My Life Be Like Ooh Aah

Every once in a while I like to share little things that I have learned and experienced. Moving to a new place and leaving a familiar one has definitely made for some of these moments.

Although Ft. Sill is a field artillery post, it never quite occurred to me that they would actually shoot off artillery frequently. Fortunately I am a fan of the fireworks that only go boom.

Ft. Sill is not a walker friendly post as far as I have experienced. Good thing I’m good at playing chicken when it comes to crossing roads to get to a better spot on the other side….

There are white tail deer in Oklahoma. I’ve seen them.

The army gives 2-hour delays for bad weather too. I’ve got one tomorrow.

I am more likely to get windburn here than any other place I’ve lived before.

27, 28, 36-hour days are no big deal to me now. And I can do them back to back with only a few hours of sleep in between them. Sgts, I know you loved to tell us about how you’ve had to do that, but I have too. And it was probably just as stressful because you were there.

I can fall asleep just about anytime and anywhere as long as I don’t need to be alert for something.

2 Months of being around people 24/7 makes you really good friends. 5, or even 7 months of that means you’re practically family.

Songs=memories. ‘Nuff said.

I need to come up with a few more hobbies to have for discussion. The majority of people have no clue about Arsenal or their greatness.

Update on Life

Thursday morning I had my last training graduation and was released to the world to be an official official soldier. The afternoon was filled with madness as my entire platoon tried to finish out-processing and leave. Friday morning I cleared my room at the barracks and signed out of the company.

By 1600 I was in the not quite lovely Ft Sill, Oklahoma. The final plane ride over included some guys ready to start basic training and I wish them the best of luck. The Lawton airport is even smaller than the one in my hometown; something I thought wasn’t possible….

I was assigned a room in temporary housing and I start in-processing Monday morning. I can’t wait to officially get to my unit. There isn’t a lot to do here. Not a lot off post; the cabbie only really pointed out the casinos and the mall. My only glimmer of hope is that the Main PX and Commissary are much larger than the ones in Arizona. The Burger King is right inside the PX instead of being somewhere on the other side of post. There is actually a Cinnabon (if you haven’t experienced a Cinnabon I feel sorry for you). AND the PX sells baseball cards. I still have a soft spot for them and I think I might try to grow my collection again.

Arsenal play tomorrow in a FA Cup match. I realized today that if Arsenal can keep up their good form and win instead of losing they will have the opportunity to play at Wembley for 3 finals.  They’re guaranteed to go to the Carling Cup final and there’s still a shot at the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Just one trophy would be amazing, but winning all three finals would be even better.

Digressing a bit to English TV, did you know there is a list of sporting events that must be played on free channels? I think that is really cool and I am going to have to research if the US does anything like it.

And now back to soccer, but to the Spanish league. Sevilla FC drew with some other team today down a player and down a few goals. I’ve hardly ever seen a scenario like that happen. Despite the fact that I’m alright with Sevilla (we’ve met them a few times in the Champions League) and I admire their gusto today, when a team has had a player red carded and sent off I like to see the team with more players overrun the offending team. But it did make for an exciting half of football…

I think that’s all I have to say for now. It was random, but did you really expect anything else from me?

From the Vault

I have currently acquired three songs from the early 2000's that have held spots in my heart like all the Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, and Savage Garden songs from the same time. I can't believe I had almost forgotten them until I heard one in the store today and went on a reminisce trip to when I was like 9.

1. Back Here- BBMak
2. Never Had a Dream Come True- S Club 7
3. All or Nothing- O-Town.

Listen to them again. They're really good.

Moments that Matter

The past week or so has been really long and tiring and tough. But I've had a lot of fun and some real peaceful moments throughout it. I thought I'd share some of what I learned, saw, and experienced.

1. It is possible for me to go 111 hours with only 11 hours of sleep mixed in. It sounds crazy, but I'm kind of proud of it. And going over 24 hours is possible too because I did it twice in that time period.

2. 15 straight hours of sleep does wonders.

3. Where I'm at in Arizona is very mountainous and absolutely gorgeous. I feel so fortunate to be where I'm at. There's nothing like staring at the foothills and mountains with an amazing sunset in the background and seeing more stars in the sky than you thought possible.

4. I trip over the most obvious things. Like my body armor on the floor. Or my PT jacket. You'd think I would see them and move, but I don't.

5. Ben Folds. I've discovered I really like his stuff. Its no thanks to the duet he did with Street Corner Symphony on The Sing Off. The song got stuck in my head and I went to find more. Then I discovered the biggest gem possible for someone like me. It all started when Nick Hornby mentioned a Ben Folds song in his book Songbook. It has turned into a Nick Hornby/Ben Folds album. Nick Hornby writing, Ben Folds doing the music. It was so cool. The lyrics were very much typical Hornby and I loved it. If you go to check it out, beware some cussing. But then again, thats typical of both Hornby and Folds.

6. The Lazy Song. Bruno Mars. K'naan helped write. 'Nuff said.

7. Moments That Matter. Its a Corbin Bleu song.

Please explain.

Wonderful, lame me has recently been watching episodes of the first season of The Sing Off. With the exception of the final, it was my first time seeing the episodes. It was cool to see the other performances by the top 3 and change the judgments I had made for some of them.

First off, I would like to apologize to Voices of Lee for being so critical of them. Seeing them on the final the first time I had wondered how they got there. They were actually better in the other episodes and their performance with Natasha Bedingfield on the final got better the second time around.

Now, on to the Beelzebubs. They were the ones I wanted to win, but didn’t. Their performances in the previous episode were entertaining and all around good. I still listen to their performance of “Where is the Love?” a lot.

Nota were good. I just didn’t like them as much. I don’t have anything else to say about that.

I had forgotten that Ben Folds had done a performance on the first season final and it was good. The one he did with Street Corner Symphony of his song “Gone” was even better and I think-sing it in my head all the time.

Now on to my complaint. This season, all the Christians were all over Committed and supporting them in their endeavor. Why didn’t people do the same for Voices of Lee? I don’t remember seeing anything rallying Christians to support them. Was it because they were a college group? Was it because it was only the first season of The Sing Off and no one knew anything about them or the show? Does some one have an explanation? These are the types of questions I stay awake wondering about at night.

I’ll try not to think too hard about it. I watched the final last year because Natasha Bedingfield was supposed to be performing and because Nick Lachey is awesome and a good host. And that seems to be about the only job he can get these days.

Wait....Oh Yeah

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just can't keep track of what day it is? Thats this week for me. I've gotten mixed up several days about what day it really is.

Tuesday I was on iTunes and, thinking it was Monday, got really confused as to why they would release the new music a day early. It wasn't until Wednesday that I realized my mistake.

Today is Friday yet for some reason I have it in my head that it is Thursday. I was talking with my mom and was very confused that everything on their schedule was happening a day early until I was reminded that it was Friday; the day everything is supposed to be happening. And ten minutes later i was still forgetting it was Friday when it was mentioned my brother was watching a movie. I couldn't figure out why they would let him stay up on a school night, but it wasn't a school night. Tomorrow is Saturday and while I may have to work tomorrow and Sunday, the rest of the world doesn't.

On a quick side note, I feel the need to mention Bruno Mars. I recently got Brandy's album Human and was looking at the credits for songwriting and such. Natasha Bedingfield ha co-written a song for Brandy's album an Toby Gad (he's done stuff for Natasha Bedingfield) was on there too. I was surprised to see Bruno Mar's name on the credits for a song. The album had been released in 2008 and Mars hasn't gotten real popular until last year. But he's managed to be connected to an artist I like.

Now here's the kicker about Bruno Mars... There's this song I like. It's called Wavin Flag. I have 6 versions. I don't know if I mention the latest version, but its done by Young Artists for Haiti, a bunch of Canadian artists collaborating. But back to Bruno Mars. He helped co-write Wavin Flag. I think thats pretty cool. And it makes me like the song and Bruno Mars even more.

top 10 favorite artists on my iTunes

10. Justin Bieber. Yes, its cheesy, but Never Say Never and Pray are two amazing tracks.

9. U2. It’s been pretty popular to cover their stuff lately.  Think I have almost as many covers as I do them actually singing.

8. Fergie. Probably my second favorite female artist. She can sing on her own and does a great job with the Black Eyed Peas.

7. Bruno Mars. Come on, Just the Way You Are is just that good of a track.

6. R. Kelly. One of my two World Cup anthems come from him. Sign of a Victory is just as good as his old stuff.

5. Switchfoot. An old love rekindled because I finally managed to rip my Nothing is Sound album. And Beautiful Letdown is amazing as well.

4. Coldplay. I can’t even begin to describe them. They’re just so… good.

3. K’naan. I now have a 6^th version of the song Wavin Flag. Done by Young Artists for Haiti, a whole bunch of Canadian artists that include K’naan, Justin Bieber, Drake, Avril Lavigne, and a few more. Wavin Flag must be the global anthem for 2010 or something…

2. Lee DeWyze. He won my heart on American Idol last season.

1. Natasha Bedingfield. There probably couldn’t be a music list I make without her on it.

 

Plea to Blackburn

I used to like Ronaldinho a lot. He was good at what he did. He had a nice line of shoes with Nike.
But Ronaldinho is 30 now. He's not as good as he used to be. He's been at AC Milan for a couple years now and hasn't made much of an impact there in my opinion. Pictures a few years ago of him doing some training showed a bit more of a belly than most footballers should have.
Now Blackburn Rovers is reportedly making a 6.2 million bid for Ronaldinho. I don't think its a smart idea for a club like Blackburn who wants to win. Dinho is 30. He's basically past his prime playing years. If he contributes anything of worth to the club then great, but I don't think he will.
If Blackburn just want a big name player on the bench to bring recognition to the club then he's a good deal, but I don't see Blackburn spending money in that way.
Blackburn, if you want to rise in the Premier League rankings from the #12 spot you are now then invest in some unknown players who can become famous and lead you to the top of the table instead of a past his prime big name.

Seacrest 1-0 Daly

New Years Eve was great this year. Carson Daly is a dummy, but thanks to streaming internet, I could watch Ryan Seacrest, Dick Clark, and Fergie do what they do every New Years Eve: be awesome with great performances.

Noone could match Rockin New Years Eve with performances. Ke$ha, NKOTB and BSB, AND Natasha Bedingfield… It was like a dream come true for me. Yeah, Carson Daly had Nikki Minaj and lilWayne, but Ryan Seacrest always gets the better performers. And whoever was hosting FOX’s show had performers form like two years ago on.

As both Seacrest and Daly were live in Times Square and I was watching both at the same time, it was interesting to see the coordination that went into making sure both shows got coverage of the ball drop and either went on commercial break or transferred locations when the other was broadcasting. And despite the fact that half the broadcasting world makes fun of Seacrest for being such a mogul and Daly was actin kind of stupid about it, is cameras still got Seacrest to wave while he was going over notes or something with someone.

I’ll stop with the Seacrest talk now. American Idol, AT 40, his radio show, and Rockin New Years Eve have all made me a mega Seacrest fan.