Sunday, August 31, 2008

restlessness.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

It's A Girl!!

Yeah, I know I'm a little late. Gov. Sarah Palin...brilliant pick! Well for one, she’s a woman, attractive, a Martha Stewart type, who I guess McCain trusts to run this country if something happens to his old ass. It is very comforting that McCain and Palin have met once before he picked her. Who is this woman? I know she's 44, a mother of five, one of her sons is deploying to Iraq (who names their son Track?), graduated from the University of Idaho (Journalism major), she is a first-term governor, and...hang on, I'm thinking...well...that's about it. By the looks of it, one day I just might be picked as a VP…I just have to finish my degree, move to a small town, get knocked up, and support offshore drilling. Maybe this gets some undecided voters and a few women excited (not me) but lets all remember we aren't voting for a cute VP. Let the games begin.

One more thing…I love this…

“It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter the glass ceiling once and for all,” Palin said.

Palin, shut the fuck up. I really hope Palin doesn’t think she can pickup where Hillary left off. In the eyes of a female who supported Hillary, Palin is a joke.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Obamas Speech...

Watch it?!

"...I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America."

Killed it!

After the speech I wanted to put on one of my combat boots, a high-heel on the other foot, throw on a hard hat, go to China and get some of our jobs back, read a book to inner-city kids, hug my neighbors, yell at McCain, and go search of Bin Laden.

Here is the whole speech.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Only 3 in 10...

people ages 17 to 24 are eligible to enlist. Why? They have health and legal issues or no high school diploma. Determined to expand the Army by 74,000 in about two years...the Army started a prep school! I personally think this is a good idea...give kids a chance who dropped out of school. The word "dropout" is so harsh. I'd rather have a kid who dropped out of high school, who was given the opportunity through the Army to get a GED and make something of themselves serve with me, rather than a delinquent with a criminal record by my side. AND if this doesn't work? Draft 'em up.

Read the article here.

I want Hillary back...

I'll admit it...I voted for Hillary and I want her back.

And according to Gallup Daily, McCain is ahead of Obama. I'm curious though, in these polls...who exactly are they polling? Enlighten me.


No bounce for Obama.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Welcome to UAlbany!

So today was the day...started my classes. How do I even start this post? I haven't been in school for a year (granted I did take a summer class-got an A) but this is my first time at this university. I was surrounded by thousands of people...I had to sit in a bunch of classrooms and get use to this life all over again. Before I even made it to a classroom, a few things jumped out at me. 1) Big girls in short short skirts. Ya know, I just don't get why they do it...and it is nothing anyone wants to see unless they are at least eight beers in and planned on making a mistake that night. A few more inches of fabric and the world wouldn't have to be exposed to your goods. Work on it. 2) It is so cliquey. Asians not talking to anyone but themselves. Home coming queens with fake tans chatting it up. Basketball players wearing mesh shorts and spinning a ball. Long Island chicks carrying outdated Loui Vitton bags. It goes on and on. My first class is entry level journalism...at least 40 kids are in it. Our professor is very sweet, soft spoken, and loves to ramble. Within 40 minutes we learned all about her life, who she write for, how she thinks Biden is a "political loser", how we shouldn't swear in print (I told my mom this and she said, "Katie, sit on your hands and duct tape your mouth), she passed out voter registration forms to the great Americans who still aren't registered to vote, and she asked some questions. She asked all of us, "why did you decide to major in journalism?" A girl in the front raised her hand, "I wanna be on TV." This same girl later asked, referring to an article we need to read, “where dat article be?” Good luck getting on TV…maybe your major should be English. Another boy asked, "so is the lucrative?" Really? Why...so you can continue color coordinating your sneakers, with your t-shirts and your hat? Hopefully he will make no money, so he is forced to stop dressing like an asshole. That class ended (thank god!) and it was time to go to a Sociology class. This class is 134 people. Yay! We are all just a number. I don't know what it is...but it's like I attract assholes. They always end up sitting by me. Two classy girls sat behind me. One of the girls laughs was horrendous...and she was loud on purpose. You know those people? Like hahaha, look at me, now wait...I'm going to flip by hair and look at me again. They just start talking about drinking wine and beers...and then it takes the turn into the "so who did you fuck?" conversation. Well, Loud Mouth didn't approve of who Loosey McLoose fucked the other night and that turned into a "what were you thinking" lecture. Loud mouth, joked to McLoose that she probably got crabs or the clap...and McLoose agreed. But wait, they get even classier. McLoose tells her...oops, they had anal sex...by mistake. By mistake? Everyone knows that doesn't happen by "mistake". Loud mouth freaked and told her, "you totally took one for the team." I'll give her that much. Next! Went to another journalism class. The professor was on a writing assignment in Canada. We grabbed the paperwork and left. I'm praying to someone/something this class will be entertaining and challenging. So what's next? I have no idea. I have classes everyday...still working a few jobs...I'll be in Ft. Drum for four days soon (that should be interesting)...Documentary is coming along. Welcome to my world.

Monday, August 18, 2008

"Urgent"

I get an urgent voicemail from my boss, "Katie, please call me I have a message for you and no I don't want you to work." I called my boss only because he said he wasn’t going to ask me to work. He starts telling me about this Special Investigator guy who called looking for me about something that happened while I was in Iraq. Huh? I asked if he was serious and he gave me the gentleman’s number. I hung up and call my roommate from Iraq. I was like, "Rosa, what did we do in Iraq?" We sat on the phone for a few minutes trying to figure out everything we did in Iraq that we shouldn't have done...then we got our stories straight. No Blue Falcons here. So I call Mr. Special Investigator guy...I guess he does investigation regarding the reconstruction of Iraq...who knows. He asked me when I was in Iraq, what my job was, where my building was located, to described the building, etc. Then he started asking questions about the Mayors Cell. I asked him what this was all regarding...he told me something that happened at the Mayors Cell. Oh thank god...Rosa and I were in the clear. The Mayors Cell was where our Command Staff worked out of...drama all the time. Relationships forming, fighting, etc. So I thought I knew exactly was it was all about...one of our commanders messing around. I asked Mr.Investigator, "does this have to do with sex?" He stuttered a few times and said, "uhh uhh no. Generators". What? Generators? Probably shouldn't have yelled out sex. He proceeded to ask me if I remember the generators over there, their color, who worked on them, any KBR employees, blah blah blah. The whole time I'm wondering if he is serious...generators? Three fucking years later. Are you kidding me? I told him no over and over again...apologized I couldn't help with the investigation and wished him luck. Before I hung up, he asked me to look at the photos I took over there to see if I had any of generators. I told him generators weren't my top priority.


Side note: I called up another kid I was deployed with. All he did was work on generators...he already spoke to the guy. However, he told me they are investigating the contracts we had and how we obtained the generators. Really?! Lets investigate companies like KBR and Halliburton who are getting millions of fucking dollars and equipment while the troops are still being fucking shafted.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Back In Action.



I just got back from the latest adventure for the documentary. We started out in Albany...shot for a few days. My mom, friends, and strangers were all involved. It was hilarious, entertaining, and tiring. From there we went to my unit...I had drill so why not film there. We weren't doing anything exciting...AT recovery. However, we were able to film all the females there (about 6?) working. The next day was "mandatory fun day" aka a family bbq that you had to go to for a few hours. We ate, interviewed a couple people...it was a good day. We actually got my commander on camera talking about women in combat. Then it was off to Washington. Stayed with LeEllen again...she's awesome. First day in Washington was 12hrs at the Pentagon. If you go there and you're a female...don't wear heels. I learned that lesson quick and by the end of the day I was walking barefoot. Classy. Anyways, I interviewed five Navy women...so intelligent, great personalities and just really strong. Some were on the Joint Staff, another was a fighter pilot (missions in Iraq and Afghanistan), and a Rear Admiral. They almost convinced me to join the Navy. Next day, was the Women’s Memorial at Arlington. Filmed there for a while and did two interviews. One is a retired LTC and the other a Sergeant who served in Iraq. Both were so great...the best part of all of this so far is speaking with different generations. The LTC was the first women to hold some of the jobs she had...and then the Sergeant, served in Iraq, did 200 combat missions...it is crazy how far women have come in so little time. So the next day we were off to Michigan. Michigan...not that exciting. We get there set-up, shower and get ready to interview Elaine Donnelly and Kingsley Browne. I don't know how much in detail I want to talk about these two interviews. Lets just say Elaine Donnelly...was a learning experience. A whole lot of talk about why women shouldn't be in combat, etc etc etc. Kingsley Browne...hmmm. Extremely bright. I'm still trying to figure out why he thinks he has a right to speak about women in the military though. Off camera, Browne and I were talking...I asked him, how do you draw the line in regards to women in combat? Where does combat start and where does combat end? Basically what jobs should women hold. He told me that women should not hold jobs where they could have to defend themselves, or be potential POWs...he said one more thing but I'm drawing a blank. So I looked at him and asked, "so I shouldn't have had the job I had then?" He said, I assume you were out in Iraq? I said yes and he told me, no I shouldn't of had that job. I didn't know how to respond. So I didn't. That was the end of our conversation. Next day, the drive back to Albany. We went through Canada. Boarder security didn't like us...they made us go through immigration. Waste of my goddamn time. Finally we were allowed to proceed into Canada...Ontario. I had to pee, so we pulled off an exit. There is nothing around us…trees and a few houses. We did a U-turn and ran into an ostrich farm. What? We decided to stop at this random 50's diner. Walk in and to my right there’s a group of 10 old people having the last supper...half of them were stuck in wheelchairs and not saying a word to each other...just eating their fish 'n chips. Really bizarre. Then we spotted a little shop...that's attached to the diner. We walk in. I guess you could call it an Antique store. Nothing great. The owner talked to us for awhile. He's going to Vegas soon and is excited because he was guaranteed he wouldn't be able to hear construction from his room. Great. Anyways, we get back to New York. The next day, a few more interviews...my roommate from Iraq was one of them. I always love seeing her. She's trying to convince me to volunteer to go to Iraq with her. Crazy bitch. We finally got done, watched Generation Kill and then I passed out.


So now what?! Still working on getting a few more women...so that might happen soon. Within a couple weeks, hopefully I'll have a new trailer to put up. It should be 100 times better. This project is going so well...everyone seems to be so excited and passionate about it. I couldn't ask for more.

I take that back...I have a question. What would you name a documentary like this?
Email me.

Hope everyone is well.