30 pigs $475, Pig Home $600, Flight to Nepal $2500, Getting to invest in an amazing friend, family, culture...

PRICELESS

This is getting bigger than life and what I first saw as a crazy idea has turned into an amazing life altering event for alot more lives then I have ever imagined. Not only is it allowing my friend Magar to go back home to his family, but also his two brothers who are working here to support their families. It seems as though I have created jobs for notjust my friend and his wife, but his parents, his brothers, and their families, too. It will be realatively small start, but they want to grow the farm to one of the largest in Napal. I told them we would do it. This could potentiall secure jobs for generations of people in a third world country where the gross calita is less than $220 a year. That's right. Most people here live off of less than $1 a day!

My hope for this buisness is not just to secure finantial sucess for these people but to use the profits to send all their children to college. Something unheard of in the part of the world they are from. I really don't want to make profit off them, or their hard work...just enough to pay for a flight to enjoy it with them for a week or so once a year.

I think this just might be the most important thing I have done in the past 13 mos. It is the most fulfilling. Looking into the eyes of my friend as he tells me his father has already started to move on buying the pigs and build a pig house and how he will have this brother do this and his wife do that. He glows. I met his younger brother tonight and he couldn't stop saying how he was so glad tomeet me and how happy he was to be a part of this...and thank you...I hate working in Kuwait.

For the cost of a cruise for two I am hoping to provide an unimaginable lifestyle for some of the most humble, patient, accepting people I believe I will ever meet. I will go to Nepal. I will see this through. And I will have the most amazing stories to tell in the meanwhile.



Stay Tuned for a story of a pig called Donnie coming soon to a blog near you!

Before big there was small, before small there was somenthing, and before something there was nothing, but before nothing...

there was a possibility of anything.


What is the best moment in the following situations...

At a baseball game your team is up, the ball is hit. Its up, up, going... ball drops on the field...base hit.

You are at a craps table, you have the dice in your hand, you shake them and let them go... they land and you win.

You stand there, nervous looking at him/her. The moment is awkward but you close your eyes and lean in...as your lips come in contact with theirs you breath a sigh of relief.

Not sure? Well look at it like this. All three situations have moments when life can go either way. Completely wrong...or in your favor. That moment is the best moment in all three situations. It creates a high of hope, dreams, wishes come true. Or...reality just gets another chance to slap you in the face, again. But, all day long reality slaps us silly. It is only in these brief moments that we escape life and dreams can come true. Once we actually get what we want reality starts up all over again with a whole new set of ways to slap us around. Next batter up grounds into a double, you double down and lose it all, the kiss was no good.

So, maybe it dosen't all go wrong, but it can. We can continue to experience these "perfect" moments by taking chances. Everyonce in awhile these moments feel like forever. So never stop taking risks. Live for the moments. The high is there, but be prepared to be slapped about like a ragdoll.

The Hunt is on...

This is a boring blog, so those of you pinched for time...don't waste it here. Not now, not today atleast. I'm just bogged down with all the shit that has to be done for me to get the hell out of here. Let's see...

Firefighter II test and practical to take. Test...3 hours prep time... Practical 3 weeks for them to figure out how they can burn the crap out of another trailer and get someone else hurt.

HazMat Technician Course...I have another 20 hours of computer time to put in...10 hours of studying for the test and an all day long practical, in a vapor proof suit...in by then...110 degree weather (if I'm so lucky) for 12 hours.

Confined space rescue..who freaken knows...It'll be done on shift.

And hopefully SCUBA PADI certified. That will lead to hopefully open water rescue, rescue diving, swift water rescue, and I already did my ice rescue crap....but I NEVER GOT MY CERT. tHANKS RUSS YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF CARCAS.

And then there's my packing, arranging flights, trying to find out weather I quit or get LWOP. Beg for LWOP. Turn in my medical reciepts for rewmbursment... and still remember to do the laundy often enough to have a pair of clean underwear. UHHHHHHHH!

I need some sleep. But, I need a job... anyone have any offers? Life otherwise is boring..God knows there's no room for excitement here.

Wanna go on a Gedaazzle???

So, I have discovered I have a severe dislike of formalities. One being the word "date". Its so formal. So what's a girl to do but ask a guy to makeup a word that essentially means "date" but isn't.



I found that guy. His name is Jeff. Far right. He is currently my penpal/friend...and gadazzle. When we talk the two of us laugh so hard our faces hurt. Though I may instigate it he plays along with my childlike ideas and doesn't fail to surprise me with his uncanny ability to say something more bizzare than I came up with.

We do have talks about life that doesn't involve hyperventilating or facial cramps. From what I can gather he is honest, family oriented, and has a job related to what he wanted to be when he grew up as a child. He works at his dream job. I find it attractive when people actually use their passion and inner child to achieve what most have given up on. Jeff is an engineer for a race car company designing parts. I don't really know what he does...its really technical. Hence, the engineer's job.

Like the refreshing shock your body feels after hitting the cold water of a river on a hot day, I am glad their are people like him around.

Will he ever really show up in a mime's costume to meet my parents? We'll see. But, the possiblilities are endless and if hanging out with him, or gadazzling (if I be so lucky) is anything like our phone conversations...I'm in for a great summer.

What did April 13th mean to you???

Well, for one it was Suraj (the guy on the left's) birthday. We bought everyone Pizza and Ice Cream, sang happy birthday, and some people even ave him some birthday money. I have never seen anyone so thankful for so little. I had him moved from another station just so he could be with everyone...and call Marty. He had been talking about their birthday for weeks. An d how he would get a chance to talk to Marty on the phone.



I was also the guy on the rights birthday, too. I did get to talk to him and it was for a good chunk of time. I was glad but so nervous. I didn't know what to say. As I stood by the phone after the guys came and got me, my heart, echoed in that small space where you use the phone.

It was a year to the day I met him. He counted it as our anniversary.

I tripped over thoughts, never saying what I wanted. He asked about the attack...I started to cry beause it was him that I was telling. He made this place safe when he was here. I never worried. He was more of a man than I could have asked for. I wanted to say sorry things went how they did. That sounded like happy birthday, I hope things are going well.

He said he had been having dreams about coming back. The guys said he talked to the chief about coming back for 4 mos, shot down. He asked when I was leaving. I think he was diswayed with me still being hee and resigning. I don't think he wants back again. I hope he doesn't. He left with a goal, drive, ambitition, and so much potential. It would break my heart again to know he returned. He is better than this. We both were.

So I blabbered about everything going wrong. He is the only one who knows this place. He lived this with me. I think I cried because I was so glad I could tell him what anyone would tell the only person that they believed could understand. I told him,"I'm not really tough afterall." He told me his plans for the evening, bowling. I supposed I should have guessed. But that is the Marty I began to barely learn about backhome. We bowled once here.

Long story short. It was good to hear him. I blabbed like an idiot. I don't know if for me it could have ever been enough time. I miss my friend.

Oh yeah, it was holy Thursday, Napalese New Years Eve. and I'm sure a whole bunch of other crap that doesn't concern me.

Just Call Me Action Jackson!

So here are a few photos from our live training burn not too long ago.
This was how the trailer started...

I'm the one in the black helmet. Not that I have to be special, just protected. Alot of the yello helmets you see are rated at 500 degrees for 5 min. After that...they melt. I just wanted the best equipmnet we had, despite color. Though black is still cooler.


See, the burn got out of control and our training officer needed to be pulledoff the hoseline. Idiot wans't supposed to be there anyway. He just had no clue. After burns to his hands and neck he finally got out and let me and my boy Link show him how it was done. And it wasn't by standing up in the doorway.








This is old news but atleast fun to do. I had to prove to them that I could do what I had been doing for three years. It cost us one trailer, two helmets, three hoses, and a few bandages for Starr.

"Either She goes...or I go!" Its time to bounce kangaroo!

Um...thats me on the right. The guy on the left is the Aussie in question. Remember a few blogs back when I introduced you to the greatest captain on Camp Arifjan? Well, this s the worst one. He's out token Aussie asshole. This guy has some sort of personal hate for me and after creating very minor reasons to write me up, which everyone can see are BS and contrived he is calling for me to be fired!

Either she goes, or I go.

Ha ha! "I'm gonna be alot more difficult than that crabs you picked up from those hookers last weekend Darren!"

I am here for a reason. I came here to adavnce my caree, gain some education, and pick up some certs along the way. I'm not done yet. If he were smart he'd just talk to me like an adult and we could've resolved this like adults. But, no one likes the wild chick and the few that have tried to break me have failed. I'm not wild, I'm smart you idiots!

Luckilly the other members of intelligence didn't like Darren's pouting and I believe they will be saying "Ta ta" to him soon.