a waste of your time

It’s been a long while since I’ve written anything. No good reason, I’ve just been lazy. I had originally wanted to update this blog every other day (to show I’m not totally addicted), but that got to be a bit much. Not because nothing has been happening, but because I don’t ever think that anything that happens to me is interesting enough to write about.

The Air Force is being nice enough to let me fly back Stateside on 22 August - the date I asked for. It’s a Friday. I’ve given myself an extra few days to get reacquainted with the area before having to head in to work to start in-processing at Tyndall. It’ll also give me a chance to go look at cars. I’ll get to hang out with friends I haven’t seen for three years. I’m beginning to look forward to it more than I thought I would.

I’m the shift boss this week (and I have been for the past two weeks, also). I’m not really liking it. The first week was pretty good - I didn’t make too many mistakes and I was told by someone I really respect that he thought I found my calling in the Aircraft Maintenance world of the USAF. That made me feel really good. Then the “stuff” hit the fan. The other two shifts (we work a 24-hr operation during the week) started making really stupid mistakes. But, because I was the one who had to tell the Shop Chief (big boss) about them, I was the one who got blamed/yelled at. No one was really being held accountable. And the person who should’ve been held accountable (but wasn’t) also wasn’t talking to his shift about the mistakes they were making. They weren’t really mistakes, just carelessness/improper training.

Anyway, because of this, I’ve had to try my wings at defending not only myself, but the workers on my shift. It’s a tough line to draw - defending your actions yet still being/staying respectful. I actually ended up getting into very loud arguments with some people last week. Then this week kind of started the same way. Luckily I didn’t have to answer for the other shifts’ mistakes because of how I handled myself last week when explaining that my workers spend the whole shift fixing the other shifts’ mistakes. I think we’re all on the same page now.

I go on leave in 16 days (not that I’m counting or anything). I haven’t been on leave in six months. Six months! This is a momentous occasion - it marks the last milestone before I get to be back Stateside. Once I’m stateside I won’t have to wait six months to see Adam, my family members or old friends. It’s much cheaper to fly from State to State than it is from Continent to Continent. I don’t think I’ll be quite as lonely for everyone I love.

I won’t bore you with any more details of my life. Maybe next time I’ll write a hypothetical, a story or something a little more interesting. So here’s to my uneventful life over the past few weeks - a waste of your time to read about it, but maybe just a little entertaining?

a "rainy" day followed by a dose of sunshine

A lot has happened over the past week or so. Ok, maybe not a lot, but definitely some big things. For starters, I got into a car wreck on 2 May. I’ve made it almost three years living in England without a wreck. Then I go and wreck my favorite car (I only have one, but it’s definitely been my favorite of all the cars I’ve owned).

I could’ve died in that accident if it weren’t for my (very not normal) quick thinking behind the wheel. Cars in front of me slammed on their breaks because a van pulled out in front of a van two cars ahead of me. I didn’t have enough time to come to a full stop, so I swerved right (remember, I’m driving on the left side of the road since I live in England). Normally this would’ve been the right thing to do, but for some odd reason there was more traffic on this back road than normal. There were two or three cars headed straight towards me. I hurried up a swerved left to avoid a head-on collision. Somehow I managed to not hit the car that was in front of me, but I did rear end the van that got pulled out in front of.

My car is totaled. It’s so sad. But this accident has, in all actuality, saved me a lot of stress when I move back stateside in August. I now don’t have to worry about shipping my car back to the States. I don’t have to pay the super-expensive (although reimbursable) road tax, and I don’t have to worry about getting the annual inspection done. I also don’t have to rent a car for a month or so after I get to my next base before my car arrives. I can just go ahead and buy one as soon as I get there.

Speaking of my next base (and the dose of sunshine), I found out this past week that I’m going back to the Sunshine State. I’m going back to Tyndall AFB for (hopefully) the remainder of my military career. I wanted to go to our other base in Florida, but this one is good, too. I know exactly where I want to live, I have a church there already, and I have quite a few friends that I can’t wait to see again. Needless to say, I’m getting excited about going back.

So many of my family members and friends are planning on coming to visit me. I think Adam is going to fly down at least twice - once to visit and once to drive back up to Pennsylvania when I get out of the Air Force. The apartments I’m looking into renting cost less than half as much as my house now AND have more square footage!

Another good thing about this assignment is it means I’m just one more step closer to being close to Adam and the rest of my family. The more I think about it, the more excited I get. It also makes me miss Adam and my family even more. Sometimes it gets almost unbearable. But it’s worth it if it means that I get to be closer to everyone again.

These next three weeks will test my chops as a supervisor - I’m shift supervisor. I haven’t been a shift supervisor before, so it’ll be interesting. After these three weeks, I’ll work for just over a week and then go on leave for three weeks. I’m ready for a break.