HEY HEY HEY! it's a letter from John!

May 23rd

Greetings Sad Bus Fans,

Well, my third week of BCT is about to come to an end. i'd like to pause and reflect on my experiences with you if i may, and in reality, it you're reading this you have no choice in the matter.

i named my weapon Julie, after my faorite coLUMbian. unfortunately my name choice wasn't as creative as the Korean female's idea to name her weapon "Miller Lite." i had a firm grasp on dissasembling the M16 after 10 minutes of training, because i'm simply that good.

my bunk mate is a west virginian named irvin gross. he looks exactly like drew carey. the drill sergeants constantly confuse us together, because all of us white folk look the same. we have our share of misfits here, most noteably a guy named cantrell. cantrell had the wonderful idea to urinate in the shower the other day, and in proper form our entire platoon was smoked harshly. did i mention that cantrell resembles Theodore of Chipmunks fame?

i am the land navigation master. i can shoot an azimuth in my sleep. speaking of sleep, i now dream about walking in formation. i long for the day when i once again dream about flying, and ladies, and happy panda bears.

as a personal favor to me, i ask all of you to write to me if possible. make me look special at mail call. (also rememver to put a "2" on the back of the envelope: it aids in mail sorting) oh yeah, feel free to send me pics too, i need to see some real human faces. i miss all of my greensboro crew, and yet i still feel the power of the brotherhood from here in the wastelands of south carolina.

until next time, keep on rocking in the free world.
John

so...anyone interested in going to Iceland this fall should let me know...cause it would be splendid to have a travel buddy...
or i could just admit that i'm a cheapskate and want someone to split the cost of the rental car while i'm there.

Indeed Jess,
we have heard from dear John.
Mikey got a letter just this last weekend. And since Mikey is unmotivated (very asleep) at the moment, and I am sitting at his computer, I will do the pleasure of transcribing John's very first letter to Greensboro. As follows:

THE SPECIALIST JOHN GREGORY SAGA PART ONE

What up hoss?
For some magical reason the 1st Sergeant has granted us time to write. So I write. This letter will probably take a few days to complete, so if I veer off topic into random thought land, forgive me.
It's week two here at Relaxin Jackson. We do many things. We stand at attention. We eat food. We do pushups. We'll be issued our weapons tomorrow I think, and then I'll truly be a man. Yesterday was interesting, I pulled a muscle in my knee and did PT in an anthill. See, ants in South Carolina are just like normal NC or VA ants, except they work in unison to kill you if you perform pushups on their nest.
There are a lot of hispanics here.
Everyone in my room is catching some mysterious disease, me included. They feed me well, and my digestive system is angry at me. Reception Battalion (ask Nate about it) made me fat. At Reception we had a West African Sergeant named Sgt Aidoo. We were in constant fear of him crossing the might river at night to stab us with his ritual knife.
Well when interesting things happen I'll write again. Till then here's my address

SPC Gregory, John
Company E, 2-39th Strike Force #2
2340 Magruder Ave
Fort Jackson, SC 29207

Tell the ladies I need correspondence and love.
Word up to Laura and the CoLUMbian
and the DOO
and Nate, Lord of the Skies,
and Fissel, Bran Fiber Duke


That was from John. Ya'll keep it real and write to him, knowing I surely won't, cause nobody wrote to me in basic. I mean...if nobody is John Gregory. Jerk.


Nate

... i agree w/ Nathan... (wow, that's a 1st) (haha, just kiddin' hoss)... this new Blogging (used as the literal, descriptive word for this web site, OR as a explicative, such as: "You blogging Idiot!!") format is totally wack! But on to the REAL reason I'm posting... I miss my LB (Love Bucket, for those not aware of our love affair). Has anyone heard from him??? It's been 21 days, 15 hours and 18 minutes.... I don't know how much longer I can take it...

Before I go... I have a request. I have no idea who even reads this thing, and even fewer of those who actually know who I am, but just the same... I have a prayer request. For myself. To make a long, very long story short... my current living environment is not the healthiest by any means. I've found a new roommate (an awesome chick by the name of Takiyah Tate who attends Daystar(if any of you readers also happen to attend) and a new place to live (a quaint brick duplex on Scott Ave)... but still, as with all of life's circumstances, I'm stressed, and not completely 'sure'. YOu know, as in... are there other options out there that I'm being blind to? So basically... I need a sign. From God. I need peace of mind and spirit. So, if you readers would please send a shout-out to the Man Upstairs, I'll be forever indebted. Thank you.

Ok...my dreams are crushed...I had to hear it from Tom at work tonight that the Blindside show got cancelled. He said he got an e-mail. I indeed checked my e-mail today, and I received the same confirmation of despair.


That sucks...
Maybe there'll be a crew forming for In Flames/Killswitch after all...you know...since we have to settle for Swedish metal instead of Swedish 'arrrdcore.


And in other news, I get too little sleep. So I'm about to solve that problem.
Nate

so...bloggerdotcom has a new and strange look. those that don't post probably don't really care, but for me, navigation seemed to be like doing a calculus equation...or at least one of those word problems involving train departures.
at least The Brotherhood itself still looks more or less the same...physically, and mentally, or...cybernetically. Except for John, the one true cyborg, who is actually on a top secret mission under the guise of "basic training" to get his mastodonic forearm enhancements tweaked. oh, wait, crap...i was supposed to keep it a secret.
but anyway, it looks like most of the Brothers, minus our already out-of-state comrades, shall be here this summer, rokking out...

speaking of which, Blindside.

is that all i have to say? yes...i made a special request off of work just for the upcoming rokkification of rowdy Swedish hardcore.
oh, in other news, i work all the time...except for Sundays, and Thursday mornings.
hence my mad love for chicas and homies that come to visit me at work...sweet indeed.

bowling! sunday night baby...

long time no see... i have my first official girlfriend ever - she makes me smile... a lot.

i have decided i am going to write john's biography "Haiku's and Hand Grenades: The John Gregory Tale" it will be epic and poetic... or poetic and epic -- and full of lists of things. eh, as long as it rhymes i don't really care...

life is good...

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

So, Jon Brande and Mike Newman and I went to see The Punisher tonight. It was pretty awesome, I think, for several reasons. In a bow to John Gregory the Eternal, I present in list format.

1. Use of steel plated car
2. Use of customized weaponry
3. The Punisher's main weapon? An M-16 with M-203 grenade launcher and borelight scope...yeah...I had one o' thems...
4. Use of lots and lots of explosives...including a Claymore mine...yeah...I detonated one o' thems...
5. John Travolta dies, which is good in any movie he's in, because I hate him
6. Frank Castle just doesn't know when to quit! He stares death in the fact at least 3 times in the movie...that's a heart of iron!
7. Great comic book movie cinematography. Proper use of flashbacks...not overused, not cheesy. No multi-panel action scenes like in Hulk, that got weird. No innapropriate spandex equipping like Spiderman. No ridiculous helmets like in X-Men.
8. Very important...lots and lots of dead hedonistic Cubans.
9. Climactic moment including an explosion in the shape of a flaming Punisher skull
10. Basically, all sorts of rich people die. Corrupt gangster-type rich people...and a whole building and a lot full of cars gets trashed...talk about sticking it to the Man...that's the most important awesome point of all!


By the way, I miss my former across-the-hall buddy. I'm so proud of him as he is becoming, indeed, the soldier that he needs to be.