Current Location: Al Udeid, Qatar (AUAB)
The first leg of my expedition into the desert is complete and my group has been split into four small chalks for the next leg. When I leave this place is anyone’s guess. The idiots arranging our flights should be strung up by their toes and flogged with pig entrails. The flight assigned to my chalk is going nowhere near our destination. I don’t know if they expected us to accept that or if they thought we simply wanted to ride on an airplane. Whoppie! In this case the destination is relevant. Give me time to prepare and a choice between five and I’ll be happy to go somewhere else. I hear Egypt is beautiful this time of year.
I forgot my watch and alarm clock at home. Despite my clock deficiency, time continues passing. I didn’t actually expect time to suspend until I acquired a new watch. That would have been convenient though. The universe is hardly convenient.
I lost a day during my flights here. I thought I lost more, but I came to my senses. I think it happened in Ireland. It’s difficult to be exact, I wasn’t watching it very close. I lost this morning as well. I had gone to sleep just before midnight and when I left my tent it was six in the afternoon. I slept part of that time, but mostly read and watched movies on my computer. If felt like morning when I decided to leave my tent and as expected, the sun was low in the sky. It was the wrong side of the horizon I later discovered. The sun setting when I expected it to be rising encouraged me to check the time.
I’m beginning to wonder if my watch did more than tell time. Did it somehow protect me from random fluctuations in the passage of time? It wouldn’t be the first time a watch has achieved a purpose beyond telling time. Harold Crick will confess to that. Or was that a work of fiction? I’m going to get a drink and investigate further.
…
No time for drinks you bastards. We had a meeting about our travel arrangements. They idiots split up our groups even more. My group, Balad 2, has been split into four smaller groups. One group has been combined with a portion of Balad 1, which was also cut up into smaller groups. What once was one is now fifteen separate groups. I have no hope for the next leg of my journey to proceed smoothly. If all goes according to plan I’ll be at my destination tomorrow. I don’t expect that to happen. We’re all doomed.
I need to remember to get a haircut and talk to finance tomorrow.