Single Digit Midget

I meant to tell you before but it slipped my mind: I have only 1 day remaining before I fly home.

YEAH, RIGHT it slipped my mind! AS IF! WOOOHOOOOO. One day and a wake-up!

Maybe it's because I'm only ONE DAY from heading home (only home for 2 weeks but we aren't talking about that yet), but for some reason the air smells sweeter, the flies seem gentler and my clothes - well, my clothes are still tight at hell but two out of three ain't bad :-)

You can see from this picture taken at a recent good-bye gathering that everyone is as happy to see me go as I am to be leaving - ha ha!

I leave Bagram Air Field on 28 July and should be CONUS (sorry, i tried to resist but I've been infected with the acronym virus!) on 30 July - boots on ground by 1300L HRS!!! Pray for me that I don't have to sit next to anyone on any of my flights who is either chatty, smelly, perky or any combination thereof (hey, i'm not mean - i'm just sleep and civilization deprived). On second thought, why not put your prayers to really good use: pray for me that every other passenger assigned to my rows on every single one of my 4 separate flights misses their flight leaving me with the entire row to myself AND that, in addition to the standard beverages, fare and snacks usually served, the flight i'm on mistakenly receives a supply shipment of hubba bubba. Peace. See you in 3...2...1.

4th of July: Just Like Mom Used to Make

Why yes, that IS a swimming pool by which I sit lounging and munching on my ... watermelon!

Okay, so we didn't get fireworks (something about illuminating the entire base and making us an easier target) or the day off from work. But we DID get a BBQ with all the trimmings, a blow-up pool filled with bottled water that doubled as an "ice-bath" for our fake beer (you know it, baby!) and a foot pool for our glow-in-the-dark white legs (Whew, shield your eyes from the glare off of those shins!) and, last but not least, a few hours of visiting like normal people and pretending we were in our own backyards (except for the helicopters :-).

Hope you had a happy 4th. See you in three weeks (exactly).

Not Quite a Tomb Raider

The dust has settled and, as you can see, I lived to tell the tale.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll shut up. Just know that I am not being tortured -at least not in this picture (although it looks like I am talking to someone so I can't say the same for my listener).

Oh yeah, you may be wondering why I'm smiling given recent accounts of porta-potties, flies, heat and stench ... the answer is "Hubba Bubba, baby!" I got it and it rocks. I've been so busy (and quiet) chewing my HB that I haven't complained about anything in 5 days.

For those of you who have ever wondered how to get me to shut up: take a note. See you in 29 and a wake-up!