Ketchup

It's a bit hard to sum up the last few weeks, but I'll try. Still will have to wait until I get back to El Paso for some pictures.

*Here are some firsts: First pedicure (believe it or not, and after field training -- oh how needed it was!), first time feeding turtles, first Korean BBQ, chest tube insertion, and Wii experience (bowling, tennis, and boxing).

* I have to take back what I said about bees in my last post. There were a couple mornings where they were really, really bad when I was trying to eat breakfast. Stupid bees...

* The last week of field training seemed to go by quickly. I do miss the familiar call of the loudspeaker shouting, "Attention on the FOB!" "Time: Now," and "That is All." And the morning MJ/NKOB/Vanilla Ice music. We had some mass casualty drills and those were pretty fun. We couldn't use blanks that day so I had to verbally shout "Bang! bang!!" when I was on the guard tower and under attack. That's probably the reason why I got a fake knee injury and my partner was severely "wounded." I got to be the PA for aid station at the base and it was a good experience. The doc and I pushed 43 patients through in 1 hour! It was the first time I really had to do anything closely medically related in the past month. I love my job.

*I started coming up with a new song parody as I was cleaning my weapon to the tune of David Archuleta's "Crush" - which really was playing while I was cleaning it. "And you know this crud ain't going away-y-ay-y-ay-yaaaaaaaahh..." It was quite a long and tedious process.

* I had a wonderful time in Houston for a weekend visiting my friend Laura from PA school and her husband Cisco. We went indoor ice skating and to the Houston Arboretum. I'm going to miss the trees when I go back to El Paso, but I enjoyed the weekend while it lasted. If you're in the Houston area, apparently Lupe's Tortilla makes some really good fish tacos.

*I graduated from OBLC! I guess. It's weird thinking that I gradated when I still have a couple weeks of class left. The PA track also missed the ceremony because we were doing the Tactical Combat Medical Care (TCMC) course. TCMC was a great experience and it really made me appreciate what combat medics go through. My motto is: Learn/Train like your life depends on it, because it does.

*Fake blood is not easy to get out. Luckily I used my "field" pants, as they are now designated. Darn red food coloring...

*My California peaches let me down. Won't go into details, but I did call the grocery store to give them a heads up. Fortunately, it was only the girl next to me that noticed when I had a mild freakout and threw my peach back into my bag.

*There are some really ugly birds around here. I don't know what kind they are, but they look like diseased, strung-out, balding mini-crows.

* The San Antonio temple is very beautiful! It always feels like home, no matter where I am. I hope I can make it back again before I leave San Antonio.

*I've been enjoying a few other attractions of San Antonio. I was able to go to Sea World and Six Flags over Labor Day weekend. They're not quite like their California equivalents, but they were pretty fun.

*San Antonio finally got some rain!! It makes for a bit of mud around here, but it's been great.

So I finish this next week, drive back to El Paso and report back to duty next Friday. Back to the real world.