An Interesting Dilemma

Probably What I Needed This Morning; Turtle Coffee

I got off work last night around 8pm, the usual time for my new schedule.  The Movement NCO has successfully scared me into always having a battle buddy during hours of darkness, so I went to see if anyone else in the building was heading back to our living area.  I usually walk back with our new NCO, but he is sick and went back to his room early.  As I was exploring the building, I noticed that my other roommate was still at work.  Perfect, not my choice of people to walk back with, but she was going my direction.  I asked her if she was heading back soon to which she replied she was and I asked if she wanted to walk together. 

She hurried to gather her belongings and shut her office down for the night.  In her rush, she asked me to give our roommate a call seeing as she left earlier today for another FOB.  Last time she traveled and we had not heard from her, we discovered she was waiting at the airport for six hours straight due to flight delays.  I called her and she regaled me with her near death experience aboard the tiny plane on which she flew.  She said things were beeping faster and faster while the pilot was flipping switches and levers and such.  No one told the passengers not to worry, that things would be ok, so she loaded her clip into her weapon thinking, “If this is going down in the middle of Afghanistan, I am not going without a fight.  This is gonna be some ‘Blackhawk Down’ kinda shit here!”  I started laughing because I could picture her freaking out on this plane.  “Girl, this ain’t funny!  I came close to death today!” She exclaimed.  I choked back my laughter, but told her I was glad to hear she was ok because I wasn’t sure I could deal with our other roommate by myself.

 As we left the building, I noticed my boss and his NCO leaving as well.  My other roommate and I left just behind them, but soon passed them because my other roommate wanted to get where we were going quickly.  Fine by me, I like a good speed walk every now and then.  As we closed in on our living area, my other roommate started pointing and directing me towards the Chapel Ministry Center.  I guess we had different destinations in mind.  I was about to inform her that I would be breaking off at this point to head back to the room, but then I thought, “Well, maybe this is God’s way of telling me I need more Jesus.”  I went with her to her bible study group and we arrived to find pizza, nice people, and a movie.  I now know a trauma nurse, an ICU nurse, and a female body builder that also works in the ER at the hospital.  We watched the movie “One Night with the King” which is not my choice in movies and was very cheesy at times, but it is based on a biblical passage…a short biblical passage that has been turned into a three hour movie.  After the movie, everyone in attendance made sure everyone had a buddy to get home and we left.

We got back to the room and I announced to myself that I would not be continuing my cleanup efforts from that morning.  It was bed time and I was exhausted!  I calculated what time I needed to be at work the next day, set my alarm, and hit the hay in time to hear my roommate commence with Post Office duties.  Surprisingly, I instantly fell asleep snuggled up with my turtle. 

I awoke to my roommate adjusting the climate control.  She likes a constant fan on.  I hate fans.  She asked if I was hot or cold to which I responded I was quite comfortable in hopes that she would not adjust anything on the thermostat.  After several beeps, she put the remote down and I was asleep once again. 

I awoke again boiling hot to find that in my roommates pushing of buttons to get heat and a fan on, she turned the unit to Turbo mode.  This mode turns on the heat and continues blowing hot air continuously.  I turned off Turbo mode and rolled over to find sleep once again.

I woke up for a final time when my roommate started pushing buttons on the climate control.  I gave in, turned off my alarm and went to shower.  I got back to find she had turned our climate control to fan only.  It was raining and cold outside.  Now our room was cold.  I quickly dressed to ward off the cold and started organizing my space.  I work so much better when alone and with my music, so I figured that by the time I was ready to clean, she would be gone.  I was wrong.  She left about ten minutes before it was time for me to go to work (925am).  So much for thinking she was on a 9-5 schedule.  Oh well, I will try again tonight while she is at the USO for a knot tying class.