Dealing

I was talking with a friend today who's hubby is leaving for deployment in a couple days and it made me think. She's not thrilled that he's leaving and she's been feeling very anxious and just wants him to go and come back and be done with. I have never had to survive a deployment and there are none planned in the near future for us, but I've seen many girls power through the good and the bad times of a deployment. To these women, all my admiration!

I have no idea how I would deal with a deployment, how I would attempt to prepare for it or how I would manage the whirlwind of emotions. All I know is I'd do my damn best to survive and see it through! Js and I have talked about possible deployments and we are aware of each other's views, expectations and feelings towards the situation. I think that's most important if you are going to make it through as a couple. It's not easy, nothing is! I'm not a fool and I'm aware it's much easier said than done, but I need to give myself the confidence I need to face the facts.

I guess it's the whole "rippin' off a bandaid" thing... you have a choice to make it long and painfull and be miserable or you can deal with it and rip it off... sure it still hurts the same, but you're protecting yourself from more pain and sadness. Life's what you make of it, right?

It's hard enough as it is to deal with the military lifestyle when you're not the one who signed up for it, you have to pick your battles. This isn't just about deployments, it's about the little things and the big things and everything in between. A sucky posting, delays for promotions, neverending training, technicalities and dates that always change... They become a reality of your daily life. You can accept them (without necessarily embrace them!) and learn to live with them or you can clam up and be miserable.

Js told me today that spouses are what's holding the CF together. I firmly believe him.

Working frustrations...

I am not allowed to blog about my job as per my work contract. I just read it again to refresh my memory and nothing in there says I am not allowed to blog about my previous jobs. :)

I miss spitting chickens.
I miss cleaning gallons of macaroni salad off the floor.
I miss slicing deli meats.
I miss walking around in a pig barn all day.
I miss cleaning used hair removal wax from the floor.


Enough said.

Floppy?

Js just made a great observation.

Why do word or imaging programs still use the 3 1/2 floppy disc as the "Save" icon?
What's up with that?!

Parade of Shame

Just a normal Saturday morning at home... I sit in my living room and quietly sip my coffee as I watch the Parade of Shame pass by.

The Parade of Shame is normally a lot bigger the morning after a mess dinner or a grad celebration, out here. Because we live on a street corner at the end of the street, it passes right by our house... even those who try to avoid it and walk through the field, Nova outs them barking because they are walking too close to her fence for her liking.

Guys walk down the street still wearing their mess dinner uniform around 9am, head down and avoiding eye contact with early dog walkers. Their shoes don't shine nearly as much as the night before and their tunics are creased in places creases should never be.

We don't get to see the Shacks' Walk of Shame form here. It's a much sadder sight. Girls, walking out in their high heals and party clothes from the night before, waiting for a cab or just walking back to town.

Here I sit, sipping my coffee and I'm reminded of how old I am.

Small-Town-ness is driving me bonkers!

I'm having a hard time dealing with the Small-Town-Syndrome on Base! It's so odd. I grew up in a small town and then moved to Ottawa when I was 18 to go to school. I remember how refreshing it was to live in the city and not have your neighbor all up in your business all the time. Last place I lived, I was there for about a year an a half before I actually talked to my neighbor. Her door was about 6 inches away from mine. Oh, the city life!

Now, it's like I'm back in our little hometown and even worst, in high school! Ugh! As much as you try to stay out of the gossipy crap that goes on, not matter what you do, it always comes back and bites you in the pits! (That's right, pits!)

Sure, we're loud, we say what's on our minds, we're French! What I don't get is why people who don't like us (or me for that matter!) tend to gravitate back and attempt to make our lives miserable! Why?

Logic (and basic survival instinct) says that when you don't like someone, don't get along or just don't agree with who they are as a person, you should stay the eff away and leave them be! It's a simple principle I live by and I don't get why it's so hard to understand. Why do people claim to dislike someone openly and then are all up in their face every chance they get? Seriously!

It's just about common sense. If you're walking down the street and walking up towards you, you see someone you don't like ; do you run up to them to say hello for pure entertainment or do you avoid talking to them and just nod politely? I think that's the difference between high school and real life. Why waste your time interacting with someone you can't stand the presence of? Because you enjoy the drama and self importance if gives you to hate someone? Get a life, peeps!

All this to say, I don't enjoy drama and would much rather live a drama-free life by not surrounding myself with negative haters! Should be simple, non!?

//End rant.

Oh, the humanity!

Yes, the unimaginable has happened!

Js left a full bottle of water right by the computer and went to the gym. Jack being the brilliant and curious cat that he is, knocked it over and *poof* there went my laptop! :(

I appears to be running right now but I want to make sure I have sufficient CDs to store every last little thing I need from there before fiddling too much with it! Ugh!

Most of my stuff/work is web based so it's safely floating somewhere in cyberspace. The part that's not is what worries me the most. Oh well!

So that's why I've been MIA a bit lately. I'm using Js' computer for now until everything is back up and running on good old lappy!