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| A grand mission event is about to take place in Ringgold as five methodist church youth convene tonight on our church. I think Snellville is coming the fartherest. The church has been transformed into a camp with the building divided between pink for girls and blue for boys and no purple mixing! Work teams will scatter and do community and individual projects for several days this week and have teen worship groups in the evenings. I'm a prep guy and helped put Christmas trees up, etc. I'll also be a breakfast cook three days this weekend. Yes, I was a short order breakfast cook in college - don't tell my daughter! She doesn't know that I know how to cook. | | |
| Doctoral classes are like none that I have ever taken before in any of my education - formal or in business. The analytical thinking required for my daily assignments is nearly more than my poor head can bear ----some days I think it will burst open with all the ideas swirling around and waiting their turn to be written on the page. | | |
| My to-do list just keeps getting longer. I've finally figured out how to win my battle with the birds building nests on my front porch light fixture. I really felt bad about tearing down their nests 4 and 5 times a day but the droppings make my porch a mess and aggravate my allergies. So, I turned my light fixture upside down and now I am two days free of bird mess on my front porch. Cara has been gone for 3 days now to California and having a blast. I just hate doing mundane tasks! Dishes and laundry and dusting and vaccuming are so boring. I'd rather be out playing tennis, watching a movie, or reading and living your lives vicariously through xanga or myspace or another website blog opportunity. Well, the dryer is paging me so off I go back into domestic hell. | | |
| Goblet of Fire is at the IMAX - Cara and I sorta dressed up in our potter costumes - just too hot for the full gear and went. Man - it is awesome on the huge screen! | | |
| For those of my friends who don't know - I'm Barry Mark Burns, a disabled Gulf War Veteran. I was exposed to a Nerve Agent called Sarin in 1991. It damaged my cerebellum causing balance problems (sometimes severe). My life definitely changed after the WAR.
At UTC I was the top in my Class in Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, advanced Bio classes, and every other science class. My Biochemistry instructor and My Bio Instructor urged me to go into Medicine or Denistry. I chose Denistry. I was accepted into UT Memphis Dental School in 1993.
During my second year and UT Memphis, I lost my balance and fractured my left arm. I had to withdraw and wait to re-enter school.
During my time 'off' I taught chemistry and physics at a high school for 1 year. I then reapplied to UT and was accepted. However, on the condition that I do the 2nd year over.
During this time, I was falling frequently, losing my balance and having parkinson's (involuntary muscle movements -jerks) which was eventually noticed by the instructors. After 4 more years of re-entering dental school and trying to overcome these difficulities, i made the inevitable decision to withdraw.
Now, I will say from 1996-2002 I went through some extraordinary circumstances. The VA was not as helpful as I thought they would be. At any rate, NOW, I have a positive attitude and if I had the chance to go back, I would still have joined the ARMY and defend my country again.
ON THIS DAY I REMEMBER MY BEST BUDDY IN THE ARMY. HE IS STILL ALIVE AND WENT THROUGH THE WAR WITH MINIMAL PHYSICAL DAMAGE. THIS IS BECAUSE I VOLUNTEERED TO GO ON A MISSION TO BAGDAD WHERE I WAS UNKNOWINGLY EXPOSED TO A DEADLY NERVE AGENT. I'M GLAD IT WAS ME AND NOT HIM. HE IS HAPPY, LIVING IN RHODE ISLAND.
TO ALL VETERANS TODAY, AND THIS IS COMING FROM A GULF WAR DISABLED COMBAT VETERAN:
THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!
BARRY MARK BURNS | | |
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