got to take a bath for the first time in years and it felt absolutely amazing.
no, i'm not dirty like that. i've gotten so used to taking showers and having to be in a rush somewhere that the thought of a bath was inconceivable. it's the simple joys in life that matter, and it's no wonder that we've forgotten to pay attention to those little things.
as for the news that is evidently taking me forever to get to...
Jon and I got engaged!
It’s been a long journey, but I’m looking forward to the next chapter of our lives. I’m currently on my last 2 days of leave before I head back to Fort Bragg. I’m currently freezing my butt off at Fort Drum, NY. Jon deploys to Afghanistan in a few days, so we are real lucky to be together in between deployments.
On the bright side, we’ve got Elly the Golden Retriever with us. She’s been like our kid, only…not as troublesome! She’s remarkably well-behaved and much too sweet for her own good. We’ve been spoiling her rotten and probably well on our way to making her fat. We’ve turned into “that annoying dog couple.”
There’s so much to tell! But I don’t know where to begin. Regrettably, I lost everything on my old laptop (the hard drive crashed)…so all my pictures and videos from the last couple of years are gone…which kills me…I think most of the ones I treasured most already got posted to xanga some years back, so some of them are saved…as for all my deployment memories that were on my laptop, alas, those are gone…
I’m missing a special group of people that made this deployment so much more bearable and they are the Salsa Family. We grew so close and words can not even begin to describe how horrible the last 15 months would’ve been if it hadn’t been for them. Not only did we take joy in learning how to salsa …it was so great to see how 90% of the dancers started out as never having danced all their lives to performing and wowing crowds in Baghdad and ultimately performing in Saddam Hussein's palace. Those times are unforgettable. Forgive me as I put up a hodgepodge of pictures and possibly videos, but I have to publish the ones that managed to get emailed and saved to me…
the scariest monkeys that gave me multiple frights thanks to my co-workers. the monkeys finally met their demise in a failed attempt to scare me when they tried to place them atop an air conditioner and then came falling down and smashed itself upon the leg of a chair.
an actual burn mark i received from a rifle range. i still have a slight scar from it. yes, it's an actual 5.56 mm round seared into my forearm.
a fuzzy video from our hispanic heritage month performances throughout parts of our base. i'm the third couple dancing.
an end of year trou-sesh in baghdad. best meal ever. everything from seattle's best coffees,hot dogs, taco bell, popeye's, random PX danish cake, fatty butter cookies, and wtever else we could sink our teeth in to.
greetings! yes, i know it's been a long time since i've blogged. been busy and exhausted. i have so many pictures that i need to post, but it will have to be in the future (i should be at work right now)...
finishing up my international economics class...have a 20 page final paper due this saturday. after that, i should be able to blog to my heart's content for about 2 weeks...i'll probably be sleeping though if I'm not at work.
what's happened in wonderful iraq? got promoted to Captain beginning of July. Scary! So it's just weird after being a lieutenant for three straight years. it's true though, people treat you differently once you put on the railroad tracks.
Got to re-enlist a Soldier up at the American Embassy in the International Zone..so that was a neat day trip. I'm still salivating over the hummus we ate that day.
uhmm...what else what else? Went to a few salsa nights to get my salsa spins in. Salsa in combat boots? Yes, way! In the words of Jon, I'm getting my "boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom" in.
At some point in the last few months, I got to promote one of my good friends from 2LT to 1LT, so that was cool...
Oh! and played with some puppies courtesy of an old friend. They had a convoy with some Bradleys just to bring the puppies down here for their vaccinations (and later to get neutered)...poor things. they were so sweet.
So yes...i'll post pictures in the next week or so. Hope all is well!
Ohmygoodness...I just read something in one of my homework assignment readings for my new class...International Economics.
I thought it was so funny that I had to highlight it and write "HAHA" in the margins of the reading.
For globalization's enthusiasts, the cure for group hatred and ethnic violence around the world is straightforward: more markets and more democracy. Thus, after the September 11 attacks, Friedman published an op-ed piece pointing to India and Bangladesh as good "role models" for the Middle East and citing their experience as a solution to the challenges of terrorism and militant Islam: "Hello? Hello? There's a message here. It's democracy, stupid!"--"... multiethnic, pluralistic, free-market democracy."
From Chua, Amy. Two Faces of Globalization: “A World on the Edge,” Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2002.
It's so funny, I think I'm going to post that on my facebook profile...
Interests:Eating Out, Travel,
Film/Movies, Fine Arts, Literature, Performing Arts,Culture, Broadway Shows, Current Events, Entertainment, Politics,
More specifically I love:
ballet, ballroom, chatting, chilling, classic movies, black and white films, musicals, eating, fortunetelling, anything french, speaking french, pistol, reading, riflery, sleeeeeping sleeping, tv, san francisco Expertise:1) Lamenting about How I Left My Heart in San Francisco... 2) Insomnia Occupation:Military Industry:Government
