been pretty lazy...

So things have been going good for me, haven't been getting in that much trouble. In the middle of a mission right now, was supposed to SP a few hours back but ended up canceling it because the area around BIAP was getting pretty hot. My last mission lasted about a week, loong mission. Supposed to be a 4 day'er, but some shit happened with the TCN's with the handling of them at the gate security at our destination point. It was cool though. I rode with a new crew, so I got to know "SPC P" real well. Helluva guy. He spent his 21st birthday here. lol. Sucks for him lol.

So on day for we went to where all the trucks were staged, getting ready to go, nothin special, but then we hear that we can't leave till the TCN (third country nationals AKA civ. contractors) shit gets resolved, so we're like..grreeaat. so we just hang out. shoot the shit. waiting for more info. I went and layed down on the hood of my humvee...pulled my beanie cap over my eyes....powernap a lil bit....then I heard a BIGASS boom...then another BOOM! The base was gettin mortared. I sat straight up on the humvee, barely enough time to catch the bright flash of the explosion. Can't really tell how far it was but the boom was the loudest ones I've ever heard since bein here. The alarm went off almost instantly, we rushed to get on our IBA's, laughing the whole time, about how over here the alarm actually goes off immediately unlike LSA Anaconda's lame ass "alarm-goes-off-20 min-after the fact" it's funny.

Moment later we noticed something from that vicinity that looked like SAF, red tracers (us) goin off, and we're like..wow..QRF is right on that shit. Marine's gotta give it to em. They're good at what they do. Not as much BULLSHIT as the shit that the ARMY seems to have. Marines...love em..but damn, they shoot at everything...including us army guys...bastards. I remember tonight when we thought were gonna go, in the pre-convoy brief one of the guys we were escorting said somethin like "Now, we gonna be driving around them marines, stay in the middle of the road, cuz you know them boys be crazy motherfuckers...shootin at everythin and shit."

So I got my camera about 2 weeks ago, but been afraid as shit to even touch it. But I decided to take it with me on this trip. MAN does my shit ROCK!! I took a picture of the sunset that is by far Magazine worthy, I'm gonna try and post some on here once I get my laptop. I bought a laptop off my buddy. It's a Dell XPS, he got it all hooked up, bought it for 3700$ but doesn't even use it, so I offered to take it off his hands for 2500$, good deal I'd say. lol...I do need to start saving money though..gotta have enough to put down payment for my house and car..eeekkk...

So ya...found out my Ex "Nicole" is getting married..or at least she accepted a proposal from her current boyfriend. same thing. the first one sounds worse. I really shouldn't give a flying fuck, but for some reason it hurts. She still "wants to be good friends". What ever.

In the backof my mind I always thought that "maybe" if it was meant to be (and I thought in my mind it was) that it would all work itself out when I got back. I told her that. she said "I know" and somethin bout "timing". I feel weak, for still having feelings for an ex, *Note: not a good idea to have an Ex as one of your best friends. -CONFLICT OF INTEREST-

I emailed Najma a little over a week ago, kinda in response to one of her blogs about U.S. Soldiers. She never answered. I was kinda hopin that she would. It wasn't a rude email or anything, on the contrary, it was a respectable, optimistic letter. I was just tryin to give her a glimpse of life from a soldier's eye:

(I "had" posted the email, but I decided to take it off.)

www.astarfrommosul.blogspot.com A really cool blog. An Iraqi girl that lives in Mosul. Interesting stuff she writes, kinda like a view from the other side. English is surprisingly well.

So now I'm done, bought my contacts online, read up on current geo-politics (syria-lebanon situation is quite interesting), opened a savings account finally. Done and Done.

"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. "
----James Madison

"The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatsoever. "
----Adam Smith, from The Wealth of Nations