HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope 2008 will be awesome for all of you, my dear readers. Health, peace, happiness, love, money, and everything else you desire.

It might be late for tips, but don't forget to not drink and drive--EVER!

PERFECT!

The Patriots have gone 16-0.



Now they just have to go and win the Superbowl and really make it perfect!

Merry Christmas!

Well, dear readers, it's almost time for Santa to saddle up again. In this time, let us reflect on those who are far from their loved ones, particularly those who are over in dangerous areas. Let us who are with our families rejoice in having them near and healthy.

I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and, for those who won't read my blog before January, a very happy, joyful, healthy, and successful new year.

Make sure the holidays stay happy; don't drink and drive or let anyone you know do that.

Holidays, dancing, and other random things

Well, I've finally decided to write something up, considering I haven't really written anything in a while except to promise something "shortly."

So, what's been happening?

Not much. I've spent the last month (ish) split between trying to keep my sanity through sleep deprivation because of essayfest (I had a LOT of essays to write, including a period when I ended up having to write 50 pages in 36 hours), and then exams. Because of that, I've become almost fully nocturnal--not quite, but between the blitzes to finish that paper in time, and the late-night studying sessions, I can't seem to get back into "normal" sleeping patterns right now.

I think I did fairly good in my classes, though of course I won't know for sure until the exam results are in. Still, I think my average will be more or less what it always is.

Other than that, life has been relatively quiet. There was the RMC Christmas Ball a few weeks ago, which was really a non-event for me; I played the pipes and got drunk with my friends, and that was pretty much it, thanks to being dumped by my date only a few days before the actual event. Lovely. Ah well, it was somewhat fun anyway, though I'm STILL unhappy about the whole theme debacle--if you say the theme is the Golden Age of Cinema, you DO NOT put on music from the 50s and 60s. And you absolutely DO NOT use posters of movies that came out in the late 50s, 60s, and even 70s, as background for the band. (The earliest movie I saw, that I remember, in the lineup, was A Streetcar Named Desire, which came out in 1951.) I don't mind the post-war era at all, but when someone organizes a party and specifies a theme, I expect them to do their homework. Otherwise, you just advertise it as a post-war era theme.

I've been keeping up with the dancing, much to my own surprise. I had a bit of a slump where I didn't enjoy it as much and left the social dances early, but that was mostly due to other circumstances. I'm back to full swing, so to speak, and loving it. So much, I might try bussing my way to Montreal during the holidays so I can get some more dancing in. I've also signed up for a big workshop (Quebec Swing Rendez-Vous), and I plan to sign up for the two in Kingston next semester, as well as (hopefully) Frankie Manning's visit to Toronto late in the semester--I will not miss a workshop with the best dancer alive today, for anything. I wouldn't go AWOL, but almost.

I'm actually getting rather decent, I think, when it comes to dancing. I'm not good by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to screw up less, I find the beat a lot quicker, and I don't lose it as much. My main problem is that my repertoire of moves is rather limited, so I tend to just throw in the same stuff over and over, but I try to make little variations--or I just dazzle and entertain the lady I'm dancing with, with conversation. (I've seriously had dances when I did about five moves over a 3 minute song, because we were talking the whole time.) Still, I'm moving away from trying to not screw up the moves, to trying to actually dance to the music--musicality and me are slowly warming up to each other, but the relationship is still shaky. Still, I get more "that was fun" now than I did before, which I take as either a sign that, although my skills aren't that great, I'm still fun to dance with.. or a sign that my skills are absolutely atrocious and the ladies I dance with want to make me feel a little better. I think I'll go with the former.

Other than that, I don't have much to say, really. I'm looking forward to the holidays so I can watch cable TV and indulge in actually good food--and homecooked, too! Having food that's actually palatable and not made from unidentifiable products rejected by the prison system and the Salvation Army, will be quite the change.

Speaking of the prison system, a certain person who has some power within the mess, said, at some point this semester, that the staff were to give us smaller portions because, we are "officers in the Canadian Forces, not prisoners." I'm not quite certain, but I'd have thought that, being that we are officers in the Canadian Forces (though not commissioned yet), we should get more food than prisoners--after all, we have to train and do a whole lot more than sit in a cell and watch satellite TV. Also, I'd have thought our food should be better than prisoners', but I'm sure that certain person from the mess would disagree. I guess the Navy spoiled me, with its Wardroom with food that's actually more or less made when you order it, that's always tasty, and that never, ever looks like it's been sitting there for a few days.

I think I've more or less covered all that I could cover for today... My love life (or lack thereof) would not make for very interesting reading, and that's about the only thing I haven't really touched upon.

I should be writing more when I get home--just in time for everyone to have extra time off to read my blog!

If you don't read my blog again until after the holidays,

Merry Christmas,
Happy Hannukah,
Merry Kwanza,
And a happy forgotten-by-me religious holiday.

And, of course, a very happy new year.

À retardement.....

Petit Comique, la semaine dernière, me demande :

«Pourquoi, lorsqu'on a de la peine on pleure ? »

J'savais pas trop quoi y répondre....J'lui ai expliqué les fonctions des larmes pour les yeux....de toute évidence, pas satisfaisante comme réponse.

En écoutant ceci, la réponse m'est apparue :

On pleure pour faire de la place dans notre coeur au bonheur !

Ooooooh, bars! Aw, not *that* kind of bars, eh?

So, I'll finally have some form of power and legitimate authority at this College, next semester. Granted, it's the lower form of power and authority, as a Section Commander (in charge of a whopping, what, 6 people?), but still, it's a start.

I don't know how it will turn out, mostly because the only power I've ever had was transient and during training, but it should be all right. It's not like it's going to be that hard to keep track of a handful of people, right?

Anyway, I'll probably post something bigger this weekend, because right now I'm in a bit of "freakoutendofsemesterohmygodI'mgoingtofail" mode, with about a gazillion pages to write still. And a play to go see tonight (who schedules a field trip in essayfest? seriously.). Lovely.

Pendant que.....

Nous «rushons» à rentrer les meubles, séparer les boîtes ( cuisine, garage, chalet) nos très chers minous....se font dorer la couenne au soleil !

J'me réincarne en chat la prochaine fois !

;-)

Youtube - "We Need Girlfriend" bought by CBS

I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad, but for better or worse, my all-time second favourite youtube series has been bought out by Corporate America. (My all-time favourite youtube series being, of course Hey, Shipwreck.)

We Need Girlfriends, a series about three roommates in New York who (surprise surprise!) need girlfriends, had 11 episodes, each gathering over 700,000 views.

The show has been bought by CBS and will be produced by Sex and the City creator, Darren Star. Here is the youtube announcement by the producers of We Need Girlfriends:



The reason I'm not sure I'm happy about it is that even though I've now watched a youtube show go from episode one to corporate selling-out, I'm afraid it'll lose some of its edginess and inherent coolness, and will just turn into another boring romcom/sitcom.

Well, that and I don't have CBS. I don't even have a TV.

Let's launch operation "buy RMC students TVs."

Dernière heure....

Il faut ABSOLUMENT que vous lisiez cette histoire.

;-)

EDIT 18 novembre : Il nous torture avec la suite !

"I can write a paper about anything in one night..."

"It doesn't mean I like it."

I'm just procrastinating a little bit, taking a break from the wonderful discipline that is psychology. [/sarcasm] I have to finish a paper about the socialization of Officer Cadets (I guess they don't care about us Naval Cadets...) at RMC.

I have plenty of sources and I mostly know what I want to say, but unlike when I write history or French papers, I find myself suffering from writer's block. I know precisely how to write an A paper in French, and a solid B+ or possible A- in History. Psychology, however, is something I haven't done in years, and when I did take a psycho class, it didn't go too well. (I last took shrinkology in CEGEP, almost four years ago.)

Other than that, well, all is quiet on the northern front. I'm still dancing my way around and through life's worries, being a bad little RMC cadet... and I still wish I could just go back to the Navy life in beautiful Victoria, BC.

I have a few more papers to write in the coming weeks, and a few exams during the exam period, and then I get to go home (and do nothing) for a few weeks. I wish I could've gone to Europe, but unfortunately I'm too poor. Maybe at spring break.

Ah well, back to work for this intrepid procrastinator!

'M'ennuis.....

J'm'ennuis d'mes gars ! La dernière fois que j'ai vu Petit Guerrier et P'tit comique remonte au 30 octobre dernier.....12 jours....c'est long...et il en reste encore 2 !

C'est bizarre, quand la plupart des belles-mères sont contentes d'avoir la paix....moi j'm'ennuis.


Petit Guerrier l'autre jour me demandait si j'étais déçue de ne pas avoir eu une job de boss. J'lui ai simplement répondu :

« C'est pas grave ça chaton, je vais me trouver une autre job de boss. Tsé, c'est ça que je faisais dans la vie avant de vendre des maisons. Entre temps je fais de la Radio»

Lui de me répondre :

« Hein ? Tu fais de la radio ? À quel poste pour que je puisse t'écouter avec mes amis »

J'ai trouvé ça tellement sweet ! J'aurais été portée à croire qu'il aurait «honte» de sa belle-mère. C'est fou comment un enfant peut, par de simples paroles, nous donner des ailes.

Sailor m'a raconté hier soir qu'il avait écouter une émission dans laquelle je parles des garçons ( remarquez que j'en parle régulièrement sur le show, mais mon chum n'écoute pas toutes les émissions.). Il leur a fait écouter un passage. Apparemment que les gars étaient très surpris que je parle d'eux à la radio.

J'ai trouvé ça cute.

'Savez, en bout d'ligne, j'suis contente de ne pas l'avoir eu la job de boss...Je tripe vraiment sur se qui est ma vie en ce moment. Comme je disais, je ne sais pas pour combien de temps encore, mais le ici/maintenant est tout simplement merveilleux !

Et vous ? Qu'est-ce qui vous rend heureux ?

Edit : Mon chum est en feu....2 billets en autant de semaine....ici le dernier ;-))

Lack of content

I just wanted to quickly apologize, yet again, for the lack of any good content on my blog. It's just been slightly crazy and demanding lately and to make it short, the past week (and more) have been tough in many ways.

Anyway, I'll try and post something somewhat relevant or entertaining this weekend, but I doubt I'll have the time, the energy or the will to post before that.

Again, I'm sorry, and I know those of you who have been reading this for a while expect more, and better, posts.

Mandate to date: it's a wrap!

The search is over. This RMC student, surprisingly, has found an attractive date, and will be able to show off his moves on the dance floor... provided the theme of the ball (Hollywood's Golden Era) also extends to the music, at least for part of the evening. Doubtful, but we can always hope, right?

Mr. Fred Goes To Washington

Well, USNA was... fun, I guess. Extremely exhausting, but fun.

We left RMC Thursday night, expecting to get to USNA around 0530 the next morning.. only to get there almost at 0900. The lovely GPS system was all messed-up, and we got lost. Yay. After paying for breakfast (instead of getting it from the USNA mess hall) we got to board those ugly yellow busses with our instruments and, for some of us, our kit (some wore their uniforms on the way, others decided to get changed when we got there), to go to Washington, where we played at the Canadian Embassy. Usually, apparently, we play outside and draw a huge crowd (people clad in British line infantry uniforms playing loud music would do that, a few blocks from the Capitol), but it was raining like mad and our uniforms (like our instruments) don't exactly like the rain, so we played inside, to a tiny little crowd. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't awesome either. The Ambassador wasn't even there!

Anyway, after the show we visited the embassy (I got a good picture of me on the top floor with the Capitol as the background) and saw some cool art, and then headed off into town. One of my friends and I wanted to go visit the National Gallery, but the rest of our happy band of explorers don't like art, so we headed off in town, had a late lunch (I take offense to the idea of Americans having a "lumberjack" hamburger) and then wandered around in the rain. I got a few pictures in front of federal buildings, a picture of the poker (the Washington monument), and... yeah, that was about it. Then we went to the Holocaust Museum.

That museum doesn't deserve the name of museum; it's more like a memorial. I didn't learn anything (except a bit about some village that got erased from the map because they helped the Jews) but they had some interesting artefacts, like actual bunks from Auschwitz. Some of the parts of the exhibit made me a bit queazy, but... yeah. It's a place that's worth visiting if you're in DC, but don't bother going to Washington just to see it.

Oh, and I am among the few people who have done a 4-point turn on a major downtown DC street, complete with police blocking the street, ON A BUS. It was fun.

Saturday was cool. We got to watch Navy almost win against Delaware, but because the refs hate America, Delaware won. It was still a lot of fun, and the atmosphere (for most of the game) was pretty electric. The stadium is bigger than some CFL stadiums, and it was at least as packed as the Als games!

What was REALLY fun, was the tailgate party. We played at various spots, and then got to the Class of '69 tent, where they were really, really nice and fed us hotdogs and hamburgers, on top of getting us beer and other alcohol. The old boys were really cool, too. We didn't stay long, because we had to go play elsewhere (bleh) but I got a nice plastic cup as a souvenir. We also went to the Class of '58 tent, where we got more beer (including by some guy who was emptying his cooler and gave me and some of my friends about 3 cans in 5 minutes), tons more food, and where the alumni's wives treated us like they were our grandmothers or something, feeding us more food than even I could eat.

Everyone at the tailgate party was really nice and seemed to really enjoy us being there, so it was great.

The trip back, on Sunday morning, was pretty uneventful. I tried cheesecake poppers from Arby's, which were amazingly good.

Anyway, I can't really think of anything else to say...

Stay frosty, RMC.

Come along, now, nothing to see here

Okay, not quite, but other than the swing dancing workshop I went to (along with a dance, and a part that lasted almost until my weekday wake-up time) there isn't very much to talk about.

Anyway, I'm leaving for the Naval Academy tomorrow night, and we'll apparently be playing in some embassy (presumably our own) in Washington on Friday, and at the Navy-Delaware (if memory serves) game on Saturday... before coming back on Sunday. I won't be able to get much work done, but hopefully I'll get my whites and I'll be able to read a lot on the bus--it's a L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G ride--so when I come back I'll be able to focus on the important things in life: dancing, and writing essays. In that order.

I'll likely write a little (or a big) something when I come back on Sunday night, but anything between now and my return is doubtful. I might just pop online to say "hi, I'm in Maryland," but that'll probably be it.

Until then, stay safe, and try and enjoy this lovely weather. And stay frosty, RMC, or else your beer will get warm, and warm North-American beer is like weak, warm gnat's urine.

On peut pas dire....

qu'on ne supporte pas nos immigrants, ici, au Québec.

Avez-vous eu la chance de voir le combat de boxe vendredi dernier ? Si tout comme moi vous étiez au lit très tôt, vous pouvez voir l'entrevue accordée hier par le nouveau champion des super-moyens : Lucian Bute.

Remarquez qu'il parait pas mal mieux ici ;-)

Le Centre Bell a acceuilli pour ce «spectacle» pas moins de 14 000 spectateurs qui appuyaient l'aspirant Roumain au titre.

J'suis pas une maniaque de boxe, par-contre, je ne peut pas m'empêcher d'admirer une telle détermination.

J'suis curieuse d'une chose ( et l'auteure de ces lignes aura probablement l'occasion prochainement de lui demander en personne ;-)) il n'a jamais traduit se qu'il a dit à la fin de son combat en s'adressant en Roumain aux téléspectateurs (et à ses parents je présumes). Ça avait l'air très touchant.....même en le revisionant, il semblait très ému.

TK ! Pour ma part, je suis contente que l'on montre de tel exemple de courage et de détermination à nos jeunes. Nonobstant que l'on dire que la boxe c'est «violent», les coups font partis du sport....à la différence du hockey ;-)).

**

Tant qu'à être dans la boxe......Quand je feel down, je visionne ce clip du film Rocky Balboa : c'est pas comment fort tu peux frapper, c'est combien de fois tu peux être frappé, te relever et continuer.

**

Pis tant qu'à faire....une petite tranche de vie :

À mon arrivé à Montréal j'habitais chez un ami. Il avait une grande «vitrine» en verre et dans celle-ci il y avait plein de gugusses : souvenir de voyage, arts indigènes et une paire de gants de boxe.

Un soir, je reçois un un ami à l'appartement pour prendre un verre.

Celui-ci regarde l'armoire et semble s'extasier devant la paire de gants.

Lui : «Tu sais à qui ont appartenue ses gants»

Moi : «Ouen, un certain boxeur Montréalais. Ça l'air qu'il est pas pire selon mon coloc !»

Lui : «Pas pire ???? Tu me niaise ??? »

Moi : Non....pourquoi ?

Lui : ...........

C'était les gants portés par Eric Lucas, le 10 juillet 2001 au Centre Molson lors de sa victoire qui le consacra champion du monde dans sa catégorie !

Ben coudonc ! J'ai manqué une belle occasion de me taire ;-)))

Ça passe ou ça casse !

Baon ! Par où commencer ?

Je m'avais donner jusqu'au mois d'août pour me trouver un boulot. Nous sommes presqu'en Novembre et toujours rien. Pis j'vous jure que j'ai pas visé ni trop haut, ni trop bas. Juste au milieu, mais le cell. sonne pas pis les entrevues que j'ai eu n'ont pas donner grand chose ( mis à part de l'expérience puisque c'est la première fois de ma vie que je me cherche un boulot ! ).

Ceci dit, malgré le fait que la dame des RH de l'entrevue de la semaine dernière garde mon C.V. tout près, c'est certain qu'à court terme il n'y aura pas de développement de ce côté.

J'ai toujours mon contrat à Gatineau, mais celui-ci est maintenant 1 semaine sur deux «physiquement» là-bas et le reste je le fais à distance de chez-moi ( vive l'internet et Logmein.com ;-).

Ça m'amène au sujet de ce post.

Nous allons faire une «semaine pilote» à la Radio dont je vous parle régulièrement....mais cette fois je vais vous dire où vous pourrez m'entendre si vous le désirez. Je dis pilote, car se sera la première fois depuis l'existence du show que celui-ci sera fait à deux sur une base régulière. Je serai la folle du roi officielle ;-)....et de fait, la seule femelle de la station ;-).

Je vous parlerai plus longuement du contenu....mais mettons que l'on traite pas mal d'actualité.

J'aimerais par-contre savoir, est-ce que si je vous dis où l'écouter....ben....ça vous intéresse-tu de l'savoir finalement ? Est-ce que ça vaut la peine de sortir de l'anonymat virtuel ?

( pour les lecteurs hors-Québec.....c'est une émission disponible sur internet ;-)

Ha ! J'oubliais....pourquoi le ça passe ou ça casse....si la réaction est bonne, ça va justifier un salaire, donc plus besoin de chercher un boulot ;-))))

Turning old

Well, I officiall turn old in... about two hours. Okay, for some of you (say, a certain American ex-submariner, or a certain ex-cadet) I'm still young, but 22 is old, dammit! I've been legal everywhere for a year (not that it really mattered, I've been legal in Canada for three) and I've been able to vote for four (not that it really mattered, the federal candidate in my riding always wins by a remarkably huge margin, and I don't care much for provincial politics). I have one more birthday while at RMC. In a few years, insurance companies will stop discriminating against me for being a young male, and will instead only discriminate against me for being male.

Seriously though, I've been considering things and in some ways, I just don't feel like an adult. RMC treats us like children, and my social life revolves around college students (from RMC and the other, lesser university across the causeway, mostly). I face very few of the realities of being an adult--and definately less than I did a few years ago, before I came to RMC. I'm not really scared about going off into the big, bad world. In fact, I'm pretty excited about it, even though it's pretty far off. I can't wait to use up all my money to buy a condo only to have Murphy rear his ugly, disfigured head and get me posted on the other coast. Or to meet the woman of my life three weeks before I head to the Gulf for six months. Or buy a really nice car (Audi TT, anyone?) using the money I'll make on said Gulf tour, and get it trashed by protestors while I'm gone on a month-long exercise fake-blowing-up American ships.

All in all, this birthday isn't any different than any other I've had since I graduated high school. No parties or anything, though I might be lazier than usual for one day. I'm too old to party on weekdays, anyway.

Mandate to Date: The Search Is On

Well, it's that time of the year again, when RMC students go to Queen's and get a random attractive young woman (or man, I won't judge) to go to the RMC Christmas Ball, which is apparently one of the top-rated events in North America. (Why, I don't know.)

So let that be a warning to Queen's students:

Guys, watch your girls, they might get taken away by charming guys who are in way better shape than you are.
Girls, watch out for charming guys who'll take you away.

Ok, on a serious note... Do I even want to spend hours on a formal date with someone I will barely know? The Ball is a good thing for those with girlfriends (or boyfriends... I said I wouldn't judge) but for us singlefolk, it's a drag. Heh, at least, if I do get a date and it comes crashing down, I have a break at some point thanks to the whole being-a-piper deal. And then I can just get drunk and leave the date with my atrocious friends. I'm evil, I know.

Conviction ou fabulation ?

Salut ma gang de vous autres !

J'ai pas encore pris le temps de faire le tour, mais j'espère que tous le monde va bien ;-)

Pour ma part, c'est le gros stress....mais du bon stress ;-)

Je suis allée passer une entrevue vendredi dernier pour un boulot...Ze boulot ! 'Savez le genre de boulot que l'on sait qui va nous offrir le parfait équilibre entre le «challenge» et une certaine qualité de vie....pour pas dire qualité de vie certaine ;-).

Et Ze boulot se trouve dans la même boîte que mon chum....'savez là Ze chum parfait et tout le tralala !

De plus je serai 1 palier hiérarchique en bas de lui, mais serai tout de même cadre ( lire aller aux même partys ;-). Nous aurons sensiblement la même horaire ( en fait, c'est son boss qui va être content parce qu'il n'arrivera plue en retard les semaines de co-voiturage...je suis une morning person ;-).

J'parlais de qualité de vie....ça va être merveilleux. La semaine que nous avons les enfants, nous allons prendre chacun notre voiture, ainsi mon chum partira plus tard pour que les enfants arrivent au service de garde que vers 7h00-7h30 et moi, mon shift termine à 14h30-15h00.....se qui veut dire que sans le trafique de fin de journée, je vais être capable de passer prendre les enfants à 16h00-16h30....Au lieu de 18h15 !

Hey ! Ça va-tu en faire une belle différence ça ?

Pis la semaine im-père, nous allons faire du co-voiturage et un peu de temps supplémentaire ( lire laisser passer le trafic ;-) et, soit aller souper, prendre un drink dans notre ti-bar de prédilections, aller souper avec des amis, 5 @ 7 professionnels...ect.

Voyez-vous, je vais pour une rare fois dans ma vie (sinon la première ;-) avoir une vraie job, avec un salaire aux 2 semaines pis 4 semaines de vacances PAYÉES !

Aucune culpabilité de m'en aller quelque part....la paye va rentrer pareil !

Geeeeeee ! Concept !!!!!

J'en parle au présent, comme si c'était un «done deal». Mais ce ne l'est pas, malheureusement....mais crime pofff que je le sens ! Tout comme j'ai senti que Sailor serait l'Amour d'une vie. This is, and will be ze job of a lifetime ;-)

Au pire je n'aurai pas ce boulot...mais cette entrevue m'a permi de valider ( big time ) se dont j'ai envie et la vie que je veux vivre !

Conviction ou fabulation......dans quelques jours nous serons tous fixés ;-))

Sleeeeeeeeeep!

Sorry blogging has been light. I've been busy and on a gagetownian sleep regime.

Anyway, I'll blog more this weekend (after some re-energization)... for the time being, I'll just say swing dancing kicks boot-ay. If only life was a musical!

MATT DAMON!

Souper d'sacoches !

Ben pas tout à fait....les gars 'taient là !

Voyez-vous, hier nous sommes aller souper chez un des amis à mon chum. C'était la troisième fois que je voyais ces gens. Pis crime pofff qui sont l'funs !

L'ami en question vient de se séparer. J'vais vous dire honnêtement que la première fois que je l'ai rencontré (aux fêtes l'an dernier), j'ai pas tripé pantoute sur sa personnalité. 'Savez, genre pogné ! Non...pas pogné.....ben pogné.

Nous l'avons revu Dimanche dernier pour le baptême du bébé d'un des couples présents hier soir, et honnêtement le gars, je l'ai trouvé assez allumé.

Mais hier là, il m'a tout simplement flabergasté !

Vous devriez y voir l'appartement. Pffff ! Moi qui pensais qu'il était du genre à se faire torcher par une femme...Re-Pffffff ! Pas pantoute ! Et vous auriez dû voir la table et la bouffe qu'il a préparé. Tout seul comme un grand en plus !

Il n'est pas le genre de gars que mon chum saurait tenu avec avant....mais croyez-moi qu'il va faire partie de notre monde à partir de maintenant. Vraiment un chic type, positif et dynamique.

Et ça me fait vraiment plaisirs, ils vont aller jouer au Golf (entre autre). Mon chum n'a pas 25 milles amis. Moi non-plus d'ailleurs. Mais cette gang là....'est vraiment...comment dirais-je....une gang tissée serrée !

Mais pour en revenir au sacoche.....ça m'fait rire (de moi-même) de m'attacher autant à ces filles. Nous sommes totalement différentes, pis en même temps on se ressemble beaucoup. Nos réalités se rejoignent quand même, à quelque part.

C'est drôle !

J'vous en reparlerai probablement plus longuement, un jour de grande cyber-réflexion !

Finalement....

Elle a «parti» son Blogue ( juste un an plus tard...mais ça doit être ça le beat Africain ;-))

Bienvenue dans la Bloguosphère Coz !

xxx

Signs You've Been Single For Too Long

Here are a few parts of an epic master list I'm compiling. The first part is just a repost from a while ago, but I wrote a few more things... Oh, and if you recognize yourself in (m)any of these, well, don't feel so bad, most come from my own life or from my friends'.

Top Ten Signs You've Been Single For Too Long

10. You think geeks have it easy and "1f y0u c4\ r34d th1$ y0u r3a11y n33d t0 g37 l41d" makes sense to you.
9. You wake up alone, again, and think "aaah, the freedom."
8. You sniff your jeans and decide they'll do for another day.
7. You randomly decide to watch a season of 24. In twenty-four hours. Several times in a row. With minimal sleep in-between.
6. You play various multiplayer games while watching reruns of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, and think "this is the life."
5. You're proud of the fact that you watched 10 years of a TV series in less than a semester, without falling behind on your homework.
4. You've stopped buying new, expensive clothes; Wal-Mart and standard-issue green t-shirts will do. At worse, you can throw a sweater on top of it.
3. You don't want to look fit to attract the opposite sex; you just want people to shut up about it, already.
2. You don't even bother trying to pick up females anymore; if anything, it takes time away from watching movies and playing videogames.

And the number one sign you've been single for too long...

1. You think dating just takes money away from your drinking and partying budget.

Ten MORE Signs You've Been Single For Too Long

You look for activities to schedule in conflict with formal events because looking for a date would be too time-consuming, and showing up alone is too embarassing.
You do an activity that people normally do to pick up people of the other sex, because you legitimately enjoy said activity… with no other intent than to have fun.
You consider buying a second hard drive to store the “entertainment” you use when your friends are all out on dates or won’t go drinking because they need to save their money for more dates.
You remember when your last date was, but you have no clue who it was with.
You remember when your last date was, and it was set up by your mom.
You think playing games like SimDate is better than actually dating, because at worse you can just use cheat codes.
You actually want to make conversation with that attractive guy/girl because he/she’s actually smart, and not because you want to get into his/her pants.
You refer to yourself as asexual.
You read all the health, style and design parts of magazines, but just ignore the parts about dating and relationships.
You listen to love songs because you like the artist, not because the song reminds you of someone.

Even More Signs You've Been Single Too Long

You understand why your 50 year old uncle/aunt is still single.
You get mad when your grand-aunt tells you you’re next at weddings, and wonder if she means you’re the next to make a huge, life-threatening mistake.
You consider your phone to be a tool for ordering pizza and Chinese food, nothing else.
Your dressy clothes have the purpose of impressing prospective employers, and not members of the opposite sex.
You’re glad nobody nags about the poster of the half-naked member of the opposite sex on your bedroom wall.
Your friends try to hook you up with their significant other’s siblings.
You hope scientists perfect cloning and genetic engineering so you can just make the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend.
You meet an attractive member of the opposite sex and don’t realize they’re attractive until your friends point out that you were totally getting along with “that hottie over there.”
You still don’t get poking on Facebook.
You only use condoms to protect your rifle’s barrel while in humid conditions.
Your stash of condoms expired in the last millennium.
You listen to sad love songs because they cheer you up.
You’re puzzled when reading about romance in books you’re assigned as work, and try to talk the teacher into letting you read something less romance-ey.
Your definition of romance is based on Bond movies.
You haven’t taken a chastity oath, but people think you have.
Your reverend has more sex than you do.
Your priest has more sex than you do.
Your religious leader advises you to get laid, because you’re going against your God’s will.
You haven’t had a date in so long you don’t remember what constitutes a good place to go on one.
Your idea of a night in is breaking out the nachos, pop, and gore movies.
You don’t even get crushes anymore.
You wish you had a stalker so you could force them to go out with you.
You’re a staff writer for jackinworld.com.
You wish for the return of arranged marriage.
You’ve signed up to at least one major dating website, and it wasn’t because you were joking or drunk.
You’re giving up on the club scene because you’re tired of all the random sex.
You’re giving up on the club scene because you’re tired of everyone else getting random sex.
You go to raves hoping people on extacy will want to sleep with you.
You’re considering joining the French Foreign Legion.
You reject every invitation to weddings, even if you’re supposed to be the best man/bridesmaid.
You don’t even get invited to weddings anymore.
Your friends don’t even tell you they’ve gotten married.
Your friends have offered to pitch in to buy you some company for a night.
Your friends want to send you on a trip to Thailand.
You don’t want to learn French precisely because it’s the language of love.
You consider that having a big back seat in your car is an advantage because you have somewhere to crash when you’re too drunk to drive home.
Your boxers have more holes than your last girlfriend’s lacy panties.
You think the youtube series We Need Girlfriends is an unauthorized documentary based on your life.
You don’t mind having a bunk bed—you don’t need that much space.

Reunion Week, Minimalist Theatre, and Swing Dancing

Well, RMC is in full Reunion Weekend swing by now. The First Years had their obstacle course today, and got their College coin--which really, really, really pisses me off. For my year, it was decided that the former way of getting the coins was too "cult-like" so instead of having any ceremony, the coins were handed out at the end of a completely unrelated meeting, with the Sqadron Sargeant just reading off the numbers on the coins and us picking them up. It was quite anticlimactic. This year, they at least had the decency to get the Old Brigade (ex-cadets who graduated 50 years ago) to hand out the coins. (By the way, Mr. Rogers(?), who spoke on parade... my last two are 18. Please don't make me buy you beer this weekend! Can I just buy you a bottle of good wine?)

Tomorrow is the badging ceremony, when First Years will actually be integrated into the Wing. Once again, the Old Brigade hands out the badges. It's a fun little parade, really. Good thing I'm in the band, though, because standing there and doing the advance in review order is really not one of my favourite things to do.

So, you may ask, what does all that have to do with Minimalist Theatre and Swing Dancing?

Well, it so happens that, this week, we had parade practice pretty much every day, on top of it being a heavy week for homework, and me actually having a life (sortof)... Last night I reached a point of lack-of-sleepedness that I hadn't experienced since FYOP. On Monday night I went to the Swing Club, and after I had to finish a book, so I went to bed late. On Tuesday, we had parade practice and I had another book to finish, and a paper to start writing. On Wednesday, we had a lovely morning march, followed by a piping practice, then more schoolwork, class, and then we went to Montreal to see a play--a 13 hour trip, altogether--so I got to bed at around 3, then got up at 0545 on Thursday to go to pipe practice, had class, had a PE class, had another class, then had parade practice, and then went swinging again. Let's just say I was destroyed, by then.

Sadly, I don't have much more to talk about. I'm still in need of a good, uninterrupted night's sleep, which I probably won't get until next weekend, and then again only maybe.

Anyways, I might try and write a little spiel after Reunion Weekend is over. Or maybe you guys will just have to wait until something interesting happens, like me going to Annapolis, or Hart House (maybe), or... uh... yeah, that's pretty much it.

Stay frosty, RMC.

Light blogging this week

As light as blogging has been recently, it'll be even lighter for the rest of the week. (Read: absent) This is a crazy week at RMC and I've let the work pile up a little bit, so I'll be quite busy the rest of the week. I'll try and post something over the weekend but, as you all know, things always come up at random points and make it so I can't post, so... we'll see.

Anyways, in case any of you are wondering, everything's going well, but there are very few things I can actually talk about on here, right now.

I'll get around to actually posting something relevent and mildly interesting, soon. Until then, keep an eye on the bad guys for me.

Pêle-mêle !

Y'a des ces moments qu'on aimerait fixer dans le temps. De ces journées qu'on aimerait qu'elles durent une éternité....

Je suis rentré tard hier du boulot ( ben tard dans le sens que je rentre de Gatineau en après-midi normalement, mais hier je suis arrivé passé 19h00 ).

Mon chéri est sorti m'aider à rentrer mes bagages et les enfants ont suivis.

Petit Comique est venu me donner un gros câlin et je me suis retourné pour prendre mes souliers dans le coffre. J'entends en me retournant Petit Guerrier qui me lance :

«Hey ! Pis mon câlin, moi ?»

Oups !

Pendant deux ans, Petit Guerrier n'a jamais été ben, ben affectueux. Et voilà que dernièrement, il est à la limite du «téteux» avec moi. Ça me fait vraiment tout drôle.

Et yé même rendu comique, lui aussi.

Je trouve qu'il «vieilli bien». Je le sens de plus en plus extraverti. Il est de moins, en moins ce ti-gars bougonneux et chialeux.

Il s'est même inscrit ( par lui-même là ! ) dans l'équipe de hokey Cozom ( ça s'écrit comment ça là ? ) à son école. J'trouve ça merveilleux qu'il (enfin) ai un intérêt pour quelque chose, qu'il l'exprime et agisse en conséquence.

Petit Comique, lui, est définitivement le «bollé» des deux. Mais se que je trouve encore plus cool, c'est que chacun puisse être bon dans quelque chose. Je l'exprime peut-être mal, mais c'est l'fun qu'ils puissent de part et d'autre exceller à quelque chose....ou à tout le moins tenter de le faire sans être en compétition entre eux.

Je les trouve vraiment beaux ces kids.

J'en r'viens juste pas que ça peut être aussi beau....et intelligents !

Bon, faut dire que le père a quelque chose à y avoir ;-).

Pis c'est l'fun en mozuss d'arriver à la maison ( après une semaine de c**) et voir celle-ci toute propre, avoir un souper préparé avec amour par son homme et deux ti-culs de bonne humeur et enthousiastes à me raconter leurs histoires.

J'vous jures que je ne m'ennuies pas pantoute de ma vie de vieille-fille !

Just a little something to think about

Something came up last night as I was dancing with this girl... I've only been swing dancing for, well, all of four days (I started Monday) and so I still don't really have a clue what I'm doing; I just try to do as well as I can.

So, I was dancing with this girl, (who, incidentally, is very cute) and we came upon the subject of leading and following, and she said it was good that I was actually leading even though I'm still not really good at dancing yet, because usually guys kinda let the girl (the follow) lead if she's more experienced, even though they're supposed to be leading. It got me thinking (and I actually said something to that effect) that if I wasn't confident enough to "lead" in a swing dancing class, which is (almost) totally safe, while getting feedback and instructions from people who know what they're doing... how the hell would I be expected to, one day, lead men into battle when their lives are at stake?

Sure, I don't feel that confident about dancing. I don't know all the moves perfectly and I definately need to improve on the footwork. But it's just like being in charge of people, or being the OOW: you might not know everything you'd like to know, and there might be things you're just not comfortable with, but you gotta be confident and if you make a mistake, you just get on with it and hope for the best. Better to screw up a bit (step on someone's toes, say) while being confident at the front, than not screw up but be following someone else.

It's kind of funny, though, how being at RMC makes me appear so confident when I go into the civilian world. Ah well, as they say, "it's all good."

Stay classy, RMC. And try to forget about this whole Wednesday March madness... at least until next Tuesday night.

Coming soon: an update

I can't even pretend I've been busy... I've just been lazy. Anyway, I should post tomorrow at some point, although I don't have much to say beyond recounting going to Queen's Swing Club, which was awesome.

Anyway, don't despair, dear readers, I'm coming back.

Yé comique !

Hé boy ! Desfois j'me demande à quoi pensent ces élus municipaux !

Hier, suite au début des travaux de la commission Bouchard-Taylor, le très cher maire de la Ville de Gatineau a fait cette déclaration :

«De son côté, le maire de Gatineau Marc Bureau a décrit sa ville comme un modèle en termes d'intégration, notamment grâce à ses activités visant à favoriser le rapprochement entre les cultures.»

Hey ! Le grand.....Y'EN A PAS D'IMMIGRÉS À GATINEAU !

Je vous jures qu'y'en a pas !

J'ai vu mon premier noir à Gatineau en 1980....une famille sur 180 logements. Au secondaire, y'en avait 2....pis au CEGEP peut-être une dizaine.

Aujourd'hui encore, en 6 mois, j'ai vue UNE femme qui portait le voile traditionnel musulman sur ses cheveux sur la rue. Pis des Burka* j'en ai vu aucune.

Pas plus que des juifs 'a frisettes.

J'vous parle pas de l'autre côté de la rivière là....Ho ! non, là c'est pas pareil ! C'est une autre game.

À Gatineau, il y a une grande communauté de Portugais qui sont ici depuis de siècles, ainsi qu'une bonne communauté de libanais qui font la meilleur Pizza en Ville....et j'oubliais quelques asiatiques qui tiennent des dépanneurs.

Mais on ne peut pas dire qu'au jour le jour on s'enfarge dans les immigrants à tout bout d'champs !

Une Ville MODÈLE en terme d'intégration !

Pfffff !

C'est n'importe quoi !

P.S : Pourquoi la commission débute ses travaux en Région où la masse immigrante est moins importante ? J'ai l'impression qu'on se fout de notre gueule avec cette affaire là !

P.S2 : Le manque de rectitude politique est volontaire afin d'alléger le texte !

* Burka.....tk ! le cossin qui cache le visage aussi avec la p'tite fenêtre juste pour les yeux !

That's how we do it in the Narmy

Well, the DCdts (Director of Cadets) told us on parade that he intends to make the Wednesday morning marches be actual ruck marches, vice the current "cohesion marches"--walking around somewhat briskly without any kind of gear on.

While I'm sure the Army people at RMC are thrilled, I fail to see how it has any kind of relevence to my job as a MARS officer. I mean, I'm sure it has some kind of fitness advantage, but if they wanted us to get fitter, they could make us run or do circuit training. I'm not knocking the DCdts' plan, mostly because I don't know all the details, but it seems like this is becoming the RAC vice RMC--Royal Army College.

I'm sure there is still some part of the chain of command who reads this, so here's a little suggestion: how about we really become like West Point, and get peninsula-wide wifi, and get the College to supply laptops to everyone? If we're going to get the cons of being like West Point, we might as well get the perks.

Anyway, I'm the first to acknowledge I need to get my butt in better shape, so instead of walking around the College, why don't we get some real fitness training, like more circuits or something? It won't be as fun as trying to get the anglos to speak French while walking around, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.

Other than that, classes are good. This little law course I'm taking might turn out to be pretty interesting after all.

Until next time, stay FYOPey, RMC.

Non mais.....

Ça pas de clissss de bon sens !

Grrrrrrrrr !

Admin, inclearance, and boredom

That pretty much summarizes my whole first week back. We had about... two or three hours of stuff to do every day, at most, and most of it involved sitting around being bored.

Anyway, I now have my band kit (kilt, scarlets, etc), my regular RMC kit (scarlets and #4s), my CMTT (the stuff I sent directly here from Esquimalt), and my schedule... well, most of it anyway. Because of some technical difficulties they didn't put it up properly, so I know when most of my courses are, but I still have no idea when my athletics are. No big deal; I just hope they don't destroy my wonderful free-Wednesday schedule.

Other than that... well, it looks like it'll be an all right year, academically. There are few (or no) other people in most of my courses, and I won't be stuck with idiots for almost all of them. I have a lot of books to read, though, which worries me a bit. I'm fine with reading a book a week, but with all the books I have, it looks more like two or three a week, on top of research. I guess I'll do a little less personal reading and a little more class reading. On the plus side, a lot of the books I've wanted to read for a while but never got around to are on the reading list for my classes, so reading them will serve a double purpose.

That's about all I have. I'll try and update this week as actual classes start.

Stay classy, San Diego. I'm Ron Burgundy?

Back In Black

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD EEEEEVENIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING VIET-NAAAAAAAM!

Okay, so that has no relevance to this post.

Anyway, I'm heading back to RMC tomorrow. Hopefully this year will be more pleasant than the last two. I'm more motivated to train and study this year, so at least that'll get better. Also, as I'm an upperclassman now, maybe I'll be treated less like a child and more like a reponsible adult who'll be commanding people in a few short years.

Other than that, there's not much to say. I've been pretty quiet during my leave, mostly relaxing. (As if NETPO wasn't relaxing enough...) In a way I'm glad to be heading back to RMC, if only because I don't have cable there so I don't spend all my time getting dumber. Instead I get dumber watching movies. Seriously though, as much as I dislike some elements, I'm getting tired of being on leave.

Updates will likely be pretty light for a bit as I settle back into RMC life. Also, I won't have reliable internet access outside of the computer lab for a while. Anyway, it's not like in-clearance is particularly entertaining, and neither is the beginning of school.

Speaking of which, if anyone's interested, here are my courses for this semester: Intro to Computer Concepts (I needed a CompSci class), War and the Military Condition in French Literature I, French Stylistics, French Literature of the 18th century, International Crises and Law, and Organisational Behaviour and Leadership (Psy class). Next semester I'll get away from the CompSci and Psy classes, and do a bit more history in me.

Well, time to get going, I guess. I'll talk to you guys from over in Kingston!

Until then, stay frosty, RMC.

Heu ??

Ouen......j'vais devoir faire attention à mon language.....Regardez d'où vient un certain visiteur :


7.23 août11:03 Videotron Ltee, 7776zKEäHä, État de la Cité du Vatican

;-S

Conversation

Dame Galadriel m'a bien fait rire avec ce billet .....m'inspira celui-ci

Mise en situation :

Mettons que de parler de l'Ex est chose assez récurrente. Bon, en parler pour les enfants, ça va, mais il arrivait trop souvent que les histoires du passé reviennent sur le tapis surtout lors de la visite des beaux-parents. De histoires redondantes, lesquelles, honnêtement j'en avais rien à cirer.

Ceci dit, mon chum n'avait vraiment pas l'impression que l'Ex était mentionné si souvent que ça. Ça me frustrais de voir que je passais pour une chialeuse et une pointilleuse.......

Jusqu'au jour où j'ai eu la merveilleuse idée de charger $5.00 à mon chum pour toutes les fois que l'Ex serait mentionnée dans un contexte autre que le présent et les enfants !

Et je vous jures que ça fonctionne......on dirait que mon chum visualise le $5.00 avant même que l'anecdote ou le commentaire y passe entre les deux oreilles.

C'est rendu un running gag !

( Bien entendu, j'ai moi aussi des phrases toute faite que je doit éviter si je ne veux pas à mon tour perdre $5.00 ;-)))).

Vive les prises de consciences et le dialogue !

Pour en revenir à la conversation :

Moi : Chéri, j'aimerais qu'à la place de l'unique 8 X 10 dans la cage d'escalier menant au sous-sol avec la photo des enfants, que l'on mette 3 photos d'eux à 3 âges différents. Tu as d'autres 8 X 10 à quelque part ?

Lui : Ben justement, mon Amour, je crois que derrière cette photo, il y a les autres !

Moi : Regardes-donc ça, voir !

( petit silence pendant que chéri ouvre le cadre et sorte les photos )

Lui : HA ben Tabarn*****, ça, ça va me coûter au moins $50.00

J'éclate de rire....par sa réaction et son air, je me doutais bien de se qu'il tenait dans ses mains :

La photo d'noces de lui et l'Ex !

J'l'ai ris en tabarouette parce que je sais trèèès bien qu'il ne se souvenait pas pantoute que c'était là......Pis en plus j'ai $50.00 en banque moi-là !

;-)))))


P.S : Pourquoi cette image ? J'ai tapé : billet canadien dans Google image......cherchais in bill de $50....mais bon, on va faire avec ;-))))

L'armée pour faire la guerre....vraiment ? PART II

Tout d'abord, merci à La Femme d'un militaire, à Mme Avon et à French Lily pour leurs précieux commentaires sur mon dernier billet.

Leurs commentaires sont très précieux à mes yeux pour deux raisons : ils sont authentiques et je commençais à trouver les membres du Vendouss pas mal moumounes.....pas juste le Royal 22 mais l'armée Canadienne en générale.

Je ne ferais pas l'élaboration du pourquoi et du comment j'ai toujours eu une fascination pour les guerres et surtout une fascination pour la nature humaine en temps de guerre ( quoique les histoires du bonhomme Turcotte auraient de quoi à remonter le moral des troupes ;-) mais je vais plutôt vous faire «état» de mes observations.

J'ai trouvé que les médias (finalement c'était «ça» mon malaise ) ont assez fait mal paraître notre armée et surtout le seul régiment francophone depuis les derniers jours.

Ils ont renvoyé une image d'hystérie......de quoi en être globalement mal à l'aise ( lire, on a l'air d'une gang de bébé lala avec nos 66 morts canadiens....)

bon là, je ne trouves pas la photo du colonel (pas certaine du grade) qui braille à la une de certains journaux. J'dis pas que c'est pas correct de brailler là, d'avoir mal, d'être empathique à la famille.....J'dis juste que les dirigeants de notre Armée devraient projeter une image d'empathie mais de détachement ).

EDIT : J'ai trouvé la photo finalement.....et un Blogueur que j'aime déjà ;-))

De là mon premier questionnement d'hier......Coudonc câl****, personne ne leur a dit que l'armée c'est fait pour faire la guerre ?.....Viarge, PAS JUSTE rebâtir des ponts ( pis à voir l'état de nos routes, y'a en s pas un clissss qui voudrait qu'on aille les aider à faire ça ;-))).

Farce à part, je sais pas si un éditeur en chef, quelque part, va s'enlever les doigts de dans l'nez ? Y'a-tu kékun à quelque part qui va se rendre compte que l'ennemi a internet et la tél aussi ?

C'est drôle, loin d'être patriotique, mais je préfères, de loin, lire des choses comme celle-ci dont voici un extrait :

«La réaction fut immédiate: il ne fallut pas plus de quelques instants pour que tous, en tenue de combat, nous soyons à nos postes, prêts à nous défendre. Mais aussi à faire preuve de l'humour, parfois noir, qui caractérise les soldats canadiens en pareille circonstance.

«Ils sont mieux de pas avoir pogné la salle Internet!» disait l'un.

«Au moins, on va pouvoir jouer au hockey demain», disait l'autre.

«Hey, le gros, avoue que ça rentre!» s'exclamait encore un autre, en référence à ce reflux d'adrénaline que ressentaient la plupart.

Ça démontre du cran, du chien et l'attitude qu'un Vendouss n'est pas un ti-clin qui se laisse crisser à terre par quelques roquettes* !

Je devrai revenir avec ma vision de la mise en marché de l'armée canadienne......une autre fois....J'AI FAIM !

Lady.....parler pour parler là ;-)

* : Le Bonhomme Turcotte en a raconté des histoires à mon père....Il était membre du Royal 22 durant WWII. Pas à dire, les Allemands préféraient DE LOIN faire le tour du 22 que lui faire face ;-))))

EDIT : Bon, ben ça l'air que Patrick Lagacé m'a devancé pour la critique de la mise en marché de notre armée.......ou petite moi l'aurait inspiré ??? Lollllllllllllll !!

( Sérieux, j'penses pas que Lagacé perde son temps à me lire ;-)))

L'armée pour faire la guerre....vraiment ?

J'me demandes si les gens qui s'enrôlent dans notre chère armée Canadienne sont vraiment conscients qu'ils risquent de revenir dans un body bag ?

J'poses la question, parce que j'en ai connu quelques militaires, et honnêtement, à part un seul, ils me semblaient tous s'avoir enrôlés pour toutes sortes de raisons, sauf celle d'aller taper (et se faire taper) sur la gueule des méchants au nom de l'égalité et de la liberté !

Même mon mari, n'avait pas le «to protect and serve» tatoué au coeur lorsqu'il a fait ses 4 années en mer. Même (il saura vous l'écrire) faire partie du «shore party» ne lui donnait aucun rush d'adrénaline.....ou sentiment d'importance. Il voulait apprendre un métier et voyager.

J'ai connu un haut gradé qui se tapait quelques missions pour l'ONU ici et là question de faire un peu de $$$ et de payer sa pension alimentaire.

Un très bon ami à mon chum, qui est toujours dans la Marine est là parce que....quant à moi....la bière est pas chère et puisqu'il est vieux garçon ça l'dérange pas trop de passer de longs mois en mer à découvrir d'autres cultures ( surtout féminines ;-) .

Le seul qui me semblait là pour protéger son pays était mon Vieux Phil......mais encore, avec le recul j'me demande juste si c'est pas parce qu'il était un peu psycho et si il n'avait pas un death wish après une rupture douloureuse.

Parce que, voyez-vous, je ne crois pas que nous sommes un peuple Guerrier à la base....et rare que nous nous sommes fourré l'nez dans les conflits (autre que les WW I et II .....pis ça, ben on avait pas ben, ben l'choix) Et lorsque ton armée te recrute avec des slogans tel que : « Si l'aventure t'intéresse » en plus de faire la promotion de ses programmes d'études, j'suis pas certaine que les gens pensent se retrouver dans des conflits tel que l'Afghanistan.

J'dis pas que nos gars sont des têtes folles en quête d'aventure là.....mais j'me demandes sérieusement si ils étaient conscients....genre avant le 11 septembre 2001....dans quoi ils s'embarquaient vraiment.

Et que dire de CERTAINES femmes qui ont pris maris pour le prestige, le fond de pension et la grosse paye.....y ont-elles pensés à ça ?


COMPRENEZ-MOI BIEN, je sais que c'est pas drôle, mais on y pense AVANT non ?

'Messemble qu'on se doit en tant qu'être responsable d'assumer nos choix......non ?

Lady....qui pense tout haut !

EDIT : J'ai oublié de mentionner que ces réflexions me sont venu à la suite d'un post d'une certaine célibataire....ben peut-être pour pas très longtemps ;-)

Das Boot Chronicles

I finally posted what I wrote while on the Orca (which seemed, at the time, more interesting). I thought I had written more stuff, but oh well.

Read them here:
Monday, first day at sea
Wednesday, third day at sea
Thursday, fourth day at sea
Monday, eight day at sea

Hopefully it might give some insight into what the sea phase was like.

The end of NETPO

(Note: I wrote this the last day of NETPO, but forgot to post it. Oops.)

Wow, never expected that.

Today was the day we got (and signed) our course reports and, to be honest, I'm surprised at how good it was. I don't remember the whole thing, but it included “dedicated,” “positive attitude” and “very professional.” I think what our CTO told me sums up what he wrote fairly well: “a good, stand-up kind of guy.” Although it doesn't say I have good leadership, it says I have a lot of potential. The report also says I picked up seamanship, navigation and all that sea stuff really quickly (and luckily doesn't mention I didn't pick up my sea legs when we went to Supply). I also finished third highest in terms of academic scores—and the top is an ex-NCM who has six years in the Fleet.

All in all, I don't think there was anything negative in my course report. That's pretty cool, because my last two reports had some negative points. I think it's a mix of actually liking what we do in the Navy vice what I had to do in the Army mode of training we had on BOTC, and the different style of leadership in the Navy. It's probably more the former, though. I didn't get much of a chance to flex my leadership muscles on this course, other than when I was 2OOW on the Orca and had to con... and even then, giving conning orders doesn't take much in terms of leadership.

I think, in all, I'm starting to come together in terms of being an officer. I still have lapses where I lack confidence a bit, but I'm getting better at it. Both the CTO and the MARS head commented, on the course report, that I should have no problem completing MARS III (which has one of the highest failure rates of any course in the military), but of course I'll have to bust my ass anyway. The course that was running while I was on NETPO had six failures out of seventeen candidates. I've heard it goes up to half the course failing! Apparently, though, if being a MARS officer is really what you want to do, and you're really dedicated, it's not that hard.

Oh well, now I get two weeks off at home, and then I get back to the Narmy for eight months or so. After the bliss of being around the Navy all summer, it's going to be shock and awe to go back to the green machine. Still, it has to be done. You can't be a snotty ring-knocker without going to RMC first!

Anyway, I'm really happy about my summer and I hope my CTO next year will be as cool and as good as Lt Cooke.

Here's to a great Navy year!

Delays in posting

Well, between having an über-nasty case of the shack hack and having had to clean and pack all weekend, I haven't gotten around to getting through what I wrote during the Orca trip and posting it. I expect I'll get it done by Friday, so keep looking!

Céline et Cédrika Provencher !

Bon dimanche à toutes et à tous !

Je fais partie des gens privilégies qui ont assisté au concert privé de 14 000 spectateurs de Céline hier soir ( mon mari est bien connecté ;-).

Se fût un très bon spectacle, malgré que j'ai trouvé le son assez mauvais ( et la robe que portait Céline ne l'avantagait pas vraiment ;-). Mais bon, puisque nous connaissions pas mal toutes les chansons interprétées c'était un moindre mal.

Céline a eu doit à une belle ovation à son entrée sur scène, et nous avons clairement vu que cette marque d'affection....ce merci d'avance l'a grandement touché.

J'me suis pas gênée pour faire partie de cet ovation au grand damne de la madame assise à mes côtés ;-)

Je crois sincèrement, peu importe se que l'on pense de Céline, qu'elle méritait cet acceuil. Sa générosité envers l'organisation de Sainte-Justine et Marie-enfant est sans borne.

Ça faisait plaisirs de ré-entendre Sous le vent.....duo avec Garou !

Marie-Chantal Toupin, Marie Élaine Thibert, Claude Dubois , Marc Dupré et le Cirque du Soleil faisaient aussi partie de ce spectacle.

Tout ça pour dire que j'ai passé une superbe soirée en compagnie de Mon Câlinours adoré ;-)

***

Pourquoi parler de Cédrika ?

Sur plusieurs Blogues dont celui-ci on reproche aux parents de l'avoir laissé aller se promener SEULE à vélo dans son quartier.

Hum ?

Nous laissions P'tit Comique et Ptit Guerrier aller seuls au parc en vélo l'été dernier....

À leurs retour et à la lueur des évènements des derniers jours, je me demande si il serait responsable de les laisser aller.

J'me sens mal comme adulte significative de les jeter dans la gueule du loup malgré le fait que je les crois assez mature pour pas se laisser manipuler à suivre un étranger.

C'est vraiment pas évident.....vous en pensez quoi vous autres ?

Monday, eight day at sea.

A sort of routine has installed itself on the boat. Get up, shower, have breakfast, get the ship ready to depart, stow the lines, go through your duty rotations, eat, rotate through duties some more, get the ship ready to go alongside, spend time as best as you can at night.

I tried to write but nothing much happened over the weekend and today was a “free” day for me—I was duty NavO (Navigation Officer) so I didn't actually have duty today. I just laid down the tracks on the charts and that was it. Oh, and I went to see the Simpsons movie on Saturday.

We'll be sailing around the gulf islands for three more days, before heading over to Victoria once more for the long-weekend. Hopefully it'll be an interesting couple of days.

Thursday, Fourth day at sea.

A few more challenges popped up today. First, we had a small breakdown which required us to turn around almost all the way from our destination back to where we started the day. We were supposed to run around up there doing various seamanship and navigation evolutions, but because of the breakdown we just turned around, sat at anchor for a while, waiting for the engineer from the company to come onboard and fix it, and then we made our way back to port.

The breakdown afforded me a second (and almost a third) “tour” as OOW, in the same day. In the morning, after being AFixO, I was supposed to have the helm, but it was taken over by one of the staffs just before my turn, so I just stood there, not sure what to do, and as a lot of other people had cleared the bridge, I was given the notebook to write down whatever happens, and I started writing. Once we came to anchor, I was told to take fixes to make sure we weren't drifting too far. Then, after a short break for lunch, I went back to the bridge and I had to be OOW and FixO at the same time. Not too difficult a job, really, but when you're alone on the bridge and you have to make sure the ship doesn't move (not too hard) and you don't get run into... it's easy, but you become acutely aware of what's going on.

The other students were called to the training room (the cafeteria) for a lesson, so I stayed on as OOW while this was going on, and when the officers came back up, they started talking about doing a FIREX (Fire eXercise, where we practice what to do if there's an actual fire onboard). So I got to be OOW during the FIREX, which mostly meant I had to take care of the casualty board (a little schematic of the ship where one indicates all the damage and the status and such) and... listen to what was going on. Not too shabby, but compared to the commotion that must have been going on down below, it was a pleasure cruise.

After a short stand easy, we reverted to our positions, which meant I was back to being OOW—I had been relieved just before the stand easy—but this time we would be transiting back through traffic to our berth in Nanaimo. It was pretty busy, with a lot of ships going around. Luckily the FixO and AFixO were back up on the bridge, which was, actually, fully manned. The CO was sitting in his lofty chair and the XO was manning the navigation console, while the DeckO was OOW (I was “2OOW” though in training terms I was still OOW). I had the conn (command) for the most part, but for certain parts the OOW took over. It was rather nice, especially when we had a few ships that were on a steady bearing (which means they would have collided) and I after I told the OOW he just told me to take action on it, with some input from the XO on the actual course to follow. I did it a few times, and took bearings on tons of ships.

We ran some tests on the engines and went around, waiting for some other ships to go in the harbour first, so we could go in safely. After that, even though it was time for me to be relieved, I wasn't, because we were working “out” of the schedule. This was pretty nice because even though I didn't have the conn after that, I was still on the bridge keeping an eye out for boats and taking reports from the lookouts and keeping an eye on everything. All the trainees got taken off the bridge for part ship hands to get the ship in, because we had to basically heave the ship into place by hand.

I wish I knew what more a “real” OOW does, because from what they have us doing, it's not quite that hard. Sure, there are more rules of the road you have to follow, (I'm starting to learn them, but... yeah) but with a navigator and a fixing officer... it's not that hard. Navigator seems to be much harder, and fixing officer is arduous but easy—by that I mean, it tires you out because you're always looking for fixes and putting them on the chart and whatnot, but it's not a hard job to do, mentally. Navigator, well, you put waypoints on a chart, figure out the danger area, and give it to the OOW and FixO to move around by.

I feel really good on the bridge. Some other duties aren't that fun, like, say, cook, (God bless 'em—they're necessary, but I couldn't be a cook.. probably because I suck at it) but overall I'm having a good time, when I'm not miserable because I feel sick. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, that's for sure. Of course, my conning could use a little more work, but that's why we're here.

Anyway, I'm not too happy to be cook once more tomorrow, but someone's gotta do it! Besides, we're heading off to a weekend of debauchery,* so it's all good.

*By “debauchery”, I really mean “not being in uniform for two full days and not having to jump around doing different jobs all day.”

Wednesday, Third day at sea

What a blast! While Assistant Fixing Officer (AFixO) and lifebuoy sentry aren't all that great, if not downright depressing (taking down random names and numbers? yawn!), lookout is pretty fun. You have to look around all the time, figure out what is what—it sounds simple enough, but when you have a contact just on the horizon and you have no clue what you're looking at, it gets tough—and report it, quickly. It would be a drag to do it hours on end, but for an hour it's fine.

What was REALLY interesting was Officer of the Watch (OOW). Now, I'm still not doing everything a real OOW has to do, and we have constant supervision, but it's still pretty cool. You get reports from your lookouts and you have to keep an eye on all the ships around you, especially those ahead or those that might cross ahead too close to you, as well as keeping an eye on what the helmsman is doing and making sure you're on track. It's hard enough staying on a track in a straight line and correcting for whenever the current, wind, or helm pushes you away from where you have to be, but you have to turn and get on another track, too!

You're puttering happily away at, say, fifteen knots, with your fixing officer happily taking down fixes and your electronic chart telling you exactly where you are and how far (down to the nearest yard) you are from the track, and your helmsmen constantly staying within a few degrees of whatever course you're steering, and you have the XO (or, God forbid, the CO) sitting behind you to make sure you don't run aground or run over someone, and then your train of though about where you are and when you have to change gets interrupted.

“Officer of the Watch, Port Lookout.”

You blink and take a step or two towards the port door to hear your lookout better.

“Officer of the Watch,” you say, to let your lookout know you're ready to receive his report.

“Sir, one new contact, bearing red 30, range far, one small power driven vessel.”

One look out the window, thirty degrees off the bow (the pointy end), maybe a quick look through the binoculars. “Very good,” you say, and the lookout resumes his... looking out. If you're lucky, the new contact is too far away to be important, or on a track that leads him away from you. If not, you have to take his bearing—if it doesn't change over a period of time, you're in trouble: you'll collide! If the bearing changes, you might stil have to report to the XO or CO to make sure you don't get too close.

“XO, Officer of the Watch,” you say.

“XO.”

“Sir, one new contact to report...” you start. Your report is much more complex: you have to tell him where, how far, what, how it's moving, it's CPA (Closest Point of Approach) and so on, and recommend the course of action you think is appropriate. That really depends on the rules of the road (COLREGS) but often you don't have to really do anything. The XO might decide otherwise and alter course you don't crash, but that doesn't happen too often.

By now you have to make a course change, so the Navigation officer tells you how far you are off the point where you'll turn, and when it's time, you order your helmsman to turn his wheel. You come up to the course and, if you're lucky, you're almost right on track. If not, you have to do corrections again.

It goes on and on and on.

It's even worse when you're a trainee and you're going through somewhere with a lot of traffic. A trained officer takes over as OOW and you become the Second Officer of the Watch (2OOW). That means you get the reports, but the OOW has the conn (control of the ship) and basically has power over everything. That means you have to sort out through the reports and only tell the OOW about the important ships, so he can concentrate on keeping on track through a narrow passage.

All that is somewhat demanding, but incredibly fun. There's nothing like being in control of thousands of tons of metal hurtling over the seas at twenty knots, while passing by sailboats and small pleasure craft. At a whim, you can do anything you want—not entirely true, but true enough.

After the “trouble” on Monday, it's been pretty good. Being on the upper decks is good: the fresh air and the sun just keep me in an almost persistent good mood. Well, that and the fact I'm actually doing something relevant to my job, for once. No more playing soldier... for now!

I get to be OOW again tomorrow, and hopefully my watch won't be cut in half by going through a busy channel. I also get to do boring but necessary stuff like AFixO and DC (Damage Control) roundsman. That's pretty much it for tomorrow, though.

I gave a few tours to civilians today and it was pretty good. People definately look at you differently when you're telling them about something they have no clue about, and you just move around pointing different things out to them. Of course there isn't all that much on Orca to tell people about, but it's fun to see the look on kids' faces when you take them in the engine room and let them look around the big twelve-cylinder diesel engines and the generators and all the fun equipment down there. (It's also fun to see them when you tell them they can sit in the Captain's chair, but don't tell the CO I let someone sit in his chair!)

Other than that, well, I'm looking forward to the rest of my time “at sea,” and I hope next year's MARS III won't totally kick my behind. It's all Navy stuff from now on, though, so even if I end up sucking at it I'll probably like it anyway.

Monday, First day at sea

Someone—I think it was the Venture CO—once refered to our ships as “sleek greyhounds of death.” Well, if that's the case, then the Orcas are greyhound pups. These little ships are basically kid-sized frigates, without guns. They have a big bridge, equipped with modern electronic navigation, control and DC equipment, a modest but adequate galley, a rather spacious lunchroom/training room, and several rooms for the crew. The bunks are what you'd expect from a warship: coffin-sized beds stacked three-high. Most of the trainees' accomodation is six to a room, so two stacks of three beds, with lockers and a small sink. We have two heads for the whole crew: each has two actual heads, two showers, and two sinks.

The day was all right. I was assistant cook all day, and as if that wasn't enough of a hassle, we also have to take care of the zodiac (in case of a man overboard, for example) and... yeah, that's pretty much it. For some reason, I got sick today. Apparently it happens to a lot of people, even in the sea state we had today, and it usually goes away. Most people were all right about it, though some thought it was pretty funny that I was sick in the tiny waves we faced. Luckily, one guy on the Orca used to be a sailor (as an NCM) and said it happened to him and it happens to a lot of other people, and it'll most likely go away. It might go away tomorrow, or I might be sick all two weeks, but it should get better eventually.

Still, it's fairly embarassing to get sick on your first day “at sea,” in a low sea state, and you're not really even on the ocean. Good thing I'm not in a WW2 corvette in the North Atlantic; I'd be utterly useless. Guess it's a good thing I want to go for subs: not much sea state hundreds of feet below the surface!

This trip seems to be shaping up rather well, other than the aforementionned seasickness. Scuttlebutt has it that we won't be switching between the Orca and the YAGs, though I don't know for sure yet.

Anyway, this first harbour we've pulled into is pretty decent. It has a pool and a hot tub, though I haven't had the chance to peruse either; they closed early for some reason. Still, there are a few stores within walking distance, and a few “good” bars, or so I'm told.

Other than that, well, I haven't actually done anything truly Navy-esque, so I can't say how I like it, yet. But heh, it's all good, I'll do plenty of Navy stuff in the next two weeks.