The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

A+++++

Now what do you consider a long walk? How far can one go before saying O my, I think I’ve had a long walk today. What are the bounds to which you can push yourself before you just feel like you can’t go on one more step because you have walked all the way to those outer bounds and you would rather face death than continue on? When I was running the Rock & Roll country music marathon, I felt that 12 miles I trekked to the end with a leg cramp was more than long enough. Can you imagine turning that long walk into a year. Can you even begin to fathom that, because I couldn’t until I read this story. This true life story that is heart breaking and full of such heart. Heart is the only word I can give for it, because if anyone taking a year long walk would probably need quite a bit of heart to make it all that way.

If you can imagine for a second here, what they must have been through, let me try to put it in terms everyone can understand. If I were to walk the Appalachian trail, which extends from Maine to the Southern tip of Georgia it would probably take me four full months to go all the way and I would have to be an avid walker averaging around 30-40 miles a day.

Now taking a whole year I could walk the Appalachian trail down, back, and down again! Not to mention that when these men started their journey they left from the Southern tip of Siberia in the middle of the winter. In suffering conditions they went on their way with little to nothing in supplies. That by far is the most astounding. They fell through ice in the middle of the winter and had to suffer through crossing frozen streams in the ice cold. If this tale wasn’t true I could never imagine it.

Now Slavomir Rawic was a polish calvary officer at the beginning of World War 2, and he along with many other Polish men were captured and accused of being spies to Russia. Although the accusations were false these men went through pure torture from their arrest, until they ended up at a Siberian labor camp (Camp 303)  near the Southern tip of Russia. It took  them over a month to get there by train from Moscow and crammed in cattle cars!

After being at the camp for several months Slavomir decides that he must escape and finds a gang of people to do it with him. After they work out their plan and do their deed they must now secretely walk all the way through Russia, Mongolia, the Gobi desert, and the Himilaya mountains to India where they know they will be saved from Russian rule.

The most stunning part of the book was their trek through the Gobi Desert. Walking and walking for days without food and water. Not being able to eat or drink and only being able to get up and walk through sand. That must be the worst of all the tortures. When they finally decide to eat the snakes they see around this is the only thing that can save them.

Their last journey through the Himilaya mountains from the hot desert of the Gobi to the freezing temperature of the Himilaya’s, they encounter what could quite possibly have been the yeti or the abominable snow monster.

The most saddening part of the book is the end when they finally reach safety. When their minds betray them after all of the suffering and when they are finally okay they cannot help but keep living as they have lived. Its even more saddening that the survivors were unable to keep in touch with each other after they moved on with their lives. In the end had I the heart and depth to go that far to reach safety, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. An entire year is a long time and one in which suffering can pay a tool.

Overall this book was heart piercing, it had me laughing and crying. The entire story was enjoyable and shocking, especially his time spent at the Russian jail with torturer’s. Put in the same situation, if I were asked to leave a manual labor camp that I was sentenced to for twenty five years, for only the slightest possibility of surviving, I would most definitely take the offer. I would rather die trying than with no fight left in me at all.

A gripping tale…. A most gripping tale.

Aspiring Video Game Character.

Screen shot from Half Life 2. hahaha.

The Cake is a Lie. Like We Weren’t Already Aware.

Here I am, referencing one of the basic most epic games to come from the orange box and I can’t help myself. God knows we all love portal. Yes its a one day challenge but it was almost better to play then half life 2 or team fortress. The sick sense of sarcasm that this game provides us was enough to make it an instant favorite and success among gamers everywhere.

One of my favorite lines [and I suppose this is mostly spawned off of a good friend who introduced me to the game and quickly made me know and love the game] would be “I will not stop enhancing the truth”. That is amazing.

One of the funniest stories I have about portal is making fun of said friend [noted above] and laughing about him playing the game. Let me set the mood for you. He’s all alone, in a dark room, with the small glow of a lamp barely visible behind the desktop. He is gripping the mouse and as he clips away through the levels of the game he is laughing creepily and neurotically to himself. eh ehh ehhhh. It is a fond memory I have and one we have spent many a day laughing over in the past.

I guess you might have had to have been there to understand but I can write what I want and you can choose to read it if you take a liking to it.

So for once and for all, as it always will be “THE CAKE IS A LIE” “THE CAKE IS A LIE” “THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!”

O yes and I would also like to note that during the portal review on zero punctuation, the Australian could not find one thing wrong with this game. He even says yeah I can’t say anything more about this game. That in my opinion is a great review, since he is always bashing something or other. Portal, you rock and this is a long awaited tribute to you that should have been written much earlier!

Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 Same Day Release.

For all to the Left 4 Dead fans, it will be a great day on November 17th when the sequel is released in stores everywhere and you can jump right back into the zombie killing action. Yeeha! And for all the medieval fans [or should I say people who wish to find out medieval things by tapping into other DNA] out there that are interested in real game interaction Assassin’s Creed 2 will be released that day. So, there will be fun for everyone everywhere. You better run out and pre order a copy of your choice now so when its released you can jump right into the action.

Assassin’s Creed 2 will hopefully be better then ever and there is a huge expectancy surrounding this game. We were in love with the interaction that Assassin’s Creed had to offer, like doing things out of the ordinary attracted the normal passeby’s attention and you couldn’t just go crazy out there, you had to act cool or people would wander about you and stand down under a building as you walked across the roof saying O my what is that man doing up there?!?

I will always remember the era that surrounded its first release and the excitement as I watched videos about it online. Now, there is another buildup as the time ticks down to the sequel. All we can hope is that its not nearly as repetitive as the first one and that after working their way through the first one they can bring back a second one bigger and better than ever. Altaïr Ibn you are bad ass, and I enjoy playing you. Love the sword. This is a game to be excited over.

And of course we can’t forget about Left 4 Dead.

Thanks to Machinima who makes some of the best video game videos ever, I can supply you with a Left 4 Dead 2 Trailer. If you aren’t excited about the game, you will be now.

Just one Question… IS THAT TYRA BANKS AS A ZOMBIE??!??? Because I’m willing to bet that it is and she totally takes a head shot. hahaha.

Enjoy the trailers and get pumped for the games!

Stairway to Heaven.

I am going to post pone my shooting range experience for a day due to the fact that my sister decided to “borrow” my camera from me and took off with it and as I started frantically searching for it yesterday it was to no avail and I have to get the pictures off of people who took them.

Now as I sit down to write this post my pet dove is going crazy and she decided to fly over to the desk and walk across the keyboard to screw me up. She is cooing and hopping around. She loves me

Now to get to the point of this post. While I was lounging around in Hawaii, there was a very particular forbidden attraction that caught my eye. It is known as the Stairway to Heaven.

About the Stairway to Heaven from a Helpful Website:

Built in 1942 by the U.S. Navy as the site for a VFL antenna, 3,992 wooden steps were constructed to hoist the equipment into place. In 1955 a metal ladder was installed for better access to the antenna. In 1957 the antenna was decommissioned and in 1971 the site was turned over the U.S. Coast Guard.

Thousands of hikers have made the arduous journey to the top for the fantastic view of both sides of the island. However, on September 20, 1997 the Stairway was closed due to vandalism and costs to maintain the safety of the trail.

After conditions of the hike deteriorated they closed the trail because of how unsafe it became, but this did little to deter hikers and wanders alike.

In 1987 because of the terrible conditions they decided to renovate and make the stairs safe because they were afraid the unwanted public would get them in trouble. After spending 875,000 the trek is newly repaired. The problem now is the land leading up to the trial is not publicly owned and citizens are enraged at the amount of people trying to walk and litter on their land.

They do have security guards that patrol 12 hours a day seven days a week, year round, but that is not stopping illegal hikers from making the climb.

This includes me and my friend who hope to go back to Hawaii when they make the climb legal so we might be able to do it.

Hopefully they will be able to get the right papers and things to devise a path of land that will be safe to hikers to use to start the trek.

My thinking is that if you spent the 875,000 to renovate, you better use it!

Die-hard hikers travel Oahu’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

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Laugh Your Pants Off.

This youtube video here has been making me laugh hysterically for about 7 months now. I still occasionally watch it along with the No Scope video, both created by Machima and both of them I found on bs angels blog during the annual awards showdown. Also two of the best halo videos I have ever seen. I have watched each of them like 20 times and I still laugh and find them very enjoyable every time.

This video is entitled bag boy and you will be little surprised to see why. After realizing that I have not actually posted it on my site I just couldn’t let that happen so I’m fixing that immediately.

MC Gun Safety

A little gun safety humor before I take my chances at the shooting range. haha

[Toothpaste for dinner comics]

Shooting Range Tomorrow!

As it turns out I have a limited knowledge on guns and find them to be quite bad ass and extremely cool. I started figuring out about guns during the counter strike days back in high school or at least I started learning about terrorist guns vs. counter terrorist guns in which I would always prefer the counter terrorist guns (M-16) because I felt that it was easier to shoot with then the Ak-47, even though I sucked balls at that game every time all the time.

Last year when I interned at the coroner’s officer one of the deputy coroner’s promised me he would take me to the shooting range and check out my skills at firing weapons. Since I had little to no skill at the time it would have been quite embarrassing. Now after shooting a .22 rifle at my cousin’s cabin and going out to the woods with a friend to shoot some hunting rifles and a pistol I have more knowledge then I have ever had before on the subject.

Also, this past year I had to learn much more about guns then I previously knew because our blood spatter teacher in the forensic’s program is also a fire arms expert and a major hottie. This meaning that increasing my Knowledge in firearms made me look good in class. haha. Just kidding.

Now after a full year of trying, my wait is over. Tomorrow afternoon I will be meeting the deputy coroner and we will be engaging in a fun filled evening of shooting guns. I also learned that his brother had a desert eagle from being in Iraq in the war and he might bring that for me to try out. For those of you who don’t know a desert eagle is a .50 caliber pistol that has a massive back fire when shot. It is extremely powerful and should not be treated lightly. If I ever get my hands on one of those baby’s I don’t know what I’ll do. haha.

Here is a video of a girl who did not fare so well when her friends gave her a desert eagle to try out. They are only lucky that nothing happened when this happened.

That is a powerful gun!

So we’ll see how I fair tomorrow and of course I’m going to try to get some bad ass pictures as I learn some skills to shoot guns.

And so the Waiting Begins… Go Figure.

Well folks, I am a sworn naval officer. Its weird right? Well not too weird yet. I have all the benefits of the military which is nice and I have a great amout on ass kicking to look forward to which should be very fun and a joy to be a part of, but for the most part I’m still the same old girl in the same small town waiting to get out.

I am still working some crappy jobs and I really just want to throw in the towel. If I didn’t need the little bit of spending money that they are able to afford me, then I would be out of there like a light in a strong wind. Today was a very stressed filled inventory disaster day and I was to blame for part of it which pisses me off indefinitely. Screw counting every minute item in the store and I am so done with that and over since I have a job now. Gosh. Well that’s enough ranting to go along with that and I’ve proven to myself that I am inable simply add up books and make totals.

I hate being a dumbass and I definitely don’t want to go to work for a week because I am sooo not over it.

Well aside from that mishap, I’m otherwise happily well and in good working order to continue my extravagent lifestyle until I am shipped off to bootcamp.

Tata for now. mwah.

It’ll Give you Goosebumps Everytime… Live It.

God I loved it, I still love it… I will love it always.