Explaining myself

This post might be broken down into a couple of volumes. I know as well as anyone that I have not written in forever since my last posting, but that isn't because I was THAT lazy. It all started a long time ago, and snowballed as to why I haven't posted in some time.



So there I was, getting ready to move out of the barracks. A lot was on my mind, and sadly meeting the weekly post deadline was not on the short list. I moved into an apartment that obviously did not come with Internet. Hell, I didn't even have furniture. There were free wi-fi spots around base, but I didn't really have enough time in my scheduled day etched out to sit there for time on end and report.



Sure I could have gotten Internet much sooner in my place, but I was continuously being jagged around with when I was actually leaving for Diego Garcia. First it was going to be the week after I moved into my place, so early October. Then they pushed it back a week due to weather. There was an ensuing typhoon that was creeping up on Sasebo which luckily didn't hit us, but it cancelled my flight. They, and when I say "they" I mean the uppers and administration, pushed my date back again because they travel itenerary was too expensive. They needed another week to figure out a cheaper way to fly me out. All this time I chose to hold off Internet service since I originally thought I was going to be already be in Diego Garcia.



So there I was in Diego Garcia. In the middle of nowhere. I mean I have never been more isolated from anything in my life. I was 1,000 miles from the next nearest rock, island, piece of land sticking out of the water. Internet service was available, but it was a privledge, not a given. You could pay for that privledge, and I did, but even so dial-up in 1995 would have been faster and more reliable than the stuff we had. For 30 days of service I had to pay $250, and even at that price sometimes I couldn't connect, some pages wouldn't upload, and it was sort of like the navy: no such thing as a good day, just degrees of bad. Luckily the most reliable website was facebook, but uploading pictures was next to impossible and an all weekend adventure. Needless to say I did not have a reliable way of posting a blog post on the island.



After I returned from the island I went another week without Internet at my place, and it was the same routine before I left. Finally the day came when I was able to get Internet in my place, but ran into a bit of a pickle. There were only two places where I could get service in my entire appartment. There was my bedroom which was not good because I needed that room to sleep in and it just isn't big enough to hold a desk to place the computer on. My next best and chosen option was my countertop in my dining room. Well, the counter is fitting for bar stools, which I did not have at the time. I spent the next 3 weeks with Internet in my apartment, but I had to stand at the counter to use it. Because I had to write so much and share a lot of stories and information, this was not suitable writing conditions. Finally my bar stools came in, and I had to wait another two weeks to find time to sit down and write.



I heard the people and listened to the complaints! I am back on my weekly schedule. Pictured below is my workstation for the rest of the time in Japan.

So I hope this explains my absence in my posting. I will make another couple of posts right now to explain my recent travels on today, but I figured this deserved it's own explaination.

I'm Back!!!

This is my coaches gift for the soccer season. I think it is a pretty cool deal. It's hard to see from that angle this angle, but it is a matted picture of the season. We finished the season 4-1. I was very proud of the kids. I would like to say that it was because of the coaching, but I think that would be a stretch. I did have parents come up to me and say that they will be requesting me for their child's next sport. I blushed for sure. Because of my TAD to Diego Garcia I have to not coach flag football this year which sort of sucks because next to swimming season I was looking forward to football the most. Oh well, such is life, right? I'll be getting back around the time basketball season starts up.

Achieving goals are so fun! Two weeks ago I had my official PRT. MY goal was outstanding-high around the board. In order to do this, I had to knock out 1 more sit-up than I've ever done before, and drop 15 seconds in my swim compared to the last time I was time in the swim. Well, I pulled through. 105 sit-ups, 87 push-ups, and 6:19 450m swim. That put me in the highest, most fit bracket percentile in the navy. It feels good knowing that I went from FEP to outstanding-high in one PRT cycle, and it's quite an accomplishment. I also have improved my pull-ups to 12. Not sure on the run though, I'm hesitant to run under a clock as of now. I'm building up my cardio now, but time will tell.

The picture to the left is Laughlin's last day in Japan. The tripod was able to catch one last picture before he took off on the bus to the airport. Ice looks like a Japanese guy himself, and I look like I'm a little baggy in the chest myself. If I remember I had just finished running with Dr. Margraf and swimming 2,000 meters this Friday morning. This was taken the morning of the navy ball. That was a headache in a half. I thought I had duty the next day, but as it turned out I was supposed to have duty the day of the ball. Not wanting to tell my date this till the last minute I scrambled to find a replacement. This story ends with lots of drama, me having to return many favors once I get back from Diego Garcia, and me able to make it. Good luck Laughlin, it's a small navy, I'm sure we will see each other again down the road.

Here we are, later this day getting ready to go to the navy ball. My date, Genell. She looked really good I thought. There is nothing to be read too deep into this arrangement. She needed a date so she could wear a dress instead of going in uniform. I'm not sure why she picked me, but we had a good time. The food was great, company was plenty, drinks were cheaper, and my uniform wasn't as snug as the last time I had to wear it!

I really wish I didn't miss a week because my stories would have been so much more detailed! Pictured above is where the ball took place. Altogether I think there was something like 650 people I heard who attended. Sadly though, there was only 4 corpsmen, 2 doctors, and 1 dentist who represented the clinic. We could have liked to see larger numbers, but it also nice being a part of a naval function and not worry about folks from the clinic looking over my shoulder, etc. Genell said that she was surprised about how much of a gentleman I was, but I was okay with it. Just practice for something "real."

Well, I officially emailed my detailer to tell him that I wanted to change my NEC from pharmacy tech to dive med tech. He has yet to reply to me, but I made my intentions very clear that I have no desire to complete my contract as a pharm tech, and any way I could expedite my obligated service as a pharm tech I would be okay with it. This email is important because I essentially declared what I want to do with the rest of my navy career. Though I would still be a corpsmen, I would be in the dive locker, and attached to dive commands. I'll still be special warfare and if I can be assigned to a operational command I could still do other cool shit like jump out of airplanes and run around with SEALs.

My apartment is starting to really come together. I wish I had updated pictures. Maybe once I get my kitchen table and desk for the office I'll expose where I live to the world. One thing about a queen size bed for the first time in 18 months is I didn't realize how lonely nights can be sometimes. I end up spooning with my pillow almost every night :( Overall I love blu-ray, my bathroom is really small for me, and I'm kicking myself for not learning more Japanese while living in the barracks. When I run into little kids in the elevator and they know more English than I know Japanese, it's a little embarrassing. Maybe I'll put that on my to do list.

My Diego Garcia trip is being pushed farther and farther back. The first time was because of the typhoon warning which is completely and obviously understandable. The second time it was pushed back was because "it was too expensive." Now I'm planning on leaving on Saturday the 24th. It should take 3 days to travel the needed 800 miles. First I'm going to take the train from Sasebo to Yokosuka and spend the night up there. Then on the 25th I will fly out of Tokyo to Singapore where I'll spend the night there. On Monday the 26th I'll fly from Singapore to Diego Garcia. Right now I'm planning on staying in Diego for 30 days, and when I come home it'll be the same flight schedule as getting there. For all you math motivators, yes, I will be in Singapore for Thanksgiving 2009. I think that is pretty cool seeing how I remember the year we lived on Emmers Drive in Appleton and we had chicken fingers for Thanksgiving dinner. How my life has changed and where I have gone since my humble beginnings. If I become a dive med tech (DMT) it'll get even more crazy!

That's it for now. I'll write back when I can. Not sure when that'll be. Not having Internet in my apartment makes it trickier to handle these things. Morale is high.

it's like sand paper

This week has flown by me so fast! So much has happened, and it's hard for me to know just where to start. Here goes everyone, enjoy.

As for the post title, I'm back to completely buzzing my head. The barber is taking too long recently, but my need to have short hair is still present. You may have remembered me with shorter hair, a simple buzz cut. That was then, when I would use a 1/8" guard to cut it with. These days I'm looking like a BUD/S canidate. No guard, just clean off. When I got out of the shower I was drying my head, and it felt like fine sand paper. Hence, my post. I'm going to run with this style until given a better reason otherwise, aka a girl! Just kidding, but seriously. I know this isn't the most faddish cut, so when I'm getting ready to get back into the game I may grow it out a little bit more.

You may be asking yourself just what that picture is above. Well, that is where the navy is sending me for the next 30 days or so. The place is called Diego Garcia. "DG" is a satellite clinic of Yokuska Naval Hospital, like Sasebo, but it is way out in n0-mans-land. Pictured below is where Diego Garcia is on the globe:

I found this news out on Monday. My LCPO came up to me and just told me that I was being deployed. The truth is though that this isn't a deployment. It is temporary duty, or TAD. The pharmacy tech there is going on leave, and they need a cover while they are gone. This is where I step in. Hopefully, if the stars align correctly I will be extended there, but the odds of that are unlikely. It doesn't stop me from keeping the faith though!

This is what I know about Diego Garcia: It is 7 degrees south of the equator, the highest elevation is only 22 feet above sea level. Technically the island is considered an atoll, a geographic odessy of sorts. It's about 1,000 miles south of the Indian southern coast, and is one of the 22 emergency landing zones for the space shuttle. The chiefs in the clinic are very envious of me that I'm getting this opportunity, and they all ask me if I golf. I tell them that I'm going to start. HM1 Martinez says that there is 2 things to do there: 1) scuba dive and 2) PT. Sounds like a place to be! Anywhere but Sasebo is fine, but it'll help if I get a sliver of paradise in the process.

Oh, from what I hear I'll be spending a night or two in Singapore enroute to Diego Garcia. I'm not going to complain. It is 800 miles east of Sasebo, and 3 time zones away. The only thing I'll be a little mad about is knowing that I'm even FARTHER away from home! Not sure how the whole weekly blog post thing will work out, but I'll figure it out. I leave this coming Wednesday.

So in my last post I mentioned I looked at an apartment, and I posted a few pictures. Because of the TAD came about, I had to expedite my decision, and I ended up choosing that place. I liked it to begin with, but I simply didn't have time to look at another place if I wanted to start getting paid for off-base housing while I was gone. I had to think smartly. Today was move in day for the big furniture. I don't have pictures yet because I want to hold off on it until I'm all moved in, but I'm very excited about my situation. I'm just glad I'm in a financially stable situation. Buying things isn't cheap, but I can afford it. You may disagree when you look at what I bought, but you'll learn to like it as much as me!

Tuesday is my official PRT. Again because of the TAD things had to be moved up ahead of schedule, and this was no different. I'll be taking it a week ahead of everyone else. I just hope I perform to my standards! I'm looking to score an outstanding-high in all 3 categories, the push-up, sit-up, and cardio (which I'll swim 450m instead of run 1 1/2 miles). Pictured above is the standard navy PT uniform. Kind of cheesy I know!

That is about it for me I think. Some pretty big stuff. I scored a 'B' in my sociology mid-term quiz. I'm kinda stoked about that. Today I took my psychology mid-term quiz. Grades will be out later this week on that. I'm very busy with moving and work and preparing to leave. I wasn't given much notice, but that is okay, I'll certainly deal with it!

Obviously morale is high, and next time you hear from me I'll be in Diego Garcia! If I can't post pictures for some reason I will save them and post them once I get back! Everyone is telling me this is more like a vacation/leave that I don't have to be charged for. Life is good.

Turn the page

Hello everyone and welcome back! For you first time viewers welcome to my page, I hope you enjoy the experience. What you can see to the right is me doing a pull-up. Also in the background you can see some of the Sasebo scenery. Why am I knocking out pull-ups in front of a camera? Funny story, you'll love it. So, there I was getting ready to coach my soccer game, and I was nervous as all heck. I did a couple pull=ups to feel better. Why in front of a camera? Well, as I'm sure you'll see later in the post and on facebook, I needed a camera. Actually in all honesty, I wanted to get a picture taken with the other coach (I'll explain later), but the funny part of the story is (because I told you that it was indeed funny) was I forgot to get a picture with him. Apparentely I was too busy taking pictures of myself instead. That's the way she goes though. Sometimes she goes and sometimes she doesn't. This time she didn't go.

I wish I could make this post quicker. My normal routine is a little jagged up on this Sunday. Normally I like to keep to myself and not do much except prepare for the next week, etc. Well, I got a wild hair up my keyster and agreed to go on a run with Laughlin and Ice. Two hours later we end up back on base. It was a tough run for me for some reason. I was certainly putting out (my pulse was up to 180 at one point I noticed), but I wasn't banging on all cylinders. My point to all of this is this run really backed me up for the day. After this post I have to take a quiz for sociology, clean up my room, get my things ready for tomorrow morning, and got to bed, all in 1 1/2 hours. On top of that, my roommate found me a copy of the movie, "Bruno" to watch. I think it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Speaking of movies, I watched a couple this weekend. The first was "Suicide Kings." I thought it was really good, but a little confusing towards the end. Has Christopher Walken had a bad movie? I mean, has his character ever been awful? The second movie was "The Hunt for Red October." This has been on my to-get list for some time now, and I finally had the chance to watch it. I was not disappointed. Sean Connery forgot he was supposed to be Russian I think, and Alec Baldwin is so much better than that Affleck bitch. The third movie was a Denzel flick, "Fallen." I remember my parents watching it years ago, and I was always curious what it was about. Finally I had the chance. Does Denzel make a bad movie? And when you throw in John Goodman you know you're in for a treat. Plus it is about demons and the supernatural stuff which I sort of like.

As you can tell, my blog title is "Turn the page." This is a subtle reference to the Bob Segar song, obviously. What it means also is the start of the next level in my journey here in Japan. I went to

look at an apartment off-base. Seen below is the exterior of the place. It is on top of a hill, and it

is a newer place. I will post some other pictures in a moment, but I want to let you know, and stress that this is not my final choice, it was simply my first. I look at a place in town on Tuesday, and hopefully after the looking at the two I can make a choice. Pros to this place though: It is secluded, the scenery is beautiful, close to the Hario pharmacy, open-er, convienent parking, better terrain to PT. The down falls to living in a place like this is I'm 25 mins and $1.50 per way in tolls, being called in on-call would suck, and I wouldn't be able to PT at Nimitz Park anymore with Ice and Dr. Margraf nearly as much.

There are a couple more pictures posted on facebook, but that is about the gist of what I I was looking at. The floor is now open to the court of public opinion.

My soccer team suffered it's first loss of the season. We played against the Kansas City Wizards. That part isn't important, but what is important this game was played against two undefeated teams. Their coach is my LCPO. If you refer to earlier posts, we know each other. The final score was 2-1. I think it was the most exciting game of the season. We were simply outplayed. Over the next week I hope to teach the kids that it is okay to lose if the game was fair and fun, which it was. I wanted to get a picture with my chief, but I totally forgot about it in the bustle of the game. One thing that did sort of chap my ass was the kids did not physically come prepared to the game. Some kids didn't eat breakfast before the game and almost all of them came under-hydrated. It was a bright, sunny, hot day and we only had one subsitute I could rotate. I will have to blame myself for not warning the parents to make their kids drink water before hand, but this tells me that common sense is indeed not common. One more game left, the banquet, and then flag football season!

That is about it for now. I have to get going to do some other things. Morale is maintained and I'm looking forward another interesting week. My mock PRT was forgettable. Outstanding-low in the sit-ups (101), out-standing high in the push-ups (88), and outstanding-medium in the swim (6:34). I'm most disturbed about the swim, but that just means I'll have to train that much harder for next time which will be the official.

So it has begun

This post will be in honor of Josh Mitchell. He lived in the other room we shared a bathroom with in Virginia. There is only one picture I have of us together, and it's not very flattering for me to see. I was about 260lbs and getting schwasted. The good old days of Virginia. Seriously though, Josh just found out he was going to have to on an individual augmentee to Afghanistan for the next 6-18 monts. He leaves right after Thanksgiving.

I will say this about Josh though, despite the fact he whines more about the bad hands in life he fears he'll get/has more than his pregnant wife ever did, he is a good guy. I'm jealous of him that he gets the opportunity to be deployed, but then again, I don' t have a new wife and 4 month old kid either to think about. He'll be filling a pharmacy tech billet so luckily he won't be doing patrols, front line stuff. Sounds like a good gig to me, but I'm looking at the half full glass for him.

For the title of this post. Josh is the first one of guys who I know being called up for an IA deployment. When I think about it I find it rather ironic it's him since he was probably the one who feared it the most, but one day he was standing there passing out meds how we all do, and was told he's going. He wasn't taken in another room or prepared for it. I thought it was weird just how nonchalantly they told him. Who is next? How easily could it happen that our number is up? It's times like this when we are rudely reminded that we are in the military and we have sworn an oath to go into harm's way at any given moment.

I wish him luck, and he'll be getting letters/care packages from Japan for sure. Mitchell is top 2 navy friends and even though I give him a harder time than most people, I care about him more than almost anyone in the fleet too. That was a no homo moment by the way.

Onwards to talking about me. What's funny is as I'm writing this I'm listening Toby Keith's "I wanna talk about me" song. Subconscience working its best.

There really isn't that much to share today. Just some maintance news. You know, the typical updates in my life. First of all we have a new addition to our morning PT group in the mornings. HM3 Saylor is the newest causualty. Saylor is a former BUD/S caniadate (Navy SEAL trainee), and he is ubber motivational for me to work out with him. It showed in my times this week. I significantly dropped lots of time when he was able to make it out with us. We also dropped 2 1/2 mins in our 10.5km Friday run which he ran with us. I know he's working hard too cause he's puking after every workout. I collapsed after racing him once, but I did win the race. It's only 6 weeks away until the official PRT, and we have a mock PRT next week. I'll discuss the results in next week's post. Either way I'm very fired up for it!

I can't lie, it's depressing to read the Baraboo News Republic online and reading about the Friday nigh football games. What's harder is one of my biggest (literally and metaphorically) mentors is the offensive/defensive line coach. I'm keeping the faith as I always have in Baraboo football, but it's definetely a rebuilding year. Either way I like keeping tabs on the old hometown; it makes me feel closer to home.

A couple of days ago I posted a status on facebook: "FACE BOOK EXPERIMENT: If you are reading this, even if we don't speak often, post a comment of a memory of you and me. When you've finished, post this paragraph on your own status; you'll be surprised at what people remember about you." So far I have gotten some good posts. It's funny to read what people remember most about me. Some more embarrassing than others, but fun all the same.

Everyone don't be worrying about the whole Genell situation because there isn't one. We had a good talk about what is going on, and we are only accompanying each other to the navy ball. It isn't a big deal. She leaves in November to go to her next command. No need for anyone to be bent out of shape about it or ask any further questions. "It ain't nothing but a thang."

So I failed my SECOND room inspection earlier this week. I was pissed because I knew I cleaned it before I left for work that day. There are a couple of sketchy questions I had to go along with the whole ordeal. I won't go into it, but I was so convinced I didn't deserve to fail that I took my LPO to my room at lunch and had her inspect it. At the end of the story I spent most of today cleaning my room. It was an embarrassment to think my room was failure worthy and I won't be guilty of this kind of thing again.

Speaking of where I live, I went to my off-base housing briefing on Thursday. I'm not looking forward the ensuing month or so ahead of me. So many meetings and appointments I have to schedule and attend. This is probably the worst part of moving. Plus I'm only at mainbase twice a week until the official PRT because Garcia needs to be there to work out with the command fitness leaders on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This limits my scheduling. In other words, this situation is already chapping my ass.

You are reading the blog of a still undefeated soccer coach. With a score of 2-0 we beat the San Jose Earthquakes. I showed up late to the game because I was on duty, and my replacement relieved me 25 minutes late. That did not set my mood right. We also tried to be more disciplined to position assignments which a lot of the kids did not like, especially those playing fullback and couldn't cross the midfield line. I don't like it either for their age group, but they need to start learning for when they are older and play more competitivly. At any rate I'm very proud of the kids and with two games left we hope to do what Tom Brady couldn't.

I'm also taking on swim club. It is on opposite days of soccer which is great for that schedule, but it keeps my week full. Monday through Friday I'm obligated to be somewhere, if only for an hour, but it cramps other plans I may have for the entire night. Oh well, I really enjoy the mentoring and it's nice to be back on pool deck with Kristoph. We like to swim a little beforehand to do some minor PT together/catch up on the gossip of our lives.

Uniform is pressed, laundry is done, blog is posted, room is clean, food is in the stomach, but THERE IS NO HAIRCUT!!! For the first time since I can remember I didn't get a haircut on the weekend. I went in there around 2 and the line was about 3 days long. I'm seriously thinking about just buzzing my head, but I'm going to sleep on it for now. More to come on this.

Oh, I finished my most recent book. Twilight. I'm not about to get into a book report here on the blog, but I was a little frustrated with the novel overall. I will also add that I did not read it for my own enjoyment, but now have a better understanding of what someone was trying to tell me once. Grumblegrumble.

That's it for now. Now to knock out my homework and off to bed! Morale is maintained.

Stories upon stories

This is where the master sleeps. What is more important is the Wisconsin ensign above my bed. I was lucky enough to get ahold of one for my birthday, thank you Mom and Dad. That flag is probably the in the top 3 best birthday presents of all time. Too bad I didn't have this in Virginia, but I look forward to carrying it with me where Uncle Sam takes me from here on out. Down the road I'll have to keep it hung in the "man room" or the basement. Whichever the missus let's me.

There is another reason why I wanted to show my room. On Wednesday I was working at the other pharmacy, Hario, and I recieved a phone call. I was told that my off-base housing chit was finally approved, and that I should pick it up when I got back to mainbase. Though it only took 30 days (note sarcasm) to get everything approved, the main fact is that it was indeed passed. This means I'll have a busy next month going to meetings/appointments in looking for a new place to live. Life every other human being in the world, moving is never a fun thought. I wish I could just be moved in, and not worry about apartment searching, the packing, unpacking, bills, etc. Either way I'm looking forward to this.

My story about this Wednesday is not over. That same day, but later all the corpsmen living in the barracks had a room inspection. 19/21 failed their inspection, and yours truly was one of them. There was one main reason why we failed, and that was because we haven't been inspected for like 4 months. We all became complacent and laxy-dazy. Senior leadership was pissed! The OIC even toured the rooms right after work, but remember that I was at Hario which was a good 35-40 minute drive when you factor in traffic. I wasn't going to be there when she looked at the room, and needless to say it was a bit of an embarrassment. My room was livable, of course, but it lacked the showing abilities for the Officer-in-Charge of the command. So I called in a couple favors and somehow got my roommate and Darryl to help pick it up a little bit before she came over. The story ends with her not inspecting the room at all because I wasn't there, but I spent most of Wednesday night detailing it. All the while I was smiling though because I knew I was moving off base soon. Though on Thursday I was asked by my LPO to "seriously consider not moving out in town." It took me about a half a second to reply that I thought about it and I wanted to move out.

My soccer team remains undefeated. We triumphed again with a score of 3-1. Of course we don't technically keep track of points and standings, but it's hard to not think about it. Each game I think about what we need to work on, and it motivates me that the team will come together and start listening a little more. If it is anything like last week though they will all seemingly forget that we won our game, is undefeated, and will continue try and catch the grasshoppers on the field. I guess what I need to try and do is incorporate more game-type drills at practice. Needless to say I'm beginning to like this soccer gig though in the back of my mind I feel like I was purposely given the most "talented" team to work with. Then again it could just be the coaching.

I have a date to the navy ball. This was a little unexpected, but I'm happy with the this developing story. So there I was on Tuesday. Flowers were delivered to this 2nd class, HM2 (Genell) Cody annonymously. My friend Laughlin delivered them to here, and he knows I have a thing for her/I told him and Darryl I thought she was being abnormally flirty the last week or so. Laughlin was all full of jokes this day because he told her that they were from me, and they weren't. When I walked past her desk she asked me about the flowers, and I flush bright red. There was a moment I thought I actually might have done that, but did not remember it since it was a move I would have pulled somewhere else. Anyways I leave the room and Laughlin follows and pulls me in an empty exam room. He asked me if I heard what she just said, and I asked him if he knew what he just done. Apparentely she asked me to the navy ball, but I was so filled with embarrassment that I didn't hear it. When I left the exam room I found my manhood and asked her back to the ball, and she accepted.

There was still the issue with the flowers. I had not sent them. Down the road we found out it was from someone who she helped with at some function. I had to act fast, so the next day I ordered flowers for her myself and had them delivered to the clinic. Laughlin again delivered them, but this time he told the truth. The rumor mill has it that I did good on deciding to send her sun flowers. So there are now two boquets of flowers on her desk, but I can now say one of them are from me.

My trials and tribulations with Genell don't end quite there. So I wanted to go on date with her before the ball. I'm not going to get into all the logistics of everything, but it took a lot of manliness to muster up the cajones to call her. Luckily she didn't hang up on me, and we went to some base function tonight. We listened to some music, at some carnival food, played some games, and I think overall had a good time. I would do it again.

I placed a $50 bet on the Packers/Bears game tomorrow. It was between another corpsman who is a bears fan. Poor guy, but he is a good guy besides his tendencies to like my two least favorite teams, Bears and Cubs.

Why do I feel that I could talk about more, but I'm running out of things to say as I write here?

Oh, so Garcia, the other pharm tech who came with me from Virginia is going TAD (permorary duty) to Yokosuka for like 8 months. My ass is a little chapped about this because they overlooked me even though I told my senior leadership that I would be the first volunteer to go somewhere. You are sent TAD for three reasons: a) you are shit-hot and you are an assest to the navy to be shared or b) you are a shit-bag and you are not worthy to be shared or c) you are a shit-bag and your command doesn't want to be embarrassed by sending you anywhere. Though I don't think I'm a shit-bag, my command knows I don't like my job, in fact hate it, and really don't care about my job since I do have other intentions with my naval career. Either way I'm happy for Garcia that he gets this opportunity, but I'm a little hurt that they wouldn't choose me. A tw0-sided sword this is.

I'm out of ideas for this post. I know there is more to say, but I can't think of anything right now. College classes are going fine. I wish my psychology book would finally get here. I ordered it on amazon.com in early August, but sociology is going fine. Just make online conversations.

Morale is high and things are looking good.

Death, Blood, and Carnage

What an interesting week at Command Fleet Activites Sasebo (CFAS). The medical department was very busy. I'm not sure what I'm at liberty to share so I'll try to keep to it vague, but I want to keep these two stories interesting. Pictured above is the largest ship at the base, the USS Essex.

(A portion of this post had to be edited due to content)

Back to my poker game. I started with $40 in chips, and I was at one time ahead by like $75-80. I should have done the cowardly thing and cashed out, but I stayed in, and a couple bad moves a couple hours later, and I was taken for all that I had. Rebuying to me is the dumbest thing ever because if you don't have it then you don't have it. Plus there was one friend who had $180 invested in the game and another with $110 by the time I left. The reason I didn't cash out when I was "supposed" to is because that is the cowards way out. Also, we play for the entertainment of the night, but what I should have done was play for the money. Lessons learned I suppose.

Besides that it was a rather boring week. I spent everyday in the pharmacy which just tickles me. After spending an entire month out of the pharmacy in the EMT class I have little room wiggling out to do this or that.

This past week I really sandbagged PT, and I've been trying to figure out why. The conclusion I came up with was I am afraid of failure of my sets. Something inside me thought that it would be better for me to just stay in bed instead of getting out there and getting some. That is detramental to my psychie since the whole idea of special warfare intial training is overcoming that mental weakness. I talked it over with Dr. Margraf and he had a different theory. He thinks I don't know why I want to PT sometimes, and to not have that set goal in mind it is hard to be motivated. He has a point, when I'm not out there with someone to train with I wonder why I'm out there. Yes, it's to one day do something high speed low drag, but I just train at a more optimum level when I'm grinding it out with someone.

Saturday was out first soccer game. We only had two practices. Our first cancellation was because of the Commanding Officer's visit to the clinic, and the second reason was because of "inclement" weather. Apparentally many parents don't want to see their child practice in the rain. To some degree I understand where they are coming from, but on the other hand it was only rain. Then again it was really coming down, and not just a drizzle. Back to our game. We won 3-0. Unfortunately we don't technically keep score, and for that matter have league standings. I was given lots of praise despite to my observation of lack in self-confidence. It gives me wind to put in my sails though to really look forward to this coming week in practice.

Darryl and I went out to eat at this little Japanese resteraunt sailors like to call "meat on a stick" because of how the food is served. Wasn't too bad, but more expenisive than I would have predicted. I should really get on that, exploring different more community resteraunts.

My command is jagging me around with moving off base. Initially I told them in my career development board that each paycheck is tight because of the things I paying back for. They are not forgetting this, and I have to do ANOTHER finacially councelling session to make sure I'm good to go. It is just frustrating that they are hanging this carrot in front of me. Each paycheck is tight because I pay more than just the minimum payments on things. I won't go into details here, but again, don't be worried nor concerned with my financial stabilities. I am doing just fine, but I'll hope to have better news on moving off base in my next post.

We had a 96 hour (4 day) liberty this weekend. The rest of the base had only a 72 hour liberty because Monday is Labor Day, and the base recongizes that holiday. We had an extra day off on Friday because we, the clinic staff, finished all of our online training in good timing. Get this though, if you have duty during this weekend, it is by order of the OIC that we be given another 96 because we HAVE to have a 96 hour liberty because we "earned" it. Your truly has duty tomorrow so I will be having another 4 day weekend someday in the future yet to be determined, but it's still comforting knowing I have it. Then again they'll probably jag me around for this too.

Some good news from the week. One, Rich told me that I should save up my leave time because I was just selected as his best man. Not sure when that'll happen, but it's comforting knowing what he told me. I told a friend who knows how much I write, and she joked that I probably already had a rough draft of the best man speech already knocked out. I was not expecting to be put in this position for him, so sadly not yet. In other good news, my friend of years, friend through tears Carlee is now engaged! She skyped me about an hour after it happened, and she could hardly breath she was still so excited. Stories like those that motivate me. On the other hand though it is in a way depressing. Friends all around me are now starting to get engaged, married, have families, and here I am in Japan. Meh.

Alrighty, I've been putting off my college homework for too long this weekend, and I will end my night with that. Some things never change I guess. Morale is high and things are looking good.