“Should I stay, or should I go…”

October 18^th 2005, 0655B

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Well, it’s typed up. Now just to decide whether I’m going to submit it or not….

“I hereby wish apply for extension of the period of my deployment to Burundi beyond the scheduled date of return to South Africa of February 2006, to the anticipated end of the mission to Burundi in May 2006. It is, however, requested that should this statement be approved that allowance be made for me to return to South Africa for a period not exceeding two weeks in January 2006, at the convenience of the OC MTG and Contingent Commander. By January 2006 I will have been in the mission area for a continuous period of 6 months, and I feel it is important that I spend some time at home after an absence of that length.

For your further consideration,”

And that’s all it takes to sign away another 3 months of my life, a statement that took 3 minutes to type up. I know that this last post I was talking about a crappy dream where I ended up being deployed longer, but the crappy part of that was the compulsion involved – if I stay longer I want it to be my choice, not because someone arbitrarily decides I must.

I’m still really conflicted about this whole extension thing. Overall this mission has been pleasant enough, I’ve spoken previously about the financial aspects, & that road trip to get the vehicles back really appeals to me. But is that compensation enough another 3 months away? I’ve also spoken previously about how much I miss everyone at home, about how my emotional state has not been the most stable, and how much the Burundians get on my tits. And the bastards were on fine form for that yesterday, & I very nearly smacked one around the head with a fire-extinguisher. Ingrate motherfucker.

I have a feeling that the above statement is going to lie on the hard drive for another month or so, & I’m only going to make a decision about this a little closer to the end of the year. I wouldn’t even have typed it up now save that I was busy typing up my contract renewal statement, & figured I might as well get both out of the way at the same time.

Otherwise, yesterday went very well, or the evening did at least. I finally managed to get my retail therapy sorted out, & I’m now the not-so-soon-to-be owner of a 60gb i-Pod Photo, a docking station, & a little pouch for it. Kalahari say they should be able to get it to me within 12 weeks, but they weren’t prepared to make any promises. That still blows my mind – 12 fucking weeks!! Even taking international sourcing into account there is no way that it should take so long. If either the US or UK based Amazons were prepared to deliver it to South Africa, I’d have it in less than that many days. Still, Kalahari might surprise me & get it here sooner, but for some reason I have my doubts about that.

A little over R4k later the credit card isn’t looking too healthy, but that’s also because I used money I’d parked in it to flatten one of my loans at the same time. I think I’m still in the black, but not by much :P I’ll settle my other loan at the end of the year, & I’ll then be a very cheerful & debt free fellow, & with a little luck & discipline I’ll even be able to save some money. See, these external deployments are good for something at least lol

But what really made the evening such a good one wasn’t ordering the i-Pod, but rather managing to get in touch with as many people as I did. I managed to get YIM & MSN working on the notebook after much struggle, & managed to catch both Rich (Lacuna) & Shirlz for a brief chat before they went home for the day. It was frustrating that we only had a few minutes, & also that the lag was as bad as it was, but it was really good to “speak” with them. Especially Rich, as I’ve not spoken to him in a very long time, before I came up here even. For a Free State boy, he’s actually a bloody decent fellow, & he really deserves far better than to live in Bloem :P

I also managed to get hold of Mark on MSN for awhile before he also went home, & also Brendon which I was really happy about, as it’d been quite awhile since I’d heard from him. It seems that neither of us has been receiving the others’ sms’s, & even a number of emails have bounced. We managed to get quite a decent chat in before the hunger pangs dragged me away from the computer in search of food though, which I really enjoyed. Ash also sent me an sms while I was at the net café, & while it was very good to hear from her, she really wasn’t happy last night. I’ll try to call her after parade just now, & hopefully things will be better for her by then.

Speaking of parade though, I’d best be off or I’m going to be late. I should have some more to add to this before long though.

Ciao till next time ;)