Violin, S'mores, and OPSEC

(04/05SEP) I will not be able to post this entry for another day or so, but I figure I may as well continue to write and then post it later.  I do not really feel like writing at the moment, but I am telling myself that by writing when I don’t want to write I am actually exercising my mind more because I have to think harder to come up with something to write.  My logic is most likely completely wrong, but at least I feel better.

            Yesterday morning the chaplain came over to my desk and asked if I had any pictures that I wanted to include in a slide-show that will play in the background while I play violin at the upcoming concert.  Though I do remember agreeing to perform in another concert and knew at the time that the concert would be in September, September was always so far in the future that I pushed the thought of it to the back-burner of my mind and only occasionally allowed it to resurface for a brief moment before I once again banished it to the “Task for sometime in the future but not soon enough to care about” list.  The chaplain’s request caught me completely off guard and I suddenly had to dive into the far reaches of my mind to quickly brush the dust off the event.  I have spent the past day trying to think up a piece to play, but I can not think of anything.  Perhaps I will resort to the same measures I used last time and enlist the help of my friend Rob.  I wish I could email him right away and ask if he has any ideas and/or if we could meet up to brainstorm together, but the commo blackout is preventing me from reaching him.    

            The s’more making party was a success on Sunday evening.  Seven people ended up coming, which turned out to be the perfect number because there were exactly enough seats for everyone.  There are still some marshmallows and plenty of chocolate and graham crackers left over, so there will most likely be a second s’more gathering.

            Yesterday CPT P pointed out that I do not talk a lot about my family on my blog.  I know first hand how easily information about a person and their family members can be found on the internet without any cost, having produced an OPSEC example for the commanders just a few weeks ago. I can only guess how much more information can be obtained through payment and so my lack of talking a lot about my family and mentioning last names of people is my feeble attempt to protect their privacy.  Of course, my attempt is most likely futile because if someone really wanted to know then they could still put the different pieces together and figure everything out.  

            My writing 1000 words a day seems to have developed into writing 1000 words every-other day due to time constraints.  I sit down and write when I have a spare moment, but then a task arises that I have to attend to and so I do not get around to writing again until the following day. 

            This morning I got up for a run and when I stepped outside I was pleasantly surprised to find that for a split-second I was actually almost cold.  The weather was perfect for running, although my run yesterday morning was better than today’s run.  On Sunday I ate lunch with one of the people on the praise team and we got on the topic of running.  I mentioned how I am not very fond of running and have never been extremely good at it.  He suggested the same thing that my Dad has been telling me for years, which is that I should try running for a few minutes and then take a walk break and continue this process throughout the course of my run.  Walking and running utilize different muscle groups and so I will be able to run further and for a longer time before tiring.  Although I do sprint intervals occasionally, I have not made a habit of going on runs where I take walk-breaks.  Yesterday morning I tried the technique for the first time and found that I enjoyed my run more and actually ran faster when I was running, though I only had time for a 50 min run.  At one point when I was passing a group of runners one of them called out to me that I was running at a fairly fast speed, whereupon I had to turn my head back and admit that I was only running for two minutes intervals and then walking for a minute.  It still felt good passing people.