Well we’re movin on out (mooovin on out) / to the West Side

Hidy ho.

So tomorrow morning the Gov’t is going to pack up my apartment and store it for a couple of months while I go to OTS and my next base. This is my last entry from Colorado Springs, CO.

You know what they say about the end, it makes you think about the beginning. Today I’m nearing the end of my first tour of duty, successfully completed without any major incidents and with my health. I arrived here back in June 2005, but it’s hard to believe it’s been three years and change already and I’m going to my next assignment.

Peterson is my first duty station.There were plenty of good days, plenty of the ho hum days, and very few bad days. Even during base and MAJCOM exercises, I’ve enjoyed my time here and the challenges that I encountered. I think if I had to rate my effort, as in what percent of my soul I put into my work on average, I’d say I gave it my 87%. I’m definitely not Mr. 110%, but I put forth that kind of effort anytime the situation required it. I think if I were happily married I would become that Mr. 110%… I think that if I had my own family, that I’d be a more focused person. I have alot of love to give, but I have yet to find the right girl to share that with. I figure it’s like that heirarchy of needs… I’m not too familiar with it, but the concept is that before high-level desires can be fulfilled, low-level basic needs must be met. What I took away from the few times I heard about it: you can’t help others before you help yourself. I need to get my life right, get to that foundation of loving family, before I can seriously blow the lid out of anything I can attempt to accomplish. But… I am the man I am today because of choices I made yesterday, and I can only hope to affect my tomorrow by setting myself up today. That means I keep on living and doing my best to grow into the kind of man that the kind of girl I’m looking for deserves.

Look at me go on, though…I guess that’s what happens when you start reviewing the past. You start thinking about the choices you make, grudges you keep, things you’ve forgotten. For better or for worse, I’ll be starting over when I get to Maxwell, and then once again when I get to Wright Patterson. I think this will be good… I have a chance to act on lessons I’ve learned while I’ve lived here. I know one thing is for sure… I’m going to introduce myself to my neighbors when I move in to Wright Patterson. I was reading about how Dave Chapelle lives in Yellow Springs, OH, and that village is only half an hour away from base. Apparently he said that all you need to live there is a smile and a kind way about you, and that’s what I need. I’m going to look into buying a house out there if one is available… I might have too much room but at least for me it’s room to grow

Anyway, I’m wheels-up rolling out of Colorado Springs this Wednesday morning, and I have a few more moving items I need to take care of before I can get out of this place. But as of tonight… this computer that I’ve been using to play games and write this blog from is going down until March 2009. I was deciding whether or not I wanted to carry my computer in my car for the next half a year, and I figure I shouldn’t. All I’m going to have with me on the way to CA is one week’s worth of clothes, my old uniforms, important papers, and my bike on a trailer. I can’t wait to get back home… I get to put my vote in this year! I didn’t vote back in ‘04 so I really can’t complain about the last 4 years… it’s been alright for me. All the craziness with the economy hasn’t really hit me yet–I’m not starving, I have a place to live, and I have a daily opportunity to contribute to society as a servant of the public. Also I look forward to having more food options, thanks to Mom cooking and the much larger variety of eateries in Los Angeles. Around here you get fast food, barbeque, buffets… fat-man stuff. If I want fish, I have to cook it myself, and I don’t trust my food preparation skills enough to make myself a broiled salmon. Mom always says it’s “so easy”, but I’ve got problems frying eggs, so go figure. As far as genetics go, I definitely did not get the family cooking genes.

Anyway, see you in CA if you live there. And to the girl who’s CL ad I replied to yesterday… I’m still waiting to hear back from you, damnit!

-TJ