updates

So, I thought today I would just update you on some things.

The British chow hall turned over their contract to an independent contractor. This has resulted in much less authentic British food and rather bland menu choices. It has also resulted in a lot of people behind the counter who cannot speak English. On the flip side, my young corpsmen and their novice taste buds actually prefer the more Americanized menu.

I am still doing yoga 1-2 times a week. Rodney Yee is still my man :) However, I have branched out a bit and now am trying some pilates. So far, I have only done abdominal pilates by Ana Cabana and she kicks my butt! I do not have the flexibility or control of my balance to get into the positions that that girl does. It mixes up my routine though and for that I am grateful. Namaste.

I had read the ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’ by Stieg Larsson which I really liked. I just finished the sequel ‘The girl who played with fire’. It was also good, but not as good as the first. Next book is ‘A bold fresh piece of humanity’ by Bill O’Reilly.

This past Friday, we had our first inaugural cigar club meeting. Gil would appreciate the fact that Marines like their cigars and it is no exception out in the field. One of them has been ordering interesting cigars online. Another Marine has made his own humidor. So a pay $10 for 3 cigars and presto I am in the club. I got quite an education about how cigars are made and how they come by their names. Now, I do not condone smoking, but I figure that if I am in an area where I get ‘hazardous duty pay’ and ‘imminent danger pay’ then I should be able to justify smoking a cigar once a week.

Speaking of smoking, my mom asked what they did with all the trash here. Well, they burn it. In fact they burn everything including plastics (sorry Madeline). Heck, in the outlying areas they even burn their @#$%. They have big incinerators on base for the burning. Below is a picture of the BAS with the smoke rising behind it from afar.

Lastly, I mentioned prior that I was asked to play guitar in church despite only knowing pink panther and bluebird at the time. I had been practicing, but had not been able to get a hold of a guitar this week to ‘fine tune’ (like the pun) my strumming. I was stoked today that I was not going to be able to play guitar and thus avoid embarrassment at mass. Only to be tasked to be the Eucharistic minister. My only qualification is that I am probably the most consistent mass attendant at this camp. So I doled out the Blood of Christ today. I can only imagine Ellie beaming with pride and tears welling up in Liz’s eyes at the thought of me at the altar. I can also imagine Cissy thinking ‘he is only doing it because he gets to drain the cup at the end of communion’.

Till next time…






Lot of hot air in this club.











The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. Naaahh, just them burning stuff behind the BAS.

The last 2 books I read. Overall, I recommend for both.