A Day in the Life

2005-08-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

P C good for you....good for me.....good for everybody.

Yep, I thought I would give a quick mini-tour of military PC or at least Air Force PC. First of all, we pc (note I'm not going to use caps anymore) three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday for about a hour. Ha, I just realized that I used pc as a verb. Wierd and kind of scary but I'm digressing. Anyways, we put on our pc gear, which highly resembles high school p.e. clothes. Not nearly as cool as the flashy windbreaker gear that the Army has. But then again we don't have to wear the daisy dukes that the Marines wear, for which I'm enternally thankful because any self respect that I have would be gone as soon as I would put those on.
However, we do have to wear the safety belt. Now the safety belt is this horrid flourescent yellow band that we have to wear in case of a big rig somehow manages to jump onto the track, so that the driver can avoid hitting us. Trust me, when wearing the safety belt you're losing major cool points. It's hard to be taken serious when your wearing a device that screams....
"Hello, I'm uncompetent and completely unable to cross a street by myself. If you find me please return me to the nearest Air Force Base."
So we at the DLI have turn to calling them our sexy belts. Yep, turned a negative into a positive. But back to the whole pc thing. First we get into our flight formations which is based on what language we are studying. i.e. all the arabic students pc together, the generic asian language students pc together and etc. I'm in euro-1 which makes little sense since i'm studying dari, but I figured they had to stick the odd balls somewhere. The first five minutes or so we doing stretches which is cool because it let's you bullshit with your friends that you don't see on a daily basis. Afterwards we do 21s which is a type of pushup. First you do 7 diamond pushups, which means your hands are close together with the forefingers and thumbs touching. Immeadiately afterwards you do 7 regular pushups, followed by 7 wide pushups which is obvious. Afterwards do a set of some random abdominal exercise, such as flutter kicks, bicycles, or crunches. Then repeat the cycle 3 more times and you got certified USAF strength training. However, after that the day isn't quite done. It's time to do cardiovascular exercises which means run around the track for 20 minutes. Yeah, I really hate that part. Running is definitely not one of my strong points. But then my drinking and smoking probably has a lot to do with that. Still, we must all have our vices. Afterwards, do a quick cool down stretch and woila, you've completed pc.
However that's not all. Once a month it is evaluation time. Yep, the chaps in blue want to make sure that everyone is in tip top shape. So means testing. Now for people that may know something about the air force let me just say that WE DON'T DO THE BICYCLE TEST ANYMORE. That unfortunately was before my time. So instead we have to achieve some minimum scores in pushups, situps and the 1 and half mile run. They are as follows:

Pushups: at least 45 in one minute

Situps: at least 45 in one minute

Run: run a mile and half within 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

So there it is. Try it out sometime and have fun

p.s. here's a game tell me how many different ways that I used the word pc. i.e. gerund, adjective etc.

2005-08-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my little vacation from reality. Well, it wasn't much of a vacation. To be honest I've just been way too lazy to write. But I figure better to have no posts than some asine post about trivial bullshit. Unfortunately, my life is composed mostly of trivial bullshit. Well, those are the breaks.

I'll try to run down what I've been up too for the last couple weeks. Of course, you guys are going to get the cliff notes version of it. And the mini director in me says that I'm going to do this by going backwards in time. So get your 8mm ready and let's go.

highlights:
30 Jul 05
Headed to an apartment party in PG. Unfortunately the gate was closed so hopped over the barb wire fence. Felt like Steve McQueen in the great escape.

29 Jul 05
Went to friend's apartment in PG. He had no furniture so we sat on the floor debating if taboos and virtues were based on society's standards or were inante in human nature.

22-24 Jul 05
Went with some friends to San Fransisco. Stayed at Elements Hostel in the Mission District. Well worth the 25 dollars per night and had a great rooftop bar. View of the city at night was classic. Saw Charlie and Chocolate Factory for the 2nd time. Ate at Saigon Sandwiches, which have the best 2 dollar sandwiches in frisco.

16 Jul 05
Recovered from the festival of wine

15 Jul 05
Several friends and I decided to have the inpromtu festival of wine. Which meant we drank many bottles of wine of a wide variety. Afterwards went to the cinema to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the first time. Because of said festival, went into the wrong theater and remember damn little of what I saw.

13 Jul 05
Went to a memorial service.

9 Jul 05
Debauchery in order to prove that I was alive.

8 Jul 05
At Barbary Coast theatre when I and all other personel were recalled to the post at 10pm. Found out that someone that I knew in the Air Force committed suicide. Couldn't believe that he would do that but life seems to be filled with these surprises.

1 Aug 05
Another month begins.........

2005-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

What to do, what to say

Well I just got done with a pretty tough weekend. It wasn't the worse one that I went through but it wasn't a piece of cake either. Some things happened which I'm not allowed to talk about and that just set the overall tone of the weekend. But as soon as I am cleared to talk about this, I'll let you guys know.

2005-07-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Dancing on edges of cliffs, through golden fields we go. Climbing into mist wrapped hills and resting in the embrace of clouds. I died several times on that journey but was reborn stronger everytime. Rising and falling through redwood groves we traversed only to return to the place where the sea crashes into the land and forever changing it and in turn changed by it.

Okay enough of the surrealism there, but this past weekend I had a great time camping down in Big Sur. I and some friends arrived at Andrew Molera State Park early Friday morning, set up camp and went for a long hike. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences in my life. Climbed along the Bluff's trail, which ran along the coastline and was surrounded by yellow wild flowers. The second trail that we took was Panarama trail and for little old me it was nearly murder. This part of the trail wasn't that long but the elevation rose from sealevel to approximately 1000 feet. I guess I'm in worst shape then I thought. Afterwards on the hilltop/moutaintop(pick one)we were surrounded by clouds and couldn't see farther than 100 feet. A couple of hours later after the downhill trip, we finally arrived back to basecamp and proceeded to play a couple of rounds of yuker while soaking in some rays.

All in all, it was a pretty good time and if you like to see check out my fotopage.

2005-06-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

A reminiscence

Just caught an email from my friend Andrew who lives in Kansas City right now. For the last couple of times we've been reminiscing about living in Ronda, Spain. Both of us were foreign exchange students there.
Man, that was a really lovely little town. Some of the best moments in my life were occured there. For instance hazy evenings sitting at the Gazebo on the side of a cliff, drinking wine and beer with friends, playing guitar, singing quite out of tune, and watching the sun set over the mountains across the valley. Drowning the landscape in golden rays, and pink blushes as it slowly set. Yeah, it was an idyllic little life that I lived over there. Going to school at the Palacio de Mondragon, which really use to be a palace of a Moorish lord. Strolling through the gardens during breaks. And doing the half-hour pausa heading to the local cafe to get a cafe con leche and sitting under a picture of hemmingway and chatting with friends over the week's happenings. At nights doing the salir de marcha which means going to as many bars as possible(or at least that's what it means to me), eating tapas, drinking tinto verano and cruzcampo. Waking up early the next morning with the hugest hangover known to mankind but not giving a damn because it was so worth it.
Drowning myself in the beauty of the Costa de Sol and the Sierra de las Nieves. Admiring the elegance of Sevilla, the history of Cadiz and bouncing through the streets of Madrid like a maniac on speed, just trying to soak up experience as if I were a sponge.
Good times indeed.

-hasta manana

2005-06-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Useful phrases for the semi-conscious dari student.

bale-yes

fahmedum-I understand

Chee-what?

raasty-really?

taban-of course

yak burro degaar-one more time(please repeat)

man hech cheez nahmefahmum- I don't understand a thing.

man fromosh kardum- i forgot

motaasef astum-i'm sorry.

now just use these words randomly in your dari class and you'll be sure not to be bothered too much. Remember you can use them in any order at all. enjoy and get rid of that glazed look in your eyes.

2005-06-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Stranger in a strange land. Now that is how I sometimes feel. Things in the Dari class have been getting a bit wierd lately. Now, it wasn't like it was normal to begin with. Trust me when I say that linguist are an odd breed of people. But I think the pressure here has gotten to a couple of people. To be honest, the pressure here isn't really all that hard. Sure it's a lot of work but you learn to deal with it.
But the thing here is that it's like "Groundhog's Day" with Bill Murray. Day in day out, it's the same thing over and over. And it can get quite monotenous after a while. So what do people do? They try to find ways to entertain themselves. Cause in point my fellow classmate, Kareem, who is developing his own language and learning dari at the same time. Sounds interesting does it not? Kinda like esperanto. No way, it makes no sense at all. Okay, it just doesn't work.
For example, a response to an insult would be Darkhathall. Which translates into: tress. Yep, trees of all things. Another one is, "Stop throwing the seeyah" Which means stop throwing the black. I'm still not sure how that one is used but I'm working on it. The worst thing however is that the rest of us have started to use those phrases. Yeah that's scary. I got myself saying darkhathall earlier, which is one of the reasons of this post.

2005-06-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Marching......it's a time honored military tradition that I suck at. Yep, I cannot march at all. Trust me, within 15 paces I'm out of step. Within, 20 paces I'm so badly out of step that everyone notices.

---Flashback---

"Trainee ------- God damn it, get in step or are you just incapable of it. That's it, get out of my formation and ride the short bus. Everyone what do we say?"

"beep, beep!" shouts the training flight.

Yeah so, I'm not the biggest fan of marching around. It's just the fact that I can't help it, I start spacing out and try to think about anything that isn't military related. Then all of sudden I'm out of step and I would hear those famous words.
At least I don't have to deal with that now.

2005-06-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

The Horror, the horror, man I love that quote. This past saturday I saw Apocalypse Now at the cinema. Man, that movie is great on the tele but it is mindblowing on the silver screen. Maybe it was because I was so tired when I saw it but it definitely tripped me out.
Saturday was a long day for me. I was awake at 6:00 am because it was a duty day and didn't get to sleep until 4:00 am on Sunday. So when midnight rolled around, my mind was preped for the surrealism of Apocalypse Now.
As my friend Wallior said, "Man, I felt like I just got brainedwashed by it."
And if that was brainwashing, then it never felt so good. So let me recommend seeing this movie on the big screen. It's an experience that just can't be captured on t.v.

2005-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

What to say? I guess the that's the question of the day here. I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite a while now but the truth is I'm a lazy bastard and my life is, to be blunt, boring. But forget all of that, I'm going to go and claim my little piece of of the blogsphere. (Yeah, I know that I used an overused cliche so sue me)

So I guess that I should go and introduce myself. I'm the Dharma_bum. I'm 24 years old and I'm in the Air Force. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, not another military blog but trust me the greatest danger I face is a papercut or maybe tripping over my boots.(Acutually I do that a lot) I'm currently in training at the Defense Language Insititute and have been so for the last 9 months. The language that they been trying to teach me is Dari. Now what is Dari? Good question, one that I asked once upon a time.

--Flashback--
"Airman -----, you will be learning dari."
Myself being quite timid at the time, still being in basic training and all that jazz, slowly raised my hand and asked.
"Sir, Airman---- reports as ordered. What exactly is Dari?"(note I was probably stutteringwhen I said this)
And then the sergeant kindly replied, "I don't know, get lost airman before you piss me off."

Ahhh, sweet memories of basic training. God, how I hated it.

Well to put it simply, Dari is the Afghan dialect of Farsi. And it's been the thing that's been driving crazy for the last 9 months. Now, I'm sure some people are saying,
"Come on kid, it doesn't sound that bad."
They're right, what can I say. I could be getting shot at. Instead, I get to play Bill Murray's role in the movie "Groundhog's Day."

-khudaahafez-