I have Netflix, a letter from rockahulababy and a Lowenbrau fake beer. Plus I found a new rug that someone who's moving out was throwing away.

CPT S and I were devastated yesterday when we found out that it was not Indian food day. It turns out that the DFAC here is like the one on Soto Cano in that it has at least two weekly menus, probably more. The reason we have so many rotating menus and Iraq and Afghanistan don't is because our DFAC isn't KBR. It's Government of Kuwait. Go to the Zone 2 or 6 DFACs and they have different menus yet again. Zone 6 is famous for its dessert bar.

Tonight is Mongolian barbecue so I'm looking forward to that. I also found out I can order an egg white omelet so that may go onto my list of breakfast foods.

First, a typical AJ vista. To answer the question "Does it all look that barren?" the answer is, "Unfortunately, yes."( Read more... )

Thou shalt observe the Caturday, and keep it lazy.

Even if there are no cats. :(

I've actually been pretty busy. I did laundry, which took up two machines. I bought a platform for my laptop that has a fan built in as well as a mousepad. This means I can sit on my bed and work on my computer without it overheating or burning my legs. I had seen a collapsible laptop table in the Zone 6 PX but it turned out to be rickety and I didn't trust it. I finally bought a light blue Turkish rug in a Tree of Life pattern that is now on my floor. The room is now starting to look like a room a person could happily occupy for over a year.

I also went to the Zone 6 Starbucks. Normally I shun Starbucks at home, prefering Filter on 30th or Lestat's. The Starbucks by Pod City is under a shelter, but the tables are outside. With this one, you go in and you're in a Starbucks. I sat in a comfy chair facing the back wall, had my soy latte, and it was just like being in an S-Bucks in the US or Canada. It was surreal.

Next paycheque, I need to go to http://www.larkinthemorning.com and pick out an Irish whistle or flute of some kind. William Rees (Camilla's manufacturer) strongly discouraged me from bringing my harp here because the glue will melt. It turns out that 1LT A. is an Irish fiddler, so he proposed that if I got an Irish whistle, he'll get a solid-bodied electric fiddle that likewise won't be damaged by the heat.

EDIT: Thanks go out to angelari who told me you need to not only change your one-click default with Amazon but your address for your wish list as well. This has now been done.

http://www.hermitary.com/articles/mothers.html

A short paper (half of it is footnotes, which I consider "the good stuff") on Desert Mothers.

americanstd has brought it to my attention that if you try to orders something off Amazon it ships to my San Diego address. I don't know why that is because my top address (and consequently my one-click) is my address here.

Holy card collection has made a small start. I have St Joseph, St. Francis of Assisi and Santa Muerte as always. Ste Therese of Lisieux has a tasking as a bookmark in my big green Bible.

Also, if people send me photos of themselves I will put them on my wall.

If you want to send me a care package, I need breakfast foods. I favour Kashi bars but anything that I can eat in my room will do.

I have decided I aspire to being a Desert Mother. Everyone talks about the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and there were in fact Desert Mothers. Let's see how I do.

Today I received no less than 5 packages, all sent out July 2. So figure on about a week to get packages to me.

No Netflix yet, though. That puzzles me.

Since enclosed in one of the boxes was my big green Bible, that meant I didn't need to use holy cards as bookmarks in my little Bible. They are now on the wall over the head of my bed.

SPC M and I volunteered to be mail clerks, so we'll take the class for that on Monday. I also have to get an AJ driver's license, which pleases me not since I hate driving. Oh well, that's the price I pay for getting to the mail first.

I'm getting very pissed off at the people who whine about the DFAC. The food is good, it's not all fried, and you can eat as much as you like. There is Baskin Robbins ice cream and a bunch of fresh-baked cookies. We're more blessed with food than at least half the world and this amount of ingratitude over the "shitty choices" makes me want to scream.

The people from Furnishing came over and now my cable TV works. That'd be good enough news, but the BETTER news is that here on AJ we GET PREMIER LEAGUE GAMES! And I'm only 2 hours off England, maybe less given that we don't adjust the clocks here in the summer! So barring work, I'll be able to watch how Tottenham Hotspur fares starting in August.

Notice posted in the downstairs latrine over the toilet: Those who have shorter barrels need to stand closer to the firing line.

And finally, yesterday at lunch, MAJ T went to get some ice cream. He likes walnuts on his ice cream. Yesterday he came to the table holding his ice cream and looking dejected because there weren't any; all there were were mixed nuts.

"Remember, it's wartime, sir," I grimly reminded him.

We still have to ask what sleeve will have what, but this is going to be the other patch I'll be wearing:

http://www.militaryclothing.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/hierarchy/089L/product-id/23098354.html

MUCH nicer than the "Gay A" of the First Army or being a TO sandwich...

For those coming late to the game, from 1988 to 2005 my constant and faithful companion was an evil and terrifying sealpoint Siamese named Badira. Her name meant "beauty of the full moon" in Arabic.

So perhaps it is inevitable that as the moon waxes full here on the Arabian peninsula that I think back to my horrible cat. What can one say about a pet who sends airplanes into office towers one minute and then snuggles with you under the covers and gives you loves the next?

So I have a little bit of money and I'd like to buy more music. As I've expressed to some of you, I've adopted musician Jane Siberry's policy of getting all my music in a digital format, so as to reduce paper and plastic waste.

Unfortunately, amazon.com only does MP3 sales in the United States and I don't think there would be an amazon.com.kw. Not sure yet about CDbaby, but I'm betting it'll be the same thing. Fortunately iTunes doesn't seem to have that problem, so yesterday I downloaded a 50-track "Ibiza Chillout" collection. It took an hour and a half, but I really wanted new chill to listen to.

Hulu.com doesn't work here, nor does Netflix's "Watch It Now" option. I expected that from both. What I did not expect was that Bandai's anime channel on YouTube is only for certain countries, Kuwait not being one of them.

I'm not sure what to do about my harp, so I sent off an e-mail to the manufacturer yesterday to ask their advice. I currently have time and desire to play and no instrument.

Some of you will be pleased to hear I did go to Mass yesterday and afterwards had dinner with the chaplain and two of the female parishioners, one of whom is the base dentist. (I told her I flossed daily. She praised the Lord.) The chaplain is a full bird colonel and the next highest Catholic chaplain besides the military archbishop. He PCSs in October and I think he's a good person to know probably.

Billy Mays, 1958-2009

iTunes Radio DOES work here. I'm now listening to a classical guitar station.

My radio only picks up AFN at one end of the band and Kuwaiti music at the other, so I was hoping this would work.

Well, well, well. As if the Sarah Palin freakshow could ever end, here's the capper.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8133964.stm

( Read more... )

The United States, spreading freedom everywhere! Also obesity.





I haven't eaten at any of the above yet. People who ate at the Burger Thing yesterday experienced tummy upset. Rather, today the DFAC served Indian food. Do you hear me? INDIAN FOOD!

To seki_raku, whose generosity and kind nature enlighten our lives.

Actually managed to sleep from 2300 to 0800.  I hadn't realized how sleep-deprived I had been.  At Benning I got perhaps six hours of sleep a night, and all the air conditioning from the building piped into our room.  Everyone else steamed all night.  I was sleeping in long underwear pants (general issue), a t-shirt, a black hoodie, my PT jacket and socks.  Even then I was cold, so I was sleeping badly.  Then there was one night on an airplane followed by a few hours in the open bay barracks.

When we moved into Pod City I went to bed at a reasonable hour but couldn't sleep and had bad dreams.  I knew I was starting to get depressed and paranoid, but didn't really put two and two together.

This morning everyone was commenting that I seemed like my old self, that I was carrying myself better and even had better colour in my face.  What a difference a few hours of sleep makes.

Today we're handing our weapons over to the arms room.  I'm already in PTs because afterwards, MAJ T and I are going to spinning class.  This is the best deployment ever.

Oh yeah, and the DFAC has soy milk.

All I need is <lj user = americanstd> and Mei-Mei. :(

If it weren't enough to play Reveille every morning at 6 a.m. here on AJ, they follow it up with the theme from the movie "Patton".

The walls of my pod are bare.  Please send holy cards so lots of saccharine Italian images of saints can look down on me while I sleep.

I am presently in Leipzig, Germany, dealing with a German keyboard.  For some reason I cant get on the WiFi, so americanstd call Bank of America to make sure they didnt freeze my card please.

Must dash.