Yowza!

Wow, haven't blogged in a little while.

Update: I still work like an ant dragging off a cheeto, still don't see friends or workout like I should. In fact, I've been a field training officer, and have been working even harder. Just this Friday, I finished IT (instructor training) school, which is HARD!!! I have to teach one last class while being evaluated, and I get my certification.

The oldest daughter has been deployed as of January, and is now in Khandahar, Afghanistan. I hear from her occasionally. For a while, I could talk to her on Yahoo messenger, but she recently disconnected her internet connection, so I just have to wait until she calls.

The youngest daughter has been accepted several different colleges, and is presently trying to decide if she wants to go to Univ. of Alabama or Univ. of Georgia. She's in the Honors program at UA, and is leaning toward that school.

Went to Dragon Con this year, and as usual, had a great time. I made a costume, Queen of the Cosmos, from a Japanese game, which was surprisingly popular. Lots of people took my picture-totally shocking to me. I had no idea Katamari was that well known. And as you can see from the pic above, the movie, "300" was a very popular theme this year.

Other than that, I can't think of much else interesting.

All work makes Jill a dull girl

I've noticed this habit I've developed. It's called "Work your butt off until you're burnt out" syndrome. Since I've started my new job 15 months ago, I've done things I never thought I would do. Example: Work 14 hour days. If someone had told me I'd routinely work 9,10, 11 or even 12 hour days before I started, I would have laughed and told them, "no way". But week after week, I don't go home until after dark. And that includes in the summer time. Last Thursday, I started work at 8:30 AM and didn't get home until 1:30 AM. Most of the time, I don't really mind. But sometimes I get worn out with devoting this much time and effort into my career. I just hope it works out for me. I've noticed working this much, and devoting this much mental energy into my work isn't as fulfilling as it used to be. For one thing, my buddy George now works downtown at the Central office, and isn't around to pal around with much anymore. Another thing, I've noticed I push aside alot of things in my life for my work, which includes socializing with my old buddies. This has got to stop. And as I mentioned before, I don't work out much anymore, and I hate that. Again, I've got to stop. One of the reasons I worked so much last Thursday is because I went out in the field that day. I've got a plan: Get most of my field work done in the beginning of the month, so the rest of the month I can do other stuff. Maybe even leave at 4:30 occasionally so I can hit the gym once or twice a week.

Other than I'm tired, in need of a vacation, and miss working out, everything is going well. We were on our way to Mississippi (gambling weekend, free hotel!), and since we were driving right through Huntsville, we stopped in at Redstone Arsenal, where she's stationed. I saw her for about 15 minutes, but that made me happy. Naturally, I forgot my camera, so no pictures are available.

Fun, fun, fun in Missouri

I just got back from a trip to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to see my daughter graduate from bootcamp. Okay, she looks cute as hell in her green uniform. I have to admit it. It was mentally draining hanging out with the new son-in-law and her, due to the strained relationship with him, and my slightly hurt feelings. I didn't have but a few minutes to see her by myself. Not that he was preventing privacy, or anything like that, it's just that they were stuck on each other like glue. And if you ask her a question, he answers it for her. That got annoying very quickly.

Check out the dorky glasses. She hates them, of course, but they're army issue, so she's stuck with them for now.

Anyway, she's now at Fort Redstone, in Alabama, for her Advanced Individual training. Alabama is closer to home, so I hope to be able to see her more often. She called tonight and said she's in Phase 5, whatever that means, and she doesn't start the AIT until April.

On the bright side, I traveled into and through 3 states that I've never been to before (Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri), and on the way home my husband and I stopped in St. Louis to tour the Arch. We had to stop anyway to drop the son-in-law off at the airport, so we didn't get there until afternoon. The Arch was way cooler than it sounds. You can go to the top of it in these tiny little trams, sort of like the Pink Pig ride at Rich's. Just a side note, DO NOT pay to get on the tram if you suffer from claustrophobia, because the door to get into one of the little tram pods is 4 ft tall, and the inside requires adults to stoop when they sit. Very cramped. There are small windows in the tiny door, but it's close quarters for the two minutes it takes to ascend and descend. (I didn't take that Arch picture, because my stupid camera stopped working). The view was stupendous at 630 feet, overlooking downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi river.

After leaving St. Louis, we drove until we got tired, and after a brief argument, we agreed to stop overnight at Harrah's in Metropolis, Illinois (home of the 200 ft tall Superman), and gamble a little. I like gambling, but hate to lose money. Sort of a catch-22, I know. I only lost about $50. Overall, we had an entertaining mini-vacation. I would never have said "Hey, let's drive for 9 hours to St. Louis, just for kicks" to my husband, but sometimes, you just have to take what you got and have fun with it.

Did I mention I finally got my diploma?

After 3 years, $12,000, and 3510 miles added to the speedometer on my car (acrued from driving back and forth to Columbus for classes), I've finally finished my Master degree. I completed the thesis portion on it last August, but because I was tardy getting my paper in, it didn't get graded until Fall semester. So I didn't graduate until December. Long story short, I finally got the diploma a few weeks ago. I immediately took it up to Michaels and had it framed, where it now sits proudly and expensively on the wall in my office. Happy day.

On the home front, I get letters weekly from the Army child. She says she doesn't like the Army, but she's sticking with it. She likes some of the aspects, such as obstacle courses and running around in the woods, but not the marching and the hard physical stuff. She sounds lonely. But the interesting thing is, I hear more from her now then when she was living in Florida with no constrainsts to communication. She graduates from Basic in about 3 weeks, then she'll be in individual training in Alabama, which is a lot closer to home than Missouri. That makes me glad.

Happenings

Someone wrote me a comment recently, and I almost fell out. I had no idea anyone still read this blog.

So to answer your question...

My daughter did indeed join the Army, and is currently in basic training in Missouri. I get letters a couple of times a week describing life in hell, although she doesn't say that. She complains about the difficulty of army life and the physical work. She says she enjoys shooting her M-16, but the last letter described her fears that she wouldn't be able to qualify, and would have to be recycled. Her more overriding concern at the moment is her physical problems. She says that because her feet hurt so bad, she finally had to go to the medic, which meant she spent last weekend in the hospital. She is worried that this might mean she will be recycled. I don't think the Army is what she expected. But it's like kids: No one can tell you what it's really like, you just have to experience it for yourself.

My other daughter had surgery on her jaw the day before the older girl shipped out, but she is recovering. She had to have her jaw realigned, which required an overnight stay in the hospital. She is getting better, but it still hurts, and she still can't eat normally. This is a problem for her, since she's a skinny as a stick insect anyway.

How do I feel about all this? Better. I don't cry every day, which is what I was doing for about 3 weeks before daughter number one shipped out and daughter number two had her surgery. I was out of work for almost two weeks because of all the home issues, which put me behind. Which is stressful.

Now I'm hoping the oldest daughter sticks with her decision to join the military, and doesn't quit when the going gets tough, which she often does. I hope the trials she is enduring makes her a better person. I try not to think about how much I miss her, although sometimes her letters hit a spot in me that brings tears to my eyes.

The youngest girl is a great person. I'm thankful and grateful she is in my life, and do what I can for her, while she is still home. She's working hard on her college plans, so I've only got her with me for another year and a half. So I'd better make the most of it while I still have time.

What to post

I can't decide whether to post something light and semi-amusing, or serious.

I suppose I'll start with posting-the lite version.

First: I'm convinced there is a conspiracy surrounding me. Specifically, people getting in my way.

I'm not known as a patient person, or at least so I'm told. That being said, I can't help but notice when I drive, it seems that people DELIBERATELY get in my way, just to impede my speedy progress. I'm sure it's deliberate, and I'll tell you why. I'll be happily cruising through a parking lot, when some dork will A: Stop in front of me while pondering the witty comment their passenger just uttered or B: Walk in front of my car, possibly stopping to check the time, their cell phone, the contents of a package, etc, then will look around in mild surprise when they notice a car behind them, as if the presence of a car in a parking lot were something unusual. Meanwhile, I'm surpressing screams of frustration and really scalding expletives, and doing so badly.

Another example is shopping. I'm walking quickly through the mall, spying a destination, and just as I step, say to the left to move around other slower people, these same people make a move to the left. So I'll feint to the right to move around these inconsiderate jerks, and they will purposely shift to the right. And very often right in the middle of the aisle, which prevents ANYONE, particularly me, from getting around them. Then, just like in the parking lot, they'll look around, totally surprised that someone is breathing down their necks and trying to get around them.

Or just plain driving. I'm convinced people drive slow just to annoy and irritate me. How they know it's me, I don't know. But it surely can't just be coincidence. Surely people pulling right in front of me, when I'm driving 80 in the fast lane, and then slowing down to 55 (55!!!) can't be anything but deliberate maliciousness. Did you ever see those commercials from a few years ago, where the character had his own lanes on the freeway and parking spaces? I fantasize about my own special lanes down I-75.

Okay, there is no Second. Really, my gripe of the day is people getting in my way.

Now, the serious stuff.

I have no idea who reads this anymore, but those who know me, probably know my oldest daughter ran off last June and was living with her boyfriend who is 10 years older and disabled. She was living in Florida with him, then went to Ohio to work at a festival. She was living in a hut which had no indoor plumbing and plywood floors. I had her signed up for college, but that's gone, as is the deposits.

I hadn't seen her since June 20th, until last week, when she came home to get her stuff. Right before she came, I figured out she got married. Yes, married at 18. And didn't tell me or invite me to the wedding. She said they jumped the broomstick at the local town hall, but marriage is marriage, and I'm hurt of course. Right before she left, she told me she joined the Army recently, again, didn't tell me, and is shipping out Jan. 3rd.

What more is there to say, but I've gotten to the point where I'm just bewildered.

I'm not getting into the pain and grief this has caused me and the rest of her family, because I'm getting worn out with all of this. But it's hard to deal with.

Doin' what I always do

That would be procrastinate.

I'm supposed to take a test for a sort of promotion tomorrow, which will result in a pay raise of $3000. So what am I doing instead? Blogging. Makes no sense.

So in order to justify my decision to waste time, I'll make this a short entry.

While perusing Miss Kendra's website, I stumbled on this blog It's about some guy who approaches total strangers and asks if he can take a picture of them touching his belly. It's just too interesting. Check out the guy's expression. Most of the time, it's a study in boredom.

Okay, back to studying.