Finished my laundry. All of it. It was a light week for some reason...
Language: I pounded the vocab hard today. I also finished imputing all the military vocabulary for this semester and all the vocab for the next unit. Now I need to start putting in more unit lists. I also have a semi-secret project in the works...
Automotive: I did some driving today. So nice!
Metaphysics: I've been having some really interesting dreams lately. I've also just been dreaming more. I think it has to do with being better rested as of late... I'm also feeling oddly at peace with the universe despite everything that is going on.
Gaming: So I unwound a bit today by cutting a bloody swathe through the legions of hell.
Personal: 14
03 March 2007
Training Day 47
Language: My grades on the test were C+/B-/B+ in Listening/Reading/Speaking... Which is a bit above average for the class. I was one of the few students not to fail. Our teaching team isn't mad at us at all but considers it a problem with the test and, along with my E-7 class leader, talked to the school about it. Apparently they are going to be re-grading things but I'm not sure how... Other than that, the day was uneventful. Incredibly boring. My class leader thinks the BYKI thing is a great idea but doesn't want me to mention it to the teaching team until next week. Then I get to work on getting them to help me make the recordings we need. Until then, I'll keep on adding in lists...
Medical: Advanticare rocks. I call them to request a new mask. They check my insurance, handle the billing, and call me back 30 minutes later to let me know that the new mask should arrive by UPS on Monday or Tuesday. Wow. Maybe the new mask won't leave these obnoxious red marks on my face.
Automotive: I have my car back! We replaced a front head light, replaced the front passenger seat belt, replaced the wheel hub (includes inner and outer bearings, cups, seals, and repacking where applicable), replaced the disc brake pads and linings, replaced the rotors, refilled the brake fluid, bled the air out, cleaned and lubricated brake calipers and slide mechanisms, and added four new tires... Because of the custom rims the previous owner put on the car I had to buy fancy low profile tires. Everything put together came out to be about $1500. My platoon sergeant has been lecturing me a bit on the expense of maintaining my vehicle but, all in all, I've spent about $3000 on purchasing and maintaining this vehicle. That is better than the $14,000 he spent on his truck. At least now the grinding is gone, the drift is gone, and my passengers are safe... I still need to call Dad and tell him that he was right on this and that.
Personal: "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were." - Richard Bach, American author
Medical: Advanticare rocks. I call them to request a new mask. They check my insurance, handle the billing, and call me back 30 minutes later to let me know that the new mask should arrive by UPS on Monday or Tuesday. Wow. Maybe the new mask won't leave these obnoxious red marks on my face.
Automotive: I have my car back! We replaced a front head light, replaced the front passenger seat belt, replaced the wheel hub (includes inner and outer bearings, cups, seals, and repacking where applicable), replaced the disc brake pads and linings, replaced the rotors, refilled the brake fluid, bled the air out, cleaned and lubricated brake calipers and slide mechanisms, and added four new tires... Because of the custom rims the previous owner put on the car I had to buy fancy low profile tires. Everything put together came out to be about $1500. My platoon sergeant has been lecturing me a bit on the expense of maintaining my vehicle but, all in all, I've spent about $3000 on purchasing and maintaining this vehicle. That is better than the $14,000 he spent on his truck. At least now the grinding is gone, the drift is gone, and my passengers are safe... I still need to call Dad and tell him that he was right on this and that.
Personal: "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were." - Richard Bach, American author
Training Day 46
Let's see... Thursday... My friends dragged me out of the barracks for ice cream on Thursday. That's about it.
Language: So... The test was pretty horrific. It was full of material we've never been taught before. Also, no one knew how long we had to do it and the equipment broke-down so everyone was confused. I know I left the reading portion of the test a good 30 minutes early because I thought I had to be done by the end of the class hour, as normal. I had a really hard time concentrating and even drifted into unconsciousness periodically. I whipped out a real quick writing assignment for some homework. I've also been adding list after list to the Before You Know It program and pounding the vocab into my skull.
Automotive: My car wasn't ready on time because the mechanics couldn't find the wheel lock. Somehow, it wound up in an envelope underneath my seat. Oh well.
Personal: The winds are shifting...
Language: So... The test was pretty horrific. It was full of material we've never been taught before. Also, no one knew how long we had to do it and the equipment broke-down so everyone was confused. I know I left the reading portion of the test a good 30 minutes early because I thought I had to be done by the end of the class hour, as normal. I had a really hard time concentrating and even drifted into unconsciousness periodically. I whipped out a real quick writing assignment for some homework. I've also been adding list after list to the Before You Know It program and pounding the vocab into my skull.
Automotive: My car wasn't ready on time because the mechanics couldn't find the wheel lock. Somehow, it wound up in an envelope underneath my seat. Oh well.
Personal: The winds are shifting...
28 February 2007
Training Day 45
Language: I have this cumulative test tomorrow... It's a new thing the school is trying out on us and all reports indicate that it is pretty horrific. Not only do they change the format of the test, use materials that are above our level, and decide to tell us at the last minute that the test is cumulative throughout the course but we found out today that the test is not graded by our teaching team. In fact, our team never sees the test. Some other group of individuals grades the tests and hands us back our scores without even telling us what we got wrong. There's no feedback. No chance to figure out why things are the way they are or challenge the teacher's limited English vocabulary when they misinterpret our answers.
The exercises today were mind-numbing and the two female sailors in my class were spazzing over a joke our class leader played on us by announcing that the speaking test would be today instead of tomorrow. After 10 minutes of hysterics I finally asked them what they were hoping to accomplish by freaking out. So they jumped on me with accusations of being an emotionless jerk who had to have the last word in everything. There was some other stuff too but it all started to blur together...
All the theatrics is starting to make class a royal pain. My friends are now in a similar situation in their own classes. Hrm. It's not a nice thing to do but I think I'm bringing straws into class on Monday. These kids are in the military. It's about time they acted like it.
About the only good thing in class today was getting to watch a bit of a movie as we were all too frazzled to stumble through ineffectual review exercises.
Marathon: I was pressed for time today so I did a short but intense stairs workout. I climbed a grand total of ten three-to-four story staircases at a good clip. My quadriceps really did not want to move at the end of it all... but I finished the short run. I'm glad to report that my muscles recover from exertion pretty quickly but I get the feeling that I'll be feeling this tomorrow.
Fitness: I didn't get to lift today but I did work on my abs and this section is for my muscular development outside of running. Wow. The little things make all the difference in how effective an exercise is. In this case, putting the arms over your head during reverse crunches and putting a rolled up towel under your lower back for cross and normal crunches are key. It hurt but that's a good thing in this case. I just wish it didn't take so long.
Automotive: $492. That's how much the NEX Autoport is going to charge me to replace my seat belt, replace my brakes and rotors, and replace my entire front passenger-side hub assembly. That is a whole lot less than I thought it would be and all the work is under warranty. They also inspected my entire vehicle and are going to get me four new tires, which will cost a bit more but it's needed. Hopefully things will be fine once this is done... If not, they'll find out what else is wrong and fix it in record time. However, that wheel did have 25-27 degrees of motion on it and, apparently, this is the first time they've ever seen a wheel do that and not fall off so... Yeah. I'm glad this is all getting fixed.
Personal: Chugging along... Things are moving forward in a good way.
The exercises today were mind-numbing and the two female sailors in my class were spazzing over a joke our class leader played on us by announcing that the speaking test would be today instead of tomorrow. After 10 minutes of hysterics I finally asked them what they were hoping to accomplish by freaking out. So they jumped on me with accusations of being an emotionless jerk who had to have the last word in everything. There was some other stuff too but it all started to blur together...
All the theatrics is starting to make class a royal pain. My friends are now in a similar situation in their own classes. Hrm. It's not a nice thing to do but I think I'm bringing straws into class on Monday. These kids are in the military. It's about time they acted like it.
About the only good thing in class today was getting to watch a bit of a movie as we were all too frazzled to stumble through ineffectual review exercises.
Marathon: I was pressed for time today so I did a short but intense stairs workout. I climbed a grand total of ten three-to-four story staircases at a good clip. My quadriceps really did not want to move at the end of it all... but I finished the short run. I'm glad to report that my muscles recover from exertion pretty quickly but I get the feeling that I'll be feeling this tomorrow.
Fitness: I didn't get to lift today but I did work on my abs and this section is for my muscular development outside of running. Wow. The little things make all the difference in how effective an exercise is. In this case, putting the arms over your head during reverse crunches and putting a rolled up towel under your lower back for cross and normal crunches are key. It hurt but that's a good thing in this case. I just wish it didn't take so long.
Automotive: $492. That's how much the NEX Autoport is going to charge me to replace my seat belt, replace my brakes and rotors, and replace my entire front passenger-side hub assembly. That is a whole lot less than I thought it would be and all the work is under warranty. They also inspected my entire vehicle and are going to get me four new tires, which will cost a bit more but it's needed. Hopefully things will be fine once this is done... If not, they'll find out what else is wrong and fix it in record time. However, that wheel did have 25-27 degrees of motion on it and, apparently, this is the first time they've ever seen a wheel do that and not fall off so... Yeah. I'm glad this is all getting fixed.
Personal: Chugging along... Things are moving forward in a good way.
27 February 2007
Training Day 44
The rainy season has started out here. We seem to be rotating through showers, nothing, downpour, nothing, hail... Occasionally the sun shines through. Now I have to find wet weather PT gear.
Marathon: I registered for a couple of races today... One of them is a marathon for my personal satisfaction. The other is a half-marathon with the Momrine. Now I have to do it or I'll eat $250 and a whole lot of pride. It should be really fun and I've discovered that races tend to involve parties. I plan on having good company at said parties. Plus, it's bound to be a great experience and I figured out today that even if I run at a measly 6mph I'll still finish the races with time to spare.
Language: Class... Well, class sucked. It seemed to take forever today. The work was easy, as was the homework, but it just seemed to drag on and on. It doesn't help that a couple of the airmen in my class keep talking about how they hate the military and would rather kill themselves than study the language (yet fail to do so), the airman to my left is easily flustered and throws mini-tantrums when she does, one sailor is eternally angry at someone, and the other sailor keeps flirting with the class leader and thinks she knows everything then is really upset when she doesn't know it and just shuts down. So far, I get along with the one really mellow airman, the Army SFC as he and I actually have a military mindset and training (for example: he and I are the only two people to spend appreciably time on the range or throw grenades, we both enjoy our hikes, and generally like the military), and the civilian. I don't graduate until the end of this year and we haven't even hit the hard stuff yet. Homework tonight was four really simple exercises.
Combat: I remediated my tan belt MCMAP stuff today. It's clicking better than I had hoped it would. Unfortunately, we found the grey belt stuff to be a lot more complex and need more people who know what they are doing before I can make more progress. Also, we had to train in the barracks instead of in the martial arts room so the floor was not conducive to hardcore training.
Automotive: The guys at the autoport really do rock. They said that my repairs may even be ready tomorrow as they are going to start first thing in the morning and they can get pretty much all the parts same day. My seat belt was a really odd situation. The repairs will consist of a new passenger seat belt, four new tires, and a replaced left hub assembly if our initial assessment of how jacked up my car is is accurate. It's going to hurt financially but I'll be thrilled to have a safe car that doesn't grind when it moves.
Personal: Today the Momrine, Hooah, someone we shall call 'the Guyrine' (notice a theme here, folks?), and myself went to a Denny's. This is noteworthy as, previously, the Guyrine and I were in a bad spot. Tonight we not only tolerated each other's presence but actually conversed and cracked jokes. Of course, in the end, I think the girls came out on top in terms of jokes cracked.
Marathon: I registered for a couple of races today... One of them is a marathon for my personal satisfaction. The other is a half-marathon with the Momrine. Now I have to do it or I'll eat $250 and a whole lot of pride. It should be really fun and I've discovered that races tend to involve parties. I plan on having good company at said parties. Plus, it's bound to be a great experience and I figured out today that even if I run at a measly 6mph I'll still finish the races with time to spare.
Language: Class... Well, class sucked. It seemed to take forever today. The work was easy, as was the homework, but it just seemed to drag on and on. It doesn't help that a couple of the airmen in my class keep talking about how they hate the military and would rather kill themselves than study the language (yet fail to do so), the airman to my left is easily flustered and throws mini-tantrums when she does, one sailor is eternally angry at someone, and the other sailor keeps flirting with the class leader and thinks she knows everything then is really upset when she doesn't know it and just shuts down. So far, I get along with the one really mellow airman, the Army SFC as he and I actually have a military mindset and training (for example: he and I are the only two people to spend appreciably time on the range or throw grenades, we both enjoy our hikes, and generally like the military), and the civilian. I don't graduate until the end of this year and we haven't even hit the hard stuff yet. Homework tonight was four really simple exercises.
Combat: I remediated my tan belt MCMAP stuff today. It's clicking better than I had hoped it would. Unfortunately, we found the grey belt stuff to be a lot more complex and need more people who know what they are doing before I can make more progress. Also, we had to train in the barracks instead of in the martial arts room so the floor was not conducive to hardcore training.
Automotive: The guys at the autoport really do rock. They said that my repairs may even be ready tomorrow as they are going to start first thing in the morning and they can get pretty much all the parts same day. My seat belt was a really odd situation. The repairs will consist of a new passenger seat belt, four new tires, and a replaced left hub assembly if our initial assessment of how jacked up my car is is accurate. It's going to hurt financially but I'll be thrilled to have a safe car that doesn't grind when it moves.
Personal: Today the Momrine, Hooah, someone we shall call 'the Guyrine' (notice a theme here, folks?), and myself went to a Denny's. This is noteworthy as, previously, the Guyrine and I were in a bad spot. Tonight we not only tolerated each other's presence but actually conversed and cracked jokes. Of course, in the end, I think the girls came out on top in terms of jokes cracked.
Training Day 43
Last night was another interesting night.
Language: I can't believe yesterday was only Monday... It sure didn't feel like it. I had some short little blurb of nonsense writing for homework and class was slow and painful.
Personal: Last night was a night for sorting through some BS and resolving several long-standing issues that were really starting to fester. The day before I had posted that I may need to change. I did but it was in a good way. I had to swallow my pride, look at the situation, and approach it diplomatically instead of violently. Which was difficult, actually, as I get this tunnel vision when I'm really aggravated and go on the offensive. Anyways, I think it was good all around and a lot of progress was made. My gut isn't churning anymore and I feel confident about the future.
Language: I can't believe yesterday was only Monday... It sure didn't feel like it. I had some short little blurb of nonsense writing for homework and class was slow and painful.
Personal: Last night was a night for sorting through some BS and resolving several long-standing issues that were really starting to fester. The day before I had posted that I may need to change. I did but it was in a good way. I had to swallow my pride, look at the situation, and approach it diplomatically instead of violently. Which was difficult, actually, as I get this tunnel vision when I'm really aggravated and go on the offensive. Anyways, I think it was good all around and a lot of progress was made. My gut isn't churning anymore and I feel confident about the future.
26 February 2007
Training Day 42
A day late but I wanted my full six hours of sleep last night. Yesterday was another relatively easy day... I've been having a lot of those lately. I did do a lot of cleaning however.
Language: I did four homework book exercises and pounded the vocab some more... It's really starting to stick. Today we briefly reviewed the new vocab and I knew it. I have yet to take my quiz. I also found my Rosetta Stone CD yesterday.
Metaphysics: I went to church yesterday. Why does this belong in metaphysics? Because, for me, faith is a tangible thing. I just went to the chapel on post, which is actually a pretty nice experience.
Personal: Something is going to change here... It may very well be me. Adapt and overcome, right?
Language: I did four homework book exercises and pounded the vocab some more... It's really starting to stick. Today we briefly reviewed the new vocab and I knew it. I have yet to take my quiz. I also found my Rosetta Stone CD yesterday.
Metaphysics: I went to church yesterday. Why does this belong in metaphysics? Because, for me, faith is a tangible thing. I just went to the chapel on post, which is actually a pretty nice experience.
Personal: Something is going to change here... It may very well be me. Adapt and overcome, right?
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