Wow… My mind has been completely focused on something else these past… Well a week and a few days…
Last weekend was my first drill with the guard. It was also my first time hanging out with the firefighters at the station that I will be serving with. I was a little thrown back at how chill everything was at first. I was also really thrown back with all of the paperwork that follows being a firefighter on an air base. When I checked in with the Marines all I had was a sponsor who took me around everywhere and one check in list. That was it.
With the guard it was like I was handed a folder with all and got carted all around base. We rode in the chiefs truck to sort of excuse us of our speed when we passed the MPs. The new guys tend to be a little authority driven to pull people over.. It gets annoying. So after we got a tour of the fire house and the base it was time to get our check in process started. I was told it may take a few months to get it all done with limited time we have.
We got to see each of the trucks that we would be using and operating. As I was sitting in one of the fire engines I texted my friend. I told her I was finally half way at completing my childhood dream. All I needed to do next was to become an astronaut. So close yet so far…
The drive is what really kills me though. Its an hour and fifteen minute drive to the station since its about two cities away. That’s giving me a grand total of about seventy five miles one way. And on top of that I drive a truck to get there. Not exactly gas friendly. After filling up about fifty dollars worth of gas just for the weekend.
Over all it was a very fun and informative weekend. I literally felt like a child getting a tour of the fire station. Got to see the trucks, hop inside a few of them, and drive around in the chief’s vehicle. Good times. Good times.
Obviously, coming from the Marine Corps, I got a lot of crap from all of my Marine friends currently serving. I posed on my Facebook “I hate being the FNG (freaking new guy) all over again.”
A few of the guys started commenting:
“Don’t you dare complain about the Air Force, Sin! Don’t even!”
“I bet the chow was barely warm for you”
But since that day I have been looking for firefighting jobs all over the state. So far, no luck. I’m still pending on my other job opportunities. With all the hustle and bustle of finding a job, getting into a new branch of military, and working almost around the clock I haven’t had the slightest amount of time to be on her as much as I would like to be. I do treat this like a second job. I do an immense amount of work on here time to time and put a lot of money and effort into maintaining this page. So far I seem to have lost touch with what I have going on here.
Well… today is Valentines Day. Normally, I don’t celebrate this holiday. Why you ask? At first it was a fun holiday to get even crappier candy than you get on Halloween with meaningless cards. Then when I got older it was something more focused on a girl rather than trying to get heart shaped tums in my belly.
During my high school years I would be more focused on getting something for a girl that I was dating, which always just turned out to be like $3 flowers, and getting almost nothing in return. Sometimes I just always think of this holiday as another one of those Hallmark Holidays. Just something where another Rite-aid makes money off of overly priced cards and gamble chocolate boxes to give to someone that you care about. I think I was just bitter about it because my past relationships have been crap. Just nothing but crap with someone I didn’t even care to love because I was never loved in the first place.
So I guess I was more of a scrooge of the Valentines day holiday. I “lost the spirit” of it.
As everyone knows I am with the most beautiful, fun fill spirited, energizing (I could go on forever) girl in my life. She really gave me a completely different turn on what love really is. I could give the super long version of it, but since I would like to keep this more focused on the actual topic I will give the short version of it. The short version is that she helped me find a reason to do anything and everything all over again.
I guess we could all treat this… Lets not call it a holiday anymore. I don’t get holiday pay for working on V-Day. I mean lets be real here… I don’t put up decorations around my house to celebrate this day (there I go sounding all bitter again).
Lets treat this special day like we would any other day. This may be a day of love but you will always be loved by someone everyday. You don’t need a card, flowers, or gamble candy for you to express your feelings to someone else.
Above and Below Average 