Third Time's the Charm

     Here is the final installment of trying to bring all my labels up to 2 each.

     While the Penguin has had many travels, covering 4 continents, 7 countries and a multitude of states, both United and mental, I have to agree with Dorothy's statement in the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home."
     It is at home where one receives the warmest welcome. It is the home where one can engage in woodworking, knowing that the results, whether perfect or not, will be accepted and cherished. It is not at work, it is not when one is out treking the remote wilds, nor when one is on the golf course that he discovers what he cherishes most. It is when one is in his own domicile, surrounded by his family, gazing at the ultrasound of his unborn child, that one best understands the phrase, "All is right with the world, and God is in His heaven!"
     For those of you who don't have a family of your own yet, I pray you get the opportunity to experience all the blessings that come with it. If you are blessed like I am, take this opportunity to give thanks to the Man Upstairs!

Good Night and God Bless!

More fun with labels

So I'm not going to get through all the labels in just two posts. There will be six remaining after this one. Maybe I can just scatter them throughout the next post. We'll see. I hope you enjoy this one. I had fun with it and the last one. Let me know what you think.

 "Welcome to the military, grunts!" the DI yelled, sounding ridiculously like Tom Bodet of Motel

 6 fame. 

     "This ain't no hospital where you get to lay around all day, and it sure ain't no golf camp, 

ladies!"

     His voice was making it hard not to laugh, and I needed to use the latrine. I struggled to 

keep the smile off my face, unsuccessfully.

     "We got us a funny boy here!" The DI yelled, stomping over to stand in front of me. "What's 

your name, Mr. Giggles?"

     "Cadet Thompson, Sir!" I managed to get out before he cut me off. 

     "Don't you 'Sir" me, Cadet. I work for a living. You will address me as 'Drill Instructor!' Do 

you understand me?" By now he was so close the spittle was landing on my face, allowing 

me to see the stubble on his right cheek where he had missed a spot shaving.

     Chords of the Wagner's Ring Cycle ran through my head, along with the pictures of the 

opening scenes of a war movie whose name I couldn't remember. "Yes, Drill Instructor!" I 

replied in almost as loud a voice as his.

     He seemed satisfied, because he backed away and addressed the group again. "You 

ladies have just learned the first of many lessons. Your in-processing to the Air Corps began 

30 seconds ago at that building across the way. YOU ARE LATE. MOVE IT!

     As the group broke into a run, my self-examination began. "What are you doing here, 

Thompson?" I asked myself. "Who is John Galt?" the sarcastic reply came back from the 

funny little man who lived inside my head. I knew the answer to the first question. I had not 

had much choice in the matter. It was join the Air Corps to get away from the mafia, or spend 

another summer in Antarctica with the penguins and my very eccentric mother, "who just 

ordered nine pizzas" I automatically added under my breath.

     As all 30 of us tried to crowd through the door at once, my mind jumped to another topic. 

Each person I jostled with received one of several labels; "sanctified Bible thumper," "scared 

witless", "Not gonna make it," "wanna-be tough guy." The predictions came effortlessly, and 

looking back now, I see that most were accurate.

     We processed quickly through the building, giving vital information such as name, date of 

birth, next-of-kin, and such. We were each issued the usual PT shorts, shoes, socks, 

underwear, fatigues, boots, belt, toothbrush, razor, soap, shower sandals, toothpaste, shaving 

creme, teeny-tiny towel and an even more microscopic washcloth. As we exited the other

side, we were rushed across the pavilion into a bunk house where we dumped our gear onto 

the nearest empty bunk, changed into the PT gear as instructed and formed up again 

outside.

     A pompous looking man with stacks of ribbons on his chest was waiting on us, with what 

seemed to be a swagger stick tucked under his right arm. When we were all assembled, he 

addressed us. "Today begins your life in the Air Corps. We will train you to fly, fight, and win. 

In the air, or on the ground." And that's when the swordplay began. He put on a display of 

bladed weapon fighting technique that I have never seen rivaled. I, the most decorated 

swordsman on 4 continents. I, the head of the Air Corps saber dueling program. I, the second 

most decorated swordsman to ever live, was privileged to witness first-hand, and be trained 

by the greatest sensei of any age, General Tso!

    

Works in Progress

     One of the many things I started while I was on my nice extended vacation was a set of matched bookshelves. Real bookshelves, made out of real wood, not the prefab kind that the movers keep destroying every PCS. The first one is about half done now. The second one is still in the pre-assembly stage, which means I have cut all the pieces out, but have lots of work to do yet.
     As I have journeyed on this little adventure, I have already learned a couple things that apply not only to bookshelves, but to life. Here they are:

1) Measure once twice, cut once! If you don't want a lot of scrap wood in your life (or your garage), you are going to make sure you properly assess before committing. This is something I have said I've learned before, but it is one of those lessons that just keeps getting reinforced.

2) Plan how long you think it will take, then double or triple it. This is good advice for woodworking projects, parenting, trying new restaurants, golfing, and on and on. The applications are endless.

3) Somedays you will not actually make any visible progress. As disappointing as this is, you must persevere or you will end up with: a garage in which you can no longer park your vehicle, hundreds of dollars worth of wasted material, a disappointed spouse/parent/child/co-worker, and less willingness to take the risk and try something new down the road. YOU CAN DO IT!

4) IT WILL NOT BE PERFECT! No matter how hard you try, no matter how precise you think you are being, wood and metal will not join together in perfect harmony. But Life isn't perfect either. Prepare, do your best, but be prepared to have to make some patches or spot repairs, or even invent a brace to try and bring it back into square.

    Does anyone else have life lessons to share? Feel free to comment and we can all benefit!