Well, here I am, sitting at the airport, waiting for my flight back to St. Jean. I had another post from before break but it wasn't very exciting so I decided not to post it. (It has nothing at all to do with the fact that I was scrambling to pack at the last minute, yet again...none at all.) It was just about how we had to pick paint chips off the baseboards of our walls in order to make things look nicer for inspection. Good times.
It was interesting to be there and interesting to come home again. Seeing people get indoctrinated, and getting indoctrinated myself is kind of neat, and gives a little bit of insight into the whole "collective identity" thing. We are beaten down and built back up so that we are more proud of each other and our platoon than we are of ourselves. The instructors seem to know exactly when to use the carrot and the stick to try to get to people. Luckily things don't get to me, but I don't need either so much because I actually am trying to do everything the way they want. It seems the best way to do it. Yeah..It won't take long to get back into things, that's for sure. I just hope we haven't all forgotten how to march!
I guess I don't have anything else interesting to say. Airports are not too exciting, and I hope it continues to stay that way! I'll be posting again when we're allowed our electronics back...in 2 weeks hopefully. More if we don't behave!
Till then
Cheers. Have a drink for me, cause I'm not allowed!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Testing Testing
Will this work? Will I be able to update my blog from the new phone? Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
Duh. 42
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
More Updates From Back in Time
Nov 29
I am sick sick sick and tired tired tired. That's all. More tomorrow.
Nov 30
I'm sitting at the medical centre, waiting for my turn. I have some sort of cold/flu and it's really bringing me down - especially in the A.M., which is much longer than I am used to! I thought I'd get better over the weekend, with just a bit more sleep, but no. Not really at all. I don't really need medical attention though, just a chit to delay my swim test. I have a feeling that would be a BAD idea today. Of course, most of the platoon should be doing the same thing, but everyone is afraid to come here. It's supposedly ineffective and nobody wants to get put on bedrest. Do that too long and your platoon leaves you behind and you join up with a later group when there is room...however long that takes!
Other than being sick, things are ok. We got in trouble for not enough teamwork on Saturday and had to do some useless work. It was actually kind of interesting and led to an entertaining night.
We'd been sewing all day (I had to teach a bunch of the guys how so we could stitch nametags on ALL our clothes) and it was 10:30 at night when we were called to get our asses downstairs ASAP. We boot it down and Cpl. Pushup (because they are his PASSION. He said so) was waiting, and he was pissed. The course senior (a sort of liason between staff and students who "ranks" above the rest of us...the position is rotated every few days and the current one had some weird power trip going on) hadn't gotten something done and he blamed everyone else. And of course, even though the Cpl. knew it was strictly the course senior's responsibility, he said that we could have helped him more, among other choice phrases. Of course, this is true and is also one of the main things they try to teach us here at basic: When one person makes a mistake, everyone pays - so stick together and help each other out to make things work.
So...we got a lecture. A loud one. A colourful one. Then we got to run up to our rooms (8 floors, remember!), grab our kit bags, and get back down in 5 minutes. We were 10 seconds over. Well, one person was, but that meant we all were. So we had to stand in squat position for a while. And get another rather sonorous, chromatic instruction. Then get threatened with pushups. Then run up the stairs again to return the kit bags and bring back a pair of green socks. Repeat lecture and threats, and finally we were allowed to return to our rooms at our own pace - admittedly more of a trudge at this point.
When we finally got back up to our pod, intending to continue sewing, we were definitely more awake...though maybe a little out of it. Hence the entertaining evening that followed.
Three of us got there first. I sat down to sew, and Ricky (female..going by pseudo-last-names here) sat in the chair beside me and Arlan was just behind her, about to sit as well. Then I heard a yell.
"OWWWWWWW!!!!" Ricky stood up quick, bent over and standing on one leg. "I sat on a needle! Get it out! Get it out!!"
Arlan froze with a horror exactly like a deer in the headlights. I could see the wheels turning as he tried to figure out how to pull a needle out of a girl's buttcheek "appropriately".
He finally did it and then looked up at Ricky and I laughing and said rather forcefully "Don't cry!". He sounded almost afraid and it was just too much. We laughed even harder as Arlan tried to explain. "No - I said it because she's allergic to her own tears, remember? She told us earlier." Which of course was true.
"You kind of defeated the purpose." I said, looking at the tears rolling down both their cheeks. My own were keeping pace no problem. When the other guys came back a couple minutes later, we were still cracking up with no end in sight. We managed to hold it back enough to explain it, which got them going so of course we were all killing ourselves laughing.
Finally, just we were starting to calm down enough to breathe and remark on our sore abs when Mac walks back from his room where he had apparently been (yet again) trying on random bits of kit and official clothes. This time he was wearing his boxers, the bush hat and gabardine. He stopped in the hall, looked up at us and declared:
"I LOVE this F***ing Coat!"
And that, my friends, was the end of sanity for the night.
...but it is a really nice coat.
I am sick sick sick and tired tired tired. That's all. More tomorrow.
Nov 30
I'm sitting at the medical centre, waiting for my turn. I have some sort of cold/flu and it's really bringing me down - especially in the A.M., which is much longer than I am used to! I thought I'd get better over the weekend, with just a bit more sleep, but no. Not really at all. I don't really need medical attention though, just a chit to delay my swim test. I have a feeling that would be a BAD idea today. Of course, most of the platoon should be doing the same thing, but everyone is afraid to come here. It's supposedly ineffective and nobody wants to get put on bedrest. Do that too long and your platoon leaves you behind and you join up with a later group when there is room...however long that takes!
Other than being sick, things are ok. We got in trouble for not enough teamwork on Saturday and had to do some useless work. It was actually kind of interesting and led to an entertaining night.
We'd been sewing all day (I had to teach a bunch of the guys how so we could stitch nametags on ALL our clothes) and it was 10:30 at night when we were called to get our asses downstairs ASAP. We boot it down and Cpl. Pushup (because they are his PASSION. He said so) was waiting, and he was pissed. The course senior (a sort of liason between staff and students who "ranks" above the rest of us...the position is rotated every few days and the current one had some weird power trip going on) hadn't gotten something done and he blamed everyone else. And of course, even though the Cpl. knew it was strictly the course senior's responsibility, he said that we could have helped him more, among other choice phrases. Of course, this is true and is also one of the main things they try to teach us here at basic: When one person makes a mistake, everyone pays - so stick together and help each other out to make things work.
So...we got a lecture. A loud one. A colourful one. Then we got to run up to our rooms (8 floors, remember!), grab our kit bags, and get back down in 5 minutes. We were 10 seconds over. Well, one person was, but that meant we all were. So we had to stand in squat position for a while. And get another rather sonorous, chromatic instruction. Then get threatened with pushups. Then run up the stairs again to return the kit bags and bring back a pair of green socks. Repeat lecture and threats, and finally we were allowed to return to our rooms at our own pace - admittedly more of a trudge at this point.
When we finally got back up to our pod, intending to continue sewing, we were definitely more awake...though maybe a little out of it. Hence the entertaining evening that followed.
Three of us got there first. I sat down to sew, and Ricky (female..going by pseudo-last-names here) sat in the chair beside me and Arlan was just behind her, about to sit as well. Then I heard a yell.
"OWWWWWWW!!!!" Ricky stood up quick, bent over and standing on one leg. "I sat on a needle! Get it out! Get it out!!"
Arlan froze with a horror exactly like a deer in the headlights. I could see the wheels turning as he tried to figure out how to pull a needle out of a girl's buttcheek "appropriately".
He finally did it and then looked up at Ricky and I laughing and said rather forcefully "Don't cry!". He sounded almost afraid and it was just too much. We laughed even harder as Arlan tried to explain. "No - I said it because she's allergic to her own tears, remember? She told us earlier." Which of course was true.
"You kind of defeated the purpose." I said, looking at the tears rolling down both their cheeks. My own were keeping pace no problem. When the other guys came back a couple minutes later, we were still cracking up with no end in sight. We managed to hold it back enough to explain it, which got them going so of course we were all killing ourselves laughing.
Finally, just we were starting to calm down enough to breathe and remark on our sore abs when Mac walks back from his room where he had apparently been (yet again) trying on random bits of kit and official clothes. This time he was wearing his boxers, the bush hat and gabardine. He stopped in the hall, looked up at us and declared:
"I LOVE this F***ing Coat!"
And that, my friends, was the end of sanity for the night.
...but it is a really nice coat.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Continuing on...
Nov 26th
I am definitely learning about the military here. It took 3 hours to buy a bunch of crap for my room - some laundry soap, mouthwash, hangers and a shoe shine kit. Ok maybe there were a few more things, but not many! It does make a weird kind of sense though. Paying someone to organize 60 people's stuff when we could be learning about a soldier's life (i.e. waiting) would be inefficient. And of course, since we have to go all together, we have to wait for everyone to get through the line before we can go anywhere else.
Yes, we really do go EVERYWHERE together. Downstairs at 5:15 to line up for breakfast (because it takes a half an hour just to get in), then line up to go to classes - which are usually filling about paperwork! Again with the military efficiency! 1 hour to fill out a form, but for the clerks it's 1 hour to get 60 done. Faster but still annoying to us. Not that that counts for anything.
Our platoon is pretty great. People seem to be getting along well and there hasn't been too much trouble. I say that now, when we're still in week zero - not even officially in yet. Speaking of "official"...we get our combats tomorrow! Everyone is really excited. It's been really annoying to be the only hundred people or so in regular clothes and we stick out so much. Oh man...is that indoctrination talking?? Could be, but more likely just that we already feel like we stick out so much for not knowing how to do anything right. Wait a minute! It's probably both, and damn sneaky of them! Go conditioning...seeing the Graduation parade today was definitely more of the same, but we called it "Good for Morale". Of course, it was that too.
I'll admit I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here. I can these things for what they are and still feel the effects. I consider both ways of looking at it (indoc/conditioning vs. morale) to be true. It's pretty interesting that it IS good to be a part of something like this. Even if "this" is only our mismatched group of freaks called "Keable Platoon".
The grad parade was cool though. There was a real live marching band so I got to be like "hey guys, that's going to be my job!" which everyone else thought was pretty neat. They were definitely the most exciting part. Of course seeing the actual graduating platoons march so well was also very cool. Afterwards our instructor said one of the few positive things we've heard so far. He told us that 14 weeks ago, these guys were just as bad as we are now and that we will be that good by the time we finish. Very reassuring, especially considering how terrible we are now! Speaking of "now", I am now 45 minutes late for bed! *Gasp* The Horror! ...up at 5am again tomorrow. Ugh.
I am definitely learning about the military here. It took 3 hours to buy a bunch of crap for my room - some laundry soap, mouthwash, hangers and a shoe shine kit. Ok maybe there were a few more things, but not many! It does make a weird kind of sense though. Paying someone to organize 60 people's stuff when we could be learning about a soldier's life (i.e. waiting) would be inefficient. And of course, since we have to go all together, we have to wait for everyone to get through the line before we can go anywhere else.
Yes, we really do go EVERYWHERE together. Downstairs at 5:15 to line up for breakfast (because it takes a half an hour just to get in), then line up to go to classes - which are usually filling about paperwork! Again with the military efficiency! 1 hour to fill out a form, but for the clerks it's 1 hour to get 60 done. Faster but still annoying to us. Not that that counts for anything.
Our platoon is pretty great. People seem to be getting along well and there hasn't been too much trouble. I say that now, when we're still in week zero - not even officially in yet. Speaking of "official"...we get our combats tomorrow! Everyone is really excited. It's been really annoying to be the only hundred people or so in regular clothes and we stick out so much. Oh man...is that indoctrination talking?? Could be, but more likely just that we already feel like we stick out so much for not knowing how to do anything right. Wait a minute! It's probably both, and damn sneaky of them! Go conditioning...seeing the Graduation parade today was definitely more of the same, but we called it "Good for Morale". Of course, it was that too.
I'll admit I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here. I can these things for what they are and still feel the effects. I consider both ways of looking at it (indoc/conditioning vs. morale) to be true. It's pretty interesting that it IS good to be a part of something like this. Even if "this" is only our mismatched group of freaks called "Keable Platoon".
The grad parade was cool though. There was a real live marching band so I got to be like "hey guys, that's going to be my job!" which everyone else thought was pretty neat. They were definitely the most exciting part. Of course seeing the actual graduating platoons march so well was also very cool. Afterwards our instructor said one of the few positive things we've heard so far. He told us that 14 weeks ago, these guys were just as bad as we are now and that we will be that good by the time we finish. Very reassuring, especially considering how terrible we are now! Speaking of "now", I am now 45 minutes late for bed! *Gasp* The Horror! ...up at 5am again tomorrow. Ugh.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
More belated updates!
Nov 22nd
It is 7am (4am PST and that's the LAST time I will think of that) and I've already screwed up! We're technically not even "in" yet and our platoon sergeant isn't here either, so we're a little confused.
We were supposed to meet and go for breakfast all together, but our "pod" (the area of 6 shared bedrooms) forgot the "be 5 minutes early everywhere" rule and was 1 minute late, so the rest of the platoon left without us! We did eventually find the cafeteria so it wasn't so bad, but if I was going to miss it, why didn't I at least sleep in??
Ug. I could go back to sleep now, but it's light out and I don't want to screw up my sleep schedule - at least any more! And so I will write. It'll almost be like I'm doing NaNoWrimo, but so far this place is not quite interesting enough for a story. The people are all too worried about doing something wrong to do anything at all!* At least, I feel that way and everyone else has that nervous rabbit look, so it's likely true of them too. Also I don't think many class clowns are attracted to the army life.**
So...about where we live. There are 6 rooms in each pod and 1 of ours is empty. 3 girls and 2 guys which could make the shower situation interesting! At least there are 2 sinks, though having only 1 toilet is going to suck. Too early to tell how it's all going to work out, but I like everyone I share space with so far.
My room is tiny and boring, which I suspect is on purpose. It is, however, not much smaller than the first room I shared my first year at Juilliard. Actually, they're pretty similar in size, except my desk is not under my bed AND I get it all to myself. Lots of closet space too, and windows that go across an entire wall. Sot it's really not bad. Just rather blah. And VERY warm. I turned my heat off and opened the window, which seems just about right. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the rest of the building but I have a feeling I might appreciate it a little more in the coming months!
I think I'll go for a walk now. It'll be good to get outside and I would like to try and orient myself and figure out where things are. I just have to brave the stairs. All 8 flights. Again. I will have amazing legs in a couple weeks!
Later addendums:
*turns out I just didn't live with them.
**also VERY wrong about that! Hoo boy...
Nov 22nd - 22:30
Even though we didn't really do anything, we have still been rather busy today. Meeting explaining things take a long time and are rather draining despite being boring. Or maybe it's because they're boring. Mostly they were explaining rules and prohibitions, things like which doors we can and can't use. Definitely NOT allowed to use the elevator. We learned how to march, and we have to march EVERYWHERE. Yellow lines on the floor make sure we stay on the right side of the hallway.
I still feel silly marching, but I think it's my lack of fatigues. Us newbies really stick out in our "civvies" and I'm sure that's on purpose. The military machine knows all about psychological warfare. I will write more about this later.
One thing we did not learn was how to make our beds with hospital corners. Luckily one girl in our pod already knows how and showed the rest of us. Not that we're expected to be perfect...at least not yet. But I AM supposed to be asleep. Hey, it's lights out! Good thing I got some of my work done. 5am is gonna come reeaal early. 5:45 breakfast - OH YEAH - the food here is actually really good. Meatloaf tonight and there was an excellent cake at lunch. man do I ever get distracted by food. ...right. Bed. Alright. Goodnight!
It is 7am (4am PST and that's the LAST time I will think of that) and I've already screwed up! We're technically not even "in" yet and our platoon sergeant isn't here either, so we're a little confused.
We were supposed to meet and go for breakfast all together, but our "pod" (the area of 6 shared bedrooms) forgot the "be 5 minutes early everywhere" rule and was 1 minute late, so the rest of the platoon left without us! We did eventually find the cafeteria so it wasn't so bad, but if I was going to miss it, why didn't I at least sleep in??
Ug. I could go back to sleep now, but it's light out and I don't want to screw up my sleep schedule - at least any more! And so I will write. It'll almost be like I'm doing NaNoWrimo, but so far this place is not quite interesting enough for a story. The people are all too worried about doing something wrong to do anything at all!* At least, I feel that way and everyone else has that nervous rabbit look, so it's likely true of them too. Also I don't think many class clowns are attracted to the army life.**
So...about where we live. There are 6 rooms in each pod and 1 of ours is empty. 3 girls and 2 guys which could make the shower situation interesting! At least there are 2 sinks, though having only 1 toilet is going to suck. Too early to tell how it's all going to work out, but I like everyone I share space with so far.
My room is tiny and boring, which I suspect is on purpose. It is, however, not much smaller than the first room I shared my first year at Juilliard. Actually, they're pretty similar in size, except my desk is not under my bed AND I get it all to myself. Lots of closet space too, and windows that go across an entire wall. Sot it's really not bad. Just rather blah. And VERY warm. I turned my heat off and opened the window, which seems just about right. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the rest of the building but I have a feeling I might appreciate it a little more in the coming months!
I think I'll go for a walk now. It'll be good to get outside and I would like to try and orient myself and figure out where things are. I just have to brave the stairs. All 8 flights. Again. I will have amazing legs in a couple weeks!
Later addendums:
*turns out I just didn't live with them.
**also VERY wrong about that! Hoo boy...
Nov 22nd - 22:30
Even though we didn't really do anything, we have still been rather busy today. Meeting explaining things take a long time and are rather draining despite being boring. Or maybe it's because they're boring. Mostly they were explaining rules and prohibitions, things like which doors we can and can't use. Definitely NOT allowed to use the elevator. We learned how to march, and we have to march EVERYWHERE. Yellow lines on the floor make sure we stay on the right side of the hallway.
I still feel silly marching, but I think it's my lack of fatigues. Us newbies really stick out in our "civvies" and I'm sure that's on purpose. The military machine knows all about psychological warfare. I will write more about this later.
One thing we did not learn was how to make our beds with hospital corners. Luckily one girl in our pod already knows how and showed the rest of us. Not that we're expected to be perfect...at least not yet. But I AM supposed to be asleep. Hey, it's lights out! Good thing I got some of my work done. 5am is gonna come reeaal early. 5:45 breakfast - OH YEAH - the food here is actually really good. Meatloaf tonight and there was an excellent cake at lunch. man do I ever get distracted by food. ...right. Bed. Alright. Goodnight!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
First Impressions
Nov. 21
I had meant to write about my swearing in ceremony, but proceeded to get far too drunk that night to do any such thing. Last night was dedicated to "packing", which was really procrastinating until it was technically morning and then packing.
And now? Well, now I am too tired. I have a feeling that will become a common refrain around here. Traveling was uninteresting, meeting people was good, sleep will be better! I should have some free time tomorrow morning (breakfast at 6, then nothing until noon) so I shall attempt to write some more then.
Till then:
- having a room to myself is good
- sharing a single bathroom with 5 others is not
- living on the 8th floor is tiring
- trying to remember people's first AND last names is trying
- the instructors like to swear a lot in every description
- unfortunately it's not very creative swearing
- but maybe they're just tired
- like me
- goodnight.
I had meant to write about my swearing in ceremony, but proceeded to get far too drunk that night to do any such thing. Last night was dedicated to "packing", which was really procrastinating until it was technically morning and then packing.
And now? Well, now I am too tired. I have a feeling that will become a common refrain around here. Traveling was uninteresting, meeting people was good, sleep will be better! I should have some free time tomorrow morning (breakfast at 6, then nothing until noon) so I shall attempt to write some more then.
Till then:
- having a room to myself is good
- sharing a single bathroom with 5 others is not
- living on the 8th floor is tiring
- trying to remember people's first AND last names is trying
- the instructors like to swear a lot in every description
- unfortunately it's not very creative swearing
- but maybe they're just tired
- like me
- goodnight.
Apparently the Interwebz are not omnipresent
Oh My Gosh. I'm back from the Void that is the INDOCTRINATION PERIOD. (Make sure to say that with lots of echo, eh?) Actually I've been back for a bit, but Christmas was here and he's the kind of houseguest that takes up ALL your time. Not that I'm complaining. He's entertaining and brings lots of presents, I mean, everybody together.
So now I'll stop with the excuses and make with the updates. I've been keeping paper notes for the blog (...wait, isn't that a journal?) and will post them in order, possibly with extra added bonus commentary. Okay so it's not bonus, just more blather but I'd rather make it more interesting for myself than just copying it all out! =)
So now I'll stop with the excuses and make with the updates. I've been keeping paper notes for the blog (...wait, isn't that a journal?) and will post them in order, possibly with extra added bonus commentary. Okay so it's not bonus, just more blather but I'd rather make it more interesting for myself than just copying it all out! =)
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