"Blood to Blood"

Not your parents' vampire movie, or your childs' vampire movie, for that matter.

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Reviewers are raving about Blood to Blood. Take a look at what they have to say.

Nick Laws put it succintly, "This is easily the best teenage vampire interracial lesbian romance I've seen this year."

Tim Johnson called it "Impressive."

Johnny McQuaig exclaimed, "dude... that was cool."

Shoes on Ground - It's About Time, Part II

I haven't posted here since May, so I guess it's about time.

I'm back. That's the long and the short of it. Getting back home, however, was not the simple process it should have been. Talk about jumping through hoops. I felt like a circus lion.

Normally each leg of the trip would have been planned out by a professional and they'd just tell me when to get on the plane. This time it didn't work out exactly that way. I wound up having to make a lot of my own arrangements. There are two ways to fly over in theater: Space Blocked and Space-A (space available.) Space Blocked means you have a spot set aside on the flight and Space-A means you can ride if someone doesn't show up. Most of my trip I got to travel Space-A. Yay!

When I was finally set to fly back to the US, I had my seat Space Blocked for the October 18th. I would have arrived back in the US on the 18th and caught a plane from Baltimore to Norfolk (via Philly.) Unfortunately, my flight got pushed back almost 20 hours. That means a couple of tings. One, I decided to stay in the terminal instead of going through the hassle of traveling back to tent city. Not the most comfortable thing. Second, and most important, I missed my connection in Baltimore. Once I actually arrived in Baltimore, I was told that there were no flights to Norfolk on that particular airline until the next day. Right behind me was a departures list showing a flight on a different airline going direct to Norfolk in just an hour.

Long story short, I spoke to the wife, who told me to go ahead and put it on the card. We'd soak up the cost if the military decides not to pay for it.

I made it back into town, needing a shave and a shower, and still in my uniform. Susan picked me up and we headed up to a high school football game, just in time to see Katherine's marching band perform for half time. To top it off, our school won the game.

Anyway, I'm still getting settled back in.

It's About Time

I can't tell you how difficult it has been to get over here, get logged on, and post an update to my blog. The Big Brothers who control our computer access at work seem to have a vendetta against me keeping in touch with the outside world. First they turn off my access to my blog, then they make it difficult (but not impossible) to get to Amazon, and one of the systems seems to be restricting access to Hotmail. It would make me want to pull my hair out... if I had any left.

Oh well, here I am now. Finally getting to blog about things. All that build up just for me to say that things are status quo over here. I work every day, though I get a couple of afternoons off. Mondays is still Bingo night (haven't won in a while, though). I've been playing some Spades on Tuesdays. Wednesdays is Karaoke, if I can get to the rec center. If I can't, I can sing a few songs on Thursdays during Jam at the Clam. That's the Club 56 night where they raffle off prizes. Every other night I've been watching some DVDs on my computer. Not very exciting from my standpoint, but the time is passing faster than I thought it might.

I just wanted to send out a few belated notices. Happy birthday to my mother (13 April) and to my sister (13 May). Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, my wife, and all the other mothers I know. Apparently I also missed out wishing my wife a happy Military Spouse's Day, which I think was 11 May. Here's also a thanks to my kids. Thanks for the letters in my most recent packages. Be good.

Hope everyone is doig well and keeping safe.


Eric

Ohnothimagain!

Last time I said I was slacking off with my blogging. Before then, I had just been lazy with my posting. However, a day or so after my last blog, they blocked my blog site. I can't bring it up anymore from my work computer. So, in order to post to my blog (or even to read the responses) I have to haul my backside to this little crowded computer room, which is the only place where I can access my blog.

I'd better make the best of it, since I may only have half an hour...

Believe it or not, it's beginning to warm up over here. I guess that's all relative, since it was warm to begin with. It's just beginning to get warmer. They tell me that the weather here is equivalent to North Carolina weather. I'm not sure what the high temps will be, but I don't think they will be too bad.

I told you that my activities are limited to bingo, karaoke, and watching movies and TV shows on my computer. So far, I've watched a 1970s Robert Altman film called "Nashville," the first four "American Pie" movies, several episodes of "Frazier," "Cheers," and "St. Elsewhere." I've also been working my way through some Clint Eastwood Movies. Since copyright laws don't really exist here, they have a lot of knock off movies for sale... cheap. I was able to get 35 Clint Eastwood movies for the low price of $25. I figure less than a doller per movie isn't a bad price. The quality of the films doesn't look great on my computer (and definitely not as good as a commercially available DVD), but they're watchable.

I've also won twice at bingo. It only takes about 45 minutes to go through the five games they play. The final two games are always worth some money, so it's pays to play. Plus, it's something to do.

One of the other things I was doing before I came over here was listening to podiobooks. Those are books presented as a podcast, which is like a radio show on the internet. Many people may not remember listening to radio shows like "The Lone Ranger," "X Minus One," and "The Great Gildersleeve." Currently, my favorite podcast author is Scott Sigler. He has just finished his latest podcast, The Rookie. I have a few more episodes to catch up to the end.

This coming Sunday we're taking a little time off from work to run a 5k race. I haven't been doing anything to really prepare. So, I'm not expecting to do very well. At this point I'll consider completing the race as a success.

I've also found a few books that I read from time to time. There really is no shortage of books over here. Every little recreation center or office that you walk into seems to have a bookshelf full. I've heard about a website called "books for soldiers." I haven't been able to check it out, yet, but it might be worth looking into. I think they have it set up where people donate books that are sent to soldiers over here.

Well, I guess that'll wrap it up for now. (I'm missing karaoke tonight to come over here and post my blog.)

Hope everyone stays safe back home.


Eric

So I'm Slacking Off a Little

I realize it's been over two weeks since I last posted here. Sorry. I just don't have as much access to the Internet as I thought I might. At least to a system that let's me post to a blog. But, things are going well. I feel pretty comfortable with my job.

Except for the thunderstorms, things stay pretty quiet here. I've been occupying my time with bingo, karaoke, and watching tv shows and movies on my computer.

It really seems odd, the coincidences that happen sometimes. I don't know if I mentioned that after I arrived here I discovered one of squadron members from back home is also here. That surprised me a little, since I've known her about seven years now. But to top that off, I was sitting in the chow hall one day and saw a guy walking to his table and I immediately recognized him. He lived across from me in Virginia for 1 1/2 to 2 years. His daughters were really good friends with my kids and we went to Busch Gardens together quite a few times. Odd.

I had intended to put a few pictures in here, but I can't seem to access them at the moment. So, I'll finish for now.


Later,
Eric

Settling In

I finally flew in to my final destination on 29 March. I hit (what I consider) the trifecta that night as I flew in on a C-130. I had the chance to fly on a C-5 back in 1997 and a C-17 when I first flew in country on 25 March.

Anyway, now I sit here in my quiet little office, learning the job that will occupy my time for the next 6 months. Hopefully, it remains quiet.

I'll let you know how it goes.


Eric

Boots on Ground

I haven't been able to post for awhile, since I flew out of the states. And I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again. We'll see.

We flew into Qatar for a few days (actually longer than I thought we would.) We stayed in a tent (don't get the wrong idea, it was a huge sturdy tent that holds about 50 people.) I kind of equated the area with Club Med (I used the swimming pool, the media center, won money at the rec center, at nice at the dining facility.)

We finally flew out again yesterday (25 Mar). Now I'm on the ground in country. I still haven't made it to my final destination, yet. But it should only be a few days now.

I'll touch base again when I can,
Eric