Deploying Is Hard

Over the past 3 days I have internationally hitch hiked over 3 continents. As you all know, I was set to deploy this January, and well, I did. I'm in Egypt right now, boys and girls. And it was not easy by any stretch of the word to get here.

We left Fort Campbell on the morning of January 10th. Our flight was to leave out of Nashville so we were bussed to the airport. We checked all our 50+ pound duffle bags and thought we were good to go. After waiting on our delayed flight to Newark, NJ for a few hours, the flight up and got cancelled from under us! My Commander had to scramble to get all 28 of us on some flight, some way, somehow. 

So we flew to Houston, TX. Our original flight from Newark was supposed to take us to Frankfurt, Germany. Well that was totally out of the picture now, as we had to travel through London, England instead. Of course we waited nearly 8 hours in Houston before we could board the redeye to London.

 

Once in London, which certainly isn't Frankfurt, we had to beg for a flight into Cairo from Egypt Air. They were very displeased with our last minute 28 passenger request. It was hell trying to get our 50+ pound duffle bags transferred from one airline to the next in one country to the next. We waited in London for another 8 hours. 

 

I ate some DELICIOUS fish and chips in London.

When we finally landed in Cairo, Egypt and we deplaned onto the runway, the smell hit me immediately. It was very early in the morning and it was that familiar damp, standing water and garbage smell that Iraq has. I never thought I'd smell that again. 

Immigration and customs were a breeze to get through. Our baggage came around the carousel. Duffle bag after duffle bag. 56 were supposed to come out. Only 53 made it all the way from Nashville to Cairo. It was pretty amazing we didn't lose more, but absolutely devastating to the people who lost an entire duffle. The worst part is, all 56 duffles were tagged wrong. When we had to switch planes to go to Houston, the guys in Nashville who loaded our heavy duffles were pissed and slapped anyone's new tag on any duffle. So the missing bags in Cairo can't really be tracked because the tag for their bag made it to the destination, but not their actual bag. Huge disaster!

We got shuffled to the coldest damn terminal in the Cairo airport where we waited with the remaining duffles for another 4 hours. That's where the Czech Air Force picked us up and brought us to North Sinai, Egypt.
 

I have never had a more tiring trip ever. Ever.  3 days in airports is absolutely bad. But I'm here now, and I'm ready for this adventure to start!

Facebook Best Friends

I took a stupid Facebook quiz. I don't usually mess around with those because they ask for access to your personal information and photos and who knows what the heck they're going to use them for. But a few of my friends did this "Who is your best friend on Facebook" quiz and the lure of the unknown sucked me in.

Who!? Who could it be?

When I refer to this thing as a "quiz", I'm using the term extremely loose. Since the only thing I did was click the link, agree to have my privacy invaded, and then (almost) sign up for a Zoosk account. Zoosk is online dating-- but shitty. It's online booty call dating. I stopped agreeing to things when this page came up. But anyway, in the meantime, Facebook looked into their crystal ball... and revealed to me who my Facebook best friend is.

It was James!

 

How lucky am I that a social media platform could decipher through my personal info (which they pilfered) and photographs (also pilfered) that James and I are together A LOT and might be, in fact, best friends?

Amazing.

Sugar Skull

I had my lower left arm filled in over the past few weeks. Last night I had the color tattooed. It's finished enough for me to deploy for 9 months and not long for a finished tattoo. Background and the rest of my left arm when I redeploy from Egypt and complete my sleeve. :)

 

 

 

 

Snow In The New Year

Happy 2014 y'all!

James and I rang in the new year super lame and stayed home. I had been feeling sick (NOT hung over, thank you very much) and didn't want to be out in public. We stayed in and let off fireworks at midnight.

We are 2 days into the new year and Mother Nature got frigid cold and took a big snow dump on Clarksville, TN. This is our first real snow of the year... (duh)... well, first real snow of the winter season! And Picasso hates it. He's seen snow before. Last Christmas he saw a lot of snow in Iowa. But having experience with it didn't make him appreciate the "winter wonderland" outside our doors when it came time for him to walk through it to go potty.

 

 

 

The potty venture was quick, and he immediately hauled ass back to the door to go back in. Picasso is an indoor kind of guy. He wasn't trying to deal with me calling his name and making enticing clicking noises to get him to look at me, so I couldn't get a picture of his unhappy bulldog face. Not amused at all. We He was very set on being back on the couch.

According to weatherchannel.com, it's not going to get any warmer or less snowy any time too soon. Picasso might have to wear a sweater when we go out from here on out... James will be so embarrassed.... :)

Foot Treatment

I found this picture on Facebook and it intrigued me:
 

Looks relaxing.

 

I'm skeptical. This could be because I am biased. I have THE WORST Army feet. My feet are always cracking and peeling. Skin absolutely refuses to stay alive and healthy on my feet. James has nicer feet than me and he's with the Infantry. My feet are disgusting.

I figured I'd give it a shot. Put it to the test. If it didn't work, oh well, the only ingredient I had to go out and buy was vinegar. If it did work, then the skin sloughing party would at least be medically interesting.

So I mixed it all up. I tripled the recipe since this concoction is obviously for people with a normal amount of dead skin on their feet. I sat on the couch and dunked my feet. It smelled really... strong. Picasso didn't want anything to do with it and it kinda hurt my eyes to be so close to it.

 

Slightly less spa-like.

 

Stupidly, I started this experiment while James was out of the house and I didn't get a towel out beforehand. So I was stuck in the stinky water for way longer than the recommended 10 minutes. After about a half an hour, my feet started to dye blue from the mouthwash. No! Blue feet were not what I was going for!

 

I did what I had to do, I scooted on my butt into my kitchen while pushing the bin with my feet ahead of me. Slowly, as to not slosh this stinky liquid everywhere.

After I scooted all the way to the stove and wiped my feet off with the hand towel, I anxiously inspected my feet for signs of dead skin I could "wipe away".

Pffffffft. What a rip off. All I was left with was a bunch of blue dead skin all over my feet. I guess I'm going to have to go get a professional pedicure tomorrow and horrify the ladies with my gross blue Army feet.

They didn't picture very blue, but BELIEVE me, they're blue!

 

 

Ice!

Mom and Dad came to visit for Christmas this year! So I took them to Nashville for the first time the day after Christmas. We went to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Ice! exhibit. Every year it's a different theme and this year it was Frosty the Snowman.

Ice! is an ice sculpture walk through held in a 9 degree event building behind the hotel. There were light blue parkas that were being handed out to everyone before you enter the exhibit, but Dad was the only one who was willing to play along with that. James, Mom and I decided being cold was better than wearing someone else's coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibit was really cool! I've never seen anything like it. It was cold, obviously more so for the three of us who refused the parka. And busy, obviously since it was the day after Christmas. But very fun. There were even ice slides you could go down. We did not slide, however, as we are all a bunch of Scrooges.

Cancer?

Today I decided I have cancer of the neck. I told my best friend, Rosie, and she immediately freaked out, like a best friend is likely to do. I tried to take a picture of it, to prove my cancerous bump was indeed what I believed it to be: cancer.

 

It didn't photograph well. In fact, it didn't photograph at all.

 

 

I have a small bump on the back of my neck, which, unfortunately, refused to photograph. I don't have any way to prove to the internet masses that it actually exists. Other than taking my word as a medical professional...

 

Luckily, I live with another medical professional, and James' diagnosis was an ingrown hair.

 

Pffft. I'm remaining firm in my self diagnosis of cancer.

Christmas Party

My Battalion Christmas party was a few days ago on Friday night. Although not officially mandatory fun, my Platoon Sergeant told us it was HIGHLY encouraged and then assigned us items to bring. This made the event mandatory.

I was assigned to bring stuffing. So I went to Walmart and bought 4 boxes of Stove Top stuffing for $1.75 per box and whipped that greatness up for my contribution to the party.

The Christmas party was blah. James and I didn't really want to be there. I made sure I spoke to my Battalion Command Sergeant Major and Commander. I also made it a point to talk to my First Sergeant and Platoon Sergeant to ensure important people in my chain of command saw my face at the party. We left without eating. I abandoned my stuffing.

When I went back to work on Monday, a lot of the Christmas decorations were still hanging around in the motorpool bay. I don't recall this particular decoration during the party, but it must have been there. Behold, the creepiest Christmas decoration in existence:

 

Look at it's eyes!!

I think it's a snowman. I'm sure it looked better at the party. Perhaps the examination gloves were less deflated... and maybe the nose wasn't so dreadfully out of proportion. However it looked originally is completely unknown to me. But it's sitting in front of my supply cage and now it's absolutely horrifying. I can't wait for Christmas to be over so someone will clean this scary thing up!!

3 More Years

Well... the Army is getting 3 more years of service from me.

 

 

I reenlisted today, on Friday the 13th, right before Battalion Suicide Stand Up day. I figured I'd need all that suicide prevention training I could get after signing my life over to Uncle Sam for 3 more years.

 

Just kidding!

 

I had my favorite nurse, Major Perkins, reenlist me today. She's been one of the best mentors and biggest inspiration I have had while being stationed at Fort Campbell. I'm really honored she took time out to participate in my ceremony. She kicks ass!

 

My reenlistment opportunities were slim this go around. The only options I had were needs of the Army (which is just as scary as it sounds-- it gives the Army permission to do just about anything to you) or stabilization (which will keep me in my current unit at Fort Campbell for 12 months). I chose stabilization. It's not like it really mattered. I'm going to be in Egypt for the majority of my stabilization.

 

I'm so proud to serve another 3 years, and can't wait for my next reenlistment window to open so I can reenlist to be indefinite in the Army and complete a 20 year career. Hooah! Go Army!

9 Inches Lighter

James and I went home to Iowa to see my parents for Thanksgiving. We had a really nice holiday. While I was home, I went shopping with Mom on Black Friday. It's not what you're thinking. We didn't wake up at 0300 to assault Walmart or wait in line outside Best Buy. No, instead we went out around noon and went to Pier 1 Imports and Kohls. The rush of crazy deal seekers had passed by the time we started shopping. I got a super cute yellow purse and a hair cut.

 

I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while. My hair was excessively long. So long that the ends would curl because they rested in my lap when I sat down. Having long hair is really cool looking but it's not really cool to find 2 foot hairs everywhere in the house. I find hair woven into my clothes from the dryer. I find hair floating through the air. I find hair in the refrigerator! It's everywhere.

 

I cut 9 inches of hair off.

 

 

I feel so light without the hair. And for the first few days I really liked it. But now that I've gone back to work and have to wear it in a bun, I regret cutting it so short. I have a tiny ridiculous bun on the back of my head now. I wear a bun way more often than not, so I will be growing my hair back to the excessive length it was.

 

I'm still finding 2 foot long hairs everywhere in the house, but eventually that will pass. And eventually my hair will be really long again and I can bitch about finding it in the fridge and start this vicious cycle all over again.