I think I need to say "fuck" in my journal more often. I always seem to get a ton of email from people after one of my little rants. I love it!

Four weeks of the Academy have passed now, and I'm a third of the way through it now. Yeesh... eight more weeks, and I am itching to get back on the road. I'm jonesing for some street time baaaaaaad.

Good news though is that we really only have one more week of pure classroom stuff, and then we start getting into more of the practical/tactical stuff like firearms and defensive tactics. This coming week is all Search And Seizure (which is actually some seriously important shit--can make or break a conviction.)

Oh, and I'm still holding onto the #1 position in academics. I think I'm maintaining a 97.3 average, or something equally geeky. Of course I dreamed the other night that we were given an exam of nothing but physics and math--which once upon a time I knew, but I sure as heck hadn't studied for this dream-test. You can tell I'm starting to stress when I start dreaming about this crap.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually enjoying a lot of things about the academy. I think it was really helpful for me to have already had some road time before going to the academy, since now I have a vague Clue, and can see the reasoning and application for a lot of the classwork we have. In fact, in a sick way I'm rather looking forward to search and seizure, since my knowledge about the particulars is pretty vague, and I have no desire to a)blow a case or b)get sued or c)end up in federal court on charges of civil rights violations or d)all of the above.

And I'm sick of winter, okay? I live in the south for a reason...and that's because I hate being cold! Admittedly, we in the Deep South did not get hit as hard as some did by that last winter storm, but it was still cold, and yucky, and raw, and simply not the kind of weather that you want to spend any length of time outdoors in.

Oh! The cool news is that my new vest came in! And it fits! Those of you who have met me in the flesh will understand that I have some (yes, two) ample physical features that make for difficulty in fitting a slab of kevlar to my shape. I've been making do with a borrowed vest for the past few months (since there ain't no way in hell that I will go on patrol without a vest) but it's kind of old, and the fit was "okay." (i.e. it wasn't painful, like the first vest the department lent me.) But this new one was custom fitted and made just to my measurements. It's the latest generation of vests--so light and comfortable that when I first put it on I wondered whether it really would stop bullets. It weighs less than four pounds, and actually molds to my body. Joy! (For those of you who are interested in particulars, it's a Zero-G, Gold, threat level IIIA.)

And I'm also getting a new(er) unit. My old one was a 95 Crown Vic, and I think I'm being upgraded to a 96, or maybe even a 97. Hell, as long as all the windows go up and down, and the engine doesn't make funny noises, I'll be thrilled.