chronicles from the 95th interstate

Have you ever been in a bathroom so disgusting that you debated if your hands would be cleaner if you didn't touch anything in there? I95 in Delaware, North and South. It only runs through the key state for 5 exots, so there's only one gas stop. It's the cheapest one from NYC to DC so I always stop there to fill up, but holy hepatitis batman. Also, for those of you "disabled veterans" like myself having the misfortune of traveling to Walter Reed on a Monday morning, take heed: There aren't even any illegal parking spots. I found myself debating whether to sit in front of the main entrance and offer a ride to the car of any departing patients, but someone left after my 45th patrol around the lower level of the parking garage. Oh and if you're deficient on your "ghetto cruising" quota, please take a ride with me. Anywhere. I can find the most decrepit community in any town, anywhere. I get the adventure bug every now and again. On my way home this afternoon I decided to get on Route 1 instead of the good ole' thruway because I am tired of drive through food. Well I didn't find any food, but i did take a lovely tour of south eastern Baltimore. Understand that I'm in now way paranoid or scared. I'm not a thug or anything, but a neighborhood is a neighborhood. I grew up in the Bronx in a lower middle class urban area. Be that as it may, I also decided to venture forth sans map like a dope. I followed route 1 until I lost it and then just stayed in a North/Northeasterly direction until I ran into 695. Then I went to Panera Bread and felt better. Then I wasn't paying attention and got back onto 95 SOUTH for 5 minutes. So it technically took me 7 hours to get back to Middlesex County. Fuck it. It's not like gas is over $3 a gallon or anything.

Military word of the day

Jacques Le Moyne, Plate XIX

"Blue Bark"

(DOD) US military personnel, US citizen civilian employees of the Department of Defense, and the dependents of both categories who travel in connection with the death of an immediate family member. It also applies to designated escorts for dependents of deceased military members. Furthermore, the term is used to designate the personal property shipment of a deceased member.

I've been on death detail before. It's a humbling experience. Sometimes when you go to another location for a training exercise or when you deploy, you end up bringing your dress uniform with you so you can ride in the back of a C-10 with a casket.We just got a guy in from Germany this morning whose wife passed away. He flew with her. His leave form and travel orders have "Blue Bark" emblazoned on them. Every time he has to turn in either of these documents people will know why he's here. Reminds me of the mourning veils widows wear.

So you want that nose medium, or medium-well?

Hi. I'm a moron. Ocean and sand make sun more intense. And now you know.

My two cents, for what it's worth

Lots of people fucked up. There are some serious issues. Racial, economic, micro and macro. Let's dust orselves off and take it like the big men and women that we are. Help yourself and others. HELP YOURSELF. HELP OTHERS. I have a big bag of clothes on its way somewhere. There is a time for redemption and reckoning. Now is the time for rescue and relief. The rest of it will come.

New Orleans

One of my favorite places in the whole world. Still is. My thoughts are with those people suffering right now. That's all I want to say.

my favorite

truth in advertising

Desparate online personal ad (if the truth was told)

My name is Mary, I'm 32 years old and I am an elementary school teacher. I went to school to be a chemist and when I was working on my Master's thesis I blew one of my professors because he said he'd hook me up, but then his wife found out and I left before the end of the semester. I am very clingy, and I do put out on the first date. I think my ideal date would be dinner at my house. Well, when I say my house, I mean my basement sublet. I call it a studio, but seriously, it's like 300 square feet, and my 3 cats pretty much rulw the roost. So anyway, dinner. I'm a great cook. Of course, there's always cat hair in everything, but they're white, so you know, you can pick them out. So while we have dinner I'll get you tipsy on Franzia wine and then we can move down to the rug and make out for a while. The kitties get a little jealous because we don't get too many visitors, but I'll just corral them intot he bathroom and turn the music up to drown out the wailing cat noises. Did I mention they're all female and in heat? Isn't that adorable? You do like Yanni right? I want you to make sweet passionate love to my ass and mouth and then right when you feel it building up inside, I'm going to start crying, not because i was abused or anything, just that I'm selfish and insecure and the attention has to be on me. I'd love it if you'd stay the night. I know you have to get back home, but I love you now, and you're my boyfriend. Oh, and I love to dance.

very life-dense

And by that I mean i have no time whatsoever lately. I spent the majority of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in an automobile. This makes for a very cranky Samantha. I drove to D.C. again on Friday to get my head and vagina examined by medical professionals. i left my apartment at 7am, got to the hospital around 1130am, left the hospital at 430pm, got back to my house around 9pm, left my house at 10pm to go to the boyfriend's house, and got there around 11pm. The day at the hospital deserves it's own post. On Saturday we drove to Arlington, Massachusetts to visit with friends and go on a casino/booze cruise. Another 5 hours of my life I can never have back. I hate I-95. Anyway, the cruise was fun. I was waiting for it to become the Poseidon Adventure, what with the friggin swells, the damn boat was rolling all over the place. It made for a cheap buzz. I like the water so fuck everyone else. We got on the road around 1pm Sunday and didn't get back to the greater NYC area until 7pm. I was back in my truck at 530am Monday morning to go to work. From 6am Friday to 6am Monday I was in a vehicle for nearly 24 hours. Of course gas is like 40 dollars a damn gallon as well. And for my pick-em-up truck that's pretty bad news.

I feel like I'm sneaking out of the asylum door that one of the orderlies left open. I'm all tip-toey hoping no one notices. I mean it was their decision in the first place, but still. I can't wait till I'm actually out for real and then I can be candid and share without fear of repercussion.


--In other news, James Brown's "Super Bad" is totally one of my favorite songs. Just because.

just a reminder that we're always the center of our own universe

i really can't seem to get over myself sometimes. I've put on a rather good lot of weight over the past year. i'm inherently lazy, and with the amount of stress i've managed to put on myself in recent months, it's really no wonder. looking at old pictures brings it home even more. i have these miny breakdowns, the quietest anxiety attack you ever did see. i get terribly insecure and it eats at me and i feel guilty for feeling bad about myself and the boyfriend tries to be supportive and caring and i beat myself up, how endearing. i can't forget about overreacting and reading into everything. deep down i know that sometimes people are socializing and can't talk to me whenever i desire but it still sends my dramatic imagination into outer space about my out of shape fat self. Never mind the whole changing caree path thing. I'm trying to remind myself that there was a time i savored change like the intial incline of a rollercoaster. I get to pick my method of bacon bringing for the next long while, where other folks are bogged down in mediocrity. the source of the anxiety is said bacon. I have no savings to speak of. I probab;y have a negative net worth. But now I'm on the phone with my bunny and he's being his sweet self and I feel like a minor league loon who needs to get a grip. Gotta love that rollercoaster.

The boyfriend is a doll. This is Matt, Monica, Mike, and yours truly at Matt's parents' house in North Carolina about 3 weeks before they deployed.

there is another

Happy Birthday Monica. She's 28 today. She's a medic, like me. She's here.

Camp Ashraf
The Mujahedin el-Khalq (MKO or MEK) main base is at Camp Ashraf, Iraq, about 100 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. The People's Mujahadeen, also known by its Persian name Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), has been classified by Washington as a terrorist organization. Washington announced on 22 April 2003 that it had reached a ceasefire with the MEK. The next day MEK officials said the agreement allowed the MEK to keep its weapons and carry on its activities in Iran from Camp Ashraf. But June 2003 the US Military Police took control of Camp Ashraf and the MEK was consolidated and all weapons secured by MPs. As of September 2003 the 4,000 MEK members in the former Mujahedeen base were consolidated, detained, disarmed and were being screened for any past terrorist acts.

The 530th MP Battalion, maintained the MEK Detention Facility at Camp Ashraf.

According to the U.S. military, it does not hold any Iranian detainees but Iraqis accused of serious crimes such as murder and rape.

She's on my short list of for real best friends and all around favorite people. I don't have any pictures of her online or i'd share. She rocks.

I love it when a plan comes together

I can finally share what I've been working on for the past 2 months. The boyfriend turned a grand 25 years old on Friday.

His sister, her best friend, and I orchestrated a surprise party for him. He hasn't been the extra special birthday boy in quite some time so we decided to throw him a fete because he deserves it and he rocks.


It was quite the undertaking as he and I are on the phone constantly and I'm with him every weekend. He was totally surprised though, so yay us.


He really likes poker and gambling, etc. so we made out own casino theme. Of course he and the boys played cards for a while. This is what happens when you mix Jack Daniels and poker.

Happy Birthday Hunny Bunny

I was jonesing for dinner and decided to drive straight to food from work, a direction i hadn't taken yet. Of course I got off the wrong exit and drove in a large circle for 30 minutes. Magically I decided to make a left and there was my yummy restaurant. I felt very psychic that moment, thank you.

Back to work. woohoo. At least I don't have to venture down the NJ turnpike, or the devil's asshole, anymore for at least a few more weeks.So now I'm back and i have no idea what my timeline is. I might have two more months or 6 more months. So I have to gather myself together and make neat piles before I hit the skids. There's nothing real entertaining about any of this, just need to get it out. I have so much to do. I have to find a new job, get my finances together, get rid of some minor debts, blah blah blah. maybe after i get a full night's sleep I'll be funnier.

Yeah Buddy

I am so goddamn tired. We spent a three day weekend in Carlisle, Pannsylvania at a huge truck show. Drank a lot of beer, ate hot wings, looked at cool trucks. It took 4 hours to get there Friday morning and almost 7 to get home on Sunday. The New Jersey Turnpike is a funnel for retarded people (no offense to retarded people) to go from New York to the rest of the country. I left Long Island at 4am and made it to Philly in less than 90 minutes, a personal best, but I encountered the most ridiculous people at a rest stop. There is no room for rude behavior at 5am. All I wanted to do was pull into a parking spot before i peed myself and this group of people stood directly in front of my truck having a conversation. I even rolled my window down and politely asked if i could get into the spot and received the reply of, "Just a second."!!! GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY BEFORE I PEE ON YOU, is what i should have said in response, but I just glared at him, because I was very tired. I got down to D.C. around 8:30-ish and got poked in the ears, eyes, median cubital vein, and got to pee in a cup. Lucky me. One thing I did not et, however, was answers. Some of my labs weren't beck yet, so I have to wait two weeks. Oh well. i have pics from the weekend and the drive, but mine eyes are weary, so till the morrow.

Get in Gear

Well, it looks like I may have some answers come Monday afternoon regarding my timeline for ceasing employment with my namesake Uncle. I have to go to D.C. again for more poking and then an appointment with the doctor. I have so much time and so little to do!*

pure genius.

Seriously, you look about eleventy.

damnitalltohell

For someone with a friggin sleeping disorder, I feel like I've been getting less and less this week.

Uneventful boringosity

One of the buildings on post (one of the many) is going to be emptied out to accomadate another activity and I'm helping the soon to be previous occupant clean up. There are these two gnarly looking metal cabinets with 4(?) flip-up glass doors. They have to be at least 40-50 years old, probably all lead painted. The entire place'll be gutted so I asked H. if I could load them up in the pick-em-up truck for "someone who could use them". I'm determined to find a use for them. I'll repaint them. I have a decent bookcase, so maybe i could do Army and baseball memorabilia or something. I don't want to get lectured by a certain someone on how i already have no room. I'm well aware. I want them anyway. So there. (loving you)
--Ooh, I knitted last night. It only tok me 3 hours to cast-on and knit-stitch ten rows. I fancy myself to be pretty smart, but I am one of the most uncoordinated fuckers I know. So now I'm making shit. With my own fangers. Who wants a scarf?