2.02.2008

Artists are Finicky Peoples Alright, so I think I need to explain my little rant more in depth, to give you an idea of the mind of an artist. Most real artists like critiques. They see it as a way to make themselves better, as long as the critique is constructive. Nobody likes to hear that their work sucks without it being explained why. If you look at my gallery and tell me i'm a sucky artist, I'll go right back in your face and tell you you're an idiot, unless you can give me a reasonable excuse as to why you think my art sucks. If I don't know what is wrong with it, I can't change it, and as an artist, I often get to close to the work to see the obvious faults in it, or on the flip side, I'll see everything that is wrong with it. Most often then not, I can rip to shreds any artwork you throw at me. You want it critiqued constructively? I bet I can find something wrong with it. But let me go into it a little further. To tell you the honest truth, I don't see myself as much of an illustrator, I never have been. I've been working on the illustrator side of my art for a few years now, but honestly, I consider myself an artist. My illustrations always have something wrong with them. heck, my art does too but usually not to the degree. So I had a bunch of illustrators tell me my art is 'wonky' (which is a word I am going to use to describe everythign I see wrong with a peice from now on) without going into detail and me, being, well, me, I blew a gasket on them. Because you don't tell an artist they suck without giving them reasons as to why. Especially somebody who considers themselves an artist. My illustrations are always from my head, but this latest episode made me realize that I need to work more on my art and away from my illustrations (which has, in fact, been killing my art to tell you the truth). So I'm going to start sketching more. I just need to draw more. I need to find pictures and draw what I see. It doesn't matter that it doesn't look like the person I'm drawing, just so long as it is a drawing. I need to focus on how I'm going to illustrate my project anyway. Labels: Art, Rant -Risawn: # 11:17 PM - |

I'm A Little Annoyed Ok, I have to say something, because I'm a cranky person and I can't stand it when people tell me I suck at something without having a good reason as to state why. See, when I draw anthropomorphic characters (basically anything non human with human qualities) I generally draw them a little cartoonish, and granted when it comes to art this is not my strong suit. At all. Even though its basically the only thing I draw anymore because I don't draw as much as I used too. I am also usually very good at taking constructive criticism with my art, because I am an artist and sometimes when a person is too close to a piece, they don't see the problems with it. So as long as the criticism is constructive, I take it well. So I joined this art exchange, thinking I'm bored and I want to draw more and I like drawing other people's characters because it gives me a fresh look on things as I tend to get caught up in little rifts where I draw the same thing over again. I gave them a link to my two galleries online, one on this website and one over at DeviantArt. I got this email in the mail saying I had been declined for a sketch exchange. Here is their exact wording in fact. Mods voted: You have some interesting stuff, but we feel you could use a bit more practice before you join us. Feel free to try again in the future though! :) Comments were: Anatomy's a little wonky, such as this piece: The legs look dramatically different from each other. She needs a little more work on getting her anatomy to look natural as far as her anthros go. This is the piece they critiqued. So basically, because I use foreshortening in a lot of my art so the legs don't look exactly the same, I got dismissed. Is this on me as an artist? Or is this on them as art critiques? Because as far as I'm concerned, this is a perfect example of foreshortening. You are looking at two legs from different angles, of course they are not going to look the same. This looks like an example of a Digigrade Biped to me (digigrade meaning walking on toes, not flat footed, all of my anthros are digigrade unless stated otherwise.) I replied with a comment that wasn't so nice that I won't link to because, well, it will most likely get deleted, but I mean, come on? Because my reply will most likely get deleted, I'll post what I wrote to them here. Um, do you guys know the definition of Foreshortening? The freakin' right leg is at an angle facing the audience, if you were to actually look at the left leg, you might actually see that there is nothing wrong with this. But oh wait, that's right, this is a freakin' SKETCH exchange. This may not be a traditional anthro because it doesn't show as much human in it, but it doesn't mean its wrong. Oh, and I know how to draw anatomy, thanks for the heads up on telling me that I don't know what the hell I'm doing. PS - for a sketch exchange, I would probably complete my art a little more so that it doesn't need to be completed in Photoshop, because believe it or not I CAN draw. Thanks for everything, but I think I'll pass and not bother with this stupid exchange in the future. PPS - The rejected art piece is freakin' two years old. Since you said I apparently need to practice my anatomy, I'll let you know I've had plenty, thanks. Ok, Yes, the annoyance is apparent, but really, come on! Give me your opinion, do you think I have a decent argument or do I suck at anthros? Or are you just a non-artistic type that goes 'hehe, puppy!' EDIT - So my rant got some attention, they didn't delete the post after all, but I calmed down considerably when I got a constructive critique back. Mind you, I don't delete this stuff, so if you want to see how this goes, please visit the LJ. I just don't know what to get from 'wonky'. Constructive Criticism is always game for me. Labels: Art, LJ, Rant -Risawn: # 5:09 PM - |

9.29.2007

A Minor Rant About a Minor Injury So, I've discovered I really like to rant. That was one of the reasons why I started a blog in the first place, it was a public area where I could just say what I wanted to and anybody who wished to read it could read it, and if they didn't want to read it, so what? I just got off of a profile, and in my military career I've only been on a profile a handful of times, once I was ordered to go to sick call by my drill sergeants after smashing my face against the carrying handle of my M16 and started bleeding everywhere. Thus was my no Camouflage profile which was the only profile I held during Basic. I didn't really want to go on profile this time, but I was having a strange pain in my back that really only bothered me when I tried to march or run. I wanted to suck it up and drive on as I thought it would go away but after a day and a half I decided I needed to get it looked at to make sure it wasn't anything to serious. Or if it wasn't, that it wouldn't develop into something more serious. Turns out its a pinched nerve, the sciatic nerve going into my right hip. Its actually something I can handle, but they put me on a run/march/jump at your own pace profile just so I can rest it and get it back up. So I've been taking advantage of this and walking when I can and avoiding running when I can. The problem is, my profile says seven days, and technically I'm not supposed to be on profile for longer then 72 hours or I risk being kicked out of the school, even though this does not hinder my ability to do the training, I just avoid running for a couple of days, thats all. But because it says 7 days, I have to tear up the profile and pretend it doesn't exist. So I guess that's what I'm going to do. I think the army has this mentality of toughness to suck it up if you are hurt and just keep driving on. While that's ok for the most part, especially if you know its just a bruise or a minor injury, it's also ok to check something out if you need to, your body uses pain as a way of telling you that something is wrong. So I went to sick call and checked out my back to make sure it was nothing serious, and to get it documented just in case it was and it turns out it isn't a big deal. But now I feel like I'm being told that I'm dogshit by my Senior Drill Sergeant because I didn't just suck it up and take it, instead getting a profile. I don't know much about the sciatic nerve or the injury I got, but I was told that if I didn't rest it that it could get worse so I took advantage of the last couple of days and rested myself as much as I could. So sue me, if I don't feel better by Monday, then I'll suck it up then. I didn't miss any training to utilize sick call, I made sure training was done for the day before I asked to go. More went into this issue with this little chat I had with the Senior, with which I won't discuss here, but we'll say I didn't gain any more respect for the person because of it. Labels: health, Rant -Risawn: # 3:34 PM - |

9.28.2007

Why Haven't the Bush Twins Enlisted? Ok, in the Blame Bush category, everybody harps on how Bush is this major war hawk and how he went into Iraq under false pretenses and is over stretching the army and all of this mumbo jumbo and then they claim that they need to inact the draft starting with the Bush twins, as if Bush is so eager to go to War, he should send his daughters there first. Ok, this logic is kind of twisted in several ways. For one, it is somewhat impractical for Jenna or Barbara to enlist. Furthermore, you know how many women enlist in the army in the first place? Not very many. In a country of 300 million people, there is something like 1.5 million people serving in our armed forces at any given time(that number may or may not be correct, but there abouts, bare with me). I think the demographic of women to men is that 15% of the military is female (again, an estimate, bare with me). If they inact the draft, they aren't going to draft women right away because women are barred from the combat arms and that's what they are primarily going to be drafting for most likely if they need a draft. Yes, they will need to fill other positions in the service support branches, but the first target is males. Regardless, back to the original statement, a very small percentage of women in the US are even in the military. True, there are many who have served at some point and have gotten out but even with those into consideration, so giving a very liberal estimation, we'll say that 5% of American women have served in the US Military at some point in their lives. My point? So what if Jenna and Barbara Bush haven't joined the military to serve their country? There are a lot of people who haven't. It doesn't make them any more or less American. Everybody who gives me the BS statement that if you support the war, why aren't you or your kids serving in the military and fighting it? Well, there are a lot of Americans in this country, some support the war and some don't. But going back to the small percentage of Americans who are actually in the military, it stands to reason that some people who support the war have a family member serving and others do not. Guess what? The Army is not for everybody. There are plenty of people out there that have no business being in the military because their personality or issues they may or may not have are incompatible with it. Maybe they are just scared of being shot at. Joining the Army is not a small matter, it takes a special kind of person to gather that much courage to think about enlisting, and yes, there are people out there who join the army because they don't know what else to do. It doesn't make them any less of a person and they can become better for it. And besides, if Jenna and Barbara Bush did join the army, can you think of the secret service mess that would cause? Would it even be logical for them to join? Specifically enlist? I mean, seriously, how many children of Presidents enlisted in times of war? I could see them possibly becoming officers if the desire struck them to do that instead, but really. . . Using this argument against Bush is actually kind of dumb. I wish people would stop muttering about how hypocritical he was for sending our men and women of the armed forces to war when he doesn't have his own daughters serving. I can just imagine the nightmare that would be for the Drill Sergeants who would have to train them if they did decide to do such a thing. Case in point, shut up about it already. Its not a big deal that the Bush Twins have never served in the military. Members of the Bush family have served in the past and I bet their might be a cousin or another relative serving now. *yes, a rant, saw some special on one of the cable news networks interviewing Jenna on why she hadn't enlisted yet and I thought it was ridiculous.* Labels: BlameBush, Iraq, Military, Politics, Rant -Risawn: # 4:59 PM - |

7.17.2007

Dysthemics and Narcissists Shouldn't Mingle Ok, I have a confession to make. I've let something bother me longer then I should have. And I've discovered today that I have had every reason to be bothered. Warning, this is a rant, and it's been a long time coming. And after this post is over, this topic is officially dead. Unless I write an update on my NCOER, which might cause it to resurface. If any of you have been following my blog for the last few years, you know I deployed to Kosovo for the duration of 2005. And my deployment was anything but smooth. And it wasn't the stress of actually being in Kosovo that made it thus, because a deployment to Kosovo is a cake walk, basically a paid yearlong vacation. It was the fact that I put up with a major asshole for the duration of the deployment. Yes you narcissist son of a bitch, I'm talking about you. And yes, despite the fact that you outrank me by one lousy paygrade, you know, you decided to look past the fact that the United States Army entrusted me with the rank fo E5, not you who treated me like a PFC (his own words), I'm going to consider the fact that you have no business leading troops and you were an E6, not a non commissioned officer. There is a difference. Therefore, kiss my ass. I don't respect your rank because you sure in hell didn't respect mine. Your job was to mentor me, great job on doing that. Hell, I learned more about what not to be in a leader from you then how to be a leader. There, I said it. Though I doubt SSG Dipshit no longer reads my blog (I would definitely not put it past him though), I can now get over the fact that I am officially over that whole incident. I've let it eat away at me for to long and I gave him the benefit of the doubt for bothering me for as long as he did. I can take comfort though, that I got to him too. I know I did. How he treated me when we demobilized back to the states confirms that. That bastard was on his guard, and he knew I was just waiting for him to cross the line because I would have been all over his sorry self. Well, maybe I should start at the beginning. Being a Drill Sergeant Candidate that leaves for school in less then a month, I had to take a Behavioral Health Evaluation to be sure I was fit for training troops. I wanted to be honest with it because I had some issues where I was worried with how I behaved during my deployment. My psychiatrist was great. I've been diagnosed as a dysthemic, though I haven't had any real issues since my deployment, just the usual mood swings that accompany hormones, and in my case, it will probably help me as a Drill Sergeant. Drill Sergeants (especially females) are supposed to be pissy. She looked at my mental health evaluation and pegged me as a dysthemic right away. Being a dysthemic does not bar me from drill sergeant school. See, I've got a clean record. I've had some mental health issues like depression before, but I've never truly acted on it other then at times crying my eyes out. And the last time I had a real break down was in Kosovo. I've looked back and have realized that I've never had issues like that before with other commanders and NCOICs. Just the one. And its because of him that I needed to be medicated there when I've never needed it at any other time in my life, before or since. The psychiatrist pegged him right away as a narcissist, and told me that having those feelings and how I acted was completely appropriate for the situation. In fact, she told me the best idea for dealing with narcissists is to avoid them completely. And how do you peg a narcissist? She told me a great way. If you run into somebody that makes you feel like you're stupid, get away from them. Believe it or not, he did that to me. I know I'm not stupid, heck, I was an A student in high school and did awesome on that ASVAB, having the pick of any non combat MOS I wanted. Why oh why did I pick preventive medicine to this day I do not know. But I remember feeling like an idiot when I was around him. And it wasn't that he was really that intelligent (in his eyes he surely thought he was the world's smartest person and knew more then General Schoomaker) but he did make you feel like a dumbass. That is one way to peg a narcissist. She described a narcissist to me and I thought 'holy hell that's him!' There are some other feelings I had towards him that I won't discuss in detail, but imply what you will, and she said those were appropriate too. And I think those feelings was what made me dwell on it for so long, that I had the capability of actually thinking that. The important thing was though I had the thoughts (it is not uncommon for people to have these types of thoughts at some point in their life), it was the fact that I did not act upon them and kept my reason. Good thing, I wouldn't want to end up in FT Leavonworth because of his pathetic ass, he wouldn't be worth it. I hope that guy turned in his 20 year letter, because he has no business deploying in a real hostile environment. He has no business being in the military during war, he'll get his soldiers and himself killed. And for himself, it would likely not come from enemy fire. This topic is dead, this is my one last rant about it. I'm in a kick ass unit now that I love, with people who give me a hard time (what do you expect, they're drill sergeants!) that I can actually respect. When they get on my case, I truly deserve it. And instead of hanging me out to dry by explaining in detail how I'm being punished, they actually tell me what I need to do to correct it. PS - Everyone that has looked at my NCOER since coming off my deployment has told me that one ate up as hell NCO wrote it. And they don't even have to hear my side of the story to make that assessment. Labels: Depression, Rant, SSGDipshit -Risawn: # 8:17 PM - |

5.08.2007

Advice before Jumping on the Bandwagon: Don't So, show of hands, who here has gotten an email about May 15th, telling you that we are going to crack down by telling those big bad oil companies that we aren't going to buy their gas for one full day. Yeah, that'll show them. There is another email making the rounds stating that if we can boycott the two biggest middle eastern oil suppliers, Exxon and Mobil, they will be forced to lower their gas and everyone else will follow suit. You know what I plan to do? On May 15th, I'm going to go find an Exxon or Mobil station and get some gas. I bet the lines won't be that bad and it will make for a quick fill up. Now don't get me wrong, I'm frustrated with the skyrocketing gas prices as much as the next person, and any fiscally minded person oughta be. But there is a better way to try to combat rising gas prices then to skip a day to buy gas or to bypass one specific station completely. If you continue to do your errands and use your car the same as you always do, it doesn't matter if you skip Tuesday, you still used the gas and you still need to fill that tank up, whether it be on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday. In other words, you're still consuming the same amount of gas! Maybe people should clue in that this shouldn't be a day where everyone just waits to fill their gas tanks. Instead, maybe the consensus should be that to solve the problem, you simply need to bring the demand for gas down. Boy, what a concept. If everyone participated in an event where instead of DRIVING their cars to wherever they needed to go, they found alternate modes of getting to their destinations. For instance, carpooling, public transit, WALKING, Bicycling, or a bunch of other items that cause us to use less fuel. Really, the way to crack down on rising gas prices is to stop using so much of it. Onto the other popular idea making the rounds. The boycott of Exxon/Mobil (or whatever other gas companies). The problem with this one is the unique industry that is the oil industry. Exxon and Mobil don't buy their gas from one specific place. They will buy it from wherever they need it, and in turn sell it where the demand is. If they aren't selling their gas, and everyone instead hits the Shell station across the street, well, guess what? The demand for gas at Shell will go up, they will run out of gas, and they will turn around and buy it from the Exxon that people are boycotting, which in turn, will raise prices even more. Brilliant strategy. Furthermore (and correct me if I'm wrong) but most gas stations are franchised out, so when you boycott an Exxon station, you are hurting the family that owns that specific gas station. The head honchos over at corporate might feel a little dent, but hey, they'll turn around and sell their gas wherever they have a buyer. But who will get hurt is the owner of that station, which will lose their revenue. More information over at Snopes. - Boycotting Exxon/Mobil May 15th I'm doing a persuasive speech on this topic, so I'm doing as much research as I can on it. Labels: Current Events, Duh, Rant -Risawn: # 5:43 PM - |

1.31.2007

Blogging, Myspace and the Military Oh how nice, I'm glad to see that the entire freakin' hospital in Kosovo was doing this and they were cracking down on me for having a tradtional blog. . . And for the same reasons too. . . My idiot NCOIC didn't bother enforcing the blog rule with the other two soldiers in the section, who both had active myspace acccounts. But me, well, because I had a fairly well known blog (not so much now) I was the exception to the rule. The hypocracy kills me. I mentioned a long time ago that MySpace fell under the same jurisdiction as blogs, I even mentioned this to several people in the chain because I felt I was being unfairly singled out. Not only that, people were accessing their Myspace accounts all the time and posting pictures on them all the while doing this on government computers. But no, I was the one singled out. And people wonder why I came back from my deployment rather sour and grumpy. Been home for just over a year now and I still look back on lessons learned from that experience. Labels: Blogging, Rant, SSGDipshit -Risawn: # 3:02 PM - |

1.11.2007

iPods are Stupid Let Me Explain. I had a ton of songs on an external harddrive that went capoot right about when I got home from Yellowstone. That in itself was infuriating. However, it wasn't a complete and total loss because I had about 20 gigs of songs stored on my iPod. And there they sat, waiting for me to figure out how to get them off of there and back onto my harddrive. I wasn't sure about how to go about this so I just kept them there. Well, with nothing really to do, I decided to get my computers all updated and running (including my new and improved Desktop which I only use for school at the moment, and not for surfing the net as that's what my little laptop is for). My mind went back on my music dilemma, and how I can get those 20 gigs of songs off of the iPod and onto another harddrive. So I just plugged it in to see what would happen and low and behold, iTunes came up, hooked up Fuji the iPod, and the proceeded to DELETE MY ENTIER LIBRARY OFF OF IT! Further more, it stated that my updates were complete, even though there was nothing to update onto it. ??? What is the matter with Apple? I had a couple of songs that will be impossible to replace on that thing that I was grateful I still had, when it turns out that once I plugged my iPod in, I would have lost them anyway. I don't get it? What's the point of the freakin' iPod? Why do people think these things are so awesome? I hate them! They're rediculously Expensive and they Suck! GARRR!!!!! Well, now I have to find a way to replace my iTunes Library that I lost, and I think the best method to do this is not entirely legal. MP3s are now officially a pain in the butt. Labels: Rant, technical difficulties -Risawn: # 9:38 PM - |

11.24.2006

Spammers You know what I don't get? Spam. Why do these automated emails try to sell me crap? How many sales do you suppose a Spam Email can generate? Enough to make them keep doing it I guess, because they KEEP DOING IT. I am guessing that if you could find a way to trace those emails back to the spammer who originates them, that person will find their life expired shortly thereafter. What I REALLY don't get is the people who date their emails for four years ago so when it arrives in your inbox, all you can see is an unopened email but you don't know where it is and you have to surf through your mountains of emails to find it and delete it (and I have a full inbox that never gets answered or shifted down) *sighs* What is the point of dating a spam email for 2003 anyway? Isn't the point to trick the person into opening it? Or is there some kind of attachment that tells the person who sent it *yes, this email is still sitting in their inbox, tell all your spambot friends to send MORE emails to them!* If I seriously discovered that one of my friends were responsible for a spam email, I would disown them from friendship and swear blood vengeance (or at least egg their house) becuase they can only be aligned with the devil if they can stoop so low as the use of mass produced and badly done emails to sell prescription medications and informing me on elongating the penis I don't have. *Grumbles* Labels: Random, Rant -Risawn: # 11:50 PM - |

11.10.2006

Death to Comcast I've been getting these phonecalls from an area code i don't recognize, and overall I've been kind of ignoring them because I don't get a message or anything. Well, finally I answered one of these calls and low and behold its Comcast on the other end. The conversation went something like this. Comcast: Hello, this is Comcast, is Kami there? Me: Speaking. Comcast: I would like to talk to you about paying a part of your bill to avoid a disruption in your service. Me: Excuse me? I have it set up so it takes the bill out of my paycheck automatically! Comcast: Oh. Well that takes about six to ten weeks to go through. Me: Why didn't the website say that then? Comcast: It says that on the following page when you sign up for the recurring service. Me: *goes to comcast payment site and scrolls through the terms of service which mention nothing about this.* No it doesn't. It just tells me to pick a 'One time Payment' or the 'Recurring payment and forget about it!' Comcast: Well, did you want to pay that now? Me: I wanted to pay it last month! I set up this thing to pay my bill automatically as soon as I got my billing statement! Comcast: So did you want to pay it online or over the phone? Me: Can you scrub my late fee? Comcast: We can do that once as a customer courtesy. Me: Damn right you will. Can you also tell your higher ups that this is bullcrap? When it says Recurring Payment, I expect to be able to sign up and forget about it! So that was basically the condensed version. Please, tell me, when you see a page that looks like this. . . . . .that you assume that if you click 'make it a regular thing' that it will automatically take it out of your checking account? Granted, I should know better about making assumptions, but in this case, I didn't expect to be getting a call about a possibility of disruption of service when I set up my Comcast payment over a month ago! Yep, that's Comcastic! What? Me Highstrung? Whatever gave you THAT idea??? Labels: Rant, Telemarketers -Risawn: # 4:39 PM - |

11.07.2006

Slave No Longer I have an Announcement to Make. After a few short weeks of making a confession that I actually shop at Walmart despite my frequent proclamations that they are run by the Devil himself, they have gone back on my Crapper List. The reason for this is that they have made themselves decidedly inconvenient by selling crap products. Who knew? Actually, I did know, I just didn't know to what extent. I got sidetracked from homework quite a bit last week when one day I went shopping at the devil store itself and saw a TV stand that looked perfect for what I needed it for. I recently bought a flat screen LCD TV and I really didn't like the entertainment center it was currently on. This entertainment center looked perfect for what I needed. I literally stood there staring at it for probably fifteen minutes debating in my head whether or not I should get it. After careful consideration, the fact that I own Ferrets made up my mind and I put the thing in my cart and took it to the front. This specific stand actually looks pretty nice for a Wal Mart Product. It also has a piece where you mount your flat screen from for more space, and right now I needed a little more space. The screen however, came with no screws to screw the TV into the stand. The instructions insist that these screws come with your TV. No, the TV instructions insist that these screws are provided by the stand! TVs don't come with a wall mount, the wall mount provides the screws. So I went to Walmart to figure out if they sold these screws. Procede with the Wild Goose Chase. When I went to the Hardware department, they sent me to the freakin' place that sold me the TV! From there, it was confirmed that the mount provides the screws, so I had to find out what kind of screws these were so I could go to an actual hardware store and get them. But low and behold, the screws don't fit quite as well as they should into the back of the mount, so I had to get a Washer as well. I spent probably a good five hours putting together a stand and running around town trying to get the parts when I could have been using this valuable time working on homework! And WalMart was completely unhelpful. Despite the fact that Walmart is about a one minute car drive away, I have decided that I will be a slave to conveniance no longer. If I want something, I'll actually drive five minutes to get it instead. Labels: Rant, Walmart -Risawn: # 10:29 PM - |

11.02.2006

Angst From LiveJournal So I'm a member of this LJ community called FerretAttitude. The moderators asked as a courtesy that people do not edit their posts mostly to help reference later. So a girl gets on and asks a question about ferret foods and how to prevent her ferret from tipping over the food bowl. And people gave her the answer. Feeling that she got the answer she needed, she edited her post to say that she had the question answered. In light of this, the mods asked her politely to not do this in the future, so people can reference the post and know what it said. Maybe three people actually made this suggestion. And what does she do? She freaks out. She starts cursing everyone in the community and leaves, but not before posting a picture of a fat guy whacking off about thirty times. The mods were able to delete the post, but the girl obviously has severe social problems. If you have a Live Journal, feel free to flame her until she deletes this post. Labels: Ferrets, LJ, Rant -Risawn: # 11:10 PM - |

10.22.2006

Things That Shouldn't Be Boughten Cheap I have learned that there are some things you shouldn't be cheap with. Like when buying a digital camera, if you go ahead and spend the few extra bucks (or in this case, the few extra hundred bucks) you'll have a great camera that will take great pictures and last a while. If you skiff on this kind of stuff, you'll get grainy and crappy pictures. you might as well stick with the disposables, they take better pictures then a cheap digital camera does. There are things that you can save a few bucks on by getting a bargain brand. Clothes come to mind (you usually have more then one outfit anyway), or whatever. But don't be cheap with your Toaster. We didn't have a toaster and at the time I didn't feel like spending a lot of money on something I may use once a week if that. So I went to Walmart (yes, I'm still convinced they are evil, but conveniant, see earlier post) and got a deal on a Toaster for like $6 bucks! The thing is, everything that I toast tastes like diesel fuel. I was hoping it would go away after multiple uses, but you have to toast something three or four times to get a charbroiled crisp (because if you toast it once or twice it will come out slightly warm) and by then the smell is saturated. I guess for now, it will sit on the counter and I will eat gasoline flavored toasted sandwiches if I feel the need until I buck up and buy a better toaster. And then it can go into the Garage Sale Fodder for next Spring. Labels: Doh, Random, Rant -Risawn: # 7:46 PM - |

10.03.2006

Slave to Conveniance I admit, I must make a confession. It pains me to say this, as I have sworn a blood oath to defy this in all ways I can muster. But I gave in and must admit to being a slave to my own petty needs. I shop at Walmart. Its not that I actually go out of my way to shop at Walmart either, its just that, well, its so freakin' conveniant! Walmart is about a half mile from my house so if I need something and I need it now, its easier for me to hop in my car and drive to Walmart to get whatever as opposed to driving three times the distance to get to, say, Fred Meyer. There are some things that if its specific, I'll shop at another location. Like, say, Food items, I tend to go to Safeway or Rosaurs, and anything for the Ferrets usually brings me to Petco. Computers, TV, any kind of electronics brings me to Best Buy and if I want movies I tend to go to Hastings. But if I have a hoj-poj of items that I need and I don't want to be driving all over town (last I checked, Gas was still expensive) I tend to go to Walmart, and sometimes I pick up a few things there I would usually buy elsewhere. I guess I will still say that Walmart is in its own way evil, and if I can resist the urge I will try not to shop there, but lets face it. Sometimes you are a slave to your own conveniances and I don't think I will completely write off any store as a shopping experience. I mean, I did go back and get a cell through T-Mobile after swearing blood vengeance, didn't I? And I still use Microsoft products despite cursing the company to have the fleas of a thousand camels rest in their armpits. I'm a slave to conveniance. Like any other red blooded american. I need it, and I want it now. I wonder if Walmart has it? Labels: Rant, Walmart -Risawn: # 3:43 PM - |

8.31.2006

Hypocrits Among Us You know, say what you want about the war in Iraq and this presidential administration or whatever your views may be and I'll respect them, even if they're different from mine. But come on people, you do realize that when you put a 'oil bad' sticker on an SUV, you look like a flippen retard, right? I shot this at a stoplight as I was following behind this guy and went 'huh?' I had my camera ready and tried to snap the picture, but it still blurred a bit. If you can't tell what it says, it says "Grand Oil Party" with the republican elephant logo looking a bit like a gas pump. Come on, if you're going to put a sticker on your car that says something like that, make it a fuel efficient vehicle and not a gas guzzler. Gees. Labels: Funny, Rant -Risawn: # 7:15 PM - |

5.13.2006

Celebrities Should Stay Out of Politics I heard on a commercial break for 60 Minutes that the Dixie Chicks are trying for a comeback. Interestingly enough how the dixie chicks have become old news and everything, I'm curious as to how much of a comeback they are going to be able to make. Looking back now, they might think that because the President is suffering record low popularity that maybe people will forgive them or what not and listen to their music again. I'll admit that I like the Dixie Chick's music. Hey, if they make a successful comeback, all the more power to them. One thing that people should understand that you will always have the freedom of speech in this country, however you have to realize that you are not free of consequences suffered because of your speech. Celebrities should take note to hold true to this if they want to keep their careers, unless they wish to sacrifice their popularity for a chance to be heard. Strange, there are plenty of conservative celibrities, but I don't remember them bashing Clinton. And for that matter, I didn't hear a lot of Gore or Kerry bashing either, unless you count Saturday Night Live, to which no politician is exempt. Correct me if I'm wrong. In fact, the conservative celibrities I know about tend to keep their opinions to themselves or just merely show support for their candidate. I don't mind celebrities backing one man, whoever that may be. There is something I have learned in my experience with the world. Politicians, by and large, are crooks with dirt. Mostly because they are human and they make mistakes, and there is always something to dig up on them. A truly honest person, the kind that most people invision as the perfect president, is a person that will never run for office. I'm not a huge Bush fan, I haven't really agreed with his policies inacted while in office, especially of late, and I've also grown greatly disappointed with the Republican Party (one of the reasons why I say I'm conservative and not a Republican), but I still respect the office he holds and the fact that he is President. I still don't regret voting for the man, and maintain that indeed, I am not sorry. Interestingly enough, when you show support of something or somebody, it tends to go over better then to be against something or somebody. Hence, why when all of these celebrities appear to come out against something (namely, our President), their careers start to take a nose dive. Case in point, Alec Baldwin, Bruce Springsteen (anybody hear much about him lately?), Jane Fonda, anybody spoofed in Team America: World Police, and the Dixie Chicks. Seems with the lack of block busters as of late, it seems like Hollywood in general has taken a hit. I know I haven't seen many movies in the theaters late. Somebody should take note. Labels: Not Sorry, Politics, Rant -Risawn: # 6:31 PM - |

4.26.2006

Grudges My orders came in. I'm officially out of the unit I deployed to Kosovo under. I'm under an entirely different command structure, in a completely different job field. They say that one of the things you should never do in the military is talk bad about your unit. I didn't really have a unit to talk up actually. I got along well with my commander most of the time, as well as the other soldier in my section who I shared an office with. I was kind of pitted against the other female soldier in the section, who according to my NCOIC, could do no wrong and he likely considered his prodigy. I was the fifth wheel, I never really belonged in the unit, I never meshed, and I felt like I had no real purpose. It was made very apparent early on in the rotation that I was not needed. The other two soldiers were quick to pick up my duties if need be. I only supplemented them on theirs. And of course, there was my NCOIC. He was a gigantic Ass. I can say that, and I will say that, because he is no longer in my chain of command and there is no threat of him being put in my command again. I'd work with anybody in my section again if I had to, except for him. One of the things I do wish I had done however, is I wished I could have patched things up a bit. I've had a tendency to make enemies in the past. People who weren't great friends on any account, rather I would call them arch nemesis. There was this one girl, Sarah, that owned horses while I was in Jr. High. I befriended her early because we had a mutual love of horses, only to learn that we didn't mesh well. In fact, we came to not like each other at all. Jr High is not a time in my life that stands out greatly to me on any account. I don't think Jr High is a highlight of anybody's existence really. Regardless, when we moved away from there, I was still able to patch things up with Sarah so that I didn't have this lingering sense of grudge baring over my soul. And for the longest time I felt that this was one of my best attributes. That I didn't hold grudges against people. Although I would get frustrated and get enemies, as kids in school often do, I didn't really keep them as enemies. Not saying I made best friends or anything out of the fact, but at least we weren't cursing each other as we passed by. If nothing, we became indifferent to one another. I got on with my life, and that person got on with theirs. That was always a gratifying feeling though, to get on with your life and knowing that you didn't leave hate mongering in your wake. I didn't like to bare grudges, I never did. I still don't, because it doesn't do much for you and the other person likely can care less. Well, one thing I kind of wish I could have done is at least patch things up a little bit with my former NCOIC (sergeant in charge to you civilians out there). I would never consider him a friend or anything of that nature, but I didn't want the hostility between us to eat at me at the very least. So I tried to mend things a couple of times. Turns out, he was even more childish then I was. I went to him trying to discuss the issues at large one on one, and he became hostile at me, told me I was whining and wouldn't let me get a word in edge wise. He threw things back in my face, I was wrong and he wouldn't admit that he was either, even though the Task Force XO, IG and whoever else came back to telling both my NCOIC and my commander that I had been in the right and they were in the wrong. I discovered then that once you got on this guy's bad side, he wouldn't give you the time of day. That was the day I got out from under his command. He hadn't let me do my job as a Preventive Medicine Specialist since September anyway, so there really was no purpose of me being there. In fact, there had never been a purpose for me being in Kosovo. He never trusted me, relied upon me to do anything right. I was the crutch, the fifth wheel of that unit. And I had a blog that I was very vocal on. He did everything in my power to shut me up because he realized that it was his job to monitor me and being the lazy bastard that he was, he wanted less work to do. He got with the captain, they tag teamed me (like they had done several times before) and gave me an order that I didn't have to obey, as it impeded on my right of free speech. When I disobeyed that order, they tried to shut me down. That whole incident really proved to show this man's colors of what kind of person he was and his character. Getting out from under him was the best thing I could have done for myself, as I learned more about leadership when I was out from under him then I ever did from him. If anything, he taught me a lot about what not to be in a leader. After I get out from under him, I did try a couple of times to make ammends. I even offered him Peanut Butter Fudge once (he didn't accept it) and then I learned that I would never make ammends with this person. He was pouty, and he acted increasingly childish, at one meeting at which we were both present, he offered everybody in the room some huckleberry taffy (except me, which he made it a point not to). I think he got mightily offended when I decided to appeal the NCOER (sergeant evaluation report). I'm still in the process of appealing it, though it turns out I have to wait until I'm in my new unit to push it through. After I tried to make some shabby ammends with the guy, I learned, while looking back, that he really didn't deserve the effort on my part. I think it proves that I'm a better person then he is, that I would even try to make an effort especially after all the crap he did to me. Regardless, he turned out to be a genuine Asshole and since he is no longer in my command, I'll say just about anything about the bastard that I want. Unfortunately, I think I will have these feelings of ill-will to this man for the rest of my life. I will likely never see him again, and I have one suggestion to make to him and that is to turn in his 20 year letter because his staying in will not benefit the army one bit, at least, not as a leader, of which his leadership skills are absolutely zilch (two of his soldiers couldn't stand him by the end of the tour and the third was indifferent, only because he is a strong enough character that he'll get by regardless of how poor a leader his NCOIC is, otherwise I think he would have hated the guy too). I can take some solace in the fact that I struck a major nerve with the guy, but fortunately I think I'll move on, learn the lessons that he unintentionally taught me about everything a leader shouldn't be or do, and see if I still have what it takes to be a soldier in the military. I like my new unit so far, I like what they do, the soldiering atmosphere they provide, and feel like I can get back in the swing of things again. Bad leaders are everywhere in the military, I don't think the military is helping matters by promoting everything to sergeant like they've been doing (as one thing I have learned with my time in the military, is not everybody is a leader) but if nothing else, I can try to learn some leadership traits and see if I still have the desire to stay in. I'm going to give this unit a shot. If it doesn't work out, I'm out in a year and a half for good. Labels: Rant, SSGDipshit -Risawn: # 9:08 PM - |

Discussions in Retrospect I have been doing a lot of thinking, most of it in retrospect, and one conversation I had comes to mind frequently. It is also a conversation I had with a person that I feel said a lot about that person at the time, but I failed to read the warning signs and gave him a pass. I posted my feelings about it earlier too, mentioning it here. My former NCOIC was the kind of person that knew everything, had an opinion on everything, and would give you his opinion whether you liked it or not. Its just, the thing is, he didn't know everything, time and time again he proved to be increasingly ignorant, and was just too arrogant to see the matter any way other then his way. Which is probably one of the main reasons why I had a big falling out with the guy. In fact, I learned to despise him. The conversation was about homosexuality. What irritated me about the conversation was that I was told point blank that I was wrong for believing that Homosexuality is wrong. His reasoning was that he felt that if I had a child, that child came out as homosexual, that unless I accepted their lifestyle, I couldn't love them, or something to that effect. What he did was skew my words and made it look that I was closed minded for not accepting something my kid did as wrong. Fortunately, as of now, I don't have kids, but this kind of reasoning is for one, rediculous. What has my kid being gay have anything to do with me loving them or not? I know a lot of people that are gay that are great people. I know people who smoke who are great people. I know a lot of people who do things that I disagree with that are great, awesome people. Because a person is gay doesn't automatically make me hate them. I disagree with their lifestyle. I think it is perverse and wrong. And I will never accept it as being ok. But I can say the same thing with a million other things, like doing drugs, casual sex, listening to rap music, and whatever else that can be on a greater or lesser degree to homosexuality. The problem with being against homosexuality these days is if you think that homosexuality is wrong, you are quick to gain the label of 'homophobe.' By its very nature, that seems to be an irrational fear toward homosexuality. It seems to be a liberal trademark to not want to be labeled, but in the meantime to turn around and label somebody else. The thing is, I don't have a fear of homosexuals, I don't hate them. I just don't agree with them. I will never agree that their lifestyle is ok. You know what I do around these people? I don't bring up the fact that their homosexual. We don't talk about it. That is their business, its something that they do on their own time. It is none of my business, and quite frankly, I don't really want to hear about it. Which brings back the question of what I would do if I had a kid who came out of the closet and admitted that they were gay? What would I do? I would not accept that as an acceptable lifestyle, and I'm sure they would know that I did not accept it as such. But I would also let them know, well before they come out, that I will love them no matter what they do. They are going to make a lot of choices and decisions that I don't agree with, and I will never love them any less because of it. Because no matter who they become or what they do, they will still be my child. The reasoning my former NCOIC gave me really made no sense, and in looking back nearly a year and a half later after it happened, that's how I remembered his reasoning being. Actually, how rediculously stupid and trivial his reasoning seems to me now makes me wonder about a lot of things about the man. But one thing I have discovered since we ceased to talk on friendly terms. Not having to listen to his opinions on everything made life in the last few months of my deployment a lot more bareable. Labels: Rant, SSGDipshit -Risawn: # 8:39 PM - |

3.14.2006

Work Sucks A lot can happen in 15 months. Things change, people change, and I certainly know that I've changed. Well, a lot has changed at my place of employment. I've been working on getting accustomed to these changes, sometimes with a lot of frustration, though I've come to note that things have not necessarily changed for the better. For one, the new Vice President, or somebody way up there in the chain, used to run a dollar store. So now they are trying to run our store like a dollar store because apparently its very efficient. Well, there is a problem with that scenerio. A Dollar Store's selling point is its cheap. People shop there because everything's a dollar. My store has competition. You can rent movies from Blockbuster, Hollywood or Safeway for crying out loud. You can also buy books and stuff from Borders and Barnes & Noble. Buy movies and CDs at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target, all within a driving distance from my employer. Our rates are relatively the same in comparison. People come to us because we have selection and service. However, if you give somebody crappy service, long lines and what not, they aren't going to keep shopping at your store. And dollar stores are not known for their quality service. Our mantra is Best Service in Town. Yeah, right. Lately we've been severely understaffed and what not. Policies have changed and I'm trying to figure them all out. Meanwhile, I'm not having a very fun time, because Hey! I remember the good old days. Now I'm jumping in the middle of things and I'm seeing changes all over the place. Well, I tried to adapt and get along with everything, but a couple of times I slip up and do something wrong. A couple of the people above me keep reeming me out and chewing me out and what not and I'm fed up with it. So I mentioned this to my boss, who wasn't there in an email, just asking her not to have me working under them anymore. I also got rid of my shifts for the rest of this week because honestly, I wasn't feeling very good and I needed a break. Well, the boss calls me telling me that I can't switch out those shifts like that without her approval. I'm listening to this and trying to explain the circumstances, and then she brings up this other issue of me not wanting to work under these two people. She tells me I have to deal with it, and then decides to take that moment to tell me that I have no place complaining about people since she's had seven people complain about me and ask not to work with me because of my attitude and what not. Wow, that's news to me. Ok, how am I supposed to fix this situation if I don't know about it? Ok, people have been irritated by me being a heinous bitch because I'm still trying to figure out the policy but aren't telling me that I'm being a heinous bitch. Sometimes you act a way you don't realize you act like that. If I knew I was bothering people, I would have made an effort to correct it. Apparently my boss decided to correct it by not working me with these people without telling me that there's a problem. But then she tells me to 'Deal with it.' I told her that I'm putting in my two week notice and included a one finger salute. I probably would have worked with them today and tomorrow in regards to the shifts I switched out if she hadn't chosen that moment to throw the news in my face. My year in Kosovo has probably not made me a better person in that regard. Anyway, I guess I've come up with an attitude problem because I really don't put up with a lot of crap these days and, heck, sometimes I likely come off as a heinous bitch without realizing I do that. Although, without sounding too hypocritical, communication has never been a strong suit of mine when dealing with problems I have with people. Now I'm looking for another job. I'll probably not go back to work here for a month or so, I'll do eBay or work on my comic and trying to make a few bucks doing that. I'm thinking of getting employment at a national park, like Yellowstone or something. More news on that later. . . Labels: Rant, Work -Risawn: # 9:08 PM - |

3.03.2006

The last Three Weeks have Signaled Career Change In relation to the last post, I've come to discover that my current job is not right for me. There is a handful of reasons why I went back there. I need just enough money income right now to maintain my current lifestyle, which includes a car payment, insurance, rent and that kind of stuff, and I just want to do something I enjoy, while getting a nice little employee incentive on the side (in this case, kick ass discounts!) Well, since coming back, I've found myself working there more then I want to, and after a couple weeks of work, I got paid today. For the last year, I've been getting a pretty comfortable paycheck. I took one look at this one, realizing I was dealing with idiots that were making me highly frustrated, and thought to myself 'what am I doing here?' I guess one of the reasons for me to come back and work at this place is to help me realize that I need to move on and find something better. That will, you know, actually make me happy. In other words, I need to find something I actually enjoy doing as opposed to doing something that is moderately enjoying at times and other times makes me want to bash skulls. This paycheck isn't worth the stress. I think I'm going to say no to anybody who asks me to work more hours, while I focus on doing several things, such as A) find a better job and B) go back to school. I'm thinking of hitting the community college for Spring Quarter, pick up a few extra credits on the side while I fine tune some of my skills. My parents have told me I may have a knack for free lance journalism. Hey, I've maintained a blog with some readership for over a year. It might work. I just have to sharpen my skills a bit. Labels: Rant, Work -Risawn: # 10:13 PM - |

6 Degrees of Adam Morrison I graduated in '99 from Mead High School. While I was at Mead, for three years I did stats for the men's varsity Basketball team. Being short, I think I was largely invisible to most of them. A couple of years after I graduated, a kid named Adam Morrison came to Mead. From what I hear, he helped take the team to state, which is more then can be said for the three years I was doing stats for them. He got a scholarship to Gonzaga University. He's currently on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a consideration for player of the year. When a local kid makes the cover of Sports Illustrated, this is undoubtedly big news. We got a huge shipment of Sports illustrateds in to meet the demand. And how we did the wait list was retarded. We kind of got a late shipment in, so we started taking down people's names and told them to call us back. Now, when you just take down people's names for a magazine that can be bought just about anywhere with a newstand, there is a good chance that these people may end up getting this magazine somewhere else. Unfortunately for me, I looked at this issue with logic, and a thought about Customer Service, as opposed to the brilliant item at hand that would undoubtedly leave a couple people pissed. We took down the names of about 12 people, when the first shipment of magazines came in. It was our regular shipment, and totaled about nine magazines. We were expecting more, we just didn't know when they would come in. One gentlemen came in looking for the magazine and put his name down on the list, at number 13 or something. He said he would be back around noon, though of course, there was no guarantees that we would get more magazines by that time. He mentioned that he lived kind of far away and it would be inconveniant for him to come back after he was done with his class. Well, luck be have it, we hadn't gotten our second shipment in yet, and out of the nine people on the list, one person had claimed the magazine. Statistics would show that of the original nine people that put their name down, some will not come back to get it. Especially when we took down their names and expected them to contact us. I even told the GSM (Guest Service Manager) on duty that I would bet him money that those people would not come back. The gentlemen came back to get the magazine, he was number 13 on a list when we were expecting more magazines in, and the GSM refused to give him one. That customer knew we had magazines and left very irritable. I would wager that he was at a point where he wouldn't come back to the store. So we lost a sale and potentially we also lost a customer. So, here is where Kami Logic comes in. We have 9 magazines. We have a list of over thirteen people on a list. We are expecting more magazines, one gentlement not in the nines comes back before we get the shipment. So far, of the nine magazines, we've only had one person come back to claim it. This is the gamble. Do I guarantee to piss this customer off in favor of 8 customers that may or may not show up, or do I make the effort to please the customer that is right here in the store at the risk of pissing off one of those eight customers that I sold the magazine to? Now, keep in mind, this is to assume that all eight of these customers will be back in the store before we get another shipment in. Does my logic make sense? I would rather take a risk and please a customer that is right there with money in hand wanting to make the purchase rather then slap him to the side in favor of making sure 8 out of 8 customers have their magazine in case all 8 people make it before the next shipment arrives. Guess what? My odds were correct. Within an hour of that customer leaving, I think 2 people came and picked up the magazine before the next shipment arrived. So we lost the customer, in favor of pleasing 6 other customers that never showed up before the shipment. I wasn't suggesting we do that for every customer, I've just known in my experience in retail that you often have to deal with your customers on a case by case basis. Some customers need to be treated differently then others. And seeing that this man came in the store, put his name down, left, and then came back makes him a special case. When I left, our shipment of over 50 magazines came in. Overall, about 15 people vouched to put their name on a waiting list. Five or six came back before the rest of the shipment came in. We denied at least one the sale. I discovered, after getting really irritated with this whole process, that maybe I need to get out of the customer service business. Becuase I discovered that I don't deal well when I'm working under somebody I disagree with. Especially since technically we are actually in the same position (I'm a GSM too, I just wasn't working in the capacity of the GSM at the time, and I've held the position longer then this other guy has). When other people came in, he started ranting about the problem to them. I'm beginning to suspect that I might not be working there much longer. I have several reasons to quit. Labels: Rant, Work -Risawn: # 9:34 PM - |

3.01.2006

Consumer Brilliance Ok, I've got a biff about a current item on the market presently. Its called the PlayStation Portable. Perhaps you have heard of it? Well, the PSP, for all intensive purposes, like, for playing video games, seems like a pretty cool little gadget. We sell them in my store and all and I've become quite familiar with them. Much like a Nintendo Game Boy, it has games that are created specifically for it. Ok, fairs fair, but what is with the miniature movies? You can buy a movie for a PSP to watch on its tiny little screen. Movies for the PSP cost the same amount as if you were to buy a regular DVD. Heck, sometimes they can be more. But the kicker to it is the only place you can watch this movie is on that tiny little screen of a PSP. I can see the benefits of watching a movie on the go, like on a long car ride or some other type of trip, where you can watch it in peace. But, well, you can only watch a movie in that format on a PSP. At least, as far as I know. Question: what is up with all of these people that think that spending $20.00 on a 2 hour movie to watch on a tiny screen is a good idea? Answer: I don't know, but I'm seeing sucker written all over the place. In the meanwhile, if I want to see a movie, I think I'll stick to DVDs. Thanks. Labels: Movies, Rant, Toys -Risawn: # 2:04 AM - |

2.27.2006

Work is Life I have a confession to make. I'm a sucker. Right now, I am basically working just what I need to work to maintain my bills. Which doesn't require me to work that much. This gives me some free time to sort through my stuff and get my affairs in order while I prepare to go to school and what not. I do have a plan however, it involves getting my own place, after I have significantly downsized my current possessions. Meanwhile, well, I'm a sucker. I don't have to work that much, but if somebody comes up to me, begging me to take a shift that they are trying to get rid of because they are sick/ the shift conflicts with school/ they just want the day off, I undoubtedly grind my teeth, give them a dirty look, and tell them I'll take it. What's wrong with me? Why can't I ever tell a person 'No! I don't want your freakin' shift! I just want to sit at home and burn crap in the fireplace I've been hanging onto for the last ten years for closure! I don't need hours!' Well, actually, the burning of stuff in the fireplace is a bit more information then they need to know (but it has proven very theraputic!) but still, for some reason, I can't tell a person no when they ask me to cover a shift. But hey, its not so bad, right? I mean, it could be that I really do need the money and I can't get enough work, so I'm counting my blessings in the meantime. Now, I have to mail out the last parcel from my first eBay sale and get the ball rolling on my next one. Meanwhile, the army overpaid me on my last paycheck, so for the next year or so of drilling, a portion of my drill paycheck will be going to paying back that debt. How am I not surprised??? Labels: Rant, Work -Risawn: # 10:16 PM - |

Woes from Work When I was looking into a job change with the US Army, somebody mentioned if I wanted to do LPN. To tell you the honest truth, I would like to just get out of the Medical Field altogether. I don't think I could ever do the LPN bit and I'll tell you why. I don't do puke, crap, urine or mucus. Which brings up the question of what will I do if and when I come upon having kids of my own? One thing I don't like about people in the people pleasing business of customer service, is when we offer a public toilet and people decide that they need to use our facilities to do a doozy of a number two, so much so that it plugs up our plumping where we have to get the plunger out. Gross. I don't get paid enough to deal with other people's poop. In a lot of ways, that is where I cross the line. But when we're closing, gosh, we got to clean the bathrooms too. I walk into the male restrooms and low and behold, some customer left me a present. I overhead paged some back up assistence while I started trying to unplug the thing. People, if you really have to go and you know you're going to clog up the toilet, don't go to a public restroom to do it, please for the love of all that is holy. Just do it in your own private toilet. Don't leave it for some other poor soul to have to clean it up after you. It just plain stinks! Labels: Rant, Work -Risawn: # 12:11 AM - |

2.23.2006

The Problem with the 91 Sierra For those of you who don't know, my job within the army is 91S, Preventive Medicine Specialist. In theory, this job is really important to the army. The job itself is the prevention of Disease and Non Battle Injuries. Anything dealing with the prevention of Disease and Non Battle Injuries is detailed by my job. The problem with this is it doesn't necessarily need a soldier to do the job. As is evident by the fact that more and more parts of the job is being contracted out to the civilian sector, leaving the crap parts of the job to the soldier. One of the reasons why I didn't particularly enjoy my times in Kosovo. Another problem with the job is nobody knows what a 91S does outside of the Preventive Medicine Unit. In a hospital, often times everybody looks at the 91S as the red headed step children of the unit. Because we don't deal directly with patients or what not, we often get tasked to do other things. One of the job listings of the 91S should be 'Mundane Details' and 'Peon'. If the first sergeant needed something to get done, she would look first at the people who don't have patient care issues. More often then not, this would be Preventive Medicine. Because nobody knows what Preventive Medicine does, it is somewhat of a Sham Job. That has its positives, to be sure, but because it is a sham job, it also gives an air of being a job that isn't very important. We could make ourselves as busy or non busy as we want to be. Unfortunately for me, I prefer to be busy when I work. With a goal in sight. I never really felt like I got this from my unit. So, one of our main tasks in Kosovo tended to be Inspections. I hate inspections. I loathe them with a passion. I even mentioned this. But I didn't complain about doing inspections, I just mentioned that I didn't like them. More of a statement then anything. I just made it to the wrong people. One of the reasons why I hated doing inspections is because a lot about the inspections is its a judgement call on the part of the inspector. I like things to be written down, black and white. when I did inspections and found people telling me that I shouldn't do something, or somebody else putting something down as being a bigger deal then it was, I was always the one who wasn't listened to. My opinion never seemed to matter. And it seemed when we had one big joint inspection, the only person who made any mistakes always seemed to be me, according to the infinite judgement and wisdom of my former NCOIC, who I have mentioned time and again, is an enormous pompous Asshat. I loathe the man with a passion. Just thinking of him makes my blood start to boil and I want to bash his head in with the buttstock of my M16. Other people in my section often made mistakes too. I noted them, I mentioned them to the enormous pompous Asshat, but he didn't seem to care. He would turn around and point out my mistakes, because the other people in my section were angels that could do no wrong and I was the bastard stepchild. Which brings me to another point of what was wrong with my section. It consisted of a number of soldiers from another unit (I can't mention exact numbers because that would be telling unit strength) who had all worked together and knew each other fairly well. Then there was me. I was the bastard stepchild from day one and I never fully fit in. What makes this worse is that this unit was overstrength as it was. The head sergeant, (who is he who I greatly loathe) never really did anything because he was incredibly lazy. I did mundane jobs here and there that really were not that big of a deal, but looked like a lot on paper (I was never really trusted to be able to do my job I think). The other soldiers in the unit could have easily took over my job duties and did their own with plenty of room to spare. What am I driving at? My section was overstaffed. By two soldiers. I was one of those two soldiers, the idiot who supervised me was the other. Considering how small my section was, this was a lot. And often times we were made to stay a certain length of time just because we had to have somebody man the of