Sweet and Barren

"Such griefs with such men well agree,
But wherefore, wherefore fall on me ?
To be beloved is all I need,
And whom I love, I love indeed."
-Coleridge

I'm finally, finally, here. I cannot believe how like MASH it was getting to this hellhole; we basically thumbed a ride on whatever was moving in this general direction. I'm sure there's some bureaucratic excuse far up the chain, and I don't mean to malign my command, but it sure did seem like hitchhiking. Coincidentally, I've been listening to Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide on my iPod. It hadn't occurred to me until just now how amusing that is.

You people that think the hurricanes are done in the states, you're right: they all moved here. And they all hit my flimsy little tent last night as I tried to get some sleep while waiting for the next chopper, convoy, plane, hovercraft or zeppelin that could get me here. I've never heard such a racket from a storm. I guess it was because I was in that tent. It also dropped the temperature so low that combined with the AC, it made the tent into a meat locker. I have a horrible crick in my neck from trying to curl into a warmer position on that cot. It probably wasn't colder than 60 or so in there--it couldn't have been, it would be impossible--which just goes to show how quickly you get acclimated here. Hell, 60 back in the Tennessee would have been shorts and sandals weather. A few weeks in this oven and a Texas August seems chilly.

Jen should have my mailing address by now, so get it from her. I warn you not to send anything valuable at first, such as movies or Hope diamonds, until I confirm that the address actually works. I'll post when I get the first letter, and then mail away.

I see we're playing Baylor tomorrow. I wish I could feel like I wasn't missing anything not watching that game, but the way the last games have gone, we could play a high school team and manage to make it close. BTHO Baylor, guys. Don't let me down: it's all I've got right now.

By the way, I forgot to mention that ubiquitous Comedy Central mainstay Dave Atell came and did a show before I left Kuwait. He is a very funny guy, but I had no idea how vulgar his standup routines are. I guess I've only watched his show and never seen him do any of his standup before. Well, it was still good and I got a picture with him.

One last interesting observation: you know that, for better or worse, we are really on our way to a New World Order when you go to a Taco Bell (a "Mexican" restaurant), owned by PepsiCo (an American company), in Kuwait (an Arab nation) and your waiter is Chinese (a, um, Chinese guy). I really felt like black was white, up was down, and dogs and cats were going to start living together, sitting there eating my tacos. Also, he gave me my change in Pogs, which is a story for another time.