calcifer

Jacqi's sketch

Jeez, haven't updated since before field training. Have an anecdote.

The Harmflies

The third part of field training involved this thing called JFTC, or 'joint forces training command.' (Or center, or whatever.) Anyway. JFTC was where we boarded the buses and skidded gleefully away from Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Unfortunately for us, what we found was...

Camp Shelby....,

...MISSISSIPPI. DUN DUN DUNNNN.

A bit of background on Mississippi. Most of the US makes fun of the South for our silly alcohol laws and funky education system (among a bunch of other things). For those same reasons, we all make fun of Alabama. Guess what state Alabama makes fun of.

Yeah. That's where we were.



So the first night in our Army tent, an ominous droning fills the air, not unlike an old B-17 bomber. GRROWWWRRROWWRRORR. As we're wondering just what the hell the noise is, this thing flies in. It's approximately the size of either a house cat or a moving van, and it alights upon the hand of a tentmate.

"Hey, guys, look what I found!" exclaims the soon-to-be victim, unaware of the bloodlust in the beast's compound eyes.

We look at the monster.

It looks at us.

*HARMPH*

"OH SWEET GOD IN HEAVEN!"

Blood flies from the hand of the unfortunate young cadet as the horsefly rips away a chunk of bloody knuckle-flesh. I am dead serious.

Stunned for a moment, it didn't take us long to galvanize into action, Starship Troopers-esque, against the unholy arthropodian menace. The next few minutes were a blur of gnashing mandibles as the beast flitted amongst us like that rabbit from Monty Python before finally being taken down by a well-aimed swing from a duffel bag. Yes, a duffel bag.

The threat of this beast was no more...but this was Mississippi, and was breeding ten more for each one we killed.

One of those damned things bit me through a shirt.

I think we should napalm Mississippi.
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Massive Update, Part II

Preface: You know that feeling of remorse/stupidity right after you do something kinda boneheaded? Yeah. Template onto that the particular brand of guilt (Catholic-piercing rounds) when you inadvertently ruin a friend's day. Feeling rather dumbassey presently.

So, let's have some escapism.

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professor chaos

Midterms, Spring Break, and SquadComm James

Brief laundry list of things happening in the greater Life(tm) area.

1. midterms. SWEET GENIUS THEY'RE OVER WITH. I had three of them in a row today, from 10AM to 1:15 PM. It was like the PFT from ROTC - pushups first (BritLit - medium exercise that's mildly exhausting by the time you're done and start running out of energy), followed by sit-ups (aka French 101 - a rather easy exercise unless you're doing it wrong, then you stumble and run out of time), followed by the last one which is the 1.5 mile run (aka CritLit - an endurance run where you have to push like crazy to keep up, pace yourself so you don't lag behind, get dry mouth and burning in your leg muscles and diaphragm and end up wanting to puke afterwards). But they're over. Gaah.

2. Going to France tomorrow, w00t. I'll be staying with my sister and bumming around the countryside for a couple days (and riding the TGV, a.k.a. the Megawatt Megaw00t) before heading to Italy - Verona, specifically - to visit Gemma. Biiig hooray there. I'm stoked to see her considering the last time I did was in mid-'ought seven. Coming back will be a bit odd, though - Sunday's my flight out, and it'll be strange waking up Sunday morning in Milan knowing I have to go to class the next day. o_O;

3. Finally, my days as deputy squadron commander (aka chew toy) are coming to an end. They're rotating us out and thus finding someone else to beat on for the next few weeks. Can't say I'm not relieved - especially with the lunatic pace of classwork as of late.

Other than that - I set my aquarium back up, promptly had my two ungrateful mollies die on me, and will likely be getting some non-wimpy fish like platies or tetras to replace them. Drawing continues unabated, though I don't have anything worth scanning for you lot right now. Just braindead.
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