Life at Leatherneck does not have much to offer besides work. Most other bases have MWR facilities (Morale, Recreation and Welfare…think pool table, ping pong, etc…) but not here with the Marines. I sit in front of a computer all day and we have a huge TV in our office. After I get back to the tent, I am pretty much tired of computers and movies. That doesn’t mean I don’t watch more movies but it gets old on occasion. So I have basically lived in the gym since I have been here. I am surprised that I don’t have a cot in the back that I can just crash on when I am done working out. I have oscillated between two a days and just one intense session. The result is that I know the TCNs that work in the gym better than I have ever wanted and I have already hit my goal weight that I set before I left.
My wife has never known me at my current weight and I still have plenty of time to improve upon it. Most people would be happy with hitting their goal but not me. I hit my goal and then revised my goal so I still have 15 more pounds to go. Thankfully I have 3 months to hit that goal and by that time I will have probably revised it yet again. My uniforms didn’t fit me so I had to get more sent out. That was a much more painful process than I ever had anticipated but dealing with the government is never easy. I finally got my blouses in and I just got my name tapes sewed on them. If only the trousers would come in too. Let’s just say that when I loosen my belt, they fall off.
I am on a first name basis with the TCNs in the gym and I don’t even have to show my ID anymore. I have successfully converted two of them into fans of the University of North Carolina. One of the shirts that I wear to workout is a UNC shirt (surprise, surprise) and one day a TCN stopped me and was struggling to say, “Michael Jordan?” That started a dialogue that persists every time I walk in the gym. Occasionally I will print out stuff for them to read or pictures they can hang up. They understand about half of it but I will take what I can get.
On the bright side I feel almost comfortable enough around the gym TCNs that I don’t always feel the need to be armed. Watch a movie and pay attention when the good guy/bad guy gets caught and he has to drop all of his weapons. That is basically me and everyone else over here. At any given time I have between two to four implements on my person that can cause serious bodily harm with minimal effort. No I am not talking about the guns that I call muscles. I’ll give you a break for laughter. Anyways, keep in mind that most of the TCNs here wouldn’t hesitate to cause me or any other American bodily harm if they had the chance. I wish that was just a generalization but it isn’t, it’s reality. They call us sir and ma’am because they have to, not because they want to. The looks that TCNs give us say everything. As a result, I stay armed all the time.
The Navy Chief that has been giving me fits since I got here finally moved out of the tent. He made life difficult for everyone in our tent and we basically ignored him so much that he left. An effective technique if I do say so myself. The night he moved out, the mood noticeably improved in the tent. I haven’t sleep that good since I have been here. I am not too sure what it is about the Navy folks here but they are generally miserable and they make life difficult for everyone else. The medical personnel here are Navy, some logistics personnel here are Navy and the Seabees are Navy as well. Maybe they just miss the ocean and hate the desert but whatever it is, I am glad that Chief is gone. Thrilled actually.
You packing is kinda scary to think about, but you have to keep this stuff so you can show it to Brooklyn's boyfriends later in life! :-)
ReplyDeleteApparently the possibility that you could be smaller than your brother has gotten him motivated to lose even more weight. He is such a girl sometimes.