Pride Goes Before Destruction... Literally!

I regret that I wasn't there for this incident, but I was around my unit taking care of some administrative stuff so I heard all about it.

We were hosting a combatives (Army hand-to-hand combat, heavily based on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) class, and one of the the instructors who came in was a female soldier who was motivated to prove that gender is irrelevant to good soldiering. One of the students, our guys, was former Infantry before coming back into the reserves into Civil Affairs, and had been part of the initial Iraqi invasion.

From what I remember of the story, it went a little like this: the instructors were going one on one with more advanced techniques, and the following ensued:

Former 11B: "I got a CIB, bitch!" (Combat Infantryman Badge, prestigious award for infantry who face direct combat)
Instructor: "I don't give a fuck!"

She proceeded to whoop his ass within the limitations of the techniques they were working on, haha. He claimed to have a cracked rib and decided to stop showing up to the class... heh.

Favorite Movie(s)

The other day, Arthur asked me what my favorite movie was, and it's something I still haven't figured out! I'll list several movies in individual "favorite" categories:

Favorite movie in terms of cinematography/technicality: Inglorious Basterds
The scene that made this movie for me was at the end when a movie projector projects the black & white image of a woman (who just died) onto a cloud of smoke from a fire, giving her a ghastly appearance as she taunts her victims in death.

Favorite sentimental movie: What Dreams May Come
Robin Williams literally goes through hell to look for his wife and save her!

Favorite action movie: Die Hard
The dialogue, the characters, and the action are top-notch.

Favorite movie overall: Stay tuned!

I Come Alive in the Night Time.

I enjoy driving down empty streets at night, there's a certain atmosphere and strangeness to it when most signs of human life and activity freeze. I used to do this often, traveling between Ann Arbor and Troy, and it was interesting to do it again in LA with Ivan in addition to hanging out with the old crew. I got a few things to take care of in the morning so I shouldn't be up this late, but I'm still making the readjustment back to Eastern time.

I could see myself hanging out in Socal with the old film/skit crew if my path in life branches down the right fork. but right now I don't think that's in the works. I'm pretty sure it's going to be the DC area, but life is a strange and unpredictable affair right? Gotta make the most of it, treasuring the high parts and learning from the lows.

The Plan!

Just wanted to get it straight in my head:

Option 1: Submit grad school application for January, transfer units
Pros: Start new life sooner
Cons: Will have less of a financial padding, more urgency to get my stuff together

Option 2: Work first as a firearms, do more Army training, apply to grad school for September, transfer units
Pros: More financial padding, longer time to consolidate my belongings
Cons: May be hectic, start new life later

Option 3: Deploy in December, apply to grad school whenever deployment ends
Pros: More financial padding, more GI Bill benefits
Cons: Have to get on the battle roster, would still have to start again after

9/11/2011

Today marks a year since I landed back in the States from Kuwait. Feels good man.