Random Thoughts of ABW’s Friend

Recently I found out about a project of an artist named Rick Mobbs. Each Thursday he posts an image prompt on his blog Mine Enemy Grows Older, people write in response to the image prompt and then link back to the post at his blog. He is also gathering the responses to the image prompts in a collaborative story book maintained in its own blog.

Although I have been watching the collaborative story book for a little while now, I never thought I would contribute something of my own. I’m not much of a creative writer and the images haven’t really “spoken” to me in the past. However, this week’s image prompt took me back to a different time and place. I wasn’t just thinking about that moment in time when I looked at the image, I was reliving the moment and the experience was bittersweet. My contribution to the collaborative story book is after the jump. It’s quite different than what I normally post here.

HARBOR LIGHTS

Rick Mobbs

Continue reading The Collaborative Story Book…

I was a little bit hesitant to write this follow-up post to Crazy College Days because to accurately tell the tale I’m going to have to use some language that will make for some interesting search engine hits. Apparently it was silly for me to worry about that. Recently someone actually came to my blog after searching for “Marine whores”. It would have been even funnier if the person who made that search was the visitor from the Army National Guard Bureau, but it wasn’t. I also still get hits for “Heather Locklear naked” and even had the infamous “pro bass fishing crack” hit, so I don’t think this post will make things too much worse than they already are.

If you haven’t already read the first installment in Crazy College Days, I recommend that you do before reading the rest of this post. If you have read it (or if you have decided to ignore my advice like most people do), get ready to hear about the experience I had with Dorm Girl and the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University.

Continue reading Crazy College Days Part Two…

I was checking out the pictures at the Multi-National Force - Iraq website today when I saw this picture:

The caption for the photo is:

Play Time

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Max W. Donahue plays with Paco, his military working dog, in Lahib, Iraq, June 16, 2008. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Stuart Wegenka.

Don’t you love the expression on Paco’s face? Nothing is going to distract him from keeping his eyes on that Kong. The drool will be coming off that tongue any second too.

This picture made me think of one of LT. Nixon’s recent posts about milblogs that come and go. Too many milblogs that I have come to really enjoy reading have either come to an end when the servicemember redeployed or have been halted either due to official reasons or personal ones. Some of the really good ones are even taken down completely (most recently Kaboom by LT. G).

I made the connection to LT. Nixon’s post when I saw this picture because it has been quite a while since Sgt. Dowling posted at K9 Pride. I’ve written about Military Working Dogs (MWDs) a number of times on this blog and I think you all know how much I respect the work of the MWDs, their handlers, and everyone who supports them. I really enjoy reading posts written about MWDs from the perspective of the handler…someone who has “been there and done that”…and I hope Sgt Dowling starts posting again soon. Maybe a few encouraging words in his comments section will bring him back?

Note: This story is the result of a few comments exchanged with LT. Nixon on his blog. Some of the things in this story will make more sense if you read the comments at his blog. I’m too lazy to explain it all here right now.

As some of you know, I attended Texas A&M when first out of high school and consider myself an Aggie (even though I didn’t graduate from A&M). One of the most ridiculous stories I remember from my time there actually involves a girl from my dorm freshman year. I’ll call her Dorm Girl. Dorm Girl was a nice, sweet girl - and more than a little attractive LT. N- but was clearly at A&M pursuing the MRS rather than the BA or BS.

Dorm Girl kept a picture of her grandfather in a silver frame on her desk. He graduated from A&M back when it was still all military and was in his corps uniform in the picture, complete with Aggie Senior Boots. She was more than just a little obsessed with dating guys in the Corps. In other words, she was what people would call a “Corps Whore” or “Quad Queen” (the dorms for the Corps of Cadets were in a “quad” formation). I don’t recall her dating anyone who was not in the Corps during the two semesters we lived in the same dorm.

Anyway, home football games at A&M are a big deal and, for many students, a prime date opportunity. Dorm Girl always had a date for the games. One week I was out in the hallway with a bunch of other girls studying for an upcoming test when Dorm girl burst out of the stairwell into the hallway. She was clearly very excited about something and dying to tell us all.

Before anyone had the chance to even ask what had her so worked up, Dorm Girl looked at us and shrieked “I’VE GOT A DATE WITH BOOTS FOR THE GAME!” No, his name was not boots and it was not a nickname either. This poor soul was a senior in the Corps of Cadets with Senior Boots and Dorm Girl had reached Nirvana because she was finally attending a home football game as the date of a pair of brown leather boots. It still amuses me to remember the scene.

Stay tuned. There will be another post involving Dorm Girl, the Corps of Cadets and (gasp) me coming soon.

Hello. Sorry my absence has continued for so long. I even made Krista worry that this might be another abandoned blog :) It isn’t- I just got caught up in RL for a while. There are some areas of my life I just don’t blog about and I was wrestling with some things in those areas after returning from my trip. They aren’t all sorted out, but I’m a bit more centered now and will resume regular posting.

I ordered in Chinese tonight- beef with broccoli (yum!) and thought I’d share the fortune:

Good news of a long-awaited event will arrive soon.

I do have some preferences for the event and the good news, hopefully this will actually foretell something that meets my preferences!  If so, it might even be something I can blog about.

Well…not really fishing.  I’m in Kansas for a work related training this week.  Getting here was a bit of an adventure.  I’ll write about the fun part when I’m back in NJ.  I was going to write a long post tonight, but bad weather is hitting and I need to unplug the work laptop.  Right now it is so windy that it is literally raining sideways.  There are all kinds of “fun” weather events forecast for the next few hours.  Who knows, maybe I can write about a tornado the next time I post!

I have the world’s greatest dog. Really, I do. He’s friendly, easygoing, and has all of the “good” golden retriever traits.

However, he’s not the best workout partner. At least he isn’t right now. I took him on a walk tonight that was supposed to be exercise for both of us and had to bring him home and then go back out on my own.

Some of you may remember that at the beginning of the year ABW and I set a goal to lose a certain amount of weight by Memorial Day. I don’t know about ABW, but I’m definitely not going to make it. There are actually legitimate reasons that don’t involve laziness. Pretty much immediately after we set our goal I began a battle with some health issues that didn’t seem too bad at first, but progressively worsened.

Continue reading Friday!…

There have been a number of really funny bizarre/offbeat news stories recently. I haven’t been posting them here because Gunner stops by and reads every once in a while and it would ruin the surprise when he receives the printed copies in the mail. I have a decent number printed up and ready to mail out, so I decided to go ahead and post this one here.

I don’t know if many of you know much about parrots. I’m certainly not an expert. However, my brother and sister-in-law have a blue and gold macaw and I’ve spent a fair amount of time around them. It’s actually kind of funny to listen to the words, phrases and sounds they pick up. With my brother and SIL’s bird, certain words and phrases sound just like her while others were clearly learned from my brother. The funniest thing though has to be a sound that he picked up.

At one point my SIL had a bad cold and was sneezing a lot. I guess the bird picked up on the fact that each time she would sneeze my brother would “pay attention” to her (e.g. respond with “Gesundheit”, “God Bless You”, etc.). The bird really likes attention and will actively seek attention from the people around him. I’m sure it sounds absurd, but it is truly funny to hear and watch a parrot “sneezing” until his people his talk to him. The first few times I didn’t believe it was him- it sounded just like a human sneeze!

The bird in the story I found learned something much more useful than how to sneeze like a human.

Continue reading One Smart Bird…

I know the posts were few and far between last week…I haven’t dropped off the face of the planet (or abandoned the blog).  Last week was a bit hectic at work and some things kept me busy at home too.  Friday could have been a very stressful day.  However, my friend K and I made lunch plans.  The really good kind of lunch plans- we got pedicures!  It felt so nice to sit there and be pampered for a little while.  I want one of the massaging chairs at my desk!  Now I’m prepared for summer to begin and my toes will look presentable in open-toed shoes like the ones I bought Thursday.  All I need is for the weather around here to cooperate.  I don’t think that’s happening soon, but that’s a different story.

(Or reason 1,976 why my family thinks I’m crazy)

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while. I read an article a few days ago that made me decide that now is the time. A little over 5 years ago one of my uncles died following a lengthy illness, without a will or written instructions about what he wanted to happen when he died. He had spoken about a preference for cremation so we know the family got that right, but otherwise we were pretty much winging it. The chaos the family experienced trying to plan after my uncle’s death actually had one good effect- some of us have started making our wishes known. For example, although we have no idea where she wants to buried, we all know that Mom expects her obituary to end “..and (Mom) loved flowers”. She doesn’t “want any of that in lieu of flowers donate to this charity crap” (yes, my mother actually said crap when she made this statement).

It took me a little bit longer to decide what I want beyond the fact that I want to be an organ donor. My family is everywhere- mom in one state, dad and sister in another, extended family in a third and brother/sister-in-law on another continent courtesy of the US Army. I’ve also been moving around a lot. I lived in the state mom lives in until about 10 years ago, but have lived in three states since then. As a result, I don’t feel the need to be buried in any particular state and I don’t want any of my family visiting my remains at a cemetary. I do however have a specific request. I want to be buried at sea. Not like the burials at sea most people are familiar with (e.g. no pushing a weighted coffin off the side of a ship for me). I have something MUCH cooler in mind for my burial at sea. My plans are one of the many reasons why my family thinks I’m crazy. Most of them have laughed about it as a matter of fact.

Do you want to know more?

Continue reading Burial at Sea…