Dealin' Reel: Episode 9 - Vampire Knight

In honor of Halloween, I have decided it is high time I introduced everyone to another of my favorite manga \ anime.  I say this knowing that my last "Dealing Reel" was about anime... my apologies, as I didn't originally plan for this.  This will be done in a two-post Halloween "marathon".  The reasoning for this being that this anime contains quite a "thick" plot with many details, and can be difficult to follow.  As such, I will be including a sort of basic summary of the facts for any wishing to watch it.

I first came across Vampire Knight about a year and a half ago while Drew was gone on an underway.  It is seperated into two seasons, 13 episodes apiece.  The second of these is referred to as "Vampire Knight: Guilty".  The manga is authored by Matsuri Hino.  The series follows the story of Yuki Cross, a fifteen-year-old first-year student at Cross Academy.  Her adoptive father, Kaien Cross is the headmaster of the academy.

Yuki has no memory of her previous life as of 10 years prior to the beginning of the series.  When she was about five years old, a kind Pureblood vampire, Kaname Kuran, found her wandering in the snow.  She was being attacked by an evil vampire wishing to drink her dry; Kaname killed him on the spot, rescuing Yuki.  She has idolized Kaname ever since.  Kaname delivered Yuki to a human friend of his, Kaien Cross.  Kaien is a pacifist in search of a peaceful life between humans and vampires, and agrees to take Yuki in on payment of a debt owed to Kaname's parents.

Four years later, Kaien is made aware of a boy, Zero Kiryu, whose family was murdered by another evil vampire.  He takes the boy in, and Zero and Yuki become close friends.  Upon the founding of the Cross Academy, Yuki and Zero are appointed the school's Guardians.  Zero's family were vampire hunters, and it turns out that Zero has secrets from the night his family were killed.  And it seems those secrets may be somehow connected to Yuki's past. 

Kaien and Kaname work together to create a safe place for Yuki to live and survive.  Thus Cross Academy was built.  Kaname brings forth those who have agreed to join the Night Class.  Night Class students are all vampires, and due to their utmost respect for Purebloods, they will never willingly disobey Kaname.  The Day Class students are all human, and are kept seperate from the Night Class under the careful watch of the Guardians.  The job is difficult to manage due to the beauty the vampires posess causing a bit of a ruckus among the Day Class students.

Zero is not the only myserious character in this series.  Kaname has secrets from the past as well, however, his secrets are even darker... and more blood-soaked.  Kaname is just as enamored by Yuki as she is with him, and perhaps even moreso.  He takes it upon himself to protect her at every turn.  Upon being questioned regarding what exactly she is to him, Kaname evades the concerns of those surrounding him, though Kaien Cross may be in on it.

The story spins out as a tragic, yet attractive mystery.  The artistry is beautiful, and the relationships well built by the author.  Furthermore, Matsuri Hino shows a great deal of research into the attitudes of what a "vampire" might would be.  There are many comparisons to be made between the fiction of the series and the realities we live with today.  The background music is also quite lovely and inspiring.  I highly recommend watching this anime.

Organized Chaos

With my husband's imminent return on the near-future-horizon, and my home in almost complete disarray *sigh* I have decided to give everyone advice on cleaning and organization so that I may then take my own advice.  Good plan, no?  Of course it is!  Especially since some people have asked me to help them ~_0

Here are all of my cleaning and organizational tips and tools.  I hope that everyone can come away with something new.

Laura's Rules of an Organized Lifestyle:

1. If you've got it, and you don't need it or use it, then don't keep it - unless it is a family heirloom or otherwise precious to you.  Do not go any further until you can accept this.  This is key in keeping your home, AND your financial burdens un-cluttered. 
2. Do not wastefully trash things which still have wear left in them.  There are many thrift stores and the like which take donations.  Pawn shops will occasionally buy them from you and sell them to the next person looking for it.  Other items can be put to excellent use in some other way, or you can find someone willing to take them off your hands for free.  I will include a list of such places further down.
3. Learn to clean up after yourself as you go, but understand that learning this does not mean that you will always do it.  Things happen.  Luck will have it that you make it a point to wash your dishes daily but then the baby gets sick, and you can't keep doing everything.
4. Don't beat yourself up over it no matter what.  Love your home, love what you do with it.  Some of us do not feel at home without a little messyness.
5. No matter what, everything has it's place... even if your style is that you dry your laundry and then leave it in a pile somewhere, know what's in the pile.  See... you can be chaotic and neat all at once.
6. Don't try to do it all at once.  Give yourself some time and do it casually.  Otherwise, you may end up throwing away important things, or worse yet, adding to your clutter un-necessarily.
7. Keep good music handy.

A Truly Good Riddance: Keep track of the following places to donate or sell your unwanted items.  Feel free to add to this list in the comments below.Freecycle - Freecycle is a sort of online community.  It may or may not be in your area.  I will be posting a Freecycle "how to" later on, if you need it.  Basically you post items you have for free, or you ask for items you need for free.  The rules are that if you request it, you must be willing to pick it up.  Or if you offer it, you must be willing to place it curb-side or have someone stop by your home for pick-up.  This can be a wee bit creepy, but it's really not that bad.  Especially if you can find a friend willing to do it with you.

1. Craigslist - It's like an online ad for your stuff.  You create an ad.  You can offer it for free or sell it.  Again, you will have to have some interaction with a buyer, but, again, not that bad if you have others living with you or do it with a friend.
2. Ebay - Pretty much speaks for itself.  Keep in mind that to be a seller, you must have a credit card on file.
3. Amazon - Also speaks for itself.  I believe they require credit card or banking information.
4. Goodwill - Donate just about anything depending on the Goodwill in your area.
5. Plato's Closet - They buy used clothing off of you to sell to others.  It's really great except their criteria can be a little difficult to understand if you're not behind the counter...  Personally, I have attempted selling items that I had bought less than a month earlier to them, and they said they were "outdated" or something.  Just beware that you may not be able to get money for it.
6. Gamestop - Gamestop will buy your used games and gaming equipment for a low price depending on how recent the game is.
7. Cool Stuff - They buy back your games, DVDs, CDs, and some of the older model stuff as well for a low price.
8. Video \ Music Stores - Various video, music, and electronics stores will buy things back.  If you don't have Gamestop or Cool Stuff, check around.
9. Comic Book stores - Will often buy cards off of you.  If you have Magic the Gathering and other playing cards of that nature, some stores will buy those.  Other than that, the only time I've seen them sell is on Craigslist.
10. Libraries - Often libraries will take your old books which you are no longer using or interested in.
11. Thrift Stores - Speaks for itself.
12. (One of my personal faves) Petco \ Petsmart \ Humane Societies - Will often take any used (but clean, and in good condition) bedding and blanket materials you no longer use for your own pets.  Recycle them to help save and keep homeless animals healthy and happy.

Motivators: One would think that just looking at a messy home would motivate the owner and caretaker of it to get off their keister and do the necessary work.  Sadly, this is not the case for many of us, myself included.  My suggestion to everyone struggling with this is to find whatever it is that gets you going, and put it to use.  For me, though, I take sticky notes and put them on the mirror with notes to myself.  I don't get to take the notes down and fix my hair properly until the chores are done.  Always have some sort of reward for yourself, and don't always make it the same thing.  :-D

Less is More and Cleanup:  For most, the rest of this will be pretty irrelevant.  It's pretty much just how I go about cleaning up my own place.  If you want to try something different, or are just interested in my ramblings, do continue.

1. Clothing - I go through my clothing multiple times a year in an effort to keep my closet from becoming too full. 
• Whatever doesn't fit or I'm no longer interested in, I donate or trash if too worn.
• Seasonal clothing is stored away during spring and summer.  I usually use my suitcase for this.
2. Luggage - I keep one large suitcase, one small, and a few duffels.  All are stored together inside of the largest suitcase to save on room.
3. Bed Linens - I try to keep one set of sheets per bed, with one extra set.  I would recommend that mothers with small children keep at least 2-3 sets of sheets for their child's bed in case of accidents.
• My linens are kept in a large plastic storage bin with wheels.
• Space bags can keep your bin neatly arranged while leaving room for the lid to snap shut.
4. Magazines - I prefer to keep these for a year only unless they are important to me for some business reason. 
• Articles can be clipped at the end of the year.  It is not absolutely necessary to keep the entire book.
• If you are a person who clips articles, I recommend getting a portfolio book to keep them in.
• Clippings can also be used in art projects, such as scrapbooks and art journals.  Don't be wasteful, but don't keep the clutter either.
5. Bathroom Storage - For my two-person household, I keep at least 6-10 towels at any given time.  I got my over-the-toilet storage rack and over-the-door towel hooks from Wal*Mart for pretty cheap.  The rack was easily built with a little elbow-grease, and the hooks just hang over the door.
• Neatest way I've found to put away my towels is to fold them in half length-wise and then roll them up.
• If your nice towels keep going missing, there is a solution.  Two different colors of towels.  One color is the "nice towels" and the other is for whatever (dirty jobs, hubby's sweat towel, etc.).  When one of the whatever towels goes missing, add to your list and replace later.  Wal*Mart sells them for circa $5 apiece.
6. Kitchen - My personal philosophy on kitchens is as follows:  The fewer the dishes, the easier the cleanup.  Of course, this is easy for me to say as I've been doing my dishes by hand since I was a child.
• If you can find quality multi-use utensils, they are totally worth the cost, if affordable.  Saves space, and like I said earlier, fewer dishes, less cleanup.
• For cleanup, I use Soft Scrub on the counter, Ocelo sponges and Dawn dish detergent on my dishes, and bleach pens for any stains left on the counter by tea, etc.  Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works wonders on a stove \ oven (even on burnt-on things).
• Did you know?: Dawn dish detergent uses some of their proceeds to help save wildlife.  They make a claim on their website (Dawn Website) that buying one bottle send $1 to wildlife rescue.  These bottles can be found at Wal*Mart among other stores, and usually sport a label with a cute baby animal on it.  (I was not paid for this.  I'm simply an animal \ wildlife enthusiast who has never hugged a tree.)
• My favorite quickie kitchen cleaner is Lysol wipes with a scrubby side.
7. Cleaning After Pets - Pet cleanup can be a chore (no pun intended).
• Cat Litter - Best I've found is the Breeze Litter System.  The pellets are flushable.  There is a tray below the litter to allow anything wet to seep through onto a pad similar to the puppy training pads.  It smells the best of any litter we've used.
• There are some really great cleaners for pet messes that make it to the carpet at PetSmart. 
• Bathe pets regularly (even cats) and you will thank yourself for the lack of fur everywhere.

So... that's pretty much it.  I hope everyone found something useful.  If you have questions or comments, use the box below :)

Dealin' Reel - Episode 8: Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic! -- otherwise abbreviated as FMP! -- is a companion anime to a manga written by Shoji Gatoh.  I personally was introduced to the series by one of my best friends, Melissa.  I've come to love the series, and even enjoy it with my husband at times.  It's a great anime for both guys and girls.  The guys get their fill of action with some comedy on the side, and the girls get a really awesome action series packed with comical romance scenes.

Set in Japan in 1998, the story is fictional, but is put into play by some actual events as well.  The main characters are a seemingly normal highschool girl, Kaname Chidori, and her protector, Sousuke (pronounced "So-skay") Sagara.  Souske is a member of an elite anti-terrorist group known as Mithril.  Kaname, on the other hand, is a student being targeted by terrorists in search of the "black technology" she harbors. 

Mithril's organization is kept secret.  This is made possible in part by the fact that much of their work is done aboard a submarine.  For land operations, they use mechas, which are robotic machines operated by a soldier.  Some of the later models apparently have the capability to inflict more damage than a small army in  less time.  The soldiers who operate these mechas are mostly teenagers.  Sousuke, the ship's captain, Teletha Testarossa (Tessa), are two of these teens, though the captain only pilots an AS (their term for mechas) once in the series that I can remember.  Two others, Melissa Mao and Kurz Weber, also play big roles in the series.  Together, those who make up Mithril protect "the whispered" among others targeted by international terrorist organizations.  "The whispered" are those who are subconciously aware of the "black technology". "Black technology" is a form of extremely advanced technology used to create various weapons. 

When Kaname is discovered to be a potential candidate for being one of "the whispered", Mithril assigns Sousuke as her 24/7 body guard.  They enroll him in Jindai High as her fellow classmate.  Having been a mercenary since the age of 8, he often finds it difficult to adjust appropriately.  He constantly treats daily occurences and events as though he is in the world of the military.  This is where much of the humor comes in.  To Kaname, Sousuke is a probable pervert with military buff tendencies which create trouble for her. 

I highly recommend watching the entire series.  I think that many couples can relate to Kaname and Sousuke on a special level.  The series offers a deeply serious plot mixed with some "cutesy" drama and ties them together very well.

The Tat Trend

So... this past week, I went out and got a new tattoo.  I got it for many reasons, but there is one in particular which I wanted to share with all of my blog readers.  It is the general symbolism behind the tattoo that I got.  But first... let's talk about tattoos in general.

As we all know, I come from a small town in Georgia.  Tattoos aren't exactly the kosher thing to do among some small town social circles.  I know that my parents didn't really ever want me to get tattooed.  I remember my final conversation with my mom on the subject rather fondly as it was one of few times in my life when I've stood up to her and said "no" to a request...  I don't look on that moment thinking it was great because I said no, but rather because I finally had the guts and the confidence to do so.  It was a defining moment.  She asked me plainly not to get a tattoo.  I simply replied that it was something I wanted to do at least once in my lifetime and that I had planned to do it for quite some time.  She backed down, and while I know it upset her a little, I appreciated that she did so.

Some people within my family, and even my husband's family seem to have the same opinions regarding tattoos.  They don't understand them.  Some can understand having one or two here and there, but not a whole sleeve or one's entire body.  Others don't see why anyone would do that because needles and therefore pain are involved.  Still others, like my mom, are more concerned about the health risks involved.  So I'm here to make some feeble attempts at explaining the tattoo craze to anyone who may be wondering.

To begin with, I believe there are four different types of tattooed people:

1. Drunks Etc. - Okay.  This one should be obvious.  These are the people who got too drunk to know what they were doing (or what their friends were doing to them) and ended up with a monkey's uncle's ass tattooed some place embarassing...  Of course, we all laugh through the tears, but this is never good.
2. Whims - These are art appreciators.  For the most part, they get tattooed just for the sake of doing so.  Maybe their peers are all doing it, or maybe they just have a quirky interest.
3. Dedicators - These are the people who are tattooed strictly due to sadness or celebration.  Sadness if they have difficulty overcoming a loss.  Celebration if they've found some new hobby or something that is of special interest to them.
4. Storyboards - "My body is my journal, it reminds me who I am and where I came from." - Nico Tortorella (Inked Magazine, May 2011 issue, page 69).  This crowd is a more advanced form of Dedicators.  If something holds any significance in their lives, it will be charted on their body in some way.  I believe there's a fine line between Dedicator and Storyboard, and I personally enjoy flirting with it.

I cannot tell you what drives every single one of these people groups.  I'm not them.  But I can tell you about me.  I can tell you what I've witnessed.  As you may have guessed (if you didn't already know), I really enjoy shows like LA Ink, Miami Ink, NY Ink...  My favorite tattoo artist is Kat Von D.  This is where I discovered a true love of the tattooed world.  In the shows, they always ask the person they're tattooing why they are getting the tattoo.  The stories are a wide range... but my favorites are the dedications, or the ones gotten due to big life-changes.  The ones that have stuck in my mind the most? 

• Parents asking for special tattoos representing children who have passed away.
• Anyone who has lost a loved one and memorialized them in some tattoo, one of my favorites involve swallows (the birds).
• A mother went into one shop and had a rearview mirror tattooed on her.  Her eyes were in the mirror, a symbol of her watching over her children who were in the backseat.
• A Navy wife had a ship in the distance and a maiden standing on the beach waiting on it's return.
• One of the tattooists on Miami Ink invited his mother in as a surprise.  He had her sign "Mom" on his body.  That was special because he actually trusted her with the tattoo machine. to sign her name to him herself.
• A father brought his children in and had each of them write their names wherever they wanted on his legs and arms.  Then they were tattooed, and I believe the eldest child got to use the tattoo machine himself.
• Do you really need to read more?

My point is that just like blood, sweat, and tears, results in food on the table, blood, pain, and the resulting artwork somehow results in closure for some.  On a personal level, I can tell you that there are some things in my life that will never fully be resolved until they are tattooed in place.  Why?  Because they are emotionally painful.  So much so, that it's going to take bringing them out into physical pain to fully deal with.  Fortunately, these "pains" are few, and I enjoy getting tattooed.  It's relaxing to me despite the pain it may cause. 

This was my first tattoo, on the inside of my left wrist.  Basically, just four pinkish-red dots.  But that's not all there is to it.  My husband proposed right after the recent passing of two friends.  He is in the Navy, so naturally one of the things I had to think about was whether or not I could handle being separated from my husband for long periods of time.  Things were weighing on my mind big time.  I was reading Twilight: New Moon at the time, and this one part really stuck with me.  Edward had long since left Bella saying he no longer cared for her.  We later learn that his reason for leaving was in an effort to protect her, thinking that an evil vampire would follow him instead of continuing to attempt attacking Bella.  In Edward's wake, he took everything of his that Bella had in her room, and stored it under the floorboards, but Bella didn't know.  So to her, she had nothing left of him except the bite marks remaining from her last, near fatal, encounter with a vampire outside of the Cullen family.  At one point in New Moon, she glances down at the marks and thinks about Edward.  At this point in my considerations about what my life as a Navy wife was going to be like, I had decided I could take it, so long as I had one thing that was a part of Drew that would forever be a physical reminder of him.  I had chosen a tattoo, but I didn't know what I wanted yet.  So... call me crazy, but when I moved to Norfolk in 2009, I told Drew to bite me, we colored in the teeth marks (the middle two were 'edited' a little) and had them tattooed just like that.

My second tattoo is what I like to call an "identity" piece.  I want certain tattoos to just talk about who I am as a person.  For several years now, I've really enjoyed learning about the zodiac, both Western and Chinese.  I especially like to see the personality charts (not horoscopes, but the general personality chart) for each member of the zodiac in both styles.  It is fun to see how they differ in comparison to the way people who fall into each time-frame actually are.  Mine is actually quite accurate when you consider all the different aspects of it rolled together, and this became a sort of dedication to that.  It is the symbol of the Chinese year of the Ox / Cow / Water Buffalo with the letters TB underneath.  TB stands for Trouble Brew, a nickname that has stuck with me since 2005.  It's on the inside of my right wrist.

Last, but not least is my latest tattoo.  It is a combination of several things in one.  If you look closely, you can see the letters LMB (maiden name initials) or LMW (married name initials) in the body and the wings...  I started drawing this butterfly in highschool minus the head and the horns.  The head and horns are actually the sign for Taurus, which is my Western zodiac sign.  I call this the "Thunderfly" because of the thunderbolts I use for the tail.  The butterfly is the symbol for "new life" and change.  I'm always looking for ways to grow and learn throughout life.  At this time, I'm in the midst of a learning change that I want to remember forever... and I want to always remember to welcome such adventures.  It is on the top right wrist (opposite the second tattoo).
I can't wait to get my next tattoo, and I have a few more planned and some possibilities that may never happen.  I encourage anyone who is considering getting a tattoo to really put a lot of thought into it.  I also recommend stopping by a few shops to price what you think you might want, as well as to ask if you can do a walkthrough of the shop to insure cleanliness and take a look at the work the tattooists are doing and have done in the past.  Better safe than sorry. 

To sum up, I consider tattoos to be a special form of artwork.  While some may disagree with me, here, I believe many of them to be a beautiful form of appreciation for the life God has given us... not because of the artwork itself, but because of the journal we are drawing on our bodies with it.  While it is perhaps not as clear to some, the message I want to send out to others with my choices in body-art are simple.  God gave me a husband to treasure.  He gave me my own life, and has helped to form who I am.  And finally, He has taught me to accept the changes He seeks to make within my life and the lives of others.  It's all easier said than done, of course. 

This is my abstract journal
Blood splashed, pin pricked
Shaded hues
The moments were real 
The dedications all true. 
This is my story
Summed up in tattoo.

As always, I'm available for random questioning and look forward to your comments in the box below. 

AWOL

So, I'm back again.  I keep making these random disappearing acts every time I really want to get started on this.  It seems like something happens and a lot starts going on in my head.  Sometimes, I get scared that I'll post something that perhaps is better kept on the down-low rather than posted live to the internet, so please excuse my absences, no matter how often they happen or how random they are.  It's all a part of a growing process.

I've been doing a lot of soul searching the last few months.  I sense that at this time, there are about to be a great many changes in my life for one reason or another.  Much has happened since I wrote here last.  Things are constantly changing`as it is.  And I must learn to deal with that over time. 

One of the things that I've been thinking about a lot lately is writing.  Because to me, writing and my love of dogs have both saved me from so much heartache.  They've never been the cure for heartache, or the eraser of it... but when needed, they were there.  I'm trying to re-invent my journaling, as well as myself, in some ways.  Over the last few years, I've had several journals.  Two of them have ended abruptly mid-entry... a third, I just felt I got too angry with a situation I was trying to write about, so I took a break.  Now I have to delve back in time to figure out what I was trying to write about and what my feelings were at that time.  While this isn't difficult for me to do (thank God for a long-term memory), it doesn't seem quite practical beyond the idea of sharing my life with others, and getting it all down on paper, if that makes sense.  Something about writing it all down just makes it real, I guess.  Or maybe it becomes more personal, and so I am better able to see the "big picture" after the fact.  I'm not sure. 

I recently bought a new journal, and I'm going to buy another very soon.  You may wonder why it is that I need two.  Well... everyone journals differently, but here's the thing:  I think of EVERYTHING.  Imagine going through a day which you journal.  But at the end of it, there are still some additional things that didn't exactly register on the radar of daily events.  You still need to hash those things out too.  Sometimes, I'm good at seperating such things out.  But when they're really big things... I just need the extra space.  But then again... I just like to collect really cool looking journals :-p.

As I said earlier, the last few months have been really tough.   I cannot go into all of the reasons here.  I'd rather some things be kept private.  I'm thankful to have the friends that I do.  I'm grateful for my family as well.  Everyone's been a huge help throughout the things that have happened.  I do, however, have a few things that I would like to say, though:

1. As a Navy wife, it is not deployment which has gotten me down, though I do believe in the "deployment curse".  But rather, some people's actions during deployment... not so pretty.  (I'm only technically 'calling out' one person in particular here, they know who they are, so please don't worry about it.)
2. As a person, I feel a little... un-fulfilled.  I feel that there are things I should be doing that I haven't or for some reason or other cannot.  And that's something I hope to get over... soon.
3. Life is confusing and painful.  But in the end, we'd never be happy without all of it.
4. Still up at 0400 is no joke... neither is still up at 0530... neither is the fact that deployment apparently breeds insomnia.

I'm a Navy Wife Because

I posted this list as a note on Facebook, but have recently had some requests to view it from those not listed as Friends on my Facebook yet.  As a result, I have chosen to share it here as well.  I hope everyone can appreciate it for what it's worth.  It has only been edited a very little.

"So, recently, a friend of mine wrote her own version of the, "You Know You're A Navy Wife If..." lists. Before listing everything, though, she explained that it was very therapeutic for her, and asked her fellow Navy wives for help in adding more to it. After a few hours of thinking about it, I realized why it was "therapeutic". The thing about the Navy is that we all have common ground, but none of us have the same experience out of it. My friend's list allowed her to share what her personal experience has been, and I think we all should try that in some form... That said, here are my efforts, and I hope I do them justice.

 

I'm a Navy Wife Because...

• I know what it means to watch him leave knowing that I have no promise of his return, much less his return to me. (Long story short, we were only dating 3 months when he left for boot camp...and he lived 2 hours away at a time when gas was $5ish per gallon. We only got 4 dates in before he left.)
• I got engaged in an "odd" way. (His proposal was at the end of his last boot camp letter home.)
• My wedding story is an SNL skit gone so hilariously wrong, the directors / producers air it anyway...
• Pillowcase? Uhm...no. More like hubby's t-shirt which I refuse to wash until I receive a freshly scent-locked-into-a-box one.
• And guess what my PJ t-shirt is...
• I've heard that Axe body spray is a hot little alternative to pepper spray. And it stays next to my bed.
• Much to my mother's remorse / concern, I'm slowly learning exciting things about how to be a mechanic because no one else will do it for me for an honest price -- or honesty period.
• I know where the ONLY living mechanic who is still honest and won't overcharge me is located. He lives in Georgia. Approximately 10 hours drive away.
• Most phone calls to my father are short, sweet, and to the point - "How 'bout them BULLDAWGS!?" "How's huntin'?" "Hey, uh... what do I do when the truck makes this noise *insert 'klunk, pow, boom' noises*?"
• The truck was fairly new (2003 model). So was the experience I had with my first nor'easter which flooded it.
• My family are my friends. But I try to love everyone equally, including my actual relatives *haha*.
• I feel things deeply -- but rarely show them publicly.
• Jellyfish are not my friends, and frankly neither is their ocean habitat... it's a ticking timebomb that could do amazing things either for or to a ship, and I'd rather not think about that.
• I carry an out-of-state driver's license, and it's totally legal. I make a habit of flashing it whenever possible in order to "represent".
• Superstition is considered good luck in this house, which is why I have one of his dog tags. He has to come back for it someday.
• Naw, I ain't from around hyeern (here). And I think it'd be funny to tell the next person who asks where I'm from that, "Ahm frum Fraihnce (I'm from France)" just to mess with them. The reason of course being that most people who ask me, follow my reply up with, "I thought you sounded like you were from there..." Naw shit, Sherlock!
• Math may have thrown me for a total loop, but I know our needs and our pay don't always add up unless the goal is a negative banking balance.
• I can't complain about the price of groceries or the amount of the paychecks received because I love him too much and consider our relationship too important to be at work when he's home. Hence, I do not have a job. Yet. Another reason deployments can be good for the finances.
• Despite the last two bullets, we're totally blessed to have everything that we do, and I'm super grateful.
• My grandmother calls me at least once every 4 months with some story about how uncle so-and-so was in the Navy many many moons ago, and she was talking to his wife, who told her this that and the other about how seperation pay works, and it's not the way I've told her it works so I should go and double-check with someone... I can't wait to blow her mind with, "Yeah, I just chatted with Drew on Facebook..."
• When asked where I live, I can easily be honest by saying, "Everywhere" or "The world is my home!" That's right. Becoming a Navy wife automatically creates an instant philosopher.
• I treasure the little moments - cooking with him, cleaning with him, scraping paint bits off his hands... even the moments when he screws with my OCD by rearranging everything in the cabinet just to see how long it takes me to pick up the right thing.
• Vodka, fun with other people, the library, and his/my gaming systems are all fast forward buttons.
• Food is an odd mix of non-health-nutty foods which claim to hide a variety of vegetables behind awesome things like taste.
• Snacks are fancy things like salad or crackers, cheese, and sausage with chocolate for dessert.
• Animals are companionable collector's items in my household.
• Any contact with him is more awesomer than Christmas in July, and yes, awesomer is considered a word here.
• I have literally been run over/rear-ended by a shopping cart in the Commissary. No the woman did not apologize. But my husband did appear shortly thereafter to rescue me. I hate being crowd-chlostrophobic and was threatening to just give up, abandon cart, and run out of the Commissary screaming hysterically and beating the crap out of any who dared get in my way. And yes, this is why I live off of canned goods for 2-3 days after payday.
• I'm pretty much a professional at entertaining myself.
• Every piece of furniture I have and every inch of floor can be considered a bed. Particularly on "poker night". And this is why I LOVE the late Mitch Hedberg's joke, "Isn't it my decision how many bedrooms there are?! This bedroom has an OVEN in it. This bedroom has a lot of people sitting around watching TV! Excuse me, sir, I believe you have one of my bedrooms! Do NOT decorate it!"
• Sea Legs. Front to back. Every page. All in one day.
• I like abbreviations a lot more now.
• I've been to the FFSC (Fleet & Family Service Center) for Resume help. I'll never go back (for that), though because I arrived at FFSC with my resume, a notebook and pen ONLY. I returned home with a stack of books and papers so high (most of which had NOTHING to do with my job search, but with Navy life itself) that it rivaled my mother's nursing school curriculum. Severe informational overload. It caused a minor panic attack.
• Photographs are pretty much priceless.
• Craft projects involve building a box and stuffing it full of random gag gifts, snacks, Game Informers (magazine), and other gifts for him.
• Someone's always trying to sell me something home-made because they're SAHWs (Stay At Home Wives) too. So we all cycle our money around because I sell homemade stuff too. No one gets richer. It's a stuff-swap.
• When he's away, it's not at all abnormal for me to watch the oddest things (mostly vampire stuff) until 0500.
• I tell time in hundreds, but still catch myself wanting to say "oh eight hundred a.m."
• I do not suffer from confusion, but from oganized chaos.
• I know what pilots the Navy. Me, and every other wife out there. *wink* And we're quite the monstrous force of nature, if I do say so myself.
• I have a fever..." in the morning, fever when he holds me tight...FEEVER when he kisses me, fever all through the night!"

 

If anyone has anything to add, feel free to do so."

Holding the necklace I made using an old-fashioned keyring and his dog tag.  Who knew this would be the key to my heart?

Musical Memoirs: Episode 12 - Rest In Peace

Today's Musical Memoir may come as a surprise to some, not only because it has the same title as a more popular song, but also because of where it comes from.  Whenever my husband is away, I kind of go into morbid-mode.  My favorite music switches back and forth sporadically from rock to country to hip-hop (which isn't too abnormal), but I tend to enjoy rock a bit more than normal.  Furthermore, I end up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the complete series over the course of a couple weeks.  So... this week's song comes from that series.  Here is Rest In Peace, sung by Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.



"I died
So many years ago
But you can make me feel
Like it isn't so
And why you come to be with me
I think I finally know
mmm-mmm


You're scared
Ashamed of what you feel
And you can't tell the ones you love
You know they couldn't deal
Whisper in a dead man's ear
It doesn't make it real


That's great
But I don't wanna play
'Cause being with you touches me
More than I can say
And since I’m only dead to you
I’m saying stay away and
Let me rest in peace


Let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
In a hole 6-foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my, sweet release
So let me rest in peace


You know,
You got a willing slave
And You just love to play the thought
That you might misbehave
But Till you do,
I'm telling you
Stop visiting my grave
Let me rest in peace


I know I should go
But I follow you like a man possessed
There's a traitor here beneath my breast
And it hurts me more than you've ever guessed
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest
but I can see you're unimpressed
So leave me be and


Let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
Im a hole 6-foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my sweet release
Let me rest in peace
Why won't you
Let me rest in peace?"

Obviously, different people might view this song in a variety of ways...  Some might even call it morbid.  My viewpoint of it is very random, but then no one should be surprised by my being random at all.  To me, this song expresses a love and longing.  For me personally, upon listening to this song, I thought a lot about family.  About how we have expectations of one another and how that effects us all.  It is a song of changes and how we should treat them, I think.  This interpretation, however, is taking a step further from the meaning presented by the TV show (Buffy: the Vampire Slayer) that used it. 

I think about how my generation is; how we've approached life in general.  Some of us look to God for everything that happens in our lives, everything we do.  Others have chosen to believe in entirely different things.  Even more have taken the stand that "Why would God allow all this bad crap to happen to you and everyone else?  I don't see there being a God in that, so I choose not to believe in one at all." etc.  Finally, there are those who are in-betweeners; people who love God, serve Him, and see Him in every portion of their lives, but they're not going to make too huge of a deal about it.  They're not too worried about showing up who is right versus who is wrong unless asked by all parties involved.  I'm not going to say where I fall in these categories, though perhaps it is obvious.  One thing I will say is that none of these look very good on an extremist.

So how does all of that tie into the song?  Bear with me.  I swear I have a point in this somewhere.  Think about how you grew up.  Were there changes you made that were so big that your family took offense to them somehow?  Did growing change you enough that you are now no longer the person you once were?  Did anyone try to pressure you back into being someone you no longer are?  Were there people in your life that you felt you were fighting to love?  And what about those feelings of love?  Do you judge the amount of love for someone by how much it hurts you to do so sometimes?

To me... this song is one of the most beautiful and honest expressions of all of the above feelings.  Plus many others I haven't shared here.  I hope you all enjoy it.