I haven't heard from you in a while...it's been mostly my fault because, although I am thinking about you quite from time to time, I am too lazy to pick up my pen and write. I hope you are OK. I am OK. You must have heard what happened in Norway on July 22nd, 2011. It was only yesterday, 6 days after that truly tragic and horrific event, that tears could finally come to my eyes. I know that it is too soon for the Norwegian people to be able to cry. They are still stunned by the shock of what happened. I have met, in my life, people who had been subject to great loss in their lives, who told me they could not actually cry until YEARS later. It is healthy to allow oneself to cry, you know, if you feel you are ready to do it. It is also healthy, and totally OK, to CURSE your angered grief out, if you feel like doing so...even cursing God is OK, in my opinion...and I hope all chaplains, (Padre included), will agree with me on this.
American psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross described the 5 stages of grief which occur after a big traumatic loss, or can even occur during the human processing of an anticipated loss, in 1969, in her book, "On Death and Dying".
How have YOU been doing ? How's your new commander treating you ? Do you need anything ? What do you miss most that would be allowable for me to send you ?
I have had, for a while, a rather macabre question in my head, and maybe it is not the right time to pose that to you right now, but I'll do it anyway, because I actually never found either the quite right place, or time, or even person to ask it to until now, and I know that YOU I can trust not to be upset by my questions or to fall apart if I seem too insensitive: before being deployed, do they make you write a will, or is it up to individual choice ? Not that one who realistically would be deployed over there would have so much to bequeathe...but, selfish as always, I thought about what would I do, if I had to write my will before actually getting on that transport...
I do not even know what would be the most valuable posessions I actually have...the ones that I would care the most about...even though lately I have fallen into my old habit of compusively accumulating books, I do not consider them to be very valuable. They were actually among the first things to go when, in some occasions, before, I was or, anyway, felt forced to discard some of my bulkier posessions. The only thing I actually feel sorry about when I think about the books I have thrown away in my life, was that I couldn't give more of them away, so at least some other people could enjoy them, and some ended up in the recycling trash...I actually held the hope, as I saw the garbage collectors unload those cans, that maybe one of them, or one of their "sorter" colleagues from the garbage company, would later pick out a couple and take them home, instead of letting them travel on that conveyor belt.
Brand quality clothes & accessories...those I gave or even threw away as well before...leather wallets, watches, even the Gucci shoes & that briefcase from Takashimaya I mostly cared about at one time...the jewelry was lost already, the satin, linen, or Egyptian cotton sheets I cut into thin strips myself and threw in the trash...I truly can't remember what I did with my bathrobe...it probably ended up in the trash as well...when, more recently, I bought my Gant marine blue blanket I swore to myself that this one I will not ever give or throw away...I truly wish to grow old and have it with me wherever I will end my days...this one will HAVE to make my list of posessions to bequeathe...and if I ever get to acquire that sapphire ring I am still hunting for, that one too, I have decided, I will list in my last will & testament.
That's pretty much it, I guess: a blanket and a ring I still do not posess. I guess it is worthwhile trying to stay alive as long as possible at least until I find that ring ! There's a couple of other things I own, but are not momentarily in my posession: a dreamcatcher, and some old photographs. Those I would like to list as well, because they ARE most dear to me.
My earlier quarter million bucks life insurance has lapsed (...LOL !), my bank accounts hold insignificant amounts anyways, I am yet undecided about buying new life insurance...I won't do it anyway before September. GODDAM' SEPTEMBER. I used to look forward to it before I was 17, then...BAM !...and afterwards, after about 2 1/2 years, for yet another about a year and a half, I had almost recuperated my joy and curiosity about new school year starts, then came another...then another...and now...I am telling you...I really am NOT looking forward to this one either now.
I had thought about traveling to Oslo this September...I am not so sure I want to do it now anymore. I most CERTAINLY do NOT want to go to Buenos Aires or anywhere else in that dam' South America, nor Bergen...same thing...right now I am fantasising about Osaka...but, realistically, I won't be able to afford it. Where in the world is it best and calmest these days in September ? If you tell me, I think I'll be able to decide ahead of time to get some form/type of win-win contract signed, so at least I could get part of my travel expenses covered.
Bottom line...please write to me with any advice or answers you may have for me...you are allowed to PM me here, (where I go by "roamsk"), if you want (NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO PM me over there unless I give them specific permission or invitation to do so...until now only the ICTY Defence Counsels and AFIO chapter leaders are allowed to do so, outside of that forum's administrators...obviously I cannot practically enforce that type of interdiction, but I reserve my right to totally ignore all others).
Your friend & ally,
Rudolph Aspirant (alias Eugen Craciun)
P.S. You are absolutely under no obligation to write.
P.P.S. If you need a blanket, some non-perishable foods, a book, whatever is allowed...just let me know...I WILL send it/them to you ASAP, I promise. Patience, prudence, luck, wisdom...those are harder to get or to transmit, I know, but if you happen to need a small quantity, I'll do my best.
American psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross described the 5 stages of grief which occur after a big traumatic loss, or can even occur during the human processing of an anticipated loss, in 1969, in her book, "On Death and Dying".
How have YOU been doing ? How's your new commander treating you ? Do you need anything ? What do you miss most that would be allowable for me to send you ?
I have had, for a while, a rather macabre question in my head, and maybe it is not the right time to pose that to you right now, but I'll do it anyway, because I actually never found either the quite right place, or time, or even person to ask it to until now, and I know that YOU I can trust not to be upset by my questions or to fall apart if I seem too insensitive: before being deployed, do they make you write a will, or is it up to individual choice ? Not that one who realistically would be deployed over there would have so much to bequeathe...but, selfish as always, I thought about what would I do, if I had to write my will before actually getting on that transport...
I do not even know what would be the most valuable posessions I actually have...the ones that I would care the most about...even though lately I have fallen into my old habit of compusively accumulating books, I do not consider them to be very valuable. They were actually among the first things to go when, in some occasions, before, I was or, anyway, felt forced to discard some of my bulkier posessions. The only thing I actually feel sorry about when I think about the books I have thrown away in my life, was that I couldn't give more of them away, so at least some other people could enjoy them, and some ended up in the recycling trash...I actually held the hope, as I saw the garbage collectors unload those cans, that maybe one of them, or one of their "sorter" colleagues from the garbage company, would later pick out a couple and take them home, instead of letting them travel on that conveyor belt.
Brand quality clothes & accessories...those I gave or even threw away as well before...leather wallets, watches, even the Gucci shoes & that briefcase from Takashimaya I mostly cared about at one time...the jewelry was lost already, the satin, linen, or Egyptian cotton sheets I cut into thin strips myself and threw in the trash...I truly can't remember what I did with my bathrobe...it probably ended up in the trash as well...when, more recently, I bought my Gant marine blue blanket I swore to myself that this one I will not ever give or throw away...I truly wish to grow old and have it with me wherever I will end my days...this one will HAVE to make my list of posessions to bequeathe...and if I ever get to acquire that sapphire ring I am still hunting for, that one too, I have decided, I will list in my last will & testament.
That's pretty much it, I guess: a blanket and a ring I still do not posess. I guess it is worthwhile trying to stay alive as long as possible at least until I find that ring ! There's a couple of other things I own, but are not momentarily in my posession: a dreamcatcher, and some old photographs. Those I would like to list as well, because they ARE most dear to me.
My earlier quarter million bucks life insurance has lapsed (...LOL !), my bank accounts hold insignificant amounts anyways, I am yet undecided about buying new life insurance...I won't do it anyway before September. GODDAM' SEPTEMBER. I used to look forward to it before I was 17, then...BAM !...and afterwards, after about 2 1/2 years, for yet another about a year and a half, I had almost recuperated my joy and curiosity about new school year starts, then came another...then another...and now...I am telling you...I really am NOT looking forward to this one either now.
I had thought about traveling to Oslo this September...I am not so sure I want to do it now anymore. I most CERTAINLY do NOT want to go to Buenos Aires or anywhere else in that dam' South America, nor Bergen...same thing...right now I am fantasising about Osaka...but, realistically, I won't be able to afford it. Where in the world is it best and calmest these days in September ? If you tell me, I think I'll be able to decide ahead of time to get some form/type of win-win contract signed, so at least I could get part of my travel expenses covered.
Bottom line...please write to me with any advice or answers you may have for me...you are allowed to PM me here, (where I go by "roamsk"), if you want (NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO PM me over there unless I give them specific permission or invitation to do so...until now only the ICTY Defence Counsels and AFIO chapter leaders are allowed to do so, outside of that forum's administrators...obviously I cannot practically enforce that type of interdiction, but I reserve my right to totally ignore all others).
Your friend & ally,
Rudolph Aspirant (alias Eugen Craciun)
P.S. You are absolutely under no obligation to write.
P.P.S. If you need a blanket, some non-perishable foods, a book, whatever is allowed...just let me know...I WILL send it/them to you ASAP, I promise. Patience, prudence, luck, wisdom...those are harder to get or to transmit, I know, but if you happen to need a small quantity, I'll do my best.