hey guys
well, sorry its been a long time, its been few and far between that ive had much opportunity to go on the computers these days.
oh well, what can i do?! weve been busy and there's the count down of course. I saw the hotel that we are staying in for our decompression and man is it ever nice! I wont mind being there at all! Well I cant wait to get home these days. Its hard not to think about it! Its so close yet so far! There's 2x people in my crew that i cant stand these days. It seems that the built up testosterone and lack of maturity makes some people half retarded and complete idiots! Yeah I will have a couple days to go back to KAF and get everything ready to go soon! i cant wait! TIMMYS!!!!! To have a nice cup of timmys and go on the net, get all my stuff sorted out and mail off all my presents for everyone!!! hmmm i hope we get a chance to stop in dubai cause the silver and gold is suppost to be really cheap and you can barter. I might actually buy some jewelry for myself, something i never really do!! The weather is still cold out here. well chili! Not quite as bad as Canada of course but cold when your living in tents anyways.
well not too much i can yap about right now, already thinking about going on the next tour,lol! Only really cause ive been plotting out what i am going to do with the money!! he he he he! I cant wait to go up to the yukon and see sanora, garnette and brian and of course sienna!!! It will be during my quest for getting into shape so i plan to go snowshoeing and snowboarding! Plus going to fernie and regina if i can and Im also hoping to go visit mom and everyone up N Sask! I would like to but who knows, I may go the oposite direction and do some camping in Penticton or Kelowna, maybe see some old friends and gramma. So many choices!!lol! I want to travel around visit everyone but it will be hard cause the rugby season starts soon after i get back and i definately want to get in on that!! We'll see anyways! If you couldnt tell theres too much time to think about things. Ive over thought a lot of different things, which unfortunately makes me even more anxious to get back home so i can make more definate plans!
Man i cant wait to go to the gym. We did some heavy track maintainance the other day and that was the best work out that ive had in a long time!! Just to feel healthy again would be nice! lol not like its THAT bad, but when im on decompression, i hope they have a boardwalk so i can go for runs along the beach, well if i feel keen enough i'll run in the sand. considering its been 4 months since ive walked 1km never mind running,lol!
Anyways i cant wait to find out how everyone is doing, now that i'm single, i can rediscover parts of me that i havent seen in a while, relax and enjoy that i dont have to worry about someone else anymore. I wont worry about starting up with anyone new till after i come back from the next tour, well i wouldnt want to go threw the same situation that i went threw when i came here!
ANYWAYS, Its new day and a new thought!
well, there's a lot of ups and downs these days! the weather is changing, its warmer out, about 20 and its still the drastic change at night going to -2 so needless to say the flu is going around.It all started with a bad headache then went to the throat then the sinuses soon enough i had a fever too! Yeah i was bedridden for a day or so but im back in the action now!
Today I was helping a buddy with maintainance on his vehicle and we were flushing the radiators ( which consisted of me standing on the top of the engine) and coolant started to spew out for some reason im not aware of. Hot coolant all over my foot. not really as bad as it may sound but it burned the inside of my foot right at the arch which is a fairly sensitive area! Just when i thought i was done bugging Beth for meds! Well the large amounts of water that was sprayed on me soon afterwards helped cool it down!lol!
Well my Aunty Jan asked for some funny stories and I couldnt really come up with much at the time. Well I put a little more thought to it. Thinking back to when I was watching a certain area, during my scans you see lots of sheep,camels and whatnot. Well this guy was trying to get this lone sheep across a huge feild to another compound probably 4km away. Well this sheep didnt want to go anywhere. he was pushing and pushing this sheep while it had his hooves dug into the ground. It went on like this for a while (just waiting for the guy to boot it in the ass) and sure enough, the guy gave it a swift kick in the ass and walked away. Lol, he walked a couple metres then came back and started pushing again! At one point he tried carrying it over his shoulders and the defiant sheep squirmed so much he had to start pushing yet again! Yes that was my cheap amusement for what was a long week!
There was another long week where we decided to entertain ourselves for a couple of hours by playing poker. Of course all we had was cards so we grabbed a bunch of rocks and some markers and coloured in our chips!lol there were three of us and we all rebought, in the end i won $90!I was pretty happy about that! Theres a couple of different stories but none that i can say here. Except of course the story that I told Aunty Jan. I was walking at night ( it was pitch black) and I walked out from the showers threw barriers (that i didnt walk threw on my way in) and went to turn on my headlamp that was in my hand and walked right into an a large truck. Lets just say that the bump was massive. I could literally cup it in my hand!lol yeah it was pretty big. So i went to the medics to patch it up ( it was bloody as well) and make sure i didnt get a damn concussion from it. Nothing was wrong except maybe a little embarrassement. It wasnt so bad since vehicles started to randomly appear in random spots around camp (At times the camp would fill up a bit!) and there was a lot of people with close calls. I on the other hand got close enough!
Anyways, thinking back to the past couple months and my blog entries im sure they generally sound the same at least to some extent, going on about cheap amusements and not showering and whatnot. Its partly because I've been getting some cheap amusement out of what people back home must think. Not showering every 4 days really isnt that bad, we got used to it really quick plus weve been lucky enough where it. Some people are very sick of the rations, Ive gotten used to them enough that it really doesnt bother me.
Talked to my aunty Jan today. Asking what we were doing I had to laugh how she was asking me all these questions when i was leaving and whatnot but we just cant answer those on the phone. The computers are down these days so i cant do much. oh well you will all find out soon enough. Its getting closer and closer to the time we leave though. Its hard not to pay attention to the date these days. what can ya do though. I am waiting till mid month then after mid month, we've got 2 weeks left. small goals and it doesnt seem so bad. Thats what i think anyways. I have some built up energy these days. That also has to do with the amount of sugar ive had these days but It doesnt help listening to music. I hear music, i want to move and dance. So many little things that can make a person anxious! So many things that can make you miss home!
There's a bunch of new guys these days. You cant help but laugh at the shiny new uniforms and equipement. Im sure we got the same giggle when we first got here too.
Ive looked back at old pictures and thought of things that happened in the past. Everything happens for a reason! Even though some things in the past year or so have been very exhausting or agrivating, i'm happy where i am right now. I may of lost people i considered good friends at one time but if they are going to be easily persuaded against me, they really were not friends of mine. Besides, I was lucky for it, In result i persued even better friends and a lot more fun! I cant wait to go back! Ive got some built up frusteration so crazy gerri will be coming out for sure when i get back!lol yes scary but true.
yeah, there's times where there's a lot of boredom. Ive played a bit of poker, in the past ive won every game i've played. Well seems my luck has run out. Oh well, really its no big deal, i put the money in treating it like money already gone. Ive over played every cheasy game I have on my computer. lol I think im going to load up my computer with different games for next tour. I prepared fairly good for this tour even with the small amount of time to get ready but there is still things i may do differently for next one.
There's been several cats floating around. Stray dogs are shot when they come in the camp, stray cats are a blessing! cats eat the mice so that there's no reason for snakes to come poking around. Unfortunately though, the one cat has learned to wine for food. Of course there's always someone here that will give it to her. Tiger was the name given (she has orange and black stripes across her). Very cheasy but oh well. She is an awsome cat, very sweet and affectionate. She darts at the sound of a ration being opened up just as if she would a can of tuna. Shes slept inside my sleeping bage or beside me on my pillow a couple of times now. Im not a big fan of cats but she's such a cutie. I want to get a pic of her on the tank. Such an oxymoron to have a little kitten crawling around on a tank.
We've swapped grandfather stories of the war a couple of times now. My grampa davidson was a signaler. He was so valuable at one point that they gave him the CO's jeep. He was the only one left. He was in D Day with a motorbike on a tank. He told me they got stuck at one point and the driver went green with all the death around him so he pushed him aside and did the maintainance himself. My grampa didnt talk much at all about the war, but just before he died, the 4 soldiers were killed by the americans which brought him to talk about simular situations during WW2.
Anyways the camp has built up a lot compaired to when we first got here. First there was no showers, no kitchen for fresh food, no tents to sleep under, just a satellite phone to talk to family, a cot and the smallpack we brought out. We now have our own living area, a tent with heaters and electricity, our own area is being built now for computers and TV! ( we havent had computers for the past while cause they were sent back to KAF) The whole base has been built up pretty good too. Its looking good and just when we are about to leave!!! gotta love that! well I hope to think that It will be built up even more by the time we get back here again! There has been a lot of work done on it compaired to when i first set eyes on it.
Theres a lot of thought about Cyprus these days!! I love the oportunities that the military brings. In a matter of 5 months i'll be to france, dubai, afghanistan and Cyprus. Cyrpus being the best of course. We get so much money to do different things like going to a spa, gocarting, golfing, scuba diving, all that kind of stuff. I hope to find a partner in crime for scuba diving! A couple of us are talking about going on a wine tasting tour. Im not a big wine fan, but if i keep on going, im sure i'll find one i like!lol!
Most importantly, having more than the few seconds in the shower to be alone. There's suppost to be a jaccussi in each room. If thats the case, I will be laying there in a hot bath with a beer in my hand! ahhhhh that thought is such a tease right now. You get used to a procelain seat and ichyban noodles as luxuries, when we get out into the real world, its going be fairly different.

Yeah So there's some random thoughts while ive been out here. Ive over thought a fair bit of stuff and there's a lot of babbling on here, but oh well!

One morequick story that i have........
I was on shift from 1-3 and had to get up at 4am so i stayed up drinking coffee. Of course 10 min out, I had to pee like crazy. So while scanning my arks, I peed in my pee jug on the move ( I was quite proud of myself) as well. Well soon after the OC's tank broke down and he took ours. So we switched tanks ( so we do the maintainance) and the pee jug was still sitting half full! (he he he) well i thought it would be no big deal because it would only be for a couple of hours. Well I was wrong it was about 24hrs and I guess it started to smell like piss (Oooops) and my sgt had to throw it out! needless to say the gunner got retarded/ discusted over at as well as my Crew Commander for some reason. Although if you've read the other blogs or emails, he has the mentality of a 12 yr old boy!!! yeah I thought it was hilarious. Well aparently its discusting but really what else am i suppost to do. I really dont care and after i write this, i will be bugging my medic friend for another jug (he he he he). Its amusing how squirmy and discusted guys get over something like that though! I am sure its a lack of maturity but thats just me.

anyways, thats life so far, to add I am probably staying another month! I might get even more benefits out of the deal but unfortunately i will probably miss sienna being born!!! It depends It will be 2-4 weeks, so we'll see how things go!!

well love you guys miss you!