A Short Background Intro

My life journey has led me to learn a lot of different things from different locations and different people.  In my 31 years of life thus far, I have definitely had my eyes opened to life on many occasions.  Growing up, I spent a lot of time moving around, and never stayed at the same school for more than a year or two.  I learned to get along with a plethora of personalities and how not to judge others for being themselves.  I also found my love of books.  Being able to immerse myself into a book was a freedom that could go with me regardless of the location.  I am happy that even now, I can still possess that ability.

I enlisted into the Air National Guard 3 days after my 18^th birthday.  After 11 and a half years of service (8 of those active duty), I found myself immersed in military intelligence and was even paid to learn Chinese.  Four and a half years ago I was blessed with my own miracle in the form of my son.  As a single mother, I feel like I learn new things each and every day, and so much life is lived between the tiny spaces as I watch another being grow before my very eyes. 

Maintaining my gypsy lifestyle of youth while serving in the military I was unable to finish my college degree.  I finally found a way to be a full-time student and commit to it a year and a half ago when I started attending the University of Advancing Technology.  Currently I am studying for a B.S. in Advancing Computer Science.  Prior to attending college, I put the wheels into motion for getting a cookbook published and am working on it in between the rare moments of "free" time.  Somewhere amidst my crazy life I also decided that becoming a health coach was a good thing, becuase I must not have had too much to do already.  I have loved it though!  I feel healthier, more energentic and more confident than ever now that I am a Beachbody Coach!  ( My Coaching Site)

Life has definitely had many ups and downs for me, but if you are new to my blog, I just want you to know that taking the time out of your crazy and busy life means the world to me.  I would love to hear from you.  

The Flip

The Flip is written by Michael Phillip Cash and is about a married couple that flips houses.

Julie is the wife and works full time, devoting her additional time to flipping houses in hopes of gaining enough capital to one day quit her job.  Brad is the husband who is very handy at fixing things around the house, which led him to meet Julie.  He does most of the dirty work with the house flipping.

When discovering a house with a price that is just “too good to be true”, Julie can’t pass up the opportunity to fix up an old house on Bedlam street in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island.  There are so many quirky and antique features that she can’t help but fall in love with, even dreaming on fixing it up enough to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast.  Brad does not feel the love for the house the Julie does and views the project as more than it is worth.  He finds himself hating the house more with each moment he spends gutting it out and fixing it up.  Not long before the project is begun, there are a series of strange occurrences that seem to only be logical if explained by paranormal behavior. 

Cash has written a book that delivers believable humans, and also paints a picture of paranormal duo with a rich history between them.  It is very interesting to read this book from the living and the paranormal aspects equally.

The Flip is a fast paced read and easy to get into, it is easy to picture many of the features and events that take place.  Unfortunately I was also left with a lot of unanswered questions in relation to things such as the sentinels.  I couldn’t find the rapid pace of the romance between certain characters as being plausible to suddenly speed up and show acceptance with such a small event.  It made no sense that this power would not have been exerted over the annoying paranormal duo before now. 

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars.  The beginning and the middle of the book were spectacular, but the end and the wrap up were enough to bring a lesser book down to a mere 3 stars.  The quality of Cash’s overall writing and the way that a reader can get into the book make it hard to award less than the 4 stars.  I wish the ending was completely scrapped and rewritten, or perhaps the books had more events to lead up the final outcome.  I would definitely read another of his books, and hopefully there will be better closure.  I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading fiction, historical fiction, romance, paranormal, ghost, military, civil war era, etc.

*I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Random Essay About Learning Chinese

*I was going through some things this evening on my computer and came across this short essay.  I honestly have no idea what it was for and was written in 2005, but thought it was kind of funny and wanted to share it.  Enjoy!

It is always intriguing to see the varied reactions I get from people when I tell them that I know Chinese.  Many people discount my Chinese ability based upon my appearance as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman.  Of all the times in my life that I have had to use perseverance and determination to accomplish my goals, I would have to say that learning Mandarin Chinese was in the top. 

Working as an intelligence analyst initially piqued my interest in China, and with it the determination to learn the language, although getting to a place to learn was a rocky road for me.   I initially began looking into becoming a linguist while remaining in the Air National Guard.  For over two years I was told that it was impossible, and that I would have to go active in order to learn a language with the military.  However this desire to learn it tormented me.  I even considered going becoming Active Duty in order to accomplish this goal.  I had a break with a phone call from my father while he was deployed in Afghanistan telling me of a guard unit that he was working with that had guard linguists that were assisting him.  I immediately called the unit recruiter that he referred me to.  It took almost a month before anyone would return my phone calls, but my perseverance finally won them over and I got to talk with the head of recruiting about my ambition to learn Chinese.  Initially they tried to sway my interest into other areas; however I eventually made it clear to them that it was Chinese or nothing.  Before I knew it I was swearing into a predominantly linguist detachment.   I was overjoyed that I could finally start learning Chinese, until I got the bad news that my school date had been given to another member that had sworn in after me.  I ended up stuck in Salt Lake, eight hours from home, no longer having a full-time job and feeling as far away as ever from Chinese language school.  A stroke of luck landed me a full time job at the unit while I awaited a new school date that was promised to be only a month away.  One month ended up turning into seven months before I was finally holding orders in my hand to go to Chinese school.  I thought that after all of this work I would finally be able to push through and learn Chinese, but little did I know that was much easier said than done.

Arriving at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey was filled with beauty and wonder, and checking into housing was just the beginning of many difficulties I was to face.  I had checked into a hotel and was getting ready to check out the housing.  Unfortunately I found myself in a house surrounded by condemned houses and a shower I was afraid would never get me clean, not to mention the holes in the roof and the forest of weeds that was to be my backyard.  My heart was feeling heavy with the prospect of having to spend my time in a house that I didn’t feel safe to be living alone in, when I was given the opportunity to refuse my housing and find something on my own.  Within two days I thought things were looking up as I found a beautiful apartment overlooking a lake within a five minute drive to school.  Focus was finally shifted to the actual learning of Chinese where I was pulled away from yet again by kinks when I was to go without pay for the next two months.  This resulted in me crashing on a classmate’s couch the next month until I moved into a cheaper and somehow bigger apartment only a block from the ocean.  Finally I felt that I could just focus on Chinese and the colossal task that was a language lacking alphabets, grammar changes and instructors from China with little grasp of the English language.  Chinese class was very hard but incredibly rewarding and before I knew it, luck threw a car accident at me, totally my car and sparing my life.  I spent the next month walking to class up a crazy hill in my blues but I never gave up.

My perseverance and determination eventually rewarded me a year and a half later with the skills of an Airborne Mandarin Chinese Cryptologic Linguist.  I am so thankful for this accomplishment and know that I earned it just in the learning of the language itself.  Looking back on it, I know that not giving up and keeping my head up when times got tough helped me accomplish this long awaited goal.

Government Shutdown Contemplations

My post title may be a bit misleading as I am not really here to talk about anything overly political.  Rather I am here to share my thoughts on the ripple effect that politics and consequently the government shutdown has had around me and how easily this situation could really escalate into something much worse. 
I was very thankful to no longer be a government employee when all of this started happening and I know so many people that were to be and still are affected by the shut down.  I found myself incredibly thankful to be a NAF (non-appropriated funds) worker.
The day of the shutdown is when it seemed to have the most impact on me mentally.  I was scrolling down my facebook newsfeed and just reading through the fears and prayers and anger and frustration and a whole range of emotions felt by my friends each directly and indirectly affected by this issue in some way or another after the furlough letters went out. 
Of course it was being covered by the news networks but I remember thinking how petty the news was when so many people were about to go without pay for an undetermined amount of time and all the news seemed to care about was the fact the museums and national parks were going to be closed and how this could affect the weddings that were planned to take place at them (mainly national parks).  Although I am sure that if it were my wedding that I would have felt a little more slighted, but being that it was not I felt that this was such a travesty to parade around a couple who seemed more excited about being on tv than upset about the need to change their venue for their wedding.  Why were they not interviewing the national park workers, or museum workers, or countless other government employees that had no idea how long it would be before they brought home a paycheck to take care of their families. 
I started to have intense flashbacks to when I had been previously unemployed and the emotions that I felt at the time.  I remembered how scary it was and how powerless you felt when you would do everything in your power and it still didn't seem to be enough, how quickly bills would stack up and you would find yourself doing things like donating plasma just to pay for gas and food.  now I know that for the majority of the furloughed workers that things have not escalated to the point that they did with me, but how far off are they?  With the American economy in a slump for so many years it has left the majority of people in a water treading type of financial situation.  Some have excelled and others are constantly aflounder relying on paycheck to paycheck to stay afloat.  After many of these currently furloughed workers previously losing 20% of their pay for about 5 weeks in a row less than a month ago, I can only imagine the toll that this is taking on their mental state. 
It was sometime amidst this thought process that I heard that the commissary (the on base military grocery store) would be closing after that night for the duration of the furlough.  Already in need of a couple staple items I figured it would be best to try to head over and get what I could while it was open.  Although our commissary at the base here is not a very big one it was a mad dash for each item.  Lots of shelves were bare and there was mass chaos ensuing at every aisle as the stress and frustration had found it's way into the grocery store.  I grabbed one of the last packets of hamburger meat and proceeded on to other items that I required and kept looking around and many bare spots within the shelves.  All that I could think about was that it was reminiscent of a natural disaster and what if things escalated and we could not go out to off-base grocery stores, what if they looked the same and I would be utterly unprepared.  Would we still have electricity?  would I be able to make use of my freezer and fridge items?  How long would I really have before all of that food expired on me and I was left to rely on what was in my pantry?
Having grown up in Montana the concept of food storage was not a foreign thing to me.  There would be many times when the threat of being snowed in for a few days or more was a very real thing.  You never knew how long you would need to be prepared for and so we always had a stockpile of dried and canned goods.  Since moving to Texas I have had to start over from scratch and have moved every year in the last four years.  Also I have lived alone the majority of the time, with small stints of my sister coming and going.  Because of this, I have never fully gotten a very lengthy supply of any pantry items.  I honestly don't think that I could survive for more than a couple of weeks (and that's stretching it) if I had to.  I really feel like I need to be better prepared for anything. 
Times like this bring out the fear and consequently the frustration and anger in people.  These can be dangerous times.  I keep thinking that now would be the time that an active shooter scenario that we have seen at Fort Hood and the recent navy yard could easily be just about anyone that has been put into this trying situation. 
I pray for the safety and peace of mind for all of the brothers and sisters in arms and in our nation during this time of strife.  I also pray for the politicians to soften their hearts and their minds to come to the most benevolent decision for our country.  I pray that they can put our country first and personal agendas first.  Service before self is not happening here.  If we are not careful we will turn ourselves into a third world country.  We have to stand together as a nation, because without the strength of unity we are weak when divided and when divided we shall fall.  I wish that I could replace the anger and the fear and hatred in the hearts of our leaders and our citizens with love for something.  Whether it be this great nation we live in and die for or for the reason we all came here in the first place and the reasons we choose to remain when we have a vast amount of other countries to chose from, we remain here in what we call home.  Right now we need to take care of our home, tend our own lawns, come together as a people.  We need to spread the feeling of love, whether it be in a simple gesture of something more grandeur.  We need to worry about ourselves and fix what is wrong at home in our country.  Politics has become a bad marriage and we are the children that can be damaged for life if their is no reconciliation and this marriage is torn apart.  Where is the marriage counseling here?  Where is the love that all sides had in their hearts to make this nation great, keep it great and the pride to continue to grow in greatness?  We seem to have lost some of ourselves as a nation in the greed for whatever vices we hold.  We need to find the love, the pride, the unity that makes us what we are as Americans...

I could go on for quite some time, but I think that my point has been made, and I have gotten across the message that I wanted to send.  I send love and light to all of my fellow Americans no matter how weak or strong and I hope that we can all stand together and hold the hands of those next to us to help our Nation rise up to the greatness she can be.  We are all powerful as one.

End of an Era

Today I received my official Honorable Discharge certificate from the Texas Air National Guard.  My best friend from Tech School where the training really started said it best when she told me that it was the end of an era.

I spent 11 years, 1 month and 6 days in the Air National Guard when I decided that the best path was for me to step away from the military and focus on my son.  There were many factors that led up to this decision, the main thing being the difficulty of being a single mother and needing child care so often on weekends, and the fact that my guard unit was closing.

I originally enlisted in the Montana Air National Guard in May of 2002.  I spend the majority of my career in Montana, Utah, California and ending in Texas.  I met so many amazing people and I learned so many amazing things.  I would never trade the time and experience that I had for anything.  This led me to the path that I am currently on and provided me with a career that I am able to still hold as a civilian to this day.

I will never forget the people that have come into my life thanks to the military and I will never forget the many lessons that I have learned, both good and bad.  I will never regret the strength that I found in myself and in others.  The many wonderful examples of integrity and leadership in some amazing people.  I had many good and bad experiences and they all made me who I am today.  The military has been such a big part of my life, having joined when I was barely 18 years old.

At 18 I joined for love of my country and for my desire to serve and make a difference.  I watched 9/11 during the beginning of my senior year and had already considered a career that would have me starting out with experience in the military.  I had a desire to follow the heroic example set my father and his father before him, and my grandfather on my mother's side.  I was proud to have such shining examples of what it meant to be patriotic and to put service before self.  I will always be proud of my father and the amazing things that he did within his military career.  The mental and physical strength that he exemplified is enough for anyone to want to make their father proud.

I will never forget those that have served beside me and have watched the military shift into a constantly adapting shape around us as the world has changed even in my short 11 years in the service.  I have lost brothers and sisters in arms in various ways and they will never be forgotten in my heart and thoughts.  Regardless of personal agenda, when the uniform is on and you are performing your job you will always have my respect and gratitude, and the time and distance between us as soldiers, sailors, marine's and airman.  We will always be brothers and sisters in arms, and I will always treasure my military family.  Thank you all past, present and future for a big part in making me who I am today.  I would not be where I am without you.  Here is to the next chapter to life.