Day 22

Hello everybody. Have you ever had a semi-arguement with someone? By semi-arguement, I mean that it can be looked at both ways; either as an arguement, or not as one. Well, I had one of those tonight. It was a silly topic, really. It was about the blog. The issue is pretty common with people who blog, myself included. When I blogged on xanga, I was 98% sure that nobody was ever reading my blog anyway. So the thought process for me was "Why should I write here when nobody even cares? I should just write by hand in my actual notebook journal." After a while, I decided to abandon my xanga blog. That was in my old life. Now that I'm in a completely new life, and trying to build it and make it a very blessed and successful life, I have to approach things differently. I will acknowledge some things though, as far as blogging here. I realize, yes, that there may be practically nobody even reading this. I realize, also, that even if there are people reading this, there could possibly not be any comments from any of them. I have thought about this, and you know what? That's fine! I did not start this blog with the idea in mind that I wanted to become popular, get friends, etc. Nope. I started this blog, with the plan that "I will write every single day. No exceptions!"

So here I am! We are on the 22nd post out of 365, and things are going well I believe. Let's move on! Today I slacked off more than usual. When I finally was able to get to sleep at 4:45 in the morning, I dreaded the idea of getting up at 6:30 to wake Lex up for school. Her bus comes at 7:30, but her school starts at 8:30. So I changed my approach. I changed my alarm from 6:30 to 7:30. When she woke up, she looked around confused because of how it was already daylight out. I was like "I didn't get to sleep till late. Get dressed. I will get your breakfast on the table and I will be dropping you off myself :)" She was like "Oh! Ok!"

While I was waiting for her to come down, I poured two bowls of cereal, and sat down to eat mine. After about five more minutes, she was at the table with me. When she was done I mentioned that she should brush her hair, and to meet me at the truck when she was ready. Came home, took a vicadin hoping it would help my back, which I don't think it did. Or at least I didn't notice any decrease in the stabbing. I went back to bed, and set my alarm for 10:00, which gave me about an hour and 40 minutes of sleep. Got up, got dressed and headed out to go to my appointment with the Army National Guard recruiter. I bombarded him with questions. Walking in there I told myself "I'm not going to sign anything. I just want information. Thats all. No big decisions right now."

I filled out some paperwork to give him my info. He made copies of my discharge papers. We sat down and talked about different job possibilities. He gave me a 2 page list with lots of possible jobs. The ones I wrote down that I would possibly be interested in were jobs that would help me get into a good paying field as a civilian. Such as Radiology Tech, Healthcare Specialist, Biomedical Equiptment repair, and Medical Labratory specialist. 2 of them would have me sent away for only about 16 weeks for the initial training after the 5 weeks of Warrior Training (kind of like a small boot camp for prior enlisted people). The other two, like biomedical equipment repair and mecial lab specialist, after the 5 warrior training would have a 44 week training in the field I would be in. That would mean that, for the most part I would be pretty much active duty for a year, getting payed BAH (for housing) because we live off base, getting full duty pay, etc, until I were to get fully trained.

Those are a few of the things that make me nervous. 1) going through a basic training again, which even though its a small version, is still basic training in a way. 2) what if I decide to do it, and go with a job that takes 44 weeks of training? Thats 44 weeks away from the family, which would suck big time! Plus, one of the questions I asked him was "are there any jobs that have a sign on bonus. The answer to that was No. There are no sign on bonuses for prior enlisted unfortunately, but newbies are offered $15,000. What's the deal with that? Oh well.

There are my worries and concerns about going forward with joining the guard. I still have a little bit of weight to lose before I could go in anyway, but I have been working on that the last few weeks anyway. I get the feeling that Erin thinks it would be a good thing to be apart of the guard. When I mentioned about me needing to drop some weight so that I could go in if I decided to, she said we should work out together. So, there may be some mornings of going to the YWCA to do water exercise afterall. *I'm not sure how to spell arobics.:P *

She said we could go tomorrow. I'd love to, and I probably will, but I'm concerned with my back. It is still kiling me! I'm hoping I didn't do the same injury I did in the air force. It was bad enough that I went to a physical therapist. They layed me out on a table, and had me twist in all sorts of different angles. After one of them, my back popped and the pain went away. Erin and I don't have health care, so going to a physical therapist is sort of out of the question. ER? Still same deal with payment, I cant! Oh well, I'm sure if I just take it easy, it will slowly get better. I HOPE!

Soccer practice was good today. The coach started the girls with kicking back and forth again. Then she surprised me. She turned to me and said "So are there any drills you would like them to do?" I hadn't expected this, otherwise I would have been ready for her. I started giving her suggestions. One of them was working on teaching the girls how to do propper throw-in's. They did pretty good. Then I was like "Why don't we line them all up, with the front player having the ball. The back player sprints to the front of the line, and as they get there, the person with the ball passes it just ahead of them. As soon as they have the ball, they yell "GO!" and the next person at the back of the line sprints up."

She thought that sounded good, so she lined them up in one big line. After a minute or two, she thought maybe there were too many people in the single line, so she divided up the line in two and I took half. I jogged right beside my line, coaching them as they went. The biggest problem they had *lex was with may group too*, was stopping and walking. They would fall behind, and have to run harder to get to the front. Finally I was like "Stopping and walking only makes it harder! Run!" They complained, but did it. I mentioned "Ok, let's do one more lap!" And one of the girls was like "Dude! We've ran like 12 laps!" I was like "Very good! One more couldn't hurt!" Then I was like "Go ahead and stop! Take a breather." From what Erin told me, the coach with her line was getting frustrated and commenting like "this isn't working." and stuff like that.

When we got home, Erin said "You are good with the kids." I said "What do you mean?" And she commented about how I jogged beside my line, and how my group seemed to at least get the concept. She said the coach's group wasn't getting it, and the coach was getting frustrated and not really coaching and making them better. I'm just glad I can help. The coach today told me that her daughter and her are not going to be there next year because of moving. She was like "So if you want to volunteer I'm sure you would be able to take over!" I was like "Well, when you initially talked to Erin about me possibly assisting you, I didn't think I wanted to be a coach. But after getting out here and doing it, I enjoy teaching them how to play. I'm thinking I will go for it next season."

Before we left for practice, at about 1:30 or so, I had put Zoe down for a nap. I wanted to take a nap some time myself also, and figured I would get some time in before practice. So I went up to bed, changed into comfy sleep clothes, set my alarm for 4pm, and went to sleep. At a few minutes to 4, Lex was waking me up saying "Dad! Soccer practice!" When I got up and got dressed, I came and noticed Ally was not even dressed for it yet. I was like "What? Waking me up for soccer practice when you're not even ready?" She was like "I've got my soccer socks and shin guards on!" I was like "Where are the shorts and stuff? You're still wearing your school clothes!" :-D It didn't take her long to change though, I will give her that. Plus, the more she goes to practices, I think she enjoys the sport more and more. That makes me happy. Her first experience with soccer was at British soccer camp during the month of July, so her only impression of the sport other than learning was "It's too hot. I don't think I want to play soccer." We were like "Well honey, that was just because of when the camp was. We want you to try it on a regular league once during the normal seasons and see if you like it." I'm glad we did that, because she loves it! Not only loves it, but I can tell that she wants to get better.

I think it is time to close. If my back did not feel like I had a small knife stuck in it, I think today would have been a really good day. At 4PM I missed a call from a guy I meet with from our church every week. I meant to call him this morning and reschedule. I didn't feel like I would be able to walk with him with my back the way that it is. I called him back, and explained what had happened, that I am sorry I didn't call him. He was like "No problem! Let's plan for next week same time, and I hope you're back feels better!"

Lesson for today is something we all have heard. Lift with your legs. ;) I would have, and I tried my best, but the dolly with the armoir was half way down it, so I had to slouch to even get a grip. Lucky me eh! Know what I'm doing wrong but not be able to help it? Oh well! At least I know not to do it that way again! I will write more for you all tomorrow.

Thanks for being here, and God Bless!

CB