I'm a rich N.W.A

Well today I went to see my lawyer and had my will drawn up. It was a simple enough process and I encourage everyone to do it. You own more than you think and you want your children to go where you want them to go and not be wards of the state.

My Mom went with me; I have to say she is a strong woman. I mean who wants to think about their child making plans for their own demise. She puts up a strong face but I know she is going to pieces inside.

Later on that day my brother, sister-in-law, and I hit the stores so I can buy gear for Iraq. Figuring I have no clue what I need I decide to take a basic stab at it. I really wanted to just my brother to go because I wanted to talk to him about some things I wanted to do but, that didn't happen like that. At any rate we are going from store to store and I'm just buying all this stuff. I get to Old Navy and I'm buying my clothes for this trip. I'm just picking up stuff and then slapping it on the counter, I'm not really thinking that I've made a gang of purchases in a different city than my home city and it's the beginning of the Christmas season so after sprees at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Big 5, the guys at corporate decide to end the party at Old Navy. My sister-in-law said that when I started hauling stuff up on the counter the girl at the register called up the manager in their Old Navy headphones so when I came to the counter she was there to make sure she got a good description of this thief and his team of cronies. The girl runs the card and it goes bad she says I need to call the 1-800 number on the back. Well at this time they think I'm going to bolt even my scary brother gets twitchy. Since I know what the fuck I'm doing I ask my brother to hand me his phone at the counter. I talk to the person at the fraud department and the ask me about all my charges I tell them yes I made all those purchases in support of my mission for the company in Iraq. I need the lock on this card released ASAP. With in 5 seconds the card is unlocked and I'm able to continue my shopping spree. Finally the manager (who has her cell phone in her hand ready to call 911) finally speaks saying something like "It's really good that that they do that sometimes it's to protect you. It happens to my father all the time." and "I say it's really good you didn't call 911 wow wouldn't you be embarrassed."

Spent time with my brother and his family.

Well my brother came home Saturday as well. After hearing what he did it I didn't feel as bad. His father-in-law has had a series of stokes and isn't doing to well so they went up there so he could see his grandson. Plus he wanted to speak to my brother about some things. After he told me that I could understand what was on going on. That was cool, it's all about family.

Thanksgiving - This is what I call bravery a real hero

I've been on a plane all night still sick and I get to Atlanta around 5:30 in the morning my parents come and pick me up and then we head to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. I'm a little upset that my brother is going to North Carolina to spend time with his in-laws for Thanksgiving. I'm like I'm about to go to Iraq I came home to spend time with my family and he dips out like this. Does he not know or not care why did he have to go this Thanksgiving. I don't like to think morbidly but really we could be looking at my last Thanksgiving.

Oh well, I'm here with my parents so that's good enough. I get in the car and sleep the entire way there. I am really running on fumes at this point I have no more energy to give. I hear my Mom and Dad talking in the background they may be talking to me or each other I can't really tell I'm so sleepy. So we show up at my Grandma Patterson's house and the place is empty. When I was a kid my family showing up to South Carolina was a major event and everyone would come over to my Grandma's house. After my Grandaddy died that changed and now it's not the same place. Grandma's house used to be a place of magical fun now it's just a house, it has some of the same things but, it is a different place all together. I think my family tends to take their family for granted I'm the only one in my family that is away from home with no family of my own so I am grateful for my time with my family all of them. But, it's all preception who knows, if I lived in Atlanta I may take my family for granted as well.

The other part of this is my paternal and maternal Grandparents all live on the same street so it is always hard to cordinate activites with them all. What usually happens is my Dad goes to spend time with his family and my Mom, brother and I spend time with my maternal family. This year however my paternal uncle John is having a Thanksgiving dinner at his house so we head over there. I have to say it was pretty cool the food was good and I saw most of the family on my Dad's side a few uncles were missing but, when you take family for granted that's par for the course. At anyrate I was terribly sleepy and in and out of conversations so it looked like I was disintersted but hell I was exhausted. I went out to the back where all the men were and partook in the some of the finest brandy in the land Christian Brothers VS. All I can say is, "Whoa, I wasn't ready."

I have a cousin named Ricky who has cancer. I'm not sure of his condition but, I know that it is a struggle for him. He was in the hospital the day before but, he had himself checked out so he could spend time with family. I saw him walk around and meet and greet. He looked so pleased to be around and was really enjoying himself. But, you could tell that it was physically taxing for him to be up and around. To me that takes courage, that's a real hero to me. Here he is making Thanksgiving for others, he is there in the mix. I don't know if I could be as strong if I were him. People want to go around calling me a hero, brave, a true American and all that stuff. The truth is I'm a simple war profiteer I'm profiting on someone else's pain. That's not heroic that's ghoulish. People like my cousin are what I call heroes. He inspires me to go on his actions on that day showed me that life is precious and you should enjoy it in however and whatever form it comes in.

Thanksgiving was cool and I met one of my other cousin's friend. She was a sexy little thing and the conversation was cool. She said we could hook up later and I was like cool. We headed back over to my other Grandma's house and we ate some more Thanksgiving dinner. By that time some of my aunts and cousins had stopped by so it was a bit of party. A cousin of mine had his little girlfriend there and her mom. If you ask me I was thinking that the Mom was trying to hook up my little cousin for herself she was all into him. I was just chillin' and resting a bit. My Dad promised my Aunt that he would stay at her house so my Mom and Dad were getting ready to head there. Me, I was setting up other plans so I gave them some BS story about work so I could cut out. Another one of my cousins came by and picked me up then I checked in to a Marriott where I had reservations so I could kinda chill and get some rest. We talked for a long time about just her life and my life and how close we were as kids and about Iraq. I mean we talked about half the night then I woke up and she was dipping out. She told me the next day that I just fell out on her and she couldn't wake me up so she cut out.

Well after that I have no idea what time it was. Little sexy hits me up and wanted to chit-chat! I'm like honey I'm going to be back in Atlanta in like 7 hours and you want to run down your life story and ambitions for the future? Not only that I'm am beyond tired so the idea of chatting on the phone at like 3:30 in the morning is really not on my plate of things to do. I mean don't get me wrong she was cool and if I was in a different place or time then things would be cool but, I'm not in that place or time so it wasn't. Finally I think I passed out on her and she got the hint.

Well my folks came by the hotel and then we went back to my Grandma's and chilled for a bit and then I come to find out my Aunts were about to roll up on my cousin's MILF because they said she was trying to flirt with my Dad. That was funny. So anyways we say goodbye and all that stuff and then we get in the car and head back to Atlanta again I sleep all the way home.

Everyone has to pay the piper

I'm sick as a dog. Holy Christ I'm sick. Two months of travel, drinking, and late nights have finally caught up with me. My throat feels like I just drank a gravel and glasss smoothie and I'm hot as hell. I was supposed to go to work today but, I think they are going to just miss me today and on top of that I have to get to the airport. Man I feel hot garbage.

It's bizzare: why to people love to wallow in failure?

T.I. has a song out right now called Motivation this song really speaks to what I'm feeling right now. Well the word gets out that I'm back in town and people are asking T-Money if I am REALLY going to Iraq. I'm like what the fuck? Why would someone lie about something like that? This isn't like booking a flight to Boston I'm going into a war zone. Everyone needs to have their shit in order for me to go. I'm just a product you don't want to go to fucking Iraq and no one has a clue where you belong. So if it takes another week then oh fucking well. This is retarded if you ask me but, I can't let negative people bring me down. Besides it's not like they had the courage to actually ask me what was going on.

So I get into work and my boss explains the situation the Marines are short of cash and they only want one engineer. Personally I think they are squirrly about sending a civilian woman in to a major theater of combat. Now then that's just my thought I don't have anything to base it on. Also the Marines were upset about us sending so many FE on the same flight. We made a hell of a target for anyone looking to snatch us.

In reality the on the ground brain power would be out of commission. I suspect there will be some changes in policy but, policy isn't my area. After that discussion I felt a bit better about heading out by myself. I'm less of a target. At anyrate since we weren't supposed to be in town anyway I go home and get ready to head home for Thanksgiving.

How to be successful in the Military Part 1: Learn how to hurry up and wait.

Well today was a wash. We were supposed to get our orders when we got to base but they didn't arrive. Without that we counldn't do a damn thing. So we are just stuck at the camp with nothing to do and no contacts. On top of that it is Thanksgiving week so pretty much anyone that can help us is now on leave. So we call our boss and he says that we need to head on back to Phoenix and on top of that the Marines cut their funding on the project so one of us will go on the project and one of us will have to take another project somewhere else in Iraq.

My partner loses her mind she starts asking me what job do I want to take and how long this is going to hold us up. I'm say, "I'm not taking any job anywhere until I know what it entails. If I were you I'd just calm down until we get into the plant tomorrow. There is nothing we can do from here and we aren't going to get complete intellegence on this stuff until then so just relax."

So we hot tail it out of the hotel and get the next flight home. Part of me is glad because I get a little bit more time with my people and I can handle some more affairs but, the finance part of me is pissed. I'm thinking about all the money I'm missing out on by having this trip delayed. Another part of me is concerned because we won't be traveling with the other FE and the idea of going to Iraq solo scared the hell out of me. But, what can you do?

Right now it's just good to be home.

On my way to Camp Pendelton

Well T-Money dropped me off at the airport and we say our goodbyes. It was sad to me but I didn't let on you have to stay calm and in control when you lose control of your emotions mistakes happen. So anyways I meet my partner in the airport and we get to chatting about Iraq all willy-nilly then I look around. I move up close to her and casually mention that we it maybe it would be a good idea if we not talk about going to Iraq so cavalierly. She agrees and we try talking about other stuff but, we have been working together for the past month getting ready to go to Iraq so what else is there to talk about.

Well we arrive at San Diego and she tries to get us our vehicle. For some reason she is super concerned about paying for this vehicle. I'm thinking what's the problem? Number one the company has paid for what we need and number two I'm not going to be stranded anywhere so this is a non-issue to me. See the thing is she just got married and was in the process of changing her surname it wasn't done everywhere so she got lost in the system. So the car they had for us wasn't in her name so she was like they don't have a car for us. Again I'm like whatever, the guy working at the Hertz was a real ass so he wasn't helping. So then he finds our reservation and then says you all have rented a mid-size.

I say, "We need to upgrade to a small SUV.” a mid-size is a standard for travel but, we are coming to Pendleton to get over 150lbs of gear a piece and I have no idea how much space we need for two of us so I made an executive decision to get a SUV that would be better for us to get our gear in and get out of.

The Hertz Assmaster smugly says, "Sir it will cost another 20 dollars a day to upgrade to an SUV." it wasn't the what he said that pissed me off it was the way he said it and the stare he gave me.

"So." I respond firmly, "I know what the itinerary says. I'm telling you what we need. Can you get that for me or do I need someone else to do it? You have the card to put it on now then do you not have any SUV's available or just problem doing that? Now then if you do I can ask someone else to help us. Is this going to be a problem?"

The Assmaster begrudgingly says, "No, it won't be a problem sir, I'll have the SUV you request."

I smile politely and say, "Thank you for your help sir."

He saw the look in my eyes that said I wasn't fucking playing today. That smile was more about the fact that I know the exchange just knocked 3 years off his life in stress. I have to tell you something about older white guys in service industry jobs. They hate and I mean hate serving young black men and most times they will do what they can to make it difficult on you.

Me personally I don't give a fuck. When I’m in the right I like fucking with them. Hell, you can hate me if you want to but you will serve me and you will respect me. Make it easy on yourself and do your fucking job without the sass next time ok?

Well that was danger averted then my partner is like they don’t have my reservations at the hotel. I’m like, "This is crazy of course they have your reservation."

I call the hotel and they have mine so I say to her we are going to the hotel they wouldn’t have my reservations and not yours they were made at the same time. We get to the hotel and as I already knew our reservations were in the system and everyone was cool. The lady at the desk was kinda cute but she was an ass as well. I don’t know it may just be a San Diego thing. This apparent rebuffing of the Hustle charm as well confused my partner as well.

She was said, “I saw you putting the charm on. If I was her age and you were talking to me I would have been flattered.”

I said, “This I already know, but I can’t speak for these women today I don’t know if they are just young and dumb or if it’s just the west coast. I don’t even talk to them anymore for results I just do it for practice. I stopped expecting women to respond to compliments years ago.”

She said, “Really, that’s too bad you are a catch.”

I think to myself, “Yeah maybe so but, only to those that know how to fish.”

So anyways I head to the room and call my folks. I put out my clothes and then I head to the bar for a drink and some dinner before I lay it down for the night. I got a long week ahead of me.