(no subject)
The last time I updated this was the summer of 2011. A lot has changed since then.
Cara II broke up with me and moved back to Baltimore. I got to keep Atticus in the break-up, despite the fact that he was "her" dog. I got fired by my crazy Mormon boss finally, but I was getting mobilized in a month and a half, so I didn't care. I got some temp jobs, which mostly involved shuffling boxes around a gargantuan warehouse for a certain Pacific Northwest sportswear company, while my co-workers openly did meth in the aisles.
I finally got to attend re-training for the Oregon National Guard. I spent about six months between Biloxi, Mississippi and Astoria, Oregon. It's not really what I wanted, but the money was nice.
After finishing the two-month on-the-job training with my unit, it was early Spring. I had invoked the military clause in my lease on our row-house in North Portland, and was faced with the prospect of living in Coos Bay, Oregon with my parents, which is in the ass end of nowhere.
My other option was to try to find a place in Portland, sign a lease, get registered for school, and start college. In ten days, while trying to do this from Coos Bay, which is a five-hour drive from Portland. OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD.
Well, I pulled it off, although it involved a few sleepovers with some very strange women I met from a certain online dating site, to keep from running back and forth too much. I found a nice, one bedroom apartment a block from campus that allows dogs. I took the placement test and registered for school.
I'm doing a transfer degree at a community college, and I plan to transfer to Portland State as a Business major. I have the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill (which was opposed by both Bush and McCain). It covers 100% tuition, there's a $1000 annual stipend for books and fees, AND it pays a monthly housing allowance. This is the same rate given to active-duty military personnel with dependents with the rank of E-5 (Sergeant, or a Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class), based on the cost-of-living of your geographic location. For Portland, this is over $1500 a month, non-taxable.
I've also met someone. It's not serious yet, but she's pretty cool. She is smart, funny, has a great job, owns her own house, is beautiful, loves comic books (She's going to Comic-Con dressed as 1960s mod-Catwoman, and made a life-size Totoro costume). She owns two cats but likes Atticus.
Several of the Portland-based colleges got together and hosted a dinner cruise with prime rib and salmon for the student-veterans, since the cruise line is owned by a retired Naval officer. Tickets are normally $70 a person. For us, it was $5. No, that is not missing a zero.
Yes, she is that tall.
I also just got my grades posted:
A new place, a new friend, and a 3.75 GPA isn't a bad way to start things.
Cara II broke up with me and moved back to Baltimore. I got to keep Atticus in the break-up, despite the fact that he was "her" dog. I got fired by my crazy Mormon boss finally, but I was getting mobilized in a month and a half, so I didn't care. I got some temp jobs, which mostly involved shuffling boxes around a gargantuan warehouse for a certain Pacific Northwest sportswear company, while my co-workers openly did meth in the aisles.
I finally got to attend re-training for the Oregon National Guard. I spent about six months between Biloxi, Mississippi and Astoria, Oregon. It's not really what I wanted, but the money was nice.
After finishing the two-month on-the-job training with my unit, it was early Spring. I had invoked the military clause in my lease on our row-house in North Portland, and was faced with the prospect of living in Coos Bay, Oregon with my parents, which is in the ass end of nowhere.
My other option was to try to find a place in Portland, sign a lease, get registered for school, and start college. In ten days, while trying to do this from Coos Bay, which is a five-hour drive from Portland. OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD.
Well, I pulled it off, although it involved a few sleepovers with some very strange women I met from a certain online dating site, to keep from running back and forth too much. I found a nice, one bedroom apartment a block from campus that allows dogs. I took the placement test and registered for school.
I'm doing a transfer degree at a community college, and I plan to transfer to Portland State as a Business major. I have the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill (which was opposed by both Bush and McCain). It covers 100% tuition, there's a $1000 annual stipend for books and fees, AND it pays a monthly housing allowance. This is the same rate given to active-duty military personnel with dependents with the rank of E-5 (Sergeant, or a Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class), based on the cost-of-living of your geographic location. For Portland, this is over $1500 a month, non-taxable.
I've also met someone. It's not serious yet, but she's pretty cool. She is smart, funny, has a great job, owns her own house, is beautiful, loves comic books (She's going to Comic-Con dressed as 1960s mod-Catwoman, and made a life-size Totoro costume). She owns two cats but likes Atticus.
Several of the Portland-based colleges got together and hosted a dinner cruise with prime rib and salmon for the student-veterans, since the cruise line is owned by a retired Naval officer. Tickets are normally $70 a person. For us, it was $5. No, that is not missing a zero.
Yes, she is that tall.
I also just got my grades posted:
A new place, a new friend, and a 3.75 GPA isn't a bad way to start things.