Everything is forever, shifting, shuffling, moving on.  Sometimes for good, sometimes for ill, sometimes just because it is time.  Friends, family, forests, countries.  Nothing, of course, is permanent....nothing our mortal minds can comprehend that is.  I suppose the all encompassing power of our "deity" might be forever...although I've come much grasp the concept of a lifeforce--the river analogy if you will--of a deity rather than the personified figure the world over tends mostly to recognize...I think of this force, this brahmin and ahtman and how strong the addition of my uncle will make it...you never truly lose a loved one or a friend to death and it's true--part of them always becomes part of you--part of me is in all of you, part of you is in me and everyone else; this is the nature of things as I see it now. 

Mig left today for Korea.  I never did hear from him again since last weekend, and I am left to imagine my last image of him will be of him leaning out of Sean's car window in Huntington, loaning me the forty dollars to get home after my wallet was jacked.  I wonder if he avoided me so as to keep me from paying that money back--as if he wanted it to be retribution of a sort for his being "responsible" as he put it in not so many words, for my wallet being stolen. Today a man from the Department of Defense interviewed me abbot Mig, abbot his security clearance--I believe it's simply an update the DoD is doing...I gave the most glowing responses I could--w/o trying to be corny but it seemed unavoidable.  The man is w/o a doubt a true patriot and american soldier first and foremost.  The man asked me if I had anything to add after the questions were over and I did.  I told him Mig was one man that I would without a doubt want at my back if it was to come to combat, and that I would be at his back as well...

Common Task Training and Testing has been ongoing these past two days--yesterday we trained and today we tested...We did reaction to a Nuclear Biological or Chemical (NBC) Attack, evaluating a casualty and treatment for shock (a no-brainer for me due to my combat life-saver training), Decontamination of oneself and one's equipment following an NBC attack/encounter.  There are more tasks we were supposed to train and test on...my guess is that the unit will conduct those tasks at a later date.  I passed all tests.

Dan called today to tell me he got his assignment to go to a Ranger Battalion down at Fort Benning.  He leaves for RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program) in early March...just as I get back from leave I suppose.  I'm glad for him really, but that's about it.  I haven't really missed his presence any in the past couple of weeks...a terrible thing to bring up again but it's there.  We had some good times and he was a good friend at times.  Someday I'll probably look back and say that I miss him, but right now?

It's a four day wknd this wknd because of president's day.  I have a 30 pack of MGD in the fridge (minus two) to last me until next tuesday.  Tomorrow the Chaplain is putting on a little "retreat" to the CLimbing Place--this climbing gym downtown.  I went to check it out a couple times--looks like there's some good bouldering down there...nothing like Rock City in Emeryville (CA), but bigger than the gym in Concord (CA) I used to go to...)  I'm looking forward to busting out my gear again...it's been too long.  Life seems to always come down to that statement it seems "it's been too long".

Lately I've been thinking about a career in music, like as a recording engineer.  It's been well recognized that I am fanatical abbot the subject and I love it to pieces...Getting this CDR and remastering station running on this computer has given me even more insight on the thing and more experience mixing and such.  I have over four years now of recording lives shows via two track stealth methods...I would *love* to get into multitrack, multi microphone recording and mixing boards and mixing down and producing and all of that.  To that end, I'm seriously considering taking one of those two or three month long recording engineer technical college deals I've seen advertised with my MGIB money, after I finish up my English degree.  I was thinking ever so briefly of what it would take to get a degree in sound engineering as well, full blown Bachelors degree...

And of course there is still always that dream of opening my own rock club like Slim's or Bottom of the Hill or the Catalyst or the like...but the capitol involved in starting up such a business--it would be enormous after doing just preliminary off the wall estimations...the sound system alone...ay yi yi.  That is certainly a dream of many years down the road.

SFC Wooten, the Brigade Equal Opportunity (EO) Rep, was talking to me about Recruiting Duty 
today.  The requirements used to be SGT (E5) and above only but the army has started this CPL (E4) program, in an attempt to get the younger soldiers who can connect better with the youth of America, out recruiting.  I've heard both good things and bad things about it.  The worst though is that it's simply put, a sales job...I hate sales...

Oh yeah, Monday was Valentines Day, wasn't it?  Oh well.  Talked with the gal from Chute detail a bit but had to leave abruptly and never got a chance to say goodbye or even think of a phone number.  Ain't life just wonderful?

Saw Primus last night...the one concert of the three planned I actually get to see...Elliott Smith is sold out and Cornell...well I'll be in CA then so...
but it was a kick ass show.  My batteries died just in abbot the last thirty seconds or so I'm guestimating....a shame and even with a pause in the song it seems obvious to me it ends too abruptly...i'll thinking of burning it...

My burner, of course, is acting up--won't play or even recognize audio CDs....and I need it to do that cuz I wanna import a studio song for a Son Volt show I'm remastering where that song live is all fucked up on the recording--i thought I'd splice it in and mixed it down...grrrrrrr
 

Next

On this date last year: Too much time for Nothing

My Earthly Shell home