the big bad black grasshopper

The other night Val and I were watching the new (well, not so new anymore, but new to us) King Kong. After watching, or rather Val watching and me choosing to read a book during the looooooooong scenes with the giant insects and disgusting leeches, we were almost at the end of the movie when there was a sound that when you hear it you know it means trouble and you know you'd rather not look for what you don't want to find. It was a sound that can only be made by a small bird or a small rodent, or perhaps a giant insect. And yes, after watching what was on King Kong and being in Iraq, the imagination (okay, MY imagination) can run a little wild. We tried to ignore the sounds, knowing that whatever was in our living quarters would still be in our living quarters when the movie was over. This is Iraq afterall. But you can't ignore a visual. Suddenly, something black flew in a diagonal arch downward into the room. ICK. So, movie on pause, we get up to look for the flying black thing.

I turn very hesitant. I turn into a total women thinking total future instead of "in-the-moment." I have just watched (and not watched) some disgusting creatures on DVD and have a vivid imagination. I am thinking past what it could be and wondering how I am going to disinfect my room and my bathroom with the limited cleaning supplies I have and that if there's one disgusting creature on the inside of my hootch, there's gotta be more. Then I'm thinking 'what if it's a rat? I just can't handle a rat in my living quarters.' Luckily, Val just went ahead and trapped the bugger who had landed inside his boot.

I got a plastic bag and Val shook his boot until the black thing transferred from boot to bag. It turned out to be a very large grasshopper. Now, before you laugh and write off this story, let's just say that grasshoppers over here in the Middle East are a lot bigger than the grasshoppers in Canada that I ever saw. This is not a fishing story of exagerated proportions, this grasshopper was so big that at first I thought it was a cockroach! It was about 1 1/2 inches long and then the feeler things at the front made it 2 - 2.5 inches!!! Disgusting. But, with a plastic bag between me and him, I stared at him up close and personal and found it quite fascinating. His back legs were long and a little furry. The only explanation we could figure out for how he got inside is that he crawled up the piping from the shower, which is pretty disgusting considering from where that means he started. But it isn't hard to believe since we've had grasshoppers sitting in the shower stall before. This one just decided to get adventurous and leave the bathroom.

And back to the disgusting leeches on the movie. I don't know about you, but I am just not made to enjoy those sorts of things. Take seafood for example. I am of the philosophy that even if something looks disgusting, but it's supposed to be edible, I will try it and only after I have tried it will I make up my mind. Even though oysters are considered aphrodisiacs, I'll just have another glass of red wine, thank you very much.

And just in case you're hung up on me not wanting to search out this black thing that flew/fell into my room ... I am able to kill bugs on my own without needing a guy to do the dirty work for me. There are a ton of bugs in Iraq and if I were to call for a guy everytime I found one, I would lose the respect I have worked so hard to earn. There are so many bugs that some end up in your clothes and even in your bed. My mother would be so proud of me to know that I'll actually sleep in my bed after killing a bug in there, without changing the sheets - considering I was the princess and the pea growing up. Although I loved camping, I HATED, or rather LOATHED sleeping bags as I could not stand the wrinkles. (I've grown out of that princess and the pea stage, thank goodness).

And so, there you have it. The latest adventure of K&V, Int'l and the BIG, Bad Grasshopper. Sounds like the making of a children's story....

A Publication in June!!!

I get so excited whenever I get published; I'm like a child in that respect and that's good to keep our child-like wonder and excitement in this world that can be oh-so-dull-and-depressing. Plus, this even was totally unexpected as I submitted way back in February and I didn't even open the email for 5 days (! me not open an email for 5 days? Unheard of!) which told me that I was a contributor. A pleasant surprise for today. It's also one that keeps on giving cuz now I get to read a whole e-zine full of colour and art and writing!

This publication is called e-Artella, the e-zine of the magazine from Artella Words and Art. The mag comes out in hard copy one month and an e-zine the next. I'm the SECOND article in the issue, which is *really* exciting to me. It looks professional and fun and is 84 pages long - filled with colour and artistic creations. There's even a piece of artwork on the third page of my article that fits with my theme. (Can you tell I live in a colour & creative expression devoid? I've used the word colour and art a whole bunch of times in these 2 paragraphs alone.)

The copies sell at $4.95 each and can be purchased and then downloaded at: http://www.artellawordsandart.com/ZineIssues.html . You can visit the website of creativity at: www.artellawordsandart.com . There's obviously more than just my article in there at 84 pages long and there are a lot of neat articles on creativity and art work. Definitely worth checking out if you're an artist or a dreamer. (hmmm, are you thinking I should go into a career in marketing?)

Writing Prompt #3 ~ Quotes

"I write for the same reason I breathe; for if I didn't I would die." Isaac Asimov

Reading and collecting quotes that mean something to you can be one way to get your mind twirling with possibility. There are many ways to "get inspired" and reading quotes is one of them. Start a journal of collected quotes (or a new word doc on your 'puter). Any time a quote strikes a cord with you, jot it down for future reference.

Sometimes a quote will inspire you and each thought will lead to another until your mind is filled with jumping thoughts. Take the time to write them down! I have written whole articles (creative non-fiction, to be literarily specific)based on my thoughts that began with reading one quote. It is amazing to see where your experience will take you when you read something that strikes a note with you.

If you're wanting to write and feel you have nothing to say (writer's block?) and don't feel like journaling a stream of consciousness, take out your trusty quote collection, choose one quote, set your timer to 10 minutes and write until you hear it ding. Perhaps you will feel the joy of writing longer. Or, maybe you'll choose to go on to the next quote.

Feel free to email me your stream of consciousness quote writing! I'm a quote collector and I'd love to read what quotes are inspiring you! Write them in a comment or email me: skyelark@gmail.com

back to normal... our normal, not yours

Things have returned to our degree of normalcy. While there continues to be upheaval in the surrounding towns, we are back to eating hot meals in the DFAC and power again (which means A/C in 120F/48C temps). To top it off, I just found out the mail truck was able to arrive today! So I'm soon off to help throw mail and see if I got anything :-)

Thanks to those of you that have been emailing to see if we're alright. We are. I appreciate your consideration. Happy Monday everyone!

And here's a picture that totally screams my normal, which is not the typical normal of other beings on this planet. Think this is a picture of a typical employee reading the bulletin board? (Notice the picture of "wanted dead or alive" Al Zarqawi on the top left of the border). It is ... until you look at what is in his hands.

it could be worse...

That's what we said on Friday with our MRE lunch. Sat. morning we discovered it was to be MREs for lunch AND dinner. That made us laugh because of our earlier comment. But again we said: "it could be worse." Sunday we got up and learned that again it was to be MREs for lunch & dinner. We thought, "okay, it could be worse, but it's already worse. Maybe we better stop saying 'it could be worse'!"

Turns out that although we got a food truck convoy Sat morning, there was a major glitch in the logistics. The trucks bound for our base went to another base nearby and their trucks came to us. The keys to open our truck wouldn't work in the trucks that drove to our base and vice versa. I guess there's some military policy against breaking open locks on doors. So it was back to MREs, knowing there were trucks of food on base. Roads are now open but only for a few hours each day.

Tonight tho we had a nice surprise and although we had gotten our MRE for dinner at lunch, we were pleased to hear that the DFAC was open for dinner - take away only. So, MREs safely tucked away in storage in our rooms, we headed out to the DFAC for a meal and FRUIT! That was my highlight. There was also milk so we stocked up on that. And there was a pineapple juice that I love and we rarely get.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I am not saying out loud "it could be worse" altho... it could be.

MRE lunch

Here is a picture of me with my vegetarian MRE. yum yuk. That was an honest typo! It's actually not bad tasting and there was way more in the whole package than I could eat in one sitting. And, it kept me full for a good 6 hours. I usually need an afternoon snack, but not today. Quite funny that with the food shortages last week and all the pasta that we were eating (each meal was pasta this, or pasta that... would you like pasta with that?), that I would pick a pasta MRE. I guess it felt "safe."

The DFAC was completely closed for lunch - doors locked, no guards at the entrances, exits - it was a ghost town and actually freaked me out a little. Where IS everybody! I felt like yelling "HELLO..." and hearing it echo a million times. Except with the desert wind it would just blow away to never be heard again.

After trying to get in the DFAC the usual way bypassing the empty chairs and sentry post of the guards that check ID, we found that the doors were locked. Discussion then turned to what we all had stashed in our rooms - everyone has a stash and it's times like these that you find out what people have. We decided to try the exit because the signs said there'd be MREs and to take only one and not to eat it near the DFAC. At the exit, there was a what was left of a palette of boxes of MREs. So we each chose one (MRE, not box) and walked back to the only car in the parking lot and drove through the eerily quiet base back to the office.

Two of the guys went to eat in their rooms, but one guy and I ate in the office. A soldier called over and he came and joined us with soup that you cook up in the microwave. So we made the best of it, taking pictures, making fun of ourselves and generally making our own fun.

It's dinner time and security has upped measures yet again, but of course, I can't go into details - OPSEC. Some of the guys sent out a local into the market this afternoon in a town nearby and he brought back half a sheep so we're having a braai tonight. The DFAC is open for a hot meal but it's take-away; can't stay and eat inside. I'm holding out for the braai. I even used Nancy's breadmaker and baked some bread for the braai! The guys are so impressed with me. I keep telling them it was three ingredients put into a machine - how hard is that?!!! One of the guys who went for dinner is going to get butter for the bread. That'll be great. It made the whole office smell delicious and I'm realizing that I'm a little hungry :-) We're lucky that the bread finished just one minute before the power went out. Lucky for us cuz you can't restart a bread maker. It not only smelled delicious, but it tasted so too.

CIAO! (get it - chow?!)

How Zarqawi's death affects us...

Immediate results of Zarqawi's death are as follows:
roads Iraq-wide are closed. There is no movement, even for American convoys. That means Val is stuck in Baghdad until roads re-open. We also have workers stuck at home and on base that cannot return from their vacation or go out on their vacation.
American bases have upped security. Because of OPSEC, I can't go into details.
Until the roads re-open, there will be no food or fuel deliveries. We were low on fuel already and a fuel convoy was due late last night but could not get here. That means that within 24 hours the base will completely run out of fuel. Nice. That affects water. Looks like water bottles and baby wipes for washing! And the temps are reaching 118F/48C

Next is food: this morning at breakfast they had MREs out. Nice. We're all going to gain 5lbs/day now. Our local workers are also running low on food. There is no extra bread on base. That means that workers will be trying to get to the next town over to buy up the supplies in the market. All the locals living in those towns will be doing so as well. People here do not store up like North Americans - they are more European in that they buy for the day and maybe tomorrow, but not much is stored at home, unless it's a bag of flour or rice. So... there will be food shortages in the towns if the roads do not reopen soon.

It's great that Zarqawi is out of the picture now, but he's still affecting how Iraqi's live, and Coalition forces for that matter. We are all curious to see if this region goes down in violence now with him out of the picture. Having him in the region would explain the sudden skyrocketing increase. I sure hope there can be peace in this region, in this land.

Heal

Heal from the past. forgive and move on with your life, taking the lessons you've learned, the knowledge you've earned, and live... truly live ... from your heart. enjoy the moments in life's journey. live in today, live in the moment. Live.

DEAD!

Zarqawi is dead. US Air strike took him out this morning. Iraqis ratted him out (good for them - hope they get the $25 mil!). It's still new news so the reports are varying but, the gyst of it is (if you don't know) that he was near Baqubah (hmmm... he was a neighbour!) and he's dead now, along with 7-10 of his top aides. The area around Baqubah is a breeding ground for insurgents so none of us were surprised that he was in this barren desert of Iraq. It'll be interesting to see if the violence in this region calms down or stays at current levels, or what.

It's been the talk of the office and DFAC. Every Iraqi I've been around today is thrilled that he's dead. One guy even came in to the office just to tell us! They're all hoping for peace again. In the DFAC I overheard a ton of conversations among soldiers revolving around Zarqawi. They're probably all bummed that they didn't take part in it, seeing as they're all fobbits here (I mean that very respectfully - it's not like they had a choice as to their deployment location).
We had a poster of Zarqawi's wanted picture and caption on our message board and today someone wrote over his face today's date and DEAD in big letters.

Journaling Writing Tip ~ writing prompt #2

Journaling. How many of us write down our innermost thoughts? How many of us capture moments in a life, perhaps not even our own, to remember them later? Many mothers journal, or at least write on the calendar, important baby milestones. Many travelers capture their thoughts during their journey in a fancy book or plain notebook. Card stores sell journals. Even celebrities are targeting young audiences to journal their thoughts (I don't think Paris had children's best interests at heart when she or her cronies thought up that diary for kids based on what she claims is a book, but is in actuality a photo album/scrapbook). Anyways, journaling is a healthy habit to form if you like writing. Many psychologists give their new patients a journal in which they are encouraged to write down their thoughts, which will in turn help in the healing process.

If you're not sure how to start, or about what to write, a fun way to begin is to look at art work and see what thoughts different images bring up. Two good sites for looking at art is www.art.com and www.allposters.com . The images are for sale if you end up falling in love with a particular print of poster. The art work is varied and easy to navigate.

Sometimes I will peruse the sites, print off an image that captures me, glue the picture into my journal and write about it. It's fun and can lead to some interesting insights into your life.

PEACE

peace.

it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

clouds

There are fluffy white cumulus clouds that look like summer in the light blue sky today. Except that they are too high up to do us any good, like rain and they're so tiny that they are there simply for beauty. The sky's ceiling is impossibly high today, allowing the clouds to be so high. It's surprising that there are any clouds at all due to the heat - it's up to 48C already. We're in for a long hot summer. No anticipation on my part at all. At least no sand storms for a while. But now that I've said that....

help Iraqi children

I found this website, quite by accident today and was shocked to learn that Campus Crusade for Christ was in Iraq! It is an international organization that helps people know about Jesus Christ in a helpful way. I think they have their job cut out for them, not only for the danger involved, but in trying to get people to believe that Jesus was not just a good prophet, but was more important than Mohammed. In my experience, Islam has such a strong hold on not only the people but the culture so that it is a way of life more than a religion. CCCI is branching out to help Iraqi children through giving school supplies, etc. This is the website if you want to check it out: http://give2.ccci.org/featured/iraq-child-cw/

the journey

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls." ~ Anais Nin

sychronicity in mapping ~ writing prompt #1

Synchronicity is an amazing thing - if you're open to seeing it in your life. Take these three "coincidences."

I got a creative newsletter email that spoke of the fun of using maps as creative fuel - painting over old maps, mapping out your past, etc.

A few days later, in a creativity coach's email, he spoke of mapping out your creative journey - of all the choices you've made that have led you to the creative spot in which you are today.

The third link in the chain is the book I am reading "The Key of Valor" by Nora Roberts (third book in a trilogy that I highly recommend). The main character Zoe maps out her life's past looking for clues to her present, which ultimately leads to the future. After I got to a point that I could stop reading, I put down the book, picked up the email I had printed out on mapping my creative journey, re-read it and opened my journal. What fun!

I went back to grade 2, age 7 when I wrote my first story, which I still remember was about dinosaurs, which coincided with our unit on those giant beings that used to walk our earth. It instilled a life-long love of writing down what my imagination was telling me. I tracked my creative journey with colourful markers and fancy lines linking the events, ideas, ventures to where I am today. It was a creative exercise that was more fun than work. It is interesting to see my journey on paper.

I recommend you to try it out. You could map out any topic, any passion of yours. Try it and be pleasantly surprised at how the path meanders yet leads toward where you are today and your goal, your dream, your raison d'etre.

Lost in Translation

At times, too much gets completely lost when it's translated. Take for instance these two USMilitary to IraqiMilitary translations. USMil has a section called EOD (explosive ordinance disposal). The Iraqis found that too hard to translate so it has been simplified to BD (bomb disposal). That's not half as funny as this one: The USMil wanted the IA (Iraqi Army) to have a section "Iraqi Intelligence." The Iraqis doing the translating were having difficulty with the word "intelligence." When a US soldier attempted to explain what it meant, one explanation revolved around the concept of "spying." The Iraqis understood that word immediately and liked that word much more than intelligence, so Iraqi Intelligence became "Iraqi Spying Co." It is on letterhead, patches and everything. I'm currently trying to get my hands on a copy of letterhead that reads: "Iraqi Spying Co." What's next - Spies R Us?

06-01-06

Lost power for almost 3 hours today. Was 35C IN side my room. At least it was a nice little break from work (gotta keep a positive attitude here) as my laptop battery does not last that long. I have a good book which I got to read.

Yesterday I wrote about hoping the fuel truck didn't get hit on its way to the base. So far so good. But today we found out that the food truck did. We don't know the status on the driver, I hope s/he's okay (there are some female truck drivers in country - I've seen them!). But we do know this: instead of two trucks of food, we're getting one. So, no milk for a few more days.

Christmas carols - iraqi style

Looking through old papers can be fun. I cannot take credit for these amazing titles, but here is a new version on some old songs, re-named by the guys here in my office: How much is that AK in the window? IED Nights, Holey Nights; Ahmed the Snowman; Silver Shells; Jingle BOoms. Ah, the joys of Christmas away from home in a foreign war torn land.