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| LeavingThere comes a point where every vacation, trip, or adventure must eventually end, and that end is normally accompanied by what I can best describe as a loathsome and awkward feeling. My grandfather described it as feeling "depressed" that his weekend houseguests were leaving. And, while that may be the case, it reminded me of a similarly uncomfortable feeling that I was doing my best to ignore. All things must end. But it seems like every time my escapades finally draw to a close, however long or short they may be, and I find myself returning to the "daily grind" (whether that be a joy or a drudgery) there's always that awkward, almost guilt-like feeling that somehow manages to sneak it's way in there. So, as I sit here somewhere in the air between St. Louis and Denver, seated between a napper and a reader, I'm finding myself confronted once again by a sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach that means I'm going back to whatever it is that passes for "home." Of course, it will fade rather quickly as I reintegrate myself, but in the meantime, nearly any distraction from the fact that I'm returning is welcome. Back on the ground... All things considered, it was a good weekend. Hopefully, when I have more time, I can throw up some pictures and anecdotes about the weekend. There were multiple highlights, not the least of which were spending time with Jessica, hanging out with Jake, being the Best Man at Kenny's wedding, (which went off without a, uh, "hitch.") and of course, meeting Andrew Schwab. 
Not only is he one of the most profound songwriters and talented vocalists that I've had the pleasure of listening to, but he was also a really cool guy to just hang out with and talk to. How often do you get to sit down and discuss the meaning of a song with the guy who wrote it? If nothing else, this weekend was an excellent chance to cross several things off my List of Things to Do Before I Die. More to follow... | | |
| Night ShiftBeen busy. Finally wrapped up all of my day flights (including two gun rides, one of which is worth an entry all to itself) and now I'm heading to nights. Getting closer to finishing up and getting out of here. In the meantime, I'm on my way to a four day weekend in St. Louis for the Fourth of July weekend and Kenny's wedding. Should be a fun one. Pictures and details to follow, hopefully. | | |
| Dorm LifeI turned in my rope last night. I just don't have time for school and "red rope" duties anymore. Dewey turned in her rope too. (We had a sort of "pact" going on.) Things here at the dorms have been pretty tense for the past few weeks. People have been making a lot of stupid little mistakes, and they're snowballing. The MTL's are having less and less patience with smaller and smaller things, and that usually rolls downhill on whichever rope happens to be in the viscinity. I've finally had enough. I can't concentrate enough on class and the things going on at the other side of base while still trying to maintain a tentative grasp of what's going on here at the dorms. And, to be honest, I'm getting burnt out. My one year mark is this Thursday. I've been in a year, and I still feel like I haven't done anything. At least, nothing worthwhile. The people here are generally OK (though I'd probably trade some of the current residents of the dorm for past ones) and things are nowhere near as bad as Medina, (yet) but I can't help but feeling like I need to get out of here and go operational. Six months on casual status waiting for a class to start is enough to make one insane. Hopefully I've only got a month and a half or so left here. Of course, that's based on the assumption that I make it through training without any hiccups. Worst case scenario, there are the guys who have been in the pipeline for three or more years. Here's to hoping my one year mark in tech school will be my only tech school anniversary. Have a flight tomorrow. Looks like it's going to be a tough one, but assuming I pull through, I'll only have two more before they send me to nights. I also got my leave approved though the MTL's to take leave on the Fourth of July weekend for Kenny's wedding, and that should be a nice break. Hopefully a few days out of Albuquerque will be enough to cure my rather blasé mood regarding dorm life. If nothing else, it'll be a good time. Depending on how things shape up, Jake and Jessica will both be there, and there's a good chance we'll be going to the Project 86 concert on Sunday night. Woo. | | |
| Waiting For The BusNo, Xanga, I don't want to try the new private home page. Stop asking. If I wanted a MySpace, I would have gotten one. I've been trying to update again for a while, but every time it seems I get an opportunity, something happens and I end up getting sidetracked, distracted, or I'm just plain too busy to sit down and type out an update. It's frustrating, because every time I try to think of and remember what exactly has been going on these past few weeks, all I can seem to recall is a blur of events and situations. I've been hanging out with Beau and Arleen a lot here lately, and now that Ivy's moved back to Florida and Bossy and Dewey have parted ways, the number of people I spend my excess free time with has dwindled somewhat. I suppose it's just as well, since it allows me to focus more on studying and flying, but every now and then it's nice to just take a break and do something unrelated to "work." Since I finally broke down and started taking the bus everywhere I needed to go in Albuquerque, I've managed to see my share of weird and odd things, either while on the bus or while waiting for it to arrive. Things like old Asian men riding up with boom boxes strapped to the backs of their bicycles and dancing, or bums falling down in the middle of the intersection, crawling across to the corner, and refusing to get back up, and guys getting arrested for trying to break into vehicles. What an interestingly mundane life I lead sometimes... This upcoming week promises to be excruciatingly busy, with warnings of Saturday flights, among other things. At some point, I still need to find the time to ask for permission to take leave in order to see Kenny's wedding and hopefully I won't take too much flak for it. Having "student flight" on your patch tends to make you a target and asking for things like leave can be that much more difficult. All that to say that this weekend wasn't nearly long enough. In other news, I've added some songs to the playlist, thrown a few pictures into my album of me hanging out with people, and I've thrown up a couple of videos, one of which was a pretty interesting demonstration put on by the 512th. Hopefully I'll find the time to actually update again before the end of the month. | | |
| Terminator: Salvation I got to see it before you did. Also, I got to meet Christian Bale: 
Apparently, since Kirtland was the site of most of the filming for the movie, they decided to give an early pre-screening of the film for us here on base. There's a pretty good chance that I've actually flown on one of the HH-60's they used in the movie. I managed to score a ticket to the screening, and after the movie the director (McG) and Christian Bale showed up to do some Q&A. I also scored a free t-shirt and a poster out of the deal. Not bad, all things considered. The movie itself was a lot of fun, and I'll probably end up seeing it again when it's released in theaters. | | |
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