Bored as hell in suburban Minnesota.

Well, I went to two movies this weekend, Chicken Little and Jarhead.  The first wasn't bad, cute and funny, about what you'd expect.  The second was really good.  I think Jake Gyllenhall put in a really good performance as Swafford, and it's a great portrayl of the humor and horrors experienced by soldiers (or in this case Marines).  One character I really identified with was Swafford's spotter (can't remember his name), he was getting kicked out because they found out he lied about his criminal record, being in the Corps was life for that guy, it was all he really wanted to do.  All he wanted was in, and all Swafford wanted was out.  It all reminded me a lot of my failed attempts to join the military, and some other people I saw along the way who just threw the chance away when they were presented it.  There was a girl cadet in my class at St Thomas, who's my prime example.  She had a full-ride scholarship, got one of the few staff positions available to freshmen, and got sent to the Air Force Academy over the summer to attend their jump program and get Airborne cetified.  She quit first semester of her sophmore year.