Goodbye Scarlet/Gold Road

Today I said goodbye to my life as I knew it for the past eight years. This was my last day on active duty. I've got a little over a month of time where I'm still considered active, but it's like a big vacation. I don't have to go work and I don't have to cut my hair or shave everyday, so that's a relief because I hate shaving everyday. I've got a job lined up in Virginia that I'm sort of wrestling with, but we'll get into that some other day. Today was very bittersweet for me, it was very surreal to be honest. I realize that I'm not going to be in the military anymore but at the same time it felt like a normal Friday. Eight years of normal Fridays and it really did go by fast.

There have been some good times; Pensacola, Biloxi, New Orleans, Virginia Beach; and there have been some bad times; Parris Island, Camp Lejeune, Virginia Beach; but over all it's been a great experience. It didn't really do well to set me up for the real world because we got a lot handed to us that I'm just not going to have anymore, but it got me out of Pennsylvania and living at home and forced me to grow up and live on my own by paying rent and bills and buying my own stuff. Sometimes I'm ready for the "real world" and other times I feel like I'm moving out of my mom's for the first time all over again.

I am ready to go though. I'm not leaving because I'm disgruntled at the Marine Corps, but at the same time I'm ready to grow up and find out who Adam Parson is and leave behind who Sergeant Parson was. I'll always have a piece of him with me but there is this whole other life that is on the other side of the door for me. I'll have some stability that won't force me to move every three years or so. To be honest I will kind of miss that. I liked going to a new place and seeing new things, no matter how much I bitched about it. I've got a child to worry about though and I have to do what I think is best for the both of us. What I think is best is staying in one spot and not having the dogs of deployment barking on the front porch. I never tried to hide from deployments, but I don't want to leave my child if I don't have to.

There are some things I'm going to miss, but here's what I won't:
1. Formations. They may look good from the other side, but please come stand in one.
2. Forced running/exercise.
3. Constant bashing of my music choices. I like John Lennon and I like a strange little bi-sexual named Ani. Deal with it! Oh by the way I enjoy listening to Bob Dylan too!
4. There are other news sources out there not named Fox.
5. Green shorts. I have underwear longer than these things.
6. The fear of change. Don't be scared of new cammies and running suits.
7. Constant bashing of all things gay. They're gay, so what. They won't pervert you any worse than you are already. They may even enlighten you to some things that you never knew existed.
8. I'm 26 years old and I know how my uniform should fit me. I don't need an inspection every October telling me that.
9. Stamping my last name on every piece of clothing I own. Yes I even had to put "Parson" on my underwear and socks.
10. Admin and Supply acting like it's their money. If I'm entitled to it, give it to me.
11. Change of Command ceremonies that are in the hottest part of the year at damn near the hottest time of day.
12. Yes I am a Sergeant, but you know what, Colonel? I'm not stupid. I could have a very good conversation with you on a wide variety of topics because I too have read more than Playboy; they do have some great articles though (once you're done looking at the pictures)!

So Gentle Reader, there you have it! Please stay tuned for the adventures in post military life. It should be interesting and you will have a good read as I press on with my child in tow.

Full Fuckin' House

I'm watching Bob Saget's HBO special and I've got to tell you so far it isn't funny at all. The biggest selling point is watching Danny Tanner drop F-Bombs. Once you stop laughing at that, it loses it's humor. I heard him on the Howard Stern Show last week and he was just carrying on a conversation with Howard and the crew and he was funny, but here he's almost like watching a really bad Robin Williams impersonation. It's very erratic and a lot of swearing, which doesn't bother me, but he's banking on the fact that we will laugh for an hour at watching a family TV show star suddenly talking "dirty" and it doesn't work after about five minutes. He should have just come out and said "Fuck" and then just walked off stage and it would have fulfilled what everyone wanted to see and hear.

I just realized he's the "Voice" from "How I Met Your Mother". Interesting.

Big Love/Big Hate

I just finished watching Primetime on ABC and this week they focused on polygamists in Arizona. Towards the end of the show they did a segment about a group of the women who are taking action to end the laws that make polygamy illegal. Me personally I agree. Why not make it legal? What's the problem. They're marriages in the community last and are, at least on the surface, happy marriages. Some groups say it's demeaning to the women, but it's their believe system and who are we to question it? People are real quick to preach tolerance until it clashes with one of their principles. In my opinion these folks may be a little skewed in why they feel that God encourages plural marriage. It seems very mid-evil to me, but like stated already it's their believe system and they are still in America and could leave if they wanted to.

I'm not a big fan of bringing freedom with a gun, but at the same time we are trying to make the world live like we live and in my experiance that lifestyle isn't that bad. So here we have groups saying get out of Iraq and the Middle East in general, but then turn around and say the way those people are treated is horrible and someone should do something about that. So now what? I think most of the people in those parts of the world are kept stupid to prevent them from rising up and overthrowing their governments and making a country that will be sucessful and not get caught up in a leadership vacuum that is filled by some crazed dictator. In the end are we any better when the day is through?

Paint A Date

I started watching this show on VH1 called "The Pick Up Artist" and I must say it is flippin' hilarious. It's about seven or so guys who are the epitome of nerd and they are under the tutelage of so called Pickup Artists who go around teaching schmucks like me how to be the guy that "men want to be and all women want to be with". Sometimes it's a little embarrassing to watch these guys go into a club/bar and try to start conversations with women. Some of these guys have never had any resemblance of a girlfriend. The first two episodes focus on the men changing their image from simple polo's and jeans to modern style and flair.

I really don't have anything witty and fun to say about this show, but it is entertainment and it makes me laugh. The only VH1 show that tops it has got to be "Rock of Love" nothing like watching White Trash women try to get the front man from my old favorite Glam Band, Poison.

Whine in the Woods

Q and I went camping this weekend with 13 of our friends in the wilds of West Virginia. The weekend was very interesting in the world of your Friendly Single Parent. My son was the youngest one there and he was following the other two boys around like a little brother and he was wearing on their nerves like one too. There was a lot going on that made him a little overwhelmed and that made him get testy and whiny. I felt like a bad parent this weekend because I was just pissed off more than I have been in a long time at my Little Man. This single parent thing is just wearing on me more and more lately. I'm also stressed out with getting a job, getting him to school, the fact I have no money anymore, and the general uncertainty of the future. I want it to be next month so I can hopefully come down and relax from all this chaos.