Laugh!

My new roommate is one of the most frustrating people in this war.  I can deal with her maintaining the temperature of the room at a sub zero level.  I can deal with her keeping the lights on until midnight.  I can even deal with the click, click, clicking on her computer into the wee hours of the night.   I can handle the fact that she has nothing to do all day and therefore sleeps in until after we all leave for work.  I cannot, however, handle the ten o’clock at night phone calls to her family and friends due to the outdoor voice she utilizes. 

It is cold here again.  The rain from the past couple of days has brought with it a cold front.  It is a good thing the air conditioner is on in my room.  Our replacements have finally arrived for their week of learning what we do here.  There are not many of them, but they are all in good spirits.  There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the office as everyone is being kept busy with the additional activities.

I heard a funny story from one of our mechanics today.  He asked if I had ever seen anyone get knocked out from a steering wheel.  I said, “Not personally, but I have seen it in movies.” 
He said, “From an accident, right?”
“Of course.”
“Have you ever heard of someone doing it in a parked vehicle?”
“No.”
“Well, picture this, there I was, in the motor pool with the mission of removing the steering wheel from a truck.  Now, on a HMMWV the steering wheel does not come off so easily, we have special tools to help us get the job done.  I removed the horn, the bolt, the washer, everything that was in the way of me removing this steering wheel.  I put the horn, the bolt, and the washer in the seat next to me.   With my mechanics gloves on, I grabbed the steering wheel at the ten and two, and prepared myself to remove this steering wheel.  Again, the steering wheel is not the easiest thing to remove compared to a civilian vehicle.  I braced myself, and told myself that I would pull as hard as I could on the count of three.  One, two, and then I blacked out.  I woke up to a goose egg on my head, but I knew I was alive and well because I heard the laughter that was surrounding me.  My Kevlar helmet didn’t fit right for a while, but the steering wheel was off.”

I started laughing uncontrollably at this story.  He had the hand gestures and everything going with his speech.   I could see the whole scene play out in my mind.