Rock, Booze and Apathy‏

Leon,

Lunch today consisted of a walk away from our camp to the chow hall just down the street.

I wasn't too pleased with the selection so I ended up with two improvised patty melts, consisting of a hamburger patty sandwiched between grilled ham and cheese. They also lacked tea and V8, so I decided for a water and cranberry juice instead.

The snow has managed to pile up these past few days, with less traveled areas easily being ankle deep — the snowball wars are soon to follow, I'm sure.

My task this morning was to finish a request I was given a few days ago, which called for the beautification of a Medal of Honor Citation to be framed at a later date.

This was a fairly simple task, as my stylus worked its magic, eventually concocting seven different versions of final product in the span of a few hours. These were presented to the client to choose whichever he pleased. With this tasking finished, I decided to write up this entry.

I've recently taken up interest in a band called Coheed and Cambria, a progressive rock band whose four albums make up an epic science fiction narrative written by frontman Claudio Sanchez.

Each album represents a chapter of the story, which has also been presented in the graphic novel medium. In fact, I'm listening to their third studio album: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness, as I type this.

Though the band is mostly considered progressive rock, there are those that have tossed them into the "emo" category — a much overused term that I myself am not too fond of. Though I will admit that Coheed maintains some elements of that same genre, which happens to be the brunt of a number of jokes within the online community.

I've spent little time preparing for this promotion board, only taking the time to memorize the first paragraph of the NCO Creed — I have until Thursday to commit the creed, in its entirety, to memory.

My lack of enthusiasm and indifference is rather obvious to those around me. My jaded apathy has become a joke within the office, much to my amusement. However, it would seem that promotion to Sergeant within the time frame of my service is "inevitable" as my NCOIC has put it.

I couldn't be less indifferent.

***

Drowning in Flame

Drink it down
The Burning Water suffocates the mind
And murders the senses

Poisoned vegetable
Demonic fruit
Aethir's Ambrosia

Our desire is this liquid fire
Which frees us from the cages of Reality

So

Drink it down
Drown yourselves in the Flame
And free the world from ourselves

***
Peace,

Feelgoode

All Quiet on the Afghan Front

Leon,

Good morning. The days since my last entry have been decent, to an extent, although the promotion board has reared its hideous maw once again.

I have little more than a month to prepare, which means I have roughly 30 days to memorize countless pages of crap along with the beloved Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer.

Now, I'm sure that I stressed my feelings plenty on the subject last time, and I would like to stress the fact that those feelings have not changed. I just don't see the worth in a leader with no desire to lead.

My free time these days has seen very little in the way of video gaming and is more often spent watching anime, reading, or just listening to music.

I recently purchased Bruce Lee's Art of Expressing the Human Body, of which I've spent a couple of hours reading over, as I intend to make spiritual and physical improvement part of my life in the near future.

In fact, I've already started; I can feel the burn of yesterday's session as I type — or reach for the phone that just rang. My work hours have been filled with silly chores, including the logo that consisted of Scrat with a massive set of genitalia (those were eventually removed, poor guy).

Another odd job that has managed to manifest itself is the prospect of a giant poster in the gym that consists of numerous exercises, a few of which I've never heard of. This is a rather arduous task, considering the fact that I had to scan multiple pages from a massive weight training book, which I will later crop and beautify for presentation.

Wikipedia has also seen quite a bit of me as of late, as I've spent countless hours amassing a plethora of useless but interesting information — hurray for the Visions of Zosimos!

In other news, my artwork and poetry have seen much less productivity as of late. However, I've been looking to artist and rock instrumental composer Daisuke Ishiwatari for inspiration. The hamsters are hauling ass, as Metallica blares on but I just can't put it on paper.

Well, that's pretty much it for this entry.

On a completely unrelated note, I find it funny that my desk is sporting Ziggy Marley's Love is my Religion along with a pair of solid black John Lennon glasses.

Peace,

Feelgoode