Quirks. Idiosyncrasies. Peculiarities. Pet Peeves.

Quirk: A peculiar habit, mannerism, or aspect of somebody's character
Idiosyncrasy: A way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is peculiar to an individual or group, especially an odd or unusual one
Peculiarity: The quality or state of being unusual or strange
Pet Peeves: Somebody's constant topic of complaint

Yes, they are pretty much all interchangeable; redundant might even be the right word. But I wanted to make a point. There are some really strange things here that just aren’t right! Well in a "normal" environment they wouldn’t be right, but out here they are acceptable.

So where do I start?

How about the men’s showers? I can’t tell you how many men I have seen walking to or from the showers wrapped in nothing more than a towel. I don’t know if there is anything under the towel, but it is just wrapped around them as though they just got out of their shower at home and are walking to their bedroom. I would like to point out to all of you… young, old, military, civilian… this isn’t home. And all those women you see walking around trying not to stare (not at how good looking you are, but at how ridiculous you look) are not you family members! They… no, strike that… WE are strangers! Get a robe. Or shorts and a T-shirt!

OK. That’s one down.

But speaking of military, I know they changed the age you can join to 40 something, and if you are physically fit and able to fight for your country… good for you! BUT… I have seen a lot of very overweight soldiers out here and I don’t understand that. I always thought you had to maintain a certain BMI to stay active duty. Maybe that has changed as well. Can someone explain that to me?

Rumor has it that one of the companies over here was given funds to put in cement sidewalks throughout the living areas. Instead they have cemented their own living areas and made their accommodations very cozy, and we still have gravel and sand. I won’t mention names, but here’s a link you can look at! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg,_Brown_and_Root. I really hate the gravel. Yet come the rainy season, I’ll be happy to walk in that instead of the mud. Well... there are places where the gravel is so thin that we will have a lot of mud anyway. So I hate the gravel and I hate the mud. Now you know. Big WHOOP! Nothing I can do about it but get over it, get through it and keep on truckin’. Well so much for that thought process.

Did you notice this is pretty much a bitch session? I mean after almost 4 years here, it had to happen. Right?

OK... Onwards we go. The post office. Bless their pea-pickin’ hearts, but give me a break… if I bring a footlocker in, to mail to the States, I have to remove everything in it and let some stranger go through it all. They throw it back in the footlocker and don’t worry about how it is packed. It takes a long time to go through it, and people behind you are not real excited about waiting. But I have been in there when someone in front of me had three footlockers and a couple large boxes to send. So you learn to deal with it. You never learn to like it, but you deal.

The rooms in the trailers we live in are pretty small. We have a roommate, and each of us has a bed, a night stand, a wall locker, and a little extra room for a couple plastic style chest-of-drawers. Or a refrigerator and microwave. We have to go to the port-o-john around the corner from our trailer if we have to use the bathroom at night or we can walk to the other end of our row to the latrines, and the shower trailer is next to the latrine trailer. No we don’t have running water in our rooms. We can get our bottled water at the water station between the men’s latrine and showers. They come complete with a thick film of dirt over the package of 12 bottles, all nicely bundled up in plastic shrink wrap. Yes, they are outdoor temperature when we get them. So if it is 125 degrees outside, chances are the water is going to be pretty warm until you have it in your air-conditioned room overnight.

Speaking of air-conditioning… I have walked into a warm room after work a couple of times. Nothing that my roommate did, just the A/C not working. After a sweaty half hour of cleaning the filter, going outside and standing under the unit and punching it as hard as I can with the handle of a broom to shake it and watch all the dust fly out of it, and then taking a water bottle and putting a hole in the top with my knife and squirting the water inside the unit (as much as I can reach of it anyway) to clean out the rest of it, then waiting for another hour for it to actually start feeling cool before I go take my shower and get rid of the dirt and sweat. I then come back to a nice cool room. Until next time.

Then there is the heat. On my days off, if I go to the showers, take in my laundry, walk to the PX or the DFAC, I walk out into what has lately been in the 120 degree temperatures and as I go down the steps from my metal porch, I hold the metal railing or put my hand on the metal siding and about burn myself. I’m very serious, it is so hot that if I were to leave my hand on any of the metal surfaces I would come away with a very red and probably rather sore burn on my hands.

And I will make this my last statement for this entry… I’m very lonely. I used to have so many friends here, and a lot of other people emailed me. Most of the friends left and I don’t get many emails anymore. I’m kind of feeling neglected, forgotten, and unloved… if anyone is reading this, it’s not easy being over here away from everyone you love and everything you know. Maybe I’m the one who has neglected my friends, if I have, I’m sorry. Write to me and ask me why… maybe I didn’t even know I had done it.

So, until next time… Peace to you all.

Oh yeah, Happy Labor Day weekend!

Starting Over - Again

My roommate moved out, but she brought my new roommate in and introduced her to me. I cleaned the room and rearranged things a little bit. But I still didn't have any space. I thought I'd have to do a real thorough cleaning of all my belongings and scatter a lot of items to the wind. I figured I would either give or throw them away, depending on usefulness and condition. I hold on to everything in my life. I can't let go. Hmmm... is that what "shrinks" call baggage? NAH!!

Anyway, my new roommate is very cool. I don't think we will have any problems, we seem to get along quite well. Her second day here, she put in a request for larger wall lockers and about an hour later we got the bigger wooden lockers like I had in my last room! I was shocked! It just never occurred to me to even ask! We have them down the middle of the room as a divider so we both have our little private areas. It's kind of nice. Kudos to her for thinking of asking about them. I was able to find storage space for almost everything now, so I can put off the cleaning out of my junk for now.

I'm very excited, I was able to get a professional PinUp artist to do a rendering of me! I'll be adding her banner to my blog when she sends it to me. Her website is www.karinadale.com. I love how she depicted me in a semi sexy outfit with the OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) insignia on the pocket of my dress, and me wearing combat boots and socks, and you can tell it's a palace as the background... well, I can tell... because I work there and know what it looks like! Yes of course you can see it!


I have had a few people say it looks like me (guys I know) and some say it doesn't (females). I figure maybe they don't quite understand what Pin-Up Art is. It is basic caricature. Anyway. I'm happy! So there! :)

I've been making plans to go to some classes around the September or October time frame. I want to get certificates for several things. I think they will look good after my name, kind of like degrees... titles... good stuff to have for job hunting after my contract here is up. And, speaking of which, I'm close to 6 months into the one year I signed up for, and even closer to having been with the company for four years! Time has flown by so quickly! My grandson is 7 weeks old already, and he has gotten so big! I get pictures all the time of the boys. They have all grown. I miss them very much. But before I know it, I'll be holding them all in my arms!

Well, I guess that's the updates for now. I need to get motivated to start writing my books again. I don't think writers block is supposed to last this long! Writing here in my blog helps me think about how my stories will go, but then after I hit "publish now" and check to see how the new entry looks... I forget the books! Ah well... I feel that good things will happen for me. Soon. Very soon.