11.27.2007

Decorating the Tree I've gotten a little into the Christmas mood this year, I was noticing how unchristmasy it was feeling without the tree up so I decided that it was time to go decorating it. We have a fake tree that we used last year, and I found a few cheap ornaments to put on it as well as some given by the parents so that our tree isn't completely barren, but I found that I kind of like collecting ornaments. So I went out and bought some today. Our tree is far from anything fancy, in fact probably no presents will go under it (those will be under the parent's tree where we will most likely be spending Christmas morning with our sock and all) but because of the need to feel like it's that time, well, a tree is a given. Unfortunately, ornaments get to be expensive, so I think I'm just going to spend some here and there each year until I get a nice little collection going. And yes, the dollar store is a great place to get some inexpensive ornaments (that can also go on the backside to help even out the weight and everything. I even got a couple little rocking horses for the tree that came from my trip in Innsbrook Austria. No hallmark collector ornaments or anything like that for the time being. Last year was the first time I decorated my own tree. This year is the first year I'm actively seeking to improve on it. Collecting fancy little ornaments. Hmm, I see a tradition in the making! I've got a snowboarding ornament, and now a bunch of fishing themed ones, as well as some fun reindeer playing Twister. I need to go get another pickle from the mall. I also think I want to get a military themed ornament, and maybe some art related ornaments (not crafty, I mean art related). The angel at the top has special significance, she was made by my grandmother. Labels: Christmas, hobbies, holidays -Risawn: # 8:47 PM - |

11.22.2007

Thankful So, today is Thanksgiving, and tomorrow is Black Friday. I was thinking about my retail job and my army job and how different they are from each other. I was working last night and I had this customer who just wouldn't leave me alone. And I just had to smile and say 'it's alright, that's what I'm here for.' When you work retail, you have to kiss the customer's behind. I love being in the army, especially in my line of work, becuase I mainly deal with people of a lower rank then me and if I feel particularly annoyed by them or want to tell them off for whatever reason, I can just let my feelings fly. I don't have to act nice if I don't want to. I can be bluntly and plainly honest. It is a liberating feeling. Anyway, onto the thankful thanksgiving post. I'm thankful for a lot of things. I think I'm more thankful right now then I have ever really been in a long time. I can tell you that I have matured tremendously this year and have grown an appreciation for what really matters in life. I'm thankful I am a practical person, even though I still have my little expendatures on the side like my Guitar Hero III for the Wii that I just purchased on a whim. I'm thankful that I have the family that I do, and how I fit into my family, and the knowledge that no matter what I do, they will always be there to support me if I need it, even if they don't agree with my choices. I'm thankful I've survived for 27 years on this planet without any major catastrophies and without killing anyone. I'm thankful for Turkey, Cranberry Sauce and homemade Mashed potatoes. I'm thankful for the ability to laugh at myself and accept myself for who I am. I'm thankful for the simple things in life, a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. I'm thankful that I do have a car, as I know how much it sucks not having one. I'm thankful to live in a place where it snows and there are mountains nearby. And an emergency room that is accessible in case I need one. I'm thankful for Chocolate covered raisins and banana chips. I'm thankful to be an American and to have experienced everything I have experienced in life thus far. And I'm thankful for the option to sleep in until Noon. I know, I should have hung onto that morning person routine as I'm a more functional person that feels like I get much more done if I wake up before seven but dang, I'm a night owl by nature. Besides, today was my birthday and I indulged myself by sleeping in and playing guitar hero III. Which I suck (I haven't been practicing on my guitar like I should be) but it's still a lot of fun and makes for good old fashioned family entertainment! Labels: Guitar, holidays, Video Games -Risawn: # 7:13 PM - |

12.27.2006

Christmas, 2006 I consider myself a practical person. And apparently, I'm very difficult to shop for on account that, well, I'm a practical person that doesn't need a lot of stuff, and if I do, I tend to buy it before somebody else can. I've been told by my family members that I'm one of the hardest people in my family to buy for. Christmas was considerably toned down and not very commercial from Christmas's past. To help with the family, I let them know what I wanted, and more specifically, what I could REALLY use that I couldn't necessarily provide for myself, or that I can never have to much of. I asked for socks (got six pairs :) and a recipe book with some of my mother's easier to make recipes in them. I prefer not to get things that are kitschy that clutter the house, like figurines, decorations, or picture frames (which I never use) unless there is a picture in the picture frame and I can hang it on the wall. Gift certificates are always nice and save people a lot of trouble. So what was my haul this year? It was pretty humble really. Six pairs of socks, a pair of pajamas (I'm currently wearing), a cookbook, a frame with my last name done up fancy, a gas card (SWEET!), Pajama Bottoms (seperate from the Pajamas), a CD, a breadmaker (brother/roommate's idea, and therefore combined gift), a couch quilt. . . or something?, and a few other gifts. My big gift for me is going to be a new laptop that I'll be purchasing this week. Its kind of going to be a necessity with school, my current computer doesn't have the capability of running this software I'll need. I've also decided on a rule for it. I will only go online for official school business. Playing, surfing the internet, writing stories, whatever, will be reserved for my beat up but otherwise dependable but not to the degree I need it to be current laptop. I'm also going snowboarding with my season pass this Thursday. YES. I'm going. And nothing short of a blizzard or me just waking up with no motivation to move will stop me. Hope everyone had a merry christmas, and here's looking to 2007! Labels: Christmas, holidays -Risawn: # 1:30 AM - |

11.01.2006

Halloween Aftermath So Halloween has come and gone. I got dressed up briefly for answering the door, but it became to much of a hassle to finaggle with the costume so I put it to the side and answered the door with a Ferret on my shoulder. I was a demon cow pirate. I guess I'll put up some pictures in a little bit. Meanwhile, we watched Night of the Living Dead (classic), Return of the Living Dead, (cheesy) and Evil Dead 2 (cult fave!). Mostly we had them on in the background. All in all, exactly 27 trick or treaters throughout the night. I still have some candy left, which I really don't need. Also, put up a Halloween Centric Comic. Lot's of laughs. Or not? Labels: Comic, Halloween, holidays -Risawn: # 12:27 PM - |

10.27.2006

In The Halloween Spirit I mutilated a Pumpkin this week. Its been a while since I carved a pumpkin. I had to plan out the pumpkin of course. My sister's pumpkin is the 'cute' one. Once I got the idea of what I wanted to do, I grabbed the knife and dove right in. If you put anything that can be used as a weapon in my hand, I guess I get this happy look in my face. This is the final product. Um, nothing too fancy. I've never been an artist at carving pumpkins. The two pumpkins in the front were done by my niece and nephew. They are 3 and 4, and we thought maybe they were a bit young to be handling knives, so we gave paint brushes instead. There were faces on those pumpkins for a minute. . . Labels: Halloween, holidays, Pictures -Risawn: # 10:19 PM - |

5.08.2006

Bloomsday Aftermath Oh, The Pain!!! I know better then to run a 12K roadrace cold turkey, but due to total lack of motivation lately, I haven't been working up to running Bloomsday like I probably should have. Which has caused me to be in a wee bit of pain the next day, which makes walking down stair cases torture. But still, I found this running of Bloomsday (Spokane's own personal holiday) to be a kick in the pants. For lack of a better word. I ran it with my brother, sister and their spouses (who are incidentally also related to each other, but I promise its legal). Bloomsday has a new way of doing things, everyone starts at the same start point and each individual has their own computerized chip chaffing their ankle to time when we go across the start line all the way to the finish. I thought i did fairly well, considering I had ran this thing cold turkey. Its a 12K road race, and I did it in roughly 1 hour and 35 minutes. I could stand to get out and run a bit more, and I likely would have gotten a better time if I didn't take my iPod with me. I had to stop to adjust it every time it fell out of my ear or just to set it up. Meanwhile, I ended up running most of it to Linkin Park, I needed something pretty high energy to keep me going and get my mind off of the fact that my body didn't like running that much, uphill and what not. All in all, I think I ran about 95% of it. Not bad in my opinion. Not bad at all. The t-Shirts are this orange color, normally something I likely wouldn't wear, but I thought they were cool. Now however, I'm suffering from the aftermath of running that much cold turkey. Stairs are torture to walk down and my thighs scream at me every time I want to do something simple, like get out of bed. Still, all in all, I have made this a good motivation to take this opportunity to get my soar muscles into action and run regularly. . . starting tomorrow. Labels: Bloomsday, health, holidays, Running -Risawn: # 3:52 PM - |

12.23.2005

That Time Of Year Santa visited us here in Kosovo. I asked for a Pistol for Christmas. See previous post as to why. Labels: Christmas, Guns, holidays -Risawn: # 1:04 PM - |

12.08.2005

I Wish You a Merry Christmas One more week of class and I'm done with school. A part of me is wondering what I was thinking when I signed up to take classes this close to going home, but for the most part, it's been nice to refresh up on my Deutsches Sprechen, and I forgot how much I love science. I'm a geek of the worst sense. Still don't know my grade for the Harry Potter class. My family apparently got my christmas message. I didn't want to say anything about it, it was sort of a surprise that I wanted to do. Back in early November, they gave us the option of recording a message to send back to a news station in the states where you can wish your family and friends a merry christmas. They will then air it on TV and let your family know when it will show up. Well, my initial message was something along the lines of me saying "This is SGT Erickson in Camp Bondsteel Kosovo, I just want to wish my family and friends back home a Merry Christmas, I'll see you soon!" For some reason, I got the brilliant idea that I should wish my family a merry christmas all by name. Well, considering I've got 5 brothers and sisters, plus my parents, after rambling through their names, and wishing their kids a merry christmas as well (and conveniantly forgetting the spouses) I was wondering if this was such a good idea. It took me two times to record it, most people just said it and went on. So, Mom, how was it? Was it as bad as I think it is? Labels: Christmas, holidays -Risawn: # 10:52 AM - |

11.11.2005

The Star Spangled Banner - Handle with Care Today is Veteran's day, for those of you who did not know. As such, on my first deployment, I have attained true Veteran Status to the point that I can sign up at my local cahpter of the VFW. Well, on any patriotic event here in Kosovo, we have a formation. Today was no different. I'm not going to comment much on the formation itself, besides the fact that it was foggy and cold, and fortunately very brief, but I would like to make a point to bring up today's rendition of the National Anthem. I don't know where to begin. See, to me, the Star Spangled Banner has in times past envoked emotions within me that have led me to shed tears. It is a powerful song of incredible influence over a crowd. I remember standing up at Basketball games in High School and face the flag with everyone else in the crowd as my throat would start to hurt and I tried to keep myself from crying. It has often had that sort of impact on me. I have always loved this song. The one fault of the song is that not just anybody can successfully sing it. I know I can't, not at the top of my lungs at least. In fact, one of the greatest criticisms of this song is the fact that it attains octaves that most normal human beings can't reach. It is a song that can bring you to tears, or cause you to cringe in pain. Today, I cringed in pain. I stood there in formation, at the position of Present Arms, trying not to do anything to give away my displeasure at how the song was performed. It was sung by three or four people trying to harmonize together (I don't know the exact numbers because I could not see the stage due to the brilliance of putting the tall people to the front of the formation and making all of us pipsqueaks stand toward the rear) who I would wager by themselves would have performed the song well. But singing it together, well, at one point I thought they were screaming into the microphone, it sounded awful. I don't think they even practiced before hand, because if somebody would have heard them singing together, they would have canceled that right then and there and found a different arrangement. This performance rivaled that of Rosanne. I love my country. I pray that I never have to cringe at the performance of its national anthem again. Labels: holidays, Rant, Yikes -Risawn: # 12:38 PM - |

10.31.2005

This is Halloween! I love Halloween. Its the one time of year you can totally dress as something you're not and get away with it. Maybe because I'm a fantasy nut, but whatever the case, I'm just one of those people that enjoys living in a fantasy world. Though today, I kind of did the soldier routine. I thought about putting on a star and being a general for Halloween, but some people might not take to kind to me impersonating an officer. Even if it's for halloween. So what did we do? Well, we had the option to dress up as long as it didn't interfere with our work duties and the costume could be worn over our uniform. Yeah, I know, takes all of the fun out of it, and there isn't a lot of costume options here in country unless you utilyze the internet. Gosh, what did soldiers do in the good ol' days to get by each day without the internet anyway? So, they still had a costume contest and a haunted house, which was basically sponsored by Task Force Med Falcon. Kind of last minute I was asked if I wanted to help with the Haunted House (which was made out of one of the Bunkers, so it was really a Haunted Bunker), and I said sure, why not? It turned out to be fun, I was positioned behind a tarp with holes cut through it and as people passed I grabbed them. Kind of one of those unexpected things, as it was kind of dark in the Bunker with scary music playing in the background and people popping out of coffins and chewing on their own arms (we even had a Mummy!) Yeah, I guess there are good things about being deployed in a Fairly calm area such as Kosovo. You can't do 25 K roadmarches in Iraq, that's for sure, and I'm not sure what kind of places they have around those parts for Haunted Bunkers. And I think I'm over my anger issues. I just need to take a chill pill now and again and stop making mountains out of molehills. I think we came to a mutual understanding and now we are on good terms. Hopefully this can remain this way for the rest of this deployment. Damn, I hate being mad at people. (my left foot would have won the grossest costume award, it looks nasty!) Labels: Halloween, holidays -Risawn: # 1:38 PM - |

9.18.2005

Avast, Ye Scurvy Land Lubbers, Today be 'International Talk Like A Pirate' day, and I be celebrating in full force, and we be making it International indeed. Aargh. . . Though we pirates in the confined to the land mass of the balkans celebrate our holidays a wee bit early. The Treasure Hunt was most successful, and I be adding to my collection of Jolly Rogers and Fine Tunics of Cotton. But alas, we ran awry when confronted by scurvy dogs that brought out the guns and aimed balls of water at we, attempting to send us to Davy Jones' Locker. We managed to hold out and fight another battle. All posts made on this fine day will be in Pirate Speak. Aargh! Labels: holidays -Risawn: # 10:49 PM - |

7.04.2005

The Fourth in Kosovo So, another holiday in Kosovo has come and gone. And I am now back at work. It was nice to get a two day weekend for once (we work on Saturdays) but not entirely. Monday started with a Formation to Celebrate the independence of our great nation, which also had dignitaries from Kosovo and some of our other multi-national allies who attended. Fortunately, the last couple of days have been overcast, unlike the hot Tattooine type cloudless skies that have been beating down on us for the last month or so. Still, the formation was the last place many people wanted to be. Most people expected to have the day off, so that just means a chance to sleep in. You don't know how much this little luxury means to a lot of people. Anyway, in the middle of the Star Spangled Banner, a formation of Apaches flew over our head, Eight in all, five in the lead and three in the rear and did a cool little formation thing. Wish I had my camera, but alas, I was in formation. The rest of the day, I was a bum. Meaning I didn't do a whole lot of anything. I wanted to play with fire works but we are in a combat zone known to many as Kosovo. No fireworks for us. I came up with a great idea of firing tracers up into the sky all at once, but that would have probably not been a good idea. *note sarcasm* One of my friends suggested this to get my firework fix. I did a lot of clicks to get a grand finale going a couple of times, so I'll take what I can get. You know, you take for granted things like Fireworks on the Fourth Of July until you are in a place where you can't see them. And to think in the past, I got into my Bum phase and just wrote off the whole firework experience so I could do something less important. They had a lot of activities going on all weekend, I wanted to get in on a few of them, but I had a PT test on Sunday where I strained my leg running that 2 miles, and now I'm having difficulty moving. But the sacrifice was worth it, I passed the PT test and now have to heal my leg so I can shave two minutes or so off my run. I already improved my situps by 18. And then it rained all Sunday and most of the activities got canceled. And somebody threw a grenade in Pristina and now all unneccessary missions have been canceled until further notice. Yesterday was actually a really pretty day, overcast which helped things cool down and it looked like it wanted to rain, but refrained. The Multi-Nationals came and competed against us, we had a Tug-o-war competition and the Greeks kicked our butts. It was rather funny watching them wave their flag around and chant "Hellas! Hellas!" over and over again as they creamed all of the competetion. And they kicked butt in Soccer too. Yes, nothing like celebrating Independence day like getting your butt kicked by people in other nations. Hah. A few British soldiers even showed up. We asked them if they were celebrating the Fourth of July with us. The irony was a little, well, Ironic. We chatted with them for a little while, they were pretty cool and all, and we even offered to buy them some drinks (non alcoholic of course, seeing that Bondsteel is a no drinking zone). All but one declined. Then of course, I called home and talked with my family for a while. That felt good. After a while, since phone calls are limited, I went to my room and chatted via Yahoo IM. A few technical difficulties later, I was forced to go to bed finally, as I had to get up early for work. Today. I realized how much I really miss the states. It will be good to be home, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying myself here as best as I can. Labels: Army, Europe, holidays, Kosovo, Life -Risawn: # 10:53 PM - |

12.24.2004

Tis the Season A few months back, my brother Jerardo was looking for a video game for Xbox that he just couldn't seem to find. However, I could order it through my work so I did. For some reason, it proved to be a pain to get a hold of because it wouldn't come in for quite some time. Anyway, I left for training, am back in town on Christmas Leave, and low and behold, the game came in a few days ago. So I bought it with all these intentions of wrapping it up and surprising him with this hard to find game. *grumble grumble* He bought it four days ago. Now I know what my parents mean when they lament about how hard he is to shop for. The thing is, I'm the same way. Merry Christmas Everyone. Labels: Christmas, holidays -Risawn: # 5:38 PM - |

Merry Washington Christmas Well, there's 'good' news for washingtonians this christmas eve. Chris Gregoire is finally putting an end to the governor fiasco. See, she 'won' the last recount so now she's governor. Governor my ass. You don't hold recounts until you get your votes, that's bullcrap. The lady pisses me off to no end. I would have been fine with her as governor if she had won fair and square, but she didn't. Unfortunately, this entire thing was in her hands to begin with. She should have conceded before and not many people will take her seriously as governor if she gets it. Look at it this way. This was a solid blue state that went to Kerry pretty easily. Yet it was that close for governor, meaning that several people crossed party lines wanting to get Gregoire out of there. Doesn't that say something about her? Yeah, I think it does. She strung it out this long, now Rossi is fighting. I hope he does. It might have to be held in another election, which I sincerely hope it doesn't but at this point that might make more sense. If it does, I say hold another election, whoever wins, wins, and no more of this bullcrap. If luck holds out, enough people who voted for Gregoire might be so pissed at her for dragging it out that they will either sway at the polls or stay at home. Unfortunately, either I'll have to sit it out or vote absentee. Labels: Christmas, Elections, holidays -Risawn: # 1:42 PM - |

11.25.2004

It's Thanksgiving Yes, it is that day where we all come together with our family, plop onto an extra large table, and eat a bit fat turkey (and otherwise gorge ourselves). I'm fortunate to have my entire family here this week, which is saying something. I've got a large family and we don't always get to see one another (and I will be the missing person for a while) Plus, there's a possibility I may be able to go to Lookout Pass, which is the only ski resort within driving distance that has a chance of being open before i go. But I still got a lot to do and tomorrow is the only day I can go snowboarding. So a part of me hopes it will open tomorrow, and a part of me hopes I don't have the excuse of going. I'm borderline here, I really want to go but I really do have a lot I have to do and going would be kind of irresponsible. That, and I'm a huge procrastinator and I brush things off to last minute over and over and over again. Anyway, it is the holidays, and I really should be with my family. Today will henceforth be quiet, and unfortunately, my blog will be getting quieter as well. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I for one have much to be thankful for. (maybe later I'll post something to that affect. Labels: family, holidays, Snowboarding, Thanks -Risawn: # 11:45 AM - |

10.31.2004

Halloween, take 2 Halloween comes but once a year, and it has been the one holiday that I have consistantly done something with on my webcomic Creature, mostly because Halloween is all about dressing up and pretending to be something your not and Creature is kind of about that (though not so much yet, despite the fact of being nearly 3 years old). Well, Presidential Elections come once every four years, and I had to take advantage of that. I knew there was a reason why the election is held on the first Tuesday AFTER HALLOWEEN! Let's combine the two! However, a good deal of my readership is liberal, and I'm definitely conservative. So to appease both of sides of the political spectrum (and the mantra that Politics and entertainment don't mix), I ripped on both major political candidates. I don't know if I did it harshly enough or not, however. I cut out one scene of a bunch of trick or treaters dressing up as Kerry, Bush and Nader (with a punchline for Nader that I conveniantly forgot how I was going to do), but ended up cutting it because I didn't know how to get it into the flow of the comic. Balderdash. Still, something about the timing is off, it needs something more and I don't know what. Ah well, I still think its funny. And maybe even an irregular reader of Creature will get it? Labels: Comic, Creature, Elections, Halloween, holidays -Risawn: # 2:01 AM - |

10.29.2004

Halloween Update Well, I mentioned before about my Halloween Costume, in all its righteous coolness. But myself, being the heavy procrastinator that I am, put it off and put it off until I was scraping to get it done the last minute. Well, it will look cool, but I won't be able to use it this year. That, and I made an error. See, I made the mask completely by hand, using Plaster Gauze and sculpty mold. The mask does look awesome so far, I just got a few more touch ups to do and then I can paint it, but I'm using a harness off of a protective mask to secure it to my head. I was supposed to leave plenty of room for my ears, but I screwed up and made the jaw straps a hair to high. My ears are covered. Damn. Well, I did learn a lot about mask making while making this mask. I was chronicalling the making of the mask through pictures, unfortunately my brother asked if he could borrow my camera and I let him, and therefore i didn't get the last part of the mask taken care of! Why did I let him use my camera? I curse myself. Anyway, some parts of the mask making turned out to be kind of fun. Well, I was going to make some ears to go with the mask (that is now pointless, becuase the mask harness goes over the ears now *growls* and I discovered Algenate, which is awesome awesome stuff. I had to put on a dorky looking bald cap to cover my hair so I would still have some in tact. It was goopy and runny. Oh, it felt good. I love slimy substances. Like for instances, my foot throwing days. Algenate makes a really nice mold. You have to wrap it in plaster gauze if you flop it on your head, but it comes out really nice. I have no pictures of the result. My brother took my camera. Plaster gauze masks. Yay! And back with the bald cap. Plaster is much harsher on your hair then algenate is. And don't forget the lubricant, in this case, petroleum jelly. I would have stripped my eyebrows if I had forgotten it. And I'm kind of fond of my eyebrows, thank you very much. So anyway, I had my base, my ear molds, and I just had to finish the damn thing. And Now my mask is just in the final stages. Looking really cool, but rubbing against my ears (you can see where I put these little buttons on the mask picture, five of them to secure it to my face.) And unfortunately, my digital camera is somewhere in Utah at this time. I might just have to borrow my sisters. I have to admit, that I owe a lot of this mask to my friend Ravyn, who inspired me to go this route. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but didn't know where to begin. I think I'll pimp her skills, she made a wolf mask, which is kind of the same direction that I'm looking to go at this time. The last picture I took, where I was getting somewhere, was halfway through the sculptamold stage. It looks like, er, nothing. GAAAHHH!!! I need my camera! (must call sister and hijack hers!) UPDATE - I hijacked the sister's camera. Took some pictures of the current mask. It still needs some work, but coming along in my opinion. Still not done, but will look very good once it's painted and smoothed out and all. It's still in a very rough form. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I should do about covering the harness. That's still a mystery. Update Numero Dos The ear molds, in their entirity. They got a bit banged up unfortunately. Major coolness dude. I don't think I'll be able to use them as I had intended however. Labels: Halloween, hobbies, holidays -Risawn: # 3:22 PM - |

6.19.2004

Summer Solstace Ah, the longest day of the year. One of these days, I am going to specifically ASK for this day off and enjoy it from sun up until sun down, by doing things that are outside in the sun. Just not today. No, I have to go to work. I'm leaving here in a second. Labels: holidays, Random, Work -Risawn: # 10:33 PM - |

5.04.2004

Bloomsday Bloomsday Pictures are in. And I'm still in pain. I need to go out and jog and loosen my muscles up, if they would let me. Labels: Bloomsday, health, holidays, Ouch, Pain, Running -Risawn: # 9:51 PM - |