Sound and Foam

We love the hearth, the quiet hills, the song,
The friendly gossip come from every land;
And very peace were now a nameless wrong --
You thrust this bitter quarrel to our hand.
-Drinkwater

I was in the latrine the other day and somebody came in and sat beside me, in the next stall. He scared the hell out of me when he cleared his rifle. He didn't load it or anything, but people screwing around with weapons in the latrine makes me uncomfortable. I was worried he was going to load a round and shoot himself. I think the strangest things.

I have nine days, now, until I go on leave. I am beside myself with anticipation. Jen is very excited as well. I'll be two to three days in transit. I plan on taking Shogun with me, which Nick sent me in a big box of other books. It is pretty big, so it should suffice for the interminable plane rides there and back. I may end up sleeping the whole way, though, to try to fake out my jet lag. I am going to try to sneak an Irish coffee when we make our stop in Ireland. After nine months of no alcohol, that should put me out like a light.

I have been working like crazy. I didn't think it was possible to do more work than I'd been doing, but I guess we all discover things about ourselves on a deployment. My new boss is working me a lot more than the old one. I guess it's his prerogative, but I don't have to like it.

It is hard for me to admit how burned out I've become. I find it very hard to get out of bed in the morning. My buddies coming back from leave tell me it just gets worse after leave, so I have that to look forward to. I love my platoon, but I've been in the same job for almost two years now. I need some new challenges and things to learn. I need some weekends.

Well, this may be the last entry before I'm home. Hopefully I'll get there quickly. I promise to not keep you informed about how my leave is going, because I'll be extremely busy doing absolutely nothing. Don't even call me for the first week.