Defiantone.com

I had a choice to make. I could root for the first team that could go undefeated or I could root for the underdog. I could root for a team in a conference and division that I didn’t really care about or I could root for a team in the conference that I watch the most. I could root for the team that everyone thought would easily win or I could root for the team that beat the Packers.

I chose the Giants - and it appears that I made a wise decision.

I missed watching large portions of the game due to work - yes, it happens. I was quite glad that the game was so close. More than anything else I wanted to watch a good game. There is nothing worse than watching a blowout. The last few minutes of the game were great - it reminded me of watching the Giants vs. Green Bay a few weeks ago - it was one of those endings that just got your heart racing.

Ok - its a shame that the Patriots couldn’t rewrite the record books. If they were in my conference, or playing against the Packers, I would have gladly cheered for them. Unfortunately, they were playing underdogs - and underdogs always know how much it takes to win.

I feel like writing something while knowing full well that I have little to share. I’ve mentioned almost everything of note in previous posts and there is very little that you don’t know about my experience while I am in Iraq. I still feel the need to post - but only time will tell what actually pops out of my head and ends up in this post.

I only work twelve hour days, six days a week. The work schedule really doesn’t bother me because I came here to work and it gives me a great feeling of accomplishment when my job makes a difference. Unfortunately for our foes, the difference it makes renders their skin unable to hold their body together as god intended.

When I’m not at work I have a few choices on how to spend my time. On work days I go through the same schedule: Wake, shave, gym, study, shower, eat, work, eat, work, eat, work, sleep. On my off days I have a few different choices because there are movies, games, video games, the gym, books, and volunteer work to keep me busy. The last two weeks I’ve done almost nothing productive save for reading a few hundred pages in a book. This week I think I’ll go to the (Iraq) Theater Hospital and do whatever they need me to do. Some people are thrown off my medical treatment - I’m not sure how I’m going to take it. I’ll probably only volunteer from six to midnight and then goof off the rest of the time but its better than doing nothing.

I have a book on the way that should prepare me to take one of my two final classes for my associates degree. I’m in need of a humanities class so I’m going to study world religion and take a DANTES test. I passed my last CLEP test without studying my I’m not so sure I could pass this one without reading up on it. I found a book for $6 on Amazon so I think its a fairly decent proposal - spend a few sheckels on a book, study it, and take a test. It sure beats going to a class for a few months.

I added some new photos to the gallery of the Mariners game last night. Jessica’s grandma was nice enough to provide tickets and let me fill one of the seats. I spent a chunk of money eating rather unhealthy but very tasty ballpark food. If you don’t have a strong gut you probably shouldn’t eat there. I think we are going to another game in a couple of weeks. It should be fun. You can check them out if you go to the gallery. They start on page six and continue for a couple of pages. I haven’t added any captions but you really don’t need them. Besides, writing all of the captions takes a whole lot of time and I’m just slightly lazy.

If only I could keep it up -

So, on Thursday night I spent the evening wearing a polo shirt that was provided to me as I stood directly next to the stage at a Faith Hill and Tim McGraw concert. For the evening I was a member of the security team. My only job was to be a visible presence, answer questions, and remove any fan that attempted to jump up on the stage. I only answered one question and nobody attempted to jump on the stage so it was a relatively boring evening. I’m not a fan of country music - save for Johnny Cash - so I almost fell asleep a few times. Jessica was with me and was watching from a different part of the floor. She was rather jealous of me and wished that I could have been sweat on by either one of them - I don’t quite get it. She had fun but it was an extremely long evening. If only it was music that I actually liked - Stevie Wonder would have been awesome.

Friday was another night of fun as we went to watch the Tacoma Rainiers play in a triple AAA game. I’m not a huge fan of watching baseball but when you go to the park there is a lot of other stuff to watch if you have little interest in the game. They also have two of my favorite food groups: brats and beer. I haven’t had a good brat in a while - you know, brat, bun, sour kraut, catsup ( or ketchup) - all the things that make it good. We were staying for the fireworks that were at the end of the game and I guess it was a good choice. The game was all tied up through the 9th inning and we gave up 5 runs in the top of the 10th. Three of them were from an unforced error… doh! Since the Rainiers hang out at the bottom of the standings I didn’t think they had a chance in hell of coming back from that one but a miracle happened and scored 6 runs. I was extremely tired by that point so I really didn’t care but it was one heck of an ending. There were fireworks after the game but I almost fell asleep. If I’m tired I’m willing to sleep almost anywhere.

Saturday - last night - I went to Katie’s house - she is one of Jessica’s friends. We imbibed large quantities of behavior influencing liquid. Needless to say…. I was inebriated. Good times were had by all.

The girl is making me pancakes right now - she could be a keeper. If only all of my time off of work was this enjoyable.

Last night peer pressure got the best of me. I was coerced into going out last night, on a school night, to go to the karaoke bar and engage in alcohol fueled shenanigans. While I didn’t want to spend any money while I was out I did want to spend time with other people in my class because its turns out they’re not all that bad. It takes me a while to mesh with other people and it appears that just as I’m about to leave I start to integrate with the group. Oh well, no matter, I’ll probably never see any of them in the future.
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I’ve been playing this game in my head for the last few days… its a dangerous game and I should never play it again. I often wonder why I’m so prone to play it.

While fighting through a cold that is doing its best to bring me to my knees I’ve been trying to think of some great words that could describe my thoughts on the time I have spent in the UK. After a few hours of musing on the subject, I don’t have anything that is all that groundshaking. My personal problems over the past few years have overshadowed the fun that I should have had in this country. For the most part, save for my small stint working in control, I haven’t had any problems at work. I’ve had excellent supervisors and great mentors thoughout my tenure here. But, because of all of that personal crap, I haven’t enjoyed myself as much as I should have. I hope to start new when I move tommorow and make a new beginning for myself. I’ve got the opportunity to start with a clean slate and leave all of my excess baggage behind.

Well, 8 hours until I get on a bus and I’ve got two football games to watch. I’ve got myself cranked on caffeine and sugar in an effort to counteract the decongestant. I’ll let you all know how it is when I get there but I’m expecting the best this time around.

Today I had the opportunity to travel to wilmington and go visit places many people take for granted. I got to go to the mall and best buy. Its amazing how convenient it is to go to two places and take care of all of your consumer based needs. I was able to get things at a great price because I didn’t have to worry about shipping or a crummy exchange rate. America rules!

I was eating lunch the other day while wearing my uniform and somebody came up and thanked me for doing what I do. I guess I never really think about my job and what I could be asked to do at a moments notice. There are many other dangerous jobs out there where people die… those people don’t get much attention but when you spend your time trying to defend everyone else I guess you stand out of the crowd. I’m modest about the whole thing because I tend to think of it as a job, the rest just sits in the back of my mind and I don’t worry about it because I know that we are trying to do the right thing. Sometimes politicians and SECDEF make insane decisions on poor information that affect us all… I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.

Got drunk last night…. today has been painful. It was the first time that I’ve been out and got drunk in quite a while. Long islands are very painful…

College football is on but I’m in the wrong part of the country because they keep on showing games that I don’t give a crap about. The same holds true for the NFL. Iowa State won the other day and actually had an offense that could get the job done. In the past I would have never thought they could score if playing against four year olds…. sure, they were playing against a bobo team but at least they won. Ok… thats enough rambling from me.

The bumps are quite minor and are nothing more than inconveniences but they are things I can deal with and get over. My largest problem is that the bed in my room is from the mid 70’s. It should have been retired a LONG time ago but they decided that whoever rents that time share should suffer. I’ve been sleeping on the floor for the past few days and it is better than the bed. I’m going to wally world to get an air mattress so my problem should be solved.

We had a “tropical storm” last night and I couldn’t tell that there was anything to be worried about. I’ve seen thunderstorms do WAY more damage and recieve WAY less attention from the media. The water at the beach did surge by about 10 feet but it was way below any point where one might worry. When I get internet in my room I’ll edit a few video clips together and show you what I saw… from my room.

Work has been slow so far… we’ll get busy in the future. There isn’t much more that I can say on that.

Iowa state won… in an insane game the other night. I’m glad I’ve got Sportscenter in the morning before work to watch all of the highlights. I miss some of the minor things many people take for granted when they live in the US. You don’t know how good you’ve got it until you don’t have it anymore.

So, here is yet another edition of I have too much time on my hands I have a need to ejaculate everything that is sitting in my head (ka-chunk ka-chunk…. I don’t think anyone that didn’t go to high school with me will get THAT reference). First off, I have a myspace account… and I really don’t know why. I’m such an antisocial creature that does his very best to obliterate positive relationships in such a total fashion that developing relationships should be avoided at all costs. Lets face the facts, its worth it for a while but then it degrades into a world of shit. What am I to do? Absolutely nothing! I can be, at times, a horrible individual and just not care whom I effect. I’m not going to do anything about it, I’m just going to find people with tougher skin who are unaffected by my brand of bullshit. The odd thing about the whole myspace thing is that I actually get visitors here (I don’t post much of anything there… in fact, all I really have it for is to keep addresses (or contact information) of people and I use it to find new music… I’ve found some decent stuff out there and its a shame that I can’t find it in a store…

I’m one of those people that wants NON DRM music only and won’t take anything else. If your CD has some arcane copy protection on it that prevents me from ripping it into mp3…. I won’t buy it, you said fuck you to me and I’ll only return the gesture…

I’m sure there are a few of you that are still wondering why I chose the verb ejaculate. It does have more than one use and some of us try to use it occasionally.

I’m never going to get out of debt because I am impulsive. If I am to get out of debt I must stop buying stupid things that I really don’t need. I need to get a second job or win the lottery… the odds of winning the lottery are so abysmal that my only option is to work a second job. Its a shame there isnt a biological research company around here because I could make a few hundred bucks a month donating plasma and other bodily fluids. One would think the techs would be donating all they could… it would be like overtime pay but without all of the well… overtime.

My fitness regimine is working for now, my entire body hurts as I’ve changed what the hell I’m doing. In fact, it feels like the very first couple of weeks when I first started lifting weights etc. I need to give myself a little more time here and there to recover but its all working out.

I’ve been spending (wasting) my time on a computer game lately but many other people do much the same thing. I do have books that I wish to read (in my house) but I have yet to start them. When I read, I tend to do little else but read… I often fail to eat… I don’t get enough sleep… the books consume me… Yes, I tend to be a little obsessive compulsive about things in my life…

ok, thats about it for now

if you haven’t thought it before, I’m sure that you’re thinking that I’m mostly nuts… you might be mostly correct sir! (insert ed mcmahon hi-ohh! here)