dear fools and foolettes

It's been a while since I updated.
I've been using all my square away time for serious business. I'm up at night doing laundry now.

Dan, I graduate Sept. 11, but with MCT and MOS school, I won't be back in the Haute till around Christmas.

Nate, sorry, I can't engage in gay conduct as long as I'm a Marine. Unless Obama changed that already. It's hard to get news here.
I've been smoked 7 1/2 times now. A couple days after that 7th time, I was doing pull-ups, very few as usual, and a DI said, "You're weak. go get smoked."
So, I joined a group of recruits who were in the middle of a smoking session. they only had one minute left to go once I got in. So I count it as half a smoking. I should get smoked more often, but I don't know if I can volunteer. I should try. I prefer exercising on my own time though.
Not much interesting has happened. As you know by now, this shit is boring.
Exceptions: One recruit in my series accidentally shot himself in the foot. And one recruit in my platoon tried to flee at night to the freeway.
He got caught one step out the door.
We knew what he was doing because he'd packed MRE's and left a note. He got dropped from the platoon later for poor performance on the rifle range. I suspect he shot poorly on purpose.
It's funny because one of our DI's, the dramatic, sadistic one, would often point to the I-5, which was only a stone's throw from where we slept, with only a 3 foot fence between us and it, and say, "There's your way out."
Someone tried to take his advice.
I should go to bed before I get caught writing this or overtiming on firewatch.
Leave more comments.

dear fools and smart people

I'm still bored! This sucks, but it'll be over soon. Speaking of, anyone in San Diego who wants to get together with me on graduation day, coordinate with my parents in the comments section.
I did enough pullups to pass the PFT (3). And I got smoked the other day. That's the 7th time. I hadn't been smoked since those first six times in the first week. I'll see how long I can avoid it again.
I haven't gotten any blog replies since Inari369's initial "Good Luck".
Thanks, Becky, and sorry for the herpes.
I expect there's a huge pile of letters from the internet, and they'll get to me the day after I graduate.
My one plan to fight boredom is thwarted.
If there's anything my experience can teach the world, it's don't join the military!
Play some video games or something.

pull ups

I can't do one damn pull up. I could do a few before I came here, but now I'm weak.
Hopefully that changes soon.
This is a little hard to write due to all the open blisters on my hands. I got them on the obstacle course. Most of them when I slid down the rope at the end. I climbed to the top and tried to get the DI's attention to report I was done, but that took a lot of time, and I lost my grip and slid most of the way down.
The only thing I'm good at is running. I'm in the top of three tiers for that. Also kicking. I could have kicked over my opponent at the last martial arts session, but I didn't want to hurt him. The DI's would be pissed if they heard me say that.
I was a scribe, but I got fired, which is a good thing. My main job was scrubbing a dry erase board that wouldn't dry erase, for two hours a night. (Yes, we were using the right kind of markers.) Now I'm finally getting 7 or 8 hours a night.
I've been smoked 6 times so far. Not recently though. For those who don't know, "smoked" is a form of punishment where a DI rolls you up in a bed sheet, lights your head on fire and pretends to smoke you.
Seriously, they make you exercise vigorously for 5 minutes.
I'm writing this standing up now, since we aren't allowed to sit down tonight.
One thing I wasn't warned about, or at least I don't remember being warned about, was all the dust inhalation. We work out on big dirty fields, and everyone is constantly coughing and hacking.
It must sound all bad, which I suppose is the whole point. But I'm used to it now. I just look forward to the next meal, the next sleep, the next drink of water. When you exercise this much, water is like sex. I'm pretty good at just waiting things out. I'd probably make an excellent rape victim.
And, I know things will be more fun once they issue my lightsaber. Also when I get that Dr. McNinja and everything else from everyone who loves me. Seriously, I need those comics. I'll pay back like twice the postage. A senior DI just flipped us all off now. Gotta go!

confidence

I’m having a little fun. We ran the confidence course today, and I did better on that than I did on the obstacle course. So apparently I have more confidence than strength. Yes, it’s what I expected, except I didn’t expect to breathe so much dust. No nickname. Our DI’s don’t give out many of them. But they call this one guy “Skeletor.” I think because he’s pale. We were marching today and a DI yelled, “Skeleor, I’m gonna fuck you up!” That was funny. Also, we did leg sweeps and rolling in martial arts today. Aside from those perks, it’s pretty boring and uncomfortable here. I don’t think it’ll change me. I’m too aloof and introspective for that. Boot camp wasn’t meant for people my age. I can see the head games for what they are (it turns out they’re head games). I just need to keep a positive attitude and it’ll be over in no time.

After boot, I’ve got 10 days of leave, then 3 or 4 weeks of combat training, and 2 months of radio school. Then I’ll be free if they don’t decide I need to go to Dirkadirkastan.

Edit: Turns out it was 8 months of radio fixing school.

a letter

Hey, dudes. I have like 10 minutes to write this.
Make that 5.
I was going to make a joke about being surprised there weren't any dolphins here and everyone was shouting at me, because I thought I was going to Marine World, but it's probably too late for that now that everyone's probably worried about me.
I'm doing great, but I'm having a boring ass time. They told me the first couple weeks totally suck, but I didn't know that's what they meant.
My address is

[UNNECESSARY]

Send me anything (written, no food or anything). PWOTers, please hook me up with Nedroid comics, Dr. McNinja and anything else you think I might fancy. Must be SFW. I will try to respond to comments and letters, but it might be slow. I'm pretty busy here. Peace!

i'm leaving for boot camp in 3 days!

The idea here is that I'll send my dad letters and he'll put them up on this blog. Anyone can comment, and he'll print out the comments and send them to me. I won't have much time to reply though, since I'll be in boot camp.