First day of the Fall Semester

Well my very brief Summer break is over and now the first day of the Fall semester has started and I'm already at that "overwhelmed" state. I can't decide if it's because I am bored of classes or if it's because I just want to procrastinate. Let's be honest I have nothing better to do than my homework and I could knock out my assignments for the week in just a few hours, but I am being lazy for some crazy reason. Maybe I'm just lacking the right motivation at the time, who knows, but I really do want to succeed and I know that in order to do that I have to put forth the effort I'm just being a bit of a slacker and I need to get my stuff together. I know that I will this is just my small rant for now. I guess I better get to my homework so that I can find some motivation.

Reflections

 I really liked using this blog as part of my Composition I class. I really feel that this blog is a great way for my to consolidate my thoughts and feelings in one place from anywhere. I really like that I can take my writing out of a tangible journal and put it here in my blog so that I can read it or add to it from anywhere at anytime. It really makes sharing what's on my mind a whole lot easier. The assignment overall was not at all difficult I found it very simple and I thought overall it was a great success. Unfotunately the hardest part of the assignment was remembering to write in my blog everyday. I was unable to creat a blog post everyday due to my travels throughout Afghanistan for work and also just simply not remembering to post something. Needless to say I think that forgetting and not being able to post everyday was and is my biggest failure with the assignment. I definitely will continue to use this blog even though this semester is finished and I think that in time I will be able to consistantly post in the blog everyday or at least every other day.

Research can be fun!

So I spent a few hours reserching Doling Park in Springfield, MO because it's the place I chose to write about for my COMP 101 essay and I learned so much! I pulled up pictures and read everything I could find about it. I remember it as a semi run down park it seemed no one cared about, but in my research I discovered it used to be the IT place in Springfield, an ammusement park! From the pictures it was beautiful. It had a lake you could swim in, a roller skating rink, boat rentals, and even a roller coaster! I had no idea this place had such a historical significance to the town I grew up it! It's crazy to believe that all that time I spent there as a child I had no idea of it's history until recently. For that reason alone I am so glad my instructor assigned this assignment and that I chose this place of personal significance to me. This is where I got married and it is just astounding to learn that it was such a thriving place! Can you believe the admission price was only $.10! Just getting into Silver Dollar City is about $60 a person now! Wow I'm so glad I learned this!

What is a Place?

So I need to create a list of places that mean something to me but this appears to be slightly difficult as it needs to be a place that's not completely private. My family does not participate in family reunions so that's isn't really a good place considering one doesn't exist. My childhood home in Springfield could be a a qualifying place as many traumatic events took place there. I have a lot of memories at the high school I graduated from, but I really don't want to use that as my location.There really isn't a place of historical or cultural importance to me that I would like to write about. I could write about where I first met my wife, or where we had our first kiss, or our first date but I think the place that is most memorable is the place we were married. Just thinking back on that day makes me happy. Where is that exactly? Well it's the first place I sang to my wife, the DOling Park in Springfield, in front of the cave. I spent a lot of my childhood in that cave and climbing the cave and I married my best friend there and so that makes it the perfect place!

Digging In!

With only a couple weeks left of class this semester I find myself feeling a little overwhelmed with assignments. I know it isn't much longer until I am finished, only another week, but it's rough trying to get all this stuff for class finished and turned in and then trying to get everything ready to go home and still get my work done. It's a lot but today is dedicated to sitting down and getting everything done! I'm going to just "dig in" and get this stuff done, well as much of it I can today. I really think I can get most if not all of these assignments finished today or tomorrow and I will be caught up with class at least. I just really hope that I have a good grade at the end of the semester. I don't want to have to repeat this class again as it will set everything back and that's not at all a good thing. SO I'm going to get to it today and make things happen!

The Norm

It's been really nice here lately, warm, but nice! I can take the heat here becuase being here is a lot like being home in Missouri as the weather here is seasonal like home. During the summer it gets up over 100 degrees and during the winter it snows a lot and gets really cold. I wouldn't trade being here for anywhere else in Afghanistan just because I have been here so long and I know what to expect here. I know this is kind of odd since i just posted a few days ago about people not being willing to accept change but if I'm honest, I'm the same way. Excepting change is so difficult especially here where you never really know what to expect so finding even the tiniest of routines is good enough for me. I love it. I need that little bit of peace. It's not a lot but it is enough for me to hold on to and I think being here for as long as I have been it's necessary for sanity purposes to find a small routine. Just because I have a small daily routine does not in anyway mean that I am not willing to adapt to change, I do it a lot, but it just gives me something constant for personal and mental security. I love what I'm doing and it is very important I feel like I'm doing a great service and I feel like I'm on the right path and I'm there at a young age. What more could anyone ask?

Getting that lazy feeling...

As the days creep by and I get closer and closer to to me going home on leave for two weeks I am just getting lazier and lazier by the day. It's hard to say that it's laziness but I'm definitely not wanting to do anything except hurry up and go home! I cannot wait until I'm on that plane out of here and on my way home! I am in desperate need of a vacation and it's really starting to show. At work I'm being more strict and by the book and in my classwork I'm procrastinating a lot. The good news is that unlike last semester where I still had class while home on leave, this time I will actually have a break and won't have class and neither will Kyla. It will be so nice to get to spend time together without our school work getting in the way and being a distraction. Even as I write this I'm ready to be done and off work. I'm not going to go anywhere special or do anything, just sit around or sleep. Why in the world would I look forward to that? Either way I hope this phase passes soon.