americanbabble.com

Pass the Cheetoes Please

Ms. Babble — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:16:17 +0000

I came across a quote the other day that made me nod my head in agreement. I can’t remember the exact wording but it went something like this:

“If we worry too much about the meaning of life, then we’re doomed to miss life entirely.”

I can’t speak for previous generations but I see a trend in my generation that encourages us to analyze and question the meaning of things. The meaning of work. The meaning of family. The meaning of love and friends and…. well…. the meaning of life.

I can trace when I started this analysis of life the moment I started college (Big surprise, eh? What a cliche.) Seriously, philosophy class messed with my mind, man! Ironically, I got my first ‘D’ in that class. Perhaps that was a foreshadowing of how lousy I would analyze my life outside of class during my 20’s and barely squeeking into my 30’s.

My biggest problem had been fixating on the complex arguments which made everything feel massive and complicated. There were so many choices it made my head spin. Take this road or that road. Look up or down. Is there a God or isn’t there? Are you happy or aren’t you? Gender. Family. Socialization. Morals.

ah!!

And in the end, we feel we’ve accomplished a lot but without much of anything to show for it. The more complicated we make things, the less progress there seems to be.

So now I’m starting to say to myself the mantra popularized by “The Office”: K.I.S.S., or, “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”

I’ve spent time walking down the road of religion, gender, politics, etc. I’d really like to shut off that part of my brain now and just “Keep it simple, stupid”. Thank you very much.

Pansy From Nebraska, With Love

Ms. Babble — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:55:03 +0000

My mom sent me a little spring time gift in Tel Aviv for Easter which included the little ceramic mushroom pot above. The instructions told me to crack the top of the pot open and start watering every day. In a week, pansies would start to grow.

And there’s the proof it worked!

UPDATE:

A week later there was an unseasonably hot 90 degree day which baked the poor pansies to a crisp. RIP little flowers. It’s still a cool little pot!

Tel Aviv Pride Parade Ninjas

Ms. Babble — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:47:18 +0000

Last weekend was the 2009 Tel Aviv Pride parade. Most of the pictures I took from last years parade look identical to the ones I took this year. It seemed like they simply dusted off the same floats and outfits from their storage closest (pun definitely intended) from last year.

But I was intrigued by these ninja dudes on crotch rocket motorcycles at the start of the parade though. They guys on the back (which, might I say is a strange place for another fellow to be on a crotch rocket) carried M-4 rifles. The same rifle I carried when deployed to Iraq.

I tried to get him to look at me and smile to no avail.

Flash from the past: September 13th, 2006

Ms. Babble — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:37:07 +0000

I’m breaking away from my normal photo blog posting to bring a flash from the past.

I received an email notification of a comment from a long forgotten LiveJournal blog I kept while deployed to Iraq from 2005-2006. I created the LiveJournal blog before I knew how to make a website of my own (i.e. this website) and essentially just copy and pasted the blog entries from my Myspace page there.

Regardless, the email notification from LiveJournal included the full journal entry that the comment was left on. Although I had never forgotten the event that I wrote about, I hadn’t actually read my journal entry since I wrote it several years back. If I hadn’t received the email from LiveJournal, I would have left the entry to rot and collect dust.

Without further adeu, I’m reposting it here for everyone’s reading pleasure.

P.S. The comment that alerted me was spam in the end. Who knew a spam comment would actually turn out to be useful?

Journal 9/13/06

Things are feeling a bit jumpy around here lately. Tempers have been on the rise and nerves are beginning to fray. Setting the “going home jitters” aside, there’s been a higher threat of attack also. Ramadan starts on the 24th and everyone is expecting some sort of crazy response by the insurgents at some point. Ramadan is supposed to be a month of daytime fasting. In the evenings, they eat small meals and visit with family. As far as my understanding goes, it’s a time to contemplate their religion and form closer bonds with friends and family.

But I guess somewhere in the fine print it says to blow up Americans. Naturally, I’m a bit wary.

With those issues in mind, I’ll continue.

We have medical helicopters fly over us all the time dropping off casualties. It’s become almost instinct to stop mid-conversation when talking outside as they fly by. Even when screaming at each other just a few feet away, the noise is too loud to continue talking. So we end up just staring at our feet and pick up the conversation once they pass by.

Tonight I stepped outside for a smoke and I saw the familiar little red light of a chopper in the distance. I was alone so there was no worry about rushing a conversation before their noisy rotors got over my head. I sat down. Relaxed. I anticipated the ‘thump thump’ of the blades. I saw the familiar red cross on the underbelly and wondered who they were bringing to the hospital. (Just as I think everytime I see a Medevac chopper.)

Just as I looked up at the chopper who wasn’t more than 30 feet above me, I took a drag of my smoke. It was nearly pitch black… my cherry lit up like a beacon. Instantly I hear, “Pop! Pop! Pop!” For I moment I think this crazy fool is shooting at me! When I crouch down I see three flares flying at my head. The whole place illuminated and they landed behind me next to a trailer.

After making sure that they didn’t set our living quarters on fire, I came back inside. I remembered then that choppers throw flares when they think they’re getting shot at. That guy thought my cigarette cherry was a muzzle flash. Ha!

When they said cigarettes can kill ya, they weren’t kidding!

Note: I’ve long since stopped smoking since I wrote this 2 1/2 years ago.

Photo courtesy of Army.mil

Blat! Blat! Blat! Blat!

Ms. Babble — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:57:12 +0000

Israeli Navy Museum in Haifa, Israel