This Week...

I watched 10 episodes of What Not To Wear.

I turned in 30 pounds of laundry.

I bought 2 pairs of footwear.

I got a quilt in the mail.

I drank 6 chocolate soymilks.

I spent 1 1/2 hours in a Chinook.

I became a fan of Spiderman.

I laughed a lot.

I took 44 pictures.

I decided first impressions are usually ultimately correct.

I took 10 showers.

I finished 13 Sudoku puzzles.

I played 10 rounds of Uno.

I won once.

I asked for lots of advice.

I cut my fingernails.

I ran 6 miles.

I joined the Basrah Bow Club.

And it's only Wednesday... I'm just kidding. It is Wednesday, but I'm counting back a week.

In just a couple hours it's going to be April. Time is going by faster than I imagined. I think right now I want it that way. It's good to be busy and it's good for time to go by. It's also good for that time to be enjoyed.

My favorite thing over here is being able to travel. I get to get away from all the craziness (and constant Wii), and do some of the things I wanted to do for a living 5 years ago when I signed a contract. Things like playing for Iraqis and "adding a touch of class" to yet another boring ceremony and making a normally tone-deaf Chaplain smile because there's real music at his service. I know what I do isn't terribly "entertaining to troops" like the rock bands, and I am okay with that, so I am really thankful when I am able to contribute musically over here.

And after 10 episodes of getting to watch women have $5,000 shopping sprees to spruce up their wardrobes, I'm contemplating taking a week-long shopping trip to NY and Boston with Mama LLama and Mama Bee and Baby Bee when I get home. I'm kinda thinking I'll care more about getting non-pink Baby clothes and perfect wash-and-go Mommy clothes and skinny Grandma clothes than Aunt Bethany clothes.

Purple

I haven't got much to say, other than I am really happy and having fun. The stuff we get to experience is awesome. I can tell I am growing as a person. Always a tough and rewarding and exciting time. It's a process. Be patient with me.

It's getting warmer.

Food is becoming a problem. It doesn't taste good. So I keep eating and never feel satisfied. I am looking forward to cooking again. Very much. Dinner is my least favorite meal. It's always the same. Just looking worse and worse each time it's served. And it's okay... I'M NOT COMPLAINING! I'm just stating a fact that I love cooking and I miss my food.

I got my purple running shoes to match my purple PT belt. Trying to remain fashion-conscious while in the dessert...

i have about 3 minutes left of computer time tonight. i just wanted to let everyone know i am okay, a little sick of dust, a little sick of ACU everything, and a little sick of air. um, being in the air, as opposed to being on the ground. things are going well though. april is almost here and that means i am one month closer to being home again... meeting my niece! not feeling ready for life after the army, but feeling that time is coming, and soon. i'm a little worried about finding a job out there.

i highly recommend sarah palin's book. listened to it on audiobook.

My New Name

The interpreters had a hard time learning my name last week... and remembering it, and pronouncing it. So they gave me an Arabic name. Amany. (Ah-mahn-ee) It means hopes. Dreams. Desires. Kind of a beautiful concept actually. There's a song about a young couple in love, they told me the story. He sings about the Amany for the future. It doesn't work out. He dies. Amany were lost.

I learned how to write it out in Arabic too. And the rest of their characters, so I can read and write it. But... I don't know how to translate it. So it doesn't make sense. Greek was easier. I have 10 more months so I should learn more than the 5 or 6 words/phrases I know now. "Picture." "Open your eyes." "Good morning." "Thank you." "Good." "Hopes."

Guys overe here don't ask for phone numbers. They ask for Facebook accounts. Is that what this world is coming to? I don't mind giving it out though, I mean, I rarely get on Facebook so giving them my name to look me up seems pretty safe. Ha ha. It will be a month before I can add the guys as friends, and by then they have forgotten who I am. Although, the COB isn't very big and I am sure I will run into all these men asking for my Facebook...

Our past and our regrets never leave us, do they? Always there hauting us, when we're happiest or when they are the furthest thing from us. I guess they are always connected to us. I mean, they are things in our past. They're a part of our lifes. Had to have become a part of our lives for a reason. Only natural to be reminded of them from time to time.

You know, I don't really even like Facebook.