|
| Well what can I say about military life? At first glance, it would appear to suck a little bit. At least the BMT/tech school portion of it. BMT was straight up miserable, but I think I already talked about that. Let's talk a little about tech school. Tech school is unlike BMT in that it's less hellish. There's alot more freedom, and I almost never get yelled at. It boils down to this simple fact (this, by the way is my secret to keeping a positive attitude): I get paid to learn the jargon and cheap tricks behind a profession that seems very complicated and difficult. Let me explain: you have an electrical problem in your house or vehicle. You ask me to have a look at it. I explain that I after inspecting it with a multimeter, I noticed that the portion of the circuit leading into the car's starter is showing normal voltage. However, there's no voltage drop in the grounding section of the circuit, indicating no path for current flow to a negative potential. Ohm's Law makes this very clear, after all. Sounds complicated, right? So you pay me alot of money to connect a wire to a bolt. The military is using your tax dollars to help me make the big bucks later in life. It's not quite the paradise it sounds like. Military dorm life has all the drama of high school, with college-age people, a touch of prison in terms of rules (more like probation), and military uniforms. I get paid very little (if you want to know, my pay grade is E-3, so you can look it up if you really want to know), I have very little free time during the week, and if you make any mistakes you get treated like crap for a little while. So anyway, next time I write I'll say something useful, maybe make a comment about my personal life or whatever. | | |
| It's good to be writing again. Once I chip off all of my journalistic rust and build up the motivation to be creative, I'll be continuing Dizzy Times. Just to knock off a few preliminaries: Joel asked me about a wedding date for me and Elizabeth. Well Joel, first off, thank you for taking the time to congratulate me and for your interest what's up in your backyard baseball buddy's life. The answer to your question is "no comment." Well, not completely. We've talked about late September, however that will depend alot on how quickly we can process her paperwork to come to the US on an I-129 Fiancee visa (you see, she isn't American), as well as a variety of other factors. So it's up in the air at this point. Most likely before year's end. Second, let me add to your jealousy factor: I'm qualified to be issued and carry two weapons (in a deployed war zone): the M16A2 rifle and the M9 semiautomatic pistol. They're both pretty cool reliable antipersonnel weapons, and learning to use and maintain one was pretty sweet. But trust me, that don't just hand it to you. I worked with a trainer weapon for 4 weeks and sat through a 5 hour class and was evaluated on proficiency with the trainer before I ever fired an actual shot. This Memorial Day weekend has been very chill. I haven't even seen any NCO's in the building except the poor one that has to be here in case something happens. I haven't shaved in three days and I certainly haven't put a uniform on since final formation on Friday. Yesterday I did legs hardcore and today I was killin it on my chest and shoulders. At one point I think my soul was leaving my body. Right now my back and lats know they better prepare for the worst, cuz tomorrow morning they're getting anhilated with a blitz of pullups, rows, lat pulldowns and other. It's gonna be intense! Today I went to "Extreme Chapel" at the Solid Rock Cafe, the on-base Jesus freak hangout. The sermon was on Romans 12 and it was great! It was all about making our bodies living sacrifices as a spiritual act of worship. It's alot harder to be tempted to sins of the flesh when you remember what happened to Cain for offering an unacceptable sacrifice. I probably went to the d-fac (airman ebonics for 'Dining Facility') like 6 times today. I woke in a daze around 9:25 when my friend Goode knocked on my door and beckoned me to go to the dfac before it closed for breakfast. So we went. Dude I eat seriously like a bushel of vegetables every day. It does miracles for my digestive tract. And as far as protein loading goes, they always have cottage cheese and usually some fish or chicken breast. It's like heaven on earth. | | |
| Yeah so apparently I wasn't thinking straight last time I wrote on xanga. That was a just a couple weeks before I left for Air Force Basic Training, so I don't know why I thought I was going to be writing again any time soon. Since then, my travels and adventures have really made me into a new person. I've been in Texas now for three months, between my two months of fun at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and my tech school (aka military vocational school) in Wichita Falls. For a while it seemed like military training was eternal, that I had always been there and would never leave. Then I started to wise up and began to see it as complicated maze that I would have to navigate my way through. Then once the end was getting close I realized the whole time it was just a matter of waiting my way through the 8 weeks, although there was always the threat of getting recycled back a week or two. But one month ago it all ended, and I finally graduated. By the way, I also GOT ENGAGED! To Elizabeth Esmeralda Medina Merino. Big changes in my life, you might say. Since I've gotten here in tech school, I've had basically two goals. Obviously, I want to pass the course and get to Keesler AFB in Mississippi so I can start being a normal person again. Second, I want to use this time to get to know Jesus really well. I feel like my last few months in Mexico and the stressful first couple months of the year put a strain on our relationship, so I want to get back up to speed. Life in tech school isn't bad. More sleep than BMT, yet still never enough. I get to wear civilian clothes after duty hours and on weekends, and I can leave base too. I have a cell phone again, and obviously a computer. And I have a room that I share with just one other person (not 50+ like in BMT). I can eat all I want and the government picks up the tab. And I get 40 college credits for all this training. I'll be here until September 14th, if all goes according to plan. I'm not even going to talk about BMT. Let's just say it sucked. Except for the weapons training, that was cool. And the obstacle course. Thanks to the good gentle souls who run BMT, I know ALOT about cleaning bathrooms and folding clothes and making beds, let's leave it at that. So not much else to say right now, though I may very well add more some time soon. | | |
| Dizzy to Write Again Wilmington, DE- In a rare and unexpected weekend session, Dizzy put the proverbial pen to paper this morning for the first time in nearly a year. The year-long period of journalistic inactivity, dubbed by many as the "great journalistic depression" has left area readers in the dark on some of the year's hottest would-have-been headlines. Gingerly commented a regretful Dizzy: "The last few months have been crazy. Like, you have no idea. You name it, I've been there, done it, seen it, or eaten it. Really insane. I've got crazy stuff coming up, too. All the good writing I've missed out on, it's just sick. " Mr. Dizzy crypticly inferred the possibility of writing again in the future: " You know, I've got alot to say. Crazy stuff. I'll try to (write it) when I get time. That's been another huge thing." As of press time, Mr. Dizzy was unavailable for comment. | | |
| Trip to University Computer Lab Plunges Local Man into World of Regret, Disgust Puebla- On an otherwise routine visit to a university computer lab, area resident and UDLA student Isaac Cathey, 20, was thrust into the unspeakably revolting world of a fellow student. Just minutes after 9 o’clock yesterday evening, Cathey claims he was “just checking (his) e-mail” in an on-campus building, when a female student using a machine adjacent to the one occupied by Cathey opened a web page graphically revealing the effects of unprotected sexual activity and non-sterile syringe use. “I tried to ignore my neighbor, just focus on my e-mail. My friend’s going through some stuff, and I was pretty busy writing her. But geez, you don’t just do something like that,” commented a visibly shaken Cathey. The gravity of the situation only intensified when the unidentified student made a phone call. Cathey claims to have unwillingly overheard parts of the dialogue, which was carried on in broken preppy rich-kid Spanish. The following is a transcript of the approximate English translation per Cathey: “Yeah, well you know, like, there’s a lot of like, flow. Um- Could be. Syphilis? Hold on. Yeah, that looks about right. I better call Dad.” Nearing the end of the interview, a nauseous Cathey added: “I wish I had never gone in there. Makes me want to puke. Or drop out of this school.” | | |
|
