I love watching planes!

Einstein is home from his TDY, hooray! We've been settling in, trying to establish a rhythym, since we didn't quite find one before he left. So far, so good, although I had an incredibly full week of work, which put a crimp in my plans, but life is never perfect.

We went to an airshow this weekend, and it was such a blast! I love love love watching planes. I realize this is highly ironic, since I am absolutely petrified of flying. When I fly commercially I am a wreck. I'm only moderately better when Einstein is along, since I trust his pilot sense (ie, if he isn't worried, we're not going to die).

But anyway, watching planes! We had a great time and it was fun to walk around and poke at the planes and watch the show and just basically enjoy a relaxing afternoon.

Addicted to planning

I can't stop!! Maybe it is residual from so much time spent planning a wedding, honeymoon, move and job hunt in short order, but now that things are more or less settled here (still no curtains, but that's another story) I cannot stop thinking about what is "next." Einstein is at this base until at least January of 2009, and with TDY's and what not, we probably won't be PCSing again until June of '09.

Depending on how things go, we could be here another 3 or 4 years, if he ends up with a slot to stay here (which wouldn't be horrible, but as of right now is not what he wants). Or we could be at one of eight other bases, only six of which are even likely.

Honestly, though, how do I stop myself? I have been on base websites, checking out the places we are most likely to go. I've been comparing base housing situations. I've been checking out the various Services websites. I've even gone so far as to see what is on sale this week at their commissaries. *side note: I obsessively check the sales online for our commissary so I don't buy something that is on sale there at Wal-mart or wherever*

It is really insane, honestly. We're not going anywhere (barring something really horrible happening) for at least fourteen months. I do not need to plan that far ahead. Also, I have no control over where we head next, since it is all up to plane availability and how Einstein does in the rack and stack.

I hope other folks do this too, otherwise I've just put my neurosis out there for the world to see...

I forgot how much this stinks

When Einstein and I were living a thousand miles apart, I came to a very deep understanding about how I reacted to him being gone. I actually wrote it all out on a sheet, so that I could look at it and be reminded that I wasn't crazy. My emotions had happened before and would happen again. Years of living apart taught me that I could pretty much handle it without tears, tremors or overwhelming loneliness, except for three points in our separation:

1) Immediately after we were apart. The first 2-4 days suck, no matter what.

2) The space between 2-3 weeks post separation. This is when I start to argue with him and snipe at him (if we are able to call eachother) or just start to plain resent him. I know it is just a defense mechanism; I'm angry with him, yes, but my reasons are ridiculous. Usually. There was this one time...but honestly, I pick fights (real or only in my head) in an attempt to make myself miss him less. Too bad it never works. I usually end up missing him AND being angry.

3) The last two weeks. I know from reading other folks' blogs that this isn't true for everyone. And while I feel the relief that this separation is almost over, I am too impatient! I want him home NOW! I get fidgety and uncomfortable and if we are talking on the phone our conversations become peppered with awkward pauses.

Einstein will be home in less than a week, now! So I am in full "try not to flip out" mode. My short little TDY to-do list is no where near done, and I've accepted that it is not going to get done. This is fine. I am trying to concentrate on doing a few things that will make it a little more homey around here...hopefully it will work!!

Banned Books Week

This week (through 06 October) is the American Library Association's Banned Books Week. I can only quote children's librarian Jan Bojda, who once said: "A good library collection should have something to offend everyone. If they don’t, they [librarians] are not doing their job."

From the ALA's "Freedom to Read" Statement:

"The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to counter threats to safety or national security, as well as to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read.

Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary individual, by exercising critical judgment, will select the good and reject the bad. We trust Americans to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe. We do not believe they are prepared to sacrifice their heritage of a free press in order to be "protected" against what others think may be bad for them. We believe they still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression."

So go take a look at the ALA's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

My dearest hope is that you look at this list and see a few books that changed your life. Books you couldn't have lived without. Books you want your children to read. I think seeing our own "turning point" books on lists like these encourages us to fight for intellectual freedom and against censorship. The book that did this for me, way back in high school, is number 14 on the list, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. It is the story of a dystopian society that appears utopian, at first glance. It was one of the foundations of my views on the world and I was horrified to find that it was banned from thousand of American libraries.

Support the right of all American's to be free to read as they wish, this week and always.

Commissary Etiquette

I'm wondering about some aspects of commissary etiquette. Today, I was in an aisle where three seniors, two with carts and one with one of those electronic scooter things, were all facing the same direction. Then they rounded the bend into the next aisle over and I "passed them on the inside" because really I just wanted to get some olives and be on my way, and out of theirs.

What is the etiquette in this sort of situation? I've done it before...I feel bad, but I'm not cutting them off or pushing them out of the way. I just don't know.

I think another large part of it is that the commissary still weirds me out. I went there with Einstein a couple of times while we were engaged and felt like an interloper, and even though I now have a shiny tan ID that says I can shop there, I still don't like going on my own.

Which is pretty much my only option, right now. Is it bizarre that I find the commissary so uncomfortable? I hope I get used to it soon...