Funny Story

We all decided we were going to go to Target one day and because of what we were buying (mainly large totes) we needed two carts so perhaps to the casual observer, I (who was pushing the cart filled with stuff) was chatting up a single mother. We both got in line and Kim bought something or other and I was behind her unloading the totes onto the conveyor belt.

The cashier's name was Adam. He's easy to remember. He has a mop for a hairstyle that mushrooms out from his head and a goofy look on his face all the time like he's in a curious limbo between being congested to the point of mouth breathing constantly and being in a state of total awe of the world around him. And his name is Adam.

Anyway, Kim's in front of me and he Adam says to her something like "hey, what's up?" and looks at me and I said "How's it going, Adam?"

Kim thinks this is a weird habit of mine but if you know someone's name, go ahead and use it, right?

Well, Kim says "It's really weird that you do that."

Adam looks at her and leans in a bit and says "I know. I totally don't even know that guy!"

This was around the time that my totes roll up to the front of the belt and Adam looks at me and I say "this too," because he had begun to close out the transaction. He looked at Kim like "WTF?" and she said "yeah, that too."

Then the realization that we're together spread across his teenage stoner-looking face. You could almost hear him curse to himself.

I thought it was hilarious.

Georgia On My Mind No More

I've lived in quite a few places and almost all of them had some sort of food associated with them that I love and miss very much. Italy's delicious pizza, New Zealand's fish and chips, Japan's sushimi, etc. etc.

I try my hardest to recognize the area's specialty and eat as much of it as I can while I'm there and look for a recipe to be able to make it myself regardless of where I am. And it used to be that I thought the thing I would miss about Georgia was the barbecue. There are no cajun roots here, no deep fried whatevers, not a lot of "southern" stuff, but they do have a good and what Alton Brown would call "sickeningly sweet" barbecue.

Ah, but no more. A new buddy of mine exposed me to North Carolina barbecue and it's about a billion times (approximately) better than Georgia's. Not only that, but it was made by a Native American, which I'm sure doesn't influence the taste but it makes for that much cooler of a story.

You bet I've requested the recipe.

So with barbecue eliminated, what does Georgia have to offer?

Nothing.

At least, middle Georgia doesn't. There's an orchard in North Georgia's Ellijay where fried pies are made (like the hostess ones you find at gas stations) that are huge and delicious. There's also an amazing German restaurant in Helen, GA that has the most unique pizza I've every tried but I think that's a German restaurant and perhaps I can find something similar in Germany.

Anyhoo, there's nothing holding me back here anymore.

:-)

Everything Is About To Change

Well, hopefully.

No wait, I take that back. Everything I know is about to change. The people I look up to at work, my professional heroes if you will, are all leaving to go to other bases to do other jobs. The people that are left that I know I feel an odd kinship with because I've known them for so dang long. You know how you feel at high school your first year when you don't know anyone but as time goes on and you become a senior, hey, all of a sudden it hits you that you know EVERYONE?

That's what it's like.

But without the people that I'm learning how to grow and mature from as an NCO, I don't want to be here for too much longer. I want to move on and do a different job at a different place myself. Maybe find some more heroes (you can never have enough).

Anyway, so there's a possibility that I might get a different job going someplace else and if that's the case I'm more than ready for it. I hear people say Georgia's not a bad first duty station and I'm inclined to disagree. There is a lot to do but it's at least a 30 minute drive and with little to do in the immediate area, that just leads to trouble.

For other people, I mean. I'm fine.

But yeah, folks tell me to stop complaining because it could be worse. Look buddy, I've been living on bases my whole life. This is not a "first" anything for me. This is merely one more base that I spent way too long at and now it's time to move on.

This makes me scared of retirement, this constant need to move every few years.

And I want to see the world - well, most of the world, anyway. More importantly I want to show my family the world, especially my kids. Being exposed to different cultures is what made me how I am for the most part, I believe. Those and the movies that raised me. I plan to have a different parental strategy, but different cultures is a must because I don't want my kids to become ethnocentric or xenophobic.

So while things WILL change for me at work with the loss of my mentors, I'm hoping they'll change a lot more than that!

As a side note, one of my mentors wore his Blues yesterday with his ribbons and no kidding, the guy has a million of them and he's in my career field. Now, I have something like 14 ribbons right now after less than five years and that's pretty good. I'm nervous about getting them if I get a ground job since their ribbon racks are usually so much smaller. I know it's a shallow thing, but I'm a sucker for getting ribbons and medals so this guy had me thinking twice about cross training into a ground job, but I just keep saying "the locations are better the locations are better the locations are better..."