Here's to hoping I didn't waste all my creative writing skills on the facebook walls of my ex-girlfriends!

Well here's to hoping the above title doesn't come true in this latest issue of "Brad's Thoughts and Stories"! One note on the above title is that what was written on the Facebook walls of those two ex-girlfriends was 100% friendly in nature. Though the possibility of me pushing the envelope of my humour and their acceptance of it is something that has crossed my mind in the 5 minutes following the 3000 words of glory I spelt across Kaitlan and Allison's walls. I'm not here to debate it though.

Let me get through the typical post being made by most people involved in the blogging trend at this time of year. Christmas is great, I love my family, it was great to see them, I got amazing gifts, the food was too good, I'm happy I've been having the oppurtunities to see my friends, some more of that jazz, and some etc. to conclude. I think that's all that needs to be said on the topic, if those facts are appreciated. I know I appreciate all of what I said, because there is a possibility that someday I will be unable to enjoy all of that because of my career, so I enjoy it as much as I can now.

So what have I been doing with my days lately? Well some people would call my brand of fun horrible. Each to their own I guess. Stumbling around in hijacked house coats with an old buddy from high school and probably making a fool of myself isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea. I personally had fun and ensured that the house coat was returned to its rightful owner. I just hope I didn't promise to be the DD in that stupor I was in. So far only my Ma and Pa have mentioned anything regarding that and they heard it through the floorboards in the middle of the night so we can't take it for 100% certainty. We all know that the physics of the waves involved could have been heavily influenced from the floor boards which would have caused a great deal of interference.

That was the pinnacle of my 3 day expedition of fun beginning with the socializing I partook in with my adult friends. Good times were of course had with them. More fun ensued the next night when I finally stormed into SL bar (about time they opened up! I've been legal a long freaking time). Later that night I stormed into Houstons. Where I was reunited with old high school chums and proceded to make lame pickup attempts on girls I hope were cute (I'm just not big on committment, but chatting the ladies up is still on my list of fun things to do). I proceded to try and pickup using my newly acquired skills in the French language. First of all French doesn't impress Anglo girls and it sure doesn't impress the only 3 Franco sisters in the bar. I got a number, but I don't think it was the cute sister's and a follow up date is not required at all. Return to the previous paragraph for the night that followed. Let us not discuss the day that followed that night though. There was a small concern that solid food might not like me anymore.

Hopefully I have not disgusted you at all. If this blog was all about respectable pursuits such as academics and athletics, I'd have a hell of a time making that 1 in a million interesting post. It is once again late (recurring theme. Me using ( ) and me posting at the stupidest hours of the night/morning). Bonne nuit, I've got to rest before I attend the reincarnation of the annual Shoal Lake tradition of a social on Boxing Day.

My Thoughts on Home

So it's been just under a week since I made my return back to Manitoba. In that time I managed to leave the country for two days, but I also formulated some thoughts/opinions on the place I thought about returning to many a night when I was cuddled up to my rifle or later on cursing a textbook in both official languages (it's how I practice my French). So I'm not 100% where to start with this explanation of my feelings concerning my old stomping grounds back here in the Keystone province.

Let me begin with the word change. Now it is to late at night for me to pull out the dictionary and define the word change so hopefully you all know the meaning while I take you on the trip that will become a rant. When I begun packing and generally just getting excited about coming home on leave, I became concerned about how things probably changed a great deal since I left. Much to my surprise when I took my first big excursion into Shoal Lake I made a discovery. Nothing has changed, and that goes for everything. Sure some people have made some modifications to their lifestyle, but nothing major. Buildings have been built, knocked down, etc but once again nothing major. In reality nothing has changed though. Now part of that lack of change in this place is great. It means nothing bad has happened, though the downside is that nothing overly exciting has happened. The only thing that's changed in the past 6 months is myself. Now I'm not complaining about the lack of change in my old territory, but the fact that it irritates me in some unexplainable way has solidified my decisions about life and how I enjoy being somewhere with an unpredictable rate of change. The military obviously being a fountain of change and place for a great amount of growth as I've already discovered. I'm not sure if I made any sense at all with that, but I feel I have been able to relay some sort of message.

Now I'm going to answer a question a great deal of people have asked me and probably shock some people with my opinion on the matter. No I have not found a girl in Ontario. Have I been looking? Not at all. I don't have the time for it. Plus I don't need to have to worry about a girl at this stage of my life. I've got plenty of worries with school let alone the few million other things I enjoy having piled on me by my school. Sure a girlfriend would be loads of fun but all that lovey dovey crap isn't for me at this time in my life. FYI: not tons of fun, because I'm not into those sorta girls. FYI Pt 2: I'm not trying to be a downer on lovey dovey crap, but really does it get you anywhere of great importance at age 19? The morale of this story though?! I have no time for a girlfriend and unlike the past refuse to make the effort to make time for one. Mon career dans une force de aerienne est très importante pour moi! See I can even cobble together enough French to express myself!

*Editor's note: This post is by no means a series of complaints but simply an explanation of some of my recent thoughts.
**Editor's note: There is no editor!!
***Hopefully I don't have to take back any of these non-wise words anytime soon.

1 week

1 week from now I will be sitting in the living room of my basement watching TV, after having eaten my mother's cooking. It will be epic and I'm incredibly excited. I'm so excited I can't get to sleep at night. That is all.

Study Break

Well I'm taking some of my well deserved study break time to write possibly my last blurb before I hit Manitoban soil again.

Well so far this week, I've wrote my first two university exams. Now I could make some nasty references to describe how I feel about them, but that would not be befitting of me to do on this so very public medium. However I will still express my feelings on them. English was what I started my finals with. I wouldn't call it one of my finer pieces of work, but in the end what I studied was on it, so let us hope that my professor likes what I talked about otherwise I'm in doodoo. Chemistry was exam number two, and my first experience of writing in your classic university environment of a big hall, filled with row upon row of students utterly confused at the material they thought they knew from hour upon hour of studying. I don't feel grand about the exam but for some reason I came out of the exam quite calm in comparison to my comrades, who weren't. The irony of that is, that during midterms it was the other way around. It appears that I've become calm and comfortable with the fact that what ever happens, happens. All for some reason and at the end of the day something will work out. Plans might have to be adjusted but you just need to roll with it.

4 more to go! The brightside! One is open book and it has been discovered I only need 10% on the final to pass the course (so if the crap hits the fan, I'll still make it through), one is an arts course that I'm kicking ass in, and the other two are all year so if I screw up now I still have one more shot to redeem myself (or so I'm told). You know me though, I always manage to pull something off and I plan on continuing that strong tradition.

On a lighter note. Have any of you seen the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show? I haven't watched the entire thing. I'll be doing that when I get home. That's not the point however. Did anyone see the Spice Girls bit? Is it just me or have they not all aged as finally as expected. Scary Spice can actually claim to be scary now. Just my two cents on them. On the bright side though they can still perform well!

Today's fun fact: 8 days till I place my feet on the sub-arctic soil of the motherland or I guess I could call it Manitoba.

Global Warming

Well I don't have much time to ridicule this funny but true story so I'll let you form your own opinions. I know for a fact it is true, because the fridges back home that hold that beautiful brown beverage full of nutrition, fun, and the ability to make everyone look beautiful are ancient and most likely leaking harmful gases into the atmosphere causing global warming. But at least my beverages are cold!

Here's the link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313844,00.html

RMC - 1 Civilian Universities - 0

Watch the first few minutes or so of this Coach's Corner. I don't think I need to say anything more about my institution's greatness.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/coachscorner/2007/11/defensive_turnovers_are_killin.html

À la base des Forces canadiennes Trenton

So here I am in Trenton! 3 Navigator tests and 2 simulator sessions down. I only have 2 more sim sessions left and hopefully after that I find out that I passed both my nav and pilot tests. If that's the case then it's all up to my eyes after that!

I'm loving Trenton. I've got my own hotel room, the food here is restaraunt quality despite being massed produced. Probably, because military cooks put max effort in, otherwise they would be blading their buddies. I look out my window and I get more excited then I would be if I was walking into a room full of girls. All I see from my room is hangars, Hercs, and the C17 Globemaster. It's more beautiful then anything I've seen before. 4 jet engines and the capacity to move a lot of stuff. Let's just say Dad would be out of a job with Millers if I had one of those sweet birds. Shoal Lake would have to beef up their airport and someone might have to donate another quarter section for it. I can also see from my window an Antonov. Not sure if it's a full blown Antonov or just a baby, either way it's awesome. To bad the CF won't spring for a couple of those. Other things I can see are the Challenger (the kickass private jet that MPs, ministers, the prime minister, Governor General, and other people get to fly around in), the Polaris (Airbus transport plane used to transport troops back and forth between Canada and Afghanistan) and the CF Land Advanced Warfare Center, which is just a building but from what I can tell is the home of the jump school. I'm pretty sure I was disturbed from my sleep at about 0600 this morning by the jumpers doing pushups in the parking lot. It's safe to assume that they weren't doing normal pushups either. I'm going to assume they were doing airborne pushups, which is an excercise in teamwork. What I mean by that is that the platoon, flight, section, or what ever the unit maybe called lines up. The only person with their feet on the ground is the guy at the back. Everyone else's feet are on the shoulders of the person behind them. If you don't all push up at the same time then it's a difficult excercise for the entire team.

All in all I would love to be posted to Trenton in 4 years time or for On the Job Training. The simulator sessions are going good or so I believe from what I understand from the readouts it gives after each session. The Navigator tests were easy but because of the time restriction, nearly impossible. So hopefully I made it through them! Anyways I'm gonna head off for some lunch before my next sim session, then I think I'm gonna take a walk around to see what else is kicking on base.

Trenton

So next week I'm off to lovely CFB Trenton or at least I hear it's lovely. The point of my week long trip?! Drum roll please........Aircrew Selection or for those of you not in the loop with all the military jargon/lingo a week of testing for anyone trying to get a position as a member of an Aircrew on a Canadian Forces aircraft. What this all means for me: I know for sure I'm going to be tested as an Air Navigator but it sounds like I'll have a shot at being tested for pilot!! Though if I make it through the testing for pilot I still have to pass the vision test, which most likely will be a problem but hey you never know there's a possibility. Then again I could be going to Trenton just for the Air Nav test. But let's hope it's for both, that I pass the sim tests, and that through some miracle my eyes are on their game the day of the vision test.

Remembrance Day Video

Well I'm not sure if anyone watches the videos I post. But here's another one, obviously in relation to tomorrow. So hopefully you watch it and appreciate it. It was made by Global News in Edmonton. I'm pressuming it's a year or maybe two years old. Either way it's a good video and hopefully you all appreciate it as much as I do.

Little comic

My friend sent me this. Not sure if it was because of the Top Gun theme to it or the fact that my love life has gone that way before.

The Weekend

Well not much to say about the weekend. Friday night after my work out at the gym, I went back to Yeo and ate. Then I pretty much just hung out and watched movies with the 2nd and 3rd years.

Yesterday was decent. Slept in until noon. Struggled with some homework, gave up on aforementioned home work(getting tutored on it tonight thankfully). Then I decided to help a brother out in the romance department. I bet you're all saying whoa, I bet that guy isn't going to get far with his love life. Did I mention I helped him out with buying a gift to?! I forgot to mention to him that most of the gifts I've ever bought for my girlfriends were guided by a) my mother, b) my ex-gfs (very smooth I know), c) or other girls. But anyways he got dressed up in his scarlets and I took his picture with my great photography skills and then I helped him photoshop and develop it, and get a frame. Then we went and watched fencing, which isn't as exciting as I imagined it to be. So went to the mess and hung out. Today is home work day, and getting ready for the next 3 days of inspections! Which is crazy, because I have two midterms this week and one of them I'm toast in. Oh well.........

Do any of you associate songs with certain memories? Or am I the only one. For example when I hear Pink Floyd's "Money" I remember a past lady acquaintance of mine. However that's not what I want to talk about. This week my room mate got me hooked up to his network so I can access all of his music and movies. So I was listening to some of his music when I heard some songs that triggered some memories. Eve 6 "Here's to the Night" and Dave Matthews Band "Crash into Me". I know one of those songs was in the grad slideshow and possibly both of them. But now everytime I hear that song I remember being up on that gooseneck trailer in the Shoal Lake Community Hall, watching my past and the past of my friends. So needless to say "Here's to the Night" makes me all nostalgic and wishing life had a rewind button so that I could enjoy it over and over again.

Short News

Well this will be short and sweet. More will most likely follow after I sleep this week off. The low down on the past few days.

-Monday: I rewrote my CFAT (Canadian Forces Aptitude Test) so that I could qualify to switch trades to Aerospace Controller aka Air Traffic Controller military style!

-Tuesday: Went to class. Had some quizzes. Not really a great day, but I made it through in once piece and it's all behind me. Had an oppurtunity to get off the fitness program I'm stuck on. I once again flunked my pushups. Should have had them but on the brightside at least I still get to work out lots and improve my fitness.

-Wednesday: Talked to my Captain. Found out I blew the CFAT out of the water. Supposedly I did so well I was off the chart but somehow I find that impossible. But I'll go with it. Did my Medical Part 1 for Aircrew Selection so that I might also have a shot at applying for Air Navigator (as a back up to ATC) and getting myself into a job more related to airplanes. Also found out my school marks and discovered the only one worried about them is me. No surprise that didn't make me feel better about my marks. I'm doing much better then I thought I was but still not good enough in my books.

-Thursday: Here I am, alive and healthy. A little tired and I think I'm developing a cold.

-Tomorrow: Civie Friday!! Most likely going to watch the Paladins play Ryerson.

-This weekend: Sleeping

-Next week: Soldiering on and counting the days until my return to the Keystone province! Oh and did I mention it's my birthday next week?!

Shut down for the second time

Well my dream of being a military pilot has once again been shut down and the hatred I have for my left eye has once again increased exponentially! I can't believe that my one eye could still drag me down that much. The standard was obviously not lowered much, though that's life and I'll just have to come up with another plan. Though all hope is not lost in my attempts to switch career paths. I'm taking measures to become either an Air Traffic Controller or an Air Navigator. Fortunately my eyes don't restrict me from those trades. So we'll see how that goes. Otherwise I'll have to stick it out as an Airfield Engineer and an engineer in general, unless I go infantry or some other trade not in the Air Force. But we'll see how it goes. I love this place to much to leave, just because my dreams aren't fulfilled. So wish me luck!

Awesome Tribute Video

I just thought I'd share this awesome tribute video with you all. I found it on youtube and I personally think it's one of the best I've seen. Good music, good pictures, and some nice footage to show the world how our men and women are making a difference at the pointy end of the fight!

Time for a Change

Well you know how I said last week I was starting to understand things? Well apparently I'm not, according to my midterms. Let's just that I would have been happy if the marks had been above 50 but lower then my normal. But they weren't above 50, so I'm not happy. Also I've been doing a lot of thinking. Now correct me if you think I'm wrong (though honestly I don't know how you would know if I'm wrong) but I'm really not a Science/Engineering type of person if you truly think about it a lot. Deep down I'm an intellect in Arts type classes. I really don't enjoy working with equations and formulas or spending my time trying to figure out the coefficient of friction for some block on an inclined plane. I don't enjoy figuring out how many moles of oxygen come from some reaction. I enjoy reading about what happened in the past, reading good books, discussing historical events, and that sort of thing. So that's my issue with school. However, because of the trade I'm put into I might have a problem.

Who knew an Airfield Engineer would need an Engineering or a Science degree to have a job. Then again I don't want to be an Airfield Engineer now that I hear more about it and think more about it. I have to be involved with an airplane in some controlling fashion. Whether I'm flying it or telling it where to go from a tower. All of my former girlfriends and my parents can attest to how much I need flying in my life. It only consumed every weekend of my life in the fall and spring since I was in Grade 11, and before that it consumed every day dream I ever had (sorry ladies). So the moral of that story is I'm switching trades.

Anyways I'd love to here everyone's opinions on my possible decisions or more like probable decisions. Though at the end of the day I'll be making the decision whether my friends and familiy like it or not. I'd just like to hear someone tell me that I'm right.

Suddenly

So suddenly school is coming to me. Still not as fast I'd like but it's coming to me. I've begun to adjust to the idea that I'm no longer the coolest kid on the playground, and I'm really starting to enjoy RMC. I wrote my calculus midterm yesterday and I know for a fact I didn't do great, but I'm pretty sure I passed it. My room mate reminded me of something we were told when we got here: "You haven't failed until someone has told you that you've failed." After mulling that one over I realized it was true and that I have yet to actually fail at anything. I also felt better when I found out that my mark on my last algorithms quiz was just as a good as the majority of the class and actually probably better then a lot of people's marks. Then when the prof finally explained stuff it all made sense and it made even more sense when I went to her tutorial. I've got 3 midterms on Monday, which I'm a little worried about, but I've decided I'm gonna do my best and not give up until I'm forced to kicking and screaming. Hmmm so that's my speech about how I feel better about RMC, and how I don't feel like a depressed bag of crap as I did a few short days ago. I'm sure I'll get the same feeling a few more times during the next four years but I know I can handle it.

So last night I ventured into Kingston with a group of friends. Nothing to exciting, bought some new shoes (let's just say they were worth what I probably spent in a single year on shoes, but when you're in the military your feet are important), watched a movie (The Kingdom, freaking awesome movie, except now that I know how to use a weapon in a military fashion I criticize all of the gun play a lot), and some of us drove around Queens doing a recce for later presence patrols (if you catch my drift. Queens is sorta like Strathclair was to me when I was in Shoal Lake, if you once again catch my drift, except I haven't actually met anyone yet. All in good time). Walking down Princess St. (downtown Kingston) in our uniforms (we have to) is a great way to get negative looks from Queens guys and positive from the ladies. Plus some of the girls were screaming at us from a balcony about Christmas Ball, so it shouldn't be hard to bring some girls across the causeway for the ball in November. Well that's about it for my random activities. Time to hit up la biblioteche pour studying.

RMC vs. SLS

So right now I should probably tending to my mound of home work or taking the last oppurtunity I have to rest before I go back to Kingston tomorrow but I'm up and posting again. This time I'm going to talk about the differences between Shoal Lake School and the Royal Military College of Canada. Some of these differences are pros, some cons, and some of them are just things I need to learn to adapt to. So to sum the adaptation part up I need to listen to some advice I've often dished out. That being: "Suck it up buttercup!". That's exactly what I've been doing to. Though I also need to curb my procrastination habit but then again so does every student on the face of the planet. So let me begin with the differences between SLS (the best high school I can think of) and RMC (the best college that's actually a university I can think of).

So where to begin. Obviously one institution is a university and the other a high school. RMC has tons of tradition and history. SLS not so much, though hopefully my leg waxing and mohawk stunts have paved the way for future presidents to do equally crazy stuff, thus starting some sort of tradition. Back in high school I pretty much dominated or at least in some ways. I may not have been the brightest or the most athletic person to grace the hallway of SLS but I still ruled that school in comparison to RMC. I could walk into the principal's office sit in his comfy chair, spin around in it, use his phone, hell maybe even use his pen and paper to write myself a note. I did this simply by asking the secretary if I could. I don't even know where the principle's office is at RMC but I'm quite sure his secretary wouldn't let me into see him without an appointment let alone let me in to his empty office to use the phone. At SLS I said hi to the little kids and they replied. I did that because it was the nice thing to do and it made them feel included. At RMC I say good-day to the older students and if I'm lucky they reply with a good-day first year. I'm lucky if I get my lastname said to me let alone my first. In fact the only person that says my first name is Henk. FYI I'm not complaining I'm just going through some of the differences between my new life and old life.

Then there's my classes. I had a full course load all through high school, but I was never taking more then 6 classes at a time. Oh and my classes were much smaller. Grade 12 math there was maybe 15 people at the most. 1st year calculus...............45-50 students. There is definitely more differences I could go through, but my desire to sleep outweighs my desire to talk about my life. So goodnight and hopefully you enjoyed hearing about the changes in my lifestyle!

P.S. I have no problem with running more then 2kms without stopping now. In fact I ran 6.6kms in 40 minutes this past Friday.

Official Member

Well I'm officially a member of the Royal Military College of Canada. Over a week ago I ran the annual first year obstacle course that marks the end of FYOP (First Year Orientation Period). This year's course had an additional 3 obstacles bringing the total to 13 obstacles (more then any other Shoal Lake boy has ever had to run! So suck it up Henk!). It was about 2 hours of pain, sweating, dirt, mud, yelling, cheering, fun, water, fatigue, endurance, etc, etc. I don't think I've ever been dirtier in my life and I've had some pretty dirty events in my life (changing oil and having it spilt all over my body, PMU chores, etc). Check out facebook for the obstacle course pictures and if your a parent (Wanda and Tammy lol get your children to show you!). At the bottom is the pic of me after the course with a clean sweater and my college coin (coin that all RMC students get with their number inscribed on it, there's a great deal of traditions to go along with the coin. But they're all drinking traditions and I don't have the time to describe them lol.) Oh and that's a picture of me and Brucie (the ideal cadet statue with his gaitors on backwards). Those leather things on my ankles are gaitors and they suck a lot. Ok so due to my lack of technical ability the picture of me with coin is on the bottom and my pic with Brucie on the top. FYI the blue college uniform I'm wearing with Brucie (my 4s) is what I must wear to town until I earn the priviledge to wear civilian dress.

So after the obstacle course I went out to town with my parents who came down to Kingston to visit. Which was awesome and bad all at once. It was awesome to see my parents but seeing them made me more homesick then I was when I was 12 years old at Air Cadet Basic in Penhold, AB (and I was super homesick then). But it was good. They stayed to watch my badging parade on Saturday when I became an official member of the college. It was an awesome feeling to become an official member of the college and 8 Squadron (the best Squadron in the Wing). On Sunday we had the Memorial Parade for all the fallen cadets of RMC. The first years lined the parade route, which was an honor but a little unfun because weapons drill is not easy after being fatigued from the roughest, most stressful month possible. Sunday I also had to say good-bye to my parents and watch as they left for Manitoba and left me back in Kingston. Oh well in 69 to 70 days I'll be planting my feet on Friendly Manitoban soil and having a lot of fun for three weeks. So lock up your daughters and watch out. Just kidding you don't have to lock up your daughters but watch out for me having lots of fun.

So my first week as a normal RMC student went fairly well. Though my homework is piling up higher then Mount Everest and making it hard for me to see my bed from my desk. I work out 4 times a week, because I didn't perform well enough on the RMC PT test but in my defense I was bagged from everything that was going on when I did my test so passing it at the end of October shouldn't be a problem and I should be out of my mandatory work outs, so then I'll be able to work out on my own. Hmmmm algorithms class blows. That's just a little FF (fun fact). I have no idea what goes on in that class. At least calculus is sorta easy to follow along with. But algorithms I have no idea what's going on. Somehow I managed to get a good mark on the one quiz though so that should float me until I figure out what an algorithm even is.

Right now I'm on leave in London visiting relatives. It's pretty sweet. I got to meet my cousins husband (I was a bad cousin and never attended the wedding). I slept in till quarter till 3 which is the longest I've ever slept in till but then again I haven't napped in over a month or gone to bed before 11 in over a month so the sleep was needed!! So yeah, that's all that's new right now. Hopefully I find some time to make a post on the differences between SLS and RMC this weekend. Should be a good post where I manage to excercise my creative writing skills and reflect on my days as a carefree student at the best high school in the world (sorry Strathclair) and discuss my current days at the coolest college in the world (sorry U of M).

Goodbye Saigon

We met as soul mates

On parris island

We left as inmates

From an asylum

And we were sharp

As sharp as knives

And we were so gung ho

To lay down our lives

We came in spastic

Like tameless horses

We left in plastic

As numbered corpses

And we learned fast

To travel light

Our arms were heavy

But our bellies were tight

We had no home front

We had no soft soap

They sent us playboy

They gave us bob hope

We dug in deep

And shot on sight

And prayed to jesus christ

With all our might

We had no cameras

To shoot the landscape

We passed the hash pipe

And played our doors tapes

And it was dark

So dark at night

And we held on to each other

Like brother to brother

We promised our mothers wed write

And we would all go down together

We said wed all go down together

Yes we would all go down together

Remember charlie

Remember baker

They left their childhood

On every acre

And who was wrong?

And who was right?

It didnt matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day

In the palm

Of our hand

They ruled the night

And the night

Seemed to last as long as six weeks

On parris island

We held the coastline

They held the highlands

And they were sharp

As sharp as knives

They heard the hum of our motors

They counted the rotors

And waited for us to arrive

And we would all go down together

We said wed all go down together

Yes we would all go down together

This is the song I fall to sleep with almost every night. Just thought I'd share it with you all!

I've got something to rant about!! Finally!!

My rant! People who really abuse the teamwork thing! What do I mean? Well if you've ever taken part in group physical training you'll understand. The kicker is I'm talking about group PT military style. Sure hockey teams and such have teamwork but do they brush their roommates teeth? No didn't think so! They don't know teamwork like us military folk! Trust me brushing another man's teeth while he's brushing yours is something that really means cohesion. So back to the abuse of teamwork. I hate when people put no effort into keeping up with the rest of the flight in runs. It grinds my gears. I'm trying my best to keep up while others are putting 0 effort in and then we have to circle around and pick'em up which taxes me even more. I know it's good for me both as a team player and someone getting in shape but seriously it kills me. That's my rant about teamwork.

For all of you interested in my weekly activities here they are!: PT, class, sleeping in class, eating meals, studying, cleaning myself, and sleeping! That's my week in a nutshell. I'd tell you about class but I fell asleep in most of them or zoned out. Not good I know but if you were in my shoes you'd understand.

My activities of this upcoming week. Well tomorrow is the largest inspection of my military career thus far and if I fail it then I'll spend Sunday night being inspected. There's also passing of the square tomorrow. In summary it's a drill test mixed in with a single trivia question about the college. You keep going until you get it right. Then it's obstacle course practice. Sunday is parade practice, and Monday to Thursday is the same as this week. Friday is the obstacle course!! Fuckeneh! Saturday is the badging parade (hells yes no more FYOP), and Sunday is the Memorial Parade. Did I mention I get to see my parents next weekend to. Someone convinced the old man to come down to instead of farming!! Anyways that's all for now!

Single Digits Baby!

So that's what I woke up this morning. Much better then O Fortuna. At least I didn't have a feeling of dread and was able to have a slight chuckle as I rushed to get ready for inspection. The inspection by the way didn't go well, then again they never go well. Not because my room mate and I are horrible, just because that's the way it works here.

So it's only 9 days till the big obstacle course. I'm sorta running out of time before I have to leave for physics. But all in all I'm fairly good. I feel like I'm going to explode sometimes when it comes to school and yesterday I felt like dieing after doing 3 long distance runs, 2 of them within 20 minutes of each other but anyhoo. Take it easy, because I sure am not!

Half Way There

So this is my first post since reaching RMC. Where to start, where to start?! Well I'm in the middle of FYOP as most of you know. FYOP by the way is First Year Orientation Period or it could be called a variety of other things, which I won't get into. I started classes on Monday and am quite happy that the campus isn't to large, because it's confusing enough as it is. I think I've been lost at least once everyday (except today) while attempting to find my classes.

On the class side of things I have a lot of classes. All of them at the moment seeming very difficult but my brain hasn't fully turned on yet. Possibly because I'm still recovering from 2 months of boot camp, while undergoing a fun/strict orientation period. Let me get on to the Orientation period portion of my life.

Every morning at 0600 I'm awoken by loud music. Usually the song is O Fortuna (not sure who sings it but download it to get a taste of it. It's classical and semi-depressing). If we're lucky they spice the music selection up a little. Thursday morning it was "Everybody Is Working for the Weekend" and today it was "We're Here for a Good Time" by Trooper. The songs are more then just a wake up call, they're a timer. A timer to get up, shave, get dressed, and have my bed made. Oh and make sure the rest of my room is clean. Fortunately I have a good roommate and all of that is usually a breeze, except on the mornings where I wake up thinking about all the beer I would have drank and girls I would have chased had I gone to U of M or U of S, but in the long run RMC will be the best (worldclass education, I'll be in shape, I'll have a job, etc, etc.) Then after the wake up call it is usually morning PT (long distance run up Fort Henry, ladder training, hills, circuit training, etc). Then we come back to the dorms where we are given 8 minutes to shower, and put on our uniforms to be ready for inspection. Then it's inspection, breakfast, and classes. When classes are done for the day and I feel mentally exhausted and for that matter physically exhausted we go play some sports, where my flight (Whiskey flight) usually dominates over the other flights! Then it's another 8 minute shower and change, then supper, study time with 15 minute phone breaks, hygiene time, and bedtime. At bedtime we sing "Goodbye Saigon". Another song I highly recommend downloading just for fun. It's an interesting song about war, written from a slightly down mood. Then it's sleepy time, which if I'm lucky is disturbed by gift bearing second years. They like to bring us Timbits, cheeseburgers, etc in the night since we're confined to campus until the obstacle course on the 28th.

This weekend should prove to be interesting. Since we have no classes we're most likely fresh meat for our FYOP staff. But hey it's all good I can use the push ups and running. I do know we're beginning our practice runs of the obstacle course. We're doing a course up at CFB Kingston and doing a walk through of the course we'll take on the 28th so that we can come up with strategies to get over the various obstacles. I'll show y'all a vid of last years obstacle course. This year the course is longer with the formation of 3 new Sqns. But it should be good. I can't think of much else to say and I've probably bored y'all to death but now you know what's going on with me so leave some comments and such and take it easy. Oh and if you're still in high school enjoy it while it lasts. Trust me. Nothing beats your own bed, homecooked meals, a mother who does your laundry, and other such luxuries. Plus the classes are a breeze but anyways have a good one!

One Step Further

So as of yesterday I completed the first step of my training in the CF. My Initial Assessment Period is finished and with much success. The only negative point on my course report was about my lacking in upper body strength and everything else was postive (supposedly I have remarkable leadership ability!). Anyways it was both fun and a good challenge and I made it through without getting in trouble or losing anything (except those 15 pounds I no longer carry with me, I musta been fat when I left).

So after a slight hassle leaving the Mega (I forgot to take pictures of it, oh well) I hopped on a city bus to Montreal. Once getting to Montreal I relied on the kindness of people to get my 3 huge bags and 2 smaller ones across two streets from the bus station to the train station. I then hopped on a train for Ottawa. The train is by far the best method of transportation I've taken with the exception of an airliner. Way better then the stinky old Greyhound I would have taken had I been in the Prairies. I still miss the Prairies, though VIA rail should maybe look into being more available in the Prairies. Once I got to Ottawa I was picked up by my Uncle, who I'm staying with until Monday. I'm enjoying a nice bed, home cooked meals, and other things you get when you live in a house.

On Monday I report to Kingston, on the 10th I start classes, and that's all I know about my future at the moment. I do know however that I'll be home for Christmas lol! Anyways that's all that's new with me and hopefully I can keep this updated through FYOP (First Year Orientation Period). Take care and have fun at school!

One week till Kingston

So this past week I spent in lovely Farnham, which if you haven't heard is the field training site for St. Jean. The first four days were leadership evaluations. I scored a nice 52/55 which put me as one of the highest in the platoon on that evaluation. We also got ambushed a few times. Artillery simulators were going off, gun shots, etc, etc. Very fun! Seriously. On Friday we had our 13km rucksack march (in the rain) so our 40 or so pounds of equipment was soaked. Let's just say it wasn't the best 2 hours and 23 minutes I've had lately. To top it all off we had to do the firemans carry and dig a trench. I dug mine in under 6 minutes, which means I'm hot shit supposedly.

This week we hand in a bunch of equipment we never used but I'm glad to give it back. For example I shouldn't need mucklucks at university. We also get to hand our rifles in. What a sad day that will be.......NOT!! Can't wait to get rid of that giant pain in the butt. Hopefully on Thursday night I'm on a train to Ottawa to visit some relatives before I move to Kingston next Monday. Can't wait to get to Kingston the home of a large federal pen, The Tragically Hip, Queens University (lets hope the stories about the girls are true lol), and of course the Royal Military College of Canada. Once I get there First Year Orientation begins and the month of September 2007 will be a very memorable one full of PT, and other assorted torture tests lol!

So yeah, that's bout all that's new with me. Things are great. I'll admit I'm missing not being around the farm everytime I see a combine or grain bin. FYI the people here have giant combines for the size of their farms. 9610s and bigger for a few hundred acres! That's retarded. Silly farmers here in Quebec. But to sum it all up I'm enjoying the military life and am really excited to start classes on the 10th! Anyways good luck to all of those going on to university soon and for all of those lucky people going back to high school. Live it up and take advantage of it while you still can!!

Almost Outta Here

So I'm almost done my first stint here at St. Jean! But first I must get through Ex-Challenge and the 13km ruck sack march at lovely Farnham. Ahh Farnham what a fun place but only after you've left and look back at it. I also have to redo my fitness test, because I can't push a whole lot up.

So I'll briefly go over my past week. First off Monday was nothing exciting. Can't even remember it. Tuesday/Wednesday were spent out at Farnham learning how to setup roadblocks, biouvacs, patrols, searches, how to bust into a house, search POWs, and everything a person needs to know before deploying. Thursday was the big inspection, drill test, and PT test. Made it through all of them except for the PT one because of my lacking in the arm muscle area. Friday was slack. Wrote an easy multiple choice exam and had my head shaved for the 3rd or 2nd time in the last 2 months! Went to Montreal (the city where it's hard to find an Alexander Keith's but very easy to find tobacco, porn, and other things that take effort to find in any other province). Did the tourist thing there for Friday/Saturday.

Very excited to be down to 2 weeks here. Looking forward to Kingston, even if the first month is going to be an extremely wild ride of an unknown kind. Well that's bout it. Ohhh one last thing.

Good luck to all my classmates who are on their ways to Winnipeg, Brandon, etc! I love y'all and good luck with moving out. It's definitely a little different but you'll adapt!

Change of Address

So as you all know I'm moving on to Kingston to attend the Royal Military College. I leave St. Jean on the 31st. So if you're going to be sending me mail soon then I'd suggest sending it to Kingston soon. It takes between 5-7 working days for mail to go between St. Jean and the Shoal Lake/Strathclair area. So if you're sending a letter in the next few weeks take that into consideration. My address in Kingston will be:



Officer Cadet Ashcroft,BJ
Royal Military College of Canada
PO Box 17000, Station Forces
Kingston ON K7K 7B4

You're All Effed Up Like A Meat Flavoured Milkshake

So that was one of my favourite lines from the week. It wasn't said to me but I heard it said to a few people. The other favourite line this week was having my French platoon commander ask one of the bilingual members of the platoon what gaggle fuck meant in English. The answer obviously being gaggle fuck.

So I spent this week out at Farnham which is the field training site for the school. The first 2 days we spent out on the range. Very exciting. When they give the order to put the fire selector on automatic and you let it rip at the target, you get quite the rush. Very intense. In between firing on the range we learned how to build lean tos, hoochies, eat ration packs, etc. All very easy stuff since I did all of it in Fortune's pasture! Who woulda thought those weekends would pay off lol! Wednesday was spent doing field training and marching around. Musta marched 10+ kms that day. Thursday was our day and night navigation excercise. Spent the entire day navigating in the bush. Also learned how to face paint our faces to be camoflauged. Friday we spent the morning learning how to crawl and do the hand signals (like the ones in the movies)! Then we returned to St. Jean and the Mega was actually a beautiful sight to see for once lol!

Today some buddies and I found an English theatre and watched both the Simpsons movie and the Borne Ultimatum. Both were so good. The Borne movie was so good I went out and bought the books.

This upcoming week we do a small stint at Farnham and the rest is just some final written and PT exams. Shouldn't be bad. We also have a big inspection which freaks some people out but you just gotta play it cool and it'll be good. Or so I've been doing with success thus far.

Yes I named my rifle Allison. Who ever said that I didn't because of classmates or something is entirely wrong. Just think a little. I'd explain the reasons but I don't have much time to get in depth. Let's just say the Allison I went to school with was always there to get me out of a homework jam just like I hope my rifle will always be there to get me outta a jam in some backwater country while I'm getting shot at. The Allison I dated well was just a good girlfriend (like all of my former gfs) and I just wanted my rifle to remind me of good things. That's the simple explanation. I'm sure I'll be asked to explain it more some other time and I will. Anyways I gotta sign off so take her easy and I think you know the rest. It's back to the gin mill for me!

Short and Sweet

So I don't know if blogging is still cool or if anyone checks my blog anymore. But I've got access to it for 10 minutes so here it goes. First things first I'm going into week 6 of my training. We're going to Farnham which is where we do all our field stuff. I get to fire my rifle on Monday and Tuesday. Tres exciting. Won't mention what I named my rifle but lets just leave it at its partially after an old gf and partially after an old classmate. Take your guesses. What else is there. The training isn't to hard. It's mostly mental stuff. Like why do we have to do so may retarded things that make no sense. I'll explain the retarded things in more detail when I get home at Christmas or call you on the phone someday. The physical training was intense but I'm getting in shape so it isn't as bad anymore. Hopefully the hometown girls will swoon at Christmas. Probably not though. Going out on the town was sweet. Except the girls don't like bald headed, Anglophone, military members that have no idea of anything going on in St. Jean. Hmmm what else. Send some letters people. Those really keep a person encouraged and happy. Ummm hmmmmm yeah that's bout all I can think of at the moment. I definitely miss the small town atmosphere and the prairies in general where there is no humidity and +40 happens once a year if we're lucky. But I'm adapting and having fun. So yeah my time on the interweb is running out so keep on rocking in the free world and keep in touch.

Today We Are Men and Women!

Yes, Marshall we are. The title has been Marshall's line for the last week and I thought it was appropriate for a title. I'd love to regail you all in the stories of the fun I've had this past week, but I'm running behind schedule on packing, etc. So I'll just say that the last week has been a great deal of fun and I'm happy I was able to spend it with a good group of friends and family. I'm gonna miss my fellow 13 graduates. It was an honor to graduate with you all and I know you'll all do well in what ever you do. Hopefully all of the prophecies predictions come true! I hope to see some of you at Christmas and take care! I'll write on the blog the next time I've got a chance so keep checking it. I've also sent an email out with my contact info. If you didn't get it just get a hold of my Mom or someone who got the email to get the info.

I can't say that I've loved you all. But I've loved as many of you as I could!! ~ Hawkeye Pierce

Life is So Freakin Amazing!

So at the moment I'm not following the advice of a good friend and am remaining awake long enough to do some blogging. I'll be taking the advice momentarily, but I'm on bit of a roll when it comes to writing. I wrote a darn good speech today that stood up to tons of scrutiny. Anyone attending the SL grad supper will get the pleasure of hearing it.

Anyways last week I became a member of the Canadian Forces! Finally! I've been waiting since I was about 12 to join and now I'm in. It took me an hour of initialing and signing papers, to get ready for the swearing in ceremony the next day. But all of that initialing was worth it. I was in such shock throughout the entire swearing in ceremony that I was overwhelmed with happiness. I couldn't believe it was finally happening and happening at 1 CAD (1 Canadian Air Division. It's a pretty important place. Runs a good portion of the Canadian air force and it's in Winnipeg). I was sworn in by a Major-General, who was extremely friendly and made the ceremony quite memorable. There was even some people I didn't expect to show up to the ceremony and one of them brought an airfield engineer down to talk to me specifically. I don't think I could accurately describe the pride, happiness, sense of upcoming adventure, etc that I felt during the ceremony.

That's not the only goodness I've been feeling lately. Had an awesome weekend of hanging out with family and friends. Also fit in some community service in there to. All of it amazing. I've got one exam to write, which is bit of a downer but once that's done I'm continuing on with my campaign of fun. I'm down to around 10 days until I leave home and 11 till I leave from Winnipeg. I'll make sure I leave my contact info before I leave and continue to check the blog and facebook for updates when I get computer access! If you send me a letter while I'm gone I'll also make sure I write back as long as my life isn't to hectic at that point in time.

All Good Things Come To An End

So lately everything I've ever been involved with has come to an end. Everything from my love life to gliding. If it wasn't for the fact these endings are really only the beginning of my life I'd be a sad person. However all these endings mean that a new chapter of my life is about to begin, which is pretty exciting and it all begins on Thursday/Friday with my trip to Winnipeg to seal the deal with the CF. It's appearing that the old saying for every one door that closes another two open or so I hope!

So Friday I went to the fair with Ashley. Awesome time. I managed to embarrass myself lots with food spilling and vomitting but everyone laughed and it was all good. On the way home Josh was able to entertain us with karaoke until he past out.

Saturday I woke up feeling hung over despite the fact my last drink had been nearly a week prior. Though I did an odd thing, I took some tylenol and consumed litres of water until my headache was gone. By the time I made it to Brandon I was a-ok to fly. So that's what I did, I went gliding. As usual it was an amazing time. Beautiful last day of flying fam rides.

Sunday was the cross-country to Gimli. See Facebook in a day or two to view all my aerial photography of the ground, formation flying, and Pam. Nice flight and when we got to Gimli, Pam and I would like to think we showed up the Gimli Gliding Center with our mad gliding skills. The debate is still open. I also attended the Falcon Beach garage sale. I always thought the garage sale for a TV show would have been cooler.

Flying, flying, and more flying!

So this past weekend the Brandon Gliding Center got back to gliding and I sure did a lot. On Saturday I did 12 flights, which was probably about a third of the flying that was done give or take a bit. I flew so much I actually asked to get out of the glider at one point and I never do that. Then I went suit shopping, which by the way was the most painless shopping experience of my life. Though being the only guy in the store for the sales girls to play dress up never hurt either. Computer shopping wasn't so painless. The sales dude definitely wasn't strong in the English department, though after much questioning and deliberation Mom and I came out of the store with a computer. Technically we didn't actually come out with it, I have to go back and get it after it's setup but y'all get the point.

That night I headed to Houston's with Jason, to go to Sarah's bday bash. I took it pretty easy but it was still fun. Some girl that wasn't with us passed out and had to be taken away in the ambulance. The other excitement was when I realized dropping ice cubes off the balcony could be both fun and an excellent conversation starter. Saw tons of people I hadn't seen in awhile.

The next day was more gliding. We finally got started around 10:00 instead of our usual 9:00 because the squadrons showed up late. I flew 11 flights, and one of them was half an hour, while we waited for the towplane to refuel. Over the course of the weekend I did 5 hours of gliding, which is more then I did in my first season at Yorkton, and more then the amount of solo time a student has coming out of the gliding school. So I did tons of flying this weekend. I also did my 200th flight on Sunday.

Monday was a slow day. Tuesday was awesome. I made my return to powered flight and was quite impressed at how well I did. I landed the plane like a glider once, otherwise everything was good. I also got my enrollment package from the CF. So overall yesterday was an amazing day despite the fact I had to go to school.

Anyways tonight is the band concert. Sorta a downer if you ask me. Friday I'm going to the fair. Saturday is more gliding, and Sunday I'm taking a glider to Gimli! My last month as a civilian is shaping up pretty good!

24 days till Grad/28 till my departure

So we're down to 24 days until I graduate. 28 till June 30th, when I leave for the Initial Assessment Phase of the Basic Officer Training Course. Found out yesterday from the Recruiting Center that I'm to be sworn into the Canadian Forces on 17 Wing Winnipeg on the 15th. I'm unbelievably excited for that day. It's a day I've been waiting for since I was 12 years old. I should also be getting my enrollment package in the mail today or sometime soon. Though definitely not soon enough.

Yesterday was also my last parade as the Squadron Commander of 317 Strathclair. I've hung up my cadet uniform for good. It feels just like yesterday that I joined as an unsure 12 year old. It's been nearly 7 years and they've been some of the best years I've had. Cadets has helped point me a lot in my life and has allowed me to accomplish a lot so despite my excitement to be done I'm a little sad. I finished off my last year as the Most Dedicated and Best Dressed Cadet. I was also runner up for the Best Senior NCO.

Only 2 more weekends of gliding and then I'll have to sadly say good-bye to that program for awhile. It'll be nice to get back to gliding this weekend, since neither I nor the gliding center has flown since the end of April. So despite the end of cadets, gliding, school, and everything else I've been a part of here, things are great and unbelievably amazing!

RMC videos

So I found these sweet RMC videos to just give you all a taste of what my first month in Kingston is going to be like. Looks uber fun and I can't wait.

Do I have to title this blog?

So much to talk about. Hmmm I'd start with the Scrubs season finale but my feelings on the subject are very deep and I can become easily long winded when I discuss that passionate subject. All I'm going to say is Keith and Kim are horrible characters (Hopefully Ashley reads this and decides to disagree about it with me). Keith is whipped and well Kim is just horrible (how could she lie to JD?! about his own child!). Like I said I'm quite passionate about this show.

The next good viewing I've had lately was the SCS Drama Club's production of "Whodunnit and to Whom". Which to start off with was amazing. I didn't really have a hot clue what it was about before I went and was sorta thinking it might be some really predictable play. Once again I was wrong. The plot was amazing, reminded me a lot of that movie "Stranger Than Fiction". I'm not much of an acting judge, but I'd say the acting was top notch. I'd hope anyone involved in it is proud of their accomplishments!

Saturday was a work day. Picked some stones and harrowed. Luckily around 5 or so I was able to slip out of working and headed up to Lake Audy, which was awesome time despite poor weather. Spent the first night in a tent, which was a little nippy at times. Sunday we just hung out, played some cards, walked towards the bison until we lost our nerve, took a small driving tour, jammed 8 people into a two man tent, rebelled against the adults (which worked for some), did some napping, and I think that somes it up. Spent that night in the camper, which was much nicer then the tent. Packed up and left, hung out with Adri a bit more, and then I came home. Amazing weekend! Got to relax, didn't worry about anything, my mind was cleared, and it was just great! Now here we are. So not much this week. My first election is tomorrow! Regina on Saturday and Sunday for the Regina Military Tattoo and some tour deal of some RCMP deal.

I Wish You Were Here - Incubus

Old song but also a great song.

Under 50

http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?month=july&day=02&year=2007&hour=&min=&sec=&p0=165


42 days till graduation and according to that link 48 until I start my training. What does that mean? I've got about 46 days of civilian life left until my 10 year marriage to the CF starts and man am I excited!

The Office Clips

So here are some clips of the show The Office. I spent this morning laughing at these clips so hopefully you find them funny. I had Tiffany confused at what I was laughing at!

Dig - Incubus

We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easier to identify Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness;
we'll make a pact to never speak that word again
Yes, you are my friend
We all have something that digs us,
at least we dig each other

So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday.
If I turn into another
dig me up from under what is covering
the better part of me.
Sing this song
remind me that we'll always have each other
When everything else is gone.

We all have a sickness
that cleverly attaches and multiplies
No matter how we try
We all have someone that digs at us,
at least we dig each other.

So when sickness turns my ego up
I know you'll act as a clever medicine.
If I turn into another
dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me.
Sing this song!
Remind me that weíll always have each other
when everything else is gone.
OK, each other when everything else is gone.

Less then 50

So in less then 50 days. 49 to be exact though closer to 48, I will be a graduate of Shoal Lake School. Less then a week after that I'll be over my head in real life and military life. Man am I excited. Everytime I go outside to work on the farm I get even more excited. That's because everytime I do farmwork I'm reminded about how much I don't want to spend my life farming. Did you know that in the Manitoba Job List Newspaper the school handed out that Farm Manager is the only job in the province that a annual average starting salary can't be mentioned?! I must say who wants a job where the salary is that unpredictable. Though you can't knock farmers. It is the most important career in the world, because with out them we wouldn't have food, and with out food life would be quite difficult. Did you know that farming is one of the oldest professions? The other oldest being prostitution. I guess we all know where the caveman's priorities were the day they decided to come up with professions. Though I guess we should all be happy their priorities were in those two areas or we wouldn't be here.

So I still have yet to recieve any paperwork from the CF, which is frustrating, though I know for a fact I'm not the only one in that boat or as I prefer airplane. It is undoubtedly part of the hurry up and wait lifestyle that every known military and military organization seems to have built into it. Though in my mindless meandering on the interweb I did find this little gem of info about my near future http://www.rmc.ca/military/ji/index_e.html

It's a good little read about how my life is going to become extremely fun in my eyes (despite the amount of work and such) or extremely hellish in the eyes of people who think it's like hazing. Anyways I gotta get up early tomorrow. I'm biking to school from now on as much as possible hopefully to get in better shape, because I'm quite out of shape and I have very little time to change that so that I don't die of exhaustion on IAP.

So Lately

So my last blog post was a review of Casino Royale. Once again I'm going to do a little review of the recent movies I've watched. Probably, because it's the only stuff I have to talk about these days.

We'll start with Alpha Dog or as the world knows it Justin Timberlake's adventure in the acting industry. JT's acting wasn't to bad to be honest. Though it's not hard to act like a spoiled suburban kid who's life consists of smoking a few Js, drinking, partying, and whatever else suburban kids do in California. The remaining actors were B listers with the exception of Bruce Willis who had a whole five minutes in the movie. The main B lister being Emile Hirsch who played the main character who's name escapes me. Alpha Dog was a true story and if this group of kids had sex every few hours then I'd say the movie was accurately portrayed. I wanted to watch a movie about some spoiled suburban kids who kidnap a kid. I did not want to watch porn, if I would have wanted to watch that I'd have rented it. So anyways back to bashing the movie. So these spoiled kids kidnap a 15 year old boy who coincidentally has an older brother who owes Emile some mean green. Emile the gang leader who doesn't really do much leading gives the kid to JT to take care. JT smokes some joints with him, drinks a beer or two, hooks the kid on smoking, and offers to let him go eventually leading to a friendship. The kidnapped kid even develops a love life while in captivity with some pot smoking older girls. So the dope smoking, partying lifestyle is portrayed for about an hour and a half. Then Emile decides maybe killing the kid is the only solution, though I'm sure giving the kid back and taking their chances in court would have been better. So one of Emile's pals picks up JT, another pal, and the kidnapped kid. Drives out into the desert. One pal freaks out and stays in the car, JT goes with the kid thinking that the shooting thing won't actually happen, the pal who picked them all up pulls an UZI and shoots the kid dead. Then the entire gang becomes divided and runs from the cops. Eventually getting captured and finally ending two hours of crap film.

Lastnight I went and watched Lucky You. 2 hours of Texas Hold'em with some minor A list stars. Not a bad movie considering what little material the movie was made out of. The main star in the movie was Eric Bana. I spent most of the movie trying to figure out what other movies I'd seen him in. Those movies being the Hulk and Black Hawk Down. In this movie he plays Huck Cheaver a professional poker player. The poker playing and freebird lifestyle kept the movie interesting until his Daddy and commitment issues became the main part of the story. The movie consists of multiple poker games, a romance with Billie Offer(Drew Barrymore), many awkward situations with his old man(Robert Redford), and many attempts at finding tons of money to play poker. The movie ends when he lets his old man win in the World Championship of Poker, he finally makes his love life work, and his issues with Daddy are cleared up.

Casino Royale, Facebook, and Gliding

First off I'd like to talk about Casino Royale. The latest James Bond flick and the one that nearly took the cake for worst James Bond movie. Fortunately Halle Barry aided Pierce Brosnan in making Die Another Day the worst James Bond movie of all time. But let's discuss Casino Royale and Craig Daniel. He's blonde and it's quite evident. He's not the cunning, sauve, James Bond the world has come to love. He's so dumb he ran through a wall and all he does is blast crap apart. He's reckless in traditional Bond fashion, but he's reckless with out style. The Bond girls in this movie were top notch despite the fact I'd never seen or heard of them before. The plot of this movie was ridiculous and it does not fit into the timeline of the other movies in my opinion, though neither did Roger Moore. When Bond was promoted to 007, "M" was a man and "Q" was still alive. James Bond does fall in love on some occassions though it's mostly acting on his part to score with some girl no matter what side she's on. In this movie he nearly married the damn woman. Does he not remember what happened when he got married In Her Majesty's Secret Service?! (She died from multiple gun shot wounds and George Lazenby never again had the part of James Bond). The movie goes on forever and at multiple parts of the movie you think it's about to end, but it just keeps going and going most likely attempting to make up for the 3 hour crapfest leading up to the end. Oh and Felix Lighter is not black! I'm not racist I just hate when some monkey of a movie writer screws up something as simple as James' best friend! So here's to the return of a James Bond with an accent, some reckless style, no love in his life (only the pretend love that he uses to manipulate, despite the lack of morales it demonstrates), and some cool gadgets.


Now on to Facebook or as my good pal Steve calls it "Internet crack"! It's an amazing and addicting invention. Though I'm sure it will some day die just as Bebo and hi5 did. But we might as well enjoy this internet fad while all of our friends are! So rock on Facebook!


Gliding went smooth! Exceded the standard on my Annual Proficiency Check, and am 8/10 done my rear seat rating. Finishing it Saturday morning with any luck. One 400' rope break and a flight test, then I'll be good to go for Fam rides.

2007 Canadian Forces Tributes

Yikes!

So nothing really new. I was sick Thursday. First time I've been sick like that in years. Forgot how unpleasant that was. Luckily by Friday I'd recovered. Friday was sorta a meh day at school. Really can't remember what I did there. After school I went to Adrienne's, which was as always pretty awesome. Then Youth Group, then back to Adrienne's. I also got to drive the Impala again on Friday. I think I'm in love with that car and I wish I could have one. Saturday I got up semi bright and early to go to Brandon. Showed up to the airport and sat around for about an hour. I was just starting to get worried that something was wrong when the glider and towplane suddenly appeared. Once the second glider showed up we did all of our paperwork for the year. Then I went to Adrienne's. Today I sorta lazed around did some sewing, some home work, some napping, and such. Tomorrow is drama in Strath, Thursday is cadets, Friday is Youth Group, and the weekend should hopefully be gliding. Little nervous about my Annual Proficency Check. Not sure why though, because flying is almost like riding a bike. It never seems to die.

So in 71 days I'll cease being a high school student. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's the most exciting yet nerve racking thing I've had the experience of dealing with. Though I'm sure everything will work out fine just as it always seems to. Let's just hope my version of fine is the same as fate's version.

They're BACK!! Linkin Park that is!

I love this song and the video! I've missed Linkin Park so much and it's about time they got back at it. It even looks like they're better then ever to!

My 6 Hour Tractor Tour of Westman

So today I went to Deloraine with Dad to an auction sale. He was eyeing up some machinery that he needed after the split with my uncle. I was hoping he'd purchase the grain truck and not the tractor so that I would have slightly faster chariot to drive home. So he bought the tractor a Case 4690. Back in 1980 something some farmers would have called it the Cadillac of farming. So anyhoo I was chosen for the prestigous job of driving this marvel of 1980's agricultural technology home. I didn't think it would take as long as I was told. 6 hours later I arrived home.

Some things I learned or highlights from my trip:
-Very few people know how to properly pass. Signal lights people ;) !
-The gas station in Hartney also serves as a craft/hardware/convenience store.
- 4690 tractors apparently have a common problem with their heaters though they do have good FM radios!
-The Sioux Valley General Store has both an open and closed sign. They're closed.
-Microwavable pizza subs are disgusting.
-Random people will wave at people driving tractors.
-I can't figure out why they didn't put cup holders in tractors back then.

The Time Sure is Flying.....

Has anyone else noticed that time seems to be going extremely fast these days?! Now, I know that's actually impossible, because time is a constant but I'm not here to debate physics. Spring Break seems like it just started but tomorrow is the last day. March 1st seems like yesterday. Christmas seems like last week, and the start of Grade 12 seems like it was a month ago. Things just seem to have started to happen really fast since I got the news 2 weeks ago. I just wish time would go a little slower. Don't get me wrong I want to graduate and move off into the real world. I can't wait till my 4 years of university are done and I'm standing in the middle of some field in the middle of some country engineering an airport to support a mission of importance to the world. But at the same time I'd like the next few months before I leave to be as slow as possible. I want to enjoy my last spring as a miserable farm labourer, busy high school student, and aviation loving glider fam pilot. I want to enjoy the company of the people I surround myself with as much as possible before I leave. I just want time to be slow so I can enjoy everything I have in my life at the moment before I start sleeping in a single bed vs. my queen size, eating in a mess hall vs. the good home cooking of my mother, grandmother, and other places I frequent, and other such things. So anyways that really wasn't the rant I envisioned it would be but it gave me the chance to toss some of the thoughts in my head out to the world.

Well I think it's bed time. Oh one last thing. I'm giving myself at least half a check mark for item #41 on my list of things to do before I die.

So Far

So my last spring break as a high school student has been going pretty good so far. Started it off by not going to school on Friday and lengthening my break by an extra day. That night was Adrienne and Allison's birthday party. Pretty good time there. The next day went to the wave pool in Dauphin. On Sunday, Adrienne's parents gave me the keys to the car and I took Adrienne, Allison and some of their friends to Brandon. Watched "Shooter", which by the way is probably my new favourite movie. I wish I could be as clever as Mark Walhberg's character. Anyways......

Monday I flew to Esterhazy with Russ Hamilton. It was awesome, because I got to do a bunch of the flying and I haven't flown power since I got my license. Once I got back to Shoal Lake, I went and picked Adrienne up and we hung out for a bit. Tuesday, I did odd jobs around the house. Wednesday, I went on the cadet trip to CFB Shilo. Surprisingly it was a good trip. To bad no one in the Army knows the air cadet ranks. I must have been called the wrong rank 2 or 3 times. We toured the artillery museum, the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery armoury, and the PPCLI armoury. So we checked out some artillery pieces, LAVs, and some other interesting pieces of equipment.

Yesterday (Thursday), went to the Winter Fair with Adrienne and her family. Probably the best fair I've been to because of the company. Though the fact that someone fell off their horse as it was jumping and two horses broke free during the 6 horse hitch, made for some interesting viewing.

Power Posse Reunion at RMC?

So yesterday I got another phone call from the Recruiting Center. This time it was my verbal acceptance of their offer of employment. Naturally I said yes. Then the officer informed me of when my training starts and that I'd be getting a contract to sign soon. I start my IAP (Initial Assessment Phase) http://www.cflrs.forces.gc.ca/site/soyez_prets/pei_e.asp in St. Jean, PQ on July 2nd, which means I won't be missing my grad or any other grad for that matter. So I intend to have three days of partying to send me off on my way. That phase of my training ends August 31st, and then it's off to Kingston, Ontario for university. Man I can't wait to start.

Yesterday and today I got some news from some flying friends of mine. Two friends of mine from gliding got in as well. The two of them were part of the Power Posse. The Posse was a 6 person fraternity I was in during my summer at RGS in 05. Supposedly there's also a girl that took gliding with me that year going to, but I don't really know her because we were in different flights. One of my friends got in to be a pilot. The other is going to be a Logistics Officer, because his right eye flunked the eye exam, which is sorta funny because my left flunked.

Not quite child birth......

Well today I had a taste of what being a girl was like. No I didn't give birth to a child or experience anything biological. I took the plunge or more like the rip and had my leg hair removed by means of waxing and eventually shaving because apparently long legs + lots of hair = a quick shortage of waxing strips. The reason being for this little shindig was the school magazine campaign. The school came short of their goal by 5 or 10 subscriptions. Though I decided to be a good sport and show them that if they work someone will go through something embarrassing to reward them. Let's just hope none of my heirs are that nice and actually make the school reach the goal before engaging in some sort of drastic measure. Now for the next few weeks I'll have funny looking legs everytime I go swimming or wear shorts but man are they smooth lol! Anyways.....

5 Months!

So today it's been 5 months since Adrienne and I started going out. Craziness. I can't believe it. It's been and still is amazing. I'm extremely happy about it. I don't know if I could be any happier at this point in time. It looks like I've finally found out where I'm heading in life and I'm surrounded by amazing people. It's fantastic and only getting better because that's how spring works!

In other news I dug my mountain bike out of the shed. Had to take it apart to get it out but I got it out. I also found out why my car has been so loud. The exhaust system is pretty much hanging mere inches from catastrophe by a bolt or two. Maybe, I'll be able to get something cool like glasspacks but then I'd have to leave people's houses earlier so I don't wake the rest of the house up. Oh and Friday I'm gonna take the day off, because I can do that.

Oh and if some anonymous person comes to rain on my parade they can just screw off!

Phone Call

Well I haven't been able to tell everyone important yet but I figured I'd just put it on here and let the world know. Today as I was sitting at the dinner table working on calculus, the phone rang. The call display came up and said it was some weird number. I thought it was a survey but it wasn't. I should have known it was the recruiting center because I'd seen the number before but that's neither here nor there. After the officer asked for Brad (that's me) she began to tell me the news. I've been accepted for ROTP (Regular Officer Training Plan) at RMC (Royal Military College of Canada) in Kingston, Ontario. I was chosen for my first choice, which 6 months ago was my 3rd choice. That being an Airfield Engineer. I'm super excited. I doubt I'll be able to sleep until the official paperwork comes through in the next few weeks. If you wanna know what my job will be once I'm done university then check this out http://www.forces.ca/v3/engraph/jobs/jobs.aspx?id=46&bhcp=1 . The officer told me not to make any concrete plans but that in about the third week of June I'll be going into Winnipeg to the Recruiting Center to be sworn in as an Officer Cadet (the lowest of the low in the CF until being commissioned) and around the first weekend in July I'll be shipped off to St. Jean, PQ for IAP and BOTC (Initial Assessment Phase and Basic Officer Training Course). So I won't be back until Christmas 2007 if all goes according to plan. So no more farm work for this guy lol!

So now you all know and I finally know where I'm going to university. I'm kinda speechless so I've ran out of things to say. Anyways thanks for the continuing support and lets hope this all goes off with out any problems.

GLIDING SEASON!!

Yippee!! I got an email today about gliding season starting on the 14th of April if the snow is gone hooray!! And there's going to be 2 or possibly 3 work up weekends so I'll probably get my backseat rating!! I can't wait. I'm chomping at the bit! Oh and we're going to the Portage Airshow!!! Oh boy I'm freakin excited!!! It's better then Christmas and my birthday put together!!

Have you ever imagined?

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to live hundreds of years ago? Particularly in the Romantic Period. That's the literary period we looked at today in English. We had to pick a poem, read it, and discuss its meaning in class today. I thought I was being smart when I picked one of Robbie Burns' love poems because I thought it would be easy to understand but then I was educated on what its true purpose was. Supposedly he most likely didn't mean what he wrote and simply wrote it to look sensitive to pick up girls. Also men used to memorize poems to woo girls. Good thing I didn't live back then because Mrs. Harder told me I wasn't reading the poetry properly. But anyways Mrs. Harder was telling us about how fathers paid people to marry their daughters, only the oldest sons inherited anything and the rest joined the military, and there was only two social classes. I knew most of it but I decided to imagine what it would have been like back then anyways. Must have been some interesting times.

So lastnight I started reading my new book Catch-22. So far I think it's one of the best novels I've ever read before. It's about an American bombardier in WW2 who wants to live forever or die trying in the process. Him and his buddy Dunbar come up with things to get out of combat. For example they fake illnesses to go to the hospital and only leave the hospital when another patient annoys them or they get bored. Anyways some very interesting stuff. Makes me wish I could study English literature and history for the rest of my life. Maybe if I win the lottery or my future wife wins the lottery I'll spend it on studying English and history.

Ahh my head is pounding and I haven't done anything to deserve it. I'm assuming it's from all the smoke I was in this weekend at my 6th and final cadet winter excercise. Which was actually one of the better excercises I've participated in despite the low numbers and 0 seniors with myself being the exception. Since there was barely anyone who showed up there was a pile of spare food so Carlyle, Willem, and I ate a ton of pudding, roasted dinner rolls over a fire to make toast, and pretty much consumed a lot of food. Carlyle and I attempted to pull off an all nighter but gave up about five minutes into it and simply dumped every piece of firewood on the fire and watched it from the comfort of our sleeping bags until we past out. I forgot the sleeping bags were made for hobbits so I had to curl up and one of my shoulders stuck out but otherwise I was nice and cozy all night except for when the kid beside me would kick or roll. Though the excercise was sorta like that M*A*S*H episode where all the nurses leave and it's just the doctors. Except Willem, Carlyle, and I aren't doctors and none of us have relationships with nurses. So maybe it wasn't like that episode but still that's a classic and it was brought up while we sat around the fire.

We'll go back a few days now to Friday. This past Friday was probably an above average Friday. Adri came over to hang out, then Youth Group which was still fun even though we got locked out of the gym, and then more hanging out after Youth Group. The only bad part of the day was when two people I won't name stole the chips and made me chase them for the chips. This week should be nice and slow. Only curling and cadets. So I've got tons of free time to finally get to work on calculus. 106 days until graduation!

Why is it?

So last night when I ended up at Koroscil's listening to my parents and the parents of my classmates socialize an important question came up. As we all know Anna-Nicole Smith past away a few weeks back. We also know that almost everyday a Canadian, American, or other NATO/UN soldier dies in some country peacekeeping or bringing freedom to the oppressed. There is also starving children, people caught up in epidemics, and other such events which cause loss of life.

In this situation who does the world pay attention to though? Anna-Nicole Smith or in this case the individual. An individual I might add who in the giant scheme of things contributed virtually nothing to society in comparison to some of the other people that we know lose their lives on a daily basis. So why is it that the society we live in only pays attention to blondes with big knockers and millions of dollars? Anna-Nicole Smith didn't do anything great for society such as keep the peace or cure a disease. She didn't even work the millions of dollars she possessed.

So why is that we've paid more attention to her lately? She's not the only blonde we pay attention to. Or for that matter the only famous person we pay attention to. I think it's screwed up how we only pay attention to useless celebrities when we really should be paying attention to and appreciating the soldiers, doctors, lawyers, and other people who actually work to make this world better.

I think it's because the majority of people need to be entertained. They don't care about what matters as long as they are nice and comfortable with their boob tube pumping out the entertainment. In conclusion I feel that we should all feel ashamed of ourselves as a society for ignoring what truly matters. I'll now end my senseless rant, which will most likely be ignored because it's not entertaining and it bashes the celebrities we as people some times equate to as gods.

The Latest Happenings

Thursday - Snow day! I cleaned my room up a bit, skidooed to Adri's for supper, watched some TV, and called it a day.

Friday - Snow day! Provincials started finally after being pushed back an entire day plus a few hours. We had an embarrassing game against a team from Winnipeg who appeared to have made curling a better portion of their lives. With the exception of the third who liked his thumb alot. Amazing team until the etiquette was required. Then there was the banquet, which was amazing because those ladies know how to put on a good meal. Mike Leach supplied the entertainment by hypnotizing some folks. RIP Tiffany's rope skipping giraffe. Then I drove Adrienne and Katy home. Disappointed everyone by finally joining the ranks of the many who've gotten stuck in Lennox's yard lol. Had some birthday cake with Ethan and made it home in good time.

Saturday - Curled bright and early against Rossburn in Strathclair. Lost a close one and that draw I screwed over in the 7th end is still playing in my head along with the draw in the 8th. Man did I feel bad about those and still do. Thanks to everyone who came out and watched that game and the Friday game. So with that loss we were effectively out of Provincials so I headed back to Shoal Lake to be the Assistant Assistant Icemaker. After that I went to Huckerby-Smiths and hung out with Adri and the gang. Then on my way home I figured I should probably see what my parents were doing in town. So I ended up at Koroscil's listening to certain adults impart wisdom on many things.

Sunday - Today I woke up around 11:30. Showered and ate. Headed into town to help with the curling and when it appeared there was nothing left to do I came home to do homework. Still haven't done the homework but I did take a nap. That's it!

Promotion

In a surprising and shocking move I was promoted to Warrant Officer First Class tonight at the cadet banquet. What does that mean? I've pretty much ran out of things to accomplish in cadets. I'm the highest I'll get and I'm the first person since I've been a cadet to be able to hold the rank for longer then a few minutes. Most people only get the promotion on their last parade night but not this guy.

Curling provincials are maybe tomorrow depending on this blizzard. If they aren't tomorrow then they're getting moved back a day. I won't know though until tomorrow at 9.

Time is a ticking

So 1 more day until curling provincials. Yikes! Not so sure how they're gonna go. 118 till Graduation double yikes! I really gotta get that calculus done. Oh well only 23 days until Spring Break! So anyhoo I've got curling tonight. Was sorta hoping I didn't because I wouldn't have minded getting some stuff tidied up before provincials. Oh well. Lastnight the basketball team won against Rossburn so it sounds like we're headed for provincials. Anyways that's about it. I just decided to make a post on my new and updated blog. Check out the side --------->

Curling Draw!

The Provincial Curling Draw is up. Team Ashcroft plays bright and early Thursday morning at 11 AM against Silver Heights on home ice! So that might mean trouble for my Strathclair fan base but we all know you care so much you'll skip class and be in Shoal Lake to watch my team and I face off with Silver Heights who ever they maybe. Shoal Lake fans will also be expected to show up to ;) lol!

To see the Boys and Girls draw just click on this: http://www.pwsd.ca/~smaynes/00042E92-011F04A1.0/DRAWS1.xls and if that doesn't work then click on this and go to draw: http://www.pwsd.ca/~smaynes/

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

I stole that off the whiteboard from school. Probably one of the better quotes I've seen in a while.

FYI - Forgot to mention in my last post but if the student body of Shoal Lake School sells 250 magazine subscriptions I will have both legs waxed in front of the school due to my position of Student Council President. Lets hope they don't make it to 300 or I'll be dieing my hair blue while recovering from the waxing wounds. Oh and the people who volunteered to do the waxing want to see me in pain so this could be interesting. I'll probably need a soother or something to bite down on, while I go through the most pain I'll ever go through in my life.

What a day.

What a day today. Started off pretty decent, because I pressed the snooze button. But the moment I went to move my car the crappolla hit the fanolla. It was stuck. After a long struggle my mother, sister, and I got my car free. But then the breaks froze on. Then Mom's car had a flat tire. So we had to come home at lunch to get my car so I could do what I needed to do after school and it was still frozen but through some odd miracle it suddenly broke free. Though I'm starting to wonder if I've damaged my tires in some way, because my car shakes like a bucket of bolts and steers like a tank though my Dad did point out that the steering could just be frozen.

So I was late for school both in the morning and afternoon. Not a big deal. Fell asleep in physics while some people debated how to do some question on a test. I got the question right so I decided to not resist the urges of my body and to pass out on my books. Then in French class I some people argued about who I was partnered with for some project. Naturally I would have felt special about this but I was paying more attention to the Manitoba-Canada game. Then Jennifer Jones lost and suddenly the day went downhill. I showed up to cadets to find out we were being surprise inspected by the man in charge of all the Air Cadet Squadrons in the province. Fortunately for me he was excited to finally meet the guy who's name had crossed his desk a few million times, and things went fairly smooth. Anyways I guess I should head to bed so I'm all rested for basketball or snowday. What ever happens, happens I guess.

The Past

Has anyone ever read the blogs you've wrote or blogs others have wrote along time ago. Just recently, while procrastinating over something I started reading people's old blogs from like back in September and October. Y'all should try it sometime. Especially reading the comments. Really interesting stuff you can notice reading it. Plus I think we were all more exciting back then. Anyways I'm gonna header to bed and finish that stupid book for English. Plus I could use some sleep for tomorrow's double header in Strath!

Not sure why I'm writing this but I figured it was time for me to write something.

Ummm. Last week was hectic and had a crap load of lows and a couple of highs. Festival du Voyageur and the trip that accompanied it were fun. I bought a racoon skin hat, which didn't really please the people who supply me with my money. This week is going to be just as hectic or possibly more hectic, though I think there will be more highs this week then lows. Curling tonight was the craps. Basketball practice was frustrating, because once I found my energy I probably performed better then I ever have in a game. Tomorrow is my one night off this week. Wednesday is basketball against Ste. Rose du Lac in Strath. Friday and Saturday is more basketball in Roblin. School is good and not really that hard anymore. In other aspects of my life I think things are working themselves out and that in the end my patience will pay off. Next week is going to be really busy, but then March will come and things will hopefully slow down, though I think I made that comment about February back in January.

When Life Gives You Lemons Make Juice

So today was the band trip to Winnipeg but that's minor compared to what else happened on the trip to Winnipeg. As most of you know I'm applying to enter the Canadian Forces as a pilot. You've probably all heard me blabber on about how I want to fly transport planes so that I can help starving people or people who need an airlift out of somewhere. Well today that dream came crashing down when I visited the recruiter. My left eye was a few tenths off of the requirements to be a pilot even though I have 20/20 vision or better as I was informed. Miss Isaac told me she thought I was gonna cry when I got back from the recruiter and I'll be completely honest the thought did cross my mind but I've decided to make juice out of lemons I've been given. I was allowed to reapply for another position. So right now my options are Air Field Engineer, Combat Engineer, and Aerospace Engineer. I'm hoping for my first choice of Air Field Engineer so I can build airbases, and airports so that the flyboys are dependant on me and so that I'm still wearing the snazzy blue uniform.

On the band trip front things were good. Hung out with Curtis on the way in and we tried watching movies on his DVD player but the battery died about 5 minutes in. Then we played at the Convention Center after I got back from the recruiter and I guess we didn't play so hot but I felt like I played the best I've ever played in my life. Then we went to Polo Park. Chelsey, Stacy, Curtis, and I went to Moxy's which was pretty amusing, because none of us are experienced fancy restaraunt types. That was a funny time but I won't get into the details, because they're embarrassing for some people. Then on the way home I nearly fell asleep but some people are just to loud to allow others to sleep. Oh and Britney tried requesting "18 till I Die" by Bryan Adams for me but the radio station wouldn't allow it because they'd already requested it "Cut's Like a Knife". Silly radio station not playing Canadian music.