Life in the Garden

It's another hazy, dusty day in Mesopotamia.

It's my day off, when I get to do so much fun stuff, like laundry. Shouldn't complain though, the day started out pretty exciting.

Went to the gym after work this morning. Got in a pretty standard workout; 30 minutes aerobic on the cross trainer, then chest workout; 10 reps each in descending weight on the Cybex fly press, starting at 100 lb and working down to 37.5 lbs, with 15 reps there, and then 30 reps at 25 lbs. Then the same routine on the chest press, from about the same weight, then ten assisted dips with about 100 lbs weight on, and I'm spent. I'd probably do it differently if I knew anything at all about weightlifting, alas; the whole concept bores me to tears, but we all get older and us computer geeks have to do something to avoid the dreaded "mountain dew gut".

Got back to the trailer, showered up. Funny how there's no cold water, just hot and lukewarm. It only cools off into the high 90s or low 100s at night, so it's understandable. Let me be very clear: I'm not bitching. We have it pretty damn good here compared to most. I am, as I believe Lex said, merely your humble Chronicler of events, attempting to give you a taste of this glamorous lifestyle.

Got toweled off and wasn't ready for sleep- "ah the DFAC is still open" thinks I, so off for a hearty breakfast of pseudo-eggs (scrambled), some sausage, hash browns, and cantaloupe. Not bad. When the alarms went off I realized I hadn't actually eaten a meal in the chow hall for a while (carryout while I've been on nightshift) and I've either forgotten how loud it is in there, or they have turned up the volume.

Ach well, it least we have an alarm, though I still nearly put my fork through my cheek when the mortar actually landed close by. Close enough to make my ears pop a little bit at least. Man, I'm going to have to start eating with a spoon and chewing with my mouth open. At least we have a hard roof over us since earlier this year.

Then off to the Palace coffee shop to read for a while. I'm making serious progress though the official private pilot curriculum, but I need practical. I think I'll take some lessons while I'm home next month, even though I won't be current when I go home again, and therefore it won't really help that much with building hours, at least I'll have some real life experience to apply to the simulator. A couple hours 4 months ago isn't enough to make it feel real. I'm glad I read "Stick and Rudder" first though- old Wolfgang made it a hell of a lot more interesting with his semi-narrative style then Jeppesen does in their textbook, which is also dumbed down to about 6th grade level and correspondingly dull. I haven't managed to touch the FAR/AIM stuff yet. It looks rather daunting; if I weren't a fast reader with good retention, I might be tempted to give up on this idea. Nah. I've wanted it for too long. The dream of flight abides.

I can't help starting to get excited about vacation. I try to keep my horizon limited to a week at a time, but now here I am looking forward a whole month. I'm bound to become frustrated by that.