The Mundane and the Ridiculous

It has occurred to me that very little of what I have been writing has been of the mundane, day-to-day activities I’m involved in, so I thought I would dedicate a brief post to that.
I don’t have a job, per se, because I’m just waiting around to head out to my FOB. Despite that, I’ve managed to stay busy, and can honestly say I haven’t been at all bored since I’ve been here. How do I pass the time?

First of all, there’s sleeping. This is a great activity to pass the time, and as I learned during a previous shipboard deployment, if you sleep 12 hours a day, the float’s only half as long! I have been getting at least 8 hours a night, with an afternoon nap most days.

Next, food: a popular shipboard routine is to “sleep ‘til you’re hungry and eat ‘til you’re tired.” I’m not quite there yet, but working on it. Mealtime here at Al Asad usually involves a walk; at least it does if you want to eat at the chow hall. It’s about a 15 minute walk each way, plus 5 – 10 minutes standing in line, and 30 minutes to an hour to eat (depending on the quality of the conversation), and you can see that this takes up a lot of time. I’ve only been eating lunch on days when I was already in the part of the base near the chow hall, because the walk is not very pleasant in the heat of the day.

Phone calls, computer work, and the Internet can take up hours if you work it right. I typically write my posts in my “can” on my laptop, offline (as I’m doing now), then when I get the chance, plug in to the Internet connection in the computer room (“Internet Café” as they call it) and upload the post and pictures. Add time for surfing alternative news sites, writing e-mail, and calling home, and a few more hours are gone.

Although there are many bikes around, I have not had the urge to get one. It would be a bit of hassle due to my short stay here, and the walking is fine. I have ridden the “bike to nowhere” several times (stationary exercise bike in the gym), which gives me an opportunity to read some of the magazines I brought with me, besides exercise. Speaking of bikes, the only helmets I’ve seen around are on a shelf in the PX, which doesn’t do anybody’s skull much good.

One of the highlights of my day (besides eating and sleeping) is the hour or so when I break out my guitar and learn new chords, work on songs from the book “Rise Up Singing,” and try to teach myself how to fingerpick. Guitar playing has become a spiritual practice and an emotional release, and I don’t feel like a day is complete without it.

Of course there is about an hour a day dedicated to personal hygiene – shaving, showering, and other activities. I even got a haircut today! As you can see from the picture, I won’t need another one for quite some time.

Wow, writing this post has made me tired. I think I’d better take a nap until it cools off a bit. TTFN!