Memorial Day

I am an American Soldier.

I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

This is the Soldier's Creed. It is a wonderful creed to live by. It's also Memorial Day. Less than a month until I leave for Army Basic Training. I want to say thanks to everyone who has served before me and HOOAH! to everyone I will be serving with and to those who come after me.

Airplanes

Airplanes by B.o.B. ,feat. Hayley Williams, has been stuck in my head a lot lately. Sometimes I wish I could use that wish “to go back to a place much simpler than this.” Sometimes life seems to be going very fast.


I’m excited for the future. It’s about a month until I leave for basic training. It’s gonna be new and fun.

But it’s also nice to look back and remember. Airplanes has been taking me back…..

Back to the days when I played George of the Jungle and ran around barefoot with a squirt gun.

Back to the days on the beach in North Carolina.

Back to the hours spent in the yard playing soccer and waffle ball.

Back (not too far) to the days of rabbit chasing.

Back to the nights spent camping out in the backyard and looking at the stars.

Like Fergie would say, “sip and reminisce on days when I had a mustang.”

I’ve never had a mustang, but I had to throw Fergie in there…… I do have stuff to reminisce on. And I have a lot to look forward to too.

Feel free to google the lyrics for yourself. I don't totally agree with everything in them and there is a choice word or two. And I haven't even heard the Eminem version.

Quote me on it.

My brother and dad were watching a movie the other night. Star Wars II Attack of the Clones. It's quite possibly one of my favorite movies ever ( I annually mark the day Episode III came out, May 19, just if you wanted to know). I haven't watched Attack of the Clones for probably about three years just because I'd gone on a watch it a lot spree back then. And I still managed to quote a good chunk of it. I was pretty close on the money with phrasing and timing of lines.
Sadly, this isn't the only movie I can do that with, especially after not watching it for a while. The High School Musical series? good at quoting and singing it. Broken Arrow? don't you talk along with John Travolta and Christian Slater? Miss Congeniality? yep. that one too. Patriot Games? why wouldn't I be able to quote that one. It's probably my favorite movie of all time.
Am I the only one who talks along with a movie I'm watching? Or am I just a big nutball?

Distracted Me

So this weekend I have a few projects to complete. This means a paper, a powerpoint and a game for calculus. When I write papers I get pretty focused. I don't even let anyone talk to me lest I lose my train of thought. But I also get SO so distracted.
It goes like this: chunk of paper written, get online to check a source, play a game of minesweeper while internet is loading, change the song (The Scientist by Coldplay is great focuser/zoner for me), check Facebook and the soccer news even though nothing has changed since it's very early tomorrow morning in the UK, get my facts straight from my sources, play another game of minesweeper, write a few more words in the paper, play another game of minesweeper.
Then repeat the cycle a few more times before only writing on the paper for a long time and declaring myself finished for the night. It's a vicious cycle that I try not to keep. I try to go for the writing without anything else happening, but that doesn't happen well when minesweeper is involved.

Here's Arsenal's Latest Signing.(click the link for the article!) I've heard a lot about Chamakh in the past year or so. During the January transfer window I think a lot of fans thought we were going to get him then. I don't really know how he plays yet, but I'm excited to review his past performances and see his Arsenal ones.I'm not too sure why we acquired a striker when the back line needs help, but hey, it was a free transfer. Maybe he's backup if the Fabregas going to Barcelona rumors come true. I just hope I'll get to see more of Tomas Rosicky next season.

Julius el Orango

Today would have to be considered an interesting day. It all started when I had difficulty and drank some Powerade to wake up. That's not really unusual. And school was very usual. I can't wait to be done.
I come home to a CD at my place. It's a Dodge sampler CD that they're promoing. I'm slightly interested because I happen to love music and it contains several Zac Brown Band songs (yeah Chicken Fried!).
Then, My parents came home with a new car. That was somewhat expected since the old one was starting to die a little bit. What wasn't expected was the orange color. Not a choice expected from my parents, but I guess you take what you can get...... I have since decided to call our new vehicle Julius el Orango aka JO (almost like the Brazilian soccer player but not quite). This name is not agreed upon by the family. I will probably be the only one calling the van JO. My brother would like to go with a Lord of the Rings name in tradition with the former van named Frodo.
Dinner was great. We had chicken. And I made a chicken sandwich like KFC has been advertising. Two pieces of chicken in place of the bread. It was good. Add on top of that the fact that we had saffron rice. It's yellow. And I absolutely love it.
Like almost any day, it could have been a lot better than it was. But for a Monday, it was a really good day. I'm satisfied.

Ironman and Powerade

Thanks to Burger King, I have my latest fascination that will make me seem more like I am 5 than however old I am; a kiddie meal toy. My brother got a kiddie meal last night for the first time in a while and didn't want the toy. So I am not\w the proud new owner of a green "Robot Cyclone Spinny Thing" or something to that effect. You just press his leg and the torso spins around. So much fun.

And have I ever mentioned that I am such a sucker for product advertising. Take, for example, me buying the Coke with the World Cup themed cans. This week is another Coke product. Blue Powerade, also known as my happy juice. Currently the Powerade labels are advertising for the World Cup as well.
I was planning on buying Powerade yesterday anyways, but you wouldn't believe how excited I got when I saw that SA 2010 FIFA logo on the bottles. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.I do try to be careful about what I do buy (meaning not wasting money). When do you think they're gonna World Cup the Doritos? They're something else I buy regularly. But maybe it's better for my wallet if they don't.

Running

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually kind of enjoy running. I think I mostly enjoy it because when I run I know I'm gonna sleep well that night, but still. It's kind of fun. Moving. Seeing nature. Singing to the walkman playlist tht has to include Kellie Pickler's "Best Days of Your Life", Love and Theft's "Runaway", and Brandon Heath's "Fight Another Day". The oxygen deprivation cramping (I do enjoy some pain).
I'm a soccer person through and through. But I guess I can have a change of heart towards running.....

Jabulani

For the AP tests, I bought some Coke to keep me going. I ended up getting a 24-pack of cans. And then I had the brilliant idea of arranging the cans and taking pictures of them. They're world cup themed cans. I'm so pumped for South Africa 2010. Soccer is such a beautiful sport.

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time a little girl decided something, perhaps very stupidly. She decided she would take 2 AP classes. Calculus and European History. The big smart people in charge of the AP tests put them with a day in between them. The little girl paid attention in class all year. She took notes and learned her stuff. She spent many hours reviewing and studying. She drank many cans of Coke. This little girl had a blog too. For two weeks prior to the tests the girl ignored her blog. That little girl can now post a little more frequently. (Hopefully!) At least until she has to leave for army basic training....