Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Thailand in pictures....Bangkok! Part 1

These ladies were awesome! They taught us how to cook Thai food. I still make lemongrass tea.  Such a great photo!


This was our class! From all over the world. My best friend, Siusan is on the right! The Thai women beside her recently got engaged and her family sent her to the cooking school so she could learn how to cook for her man. Ha!

At some point in every Thai boy/man's life. They have to become a monk.


Siusan is crazy! Those stairs were steep. I only made it half way.

The Reclining Buddha

Tuk Tuks!!

The Emerald Buddha! It really was so small, like the Mona Lisa. There were no pictures allowed because the King worships there.

Ayutthaya. Buddhas with their heads chopped off

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

There is ALWAYS a silver lining.....

I'm happy to see that everyone made it through the end of the world on Saturday.  The Bible says that we won't know the day or the hour. Sooo, how can someone just say that world is going to end on xx day and then people go and spend their life savings and do crazy stuff.  When the world ends, we will all know instantly.  Can I just make a request though?  Can it end after I've been in a the FS for a few decades and I'm married with children first?  It's just a simple request. Not too much to ask.

I went to the ENT because I still can't hear out of my right ear. The pain is gone but there is a lot of pressure and it sounds like I have a seashell permanently attached to my head.  I'm waiting in the room for the doctor and I'm expecting an old guy. No not an old guy. He's 37 and super seksi! Like SUPER seksi! All in his white lab coat and stuff.  I am admiring! He could tell. I know he could tell! 

I can admit that I'm a tad bit crazy.  I look up my symptoms on webmd and then I snoop while I'm in the doctor's office looking at all of the instruments.  He looks in my ear with the flashlight thing, then up my nose, and down my throat. Yes, I know I have very large tonsils. Then he says he's going to look down the back of my nose.  Okay.... He then proceeds to pull out this long tube thing.  He sprayed some numbing stuff up there first, and then I could feel myself beginning to freak out because seksi man wanted to stick something up my nose.  So I did what any normal person would; I cried.  He thought it was sweet and endearing (warm and fuzzies right ova here!). I got my ear cleaned out from the gooky stuff and low and behold it's still a bit infected.  Round #2 of antibiotics has commenced. 

 I asked him if I was going deaf. He says to me "I don't think so".  What do you mean you don't think so?  He thinks I ruptured my ear drum.  I don't know what that means. I go back in a week for a follow up and hearing test.  As he's writing out my script, he pulls out this super fancy expensive pen that only doctors have.  I told him I liked it and that he should give it to me as a present.  He laughed and let me down gently that he had a wife and it was a present from her.  Damn!  But he smiled those pearly whites at me and gave me a little wink and all was right with the world.  I like my seksi ENT, I think I will keep him.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Man That was Depressing

Do you know how sometimes you just stress yourself out so much to the point where you can't verablize it and all you can do is cry?  That's what my last blog was about; releasing that emotion. Sometimes I think I'm way too emotional, who knows. I will be the one on Flag Day to cry; when I take the oath and then when I find out my post.  Is it okay to cry?  I wonder if anyone has ever cried? Would I be the first?

I did find chocolate covered pretzels to make myself feel better, though. I went to 4 stores; I was not going to be denied!  I found them for $2.00 at Big Lots and I left them all at the part-time. Oh the horror!  Never fear though, there is a Big Lots near my house and I will swing by tomorrow after Zumba.

On another note, can I just take a minute to profess my love for Paul Bettany, please?  I saw the Tourist today and OH EM GHEEE!  He is one seksi Brit!  He's kind of like Jude Law except he's not such a pretty boy. He can be but he can also be all sorts of scruffy scrumptious goodness. He was also in Legion so he can be a badass! He could tell me what to do and I would gladly oblige.  I could treat him like sausage gravy and sop him up with a biscuit! Yes sirree, I could do! That is all.

And now I am going to bed because I have work in the morning.  Maybe this week will be the week I get my OMS email!  No news is good news!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

*Sigh*

I am currently sitting in the lobby of an aquatic center with one of the ladies at my part-time.  I'm supposed to be doing my school work. It's not happening.  I'm tired of school...so very tired!  Every part of my being is telling me to stop...take a break...get yourself back in the frame of mind to be awesome. But I can't stop, I have 4 more classes left.  I can make it!  November 8, 2011, it will all be over. It seems so far away.

And then I stumble up on Foreign Obsession. Okay, not quite stumble more like checking in. She is where I want to be.  Am I a stalker? I love her blogs. I admire her honesty through the whole process and she's amazingly funny. Not just regular funny but also intellectually funny. (No, I'm really not stalking her, I swear) Anyway, so I read it and I'm now I'm crying...in a lobby. Not just crying but balling hysterically. Tears freely flowing and parents are coming up to me asking me if I'm okay.  She's going to Peru. I am excited for her and for everyone in the FS who are preparing to leave for post.

Hopefully, next year, I will be where she is now. And then all of this useless additional stress I am putting myself under will be all for naught. Until then, I'm going to sit here, cry it out, and attempt to get my work done.  

I want chocolate covered pretzels.....

Friday, May 20, 2011

Sawasdee Ka.....

 Thinking about it now, it seems like a lifetime ago that I was there.  Thailand is the most amazing place I've ever been.  I will tell awesome stories about my adventure like my day with the elephants, Songkran, catfish (lots of catfish), Ayutthaya, and post awesomer pictures later.  Thailand had a profound effect on my life, so I thought I would mention that this is the year anniversary of the end to the protests.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!

I'm at my ZUMBA class tonight with Adelicia.  She is the bomb and I feel like we need to be friends.  Her energy is AH-MA-ZING!  I think that's why she's such a fantastic instructor.  I've gone to different ZUMBA classes and when I say that Adelicia is my main teacher, everyone has nothing but praise for her.  That is why is she is the bomb; when other instructors are singing another instructors praises.At the Zumba conventions, she's a presenter teaching other Zumba instructors routines. Not to mention, she's super duper fly! It's an hour of me pretending that I've got long hair that I can whip around and shake my hips like Adelicia does.  And to think, 6 months ago, I was intimidated to go to one of her classes.  In the end, everyone was super friendly and we have so much fun in class whilst getting our sweat on!  Anyway, I've gotten off topic....I digress.

So, we're in class and we start late because she was stuck in traffic on 695. It's understandable. When there are massive thunderstorms, people forget how to drive. She was about 10 minutes late. Naturally, class started late and we ended late.  On Wednesdays, the Charm City Roller girls (Baltimore's Women Roller Derby team) has practice right after Zumba.  We're doing our cool down song and the roller chicks are showing signs of impatience. I'm thinking to myself :

"Chick, I know you think you're super cool and all but please don't do what I think you're about to do." 

Cool Down is literally 2-3 minutes long and it takes 5 minutes to put all of that gear on so I don't know what their problem was.  Do you know they wear butt pads?  Yes, I said it...butt pads!  Any sport that requires a woman to wear butt pads is not a sport I want to watch. Is roller derby a sport or just a hobby? Anyway, so this one chick with awful hair is looking at her phone and giving Adelicia the evil eye.  "Please no! Don't do it" This wench decides to march herself onto the floor to tell Adelicia that we are running into the roller derby time.  OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!

There were at least 175 women there and about 25 of them stood up from the stretch, raised one eyebrow, and it was a round of:
"Did she just do that?"  
"OH NO SHE DIDN'T"
" She must not know!"
"We may have to have a little conversation about THAT!"  

And that was just in my corner of the room!  I don't know if she knew it or not, but she was about to get cut!  Those women were on the war path!  You see, we love us some Adelicia and it's clear that we are all very protective of her.  So what if you're wearing a helmet and butt pads...nobody likes or watches roller derby any...way!!!!    I'm just saying....

OMS is still silent.  I'm really not putting this time that I have to good use.  I'm too busy worrying about getting in invite and not focusing on what I need to do once I do get the invite...because I will. If I don't, I have my trusty bottle of grey goose on standby. No news is good news!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

An Ear Infection Won't Bring Me Down!

The last couple of a weeks have been relatively interesting...let me share:

My mom and I set out on a road trip to Ohio to pick up my nephew from college.  8 hours in a car driving to Ohio is something I never want to do for a very very long time.  Road trips and I do not get a long.  Early in my 20's I had this pipe dream of driving with my friends to California and back.  Thank God I never did that!  We stayed overnight in a small town, Fairborn, as his school is in the next town over, Xenia.  Now, I've never stayed in a Motel 6 before and the experience wasn't that bad.   My mom did find it necessary to point out that the last time I stayed in a hotel was in Thailand...not a motel 6 let me tell you.  I braved the accomodations, checked for bedbugs, and I made it  through the night.   My first experience at the Waffle House was a bust but Cracker Barrel was ahmazing! I need more Cracker Barrel in my life!  My nephew acquired more stuff than what he came up with including a $400 keyboard. Why? I don't know, especially when he was calling my mom every 5 minutes for money. Hmmm? I kindly pointed that out to her and promptly made my exit from the conversation.   There was a very long discussion (lecture) about the importance of being truthful and not spending money frivolously and "I hope you get a job over the summer because I'm not giving you any money to go back to school..."  Famous last words from a grandmother.  We shall see come August!

I was nursing a cold the whole week prior to the road trip, and I thought I battled it nicely.  Think again!  Over the weekend, I developed an ear ache which turned into a full blown ear infection.  This ear infection came fully equiped with the worst pain I've ever felt in my life.  I mean it was crippling. It felt like something was trying to expand my ear canal but my ear was having none of it. I was crying from the pain and nothing was working. So, I decided to see my doctor who is the bomb diggity.  She tells me I have an ear infection (Shocker!) so she prescribes me some powerful antibiotics and steroids to reduce the inflamation. It took 2 days but Yay! for steroids and the antibiotics. The antibiotics has caused leakage, though. It's white, it smells, and I have a stream coming out of my ear. Yes, I know, it's gross! Do you know how when you have pink eye and the crusty stuff comes? I have that in my ear. Gross ^2!   I'm working on Day 7 of my meds and if it's not clear by the end of the cycle, I have to see an ear nose and throat specialist.  My doc said something about putting something in my ear and draining it. Oh the horror! I've never had any sort of procedure done on any part of my body before so it's quite scary for me.  I pray it won't come to that.  I feel much better though. Horray for small miracles!

Still no news on the OMS front, however, there are some in the yahoo group who are getting their invites. Just not me!  Someone in the group said they read on the state.gov website that there were 1400 applicants this time around. So, out of 1400 where do I rank among all of them if some are getting their invites and I'm not?  It was also said that all of the invites will go out by the end of the month.  Today is the 15th.  I'm stressed and self-doubt is really starting to creep in.  Maybe I'm not as awesome as I think I am and the DOS thinks that I suck.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm getting myself worked up for no reason at all!   *sigh*  This whole process is crazy.  Maybe it's just a test to see how well people can deal with it all.  I'm failing miserably.  No news is good news!!!

Thursday, May 05, 2011

More have started to get their OA invites.......

I'm not going to freak out!
I'm not going to freak out!
No news is good news!
No news is good news!
*breeeatheee* okay.....

I'm not going to freak out!
I'm not going to freak out!
No news is good news!
No news is good news!
*breeeaathheee*

I'm good now.  No, really. I'm good!

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

NyQuil offers up some pretty trippy dreams...

I stayed home from work today because I have a pretty nasty cold plus the allergies are flaring.  I took a couple of swigs of NyQuil (okay 4 rather large swigs) and I slept until 4pm.   Insert crazy dreams here.  My dreams were pretty much a manifestation of my anxiety about the OMS.  One member of the yahoo group emailed and said that she recently didn't pass the OA and that just added another layer of anxiety. 

Dream #1 was about getting the rejection letter in the mail and my subsequent freakout fully equipped with black mascara running down my face.  There were a lot of variations to this dream in terms of how I found out.  It was replaying itself over and over again. Dream #2 was about getting in the letter in the mail that I was invited to the OA. I also received an additional super thick package attached to it but I couldn't open it. As hard as I tried, I couldn't open it.  I don't know what anything of this means, but I'm slowly driving myself crazier I think.  

Another newly minted OMSer said it took her 7months to get an invite so I'm going to hang on to that.   I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I really mean it this time.  I just need to have faith that I answered the questions and wrote an awesome essay that highlighted my education, training, and overall awesomeness and the powers that be in the FS will contact me when the time is right....okay, so the control freak/OCD/Virgo type person that I am will not allow me to do that but I am going to try.  However, I will continue to live my life as I normally would so I am going to apply for the fellowship at my job and plan for my trip to Africa next December.

Monday, May 02, 2011

He was in a house!?!

So yeah, he was in a million $$$ compound.   W-T-F is up with that?!? Sure, we knew he was ka-billionaire with his money readily at his disposal but we all had this image of Osama living in a cave, barely alive due to his kidney. But nooooo, he was in lovely complex yards away from a Pakistani training camp and a stones throw away from Islamabad.  That, my friends, is a big F-U to everyone involved.  I'm sure at one point he was living like caveman but for who knows how long....not so much.  It's an F-U to the US and the West because he was pretty much hiding in plain sight, it's an even bigger F-U to Pakistan daring them to snitch, and the biggest F-U goes to all of the young impressionable youth and those who actually believed in the righteousness of what they were doing (you've got to be pretty steadfast in your beliefs to be willing to use your body as an explosive device).  While people are killing themselves in the name of Al-Qaeda, the face, its "leader" is chillin' and hangin' out in his multi-$$$ house! Living like a pauper because of his convictions? I think not! Oh and Pakistan....you've got some 'splaining to do.   Can't wait until you talk to Hilary about this one.  Oh to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Moreover, to be a fly on the wall for the conversation between President Obama and Hilary when he dispatches the wolves. Now that had to have been some good stuff.

It was 2 shots to the head; 1 to kill him and the other to make sure he was dead.  He was the face of the big bad. However, terrorism will continue. There will be another with the same ideals and who will engage and convince many that their lies are truth.  With the killing of Bin Laden, I hope this puts the terrorists of the world on notice that sooner or later we will find you.  I am so happy that he's gone. I feel for those who lost loved ones on that day. I cry with them because we will always remember. All Americans share their pain even if it's a minuscule amount. In reality, it could have happened to any one of us, in any city, and at any time. We must always remember.

I aspire to join the FS, in part, because I feel it is my duty to my country. I think it is the very least I could do to give back because those who have come before me have given their lives for what I have now and for what my children and my children's children will have. For that, I am eternally grateful.  My thoughts and prayers also go out to all of our military and the FS who continue to fight the good fight for all of my freedoms that I take for granted on a regular basis. May God put his shield of protection around you and keep you safe from harm.