My grandfather and WW II
Mood:  special
Now Playing: Clay Aiken - heh.
Topic: Friends and Family
As promised, following is the account that my grandfather wrote me of his participation in World War II. There were some things that were difficult to read or the places had weird spellings... I tried to look up some of the places as best I could and there are only two or so words or places that I wasn't sure of. This entry is quite lengthy, close to 4,000 words and is over 8 typed pages long (17 hand-written). It reads:

April, 2004


Dear Lauren,

At one time you were quite interested in WWII. I'm not sure if you still are, so here goes. This is pretty much a copy of an account of my personal involvement, which I had sent to someone else.

I was not too surprised when one of the Axis Powers attacked us on Dec. 7, 1941. Our Navy was already escorting British merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean, dropping depth charges on German subs, and gave the British 50 destroyers. We also prevented Japan from buying any oil from any source, strangling its economy.

When I was 19, I enlisted (volunteered) in the Army Air Force for the duration of the war plus six months. I was sworn in on December 10, 1942 and promptly sent to Camp Meade, my reception center. There we were marched between 2 rows of Medics and injected with smallpox, typhus, tetanus, and other goody vaccines.

I was sent to Miami Beach for Basic Training. Sounds like a good deal, right? Quartered in a hotel in Florida and January. The rooms were bare except for 6 Army bunks - in 2 stacks of 3, and a bathroom. We were on the 8th floor and were forbidden to use the elevators (officers only). We had to run up and down the stairs to get into formation before roll call, on an empty lot across the street. The city was blacked out at night because German subs had been lurking off the coast and were picking off ships which were silhouetted against the lighted cities. We couldn't use the beaches because of all the oil and wreckage from the sunken ships.

While there, I was told that my I.Q. and other tests were very high and I could apply for Officers Candidate School, but by now I had developed negative feelings toward many officers and instead chose to go to photo school at Lowry Field near Denver.

I was shipped to Lowry in early February. What a difference in weather - from sunshine and 80? to snow every other day and 15? below zero in the morning. Also, there was the change in altitude, from sea level to 5,300'. It was hard breathing in the thin air, and tougher yet when the drill instructors insisted we put on our gas masks and run for a mile at a time.

After learning the Army way of developing still, movie, and aerial photographs and camera installation and repairs, we finally graduated and were sent to our units. I was sent to Fort Dix Army Air Base. This was a pretty good deal for me because I could get home for a while on weekends.

We were alerted for overseas duty in early December, 1943. For some reason my girlfriend (in Baltimore) and I decided to get married before I left. We decided to get married the night of December 21. I caught the train from Trenton to Baltimore, where my girlfriend was waiting for me, and informed me that we couldn't marry that night because she'd forgotten to get a marriage license, and we'd have to try again the next night. So again I hopped the train to Baltimore, but this time there was a train wreck ahead, and we were delayed for 3 hours. I didn't get to the church until 11, instead of 8 pm. By then, the priest had gone to bed and we had to get him up and round up the witnesses. We finally married at 12:15 in the morning. When we got back to Trenton, I had to take a cab to Fort Dix to get back before roll call (I was technically A.W.O.L.), and sneaked into camp through a drainage ditch under the security fence. My first sergeant was a grizzled, tough transferee from the infantry, and I figured he would give me a hard time when I told him. He was tough but he was fair, and told me he wasn't sure whether he should congratulate me or chew my butt out. I told him I deserved a little of both.

A couple of weeks later we were sent down to Camp Patrick Henry, in preparation to shipping out overseas. While I was on guard duty there, a race riot broke out and a number of soldiers were killed. While I was running toward the PX (Post Exchange) a bullet was fired from inside where there was fighting and passed through the door just as I was opening it. There was an immediate curfew, and those of us on guard duty were ordered to shoot anyone outside the barracks.

By mid-January we were herded on board the French cargo-passenger ship Athos II. Athos I had been sunk. We boarded the ship at Newport-News. The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at Norfolk had an anti-submarine net across it so we had to wait for it to be opened up for us to get into the Atlantic Ocean. My bunk was the top one in a stack of 4, with a hot steam pipe a couple of inches from my nose. We were at the very bottom of the ship, just above the bilge, way below the water-line. We knew there was no way we could survive a torpedo attack. I had another disadvantage. Our life jackets consisted of 2 small inflatable inner tubes fastened together, which could be inflated by 2 CO2 cartridges by pulling a string. My inner tubes were both punctured, so were worthless. When I notified the sergeant-in-charge, he said, "Too bad, we don't have any more." Navy blimps kept an eye on us the first day out, and then we picked up 2 destroyers for escorts. We steamed south and entered the Panama Canal for transit to the Pacific Ocean. However, we damaged our rudder in the canal and the ship had to go into drydock for repairs while we stayed at Fort Clayton in the Canal Zone.

It took about a week for repairs and then we were on our way again, without and escort. When we were about 1,000 miles west of the Galapagos Islands, we had another mishap. The 2 engines on the ship apparently had been sabotaged by some of the French crew. Actually, France had surrendered to Germany, and many of the crew felt that the war was over for them, and they shouldn't be in a war zone. We bobbed around, helplessly for about a day. Luckily, we weren't attacked by a sub. Finally, a small auxiliary engine was put into service and we hobbled back to the Canal for repairs again. We disembarked, and we back to Fort Clayton. Some of the French crew were arrested.

Departing from the Canal Zone once again, we headed into the Pacific Ocean, escorted by a Dutch cruiser. We often think of the French for good food, but of course we were on a troops ship, so all bets were off. The food was horrible. One hundred per cent of us came down with diarrhea or other problems. One time my mess kit was adorned with only the severed head of a chicken, with all of its feathers and eyes and beak. I couldn't eat it.

On another occasion we very nearly hit a mine. The ship suddenly rolled over on its starboard side, and narrowly missed hitting a floating mine (probably a magnetic mine).

We steamed on to Ulithi, where an Australian plane captured by the Japanese flew over the anchorage, dropping bombs which sank a ship.

From there we steamed on to the Society Island group, where we anchored in the lagoon of the island of Bora-Bora. This was the most beautiful island I had ever seen. It had everything - a beautiful lagoon, a high, rugged, cloud-covered mountain, sandy beaches, palm trees, natives in out-rig canoes coming out to sell us fresh tropical fruit (which we craved!!), and diving for coins tossed overboard.

From there we steamed to the west coast of Australia, to Freemantle and Perth. The Australians were wonderful. They were very hart hit by the war. They had very little food, and very little oil. The first thing we noticed while docking was the absence of young and even middle-aged people. Old people were loading and unloading the ships. All the others were fighting in the war. As I said, the Australians were terrific to me. They shut down many businesses so the gals could escort us around to see the sights and sounds of the area. It was interesting to note that all the buses, trucks, and cars were powered by small trailers carrying charcoal burners. They had no "petrol".

Also, people insisted on providing us with a meal. They had so little, but they insisted on sharing what they had with us. Their food consisted mostly of jack rabbits shot on the prairie, and cabbage. And they insisted on no payment for anything.

Western Australia was very much like our old west. The streets were unpaved. They had wooden boardwalks for sidewalks, with false fronts in front of their businesses. They drove cattle through the middle of the dusty streets.

But the war was on. We were in the Bay of Bengal, and smelled smoke, burning flesh, and other nauseas fumes a day before we saw any land.

We were appalled by what we saw when we entered Bombay Harbor. It was a disaster area. The entire harbor was devastated. Huge ships were upside-down, hulls up, end up, sunken, partially on land, partially sunk, and many square blocks of the harbor engulfed in flames. Nobody was fighting the fires, because the fire department and all of its personnel had been destroyed. Welcome to war.

We boarded a train, and crept through about a mile, with burning buildings on both sides of the train, heading east toward the eastern Indian front. The train was horrible, 3rd class for us. There weren't enough benches for all of us to sit down at one time, so we took turns - 12 hours standing, 12 hours sitting. The so-called bathroom facility consisted of a six-inch hole in the floor. We had no water for washing or shaving, or teeth cleaning for 4 days. We did not smell great. Even the insects avoided us.

We finally arrived at our destination in eastern India in late April of 1944. Our families finally heard from us after 3 months.

India was a very, very different place from where any of us had been to. The first night I was in India I was put on guard duty with a Gurkha. Gurkhas are short people, very warlike, from Nepal. Like most people in that area, they hated the British. When I was on guard with him, he drew his Gurkha knife, threw a small piece of bamboo into the air and split in two. He said, "British corrupt." I tried to explain to him, "Not British - American!" However, a Gurkha never draws his knife without drawing blood. In this instance, his own, since I convinced him I was not British.

So how was the war in India? I was there nearly a year. I was in the provinces of Bihar (sp?) and Bengal, in eastern India. I was assigned to the 20th Air Force, mostly involved with photography. We had Indian Units fighting for us and against us, which was understandable, since the British were an occupying force, and the Japanese claimed they would liberate India. Many Indians were against us. We would find our soldiers with their throats slit, or otherwise dispatched. Occasionally, we would be bombed, but not much. The real problem was heat and disease. Nearly everyone came down with malaria and or dengue fever. My main problem was dysentery. We had a tough time with malaria because the Japanese had captured the sources of quinine.

India was a depressing place in which to be. The people were unbelievably poor. At first we Americans tried to help by giving to the poor, but it was too overwhelming. More than 1 million Indians starved to death during that famine of 1944. The death rate from smallpox was probably close to that also. During the year in India, morale went down to a low point. I was working nearly 100 hours a week in the photo lab, mostly at night because it was too hot (120 degrees) during the day. The emulsion would come off the film base and resulted in blank film. Also, the B-29's metal would be too hot to service during the day. We had to try to get a little bit of shut-eye during the day. However, during this time period, our B-29's were attempting to hit military targets. In the States, we had been told that the Norton (?) bomb-sighting device was so accurate that we could put a bomb in the center of a barrel from an altitude of 15,000 feet. I was really disappointed when I saw the results. Our bombs often landed ? (1/2) mile from the targets - shipbuilding facilities, barracks, airfields, and other military targets. They often landed on mud hut villages and rice paddies.

I was put on alert to fly the "HUMP" (Himalayas) into China to "A-1" the code name for Chungking (?) with a load of bombs. I really looked forward to it because I hated our chow (mostly very tough, gristly water buffalo and powdered eggs). In China, they had real eggs and fresh poultry. I was packed up and ready to go (along with a load of bombs) for a week, but every night there was a problem - very poor weather, or too many Japanese fighter activity, or bombings of the airfields.

In India, we were bombed only occasionally. An anti-aircraft cannon would fire one shell into the air for a one-ball alert when the enemy planes were 100 miles from us, 2 shells for a 2 ball alert when they were 50 miles away, and 3 shells when they were overhead. However, it was a tough decision whether to jump into the slit trenches - usually full of water, snakes, scorpions, etc. Every single day we saw cobras in our tent area, and sometimes pythons and other large snakes. Scorpions often crawled into our shoes at night, so we shook our shoes out in the morning. In fact, I did this ritual for 5 years every morning even after returning from India, it was so habit forming. Sometimes herds of rogue elephants would come tearing through the area. We never experienced any damage from them, however. Some of the native villages were destroyed by them. One night, alone in my tent, I saw these two yellow eyes glaring at me. In the morning I found the footprints of a large cat - probably a leopard.

So many of us started to die off that the Army decided to send us to rest camps in Northern India. I was sent to Renakatt (?) in the Himalayas, in a convoy of buses. There were no guardrails on these extremely dangerous narrow mountain roads and one of our buses went off the road and we suffered 50 casualties. A few buddies and I decided to climb a nearby mountain, which we climbed from 5 in the morning until 5 in the evening, fighting baboons who threw rocks at us for invading their area. When we finally reached the top (way above the clouds) we found an inscription on a rock - "KILROY WAS HERE," so we weren't the first G.I.'s to reach that height.

I was sent to newly invaded Marianas Islands, to Tinian, and assigned to the 462nd bomb group. There were quite a few Japanese soldiers still holding out on the island, hiding in caves and bunkers and sugarcane fields. We were sniped at at times. The B-29 tactics had changed. No longer were military targets the prime targets. Cities were targeted. There were very heavily firebombed. Even some of the bomber crews were uneasy - they could smell the burning flesh even inside their high altitude planes.

If I may digress - back to India. I have very vivid memories or being on burial details. I remember seeing one of our planes come down - straight down into a flaming, smoking mess, and then put in his burial detail within an hour. There was so much metal mixed in with his body 6 of us could barely lift the box with him in it. Even more disturbing was his blood still running out of the bottom of the box, which was loosening.

Back to Tinian. Stand on any spot on Tinian, and you can pick up bomb or shell fragments, such was the carnage on the island. As I noted, Jap soldiers were still on the island. I was assigned to the 10th Photo Lab, 462 Bomb Group. Atrocious acts were committed by both sides. I was witness to some.

There is nothing glorious about war. I was, of course involved with the 10th Photo Lab. We developed and printed the pictures of the Atomic Bombs' devastations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How do I feel about their use?

I'm still in a state of limbo on this. I have mixed feelings, even now. On one hand - I feel terrible about the loss of many innocent lives which were snuffed out and even more for the ones who suffered so much and later died while in agony. On the other hand, maybe the atomic bombings gave the Japanese Government an excuse to quit the war. Probably a million or more soldiers would have been killed, and even more civilians had the war continued.

Life on Tinian was a mixed bag. It was dangerous, because of the Japanese holdouts. But the food was better, because some vegetables could be raised on the island, even though the majority of it was covered by sugarcane fields. And oddly enough, some goats have survived the bombings and shellings, so we milked them for a rarity we hadn't tasted in 1 ? years - fresh milk!!

The weather was better than we had in India. It got hot, but there was nearly always a breeze, because it was an island only about 4 miles wide, and about 11 miles long. One time 2 other guys and I decided to go swimming and ran into trouble. A riptide suddenly came up and none of us could make it back to shore. I tried and tried, and finally was so exhausted, I gave up and thought this was the end. The tide carried me out, then suddenly into a calm cove, where I was able to get in to shore. One of the others was carried all the way to the island of Saipan, about 5 miles away. The other was never found. The strange tides were caused by an approaching typhoon, which nobody told us about. That's one thing we enlisted men resented. We always felt we were "mushrooms" - fed a lot of fertilizer and kept in the dark. The sky became darker and threatening, and we saw the Navy ships pull up anchor and steam away, and the flyable planes all left, and the VIP's all left, and only the "expendable" were left on the island. I saw 4 tornadoes and waterspouts at the same time, forerunners of the typhoon which was approaching. It hit us dead on - destroying most of our structures and remaining planes. It was impossible to stand up. Chunks of coral were like cannonballs. Suddenly the tempest stopped and the sun appeared. We thought it was over. But actually the "eye" of the typhoon passed over us, and in a short time we were hit by the other half of the storm. All the pieces of buildings, sheets of sheet metal, coral, etc. came at us from the other direction. The whole island shook from the pounding seas. For several days we had no electricity or food. The first food we got, oddly enough was ice cream made from powder.

There were more than 8,000 Japanese troops on Tinian when we invaded it. Most of them considered surrendering a disgrace, even though they were totally overwhelmed. I talked with a few of the prisoners-of-war. They said they were given hand grenades to blow themselves up in order to avoid capture. These few threw away their grenades and surrendered anyway. On Tinian, where I was, there was a Marine Colonel who valued human life and tried to get Japanese holdouts to surrender rather than continue fighting or blow themselves up. He was known as the "Pied Piper of Tinian". He, and Japanese POW's would go into the remote areas where we knew the holdouts were, and try to get the others to give up their impossible situation.

One night on Tinian I was thee C.Q. (Charge of Quarters) in the lab and a number of Japanese soldiers were trying to break in and cut the phone lines. They probably thought some food was available. I couldn't call for help because of the cut phone lines. I ran around locking the doors just as they were trying to come in.

In another incident, I was taking a shortcut through a sugar cane field at twilight, when a Japanese soldier and I ran into each other on a narrow path. We were only about 2 feet from each other. He was armed with his rifle, I with only a bamboo walking stick. We were eyeball to eyeball. I thought this was it. We both spun around and ran off in opposite directions. I still don't know why he didn't dispatch me with his rifle butt. I hope he made it through the war and made it back to his family.

There was a small island only 3 miles from us named Aguigan, which was still held by the Japanese. It apparently was supplied occasionally by Japanese subs, because an anti aircraft gun their occasionally fired phosphorous shells at our aircraft (and us).

After we used Atomic weapons against Hiroshima, we expected the Japanese would use gas against us to retaliate. We were under order to keep our gas masks with us 24 hours a day. Instead, they surrendered.

A point system was used for the demobilization of the armed forces. Months of service, overseas duty, combat, etc. were taken into consideration for release. I had 3-4 times the number of points for release as far as decorations I had the "Good Conduct Medal", "American Campaign Medal" (Anti-Sub at Tate Lin?), "Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal", "World War II Victory Medal", and battles and campaigns - "Air Offensive Japan, China, India, Burma, and Air Combat Palembang Sumatra."

It was over. I flew back to the States on a battle damaged B-29 from Guam. I had survived the war, but was so afraid something would happen. We were hit by lightning during a storm. We almost hit a parked plane a Hicham Field in Hawaii, because we were communicating with one field while landing at another, and our number 4 engine caught on fire 400 miles off of California, and of course lost altitude. But we eventually made it to Sacremento.

I was honorably discharged on November 16, 1945 and went back to my wife Margaret in Baltimore.

I went back to work at the Baltimore Gas & Electric Company as an apprentice Draftsman and worked my way up to Engineering Designer and Senior Engineer responsible for Concrete and Structural Steel Design for Power Plants, General Plant, Substation and Transmission Construction.

Anyway, I hope you found at least some of this informative and interesting. Forgive my terrible penmanship (and grammar). My penmanship has deteriorated since my surgery for Dupuytren's contractures.

Love,
Grandpop

it's TV tuesday and tomorrow is hump day -- that much closer to the weekend!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Jason Mraz
Topic: TV, music, movies, etc.
Woo-hoo! Boy do I love Tuesdays. : - ) American Idol at 8 and then it's Jack Bauer time at 9!! (<-- 24)

I have a major problem with American Idol, though. Their voting system sucks. As a matter of fact, it's SO bad that I don't even bother voting, because my 1 measly vote REALLY DOESN'T COUNT! They have this stupid system where you can vote as many times as you want for your favorite. So there are a million 12 year olds hitting redial for their favorite crappy singers. They don't care about talent, their minds are made up before that night anyway. The most talented singer on there is Latoya, and I'm sure she'll get voted off in the next few weeks. It would be such a shame if John Stevens wins the whole thing. I'll be very disappointed. VERY disappointed. I know that I can't complain too much since I don't vote, but I'm not going to spend two hours hitting redial - especially when one of those hours is devoted to 24!! I really hope that they re-think their system. There were a lot of articles written about it last week and there was much public outcry. Craziness.

On to 24... I hope that Michelle lives. Hopefully she's immune to the virus or somehow hasn't been exposed to it, since she isn't showing symptoms yet. Maybe Jack will have to torture Saunder's daughter to get the information he needs... I have no doubt that he's capable of it! "Grab the hacksaw!!!"

Hehe.

If you haven't had the pleasure of getting hooked to 24, you are missing out! I've been watching since Season 1 (Day One, actually) and I've never missed an episode. Seasons 1 and 2 are on DVD... you should probably rent those first for some background information. ;-) There are only 5 or so episodes left this season, but you can go to the show's website for an episode guide to catch up on what's happened so far. Even if you start watching now, you could probably figure out what's going on, they give a little summary at the beginning of each show. Actually, I just checked the site and with a little navigation, you can read the episode guides from the last 3 seasons, so you don't have to rent the seasons if you don't want to.

WATCH IT TONIGHT! 9 P.M. on FOX!!!!!

That's it for now. Or maybe today!

busy monday!
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: Eve 6 - inside out (reminds me of working at the denton mcdonald's!)
This will be quick, I'm trying to finish up my work day. Got a lot done today, but that meant that I didn't have a chance to do a real entry. :)

Had a good weekend, although I was incredibly lazy, partially due to allergies. They're worse this year than they've ever been. I'm pretty sure that it's allergies and not a cold at this point. A lot of other people are pretty miserable, too. Someone at work was telling me that their allergies didn't really *blossom* (bad pun intended) until they were in their mid-20's. Lucky me!! The Claritin worked well for me last year, but it doesn't seem that it's quite enough for me now. I took entirely too much allergy medicine yesterday (since the Claritin wasn't working) and ended up practically passing out at 3 in the afternoon. OOPS! Won't mix all that stuff next time (benadryl, robitussin & claritin)... the worst part was that when I woke up, I had a headache and I was still congested, lol. I can't win!

The bull roast was fun, although the band sucked.. it was some country/western band and not only were they bad musicians, they had bad equipment -- the PA system was horrible so it made it worse. Oh well, it was all for a good cause. Our neighbor said that they raised $6000 that night!

Well, I have to get going... have to figure out what's for dinner. Hope that everyone had a great weekend! :)

sad day
Mood:  blue
Now Playing: blind melon -- no rain
Topic: Introspection
I just read that Pat Tillman was killed in duty in Afghanistan (last night, I believe). I'm sure that you've already heard... he was a linebacker for the Cardinals... but anyway, he enlisted in the army in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks.... When he enlisted, he requested that he not be given any special attention and had rejected any press coverage of what he was doing. Of course, I don't want to dwell on his death too much, because that will mean that the other people who have lost their lives aren't as important as him. I can't imagine how the families feel who have lost loved ones. It's kind of depressing, but CNN has a site of the casualties with pictures of the soldiers: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/To gain a better perspective of the war, I'll visit that site from time to time. It's depressing, but so is war.

The other sad thing is the train accident in North Korea... of course the details are still somewhat limited, since the great leaders in that country decided to cut all of the international phone lines so that the information didn't get out. How freaking crazy is that?? These wackos are developing nuclear weapons but they can't even handle dynamite!! What is this world coming to?

Kurtis and I have been talking about this for a while... the families suing the government and airlines for the 9/11 attacks. I know that you can't put monetary value on a human life to begin with, but they had the fund set up for the families where they would get exorbitant amounts of money to begin with (in most cases around a million dollars), and now they're expecting more? Perhaps the government was negligent, perhaps the airlines were negligent... but aren't we getting a little lawsuit happy here? That's America though, isn't it? Things seem to be back to normal. The problem that I have with it is other people who die in tragic ways; car accidents, our own homegrown terrorists bombing buildings, homicides, freak accidents... they don't get million dollar settlements, do they? At least in most cases they don't. But how about cancer? Leukemia? Natural disasters - floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes. Do we sue the weather forecasters for not predicting them right? Do we sue the doctors because they can't save our loved one from dying of cancer because of that loved one's destructive habits that brought about their own demise? Do we sue doctors because they can't cure our brother's cirrhosis of the liver due to his drinking himself to death??

I think that I'm going to sue the manufacturer of my purse because it doesn't have a safety device on it that keeps me from spending too much money!! That's right, it's Liz Claiborne's fault!!!! I still can't believe that idiot sued McDonald's because he spilled coffee in his lap. Come on, people! Why did you think that the coffee wasn't hot? Gee, maybe that's why it comes in Styrofoam cups? I know that personally, I enjoy drinking cold coffee!

Well, that concludes this hour's rants. Maybe I'll have a chance to bitch some more later.

evil allergies & there are only two things certain in life...
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Jason Mraz
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
Feeling yucky today... headache, scratchy throat. I took some Claritin this morning, but I don't know if it's allergies or sickness.

Went to the Blob's park thing last night to see the Hubcaps. Blob's park is pretty hurting! There was one freaking waitress for the whole place... we went early to eat, got there probably around 6:30 and DIDN'T EAT UNTIL 8:30!! Not fun. I like some oldies music, but a whole night of it was just overwhelming for me. We're going to see Roomful of Blues tonight, I'm sure that will be more enjoyable. I'll bring earplugs this time... when we saw them before, my ears were ringing for the whole ride home. I hope that I start feeling better... I don't want to be a drag tonight. If I'm not feeling better by lunch, I'll probably go home early. I have a lot of work to do, but nothing that can't wait.

Well, it's 3:30 now (I wrote the first part of my entry this morning) and I'm still here. I guess that I can hold out until 5. My throat is still sore and I have a little headache, but mostly I'm just tired. I'll probably take a nap before the show tonight.

Got my paycheck this afternoon and just about fell out of my chair - that little raise that I got a month ago was mostly wiped out thanks to the State of Maryland! Only two things are certain in life: death and taxes!! My state taxes jumped from $48 to $65! I'd say that's a little bit of an increase. Yep, after my medical plan, 401k, United Way, and taxes, I have 65% of my money left over. Do you ever think about how much better off you would be if you could keep that extra 35%? Of course, United Way and 401k are voluntary, but my 401k is only 3% of my salary and my contribution to the United Way is minimal. *sigh* Some day my finances will get better. I really hope that I can get financial aid - or that work will pay for school, because it's going to get pretty tight when I go back to college. One advantage I suppose is that I won't have as much free time, so I won't spend as much money. As it is, after my bills, I only have 30-35% of my salary left for savings, gas & food. Buying my car really took a lot of my breathing room away... the car payment has been a big adjustment, and of course the car insurance costs more now. Fortunately, my accident will be coming off my record this year, so that may decrease (I'll keep my fingers crossed!)... and if it doesn't decrease then, it should at least decrease next year when I turn 25.

Well, I have to get SOME work done today, so that's it for now.

all set
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
Just got off the phone with AirTran from booking our flights for the Boston trip... so now we're all set! For some reason, my credit card was declined!!? Ugh... just got off the phone with the credit card company... found out that I used the wrong freaking account to pay my bill last month -- the minimum had already been paid, I was just trying to make an extra payment on it-- and I selected the wrong checking account!?!?! ARGH!!!!!! I've been doing so well with managing my money, too... I'm so pissed off that I did something so stupid. And not only did my credit card company try to send the payment once; they sent it TWICE and it didn't go through!!! So now my bank has charged me TWICE for them trying to put that amount through. I am SO MAD. Since it's technically my fault, they both say "too bad, so sad". *sigh* Oh well, I'll figure it out and fix things when I get the next bill from them. I can't pay my bill online since that happened now; I have to send it in via mail or I can have them take the payment over the phone -- for the great price of $16.95! Yeah, right! You have already cost me enough! I think that my new goal is going to be paying off that particular credit card, because the interest rates are absolutely RIDICULOUS! I'll stick with my beloved Capital One card, they don't let me down.

Oh well.

Back to my post for today.

I found out some potentially great news about work, but I'm going to have to wait for the big reveal. ;) Work today was decent, Mr. McAnnoying has been in a bad mood so he hasn't been talking to me. I was pretty busy today... had a lot of descriptions to type. I really like my new computer & monitor... it's 100 x better than the old one. It has an updated version of Office (2003) on it, it has a couple new features, but most of those programs are basically the same anyway.

Well, it's almost time for Idol, and Jack Bauer is on after sweet Idol, so I must depart. Going to be a busy rest-of-the-week, I have Hubcaps tomorrow night, Roomful of Blues Thursday night, and Bull Roast on Friday night. Maybe I'll have time to post from work. :)

happy friday
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Lisa Marie Presley
Topic: Weekend happenings
This will be a quick post, since I'll be leaving work in a few minutes.

Les Mis was awesome... if there are still tickets to any shows available, you should go see it. The Hippodrome is absolutely gorgeous... I was slightly annoyed however by the guy sitting next to me that felt the urge to keep typing on his PDA device during the performance. Granted, it wasn't making any noise, but it lit up and it was distracting. During the first part of the second act, the people sitting behind us were eating something from a crinkly plastic bag and that was annoying, too. But the show was great! Our seats were fantastic, too. The creative genious that must have gone into lighting and sets was spectacular.

This weekend will be so nice... I'm really looking forward to warmer temperatures. :) Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow, but it will probably be the birthday dinner that Kurtis is making for me. Sunday I'm going to my mom's for dinner, so that should be nice... I'm picking up my grandfather on the way, too -- I haven't seen him in a few months, so it will be good to see him.

Well, I have to get back to work......... hope everyone has a nice weekend!

long time no post
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Joss Stone (she is mon-ey!!)
Topic: Miscellaneous goings-on
Okay, I'm going to try to at least do an entry every other day, even if it's only a paragraph. As far as I know, we don't have the monitoring software yet and things may not be quite as bad as expected. I think that the only reason they will pull anything up on you is if people are complaining that you're on the internet a lot. They aren't going to just pull up stuff on EVERYONE every single day; that would take too much time.

Let's see... what's been going on? I have to apologize for the entry before this one, we have to use this stupid-ass font that you can't read at work now and I'd typed in it when I copied it to the blog.... I'll have to use Arial or something like that when I'm going to be cutting & pasting, sorry! That's why the characters came out all screwy.

Monday night we saw Joe Bonamassa at Ram's Head... it was an awesome show... so awesome that I wanted to see him play at the Recher Wednesday night, but that didn't happen. Tuesday I turned on the TV for American Idol and found that my Tuesday night TV ritual got all F'd up because the president wanted to have a press conference (and he pretty much reiterated everything he has said in every other press conference he's ever had)!! Just for that I'm not voting for him, lol... so I had to watch Idol last night and my favorite show 24 has been moved to Sunday night. That SUCKS! I hardly ever watch TV on Sundays (except of course during football season) and I'm afraid that I'll forget it's on. Well, I probably won't since I'm so obsessed, but you never know.

Tuesday I met with an advisor at the community college; his name was Mike Chase - what a great guy! He made me feel really comfortable and a lot more confident about what I'm about to undertake, hehe. He said that I fit the profile of the college's most successful students and he has found that people in my situation (mid 20's, working and have attempted college before) typically do the best. 3 of my classes from Chesapeake will transfer there (9 credits), my A in Theatre, and my B's in Business and Fund of Oral Comm. Classes. So I'm already 1/6th of the way there! ;-) We decided that it will be best for me to start classes in the fall, although he thought that I am capable of taking the more intensive summer courses. Fortunately, the only aptitude test that I have to take is their math test, and I don't have to take it right away, I can wait until I've taken a semester or two of classes. I'm eligible for their English class as it stands now... so this will be my 3rd time taking Composition, lol. Third time's the charm, right? I've decided that I'll take English and Psychology my first semester... that way I can refresh myself on writing papers and I'll be interested in my psychology class.

Getting to the right place for my meeting was a bit of an adventure... Tuesday it was pouring down rain (gee, like almost every day this week) and I had no umbrella. I proceeded to walk into the wrong building and explore 3 floors before finally asking someone where the admissions office was. I was directed to another building probably 200 yards away, which seemed like a mile in the crappy weather. So I was pretty soggy when I went in for my appointment. Maybe he was so nice just because I looked pitiful, lol.


Yesterday (Wednesday), Kurtis and I met Nick at Waugh Chapel for dinner (I had breakfast) at Bob Evan's and then coffee at Caribou Coffee afterwards. It was a nice time, and I liked the d?cor of the coffee shop... it was styled after a hunting lodge, sans animal heads. It reminded me a little of Lake Tahoe.


Tonight Kurtis is taking me to see Les Miserabl?s at the Hippodrome in Baltimore (as an early birthday present). I'm really excited about it; I've never seen a REAL show, although I'm familiar with the music from a lot of Broadway shows.

Ahh... on to my article/essay. It's kind of at a stand-still right now. I haven't really felt like working on it, and I'm going to go in a different direction with it. Jeff, I appreciate your critiques, but I do think you may have been a bit over-critical. I'm writing this for fun, even though I may enter it into a contest... I'd posted earlier (maybe a few weeks ago) that I was thinking about entering an essay contest for Glamour magazine, it was to tell your life story - or tell a story related to your life in some way; something that helped form who you are now... along those lines. I do agree that my humor is a bit cynical. Looking back, I think that asking for an opinion on an unfinished work was a bit foolish on my part, because some things that I'm explaining make more sense further into the story/essay - i.e. trying to escape. I guess you could say that the theme that will run through the story is how I've always been trying to escape from something and how I finally stopped running away (from problems, life, etc.). Yes, I appreciate seeing things from a "different" view, but my intentions of this writing isn't as much about relationships with other people as it is my relationship with myself. Hopefully you can understand a little bit more. I'm not interested in winning anything (although that would be nice), I'm doing it more for my personal enrichment or to better my mental health, you could say. This essay thing is 3,000 words or less, and so far I have only about 700, so I have a lot of room to work with.

As far as you becoming a teacher, Jeff, if you'd like to do something like that, I applaud you... it takes a special person to become a teacher -it's very hard work. My best friend Stef teaches English at SSU (I guess that's SU now) and is working on her Master's. Have you ever taken any courses related to teaching? I think that since teachers may utilize different methods (thinking or creatively speaking) from their students, it may be difficult to balance their opinions. I hope that I explained that well enough, I'm having trouble putting it into words, I guess.

Well, it's back to work for me... I've allotted my daily slack-off allowance, haha. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and some warm weather!!

No entry for yesterday!
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: LC -- I am the rain
Topic: Introspection
Well, I'm getting in my internet time while I can, hehe. I'm at lunch anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. Everyone is in the CAD meeting right now where they will learn of the big brother stuff.

Thanks to everyone who has commented in my blog! I went from having 0 comments a few months ago to regular comments... it's really nice. :) BTW, my thoughts & heart go out to my friend Jeff and his fiance who are expecting a baby girl in June, she is having some problems with her pregnancy. Everything is going to be fine, though! I just know it is. ;-)

I feel kind of blah today... the weather is gorgeous so that brightened my mood some. I did a little self-therapy last night which was cleansing, but also emotionally exhausting. I think that I'll make an appointment to see my therapist soon, even though I just saw her last week, lol. Lots of stuff is going on, nothing bad really, just change. Just because everything is going well doesn't mean there isn't more work to be done. I don't want to be one of those people who is constantly in crisis. I like to be prepared for whatever emotions surface, because something completely unrelated to what is happening can bring up other things. Pretty weird.

Well, I've worked a little bit more on my essay, so here is the first page for your enjoyment:

My story is one of self-improvement and resilience, but also dumb luck. I say dumb luck because it is dumb luck that I've survived to be 24 years old (which I turned on the 19th of April). In my 24 years, I've experienced more than some (sheltered) people have in their lifetime. It is astonishing that I arrived at this age essentially unscathed! That is not to say that I am "normal" or that I didn't suffer throughout the journey. I can't change the past and wouldn't want to; since I would be someone different from the person I am today. Two years ago I would have given anything to be someone else, but after a year of therapy and introspection, I realize that being me isn't so bad. I'm still not where I would like to be, but I am finally on the right track and that is enough for me.

I grew up on the outskirts of a small town on the eastern shore of Maryland: an urban retiree's dream, but a teenager's nightmare. My parents decided to move to Denton from their house in Glen Burnie; a suburb of Baltimore. I've spent much of my life trying to get away from Denton. If I wasn't plotting my escape, I was daydreaming of the freedom that would soon be mine: to hang out whenever I wanted at Marley Station. Everyone needs a dream, right? At that point in time I knew that a successful future meant dropping out of school and working at a minimum wage job to support my black hair dye addiction. Maybe if I was really lucky I could even afford a few tattoos and body piercings.

I had two unsuccessful attempts fleeing Denton, once by car and once with my friend via bicycle. On my first try, I made it twelve miles to what was then a shop that sold seafood and is now a place called Cutesy Country Crap. I'm sure that it's really a front for the KKK and they just spelled it with C's to be politically correct. You'll still find a higher than average population of racists in Caroline County (mostly in trailer parks) - or should I say Karoline Kounty? I was fortunate enough to have parents who accept people regardless of race, but a lot of native folks keep bigotry alive.

My first attempted escape was with my best friend Stefani when we were in eighth grade. For reasons now beyond my understanding, she and I were inspired to ride our bikes to Annapolis by the then-popular song "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum. It wasn't until five years later that I finally recognized, "Wrong way on a one-way track" meant that you shouldn't run away, right? "Run away, but it always seems the same," means that you can't run away from your problems. It was a simple concept, but apparently not simple enough for our 13-year-old minds to understand. We did make it pretty far considering the forces working against us; a group of quacking ducks threatening to wake up Stefani's parents and a drizzly night in the low 50's.

On my second getaway at age 17, I made it all the way to the Americana Circle apartments across from Marley Station mall: only a five-minute drive from where I currently reside. I was so close to fulfilling my dream of becoming a professional Mallrat! If it weren't for that reprehensible father of mine, I might still be working at Auntie Anne's (note to Auntie Anne's employees: I love the pretzels, but Hot Topic was more my style - no hard feelings?). As further evidence of my destiny, I had my first car (an '84 Toyota Supra) break down right in front of where I now work!

My family history is a rather complicated matter. I will begin with my father who some would describe as an extraverted nonconformist intellectual. My parents separated when I was a wee lass and my father was held generally responsible for raising me. Dad owned a camera repair business at the time and I would sit with him at his workbench as he labored over broken Nikons, bitching about people who took their cameras to the beach. He loved explaining how things worked and would draw diagrams or create models for me using whatever was within reach. Salt and pepper shakers, envelopes, and napkins were his tools of choice.


That's it so far. Any suggestions? I will probably end up changing it a hundred times... and to be honest, I won't post the finished product for fear of angering certain members of my family, or I'll post a severely edited version. I'm attempting to write in a humorous manner, so if it seems that I'm being too callous about some things, try not to take it personally.

Everything is starting to fall into place..
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Clay Aiken
Topic: Introspection
I just scheduled my appointment to meet with a career counselor at Anne Arundel community college! I'm going next Tuesday (13th)... I'm very excited about it.

I know that I'll have quite a few years to decide on what career would be best for me, so I don't want to have everything pegged down to an exact outcome. Right now the careers that are most interesting to me are the PR specialist, copy writer/publicity writer or one of the counseling options (psychology, career counselor, etc). My aunt works as a publicity writer for Weyerhauser and does marketing/PR stuff for them... I'll have to ask her more about her job. That looks like the most realistic opportunity for me at this point in time... I'll be utilizing my best talents (writing, communications, etc.) and I could combine it with sociology and psychology in determining target groups and that kind of stuff. It makes sense to me! You know the funny thing is that the very first class I took in college (Chesapeake) was an oral communications & speech writing class... my professor told me that I was very good at it and that I should strongly consider a career in that field. Ahh... if only I'd listened to her and worked harder... I'd have a degree by now! Oh well. I think that my experience in the working world has helped me a lot... I know what I enjoy doing and what I don't enjoy doing, and I've worked with a wide variety of people. Well, I have to get back to work now... I got an email from Uche, (pretty lame) so I'll have to post that soon.