1. I have lived in Southern California my entire life. The only time I lived outside my hometown was these past two years in Santa Cruz.
2. My mom taught me to sew a button when I was about 13 and I took off with it. I hand sewed a snake with embroidered eyes and patterning. I didn't even know what embroidery was at that time.
3. My grandfather was a photographer, my father was a photographer, two of my uncles are photographers and so is one of my cousins. All on my dads side of the family. I think it might be in my blood.
4. I love to learn new things. However this means that once I learn something I tend to move to the next new thing without mastering the previous skill. If you have been following my blog you might have noticed this.
5. I hate horror movies. HATE them. Why would anyone want to have those horrible images running through their head all day?
6. Harry Potter rocks. I wish I could live at Hogwarts. Never boring there!
7. When I was little I hated all seafood, olives, avocados, milk, cheese and I was allergic to strawberries. Now I eat all of these things and love them. Except milk, you will never find me drinking a tall glass of the stuff. I still hate shrimp and lobster, go figure. Thankfully I grew out of my strawberry allergy because they are one of my favorite treats.
8. I have been to Los Angeles hundreds or a thousand times but I have never seen a celebrity on the street. I met Jack Palance in Tehachapi, Ca where he lived until he died and Reggie Jackson at the Ontario airport. My step father, Dave is a huge baseball fan and he practically kissed the guys feet. I had never seen him so twitterpaited. I was about 12 and had no idea who Reggie was until Dave explained later.
9. I have always gotten along better with boys then girls. I think in elementary school I decided that girls lie, back stab, cheat, and steal. Boys were much more straightforward and didn't waste time gossiping about their friends. This perception hasn't changed much. I am still much more cautious around women then men. My best friends in high school were two guys and two girls. Years later the only friends from high school I still talk to on a regular basis are those guys.
10. I have to preface this one with this. I am not arguing for or against the war in Iraq, just the treatment of the men and women who fight in it.
My best and oldest friend, John, yes one of those guys from high school, was killed in Baghdad, Iraq 2 years ago on St. Patrick's Day. He had served in the Navy for 4 years and when he couldn't find a job after the military he re-enlisted in the Army as a medic. He was killed by a roadside bomb less then a year into his term.
My husband's best friend is in the Army currently. He has been on 4 tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes I said 4 and they wanted to send him back again. He led part of the 82nd air born that took Saddam's palace in Baghdad and has pictures of the soldiers skinny dipping in Saddam's pool. He has had dud mortar rounds crash land into his lunch tray, had his tank blown up, has had bombs explode right next to him and he was lucky enough not to be injured. Thankfully he was finally brought back to the states when a tank rolled over his arm. I am so glad he is back, but now he thinks he cant die. He has done stupid and dangerous things because he is convinced that he is invincible. Do you know that they "patched up" his arm, which has severe nerve damage and causes great pain, and tried to send him back to Iraq again. He refused and after months of negotiations with the military and their crackhead psychiatric doctors they are going to give him a medical discharge... in 4 or 5 more months.
My other best friend from high school joined the Navy with John and served his 4 years. He got one job which he kept for a few years. After getting laid off and not finding another job he is seriously considering re enlisting again. I am so afraid that he will re enlist! I cant have another friend that's all messed up in the head or dead.
I guess my rant has a point. Our soldiers are not being cared for. They are being used as faceless killers and then they are brought back and let loose among normalcy without adequate phychiatric counseling or decontamination. (The contaminant would be war in this case) This makes them a danger to themselves and others.
Another friend of mine is haunted by nightmares of killing the children, girls and boys, that terrorists were using as body shields and suicide bombers. He tells me that it was he and his troop or them. That same friend flipped out at a fourth of July party because the firecrackers someone shot off sounded like automatic machine gunfire. These poor men and women have severe post traumatic stress disorder that is not being treated.
I could go on and on about what these soldiers have told me. For example, you know how we were told that there were no "weapons of mass destruction". Well one of my friends saw them himself and had to go through two weeks of decontamination after guarding them. Did I mention that his son has severe birth defects and it is unlikely that he will live until adulthood. He has spent more then half of his life in the hospital and has been on his deathbed twice. One of those times the military refused to send his dad back to the states to say goodbye so his troop refused to follow any orders until he was sent home to his dying son. A request that was eventually granted. Can you guess where those birth defects came from? So much for decontamination. Or how about that almost all of my soldier friends who were married came back from war and were divorced within a year.
Alright I will really stop now. I do want to make one request. Next time you see a soldier thank them for risking their lives to protect the US. Even if you don't agree with the fighting, many of those men and women are there because they couldn't find a job anywhere else. It is very likely that many of them will be homeless and on the streets like so many Vietnam veterans because they will not be able to reincorporate themselves into society. The loss of their sanity is a sacrifice I am sure wasn't listed on their enlistment papers.
Next time there is a guy with no legs wearing military fatigues sitting on the corner begging for change buy him a sandwitch or toss him a few bucks. Who cares if he spends it on booze, you were just going to spend it at Starbucks anyway. At least the booze takes away the pain he has every day.
