Episode 3 - Got my hair done

Click to Play

Worthless. Absolutely worthless. I should have shot some video of the hairdresser burning my scalp or trying to comb out my wet and tangled hair. Heck, it would have been more interesting if I had shot video of her trying to convince me to NOT cut my hair.

Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision
Originally uploaded by Shavonne

I took a trip to the Apple store to play around with the new Macs. I always take a picture with one of the computers to commemorate the occasion.

Episode 2 - Hair

A while back I wrote a post about cutting my hair off and starting over. Well, I've decided to scratch the whole idea and cut my hair off in stages. One reason is because I can't find a hair stylist I trust enough to wack my locks off and two, I'm just plain scared.

BTW, if there is someone out there in Southern California who can do my hair, please, PLEASE contact me.

Life in the AV

Before I left Afghanistan, I said to a friend "My friends are probably up to the same stuff they were up to when I left." It turned out to be true.

I've been home for over two weeks now and back to the life I had been hoping to escape by now. Why did I come back?

I discovered that one friend is living in a women's shelter because her husband has been using her head as a punching bag. WTF?! I've met the guy and hung out with them several times and I never got the impression he was a woman beater! What a gross misjudgment on my part. They've filed for divorce. I have no idea how to get in touch with her. I just hope she and her 1-year-old son are okay.

My other friend, what can I say, she's been doing the same thing for like the last ten years. She just had another baby, her third baby with a guy who's not only shown her he doesn't want to be with her, but verbally said this to her almost ten years ago! I wish I could say she's finally seen the light but I can't. This would be one of dozens of times she's called it quits with this guy. It's a situation much like Kim Porter and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.

I was very disappointed when she told me the news. All I could do was congratulate her. There was no point in asking her what she was thinking at the time. I already know.

I'm sad to say that I miss Afghanistan. It's been a long time since I was around people my age who weren't saddled down with responsibilities, mostly because they couldn't bring their families to Afghanistan.

The biggest bunch of POPPYCOCK I've read in a long time.

One reason I stopped thinking of black men as natural mates (for myself and other black women in general).

It's also another reason why I'm not Christian (or Muslim). A real man will never have to beat his woman into submission.

My New Website

I bought iLife '08 and installed it. I tested out the iWeb application and redesigned my blog. I'm not sure I want to host my website with dot Mac. Many of the features I'm used to with Wordpress/Dot5hosting I'm not getting with dot Mac. One feature I like about my blog now is that I can edit comments and leave a response to a particular comment in the same comment box but in a different color. Also, comments count towards disk space. After a while, I will have to go through my comments and delete them and that sounds like too much work. Before I lost the content of my blog a few months ago, I had over 500 comments. I couldn't image deleting them all.

Here is the URL for the dot Mac website I created. It's for a limited time only and won't be available 56 days from the date of this post. Tell me what you think.

http://web.mac.com/shavonne_natasha

Journey Home

I lucked out when I landed in Bagram. I was able to get myself book for a flight out that night.

Manas, Kyrgyzstan - I don't know what to say about the place. It doesn't appear to be dangerous because folks stationed there can leave the base. It is in a tax-free zone so that's a plus. The chow hall is definitely better than ISAF.

The camp is also five times bigger than ISAF and there doesn't seem to be as many people. That's all I can say about the place. I meant to get a picture of a mountain peak I saw when I was there but I didn't feel like getting out my camera.

Incirlik, Turkey - It was hot! Around 97 Degrees Fahrenheit and it was humid. I sat in the terminal waiting to reboard the aircraft. It wasn't that bad because they had free wireless internet there.

Baltimore, Maryland-I arrived BWI around 2300 hours on September 1st. The USO was closed so the airport staff allowed myself and other service members to rest in the observation lounge. I was great as they had cushioned benches and I was able to get some much needed rest.

I called my mom to let her know I was on US soil. She was happy to hear that. I can't wait to get home so I can rest. I don't really miss home as much as I hate being in the Army. I don't think anything could surpass my desire to be done with my military commitment.

I've noticed the children around me. They are so cute. I dont' know if it's the fact that I haven't seen small children in a while or what. I still don't want any at the moment.

There's this guy sitting across from me reading a book. He has earbuds in his ear. I wonder if he owns a Mac. That would make him extra hot if he does. I wonder how old he is.

I didn't accomplish much after finally arriving at CRC on Sunday, September 2nd. I turned in my weapon to the armory then went to billeting to get my room and linen. After that, I went to my room and took a very long shower then washed the dirty clothing that had built up since my departure from ISAF.

The following morning (Monday) I got up early to see where I was supposed to report to. I didn't get much help. One person on the staff said I probably wouldn't get any direction as to what I would be doing and where I would be going until after Labor Day. Huh?

I eventually ran into one of the officers I traveled from Germany with. He told me where to go so I could get my outprocessing started. That helped a lot. I guess everyone was assuming I was with the large group of soldiers coming from Iraq.

I didn't take any pictures of my journey home. There really wasn't much to take pictures of anyway as I don't like to have myself photographed in uniform. Sorry. It's my policy.
Friday, September 7, 2007

I'm finally home. It's great to be back. I slept most of the day away. That was the first thing I wanted to do when I got back now that I no longer have to sleep in a twin-size bed in a room with two other people.

I went through my closet to find something to wear. Let's just say that the first thing I'm going to do tomorrow is go shopping for some new threads.