Banished to the Desert

I do believe that watch of mine has slowed way down

Which tied my time in knots weaved all together and around

Well it’s the same day here it was about a week ago

And if I didn’t ask around I probably wouldn’t know

The heat echoes through the camp like an old war drum

Medicating souls and mocking what is already numb

We’re trapped up in a little universe and wrapped up in a wall

Like a discontented squad of angels banished in the fall

We got two dogs but they don’t bark or play or run

There’re just victims of the time while our job is still undone

I guess I’ll just lay around like a tired old dog…..

Lick the wounds that I don’t have and take another nap

I Watched "The Notebook".… Now I’m Gonna Steal Your Girl?

I like to think of myself as an emotionally hardened individual in a certain sense. Not that I am without emotion, but rather as someone who is not guided by them. I do not want to be the type of person who sways to and fro constantly tossed about by the hidden things of my mind, and luckily I am definitely not that type of person.

There are however a few things that turn me into a whimpering pansy, and I am not afraid to admit it. I do believe I have made enough mistakes to stop crying about those. I will probably make many more, but I do have the assurance through past experience that life goes on, and things always have a way of working themselves out.

Soldiers dying in the line of duty is another thing I find hard to bear both in movies and real life. To me it seems their lives have been stolen by the senseless endeavors of humanity. Regardless of which country, religion, idea, or ruler is to blame one thing is for sure; the human race has not learned and probably never will learn the disgusting nature of what it is they harbor in their hearts. What is it that drives us and conquers our souls so that we slaughter each other without relent? It is this hidden thing within us that makes war a necessity. When one war ends, another begins on a different battlefield. War lives in everyone’s mind whether it’s a personal memory, a history book, or a movie. We all have put ourselves there one way or another and we will never stop going there until every last person on Earth has had a love or a friendship severed untimely by the monster of war.

Every once in great while (we’re talking vast expanses of time and space), a movie creeps up, grabs me in the back of the throat, and squeezes a couple of itty bitty tears drops out of my burly ego. I’ll have to say that other than the fact that the Notebook was a great movie, the only other good thing about me watching it was that I was alone. There were a couple of times I honestly felt like a softy schoolgirl that saw a dead bunny for the first time.

The truth that I found in this movie is that love is everlasting. Many times we think that we can walk away from love, but it haunts you. It tries to relive itself, and it is not put to sleep easily. The worst type of lost love is through death, and it cannot be healed totally. It forces people to deal with reality, and everyone will face it. The other type of lost love is romantic, and there is a solution if you are willing to find it. I am convinced the only way to make a sour love fade is to find something better. Some people may know this to be true, others may think it’s just crap in a girly movie, and some of you reading this may think I’m just a girly man. But I know because I loved and walked away. It’s not easy to come by again, and it doesn’t seem to work in different settings with different people, but like I said, there is always something better. So for all you guys (you know who you are), that walked out on marriage material, or vice versa stop whining and find something better. Oh and by the way, you better hope your girl ain’t the one for me cause I’m gonna nab her and introduce her to mamma.

Schroeder, you got that one girl’s email address, and phone number?… she’s looks like a real nice girl….Kathleen is it? The one in the middle.... I just love the big smile, and the life in her eyes.... plus I have a better last name and she would prolly like my family better because they all have the Hogan coolness.... It's a certain strand of DNA not many people have.... anyways she's hot and your not dog..... hehehehe ohhhh ahahahaha woooooooooooo

Treat it Like a Rorschach Test

These pictures were taken by a soldier in Ramadi last month. One of my coworkers then gave the pictures to me.
Something interesting to note is what comes to your mind as soon as you see the picture of the snake biting the fence. For me two things came to mind.
Very dramatic flashbacks of a couple of ex-girfriends danced about in my head momentarily when it struck me. This photo makes me resent my parents. Although I had a very good upbringing, neither my mother, nor my father ever instructed me not to eat electric fences. I honestly feel short changed. It hasn't happened yet, but what if hunger drove me to consume metal wire pulsing with high amounts of voltage and current.
Furthermore, in my opinion, the manufacturers of the fence should have made a warning label that could also have been understood by snakes. THE SNAKE IS A VICTIM!! Somebody contact the ACLU please... I don't have their phone number.

Don't Hurt the Ladies

I got all kinds of love for you if you read my blog, and I really appreciate when you respond. There are some very upstanding ladies who I happen to be related to, and friends with that read my blog as well. They are all very sweet and I would hate for them to stumble across perverted nonsense that someone posts as a reply to something I wrote. Please think about my little sisters, my mom, my step mom, my grammy, my aunts, and all of my friends who are women. I got love for them too, and I don't want them to read gross stuff. We must take care of the ladies, otherwise they might all disappear. I cannot begin to describe how much motivation I would loose if all the ladies disappeared. It reminds me of this episode of South Park that went terribly wrong. Lets do ourselves all a favor and keep the females happy. Plus, I don't want to have to delete any more posts.
Your Friend,
Ryan

First day back from Basra, and the bassmaster master strikes again... It just wouldn't be cool to call myself the carp master 

Back in Action.... 

Western Ideals Don't Belong to Just Westerners Anymore

Massive Afghan Weapons Cache Discovered
Click on the link above to read the FoxNews article about disrupting elections in Afghanistan

Muslim extremists are no longer targeting only imposing Westerners for their governments and morals. They are now also targeting sovereign nations struggling to become democracies who have embraced new morals.

There are those who have been a long time claiming that America and other Western Nations forcibly impose their way of life where it is unwanted. They will then use this claim as the reason why terrorists commit atrocities.

Iraq and Afghanistan obviously have some seriously disgruntled people within their borders; however, both countries have decided to govern their people by democratic rule. Maybe now we should all follow the argument of the illogical "free thinkers, and the professors who taught them to think freely", and blame the insurgency on the new democratic governments of the Middle East. After all, they are giving new rights to women, they quit torturing people, set up justice systems to uphold the law, they are rebuilding public infrastructure, and generally starting to govern for the purpose of the people. It really sounds as if these terrorists have a noble cause, right?

"The only problem is, ever since I got on the hate big bad America bandwagon I'm having a little trouble figuring out the logic behind who is to blame, and I really can't remember what it is that we are supposed have endowed to us by some Creator... or something like that. Actually, I kind of feel like I have forgotten an awful lot of important things. As a matter of fact, I have absolutely no idea how it came to be that I was born in a free nation, and to top it all off I think I'll start blaming my own heritage for the rest of the world's problems, that way everyone will know how smart I've become. I'm glad my bad ideas make sense to me, otherwise I might have to actually think about what it means to be an American. If I thought about that too long, a tear might come to my eye, but I'm way too tough for that too." -- Joe "free thinker"

I'm off the map agian.... be back soon! 

Apple released a multi-button mouse. Wow! It's about time. I feel terrible for all those Mac addicts that suffered for all these years with a one button mouse.