MEPS

Friday we took off for MEPS in Houston around 11:15am from the Army recruiting office in College Station. We kind of took the long route to Houston through Huntsville, Conroe, Livingston, and then to Houston because we were picking up more recruits. We finally arrived at the hotel around 4pm only to find out that me and a couple of others needed to go to MEPS right then to take the ASVAB. So we got over there, went through security, and took the ASVAB. It was an interesting exam, to say the least. I was digging back into my high school science classes for some of the questions. There were some electrical questions I was able to answer after digging back to my first electrical engineering class my Freshman year at Texas A&M. When it was all said and done, I wound up doing better than I thought I would.

After the exam, we returned to the hotel to check-in. We had to fill out a form and talk to what looked like a retired Army officer who had been having a bad week, not day....week. After he tersely informed us of the rules, curfew, etc. we got out keys and put our bags in our respective rooms and headed down to the restaurant for "supper." The MEPS food they had for us was pretty bad, but at least it wasn't spam!:)

After almost eating what I think was or used to be chicken "tenders," I went back up to my room and talked a bit with my roommate. Shortly thereafter, I went swimming and sat in the hot tub for a little over an hour. I went back upstairs and talked with my roommate who said he used to be afraid of the dark until about a month ago because he had seen dragons and monsters (he's ). I was told I would see weird people there, but......?

Apparently my roommate wasn't lying when he said he only slept two hours a night. After tossing and turning at the sound of hisracket, my alarm went off at 3:50am. Then it was down to breakfast and on the bus promptly by 4:59am. 10 minutes later, we arrived at MEPS for medical screening. After securing our bags and getting our paperwork, we were briefed on the agenda for the day and then began all the medical screening. First, it was a breathalyzer test, ears checked, hearing checked, vision checked, blood test & other things, then the physical. I won't bother to go into detail.

When it was all over around 1:00pm, I found out I was put on hold and not allowed to continue on to signing the contract. The doctors didn't seem to like some of my medical history so I have to get all this paperwork and consult with two more doctors before they'll consider letting me pass. It will probably take about two weeks to get everything cleared up, so until then I'm still the civilian Justin Latimer.

Thanks for all the prayers.

Army Update

As many of you know, I’ve been in the process of joining the Army Reserves. Things got held up at one point because of a minor circulation condition I have in my hands. I just found a couple weeks ago that I can go ahead on to Houston MEPS to take the ASVAB and get all the tests done without worrying about it. Since it really isn't a medical problem, I can attempt to pass the physical. If I pass, then I'm clear. If not, then it’ll all be over.

That being the case, I am going to Houston this Friday to take the ASVAB, then Saturday get my psych. tests and physical done, and then upon completion and passing of all of the above, sign the contract. At this point, I have not entirely decided on what job I want to do. I've narrowed it down to Military Intelligence, IT, or Networking. I won't know exactly what job until I get down to Houston and do all the tests. I'll be sure to let ya'll know how everything turns out.

Please keep me in your prayers. I only desire for the Lord's Will to be done.

My Friend's Wedding

My good friend, Robby Williamson and his fiancée were hitched last night at the beautiful Magnolia Lake. Robby, acting like Robby came out dressed in a pirate's suit cutlass, hat, and all and as each groomsman escorted their respective bridesmaid, he would give them a part of his outfit, i.e. his hat, then his cutlass, boots, etc. He had his tux underneath it all, so by the time he gave his pants to the Best Man, he was set to go for the rest of the ceremony.

It was to be an outdoor wedding, but as my Meteorologist brother predicted, it got rained out just as the bride was about to come down the aisle. We stood there in the rain for a while hoping it would let up, but it just got worse so before they got too far into the scripture reading, we were hurried inside. Everything resumed as planned inside and the happy couple were married by Robby's preacher uncle. It was really pretty, despite the disappointment of it being rained out and moved inside. After vows were said, rings put on fingers, the kiss, and introduction of the newly weds, they rushed off to get pictures taken and the guests got to start eating the finger-foods. When the bride and groom came back, they started serving the actual meal, which was some sort of marinated chicken, salad, biscuits, and such. Boy, was it good! Unfortunately, there was no Dr Pepper :( but the iced tea was exceptional!

After the eating was over with, they had the toast and then the dancing began. First it was the father-bride dance, the mother-groom dance, and then the floor opened to everyone else. As for me, I kind of stood back and watched for a while then got Kenny (Robby's brother) to introduce me to one of his cousins and then we (as in his cousin and I) danced. After her, I danced with a younger one of their cousins. She looked left out and Mrs. Williamson (Robby's mother) sorta hinted at me to do so. It was fun. There was no waltzing, unfortunately. There was just Two-Steppin' and slow dancing. I did both and I must say for it being the first time I've danced, I enjoyed myself.

It was getting on toward 10:30pm, so the music wound down and it was time for the bride to toss the flowers and the groom to toss the garter. One of the bridesmaids got the flowers and guess who got the garter? Yep, it was me. Out of all 25+ of us single guys, it was me. Robby was laughing and shaking my hand, then they took a picture of me and the bridesmaid who caught the flowers, with the newly weds. It was fun. Then it was time for Robby and Erin to leave, so we all lined up. They didn't have any seeds, only little bells (??????) and rose pedals:P Where's the fun in that?!

Welp, I had a jolly good time and now it's back to work. Things will be mighty interesting for the next few days now that relatives have taken over the house:O