desert_vixen's lair

I went and recieved my award today, for helping pull off the Army Birthday Ball. Yes, the one we threw in June. :)

Also went and accomplished one of my required four language hours for the month, so I feel all accomplished. Then I got to play Fun Organizational Games for the holiday party my unit is throwing. After the Physical Therapy appt this afternoon (is it still screwed up? can you cut now before I lose any more running time?), I'm relaxing.

Of course, I get to go in this evening to a) sell tickets for the Holiday Ball and b) counsel a soldier. Yay! NCO life!

DV

Good news: I signed my extension paperwork today. I now get out of the Army on 22 Apr 07, so I have enough time to take the class to change jobs. I'll be reenlisting for longer after I complete the class and get promoted to SGT. This next reenlistment will put me over halfway, so I've pretty much committed to the Army for 20.

Bad news: They're jacking my pay up again.

Worse news: They're jacking Brian's promotion to E6 around. It won't happen this month. It may not happen next month if they raise the points. I'm a little worried and a lot pissed.

December is getting crowded fast, but I am going to try to keep turning out some writing. Electra fans fear not. :)

Thinking about going warrant officer after I've been doing the 96B job for awhile, as there are better career options, and honestly, better money options. Warrant officer married to warrant officer (Brian is already in application mode) is good money. We're motivated by the desire to be of use to the country a lot, but there's also the wish to have a family, and to be able to give our family what they deserve to have.

Hoping they get me that date soon....

DV

Watching the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes (at least I hope the trend continues as the game progresses) and doing domestic chores.

Our Army Training was actually fun today. Got muddy, but not too bad, and proved that yes, I actually know stuff that is useful. Granted, a 10 person squad is a little unwieldy, but we managed it. One of our unit's staff sergeants did a really good performance of a shell shock victim. I'll post pics when I get them developed (yes, I still use that FILM thing).

Then I went back and took pictures and performed the usual role of the junior noncommissioned officer known as Corporal - in short, whatever the more senior NCOs need done.

Now I'm home, and continuing to clean out the hard drive, and hoping to get some writing inspiration here.

DV

Aaah, the last day of my shift and a party to go to, as soon as I can weasel my way out of work. We're saying goodbye (sort of - they aren't actually leaving the area yet, but they are leaving the military) to a pair of our coworkers who found love amidst the torture of our respective jobs. (I'm one to talk, as I did the same thing, over three years ago.) Brave friends of ours who just moved into a house are hosting the event, so I've claimed my patch of floor. I'll even have my own personal furry warming units, as their cats think I am an "auntie".

Slithered out of bed to watch GameDay on ESPN and watch the Georgia-Auburn game. The guys like it when someone comes into work and knows the scores.

Off for Sunday and Monday, with plans to laze around and catch up on stuff. Monday, of course, will be spent poking surreal_phantast with a sharpened stick to "help her along" with the writing process. It's a poor woman's version of a retreat.

Still waiting on my paperwork with a class date for the reclass, although now we know that it will go through, because the people who told me no are incompetent beyond belief. Of course, we knew this. When I get a date, I'll have to start thinking about what of my stuff will go with me for the four months of training. Guess it's a good thing I popped for a CD Burner/DVD player for the PC.

And in cheerful news, my husband actually will be visiting for 5 whole days at Christmas !! It says something about the state of our relationship, or rather the limits enforced on us by an incredibly slow moving Army, that I am so thrilled about this. That'll make it only 2.5 months since the last time we saw each other.

K, so maybe this is a not-so-short update.

DV

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon about the Lions not sucking. Screw the Cowboys, anyway. Gratified (as a Democrat) to see the boys from Green Bay kick some tail in Washington against the Redskins, and happy for rookie Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. Wonder how far *they'll* get this season.

I watched my taped episode of Boston Legal - pretty good, overall. The opening was great, as were Denny (Shatner) and the scenes with the one judge. I am wondering if they're ever going to *do* anything with Brad (Mark Valley) or if he's just going to be the whipping boy for the rest of the cast. I hope they actually do something, since I rather like the whole clean-cut, straight-laced American guy thing. (Down, Jenn.) The bit with Monica Potter's character doing the murder defense was a good one too, although shades of Columbine.

Unfortunately (looks for sykoamazon, carefully), I haven't done much writing here lately. Too busy with the insanity of work and trying to reenlist while not being screwed over. A possible ray of light... but more on that when we actually find out.

It's Monday, but it's Friday! (The fellow shiftworkers here understand what I'm saying.) Unfortunately, I have to work all 8 hours, as my excuse to get away from work for a few hours developed a gutless streak. Another fun day with the day staff! Yay!

The false optimism thing isn't working, is it?

DV

After this four day set of work, I'm finding the whole day off thing is quite nice. Of course, I spent all day today organizing stuff and running errands. Not to mention raiding the used book store, so now I'm set on reading material for awhile, hopefully. Especially with swings.

Of course, tommorrow involves Army stuff, after sleeping in - because now my sleep clock is all jacked up and I can't sleep until 2 am. Going to days is going to be hard, at this rate. Of course, I'll be going into work for awhile to handle squad-leader stuff at one in the morning, because that's when all my people will be there. Tomorrow also involves more scrapbook production. I have to cut down on the amount of loose, floating scrapbook supplies and photos before I get reassigned, giving the movers less of a chance to break my stuff. My nesting instinct seems to be kicking in...

Glad to see the Yankees went down, if for nothing else than because I always cheer for the underdog (what do you expect from a Detroit Lions fan?) and glad to see the Astros go down, because they're from Texas.

DV

Well, first the Lions lost to the Packers, 38-10. So I wasn't in a good mood before I headed off to work.

Where I discovered that the Army induced insanity only gets better and better. We now have mandatory accountability formations and PT before work. Apparently, someone in our company is a child masquerading as an adult, but unable to get the whole "being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there" thing down. So we all get to jump through hoops.

Remember, there is a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way. :)

In fic news, I put up #19 of Electra and the conclusion to Weekend Leave. I have decided I'm not posting the next one in the BH/CG series until I finish the sucker, to avoid people wanting to lynch me for taking my sweet time. Glad so many people are reading the stuff, just wish more people were commenting on it, besides my ever-fervent beta reader surreal_phantast.

Bitch, bitch, moan, moan. It's going to be one of those weeks, I think.

DV