Moving day to come....

I found out yesterday I do have to move to another building here on KAF. My new room won't have internet service - at least not right away. I am putting off moving for a few days until my current internet subscription runs out. Not sure how I will stay in touch after the move...

Groundhog Day... all over again

I went away for a couple of days up to Kabul, but now I'm back at "home" at KAF. And overall my life hasn't changed much. Went to work; went to a ceremony to honor fallen warriors; ate the same food at a different dining facility; still don't know if or when I'm moving to a different room.
I guess one thing has changed - I got my roommate to give me a haircut. Just a trim... had to be done. I am thinking about letting my hair grow out - I haven't had it long in a long time. It is layered now - I'm going to let the layers grow out first and then try to let it grow longer. I'm also thinking about letting my bangs grow out. I have always had bangs. My mom wanted me to grow them out when I was younger, but I would always leave the hair hanging in my eyes instead of pulling them back - so she let me cut them. It is hard to grow hair out in the military, because you have to conform to certain standards. Oh well... it's something to keep me occupied in the routine monotony of things.

Frowny face : (

I got my flu shot a few days ago. I almost never get sick, so when I do I think it is a big deal. It is the worst to be sick when you're away from home. I remember a long time ago when I was in college and I got a bad case of strep throat. I kept the door to my dorm room open so people could come in and check on me while I layed there burning up with fever. It was my first time really being away from home, and I didn't even know how to go to the doctor on my own! Obviously I survived. And this flu thing didn't have me bedridden or anything, but I was just not feeling well. You know the signs - headache, nausea, chills, sneezing, stuffiness. All I wanted to do last night was take a bath and crawl into bed. But no such luck here - I won't see a bathtub for a long while. No one was here to make me soup, bring me a cool compress for my head, tuck me in... I still had a bit of a headache this morning, but it passed. I am fine enough now. A little melancholy, but fine enough...

Time to get down to business...

I think many of us plan to work out all the time and come home from deployment in amazing shape, but in reality many of us do not. I started out with good intentions, but often I chose sleep over the gym - especially when working late so often. Well, I have re-committed myself to working out... maybe it has something to do with the recent arrival of our division command group and the Command Sergeant Major announcing we will be having weigh-ins and a PT test in the coming months... I am going to start a new workout program. The program also involves a diet plan, which is sometimes challenging here because we have limited selection at the dining facilities here. But I should definitely be able to find a protein and vegetable combination at every meal. Monday will be Day #1... hopefully I will be better at sticking to the workout program than I have been at writing on this blog every day!

Hairy business

My hair is growing. I knew it would. I'm trying to figure out how to manage it as it keeps growing. I wanted to grow it out before I got to Fort Drum, but it wasn't growing fast enough. So I ended up getting it cut really short. I thought about getting hair extensions before I left. Long hair just seems to be easier to manage when deployed.
Then to top it off, I see one of the captains getting ready this morning and she has a great short haircut! I really like it, and she got it trimmed here by the barber. Hmmm... Can't give in.
Where I will really have problems is with my bangs. I have always had bangs. My mom tried to get me to grow them out when I was younger, but I refused to put the long strands of hair back with barrettes. I always had straggles hanging in my face. So my mom finally gave up and had my hair cut back to bangs. Before it always seemed like my bangs grew so quickly - faster than the rest of my hair. Now that I want them to grow fast, they have gone into hibernation. I don't really like seeing my forehead, so dealing with keeping my bangs pulled back as I go through the awkward transition period between sort of long and long enough will be tough.

Sticktoitiveness (Stick-to-it-ive-ness)

So much for my declaration about blogging daily! I have been overcome by events lately and this is the ball I dropped. We have been working some long days and late hours, but tonight we got chased out of the office around 10 pm. I have to say I did have some time to blog a couple nights ago, but instead I decided to watch an episode of Hell's Kitchen I had downloaded from iTunes. No apologies - I enjoyed watching "TV"!
About iTunes and my internet connection... I decided I would buy season passes to my favorite television shows and download them to my computer so I can watch them when I free time (almost NEVER) or when I decide I am willing to trade an hour of sleep for an hour of mindless entertainment. The problem is my download speed here is practically in reverse! It takes a whole day, sometimes longer to download one episode. I have a queue of tv shows waiting to be downloaded now. So my computer is on all day and all night just so I can keep downloading the list. The good thing about the shows when I finally get to watch them is - no commercials.
I will definitely resolve to do better at writing and blogging. Who knows - maybe I'll get back to some poetry after a while.

He ain't heavy... he's my brother

I think of the Army - and the military as a whole - as a big family. Sadly today I had to say goodbye to one of my military brothers, a young Marine. It is an unfortunate but true fact that men and women lose their lives while serving in combat. Here at Kandahar we have ceremonies to bid farewell to many heroes as they are sent off on their final trip home. "Amazing Grace" played on the bagpipe always brings tears to my eyes. Hearing that music as I watch a group of Soldiers shoulder a flag-draped coffin and carry a comrade onto a waiting plane creates a lasting impression. No matter how often it happens, I am always touched, always proud of being part of an institution that honors its fallen heroes in such a way, and always tremendously overwhelmed by the sacrifice of one life, one family, one nation, one coalition.