am a NCO. it's hard to explain the differences and the attitudes (as i've mentioned before as well) but i guess you could kinda say i'm like the muscle. i get the task and i make it happen. there's planning and administrative stuff that fall into my realm but NCO's are more hands on than officers and i think that is my style.

lincoln chafee flew in for a meet and greet and was standing next to my commander when i was promoted. it was kinda small and i chose to have one of my senior NCO's who has been providing me with guidance do the actual pinning. (pictures to follow if i ever get the memory card).

everyone seems pleased for me and think me deserving which makes me happy. i honestly don't think i need to act any different than i was before except now i have a little bit of power behind me.

work has been super busy also and i haven't touched my ukulele since monday. shaaaaaaaaame on me!
hopefully i'll have some time tomorrow but i know when brandon comes by sunday he is going to give me a frowny face.

something crazy like 46 days until i'm home on leave, and about 56 until i'm partying it up in providence.
i can't wait to mush my wuuuuuuub.

things in kuwait:

awesome training!!!

camels (they like to be petted.)

and the easter bunny came for a visit:

chivalry and such

the very first time i put thought into how i would die someday came when i was in about 4th grade. my friend jennifer weinbeck had spent the night and we were out walking or playing. the moment stands out vividly as i had never considered "how" and the abruptness of the question as she asked it was like ice cold water in the face. it didn't take me long and as my mind had pulled from its collective memories scenes from shows, history books, movies, i got goosebumps and responded within seconds, "for my country."

now i have never been a super patriotic person and even less so as i grew up and realized that the ideals america was founded on were exactly and only that. i feel that this certainty that i had was more about sacrificing myself for something bigger, something i believed in. to live honorably and with a code of morals and to be willing to die to uphold them. i think that is the concept i was trying to express.

i think that this ingrained need to have this higher code is why the medival times always appealed to me. knights and kings and queens and dragons. st. joan of arc, michael the archangel. i need to watch dragon heart. and yes, i may just mist up every time i watch it and draco recites the old code with bowen in the rain. ugggggh.

valor. valor. valor.

i wouldn't say that making this choice at a young age influenced my decision to join the military. i have been thinking about what it means though, if i stay in.

i'm not sure when it started but i have associated my belonging to the army national guard as a weakness. a cop-out to real life and dealing with all the stresses and responsibility that come with it. i look at getting out as something i am scared of. to not have the safety line of the guard in my life. i have started questioning myself about this. i am trying to see it as a different type of strength, a type that most people don't have. the strength to be disciplined and professional despite the outrages that can occur in your life. all the little stuff that i don't even think about as a challenge or going weeks, months, a year, without the comforts that most people would not be willing to give up, even for a few days.

i am good at being a soldier. i know i am going to be good at being a NCO. it is easy for me and maybe that is why i have a hard time taking pride in it. i guess the longer i go, the more i will continue to see that even for some people that are also soldiers, it is not easy.

i need to go to bed but my brain and my heart and my everything is going whrrrrrrrrrr...

i'm pretty sure that i'm pretty sure.

so more changes in plans.
of course.
i'm sure i'll change my mind again tomorrow.
there is a choice that i'm going to have to make and kinda soon.
ugh. the hardest decision i have to make over here is whether or not i'm going to the gym. or should i ride my bike or take the bus to chow.
these life altering decisions are so tough. i dooooon't wanna make 'em. waaaaaaa. i'm a whiny baby. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

ugh.

on a more totally awesome note, i ate this today:

yes. that is an oreo baked inside a chocolate chip cookie.

it was amazingly delicious. i had a spiced chai latte to wash it down with too. uhhhh. heaven.

our new flight surgeon comes in today. the flight surgeons are usually army reservists and only do three month rotations. it makes us sad as major kue was pretty fun and awesome to work for. luckily we have major merrell still and he will be here until august. let's hope the transition is smooth.

i also finally got my promotion paper work! i'll hopefully be wearing my sergeant stripes by next weekend. of course this has made me reconsider my army career and has swayed my plans. raggle, raggle, raggle...

there are a lot of moving pieces. i probably won't make any moves until after my leave. after some time in the civilian world and away from the ease of army life.

i also love flying in helicopters. 

i had the chance to sit in the "hurricane seat" this week. we fly with the windows down when it gets warm. i couldn't stop laughing for about the first 10 minutes we were in the air. they warned me it was going to be windy, but holy crap! i'll let you see for yourself.

i had to face away from the window the whole ride back and hold my headset on, lest it be blown off! insanity!!!

getting back on my running routine tomorrow. shins are feeling pretty good. thinking about doing the 5k wednesday 'cause i didn't do it today. it's just so early...meh. derby learnings, ukulele jamming, kite flying. now i just need to get on skates regularly.

mushing my wub in about 7 weeks.

home for good in about 6 months.

time really does fly by!

can't stop.

i cannot stop listening to the misfits. all misfits. all the time. holy mole. brandon (my uke teacher!) and i have been listening and jamming and thinking there's more than a few misfits songs that will be pretty easy to learn to play on the ukulele.

i have to work on my chord transitions. muscle memory to get faster and just learning where my fingers have to go. i'm getting there! my fingertips are so sore from yesterday. i played allllllllllllll day. 

i'm also stuck on a three-beat strum. when i'm just strumming to practice my chords i do a three strum pattern and i can't seem to get it to a two or a four beat when i try and play a song.

oh instruments and musics and ukulele of doom.

i am learning.

i am happy.

i will be playing some misfits on my uke by june.