Corrections and stuff

Hey, I've been steering you guys dreadfully wrong. Those last few pictures were originally supposed to accompany the "What's Important" post. "Bloom" was the title of the picture of Laurie and the Chaplain that inspired the "What's Important" post so that title was in my head when I tried to link everything up... so, to clear it up once and for all: "Bloom" and "Uniform of the Day" (basically two pictures thinly disguised as posts via long captions) were originally to have appeared in the "What's Important" post. Were I actually computer literate, I'd probably be able to figure out how to edit this whole menagerie and fix all of that, but isn't it more fun to have to go searching through everything to find all the correct references? It's like the teasers newspapers put on the front page, only completely without forethought or calculation.

It's another wonderful day off here at (unspecified location). Bob, Greg and I did the lunch, shopping, get our hair done thing and then stopped in at the office to email, web surf, etc. The weather is sunny and just a little too warm when you're in that sun, but otherwise completely tolerable. It was cool last night and many of the vm guys sat around a fire outside of Motel 6.

The Army offered a stress management class that I didn't attend, but last night, while staring at the fire and laughing with the guys and feeling more peaceful than I have in a while, I asked Kutch if they mentioned sitting around a fire in the class. He said they did not. I said they should have. He said, "yeah." And then we just stared into the fire some more. What's the deal with a fire? And how come nobody says you're stupid for staring at one like they say when you stare at a TV? How is it different other than conversation, fresh air, and the knowledge and skills required to start it rather than just pushing remote control buttons... ok, I guess that's part of the answer to my own question. Anyhoo, I only joined the fire crew for about a half hour before I was so relaxed I had to go to bed before I fell asleep in the chair. Normally that wouldn't have been so bad, but this chair, sitting in the stones, kept sinking forward and as I would relax more, it teetered on dumping me out of it.

In addition, my new all-nylon Air Force PT shorts only cover my thighs sufficiently while standing up, which is the position I was in when applying bug repellent. While seated, a significant portion of my upper thighs and lower ass was, apparently, exposed. I now have matching mosquito bites on each cheek and another on the front of my left thigh - is that graphic enough for everyone? They are the largest mosquito bites I've ever seen. I believe I'll lose weight as they heal. So far they haven't itched more than any others, but I'm sure that will follow.

So I excused myself from the fire and retired to my room where I dove back into Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini, a book Todd read and told me I'd like. It's a fictional story based on the author's life growing up in Afghanistan before the Taliban took over. It's so well-written that I can't stop reading it. Granted the cultural differences between the narrator's life and mine make it semi-interesting, but there's nothing more signficant (until the Soviet invasion) in his childhood that makes it any more fascinating than anyone else's childhood. It's just that easy to read. It's one of those books I purposely read slowly to enjoy every page of. Obviously, there are bleak moments... don't be fooled into thinking it's all poppies and kite flying, but so far it's just really good. Sorry, didn't mean to put you through all that just to say Todd was right.

OK, that's probably enough for now. No wait, this just in: Todd's wife suffered such a horrible bare-footed pressure-washing incident that they had to call in the coroner! I guess she lived though cuz she was instant-messaging him about it as I finished this up. More on that as the releases are signed.

Luth, out.