A Healthy Alternative to Work

Being 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, the Big Game won't start until 7 a.m. Monday morning. Since we take the Superbowl [i]very seriously[/i], tomorrow will be a day off.

We went down to Itaewon last night and met Sunny, Su and Su Jeong at Gecko's. Dave was there and invited us to go with him to a place called The Big Electric Cat, where he said a "kick-ass" band was playing.

The Cat is a small underground bar, and it was pretty full when we got there. The band was playing covers of popular rock/punk/grunge songs, and, being drunk, Mac and I immediately fought our way to the front of the stage and began screaming and jumping and punching each other. The band loved it.

Mac didn't last much longer than that, and wound up spending most of the time passed out, slumped on Sunny's shoulder on the bench seat near the bathrooms.

Anyway, we made it back alive this morning. Sgt. K called and had me come here, to the office, to make edits to the paper.

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Ooo... I forgot. Here's a nice photo from [i]Drill[/i] of Miss Susie Castille. Sadly, the quality is not great. I guess it lost something on the way into Photobucket.

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Lest you doubt the fact that the Ozzman was here, I submit photographic evidence to the contrary.

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Wow. Susie Castillo, Miss USA 2003, is on the cover of Drill magazine, and she is really hot. I know this for a fact because she came here to 2ID with Wayne Newton for July 4th last year. Sgt. K and I, having secured backstage "press" passes (which were clearly stamped "CATERER"), hung out with the King of Las Vegas (Newton), the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Chris Isaak, and of course, Miss Castille.

Unlike the cheerleaders, who were exactly what you'd expect NFL cheerleaders to be, Miss USA, in addition to being gorgeous, was charming - intelligent, chatty, and down to earth. Sgt. K and I ate dinner with her from the buffet the USO had set up in the Camp Casey golf club in back of the outdoor stage. Now she's on the cover of the military version of Maxim.

We've had a pretty healthy string of celebrities through 2ID. I interviewed Twisted Sister when they came in May, and there's a great photo of Ozzy Osbourne behind the .50 cal on an Abrams tank in the archives. He reportedly sent the tank unit a case of beer, on which he had written, "Go crazy, kill 'em all." Drew Carey wrote something similar on one of their coolers when he visited.

Of course, there have also been the requisite government officials. SECDEF Donald Rumsfled, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, etc. etc. etc.

Point is, I got to eat dinner with someone who's on the cover of a men's magazine. Woot!

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We ran this morning for PT. The uniform for PT during the winter is black insulated windpants, long-sleeved "ARMY" t-shirt, windbreaker, knit cap, gloves and a neck gaiter. Wrapped up like this, we usually stay reasonably warm, even in the near-zero temperatures in the morning.

Running makes it all go haywire, though. You sweat, and your head gets hot, but the whole time you're sucking down big breaths of freezing air, which really burns its way down after a couple miles. Plus, if you haven't been hydrating properly, you'll be coughing up sticky phlegm the whole time, too.

At least that's what I do. I can keep up pretty well, despite being a smoker, but I can't say I enjoy it. Running is just one more of those things to cope with and live through.

Today I'm planning on finishing up the entire paper, at least in draft. There will be corrections, and some stuff probably won't be in until just before deadline, but I'd like to have it in at least a working form by close of business today.

We'll see.

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Not much to do in terms of content left for today, but getting these few items together is proving to be a challenge. I'm waiting on Sgt. K to get back with material on a convoy live-fire exercise, Mac has to finish his basketball stuff and edit his roadside inspection point story, Z's off trying to get Voice of the Warrior...

This is turning into a pretty boring edition. No Apaches or Abrams tanks shooting stuff, all pretty mundane. Awards, taxes, and this "Fear Factor"-type event at Camp Essayons. They ate live octopus, according to Z's story.

A Joke: A baby seal walks into a club.
(Pause and wait for chuckle)

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I've been maintaining a LiveJournal blog for a while now, but someone figured out that it was a way to have fun while working, and 8th US Army deemed it necessary to block the entire domain. So no more blogging at work, at least not in LiveJournal. Check out [url=http://www.livejournal.com/us...]my LiveJournal here[/url].

With that done, there's no sense in going back and reinventing the wheel, right? I'll just head right back into the thick of things.

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I hung out in Jones' room last night. We drank a bunch of beer and met the new 91W (medic) when she stopped by with Jensen. Seemed like a bit of a space cake for someone from Chicago, but hey, whatever. Jones and I tore through about twelve a piece, and by the time I got back to my own room, I was pretty spinny.

No PT is held Thursdays, which are reserved for "Sergeants' Time Training," something that never happens in my office. I'd like to get a chance to put together a couple classes on actual [i]newswriting[/i], since some of my guys are in desperate need of a refresher or two. But whatever. I have 71 days left in Korea, and if I've made it this far without giving a class, I'm sure I can hold out through to the end.

I guess that's it for now. I'm just glad I have somewhere to post again.

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