Here is what happened

So! My moment of potential glory flopped… haha What can I say? I had really hoped to get through all three weeks of military admission tests this summer, but lasted only one week. Buh huh. Not a whole lot I can do about it now, except whip my head around, forget about this year’s failure(s) and keep on fighting for next year’s successes (that’s right, plural!).

Long story short, I had not trained right for the physical tests. How dumb! As my Sergeant said, that is after all the ONE thing you can indeed prepare for. (If you don’t know what tests I’m talking about, these would be sit-ups, push-ups, hang-ups, 3km or 2mile run, 200m swim). The only one I did really well at was the swimming, but since that is not a timed test it wasn’t enough to keep me. Needless to say, I got the kick behind I obviously needed to get my act together. No need to cross any fingers and hope for the best. Nothing but hard work and more hard work will be my preparation for next year.

Anywho. I actually did quite well on a lot of the other tests. Medical exams went well. Perfect vision (the military says not to mind the long-sightedness, so I who am I to argue?). Hearing not perfect, but more than good enough. Nothing wrong with me, though I was a little surprised they had my height measured at 2 centimeters (4/5 inch) shorter than I have been for the past 10 years. Ouch!

The interview went well too. They had an officer interview us all to see how well we could speak for ourselves, if we could explain who we are, what our attitudes are, see how we behaved, etc. I think I answered well for myself, though now that I know what type of questions they ask, I’ll make sure to be even better prepared for next year. At least I didn’t take any crap, or let them throw me off.

Those of you who know me from JROTC would have been embarrassed to see me march! Haha! What a nightmare! It’s been 8 years since I was in the Norwegian military, 10 since I last did drill the Marine Corps way. Lucky me, the two have since blurred together, though I would say I probably still remember the MC way better since we worked so much and so hard at it. It is so true what they say about it often being better not knowing anything, so you don’t have to learn to forget what you already think you know. I think the only thing I still had left was how to stay aligned by peripheral vision. How blessed am I? LOL

My one week was a fun week, though. I am so glad I went, even though I was (rightly) worried about the physical tests. I was impressed at how mature many of the 18-19 year-olds were. Made me feel a bit like a grandma, but I can live with that. Sweet people for the most part. A few overly cocky ones, including 3 or 4 who did close to nothing to help others shine, but instead plotted (I overheard them) to do things to trick the rest of us into making mistakes, especially at drill. Bunch of losers. I hope they are called on it. In my opinion, they really don’t deserve to get in, no matter how fast they run or how many push-ups they can do. I can change my physical performance. It’s harder to change being ugly on the inside.

The only thing I regret is that I didn’t make it to the field week (week two), as I think it would have been fun. I think I probably would have performed better out there than a lot of them, too. If there is anything at all I taught myself last year, it is how to pick myself up mentally when I hate the situation I’m in and need to get a grip and keep on going. There is a world of difference in level happiness between who I am today and who I was a year ago.

That’s right! I am so not crying over this. In fact, I already have plans ready. In the next 12 months I shall exercise my one woman army so that there is no chance I’ll have another flop next time I try out. I shall refresh my Arabic language skills. I shall learn how to make knots. I shall take first aid lessons. And I shall teach myself how to take good pictures with a manual single reflex camera, and learn to develop them at home. Yay! Now all I need is a source of income… haha Will work on that next week. Or maybe tomorrow. I really need to relax properly before I go back home, though. I haven’t had a real vacation (as in no duties, no large number of chores) in three years, so this one week is well-deserved. I went straight from the the air station where I had the tests to our cabin by the sea (about a half hour on the bus). No need to rush home to the basement apartment I am renting in Oslo 5 hours from here, when I can tan on a huge terrace and wade in the ocean

On the funny side, there is now a picture of me in my bikini somewhere on the Norwegian military’s official website. LOL Think again if you think I’ll ever post it or even give you a link. I wouldn’t even recognize myself in that picture if I didn’t remember the picture being taken and who were there with me. Well, it’ll be there till the test weeks start up again next year, so if anyone feel like being an a$$hole, good luck hunting.