Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Paintballing is always an interesting experience for me. It’s fun, and a great way to bond with friends. Friendships, in my experience, are often forged under fire, or at least situations of difficulty. In my adventures this year, friends have really proved themselves when they stuck through times of hardship. There are a select few that, to me, have been crucial. Pushing through hard times would not have been possible without them. My battle buddies. And paintballing exemplifies that…

Beyond that, paintballing has been an excellent exercise for leadership for me. The game is naturally chaotic, and almost naturally, I step up to organize the attack a little more. Most of the people on my team takes to my planning well, and the plans usually work. What’s better is that because we have coordination, everyone has more fun.

One thing that I realized about leadership through paintballing…leadership requires not just leaders, but doers, too. That is why there are officers and enlisted men. The visionaries, and the ones to carry out the vision. The ones that make decisions, and the ones that follow through. Neither is better than the other, as both are crucial to the mission and success.

Attack plan for next 48 hours:
-Tonight: Feint studying
Tomorrow
-8 AM: Set up base of fire on OBJ A (Econ 421 final)
Flanking assault on Obj A
-12 PM:1 hour stand down (Hangout time!)
-Medical evaluations (Doctor’s appt.)
-Prepare for movement to OBJ B (job interview)
-3 PM: Public transit insertion assault on OBJ B
-Regroup and Extract
-RTB (Go home) and retrieve fast attack vehicle (Parent’s Camry)
-8PM: Movement to Portland for OBJ C (MEPS)
Friday
-5:30 AM: Begin infiltration of OBJ C (MEPS Physical)
-11:00 AM: Finish mission, RTB (Eugene)
-2 PM: Tactical Action Training (Paintballing)
-9:15 PM: R and R (TBA)

This guy came into work and had the best British accent ever! It made my morning.
“Just sign right here.”
“Oh, cheers!”

Don’t get me wrong, I love America and the American people. But we are boring people. Our society values hard work, professionalism, and efficiency. It says nothing about being genuinely friendly, open, or welcoming. Chatting with the student worker at the library would be viewed as inefficient. Smiling and saying hi to a stranger walking down the street is weird or awkward.

Compared to us downtrodden, business-like, and no-nonsense Americans, a British accent every once in a while is a nice relief.

I had a dream that I played football for the Ducks. I was somewhat of a Jordan Kent, I could run, but handled the ball only a little better than Edward Scissorhands.

Dreams sometimes have a lot of relevance to our waking hours. Our mind isn’t inhibited by reason and rationale when we are asleep, and it allows us to fantasize, think what we wanted to think, or express the thoughts and feelings that we weren’t able to during the day.

What’s the most prevalent and meaningful dream that you remember?