Boogy

This is for you, Currt-dawg :) ...

"I said a hip, a hop, a hip, a hippy to the hip hip hoppin' you don't stop the rockin' to the bang, bang, boogy said up jump the boogy to the rhythm of the boogy the beat."

Ah, the memories.

Misery

Sometimes things just don't go well. I am having one of those moments, a moment I hope will only last a month. I thought about it, cried, and had a wide mix of emotions ... sad, disappointed, frustrated, ashamed, humilitated, embarrased. I know I am being quite vague, and I don't really want to get into details, but I think that everyone has felt this way at some point, regardless of the situation. But as I was in the middle of these feelings I thought about the good points of my life; things could be worse. I have a wonderful husband (deployed, but still mine), a family back home whom I love to death, all of my limbs are still attached ... yes, things could definitely be much worse. But pain is in the gut of the beholder. Little kids cry when they accidentally let go of their balloon and it sails into the sky ... that balloon was everything to that little kid. They haven't graduated to the stressors that we pride ourselves in as we reach adulthood. I wish I didn't care about my problem. I wish it would just go away. But the reality is that it has to run its course ... a painful waiting game that I don't have much patience for. Also, sitting at home all alone, I felt like I was rotting away in my misery. I had to get out ... and so I did, with the company of a good friend over a bite to eat. I bitched, he listened. And I feel a lot better. I won't cry myself to sleep tonight ... I don't feel so alone anymore. Thank you :)

Photo taken in Paris, France and is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998.

Holiday

I'm slowly learning what it is I like about the holidays. I've always loved everything about them ... seeing family, all the lights and decoration, and all the yummy food. But, I guess in trying to re-create what it is I feel Christmas should feel like at home, I am noticing all the little things that I wish it could be. I've got the Christmas tree up already (I couldn't wait ... ), some decorations, and a few presents already under the tree. I still need the smell of apples and cinnamon ... I have some potpourri for that but I think it's lacking in aromatic strength. I don't have nearly as many decorations and knick-knacks around the house as I'm used to, but I have lots of lights, so I think that makes up for it (notice the tree lights above ... I think that's what they look like to someone after too much egg nog). But the one thing that I can't even come close to re-creating, aside from having my entire family over, is my favorite of all ... cold weather and snow. I've decided that on Christmas Eve I'm going to shut all the blinds, make sure that the a/c is down to (at most) 60 degrees, and then I'm not going to go outside all day on Christmas so maybe I'll forget I'm in Hawaii. This place wouldn't be so bad if it would only snow every once in a while ;)

Selected!

Well, it's official, both Ace and I are going to be advanced to E-6! I just found out yesterday, and poor Ace probably won't find out until he gets home :( A lot of people made it this cycle ... congrats to everyone! We'll probably get frocked sometimes next week, and I'm crossing my fingers for 1st increment for both of us! It was definitely good news for me yesterday, since I woke up with a touch of food poisoning ... at least, that's all I could figure it could have been. I'm still in recovery today from it, and lucky for me, I had today and yesterday off from work. Go figure.

( I just got a few more negatives put onto a CD, and this photo is one I took back in '98 when I was in France.)

Photo taken in Paris, France and is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998.

Anticipation

So I got a phone call from my chief today, and he had the statistics for this promotion cycle. The actual results haven't been released yet, but probably will be in a few days, so I am HIGHLY anticipating the actual results, but so far I think they look good. 81% of the people who tested for E-6 made it this cycle, so I have a pretty good shot. Actually, I have an outstanding shot. Let's just hope I'm not one of the 19% who didn't ...

I was on my front porch, taking some fun photos, and I thought these two looked the coolest. The first one is neat beacuse it looks 3-D, and the second one kind of looks like a robot-dog to me. What do you think?

Photo taken in Oahu, Hawaii and is Copyright Nicole Young, 2005.

Hunters?

So, I was putting my laundry in the dryer, and all of a sudden I hear the doorbell -- maybe. The washer/dryer is in the downstairs half bathroom, which is immediately to your left when you walk in our door, so it's possible I was just hearing things ... ironically it's harder to hear the doorbell from that room and it's right next to the door. So, anyways, I look in the peephole ... no one there. So I open the door just to be sure it wasn't a neighbor kid (they are constantly throwing balls and other odd objects in our backyard ... we're fenced-in so no one can access it but us) and all of a sudden someting jumps on my hand! I thought it was a gecko ... no big deal, see them all the time. So my cats start chasing around whatever it was, and it happened to be a huge cockroach! Yuck! I turn into girly-girl when I see huge gross bugs and usually I'm throwing out little girl screams while I'm trying to chase/kill/run away from the thing. So I was kind of relying on my cats to "clean up" the mess ... they wouldn't stop playing with the darn thing! I finally had to beat it down with a stick and get it into a cup to throw it outside. Those cats will eat a gecko faster than they will kill a bug ... they don't get outside much. At least it wasn't a giant centipede ... one time seeing one of those things in my house was enough to scare the poop out of me for a lifetime!

Kitties

Kashi and Fuji came home today from the vet. They seem like they're doing just fine ... poor Kashi has to wear this lovely contraption to keep from licking his stitches, but, other than that little annoyance, they don't seem to be in any pain :) It is kinda funny watching Kashi try and walk around with this thing on! He keeps bumping it into things and tried to push himself into the kennel at one point, even though the guard wouldn't let him fit in it! I'll have to keep them locked up most of the time to keep them from jumping around and possibly opening the stiches. The poor little guys!

Hike

Yesterday I went on a hike with some of the people I work with. We hiked three to four miles, and saw some beautiful scenes! Since it was my first hike on Oahu, it was an eye-opener to see all the nature that this island still has. Most of what I see are roads, buildings, and pineapple fields, so it was good to see the more beautiful aspect of this island. Today I take my kitties to the vet for their check-up before they get neutered tomorrow. I feel so bad for the poor guys! I'm having them declawed as well, which I feel even worse for doing, yet I feel it is a necessary evil that must be done. They don't wreak too much havoc on the furniture yet (though the furniture we have isn't exactly nice), but I'm mostly concerned with the cats playing with and potentially scratching our future kids. I love my kitties so much (laugh all you want ... if you don't love animals you'll never understand!) and I'd hate to have to get rid of them after we have kids. But I feel so bad for them that they have to go through all the ickiness of the surgeries.

Photo taken in Oahu, Hawaii and is Copyright Nicole Young, 2005.