it's all sunshine and skittles
i've been eating a lot of MREs lately (meals ready to eat) (MRE overview). some of the meals come with candy in them, like skittles or m&ms or charms (which have been in rations since world war 2). some of them don't; today i had pasta that came with a 400 calorie powdered milkshake instead. personally, i kind of like them. it's like fast food that's clean, nutritious, and filling.
an interesting sight in iraq is the sky. during the day it fades from white near the sun, to blue above 40 degrees up, to brown between the ground and the blue. it's kind of hard to explain; i'll show you pictures when i get back. at night, the moon is brown. you can't see many stars, and the ones you can see are yellow. it's a very strange place to be.
after i got home from work today, i was sitting on my bed, talking to my roommate. suddenly there was a ground-shaking thump (i'd call them explosions, but that word has a lot of hollywood implications, like flames and slow-motion). it was closer than i've ever felt; i hit the floor so fast i bruised my knees. it was all a blur. two more blasts went off by the time i got my helmet on; i got my flak vest on and croushed on the floor, waiting. nothing happened for a few minutes, so i sat down, trying to catch my breath. my roommate had his helmet on and was muttering obscenities. the explosions felt like they had gone off a hundred yards or fewer from our dorm. a few minutes later, there was still no warning siren- it must have been a controlled detonation (blowing up old bombs and ammo) that no one told us about. the experience taught me a valuable lesson, though: keep your flak vest near and your helmet nearer. it probably took me 10 seconds to get dressed; if i hadn't put my helmet in my backpack, it would only have taken 5.
imagine that you're having a nightmare. you're standing near some railroad tracks out in the country. you see a train coming. it's a long train, going very fast. all of a sudden, the engine jumps the tracks. all the cars behind it leapfrog over it, coming straight at you. a million tons of steel are out of control; they could land on your side of the tracks and kill you, or they could land on the other side harmlessly. running won't do any good because they're coming too fast. there's nothing you can do. you stand there for a few endless seconds, helpless and terribly fascinated, paralyzed. that feeling is how i felt.
actually, scratch that. imagine you're in a small room and there are bombs falling out of the sky at random targets. one of those targets might be you. that's how it feels. i know how people in dresden felt. and people in baghdad, tokyo, london, berlin, and paris. americans have no idea, absolutely no idea, how lucky they are, on a really emotional level.
an interesting sight in iraq is the sky. during the day it fades from white near the sun, to blue above 40 degrees up, to brown between the ground and the blue. it's kind of hard to explain; i'll show you pictures when i get back. at night, the moon is brown. you can't see many stars, and the ones you can see are yellow. it's a very strange place to be.
after i got home from work today, i was sitting on my bed, talking to my roommate. suddenly there was a ground-shaking thump (i'd call them explosions, but that word has a lot of hollywood implications, like flames and slow-motion). it was closer than i've ever felt; i hit the floor so fast i bruised my knees. it was all a blur. two more blasts went off by the time i got my helmet on; i got my flak vest on and croushed on the floor, waiting. nothing happened for a few minutes, so i sat down, trying to catch my breath. my roommate had his helmet on and was muttering obscenities. the explosions felt like they had gone off a hundred yards or fewer from our dorm. a few minutes later, there was still no warning siren- it must have been a controlled detonation (blowing up old bombs and ammo) that no one told us about. the experience taught me a valuable lesson, though: keep your flak vest near and your helmet nearer. it probably took me 10 seconds to get dressed; if i hadn't put my helmet in my backpack, it would only have taken 5.
imagine that you're having a nightmare. you're standing near some railroad tracks out in the country. you see a train coming. it's a long train, going very fast. all of a sudden, the engine jumps the tracks. all the cars behind it leapfrog over it, coming straight at you. a million tons of steel are out of control; they could land on your side of the tracks and kill you, or they could land on the other side harmlessly. running won't do any good because they're coming too fast. there's nothing you can do. you stand there for a few endless seconds, helpless and terribly fascinated, paralyzed. that feeling is how i felt.
actually, scratch that. imagine you're in a small room and there are bombs falling out of the sky at random targets. one of those targets might be you. that's how it feels. i know how people in dresden felt. and people in baghdad, tokyo, london, berlin, and paris. americans have no idea, absolutely no idea, how lucky they are, on a really emotional level.
posted by Ben at 4:18 PM
1 Comments:
Dude! Wow, who knew you could write so nice (imagine that spoken in a stereotypic southern drawl..."raaaggghht so naahhhce). You've painted quite the picture, and my brain does seize an image. Terror in a beautiful and foreign land...crap.
Anyway, on to a mundane topic - but related to survival nonetheless - the weather in Northern Minnesota, something that, on a slower and less acute level, if not monitored has the potential to inflict great personal harm.
Rain and cold. I had to take the Television out of the fireplace today because it's been raining so long that the flu couldn't keep the moisture out. Yes, the t.v. has been in the fireplace - call it a design experiment. It's been fun but on a practical level, has lost it's allure.
What else? Hmmm, let's see, oh yes, I'm certain you'll want to know this, the two finalists on American Idol are a Rocker and a Country Singer. Hmmm, wonder which one "America" will choose? Will give you the update next week!
Well, that's it for now. Ciao baby.
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