Counting my blessings...

I mentioned earlier that I sometimes make lists. Last week, I was feeling in an above-average mood, so I decided to recount why. Here's what I came up with.

-My feet had been hurting so I finally bought new work shoes. They're comfy.
-Army officer is a great choice. They get nearly double the pay and more leadership training.
-I'm reading through Isaiah right now. It's pretty good.
-Richard Dawkins might be the world's most vocal advocate of atheism these days. It turns out, he was sexually abused by a priest as a boy. No wonder he's an atheist. I don't think he's right about the whole atheism thing.
-I'm taking the Army Physical Fitness test Thursday. My score is currently around 250 out of 300, which is what the recruiter said I should get.
-Every once in a while, I see fruit from counseling.
-I'm having a blast with my Ipod. I'm cycling a lot of music through it.
-I'm almost finished with a book about the science of fine-tuning. Good stuff

A pre-marine corps post. heheh.

I thought I hadn't posted in a really long time, but the last post was only 12 days ago.

Work's been uneventful. Another department has borrowed me for 2 weeks to help them catch up on documentation. I've had one week so far. I keep flexing my schedule for military-related stuff. I'll be glad to have everything taken care of.

My mom was most supportive of me becoming a marine when I said I would become a marine instead of getting a motorcycle. My dad said he didn't get a motorcycle until after the marines. I said it'd be hilarious if my job in the marines involved driving a motorcycle.


My body weight has been fluctuating all around the 140's. I hit 151 at one point, but I'm averaging 146 now. Part of it has been all the distractions to weightlifting, but a bigger part has probably been a declining motivation to bulk up. I still want to get in shape for the marines though, and that means focusing on push ups, sit ups, and running. You get the highest possible score on the fitness test if you can do 75 push ups in two minutes, 100 crunches in two minutes, and a 3-mile run in under 18 minutes. I'd love to get a perfect score. If I'm just in better shape than the other recruits, things will be all the better for me. They can also promote me sooner based on points I earn through various means, including fitness points.


I swapped out my starter in 59 minutes today. New record for me.


I think I'll plan a risk game this week. I'm due for some bro time.


In the last couple weeks, I've been occasionally making lists to help me sort through things. In one column, I write down everything that sucks about life at that moment. In another, I write down the good things. Sometimes I write down things that will be good in the future, like completing marine corps training. Just by keeping track of everything and having a handle on the different things that nudge my happiness level in either direction, I feel more in control and feel like I have more perspective. I also make "things to do" lists. This weekend's been pretty decent about working on those lists. Like the auto work.

MEPS, Part Douche

I'm too tired to give the long version, but twss aside, here's the short of it:

When I was being interviewed to get a national security clearance in order to qualify for the job of Army Recruiter (the only one currently available to color-blind people in the Army Reserve from the Portland area), they got it out of me that I have a pending stop sign violation court date, and they refused to process me until after the date (August 19th). They also got it out of me that my recruiter was aware of this issue, so my recruiter got lectured quite a bit.

I think I'll go join the Marines. Even color-blind people know an Arab when they see one.