I must say thanks to my beautiful wife Sarah for setting up my new blog and also setting me up on the insanity that is MySpace. I think it's funny. I've taken computer programming a couple of times and am planning on going into a field that uses computers heavily, but I'm not nearly as into it as I once was. I had a Comp Sci class in my abysmal year at BYU which I managed to fail not once, but twice. Oh yeah. I think that was a big part of the turn off for me. I'm also not a big fan of the 12-hour days in front of a bank of computer screens, it's gotten pretty old. Hopefully a good chunk of time not having to deal with that will get me over it. Sarah, however, is really having fun playing with HTML on our blogs and on our Myspaces. It's pretty cool, and I'm glad she's enjoying it.
Well, as you may have read in Sarah's post, we've gotten our final date for the Air Force, May 3rd. I'm trading in my one year on active duty for two in the guard, and depending on how it goes I may stay there longer. That depends largely on the job I'm doing, both within the Air Force and outside of it. As I said to a friend yesterday, though, that's all aways away. For now, it's time to get back into the school mode and do my best to crank out a degree. Wish us luck everybody!!
I'm sitting here at work, and it's weird, because my eyes have been burning all day. It feels like they're really dry or something. I don't know what's up with that.
Anyway, not much to report. I'm still waiting to hear back for specific dates on when we'll be able to get out of here, they haven't bothered to let me know yet. It doesn't help that one of the people who was supposed to send somethin gin totally dropped the ball. As Sarah said, total slacker. But he sent it in yesterday, so they should be getting moving on it. I'm really lookin forward to actually knowing so that we can actually plan everything. I'm getting irritated at the waiting game. Soon, soon, I hope.
God, I can't wait to be home. I've totally said two things at work today that could get me in trouble, but I'm beyond the point that I really care. I'm not a big fan of the limitations put on military members, and I don't really buy the rationale that they put out for it. Blah, blah , blah. Anyway, I'm trying not to be "short," as the military puts it. It's nice to know that I'm going to be leaving soon, but I certainly dont' want to burn any bridges. I'll miss my friends here, but I'm thrilled to be getting out of here. Especially to be going back to school. It's going to be a hared couple of years, but I feel like if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. If I stay here I'll get orders somewhere and then I'll probably reenlist and then I'd probably never get out. I really want to have my kids grow up in civilization, and AF bases don't tend to be anywhere close to that (because honestly, who wants F-16s flying overhead), and it'll be nice to just get a real job that can provide for everybody and let Sarah and the kids be able to do whatever the hell they want to do.
And yeah, that's about that. Peace out.
I don't care if it doesn't make any sense. We've recently watched a strange movie The Secret. Like I said, it's strange, but it's all about how to have the life you want, simply by thinking about having that life. If you think about it the universe will provide for you. There's a little bit more to it than that, otherwise it would have been a pretty repetitive hour and half. But yeah, if within a year we're all rolling in the dough, that's why. Of course, I don't think that either Sarah and I want something that simple, but we're hoping that our lives will be a bit more stable pretty soon.
On the return to Illinois front, we still don't have any specific details, largely because of the holiday yesterday (which the Air Force always turn into a 4-day weekend, unless you do my job). I'm going to start bugging people tomorrow if I haven't heard anything yet. The current incarnation of the plan will have Sarah going back to Starbucks for some extra income/insurance, and I'll be going to school full-time and possibly working at the university. We're thinking NIU, because from what I've heard they'll take all or nearly all my military credits, which are pretty substantial and would make me (nearly) a junior. Not the best school, but hey, if it's free and only takes me 2 years to finish, that would be nice. Anyway, that's the scoop and all I know right now. I'll keep everone posted as I know more.
I was raised as a Mormon, a faith that i don't think ever really took hold for me. I spent a year at BYU which kind of sealed the deal, but I don't really feel the need to go into my issues with the LDS church at the moment.
I have often been very derogatory toward religion, but sometimes feel as though it's something I should look into further. I took this Intro to Religions class from Penn State partially as a humanities credit, but largely to increase my knowledge of other religions outside the Christian faith. I went through with the typical critical eye of science, which I have a hard time removing myself from. I do appreciate the desire for religion to teach people to be better people, I just don't think that it always does a good job. I didn't really find anything in my studies that tickled my fancy, it just seemed to be far too fractious to even comprehend. You can barely get two Christians of different sects to agree on the truth, let alone two people from entirely separate faiths. This has only pushed me further away from what I see as traditional religions.
Nonetheless, I do appreciate the need for religion that people have. I read somewhere that "religion is a crutch for the weak," and it's always something I've held on to. Unfortunately, we're not always as strong as we think we are, and this is one of those times that I could use a crutch. I've given serious thought about it and I think we're going to try attending a Unitarian Universalist church when we get back home (and maybe once or twice while we're here if we can manage the schedule). It's a non-religion in some ways, preaching no specific faith, only striving for the betterment of its members and society at large. I'm willing to give it a go, because I think it'll give our family some good experiences together and help us grow as people, both together and as individuals.
As a Valentine's Day present for Sarah I decided to get a tattoo. We've talked for a long time about me getting an "S" tattoo, and I've looked for a cool one for a long time. We'd found a pictish symbol that wasn't actually an "S," but was pretty close and kinda cool. So yesterday we were talking about it and she decided to just look online for anything like that. She found this cool "S" that looked like a blueprint. So we decided, what the hell. The original plan for an "S" was on the inside of my arm, because Sarah really likes tattoos there. But this one would have lost all the detail trying to fit something small there. So I decided to do it on the shoulder and outside of my bicep. It's a bit over the top at the moment, it definitely needs some stuff to go along with it, because it's a little larger than planned. But it looks cool. Here you go:
The S
Switching to a new blog, time for a fresh start. The old one had largely fallen into ill-use anyway, and I'm going to take this one in a different direction. This is partially due to an increased focus at work on people's personal internet pages. I've said some uncomplimentary things in the past (the no-so-distant past) and I figured it might be in my best interests to move and not access the page from work anymore.
So here's to fresh starts, and hoping for a big fresh start at home.
