Just not a lot I can tell you. I am reading friendslists, just can't always comment since when I can read at work it takes 5 minutes to load a page.

I will have Thanksgiving off, wonder of wonders. Some of you can expect phone calls at odd hours.

Reading-wise, I tried one of Kathy Reichs's "Bones" novels but wasn't impressed. I enjoyed it, but I found her writing style very amateur (lots of one-sentence pages) and constant repetitions of the central mystery of the novel "Who was Max?" OKAY, we know that's the premise, you can stop repeating it every single chapter. Really.

We ate at the UAE DFAC again yesterday. Still good, and they have this wonderful malt beverage flavoured with apple or raspberry. Tastes almost like a cider.

And that's about it. I have a new address that doesn't involve walking half a mile and getting mail from MSG Satan if she's in a good mood and will let me have my own damn mail. It occurred to me that this is a felony, denying someone their mail. Hm.....

I've lost a lot of weight, and between that and the cold my wedding ring fell off sometime last night, probably never to be seen again. But at least the heat in my tent is inadequate.

One of our interpreters had told us about the UAE DFAC. MAJ T loves to eat of course, and our new 1LT does too, so we all decided to follow our terp's lead and go there.

First off, the UAE camp is a gem. There's a pretty mosque and a flower garden behind it. The DFAC is hung with fabric to resemble the inside of a tent.

The food was the best I've had since before I left the States. I had hummus, pita, salad, chicken bits in a tomatoey spicy sauce, lamb sausage, rice, and some kind of ground meat with chickpeas and green beans in it. There was a pistachio sweet for dessert along with milky tea. Yes I did waddle home, why do you ask?

The only person I knew who'd want to hear about it was my dad, so I called him and gave him the details.

One bit of excellent news this morning: I'm confirmed for leave 28 December. When I get to San Diego depends on how long I'm waiting at Ali Al-Salem, so I'll be updating americanstd on my cell phone.

Hokay.

I think I can do a chapter a week. Luke 7!

Let's try to get Pope Happycat's pawpal cat carrier moving again.

Today is the E-Prince's birthday.

It's also the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.

I suppose the universe had to compensate us in SOME way for his surviving to adolescence.

Happy birthday to my beloved electorprince.

...

PSA: Please do not smoke under the camo netting. It only encourages KBR to build gazebos.

...

We have a new captain working for us in one of our pointless 90 day taskings. (We need someone permanent, dammit!) He will not, repeat, not go outside without his full battle-rattle. He also carries his own plastic tray and metal spoon, washing them after every meal. His nicknames include Superman, Action Man and Captain Planet. Some of our JAGs are really put off by him; we've taken him to our hearts of course. He's a good guy and eccentricity is a gift.

We aren't sure why he wears the battle-rattle though.

Occasionally when I come into the office the TV is on, and currently it's baseball of course. I realize I'm just going to have to make use of CNN and BBC to keep track of my teams. For American football, I am behind the Redskins, the team I grew up with although the compulsory nature of its fandom put me off of the team at the time. For hockey it's Les Glorieux (Canadiens), for Premier League it's Hotspur of course and for European football it's Bayern-Munchen.

I was thinking about this because the Arabic language translator here used to play for Man U, which is pretty hysterical. Gad, why did it have to be THEM?

Office politics are horrible here. I'd rather be down on the floor minding the detainees, I swear.

Santa Muerte says, "Smile!"

I haven't had a day off since we landed here, which is standard for the Army. What is not standard anymore is not having any time off. Most people get a day off a week, or two half days and I haven't been fortunate enough to get that. It's taking its toll, believe me. Coming in to work nine-ish and leaving at one in the morning and facing the half-hour bus ride back to my tent is ugh. At least I'm with MAJ T and 1LT H, although H is leaving in December. CPT S and CPT A are working in an office down the hall so I don't see them so much.

I was asked about lentils. If you're in San Diego, I would call Khyber Pass and ask them what a commonly used one is. The chef there, I found, is famous throughout the whole expat Afghani community in California; he caters all weddings, for instance. I actually would like to eat there when I'm back.

As of today, two months until I get leave, Inshallah.

I need to start taking pictures, although I don't think I'll be able to upload until I'm on leave. Maybe if I can get some on a thumb drive I can upload from here, but that assumes enough time to even achieve that little project. I haven't opened my laptop since Ali Al-Salem.

Pagan Samhain service tonight. I'm beat, but I don't get much time to be myself rather than the Sarge, so I'm going, gosh darn it.

Love to all.

EDIT: If you want my address, please message americanstd. It's one less thing biting into the time to read my friendslist. Thanks.

I met with the female members of an Afghani family today. We have several aid programs, and I'm appealing to everyone for things--cheap things!--to send in order to help the people of this terribly poor country.

We need:

Soap bars
Toothbrushes (adult and child)
Toothpaste
Vaseline-based lotion (Vaseline is a recognizable product name, which helps)
Bagged rice
Dhal (lentils, chickpeas, etc)
Socks (all ages)
Kids' rubber shoes and galoshes.

A lot of you have my address already. If not, message me or amercianstd. And thank you!

Not as spiffy as at Arifjan. For one thing, I have to go to work. Yes kids, I am now on the standard Deployed Army 7-day Workweek. But I got on the 'puter as you all know and MAJ T and I got to Mass. I checked in as a Eucharistic Minister and will be on the schedule as of December.

Mass here is a lot better than at AJ. Fr. Pat is Air Force and seems to be everything you'd want in your parish priest: warm, energetic, friendly and a decent speaker. The music was good, whereas at AJ it was horrid to the point of painful. The chapel actually looks like a chapel and the Blessed Sacrament chapel behind the building is gorgeous, with marble tiles, classic-looking Stations, and good liturgical art. I thought it would be odd bringing my rifle, who has informed me her name is Gretchen, to church but they have a gun rack at the back. I don't think she's Catholic anyway.

I think that's about it for now. I do read the f-list but generally don't comment for lack of time. Off to work with me.

http://deepeningfriendship.loyolapress.com/easyquiz/quiz.php?quiz=voices-of-the-saints

I'm Anthony of Padua, but was trying for Francis. At least Anthony is a Franciscan.

Yes, I am reading my friendslist, wonder of wonders.

Graveyard of empires, here I come.

Helping MAJ T pack. Man has enough yoga equipment to start his own ashram.

I took these last weekend, but finally got them into my computer:

( Read more... )

So, today I got a pedicure for the first time in my life. The reason I got one here was because my boots are doing horrible things to my feet. I didn't find the experience really pleasant; the rasping and scraping of my calluses and toenails was the tactile equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard, but I'm VERY pleased with the result. The calluses on the outside of my big toes were distracting even to me. Now I have feet, not horrors. Didn't get polish of course, but my feet look nice and feel better.

There was a very large black man in ACUs getting HIS feet done at the same time. Feet support all our weight all our lives and we need to respect them.

I have word now on current conditions in Bagram and they are NOT encouraging. CPT S has decided to go with us, and she and I sat there horrified as we found out we'll be living in tents, not B-huts and that the place is so overflowing with people that showers often are not available. Thank god there are six DFACs: the only thing to make this more delightful would be the only food being MREs.

All civilian stuff is on its way back to the States. Two footlockers have been sent forward to new duty station, and those were FREE!!!!!!!! They would have set me back about $75.00 if not, so I am a very happy camper about that.

So about all the packing that could be done is done. I am celebrating by sitting in my near-empty room with some Diet Mountain Dew, a bunch of Star Trek episodes and the "Death Note" movie "L".

Catnip fetus toy.

http://www.regretsy.com/2009/10/06/miscarriage-of-justice/

One thing that drives me insane is when people, normally neocons, pound their chests for war without ever having served in the military, even in peacetime, and furthermore, don't do so much as to even send an Any Soldiers package. These same neocons hotly defend their right to call for war while being staunchly NIMBY with regard to their own personal involvement.

When called chickenhawks, they defend themselves by saying it's a fallacy. Curious about what their arguments are, I went to this entry, www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Chickenhawk, and realized that debunking their arguments was too, too easy. ( Read more... )

Things are going richter vis-a-vis travel to our new duty station. I may not be in the sweetest of moods if you encounter me.

Following a conversation I had with panookah.



EDIT: And whattaya know, I've just been friended and subscribed to by at least one glasses fetishist. My Amazon wish list is public; if you're going to gawk, buy me a present!