Anyone seen Spoonrobot ?

[Dunc]

Anyone heard from old Spoony ? He hasnt been online since 24th October . Hope he hasnt drowned in Icecream

Dunc

[I'm Still Bison]

Leave it to a lifeboatman to use the drowning idiom I haven't seen him either,I believe he works in the food service sector,and this is the busy time of year coming on.Maybe the vibes will get him to pop in soon.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I hope so to, if nothing else I miss his pictures

[Anthony]

Spoon always had interesting posts.

Sometimes people lose their net connection due to unforseen circumstances, only to show up months later with a story about it...hopefully we'll see him sooner than that!

[Papacat]

I hope he's okay.  The forum isn't the same without him. 

[Spoonrobot]

Hey guys, I'm still alive and well (sort of).

I've had an interesting few weeks. I saw a close friend and hero of mine move on to better things, I still see him once in a while but I am used to spending all day everyday with him, learning and working together with a common goal; a new experience for me. I helped another friend, in my own small way, deal with a horrible catastrophe that has devastated him to the core. I also resigned from my job of three years (no more Ice Cream) with the intention of doing something. I didn't have a plan but I had quite a list of options. First and foremost was discovering my life-long dream of enlisting in and becoming a U.S. Marine. Earlier this month I met with the recruiter, took the AVSAB and went to MEPS and passed both excellently (92 on the AVSAB). After being told I qualified for everything in the enlistment catalog I signed up for an Avionics MOS and was ready to ship to boot camp in a month and a half. A few days later I did some research and found out that because of the security clearences required and the extensive background check for that MOS I would most likely be bounced out with a General Discharge directly after Boot Camp when I applied for the clearence (I have one previous law enforcement encounter which would have required a waiver but still disqualified me from the MOS I wanted).
   
Confronting the head recruiter with this information I felt that he did not alleviate my concerns and told me everything but the truth. I feel he was trying to rush me to Boot Camp to make his quota since I would have been the 2nd person that month to enlist and would allow him to make Mission for the first time in 8 months. I asked to be removed from the Delayed Entry Program (everyone who enlists in the military enlists in this program first, until they ship to Boot/Basic) and was told I could only get out with a Dishonorable Discharge that would take more than 6 months to recieve. Again I found out this was not true, anyone at any time can leave the DEP. Confronting him and being misled again I asked that I be processed out and refused any further contact. It was frustrating to deal with someone who's goal is to facilitate my enlistment but instead becomes an enourmous roadblock.
   
Overall I feel the experience was a good one but it feels like I've been crushed. To have been denied one of my only goals in life, at least for the forseable future. I can always go back and re-enlist or even make it through College and apply for an Officer slot. But that dream is on hold for a while, I have a few years before they won't want me anymore, I can wait a little while.
   
After dealing with all of the above I have just been laying low trying to get my footing again, I had to make 214$ last an entire month before I found another job. Although this helped me pinpoint another area I need to work on; financial planning. I've be re-hired by the University as their working Catering Chef. It's a decent job and a good experience, already I've gotten a nice knife out of it, but I need to go ahead and finish my schooling and move on from this town. Seriously thinking about my future after my enlistment failure I have decided to pursue the only other thing that hold my interest; Aviation. I will be returning to school in either the Spring or Summer to finish up my degree in Flight Management, earning my Bachelor's and a Private Pilot's License. It's been an interesting and emotionally topsy-turvy several weeks (enlistment in the USMC makes everyone nervous, but hey, I was excited about it) but I feel I'm back on an even keel and am ready to do what I need to do to get where I want to be in life.
   
I have a spate of reviews to post and a lot of threads to catch up on, I've really missed this place.

Now, where do I get one of those spiffy banners everyone's running around with?

[Anthony]

Sorry to hear about the US Marine "experience".  I remember recruiters walking around my HS during lunch talking to everyone...funny thing was they never told the entire truth.  That kinda turned me off of the whole thing...I sometimes scan the army/marines websites and think about trying to get in some mobile armor, but these days it's just not worth it.   

How long does that run in with the authorities stick with you?

[Spoonrobot]

Sorry to hear about the US Marine "experience".  I remember recruiters walking around my HS during lunch talking to everyone...funny thing was they never told the entire truth.  That kinda turned me off of the whole thing...I sometimes scan the army/marines websites and think about trying to get in some mobile armor, but these days it's just not worth it.   

How long does that run in with the authorities stick with you?

I had thought I did my research before dealing with the enlistment process but it was something else when I finally got in it and experienced the process myself. Blah.

In regards to the military, forever, since they have access to expunged and sealed records should the situation warrant it. For everything else, probably not going to be an issue ever since it is expunged and actually is not too big of a deal, just an obstacle when going for security clearences with Uncle Sam.

[J-sews]

Welcome back Spoon, we've missed you! 

Sorry to hear about your rough go with the enlistment process. It sounds lame now, but you've got to believe it was all part of Somebody's master plan for you, and that in the end it will work out for the best. It's kind of a take off on the old saying, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

Hang in there buddy!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Well we may not be as glamorous as the Marines, but we are certainly glad to have you, even with that little run in with those 40 Mexican cops... 

Welcome back, and I am looking forward to those reviews when you get a chance. 

Def

[tomcrx]

Welcome back Spoon. Hope to see more analysis and reviews soon.


Why did'nt you want to stay in the hospitality business and move up the ladder in the kitchen?

[Spoonrobot]

Why did'nt you want to stay in the hospitality business and move up the ladder in the kitchen?

Thanks for the words guys, at the very least it was something different for me to do and it gave me a glimpse of an interesting mechanism constantly at work in the United States.

I'm just burned out on the work. I like it most times but I want to do too many different things (hopes/dreams) to continue working in a kitchen. Which makes no sense because I am doing that again, just in a different place. Hopefully I'll have a new career direction once school begins.

[Anthony]

(hopes/dreams)

I hate it when those get in the way of a perfectly slow day at a dead end job

[Dunc]

welcome back Spoony 

Dunc

[NeitherExtreme]

Hey! Welcome back Spoonrobot! Glad to here you're hanging in there... And best of luck in setting a new direction!