California Hell
Heavy metal. From the Order of the Black album, released in 2010. More info from Wikipedia.
I typed an update last night on my iPod and saved it so I could paste it when I had a chance to get online. So here it is.
Woo, my first update from California! In the not-quite three weeks I've been here, I can safely say that I've been hating life. There hasn't been too much going on out here, but there is enough to make an update, so that's what I'm doing.
Let's start with my physical location. It's hot as hell here, with the average temperature being over 100 degrees. It's a dry heat though, so it's much more tolerable than the humidity back in Beaufort. It hasn't rained since I've been out here, and I don't expect it to for the remainder of my stay. I brought my phone with me in anticipation of being able to use it. However, I don't get a signal where my "living quarters" are, so I can't use my phone. In fact, I'm in an area where Verizon offers coverage, yet I don't get service. Verizon is going to get a rather nasty phone call from me when I get back. And on the notion of getting back, I've heard rumors that I'll be back between the third and sixth of September. Word is subject to change, so I'll believe it when I see it.
On my flight coming out here, I was able to listen to complimentary XM satellite radio. This enabled me to discover nearly 20 songs that I needed to get ahold of. I've managed to get most of them via iTunes' store on my iPod (there's a place here that offers free WiFi), however there are a dew songs that remain on my download list. Looks like it'll have to wait until I get back. Here's a short list of newly-discovered bands that I think kick ass:
Skillet
Red
Papercut Massacre
Black Label Society (hence the song I'm listening to)
The Veer Union
A Day to Remember
Divide the Day
Danko Jones
Thousand Foot Krutch
Anew Revolution
Lostprophets
(and several others)
I've been pulling ridiculous hours at work, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. Just one more reason why I'm done with the Marines next year.
I got a surprising IM from Liz's sister yesterday. It was surprising because the last time I heard from her was back in 2008, when she sent me a rather nasty email showing her disgust for me in relation to what happened between her sister and I. Because I was shocked at the conversation, here's the first few lines of what was said:
Her: Hey, is this John? Me: That's me. And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with today? Her: It's Angela, actually. I was curious to see if it was you, and how you were doing.
I proceeded to talk to her for another 20-ish minutes before she tole me she had to get to work. She basically asked how I was, how long I had left on contract, where I was stationed, and if Liz has spoken to me since we broke up. I told her all the info pertaining to my enlistment, then told her the last time italics to Liz was earlier in the year. I kept it pretty brief with Angela, primarily because I was still in shock that she was talking to me, especially after the hateful email that was sent to me years ago (of which I found completely hilarious). Yet, she put said email aside, and held a civil conversation with me. The conversation ended with her telling me that she was glad to hear from me and to IM her anytime I wanted to. I don't know if I will, since I rarely get on AIM, but who knows.
The Marine Corps Ball is coming up in November. I want to take Lorraine as my date, but I have no info as to whether or not she'll be able to attend. I need to talk to her more about it when I get back. And speaking of Lorraine, it'd be nice to hear from her. Unfortunately, it's difficult due to the whole phone service issue. Another thing that will have to wait until I get back, perhaps.
And since I'm running out of things to elaborate on, I guess I'll call it a night and go back to sweating my ass off, even whilst trying to sleep.