9/19/2006 12:25:00 AM
My summer deployment is fast coming to an end, thank Allah. Poor, pitiful me - I was getting downright inconvenienced having to communicate via this mediocre blogspot website, instead of with my own weekly-generated index pages FTP'ed onto Marc Perkel's server. On the rare occasion I've been able to access the internet - on average every six to eight weeks - I had to return to the page you're looking at, and try to generate something interesting.
And being interesting isn't easy under these circumstances. Not for the limited internet access, but because it's no picnic sounding "witty," or anything less than droning, when your summer has devolved into a droning lump of grit & numbness. The only thing you really enjoy on these Ra-forsaken trips is sleep, or, if you're lucky, reading. Which, for the fortunate few, there is time for prior to sleep.
But the reading material was shit. Or maybe I'm just picky. Couldn't find many hard sci-fi novels I'd not previously read, so about half of what I read this summer was junk. Stuff left behind by other GIs. Didn't so much mind Grisham, Demille or Connelly, but the James Patterson got old quick. At least it was free - he'd have to be for most folks, I'd think. I mean, who in the hell would pay 7 bucks for a book even George W. Bush could read in under four hours?
Even worse, I was almost forced to partake of some Robert Jordan crap, based on another GI's apparent lack of understanding when I alluded to "Hard Sci Fi." Of course, I should've expected as much from a rookie Captain (i.e. a dipshit). Maybe he thought, "well, it was hard for me to read - so it must be hard sci fi..." Fucking retard.
Anyway, the summer was probably great for my career, but not the type of thing I want to repeat anytime soon. Half a year of tax free, hazardous duty pay. Not bad. Maybe I'll get a new truck. I'll certainly be ecstatic to again be with my wife & son. It'll be huge to again plop my ass at home and enjoy the relative safety of the American backdrop. I'm looking forward to NCAA & NFL FOOTBALL, the (AL) PENANT RACE, catching up on the Sopranos, and anything else I can enjoy on my massive, HD plasma screen.
Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy....
:)
9/16/2006 09:27:00 PM
Am I just a grumpy old man, or does everything about the internet suck?
At this very moment my estimation of blogspot.com as a massive pedazo de mierda is fast solidifying.
Apparently, on blogspot.com, if you neglect your account for awhile, your blog immediately becomes a suspected spam blog, and you get a nifty "Word Verification" feature added for good measure. Can't post without first deciphering one (sometimes two) of those successions of nonsensical letters in warped font.
Pain in my dick.
So, the next time I mosey off to war, I'll be sure to make frequent stops at internet cafes -- after all, the desert is full of them -- and post more often. Gimme a fucking break.
All the more reason to look forward to getting home.
Yagshemesh.
9/14/2006 06:57:00 AM
First of all, thanks to so many who sent their regards. A couple of you asked specific questions, which I'll address when time allows for more thorough post. But for now let me thank you all; every word of encouragement means a lot to me.
Briefly, I'm in a position to post a few thoughts from time to time, via my wife and this fauxnewschannel-blogspot hybrid. Should be able to do so for awhile, and by October I hope to be back, and fully into my usual fauxnewschannel.com format.
Got a few pics to post, and a story about Senator Lindsey Graham (met him - he's a moron... as if that's any surprise to you), and even spent some quality time in Doha, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
Thinking about buying a Hooka...
Did you know that on some DoD installations in the Mid East, you can buy a Hooka? "What's a 'Hooka'?" you ask? Why it's a Bong, of course.
As in, "I wonder what that man is smoking from that enormous Hooka."
You got it. The same thing Tommy Chong went to prison for selling -- Bongs -- are legal, and for sale at any number of BX, PX, NEX, or MCX's currently operating in CENTCOM.
Incidentally, what the locals smoke from these Hookas is a largely innocuous concotion of fruits, spices, molasses, and tobacco, and generally comes in cute American-style brand-name packages, each containing a dozen or so, individually wrapped-in-plastic, Hashish-looking cubes.
Most of these pre-packaged fruit/tobacco cubes come from Egypt, and contain such a low percentage of actual tobacco that they're more a novelty than anything else. If you want a good old dose of tobacco, stick with cigarettes or snuff. The Hookas will just give you a headache.
Anyway, like I said, I'm back in computer territory, and will be able to post a few more times before wrapping things up here. Ciao.
