chatter, chatter, chatter.

living in barracks is disgusting. right now there about 30 women living together in a barracks. luckily, that's not that many, really. but sharing a three stall bathroom, about eight stand up showers and having no private time it gets old, quick. i've only been back two days and already i wish i never had to take my headphones off or that i didn't have to put lotion on after a shower in a bathroom stall. (also, let me mention that they all have oozing small pox vaccine scabs on their arms, something i've been lucky enough to not have to endure.)

listening to women cry on the phone because this is their first deployment, complain about the incompetent leadership (yes...it's true. i'm not in charge.) and be completely oblivious that there are people sleeping due to a 24-hour guard duty shift is beyond annoying.

maybe it's because I've done this before, i don't know. i do know that i am more considerate than most people are. paying attention to my surroundings and trying to make sure that everything i do had minimal impact to the people that are forced to live around me. let's just say Kuwait can't come soon enough. hopefully i'll be in no more than a four-man trailer. this is one of those times i mentioned where you simply say "embrace the suck", because it's going to be over before you know it.

moving on.

my leave plans have started to form! going to Thailand for two weeks in June with Bella hopefully! i have also started researching a travel program called space-a, where a service member can hop on a military flight if there are extra seats, for FREE. i can fly to any active duty base in the world if my schedule is flexible enough to be available when the seat is. usually this happens in a reasonable window and when i get back and settled i think there is a definite world trip in my future. some of the countries i can fly to for FREE include:

Japan

Australia

New Zealand

Guam

Germany

Spain

Italy

and

Alaska!!!

as i have said before, the future is very exciting and i can't wait to get there.

P90X yoga kicked my butt last night and i pulled something in my leg doing combatives today. resting up and back for cardio tomorrow, hopefully. christmas break is almost here and going home will be awesome. i'm glad i'll be able to see my family before i go and of course the Wub. <3

time for bed.

The road has always led west...

so i left.
november flew by and i really can't say how i feel about it all. there were good things that blossomed out of leaving and some bad things that may never be resolved. i will never, ever take for granted the fantastic friends that have been there for me through thick and thin. roller derby has led me to find a new family outside my military one and although the east coast has been my home for the past seven years and i think i'm done.

colorado is amazing...we'll get to that.

harpie and me!

so i left. i had a wonderful send off at hot club. (thank you to everyone that came out and for my fantastic cards made by rhoda and signed by everyone!) claudio drove me down to quonset <3. the plane ride was uneventful. i travel extremely well. i almost always fall asleep before take off, wake up just long enough to smile as i'm pressed back into my seat and watch the world fall away, and then out like a light.
we landed in texas and took an hour bus trip to north fort hood. unpacking and finding a lower bunk were the priorities  the chow hall is decent (i love chow halls!), there is a gym and we got the first two days which are medical and administrative readiness over and done with right away.

it's very difficult to explain things that go on in the army. the processes and the mindsets..."hurry up and wait", "embrace the suck", etc, etc. standing in line with 200 other soldiers, going through 12 stations in two different buildings that takes two whole days just to get a check in the box is mind numbing. i have perfected the art of "sham ninja". somehow i slip in and out of situations getting what i need to get done without getting noticed, stopped or tasked out for extra duty. it is a skill i am extremely proud of. i finished all the stations by about 10am on the second day, enjoyed a long afternoon nap and started going to the gym.

then saturday, the four medics (who i don't know how to spell their names, except for martin...) including me took a flight from texas to fort carson, colorado for a combat medic training course. we are on day four of that tomorrow and i only wish i had gotten this training before i went to iraq, not kuwait...at least now though the army is actually preparing it's medics to deal with trauma and not waste time with EMT-Basic level skils.

i am in awe of the landscape. we lucked out with our hotel (resort). i have had the most fantastic food i've ever eaten at every restaurant i've been to here and delicious, delicious beer.
i am gaining back lost perspective and can't even explain how excited i am for the future. for all the possiblities and everything that i am going to do.
it's like a dead weight has been cut off and now my heart is flying free.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html

we will be going back to texas this upcoming saturday and back to the barracks and the ---

there was an interruption of room service delivering my bacon wrapped scallops and salad. and maybe an "i'm an adult, staying in a hotel, all by myself, answer the door in hotel furnished robe dance".---

i'm going to try and start writing more.
the next exciting thing: wub and michigan for xmas. <3!