Or not so good...

April 19th - It was my first day at my new branch. It was overall a shitty day. Everything that could have been thrown at me to make me miserable, pretty much was. I cried on my way home from work. It was the first day that I I truly regretted moving to Nevada.

April 20th - Crappy day :-(

April 21st - And the shit continues..

April 22nd - Another shitty day. To make matters worse, my military commitment was attacked. Nothing upsets me more than when civilians start questioning and making comments about my duty. Luckily my chain of command and especially my UA have my back!

April 23rd - First non-horrible day of work at my new branch. It was just me and one other co-worker so it was pretty relaxed. Then I bombed down to Carson City. I grabbed some dinner (mmmm steak!) and then played in the Carson City Orchestra. We played "Morceau de Concert for Harp and Orchestra" by Camille Saint-Saens, (with harp soloist - Marina Roznitovsky) "Symphony No. 1 - The Romantic" by Paul Johnson and 'Tatarian Dances" by Elena Roussanova Lucas. Summer and her mom came to my concert which was awesome :)

April 24th - Happy Easter! It was actually a rather dull Easter for me. I really wish I could have been home to spend Easter with my family... my sister puts on an amazing spread for Easter!

April 28th - When I was unloading books, a guy came in looking for his books. He was wearing a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu shirt. He noticed me looking at it funny and asked if I did Jiu-jitsu. I said no, at least not a pure form but that I did Army Combatives. He told me that that was pretty impressive. I asked him if there was a dojo around here and he said yes! It was just down the street and he taught at it. He said I should stop in sometime.

April 29th - I slept in a bit since I couldn't work at the library (stupid...) and drove leisurely over the mountains to Camp Parks. I picked up Jeremy from the train station and then we hung out for a bit. I went to a party at my friend Max's (Jeremy didn't go because he was sick at had to study) It was a little awkward at first but I ended up having a great time :-) I didn't get back until fairly late (or early depending on how you look at it)

April 30th - Slept in and then had an awesome breakfast of bacon. My MPT had a rehersal for a good couple hours (our oboe player is a hell of an arranger! while the MPT suffered through some of my arrangements as well...) We changed into Blues and headed out to the hotel where the gig was. It was an AUSA ceremony. And it took fooooooorever... Afterwards, Macy got sprayed with gas and good times were had by all. I also registered for my 4th running of the Army Ten Miler! :-D

May 1st - I should have been running a half marathon, instead I drove myself home from CA. It was a lazy drive and day.

May 3rd - After work, stopped in at the Dojo and met with the owner (prior Navy) She told me all the different classes. I told her my background and she said "oh, you are the librarian!" Apparently, the guy who came into my library gave her the heads up that I would be stopping in.

May 4th - At work, we had a patron poop in a computer chair. I am not even kidding... After work, I stopped in for my first jiu-jitsu class. The class consisted of the instructor (black belts, combatives level 3), 5 huge dudes who were all active duty navy and MMA fighters... and me. It was intimidating! But I think I hung in there well and definately learned! And got some fairly awesome bruises and mat burn.

May 5th - Felice Cinco de Mayo!

May 8th - Happy Mothers Day!

May 10th - Since noone else was going to be working in F-town with me, Renee got tasked to work so we carpooled up together. I snuck in buying coffee so she bought us sodas for the ride home. It was a great day working :-) Plus I had an important phone call during my lunch break. I don't know if that phone call will pan out, but it was a good experience either way.

May 11th - My face hurt so much from all the smiling and laughing from the day before. The rest of the day sucked something fierce but I survived. Then had a good time at orchestra. We are playing a pops concert in June that is all train themed. I am actually surprised how many songs there are about damn trains. Some of them make my feel really young...

May 12th - I didn't do rounds due to a whole system wide implosion. Kevin (the one male worker at my library) brought chocolate and sugar for us at work. He was trying to soothe all the emotional females. Someone trained him well!

May 13th - Work work work and then I drove myself over the mountains to army time. Because I am leaving from F-town, my voyage is a bit shorter so I made it in about 4 hours. The 191st was sharing barracks with another unit so there was a bit of a mixup with things but we got things straightened out. Then Jeremy and I went out to Applebees (because I was hungry and he was sick of waiting in the barracks). The manager there was a pretty cool guy who had served a couple tours and bought our dinner for us which was really nice of him.

May 14th - A fairly late wake up since it was going to be a late night. I had to take the APFT (my first one with my new unit.) I was a bit nervous... I feel fairly out of shape :-/ I squeaked by with my weight (no taping!) and ended up doing:

Pushups - 31
Situps - 61
2 mile run - 16:27

for a total of a 245. Not great, but definately better than the unit's average.

After the showering and such, we had MPT rehearsal (where, yes, we did play Lady Gaga :-D) That night we had a family day. Which was kinda depressing for me since my family couldn't come, but some 0f the others there whose families didn't come either cheered me up by making me have fun.

May 15th - Another fun day of Army. We had lots of concert band and we got a new piece that I actually have to practice! (scary!) After army, I decided to try to make it home even though there was word that I80 was having issue with snow. I got to the mountains and then had to wait for a long while while they closed the road due to accidents. Finally they opened the road back up and instituted chain control. I was not totally awesome and could not for the life of me get my chains on. I was of course still in uniform, kneeling in the snow and mud with my arms wrapped around a tire, swearing at my chains when a guy said, "do you need some help, sargeant?" I turned and saw someone who was obviously military (the haircut is a dead give away) and said, "yes, thank you!" When I stood up, he looked at me and said, "I know you!" We exchanged dates and places we had been and it turns out that he was in my Platoon in Basic Training with me 7 years ago! Small world!!! It turns out he also works down the street from me at the reserve center. Anyway, I got back on the road and finally made it home early in the morning. LONG trip.

May 16th - My day off so I slept in a bit before spending a fairly easy day reading and cleaning before going to jiu-jitsu class. There was another female there this time who accidently punched me while we were rolling. Good times.

May 17th - Crappy day had by all. Enough said.

May 18th - work work work and then orchestra rehearsal.

May 19th - I rode rounds, had lunch with Summer and covered some books. Full and productive day!

May 20th - Today Laura, Kate and Andy are coming to visit me!!!! CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THEY LAND :-D

Ha! I'm getting better at this!

April 12th - Typical work day. After work I had trio rehearsal where I got fed. Yumi made the most amazing mango cake awesomeness!

April 13th - work, work, work. Then orchestra rehearsal.

April 15th - work, work, work.

April 16th - I worked in the morning, my last day working full time in D-Town. It was the first day that I hated my job. After work I drove down Minden. I had sushi for dinner (served by a guy who didn't eat fish... it was odd). Then I played my concert with the Carson Valley Pops Orchestra.

Quote of the night:

Clarinetist: "You were surrounded by men during intermission"

Me: "They were old."

Clarinetist: "Maybe one was rich."

Me: "Yes... but he'd still be old."

April 17th - I got up, went running and then went to Summer's house where she, her mom, Rachel and I built a fence and dug ditches in her back yard. It was soooo great to spend time out in the sun. Though I did get a bit burnt on my back. At least i'm not incredibly white anymore!

April 18th - Today was a pretty relaxed day. I just cleaned/ran/cooked/read/watched tv. That was about the excitement.

Army, Army and More Army...

February 23^rd – We had a rehearsal at night with the Carson City Orchestra with the soloist. The soloist is Andrew Sords who was a phenomenal violinist. And incredibly hot. And probably gay. But a really good player. I am a bit worried about how the orchestra is going to play... I hope

we play good enough...

February 27^th – Today we had our "French Passion" orchestra concert. We played:

• L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1 by George Bizet
• Dolly Suite by Gabriel Faure
• Symphonie espagnole by Eduoard Lalo

It didn't go great, but we all ended together. It was pretty rough.

Before the concert, my trio played in the lobby. It was freak'n cold but we played pretty awesome. And everyone loved us! We've been asked to play for other concerts and stuff.

February 28^th – I had to drive to Carson for yet another PHA for the Army. They originally wanted to send me back to the same place in Reno that f'ed up my paperwork but I put my foot down. So, I had my appointment and got my ears all checked out. Congrats, I can still hear.

March 1^st – I was working with my director when I got a phone call from Matt from the 191st. Apparently, all the advanced party members of my unit cancelled last minute so they were looking for someone to step in. My name got picked. I asked when they needed me.

They said tomorrow.

I said no way... there is no way my boss would just let me go tomorrow. Matt said I should ask just in case. And shit, Theresa said yes as long as I still did storytime the next day.

Also, AAA thought I when I said Dayton Library she thought I said "Library Cocktail Lounge." Am I missing something?

March 2^nd – Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! For story time I had a Dr. Seuss themed day complete with Wockets in my Pockets cupcakes. I personally thought they were damn awesome :-)

March 3^rd – Got Paczkis sent by an awesome friend back in Michigan! I actually find it kinda sad that Nevadans don't know the awesomeness of paczis and fat tuesday. They are missing so much!

I got out of work early and drove myself over the mountains to California. Mom was awesome and got me a hotel room to stay at since the Army wasn't ponying up for a room that night.

March 4^th – I met Brian Williams early in the morning and we gathered our gear for AWT (yay...) The 191st has about as much gear as the 338th and its about as old and abused...

I drove down to Fort Hunter-Liggett with Brian. I drove - he talked on the phone the entire time which was really annoying. We made it to FHL in good time and checked in at range control. At 1400 we had a range safety class and I got to meet the rest of the advanced party from the 63rd (who had been there for days). I was hello nervous to meet new people especially because I found out that Brian and I would be running the 9mm range (well, shit...)

That night, I was on the SSG and up female barracks with only one other female: SSG Giffin who was hysterical. We ended up getting along really well (or else she just put up with me...) She was a wealth of knowledge and I spent all week soaking up as much info as I could.

March 5^th – We woke up early in the morning and got lectured by the Major. Joyous. Thoughout the rest of the day, our units showed up: the 191st, 300th, the 395th and HHC. I ended up meeting alot of people within the other units that I got along with and were fun people. Usually when bands get together there is rivalry and angst, but we all seemed to get along and worked well as a team.

March 6^th – Sunday started with a bang. I was part of the range detail who went out early to help set up the zero and m16 qual range. Giffin was in charge with her bestie - Akbaroff. I was a range safety with a bunch of brass from HHC. The brass all gave me shit so I had to give it right back to them, including to a guy we called Captain America. I stayed busy pretty much all day which was nice. I know alot of people in the units who sat around all day and I would not have dealt well with that. After lunch I was sent over to zero (which I did quickly) and to qual. It was really windy and I'm a bit of a spaz so I only got a 32. I would have liked to have done better, but I was the high female score for my unit!

I had to attend the CUB meeting that night which I was not a fan of. Then, I found out in the meeting that not only would I be running the 9mm range but I also had to run the m16 qual range as well since we didn't have everyone qual in one day (who the hell thought that was a good idea?) Giffin couldn't run the range again since she was in charge of the road march the next day for the Best Warrior Competition. Well, shit. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything ready for the next day.

March 7^th – I woke up insanely early to get everything ready for the day. I had all people crew lined up, including stealing Giffin's ammo crew lead by SGT Garcia (damn marine ;-)) We ended up running the qual range really well until we ran out of ammo. We got everything closed down and then got the 9mm range hot and ready. Our first rotation sucked. Hard. But after a bit of yelling and running around, we got the 9mm range to run ok. There was too much brass running around for me to feel comfortable. Though I spent the couple days trying to sell the Army Ten Miler to the 63rd. I was so glad when we were all done and I handed over the keys to the range. The rest of the week would be smooth sailing!

March 8^th – I actually got to sleep in (well, sleep in in comparison to other army days). We got to do MOUT training. We were shipped out to a training site in the middle of the mountains. All the Californians were whining about how it was going to be cold and wet. I don't have wet weather gear and they wanted to know if I was going to be ok. I said, "of course!" It ended up being a beautiful day with beautiful weather. They are such pansies sometimes. MOUT training was actually a ton of fun. Originally, I had a hard time learning from our cadre but I finally figured stuff out. My four man team consisted of me (man 1), SPC Zcimback (man 2), SGT Kopping (man 3) and SSG Kapki (man 4) I was actually pretty happy with my team!

We spent all day outside and I learned a ton! That night at dinner I was walking with Matt to the DFAC when he ran into an old friend. A very hot friend. Wow!

March 9^th – We spent the day doing SRP with the 300th. It was completely boring but I did get a living will. I also learned that the army still thought I was a Michigan resident. Annoying. However, all day I spent way too much time thinking and got really pensive and moody. At the end of the day I was fairly upset. Jeremy and I went for a walk and talked over things. There is a reason why he is my Army bestie.

March 10^th – We got to go to the SHOOTHOUSE!!! My team was nervous but we practiced in the glass houses and then got to go to the shoothouse as Alpha team. Our first time through the shoothouse was rough. We had so much adrenaline pumping and we didn't work well as a team, but damn! It was our first time and we had an amazing time. That and I hogtied a dude. The cadre wanted to give me a rodeo belt since I was so fast. Our second time through went a lot better though we ended early since we had a safety kill. Zcimback was upset that he got us kicked out but I told her that I was much happier about her killing the guy with the IED before he could kill me and that she was the best man 2 I could have!

Jeremy blew his lid at the shoothouse and was absolutely furious about different issues throughout the day. For such a little guy, he freak'n is scary when he's mad. Seriously!

After the shoothouse we had an end of training ceremony. I got an AAM for all the work I did (which was kinda cool) and both the 191st soldiers won the best warrior competition! :-D Woot!

March 11^th – The next morning was a lot of cleaning and packing up and saying goodbye. I had to go around and collect hugs from all the new friends. I wasn't looking forward to driving back to Camp Parks with Brian especially if he was going to be on the phone the entire time. He promised he wouldn't be on the phone and I held him to it :-P The drive wasn't bad. At Camp Parks we unloaded and put away all our gear. After we had an AAR with drama, drama, drama, I drove to Palo Alto to spend the night with Max.

March 12^th – I spent more time in Palo Alto and got to meet a bunch of Max's friends from Standford which was fun. I got to see the Stanford Library (oh, the shelves were a mess...) and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

March 13^th – I started the long drive home mid-morning. I made it back to Smith Valley, took a brief nap in my car and then went to the Smith Valley Library's St. Patrick's Day fundraiser. I gorged myself on corn beef and cabbage. So good, but I was so tired. I pretty much collapsed and slept.

March 14^th – and back to library work! I was pretty bummed out though since both my favorite people in the 191st wives were upset because of me. I wish they knew me better and knew that I am NOT a man stealer. I have been cheated on waaaaay too many times to ever want to make any woman feel that way because of me. It was such a sour note to end an awesome army week.

March 16^th – The DSO librarians and friends had a March Madness bracket tournament again with Slow's BBQ as the prize. I put together my bracket which failed miserably (I ended up in 3rd place)

March 17^th – Happy St. Patrick's Day! And Michigan State lost :-( We always lose on St. Patrick's Day...

March 18^th – I worked and then had to drive to California again for more army. Snow hit pretty hard as I was driving - it was basically it was whiteout in South Lake Tahoe. And it only got worse from there. However, I was a bad ass and put on my own chains all by myself (and take them off all by myself) When I finally got to Camp Parks, I went out and had a drink with Jeremy and we shot the shit before I collapsed into sleep.

March 19^th – In the morning I proctored an APFT for the unit. I was amazed how many people failed. It was as if everyone stopped working out for the winter. In Michigan, it is hard to workout in winter... but here in CA? Seriously? I also got lectured by one of the SGTs who thought I was leading too "mean." He used alot of big words to make him feel smart and it rather pissed me off. I am not a dumb person... ugh.... At lunch, we were going to go to Chipotle but Jeremy's car broke down and were stuck just inside the gate. Fun...

That night, we went out for Filipino food and then drank alot with our group of hotel goers. People are fairly hysterical with a bit of alcohol in them.

March 20^th – In the morning, I got to teach combatives to my unit. I was fully expecting them to bitch the entire time and was absolutely surprised... everyone dived right in and seemed really excited to learn! It was so much fun to teach everyone especially since they were such enthusiastic learners! At lunch, we went to Chipotle and we ran into the the hot army guy who was Matt's friend (that I met at FHL). He came to speak to Matt sat so close to me that he was practically in my lap. He smelled delicious! I told him that I liked his wings and he saw mine and was impressed that I was a female who made it through airborne since pretty much all the females in his class didn't pass.

After Army, I drove myself to Chris and Elizabeth's in San Jose. They have a lovely home and they fed me an amazing steak dinner! I was so tired, I fell asleep while they were introducing me to the TV show Arrested Development.

March 21^st - In the morning, I had breakfast with Chris and Elizabeth, they gave me 3 seasons of Arrested Development and an Amish Bread starter. I headed over to Camp Parks to take care of a bit of business. I watched the snow and weather and decided to head over on 50. They took chain control about an hour before I got there which was beautiful timing.

March 26^th – There was something nasty going through the librarians everyone was sick, so I worked all by myself and then all my plans for the evening were cancelled. Which was kind of depressing, but I just lazed about instead of bowling or drinking.

March 27^th - Today was my Army Anniversary. 8 whole years in the army. It is scary to think that I have been in for 8 years. 1 more year on my contract. We'll see what happens next...

March 28^th – When I woke up in the morning, I was incredibly dizzy. Like I had an inner ear infection but my ears didn't hurt. I spent the day trying not to fall over every time I leaned over.

March 29^th – still dizzy.

March 30^th – still dizzy, though not as bad....

March 31^st – Today, I was starting to do rounds when my director sent me a text and asked me to wait in Y-town for her. I was worried to begin with... what did I do wrong? It turns out she was just stopping me to tell me two things:

1. I passed my 6 month probation (wahoo!) Now, its harder to get fired! (I think...)
2. I am being transfered again. This time north to F-town. Part of me knew that this was going to happen, but it is still annoying....

Doing rounds that day was interesting in a bad way. There was tension and unhappiness at every branch. Nobody likes change. The one good thing is that every branch really wanted me so I kinda feel like I am in high demand.

April 1^st – And Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I was bummed because under the old rules, I would have gotten to register for the Army Ten Miler, but now I have to wait a whole extra month. Annoying!

April 2^nd – I got up, ran and went to work. After work, I met Summer and her family for Sushi (yayay!) and then we went bowling. It was not my best bowling night, but I had a blast.

April 4^th – Today, I made a ton of bread and other goodies to send to friends around the world.

April 5^th – I took some of the extra bread starter and made sourdough bread! It's much more sweet bread that sour, but it still very tasty! And the best news of all: the DSO is no longer on strike! After months and months, its finally over! :-)

April 8^th – I woke up early to make sure I had everything packed and ready to go for a weekend of army fun. At work, my boss and I kept our eyes on the mountain passes (hoping they didn't start enforcing chain control.) I also kept my eyes on the whole government shut down debate. It was interesting to see how many people's BAs for the weekend were cancelled early on. The 63rd didn't get its act together to say yay or neigh. The whole day was a bit of a toss up. Eventually I made the decision to not try to go over the mountains until I received word one way or the other. That night, they made the decision to cancel BA - about 30 minutes before the government passed a bill to continue to fund us. Oh well. Guess that means 5 more weeks to work on pushups and hopefully lose 2 lbs so that I don't have to to be taped.

April 9^th – I lazed around in bed for a bit until I managed to get up. I decided to completely blow my diet for the weekend and ate badly all day. I drove to Carson and went and saw a movie in the theater. (it was bad so I won't tell you which one :-P) On the drive, I got the most disturbing news. Laura's boyfriend, Richard, was killed early in the morning in a car accident. I can't even begin to understand how Laura is feeling and god... what a fucking waste. There is a special place in hell for drunk drivers. I am reminded of a certain ex of mine who had a bad habit of drinking and driving and I want to bitch slap him to the end of the earth. I really wish I was home to give Laura a huge hug.

News Article

I met up with Summer and we drove to Reno to do a bit of shopping and then we went and saw a movie with Rachel (one of Summer's friends). We saw Hanna... it was odd. Very artsy with gratuitous violence.

April 10^th – I haven’t really done a damn thing today. I slept in (until 8am!) and then lazed about and read most of the morning. Because I was planning on being gone all weekend with army, I didn't have a list of things to do. I talked with Kate on the phone and she said I am a bit hysterical when I don't know what to do because I just bounce around restlessly. I went running in the afternoon and ran 10 miles. My legs, especially my knees, have been acting up a bit so I am a bit worried about my half marathon (which is in a couple weeks!) but i think I will be ok. Probably not a PR but I need to get back on the race horse.

New Year...

I know... I know... I am horrible on the posting bit...

Here is a summary of what has happened in the last little bit of my life:

• I had an amazing time at home for Christmas. I have the most wonderful friends and family ever. Period. I didn't get to see everyone and I hope to the next time I come home! (I will be home for 3 weddings so far...)
• New Years was going to be a bummer, but ended up being fun skyping with friends and drinking champagne.
• Budget Cuts are SCARY. There is a good chance I am losing my job since Nevada is poor. I am crying alot and think I have a perpetual stomach ache because of it.
• My Jake died. It broke my heart. I have never felt more alone then the week after he died and he wasn't there to meet me at the door when I came home.
• I've started training again. My two goals in the next couple months: run a half marathon in May and get a 300 on my APFT in April. Damn, I got work!
• I really love my new army unit. I'm pretty sure they think I'm some sort of psychotic spaz. But they put up with me demanding hugs every month. (You never know how much you miss hugs until you don't get any on a regular basis.)

I am going to try soooooooo hard to be better at the whole posting bit... :-/

Back By Popular Demand...

November 18th – I was delievering books to all the different branches when the library director pulled me aside and told me that circumstances had changed and that instead of working in Y-town full time, I was being moved to D-town. Which is an hour commute one way from where I just moved to. Needless to say, I was flattered that I am apparently in high demand but kinda pissed that no one thought to tell me this 2 months ago. I either have to factor 2 more hours into my really long days and gas money, or I have to try to get out of my lease and move. Boo…



November 21st - I was signed up to go to the Night of Writing Dangerously – the write-a-thon in San Francisco for NaNoWriMo. It started at 5pm so I left Y-town early in the morning. As soon as I got over the border to Cali, there was a huge baracade and they forced everyone to put on snow chains. The ground was snow free and dry. I was told that I, little lady, wouldn’t make it over the mountains with my little car. Needless to say the most amount of snow we drove though was maybe a half an inch at a time. It was sad how bad Cali drivers were. I was really nervous going to the Write-In. I figured I was either going to be the geekest person there or the most normal. Both could be weird. It was a lot of fun, actually. I sat at a neutral table and we all had a blast talking and writing. There was a cute waiter named Gabriel (who was quickly written into my story!) and a rather disgusting bacon donut that I got dared to eat. Plus there was an open bar and I was the only one at my table carded. The night ended way too soon!




November 23rd – It was announced at work that I was being sent to D-town to work. Chaos ensued. Its nice to know that I am so well loved already.

November 25th – Happy Thanksgiving! This started the very busy weekend for me. I woke up at 2am so I could shower and make a flight in Reno that left at 6am. I flew to Phoenix and then to Palm Springs where my friend Nick picked me up and drove me to my grandparents. Nick was subjected to the whole family… poor guy! At 2pm we went down the mountain to have dinner at my Uncle’s – there were 14 at the table and as it is with my family: we were loud, telling stories and making lots of jokes. After dinner, we drove back up the mountain and mom and I made a plan of attack for Black Friday. I was in bed and asleep by 10pm.

November 26th – Woke up at 3am and Mom and I started our shopping adventure. We hit JC Penny’s, Macy’s, Express, Cinibun, Burlington Coat Factory, World Market and Kohls. It was actually quite dead people wise. The longest line we stood in was at Starbucks. After we went back up the mountains with our goodies, Grandpa took me out shooting with him. We shot a whole bunch of different hand guns and I didn’t do too badly. Afterwards, I showered, had lunch and Mom and Dad drove me to the airport. I flew to Phoenix next to a fat cow who was totally in my seat the entire time. Plus it was a very small plane. When we landed, I saw no point in getting up because there was a long line of people in front of us and I’d rather not stand with my head at angle since I am so small. This just yanked the fat cow to no end. I explained to her that me getting up wasn’t going to make the people move any faster. She responded with “well, it will make me feel better!” I told her too bad. I am a snarly bitch when I’m tired and have to have someone’s sloth fat rolls in my seat. Finally we got off the plane and then I sat and waited for my next flight. A seemingly nice guy came and sat down near me and we chatted. He was a cop from Susanville. He asked for my phone number and said we should chat sometime. The rest of my trip home was uneventful except for the cop who pulled me over a mile from home because I did the widest turn possible. I told him I was tired and he thought I was drunk. I was just tired and he let me go home.

November 27th – I got up early and worked. Boo. But my Spartans pulled off a win against Penn State!

November 28th – I went and got a Christmas Tree for my house. It is rather ghetto looking and has a tendency to lean. And my cat keeps attacking it. Oh well…

November 29th – I went and had a rehearsal with the Carson Valley Pops Orchestra for the first time. They are a cute orchestra and the only other bassoonist is 94. I shit you not. And of course we played Lots and Lots of Christmas Music…

November 30th – With two whole hours to spare, I hit the 50,000 word mark for NaNoWriMo!!! Again, the novel needs a whole lot of editing and additions, but I made it to where I needed to make it in a month! And as I promised last year, next year I shouldn’t procrastinate as much!

December 1st – This was the first time I went to the Carson City Orchestra’s rehearsals. The orchestra is made up of a lot of the same people who pay in the Carson Valley Pops Orchestra so they seemed to recognize me. Lots and lots more Christmas music unfortunately.

December 2nd – So, I got to sleep in since I was delivering books and got to leave from Y-town. I mentioned that I had a date that night to some of my work moms in Y-town and then the rest of the libraries knew fairly quickly. MJ said she expected a full email report afterwards. I finished up work at 7:15pm and then drove myself to Reno to meet up with Michael the cop. We went to Outback Steakhouse (he was worried that I wouldn’t eat meat since I was liberal…) It was an awkward date. Let’s start by saying that he hates libraries. Seriously… he things that we as tax payers shouldn’t be supporting them. He thinks that the government is too big – that it should only be the military and roads. He doesn’t believe in public education. He thinks that parents should be responsible for teaching their own children since public education doesn’t actually work…. He also thinks Sarah Palin is smart. He also didn’t understand why I didn’t want a second date.

December 3rd – I worked in D-town all day and just as I was closing up the library, I get a call from my new army unit telling me that I should bring concert blacks since there are issues in supply and I might not be able to get blues to wear. I said NO. Seriously, I wasn’t going to drive an hour home and then drive FIVE hours over the mountains. If they wanted me to wear blacks, they should have given me more than 12 hours notice. It took 3 months, but this new unit finally pissed me off something fierce. That and I have a moral outrage against wearing civilian clothes while performing with the Army. I’ve been a soldier for nearly EIGHT years… I wear a uniform damnit! Needless to say, I was still sort of pissy when I made it to Dublin and showed up at the hotel so Czimback and Williams took me out for a much needed beer at the bar within walking distance.

December 4th – woke up kind of late and showed up for formation one minute before it started. So technically not late but I made myself do pushups in the gravel anyway since I would have made one of my soldiers do them if they pulled that. The morning started a bit Charlie foxtrot but eventually things fell into line. All of us without Blues (since there were supply issues) basically just pilfered supply with the help of chief and Garrido. If I was in charge of supply, I would have had a shit fit. The rest of the day consisted of lots of rehearsal. I felt like I was back home with the 338th rehearsal band. Lots of the band was falling asleep. Me? I almost tore a muscle in my abs from laughing so much. The two Jeremy’s and I spent the entire time making fun of everything and anything. Seriously, you shouldn’t have that much fun in concert band. Lunch was also a blast because I went with a group to a fast food Italian place and on the drive back I introduced the group to what a skullet was. (Side note… there is a woman in my library system to totally rocks a mullet! Femullet!!! I will be sneaky and take pictures!) After lots of rehearsing, we loaded up the equipment. I got to back up a truck (which is probably 10 feet longer than my book mobile so that was fun!) and we quickly got everything put in. We went back to the hotel and then Garrido and his wife Ruby took a group of us out for Philippine food. I think it’s my new favorite food! Seriously!! Try it! Then we walked to the bar and drank a bit. I taught one of the guys the coaster game and then there was dancing. And then there was a really awkward guy who came up and asked us how to fist pump. Much hilarity.

December 5th – Woke up too early and drove to Camp Parks. We moved out to San Ramon with all the gear to set up for the concert and do sound checks. I helped set up the recruiting booth. We ended up daisy chaining some electrical outlets together and I am actually really surprised we didn’t burn the place down. We had lunch brought in and my borrowed blues made it difficult to breathe. The concert went pretty well. There were some tuning issues and some of the pieces were just plain weird and not what I would consider army appropriate (I know… let your imagination run wild at the thought that I would consider something inappropriate!) What is really cool is that my friend Chris and his girlfriend Elizabeth came to hear me play J Hugs ensued. Afterwards, the army let me go and I drove my self back home over the mountains. Luckily I left when I did because it started snowing and when I was high on top of the mountains it was total white out. I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me. I probably should have stopped and put on chains. Or just stopped, but I figured I am a Michigan driver… I could make it. There was a really scary moment when a van right in front of me slid, half turned in the road and plowed into a little prius. I would have stopped to see if they were ok but my brakes locked up so I just slid right on by. I white knuckled it the rest of the way home.

December 6th – I woke up around 7 and finally pulled myself out of bed around 9. It was a lazy day filled with baking and trying to get a Christmas tree to stay upward. I think it is a ghetto tree because it likes to lean. That and Jake keeps attacking it and hiding underneath it. I do believe my cat is going crazy…

December 7th – I worked my first 10 hour shift in D-town. Plus 2 hour commute. Ugh. Work is fun though and the kids are very good at shutting up and moving out when I give them THE LOOK.

December 8th – Today, that numbers thing was all over facebook. One of my friends was totally all over it. Not wanting to be totally annoying, I asked him offline what we would say about me if I gave him a number. This is what he said:

I think you're magnificent. You're beautiful. You have an aura of confidence that is very sexy. You're a great soldier, a dedicated worker, incredibly intelligent and talented. I'm completely envious of your musical abilities. I love reading your journal and I wish you'd write more. I think you are a fabulous woman who is probably the best kept secret in Nevada

It kinda made my day :-)

December 9th- work, work, work, work, work. And I read a Child Called It. If you haven’t read it, read it. With a box of tissues. And no swords nearby to stab horrible people who do that to children.

December 10th- work, work, work, work, work. I read Such a Pretty Girl. Also a fabulous, agonizing book. How can someone do that to their children? Seriously! I need to start reading fluff happy books for the rest of the year.

December 11th - today, I am working. Then I am driving down to Minden to play a concert with the Carson Valley Pops Orchestra at 7pm. Slow day.

Las Vegas Baby!

November 9th - I actually got to sleep in a bit since my flight from Reno didn't leave until noonish. The plane from Reno to Las Vegas was a puddle jump (or would be a puddle jump if there was actually water anywhere) I met the rest of my new army unit at the airport and have much CF'ing, we rented vans and headed out to our hotel. I rented and got to drive one of the 15-pac vans. We were staying at the 4 Queens Hotel (yes, it does sound drag-tastic) which is located downtown at the "Old Strip" We got in fairly early and then had the rest of the day off so I tagged along with some of the guys from my unit. We walked around a bit and then hit up one of the buffets. Buffets are not all they are cracked up to be. Then there was more wandering around and some drinking and watching other people lose a lot of money. (I didn't gamble, I just watched. I was tempted on the Star Trek slot machine though...) Then I tagged along to watch some of the guys from my army unit sing karoke. By this time, it was incredibly late and I was surprising not as tired as I should have been (must have been the pure oxygen they were pumping into us)

November 10th - Woke up, showered, got some quick breakfast and got my van. We caravaned out to Nellis AFB for our rehersals. There were alot of band people there since it was not just members of the 191st, but the 300th and the 395th as well. We rehersed right alongside a flightline that we were NOT allowed to take pictures of since some pretty sweet planes kept taking off. There were 4 tenor saxes total (with me). We marched and played (Army song (NOT Army goes... that guy was an idiot..., National Emblem and Bravura) our way until lunch. For lunch we were released to do whatever so I took my van off post. We spotted a small diner and I pulled an amazing U-turn in my gianormous van... apparently in front of a semi... scaring all my passengers. After lunch it was more rehearsing. It didn't last all day, luckily. Afterwards, we heading back to the hotel, I showered and then waited for dinner with family! :-) I got picked up by Rick Myers and his son CJ. They took me down to the strip to show me some amazing sights at the casinos and then took me to dinner at The Capitol Grille. It was AMAZING! I had a fat tire ale, lobster bisque, sliced filet mignon with cipolini onions and wild mushrooms and ended with creme brulee. So wonderful! Plus it was really great to catch up with the Myers. CJ is a baritone player and thinking about college so I could relate a lot of my life experiences with that. Afterwards, they dropped me back off at my hotel. I watched a couple army guys gamble their money away and then went to bed.

For the first time in my life, I felt like a true Michigander. The weather was beautiful - the sun was out and there was a nice breeze. I was debating putting on shorts. People from my new army unit were shivering and in winter jackets. Oh lord...

November 11th - Got up, packed up and got my van. There was a slow troop movement to the parade. Then we got out, did our thing and got back to the hotel. We changed into civis and then drove to god knows where for a long line for a free buffet. Not worth it if you ask me. I got grumpy. Eventually we got to the airport and dropped off the vans. I hung out with the CA side at their gate before heading to my gate and flying home. Trip complete.

November 12th - Had to work way to early in the morning for how sleepy I was. I was grumpy. I also had to go down to the D branch to work the closing shift there. I got to drive the county car there (which definitely saved on gas for me). The county car is this old police cruiser with the spotlights and everything. A bit like driving a boat. In the D branch, they have a life size cutout of Elvis that they put in random places to startle each other. Since I was all alone when I was closing, I decided to hide him in one of the bathrooms to greet the librarians when they got in the next day. It was dark when I left and for the life of me, I could not find where to turn the darn headlights on. So, instead, I drove back to Y-Town with the spotlights on. I figured it was better than driving blind and dark.

November 13th - was my first working Saturday. It was fairly slow. Renee and I tried to have way too much fun ;-)

November 14th - Was a lazy day. I wrote NaNoWriMo (I am sooo behind!), did laundry and cleaned a bit. Went to bed early.

November 15th - Was another lazy day. I wrote and was organizing things when I found very interesting postcards from 1999. They are hysterical and I will have to share them when I see who sent them during Thanksgiving or Christmas.

November 16th - Today, as I was shelving books, I overheard two girls talking about what books to get for a biography project they were working on.

Girl 1: Why don't you do a president?

Girl 2: Eww! Who cares? I'd rather do Selina Gomez!

Wow... what is wrong with today's youth?

Also today, I learned how my shinangians from Friday turned out. I got a phone call from the D Branch and Summer asked, "Did you move Elvis?" I said, "Yeah! Did he get you?" Summer replied, "No... scared the crap out of a probation officer though..."

Then a cop came in to use the fax machine and we got to talking. Apparently, all the cops were wondering who the hell was driving a cruiser friday night with the spotlights on but no headlights. Yep... that was me...

Because Kate was disappointed...

The last couple weekends have been very different and fun...

October 16th - was the Italian Night at the Library.

October 22nd was the start of my Army Ten Miler weekend. It was a long day of flights - 10am Pacific to 10:30pm Eastern. I flew from Reno to Salt Lake City to Memphis to Washington D.C.

October 23rd - I got up at a reasonable time, showered and headed over to the Armory to pick up my race packet. Ie to watch the MSU game. The game was horrible to watch, but we won in the end and I got to memet a lot of interesting people along the way. After the expo, I caught the metro to Capitol Lounget more fun people at the bar. That night, I met with with the rest of the 88th band runners and we had dinner at a Tapas place.

October 24th - Race Day! I got up early, got ready and met the group down at the Pentagon. I started the race with Kim, but couldn't keep up, but I did better than last year by over 7 minutes - my new PR for the Army Ten in 1:45:57 After the race, I watched the award ceremonies - the mens and womens teams took 1st place in the Reserves. Then, I made it back to the hotel, showered, packed up and waited in the Lobby. Jamie and Rachel came and picked me up and took me out to a nice lunch. It was so great to catch up with them! Afterwards we got coffee and then they dropped me off at the airport. I watched TV on a very bumpy flight to Salt Lake City and I slept the rest of the way to Reno.

October 29th - Nevada Day! I spentthe day cleaning and running errands. I didn't get everything cleaned up before Grandma and Grandpa showed up. Oops! It was great to see them! I took them to El Superior for dinner so they could have the sopapilla. Then we watched episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

October 30th - we got up pretty early and I made Kieshe for breakfast. I took Grandma and Grandpa on a tour of Yerington. Then we came back to my place and watched the MSU vs. Iowa game. That was sad.... Afterwards I made dinner (baked chicken and mashed potatoes) and went to a Halloween party at the Drapers. I had a great time and met alot of new people!

October 31st - Happy Halloween! I woke up a bit worse for the wear in the morning and I made Potato pancakes for breakfast. Then I slept while Grandma and Grandpa went to church. I felt a bit better when they got back and then I took them to the museum in town. It was a fantastic museum - they loved it! Then I made dinner - Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding - for Grandma's birthday dinner. It turned out really good! Trick or Treaters started showing up around 5:40 pm. I gave out way too much candy to begin with and then had to switch to granola bars and fruit snacks. After the trick or treaters we watched Two Weeks Notice and had grandma's birthday "cake" - Strawberry Pie.

November 1st - started NaNoWriMo!

November 5th - worked all day long and then drove myself to Dublin, CA for army drill. I had dinner at Rubios. I Sent a picture to both Mom and Caroline and I got the same response from both of them within seconds of each other: Bitch. Got to Dublin around 10pm.

November 6th - woke up early and had a long day of Army. After work, I went out to dinner with a couple of people from the unit. I stayed up late working on my NaNoWriMo.

November 7th - The next day was more Army training. I was getting a saxophone out of supply when a spider as big as my face waltzed across the floor. I shrieked and the supply guy wasn't phased at all. My girlyness has reached all new levels. We got out early so I hung around for a bit before heading out to Emeryville to see David! (Who saved me from having to drive through snow in the middle of the night!) David and I went and saw MegaMind and had Rubios for dinner. Then we went back to his place and watched Up before I fell asleep.

November 8th - I slept in and then David and I had IHOP before I drove home to Nevada. Long drive and haven't accomplished much since I got home...

Tomorrow, I head to Las Vegas with the army to march in a parade on Veteran's Day.