P is PC.

Yes, I am going there.

I am a PC girl. There was a time, ages 5 - 11, when I was a Mac girl; I'll never forget my days playing The Dark Castle. But since then, I had developed a love for PCs. I liked them. They worked for me (well, okay, not the Compaq Presario 700, but that's a story for another time). They're unpretentious and I know the OS. What else do you need?

As most of you know, two weeks ago I purchased a new computer. It was fancy. It was beautiful. The screen was large and the picture was crisp. I liked Windows Vista. My music sounded great and my-oh-my, it even had a Blu-Ray drive. I loved my new computer dearly.



Well, apparently Queen Constance (yes, my technologies all have names) did not love me back. After five blue screens of death in ten days, I decided it was best if we parted ways. So I took her back to the store and they refunded my money. In cash. Now, all I have is an empty place in my heart where a new computer should be and $999. Cash.

Busy-ness.

I had SO MANY things to do today. Most of which are things I do not want to do. Like mowing the lawn and doing dishes. But I am EXCITED about the reason for the chores.

P.S. Ready 2 Rumble on the Wii is the kind of game that makes your shoulders hurt in the morning.

MJ.

I don't believe it. Wow. Some people you think will just be around forever; Michael Jackson was one of them. I was hoping he'd be able to turn his image around before his death. I am choosing to remember the good: he was an incredible dancer, performer, entertainer and broke so many barriers, both racially and in media. Perhaps now I will take dance lesson and learn Thriller.... but let's be honest, that would take a good 50 years in itself.

Go download some MJ and be sentimental about the good days.

Things I've Been Reading Lately.

A Year in the Book of Psalms.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss.
Mental_floss magazine.
The Happiness Project.
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson.
Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Stephen Levitt.

TV.

The sentence "LaSonya would cut somebody in a minute" is why I watch Women Behind Bars. Call me and I'll say it to you exactly as I heard it. It's awesome.

O is for OPSEC.

OPSEC stands for Operational Security (love those military acronyms, right?). It's a pretty important concept, as any AFN commercial will tell you. Abiding by OPSEC means being careful about what things you post on the internet - blogs, Facebook, MySpace, wherever. "The Bad Guys" can take the little pieces of information that you post innocently enough and put it together to form a bigger picture of what is going on.

Say a spouse, we'll call her Mrs. C. Puller, posts on her blog that her husband, Gunny Puller is coming home from Iraq next week. Maybe previously she had posted an address so all her hubby's fans could send him care packages. Maybe she had put on her site that she was a "Proud Xth Marines, XX Battalion WIFE!" Well, we can piece together that there is going to be some changes in Iraq, with Xth Marines, XX Battalion. We know where they are located. And I'm sure other details that the loose lips of Mrs. Puller let go.

OPSEC is why I'll never mention where Matty is going, when he's going, when he's coming back, none of it. We can never be to careful about what we write and where we write it. You can't control who sees what you put on the internet and all the little pieces you and your friends post can come together to form a big picture.

Keep my husband safe, don't spread the word. If you want to know whats up with Matt, e-mail me personally and I will respond personally.

N is for NEXT!

Sorry, I'm having too hard of a time writing "N is for Neighbors" so I am skipping it and perhaps I'll revisit it in the future.

Moving along to O this week.

Um... yes, please!

Rick Richardson, Jr.

Rick was a great dad and a great husband. He was a great friend and a great Marine. He always made me laugh and told the best stories. I love his wife dearly, she has been an amazing friend and a shoulder to lean on for me. His son is an awesome little dude and he looked so perfect playing with Molly. Rick is going to be missed by anyone who ever knew him; he's just that kind of guy. Continue your prayers for Jenny and Cole, for comfort and peace right now and for guidance for their future.

Obituary.

?

What do you say when one of your best friends' husband is killed?

Music.

Last night, I was finishing off the iTunes card Matty got me for our anniversary. I checked out the suggestions from the almighty iTunes Music Guru. I saw Diane Birch's album "Bible Belt" and almost paid it no mind considering it was right next to a Dave Matthews Band album. Um, no thanks.

I was curious as to whether this was a Christian CD or not so I investigated, and I love what I found. Diane Birch is beautiful. Her album cover is a close up of her face and she has a 60's pop quality in her looks that is also found in her music. She reminds me of Eva Cassidy, Karen Carpenter, and a tiny bit of Norah Jones with a contemporary something that is all her own. I'm in love.

Also, I was just looking through her album notes and guess who plays the sax? That's right, "Blue" Lou Marini from the Blues Brothers. Seriously, I was meant to find this amazing album... Love, love, love.

M is for Matt.

(... or Missing Marvelous Marine Matt)

I met Matt my first night away at college. This is my journal entry the night I met him after InterVarsity:

afterwards, the girls i had been hanging out with were going to someones room to watch a movie, but i didnt want to, so i found another girl who was going back to Reilly Hall. Her name is Kelly and shes in room 737. all the way at the top! Well, she was having some guys from intervarsity help her with her computer, but one of them Matthew wanted to go back to his room to put his big impressive bible away. so we went to the "smart people's dorm" (honors - cowden) and walked around there for a while. and do you know what i noticed?!?! Matthew looks strikingly similar to elijah wood. it was crazy. he even sounded like him a little too. crazy!!

And a week later when I saw him again:

ok there were like a ton of people in the elevator and one guy was asking some scientific question
"how do you tell how old a black bear is?"
and i said:
"by how many candles there are on his birthday cake!"
and matt said "hey thats a really good one!"
(matt is the guy that looks like elijah wood for those of you who dont remember)

(It's obvious I won him over with my stellar sense of humor)

I got butterflies every time I'd see him around campus and every time - oh my goodness - he recognized me. He remembered my name... He asked me to get lunch with him, to sit by him, to meet his friends. I was nonplussed when he told me he wasn't looking for a girlfriend his freshman year of college. But I was thrilled when he asked me to "make it official," and be his GF. October 6, 2002. At 10:38 pm. (Don't tell my mom he was in my dorm room that late...)

I've been so blessed to find someone to complements who I am so completely. He is the extrovert to my introvert, the socks I have to pick up, the one who adds adventure to my life. I love him so so much and I hate being without him right now.

Oops.

Quite unfortunately, I did not get around to making a post about The Letter M this week. Keeping myself busy each day has just gotten away from me. Many apologies and I will try to post it soon.

Yes, yes.

Dinner.

Two nights ago, I decided to try something new and bought my dinner at the Family Mart. You can't go far in Okinawa without seeing a Family Mart, which, like the Salvation Army Family Store, is not a place you go to purchase loved ones (haha). Family Mart is like a brighter, cleaner, better 7-11. The employees are more polite and the only thing really lacking from a Family Mart is a Slurpee Machine.
So, after work yesterday, I stopped by the closest Family Mart and picked up some new and exciting things to try. Egg salad sandwich (a daring choice, I know), a cold latte, and what seemed to be the sushi incarnation of taco rice.


Looks yummy, right? Mt. Rainier is the coffee ScarJo Japanders for, so it was practically like I had dinner with Scarlett Johansson.


This is the packaging on my egg salad sandwich. Delicious and homemade?? Sounds great! The Japanese wouldn't lie to me, would they?


Turns out, they would. It was like boiled egg and mayo and maybe a tiny hint of mustard. But, they did cut of the crust for me, so major points there.
The Taco rice sushi was actually really good - I didn't get a picture of it because I gobbled it down so fast... four pieces with a half of a hard boiled egg, a fried piece of ?pork?, and a lovely fried potato mush thing. I would definitely bust out the faux sushi again. Probably next week.
So, this meal was good... if you forget the egg salad sandwich, which I pretty much already have. And all for under 7 bucks. 663 yen to be exact.
Family Mart, you may become my new kitchen.

L is for Loneliness.

Very early Monday morning, Matty left for training. This leaves me on my own for the next month, punctuated by a brief reunion and then nine long months of "strength training." I suppose this month is like a preview, allowing me to see what it will all be like, finding out who I will be leaning on, boosting my self-confidence in alone time. Letting me know, nine months is no problem. And it's not just nine months. It's a few months and then a trip home and then a few more months and a trip to - be still my beating heart! - Paris (or Spain, but since I'm the one doing the planning and making the reservations, I think we all know it will be a trip to Paris).

At this point, I'm not anxious. It's still pretty much life as usual. I'm still processing that this isn't just a week in the field, or two or three. This is it. This is deployment.

Projects for the Next Year.

Take a photo every day.
One sentence journal every day.
A year in Psalms every day.

Any other suggestions?

American Idol.

I didn't even watch the final performances last night. And tonight... well, I don't know that I can get away with watching for David Cook two anniversaries in a row. Fortunately for me, my Season 8 counterpart is watching and let me know David performs 15 minutes into the show. SCORE!

Friday is our pre-deployment brief. And Sunday is the start of training. I really need to get some hobbies. Any suggestions?

K is for Kitanakagusuku.

Try to say it. I dare you. Ki-ta-na-ka-gu-su-ku. Say it fast. Say it over and over. Ki-ta-na-ka-gu-su-ku. Ki-ta-na-ka-gu-su-ku. Ki-ta-na-ka-gu-su-ku.

Because of the large number of Westerners on Okinawa, there are actually a lot of signs written in Roman characters. A lot of the city names are written out so we can (attempt to) say them. Kitanakagusuku was the first one I remember really having a problem with. I just couldn't get it out right. I didn't think I'd ever get it out right. And I didn't ever think I'd feel at ease and happy here in Okinawa.

Quite fortunately, I was wrong. I am feeling more and more comfortable in my foreign home at a time when the person who makes me most comfortable is leaving. We will have a few weeks together this summer (one in Thailand!), but after that he's going to nine long months in a place far, far from me. At least there's a mall down in Kitanakgusuku where I can indulge in some retail therapy.

Red House Furniture.

I read an article about this commercial and it made me laugh.


But nothing is as good as this one: