This was one of my favorite sci-fi books growing up.  I hope that the movie is half as good as the novel.

Z

Oh yes, I did!

It was delicious!

Z

Navimie of The Daily Frostwolf – Druid Edition poked me yesterday, reminding me that it had been 3 weeks since my last update!

While I do write for you, I also write for myself. I have a great personal perceived need to put this on (digital) paper.

Fair Warning – This post exceeds 1200 words.

A few people know what position I’m going for in the USAF.  Most don’t, however.  There is a reason for that. I’ve stayed relatively anonymous on my blog since it’s inception.  I especially don’t go into my RL job very often.

As far as I can remember, I’ve never actually mentioned what I do.

Again, there is a reason.

You see, I’ve worked in the area of Religion/Church for around 15 years.

That should be enough to scare most people away.

As you can imagine, I’m trying to enter the USAF as a Chaplain.

If everything goes as planned, I will start out as a (most likely) a Captain (O3).  I’ve got great military references on my application, great work experience, and a great education.  Thus far, I’ve excelled in everything they’ve asked of me.

At least, until I got to MEPS.

TLD;R – Z needs a Dental Waiver. MEPS was quite an experience!

The Chief Medical Officer seemed pretty positive that I would get one; but that still makes me currently “unfit for service.”  It will be 3-4 weeks before I find out whether or not I get one.

If I don’t get one, then I believe I will still be given the opportunity to get things fixed on my own. That means we’ll be spending a healthy amount of $$$ to get everything fixed.

I’m extremely embarrassed about the whole thing.

That being said, the process was quite an experience!

It wasn’t fun. It was high stress. Not every MEPS employee was the perfect example of professional courtesy.  But, I’m not going to belabor that point.

Instead, I just want to give a description of what I went through (with a slightly positive bent).

First, not everything was in working order.  You see, I was my Officer Ascensions recruiter’s first Officer to ever put through. He basically told me to do everything he tells the enlisted folks to do.  The problem is that Officers are (usually) different.  I was told that I would only need my ID and SS card.  However, I knew that I would also need my eyeglasses prescription as well.

Note – if you wear glasses/contacts, not only do you need your prescription (a complete,detailed account of your examination) from your doctor; BUT there is a special form for it to be written on. I had never heard of this form until I got to MEPS! At the same time, they never actually showed me the form.  In the end, the Chief Medical Officer accepted the prescription.

I was told to show up to the hotel the night before check-in at 7:00pm. Then I would need to be sure to show up at MEPS by 5:00am the next morning.

I got to the hotel and I was the only Officer candidate there.  The liaison saw me, and asked me to remind my OA recruiter to remember to list me as an Officer candidate.  Yeah, I wasn’t expected.

Hey, at least I got my own room!

Went and had dinner with the other (enlisted) recruits, did a cardio work out in the hotel gym, then went to the 8:30pm briefing.

Basically, the briefing was an overview on how they expected everyone to act while at the hotel.

There were about 30-50 of us there. I could count on one hand the number of people over the age of 20 (I’m 39).

Got up around 3:00am. Had breakfast at 4:00am. Got to MEPS (via my own car) at 5:00am.

The Army Major that met us was pleasant enough. He wasn’t rude. He did use a loud voice, but I wouldn’t say that he “yelled” at us.  He did speak rather quickly, while reminding us repeatedly to not waste his time.

We lined up, went through security to get in, and made our way to our Service Liaison office.

Where, you stand in line again.  This was often repeated through out the day.  You learn new meaning to the phrase, “Hurry up and wait!”

When I finally got to the desk, the USAF personnel, saw my name-tag; and promptly asked, “Why are you hear so early!?”

That’s right. It turns out they prefer Officer types to show up around 9-10am.  I knew this was going to be the start of an interesting day.

I signed in, went and put my stuff in a locker (you did bring .25 cents, right?!), and then went to wait in a cafeteria where they gave us our paperwork/file.

From there, we went to the Control Desk to sign in officially with MEPS.  There was a little problem with my finger prints. For some reason my thumb wouldn’t take. But, they fixed that later.

Ok, I’m going to shorten this a little bit.  There were a couple of problems early on.  First, the finger print not taking. There were also a couple of digits mixed up in my Social Security #.

Once that was squared away, I could get on with it.

There was another briefing, where they got us to fill out paper work…again.

Near the end of the briefing, we were individually asked what branch we were going into, and which position we were trying out for.

Yes, MEPS is basically a job interview.  We were reminded of this multiple times.

This is where everyone there learned that I was going for the Chaplaincy.  I assumed that everyone from there on out would avoid me like the plague.

Guess what…I was wrong.

This was the interesting thing which my mind keeps coming back to.  Even in the midst of this high stress situation.  In this experience where everything changed every 5 minutes.  In this experience where there was always someone telling you want to do in a rapid fire fashion; I was still sought out.

The average age of the recruits was 18. I saw a large number of 17, 18 and 19 year olds.

It was hard to believe how the young men and women (17-18yr olds) actually sought me out and opened up to me. It always started the same way:

Enlisted Recruit, “You wanna be a Chaplain?”

Me, “Yes. I’m really hoping for it.”

Recruit, “What does a Chaplain do?”

Me, “Well, I would basically act like a Pastor or Priest in the military.  I would be able to do services, but I would also do quite a bit of counseling.”

Recruit…following a brief pause…, “I’m going through X. What do you think about X?”

It ran the gambit from Vocational Counseling, Parental Counseling, Marital Counseling, and etc.

While I found quite a bit that was frustrating concerning the overall MEPS experience; I was utterly humbled to be of service to the young men and women there.

So, on the negative: When it came to MEPS, the “right hand didn’t know what the left had was doing.” I failed the dental exam, and will need a Dental Waiver to join the USAF.

However, on the plus side: I made my weight, aced almost everything. I also had an opportunity to minister (which totally surprised me).  One friend even pointed out how this could be interpreted as a verification of my call to go into the USAF as a Chaplain.  He noted, “You’re not even in, and you’re already acting like one!”

Z

Any ideas?

Zwingli

After reading BBB’s post on Dino-Island, I was ready for a long painful time of not-so-successful Dino-taming.

For some reason, I thought that with the drop of the Ancient Tome of Dinomancy might take a while.  I ended up getting it from the third Zandalari Dinomancer I dropped.

To say that I was a bit excited would be an understatement.  I’ve wanted to tame a dinosaur since I got stomped by the Devilsaur in Vanilla WoW.  That we were able to later on was great! But, I still wanted a Triceratops.  They’ve always been my favourite dino.

I can’t believe I forgot to get a screeny, but I found this pic on WoWhead.  Here s/he is:

He matches my current transmog.

I don’t have a name for him/her, and I’m taking nominations!

Still, I’m blessed. Not just because I found this little guy, but in general as well.

I hope that you are too.

Z

While people can play WoW as a solo gamer, I believe that something is missed in solo play.

Don’t get me wrong, I leveled solo with my first character, all the way to 60 (Vanilla WoW).  I didn’t get into group play until the Burning Crusade expansion.

Instancing and Raiding isn’t the full extent of the Social aspect of the game.  We can’t forget guilds, pvp teams, and many other social aspects (some character generated) of the game.

These things add a depth to the game, that solo players don’t experience.

I saw a dusty track in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms the other day.  I knew that meant Portent was up!  I already have the purple/blue and red version of this wonderful pet.

So, I track him down, mark him; and it was one I already have.

What do I do?  I immediately get on guild chat, to see if any lvl 90 hunters are on.

Turns out, one was alting around; and he was able to get on his lvl 90, get to the Vale, and tame Potent!

His taming of the pet was just as satisfying for me, as me taming the pet!

I helped a guildie; and that was a wonderfully satisfying experience.

Grats Ivanho!

WoW is experience better, together.

Z

I just received a call from the recruiter.  My application has made it past the review board, and now I’m officially into Phase 3 of the process!

From what he told me, it means this:

1. More paper work.
2. A local recruiter is going to contact me to help facilitate a few things… like…
3. MEPS! Which may happen in April.

Assuming that 1-3 go well, I may be heading to COT at the end of May!!!!!  I thought it may be August, but he said May.  On top of it, there is a good chance that I may get in as a Captain (03).

You wouldn’t believe how my hands are shaking as I type this!

So, these are my goals:

1. Get into as great of shape as I can between now and MEPS.
2. Get any, and all, paper work done (asap).
3. Make sure my files (electronic and paper) are up to date.
4. Don’t slack in my current position (job), just because I may be gone in 3-4 months.

I’m sure that I’m missing something, but that will work for now.

Z

Z

I first ran across it here: NerdFitness.com, “How to Level Up in the Game of Life.”

To be honest, my main faults tend to revolve around procrastination and lack of motivation.  I’ll use any little Jedi mind-trick I can get my hands on to make things work.

I’ve been thinking about what it would be like if ran my life like a game?  How would I view things?  How would I gain experience levels?

While I’ve played many computer games (not so many console games); my current game of choice is World of Warcraft.  Naturally, I’m going to think of things in terms of WoW.

The categories I’m going to use are:

Dailies, Class Quests/Goals, Hobby Quests, and Reputations.  These will probably be interrelated.

Dailies, 5% xp Gain

I think Daily Quests are things that I do, for particular reasons, on a daily basis.

I know, it’s rocket science!

I can have Daily Quests associated with my Class (think Vocation) Quests/Goals, Hobby Quests and definitely Reputation grinds.

So, for instance: One of my Daily Quests is to go Work Out.

I think this falls into a few categories.  This comes under my Class Quest, for sure. You see, I need to be at a particular level of fitness to gain admittance into the Air Force.  This Daily Quest (Working Out) directly relates to my overall Class Quest (Vocational Goal).

Part of my current position is regular Public Speaking/Relations.  Simply put, I need to constantly be working on the next speech.  This is updating research, finding proper illustrations, etc.  This is literal, “Study Time,” that has to be done almost every day.

Part of Public Relations is that you are in constant PR mode in everyone you meet.  Think of it this way, it is a Rep grind for the company!  Not only do I gain rep when I meet with a potential client/donor; but the company gains (or loses) rep as well.  So, not only do I need to schedule regular appointments with different people (Celestial Dailies?) through the week, but my interpersonal skill gets better with every meeting I engage in.  So, this would be related to Rep Grind and partially the overall Class Quest.  But, this is something I try to engage in every couple of days, if not on a daily basis.

Class Quest, 50-100% xp Gain

The Class Quest would be my overall Vocational Goal.

Granted, when I started playing WoW these tended to be mount quests for Warlocks and Paladins.  As a Hunter, I was horribly saddened that we didn’t get a cool mount quest.  But, we did get the Taming Quests, which I enjoyed immensely.

Using the USAF as an example; the first major hurdle is getting in.  After that, each major quest may be related to Promotions within the Ranks.  If I’m ever sent away on a remote duty tour; that would be a side quest; or maybe a bonus quest – leading towards that future promotion.  Since the average retirement rank for the position I’m seeking is a Colonel (06), I think it is ok to think of each promotion as either being worth 1/2 a level, or even a full level.

Lets face it, assuming I get in; each promotion might be 3-4 years coming.  Of course, I’m pulling that out of the air.  I could be wrong about the timeline.

Other things that would fall under this category would be advanced training, certifications and education.  Depending upon what I’m doing, I can break these down into dailies, intermittent, or even larger quests/goals.

 Hobby Quests – 5% xp Gain

When I think of Hobby Quests, I think of things that I find useful (and maybe even fun).  These could benefit me in multiple ways.  They can be Class related, or not.  They could be Rep related, or not.  They could be about expanding my…whatever!  In WoW, these are considered ”Professions,” and can include things like Leather Working, Black Smithing, First Aid, Cooking, Fishing etc.  While some things like Leather Working might have a direct benefit to the player; you don’t really have to have Fishing as a “needed” skill.

I still do it, because I enjoy it!  But, I’m weird that way.

A real life Hobby would be something like taking up guitar, karate, cooking classes, working out, etc.  These are all thing I may enjoy and gain some benefit from.

Notice, I put “working out” in this category as well.  Truth be told, I actually enjoy it.  While the USAF requires me to be physically fit, my current job does not.  I would still work out, but it would be considered more a hobby; and less of a “need” if not for my USAF aspirations.

Reputation Quests – 10-50% xp Gain

For me, the ultimate Rep grind was the original Wintersaber Mount quests.  It was just evil.

Now, why in the world would I have Rep quests equal to 10-50% of experience?

We all know that some req quests in WoW don’t give out squat!

I’m looking at you Golden Lotus Dailies!

But, I’m thinking of real life stuff right now.  There are some Reputations that I greatly value.

For instance, I greatly value my “Rep” with my family.  If anything, I could use the word Social Interaction, Relationship, or any number of identifiers in place of “Reputation” here.  But, I’m sticking with what I know.

I have a “Rep” with everyone in my family.  Things I do either help me gain rep, or might actually detract from what I have.

For instance, when I help my wife with family related chores; she is happier with me!  (+100 w/ the Wife Faction!)

What if I was stupid enough to commit adultery? (-100,000,000 w/ Wife Faction)

What if I show up to my kids events, teach them how to play ball, heck – just play with them at night! (+100 w/ Child Faction)

What if I’m stupid enough to demean and abuse my children? (-100,000,000 w/ Child Faction, -1000,000,000 w/ Wife Faction, ”Lock Up Immediately” w/ Law Enforcement Faction)

I’ve often said, “If I fail at being a Husband and a Father; then I fail at life.”

I truly mean that.  That highlights the importance of my Reputation Quests.  I need to do regular things (lets call them Relationship Maintenance) to keep my Reputation with my family maxed out.  These can take the forms of Dailies, or even larger intermittent Quests (Think Birthdays, Anniversaries, Milestones, etc.).

I already mentioned the idea of Reputation with (and on behalf of) my job.  I would probably put those around the “10% xp gain.”

Finally

There you have it.  My rough idea concerning Leveling Up my Life.

My next thing “to do,” is to make a list of my dailies.  That list should contain what the daily is, and which category it most impacts.  Then, I can determine if there needs to be a realignment of my dailies to accurately portray my priorities and values.

What about you? If you were to level up your life; what would it look like?

Z

Gellato!

Big, Green, Gelatinous!

Get them now, while the getting is good!

Z