New Horizons

I've been saying for a while now that I can't discuss what is going on with my family and the stress we have been under these past few months. I still can't go into detail, not until it's all said and done. There is still a chance that those who are out to make our lives miserable to try and ruin it all for us.

In short, we were screwed over, and will be leaving the military. I'm sad it's come to this, but I feel the military is no longer what it once was. I'm not proud of how it is being run, which reminds me too much of the politics of congressmen. I remember the core values of the USAF, and live by them still. Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do. I'm ashamed of the acts I've witnessed of what was my military. Everyone is out for themselves, and those that you call friend are just waiting to stab you in the back, to make themselves look better.

I'm livid that someone would take my hospitality and good deeds and try to claim it as their own, all to get ahead. This is one of those forgiveness things I need to work on and I'm sorry to say, but I'm just not up to that just yet. The wound is still too fresh. There is more to the story, but at this time it is not all mine to share, but it all ends the same. We are leaving the military.

Sure, we could stay and fight. We could stay and make sure that those who are in the wrong are punished, but why? Why should we continue to suffer, just to bring down a few corrupt people? No, we have decided to leave it all behind. To move on with our lives.

I'm in hopes that this chaos leads to better things. So far we are looking at a brighter horizon. So although we have had hard times, lost friends, and have been worried over how we are going to make it, we can now see that it was leading us in a direction that will in short make us happier.

Come summer we will be moving (again >.<) to Dallas. I'm excited because not only will we be closer, but my husband will no longer have to deploy. I wont have to worry about him volunteering for dangerous missions and nearly getting killed. He will have a great job (Thanks to his best bud for getting him the opportunity), and we will have better benefits than the military could ever give us (No more military docs! YAY!)

And the best part? We are going to be closer to family! No more lonely holidays, no more homesickness, and no more listening to the kids beg to go visit family. We will be able to go visit whenever we want.

So even though our family suffered a lot in 2013, we are looking at a brighter 2014. This will be the year that we settle our family for good. This year we have a direction for change, and we are going to make the most of it!

Ellipsis 7

Verizon was having a great sale for Black Friday where you could add a line to your existing plan (10 bucks a month) and get a free Ellipsis 7 tablet. So my husband, knowing the tech geek that I am, got it for me.

I flippin love this little tablet.

Most reviews of it are more on the negative side, but for what I use it for, it's perfect. Before I was using a Kindle Fire (which I gave to the Hubz, and he loves it). Not the HD one, the first gen. I had it rooted to run jellybean, because the OS sucked.

The Ellipsis 7 is faster by far, even though it just has a 1.2GHz Quad-Core Processor. It has a 7" screen, which is perfect for me. I don't like those huge 10" screens. They make the device bulky to hold for long periods of time and it's more difficult to carry around with you.

I take my tablet everywhere.

With the 4g LTE I can connect to the internet, or even turn my tablet into a hot spot and share my internet with friends. Since at home I always use my router, I never really use much of my data plan.

When I first got the tablet I went on Amazon to get some accessories for it, but they don't carry much for the new device. I did manage to find a Bluetooth Sharkk Keyboard cheap. While most Bluetooth keyboards cost $30 and up, this one cost me about 9 bucks. It's super smooth to type on, and has a rechargeable battery instead of having to use AA batteries like most. It's now priced around $20, so I am happy to have made such a deal.

On my Fire I was using Quickoffice app to write, but with the Christmas season OfficeSuite Pro 7 was having a sell on their app. It is basically like Office on the go. It even syncs with my Google Drive so I can save documents there. Then I found out how to print from Officesuite by setting up my printer to be shared. So I can be at a coffee shop across town, print a document, and have it sitting in my printer tray at home.

Did I mention I love my tablet?

I also loaded it with the Day by Day app. This app is like having a digital planner. Have you seen those ridiculously awesome planners on Pinterest? Well this does basically the same thing. except I don't have to carry around another clunky binder. Did I mention it syncs with my Google Calendar? All of my tasks, goals, word counts for the day, family appointments, and other agendas are easily brought up in a tap.

Here is a list of other great apps that are perfect for my needs.

• Blogger
• Feedly (for reading blogs)
• Ubersocial (replaces Hootsuite and TweetDeck)
• Google+
• Facebook and Pinterest (duh!)
• Kindle (my library goes where I go)
• Pandora
• iDeviant

These apps keep me connected, and keep me inspired.

I see myself escaping to a quiet coffee shop often this year. It's all part of the plan!

Digging In

Today I got serious about getting into my edits. I found all that red wasn't nearly as frightening as I thought it to be. There are some great ideas flowing, and I'm learning a lot on the way.

If you are wondering why I printed it in landscape, it's for two reasons. Number one, I'm a lefty. Writing in binders is a pain in the arse for us poor lefties. Two, it allows me to better view the comments without miniaturizing the page and text. In short, it works for me.

I would love to hear from other lefties about techniques they use to adapt to a right handed world.

A Happier New Year

Happy New Year!

OK, so I'm a little behind in getting my resolutions together. I just didn't want the same thing I had last year, or the year before that. It seemed pointless to comment on my writing goals. I still have writing goals of course, but they are a bit muted at the moment.

It's this time of year I evaluate my life, what I've done I'm proud of, and things I'm not so proud of. This year was tougher than most. It seems 13 lived up to it's unlucky superstition. If it could go wrong, it would.

As such, I've battled a depression that seems to be attacking my very soul. I don't feel myself, and though I put on the mask, and pretend all is peachy, it's not. There are dark thoughts behind that forced smile. I push on, for the sake of my family, but honestly, I'm tired...

So when it came time to do my yearly evaluation, I decided 2014 was going to be about making me happy, about fixing myself, and about doing all the things I have denied myself out of the excuse that it didn't matter. It obviously does, even if it is only to me.

Yesterday I started to plan, which involved a ton of tasking, and my planner on my tablet. I love my tablet and it goes where I go. It was a Black Friday deal at Verizon that my Hubz got me for Christmas. Add the line to your account and get the Ellipsis 7 free! Which is like 10 bucks a month for internet, and a fab little tablet. After pairing it with the Sharkk Bluetooth keyboard I purchased cheap from Amazon (seriously, 9 bucks), it is a writers heaven. I have already been back at the morning pages, only now I keep them on an SD card instead of a binder. Less waste that way.

Another part of my plan is to take more me time. Take my tablet, my writing folder, and my headphones, and go to the coffee shop for some uninterrupted writing, or sit in my little corner of the office and play FFXI (Yes, I still play... Some of us couldn't afford to upgrade our computers just to push the graphics for FFXIV...).

For Christmas Hubz and I activated our Final Fantasy XI accounts once more. My kids are less reliant on me so I can treat my self to some game time. I missed escaping to that world, where I can relax but keep my mind active. Also my little nerdlett Allyssa likes to play, and we get some great mother daughter time. I think getting back to who I am at heart will help me feel more like me again, and yes, that means totally geeking out on a regular basis.

Easiest Maat fight ever!

I'm going to write, draw, and create something every day! It makes me happy, and is a release from reality. It's where I am in control (well, except when the characters take control...). I think it will be good for my soul to have that sort of creative release every day.

There will be more updates on the blog, as I take it back from being just about my writing. This blog was intended to be about me. My likes, my dislikes, things I'm geeking on, and adventures I've had. Sometimes it may be a little one liner and a picture, and other times it

may be a thousand words. I'm going to start with once a week posts, and work my way up from there.

This year, I'm going to try to make more friends, and be a better judge of who I allow into my life. This year we learned a great deal of who our friends are, and who was waiting for us to turn our backs so they could lodge a knife in it. I'm thankful for the real friends in my life, even if most of them are online, they kept my head above water when I was drowning, and never asked for a thing in return.

Finally, I'm going to learn to forgive.

I've carried so much hate in my heart the last few years, and the past few months have been the tipping point for me. I can't sleep without out thinking of the people who have wronged me. I have bad dreams of those people, tormenting me over and over. It's creating a darkness that has no place in my soul. I always try and do for others, always try to be the light, but lately I don't see the point in it.

I've locked myself in my house, comfortable with not seeing people. It's time I go back out into the world, and rekindle my sense of adventure. It's time I put myself back out there to help people who need me. It's time I forgive the ones that have hurt me, and move on, because dwelling on it only poisons my heart to the point that I doubt everyone.

So if you can spare some hugs, and happy thoughts, I could sure use them as I step out into 2014 to make my life a happier one.