That cheesy Thanksgiving post

I feel really blessed to be able to be in Arizona. And to be around at all. I know it’s really cliché-ish for this time of year, but it’s from the bottom of my heart what I’m thankful for.

1.     1. To be surrounded by the scenery that I am. Sunrises and sunsets are so much cooler out here. And I get to just stare at the mountains every day. It’s almost Sound of Music in the desert. I just don’t sing to the mountains.

2.    2.  To have the Army job I do is wonderful. I go to class/work every day and my brain starts referencing all the NCIS episodes I’ve seen. And then I reference my job when I’m watching NCIS.

3.    3.  I’m thankful for my family. They’ve been supportive the entire time I’ve been gone. Packages, letters, e-mails, texts.

4.    4.  I’m thankful my Barney is here with me. Me and Barney have been buddies for at least 17 years.

5.    5.  Lastly, it sounds kind of weird, but I’m thankful the Army has brainwashed me to a degree. I don’t think about how to put the PT belt on, I just do. I just automatically start off on the required foot. I don’t need to question myself on loading, shooting, or troubleshooting my weapon. The only thing I still struggle with is making sure I loop my belt to buckle on the proper side.

Puzzle

Back in June I posted a video for a version of my favorite new song at the time. Then in September I posted about how I had 4 different versions of the song.  I can now sadly say I have a fifth version of K’naan’s Wavin Flag. It’s the one he performed at the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert. It mixes both the regular version and the World Cup of the song and even brings in will I am from the Black Eyed Peas (he’s on one of the other versions I have and the Peas were performers at the concert too).

I once read somewhere (I want to say in Nick Hornby’s book Songbook, but I’m not positive) that songs are like puzzles we’re trying to solve. There’s a mystery in the songs and we’re all trying to solve it. Some songs are more of a mystery for some people than others.

I’d like to figure out the puzzle in Wavin Flag. I’m not sure why it’s held my fascination for so long. I get the feeling its because K’naan is a lot like Natasha Bedingfield. He’s got good beats, his music has some depth in it, he started out more popular internationally than in the US, and he’s a social activist. Then I think you can add on top of that the fact that I found the song as a World Cup song and I love soccer more than almost everything than God and my Barney.

Those are the reasons I can come up with for my fascination. And Wavin Flag isn’t the only song I have a fascination with. It’s just the most recent one. And I like its puzzle. 

Perks

There was something I didn’t realize would be a perk when I moved out here to Arizona. I guess it should have been obvious, but living for 11 year in Pennsylvania can do funny things to you.

Almost all of the change I get is D mint change. Produced by Uncle Sam in Denver, Colorado. Living on the east coast means a majority of the change is produced in the Philadelphia mint. There aren’t a lot of D coins that make it to where I was. It was something special to pick up a D coin. At least it is for me. It was special for me as a little kid in Nebraska and even more special in PA. Now I get to feel special a lot with all the change I get and find.

PS- I find a lot of change here. Kind of Surprising for a military base…..

and Arsenal lost today. Thats all on that topic.

Rainbows

Tuesday was an interesting, cool day. I had a dental appointment at 0720 and was out of the office by 0735 as army class 1 dental status. Hooray for army efficiency. At mail call at the end of the day I got my Arsenal shirt that I got off of e-bay. It's a 2003-2004 home shirt WITH a Champion's League patch on it. The patch was a sweet little bonus for me.
Probably the coolest part of the day was when we were forming up after school. It has been a little stormy here in AZ and a storm was just clearing out. There was a full, clear, 180 degree rainbow in the sky. And there was a partial one right above it. It was so beautiful it almost made me want to go find the pot of gold at the end.
Today we received our new barracks assignments. I'll post more about that some other time, but let me say we all feel like we're moving into the Hilton, they're that nice.

You know you're bored when.......

Typically on our non-duty days bed check is at 2400. This means there are three more hours to kill on weekends than on a regular day. And there isn't a whole lot to do at night anyways. Last night  time was killed on youtube. It started with me re-watching Charlie Bit My Finger. Then it moved into watching old Superbowl commercials. I then decided it would be cool to try and watch some old Backstreet Boys and N'Sync music videos.(Darn you Sony for having copyrighted material and not being able to play some of them).
Here is where it turns really lame. I was watching Barney on youtube. It was the good old Barney and the Backyard Gang that I was watching. I always loved the "Barney Goes to School"episode, so I watched that. And then I saw that someone had put the old "Barney in Concert" up so I watched a little bit of that. So many hours of my childhood were spent watching that video......
Barney was an integral part of my childhood. It was nice to watch some if the older stuff. My parents will tell of the time I went to go see Barney at some store special. I had to have been two or three so I don't remember it. We got there and I wouldn't go anywhere near Barney. I guess I just couldn't handle seeing him in real life. That didn't change my loving the Barney on screen.