June 2004

Happy Birthday to Byron...on Tuesday!

June 28, 2004: Byron's birthday is actually on the 29th, so forgive me. But I can't update my site from work, and by the time I would get around to it on Tuesday, Byron would most likely be in bed. So Happy Birthday Byron! Sorry I can't take you out to dinner or something....remember when we all went to the Quinta de Martelo back in 2002 for your birthday? That place rocked! I hope that you have a good birthday with lots of cool presents and such.

So, here's something I've been meaning to post for a while, but kept forgetting about. When Sgt Jenny went on leave earlier this month (that nightmare seems like so long ago, the nightmare being the whole incident I ranted about earlier, which happened while she was gone), I gave her a list of questions to answer while she was on her long flight to Philadelphia. Here is the transcript of that question and answer session:

Sgt Robinson,

In order to achieve the rank and title of “Frickin’ Wicked Awesome”, you must complete these questions. Pay attention to the wording and make sure your responses are free of dotantes, as I WILL post these answers somewhere, either on the Shooting Gallery or on my site. So remember, humor counts.

Here goes:

Q1: If you were to combine a computer speaker, a razor blade, and water, what would you get?

If these items were in my hands, you’d get a heap of trouble, that’s what you’d get. I’m not what you’d call “coordinated” or “graceful”. Some would say that I’m not “smart” either. Well I say BAH! Who effing cares what they think?! I can do a double shot of Jack Daniels with no chaser and not make a face! I can also pat my head and rub my belly at the same time! Who effing cares about the price of beans in today’s economy, anyway? No one, that’s who.

Q2: There are two animals in a cage. Which one is cuter? Which one would you want to be?

Which one is cuter? The one with the hundred dollar bill tied around his neck, that’s which one. Also, if it’s owned by Hayden Christensen, then it’ll win, hands-down. That’s the one I want to be.

Q3: Why is the sky blue?

I think it has something to do with the ozone, and also sun spots.
I don’t know what sun spots are, but they sound scary, and so does global warming.

Q4a: You’ve just found out you won the lottery, and the prize total is $100,000,000. Do you take the lump sum, meaning you only get half the money (and then you have to take taxes off that too), or do you take the payments over twenty years, meaning you only pay taxes on it?

What in the high hell are you talking about?! I don’t know nothin’ about no math. I’d take whatever would get me the most money. I’d probably have to hire one of those fancy money-people to figure it out for me, but what the hell, I just won $100,000,000. I think I can afford it.

Q4b: What would be the VERY FIRST THING you spend your money on? And I mean literally, the VERY FIRST THING?

Hmmmm….in all honesty, I’d probably buy a plane ticket and head out to Philly and get some mozzarella cheese fries. Then I’d hire some guy to move to Vegas and be my chef, and I’d eat cheese fries all day, every day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nothing but cheese fries. Mmmmm…

Q4c: Who would you be willing to give money to if they asked, and who would you politely/rudely tell, sorry, no money for you?

I’d probably give some money to those starving kids in that foreign country…you know, Africa? They look like they could use it. I’d also give some to the American Cancer Society, because cancer sucks. They could use it to find a cure, then they’d have to name the cure after me. So all these cancer people would be like “Oh no, I have cancer. I better go get a shot of JennyJuice so that the cancer gets cured.” Wait….I don’t think I want the cure to be named JennyJuice. That sounds gross.
I would not give money to Mariah Carey, because that crazy bitch made plenty of cash by making us want to rip our ears off after hearing her shrieky ‘singing’. And if she’s out of cash now that she’s a has-been, then too bad for her.

Q5: You go to your high school reunion with Jason. Would you tell him who you had crushes on? Would you act all different around those same crushes?

I tell him who my crushes are now, so I don’t see why it would be any different at my high school reunion. I’d be all, “Dude, I made out with that guy in the 11th grade!” then slap high fives. He may not think its funny, but I’m his ride home so he’ll have to just grin and bear it.

Q6: Make a choice between Transformers and GI Joe. Why did you pick that one?

I pick GI Joe, because while Transformers are more than meets the eye, GI Joe has those cool internet cartoons with the voice-overs. Transformers were never that cool.

Q7: If you found out you had to cut out one of your favorite foods from your diet forever, which one would you decide to cut out?

Why would you make me do something like that, you sadistic bastard? Why? That’s neither fair nor funny. I hate this question. Go to hell, all of you.

Q8: If Rusty could answer just one question for you in English, what would you ask him?

I would ask him, could he please stop licking the asses of other dogs in public because not only is it gross, but it’s also embarrassing. Also, does my ass look fat in these jeans.

Q9: Say you’ve got the perfect job. How much money would it take for you to come back to this one?

Let’s just say that Canada would be privately owned and would no longer be called ‘Canada’, but now ‘Jennsylvania’. And also, the national flag would be green and red with a silhouette of Santa Claus on it, because I’ve heard that he has a condo somewhere around there.

Q10: How cool is Captain Barnes? Take your time on this one.

About as cool as that guy from Road Trip~~you know, that one who ordered the French toast? (Editor's Note - NOT FUNNY)

Q11: The plane to Philadelphia has to land in Trenton, New Jersey for some reason or another. How would you get to Philly?

Well walking is out of the question. Hmmm…the Amish don’t live that far east, so I probably couldn’t hitch a ride on one of their buggies… I’d probably go out on the street and start flipping gang signs until someone either gave me a ride home or shot me.
Wait a minute…Trenton doesn’t even have an airport, does it? The airport is in Newark for God’s sake! What the hell kind of emergency did we have that would make us land in the middle of Trenton?

Q12: Just how much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Five. Six, if he hurries.

Q13: It’s 8:00 in the morning on a workday. The phone is ringing. List the possible people who would be calling you or Capt Barnes and why they’re calling. Bonus points if you can answer more than the obvious one.

Well, I know that you’re thinking that the obvious answer would be Schofield. But you’d be wrong. Because, you see, if it’s 8:00, it’s already ‘late’ in the morning and we would have already fielded 3 or 4 calls from him at that point. So I’ll guess….it’s Capt Williams, calling to tell us how big our brains are.

Q14: You put money on the Come Line in the gambling game of craps. The first roll is a 7. Did you win money?

I like candy.

Q15: Who originally said, “I am not a monster”.

That would be Major Gerken. I don’t remember exactly why he said it…but I know that he was making fun of me at the time.

Q16: London or Paris? Why?

Eh, I’ve been to both places. I say Italy, because those guys are hot, and they’re all in the mob. Also, their moms like to cook, so I’d never get hungry.

Q17: If you could live on the moon with all of your friends and family and be completely supplied with everything you would possibly dream of, what would be the reasons you WOULDN’T go to the moon?

Well, aside from the fact that it’s kind of dark out there, I’d say that the lack of oxygen would probably be the kicker for me.

Q18: You’re done with the test. What do you do now?

MAN!!! I still have 3 hours left on this flight. It’s effing packed. I’m tired, I’m cranky, and I’m uncomfortable. I hate this.

And that is the end of the quiz. If anyone else has some interesting responses to these completely crazy questions, please provide them!

Also, this is turning into the Sgt Jenny entry, so I also need to put up a quote from her website that is absolutely hilarious:
And Luck is not a lady. She's a crazy, PMSing whore bag who loves to beat you unconscious with her purse then steal your wallet. Evil bitch.

I couldn't agree more. Thank you and goodnight.

I want to be in the School of Rock!

June 27, 2004: Well, before I get into that title, I have some pictures from the actual last going-away party for Jethro (he's had about 3 events total for his going-away, not even including his other pilot buddies' going aways for him). This one was at Judge's house out at Summerlin. Anyways, he's on his way to Tyndall, and we are without a boss for two months. Meaning, we all get to deal with the crap that comes up for the time being. Joy. So, here's the few pictures I took:

Judge, Jethro, Kelli & Tammy	Kelli getting her frame	Marian and Drew	Me and crazy Sgt Jenny	With the frames

You know, I had all sorts of things to write about......it has been 6 days now. But now that I'm not really paying attention to what I'm typing and more to what's on TV (I'm watching Sunday night FOX stuff...Simpsons, Arrested Development, Malcolm - these shows are so damn funny). Well, let's see, I had lunch with my old UCLA roommate Rolondo this past week. I ran into him of course at the Nellis BX, where I seem to always run into someone from my Air Force past. Anyways, he's doing good. Wow, I'm really not paying attention to this. So, let's just get this done.

I also found some old pictures from the Azores that I had never downloaded before. Very cool. There's some from karaoke and some from when right before Jason left. You can also just go to the Azores page - I'm not done with it because I have a ton more pictures from them left to put up, but there are some good ones to see.

Oh, and about the School of Rock thing. I just watched it through the amazing thing called Entertainment on Demand over my Digital Cable. What a wonderful thing that is! Anyways, awesome movie. Jack Black is crazy hilarious fun. But the movie did give me some reinspiration to pursue my violin again. I can't exactly 'rock' with a violin, but just the whole playing a musical instrument vibe is back. So I'll have to give a violin instructor a call.

So now I'm done.
What's New? The picture pages as mentioned above.

Spaceflight for the Masses

June 21, 2004: I'm finally done with the first of my classes back at the University of Phoenix. ORG 502 proved to be quite an interesting experience, what with team mates who went a tad crazy up to this very evening, when one of them DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP FOR THE FINAL PRESENTATION. Not even a call. I don't understand how people can be so unaccountable and irresponsible. I am relieved that I start up with a new learning team this next time. I hope that it ends up better.

Anyways, isn't it pretty cool that a private citizen pretty much drove himself into space today? Aided by a rocket-powered launch vehicle, he made his flight into space in what looks like a modified Learjet. Okay, I'm sure I could do better in the description dept, but whatever. It's a sign that perhaps space travel is going to make its way sooner rather than later to the common person. I think that's one thing I really really hope becomes somewhat reachable before I die. I'd love to see the Earth from space. Well, now that we've had that fascinating look into my mind, let's change the topic.

Well, actually, there's nothing else to talk about right now. I'm pretty tired, and I should head to sleep. After all, it IS Tuesday tomorrow. And you know how exciting Tuesdays can be, right? OH wait, that's right, Robbie emailed me about something that sounds insanely cool, but also daunting: a MARATHON VIEWING OF ALL THE TWIN PEAKS EPISODES! How freakin' cool would that be? I haven't even seen the second season in years, because I ended up selling my VHS copies when I had heard that they were going to be released on DVD. Alas, only Season 1 was released (in a stellar release, of course -- the picture was superb and had surround sound). But fast forward two years, and STILL no Season 2. It's not right. So the opportunity to finally see the whole thing again, with stars from the show no less (Lucy and Ronette Pulaski, so far) is intriguing. It's in Austin, so I'd have to venture out there, but I was planning on doing that anyways. We'll just have to see what the schedules look like.
What's New? I'm still working on transitioning the movies section to its new format. My really old movie reviews are not linked yet, but I'm getting there. Also, I need to write about those I've just seen. I'll never catch up, I swear! Especially with the DVD section I want to do.

Happy Father's Day

June 20, 2004: Yep, today's Father's Day! I got to chat with Dad and leave a message with Harv. Other than that, I've been working on homework, watching lots of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 6 on DVD and finishing up the latest Stephen King book, Song of Susannah (which was in-freaking-credible! More on this book later). So it was pretty much a relaxing, uneventful Sunday. Yesterday was cool as I went over to "JoJo"'s house and played poker with a bunch of officer-types from work. It was great to lose $10 like that. Seriously. :-) But at least $10 lasted me for like 5 hours. Sweet. Also I went and played Blackjack at Sam's Town, winning $75 first, then going to the movies, and then giving that $75 right back. But it was nice to only lose winnings and not the initial investment. That's a first.

Anyways, I've started work on revising the movies section. Nothing groundbreaking, as I plan to do with the DVD section, but it will make the movies section easier to navigate.

Well, back to work tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. Last week was pretty good, all things considered. The last day got a tad spazzy, but I'm planning on not letting it affect me. Here's hoping!
What's New? The movies section is. Although my latest movie reviews, while indicated, aren't completed yet.

Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down

June 17, 2004: Non Illegitamiti Carborundum - it means the title line above. It does not mean that you are illegitimate. So no cracks from the peanut gallery. It definitely is a motto that I need to adhere to, and I have this past week. And like I said yesterday, this week has been going good. Nothing major bad has happened, and it has allowed for a great week. So some thanks are in order: first, let me send a shout out to Michancy. She rocks. I miss her but it's great that we still talk. I never would have guessed it, but I honestly think she's going to be going far in the Air Force. Now, that wasn't a slam, the whole "I never would have guessed it", but I didn't think she wanted to stay in the Air Force. But some twists of fate have really put her in a great position and she's meeting a lot of great people (including me, of course, lucky her). I'm very impressed by her, namely for her unwillingness to let the shit destroy her will and selfworth. I am lucky to consider her still a friend. I also want to say thanks to Harv for helping keep me grounded. I know I said before that 2007 couldn't get here fast enough. But that's a sentiment I may back off of now because I always seem to forget that the 'other' side isn't always greener, and my great stepdad helped me remember that. Thank you guys for that. Byron, I swear I'm not avoiding you. Really!!!! But it's now 7:30 here and I don't want to chance waking up your young-un now. But to everyone out there, thanks for the support.

I also want to give warm fuzzies to the Eglin folks who are returning home tomorrow. Sgt Jenny and I had visitors for the past two weeks (fortunately not inspections!) and it really helped to get our spirits up. Lisa became my new queen. She rocks. Amn Fusco was surprisingly really funny. He got drafted into becoming the new slide-turner and flew out from Eglin after my little 'tirade' last week when I refused to let me or Jenny be the slide bitch. He had to do it, which I am sorry about. But we got an infrared keyboard finally and hopefully nobody else will have to do that crap anymore. But he persevered and during the limited time we interacted with him, he showed himself to be just as snarky and funny as me and Sgt Jenny are. Very nice. It was nice to have some other people to talk to who understood what the hell we were going through as comm troops. That was nice to have.

Okay, I'm feeling buzzed on a Thursday night after making two nice glasses of diet coke and rum. A lot of rum. I'm such a lightweight. Till later, peeps.
What's New? Not much, but the fact that I'm definitely on a rebound. Yay for that!

Megan's going to DIE! -or- I'm not suicidal, people

June 16, 2004: Well, I'm back and I must say that I do appreciate the support that has been heaped upon me since my little nervous breakdown last week. Not my finest moment, I give you that. But I can honestly say that the first half of this year has been, for the most part, utter shit. Now, that is mainly the work aspect of things. My weekends I've been able to keep separate from the work feelings, for the most part. It has just been recently when it just got a little overwhelming. When reading what I wrote on the private page, yes, I was upset. And I still stand by what I said. But this past week has been showing signs of an upswing, even in the midst of our new conference center's inaugural voyage, which has gone stellar, thank you very much. I don't even think there's been one comm problem yet. KNOCK HEAVILY ON WOOD, POR FAVOR. And there hasn't been too much grief over anything. So it's made for a nice way to end each day lately, going home like I used to, thinking about what I should do tonight, as opposed to thinking what the hell am I going to do tomorrow morning to keep myself from killing someone. I think a lot of my upswing has been the frequent visits lately with family and friends. I've gotten to see quite a few people and it's done a lot to keeping me grounded. A lot of them have been very patient and willing to listen to me rant and rave, which I always appreciate. I'm a listener usually when people have problems, and it's nice to have someone else do the listening so I can vent. As Byron can attest to, once I vent out, I typically start on the road to getting better.

Anyways, I just wanted to reassure all of you that I won't be making a suicidal dive off the Stratosphere. If I gave that impression, I never meant to, and I apologize. I won't deny being upset or depressed, but never at a suicidal level.

So, this last weekend, Mom and Harv came up to Vegas with Auntie Helen and Uncle Steve to celebrate Helen's birthday. I saw them on Saturday night at Paris and Bally's (and lost $100 of my Mom's like That!), and then they all came over on Sunday to watch the LA Lakers get slaughtered by the Pistons on my wonderful widescreen TV. It was a lot of fun to host people over, and I can never hear enough about how nice my apartment is. Never enough. Below are some pictures that I took of the festivities, including Helen and her birthday pizza. I didn't have time to make a traditional Hobie cake - sorry Auntie Helen!

Auntie Helen the birthday girl	Helen and Steve	Helen and the Birthday Pizza	Mom and Harv	Mom and Helen

That definitely helped to see family! And like I said above, this week has been pretty okay. I hesitate to say it because I'll probably jinx it. But we'll see. As for those who've called me, I shall be returning your call shortly. I have been busy most of this week during the evening with school (our final presentation is this upcoming Monday - joy), and yesterday I just vegged after kickboxing (that helps get out aggression and stress too - pretending you're kicking or punching the shit out of those who need it) and missed quite a few phone calls that evening due to taking a really long Lake Mead-draining shower. Sorry.

Oh, and an explanation as to what the hell my headline is in reference to: Well, Robbie was so kind to remind me of the AIA training videos for almost all the subjects imaginable - the "Megan's going to DIE" comes from Robbie's favorite video, which was for Privacy Act. A careless and evil airman is going through medical records and finds a record for Megan saying she has an incurable disease. He promptly goes and tells everyone that Megan's going to die. Nice. My favorite though, is for Suicide Awareness training. Robbie also quoted that in the guestbook, with one of my all time favorite lines. You say this line after someone has started talking to you and it is fairly obvious they are sad or depressed about something and might want to talk about it. After they let you respond, your response must be: "I'm really busy now. Can we talk about this Monday?" I use it every chance I get. :-) Good times, those AIA videos. Good times.
What's new? A good week, so far. Who knew? I will, one day, work on my movies section, and get in gear on starting my DVD section the way I want it to be. One day soon.

The Folks are in town!

June 11, 2004: Well, I shall be seeing Mom and Harv this weekend as they are here in Las Vegas, as is my aunt Helen and uncle Steve. I look forward to seeing all of them! I'll have some pictures up hopefully soon once the weekend is over.

So I slept in till 10:30 this morning. It was fantastic. I hadn't done that in a LONG time. It's cool to finally have to get out of bed because you're sore from laying down too much. I then went and rewatched Harry Potter 3. It got even better the second time around. Highly recommend this movie! I also just watched the Die Hard DVD again. Is that movie possibly the best action movie ever? Hans Gruber is the best, coolest villain ever created. His final scene, with him falling out the window and 40 stories down, is infamously amazing. Everything just works so perfectly in this movie. And Bruce Willis rules. I am always entertained by Bruce Willis, and he's turned out to be one of my favorite actors in Hollywood. One of my favorites of his is Death Becomes Her, which unfortunately has a horrible DVD version out. I'm holding out for a reissue of that one before buying it.
What's New? I plan on doing something new with the movies section, not to mention the DVD section. Carolyn clamored for my thoughts on the summer movies, so I shall not disappoint. I think I'm soon going to shut down the Shooting Gallery. It was fun for a little while, but when it's only me or Sgt Jenny or Carolyn starting thread topics, it gets kinda old. Ah, I'll just leave it up. It's fun to look at.

My Take

June 10, 2004: I've just spent the past hour typing up a very long blech passage about my take on what's been going on. I honestly don't think it's appropriate to put up on the site in plain view, as I never know who's actually reading it. My frankness could get me in trouble with the military for insubordination or inappropriateness or whatever. Anyways, click here to be taken to the page. It will require you to have a username and password. If you have access, it'll be your first name as your username and your last name as your password. If you can't get in and want to, send me an email and I'll get you your password and logon immediately. But make sure to form a single file line, please.
What's New? Do you really have to ask that?

From Vegas to Long Beach to Hanford and back again

June 8, 2004: Quote from May 31 entry: Do I HAVE to go back to work? <sigh> Don't really want to. End Quote. I really shouldn't have gone back. I did and Wednesday was a colossally fucked up day. Do I really want to write about it? Not yet. I think there's some resolution that still needs to occur, or at least some time so I can do some reflecting. Perhaps I will be able to talk about it objectively once all is said and done and things are different. As of now, I have reclaimed much of my sanity and can work there, although the balance I maintain is delicate indeed. If this all sounds cryptic, it needs to be. But all will be explained one day soon. And it will be great to get it out for others to judge and make opinions about. I just don't think the few of us involved can be purely crazy and deluded and way off base. In fact, I know we're not. It's just.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! The idiocy of it all. What it boils down to is I'm sick and tired of it and it's not worth being in the service if this is the kind of shit I have to deal with. 2007 can't get here fast enough. Seriously.

So how did I get my sanity back? My Dad and Pat came to California and I got to spend 4 days with them. That was the best thing that could have happened after Wednesday. Here's where you can read all about it, and see some pictures. Good stuff. I sure do miss seeing them.

Anyways, this past weekend was one of the last ones I was looking forward to. I now need to plan some stuff to do so I can focus on positive stuff and stay away from the negative shit. School sorta helps, but drama seems to follow me around this month, as my learning team pretty much fell apart, although we've gone a long way towards repairing it. I mean, seriously, my career and education used to be so undramatic last year. I don't remember bitching THIS MUCH about it before. What the fuck happened, mate? But back to planning stuff. I need to get out and do something fun this weekend again. But what....? I'll fill you in if I think of something, and it's not just getting blitzed at the Hofbrauhaus, although that does sound like a good time!
What's New? My pictures from this past weekend. Plus, it looks like I'll be reinstating my movies section as it was before shortly. I've been busy at the movies this summer, having seen Van Helsing, The Day After Tomorrow, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban already. And the summer is just barely in swing. Go me, go.

Shoot me an email if you want to. I may respond. (okay, you know I will - what else have I got to do?)