Ohmygoodness...I just read something in one of my homework assignment readings for my new class...International Economics.

I thought it was so funny that I had to highlight it and write "HAHA" in the margins of the reading.

For globalization's enthusiasts, the cure for group hatred and ethnic violence around the world is straightforward: more markets and more democracy. Thus, after the September 11 attacks, Friedman published an op-ed piece pointing to India and Bangladesh as good "role models" for the Middle East and citing their experience as a solution to the challenges of terrorism and militant Islam: "Hello? Hello? There's a message here. It's democracy, stupid!"--"... multiethnic, pluralistic, free-market democracy."  

From Chua, Amy. Two Faces of Globalization: “A World on the Edge,” Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2002.

It's so funny, I think I'm going to post that on my facebook profile...

It must be the caffeine talking...

Hello All,

Wow. It's been awhile.  I know I didn't get to see too many people or visit too many places during this R&R timeframe, but I'm flying back to Iraq tonight.  I would've called people throughout my break, unfortunately, my cellphone decided to die on me so with it was all my minutes and phone numbers.  pain in the butt.  The bulk of break was either me worrying about homework/essays or doing homework/essays. Kind of put a real damper on it all. 

For those I got to see, it was a pleasure. If I didn't get a chance to talk to/see you, I apologize.  I didn't realize how much of a break I needed until I got home.  If anything, I just needed some time to myself to kick back and relax.

Now it's back to the grindstone.  I'm going to have to deal with writing my final 15-20 page paper for this law class while I am in transition between the US, Kuwait, and Iraq. not pretty considering how it's due in one week.

Anyways.  I wish I couldve posted some pictures too, but my camera has also been suffering from the Iraqi sand/dust, so I had problems just trying to turn it on.  Hopefully in the future, I will get to post some pics from the last few months.

I am going to miss the US.  I will be back end of this year, beginning of next year for Part II's deployment.

Peace!

IT IS FINALLY DONE.  my final paper for my first course is due in 4 hours on WebCT.  Once I submit this, I should have a  wonderful break for about 1.5 weeks before my second course on International Law begins.  This first course was titled Theory and the International System.  I had to write a 15-20 page final paper...and i've been slaving away for the past week in my office until about 0300 and still managing to show up to work on time at 0830...yes...i'm bad...no PT for me.

anyways, staying up til this god awful hour in the office has wrecked havoc on my sleep schedule.

2 days ago, I got about 3 hrs of sleep on my couch in the office.  I didnt lay down til 0300. i couldn't even conceive of making the trek back to my room in the dark.  i woke up when my 1SG came in at 0620 (not expecting to see me in the office) completely passed out on the couch...I had forgotten they were doing weigh-ins that morning, so i came stumbling out of my office all groggy, disheveled, and still in my ACUs from the day/night before.  There were all these Soldiers standing outside my office door waiting to come in so they could get weighed.  Yeah...that was embarrassing...

that same morning, one of my NCOs saw me at the end of the hallway, and from that distance he said.."oh shit...is it the night of the living dead???"  i scared myself in the mirror twice that day because I looked pallid and just plain ugly.

i've been leaving the office at about 3 AM for the past 4 nights...rough...

believe it or not, i finished my paper at about 0315, and called and woke up my Command Sergeant Major to make him proofread it through email.  yeah, you read that right.  Actually, he found out I was working on the paper at lunch yesterday, so he insisted that I wake him up when I was done so he could read it.  I warned him my target completion time would be around 3 AM.  haha. i do appreciate his help, so it's now 0403 and he is finishing up proofing it.

i can't wait to head to bed. I'm ecstatic that this weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

fantabulous...writing academic papers in a combat zone.

my abstract:

Even in its potential decline as a hegemon, America’s unipolar rule has ensured stability within the international system since the end of the Cold War. However, traditional international relations theories consistently predict unipolarity’s downfall and return to multipolarity. Despite hegemony’s stability, it is not “durable” or long-lasting. Much of my research includes academic journals and books written in the past two decades that discuss the strengths and weaknesses that face unipolarity. The issue I came across with in my research was the lack of writing in the academic world of what it would take to make hegemony more durable. My findings in the paper include the concept of “American Exceptionalism” (its democratic values that separate it from other states) and objective proposals of how American-International politics should be conducted in order to make its hegemonic rule last in a world that is globalizing.

photo dump part II or what i'd call a "pictorial diary":

Soldiers on a break...and my picture titled "cuz one just isn't enough! haven't you heard? it's the newest hottest fashion accessory right now!"

me, audrey, and coffee in the sandbox.  awesome, because there's also a picture that we took together (with coffee) in korea.

crazy captain with his costumes.  can you guess which holidays he wore them on?

when i'm not stuffing my face with iraqi food, or sleeping, or making funny faces, or doing homework, i spend my free time making fun of my First Sergeant.

artsyfartsy? not quite...but i like catching people when they're not looking...the detail comes out better if you click on the pictures themselves.

i like the first one because they're mirroring eachother, but it wasn't posed...i dig the perspective in the second one, and i like his smile in the third one.

i title this one..."pouring water over spilled battery acid" ....i like the different shades in the second one

taking a breaks

and contemplation

"duck duck goose" and....i like that one because of his smile and he wasn't posing...

cheesin...then...i have no idea what's in that pail, but it's gross...and "so this is what it feels like to get suited up like a samurai"

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