09/07/2010 2315

Now this was officially one fun day. It started out inconspicuously enough. We got up, started the day with roll call, did the usual stuff. Then Juli & I had a visitor. It was more stuff about the mapping system. There are quite a few people involved in this, which make sense… it does affect the entire Camp, after all. We ended up meeting a few people yesterday, one of whom was from Long Beach and knows a few people that I know. I’ve been looking for one of those people for ages and he thinks he can get me in touch with him. Great news! Then I got onto my computer and found a message from a long lost friend of mine. Awesome! And then we found out that our request for a ride around the Camp was going to be granted. We got to go on a convoy around here to see the different areas and buildings. We had to wear our PPE, of course, and were in an MRAP. It was nothing short of awesome. It was really neat to see that side of things. There’s so much more to this camp than I’d ever have guessed. It’s amazing! After our ride, we came back, had dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening on our little “veranda” with the delicious beverages I’m going to refer to as beeries. It’s near beer, and all that we’re allowed here… but when you’ve got a good enough imagination, it’ll do. In fact, if you concentrate hard enough, you can feel the gentle cool breeze just off the ocean right behind the station. Sometimes you can even hear the waves crashing into the rocks. Seriously! It’s all about the imagination. Some of the guys think we’re nuts, some come to join us for a bit. I guess when you’re going to be here in this situation for a while, you may as well learn to accept it.

Alright, I apologize for the short entry, but I’m going to go ahead and pass out in a minute. I hope. Still having a rough time getting onto this time zone. Maybe. I’m not even sure what it is. I used to absolutely require at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Now I’m averaging 5 and surviving. Worse yet, I get this second wind each night, but I still have to wake up early! No fun. I hope it’s just the newness of it all. I guess we’ll know in a few more weeks.