Hanging around in the Land of Sand

[aadler]

 
Being as today is my leave date, I was supposed to be on my way yesterday. Didn’t happen. When I showed up at the airport yesterday, it was 23 hours until the next available flight. I won’t depart till late this evening, and at this point there’s no telling how long the transition in Kuwait will take; people who have gone before, advise me that a 13- or 14-hour turnover is common there.

On the bright side, my leave doesn’t officially begin until the midnight after I arrive at my destination; I’ll still have the full two weeks, it’ll just start later.

Also encouraging, on a slightly different subject, I’m past 8,000 words on my current Buffyfic. I’ll write some more today, and more tomorrow in Kuwait. Maybe, maybe, I can complete it while I’m still in-theater. Twice now, I’ve finished — in Iraq and in Afghanistan — stories I had begun back in the States; once, I started a story in Iraq, went home on leave, and then finished it while in Kuwait on the trip back. This could be the first time I finish, back home, a story I began in-theater.

This week, in the U.S. of A.:

1. A Republican was elected to Teddy Kennedy’s senatorial seat from Massachusetts
2. The Supreme Court wiped out the central feature of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance ‘reform’ law, in a victory for free speech
3. Air America ceased original programming and declared bankruptcy.

Things are looking up.

So that’s where I stand. With luck, my next post will be from home.