March 2011

It’s Been That Kind of Week

moocowinthecity 2011-03-26 No Comments

From Sunday: 11 Weeks (84 Actual Days, 60 Work days) Until I Finish The Army

We are officially at the beginning of the end folks. 84 days until I have a real life again, 84 days until I’ll be moving on with my career, 84 days until I’ll be able to start earning money again and get off of army welfare and army food stamps, 84 days until I can write down everything about my day because none of it will be top secret, 84 days until I close what has been an incredibly exciting, three year, chapter of my life.

אוג’ 08′

I decided that as my going away present to those who I work with, I’m making a CD of songs that I’ve listened to on repeat during certain periods of my army career (like the song I listened to on my draft day, the songs I listened to during basic training, during my NCO course, etc.). Above is the CD cover I made. I like it because the symbol for the IDF Ground Forces Command is behind me, as I’m moving forward, and the symbol of the Education & Youth Corps on my beret is in the forefront moving forward towards the future.

“I could never get the hang of Thursdays…”

Last Wednesday I was a couple of blocks away from the explosion in Jerusalem. Due to one of those weird turns of fate (or, grace of God if you prefer) I wasn’t there. Earlier in the day I had planned to finish what I was doing and either visit my friend in Ma’aleh Adumim or return to Tel Aviv and work from HQ. I had decided I was going to go back to HQ, so I called my friend in Ma’aleh Adumim and canceled. Then, for some reason, I decided to let work go for awhile (something I rarely do) and decided to continue on a tour with my friends instead. I called my commander and he had no problem with it, so off we went.

Had I went to Ma’aleh Adumim, I’d have been at that bus stop and around the time the bomb exploded. Had I decided to return to Tel Aviv, my bus would have dropped me off at the bus stop at around the time the bomb exploded. I’ll talk more about rockets and bombs and things in my travelogue (which I hope to be putting out tonight, since it’s 8 months due) so I’ll save you all the x-posting.

Job Hunting, Dating, The Real World

I’m incredibly excited to be moving forward with my education and my career…I’m chomping at the bit at this point. I’m really attempting (and hopeful) that I’ll be able to finish all of the training that I need to get a good start on the professional portion of my career (when I’ll actually be doing field work, instead of learning about it) within the next seven years…which would put me at 32, which for an academic and field linguist isn’t such a bad starting age.

Dating is something I’m looking forward to as well, though I’m also slightly cringing at the prospect at the same time. I’m not exactly the easiest person to date: I’m intense, active, slightly to moderately weird and sometimes people find it hard to keep up. I also need someone who I find interesting, who is equally (or more active) and who holds my attention.

I understand that dating isn’t easy, across any age range or sexuality…the whole kissing frogs until finding the handsome prince thing, but there has got to be an easier way than constantly going on dates. I may try speed dating (…gay Jewish speed dating?)…we’ll see. I am looking forward to getting back out there though…if nothing else, for the stand up material.

More later. Now, time for coffee and the travelogue.

It’s Been That Kind of Week

moocowinthecity 2011-03-26 No Comments

From Sunday: 11 Weeks (84 Actual Days, 60 Work days) Until I Finish The Army

We are officially at the beginning of the end folks. 84 days until I have a real life again, 84 days until I’ll be moving on with my career, 84 days until I’ll be able to start earning money again and get off of army welfare and army food stamps, 84 days until I can write down everything about my day because none of it will be top secret, 84 days until I close what has been an incredibly exciting, three year, chapter of my life.

אוג’ 08′

I decided that as my going away present to those who I work with, I’m making a CD of songs that I’ve listened to on repeat during certain periods of my army career (like the song I listened to on my draft day, the songs I listened to during basic training, during my NCO course, etc.). Above is the CD cover I made. I like it because the symbol for the IDF Ground Forces Command is behind me, as I’m moving forward, and the symbol of the Education & Youth Corps on my beret is in the forefront moving forward towards the future.

“I could never get the hang of Thursdays…”

Last Wednesday I was a couple of blocks away from the explosion in Jerusalem. Due to one of those weird turns of fate (or, grace of God if you prefer) I wasn’t there. Earlier in the day I had planned to finish what I was doing and either visit my friend in Ma’aleh Adumim or return to Tel Aviv and work from HQ. I had decided I was going to go back to HQ, so I called my friend in Ma’aleh Adumim and canceled. Then, for some reason, I decided to let work go for awhile (something I rarely do) and decided to continue on a tour with my friends instead. I called my commander and he had no problem with it, so off we went.

Had I went to Ma’aleh Adumim, I’d have been at that bus stop and around the time the bomb exploded. Had I decided to return to Tel Aviv, my bus would have dropped me off at the bus stop at around the time the bomb exploded. I’ll talk more about rockets and bombs and things in my travelogue (which I hope to be putting out tonight, since it’s 8 months due) so I’ll save you all the x-posting.

Job Hunting, Dating, The Real World

I’m incredibly excited to be moving forward with my education and my career…I’m chomping at the bit at this point. I’m really attempting (and hopeful) that I’ll be able to finish all of the training that I need to get a good start on the professional portion of my career (when I’ll actually be doing field work, instead of learning about it) within the next seven years…which would put me at 32, which for an academic and field linguist isn’t such a bad starting age.

Dating is something I’m looking forward to as well, though I’m also slightly cringing at the prospect at the same time. I’m not exactly the easiest person to date: I’m intense, active, slightly to moderately weird and sometimes people find it hard to keep up. I also need someone who I find interesting, who is equally (or more active) and who holds my attention.

I understand that dating isn’t easy, across any age range or sexuality…the whole kissing frogs until finding the handsome prince thing, but there has got to be an easier way than constantly going on dates. I may try speed dating (…gay Jewish speed dating?)…we’ll see. I am looking forward to getting back out there though…if nothing else, for the stand up material.

More later. Now, time for coffee and the travelogue.

Transition

moocowinthecity 2011-03-21 No Comments

I am tired, exhausted, getting ready to move to yet another city (I’ve lived in Zichron Ya’akov, Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Zikim, Ashdod and as of next week Jerusalem in what amounts to a glorified hostel), behind on emails, lacking any and all energy, overloaded with work, burdened with training a new commander, his deputy (since she’ll be taking over for me since I’m not signing contract) while also training (and in some cases re-training) three soldiers…lacking nutritionally satisfying food, attempting to not panic about the work situation in the US, refreshing my inbox and waiting for a letter to come to say I’ve been accepted into the M.A. program, waiting to hear back from the Plainview Volunteer Fire Department in the hopes that I’ve been accepted as a volunteer so I don’t have to pay to be an EMT, am both excited and slightly bummed that the next round of EMT training I can do will be in September, I was hoping for August, am reflective on my army service and slightly sad that I wasn’t really able to do what I wanted over the past three years, proud however that I gave the army what it needed and always did my best, overjoyed that I got to become an NCO and a specialist…because if nothing else five of the six guys I was on course with became my brothers and literally made my entire army experience, sad that I’m not leaving the army as an officer despite having letters of recommendation from two of the former commanders of the officers school and recommendations from a half dozen people, including Lt. Colonels…all because one very small man stood in my way and didn’t want me to leave, which wound up with me leaving anyway,  but happy because this entire experience stopped me from making the terrible mistake of ever wanting to work in an office environment because if I’ve learned anything over these past three years it’s that I fucking hate working in an office…and need to be doing fieldwork…happy I got to build the first Ground Forces Wide ESL program, sad that there’s no one to continue it…and just a mixture of a hundred other emotions that I know will hit into a brick wall on June 19, 2011 at around 14:00hrs when I once again become a civilian…and my days filled with missions, important phone calls around the world, constantly keeping up training to do emergency evacuations and a dozen other things will, with the snap of a finger, become totally irrelevant…and the only thing I’ll be doing in July is re-integrating and relaxing…and de-stressing…and much like the small steps necessary to achieve anything in life, August I will find a job, September I will enter the EMT program and October I will enter the M.A. program…and hopefully by November I’ll at least back on the dating scene because it’s been too long and life is too short.

Transition

moocowinthecity 2011-03-21 No Comments

I am tired, exhausted, getting ready to move to yet another city (I’ve lived in Zichron Ya’akov, Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Zikim, Ashdod and as of next week Jerusalem in what amounts to a glorified hostel), behind on emails, lacking any and all energy, overloaded with work, burdened with training a new commander, his deputy (since she’ll be taking over for me since I’m not signing contract) while also training (and in some cases re-training) three soldiers…lacking nutritionally satisfying food, attempting to not panic about the work situation in the US, refreshing my inbox and waiting for a letter to come to say I’ve been accepted into the M.A. program, waiting to hear back from the Plainview Volunteer Fire Department in the hopes that I’ve been accepted as a volunteer so I don’t have to pay to be an EMT, am both excited and slightly bummed that the next round of EMT training I can do will be in September, I was hoping for August, am reflective on my army service and slightly sad that I wasn’t really able to do what I wanted over the past three years, proud however that I gave the army what it needed and always did my best, overjoyed that I got to become an NCO and a specialist…because if nothing else five of the six guys I was on course with became my brothers and literally made my entire army experience, sad that I’m not leaving the army as an officer despite having letters of recommendation from two of the former commanders of the officers school and recommendations from a half dozen people, including Lt. Colonels…all because one very small man stood in my way and didn’t want me to leave, which wound up with me leaving anyway,  but happy because this entire experience stopped me from making the terrible mistake of ever wanting to work in an office environment because if I’ve learned anything over these past three years it’s that I fucking hate working in an office…and need to be doing fieldwork…happy I got to build the first Ground Forces Wide ESL program, sad that there’s no one to continue it…and just a mixture of a hundred other emotions that I know will hit into a brick wall on June 19, 2011 at around 14:00hrs when I once again become a civilian…and my days filled with missions, important phone calls around the world, constantly keeping up training to do emergency evacuations and a dozen other things will, with the snap of a finger, become totally irrelevant…and the only thing I’ll be doing in July is re-integrating and relaxing…and de-stressing…and much like the small steps necessary to achieve anything in life, August I will find a job, September I will enter the EMT program and October I will enter the M.A. program…and hopefully by November I’ll at least back on the dating scene because it’s been too long and life is too short.