Opening Act:
Greetings friends, I’ll just state first out of the box that I’m very sorry I haven’t been visiting sites these past few weeks or really updating my own either. As you can tell my last two posts were beyond quickies to make sure you guys knew I was thinking about you.
Unfortunately life doesn’t seem to want to cooperate in letting me have an enjoyable holiday season. But don’t worry about me I’m stronger than I look and this is unfortunately a rather familiar way for me to end a year. Just before Christmas I was contacted by several members of my old Marine unit who wanted to let me know that a very good friend of mine had been killed in action in Afghanistan. He was working with a local demolitions team to disarm various IED’s that had been located in a building they were sweeping. IED’s are improvised explosive devices…or booby traps. They tend to be placed in normal household objects and are notoriously difficult to locate and disarm. Scott was one of the best at locating these nasty devices and getting them disarmed safely. However while attempting to protect the civilians in the immediate area he sacrificed his own safety in order to save their lives and shield them with his own body. As sad as his death makes me…I am proud that he died a hero. He truly was one of the greatest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and I know he’s laughing as he watches us mourn him.
I watched him buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday and stood with his mother as she watched her son laid to rest next to his father and grandfather. I held hands with his sister who had just returned from her 3rd tour in Iraq and will be returning to duty herself after a short R&R with her mother. Standing among them listening to the 21 gun salute and the haunting sounds of Taps being played all I could think…is I’ve done this too many times. My former unit has only 3 remaining original members where once we stood proud with 9. I am the only one so far who has survived the injuries given to me that made me leave the Corp. It’s a sad thought actually…
Sorry guys…I didn’t mean to be quite as depressing as we entered the New Year. There is actually a great deal of positive to look at as well. My family is well and still as insane as ever. I didn’t manage to make it home to spend the holidays with them, but I’m was pleased to note they were all together anyway. I even managed to have a nice conversation with my brother on the telephone. We’re pretty close to being estranged, but we’re getting better and better at actually being civil to each other. Of course I love him…but that doesn’t mean I had to like him. ^^ We’re getting better at that as we get older, forgiving the past and accepting the way we live our lives. That’s a really good thing, I don’t want any more regrets than I already have. LoL
I’m actually writing this in the airport as I wait for my flight back to Seattle. I hope to get back in time for New Years tonight. But the way it’s looking right now I’ll probably be flying in just in time to see the fireworks go off around the Space Needle. Last night’s post of the fireworks was actually done from my hotel room when I managed to log in long enough to download my e-mail.
Oh I’m glad you guy’s liked the new bg! It’s actually quite a simple piece of work I did it while on the plane flying out here. ^^ Thank goodness for business class seats, I don’t have to feel like my laptop is going to smoosh me into the seat while trying to work on it. I’m quite fond of DeathNote, both the manga and the anime. They’re both amazing pieces of work and I highly recommend checking them out! They’re definitely worth your time and effort! I have never seen a series this captivating based purely on psychological elements. It’s a lovely thing. Oh I also posted this new bg as a wallpaper so you can see all the details. I’m certain some of the littler pictures will be cut off with the size of monitors and such so feel free to check it out if you’re interested.
I really hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and I’ll be spending most of New Years day attempting to get to everyone’s site and trying to reply to the PM’s I’ve received! Again so sorry for taking so long to do both of those!
Sorry to say I don’t have time to do the Anime Word or Voice Actor for this post, but I should be back on track for my next update. ^^ Again recommendations are always welcome and any words you can think of that stumped you when you joined the Otaku family are welcome as well. I keep a big old list on my home computer for me to reference as I update my site but I can always use additional ideas.
Well I’m going to try to grab some junk food from the shops here since my flight was just announced delayed for the third time today. ^^ Take care! Bye bye!
PS: Since I'm getting in way late I'll start a spree of site visits tomorrow when I wake up! See you then!
See I can post for real once in a while! ^^
