5 posts tagged “us army”

gross gross gross...
what is it with dogs and "cleaning up' after the cats?

*gag*
must be one of the most REVOLTING smells ever.

makes me quite ill.

so that damn dog is kicked out of my room and she can grumble and snorf and growl and whimper and be a pain in the butt, BUT FROM THE PASSAGE WHERE I CAN'T SMELL HER BREATH!

ANYHOO...

Been looking at gifts for the boy, for his 24th, at the end of June.
I want to get him something unique, original, special... something that shows him how much I love him, and makes him think of me every time he sees it...

I also want to get another tattoo - had some ideas and sent an email to my tattoo artist friend, see what he says about it... if he has any ideas as well...

"Ani LeDoddi VeDoddi Li"

A few updates:
Yes, I got that job in the HellDesk.
Full time. 8am to 4:30pm.
Which means getting up at 0530, leaving home at 0615 and getting to work by 0700, or I fight my way through traffic for an hour and a half.
Joy.
I only fall asleep, if I'm lucky, around 0230.
So I am one TIRED little geek girl.

I have too many house sitting gigs lined up.
I am tired just thinking about it. Start next week with the first one.
No pets. Will be quiet. No internet either. will be boring.
But it's during the week anyway - so I basically come home, eat, shower, sleep, wake up early.. no time for anything else really.
Haven't done much photography recently - too exhausted on the weekends - but still getting orders...
OH!
My photobook got listed on Amazon... check it out!
http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Choice-Andrea-Lindenberg/dp/B002ACW0E0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244295916&sr=8-5

I'm kinda stoked, actually - a Lulu pilot program that included me!
I'll see what comes of it, and I definitely need to make a new photobook with updated photos and a new theme too...

I trimmed my fringe - it was annoying me - I think I did a pretty good job.
I am going to dye my hair "ruby red" a bit later... see how that turns out - since the blonde thing ain't happened...
Just a change.. it's a dark ruby red... so more reddy brown, but not auburn...
I'll see what my hair decides it will turn out as though...

Went out to the Marine Bar last night - first time since.. wow.. November last year!
They've revamped it - it looks awesome!
All warm colours and nice lighting and a very cool poker table and also a new pool table (Bridgeport)... I even managed to win a few games. The other table I don't I ever won once... but I blamed it on the skewness and the bumps in the felt!
Met Bud, and Jeff and Chris - no, not Marines. Guys working there on the new security fencing etc at the Consulate. Cool dudes. Chris was born and raised on Oahu, in Hawaii - he has such a cool accent :) He joined the US Army at age 18, and was also stationed at Schofield, like the boy. But obviously, WAY back - he said '79 to '82 or something! He was very cool. I didn't get to talk to Jeff much, but he has a really fun laugh and a lovely accent too.
Bud was cool too - married a saffy girl a while back, and has a young daughter here.

Met one of the new Marines - John Oh - he was born in Korea, but went to the US when he was 7. Joined the Marines!
He's tiny, but a sweety from what I could gather. Didn't talk to him much.
Didn't meet Joseph, the other Marine, but saw him wander off to Post in his camos. Made me miss my man SO much.
And hearing all the accents.

And I still haven't met Jeff, and he's been there the longest out of the n00bs.

Jason leaves end of the month I think.. or in July.. he hasn't got orders, just knows he's going to New Delhi! Can you imagine?! I think he'll do well though - he has a strange patience with developing nation people, like us. I wish him luck. (although he carries that with him at all times) Will miss him though! Half Italian, half Irish - makes for a crazy concoction!

Miss the boy something fierce.
and with the new Plan he's made... I guess i will just have to go on missing him for a while longer.
yes, hoping still to go to the States in December.
after that, it's back here.
guess i'll just make my own plans and stuff.
i want to move out.
i love my mom, love my animals, but i so desperately need my space.
and since i won't be going anywhere for a few years, i might as well do it when i get back.
Not this year though - will be saving for the trip.
Not sure if i have to buy the ticket or not.
Details are, as always, vague.
i'm adapting though.
I'm a tough cookie.
a Saffy through and through.

We move on.
 

at some point in your life, you reach a moment where you can g any way...
there are options
sometimes few
sometimes too many

i was pottering around a snooty upper class food store, in an upper class neighbourhood (i was house sitting in the area... i love pitching up in my skadonky car, leaking oil and backfiring and roaring away and smelling of wet dog and fumes, slipping into the best parking spots and smiling brightly at the snooty people in their expensive sedans and SUV's that get washed every day and wouldn't DARE to exude anything except perhaps the expensive perfume of the gucci-covered and well groomed woman in the drivers seat....) blissfully unaware of what was coming....

I had said goodbye to the boy on Tuesday - he was off to Germany... all was well with the world... we had Plans.

so... around 6pm i get a phone call. the line is terrible and the delay is even worse than the USA-SA line...
The boy. desperate. miserable. petrified.

He landed in Germany. Had hardly set foot on tarmac, and he was told he was, in fact, joining the 1-2 INF, in Schweinfurt, instead of the training unit in Grafenwoehr...

and. added bonus. this unit was being deployed to Afghanistan in November.
yes folks. November. yes. Afghanistan.
that's ... *counts on fingers* ... 3 months away.
i asked if he was making some sick little joke. because sometimes we do that.
he wasn't.
he also said that the barracks were shyte and he hadn't met any of the other members of his unit (except one lonely soul who had ALSO just arrived, and knew nothing) as they were all at Grafenwoehr, being trained for the deployment.

I was calm, gentle, soothing... we both felt better after hearing each others voice. i desperately needed to hear him, that's for sure. and he said he felt the same and he felt much better. and he loved me. and i loved him.

we said goodbye. and the moment he hung up. i burst into tears. not pretty little "oh woe is me" tears. but great big SOBBY tears and heaving chest and gulping air. my legs also chose that moment to go utterly limp and i collapsed into a heap in the bread aisle. luckily i didn't upset any shelves.
i sat there, crying, with the phone in my hand. unable to stand.
of course, i was politely ignored by the snooty people in the store. In my riding gear and wellington boots, with ruffled helmet hair and a dirty face (because i HUG my horses) i stood out like a sore thumb... they were _not_ going to associate with this crazy cretin.
i eventually found enough strength to stand up. i left all my shopping right there next to the baskets of lovely expensive bread. and i wobbled out of there, still sobbing.
Suffice it to say, i won't be going back to THAT store.

After sobbing most of the night. and sleeping fitfully, curled in a little ball.
i decided that enough was enough. it wasn't helping anyway, and i wanted to be strong for the boy, when he next called.

the boy called again (all these calls are from a crappy payphone in his barracks, because - thinking he'd be staying a bit longer in germany, long enough to get a new one - he had cancelled his US phone contract on Monday!
he had no internet access (everything was locked down and he knew nobody to ask for access - and there was nobody helpful around, except the Other New Guy, who knew NOTHING) and it was HOT AS HELL (first thing he said was "do you know that germans don't have AC? it's seriously hot here.") as Germany, and most of Europe, are experiencing a wonderful heatwave.. hottest summer in 20 years or something...
and in walks my american sweetheart who is used to AC in his home, in his car and everywhere else too!

all his gear (and precious Carmen too!) arrives soon, but he will hardly have time to unpack it, and it will all have to go back into storage when he deploys!!
so say he is UTTERLY MISERABLE would be an understatement.

and so was i.
BUT. I refuse to give in. I will be strong for him.
So. Along comes Plan B.
I am busy sorting out money for a ticket to Germany. A shengen visa. and "expenses" (cos the germans won't let you in without money) and hopefully will leave at the end of the month.

it's just the money thing is proving difficult.

I will stay there until he deploys.
5 days or 5 hours or 5 minutes - i don't care, as long as i get to be with him. I'll take anything.

Then. I will come home. Do the I.T contracts that are lined up for me (just can't do them now, as i would not be finished in time to go to Germany) pay off more debts. and buy a ticket to Dubai.
I will stay in Dubai (earning GROOT GELD) while he is deployed... that way, we could even see each other on weekends, and when he gets RnR.... depending on what his unit ends up doing, and where they end up being ordered to go, of course... but it's closer than Cape Town, and less expensive than Germany, and they all speak English!
And we'll take it from there...

So right now... i'm desperately seeking the R20K i need to go to Germany.
thinking of ways to get it ASAP.
some options.... some more difficult than others...
but i'm willing to put in the time and effort - he is worth it.

so that's my life right now.

The Army changes their mind more than a socialite in a shoe store.
But i'm learning to deal with it.
You roll with the punches. you dodge and weave and sidestep. and there's ALWAYS a Plan B.... Plan C ... Plan D...

The boy called me now (and i called back, of course) while driving back from the course he's meant to be taking...
he had to skip it today (which is a pity, because he's REALLY enjoying it!) because he just got notice that he has to be out of his barracks BY MONDAY!
He had till Aug 10th!
but the Army is being ratty, and now he has to rush around like an idiot today, and then this weekend... trying to get things done that he thought he had plenty of time to do!!
PLUS, his body armour got stolen... so he has to pay for that ("a good $1000" he said...)
i mean.. who STEALS body armour, on an army post?!?
what FOR? everyone gets issued with it...
very weird. and VERY annoying for the boy.
shame. :(

so, to say he's stressed would be putting it RATHER mildly.

poor thing! wish i could help, but it's all mil stuff that only he can do...

i sent his birthday package today... shit.
definitely won't get there in time!
Maybe Bravo can send it on for the boy...?

and there's something in there for Bravo too, cos it was his birthday today...
bugger!!
the Army LOVES to mess up plans, don't they?

ok.
so the boy's deployment details have changed radically.
he's no longer going to Germany first (from august)..
he is now, apparently, just going with a unit, straight from Hawaii, back to Iraq. September or November.

So now.
i HAVE to get to Hawaii.
I was hoping to go to Germany in September (as it's way cheaper to get a ticket... about half the price of a ticket to Hawaii) but now that's not an option.

So Hawaii here I come.
I just have to do it.

So. I need money.
urgenly, and in large amounts.

i'm working my ass off, but every little bit helps.

so please buy my art.
also - any suggestions on how to get some relatively easy money, quickly, would be appreciated.

i'm going to be sending some stock photos in to iStock... since the new camera is so spiffy she makes everything look good, and the quality is superb.

HELP. STOP.
SEND MONEY.
STOP.
I NEED TO FLY.
STOP.