Another Year, and an inspirational Speach

Another year, and still more changes.

I know, I’m not very good at keeping this blog updated, but I could not see the point in having a long running commentary about my life. No thanks. But even still, I have a blog, might as well use it a bit.

My views on military life has not changed, in fact I am finding I like it more and more. Like any path in life, there are bits I dislike, but like all others I get over it and move on.

I was actually looking back at some of my previous posts…It was horrifying to see so many grammar errors and…how different my attitude was back then. The amount of complaints and similar bits in my Vacation postings was horrifying, and then my physical condition…well that left much to be desired. Thankfully Military sorted out the physical…mostly. As for my writing…well I get better at that as time goes on and I learn.

From my last post I will state I did finally leave Tech School and am now doing my actual job. There are bits I dislike, but like stated earlier that is the same no matter where you go. But for the most part I do greatly love what I do. Even on the days where it seems I don’t, I do. It’s a weird thing, but it works for me for the most part.

I have more than just my actual job to do. Even as a military they expect you to advance within your job, it takes work and while I have advanced in some areas there are others I am still working on. But once that is done, I will have some room to breathe and concentrate a bit more on some of my personal goals.

That is another thing I am liking, the military wants you to set and achieve personal goals. They see it as the best way for you to advance, for as you excel in your personal life, you will be able to bring what you have back to the force and improve all. And also so that when you leave, you are more set up and ready to go.

Now some of my goals aren’t so academic in that regard.

One, technically two and currently the most expensive, is to fix up my vehicles. Yes that S is meant to be there, I own two vehicles. One kept dying on me thanks to bad electronic jobs; the other has a broken piece (it is still drive able, I just need to mind how I drive) that I got when I became fed up with the electric problems. Though recently the one with the electric problems…while we figured out the source I decided to go and give it some body damage and make it slightly more worrisome to drive until fixed (and that is NOT cheap). So that needs done…

The other is slightly better and a bit longer term, I am aiming to build a really good desktop computer. It’s going to be awhile, but I have no problem with that, I planned on that from the beginning.

I have several more goals laying around, some are more academic others not so much. But it is life and I am working on it all.

Though given world events…I sometimes wonder if I’ll get to achieve some of those goals.

*Warning: Inspirational Styled Speech ahead. You have been warned*

A lot has happened in the last year, and even more is coming. There is a lot I don’t keep track of, what I do is through the news that I see at work (my home TV doesn’t like me at all), through family, or through Facebook (and then I go and research after that just to figure it out sometimes). But what I do see…we are having problems.

The rather bad Iran Deal (the idea is good but the implementation was bad). The shootings throughout the country. The growing strength of hostiles the world over. The growing unrest here at home.

It’s bad. And there are many, many times when I wonder how long is it going to be when I have to be afraid to exit this base? When I have to take worry if I’ll even be on this base tomorrow. When I really have to dive into my training just to get through the day.

There are many days, when instead of joking with friends, I worry about this and think, “What is coming? And when is it going to get here?”

Some say that is my job, and to a degree that might be true. But I am still a person that wants to see the best in the world when I know it is filled with horrors. I don’t want to have to think about who I know that might be here one second and gone the next even though I just saw them a few minutes ago and now their dead because of someone else’s decisions.

Others will say that is the world we all face. If so…you don’t know the military.

To be a member of an armed force, to be a member of the public services, that means that every day we got out and have a target painted squarely at our backs.

Look at the last few months, weeks even. Policemen, servicemen, shot for wearing a uniform, a target (And there are protest that have encouraged this). Recruiting stations and a guard base in Tennessee, attacked. All because they were servicemen who chose to service so that others may live peaceful lives. We wear the Target, so that you have the opportunity to not see the horror.

And when the public sees the horror…they only see a small portion, sometimes the most horrifying and least common…and things get worse. From such a small snapshot, a snapshot that doesn’t always show the whole picture, the world darkens just a little more

I live in a dark world, a darker world that most even realize, and I fear, almost feel, it getting darker. But I will cling to the light I have left with all I have and I WILL fight for it! For though I have a target on my back, I am a member of the United States Military, and this target will not go silently into the night, I will fight with all I have to keep that light. For if I have light within me, no matter how small, no matter how fragile, I can share with it others so that they too may come out of the darkness and see the beauty in this world and in its people.

Some say that we are moving forwards as a country.

But how can we when we strike those who strive to protect us?

How can we when we chose to only look at what we hear and see from the small snapshot and not truly look at the full picture to understand what is REALLY going on?

How can we be moving forward when all we are doing is looking behind us and living in the past?

How can we? When we really should be looking at those around use, and work with them to heads towards the future, to tomorrow!

It’s a dark world out there, and I’m just one light fighting with all my might to hold back the darkness. I know there are others, but we all shine in different colors and different shades, and many do not shine together. We few strive to hold back the darkness together when we find each other.

Much like the old saying goes "United we stand, divided we fall.” So to do our lights, by ourselves we will hold as long as we can, but we will eventually be stuffed out.

Be it from giving up the fight, from falling from grace, from misguided paths, from losing the will to continue on, or to taking that last load and being stuffed out completely.

I stand with the few lights I can find, and we’ll strive to keep back the darkness, but we are few. I know there are more out there, and if enough came forward we would shine like a star in that darkness. Casting light into the far reaches of the world, showing a beautiful image. And though we may fade, like a star, the death of one star gives rise to many more, so while we fade the younger generations will shine where and when we cannot.

I hope more will join us, you need not be a service member to be a light. Merely a positive voice, inspiring others to do what is right, not from a small snapshot, but from the whole picture. A picture gained from looking for all the facts and not taking everything at face value. By being a good person, one who cares and supports for those around them as best they can.

I fight this darkness by protecting you, but you are my fuel source. You are the reason I keep shinning in this darkness. I cannot do this alone, so please don’t make me. Shine with me, and help us show those around us that they darkness they see, that surrounds them, is fleeting. Partake in them some of your light, the light I hope I have shared with you, so that we may all stop living in the past, and starting moving towards tomorrow. A beautiful tomorrow lit up by the light a star.

*Inspirational Styled Speech done*

Now, with the inspirational portion of my mind complete. I look forward to the future, while enjoying today. I have done a few things here and there to stay busy, and I have been working towards my goals more and more. I will TRY to do better at updating these. Heck it might make get my head back into the many stories I’ve fallen out of typing lately, I do hope.

But until I post again, I wish you all happy reading, and a good life. Shine on.

Day 23 Saturday 7/13

Well we are nearing the end, only a few more days…where did the time go? And speaking of time, wake up was normal and all that stuff, but sadly we left late, by an hour. I know not normal for us but we all started moving a tad late and we had a large amount of things to do for some reason. But hey, It doesn’t matter there isn’t really much planned for today, we just want to take it easy as we head off to our next spot.

Eventually we reached the state border, I don’t rightfully remember which one we went into but I am will to say it was Nevada. Which meant we also crossed a time zone and thus gained another hour. A little thing about time changes, you mind understands them, but your body doesn’t…and thus causes a good amount of trouble when you are traveling. And on that note of traveling…the Nevada desert gets old after a while, sure there are a good amount of hills and the small mountains, but come on it’s all dirt and the small bush. So as you can tell…I was getting fed up with just looking at the same old same old after a while.

And around lunch, local time, the course of our vacation hits. We have a tire problem on the RV. One of the rear passenger tires decided it was to be a pain. So we had to pull out at the next exit and replace the thing. And as luck is luck, Nevada heat is at our backs….and extremely hot tires at our fingertips. It was so not a fun experience, but then again it never is. But it was nice to be done with it and for us to continue on with our trip.

But as our luck had it, we didn’t have to go that far before we got off the freeway anyways, this time for a gas stop. It really was sad that we couldn’t haven at least gotten to the gas station, but apparently our luck had decided to flee us.

Well I should say our plan was to fill up, but apparently we dad decided against it given it would have been too difficult to get into it, so instead we went to a different gas station, a “nearby” Costco. And like always, once filled up we were off.

Around 1:30 we got to our stop for the day, and no I did not miss putting in Lunch because we hadn’t had it at this point yet….which meant I was HUNGRY! Well that was eventually settled, and then mom and dad went off to fix a tire while me, sister and nana stayed back and settled into our slowly cooling RV while it was boiling hot outside….why is Las Vegas always hot? Like over a hundred whenever we come here?

Well anyways it was decided we would brave the heat so we could go get dinner, thankfully we just had to walk to the nearby casino and walk through it to get to where we wanted to eat. And then when done with that…I had to move quickly back to the RV to drop some leftovers off then haul my butt back into the building, for we had decided to watch a movie.

The movie being the newest Star Trek, was I really quiet liked. And because of it, I am sitting here thinking about everything I write and how it would sound with Scotty’s accent. Damn that movie, even it was good.

Tomorrow….oh tomorrow…that is when we should begin our final trek home. The last several hours until we are back in California, the mountains, real mountains, and the grand city I have grown up in and still don’t know what is where. But hey, it’s LA as long as you know what the building looks like and the general direction, you’re normally good…normally.

Keep your fingers crossed and knocking on that wood, we may be near the end, but this is when it all comes together. We don’t need another tire going! And if it does…please make it in cooler weather, I hate the heat out here…Next post, Home…

Typed July 13, 2013

Day 20 Wednesday 7/10

Surprisingly wake up was a bit late today. Not by much but enough to notice, but it wasn’t that much of a problem. The simple thing is that after waking up it was getting ready for a LONG day of driving in the van.

And I am not kidding, we spent darn near the whole morning and afternoon driving around in that van of ours. Our few stops for were photos and later lunch, and one other thing I’ll talk about later.

On one of the stops though I did have some fun. My mom sort of goaded me into climbing a small rock face and try to get to a little ledge. I didn’t decent, was able to stand next to the ledge, but not get in ledge, I just couldn’t get a good hand grip or foothold, good thing to because getting down was WAY harder than getting back up. But it was still a fun thing to do, I even rediscovered how good your palms can be when climbing up and down a difficult item.

But sadly that was the only fun thing we did, for driving was boring, extremely so and eventually…we got a flat. That is right, the first flat of our trip was in the Van. A tad abnormal because normally the flat is on the RV and we got tires ready for that, but nope the Van decided to go and get a little tiny whole that I could cover with my thumb in a place that can’t actually be repaired. So needless to say we had to pull over and put on the temporary for a bit, until we got to town and then dropped into the local car shop and got two new tires, for the tires on that Van really needed them.

Personally I hate changing tires, it is usually hot, and the tires extremely uncomfortable move. But I admit there is little that can be done about. But right now, I just feel like complaining, sorry.

Well anyways when the Van was done with its repairs we dropped by the RV did a few things then went to dinner, had dinner of course then came back and settled into a normal evening.

Tomorrow is a travel day, a quick one to my understanding. I don’t know how much I can actually say about that when it comes, but then again, I’ve found out things can be longer than I thought before.

And by the way Chris, No we did not see fireworks that day, we did see them before we left Oklahoma  though.

Typed July 10, 2013

Day 19 Tuesday 7/09

The only abnormal part about the morning this time around was my computer deciding it wanted to do a diagnostic of itself and thus be useless for about an hour and a half. But once that was out of the way it was a perfectly normal morning.

Well almost normal, parents decided to run to the local store for some items while me and sister stayed back and relaxed/got ready. And then when they got back and had put way the items it was into the Van and off to explore a national park…though hikes.

The first hike we did was a little under a mile, and next to a stream. It was a good hike, and left room for me and dad to do a bit of stream hoping and risk taking, love it.

We did some driving and then a second hike, this one around 1.5 miles give or take .2. It was in a forest area this time and had some ups and downs, not bad really, the quiet that you could get was nice.

Once those were out of the way it was back to the RV for some lunch and taking care of pets. We probably stayed at the RV a bit longer than we needed to but eventually we got off our butts and was back in the Van to go off to one more hike.

This last hike was a killer. It was a 1.5 mile give or take as well, the difference was that it was up and down a cliff, not a sheer cliff no but you get the point. It was first down some switch backs and into a canyon and then a bit of walking into another canyon and to even more, a LOT MORE, switch backs this time going up. It damn near killed have the family, and the rest…well we were jumping between “we’ll hurt tomorrow” and “Oh I feel good.”

We had time to figure it out and rest as we drove around in the Van some more, did a few stops and eventually went and got dinner. And then even MORE driving in the Van, eventually though we came back to the RV.

And when we did we sadly found out our mutts problem had come back. He had dropped his liquid crap in the RV, and it does not smell good. So we got a few things taken care of and then settled in for the rest of the evening/night.

Tomorrow is more driving in the Van, this time for a different park. Oh goody…….HELP!

Typed July 9, 2013

Day 18 Monday 7/08

Morning is morning around here, what can I say? The only difference from normal is our pets and the exact happening…and well we are without Grandma now.

But anyways, it was a “normal” morning around here. We even got on the road at a normal time. And then came the drive through a desert. And while driving in said place we had to listen to an increasingly annoying noise come from the door. What sound you ask? Why the sound of air rushing past the door through some hole or something and thus creating the noise of a motorcycle. It really is annoying.

Though sadly, our drive was not uneventful. One of the dogs decided that his digestive track would grind us to a halt. We had to do a quick pull over and let him out to relieve what we think was his diarrhea and for a dog, that is not a good thing at all. We had to wait several minutes for him to finish up, and then we were back on the road, wondering all the while what is cause this to our dog and how can we fix it.

Sadly he did not last long, we had to stop and pull over at a different spot and repeat. The amazing thing about this one was that we were less than twenty minutes out from our next stop, a gas lunch stop as it would turn out to be. And like always after we were done, it was back to the road.

The next time we stopped would be much later down the road, at a place we planned on staying the night. No luck, they were full, so we kept on driving. Eventually we came across another campground and tried them for an open spot. Thankfully this one was open, so we hoped into a spot and got the RV situated

And when the RV was situated we did a few other things and then it as into the Van for a bit of exploration. And then we came back to the RV to get ready for dinner and do a few other things as well.

But eventually we had to leave again, to get to a presentation that we wanted to see. It ran a tad late, but it was alright and when done it was back to the RV to finish up our day.

Tomorrow the RV will be staying in the same spot but we will be traveling around in the Van and exploring the nearby Park, which will be a LONG thing. So I get to be bored out of my skull again, and dragged along for several hikes, hip. So if you want to knock on wood, please do it for my sake.

And PS. The Internet here Sucks!

Typed July 8, 2013

Day 8 Friday 6/28

I think I can now say that I have given up on trying to figure out my sleeping habits. The reason being, I slept in again, by another hour and half. I was sort of rushed awake, but not by much thankfully. Yes the convention is still going, and we made our appearance again.

Sadly I can’t say there was much of a difference from yesterday all together other than the places we ate, the fact that we stayed longer and a family friend dropped in.

There is one thing though….we went to a place and found out we had to wait THREE hours to be seated. We found that out and turned right around and went someplace else for dinner.

But yea…that was it. But it was still a good day, tomorrow may be different, but it is still convention so who knows.

Typed June 28, 2013