Long stretches

It has been too long since I have written. I am still participating.
The days seem to have a huge question mark looming over them. Is this for me? Can I do this? Can I keep going on?
The answer is in the pudding as they say. I have been doing it. Self doubt is so much stronger than any other.
I wait on the edge of anticipation, to hear from University of West Florida. Will they accept me into the international studies student? I don't know, I won't for sure until the end of the semester I am sure. I have no idea what this will mean for me. My nerves seem to be tied, or held to a fire. Not knowing if I can join the program that holds my heart is making me crazy. But I must wait.
In other news, do not eat chunky chili before your absurd run up and down the hills of the golf course. It will make you doubt your dedication with each step. I believe from now on I will only eat cereal for dinner.

High Fives

PT Niceville FL, 21 Oct 08.
We were joined by the squadron commander from UWF as well as some other members of their leadership team to take a PT test. It was necessary for the women to do 18 push ups, at standard, in 2 minutes. 43 sit ups at standard, in 2 minutes, and also run 2 miles in 16 minutes. The task was not impossible. 0 standard rated push ups, 54 standard sit ups, and 20:44 minutes on the 2 mile run. The temperature was 52 degrees.No winter warm ups due to the entire group not having them. Closing in on the mile the front runners were beginning their 2nd, as they passed, each of them gives the 1 mile finishers in last place an encouraging word and a high five.
Its the little things in life that make it pleasant, or make it awful. A high five and good word from a comrade will push you past your limits to take a longer stride, a deeper breath and make what may have been a 30 min run into a 20:44 minute run.

Now to practice the standard push up until 18 is the count, mountain climbers and butterfly kicks could use some work, and lets do 70+ sit ups.

See You Next Tuesday!

Army PT is fun. The first day I went we had to carry a log around the perimeter of the campus. Its only one mile. The 'log' however is actually a telephone pole, that maybe weighs, a billion pounds. So I was in a group with Amber, Saintoange and one of the tall skinny guys. Just the four of us. It was hard and we had to carry it the shortest distance. It was fun though, and my shoulder hurt for about 3 days.

The next day we did a variety of exercises in a musical chairs sort of way. There were 8 stations, each marked with one of the following exercises; wide arm push up, closed hand push up, mountain climber, crunches, sit up, running in place, butterfly crunches, and push ups. I am excellent at push ups. Pause. Not. Then we had to do lunges across a softball field and back, and then run arcoss again and climb this hill that was man made(piled dirt)with weeds growing on it, twice.

The next day we did a little running, we had a giant ball as tall as me, and a bit wider, and we were split into teams. Two orange cones marked each teams goal. It was the same concept as soccer, get the ball into the other teams goal. However, the ball was so big, you had to body slam it. I had a lot of in air collisions.It was fun.

The following Monday, (this past one) there was lightening, so we went into the gym and watched and participated in an offical Army PT training video. I learned some very interesting training moves, such as the High Jumper. I love the practice of the Vertical Run though.

Wed. Haley my Mgr/Co worker went with me. The entire morning was a series of running. Indian Runs. Since I was a little dehydrated and a lot out of focus I did not do well. I did however, do it. Thursday was a day for ACL uniforms to break in their boots on a three mile walk. I did not participate since I do not have boots or the ACL uniform. I'm looking forward to Tuesday.

Testing my dedication

I joined the Army ROTC PT this week. They train very early in the morning,with a lot of running and various other intense physical exercise. I joined them to see what PT was like, and to get my first personal military experience. Captain Dale Avellon is the man in charge of the program, and the only person who runs it at this small school. For PT he has the assistance of Sgt. Gibson. A tall man with a bald head, from baldness or shaving I don't know, but I do know he is in excellent physical condition. Which perhaps is not what could be said of others in the group.

There are 4 females. I know Amber and Rebecca's first names, and the last names of the other two, Saintoange is a tall cadet who is normally not putting in the extra effort to make her body hurt but absolutely there and trying.She wants to be a pilot in the Air Force. The 4th girl, Silva, is short and Latina of some nature, and seems to have a mental block on her physical abilities. She often has to stop running and spit to catch her breath only to run a few more steps and then walk the majority of the remaining distance. Her tenacity in the sporting exercises however, shows her ability to do the physical exercise asked of her. Amber is a short girl with very curly hair, who shouts out "hua-hua!" in a higher pitch than her already high pitched enthusiastic tone during PT. Laughter normally ensues, although I don't know why. She is very encouraging, and is always verbally offering support and enthusiasm. Rebecca is already signed on the the National Guard. She is naively enthusiastic about her possibilities in the Army service. She says she hates running but is normally at the front end of the line. That accounts for all the females.

There are quite a few more males in the group as to be expected. There is a guy who leads the group, who I believe has the highest rank of the class. I don't know his name yet. I do know he is constantly badgering and putting forth a stern warning/support to the cadets he leads. I met with him after PT on Wed. where Capt. Avellon told me he was interested in flying, but didn't care what he flew. So I inquired of him, do you not care what you fly, or do you not care what you fly so long as you get to fly a fixed wing aircraft?His response was that he wanted to fly fighters. He's got a typical fighter pilot attitude, and I would say that if he can perhaps get more of a "I LOVE TO DO THIS" perspective, he'll get whatever he wants. In the Air Force of course. He is a sophomore. There is a big dude named Mohamed, he has an accent. There is a tall skinny guy last name Simons, who according to Amber all the girls flirt with. Oh that reminds me, there is another girl.Her name is Jen, she is short and has a very athletic build, and does well in all the required areas, she is Canadian American and engaged to an enlisted Airman. They are getting married in a civil ceremony on Oct 15. There is another tall skinny guy last name Aldridge, who told me I could call him that or Dan, or Richard. He smiles a lot and does "remedial pt" on Wed. and Friday nights. He ran the 2 mile PT test run in 13:27. thats less than 6 minutes a mile. I did a mile on the treadmill today at the gym in 11 minutes...There is a guy named Rivera, he is short and Puerto Rican and normally carries the flag. A guy named Barrow, who has a tattoo on his right forearm of I don't know what and likes to talk about himself and his unusual encounters while we wait for everyone to show up before pt begins. He is also tall and skinny and his voice and the way he carries himself remind me of my friend Evan from Colorado. There is a guy named Parada, I think thats how to spell it. He is short and smiles all the time and I can tell he really enjoys what he's doing and loves being a part of the ROTC program. There is a guy last name Kissum, who works at the Best Buy my brother in law works at. He is stout wears glasses, makes odd dry humor comments and doesn't seem to know for sure what he wants from ROTC. Another skinny kid who's name I think is david, he has braces and rallied around me while I ran in the back the first or second day to help me make it to the end. Another guy who seems to have a broken tooth but wants in almost a secretly desperate way to lead ROTC I don't his name.He's almost shy, so I think it distracts him when they give him the chance to take the lead. There are other guys, I just can't recall all their names or info. I will tell more about them as time goes by.

I suppose it will have to be my next post that tells about all the awesome events we do. I have to go get ready for work now. Wish me luck!

Friends

I have a good friend, I have many good friends. There is one, however, who makes me think harder than any other, and is more of a true friend than many have been. My friend is so smart, and so suited to their sense of self that no one can shake them from being this great person. I have many friends, and I am thankful for all of them. One of whom has inspired me beyond the words I will exchange here, and have exchanged with them.




Some work teaches us how to kill with kindness, and learn patience in work where you are constantly being scrutinized. There is no position in life where someone is not going to look over our shoulder and tell us we could have done some task a better way. Being able to smile like you don't want to draw a sword and stab your attacker/co worker with minute authority, is a challenge. I choose to remind myself daily and at every encounter with my own power hungry insecure poorly chosen leader that their life will consist daily of selling shoes, and not exceed the confines of working on the weekends. This drives me harder to succeed and wills me to be an ultimately kind and giving person. Truly the most despised by those who wield their petty power trips on people they find to be less than themselves.

Oooh Welcome, Lovers and Friends

Hello! Welcome to a place where you can laugh at my misspellings, and misuses of the language that I fluently speak. Perhaps, in sometime, you can laugh at my errors in other languages also!
Since my life is so wildly exciting, and I have no one to tell about it, I followed suit in creating my own blog. I will probably post often, with little things on my mind. Or big things on my mind.
Allow me then, to introduce myself. My name is Bob. I'm a tall girl, I'm in my mid 20's and I'm actually very single. This may at times sound like a sex and the city post, only, not as gross. (I love that show).
Some more basic info on me: I love music, I do not live for it. I do listen to it, or sing it everyday. I like to be athletic, to an extent. I'm very competitive as a result of being #2 out of 3 daughters to my recently divorced parents. I love animals, and being in nature. I love fresh food, I'm not fully on the organic bus however. I am sarcastic, and I'd like to think my wit is very sharp, and sense of humor very dry. I'm kind of in college. I've not yet ventured outside of the USA, unless you count the border town of Acuna. I'm a military brat, and feel like that has given me an upper hand in understanding more about people. Thus, I'm likely to befriend anyone, always trying to find the good in everyone.Oh I love dancing. I'm good at it. I love clean smells. I'm annoyed by having to repeat myself, people who try too hard by acting like they know everything, and myself.
I will expand on all this in later posts. As the Europeans say, kisses*