what i did on my summer vacation...

well, i’m back and settled in my cozy accommodations in iraq… i got placed at the same base i came off of, which is kind of bittersweet. i am familiar with the base, the surroundings, the equipment, the risks, and the routine… what i miss are the people. the guys i lived with… well, most of us came in within about 8 weeks of each other. within the month before i left, a bunch of them left. when i came back, the rest were gone. all new faces. other than officer staff… i know one firefighter.not that i won’t get to know these guys… it just takes a while. i’m not exactly an extraverted, socializing kind of person. (people who know me will dispute this fact… although people who have known me for years have discovered there’s a lot they *don’t* know about me just by reading this journal…) speaking of meeting new people… you’ll be glad to hear that the stress of initially meeting my gf’s close friends and parents is pretty well over and done with. (just in case any of you read this… don’t worry… it’s not you, it’s others…) but seriously, i enjoyed meeting them… they all seemed like wonderful people. doesn’t stop the fact that it’s a bit nervewracking for an introvert like me. so that’s what i did over my summer vacation… i traveled… i saw a lot of old friends (and some new ones)… ate thai, drank chai, and didn’t really workout seriously for about 2 months… which put me in serious hurting condition for the festivities that awaited me in Baghdad. …but that’s another journal entry altogether…