Pre Memorial Day Sentimentality

Memorial Day is coming and I think it's time for me to get sentimental. To tell you the truth, I've been looking at some old photos so I think it might be beyond my control.

Anyone who has ever read this idiotic blog to its entirety would know that my dad is a Vietnam veteran. But us Anderson folk have a longer line of military tradition. And there's a little bit on my mom's side of the family too.

My grandfather on my mother's side was a Methodist minister. He died when I was six in 1991. I barely remember him. In WWII he was a young chaplain who stayed in this country, comforting the people who lost loved ones, and sometimes comforting those soldiers who came back severely wounded. I have been told his work during WWII was very rewarding, and also very taxing.

Grandpa Anderson in WWII

My grandfather on my father's side died about ten years ago. I think he was 92. In WWII he was in the Army Air Corp. He was stationed in Australia for most of the war but was moved up to one of the airbase islands near the end.

A few years before he died he was over for Thanksgiving dinner, as he usually was in the years after my grandmother died. One time he happened to mention WWII and I jumped in and asked him if he ever shot anyone. I think I was about 14 at the time. I still remember how Grandpa answered.

Grandpa, top middle

He leaned back in his chair and said that for a time his outfit was having trouble with a mischievous kangaroo that would break into a supply tent at night and make a mess of things. Finally enough was enough and Grandpa was ordered to stand guard in the tent the next night. He said that they gave him a thompson "to make sure he did the job right". I learned that a thompson was a type of machine gun.

Grandpa with my dad in 1951

Well, sure enough, the kangaroo paid a visit. Grandpa put a flashlight on the animal, aimed the machine gun, and pulled the trigger. According to my grandfather, he was totally unprepared for the power and the noise of the thompson. He said he put a line of bullet holes across the back of the tent without ever coming close to the kangaroo. According to Grandpa, he was more terrified by the thompson than was the kangaroo. But Grandpa said that the kangaroo must have gotten the message because he never returned.

Grandpa looked at me, grinned, and said, "Katie, that was my combat during WWII". I miss you Grandpa.

      

Technology Updating

I am on Tracphone and have a cheap flip phone. I have had the same phone for over five years. It was a bare-bones piece of technology then, and it has only gotten worse since. It looks like a half-used, black bar of soap and it's just about as slippery; I've dropped it several times. Once I dropped it on a sidewalk and it went into pieces. Believe it or not I was able to put it back together, and it worked. But it's an old, cheap thing and I can't do anything with it other than talk. And it's actually wearing out. The shine wore off of the the exterior several years ago.  The other day I pulled it out to make a call and someone started to laugh at it. My contract is about to run out, as are the minutes available. I've been thinking about getting something that is not obsolete.

When it comes to this type of technology, my boyfriend Terry is a little more knowledgeable than am I... okay, maybe he is a lot more knowledgeable. Still, he doesn't necessarily know how to combine the best smartphone for the money with my needs and what I am willing to spend. Right now, at 5:36 PM on Friday, I'm thinking about venturing out this weekend and buying a Samsung Galaxy S4 for around $400 or so and visiting Walmart where they have something called Straight Talk that offers unlimited text and data for about $50 a month and no contract.

More than a lack of technological expertise, I have no knowledge of plans that are available, what I will need, who is best and who is not. I am going on the advice of others. Once I get through this learning curve, I'll be faced with coming up to speed concerning all that can be done with a smartphone.

I'm paying the toll for living in my own little world of solo nature hikes, trips to a fitness center, evenings out to dinner or to a movie, or alone at home causing trouble on the Net with a glass of wine and/or bourbon at my elbow. I'm living proof that not all goofball geeks are geekish in the field of electronic technology.    

A Quick and Ill-Advised Blog Entry

I am starting on this blog entry at 11:22 PM. I just took a shower and hopefully will soon go to bed and be fast asleep. About two hours ago I took a nip of bourbon. At 11:22 I'm not entirely sober and the alcohol is probably at least partly responsible for the travesty of this blog entry. Nevertheless, here it goes...

I have a fairly new coworker. I'll call her Joan. Joan has been a fellow employee for a few months. She is about my age and single. She has a boyfriend who is a nice-looking guy. Not too long ago Joan voluntarily told me that she is a Mormon and saving herself for marriage. At the time, I thought this rather amusing and quaint. Now, after additional thought, it actually kind of annoys me.

Joan talks of her boyfriend often. She has sexual desires that she speaks of. I'd be willing to bet her boyfriend has sexual desires too. Her boyfriend is planning to go back to school and they are waiting until he finishes to get married. That's about a year away, according to Joan.

I'm not going to say anything to Joan but I think her mentality is sad and really, something of a tragedy. To be forthright, Joan, a very pretty lady, should be giving sexual pleasure, and receiving it. Instead she is tied to Mormon mythology. That's what it is; mythology. I think it is very sad. The only good thing is that I can better appreciate that I do not have such problems and am able to enjoy life to the utmost... except when the lifestyle of a fellow employee depresses me.

Maybe tomorrow I will delete this blog entry.  By then I won't have this bourbon-induced tipsiness. Don't get me wrong; I'll still be of the same opinion, I'll just have regretted writing about it.