I remember calling the guy who places me in new jobs (called a "detailer") many months ago, trying to figure out what I was doing next. I decided I needed to make up for a couple of years of cushy jobs by taking something hard. I told him Afghanistan, Iraq or Horn of Africa - I figured they're always looking for people to fill the slots, but I was wrong. They had nothing for me. A couple of years ago you couldn't beg someone into an augmentee job. So he told me he had a job for me in a certain 5-sided building sunken city of complex, non-euclidean geometry.
I tried to explain the difference between the building and Afghanistan. "One place is a meatgrinder and a hazard to life, limb and career. The other is a country in Central Asia." It didn't work. Here I am.
...it's the (stupid) Al Qaeda wannabees looking for friends who will help them blow you up.
Of course, you'd be right to point out that I am a volunteer and I didn't have to stay in as long as I did to get to work where I do and when I do. And you'd be right. Then I could point out that we also wouldn't be here if our civilian leadership had had a better notion of grand strategy and the use of the military as part of the continuum of foreign policy and not the sole source of foreign policy for the last 15 years or so, and I'd be right.
But I wanna' play the victim today, and hindsight is always 20-20. Still doesn't change the fact that I eat my breakfast a mere few hundred yards from people who are trying to kill me. They won't succeed...
I've been doing the Crossfit thing for the last month or so; it's been good for ripping about 15 lbs or so off my fat ass. I had to scale this workout though (did 5 rounds and only 20 reps of each exercise) because let's face it - I'm not in the shape these gals are in. Not even close.
Whatever. I'm out of time and out of bullshit. Long drive ahead of me tomorrow back up to the Land of Lovecraft to hang with the family this weekend. I'll have time to think about the (non-) plot of my writing next month.
Life pretty much revolves around commuting right now. Since graduating, I've been moved to a job in DC R'lyeh. Instead of ripping my family out of a house, community and school system (this time one we actually LIKE) yet again, we made the decision that I would be the one to go and I would visit the family as much as possible.
Driving to or from work in DC R'lyeh is a laughable proposition, so I take the train. For those who have never taken the Metro, please share in the experience:
The 6 am trains aren't that bad. Not very crowded, and it's easy to tune everyone out with headphones, put on some classical, and read a good book.
Weekends are a different story. For all but two since I've been here (the end of July) I've headed back north to RI. This is where you find out how much the I-95 Corridor FUCKING BLOWS. (Flights are fairly inexpensive; would that I had the $800+ per month to fly back every weekend.) So I've spent much of my time thinking about how to get from the Beltway to RI as quickly as possible by car. The best way I've found (north to Scranton, PA then east on I-84 to RI) still takes 8-9 hours depending on traffic. Until this past Friday.
The view from my weekend...
Average speed was about 1.5 mph for about two hours. When in the middle of a traffic jam I often find myself wondering if it was caused by someone being an idiot and, if it was, if the bastard who caused it "paid" enough. I guess this poor, dumb bastard did. Interestingly, knowing what had caused it made the situation easier to bear. No, not because I was glad the dude got shot and killed. (But, dumbfuck, don't pull a gun on a state cop unless you really, really mean it. And if you have a firearm, it helps not to draw attention to yourself by stealing vehicles.)
Coming back today was similar, but different. I need to take some rural side roads, and passing through a local Fall Arts Festival delayed me for an hour. Hmmmm...Fall Arts Festival. On Columbus Day. I wonder if it used to be a Columbus Day Festival. But not anymore. Now we all have to feel guilty about the course of history. I find recent bitching about holidays to be annoying. All the wingnuts want you to be suitably penitent and somber on any holiday dealing with the military, and want you to thank a vet for every single holiday. And if you're not a Christian you should remain in bed and only breathe just enough of their air so you don't die on December 25th. And if you're a moonbat then any holiday - period - is at its very root a celebration of genocide.
So I had contemplated making a handy-dandy do-it-yourself holiday admonishment mad-lib-like thingy where you could choose from three columns and mix and match to make a silly sentence like
"Don't wash your car on Labor Day because you're just celebrating genocide by giving money to the evil car wash", or
"Don't fart on Thanksgiving because this is a Christian country and Jesus will sic the veterans on your ungrateful ass."
Instead, I'd invite you to make up your own.
But where was I? Oh, back to the driving. I don't always mind the long delays or the long drive. It gives me time to listen to the classic hard rock / metal station on Sirius and remember my misspent youth. Lots of repetition, but lots of good driving songs. Like this old favorite of mine. For some reason, the pedal always hits the floor.
"Don't floor the accelerator when you hear Billy Squier. You're just memorializing Hitler when you do!"
.JPG)
