Category: Steven’s Lalala

So I do a variety of jobs in video and audio support, sometimes at different hours.  Last night was the Town Hall meeting for Schofield Barracks.  It started at 5 and was supposed to go until 7:30.  Yeah right.

So it didn’t actually get started until 6, and from 6 to 7 they had presentations from different organizations on base telling upcoming activities and what organizations were doing to improve the community.  At 7 the whining began.  From 7 until 9 (when they had to cut people off) soldiers wives and even some soldiers came in and cried about how terrible life is.  Here is a list of some of the more absurd ones.

• OMG!!!!  I am an E6 with 5 children living in the large housing area and this E4 with 4 kids moved in next door!  I can’t believe they let E4’s have that many children!  They should sterilize them or something at 2 so that they can’t move into big houses next to me!  What happens if their kids talk to mine!?!  I feel like such a babysitter now!
• My neighbor keeps parking in my spot!
• My neighbor’s music is up too loud!
• My neighbor’s kid is riding his skateboard without a helmet!  (The MP rep actually recognized the lady who made this complaint as someone who recently got a ticket for using a cell phone while driving.  She got huffy when he stated so in front of the whole crowd but she shut up)
• The noise from the intersection keeps us up all night!  (Their solution went about like this “We are planning on planting a treeline as a sound barrier in Fiscal Year 09 to take care of that problem.  It should only take 3-5 years for the trees to get big enough to stop the sound.”  The complainer loved that answer)
• “My wife and I don’t shop at the PX anymore because the workers don’t enforce the dress code.  When you walk in all you see is teenagers with tank tops and baggy pant and their underwear hanging out.  If you want us as customers you need to start enforcing the dress code.”
• “What can I do to make the MPs enforce the rules.  When I call them to my neighborhood all they do is talk to the neighbors/kids/teenagers/hoodlums and then they go away.  Nothing gets better”  I wanted to strangle this lady; she had no tact and spoke as if she was better that everyone. 
• The commissary doesn’t carry enough whole/healthy/organic foods.  (The Commissary rep actually told this lady that she should fill out one of the feedback forms and that wasn’t something worthy of town hall time.  I wanted to kiss the guy!)
• “Who reads the Post General’s ‘open door policy’ email?  I sure never get an answer and don’t feel anything gets done!”  I didn’t even know there was a Post General email we could get ahold of him at!  =)

We mentioned a few days ago that Seporah had a stash somewhere and we found it yesterday! It was behind the entertainment center. She had a white grocery bag with a York’s peppermint candy, lots of gum, lots of toddler snacks, Apple Juice and a big bag of chocolate. And we’ve been wondering why she hasn’t been eating for the past couple of weeks.

Oh yeah, and we found the last 7 boxes of mac and cheese, so we weren’t quite out.

Well, I have been far sicker than I am now, or have been this go around, but I have never been sick this long. Märia and I got sick last Thursday, the 22 of May. We really haven’t had any respite since then. Yesterday I still had a 103.7 fever and today I am still up over 100. And that isn’t even the worst, but the worst isn’t fit for public consumption. Ewwww =)

So I have a new job. I work as an Audio/Video Tech in a television studio! The station is TV2. I always thought of AFN as the only army/military station, but apparently Hawaii has their very own station that is piped into all the Hawaiian military installations, barracks, hospitals, and can be specially requested from the local cable company by soldiers living off base.

My new job so far has been to set up cameras and sound systems. Lots of mixers, mics, speakers and amps. We have done lots of ceremonies and celebrations and so forth. I am also learning video editing and video transferring. There is lots to learn and I actually work all day long. This is really a first for me in my military experience. I never have had a job where I have work to do that takes all day. I have to decide at the end of the day what to finish quick and what to leave for tomorrow!

I will talk more about it later, but it is lots of fun. Tired now and going to sleep.

Well, we all know Jason is getting married at the end of the week. Exciting time for him and all… We will be leaving for Holtville, Ca tomorrow and I will try to keep you all updated as to how it all goes. I am sure Märia will want to tell you all how wonderful Target and the Olive Garden is. =)

… much less how they got in here!

So I had been holding Felicity for 10 or 15 minutes to keep her happy and I realized I hadn’t heard Seporah at all. This is never a good sign. So I went to the bathroom to see if she had locked herself in there, and nope, not in there. I peaked my head in her room and there she was on the bed, playing with Mom’s craft scissors. You know, the ones that make designs like VVVVVVV and so forth. Anyways, she was being quiet and happy so I snuck back out and went to tell Märia just to make sure she was ok with it. I told her she was playing with her safety scissors (I didn’t know what they were called) but she seemed happy and I didn’t think she would hurt herself or anything. So she just walks right into Seporah’s room, and as soon as Seporah sees her she throws the scissors and the container that held them off the bed and looked up at us with her hands up, as if to say “I don’t know how those got in here, I sure wasn’t playing with them!”. Maybe you had to be there, but it was really hilarious. =)

She promptly helped us clean up the scissors that she had no idea how they got there, and everyone laughed and was happy.

In theatres now. I saw probably the first hour or so before Seporah pulled me out of the theatre. It is getting horrible horrible reviews but ignore them. Just the every day media attacks on God and anything God-like or God-sent. =)

What I saw I enjoyed, but wish I could have finished it.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

… that says “Slow Down, School Zone” can apparently get you arrested in this “free nation”.

I didn’t know there was a speed trap around the corner Officer, honestly I didn’t! =)

He let me off with a stern warning.

So we never got either Felicity’s birth certificate, or her Social Security Insurance card. So we had to order one online and it took 7 weeks to get in the mail. Well, we took our birth certificate down to the Social Security office, to get her card, and guess what, a birth certificate wasn’t enough. So I waited over an hour in line to be told that rather than a notarized birth certificate, I need a signed note from Felicity’s doctor. Somehow a hand written note from Felicity’s doctor hold’s more weight than a notarized birth certificate in the eyes of the Feds.

And these are they guys who want to take over our healthcare.

Märia has been working too hard and eating and drinking too little while she is at work. She works 12 hour shifts plus a commute and doesn’t get enough sleep in between shifts because she gets to feed Felicity and so forth. Anyways, she has been getting dizzy and light headed and feeling like she is gonna pass out at work.

Well, she called me the other day from work, and told me she got really light headed again, no surprise, and so she went to see a doc (being at work and all). So she took a pregnancy test and she was pregnant! Crazy crazy. So she called me and left a message saying such for me to hear.

So I had no idea how to respond to this. I mean, Seporah and Felicity were both very planned, but this would have been an unplanned baby, and Märia has been talking like we ought to wait til these two are in school before we have another. But I didn’t want to sound unhappy about it, as there isn’t anything to do once you get pregnant but to have the baby. So I couldn’t sound too happy when I called back, or too sad. I was in a pickle.

So I called back, and it was something of an awkward call, with me doing my best. But it was an April fools joke. Märia is mean. =)

So Seporah is really really good about folding her arms and bowing her head and closing her eyes for prayer now. I guess she should be at 2 years old. We were at a ward function last night and it was prayer time to pray before we left and she folded her arms good and bowed her head and squinted her eyes so she could look like she had her eyes closed but could look around. So she looked around and we prayed. And she looked around and we prayed. And she looked around and she prayed and wiggled a little (I was holding her). Our home prayers with her tend to be short, one minute or less. So about a minute into the prayer she says she is done and throws her arms open and arches her neck to get her head up and opens her eyes wide and screams AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! to say that the prayer is all over. I quickly explain to her that it was still prayer time, and she reluctantly folds her arms again and bows her head, but lets just say that the man who was praying got the hint and ended the prayer quickly. When it was all over, Seporah didn’t say Amen, and so I cued her by looking at her and saying Amen. She frowned and shook her head really quickly. She had already said Amen and I wasn’t getting another one out of her.