On All My Motions

 
As I indicated in my previous (quick) post, there’s a lot to catch up on. This will only touch on most of that, but here goes.

( Military Issues )

( Family Issues )

( Work Issues )

( Fanfic Issues )

 
I went out for a run today (though ‘run’ applies only in that I wasn’t walking). My Army Reserve company is having a diagnostic APFT in our next drill, and I want to see if I can manage to qualify with the 2-mile run instead of the 2.5-mile walk I’m allowed on an age waiver. It took a while for me to realize that the dark spots dancing in front of my eyes were, in fact, gnats and not imminent blackout. My time? target plus 11:43. As in, I have to cut 11 minutes and 43 seconds before I have any hope of passing. But, hey, do it every day and I’ll start closing the gap. My goal today was simply to finish without ever stopping. (And, let me tell you: if it was my left arm — and wrist, and shoulder, and shoulder blade for awhile there — that kept having that throbbing pain, instead of the right, I’d worry a lot more.)

***

When speaking of Law & Order: SVU, my wife habitually calls it ‘SUV’.

***

Though we were both raised Methodist, I entered the Catholic Church in my adult life, and my younger brother became a Mormon. So now we’re both represented on the national ticket, and — with luck — in the next administration.

***

I love beer.

***

From the Weekly Standard article, “Obama Lies While Accusing the Romney Campaign of Lying” —

Quote from Obama: “… somebody was challenging one of their ads — they made it up — about work and welfare. And every outlet said this is just not true. And they were asked about it and they said — one of their campaign people said, ‘We won’t have the fact-checkers dictate our campaign. We will not let the truth get in the way.’”

What was actually said (by Neil Newhouse, a Romney campaign pollster): “These fact-checkers come to those ads with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs. We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”

What Newhouse NEVER said: “We will not let the truth get in the way.”

Okay, maybe the President was just being careless with facts, rather than deliberately lying. But, damn, he’s careless with facts a lot.

***

I love women, too. But, alas, far more than they love me.

***

I thought this month would be my last with the Army Reserve. For a long time, documents have been quoting my ETS (expiration, term of service) as September 2012. Turns out? wrong. I did early re-enlistment in 2006, after returning from Afghanistan, adding six years to my obligation. Add six years to 2006, get 2012, makes sense. But no; because it was early re-enlistment, the six years was added to my term of service at the time, which ran through 2007, so another six years meant I get another year. Till September 2013.

(Yes, I meant that the way I said it: I get another year. I’m hanging in there every minute it’s legal to do so. The odds are still against me, but with the way the Middle East is falling apart, I might get another opportunity to serve my country overseas before I’m shown the door. Mind you, I’m not wishing for a crisis here; I see multiple crises on the horizon, and I’m just hoping that I have the opportunity to contribute to meeting ONE of them while I’m still eligible to serve at all.)

The thing is, the way things have worked out, I’ll essentially be eligible for a military pension the moment the Army turns me loose. But I don’t plan to retire at that point (though retiring from the Army? pretty much unavoidable by then). In fact, I’m in the process of starting an entirely new career, and I’m actually somewhat excited about it. I won’t be talking about it, though, till I’ve nailed it down.

I know I’m getting older. But I’m not old, not yet, and I’ll keep resisting it for as long as my body allows.

***

Used to be, I couldn’t stand to watch Psych, because Shawn was such a total jerk when it came to the way he treated his friend. In the last several seasons, though, as it comes on late-night TV when there’s nothing else available, I’ve come to recognize that Dulé Hill is the real star. His Gus is an unending comedy delight, and becoming an authentically weird character in his own right.

***

I’m currently reading lostboy_lj’s “Clocks of the Long Now”, unhurriedly, one chapter at a time. I have to wonder: how does such a fantastic story — and, apparently, a multiple award winner — have so few comments on it?

***

And, I guess, that’s enough for now.

 
As alluded to last week, I’m currently at Fort Bragg for a short class on a particular man-portable equipment set for field operations. I made the trip Monday … the account of which can be skipped over by non-masochists in that it’s unremarkable aside from the annoyance and inconvenience it visited upon ME.

( Annoyance and Inconvenience )

On the bright side, the class itself is interesting and proves to be useful. At least there’s that.

 
First snow of the winter, in my current home of location. Not much of a snow, but enough to identify as such. Far as I’m concerned, that will do fine till spring.

I’m finding myself really liking Once Upon a Time. TV series based on fairy tales don’t have a particularly good track record, either in overall viewership or in my own preferences, but this one is working for me. Putting Rumpelstiltskin (“Mr Gold”) at the center of so much adds one of several unifying threads; watching the Evil Queen show the same characteristics in both her pre- and post-transfiguration personae makes an interesting contrast with the differences in the pre- and post-transfiguration Snow White. (Also, the outlaw years of the pre-marriage Snow White form a nice internal touch.) Picking out in-jokes is continuing fun — Ruby the waitress is my favorite — and I enjoy watching to see how the different plot-lines gradually come together.

There’s a video circulating on Facebook (from a news program, I think; in fact, it’s here, with the story here) regarding the oldest currently-serving U.S. soldier, who wants to deploy one last time before his mandatory retirement. That’s me, folks. Well, not literally me, they’re profiling someone else, but I’m in almost exactly the same position. I have feelers out in half a dozen different places, trying to squeeze in one more tour before I return permanently to civilian life. I may manage to pull it off, I may not. But I really do — genuinely, not just making noise in that direction — want to put my little remaining time to the most potent use.

Grammar/language peeve of the day: loathe/loath. These days, even published writers all too frequently lose the distinction between the two. “I loathe bad grammar, and find it loathsome; I am loath to perpetrate such an offense myelf.”

Also, I ran into a problem myself the other day that highlights the difficulty with one particular peeve. The use of “ ’s” to indicate a plural is horribly offensive to me … but sometimes, it’s almost possible to avoid. What’s the plural of M-16, for instance? If you say M-16s, it looks like the ‘s’ is just part of the overall designation. (My own difficulty was with the Class A uniform; you just about have to say Class A’s.) We really need an alphabet character specifically designated to indicate non-possessive plural. M-16ŝ? M-16š? M-16ș? M-16ṡ? We need something like that.

Enough for now.

 
I’m currently at the Joint Readiness Training Center, at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Another not-quite-a-month of duty for the Army Reserve, preparing my unit for the coming deployment that I almost certainly won’t be part of. (There’s been a scheduling change; unless it changes back, that’s enough to take it past the point where I could still participate. I am severely disappointed.)

Two days ago was the point at which I officially hit twenty years of military service. Took me awhile; I joined later than most, then took ten years off after the first Gulf War, returning at about the point where many men my age — or younger — were retiring. I mentioned it to someone, and the next thing I knew, everyone in the detachment here at JRTC was presenting me with a card congratulating me. Nice people.

I’m still working at getting a contractor position. The recent changes in official policy, pushed through by our exalted political leadership, necessitate a lot of realignment in plans, but I still have some hopes. If I can’t go back into theater as a soldier, maybe I can do it in a support position. Downside? same people trying to kill me, just as earnestly, but I don’t get to shoot back. (Unless the rules have changed since the last time I looked.) Upside? better money, and something I might be able to keep doing after the Army officially writes me an exit ticket.

sroni and I, now that we’ve finished the Circle of Friends Remix, have returned to a fanfic we were working on before we kicked off the remix idea (which we had to push to the fore because I knew this JRTC rotation was coming up). The fic requires thirteen discrete segments, with a framing background; weeks ago, I had the background finished, and I’d already done five of my seven assigned segments while sroni had completed one of her six. Even with severely limited e-mail access, I can work on my remaining two segments independent of her, and she can be addressing her five remaining, so that within a week or so of my returning home, we should have another fic posted for the pleasure and assessment of our friends.

Plus, I have another idea I want to get out of the way so I can get started on a big idea I’ve had in the background for a very long time: I was planning it in 2003, for instance, and actually intended to tackle it in 2005 before I got caught up in other stories. With 44 current Buffy stories and four otherfandom stories (plus a snippet I did also in partnership with sroni), I’ve managed to stay adequately busy, but I’ve been putting this one off for long enough. I am now committed to doing it sometime within the next six months.

My wife managed to put together a deal wherein one of the stars of Army Wives will be hosting an event in our area, some of the proceeds to benefit the Family Readiness Group for my Reserve unit. She’s very excited about the prospect of meeting him.

My son is still doing well in China. I hope China remains stable for as long as he’s there.

And that’s the current state of the world of Aadler.

 
This morning, Susan (my wife) weighed in at 0.2 pounds less than my weight. In the past two years — particularly at times when I had trimmed down for upcoming Army physical fitness tests — she has outweighed me by as much as 120 pounds. Now, she is the lightest member of the family.

(This won’t last. My daughter is investigating the Army Reserve, and has lost 15 pounds in the past two weeks on her way to getting down to a qualifying weight; and, I’ll need to drop at least five pounds myself to keep myself in line with Army standards. But for now, she really is there, and she’s done it all herself.)

This past weekend, Susan and I attended a Yellow Ribbon event in San Diego. (Yellow Ribbon is a program instituted by the government to provide ‘reintegration counseling’ — mandatory — for military service members returning from deployment. It’s an annoyance, but it’s paid time and the hotel service has been nice so far.) A couple of weeks from now, I’ll be going to the next event in the series, this time in Anaheim, California, and we’re taking our daughter along as well. Something to anticipate, at any rate.

My daughter’s Irish boyfriend has now returned home. He did, however, leave behind 95% of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s for me to finish (of which maybe 80% currently remains). Man after my own heart.

I have over a year left before my next — and final — deployment. Does it mean I’m strange if I find myself wondering how I’ll ever pass the time till then?

Life goes on, and you adjust or you don’t. Right now, still up in the air.