I'm eating turkey twice today!~ Or maybe once because I don't know what Auza's gonna serve 'cause he's Phillipino!~ But at least once 'cause I'm going to the DFAC!~

Tom, how the hell are you in space without a helmet? You're not Batman! You're a cat! Silly.

So happy turkey day, everyone! I hope you eat lots of really good food and don't have to deal with crazy family much.

Jerry has a jet pack badge. How queer.

I had no idea how awesome it is to kiss a guy who's actually, you know, taller than you. As opposed to being at eye-level or shorter. It makes me happy :D


Waiting on a gyro. Actually, waiting for Sicily's to call me to ask if I ordered a gyro. Ordered it like half an hour ago. I'm hungry, damn it, and I want a gyro!

It's bullshit that one soldier would turn around and kill someone who'd watch his back in the sandbox.  It's total fucking bullshit that people like this are in our Army, the Army with the values of loyalty and honor and personal courage and integrity, getting our money and our benefits when they're just shitbag buddy-fuckers.  When they'd readily take up arms against each other.

Got my second AAM today.  Found out that the soldier of the year board is in two weeks, so I should have my third right around my birthday.  Gotta kick Delgado's ass, if only so I can go to Hawaii in April.  Then I'd get an ARCOM.  Got a promotion guaranteed if I get the battalion SOY, but damn near guaranteed anyway even if I come in as a runner-up.

Been here eight months, with two AAMs and a few college classes already under my belt--I should be more of a shoe-in than Deese.  It's just a waiting game now.

Passed my PT test.  Got more sit-ups than last time, and I cut almost exactly two minutes off my time from last week.  Chief paced me, and that might be why; I just need to keep this up come the soldier of the year board.  Going head-to-head against Delgado is gonna be sort of interesting, to say the least....

Hicks and Delarosa passed, too.  I'm happy for them.  It means Delarosa will finally be promoted.  We joined the Army on the same day, so we should both be PFCs, but...such is the curse of being flagged.

SFC Patrick had me sort of worried earlier.  Walking into my office and telling me that I had a great deal of stuff riding on this run was intimidating...but now I can definitely go to the board, and they're already working on processing my promotion waiver.  Deese is prolly getting one too.  But whatever.  He refuses to do the boards, and if I win SOY...it's 100% automatic.  And I've got college and two AAMs, while he has...neither!  Being an ass-kisser doesn't always work out so well.

Just need to get the MOI for the board and start studying again.  

I love being able to crank out 1000-word papers in forty-give minutes.  Especially when they're due the same day, and if I had to put it off it'd mean choosing between doing my homework or going to a movie that'll keep me up all night.  Or hockey.

Gotta take a PT test today.  Knee aches.  Not exactly promising.  It's a record, too, sooo....good fucking luck, me!

I do not have chipmunk cheeks :<  They don't look swollen, I don't think.  Bah.

This tooth-pulling business sucks.  But it means percoset and ice cream for dinner, sooo...

Feels like I've come full circle.  Miserable and lonely when I first got here, then things got okay for a minute, and now I'm miserable and lonely again.  I wish I hadn't gotten that award.  I wish Sanders would talk to me like he used to.  He doesn't even really smile at me anymore.

There was a little tiny bird stuck in the staircase when I got back from breakfast.  You know how vampires can't cross a path if grain's been spilled in front of it, unless they count out every grain?  It was kinda like that for me, only I knew it seemed highly unlikely that I'd be going back to my room until that damned bird got back outside.

So I was on my hands and knees, chasing this thing as it hopped around on the windowsill...didn't think to use my beret or anything to catch it until Biggers walked past and suggested it.  Finally managed to catch the damn thing and let it go outside.  I kept dropping him on his head, so I hope he's all right...

Also found out that I am going to Wainwright for a month.  There's a security+ class in Hawaii in October and everyone but Hicks, Deese, and I are going, and they don't know when; so they couldn't risk sending one of those guys and having them miss the class.  Hicks has to stay at the help desk, and Deese flat out refused to go.  The TDY pay should be pretty good, unless they decide to temporarily attach me to 507th.  I just hope I don't have to stay in the barracks...they're full of asbestos and, apparently, the beds are ridiculously high.

SGT Ski: You're taller than me, so you'll be good.  But I had to get a running start just to get into bed.  And don't do what Chief Price did, either.  He disassembled the bed to make it lower and couldn't put it back together again, so he slept on the floor.

I'm in class with SGT Ski and Chief Price today and tomorrow.  It should be kinda interesting.  

GI Joe was terrible.

Except for Snake Eyes and Evil Sulu.  They were pretty  cool.

Whywhywhy do I work with such morons.  Roommate's AWOL.  This other dude fucked stuff up and got arrested and now three people are prolly gonna get demoted. 

Roommate and I got promoted on the same day.  Now, I'm gonna outrank her.  Tee hee.

So.

I just ordered a Sailor Saturn costume offa e-bay.  So much for being a mafioso...I'm gonna be the sailor scout with the ability to destroy the planet!  :D

...Maybe I can get Yonna to be Sailor Moon or Sailor Venus or something if she's still around come Halloween.  Then I wouldn't be alone in this insanity.  

This is gonna be super awesome :D  My hair'll be a little long by then, but oh well.  I'll have to dye it darker, too...halloween rocks.

Mock board in an hour.  SOQ board in less than twenty four.

Oh god. 

Panicpanicpanic can't answer a single training the force question god damn it I hate buzzword answers...

:<

Today was pretty nifty.  Started off with combatives for PT, which is ten times more fun than regular PT.  Works up a sweat a lot  faster, too, what with all the shrimping and rolling and carrying people who weigh more than you.  We were only doing stuff like getting out of holds so there were no fun chokes or arm bars, but we're doing it again in two weeks.

We also had to go to an NCO proclamation ceremony.  I was behind the bleachers so I couldn't really see much, which sucks 'cause it seemed like it would have been interesting.  Sarah Palin was there.  I left kinda fast, though, sooo....

Then the security people came through.  SFC Plumley and SGT McDonald were walking around putting stickers on stuff, which spawned this conversation.

Me:  So that's what you security officers do?  Put stickers on stuff?  Exciting.
SGT McDonald:  That's part of it.  Sometimes we take stickers off.
Me:  Ooh, exciting!  I mean, sometimes you don't know if they're gonna come all the way off, and--
SGT McDonald:  We can also take security clearances away from people who bother us.
Me:  *walks away*

And then he and SFC Plumley decided that they wanted to change my middle name to Rosco.  Woo!  I don't think they can do that, but I doubt they have much else to do...

Three day weekend!  Going to a Puddle of Mudd concert Saturday, Year One tomorrow...it's gonna rock :D

SGT Codner:  Clark!  There's a bear!  We gotta run faster!
SPC Sturgis: *in the back*  Hell no there's not.  I'd be gone already if there was a bear.
Me: *dying*  I'll wrestle it, sergeant.  I'll take it down with my bare hands.
SGT Codner:  ...*to the rest of the group*  She didn't fall for it.  She said "fuck you".  

I remember when I was eleven or twelve, in middle school, my dad had this friend from work named Carly.  I mean, that wasn't her official military name, but we called her Carly so anyway....I was all excited one day because I had successfully run one mile without dying.  It probably wasn't very fast, but the fact remains, I finished in one piece.  And I was bragging to her.  And she shot me down with "I run a mile every day, beat that".

I have, Carly.  I have.  Four miles monday, three point eight miles today (and you know they mean it when they say three point eight because what would be the use of emphasizing the point eight part?)...combatives tomorrow and no PT Friday.  But we usually run three times a week, three to four miles at a time

But yeah.  I get to kick ass tomorrow.  Way back when we were doing spring cleanup, I told SGT Codner and SSG Deguzman that I could choke Butler out (mind you, this was right after she got back from level two certification and I'm not even level one certified).  I don't remember the context of the conversation, just saying "I could take her".  I don't remember if she was there or not.  But I'm gonna hafta try and be her partner tomorrow to see if it's even remotely possible...

Doubtful.  I really suck at combatives.  But I'm motivated!

I think the best part about this morning was when Moore turned around to run with me to the finishing point ('cause that's what you do to motivate your weaker comrades, you show them that you can finish the requried run and then do a little more).  He was like "c'mon, Clark, finish strong!"  So I sprinted from there to the end and wound up beating everyone in my group with the exception of SGT Codner and CPT Middlebrooks.

And, apparently, mosquitos only fly an eight minute mile so you just have to run faster than that to beat them.  I never would'a thought.

SFC Fernandez: Clark Clark Clark are you ready?
Me: *confused blank stare* *Imagines the ISF bursting spontaneously into "Are You Ready" by Devo. How awesome would that be?*
SFC Fernandez: For the board. It's extremely likely that we're sending you instead.
Me:  I can be, sergeant!  :D  Two weeks is plenty of time to study.  *goes back to imagining the ISF singing*

Extremely likely.  They might not.  But they probably will.  Agee says he doesn't want to go because he's already been soldier of the quarter, and he's the one they were going to send in the first place.  Butler skipped out entirely on the mock board because she didn't study, and Deese...pft.  I'm on this neverending quest to show him up.  He got five points more than me on the PT test, but that'll change next time.  

Gah.  I seriously need to study more.  One topic a night until I've got all the important stuff down.  Need to focus on weapons and training the force...it'll be so worth it if I get soldier of the quarter, though.  And after that is the competition for soldier of the year.  I dunno if I could get post, but...gotta try, ya know?  Soldier of the quarter means a higher chance of getting my waiver for specialist that much sooner...

I'm all excited :D  Gonna hafta harass Sgt. Codner for tips an' stuff, though, because he says he's demolished a few boards since he's been here.  

Bah.  I should do bio stuff today.  Don't wanna.  Oh well...

I took my PT test this morning...got a 234.  Only 18 more points than before, but you know what?  I'm still pretty happy.  I was pissed about my push-ups--only got 26 when I'm used to 30+--but I got 66 sit-ups and a 17:12 on my run.

That's the most sit-ups I've ever gotten, and seventeen minutes is loads better than eighteen.  CPT Mayer was running back telling us how much time we had left, and when I had about a quarter mile to go, he said "15:35!"

My expression was something along the lines of ":| you're just fucking with me, right?"  I could have had a 16:30...next time.  Definitely next time.

CPT Mayer pinned me today, too.  He said he'd do it if I didn't mind being punched, and I was like, okay, whatever.  I can take it :D

He had to stop and think about it, but he definitely did punch me.  So did Klug and Sgt. Schmidt.  Schmidt shook my hand and said congrats and all that great stuff and then went kapow!  And my expression was pretty much "o_o gah".

All in all...it was a pretty good day.  Need to work out more, that's for sure.  But I've almost got abs!  Woo!
 

This week has been going oddly well.  I mean, okay.  There're a few cons to balance everything out, but for the most part, everything's smooth.  I raked/swept/did yardwork Monday and Tuesday, and today we were out at the housing area my unit's responsible for to do a police call/clean up.  So, I've been getting some decent exercise, on top of all the running and stuff that we've been doing.

On top of that, I've kind of become the golden child at work.  I'm one of two privates who passed my PT test, and my sergeant told me today that I'm one of those rare cases where I continually improve without his assistance as opposed to the other newbies who kind of need to be kicked into shape.  On top of that, they're saying that I'll probably be the one working with Maurice and Mr. Peacock, two of our civilians.  That means I'll learn how to patch stuff, how to reset SIPR passwords, configure blackberries for the officers, etc.  A lot of things that would be really useful to my job.

It's either me or Brown who's gonna get to do that, and I think I'm in better standing with the sergeants right now.  I mean, I might be wrong, but it says on the schedule that I'm on days straight through June, sooo...

I also got invited to a barbeque that someone's throwing this weekend.  It'll get me out of the barracks, and a chance to interact with real people will be pretty nice.

I guess that's it...kinda lost my motivation when it came to writing this.  Oh well!