Month: August 2011

SOP Will Now Be SBD?!

Fair warning: angry language below.

So one looks at a photo like this of older days when men knew war was hell and it was practiced as it always has been.

I am pleased that Trooper need not deal with the nonsense that goes on now. I cannot fathom having to find words to soothe his irritation at an order to withhold his wind.

“…audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange because it offends the Afghans.”

Seriously – what the fuck are we still doing bleeding into their Godforsaken sands? And fuck that We shit, anyway. I’m not suffering a bit. I am no isolationist but…fight it like men (and women – you better fight like men, too) or come the hell home.

All this pussification of war has me fed up. It is supposed to offend the opponent! It is supposed to be so damned offensive that he gives up and walks away!

One can only reflect on the difference in the sentiment above and the lack of sentiment in this.

(Though, I thought I saw a Tactical Noogie at 1:38m.) Real men, real wounds, real blood. You know, all those things the boys of today are being deprived of…

What in the hell is this world coming to?

Over There…No, Over Here

My father sends me this over the transom and it pleases in a strange, twingey way…

“At first, in dim light, I thought is was a Navy unit band, like the one I played in. These kids are pretty good.



Okay, the solo work was mostly stilted, and I’d have turned the drummer loose for more rim shots, but the section work was very good. Give them to me for a month and they’ll match the original!! This stuff was like mother’s milk to me, but not to these kids. They have done a fantastic job on it. I loved the trumpet gal’s mouse!!



Trivia: Glen Miller made the soloists play the exact same solo each engagement. Oh well. Matched the recordings…..”

(The link is from a Japanese movie, Swing Girls.)

I suspect I inherited a bit of my father’s musical appreciation – I have a deep love of that time in history and the music thereof. Any Miller gets me “in the mood”. I love the uniforms, the dresses, the planes and the movies. And I have always harbored that feeling…I knew this, then, intimately.

I’d been watching Normandy: The Great Crusade much of the morning, thrust into those hellish days and helplessly linking them to our lives today. Such privation, risk, and sense of duty and a willingness to give a name to the enemy – even derogatory names – and a media that was honest enough to present it…

We will never see its like again, I think.

I worry a great deal about what might be. Easy to do so when the house is empty and quiet as it is today. I have no answers, no predictions, nothing I can point to and say, “There. There is your proof. Now, go and get ready.” But it is a feeling – as if Chamberlain is again muttering, “I’ve got it!” and we are all blindly cheering with a sense of safety and comfort. Meanwhile, somewhere else the Declaration of Independence is being trundled off to storage with, “…the Führer replied, ‘Oh, don’t take it so seriously. That piece of paper is of no further significance whatever.’ ”

Meanwhile, a stage is being designed and set upon which to host a final play. And we shall all be made actors, willingly or no, based simply upon our Facebook preferences and friends. After all, they can shut down an entire factory for wont of a slip of paper. You think it isn’t that simple to compile evidence enough to place you behind bars?

The Holocaust was ignored by thousands within eyesight and earshot. You (and I) would slip beneath those waves with hardly a ripple. And perhaps that is my awful, selfish confession. I do not wish to go gentle into that good night.

Friday Funny

These guys have a new release out that looks interesting…and from there I found their series of outtakes. If you have ever wondered what kind of goofy crap those high speed/low drag types enjoy, it’s here in spades.

Reminds me of Trooper and his buddy. Being the only girl around them can be rough. Amusing – but rough.

Support Structure

I am usually driven to navel-gazing, introspective posts during the night shift. But those are no more with the new schedule. Rather, it’s an hour or so in the morning to talk, and perhaps 30 minutes at night, each of which are already booked with work or kitchen closing. That is our new normal.

And even that will be edited soon…Trooper is taking the last of the training the state demands to get him on the road with the – what is it they call the person? – dignitary? I don’t recall the euphimism. At any rate, once that paperwork is stamped and filed, it is up in the air. Literally and figuratively. Some are gone for two weeks, catching perhaps 6 hours of sleep/day. Odds are he will become a preferred traveler – he is very good at what he does and he has done this sort of elevated work before. So I try to remember how it was when he was in the academy and I was a thousand miles away, writing, calling and just waiting. It was when I started this place as a kind of silent associate that would agree with me and offer mute comfort.

I look at all the housework that needs done, I try to soothe Kota as her eye irritation (vet appt pending) drives her mad, I deal with other familial issues, and consider that after work, I have to also find time to get upstairs and workout. The I have to get the dogs exercised in a heat that makes those options very, very few. In short, I feel rather put upon lately.

I know that it isn’t true and even voicing it makes me seem and feel small. So many are going through so much worse. But I suppose it is the unending “sacrifice” that is getting to me – this constant keeping of the home fires burning thing. I can recall the same feeling when he was away and the wondering at when it would be my turn to be supported and uplifted as I sought my dream. But there is no dream…

What would I do if I could wave a hand and have it? No dogs to care for? Well, then go the companions that are all I shall have for a time. No house to keep? Foolishness. So then what? What is to be done that I cannot do if I would just do it already? Not a damned thing. But there is no one to help me do it. And that – that – is the problem. So what? I try to wrestle the frustration to a halt with that refutation that I hear in my mother’s voice – so what? From the age of 16 to this day, decades on, I have always taken care of everything. And I do not know why I think it will suddenly change.

I was made strong so that I could carry those heavy loads. I was made smart so that I could see what needs done and how best to do it. I was mated with a warrior so that he could be away and not worry that all he loved would be at risk of loss or leaving. These are the things that I try to tell myself as I put one foot in front of the other. It isn’t easy – all I want to do is pout and spout Why Me’s and shovel in some chocolate. I want some damned sympathy and someone to do the ironing. And it isn’t going to happen.

Time to put on those big girl panties – when they are out of the dryer – and suck it up. The support structure is ME. I am the pillars, my feet on the threshold and my hands holding up our small world. With some thought and care, it won’t come crashing down. But I don’t think that ironing is gonna get done.

The List `O Books Meme

Courtesy of Leeann and nothing better to do…I read most of these when I was very young so I bold them knowing that I can hardly recall a thing from many. I went through every Asimov book – fiction and non-, every Heinlein, Bradbury and Clarke, also. Rather sad to not see C.J. Cherryh! But then I definitely feel there is a generational thing going on – my generation had read the “current” field as well as the originators of the theme. By now, there is a rich and deep variety to choose from…

Bold is read…

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley (One of my treasured possessions is a letter from her in reply to my inquiry of a movie being made one day – she was doubtful it would be possible or well-done. She was half right.)

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (One of the very best books ever for dropping you into a mind – you feel as one with the character…)

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (Mr. Maguire makes my top 4.)

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (If you never have, read it NOW. It’s important.)

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis