My life is now sharply focused on two numbers – the descending count of days left in Iraq (Inshallah) and the ascending count of Fahrenheit (or Celsius) degrees. The more important, obviously, is two digits (hence the title – 2 digit midget, a classic short timer’s moniker) - 67 day or 2 months, 1 week or 1608 hours. The painful one is three digits – 102°F / 38.9°C at noon today. It isn’t even mid-May…
I must apologize for my inability to publish anything after “The Hurt Cubicle” entry. That experience was everything I had feared it would be and more. The only blessing was that somehow my boss was not delayed by the Icelandic “Cloud of Certain Death.” He arrived within 24 hours of his much anticipated (by me, anyway) estimated return day. It will take beers (as in, you buying me) to hear the stories of my own Mister Roberts-type adventure. I haven't felt that way, professionally, since my 2LT misadventures of leading a mechanized combat engineer platoon through the German forests trying to find a dug in infantry battalion - whose goal it is not to be seen/heard/found - in the middle of the night.
Needless to say, it is always darkest before the dawn. I hadn't seemed to recover, until recently and then only partially. It seems I implemented some great ideas as the Director which has added to my own work load now – ironic isn’t it? I have also picked up the guitar again for the first time with any real commitment since the third grade. So far Sandy hasn’t seemed too impressed via Skype but I blame bandwidth issues for making notes seem to appear out of order, poorly formed, etc.
Are these good reasons to deny my readers new entries, some potentially rivaling the classics- “My Precious,” “CHUelves,” “Afterbirth of a Nation”? Yes. (If you expected more of an answer it really is your own fault, you should know better by now.)
Keep your eye on the latest chapter of Iraqocracy. It could still go any number of ways – 51% are marginally good, 52% are really bad, 3% nobody can tell. You might thoughtfully remark, “But Chris, that adds up to 106%.” That’s Iraqocracy in action right there, baby! I can’t even tell you which party block I hope forms the government; my Iraqi expat friends spin every candidate and every party differently. My gut says Iraqiya with Allawi, but I lack a great foundation to build that opinion upon.
Could the next BenRep be an international edition? Tune in next week to find out.
In the meantime, check out these albums (click on the link next to the picture):
2 comments:
'Bout time! Good to hear you made it to the other side of the "Hurt Cubicle". And you're on for that beer.
After the award-winning "Hurt Cubicle," I was eagerly awaiting your next brilliant post. But, as you point out, I should have known better. In addition, I think you need to let the critics have their say about the BenRep classics. I, for one, will not overlook the time you got caught with the Hooters Girls, and posted a bunch of PR mumbo-jumbo to try to get out of it. Then there was the junket to Tikrit, or wherever, when you got caught holding hands with the kooky Russian electrician. You've got 65 days to top those two . . . and I'll buy the beer if you can do it.
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