January 22nd 2006, 2010B
If it wasn’t for the hangover, this would’ve been a very pleasant day. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I felt rough as a bears ass today, given that after we ran out of beer last night I opened the box of cheap-shit Chateau Cardboard the mess handed out the other day. The beer on its own would’ve been fine – I mean, you really have to work at it for Primus to give you a hangover – but the wine was most certainly a Bad Idea. Every sport has its injuries I guess, & it was an enjoyable evening spent making the world go blurry at the edges & watching old Indiana Jones movies, so I really shouldn’t complain. I just wish I didn’t wake up feeling so damned…. ”affectionate” when I’m hungover – that just strikes me as mean, given there’s a distinct shortage of young ladies to be affectionate with here, & I doubt I’d feel well enough to manage even if there was lol I reckon it’s proof that sometimes God has a nasty sense of humour lol
But as I say, other than the hangover, it’s been a rather enjoyable day. Best of all I think was the call I got from Shirlz this morning. I’ve not had much in the way of contact from home the last few days, so hearing from Shirley was a very pleasant surprise, & very welcome. Given the hangover, I don’t know that I was really capable of intelligent conversation though, & she seems to have a knack for calling me when I’m in a state of diminished capacity, either doped to the gills or drunk lol Her dad may not be too happy when the phone bill arrives though, as we chatted for the best part of 20 minutes, & that can’t come cheap, not at the larcenous rates bloody Telkom charge.
Actually, mention of her dad reminds me that she said that he took G up for a flip in the micro-light today, which sounds pretty damned cool & I hope Gareth had a great time. When I get home I’ll have to see if I can’t talk her father into taking me up, so that I can try my hand at a little aerial photography. It’ll also be interesting to contrast the experience of flying in a micro-light as opposed to the helicopters I’m used to. I’ll also have to see if I can’t get it right to arrange a flip in a glider one of these days. It’s a little strange that I’ve never done that actually, as a guy I know in Howick flies gliders. I’ve known Bill for over 20 years, & he’s offered to take me up a few times, but I’ve never been able to take him up on the offer, so it’s definitely something else to add to the “to-do” list for when I get home.
That “to-do” list is starting to get a little long though, particularly if I’m only going to be home for 2 – 3 weeks, as it’s two pages long already, & still growing. At least a lot of what’s on the list is stuff I’ll need to buy if I’ll be coming back here, & I’ll get that sorted out in one trip to the supermarket, & a fair bit of the rest is stuff that I can get done online or by phone – my tax & professional registration, for example – so getting everything done that’s on the list shouldn’t eat too much into the time at home that I’ll have.
So far as social activities go, I’ve not put down too many ideas so far, & I have a feeling we’ll be making it up as we go along. There are a few things I’d really like to do though, such as dinner at Spigga & Maan Hing with as many people as can make it, and also the breakfast buffet at Joe Cools on at least one weekend. Something else that I’m keen to do, if there’s opportunity & enough people are interested, is go on that train-ride up to Notties that Paul, Noelle, & Mark did last year, as that looks to be a very pleasant way to spend a day.
I’d also like to fit in a LAN on one weekend if possible, which should make Paul a happy man – he complained in an sms the other day that he had no-one to play games with lol And I must admit there’s an ulterior motive for holding a LAN – in addition to having loads of fun with my friends, I also fully intend to raid everybody’s hard drives for music, movies, books, porn, & so on for stuff to keep me amused for another 6 months if I end up coming back here :p
But if anyone reading this has any suggestions for things to do for while I’m home, please feel free to let me know – the more ideas & suggestions the merrier ;)
Now if only someone would make a bloody decision as to whether I’ll be getting the bloody extension or not, & then let me know what’s going on so that I can plan my life…
Otherwise, there’s no real news from the last few days since I typed anything up for this. With the deployment coming to an end, for this contingent at least, there’s a definite “min dae” attitude doing the rounds, with people doing as little as they can get away with, so there’s not much happening in terms of work. It’s usually at this point of a deployment that the foolishness & drinking start to get out of hand though, and you end up with a fair number of people getting hurt in stupid accidents or digging themselves into shit, so this can be a busy period for the MPs’ and the medics. For example, the week before I came out to Mwaro there were I think 2 vehicle accidents – none serious fortunately – and also one clown who thought it’d be a bright idea to try climb over the fence when he got back to base late for roll call. Actually, I’m sure there are plenty others who climb the fence after curfew, but I guess the others are just a little more careful of the razor wire than this guy was, & he sliced his arm up pretty badly when he slipped. Thing is, the cheeky bastard is insisting that 2 of the locals stabbed him when he was on his way back to the base, despite his injuries obviously having come from a dance with the razor wire. I mean, I really don’t like the Burundians – I think I may have mentioned that previously :p – but there’s no need to go falsely accusing them of shit like this, particularly when it was your own stupid fault you got hurt doing something you knew you shouldn’t have.
It’s been ok for that here in Mwaro, so far at least, & while the guys have been drinking quite a bit – myself included actually lol – the only “trouble” has been a little extra noise late at night, & the platoon sergeant put a quick stop to that. It’ll likely be a different story back in the capital though, so I’m glad that I’ll be on “leave” after this deployment to Mwaro, & won’t have to do after hours standbys & so on. I call it “leave” in that you can’t leave town, & still have to attend roll-call so there’s a limit to how much you can enjoy yourself, but at least you’re officially off duty so it’s better than nothing.
Anyway, I think I’m going to end this off for now as my eyelids are getting real droopy all of a sudden. I’ll be chasing my boss to follow up about my extension in the am, & if I hear anything I’ll pass it along asap. Till then, keep well everyone, & I hope you all have a great week ahead.
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