Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

I shall blog once again, thanks to the challenge beset me by Lauren

Well, I happened to be catching up on all your blogs and came across one of Lauren's and she challenged me to do this game of hers where I answer questions and then tag some of my own people to answer questions themselves. But first, lets recap the last while of my life.

As you may or may not know, I am back from Afghanistan and I am happy a cat in a 'nip field. The rest of my unit is back and it has been a drunken haze for most of them, but for me then it is very bittersweet because it means my time in the army is at a close, but I'll blog more on that later. Harry, Blake, Ned and I are going to Florida in just a few hours to visit Menard and see how he's doing and I'll update you guys on how he is if you guys want. After we see him then we'll go down to Key West for a few days and then come back to Fort Leonardwood. Blake, Harry, and Ned will go home to see their families and I'm going to get ready to get out of the army. I had some other plans I wanted to do, like visiting a friend or two in North Carolina and going to visit my sister, Megan, in West Virginia, but my ETS date(Get out date) is much earlier than I had thought so HOPEFULLY I'll be able to make my way east soon because I would honestly love it a whole lot. One thing at a time though, and right now that thing is Menard and then that thing will be Idaho.

And on to the game:
here are the rules:
1. post these rules.
2. post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged.



That picture is Dylan and I. He's from California and I'd consider him to be one of my closer friends. He is always hyped up and has the energy of a tiny yippy dog, which can be annoying, but is also one of the things that makes him awesome. He and I were in the Buffalo together for a while on the deployment and then were in the lead truck again for about another month towards the end of the deployment. I honestly have alot of pictures of the deployment I want to show off to people, but I'll get to that some other time.

1. I am the strangest sleeper. I can be EXHAUSTED and still not sleep and instead I'll sit there trying to sleep and whine about being tired. Then other times I'll be perfectly rested, sit on my bed and wake up hours later feeling like crap for sleeping so long.
2. I need to find some hobby that will actually make my tired physically. I love being lazy, but the laziness needs to be half of my life, the Jekyll to my Hyde. I need to be tired to enjoy being lazy for a while and the gym just isn't enticing enough for me to do everyday, so I need to find something else to do when I get home. Ideas?
3. I am terrible about keeping in contact with people. If you know me, then you probably know this. I may love you, but I will never talk with you. I called my family on Christmas and then the next time on Valentines. So, IF I ever do try and keep contact with you, then take it like a cat bringing you a dead mouse. It's not annoying or gross, it is my way of saying "Look at how much I love you! I got you a dead mouse!" except for that last half.
4. I can be incredibly critical of some things, like the original Star Wars vs the special editions or little errors in books and movies. This could be me and my most annoying, and I don't really like myself when I'm that way. I don't know how I get that way or how to stop it though.
5. I would die to do something in film like directing or editing(depending on how my director is. Some directors try and run the editing room, and that just seems annoying if you have a bad director) but I have no idea how to do it.
6. I may not act like it all the time, but I REALLY want to do a mission, but I am scared about how much the world will change when I'm gone.
7. I want to be proud of being in the army, but I don't want to use it to justify myself to anybody, does that make sense? Maybe I just need to find another thing to hang my hat on, too. Then I can just distract people with that.
8. I want to buy a dog when I get out of the army. Dogs are good friends.
9. I still have all my old pokemon cards. I haven't used them in a LONG time, but sometimes I get nostalgic and like to look at them.
10. I took a pass from work to play Mass Effect 3 and beat it as soon as I could and then I got to the end mission and didn't play it for 3 days because I didn't want it to end. This in no way shames me.
11. I like Buddy Holly way better than Elvis, mostly because Buddy Holly actual sang more Rock and Roll than Elvis and didn't declare himself "King" and then kill himself with drugs.


1. What is 1 thing about yourself you would change?
This is a really hard thing to say because it has brought me close to alot of friends and I've spent alot of time doing it with friends, but if I could go back to when I first got into playing video games, I wouldn't play them. It would completely change who I am and probably who my friends are but I don't think it would be a bad change. I think it would help keep my in a better work ethic all the time and I feel like I spend alot of time playing games now just because it is the only way to talk to some of my friends that are farther away. I don't know, its a complex subject, to me.
2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I don't see myself in any location because I'm pretty flexible on that, but I'm pretty sure it won't be Idaho, to be honest. The closer I've gotten to being there then the more I've realized I'm young and still need to do some other stuff in life, including going other places. Not only that, who ever heard of an award winning director living in Idaho? I do like to think that I'm done with my mission and climbing the ladder of film, but probably not directing yet, but getting up there and gaining experience and still with the drive to do it. Other than that, I'm pretty flexible to what life has to offer me.
3. Dogs or cats?
I'm a pretty big person for both of them, but I think dogs take the cake. Cats are great and will be your friend when you need a friend, but they will also be your friend when you don't need one and try and get on your lap, eat your food, ect. I think dogs love you all the time, but they're cool to just sit around near you and wait to go on a walk with you. They can get all riled up to play and run around but they can give you your space. Plus less people are allergic to dogs. Also, dogs won't lay on my dress pants right after I get them out of the dryer and get hair all over them.
4. Favorite vacation?
Honestly, I haven't been on a whole lot. Ever since I joined the army then every time I took leave then I've gone home. That's been a pretty good time every time though, so I don't regret it, but I'm happy to go to Florida so that I will have done something. Honestly, Afghanistan was pretty fun in hindsight, so let's put that down for now. Ask me again in a week and a half though.
5. Tell me a secret.
Well, that doesn't end in a question mark and if I put it here then it won't REALLY be a secret, now will it? But I'll put something on here that is a small secret then I'll message you with another and that should appease the blogging gods. I almost never go to church in MO because I hate the ward here. Its the reason I always buy new dress clothes when I go home on leave. I know it's a stupid reason to not go to church, but I HATE being around people in the military mindset ALL THE TIME. It's the reason why everyone in the unit calls me "Jesus" or "Phill" instead of "Cripe" and it's the reason why I change my clothes as soon as I get home from work and why all of my gear is in the back of my closet where I will never see it unless I need it and it's the reason why I will never wear my Dress Uniform to a wedding or anything like that unless I am asked by someone important to me and it is important to them.
6. if you could spend the day with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
Oooooo, this is a tough one. On one hand, I'd love to spend it with someone as insanely quotable and amazing as Winston Churchill. He has some of my all time favorite quotes and was such an amazing leader, but he would also probably just want to drink, and that could be boring for me. Then there are the people like Steve Young and Harrison Ford who I would just fanboy out over being around them and probably just annoy them even though I'm sure they're polite enough to stick around while I stare wide-eyed at them for 24 hours. Then there are those people who actually are in my life, or were at one point and it would be nice to hang out with them again for a day but we just never get the chance because of work or timing or all sorts of things. I think I might end up hanging out with Mark Hamil, because he was Luke Skywalker AND the Joker and he is a really down to Earth person, who is polite enough to let me fanboy on him and then hang out with me when I'm done and talk to me about him on Broadway and his lesser known roles. Tough question though.
7. Who's your celebrity crush?
Hayley Williams, hands down. Aside from being the lead singer in Paramore, she's insanely cool and not all fruity like a bunch of celebrities. She doesn't drink(because it's bad for her voice, her words not mine) and doesn't swear all the time and hasn't gotten all big headed over how popular she is. She's pretty awesome, in my book.
8. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
Spaghetti. I don't eat it all the time now, but I feel like I could. Not only that, with Spaghetti then you're getting noodles, some ground beef, some mushrooms, some olives, all sorts of delicious things. And it's way filling for me, I always make too much but since I don't own anything to store it in then I have to eat it all and always feel like I'm going to throw up all night after I'm done. So worth it though.
9. Current favorite song?
*opens iTunes to look at songs to try and narrow down field*
I'm not really sure if I have a current favorite, so I'm going to go with Your Love by The Outfield. This song is always going to mean so much to me, it was our platoon roll out song during Iraq and started as our Platoon's roll out song in Afghanistan but was basically adopted by the whole company. So, every day we would roll outside the wire then we would play that song over the radio and we would all sing along to it at the top of our lungs and the gunners would dance in the turrets, haha. It's always going to be associated with the good times I've had with my friends and will always remind me of my deployments, good parts and bad.
10. What's your guilty pleasure?
Anime. Harry totally got me hooked on this outrageously long one called One Piece and I love it, and now me and him watch all sorts of anime shows together. It may seem stupid to you, but I sure like it. I don't watch near as much as him, but there are a few I will watch including one that we used to watch every Monday when it came out. We would get buck doubles from BK and go to my house and watch it and then when it was over then it was time to Chuck to come on and we'd watch that.
11. Lauren didn't put an 11th question so I'm just going to steal the one she had to answer. Favorite quote?
When you're going through hell, keep going.


Now, for my victims:
1. What is your scariest moment with an animal?
2. If you had to survive off one liquid that wasn't water then what would you choose?
3. What is the most dear to you, excluding living things and photo albums and journals?
4. If you were to become famous then how would you want it to happen? As in be an Actor/actress, musician, ect.
5. Did the furnace in The Brave Little Toaster scare you when you were a kid?
6. If you could change anything about your spouse then what would it be?(all my people in mind are married)
7. If you found out you were crazy then would you try and fight the crazy on your own or would you put yourself in an institution?
8. If you are ever investigated by the FBI or CIA are you worried about what they would find in your life?
9. If you were on Fear Factor and you had to eat bugs or something else gross then could you do it for $50,000?
10. How often do you get halfway through your day and then suddenly realize that you forgot to do something hygienic in the morning, such as put on deodorant or brush your teeth?
11. If you were put on "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" then how far do you think you could make it?

And the contestants will be:
Whitni Scholes
Katie Cross
and The Unholy Trifecta(Haley, Megan and Melinda)

5 comments:

  1. Wow, I really enjoyed this post, Phillip. My favorite part was your answer part, plus the "Unholy Trifecta" title for your sisters, rofl.
    I'm so happy that you are able to go down to FLA to see your injured friend. You will probably love Key West!
    Btw, I don't think Elvis proclaimed himself "King," for what it's worth. And I, also, like Buddy Holly's music and story more. I don't know anything much about B. Holly's personality, other than being original and independent, but I totally love that Elvis had a great sense of humor, he always loved and honored his mother, was very respectful and even reverent towards sacred things, and was earnestly searching to know more about what the purpose and meaning of life is.
    (I also loooved Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story!)

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  2. PS I agree about the shedding of the fur cat problem; on the other hand, cats don't need to be "taken for a walk to accomplish their toilette, and they can be left to themselves while you go on a trip. Plus, their breath is usually pretty good compared to dog breath. :)
    I like that a dog can protect you and go on adventures with you. Dogs are great if you live in the country, even invaluable, if they stay on your property and don't run the neighbor's cattle.
    Our best cat/dog pets over the years, including my own pets, were: Sylvester (a cat), Stubby (a dog), Band-Aid (a dog), Pepper (a cat), Pepsi (a dog), Sing Sing (a cat), Rumford (a cat), Pork Chop (a cat), April (a dog), Butterscotch (a dog), Tar Baby (a cat), Rebel (a dog), and Snowball (a dog), and Misty (a cat), and Mittens (a cat), and Leto (a dog), and Fluffy (a cat), and Captain (a dog), and Scamp (a dog), and Elephant, Sneakers, Lickey-Purr and Mildred (all cats), and on and on, just naming the good ones. You can see that it's been about half and half for us. The best pet I ever had, tho, was Sylvester, the cat. He kept himself very clean, so shedding wasn't a problem, and was an amazing pet.
    Anyway, that's what I think. I used to love animals so much, it was crazy!

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  3. PSS And the Shelties we had were good, too (except that Maggie turned psycho on us, being so jealous and protective).

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  4. You'd pick a dog over a cat?! Oh, dogs are all cute and all, but really they pee in the house so much more than cats and they have hair that they leave everywhere too. Also, not all cats hold you down hostage with their purring and nails of death like Jasmine! Although, I do have to agree with you on the laying on the pants right out of the dryer thing. Cats love clean clothes! Every time I sew a quilt then Asia claims it real quick.
    That was really fun reading your questions and answers! I'm glad you picked me to respond. I am in the middle of responding to Tara's same kinda thing, so maybe I will finish hers and then move on to yours. Or maybe just do them all together.
    Oh, about the church thing.... I remember at 16 going to mom and Doc's church classes because I didn't want to go to mine. The teenagers all seemed soooo fake and hard to be around. And sometimes in the singles ward I wouldn't want to go because it really was like a meat market! So, I feel your pain. And the mission thing.... I've realized the world moves on no matter what we are doing. I am going to be 50 (hopefully I make it that long) no matter what I do with my life so I might as well do something good! My one regret in life so far is not serving a mission.
    What else.....
    We are trying to teach Aiden the value in using his time wisely, so playing video games some, then working and playing other things too. Hope it is sinking in.
    I don't know who that is that you have a celebrity crush on, but if you ever marry a celebrity you should pick Taylor Swift!
    What does Trifecta mean? :)
    Oh, and can I come with you on your celebrity interview? And pick Harrison Ford!!!

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  5. Oh... and I love Elvis!!!
    AND..... Do you realize Asia is almost eleven and her greatest adventure was when we moved across the country and she had to live in a one room motel with us for months? other than that, she has been in our house for YEARS. How is she not bored? So glad I am not a cat.

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