some days are great, and some days i end up feeling like i got run over by a tank...this is one of those days.

for starters, one of the blogs i've been tracking took a sudden dive... the guy said he was going to kill himself, and it seemed serious. there wasn't anything i could do or any way i could contact him b/c he didn't set up the blog to receive comments or have an email address... so all i can do is sit and see if he waits out the depression and makes another post.

sometimes, when i've got the time (like now, waiting for a meeting to start at 10pm), i browse the net for pictures of real life... mostly on Flickr, where there is a lot of random variety. i just want to see what is going on, to ensure to myself that the rest of the world has kept on ticking... one of the pics was a candid shot of some girls talking in a coffee shop. another was of some kids in a playground. another of a mountain ridge, another of the ocean. one of some ice on some fragile branches.... life has continued, and i just can't wait to get back into the real world and see it, live it. in just three more weeks i'll be on my way home, to sunny California and grocery stores, gas stations, jamba juice, movie theaters and malls, Borders... i'll see children again (it feels like forever since i've been around people outside the ages of 20-60) and my Grandparents. i'll be able to pet dogs and go on runs in my neighborhood, past all the houses and different stylized yards. the future, the "real world" is so imprinted on my imagination that i can nearly taste the Thai food and a good glass of red wine, i can feel the breeze off the ocean and smell the salt and eucalyptus leaves. i'm sure everyone is like this over here, off and on. especially when the days are suffocating and packed with frustrations. it makes coping difficult sometimes when dealing with different personality types for hours and days on end, without an outlet. i have learned tolerance as well as confidence here.

a mural at Camp Slayer, probably of the Iran-Iraq or the 1991 Gulf wars...

this past week has been a pretty good one... just three more to go until i'm out of here. (oh, and i plan on keeping this up after my deployment; it just won't be about Iraq anymore)

last night i went to the Brit house and watched Wales beat England in rugby. rugby has got to be the best sport out there....MUCH better than American football (never did get into that game). it all moves faster and you can actually see the players and their frustrations; it's also not as commercialized or media-centered as the NFL is. speaking of the NFL, due to the Superbowl, they were letting us have two beers per person at dinner tonight. not for New Year's; just Superbowl. apparently we know where the commander's priorities are. ;-) anyway, i've not only not seen as many smiles in the chow hall before, i've never seen as many people in there before. no one wanted to skip dinner tonight! i really think they should do as the Brits do and allow a two-drink limit. morale would be higher, and if they policed it carefully enough, there shouldn't be any mihaps with the program. of course, who am i to say so?

back to the grind tomorrow. this day off was blessed. i hadn't had one in three weeks or so, and i loved sleeping in until noon and then doing pretty much nothing the rest of the day. i put some more music on my iPod mini and walked around outside enjoying the fact i didn't have anywhere to be. it was nice to be allowed to relax and unwind.

my replacement should be here soon. when he gets here, i'll show him what to do and then i'll slowly back off. it'll be nice, i hope. too bad i can't be in the first group to go, on the 15th of Feb, but i've got some good friends here who will help the time pass until March 1st. then, i'll be off to El Paso to drop off my gear and then finally home. i'm sure it will all be extremely surreal.

time for another picture... this is the chapel at Camp Slayer. you can see my house straight ahead, on the water....

Sometimes... I just get so frustrated!!! Grrr!!! I had written a really good entry, and when I pushed "publish post" the page didn't load up correctly and I lost everything! I hate that!

Well... I mostly talked about the elections. Of course. It's a gorgeous day outside, and hopefully the majority of Iraqi people will show up to vote, defying the insurgents who've threatened them. So far, after the polling sites have been open for four hours, it looks good. I am glad that Iraqis around the globe participated. My favorite snippets from the news were of the Imam in the US quoting Martin Luther King saying, "We are now free!" and Geraldo Rivera saying, "I'm so happy; damn the insurgents!" The energy of the day is rippling throughout the country, all the way into the Palace I work in. It's like a jolt of caffeine.

Last night I watched "Identity" with some housemates. At one point, during a very loud and scary point of the movie, we could hear gunfire from outside. Iraqi surround sound, you know.

I'm off to eat my Mystery (MRE...Mr. E....Mystery) lunch pack now. What shall I get?

Sorry the earlier version didn't publish. I promise it was more profound. Something about the significance of the elections and the impact it will have on history and upon myself.... I am not a sage, however, so it wasn't too profound, and apparently I don't have picture-perfect memory because I couldn't recreate it.

Ciao~