Afghanistan is good for something.

Before I left for Afghanistan, I set a few goals for myself to accomplish while I was here.  I figured if I had to be stuck on the other side of the world away from my all of my family, then I should at least make my time here worthwhile and better myself.

The biggest goal I set was that I wanted to lose 30 pounds, which quickly became almost 40 pounds after the holidays.  It's amazing how much crap one will shovel into their mouth when they know they are about to go to Afghanistan and there won't be good food to eat for almost a year.  I'm happy to say that I have lost 40 pounds and surpassed the goal I set coming in.

I didn't really set a goal with regards to running, cause I have always had a love/hate relationship with running.  Actually, it is probably better classified as just a hate relationship.  But once I came back from R&R, I reached a plateu in the weight loss and knew that I needed to switch things up to push through it.  So I started running.  When I started running, I was slow.  Because of my back problems I hadn't really run in a long time, so I was running about an 11-12 minute mile.  Over time, I have been able to take almost 5 minutes off my mile.  I actually just ran my fastest 2 mile, which came in at 15:11.  So had I set a goal for running, I know I would have passed because it would have been way slower.  I never would have imagined, or thought that it was possible, that I would be able to accomplish what I have with my running.

The other goal I set for myself was to become fluent in Spanish again.  Well, 1 out of 2 isn't bad...

So Close, yet so far away...

I know I keep saying it over and over, but I really am sorry that my blogging has stopped being regular.  The truth is, there is absolutely nothing to write about.  I can only write about the food, smells, and sub-par living conditions so many times before it becomes boring.  If it wasn't already boring to begin with.

I had a chance to travel last week and I was actually looking forward to it, as I figured it would be something to break up the monotony, but then I didn't end up going.  It turned out it wasn't required that I go, so even though I could have still went, I wasn't going to go travelling about Afghanistan just because I was bored.  It must have been the little mother and mother in law on my shoulder whispering in my ear to stay my butt at KAF.

I have a little over 2 months left here in Afghanistan and it can't go by quick enough.  I signed up for a 1/2 marathon in March, so I'm officially in training. 

I will try to turn over a new leaf and get back to blogging more regularly during these last 2 months, but I really can't promise anything...

I need to leave Afghanistan...

I have already screamed like a little girl who sees a mouse twice this morning, and it is only 1030.  The first time I screamed it was because I actually did see a mouse.  Not only did I see a mouse, but it scurried out from under the desk I was sitting at.  That scared the crap out of me.  We have been having a little bit of mouse problem lately.  The rest of the BDE left and moved to a new building on the other side of the airfield, and the legal office is still in the old building.  We are the only people left in this big vacant building, and a lot of trash was left behind in the old offices.  So the mice are literally coming out of the woodwork.  It really isn't good for my heart.  I don't mind mice, I even had gerbils when I was a kid.  But something about the idea of an Afghan mouse and all the diseases it probably carries, freaks me completely out!

The other scream was from a controlled detonation.  I knew it was coming, as they always announce they are about to blow something up so everyone doesn't think that it is another attack.  But I blame the mouse for the scream.  I was already on edge because of that little critter, so when that went off it also scared the crap out of me.

I think that I have given my paralegal 2 heart attacks this morning from the screams.  I can hear the mouse on the other side of my wall in CPT Coy's office.  I have to resist the urge to grab the M-16 and start shooting....