The Matrix has me...
"A job is just a job, right?"
Friday, I got a first glimpse of the knowledge gap I've accumulated. We took a doctrinal knowledge pop quiz and of the 101 questions, I answered 25 to 30 correctly. As disappointed as I should be with the score, I'm glad I have an initial assessment to use. I need to shake my attitude of 'I'm just here to check the block' and get in gear so I can actually get something out of the course.
"You are your job... you are what you do..."
Another thing I've also realized is that this course is going to be more labor intensive than I initially anticipated. I'm slightly annoyed because I want time for other pursuits - Family, photography, reading, music, art, etc etc... and try as I may to avoid being engaged in military oriented tasks ALL the time, it seems to consume me by default anyways :/
I understand this is my chosen profession, and this profession is a life style. I love what I do when I actually get to do it, but the path between planning and execution is often less than glamourous and well, it can be down right cumbersome. Though I take this obligation freely...
I just have to continue working at the balance. Being on leave for the last month has spoiled me and it's time to get back on my head. Once more unto the breach...
Repo Men was a good headfuck of a movie. Visually stark, in some aspects the movie reminds me of a mash up of Blade Runner, Minority Report and The Island. It's good fun, and I was surprised that at some of the violent scenes, the sound effects actually made me a little squeamish (a sound like razors through flesh). Visual violence doesn't bother me much; hearing it is another story...
"The war never ended; it just changed venue..."
Though similiar in premise to Repo! The Genetic Opera (I'm told... I haven't seen it, but must at first opportunity), the gorefest of a flick got me thinking about a lot of things - PTSD, personal relationships balanced against professional constraints, art and humanity, the corporate industrial complex and the true cost of what it takes for 'us' to change our lives. I saw the movie back in March while I was solo in NY, and when I left the theater, I actually felt off balance. "What the hell just happened???" was the overwheming question racking my brain, and it wasn't because I didn't understand the movie. The story is pretty simple, but my overthought interpretation of what it all means just threw me for a loop. It's ending is anything but Hollywood, and the utter helplessness of it made the movie quite memorable for me after I reestablished my bearings.
If I am going to be more than my job, I am the only one who will have to make it happen. I'm on the right path, but "there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."
Friday, I got a first glimpse of the knowledge gap I've accumulated. We took a doctrinal knowledge pop quiz and of the 101 questions, I answered 25 to 30 correctly. As disappointed as I should be with the score, I'm glad I have an initial assessment to use. I need to shake my attitude of 'I'm just here to check the block' and get in gear so I can actually get something out of the course.
"You are your job... you are what you do..."
Another thing I've also realized is that this course is going to be more labor intensive than I initially anticipated. I'm slightly annoyed because I want time for other pursuits - Family, photography, reading, music, art, etc etc... and try as I may to avoid being engaged in military oriented tasks ALL the time, it seems to consume me by default anyways :/
I understand this is my chosen profession, and this profession is a life style. I love what I do when I actually get to do it, but the path between planning and execution is often less than glamourous and well, it can be down right cumbersome. Though I take this obligation freely...
I just have to continue working at the balance. Being on leave for the last month has spoiled me and it's time to get back on my head. Once more unto the breach...
Repo Men was a good headfuck of a movie. Visually stark, in some aspects the movie reminds me of a mash up of Blade Runner, Minority Report and The Island. It's good fun, and I was surprised that at some of the violent scenes, the sound effects actually made me a little squeamish (a sound like razors through flesh). Visual violence doesn't bother me much; hearing it is another story...
"The war never ended; it just changed venue..."
Though similiar in premise to Repo! The Genetic Opera (I'm told... I haven't seen it, but must at first opportunity), the gorefest of a flick got me thinking about a lot of things - PTSD, personal relationships balanced against professional constraints, art and humanity, the corporate industrial complex and the true cost of what it takes for 'us' to change our lives. I saw the movie back in March while I was solo in NY, and when I left the theater, I actually felt off balance. "What the hell just happened???" was the overwheming question racking my brain, and it wasn't because I didn't understand the movie. The story is pretty simple, but my overthought interpretation of what it all means just threw me for a loop. It's ending is anything but Hollywood, and the utter helplessness of it made the movie quite memorable for me after I reestablished my bearings.
If I am going to be more than my job, I am the only one who will have to make it happen. I'm on the right path, but "there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."