Before I get into all of that, I want to give a big shout-out to my cousin, JJ, and his new wife, Cassandra!! From what I last heard they were wanting to be married in June, but they decided to expedite the process, and now they are Man and Wife. I am very happy for them both! This marks the 2nd of 5 those cousins born in 1987 to be married. One of these days I'm going to make it one of these weddings. The '87 gang is an interesting group. All 5 of us are kinda really different from one another. I think the last time we were all together was either Grandma Mongin's 80th birthday party or Grandpa's funeral, but either way it has been a few years. I suppose that's just how big families are though, right?
As far as I know, there are only 2 grandchildren of Grandma Mongin's in the military. My older cousin Sarah, who has now separated from the service, and myself. That is fine though, though I think the military is not a bad choice, I do believe it was a last option for me. Now that I'm in I have my feet on the ground for once, and that is a good feeling. It's easier to call myself a man now that I am faced with real responsibilities and "summer vacation" no longer applies to me. Bills are paid every month, a budget is established, and the debt seemingly never goes away!! More to come on that last point in a minute.
A lot has happened, and the best time to write is on duty. The last time or two I was on duty though I did not get a chance to write for one reason or another. One of those reasons was because I was applying to tuition assistance. This summer I'll be taking 2 classes: intro to public speaking and intro to computer based systems. Because I can't remember if I wrote it in my last blog, I am only 14 credits away from obtaining my associates degree in general studies from the University of Maryland University College, or UMUC. I will be very proud of myself when I can finally say I reached this milestone, and it has been a certain long time coming. When I have friends all around me in all around the nation going to graduate school, completing their BA, or establishing careers, I sit here in the navy buying my time. The ironic thing is I may be already establishing my career and I don't even know it yet!
Next week is my standard navy PRT. No run or pullups. Straight situps, pushups, and swim. For the swim I can use goggles and swim freestyle too. This leads me to the EOD PST. I have qualifying scores, but they aren't impressive enough to get the EOD locker excited yet. Last week I had my interview with the uppers in the EOD locker. It could have went better. They could have told me to get the fuck out of their office and see them again in 3 months, but they didn't. Instead they said I would be tested every 2 weeks. This is the most encouraging news I could muster. The philosophy is "stickability," and it's certainly being tested right now, but I also know that's just part of the test. How bad do I want this?
Last night I picked up Kristoph and his new wife, Carlie, at the airport. I'm so glad to have him back. We had a nice talk on the way back to the base. Full of stories and updates. It wasn't a problem at all to pick them up, and I'd do anything like that for a friend all over again given the chance.
My chit is currently being routed to co-host the weekly sports radio talk show, "The Penalty Box." I'm drinking buddies with the two guys who do it now, but one of them, John Benningfield, took a job in Yokosuka and will be needing a replacement. I stepped up, and hopefully my command will grant me permission. You could say it is just another nod to my Uncle Gordie as he used to do just this when he was in the army. This should be already known, but I'm a whore when it comes to attention, and nothing gets my name out there faster than the radio for all of Sasebo to hear me.
This marks the one year to go mark this May. It also marks the last month I can submit my Overseas Tour Extension Incentive Program (OTEIP) request. This is an opportunity where I can stay in Japan for another year...and I'm at the crossroads as to whether or not I want to do it or not. The incentive part leaves me with 4 options. I can either a) A salary increase of $80.00 per month, b) Thirty days Rest & Relaxation (R&R), which does not count against the Sailor's 30 days of annually accrued leave, c) Fifteen days R&R with a free round-trip commercial flight from homeport to point of debarkation in the continental U.S. , or c) $2,000 lump sum.
The pros of this is I can stay in Japan and collect more money than if I were in the states. In the end of day isn't it all about the bread and butter... and Benjamins? I will have more time to train for EOD as well. I will have 2 more chances in Japan to pick up 2nd class as well. Also, for those who are thinking about visiting me, I will extend their window to do so. Most importantly to me though, is my Japan story complete?
The cons is there are a lot of people back home impatiently awaiting my return to the states. How do I tell them that I am staying for yet ANOTHER year? Will they believe that I'm making the right choice?
This is why I've begun my survey process. I've been "talking it out." When I write this my list has been short, just a couple co-workers and one other old name...I called and asked Sarah. Why I asked what she thought is beyond me, but for some reason I had to get her opinion on the matter. Maybe because of all the reasons why I can't/don't want to be with her I also admired her ability to listen to me and help me decide on things. Because she is in a position of zero-authority in my life anymore I had to take what she said into minimal consideration (that is a private matter), but a phone call to her obviously led to other topics. She is dating the guy who I come to not like (his name shall go nameless, but he has been mentioned while we were still talking, and it was a less than tasteful decision of hers in my opinion). Either way she seems to be doing fine, but I'll try hard to not put any pieces of her puzzle together. I did too much of that, but she is just so terrible at keeping things from me even if she never says anything about it. Just by who she runs with, her job situation, etc.
Last Saturday we won our first baseball game. Not sure if we're improving that much, or the team we were playing was that bad. Either way winning makes coaching that much easier. Both in handling the kids and amongst the coaches as well. Only 5 games to go, and then I will probably announce my retirement. I need to concentrate more on the swim club, EOD, and college. Maybe not in that order, but those are my 3 projects lined up for me.
I've been trying to learn more Japanese and going on more dates. Since Nicole I have been on a streak of dating more Japanese girls. One girl, Saaya, is a lifeguard, and I have been asking her on a date since December. She FINALLY said yes, and it was a double date with another one of my friends and a friend of hers. When it was all said and done, I realized that I didn't want to ask her on another date as funny as that may seem. We are too different, and that isn't a bad thing, but she is more of the partying type, and I'm more of the belly-up-to-the-bar type. Besides, flirting with her at work is just as nice in my humble mind. I have also been talking to this girl named Kiyoko. She is nice, lives in another town, and I met her through my friend Darryl's girlfriend (whom is Japanese). She doesn't speak much English, so things have to be taken slow. I won't talk too much about her since there is still so much to be discovered on this one! My third date will be this Sunday. A swim parent has a friend, a doctor from Nagasaki, and we will have lunch together on Sunday. Time will tell on that one too! Though I'm not getting too deep in anything, I'm finally starting to spread my wings a little bit. It is an okay, but weird/different feeling.
Water polo match tomorrow. Polo is pretty much the highlight of my month. Not sure on the participation from the staff, but the kids are almost as jazzed up about it as I am. They have taken a few minutes at the end of each practice this past week to work on their skills from a team parent. No way am I going to coach the enemy!! I have ordered the boys suits, and let's pray for a miracle that the polo caps I ordered on the 16th of April finally arrive from England tomorrow. The swim caps will also on their way...the charge was put on my credit card yesterday actually. Now we just need to get the girls suits ordered and get a meet schedule lined up!
This past Friday the dive locker called on me for their help. I went out with them on the boat and what's called "tended the lines." As the divers jumped in the water and swam to the dive site, I was responsible for feeding the oxygen lines to them. Rather cool experience. Plus I was able to network with the dive locker just that much more even without Kristoph being there. In appreciation for my help, they agreed to press me in the hyperbaric chamber free of charge (it's part of my EOD package, and normally they "charge" a case of beer). I hope I get more opportunities like that. It also got me a free beer next time I saw them out in town.
This past Tuesday was my first sick day since working at the Wilderness. Not sure what it was, but I felt just completely awful! I slept for most of the day, and though I felt better, I'm still feeling the side effects of this cold 3 days later.
Overall I'm a little vexed. Not sure what to do with the OTEIP program. grumblegrumble.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Time is a "tick-eting" away
This has been both a very good week, and a very expensive. Lots of good purchases, and in turn lots of good stuff to share. So, where do I begin?!
My plane tickets back home have been purchased. It did not come without taking a $5,000 loan. Don't worry, it'll be paid in full in 36 months.
On top this, I sold my car. Somehow I sold the car at full asking price, $2,000. I will be buying the LT Margraf's car. He is leaving for the states early next month, and I wanted a small piece of "the good lieutenant." Also this is a profit-seeking opportunity. I bought the car I have now for only $800. I will be buying his car for around $500 (all he wants me to pay is the JCI). Picking up what I'm putting down? I'll be posting pictures of my new car in my next post most likely.
Also, I bought my plane tickets from Milwaukee to Buffalo so I can attend Rich's wedding. Actually I bought 2 tickets. One for my date, and one for myself. Hopefully my date will be willing to pay for the hotel room. That will be discussed with Jennifer at a later time though.
My flight will fly into Madison on the 3rd of August. I had the chance for a slightly cheaper flight to fly into O'Hare International Airpport, but that would mean I would have to take a shuttle bus into the motherland, and that's something I didn't want to do. When I touch motherland soil for the first time, I want to be home, not traveling through Beloit and Janesville first with a couple of stops from Chicago to Madison. I'll gladly pay the extra $200. I'll also be flying out of Madison too. That will make it that much easier for traveling home.
I found it funny that it is only like 40 minutes longer to fly from Tokyo to Los Angelos (returning flight) than it is from Tokyo to Chicago. Must be with the curvature of the Earth or something of that nature.
So there I was, getting the nod of approval from my LCPO to continue college. Earlier this week I stopped by the Navy College Office to create a degree plan. Turns out I'm only 14 credits away from finishing my Associates Degree. Tomorrow I will submit my tuition assistance chit. Classes end on Aug 21st, so that will be a little interesting. I'll be taking intro to public speaking and intro to computer based systems. I'm back motivated again! Then again, that should be needless to say.
Here I am, single again. The Nicole experiment failed. As it comes to be, I should be concentrating on the already over-crowded plate I have. Girls are once again on the back burner. I'm not bothered or irked about it at all. The EOD package is nearing an end. I only have two more things to go. I need to be pressed in the hyperbaric chamber, and I need an interview by a senior rank in the EOD locker. The paperwork in the command is being routed as we speak.
Swim team caps have been officially been ordered. I also purchased water polo caps for our monthy game. That was about $600 total. I'll be selling the team caps each, and I'll try to sell the water polo caps at a discounted price to the gym to help subsidize the costs there. The caps look real sharp, I'm sure they'll be a huge hit.
Suffered a real disappointing week in the world of PT. For the past 8 days, I haven't done anything except a couple of pushups. Total number of miles ran in that time: 0. Not happy about it, and I wish I could offer a reasonable excuse, but I can't. I have just been really unmotivated as of late. I don't know why...shame on me! :(
The baseball team is only improving. I wish I could elaborate more, but to put it bluntly, we're just bad. Our rainy season is coming on, and it's starting to affect our practices. 7 and 8 year olds don't like practicing in the rain, and the parents REALLY don't like seeing their little children get all "cold and wet." I'm considering thinking long and hard about coaching next season. The relationships between the coaches is also a little strained. It's very unorganized, and yeah... is it swim season yet? Better yet, is it August?
Morale is high, and I'm looking to start pounding the pavement soon!
My plane tickets back home have been purchased. It did not come without taking a $5,000 loan. Don't worry, it'll be paid in full in 36 months.
On top this, I sold my car. Somehow I sold the car at full asking price, $2,000. I will be buying the LT Margraf's car. He is leaving for the states early next month, and I wanted a small piece of "the good lieutenant." Also this is a profit-seeking opportunity. I bought the car I have now for only $800. I will be buying his car for around $500 (all he wants me to pay is the JCI). Picking up what I'm putting down? I'll be posting pictures of my new car in my next post most likely.
Also, I bought my plane tickets from Milwaukee to Buffalo so I can attend Rich's wedding. Actually I bought 2 tickets. One for my date, and one for myself. Hopefully my date will be willing to pay for the hotel room. That will be discussed with Jennifer at a later time though.
My flight will fly into Madison on the 3rd of August. I had the chance for a slightly cheaper flight to fly into O'Hare International Airpport, but that would mean I would have to take a shuttle bus into the motherland, and that's something I didn't want to do. When I touch motherland soil for the first time, I want to be home, not traveling through Beloit and Janesville first with a couple of stops from Chicago to Madison. I'll gladly pay the extra $200. I'll also be flying out of Madison too. That will make it that much easier for traveling home.
I found it funny that it is only like 40 minutes longer to fly from Tokyo to Los Angelos (returning flight) than it is from Tokyo to Chicago. Must be with the curvature of the Earth or something of that nature.
So there I was, getting the nod of approval from my LCPO to continue college. Earlier this week I stopped by the Navy College Office to create a degree plan. Turns out I'm only 14 credits away from finishing my Associates Degree. Tomorrow I will submit my tuition assistance chit. Classes end on Aug 21st, so that will be a little interesting. I'll be taking intro to public speaking and intro to computer based systems. I'm back motivated again! Then again, that should be needless to say.
Here I am, single again. The Nicole experiment failed. As it comes to be, I should be concentrating on the already over-crowded plate I have. Girls are once again on the back burner. I'm not bothered or irked about it at all. The EOD package is nearing an end. I only have two more things to go. I need to be pressed in the hyperbaric chamber, and I need an interview by a senior rank in the EOD locker. The paperwork in the command is being routed as we speak.
Swim team caps have been officially been ordered. I also purchased water polo caps for our monthy game. That was about $600 total. I'll be selling the team caps each, and I'll try to sell the water polo caps at a discounted price to the gym to help subsidize the costs there. The caps look real sharp, I'm sure they'll be a huge hit.
Suffered a real disappointing week in the world of PT. For the past 8 days, I haven't done anything except a couple of pushups. Total number of miles ran in that time: 0. Not happy about it, and I wish I could offer a reasonable excuse, but I can't. I have just been really unmotivated as of late. I don't know why...shame on me! :(
The baseball team is only improving. I wish I could elaborate more, but to put it bluntly, we're just bad. Our rainy season is coming on, and it's starting to affect our practices. 7 and 8 year olds don't like practicing in the rain, and the parents REALLY don't like seeing their little children get all "cold and wet." I'm considering thinking long and hard about coaching next season. The relationships between the coaches is also a little strained. It's very unorganized, and yeah... is it swim season yet? Better yet, is it August?
Morale is high, and I'm looking to start pounding the pavement soon!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
OH! Think Twice, Just Another Day in Paradise
This would be the pharmacy team here at the Main Base pharmacy. As many of you know and are well aware of, we have another pharmacy in the Hario Annex. HM1 Martinez (mentioned in earlier posts and pics posted) is assigned to Hario. The short little Vietamese guy is LT Linh Quach, our pharmacist. The fellow in front of me is HM2 (FMF) Brian Oldenburg. In earlier posts I have come to talk at great lengths about HM2, so I'll spare you the honor now, but I will just add again for the record that he is a mentor and I consider him a friend despite his introverted loner tendencies. To the far right, that sea warrior is HN Godwin Garcia. I went to pharmacy tech school with him in Portsmouth, and here we are knocking it out together in Japan. I think that's really cool. Though I can't verify why he is so far away from us, I will say that he is one of the better wingmen in the work place; there has been many-a-time I have been stumbling on my words when talking to a girl at the window, and Garcia comes in for the clutch save to keep the conversation rolling. As you can see we don't have the largerst pharmacy, but there is about 500 drugs in our formulary. Oldenburg would have the most accurate numbers on that though since he is doing supply and Garcia is his predecssor. Hoo-yah PHARMACY!Now, For the longest time I have enjoyed the lifestyle of short hair. There has always been something about the maintance-free conditions that come with the shorter hair. I remember priding myself that I cut my hair once a week whether it needed it or not. 
Well, my friends, these times they are a changin', or however the song goes. Lately I have been growing out my hair. Some circles may say that there isn't that big of a change, but others would note that it has never been this long since I've enlisted in the navy. So far I'm liking the change. I can throw a little gel on top, make it look glossy throughout the day, but it's still short enough to where I don't need to worry about the cow-lick in the morning. This picture was taken of me a week after the group picture from above. I really like it for some reason. The computer I'm standing in front of is "my" terminal. Garcia is on the other computer in front, and Oldenburg is on the back computer doing supply. Doesn't that smile say "Cal Rastall loves pharmacy"? I hope it's enough smoke over the eyes to fool whoever I talk to.
Well, my friends, these times they are a changin', or however the song goes. Lately I have been growing out my hair. Some circles may say that there isn't that big of a change, but others would note that it has never been this long since I've enlisted in the navy. So far I'm liking the change. I can throw a little gel on top, make it look glossy throughout the day, but it's still short enough to where I don't need to worry about the cow-lick in the morning. This picture was taken of me a week after the group picture from above. I really like it for some reason. The computer I'm standing in front of is "my" terminal. Garcia is on the other computer in front, and Oldenburg is on the back computer doing supply. Doesn't that smile say "Cal Rastall loves pharmacy"? I hope it's enough smoke over the eyes to fool whoever I talk to.As it's unfolding, the Katie McMorrow experiement is I think folding. I tried this same game in high school when I tried to reconnect with Trina Dusso, and as it turned out fell through as well. I will not lie, the hair has given me added confidence. For the longest time I have always purposely tried to remain "a little ugly" so I could deter any woman of having interest in me, hence my mustache episodes. It was always my intention to concentrate on things I needed to, like my fitness, etc and no girl was going to help me get there. Well folks, I'm tired of being lonely. It sucks going home to an empty apartment every night and facebooking my life away. Enter Nicole. 
If she knew I posted this picture of her I think she might just kill me, but it's the only one that I have from my camera. One night we made dinner, err I made dinner, and the plate she is holding is my creation. Yes, those are my first-ever homemade mashed potatoes. Neither here nor there, moving on... Nicole is 20 years old, from Colorado, works on one of the ships here in Sasebo. She is was recently placed on the the free agent list aka just broke up with her boyfriend, and I was able to gather the courage to talk to her one day at the pharmacy window. Now, I know that the pharmacy "is not a dating service," but I see a lot of traffic rolling in and out of my way throughout the day, and I waited and picked what I think is the best one of the bunch. For some weird reason she asked me for my number, and things started going from there. We spend time with each other when we can, but I'm still terribly busy with my obligations and schedule upkeep. Plus she is on the boat, and is frequently deployed. We both know that this is not forever, but in the meantime it is nice to spend time with one another. As many of you readers know, I'm notorious for keeping my relationship status(es) out of my blog for 2 reasons: a) they don't really exist and b) I am self-conscious about what you all will think back home. I'm calling my shot and say that I have my first Japanese girlfriend, and she's American. Again, I'm not taking her home with me, and we both want very different things after we leave Sasebo, but we make each other laugh and she super supportive of my goals (whereas I'm only learning to share again). We're comfortable talking about our pasts', life is good right now.
If she knew I posted this picture of her I think she might just kill me, but it's the only one that I have from my camera. One night we made dinner, err I made dinner, and the plate she is holding is my creation. Yes, those are my first-ever homemade mashed potatoes. Neither here nor there, moving on... Nicole is 20 years old, from Colorado, works on one of the ships here in Sasebo. She is was recently placed on the the free agent list aka just broke up with her boyfriend, and I was able to gather the courage to talk to her one day at the pharmacy window. Now, I know that the pharmacy "is not a dating service," but I see a lot of traffic rolling in and out of my way throughout the day, and I waited and picked what I think is the best one of the bunch. For some weird reason she asked me for my number, and things started going from there. We spend time with each other when we can, but I'm still terribly busy with my obligations and schedule upkeep. Plus she is on the boat, and is frequently deployed. We both know that this is not forever, but in the meantime it is nice to spend time with one another. As many of you readers know, I'm notorious for keeping my relationship status(es) out of my blog for 2 reasons: a) they don't really exist and b) I am self-conscious about what you all will think back home. I'm calling my shot and say that I have my first Japanese girlfriend, and she's American. Again, I'm not taking her home with me, and we both want very different things after we leave Sasebo, but we make each other laugh and she super supportive of my goals (whereas I'm only learning to share again). We're comfortable talking about our pasts', life is good right now. Speaking of past. For the last week or so I have been dreaming about Sarah more than I have ever been since we stopped talking. I have these urges to look her up and see what she has been up to, but I constantly refrain. For one I don't want to stir that pot again, and two I think my memory of her in my dreams is better than what reality would tell me. I don't want to be let down again AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!! I do know she would flip if she knew I finally decided to grow my hair out though, that's one thing she always badgered me about doing again, but always shrugged off. I wouldn't mind getting a sweatshirt or two back from her though, and I think her boyfriend wouldn't mind either, but the only way she would ever know is if she read this blog, and I know she doesn't. Mom says she doesn't talk to Sarah anymore, but something tells me that she is lying, and I am okay with that. Sarah really likes my Mom, and I think the feeling is mutual. I'm now at a place in my life where I'm comfortable with that even if I'm never again brought up in their conversations.
Pictured above is a couple of kids from the swim team. It was taken after our monthly water polo match. The first Friday of every month I invite the clinic staff to play against the swim club. After two games the series is tied 1-1. Yes, a group of 8-16 year olds take it to a bunch of adults. They are vicious, they gang up on us and have no problem dunking their coach. I think it is a little pent up anger being released personally. I'm just tying down the final touches on swim caps and swim jammers for the boys. A parent on the team is working on the girls uniforms as well. Overall it is my pride and joy, as many of you know, but it's just all coming together, and it makes me smile.
To add to my resume of volunteer coaching, I have picked up 7-8 year old baseball. I have never played baseball myself, and really started taking an interest in it when I first got to college when the guys from across the hall in the dorms were from Milwaukee and were Brewer-crazy so it only washed off on me. Our team name is the Fisher Cats; the kids ask me what that is, and I only tell them it's a nod to Catfish Hunter, and they get even more confused and leave it at that. Though they are more well-behaved than the soccer team, they are less talented, but that is okay. I have another coach working with me, HM2 Kim Ryan (the best), and there is a parent of one of the kids who helps out too, and that is crucial. I'm having the kids call Kim "Coach Mean Machine." I can't say if the kids or she gets a bigger kick out of it. Our first game is this Saturday, and I'm very excited about it. I'll get some pictures posted soon enough.
My godmother, Aunt Laura finally has a blog! Though I'm sadden she has fallen off the facebook wagon, I'm glad I can still read her writings. Her latest blog is about a canned chicken, and I just laughed because that story has been laughed with the family for years, and it has just now been written down. Her blog is good, much needed. Maybe is she gets a large enough volume she'll do what I plan to do with this blog and print it out to have bound and have copies made.
Note the above two pictures. The top picture was taken at a swim meet in August 2009. The picture immediately below was taken 2 days ago on 10 April 2010. Notice a difference in my physique? I'm really kicking myself for letting myself go while I was in Diego Garcia. Is there anymore that can be elaborated? I guess my hard work is starting to show? Who knows when my volunteer schedule clears up in June and I can go all-out. Kristoph looks about the same, then again I'm not sure he could get fat if he tried. April 10th was a very special day for me. It marked the one year anniversary that I graduated from pharmacy technician school. I remember being very hung over that day. Uniform as a little tight, head pounding, the world was spinning. Pretty sure I accepted my certificate from the commanding officer still drunk. How did I choose to celebrate? I partcipated in my first triathalon. Is there any better way?! Let's state for the record that I did not actually sign up for it, but Kristoph volunteered me rather. Our friend, John, who is the gym manager/triathalon organizer allowed it to happen too. That's where the second picture is from, right before the swimming, or first event. It went real well overall. Though I didn't finish in the top 3 to medal,
claim to fame is that I was the top finisher from the clinic. What helped me out the most was my swim, obviously. Kristoph and I were the first two out on the bikes. It was a 500m indoor swim and I didn't geta time for it though. The second leg was the bike, and it was, as you can see on the stationary bike. I trugged for 20km (12.1 miles) on that damn bike. Took me 41:30 minutes to do it. On such a long event like the bike a lot of time can be made up or lost. After the bike it was the 3km (1.8mile) run. That was done on a road course around the base. My legs felt like jell0, not a good warm feeling. Somehow I finished the who thing in 1:10.56. Maybe I was more sore after the half-marathon, but either way I was hardly able to walk, and pretty much took care the rest of my day. Pictured right below was my reaction after I finished the run. Laying down with me is HN 
Ray Delaparra. He tried like Hell to try and catch me, but I was able to beat him by like 20 seconds. The pharmacy was raided afterwards for naproxen, and there was no shame in the trip to Chili's afterwards. I want to thank Nicole, the Service family, Flores family, and everyone else who stuck around longer than they had to so they could support Kristoph and I and the clinic in this event. I'm not saying that is easy, but I will say it was worth it. Kristoph took first place overall with a time of 54:00. The man is a genetic miracle. Yes, that is me sporting my Prefontaine retro-jersey. Steve Prefontaine is my favorite athlete of all-time (motivating), and it was also the lightest shirt I could find. Next time I plan to actually train for one of these. Really all I've been doing is running a lot (the night before I went on a 8km jog, or about 6 miles), and training for the EOD/special warfare PST.
claim to fame is that I was the top finisher from the clinic. What helped me out the most was my swim, obviously. Kristoph and I were the first two out on the bikes. It was a 500m indoor swim and I didn't geta time for it though. The second leg was the bike, and it was, as you can see on the stationary bike. I trugged for 20km (12.1 miles) on that damn bike. Took me 41:30 minutes to do it. On such a long event like the bike a lot of time can be made up or lost. After the bike it was the 3km (1.8mile) run. That was done on a road course around the base. My legs felt like jell0, not a good warm feeling. Somehow I finished the who thing in 1:10.56. Maybe I was more sore after the half-marathon, but either way I was hardly able to walk, and pretty much took care the rest of my day. Pictured right below was my reaction after I finished the run. Laying down with me is HN 
Ray Delaparra. He tried like Hell to try and catch me, but I was able to beat him by like 20 seconds. The pharmacy was raided afterwards for naproxen, and there was no shame in the trip to Chili's afterwards. I want to thank Nicole, the Service family, Flores family, and everyone else who stuck around longer than they had to so they could support Kristoph and I and the clinic in this event. I'm not saying that is easy, but I will say it was worth it. Kristoph took first place overall with a time of 54:00. The man is a genetic miracle. Yes, that is me sporting my Prefontaine retro-jersey. Steve Prefontaine is my favorite athlete of all-time (motivating), and it was also the lightest shirt I could find. Next time I plan to actually train for one of these. Really all I've been doing is running a lot (the night before I went on a 8km jog, or about 6 miles), and training for the EOD/special warfare PST. 
Above is the 3 tri-athletes from the clinic. Darryl Icenhour is in the middle, and Delaparra is to the right. As much as people to work out, or as much as they say they do, I wish they would participate more in functions like this. Like I said though I won of those who participated. Either way it was a day of good fun and we walked away in all smiles. Morale is high, and another night of duty is almost in the books...until next time.Friday, March 19, 2010
Strong Work
It's 0147, and I'm at the clinic standing duty. There are some things to hit on the blog, first round of March Madness playing on the TV here, and a good duty crew to be working with.
Let's kick off with the NCAA basketball tournament. This is the first year I think since high school I actually put money on my bracket. The way the first round has gone so far, I think it's a sign to never bet on sports again. About half my picks are busted. I should just go back to the days of filling out a bracket for fun and ALWAYS (unless they're playing the Badgers of course) pull for the underdog no matter what I have on paper. All this complaining aside, there have been some very exciting games so far. I wish I had TV at my apartment so I could watch the games at home. Oh well, that's what the Internet is for, right?!
Earlier this week was St. Patrick's Day. I had a glass of wine. I've taken a liking to shiraz, and one glass an evening. Makes me feel more responsible and mature! Sounds weird, but I think I see myself when I'm older, much further down the road listening to the jazz station in the car. Having a glass of wine a night, sitting in front of the fire in a den, reading a book is a place where I want to be someday in my life. For now though, it's at my counter where the computer is set-up, or my writing desk.
Also, on St. Paddy's day, I cooked Hamburger Helper for the first time in my life! You could say I'm very proud of this accomplishment. In fact I called my Mom when she was at work to tell her about it. She asked if "I'm a master of the craft, or the craft is a master of me." I love my mother, as we all know, and she can whip up some "dog food" without looking at the instructions with her eyes closed. Not me, I was definitely a novice, and still in a student-status. It is an art to be perfected, and I took mental notes along the way. So in other words, I'm starting to actually cook and use my stove, and it's all very motivating.
Believe it or not, but a girl asked for my phone number! She is off one of the ships, and we have been kinda flirting for her past couple of visits. I won't go into the details, but her name is Nicole, and she reminds me of Kirsten Dunst. Who knows, but it pretty much made my day. These things don't happen that often anymore.
Time to explain my post title. Here in the Hurt Locker, aka pharmacy, the enlisted side keeps up morale anytime we can. This is where/why everything is "motivating" derived from. Well, we also have certain phrases/nicknames for officers, needy patients, and awesome patients. For example, when our pharmacist had his son, in the card that the clinic sent him, a doctor, LT Doyle, wrote "strong work," and none of us knew what the Hell she meant/heard that phrase before. Well, that phrase caught on like wild fire, and it's now used the all the time around the clinic, but especially the pharmacy. LT Doyle is awesome now that we are on the subject. She is from Oxford, Mississippi, and a true southerner. Her heart is made of gold, a true nice person. Her other catch-phrase is "bless your heart." Whenever patients can't remember the name of the doctor they just saw (which is something I always find sad and embarrassing), we ask them, "did they bless your heart?" If they reply "yes" then we know who they are talking about.
LT Doyle isn't the only provider who is known for her lines. LT Margraf has a couple of legend himself. He calls everybody "partner" if he likes them. Again if the patient can't remember the name of who they just saw, we ask, "was your doctor, short, balding, glasses, called you partner?" After they process what we asked, they usually go, "yeah...yeah he did call me partner." If they tell us he didn't call them partner, that generally means they'll be prescribed motrin and flexeril. Dr. Margraf is also called "the good lieutenant." He is the former Army Ranger who I've written semi-extensively in previous posts, and he is a total badass. His legend could deserve its own post. Someday I'll post a picture of him.
We also have a Colombian-born doctor, Dr. Gomez-Sanchez, whom is known at "the dirty dirty" in the Hurt Locker. Our LCPO is known as "The Good Chief." OIC is "Big Mike", nurses are called by their first name, and if you are not liked or hated then you will have "fearless" put in front of your title, and you don't get a name. For example, our LPO is simply known as "our fearless LPO," and it is known throughout the pharmacy and other ancillary department who we are referring to. Our pharmacist is a little different. He is an anomoly. Some days he is known by his first name, others as LT, some situations he has "fearless" in front of his name, but most of the time we just call him "Quach" (his last name).
Some patients are legendary. There was this patient who was seemingly waiting in the pharmacy waiting area/lobby for 3 straight days. By the third day obtained the title of "Keeper of the lobby" and he was into it! He facilitated who was next in line and really ran the show. We would ask, "Keeper! Who we got next?" This guy would actually tell us who was due to be seen by us. No numbers were taken when The Keeper was in town. After he left his legend just exploded, whenever asshole patients were being difficult, or some sort of other situation arose, we would joke that we will just have to send the Keeper on them to set them straight. Same thing with our OIC, Commander Service, aka Big Mike. We are confident there is nothing he can't do, and has more power than paygrades above him.
That is about it for now when it comes to patients. There is one customer who we nicknamed "Bozo the Clown" of how he looks, and a patient is named "Deathrage" because her name is Deathridge" and she looks like she could destroy anyone in the pharmacy if she put her mind to it. Oldenburg literally feels scared when she comes to the window. Of course these are patients who we see often and know by name. Usually it's for medications that could be bought over-the-counter at the store, but they insist they be seen by a doctor, aka wastes valuable appointment time. Then there are those patients that individually irk the techs for one reason or another. They are our personal favorites and we call them "your boy." When this one LT is spotted in the pharmacy, the other techs always tell me that "my boy" is here, and it is known they're talking about a certain person. That goes for other patients with the other techs as well. As I said to begin this conversation, we will do anything to keep our morale up, and labeling individuals is one of those things.
HM2 Oldenburg is back from leave, and we are happy about this. It's nice to have our leader back and takes some stress off our shoulders. While he was gone LT Quach had a bad problem of micro-managing us, but also forced him to trust Garcia and I a little more. I think we impressed him cause I will be working in Hario by myself for the first time in a month or so this coming Monday. Either way, when the 3 of us are together (Garcia, Oldenburg, and myself) are working together is when the Hurt Locker is running the smoothest. All 3 of us have our strengths and weaknesses, but we also all 3 compliment those so well. I will go out on limb and say this is my favorite working team I've been apart of.
Garcia had his mock PRT last Friday, and to say he failed his run is an understatement. He really mucked it up. This causes problems. Not only is he a junior rank to me, but he is also in my department. Because I'm a more gifted PT-er than him (aka I work at my fitness a lot more than the average bear) I feel obligated to take him under my wing and give him the proper guidance needed to pass his PRT. Let's not beat around the bush, Garcia's run time has been the laughing stock of the Command Fitness Leaders (CFLs), and I take that a little personal since Garcia is my boy. So Garcia and I have been running during the week, but Garcia likes to go up to Fukuoka and party on the weekends. Those habits during the those trips really add up, and he needs to readjust his priorities. The trouble is Garcia isn't seeing the seriousness of his situation. I don't want to, but I think I'm going to have to play hardball with him and ORDER him not to go to Fuk on the weekends. It's not like I'm not out there running with him (after he gets done with his run, then I go out and do my PT). He will not like this, but I'm doing this for his own good. Hopefully he will see the light in May when he passes his PRT and doesn't put his career in jeapordy. I just wish he dedicates himself to passing first, and partying later. I have my own goals and career plans I need to work on myself, but I'm taking time away from those plans to help him, and I hope he sees that. Luckily I have the support of my chain of command, especially the Good Chief and Oldenburg.
I did back-to-back PRTs in consecutive Fridays. The first Friday I swam the PRT and scored an outstanding-high with a time of 6:19. The second Friday I wanted to see what my run was, and I set a personal best at 10:43. This past Friday I finised 6th in the clinic 3km run at 13:20. I think things are coming along for my April 1st PST with the EOD locker. Either put-out or get-out, right?
Last weekend I picked up recliner from the pharmacy's first class, HM1 Martinez. Since the chair has been in my home, I have sat in it once for about 30 minutes. I've been that busy. When I get home during the week, I'm maybe awake for an hour, but during that time I'm making dinner, at my computer, and making the next day's lunch.
A blog post would not be complete without an update on the swim team. I have made a bet with one of the parents. I will have to get our swim caps in faster than she can get the swim-suits in. If I lose the bet, I will have to give a powerpoint presentation to the command at our next training day on how to use perfume properly, and if Tara loses, she will have to swim with the team for a practice. On my side at least, we are making some real progress with the swim caps. More to come on that.
Oh, took the 2nd class advancement exam. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be more adminstration, but it wasn't. Results come out in May. There is wishful thinking on this one, but the reality is I have no award points, no time in rate, and only a MP evaluation to go with my test.
That's it for now. It's been real, and I'll holler back another time. Morale is high and I sign off now. HM3 sends.
Let's kick off with the NCAA basketball tournament. This is the first year I think since high school I actually put money on my bracket. The way the first round has gone so far, I think it's a sign to never bet on sports again. About half my picks are busted. I should just go back to the days of filling out a bracket for fun and ALWAYS (unless they're playing the Badgers of course) pull for the underdog no matter what I have on paper. All this complaining aside, there have been some very exciting games so far. I wish I had TV at my apartment so I could watch the games at home. Oh well, that's what the Internet is for, right?!
Earlier this week was St. Patrick's Day. I had a glass of wine. I've taken a liking to shiraz, and one glass an evening. Makes me feel more responsible and mature! Sounds weird, but I think I see myself when I'm older, much further down the road listening to the jazz station in the car. Having a glass of wine a night, sitting in front of the fire in a den, reading a book is a place where I want to be someday in my life. For now though, it's at my counter where the computer is set-up, or my writing desk.
Also, on St. Paddy's day, I cooked Hamburger Helper for the first time in my life! You could say I'm very proud of this accomplishment. In fact I called my Mom when she was at work to tell her about it. She asked if "I'm a master of the craft, or the craft is a master of me." I love my mother, as we all know, and she can whip up some "dog food" without looking at the instructions with her eyes closed. Not me, I was definitely a novice, and still in a student-status. It is an art to be perfected, and I took mental notes along the way. So in other words, I'm starting to actually cook and use my stove, and it's all very motivating.
Believe it or not, but a girl asked for my phone number! She is off one of the ships, and we have been kinda flirting for her past couple of visits. I won't go into the details, but her name is Nicole, and she reminds me of Kirsten Dunst. Who knows, but it pretty much made my day. These things don't happen that often anymore.
Time to explain my post title. Here in the Hurt Locker, aka pharmacy, the enlisted side keeps up morale anytime we can. This is where/why everything is "motivating" derived from. Well, we also have certain phrases/nicknames for officers, needy patients, and awesome patients. For example, when our pharmacist had his son, in the card that the clinic sent him, a doctor, LT Doyle, wrote "strong work," and none of us knew what the Hell she meant/heard that phrase before. Well, that phrase caught on like wild fire, and it's now used the all the time around the clinic, but especially the pharmacy. LT Doyle is awesome now that we are on the subject. She is from Oxford, Mississippi, and a true southerner. Her heart is made of gold, a true nice person. Her other catch-phrase is "bless your heart." Whenever patients can't remember the name of the doctor they just saw (which is something I always find sad and embarrassing), we ask them, "did they bless your heart?" If they reply "yes" then we know who they are talking about.
LT Doyle isn't the only provider who is known for her lines. LT Margraf has a couple of legend himself. He calls everybody "partner" if he likes them. Again if the patient can't remember the name of who they just saw, we ask, "was your doctor, short, balding, glasses, called you partner?" After they process what we asked, they usually go, "yeah...yeah he did call me partner." If they tell us he didn't call them partner, that generally means they'll be prescribed motrin and flexeril. Dr. Margraf is also called "the good lieutenant." He is the former Army Ranger who I've written semi-extensively in previous posts, and he is a total badass. His legend could deserve its own post. Someday I'll post a picture of him.
We also have a Colombian-born doctor, Dr. Gomez-Sanchez, whom is known at "the dirty dirty" in the Hurt Locker. Our LCPO is known as "The Good Chief." OIC is "Big Mike", nurses are called by their first name, and if you are not liked or hated then you will have "fearless" put in front of your title, and you don't get a name. For example, our LPO is simply known as "our fearless LPO," and it is known throughout the pharmacy and other ancillary department who we are referring to. Our pharmacist is a little different. He is an anomoly. Some days he is known by his first name, others as LT, some situations he has "fearless" in front of his name, but most of the time we just call him "Quach" (his last name).
Some patients are legendary. There was this patient who was seemingly waiting in the pharmacy waiting area/lobby for 3 straight days. By the third day obtained the title of "Keeper of the lobby" and he was into it! He facilitated who was next in line and really ran the show. We would ask, "Keeper! Who we got next?" This guy would actually tell us who was due to be seen by us. No numbers were taken when The Keeper was in town. After he left his legend just exploded, whenever asshole patients were being difficult, or some sort of other situation arose, we would joke that we will just have to send the Keeper on them to set them straight. Same thing with our OIC, Commander Service, aka Big Mike. We are confident there is nothing he can't do, and has more power than paygrades above him.
That is about it for now when it comes to patients. There is one customer who we nicknamed "Bozo the Clown" of how he looks, and a patient is named "Deathrage" because her name is Deathridge" and she looks like she could destroy anyone in the pharmacy if she put her mind to it. Oldenburg literally feels scared when she comes to the window. Of course these are patients who we see often and know by name. Usually it's for medications that could be bought over-the-counter at the store, but they insist they be seen by a doctor, aka wastes valuable appointment time. Then there are those patients that individually irk the techs for one reason or another. They are our personal favorites and we call them "your boy." When this one LT is spotted in the pharmacy, the other techs always tell me that "my boy" is here, and it is known they're talking about a certain person. That goes for other patients with the other techs as well. As I said to begin this conversation, we will do anything to keep our morale up, and labeling individuals is one of those things.
HM2 Oldenburg is back from leave, and we are happy about this. It's nice to have our leader back and takes some stress off our shoulders. While he was gone LT Quach had a bad problem of micro-managing us, but also forced him to trust Garcia and I a little more. I think we impressed him cause I will be working in Hario by myself for the first time in a month or so this coming Monday. Either way, when the 3 of us are together (Garcia, Oldenburg, and myself) are working together is when the Hurt Locker is running the smoothest. All 3 of us have our strengths and weaknesses, but we also all 3 compliment those so well. I will go out on limb and say this is my favorite working team I've been apart of.
Garcia had his mock PRT last Friday, and to say he failed his run is an understatement. He really mucked it up. This causes problems. Not only is he a junior rank to me, but he is also in my department. Because I'm a more gifted PT-er than him (aka I work at my fitness a lot more than the average bear) I feel obligated to take him under my wing and give him the proper guidance needed to pass his PRT. Let's not beat around the bush, Garcia's run time has been the laughing stock of the Command Fitness Leaders (CFLs), and I take that a little personal since Garcia is my boy. So Garcia and I have been running during the week, but Garcia likes to go up to Fukuoka and party on the weekends. Those habits during the those trips really add up, and he needs to readjust his priorities. The trouble is Garcia isn't seeing the seriousness of his situation. I don't want to, but I think I'm going to have to play hardball with him and ORDER him not to go to Fuk on the weekends. It's not like I'm not out there running with him (after he gets done with his run, then I go out and do my PT). He will not like this, but I'm doing this for his own good. Hopefully he will see the light in May when he passes his PRT and doesn't put his career in jeapordy. I just wish he dedicates himself to passing first, and partying later. I have my own goals and career plans I need to work on myself, but I'm taking time away from those plans to help him, and I hope he sees that. Luckily I have the support of my chain of command, especially the Good Chief and Oldenburg.
I did back-to-back PRTs in consecutive Fridays. The first Friday I swam the PRT and scored an outstanding-high with a time of 6:19. The second Friday I wanted to see what my run was, and I set a personal best at 10:43. This past Friday I finised 6th in the clinic 3km run at 13:20. I think things are coming along for my April 1st PST with the EOD locker. Either put-out or get-out, right?
Last weekend I picked up recliner from the pharmacy's first class, HM1 Martinez. Since the chair has been in my home, I have sat in it once for about 30 minutes. I've been that busy. When I get home during the week, I'm maybe awake for an hour, but during that time I'm making dinner, at my computer, and making the next day's lunch.
A blog post would not be complete without an update on the swim team. I have made a bet with one of the parents. I will have to get our swim caps in faster than she can get the swim-suits in. If I lose the bet, I will have to give a powerpoint presentation to the command at our next training day on how to use perfume properly, and if Tara loses, she will have to swim with the team for a practice. On my side at least, we are making some real progress with the swim caps. More to come on that.
Oh, took the 2nd class advancement exam. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be more adminstration, but it wasn't. Results come out in May. There is wishful thinking on this one, but the reality is I have no award points, no time in rate, and only a MP evaluation to go with my test.
That's it for now. It's been real, and I'll holler back another time. Morale is high and I sign off now. HM3 sends.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Peaceful Easy Feelings
Imagine this, I'm on duty... AGAIN! That's fine though because standing watch gives me time to write these blogs. My days are so crammed packed with other things to do this is a good break believe it or not. It's almost like a holiday from real. Instead of being a whore to every other obligation I have throughout the week, watch gives me a time to step back and place catch-up on other things. I suppose if I were a health provider here at the clinic, this would be my "admin" time. A couple of cards were written, and now my blog. In the past when this blog was just beginning I was rather dedicated to knocking out a post every Sunday, but as my schedule became increasingly fuller, I wanted to do less to please other people on the weekends. I hope that makes sense. If I'm going to be stuck here in the middle of the night, and if I don't have any good pictures to post, then this is easily the best time and appease to everyone back home. Don't get me wrong, I still like doing this, but I'm tailoring this blog to better fit my own schedule instead of doing what's best for other people.
Lately I've been really brain-storming that screenplay I'll be writing to get my Oscar nomination. I'm stuck inbetween two stories, "Wonewoc County" and "What is Feared the Most." Somehow I think I can combine the two stories revolving around my two characters, Michael Centrali and Cory Weber. Time will tell, I have the rest of my life to get the job done, but I actually have jotted actual lines on paper. It's all motivating and fun to daydream about when I'm beginning to feel bored. Though since I've been in the navy I can say that I am never actually bored. There is something always needed to be done. This is good, but am I talking about life in the navy or just being an adult? This I can't say for certain, but there is never a day I think to myself "gee, there is NOTHING to do!" Something can always be done that I'd be able to label as productive.
Swim team is continuing to develop. As I'm sure we have talked about, our name is now officially the Sasebo Riptide and our colors are blue/gold. For those of you who don't get the joke, Baraboo's club team is called the Riptide, and they share the same colors. We chose Riptide though because of the obvious water reference, but also it's close proximity to the ocean. Blue and gold are the colors of the navy as well, and as we continue to develop a better competition schedule with Japanese community teams, we will want to display that naval pride, hoo-yah. This Friday I have invited the clinic to game of water polo against the swim team. I feel confident we will be competitive. The AFN piece went well too, though I was never interviewed. I thought they'd come back another day to get more footage, but they never did. Kristoph said everything I would have, and that's why we're such a good team. We're now starting to incorporate more dryland into our practices as well, which the team love/hates. Also, we have assigned American swimmers for the kids to write a 500 word paper on. On top of that, if they come to the pool early, I have made them do their homework, and we have study tables before practice. They really don't like me for that, but hopefully they will see the upside of that down the road. It was a nice thing one day when another gym patron was seeing this, and he caught me in the stairwell and he expressed his praises that we do this. Kristoph and I do not get a penny for what we do, and outside of our work schedules, swim club is our number one priority. I'm very happy with what is happening.
EOD took a minor step backwards actually. I did an official PST with the EOD locker, and I did not score the greatest. There are a couple of reasons why that would be, but those would just be excuses I'd rather not share only because excuses are like assholes, and they don't get anywhere. I go to the pool every morning to work on snorkeling, combat side stroke, and swimming without goggles, and my afternoons are spent running, calestenics, and more cardio. My next PST is on 01APR2010. Hopefully I will score a little better and be less of an embarrassement. A lot of what happened last time was mental, and I failed to adapt and overcome once I got behind the 8-ball. Now that I that I have a better idea what they expect from me I can only hope to perform better.
As a result from my April 1st PST, I have been a good boy and not gone out to the bars. This is a good money saver, and I feel a lot better in the mornings, obviously. This past Sunday I was off-going duty and instead of crawling back into bed I went out and ran about 8.6km, or 5.3 miles. It was a great day to start off the morning and I look forward to doing more of that. In order to get up early in the mornings on the weekends though, I need to start cutting back on my movie watching. Because I have no obligations to anyone else on the weekends, I feel entitled to stay up late and exercise my rebel without a clause routine. There is a couple of books I need to finish reading/get around to reading, and since I'm a bad multi-tasker the way it is, I need to budget my time a little smarter.
Our work center supervisor, HM2 (Brian) Oldenburg is home in New York on leave with his wife and mother-in-law for 10 day (7 business days). Oldenburg is probably my biggest mentor and one who I consider a friend here at the clinic. His absence is clearly felt, but the Hurt Locker is holding up. Upon his request I send him daily play-by-play color commentary of the days. HN Garcia and I are very loyal to him, and we just make a great team. We all get along and when we're all together it's like a fine oiled machine. Our pharmacist, LT Quach probably misses him more than I do, but that's only because he is worried about Garcia and I messing up/Oldenburg is our supply guy. Garcia is being trained to take over supply, but HM2 is the mastermind behind the pharmacy, and he makes LT's job very easy. I think that's all I got to say about that.
I'm sure I'll talk about it in my next post, but this will be the third consecutive St. Paddy's Day I have to miss out on. Two years ago I was in boot camp, and the only celebrating I did was eat a green-sugar cookie in the shape of a clover, and last year I was recovering from my appendectomy. This year a) I am in a country that doesn't give two shits about the Irish and it's drunken culture, and b) I'm on-call next week for pharmacy, so I have to stay sober. Plus the holiday is on a Wednesday, and who wants to come into work hung over? Well, I wouldn't be writing that 4-5 years ago, but it's funny how things change.
Coming home on leave is still looking good. There were tiny mumbles that they would be sending over humanitarian help of the Chiliean earthquake victims, but those rumors quickly died down. I'm now a little jumbled on the dates though. I have a couple of things I still need to work out as to when I'm exactly coming home (G14 classified as to what those plans are at the moment, or at least a need-to-know basis). Either way, I'm excited to come home, and party arrangements are being made on the dates I know for sure when I'm coming home. I've been to talking to Rich for sure every weekend getting updates on the wedding. It's all very motivating.
Now for the post title. I was writing to a friend tonight actually about how my life is on cruise-control, and how that is a good feeling. Everything is going smooth these past few weeks. Getting work done in the pharmacy, working out, swim club, and enjoying the solitude of my home. Last weekend I bought a patio set which puts my furniture collection almost at a completed status. I'm still getting around to a kitchen table, and after that I will be hosting my house-warming party. I've been living out in town since OCTOBER!! Anyway, it's nice having a better sense of patience. My Japan experiment is almost complete...I'm ready to come home...sigh* 13 more months. Unless you believe in miracles. Now I just need to get out of debt (which is coming along steadily and surely).
On Thursday I am taking the 2nd class petty officer exam. Though I earned a MP (must promote) , I am not being very optimistic on my chances. I don't have many other earned points, and my time in rate is pretty low. Plus, it could potentially hurt my EOD package. Though it would be nice to earn more money, if I were to cross-rate, I would still be a 2nd class as an EOD. That would not be very good being a brand-new EOD, assuming those responsibilites and leadership in a completely new field of work. The EOD community would like to tak it's new recruits as a young and naieve as possible. Get me right, I'm not going to purposely fail my corpsment exam, but if for some celestrial chance I do pick up rank, it could potentially make things more interesting, and not in a good way.
That's about it for now. Last week I recieved the longest letter I have EVER gotten, 7-pages! Thank you Katie. Extremely motivating, and despite being her first letter since 7th grade it didn't leave me unimpressed. A rebuttal was in the mail the next day. Morale is high, and it's time for me to surf the net.
Lately I've been really brain-storming that screenplay I'll be writing to get my Oscar nomination. I'm stuck inbetween two stories, "Wonewoc County" and "What is Feared the Most." Somehow I think I can combine the two stories revolving around my two characters, Michael Centrali and Cory Weber. Time will tell, I have the rest of my life to get the job done, but I actually have jotted actual lines on paper. It's all motivating and fun to daydream about when I'm beginning to feel bored. Though since I've been in the navy I can say that I am never actually bored. There is something always needed to be done. This is good, but am I talking about life in the navy or just being an adult? This I can't say for certain, but there is never a day I think to myself "gee, there is NOTHING to do!" Something can always be done that I'd be able to label as productive.
Swim team is continuing to develop. As I'm sure we have talked about, our name is now officially the Sasebo Riptide and our colors are blue/gold. For those of you who don't get the joke, Baraboo's club team is called the Riptide, and they share the same colors. We chose Riptide though because of the obvious water reference, but also it's close proximity to the ocean. Blue and gold are the colors of the navy as well, and as we continue to develop a better competition schedule with Japanese community teams, we will want to display that naval pride, hoo-yah. This Friday I have invited the clinic to game of water polo against the swim team. I feel confident we will be competitive. The AFN piece went well too, though I was never interviewed. I thought they'd come back another day to get more footage, but they never did. Kristoph said everything I would have, and that's why we're such a good team. We're now starting to incorporate more dryland into our practices as well, which the team love/hates. Also, we have assigned American swimmers for the kids to write a 500 word paper on. On top of that, if they come to the pool early, I have made them do their homework, and we have study tables before practice. They really don't like me for that, but hopefully they will see the upside of that down the road. It was a nice thing one day when another gym patron was seeing this, and he caught me in the stairwell and he expressed his praises that we do this. Kristoph and I do not get a penny for what we do, and outside of our work schedules, swim club is our number one priority. I'm very happy with what is happening.
EOD took a minor step backwards actually. I did an official PST with the EOD locker, and I did not score the greatest. There are a couple of reasons why that would be, but those would just be excuses I'd rather not share only because excuses are like assholes, and they don't get anywhere. I go to the pool every morning to work on snorkeling, combat side stroke, and swimming without goggles, and my afternoons are spent running, calestenics, and more cardio. My next PST is on 01APR2010. Hopefully I will score a little better and be less of an embarrassement. A lot of what happened last time was mental, and I failed to adapt and overcome once I got behind the 8-ball. Now that I that I have a better idea what they expect from me I can only hope to perform better.
As a result from my April 1st PST, I have been a good boy and not gone out to the bars. This is a good money saver, and I feel a lot better in the mornings, obviously. This past Sunday I was off-going duty and instead of crawling back into bed I went out and ran about 8.6km, or 5.3 miles. It was a great day to start off the morning and I look forward to doing more of that. In order to get up early in the mornings on the weekends though, I need to start cutting back on my movie watching. Because I have no obligations to anyone else on the weekends, I feel entitled to stay up late and exercise my rebel without a clause routine. There is a couple of books I need to finish reading/get around to reading, and since I'm a bad multi-tasker the way it is, I need to budget my time a little smarter.
Our work center supervisor, HM2 (Brian) Oldenburg is home in New York on leave with his wife and mother-in-law for 10 day (7 business days). Oldenburg is probably my biggest mentor and one who I consider a friend here at the clinic. His absence is clearly felt, but the Hurt Locker is holding up. Upon his request I send him daily play-by-play color commentary of the days. HN Garcia and I are very loyal to him, and we just make a great team. We all get along and when we're all together it's like a fine oiled machine. Our pharmacist, LT Quach probably misses him more than I do, but that's only because he is worried about Garcia and I messing up/Oldenburg is our supply guy. Garcia is being trained to take over supply, but HM2 is the mastermind behind the pharmacy, and he makes LT's job very easy. I think that's all I got to say about that.
I'm sure I'll talk about it in my next post, but this will be the third consecutive St. Paddy's Day I have to miss out on. Two years ago I was in boot camp, and the only celebrating I did was eat a green-sugar cookie in the shape of a clover, and last year I was recovering from my appendectomy. This year a) I am in a country that doesn't give two shits about the Irish and it's drunken culture, and b) I'm on-call next week for pharmacy, so I have to stay sober. Plus the holiday is on a Wednesday, and who wants to come into work hung over? Well, I wouldn't be writing that 4-5 years ago, but it's funny how things change.
Coming home on leave is still looking good. There were tiny mumbles that they would be sending over humanitarian help of the Chiliean earthquake victims, but those rumors quickly died down. I'm now a little jumbled on the dates though. I have a couple of things I still need to work out as to when I'm exactly coming home (G14 classified as to what those plans are at the moment, or at least a need-to-know basis). Either way, I'm excited to come home, and party arrangements are being made on the dates I know for sure when I'm coming home. I've been to talking to Rich for sure every weekend getting updates on the wedding. It's all very motivating.
Now for the post title. I was writing to a friend tonight actually about how my life is on cruise-control, and how that is a good feeling. Everything is going smooth these past few weeks. Getting work done in the pharmacy, working out, swim club, and enjoying the solitude of my home. Last weekend I bought a patio set which puts my furniture collection almost at a completed status. I'm still getting around to a kitchen table, and after that I will be hosting my house-warming party. I've been living out in town since OCTOBER!! Anyway, it's nice having a better sense of patience. My Japan experiment is almost complete...I'm ready to come home...sigh* 13 more months. Unless you believe in miracles. Now I just need to get out of debt (which is coming along steadily and surely).
On Thursday I am taking the 2nd class petty officer exam. Though I earned a MP (must promote) , I am not being very optimistic on my chances. I don't have many other earned points, and my time in rate is pretty low. Plus, it could potentially hurt my EOD package. Though it would be nice to earn more money, if I were to cross-rate, I would still be a 2nd class as an EOD. That would not be very good being a brand-new EOD, assuming those responsibilites and leadership in a completely new field of work. The EOD community would like to tak it's new recruits as a young and naieve as possible. Get me right, I'm not going to purposely fail my corpsment exam, but if for some celestrial chance I do pick up rank, it could potentially make things more interesting, and not in a good way.
That's about it for now. Last week I recieved the longest letter I have EVER gotten, 7-pages! Thank you Katie. Extremely motivating, and despite being her first letter since 7th grade it didn't leave me unimpressed. A rebuttal was in the mail the next day. Morale is high, and it's time for me to surf the net.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Another week down, another week closer
Here I am again, sitting at the back desk of the clinic in the middle of the night on duty. For the second straight post I won't have any pictures posted. This time though it is because nothing really exciting has been going on. There was the oyster festival I went to, but none of the pictures had me in them! Sounds really selfish (and to a certain degree it is), but here on duty is the best time to make a decent blog post.
As of right now I have the winter olympics on the television quietly playing the background. Besides women's hockey and about 10 minutes of half-pipe snowboarding the only coverage I have been watching so far is curling. Instead of fighting the establishment, I have taken up the sport. In these times of no football, baseball, or March Madness, I must compromise and enjoy any sporting coverage that's available, even if that means watching overweight men throw "rocks" down a sheet of ice and warming that ice with the sweeping of a broom. Curling actually isn't that bad to watch. Though there is no physical skill, it is truly tactical. I'll compare it to shuffle-board on ice.
Military television doesn't air commercials. Civilian networks giving programming, or "feeds" to AFN (Armed Services Network) for little or no cost. As a result there are no commericals that are played. Yes, that means for the Super Bowl I had no idea what was funny this year. You'd be surprised how you'd miss a Bud Light or Toyota commercial when you haven't seen one in a year's time. Anyway, what is aired in place of the commericals we all know and love is military propaganda. That ranges from reports from around the services (always positive), to our local station making its own commericals about the rules and regulations on the type of umbrellas we are authorized to use. The point I'm making here was there was this domestic abuse commerical played, and it was sorta heart-breaking. How could any man (or women to make this point politically correct) get physically abusive to their family? For that matter how could they be verbally abusive too? There is a great big fat line between eating a suborinate's ass out who deserved it at work, and leaving that at the office when you come home. Military life isn't easy, especially for the spouses/kids. Unless you've lived the life I think it would be hard to share all the sacraficing that is involved in this lifestyle. I don't know, just a random point for me to share.
Last weekend I went to an oyster festival. I believe I mentioned in a way-earlier post that Sasebo produces the second most pearls in Japan. Apparently 5 million pearls come out of its waters! I have never had oysters before, and for $6 a kilo, we made a killing. It was a fun experience, and I may do it again. Though I don't think I would ever buy oysters for myself at a resteraunt, I would have some if they were available at a party. Does that make sense? I went with John and Matt and their girlfriends. Yeah I may have been that 5th wheel, but the women kind of grouped together on one end of the grill, and the boys shot the shit on the other. I did learn something about Japanese culture though, it is widely believed that burnt food is thought to cause cancer. We threw some sausages on the grill, and we (should) all know that sausages are like brats, they can't be cooked without a coat of black on them. The women (all Japanese) were freaking out and the guys were just laughing about it in disbelief!
Last Friday I took a baseline PST (Physical Screening Test, aka special warfare PRT). The good news is I passed everything and am qualified to submit my package as my scores stood, but the bad news is my scores were not that impressive at all. In a 450 swim (breast-stroke or side-stroke, no goggles) I swam a 9:09. After a 10 minute rest I knocked out 54 push-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 64 sit-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 6 pull-ups, (10:00 rest) and 12:09 in the 1.5 mile run. I have plenty to work on, but it's nice to know where I'm at. Kristoph is the PST coordinator, and as good of friends as we are, I could tell he was having trouble staying encouraging. Dr. Margraf though was a little more vocal in showing his dissapointment. To run with the big dogs, I'm going to have to lift my leg a little higher.
Today is Wednesday early morning. On Thursday after work I will be stopping in the EOD locker to talk to them about my progress and what I need to do next. Once my dive physical gets approved by the Dive Medical Officer (DMO), I will need to be pressed in the compression chamber, get an official PST score, and after that it is just paperwork. I will bounce ideas off of them to see the best route to take. Because I need to work on my fitness they may tell me to hold off on submitting my package, but maybe not. Time will tell. The EOD locker had been gone for the past month doing training in the states, and I'm giving them a couple of days to recover from the jet lag.
I had a meeting with the OIC, Commander Service, about my future plans. First and foremost he said that he would not stop me from submitting my package, but he isn't going to just give me up either. He said that I am a very good corpsmen, and I have all the necessary skills/attributes needed to be extremely successful in my rate. Though he does not see me working in a pharmacy, he does see me still being a "doc," most notably as a dive med tech. CDR Service asked that I take a lot of time to think about my decision. He thinks I may be disillusioned that the grass is greenier on the other side, and I'm rushing into things. Furthermore he thinks I'm ahead of the curve having picked up 3rd class so fast and I have plenty of time to decide.
Here is the thing: I thought I have taken plenty of time to think about this decision. I have looked into dive med tech, and the other NEC's he offered me to consider. I thought about trying out for SEAL all the way to staying a pharmacy technician. Truly I believe that this is the best fit for me with what I know. I've looked into this, I've done my homework. Why should I spend my time in something I have no intention of staying in. My purpose in the navy is to serve at the pleasure of the president and to complete the mission. Am I not doing both by cross-rating to EOD? If I make it through EOD school (and it's a year long pipeline), I will have just set myself up for a pretty decent lifestyle. Both as a civilian for when I get out, and in the navy. If there is someone I meet or have met who is willing to put up with this lifestyle for the time I'm in the navy, I would be set. This is a life-changing opportunity, and it would be for the better. If I'm going to be in the navy, and live a military lifestyle, EOD would cross off every single one of my goals. It would train me for a more prosperous civilian career than any of the corpsmen jobs, and my ego would be satifised knowing that I'm part of an elite group being part of something speical.
Here is my only dilema: I'm a loyalist. I'm loyal to CDR Service, he has earned my respect and attention. I can't say that for every officer I work with. He is fair, honest, experienced, and knows what he's talking about. I know I should take his advice very seriously. In my heart and mind though I have made my decision I feel, but I'm beating myself up for not wanting to let him down. I don't want to find out this really isn't for me, that pharmacy really wasn't that bad of a cushy job, and I was proven wrong. Then I'd look like a real asshole, and being that embarrassed is something I'm not sure is something I would look forward to.
Remember me talking about AFN? Well, they came and filmed the swim team on Monday. They did a couple of interviews, but I was not one of them. They talked about possibly coming back on Wednesday if they felt like they needed more footage, and I hope they do. Either way, Kristoph was interviewed and I know he did well. We extended our practices an extra half hour 2 days a week. Also, I had a pow wow with the parents explaining our intentions to come up with a team uniform, logo, and swim cap. Our team name is the Sasebo Riptide, and our team colors are Blue and Gold. Does that sound familiar?! I will have to shoot an email to the Baraboo Riptide head coach Lynn Keeling and gain some ideas from her. So far everything is going very well, and we're moving in a direction we can be proud of.
That's about it for now. Morale is high. Things are looking up. Lately I've been having a "hot streak" at work in the pharmacy. Translation: I haven't been messing up or pissing off our pharmacist lately. HM2 Oldenburg is steady as she goes, and he gets no credit for it. I have to stir the pot and get on a shit-list for me to be recongized. Not sure if that's fair, but that's the way she goes.
As of right now I have the winter olympics on the television quietly playing the background. Besides women's hockey and about 10 minutes of half-pipe snowboarding the only coverage I have been watching so far is curling. Instead of fighting the establishment, I have taken up the sport. In these times of no football, baseball, or March Madness, I must compromise and enjoy any sporting coverage that's available, even if that means watching overweight men throw "rocks" down a sheet of ice and warming that ice with the sweeping of a broom. Curling actually isn't that bad to watch. Though there is no physical skill, it is truly tactical. I'll compare it to shuffle-board on ice.
Military television doesn't air commercials. Civilian networks giving programming, or "feeds" to AFN (Armed Services Network) for little or no cost. As a result there are no commericals that are played. Yes, that means for the Super Bowl I had no idea what was funny this year. You'd be surprised how you'd miss a Bud Light or Toyota commercial when you haven't seen one in a year's time. Anyway, what is aired in place of the commericals we all know and love is military propaganda. That ranges from reports from around the services (always positive), to our local station making its own commericals about the rules and regulations on the type of umbrellas we are authorized to use. The point I'm making here was there was this domestic abuse commerical played, and it was sorta heart-breaking. How could any man (or women to make this point politically correct) get physically abusive to their family? For that matter how could they be verbally abusive too? There is a great big fat line between eating a suborinate's ass out who deserved it at work, and leaving that at the office when you come home. Military life isn't easy, especially for the spouses/kids. Unless you've lived the life I think it would be hard to share all the sacraficing that is involved in this lifestyle. I don't know, just a random point for me to share.
Last weekend I went to an oyster festival. I believe I mentioned in a way-earlier post that Sasebo produces the second most pearls in Japan. Apparently 5 million pearls come out of its waters! I have never had oysters before, and for $6 a kilo, we made a killing. It was a fun experience, and I may do it again. Though I don't think I would ever buy oysters for myself at a resteraunt, I would have some if they were available at a party. Does that make sense? I went with John and Matt and their girlfriends. Yeah I may have been that 5th wheel, but the women kind of grouped together on one end of the grill, and the boys shot the shit on the other. I did learn something about Japanese culture though, it is widely believed that burnt food is thought to cause cancer. We threw some sausages on the grill, and we (should) all know that sausages are like brats, they can't be cooked without a coat of black on them. The women (all Japanese) were freaking out and the guys were just laughing about it in disbelief!
Last Friday I took a baseline PST (Physical Screening Test, aka special warfare PRT). The good news is I passed everything and am qualified to submit my package as my scores stood, but the bad news is my scores were not that impressive at all. In a 450 swim (breast-stroke or side-stroke, no goggles) I swam a 9:09. After a 10 minute rest I knocked out 54 push-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 64 sit-ups in 2:00, (2:00 rest) 6 pull-ups, (10:00 rest) and 12:09 in the 1.5 mile run. I have plenty to work on, but it's nice to know where I'm at. Kristoph is the PST coordinator, and as good of friends as we are, I could tell he was having trouble staying encouraging. Dr. Margraf though was a little more vocal in showing his dissapointment. To run with the big dogs, I'm going to have to lift my leg a little higher.
Today is Wednesday early morning. On Thursday after work I will be stopping in the EOD locker to talk to them about my progress and what I need to do next. Once my dive physical gets approved by the Dive Medical Officer (DMO), I will need to be pressed in the compression chamber, get an official PST score, and after that it is just paperwork. I will bounce ideas off of them to see the best route to take. Because I need to work on my fitness they may tell me to hold off on submitting my package, but maybe not. Time will tell. The EOD locker had been gone for the past month doing training in the states, and I'm giving them a couple of days to recover from the jet lag.
I had a meeting with the OIC, Commander Service, about my future plans. First and foremost he said that he would not stop me from submitting my package, but he isn't going to just give me up either. He said that I am a very good corpsmen, and I have all the necessary skills/attributes needed to be extremely successful in my rate. Though he does not see me working in a pharmacy, he does see me still being a "doc," most notably as a dive med tech. CDR Service asked that I take a lot of time to think about my decision. He thinks I may be disillusioned that the grass is greenier on the other side, and I'm rushing into things. Furthermore he thinks I'm ahead of the curve having picked up 3rd class so fast and I have plenty of time to decide.
Here is the thing: I thought I have taken plenty of time to think about this decision. I have looked into dive med tech, and the other NEC's he offered me to consider. I thought about trying out for SEAL all the way to staying a pharmacy technician. Truly I believe that this is the best fit for me with what I know. I've looked into this, I've done my homework. Why should I spend my time in something I have no intention of staying in. My purpose in the navy is to serve at the pleasure of the president and to complete the mission. Am I not doing both by cross-rating to EOD? If I make it through EOD school (and it's a year long pipeline), I will have just set myself up for a pretty decent lifestyle. Both as a civilian for when I get out, and in the navy. If there is someone I meet or have met who is willing to put up with this lifestyle for the time I'm in the navy, I would be set. This is a life-changing opportunity, and it would be for the better. If I'm going to be in the navy, and live a military lifestyle, EOD would cross off every single one of my goals. It would train me for a more prosperous civilian career than any of the corpsmen jobs, and my ego would be satifised knowing that I'm part of an elite group being part of something speical.
Here is my only dilema: I'm a loyalist. I'm loyal to CDR Service, he has earned my respect and attention. I can't say that for every officer I work with. He is fair, honest, experienced, and knows what he's talking about. I know I should take his advice very seriously. In my heart and mind though I have made my decision I feel, but I'm beating myself up for not wanting to let him down. I don't want to find out this really isn't for me, that pharmacy really wasn't that bad of a cushy job, and I was proven wrong. Then I'd look like a real asshole, and being that embarrassed is something I'm not sure is something I would look forward to.
Remember me talking about AFN? Well, they came and filmed the swim team on Monday. They did a couple of interviews, but I was not one of them. They talked about possibly coming back on Wednesday if they felt like they needed more footage, and I hope they do. Either way, Kristoph was interviewed and I know he did well. We extended our practices an extra half hour 2 days a week. Also, I had a pow wow with the parents explaining our intentions to come up with a team uniform, logo, and swim cap. Our team name is the Sasebo Riptide, and our team colors are Blue and Gold. Does that sound familiar?! I will have to shoot an email to the Baraboo Riptide head coach Lynn Keeling and gain some ideas from her. So far everything is going very well, and we're moving in a direction we can be proud of.
That's about it for now. Morale is high. Things are looking up. Lately I've been having a "hot streak" at work in the pharmacy. Translation: I haven't been messing up or pissing off our pharmacist lately. HM2 Oldenburg is steady as she goes, and he gets no credit for it. I have to stir the pot and get on a shit-list for me to be recongized. Not sure if that's fair, but that's the way she goes.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
This blog post will not have any pictures for a total of 3 reasons. Reason 1: There has been too much time inbetween this post and my last one, and frankly too much has gone on to post enough decent pictures to capsulate these past 4 weeks. Reason 2: I am at work standing the 0200-0600 duty, and we can't upload personal pictures from these government computers. Reason 3: I am writing on duty because I was called out for slacking on the blog from Minnesota. How I should have rebuttaled to my friend was inquire why she was so concerned about my blog when she should be concerned with staying warm through the winter. Obviously I'm kidding, and I'm rather flattered that I was called out on it; makes me feel appreciated that there are some people in this world who read it. Moving on...
So there Haiti was, being destroyed by an earthquake. It didn't help that Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, but now it was the largest rubble depot in the world. An estimated 150,000 people are assumed dead with another 2 million homeless. Let it be the US Navy to step up their game and lead the international humanitarian effort. Yours truly happens to be in the navy, but he also happens to be in Japan at the time. Didn't matter, I sent a personal email to my LCPO requesting what I needed to do to get to go help out. I even offered to take personal leave and help out. That email was sent on a Thursday afternoon. By Monday morning the stars aligned and the gods smiled down on HM3 Rastall. Our parent command, Naval Hospital Yokosuka sent out a tasker to send 26 personnel to fly to the USS Nassau and aide in a 3-6 month long mission. Of the 26 people, there was one slot open for a E4-E6 pharmacy tech. Because I showed initiative the previous week, my chief picked up his almighty holy phone and called the Command Master Chief (CMC, highest enlisted and head liasion between enlisted and officer aka very important person) directly to volunteer my name. Everyone else had to turn in a request chit to volunteer from my clinic, but I had to do nothing, it was nice. From that point on I was tasked to go to Haiti.
My world of chaos only began to start. Literally immediately I had to stop what I was doing (which was writing my leave chit to make time for my friend Ryan "Father" to visit in March) and work on my pre-deployment package. I was caught in a whirl-wind of not really knowing anything except that I was going to Haiti, and expect it to be soon. I rush ordered uniforms to be made for me, bought an extra set of boots, and lined up all my legal obligations with power-of-attorney (my apartment went to my friend Darryl and my car went to my other friend Damion). That doesn't count all the medical clearances I had to go through. Anthrax shots really hurt by the way. We had almost daily meetings with the higher-ups, and even had a pre-deployment video tele confrence with the commanding officer in Yokosuka. It was a sure thing.
Things started to drag out, and I was getting more anxious. I had trouble sleeping, and when I was able to fall asleep I would have the most vivid dreams. My dreams would vary from me being caught in a civilian rebellion (desparate people do desparate things), to being a hero and winning some outrageous medal or two. In other words I had worst case and best case scenerios rolling around in my head. In a 7 day span, I overslept for work 3 times. It was a very stressful time for me. I had to stop my PT program with Stew Smith because I was so concentrated and anticipating on leaving anyday. My diet became crap. I was eating all the perishable food items in my home, and ordering out more than normal. In other words I was a mess. Still one week turned into two, and the rumor mill was just a rocking and a rolling as to when we'd leave. Of course I notified my friends and family about my news. I kept a lot of my stresses to myself though saving only a very select few people. What really sucked is I had to cancel Father's trip. He would have been here over St. Patrick's Day. The previous two years I was either in boot camp or recovering from my appendectomy. This was going to be my year of redemption, and I would have done it with one of my best friends. Making that phone call was one of my hardest things I've had to do. I felt so disappointed in myself for some reason. Luckily he was able to get a refund on his plane tickets. Even though I was serving the nation and representing my family, Wisconsin, the navy, and my nation proudly if I was going, I still felt bad that I had to drop all other plans for it.
My deployment changed my plans around totally. Father was supposed to visit in March, Joey was thinking about coming in August, and possibly Mollie would have come in October. The deployment changed things. Not only would I cancel their plans, but after a life-changing experience like I knew I had to go home. My intentions were to go come back from Haiti, finish my EOD package, and then take leave to come home. Probably around my birthday. While in Haiti I would have worked out with a co-worker from here, Don Saylor (yes, his last name is Saylor and he is in the navy), or some marines to get fit.
While I was waiting though to hear official word as to when I was leaving I had to continue to live my life as close to normal as possible. That's why I ran in the half-marathon. It was some cooky idea that Darryl thought of, but I also ran it with the OIC (CDR Service) and his wife Tara. Tara and Darryl took off like a bat out of hell, but CDR Service stayed with me the entire way. I am very thankful for that seeing he could have set it a higher paced cruise than me, but he was with me the entire way. The 13.1 mile / 21.1km run was finished in 2:21.40. This was without training for it and wearing my civilian tennis shoes (my running shoes were in my locker at work). Could not have been a better day to run a race like that. Needless to say I was very sore afterwards, walking was next to impossible. I was sore though for only the next 2.5 days afterwards, and thank God for naproxen.
There was one blessing for me not leaving earlier than I was supposed to, and that reason was Lynn. Lynn and I went to high school together, and were friends through our friend Chelsea. Though Chelsea has lead a very different life than us, Lynn and I have always kept in touch through the years. She has been in China for the past 18 months teaching English at a forestry uninversity (she is a geology major from UW-Eau Claire). Well, Lynn's business visa was about expired and it had to be renewed outside of China. She could have done it at the consulate's office in Thailand or Korea where the airfare was cheaper, but she wanted to visit me since I was her closest friend in 15 time zones. She asked if she could crash with me for 6 days at 11pm on a Friday night, and I picked her up at the Fukuoka airport at 2pm the next afternoon.
Now Lynn has a rather serious boyfriend back in China, so it wasn't "that kind of visit" at all. She stayed in the guest room, and the "dirtiest" thing that went on was doing the laundry. Let that be known and on the record for everyone. She is a very adventerous girl though, and I had many first time experiences in her visit. I took my car over 120kph for the first time, went down roads in Sasebo that I never would have thought of, ate at resteraunts I normally would not have eaten at, learned a few Chinese characters (many of them are used in Japanese), went on a run on a path I have always meant to try out but never got around to it, turned on my seat-warmer on my toilet (and figured out how to work the bedit), and got lost in Nagasaki.
Let's talk about Nagasaki for a minute. Very cool city, and I'm not sure why I never went sooner. It's relatively close, only about 50 miles and a lot cheaper toll road-wise. It's huge compared to Sasebo, and it has the atomic bomb peace park. I can't lie, it was a very humbling place especially since I was not only an American, but in the military. It sparked a healthy debate between Lynn and I about whether it was right or wrong to drop the bomb(s). My mentality really changed from before I arrived to the park and afterwards. It didn't help that we arrived right at 11:02am, the same time the bomb was dropped. I enjoyed the many malls there (though nothing still fits me, I checked), and the a pair of Levi jeans are outrageously priced (about $190 a pair, no joke). There are like 3 universities in Nagasaki and it was crawling with people my age.
We went to Nagasaki for one specific reason though, and that was to visit the Chinese consulate's office. That was where Lynn had to renew the visa. Our original plan was to drive into Fukuoka and do it, and that would have been exponentially more expensive / a lot harder to find since it is Japan's 4th largest city. Every worry and fear Lynn had concerning the consulate's office was unfound. Her visit could not have gone any smoother for her. Makes me think she is a spy just reporting back to commie China. That's why I admitted to her that if she really was a spy she was trying to get information from the wrong person. Not only am I too low of rank to know anything really crucial, but I was onto her. She would skype her boyfriend every night and sometimes they would speak in Chinese to each other. That's when I knew it was time to go to bed or write a letter. No use being around when I can't undertand what the Hell they were saying.
Lynn left on a Friday. I enjoyed her visit, she was a pleasent guest, but it was nice to have my apartment back to myself. There is something about being able to walk around in my birthday suit or go to the bathroom with the door open that can't be replaced. Before she left she was talking about a Korean trip in 3 months to renew her visa again, and for me to meet up with her. Time will tell on that one.
While she was here in Japan though the official word came out when we were leaving...and the official word was the mission was told to stand-down. In other words, we were told that we're not fucking going anymore. I was mad, but happy at the same time. Mad because I had to tell everyone back home who I told I was going that I wasn't anymore, but happy because I could resume my life to the way it used to be. Finally I was stress free of my anxieties and I could work out again, get back on a healthier diet, and just get back to normal again.
I am still planning on coming home in August, but it will be later August, cause I need to be around in the states for Labor Day weekend. My BFF, Rich, is getting married in Fort Eerie, Canada to his fiance, MJ. Weddings are always motivating, but this one is especially important since I am his best man. Pretty sure a main reason why they rescheduled the wedding was because I am coming home. This is a serious honor, and unless I'm deployed I will be there. Mom says I shouldn't take a date with me, and I should take her "sage old advice," but again time will tell on that one. I need to ask some more mentors, Rich, and pray a little about it first before I extend any invitations.
We had a swim meet while Lynn was here too. Sadly Kristoph was in Virginia on TAD orders/back home in the Bahamas on leave so he couldn't make it. I will say it was a good time. We had 2 race winners, some decent times, but it really showed me what the kids are really struggling in, and that is the basics. We were able to put in a lot of meters, but our starts, turns, and speed training was lacking. This past week I had the kids write me an essay as to why swimming means to them. Most essays were fine. Some lacked what I really wanted to find, others were too gracious of their coaches, some were funny to read, but there was one that stood out among the rest. It was from a 10 year old girl, Joelle. It was so good, I now have it taped to my fridge back in my apartment, it was that motivating.
Today at 1300 there is a huge meeting with the OIC, CDR Service. The meeting will center around my future career plans concerning EOD. Before I went to bed, I wrote a 7 page letter to a friend, Katie (to be discussed in bit) explaining the importance of this meeting. In essence, I need CDR Service's blessing to make my journey to what I want to do with my life a helluva lot easier. Time will tell on the outcome on this developing story.
So there is Katie. Usually I don't talk about women in my blog for a specific reason, and that's because I don't like other girls being jealous even though there is 99% times no need to be jealous, but in her case is an exception. By technicality I have know Katie since 3rd grade, so like 13 years. We are all aware of the Big brothers / Big Sisters program, right? Well, Katie is the neice of my big brother, Bob. Story gets more twisted. My parents used to rent in the apartment above another set of aunts and uncle's of Katie's. Story may get better. Bob and his wife, Sara, would always joke about how Katie and I would make a good pair, but we were young and thought they were always saying that to see us get razzled. My family moves to Tennessee and I quickly lose touch with Katie, and soon Bob and Sara. Moved back to Wisconsin, went through hish school, college, and I was finally looking on facebook one night in Virginia when I noticed "remembered" her, and I added her. To my surprise she remebered me too, and we exchanged a couple of messges of the whole "what have you been up to" line. I move to Japan, been here for 8 months, and see her on facebook one evening (it's 3am in Wisconsin), and I instant-chat with her. She was like "what are YOU doing up so early?! It's like 4am where you are!" She thought I was still in Virginia! Needless to say I had to explain my story, but more importantly is I find her rather motivating. Kinda a small world if we think about it.
That's about it for now. I hope you all enjoyed this lengthy email, and now I can go back to looking at thechive.com Morale is high despite my recent written counceling earlier this week. I was being an asshole to my department head, and as much as I would rather not admit it I deserved it. The fact that enlisted have to be "submissive" to officers is still completely bullshit and one of the things I really hate about the military. Just a part of the game I suppose. Either way it put my "military bearing" (another phrase I can't stand) in check. Have a fine day folks and stay moto.
So there Haiti was, being destroyed by an earthquake. It didn't help that Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, but now it was the largest rubble depot in the world. An estimated 150,000 people are assumed dead with another 2 million homeless. Let it be the US Navy to step up their game and lead the international humanitarian effort. Yours truly happens to be in the navy, but he also happens to be in Japan at the time. Didn't matter, I sent a personal email to my LCPO requesting what I needed to do to get to go help out. I even offered to take personal leave and help out. That email was sent on a Thursday afternoon. By Monday morning the stars aligned and the gods smiled down on HM3 Rastall. Our parent command, Naval Hospital Yokosuka sent out a tasker to send 26 personnel to fly to the USS Nassau and aide in a 3-6 month long mission. Of the 26 people, there was one slot open for a E4-E6 pharmacy tech. Because I showed initiative the previous week, my chief picked up his almighty holy phone and called the Command Master Chief (CMC, highest enlisted and head liasion between enlisted and officer aka very important person) directly to volunteer my name. Everyone else had to turn in a request chit to volunteer from my clinic, but I had to do nothing, it was nice. From that point on I was tasked to go to Haiti.
My world of chaos only began to start. Literally immediately I had to stop what I was doing (which was writing my leave chit to make time for my friend Ryan "Father" to visit in March) and work on my pre-deployment package. I was caught in a whirl-wind of not really knowing anything except that I was going to Haiti, and expect it to be soon. I rush ordered uniforms to be made for me, bought an extra set of boots, and lined up all my legal obligations with power-of-attorney (my apartment went to my friend Darryl and my car went to my other friend Damion). That doesn't count all the medical clearances I had to go through. Anthrax shots really hurt by the way. We had almost daily meetings with the higher-ups, and even had a pre-deployment video tele confrence with the commanding officer in Yokosuka. It was a sure thing.
Things started to drag out, and I was getting more anxious. I had trouble sleeping, and when I was able to fall asleep I would have the most vivid dreams. My dreams would vary from me being caught in a civilian rebellion (desparate people do desparate things), to being a hero and winning some outrageous medal or two. In other words I had worst case and best case scenerios rolling around in my head. In a 7 day span, I overslept for work 3 times. It was a very stressful time for me. I had to stop my PT program with Stew Smith because I was so concentrated and anticipating on leaving anyday. My diet became crap. I was eating all the perishable food items in my home, and ordering out more than normal. In other words I was a mess. Still one week turned into two, and the rumor mill was just a rocking and a rolling as to when we'd leave. Of course I notified my friends and family about my news. I kept a lot of my stresses to myself though saving only a very select few people. What really sucked is I had to cancel Father's trip. He would have been here over St. Patrick's Day. The previous two years I was either in boot camp or recovering from my appendectomy. This was going to be my year of redemption, and I would have done it with one of my best friends. Making that phone call was one of my hardest things I've had to do. I felt so disappointed in myself for some reason. Luckily he was able to get a refund on his plane tickets. Even though I was serving the nation and representing my family, Wisconsin, the navy, and my nation proudly if I was going, I still felt bad that I had to drop all other plans for it.
My deployment changed my plans around totally. Father was supposed to visit in March, Joey was thinking about coming in August, and possibly Mollie would have come in October. The deployment changed things. Not only would I cancel their plans, but after a life-changing experience like I knew I had to go home. My intentions were to go come back from Haiti, finish my EOD package, and then take leave to come home. Probably around my birthday. While in Haiti I would have worked out with a co-worker from here, Don Saylor (yes, his last name is Saylor and he is in the navy), or some marines to get fit.
While I was waiting though to hear official word as to when I was leaving I had to continue to live my life as close to normal as possible. That's why I ran in the half-marathon. It was some cooky idea that Darryl thought of, but I also ran it with the OIC (CDR Service) and his wife Tara. Tara and Darryl took off like a bat out of hell, but CDR Service stayed with me the entire way. I am very thankful for that seeing he could have set it a higher paced cruise than me, but he was with me the entire way. The 13.1 mile / 21.1km run was finished in 2:21.40. This was without training for it and wearing my civilian tennis shoes (my running shoes were in my locker at work). Could not have been a better day to run a race like that. Needless to say I was very sore afterwards, walking was next to impossible. I was sore though for only the next 2.5 days afterwards, and thank God for naproxen.
There was one blessing for me not leaving earlier than I was supposed to, and that reason was Lynn. Lynn and I went to high school together, and were friends through our friend Chelsea. Though Chelsea has lead a very different life than us, Lynn and I have always kept in touch through the years. She has been in China for the past 18 months teaching English at a forestry uninversity (she is a geology major from UW-Eau Claire). Well, Lynn's business visa was about expired and it had to be renewed outside of China. She could have done it at the consulate's office in Thailand or Korea where the airfare was cheaper, but she wanted to visit me since I was her closest friend in 15 time zones. She asked if she could crash with me for 6 days at 11pm on a Friday night, and I picked her up at the Fukuoka airport at 2pm the next afternoon.
Now Lynn has a rather serious boyfriend back in China, so it wasn't "that kind of visit" at all. She stayed in the guest room, and the "dirtiest" thing that went on was doing the laundry. Let that be known and on the record for everyone. She is a very adventerous girl though, and I had many first time experiences in her visit. I took my car over 120kph for the first time, went down roads in Sasebo that I never would have thought of, ate at resteraunts I normally would not have eaten at, learned a few Chinese characters (many of them are used in Japanese), went on a run on a path I have always meant to try out but never got around to it, turned on my seat-warmer on my toilet (and figured out how to work the bedit), and got lost in Nagasaki.
Let's talk about Nagasaki for a minute. Very cool city, and I'm not sure why I never went sooner. It's relatively close, only about 50 miles and a lot cheaper toll road-wise. It's huge compared to Sasebo, and it has the atomic bomb peace park. I can't lie, it was a very humbling place especially since I was not only an American, but in the military. It sparked a healthy debate between Lynn and I about whether it was right or wrong to drop the bomb(s). My mentality really changed from before I arrived to the park and afterwards. It didn't help that we arrived right at 11:02am, the same time the bomb was dropped. I enjoyed the many malls there (though nothing still fits me, I checked), and the a pair of Levi jeans are outrageously priced (about $190 a pair, no joke). There are like 3 universities in Nagasaki and it was crawling with people my age.
We went to Nagasaki for one specific reason though, and that was to visit the Chinese consulate's office. That was where Lynn had to renew the visa. Our original plan was to drive into Fukuoka and do it, and that would have been exponentially more expensive / a lot harder to find since it is Japan's 4th largest city. Every worry and fear Lynn had concerning the consulate's office was unfound. Her visit could not have gone any smoother for her. Makes me think she is a spy just reporting back to commie China. That's why I admitted to her that if she really was a spy she was trying to get information from the wrong person. Not only am I too low of rank to know anything really crucial, but I was onto her. She would skype her boyfriend every night and sometimes they would speak in Chinese to each other. That's when I knew it was time to go to bed or write a letter. No use being around when I can't undertand what the Hell they were saying.
Lynn left on a Friday. I enjoyed her visit, she was a pleasent guest, but it was nice to have my apartment back to myself. There is something about being able to walk around in my birthday suit or go to the bathroom with the door open that can't be replaced. Before she left she was talking about a Korean trip in 3 months to renew her visa again, and for me to meet up with her. Time will tell on that one.
While she was here in Japan though the official word came out when we were leaving...and the official word was the mission was told to stand-down. In other words, we were told that we're not fucking going anymore. I was mad, but happy at the same time. Mad because I had to tell everyone back home who I told I was going that I wasn't anymore, but happy because I could resume my life to the way it used to be. Finally I was stress free of my anxieties and I could work out again, get back on a healthier diet, and just get back to normal again.
I am still planning on coming home in August, but it will be later August, cause I need to be around in the states for Labor Day weekend. My BFF, Rich, is getting married in Fort Eerie, Canada to his fiance, MJ. Weddings are always motivating, but this one is especially important since I am his best man. Pretty sure a main reason why they rescheduled the wedding was because I am coming home. This is a serious honor, and unless I'm deployed I will be there. Mom says I shouldn't take a date with me, and I should take her "sage old advice," but again time will tell on that one. I need to ask some more mentors, Rich, and pray a little about it first before I extend any invitations.
We had a swim meet while Lynn was here too. Sadly Kristoph was in Virginia on TAD orders/back home in the Bahamas on leave so he couldn't make it. I will say it was a good time. We had 2 race winners, some decent times, but it really showed me what the kids are really struggling in, and that is the basics. We were able to put in a lot of meters, but our starts, turns, and speed training was lacking. This past week I had the kids write me an essay as to why swimming means to them. Most essays were fine. Some lacked what I really wanted to find, others were too gracious of their coaches, some were funny to read, but there was one that stood out among the rest. It was from a 10 year old girl, Joelle. It was so good, I now have it taped to my fridge back in my apartment, it was that motivating.
Today at 1300 there is a huge meeting with the OIC, CDR Service. The meeting will center around my future career plans concerning EOD. Before I went to bed, I wrote a 7 page letter to a friend, Katie (to be discussed in bit) explaining the importance of this meeting. In essence, I need CDR Service's blessing to make my journey to what I want to do with my life a helluva lot easier. Time will tell on the outcome on this developing story.
So there is Katie. Usually I don't talk about women in my blog for a specific reason, and that's because I don't like other girls being jealous even though there is 99% times no need to be jealous, but in her case is an exception. By technicality I have know Katie since 3rd grade, so like 13 years. We are all aware of the Big brothers / Big Sisters program, right? Well, Katie is the neice of my big brother, Bob. Story gets more twisted. My parents used to rent in the apartment above another set of aunts and uncle's of Katie's. Story may get better. Bob and his wife, Sara, would always joke about how Katie and I would make a good pair, but we were young and thought they were always saying that to see us get razzled. My family moves to Tennessee and I quickly lose touch with Katie, and soon Bob and Sara. Moved back to Wisconsin, went through hish school, college, and I was finally looking on facebook one night in Virginia when I noticed "remembered" her, and I added her. To my surprise she remebered me too, and we exchanged a couple of messges of the whole "what have you been up to" line. I move to Japan, been here for 8 months, and see her on facebook one evening (it's 3am in Wisconsin), and I instant-chat with her. She was like "what are YOU doing up so early?! It's like 4am where you are!" She thought I was still in Virginia! Needless to say I had to explain my story, but more importantly is I find her rather motivating. Kinda a small world if we think about it.
That's about it for now. I hope you all enjoyed this lengthy email, and now I can go back to looking at thechive.com Morale is high despite my recent written counceling earlier this week. I was being an asshole to my department head, and as much as I would rather not admit it I deserved it. The fact that enlisted have to be "submissive" to officers is still completely bullshit and one of the things I really hate about the military. Just a part of the game I suppose. Either way it put my "military bearing" (another phrase I can't stand) in check. Have a fine day folks and stay moto.
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