Post by Gabriella Camacho on Feb 18, 2017 23:07:52 GMT -5
From Gabby's blog:
Is it just me, or has LAW reduced good people to attention seeking, whiny, complainers? Kate Steele, Kenzi Grey, Crystal Millar, Mackenzie Roberts, and now, Amy Jo Smyth. The list of whiners in this company is getting longer every day. But now the main focus is Amy Jo Smyth. And no, Amy Jo is no better than the rest of them because she took some action to help her situation. She’s going around, trying to hurt people, in an effort to win the LAW championship. To get noticed. Rather than actually win matches and stake her claim, it’s the process of elimination. You’d think someone who’s been in the business as long as Amy Jo would understand about rankings or contendership status and all that. There is no express line for getting what you want. There is no seniority rule. Just because you’ve been wrestling for a long time, because you used to be the top dog elsewhere, that doesn’t impress me, nor any other wrestler in the game. It’s a crutch used by the lazy. I didn’t think that was you Amy Jo. I really didn’t. But, hey, I guess I’m not the greatest judge of character.
But really, where did this even come from? You got tired of waiting? I mean, people like Alex Yin, have never gotten a shot at the LAW championship. Keira had to wait two years. Crystal waited a long time. But you can’t be patient? You can’t earn the wins? That’s some sad shit right there. But, I’m trying to see it from your perspective. I mean, you’ve been in the game a long time, you’ve been chasing championships and come up short. That’s frustrating. I get it. What is it, nine years, right? Nine long and painful years you’ve spent without a major world championship. And you feel, despite your petty, jealous, smug attitude, that it’s just what you deserve? I mean, how long have you been here? 8 months? I bet you figured you’ve already have this LAW championship didn’t you? I bet you figured it was going to be easy, and everybody wouldn’t step their games up. And now that all that has come to pass, and you’re not the LAW champion, you’re not where you want to be, now you’ve got to resort to pure desperation mode to get somewhere. I can really only think of one phrase to capture this:
How the mighty have fallen.
What happened to you Amy Jo? What happened to the person who wanted to be my best friend and help fight the stupidity in LAW? Where did she go? Now you wanna act like I’m a weak champion, I don’t fit your standards? First of all, who made you the judge of what makes a good champion? Oh I get it, because I’m not on the show 20 times? Because I come to work, punch in, do my thing, maybe talk to few people, and then punch out, that I don’t take this seriously? Let me ask you: Aren’t you annoyed when Kenzi’s on the screen 3 times a night? Don’t you wish somebody would cut her off and stop letting her run the show? Is that what you want me to do? Should I be on the show 3 times, calling out everyone within the sound of my voice? Wouldn’t you just dislike me even more? If I was dominating the show, you’d be sick of me, I mean, you are anyway, but the truth is I didn’t do a damn thing to you, never knocked you, never had an issue, until you decided that breaking arms was the way to go. Robbing people of their paycheck. Taking food off their plate… I’d of hated to see you as a cop.
You have simply because a petty, jealous, angry mess Amy Jo. You have resorted to subtweeting, attacking wrestlers after matches, and whining and crying like a baby. Again, I have to ask: What the hell happened to you Amy Jo? Weren’t you like, a triple champion last year? That’s more than some people dream of. More than a lot of people can accomplish, and you did it, and yet, here you are, angry, not satisfied. And judging by your child-like actions nowadays, when Roxi Johnson accomplished the same thing, I bet you were pissed about that too. Because that’s how jealous people like you are. Maybe not to her face, but behind her back I bet you were cursing her name. Because you weren’t the center of attention. This whole trying to injure other wrestlers’ thing is just the final step. Congratulations Amy Jo Smyth: you are officially a 3 year old child. You cried about everything, threw a temper tantrum, pouted, cried, and then tried to break all the toys out of jealousy. For a 35 year old woman with all the credentials you have… you certainly haven’t matured one bit. And now it’s all coming to the surface to try and get what you want. I mean, aren’t you trying to help Kenzi Grey NOT act like you are, right now? What is this “Do as I say, not as I do” bullshit Amy Jo? At this point, who are you to give advice or mentor anybody? You’d much rather drink and get shitfaced than actually correct a problem. You’d much rather not work for your opportunities, just try and take the easy road. And don’t you try and pass that bullshit of working and busting your ass and not getting the chance elsewhere. You had a chance ALREADY to become Number one contender and you didn’t win. That was just in what, 4 months? You’d rather ignore the people trying to actually help you, because you’re too stubborn and petty to accept it. What kind of mentor is that? It’s really fucking sad that Kenzi even listens to anything you have to say, when you’re doing no better than she is at life. You’re a horrible example of how to go through things, and yet, you wanna play peacemaker and insert yourself in situations like you’re going to help. Here’s a little friendly reminder Amy Jo:
You are not Roxi Johnson.
No matter how much you’d like to be.
And now, all of this is balled up inside, and I guess winning the LAW championship is going to cure all ills, isn’t it? But, what happens when you lose? What happens when you come up short, again? When everything you tried so hard to push forward, blows up in your face? What happens then? I mean, you came up short elsewhere, and it was the same old “oh woe is me, what more do I have to do?” tweets and a really pathetic display of attention seeking. Please, do all of us a favor and just walk away from the business if that’s how this is going to be again. Because the fact of the matter is, you’re not going to beat me at Rising Stars. You’re just not. You’re going to get smacked down, humbled, and put in your place, again. And then you can go right to back of the line with everyone else, and earn it. I’ve told Kate, Keira, and Crystal, when you come for this, the gloves come off. I don’t play games when it comes to this championship, Amy Jo. In case you didn’t know that by now.
If you wanted to fight, then all you had to do was ask. We didn’t need a championship match for that. We didn’t need a ring for that. If you don’t like me, all you had to do was say the word and I will be in the nearest parking lot, grocery store, anyplace you wanted to throw down. I have never been hard to find, never backed down from a fight and I ain’t starting now. I’m coming to DC to fight you, because that’s what you have been after. I don’t like to disappoint, so, here. I. Fucking. Come.
I was always taught that you can lead, follow, or get out of the way. Do you really think you’re going to lead LAW into some kind of utopia if you become the champion? That suddenly every problem that exists in LAW is going to be fixed? No, I have some bad news for you, this is only going to be YOUR problem solved. Your issue of not being the center of attention, not being the champion, and not being the top dog. Because that’s really what this is all about. Don’t blow smoke up mine and everybody else’s ass by even thinking about saying that this is about some kind of greater good type of bullshit. All the crying and whining and treating other people like shit that you have done for the past 4 months is about YOU. All because you want to be vindicated for your shitty behavior. I don’t think you should be rewarded in the slightest quite honestly. You’re being rewarded for jumping the line. But I get it, this is somehow going to come back on me for basically trying to get you to be a rational human being and stop trying to injure wrestlers isn’t it? It’s whatever though, if you were too fucking impatient to wait your turn and just work your way up, I’ll be more than fucking happy to send you back to the bottom, back to square one, and next time, breaking arms isn’t going to fucking cut it to get a championship match. That’s the reality of your situation right now Amy Jo.
Right now, the pressure’s on. You said nine years, on and off trying to become the world champion, making it to the top and falling short. Now, LAW has basically gifted you a shot. No, no that’s actually wrong. I gave you this shot. And you managed to hold up your end and win some matches to formally earn the match, like beating Mackenzie Roberts. Now, you have to prove that all the crowing, all that garbage you’ve been spewing, all those threats you’ve been making, actually fucking mean something. Because if you come up short, if you fail, which, you’re going to, because I’m going to whoop your ass, but when you lose, you have even more egg on your face. You’ve been getting smacked down to reality since you got here. You lose, and everything you have done, and said, mean a big pile of nothing. Fucking ZERO, Amy Jo. Then what? You’ll just be another person who got their shot at the top in LAW and couldn’t knock the champion off. Or in your case, will you make it an even decade with no top of the company championships? Are you going to fucking fold like a cheap lawn chair and give up and walk away from LAW after this? You’ll just be known as the bridesmaid, and never the bride.
Hey, I’ve been there. I lost of lot of matches here in LAW, and Force 1 a few years back. I took my lumps, and honestly, this cannot be the first rut of your career. Maybe the longest, but not the first. You know damn well that if you let that kind of shit affect you then you’re a bigger loser for it. You pick yourself up, you dust yourself off. You work at it. Even at 36, you can easily keep yourself in the game by rising to the challenge. But no, not Amy Jo Smyth I guess. You can’t wait a few months or whatever the case may be. Well, now you’ve jumped into the lion’s den. I sincerely hope that you can back up all the shit you’ve been talking. People have tried to trash me before, and guess what? I’m not perfect, I never tried to be, but I also never looked down on people the way you do. You always have had this smug arrogance about you, and it’s high time that someone smack that shit off your face. But, for you, this should be nothing new. I guess you just are a glutton for punishment. I’ll be more than happy to oblige at Rising Stars.
Pressure’s on Amy Jo, we’ll see what you really got next week.
For the first time in a really long time, I felt really anti-social. I sat and stewed in negative thoughts. I kept seeing Kenzi Grey and Kate Steele, and Amy Jo Smyth just running their mouths and it just bugged the fuck out of me. I seriously just wanted them all to just shut the fuck up. I didn’t want to be bothered by so much, yet, I was. I was growing to dislike interaction. And I’m really not that kind of person. I like people. I like talking. But it seems that every time I even thought about stuff like that, those three would just cloud everything. God damn they were annoying.
Thankfully Ms. Nina was able to talk to me without me feeling like it was a burden. She always looked out for me. Maybe it was because of my friendship with Cordy, but Nina took a liking to me, and I am always very appreciative of people going out of their way to be friendly with me. Nina didn’t have to take an interest in me, neither did Cordy. They were friendly to me, and now I feel like, I dunno, they’re almost like family. Cordy is like my big sister, and Nina is so motherly, it’s almost sickening. I mean, my childhood was pretty much motherless. I didn’t really have that kind of figure in my life, but I wasn’t treated like a son either. My brother protected me like a baby. Papi was always looking out for me, and pretty much treated me, like his little girl. I never forgot about that. It was a good feeling.
And of course, I cannot tell you how invaluable Allie is as my BFF. She’s completely amazing and always keeps me grounded. She’s basically the one, since like, middle school that taught me “how to be a girl”. I mean, I know I am one, and I know how it works, but Allie was the one that got me interested in shoes, and dresses and stuff like that. I was never really into those things at all. Allie has always been the center that I need when things get crazy. And I really kind of needed her to work her magic again. And she did so with a pillow to the head.
“Rise and Shine!” She shouted.
Allie had a key to my damn place. I forgot about that.
She would show up at the ass crack of dawn.
“Go away Allie.”
“Get your ass out of bed Gabby. Stop being lazy.”
“I’m not being lazy. I’m being anti-social. There’s a difference.”
I pulled the covers back over me and she yanked them back down.
“Get up. You need to be social. You’re turning into a hermit.”
“Not while you have a key.”
I then slowly sat up and turned to her opening my hand.
“Which reminds me, give me that key back.”
Allie shook her head and playfully slapped my hand away.
“No. Not til you get your ass out of bed and come shopping with me.”
I looked over at my clock and gave Allie a confused look.
“Allie, it’s 7:30. Nothing is open outside of like fucking Wal-Mart.”
“Uh, yeah, duh.”
“Allie, you are not clothes shopping at Wal-Mart. Have standards.”
“Don’t be knocking Wal-Mart. But I’m not going clothes or shoe shopping there anyway.”
I shrugged.
“Then why are we going in the first place. Groceries are not that important. Especially not at 7am.”
“Why do you gotta act like that? Get up!”
I snatched the covers back from Allie and rolled over. I was not in the mood for this. I was going back to bed. I didn’t want to be up, I didn’t want to deal with people. I just wanted Allie to leave and leave me alone.
Well, no scratch that, I wanted Allie to help me. I just didn’t want it this early.
“Get up.”
Allie grabbed the blankets, sheets, all of it and roughly pulled it off the bed. I finally looked at her like I was going to kill her and that seemed to finally get to her.
“I was just trying to help.” She said trying to sound innocent.
“You’re not. I am just not in the mood to deal with shit today Allie.”
“What happened to you? Did you not get some when you needed it?”
“’Allie, seriously.” I shot back with a glare.
“Is it wrestling?”
I sighed. “It’s just a mood.”
“So, the wrestling chicks are talking shit? Whatever though. Just beat their asses, problem solved.”
Allie shrugged as if it were that simple.
“It’s not that simple. I feel like the only adult anymore. I feel like every single one of these girls, well, no, the majority of these girls are mental. Like fucking whacked in the head.”
“Girls are weird. You know this. You’re weird.”
“I am not!” I shouted back indignantly.
“Gabby, you’re weird. You collect pez dispensers.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s weird. But whatever. Who cares what they’re saying.”
“It’s just these girls just don’t ever stop acting stupid. I swear that they have a learning defect or something. Always acting a fool. Always crying and whining. I am just so done with this stuff.”
“So ignore them.” Allie shrugged again. “Besides, it’s not like this is the first time you dealt with stupid people, right? I mean, the Army had to have dumb people.
“Yes, they did. O’Neil couldn’t properly blouse her pants. Anderson could have tripped over a cordless phone. The Army was not without its share of idiots.”
“And I don’t think they ever compare to these girls. They may be just playing a role, the Army had some actual dumb people, right? Who was that one LT?”
“LT. Harper.”
Lieutenant Harper was a female LT fresh out of OCS. Never really had seen any combat, and never was really in charge of anything. And yet, on my 2nd deployment, she was right there. In charge of the range and the armory for some weapon storage. She was weird. With a capital W. She always looked nervous and nervous turned into strange requests. But, you have to remember this is the Army so, pretty much, whatever she asked, no matter how stupid it was, we had to do it.
“Do you have a count on all the round of Ammo we have here?”
“Ma’am?”
“A count.”
“No. The ammo we’re using is for the range, not really for any one solider, they should all be combat loaded.”
“I would like a count of all the rounds we have.”
“Yes ma’am.”
It was the dumbest request I had ever heard. The ammo was for the range. It was, roughly, about 50,000 because we had many units coming in every year or so, and every once in a while, a rare Navy or Marine group would come in and use the range. But an exact count on that, grenades, 203 Ammo, all that shit made no sense. Myself and Sgt. Young spent about a day counting fucking rounds instead of doing our weapons maintaince. Counting ammo was stupid. But, again, that’s the Army, and that’s why we had to do it. Whatever the person in charge says.
She came back and when we gave her the number, she seemed confused.
“Should I put in a request for more, that seems low.”
“Whatever you want to do Ma’am.”
She never made a decision in front of me, but at the halfway point of my deployment, they put her out in the main area, running her own compound. I was so glad to be rid of her. Glad to have her out of my hair, and then, like a punch in the gut, I got the word.
“Camacho, they need a body in one of the compounds.”
“Why, is someone hurt?”
“No. Pregnant. Patterson. They are sending her home”
“Fuck.”
I didn’t want to go. I kind of enjoyed my cushy job, and I made extra money cleaning weapons for people. It was working so well for me. And now I would have to go out and fuck around in the field.
“Which compound?”
“41.”
And low and behold, my first day at 41, I was met by Lt. Harper.
“Fuck.”
I muttered under my breath as her compound was all kind of in disarray due to her lack of leadership. She greeted me with a smile. But this was more real than most. I think she totally realized she was in over her head and things weren’t going to get any better.
“Ma’am.”
“Camacho, I’m hiring you as my assistant.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I had no idea what that meant, though it mostly kept me out of working too much in the field. I had to drive her around, and she actually seemed like a somewhat normal human being at times. And then she would say something and completely ruin every good thought I would ever have about her.
“Morale seems down, what should we do?”
“Ma’am, might I suggest not working everybody every day save for one. They could probably use a 3 and 1 schedule instead of 6 and 1. It’s a year long thing, long hours, the more days off, the less they have to think about something as dangerous. Fresher minds, and bodies, that kind of thing.”
“We could do maybe a barbecue or something, right?”
As I explained, 6 days on, 1 days off 12 hours is a long time. Shitty hours, and shitty work. People get angry, annoyed at small things because they eventually just look forward to that one day where they don’t have to deal with that shit. Her suggestion for boosting morale was a cookout, where we’d see the people we don’t really wanna see, on our day off.
“We could, yes ma’am.”
A cookout? She was lucky there was no alcohol (legally) allowed there. Otherwise, people might not have held their tongues.
We never did do the cookout, and after another two months, she finally relaxed the schedule like I suggested, but by then, we only had about 2 months left of the deployment anyway. All of it, moot. Her final act of stupidity, was to ask me about Army reg 623-3 and I got super confused. I had no idea why she needed my help with this.
“I need to do these for everybody. Can you help me?”
“Ma’am?”
“What do you think of Jenson? Is he doing okay?”
“I guess, ma’am I’m not sure I’m qualified to do this FOR you. This is based on what you see.”
“Is anyone getting coins for this?”
“Um…no ma’am. Not that I know of. Unless they got one already.”
She was basically asking me to do her work. I was done. So done. Thankfully, she was reassigned to the command post and I never saw her again.
“See, they were way worse.” Allie brought me back to reality.
“Yeah, I guess so. Now they just all remind me of her. They are her levels of annoying.”
“See, it could always be worse. You’re not dealing with them, and these girls can be ignored.”
“Not Amy Jo. She’s my next opponent.”
“Oh.” Allie placed a hand on my shoulder. “You got this. You gotta work through it. And one by one, you can just, whoop ‘em all and get back to being better Gabby. Because mopey Gabby fucking sucks.”
“Oh shut up Allie.”
It wasn’t the magic I was used to, but it was okay. For now. Maybe I needed someone else to talk to, or maybe I just needed to gut it out. I would have to figure it out, and soon. Rising Stars wasn’t far away.
Is it just me, or has LAW reduced good people to attention seeking, whiny, complainers? Kate Steele, Kenzi Grey, Crystal Millar, Mackenzie Roberts, and now, Amy Jo Smyth. The list of whiners in this company is getting longer every day. But now the main focus is Amy Jo Smyth. And no, Amy Jo is no better than the rest of them because she took some action to help her situation. She’s going around, trying to hurt people, in an effort to win the LAW championship. To get noticed. Rather than actually win matches and stake her claim, it’s the process of elimination. You’d think someone who’s been in the business as long as Amy Jo would understand about rankings or contendership status and all that. There is no express line for getting what you want. There is no seniority rule. Just because you’ve been wrestling for a long time, because you used to be the top dog elsewhere, that doesn’t impress me, nor any other wrestler in the game. It’s a crutch used by the lazy. I didn’t think that was you Amy Jo. I really didn’t. But, hey, I guess I’m not the greatest judge of character.
But really, where did this even come from? You got tired of waiting? I mean, people like Alex Yin, have never gotten a shot at the LAW championship. Keira had to wait two years. Crystal waited a long time. But you can’t be patient? You can’t earn the wins? That’s some sad shit right there. But, I’m trying to see it from your perspective. I mean, you’ve been in the game a long time, you’ve been chasing championships and come up short. That’s frustrating. I get it. What is it, nine years, right? Nine long and painful years you’ve spent without a major world championship. And you feel, despite your petty, jealous, smug attitude, that it’s just what you deserve? I mean, how long have you been here? 8 months? I bet you figured you’ve already have this LAW championship didn’t you? I bet you figured it was going to be easy, and everybody wouldn’t step their games up. And now that all that has come to pass, and you’re not the LAW champion, you’re not where you want to be, now you’ve got to resort to pure desperation mode to get somewhere. I can really only think of one phrase to capture this:
How the mighty have fallen.
What happened to you Amy Jo? What happened to the person who wanted to be my best friend and help fight the stupidity in LAW? Where did she go? Now you wanna act like I’m a weak champion, I don’t fit your standards? First of all, who made you the judge of what makes a good champion? Oh I get it, because I’m not on the show 20 times? Because I come to work, punch in, do my thing, maybe talk to few people, and then punch out, that I don’t take this seriously? Let me ask you: Aren’t you annoyed when Kenzi’s on the screen 3 times a night? Don’t you wish somebody would cut her off and stop letting her run the show? Is that what you want me to do? Should I be on the show 3 times, calling out everyone within the sound of my voice? Wouldn’t you just dislike me even more? If I was dominating the show, you’d be sick of me, I mean, you are anyway, but the truth is I didn’t do a damn thing to you, never knocked you, never had an issue, until you decided that breaking arms was the way to go. Robbing people of their paycheck. Taking food off their plate… I’d of hated to see you as a cop.
You have simply because a petty, jealous, angry mess Amy Jo. You have resorted to subtweeting, attacking wrestlers after matches, and whining and crying like a baby. Again, I have to ask: What the hell happened to you Amy Jo? Weren’t you like, a triple champion last year? That’s more than some people dream of. More than a lot of people can accomplish, and you did it, and yet, here you are, angry, not satisfied. And judging by your child-like actions nowadays, when Roxi Johnson accomplished the same thing, I bet you were pissed about that too. Because that’s how jealous people like you are. Maybe not to her face, but behind her back I bet you were cursing her name. Because you weren’t the center of attention. This whole trying to injure other wrestlers’ thing is just the final step. Congratulations Amy Jo Smyth: you are officially a 3 year old child. You cried about everything, threw a temper tantrum, pouted, cried, and then tried to break all the toys out of jealousy. For a 35 year old woman with all the credentials you have… you certainly haven’t matured one bit. And now it’s all coming to the surface to try and get what you want. I mean, aren’t you trying to help Kenzi Grey NOT act like you are, right now? What is this “Do as I say, not as I do” bullshit Amy Jo? At this point, who are you to give advice or mentor anybody? You’d much rather drink and get shitfaced than actually correct a problem. You’d much rather not work for your opportunities, just try and take the easy road. And don’t you try and pass that bullshit of working and busting your ass and not getting the chance elsewhere. You had a chance ALREADY to become Number one contender and you didn’t win. That was just in what, 4 months? You’d rather ignore the people trying to actually help you, because you’re too stubborn and petty to accept it. What kind of mentor is that? It’s really fucking sad that Kenzi even listens to anything you have to say, when you’re doing no better than she is at life. You’re a horrible example of how to go through things, and yet, you wanna play peacemaker and insert yourself in situations like you’re going to help. Here’s a little friendly reminder Amy Jo:
You are not Roxi Johnson.
No matter how much you’d like to be.
And now, all of this is balled up inside, and I guess winning the LAW championship is going to cure all ills, isn’t it? But, what happens when you lose? What happens when you come up short, again? When everything you tried so hard to push forward, blows up in your face? What happens then? I mean, you came up short elsewhere, and it was the same old “oh woe is me, what more do I have to do?” tweets and a really pathetic display of attention seeking. Please, do all of us a favor and just walk away from the business if that’s how this is going to be again. Because the fact of the matter is, you’re not going to beat me at Rising Stars. You’re just not. You’re going to get smacked down, humbled, and put in your place, again. And then you can go right to back of the line with everyone else, and earn it. I’ve told Kate, Keira, and Crystal, when you come for this, the gloves come off. I don’t play games when it comes to this championship, Amy Jo. In case you didn’t know that by now.
If you wanted to fight, then all you had to do was ask. We didn’t need a championship match for that. We didn’t need a ring for that. If you don’t like me, all you had to do was say the word and I will be in the nearest parking lot, grocery store, anyplace you wanted to throw down. I have never been hard to find, never backed down from a fight and I ain’t starting now. I’m coming to DC to fight you, because that’s what you have been after. I don’t like to disappoint, so, here. I. Fucking. Come.
I was always taught that you can lead, follow, or get out of the way. Do you really think you’re going to lead LAW into some kind of utopia if you become the champion? That suddenly every problem that exists in LAW is going to be fixed? No, I have some bad news for you, this is only going to be YOUR problem solved. Your issue of not being the center of attention, not being the champion, and not being the top dog. Because that’s really what this is all about. Don’t blow smoke up mine and everybody else’s ass by even thinking about saying that this is about some kind of greater good type of bullshit. All the crying and whining and treating other people like shit that you have done for the past 4 months is about YOU. All because you want to be vindicated for your shitty behavior. I don’t think you should be rewarded in the slightest quite honestly. You’re being rewarded for jumping the line. But I get it, this is somehow going to come back on me for basically trying to get you to be a rational human being and stop trying to injure wrestlers isn’t it? It’s whatever though, if you were too fucking impatient to wait your turn and just work your way up, I’ll be more than fucking happy to send you back to the bottom, back to square one, and next time, breaking arms isn’t going to fucking cut it to get a championship match. That’s the reality of your situation right now Amy Jo.
Right now, the pressure’s on. You said nine years, on and off trying to become the world champion, making it to the top and falling short. Now, LAW has basically gifted you a shot. No, no that’s actually wrong. I gave you this shot. And you managed to hold up your end and win some matches to formally earn the match, like beating Mackenzie Roberts. Now, you have to prove that all the crowing, all that garbage you’ve been spewing, all those threats you’ve been making, actually fucking mean something. Because if you come up short, if you fail, which, you’re going to, because I’m going to whoop your ass, but when you lose, you have even more egg on your face. You’ve been getting smacked down to reality since you got here. You lose, and everything you have done, and said, mean a big pile of nothing. Fucking ZERO, Amy Jo. Then what? You’ll just be another person who got their shot at the top in LAW and couldn’t knock the champion off. Or in your case, will you make it an even decade with no top of the company championships? Are you going to fucking fold like a cheap lawn chair and give up and walk away from LAW after this? You’ll just be known as the bridesmaid, and never the bride.
Hey, I’ve been there. I lost of lot of matches here in LAW, and Force 1 a few years back. I took my lumps, and honestly, this cannot be the first rut of your career. Maybe the longest, but not the first. You know damn well that if you let that kind of shit affect you then you’re a bigger loser for it. You pick yourself up, you dust yourself off. You work at it. Even at 36, you can easily keep yourself in the game by rising to the challenge. But no, not Amy Jo Smyth I guess. You can’t wait a few months or whatever the case may be. Well, now you’ve jumped into the lion’s den. I sincerely hope that you can back up all the shit you’ve been talking. People have tried to trash me before, and guess what? I’m not perfect, I never tried to be, but I also never looked down on people the way you do. You always have had this smug arrogance about you, and it’s high time that someone smack that shit off your face. But, for you, this should be nothing new. I guess you just are a glutton for punishment. I’ll be more than happy to oblige at Rising Stars.
Pressure’s on Amy Jo, we’ll see what you really got next week.
For the first time in a really long time, I felt really anti-social. I sat and stewed in negative thoughts. I kept seeing Kenzi Grey and Kate Steele, and Amy Jo Smyth just running their mouths and it just bugged the fuck out of me. I seriously just wanted them all to just shut the fuck up. I didn’t want to be bothered by so much, yet, I was. I was growing to dislike interaction. And I’m really not that kind of person. I like people. I like talking. But it seems that every time I even thought about stuff like that, those three would just cloud everything. God damn they were annoying.
Thankfully Ms. Nina was able to talk to me without me feeling like it was a burden. She always looked out for me. Maybe it was because of my friendship with Cordy, but Nina took a liking to me, and I am always very appreciative of people going out of their way to be friendly with me. Nina didn’t have to take an interest in me, neither did Cordy. They were friendly to me, and now I feel like, I dunno, they’re almost like family. Cordy is like my big sister, and Nina is so motherly, it’s almost sickening. I mean, my childhood was pretty much motherless. I didn’t really have that kind of figure in my life, but I wasn’t treated like a son either. My brother protected me like a baby. Papi was always looking out for me, and pretty much treated me, like his little girl. I never forgot about that. It was a good feeling.
And of course, I cannot tell you how invaluable Allie is as my BFF. She’s completely amazing and always keeps me grounded. She’s basically the one, since like, middle school that taught me “how to be a girl”. I mean, I know I am one, and I know how it works, but Allie was the one that got me interested in shoes, and dresses and stuff like that. I was never really into those things at all. Allie has always been the center that I need when things get crazy. And I really kind of needed her to work her magic again. And she did so with a pillow to the head.
“Rise and Shine!” She shouted.
Allie had a key to my damn place. I forgot about that.
She would show up at the ass crack of dawn.
“Go away Allie.”
“Get your ass out of bed Gabby. Stop being lazy.”
“I’m not being lazy. I’m being anti-social. There’s a difference.”
I pulled the covers back over me and she yanked them back down.
“Get up. You need to be social. You’re turning into a hermit.”
“Not while you have a key.”
I then slowly sat up and turned to her opening my hand.
“Which reminds me, give me that key back.”
Allie shook her head and playfully slapped my hand away.
“No. Not til you get your ass out of bed and come shopping with me.”
I looked over at my clock and gave Allie a confused look.
“Allie, it’s 7:30. Nothing is open outside of like fucking Wal-Mart.”
“Uh, yeah, duh.”
“Allie, you are not clothes shopping at Wal-Mart. Have standards.”
“Don’t be knocking Wal-Mart. But I’m not going clothes or shoe shopping there anyway.”
I shrugged.
“Then why are we going in the first place. Groceries are not that important. Especially not at 7am.”
“Why do you gotta act like that? Get up!”
I snatched the covers back from Allie and rolled over. I was not in the mood for this. I was going back to bed. I didn’t want to be up, I didn’t want to deal with people. I just wanted Allie to leave and leave me alone.
Well, no scratch that, I wanted Allie to help me. I just didn’t want it this early.
“Get up.”
Allie grabbed the blankets, sheets, all of it and roughly pulled it off the bed. I finally looked at her like I was going to kill her and that seemed to finally get to her.
“I was just trying to help.” She said trying to sound innocent.
“You’re not. I am just not in the mood to deal with shit today Allie.”
“What happened to you? Did you not get some when you needed it?”
“’Allie, seriously.” I shot back with a glare.
“Is it wrestling?”
I sighed. “It’s just a mood.”
“So, the wrestling chicks are talking shit? Whatever though. Just beat their asses, problem solved.”
Allie shrugged as if it were that simple.
“It’s not that simple. I feel like the only adult anymore. I feel like every single one of these girls, well, no, the majority of these girls are mental. Like fucking whacked in the head.”
“Girls are weird. You know this. You’re weird.”
“I am not!” I shouted back indignantly.
“Gabby, you’re weird. You collect pez dispensers.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s weird. But whatever. Who cares what they’re saying.”
“It’s just these girls just don’t ever stop acting stupid. I swear that they have a learning defect or something. Always acting a fool. Always crying and whining. I am just so done with this stuff.”
“So ignore them.” Allie shrugged again. “Besides, it’s not like this is the first time you dealt with stupid people, right? I mean, the Army had to have dumb people.
“Yes, they did. O’Neil couldn’t properly blouse her pants. Anderson could have tripped over a cordless phone. The Army was not without its share of idiots.”
“And I don’t think they ever compare to these girls. They may be just playing a role, the Army had some actual dumb people, right? Who was that one LT?”
“LT. Harper.”
Lieutenant Harper was a female LT fresh out of OCS. Never really had seen any combat, and never was really in charge of anything. And yet, on my 2nd deployment, she was right there. In charge of the range and the armory for some weapon storage. She was weird. With a capital W. She always looked nervous and nervous turned into strange requests. But, you have to remember this is the Army so, pretty much, whatever she asked, no matter how stupid it was, we had to do it.
“Do you have a count on all the round of Ammo we have here?”
“Ma’am?”
“A count.”
“No. The ammo we’re using is for the range, not really for any one solider, they should all be combat loaded.”
“I would like a count of all the rounds we have.”
“Yes ma’am.”
It was the dumbest request I had ever heard. The ammo was for the range. It was, roughly, about 50,000 because we had many units coming in every year or so, and every once in a while, a rare Navy or Marine group would come in and use the range. But an exact count on that, grenades, 203 Ammo, all that shit made no sense. Myself and Sgt. Young spent about a day counting fucking rounds instead of doing our weapons maintaince. Counting ammo was stupid. But, again, that’s the Army, and that’s why we had to do it. Whatever the person in charge says.
She came back and when we gave her the number, she seemed confused.
“Should I put in a request for more, that seems low.”
“Whatever you want to do Ma’am.”
She never made a decision in front of me, but at the halfway point of my deployment, they put her out in the main area, running her own compound. I was so glad to be rid of her. Glad to have her out of my hair, and then, like a punch in the gut, I got the word.
“Camacho, they need a body in one of the compounds.”
“Why, is someone hurt?”
“No. Pregnant. Patterson. They are sending her home”
“Fuck.”
I didn’t want to go. I kind of enjoyed my cushy job, and I made extra money cleaning weapons for people. It was working so well for me. And now I would have to go out and fuck around in the field.
“Which compound?”
“41.”
And low and behold, my first day at 41, I was met by Lt. Harper.
“Fuck.”
I muttered under my breath as her compound was all kind of in disarray due to her lack of leadership. She greeted me with a smile. But this was more real than most. I think she totally realized she was in over her head and things weren’t going to get any better.
“Ma’am.”
“Camacho, I’m hiring you as my assistant.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I had no idea what that meant, though it mostly kept me out of working too much in the field. I had to drive her around, and she actually seemed like a somewhat normal human being at times. And then she would say something and completely ruin every good thought I would ever have about her.
“Morale seems down, what should we do?”
“Ma’am, might I suggest not working everybody every day save for one. They could probably use a 3 and 1 schedule instead of 6 and 1. It’s a year long thing, long hours, the more days off, the less they have to think about something as dangerous. Fresher minds, and bodies, that kind of thing.”
“We could do maybe a barbecue or something, right?”
As I explained, 6 days on, 1 days off 12 hours is a long time. Shitty hours, and shitty work. People get angry, annoyed at small things because they eventually just look forward to that one day where they don’t have to deal with that shit. Her suggestion for boosting morale was a cookout, where we’d see the people we don’t really wanna see, on our day off.
“We could, yes ma’am.”
A cookout? She was lucky there was no alcohol (legally) allowed there. Otherwise, people might not have held their tongues.
We never did do the cookout, and after another two months, she finally relaxed the schedule like I suggested, but by then, we only had about 2 months left of the deployment anyway. All of it, moot. Her final act of stupidity, was to ask me about Army reg 623-3 and I got super confused. I had no idea why she needed my help with this.
“I need to do these for everybody. Can you help me?”
“Ma’am?”
“What do you think of Jenson? Is he doing okay?”
“I guess, ma’am I’m not sure I’m qualified to do this FOR you. This is based on what you see.”
“Is anyone getting coins for this?”
“Um…no ma’am. Not that I know of. Unless they got one already.”
She was basically asking me to do her work. I was done. So done. Thankfully, she was reassigned to the command post and I never saw her again.
“See, they were way worse.” Allie brought me back to reality.
“Yeah, I guess so. Now they just all remind me of her. They are her levels of annoying.”
“See, it could always be worse. You’re not dealing with them, and these girls can be ignored.”
“Not Amy Jo. She’s my next opponent.”
“Oh.” Allie placed a hand on my shoulder. “You got this. You gotta work through it. And one by one, you can just, whoop ‘em all and get back to being better Gabby. Because mopey Gabby fucking sucks.”
“Oh shut up Allie.”
It wasn’t the magic I was used to, but it was okay. For now. Maybe I needed someone else to talk to, or maybe I just needed to gut it out. I would have to figure it out, and soon. Rising Stars wasn’t far away.