American Flags at Veteran?s Memorial Waterfront Park
Can you believe it? I?m a veteran and I almost forgot about Veteran?s Day. It?s one of the few holidays I can actually celebrate. LOL
Happy Veteran?s Day!
Episode 4 – The Farm
I like goats. Their poop isn’t mushy and it doesn’t stink. Plus, they eat grass so they’re natural lawn mowers.
Making money via blogging
I don’t think my blog will ever be popular in the blogosphere. However, if it should ever come to be, I will never pass the cost of reading/maintaining my blog to my readers.
Why is this? Because there are people with blogs and video blogs who make money via advertisements. Companies are willing to pay for space on blogs!
One blogger is requiring readers to purchase a subscription for $20 per month to read her blog. You can get a whole year’s subscription for a whopping $200! I’m all for getting paid for knowledge and advice on a subject, however, I believe she could make more money by soliciting companies to buy space on her blog.
For example, lg15.com earns 10K a month from advertisements! I read this in a tech/gadget magazine. So if they can make that much money on a 3-minute video blog a month, this blogger can certainly garnish a nice chunk of change from the hot-button topics on her blog.
My Curly Hair
I really like my hair like this. I really do. But there are things that come along with wearing my hair like this that I don’t like.
For example, I had to load my hair with a lot of goo to get it to look like this. I used products from the Curls hair product line. I think they are great but I don’t like having to wash my hands three times just to get the leave in conditioners off my fingers.
The other thing I don’t like I how much hair comes out in the shower as I’m combing out my hair with the conditioner. I also don’t like the hair that ends up around my sink and floor after I’m done with the grooming process.
Third, it’s Fall and soon the cold of Winter will approach the Antelope Valley and I can’t go about walking outside with a wet head. So, if I wanted to wear my hair like this in the coldest months of the year, I would have to style it at night. The only problem with this is my hair will lose its shape and I will end up looking like I’m wearing a curly ‘fro wig which is fine on the weekends but not the look I want for my job. Urgh!!!
And Matthew McConaughey is dating some Brazilian chick and I’m majorly pissed off about it!!!!
Tunnel Vision
I took a trip to the Apple store to play around with the new Macs. I always take a picture with one of the computers to commemorate the occasion.
Life in the AV
Before I left Afghanistan, I said to a friend “My friends are probably up to the same stuff they were up to when I left.” It turned out to be true.
I’ve been home for over two weeks now and back to the life I had been hoping to escape by now. Why did I come back?
I discovered that one friend is living in a women’s shelter because her husband has been using her head as a punching bag. WTF?! I’ve met the guy and hung out with them several times and I never got the impression he was a woman beater! What a gross misjudgment on my part. They’ve filed for divorce. I have no idea how to get in touch with her. I just hope she and her 1-year-old son are okay.
My other friend, what can I say, she’s been doing the same thing for like the last ten years. She just had another baby, her third baby with a guy who’s not only shown her he doesn’t want to be with her, but verbally said this to her almost ten years ago! I wish I could say she’s finally seen the light but I can’t. This would be one of dozens of times she’s called it quits with this guy. It’s a situation much like Kim Porter and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.
I was very disappointed when she told me the news. All I could do was congratulate her. There was no point in asking her what she was thinking at the time. I already know.
I’m sad to say that I miss Afghanistan. It’s been a long time since I was around people my age who weren’t saddled down with responsibilities, mostly because they couldn’t bring their families to Afghanistan.
The biggest bunch of POPPYCOCK I’ve read in a long time.
It’s also another reason why I’m not Christian (or Muslim). A real man will never have to beat his woman into submission.
My New Website
I bought iLife ‘08 and installed it. I tested out the iWeb application and redesigned my blog. I’m not sure I want to host my website with dot Mac. Many of the features I’m used to with Wordpress/Dot5hosting I’m not getting with dot Mac. One feature I like about my blog now is that I can edit comments and leave a response to a particular comment in the same comment box but in a different color. Also, comments count towards disk space. After a while, I will have to go through my comments and delete them and that sounds like too much work. Before I lost the content of my blog a few months ago, I had over 500 comments. I couldn’t image deleting them all.
Here is the URL for the dot Mac website I created. It’s for a limited time only and won’t be available 56 days from the date of this post. Tell me what you think.
Journey Home
I lucked out when I landed in Bagram. I was able to get myself book for a flight out that night.
Manas, Kyrgyzstan – I don’t know what to say about the place. It doesn’t appear to be dangerous because folks stationed there can leave the base. It is in a tax-free zone so that’s a plus. The chow hall is definitely better than ISAF.
The camp is also five times bigger than ISAF and there doesn’t seem to be as many people. That’s all I can say about the place. I meant to get a picture of a mountain peak I saw when I was there but I didn’t feel like getting out my camera.
Incirlik, Turkey – It was hot! Around 97 Degrees Fahrenheit and it was humid. I sat in the terminal waiting to reboard the aircraft. It wasn’t that bad because they had free wireless internet there.
Baltimore, Maryland-I arrived BWI around 2300 hours on September 1st. The USO was closed so the airport staff allowed myself and other service members to rest in the observation lounge. I was great as they had cushioned benches and I was able to get some much needed rest.
I called my mom to let her know I was on US soil. She was happy to hear that. I can’t wait to get home so I can rest. I don’t really miss home as much as I hate being in the Army. I don’t think anything could surpass my desire to be done with my military commitment.
I’ve noticed the children around me. They are so cute. I dont’ know if it’s the fact that I haven’t seen small children in a while or what. I still don’t want any at the moment.
There’s this guy sitting across from me reading a book. He has earbuds in his ear. I wonder if he owns a Mac. That would make him extra hot if he does. I wonder how old he is.
I didn’t accomplish much after finally arriving at CRC on Sunday, September 2nd. I turned in my weapon to the armory then went to billeting to get my room and linen. After that, I went to my room and took a very long shower then washed the dirty clothing that had built up since my departure from ISAF.
The following morning (Monday) I got up early to see where I was supposed to report to. I didn’t get much help. One person on the staff said I probably wouldn’t get any direction as to what I would be doing and where I would be going until after Labor Day. Huh?
I eventually ran into one of the officers I traveled from Germany with. He told me where to go so I could get my outprocessing started. That helped a lot. I guess everyone was assuming I was with the large group of soldiers coming from Iraq.
I didn’t take any pictures of my journey home. There really wasn’t much to take pictures of anyway as I don’t like to have myself photographed in uniform. Sorry. It’s my policy.
Friday, September 7, 2007
I’m finally home. It’s great to be back. I slept most of the day away. That was the first thing I wanted to do when I got back now that I no longer have to sleep in a twin-size bed in a room with two other people.
I went through my closet to find something to wear. Let’s just say that the first thing I’m going to do tomorrow is go shopping for some new threads.
Setting an example
?I am fortunate to have been raised by my father, married to my mother, raising kids together and setting strong moral and ethical standards.” – Diva, Musings of a Diva
I’ve been bombarded lately with people who have no regard for setting any kind of example for their children. I met a man today who didn’t like wearing protection when he had sex with his girlfriend then accused her of trying to trap him when she ended up pregnant. This man is previously divorced with two children. One of my roommates plans on getting pregnant a year from now and doesn’t care that she isn’t married. By the way, she wasn’t married when she had her first kid either but that’s another story.
Diva’s quote reminded of a post I had written ages ago about wanting to set an example and stop with the nonsense of having children without marriage and committment. Yes, it can and has been done, but in my opinion it is wrong for so many reasons. Here is that post:
I used to have a membership with match.com. I don’t know why I joined, oh wait I do, my friend joined and told me it’s a great way to meet men from outside the Antelope Valley. So I gave it a try.
I got plenty of responses but I think it had something to do with my screen name and picture.
One guy in particular could not fathom that I could be single and really wanted to know how/why I’ve remained single for so long. So I told him the truth:
Why am I still single? I don?t really have an answer to that. I?ve come to the conclusion that it?s because I?m a Davis. My grandmother died recently, and at her funeral I saw family that I hadn?t seen in a while. The one thing I noticed is that all the women related to me by blood, were single. Though my grandmother was married for over 50 years, she and my grandfather were separated for like 49 of those years (grandpa was a rolling stone). He was around long enough to make a baby (six babies), and then he?d split.
My mom and her two sisters, all single. All of my female cousins (with the exception of one who?s last name was changed when she was a child) are single. And I?m still single.
I don?t know if there?s really a curse, but after four generations, it seems the need for a man has been bred out of us or something.
Then there?s the fact that I haven?t met a guy that could make me happier than I?ve managed to make myself. I hope this has answered your question.
I never heard from him again. (I can’t believe I’m cracking up right now. It really isn’t funny.) When I think about the women in my family, it’s very tragic. To think the actions of one lousy man could effect my mom and her sisters, me and my cousins, and even my cousins children to the point that we can’t trust men.
My grandmother raised six children by herself. My mom and her sisters, never actually said it, but I know they thought it when they were with the fathers of their children…
Let’s just skip the life together.
You’re going to leave me anyway.
Give me your sperm. Thanks!
Now be on your way.
That’s the real issue with the Davis women. They’ve never seen a proper male/female relationship. They’ve never seen a marriage were there was devotion between a man and woman and a commitment to not only raising a family but keeping it together and functional. That’s why I’m still single.
See what I mean? My maternal grandmother and grandfather set a horrible example for three generations after. There is nothing normal about this. That four line poem brings me to tears but it sums up my family accurately.
First Things and Other Things
When I get home, the first thing I’m going to do is hit an In N Out burger. I’ve been craving a real cheeseburger since I left California. It’s one of the few restaurants I’ll miss if I ever leave California.
Now, for the other things. One of the unappealing aspects of being in the military is the fact that no matter how poorly you perform your job, you can’t get fired. I’ve spoken with two people on this subject. One person said knowing you can’t get fired no matter what you do is comforting. The second person said reenlisting is one of the first things on the to do list. The second person performs her job poorly.
Is there something I’m missing here? I personally would never perform any job poorly. Even with the Army, I at least try to uphold some kind of above-average job performance standard despite being bombarded with non-stop bullshit. And by bullshit, I mean the crap you’re not troubled with at civilian jobs.
Speaking of other things I don’t like about the military. When I was in AIT, I noticed animosity between the four branches. Being in Afghanistan, you’d think being American would unite the four branches and that you’d see more uniformity but there isn’t. There are soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen from over a dozen different countries on the camp I’m at. Their Armies, Navies, Air Forces, and Marines (that’s if these countries have four branches of military) all seem to be “fighting” the same battle (?).
Golly, this is more difficult to explain than I thought.
Take the British Forces. They all wear the same uniform. So do the French, Italians, Germans, Slovaks, etc., but our forces are so busy trying to look different from each other. While I applaud the Army for the change in uniforms, I’m actually saddened by the fact that there is a change in uniforms in all four branches giving each branch a distinctive look. In my opinion, American Forces should be wearing the same uniform!
Maybe that’s why I’m craving a dang cheeseburger so much. It reminds me of America and they’re pretty much the same no matter which restaurant you go to. The one thing that separates In N Out from the other burger joints is the quality of their burgers. They’re so dang good. 
What About Our Daughters vs. BET
There’s been some controversy over BET’s new show “Hot Ghetto Mess”. A fellow blogger from What About Our Daughters took a stance against the show by targeting companies that advertised during the show’s premier and it worked. Sort of.
I’m no fan of BET. In fact, even if I were able to watch the network, I still wouldn’t have been willing to watch the show just to find out which advertisers to boycott. It isn’t just about “Hot Ghetto Mess”. This is about all of the inappropriate, unoriginal programming aired by BET for the last decade!
I will continue to do with BET what I’ve done with Ebony and Essence magazines-I will continue to deny them my money and my time.
The Duggars
The Duggars are due to have their 17th baby! Wow! I’ve watched a couple of documentaries about this family on Discovery channel and I’m total in awe of how many children are in this family. The Duggars make it look so easy. And the children look so happy!
(I’ve written about this family before, but the blog post was lost in cyber space somewhere.)
My mom is one of six children. If you went by her upbringing, you’d think the more children one had, the poorer and unhappy they’d be. My mom wasn’t one to make motherhood look appealing either. I guess when you’re doing it at a young age with no help, it can be a rather unpleasant experience.
Call me old fashioned, but I’d take the Duggar way over my family’s way anyday.
KAIA early in the morning
Since I’ve managed to get the blog this feature of flickr working, I’ll be posting a picture with every post. I took this at KAIA which is at Kabul International Airport. This picture doesn’t do the view any justice. The mountains were 100 times bigger in person. My camera, which I still love dearly, just can’t capture the moment like my eyes.
If you can’t tell, it was bitterly cold the day I took this pic. It was taken back in December ‘06. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced cold like I have in Afghanistan.
Toilet brush usage
This picture is displayed in the bathrooms at KAIA. Apparently someone has tried to use the toilet brush for more than just cleaning the toilet.
Stream of Conscience Post
I'm selfish or so I was told by a co-worker. His exact words were "You
don't want to have kids because you're selfish."
Let me explain the conversation at work. I mentioned that I don't
date men with children because at this point in my life, I'm not sure
I want kids. So why bother myself with somebody else's. Makes sense
right?
Well, I'm still selfish according to this man. Working Mom isn't an
appealing title. It sounds funny when I hear women at work say, "I
can't wait for daycare to potty train Junior. I'm sick of changing
diapers." However, I've seen the life of a woman relying on welfare
to help take care of her kids. That's an even more unbelievably
unattractive alternative for having a kid at this point in my life.
But remember I'm selfish because I don't want to do things the hard
way.
On another note, reading the blogs of other black females has got me
thinking about the Black Diaspora. I've noticed they group all Blacks
in the same group without acknowledging cultural differences. There
are cultural differences between Black Americans and an Africans.
There are cultural differences amongst Africans themselves depending
on what country they're in or the ethnic group they belong to. The
same goes for Black Americans. So why is there this constant need to
group us all in one category? Different people with different values
will have different goals and skin color alone isn't enough to unify.
This is where I think my selfishness really shows. I think I'm better
off focusing on bettering myself than trying to change the world.
I hate bootleg movies. They usually aren't worth the money. I'm one
of those people who not only want to see a good movie but have a good
viewing experience. Bootleg movies don't provide both. For example,
the first time I saw Pirates of the Caribbean, I thought it was
terrible because the picture and sound was greatly distorted. It
wasn't until I viewed a legit copy of the movie that I fully
appreciated it.
Heroes has become my second most favorite show with Buffy the Vampire
Slayer being the first. I so wish I had my Buffy DVDs here. I'd be
having myself a kick-ass time!
I signed up for a video blog at blip.tv. I will use it eventually. I
think I like it better than YouTube. Blip.tv has an interface that's
easier to understand.
I lost 8 pounds! I'm around 113 pounds now! And I don't exercise
much. I'm on the Supreme diet. Basically, the food in the chow hall
is so terrible, I don't eat it. It doen't help that I've had trouble
digesting just about everything I put in my mouth and I had two bouts
of diarrhea which lasted for about three weeks.
I can't stop biting my nails. I bite them to the point they bleed. I
hope I can break this when I get home.
I'm not looking forward to going home. There's nothing there for me.
I want to leave Afghanistan but I don't want to go back to Lancaster.
I still want to cut my hair.
–
Shavonne
Afghanistan
I haven't blogged in a while. In fact, I haven't felt much like
surfing the net. I spend maybe 20 minutes a week on my computer.
Most of the time I'm reading or listening to music. Oh and catching
up on Desperate Housewives. I also watched the last season of Lost
and 4400 and Grey's Anatomy.
Yes, yes, I've devoted a lot of time to television. But it's really
not a lot because I still spend more time a week reading and doing
other thing totally unrelated to TV like working. Ha!
I doubt I will continue to watch a lot of tv when I get home simply
because I'll be going back to school. I've got some catching up to
do. I'm so behind.
Good news, I'm completely debt free. I'm out of the whole and into
the plus. It feels so good. That's just about the only good thing
that came out of this deployment. I'm going to send the money that
used to go to pay off my debts straight into savings. My goal is to
put $1000 away every month. That should be easy since my car and my
credit card is paid off.
I won't be buying another car anytime soon. I've been looking at
different places to live in the country and what I'm looking for is
someplace that doesn't require a car. The top city on my list is
Bethesda, Maryland. I blogged about it before but I really, really
want to live there. I won't have worry about a car because the
neighborhood I'm looking at is few minutes walk from the subway to
D.C. No car required. I think this would be great for
maintaining an active lifestyle. I do think I will get a better bike.
I don't think I blogged about this before, but when I visited my
cousin back in October. we went on a bike tour through D.C. It was
awesome! Really enjoyed it. I took pictures by the way. I didn't
get to take that many because my camera died but I had a blast.
Maryland/Virginia have some great parks to hike/bike through.
I'm going to buy myself a new toy. I've been shopping around and I
found two digital SLR cameras that I'm seriously thinking of buying.
My choices are the <a
href="http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/11433/canon_eos400d_review/">
Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi </a> and the <a
href="http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/9420/nikon_d80_review/">Nikon
D80</a>. The Nikon got better reviews. My main concerns are the
quality of the picture and ease of use. I've also considered the <a
href="http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_6913.html">Nikon
D200</a> though I find it a bit on the pricey side. I'm leaning more
towards the Nikon D80.
I have a bit more to blog about but I will save it for tomorrow.
–
Shavonne
Star and Crescent
Here is the star and crescent. My camera didn’t do this any justice but it’s the best I’ve got. Everyone was talking about it today.
Happy Post Father’s Day
I know my previous entry was indeed on the wack side, but my emotions
were in a better place than my Mother's Day post. I don't know what
it is about my Dad, but it really is comforting and easy to talk to
him.
He and I chatted for over an hour about his ranch and about being in
Afghanistan. (He's retired Air Force and did a 4-month tour to
Afghanistan before retiring.) He has twelve goats but no chickens.
His girlfriend doesn't like chickens. When he was in Afghanistan, he
lived on an American base and he spoke of the good food he ate daily.
I'm on an coalition base where we are served European food everyday.
There's a reason why Europeans aren't fat-their food isn't as good.
I've actually lost weight!
I know this is going to seem really random, but I saw the most amazing
crescent tonight. And there was a star with it!! It was so Islam. A
star and crescent. I took a picture but my camera won't do the sight
justice. It got me thinking about how the environment can influence
the beliefs of people. I'm not saying I want to convert to Islam but
I can say I got it. I can see why Muslims use the star and crescent as
symbols of Islam. It was a sight I've never seen before and I LOVE
staring at the moon. I wonder if that star and crescent is something
you can only see when in this part of the world because I've never
seen it in America. I don't have the time now but I will post that
picture of the moon so you can sort of see what I am talking about.
Happy Father’s Day
Happy Father's Day! Just wanted to say that. Got to tallk to my dad now.
–
Shavonne
Why I left the Army in the first place
I had to attend some meeting today. I had no idea what it was about,
I was just told by the SGM in my office I had to attend.
I can honestly tell you I could have spent that time in the office
working. The person I had to hear speak only repeated the same shit I
heard the first 4 years I was in Army:
1. Here's some shit and you're gonna like it (unless of course, you're
an officer).
2. Suck it up and drive on.
3. If you're efficient, then you won't get the help or equipment to do
your job even better.
This person went on to talk about how bad things were a few years ago
when coalition forces came in and swept out the Taliban. That's
great. I'm glad that some people like to dwell on the past. However,
the problems that troops are dealing with now are not the same as a
few years back.
One of our biggest problems is housing all the people that don't seem
to have jobs. Here's a suggestion-find them a job or send them home.
Simple enough right? One person at the meeting complained about how
the officers (LtCol and above) seem to do the most bitching about the
housing situation. They have to share rooms but they want really nice
rooms by themselves with new furniture. They are getting ticked off
because all that new furniture and spacious dwellings aren't being
funded by headquarters.
For some odd reason, the officers have been the last to catch on that
we are in a combat zone. Where did all this sense of entitlement come
from? The military. That's all we do is cater to what the officers
want. If we stopped treating them like their shit don't stink and
treat them like everyone else we wouldn't have this problem. But the
military is still in the stone age and refuses to get rid of their
caste system.
One of our computer experts complained that the help desk is down one
man and there won't be a replacement because headquarters got rid of
the position. He also mentioned how there will be a dramatic increase
in workstations. Sounds like a dilemma. There will be more work but
less people to do it. I wanted to tell the guy that if he wanted a
bigger staff then his department needed to stop being so efficient.
Screw up. Blame it on fatigue. The Army only understands that
something is wrong when there's a problem. It's an institution that
doesn't comprehend the need to foresee potential problems to enact
preventive measures to avoid those potential problems. The preferred
method is to wait until there is a problem and try to do a quick
fix-like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. Makes sense right?
I can't speak for anyone else in the Army, but I'm tired of getting
fed the suck it up and drive on line. I think it's one of the reasons
why the Army didn't recognize mental illness. Sometimes you just
can't suck it up and drive on! Sometimes you just need help!
Especially if you working long hours/weeks with no rest or relaxation
for-I don't know-15 months! As it stands, I get one day a week off if
I'm lucky. I get tomorrow morning off but it will be my last time off
for the next 3 weeks. Did I mention the equipment I used to do my job
isn't working properly? It's going to be great. I totally see a
nervous breakdown in my future. But hey, it's shit and I have no
choice but to like it.
–
Shavonne
Total Meltdown
I don't think my coworkers at my civilian job has ever seen me lose my
cool or go into mega bitch mode. I mean if they did, they wouldn't be
so great at sending me care packages with dried craisins. 
Nor
do I ever remember the anger and frustration I'm feeling right now
when I was at my civilian job.
I've had the worst day. The equipment I used to perform the miserable
job the Army has me doing completely failed Thursday. The help desk
as not been able to get it working the way it used to. I will be able
to get things done, it will just take me a lot longer.
Besides taking longer to do my job, I have to train civilians how do
use the unimproved equipment. I'm just going to say this, but the
guys I work with have absolutely no computer skills. None. Zero.
Zilch. And they're lazy. There is always something that needs to get
done. They never look around to see if there is something they can
get done. Nope, they just sit on their asses.
Like today, a document was open on computer #1. I told one guy to
print it out on a different computer. So he tries to open the doc on
computer #2 and he got the read-only warning. He says to me, "It's a
read only file. I can't print this." Then I told him he could still
print a read-only file. Then he says he couldn't do it because he
didn't know how and then he got up and left.
HE GOT UP AND LEFT because he couldn't figure out how to print a
read-only file!!!!!!!!
You basically open the damn file up and you hit the little printer
icon in Word. Or you can go through the file menu and print the
document that way. Or control P.
I hate to say this, but I would never, ever hire ex-military for a
job. Never. And I'm ex-military. I see too much incompetence in the
leadership and their job skills it's not even funny. The civilians I
work with are all ex-military and it shows.
I want to leave but I know they won't let me. I'm too efficient in
the office. It's like being good is a bad thing. I bet if I were lazy
they'd get rid of me in a heartbeat. Reward the lazy people by
getting rid of them and punish the good ones for showing some effort
and being good at what they do.
I need to learn Microsoft Access.
Not leaving anytime soon
I went to the national support element to inquire about a departure
date for myself and the person there told me I could leave as long as
who ever I report to gave the okay. I was really happy to hear that.
Then at lunch I sat with the colonel in charge of the branch I work
for and he had nothing but good things to say about my work in the
office. Then he started talking about a promotion and sending me to
the board. Not sure if I want to do that. I hate filling my head
with what will be useless information once I'm done with my
committment. He also mentioned extending. I extended once, I'm not
doing it again. I want to go home and eat cheeseburgers with American
cheese and go to all-you-can-eat sushi.
–
Shavonne
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother's Day to those who are mothers. I'm not a mother, so
don't even think about wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.
I had a lousy day at work. Everyday is usually lousy but today was
especially lousy. I don't want to get too deep into it, but let's just
say customer service is a pretty sucky career field. My civillian job
is customer-service based, but my customers don't make me want to
blast their heads off with a semi-automatic weapon, ya know what I
mean? Geez.
I've been trying to call my mom but haven't had any luck. I wish she
would learn to use Skype. We would talk more often if she did. The
telephone thing is really starting to annoy me. I hate calling only
to get voice mail. It's really hard to tell when she's home.
Well, I'm done bitching. Have a good day.
–
Shavonne
