From One Course to the Next

I’ve been back in Borden for the past 2 months now. It was a very quiet drive back. I have a love hate relationship with my new barracks. I hate how far away it is from everything, but I love that I don’t have a roommate and how quiet my building is. So that kinda balances things out a bit?

I wish I could say the food had gotten better at the new kitchen. But I can’t say that as that would be a lie. It’s not terrible but it could be a lot better. Most of the food is either over cooked or over salted. Occasionally they’ll prove me wrong and make something amazing.

I started my next course just a few days after arriving, which is a good thing. I didn’t have to stay on PAT for too long. The new CO has really made a lot of improvements from what I can tell. They’re pushing through more courses, getting people trained quicker so they can go do OJE (on the job experience) which will be beneficial for when their QL3’s begin.

Once again I am the only girl on my course. 17 guys and myself. I think it’ll be the same for my QL3’s, which also got bumped up! I was supposed to start that in July but now it’s May! Almost exactly 2 weeks after I finish my current course I start my 3’s! I’m very excited about that. I wasn’t looking forward to having to wait 2+ months for my next course.

My new course, Common Core, has been going fairly well. I’ve been generally scoring above average on our tests. This course is designed to train everyone in the core air force trades some core knowledge. We’ve learned about different tools and how to us them, as well as general safety. Other things we have been learning are marshalling air craft, hanger protocols, doing paperwork and basic air craft maintenance.

The course is more relaxed compare to POET. But POET was very condensed. I believe the school’s CO said what we learned in the span of 8 months would have taken almost 2 years if we went to a civilian college. And on top of that the grade standards were higher as well. You go to any normal college and a pass is usually 50-60% but for us if you were under 70% that was a fail.

I’m also not saying that Common Core is easy either. Some things, sure but that’s because I had previously learned it. Other things like how to do lock-wiring were brand new to me, so it was a little bit of a struggle. Not to mention all the different maintenance forms we need to know and how to fill them out properly. I’m more so enjoying the pace of my current course. Not being tested every 2-3 days is kind of refreshing.

I’m in the last leg of Common Core called BEET (basic electrical & electronic training). This is where all the AVS techs on my course should excel. The theory thus far has been essentially a refresher for us, which is not a bad thing whatsoever. It re-instils what we already know.

In other news I got approved for on base housing so my hubby can move up here!

It’ll certainly take a strain off of things. Commuting home on the weekends is such a hassle. Especially when people no longer become reliable for rides home and I’m stuck taking the bus. It’s a long bus ride and means I don’t get home until almost 11pm on Friday night.

I’m hoping this coming week proves to be better than last week. Wont go into details. Basically it just progressively got worse and worse. One thing would happen, then another and another. Like how I forgot my meal card on my desk back in my room one morning, so I had to go grab hat before lunch then at lunch I knocked over my glass of water turning my lunch into a cold soupy mess.

Certain people didn’t help either with my mood, which progressively got worse too. I just about snapped on a few people. It’s exhausting being tolerant all the time. I let a lot of things slide because I don’t like conflict. But it seemed like everyone was just trying to push my buttons.

BMQ Day #24, #25 & #26

18 Nov 2014

Well, today could have been a good day. First we had 5:10am PT. We were told to line up at the infamous North Doors. That is never a good thing. We received many looks of sympathy as we marched passed other platoons. Scary shit happens beyond the North Doors. Of course it’s all rumours and we’ve never gone beyond them.

We arrived there early and our staff was impressed. After we got lined up in ranks our staff told us to go to the gym instead. We dodged a huge bullet. After PT, which was just doing push ups, squats, sit ups and leg raises we had time to shower and go for breakfast. Afterwards we had a fire safety course.

We “fucked up” on our marching so “badly” that is really pissed off our marching NCO. So we lost our cell phones for 3 days. I’m pissed off. Really fucking pissed.

The pay phones also charge way too much.

Back to the fire class. At the end of the class we had a practical test. I was not prepared for that. I don’t think any of us were. We all passed so yay! But it was such a boring class. Most classes are. I mean it’s not easy making a fire safety course fun or exciting.

19 Nov 2014

This day has fucking sucked so hard. It’s not even funny. Inspection was a joke. Drill was a joke. There are some guys who aren’t even trying and it’s pissing us all off. Gym sucked because not only am I sick but it was right after lunch.

At orders we were told we’re all changing cubicles because our inspection was so bad this morning. The girls are fucking pissed because our little section was immaculate. And lets face it, not all the boys have the same cleanliness standard as us.

So instead of practicing drill, we’ve been cleaning. And chances are we’ll probably be moving back tomorrow. I just have this feeling.

Not having my phone is driving me insane. I need to talk to Andrew. I need to talk to my mom. I need my family. I miss him so much right now. It just really hit me tonight. Not having him to talk to, to help calm me down is rough.

20 Nov 2014

And who was right? This girl right here. We switched back to our original cubicles. I’m a bit more content. I have my space back. I have my lovely view of the town and Montreal in the distance.

I feel used. I feel like our staff just switched us because they know the girls have higher standards of cleanliness so they basically wanted us to go over to the other side and clean it up. I’m only speculating and it may or may not be true. Regardless, I’m annoyed. But I know that this was some sort of a test. To see how well we handle stress and change. I can handle it. I’m just not happy about it.

Where Did It Go?

Time that is. It seems to just zoom past in a blink of an eye. It’s almost hard to believe that this time last year I was getting all the finishing details done for our wedding. Andrew and I had just begun moving into our first place together. There was so much unpacking and organizing that could make your head spin!

I’m actually looking back on my timeline on Facebook to see what I was up to this time last year. Looks like I booked our hotel for FanExpo on this day. I’m holding off on that for the time being for this year. I don’t want to make that sort of commitment while I’m in the process of applying to the Canadian Forces. If I get in in the next 2 months, I could be off to St Jean in June, which means I’d miss FanExpo. So until I get this whole application thing sorted, I don’t want to be making any vacation plans.

Let’s see what else…Oh! The upcoming weekend was my Bachelorette Party! We need to go bowling again. My party was more low-key I guess you could say, but I liked it. It was just me and my girls having fun together. No need to get wasted and make a fool of myself. Mani’s, dinner, drinks and bowling in dresses! I had such a blast!

I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since my work closed. It doesn’t feel that long. Speaking of my old job, I need to call my manager from there and see if she’s okay with me using her as a reference. I know she’ll be fine, but I don’t want it to be a surprise phone call. Chances are she will get a phone call from the CF, seeing as she’s the only manager I’ve put down as a reference. Well I don’t know my old manager’s (from Clair de Lune) contact info. Also seeing as I haven’t spoken to her since 2011…

Moving along, I did a lot of walking yesterday. No jogging like I had hoped. But I went out twice yesterday. My first walk I did about 3km, then I went out with my friend Chelsea and we walked 4.4km. So in total I walked about 7.4km! I mapped it out on a pedometer map afterwards to find my total. I’m quite impressed with myself. I might try to go again today, weather permitting. It’s been looking a little grey all morning and they’re calling for rain in the evening. Even the temp for today is much cooler than yesterday.

But we shall see. Anything can happen right? I do want to push walking longer each day. Just ot get back into the swing of things. My legs have been so sore since I’ve started this whol fitness kick, that needs to change asap. I want to be able to survive BMQ if I get in.