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.

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.

(Insert something witty here)

Alright so a couple of things regarding the picture above. First and foremost that me holding a bottle of Leinkugels Honey Weiss beer in my hand, and yes I am in Japan while holding it. It was like sweet honey nector to my lips. Not completely sure where it was aquired from, but I did not care one bit. Any piece of home is home enough from me. The second point I wanted to explain is the mustache. As you all might have noticed unless you were very blind, I am in fact growing out a mustache. Why is this you may ask? Well, we are calling it the "training stache." I have many things on my plate, and room for a girlfriend is not really one of them. So, I grow out this ugly little lip rug to totally deter them away from me. Even if I'm flirting with them, I simply do one of my Ari Gold nose rubs, and then I'm reminded that even if I played my cards perfectly, this conversation will not close with me getting a phone number, etc. No fear, come this march I will be shaving this bad boy off until the next time I need another tool of motivation.

I couldn't think of anything clever for this week's blog post title. I will leave it up to the reader to decide what is best put there this week. Pretty normal week I think for the most part. Scratch that, nevermind. On Monday I had an optomistrist appointment. I needed it to help complete my dive physical. The whole physical isn't completely done, but it getting closer and closer. Anyway, I saw the optomitrist for the first time, and he went and dialated my eyes. Personally my eyes are a touchy thing in the first place as I'm sure most people would agree. They are kind of important, and I get flincy when they're being as jagged around with as they were. So he put in the drops, and sent me on my way for 20 minutes for the medicine to work. I walked into the pharmacy to do my job, and I could not read a medicine bottle to save my life. It was a rather scary feeling. Turns out though that the eyes are good to go, duh.

Wednesday I woke up and decided to PT that afternoon. So I sat at my computer for an extra half hour on youtube watching motivating videos. A lot of Ari Gold clips, but some other stuff too. When I walked out of my apartment at 0500, I quickly noticed something was wrong. There was white stuff all around me. It had been a long time since I've seen this white stuff. We Wisconsinites call it "snow." In the course of the night it snowed 3". I heard rumors that Sasebo shuts down at the slighest sight of snow, so I had to call the Good Chief to be certain if work was cancelled or not. Much to my dismay the clinic was the only command on base open because it was "critical." Of course no one showed up except for the drug addicted assholes who were tweeked out on their vicodin, tramadol, and percocet. Luckily though I was sent home at noon. What did I do instead of going straight home like I was supposed to? I went to the gym and got some.



Thursday I was on duty at Hario. It sucked, but I got to watch a lot of good movies like First Blood, the Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, and the first part of The Sting before I feel asleep. As a side not I watched a lot of decent movies this week. I also watched Dirty Harry, Beverly Hills Cop, and House of Sand and Fog. Very good selections for Cal. Oh, and I finished watching The Sting. There were no incidents Thursday night.

Friday night was quiet. I didn't do anything really worthy of mentioning. Saturday was a little different story. First of all I watched "The Hurt Locker." Extremely motivating movie, and if everyone else asks me what EOD is, I will just refer them to that movie. After the movie though Kristoph called me and asked him to join me downtown at the bars. Darryl was going to just stay at my place that night because he had duty in Hario and he was there to watch the movie with men and my old roommate, Nick. Well, Darryl was conned into being the DD. I got to the bars and hit it hard. I'm not going to tell you how much I spent, but it was a only a two digit number.

The pictures above has a small side story. We were leaving, and Darryl gets this funny idea to tell me we can't leave until I do 3 pull-ups. This is the only one I can muster. It was that good of a night. I knew it was that good of a night when I woke up the next morning. Despite my pounding head, I still made it to run a personal swim workout with LT Doyle. She swam 3 sets of 15min consecutive swims, and each set she her PRT score faster and faster. I doubt LT Doyle would ever see this, but keep the good work.

Sunday night I played a little poker with the dive locker. Kristoph invited me to hang out with those guys. Pretty good time. Plus I came out on top $10 which made for a successful night. Those guys didn't get ridiculously over the top how the guys at the clinic get. I liked it. That wasn't the highlight of my Sunday though. Before I left to play poker I ended up talking to Katie McMorrow. Now if the name McMorrow sounds familiar it should because my big brother Bob's last name is McMorrow. It is Bob's niece. I knew Katie way back before I moved to Tennessee. Well, when I was in Virginia was the last time we talked. I asked why she was up so late (it was 0300 in Wisconsin at the time) and she asked the same thing, "it's 4am where you are!" Apparentely I didn't tell her I was in Japan! She was really fun to talk to, but I think she was just being nice.

That brings me to this Monday. Why am I writing a post on a Monday? Well, because today is MLK Day, and I didn't have work. Though I was on call I didn't get called in. That is good and bad. Good for obvious reasons, but bad because the only reason I left my apartment was to febreeze my car. If I would have been called in I would have a) thrown out my garbage and b) went and PTed. Oh well.

Morale is high as always. I'm going to just keep on keeping on. Looking forward to another motivating week...and the half marathon on Sunday. Dun dun dunnnn

Hard Charging Motivator

Believe it or not, but I don't have a single new picture to post. Everyday my camera just sat on my kitchen counter. It sat there as if it was looking at me, and every morning I would look at it and fly through the ensuing day to calculate if I would need it or not, but the day was always boring enough for me to decide against bringing it. I'm not saying my week was boring, but it was just not as photogenic as most other weeks.

Today was Sunday. For the first time since I can remember I honored our day of rest respectfully by taking a nap. I could have easily slept well into the night, but I had to wake up and write this blog, iron my uniform, and pack my lunch for tomorrow. Shouldn't take too long except I'll probably get caught up in facebook, end up skyping someone, and wanting to read and/or study. Either way this nap felt really good, and I really truly do love my bed.

My weekend wasn't that boring though. Friday night Darryl and I went to watch Avatar. Since I first heard about this movie I silently laughed inside about it. No way did I think it sounded good, looked good, and consequently I never bothered to factor in time watch it. Then I listened to the Court of Public Opinion. When it only made 2 million less the second weekend than the opening weekend the People have spoken, it was worth seeing. Folks all over the clinic were talking about it, and I finally bent to go see it. As my Work Center Supervisor, mentor, and friend HM2 Oldenburg said, "it will be one of the better decisions you will make all week to see this movie." He was so right. I was very impressed with the movie. Everything amazed me, and I was watching the 2D version! It was one of the real rare movies where I was so captivated and into it, I would flinch at fight scenes and I actually cheered out loud when the protagonist became victor. It really drew a reaction from me which is one of the staple requirements to deciding if a movie is good or not.

Of course every movie succeeding Avatar will be second-best at best. I followed it up with "Inglorious Basterds." I was not impressed at all. I think "Pulp Fiction" will be the only Queintin Tarentino movie I'll ever like. Maybe I walked into this movie with different expectations, but his dialouge was too long-winded for me, he took too many factual liberties at the climax, and as good as Brad Pitt was even he couldn't save the whole movie. I had to give it a thumbs down.

My third movie of the weekend was "Jennifer's Body." It is the new Megan Fox movie. That is the only reason why I picked it up in the first place, but let it be known I watched it twice, the first and last time.

This past week really forced me to learn time management. With advancement training, physical training, my job, swim club, and the basic wear'n'tears of living I have been extremely busy. This next week won't be much better since I'm now throwing MWR basketball coaching on top of the fire. Luckily I won't be a head coach this season, just an assistant, but I still have to be there for all practices and games. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, it actually just what I wanted. I want to be as busy as possible to keep my mind off of missing home. A sacrafice will probably be poorer communication back home, but I want everyone to know I'm thinking about everyone, and more letters home mean more time on my hands. That is good and bad.

As we know I'm doing the Stew Smith online PT Club program. For a 12 week course I pay $200 and he sends me individual workouts, I am given his personal email/cellphone, and he is always very quick to reply. This is good, except this next week's workout will maybe kill me. These next 12 weeks (because last week was week "0") will probably rival some of swimmings hardest. Lots of dryland, some pool, but holy shit is there a lot of running, and he wants it timed too! My diet of smaller but more frequent meals is going great too. I eat 5 small meals throughout the day. Last Monday I weighed myself at 244lbs, and at the end of my last workout on Friday I weighed 236lbs. I doubt that was 8lbs of water weight either. I drink about 140 ounces of water a day.

Like mentioned above there is advancement training. Our advancement exam is in March, and we have classes Monday-Friday for about one hour to help us group study. I am attending. In fact I'm teaching 3 classes this month. You could say I'm awesome like that! Picking up 2nd class my first attempt is quite an uphill goal, but it isn't impossible. Time will tell on this one though. The harder you work, the luckier you get and failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

Ah yes, my job. First I will tell you that this past Wednesday I was lucky enough to be INVITED by the EOD senior chief to visit the locker. I believe I talked about in the last post how we were sitting next to each other at dinner and we got to talking. Well, he remembered me when he was visiting the clinic later that week. So I went, and things sound very encouraging for me. They were leaving to go somewhere they couldn't tell me (badass), but were going to be back in late Febuary. In that time I should get things in order regarding my package, etc which is already in full-swing. They made the process sound very easy and fast to submit a package. It was a good visit.

Well, fast-forward to Friday. I'm on my 72 hour special liberty for my PRT success, and I'm in the clinic because I feel weird when I'm not there talking to Dr. Margraf about PT and EOD. Chief Bennett, my LCPO, comes looking for me. It was an informal talk, but he asked me if I didn't want to be a pharmacy tech anymore. I told him I didn't, and he said that other people or noticing that, and he asked me how I felt about that. I told him that they should know that I don't want to be tech anymore, but they shouldn't have to notice it in my work. He agreed and told me to work on that. I told him I'm glad he knows I'm working on taking the steps to not be a pharmacy tech anymore, and I'll fix myself. The moral to this story is I have been slipping up at work making mistakes I shouldn't normally make, and leadership is noticing. The biggest reason for this is in fact I have my head somewhere else, but thanks to Chief's talk I will get my head out of the clouds/my ass and remember the facts that right now I am a pharmacy tech and I should act like it.

Due to all this excitment I will be not going to school this semester. Some things had to be cut, and education was one of them. Sounds really messed up, right? Hear me out, I have my reasons. My parent command, Naval Hospital Yokosuka, has altered the way they are doing tuition assistance. This was halfway through me routing my chit which was done the normal way. My chit was sent back to me. It was the holiday season. People went on leave, my department head had a kid and went on leave for that, and the bottom line was there was a lot of red tape. Chits are being signed off by one person, the CMC. Classes start in 14 days. To get everything routed up again and play the waiting game, just isn't worth it to me. College classes will always be there. The current projects talked about above won't. I'm sure I'm breaking Mom's heart if she reads this, but she needs to understand that I think I'm doing just alright without taking introduction to biology right now. I have other projects I am ranking more important right now. There are obtainable goals that need more of my time that can be knocked out faster, for example my outstanding voluteer medal. My change in career package, advancement training. A ph.d who is an E5 (my pay grade) makes the same as the GED drop out E5. For the time being I'll be the navy's bitch for another 5 years at least.

Alright, time for me to wrap this up. It was a good talk. Morale is up though I worked myself up in that last paragraph (cause I know I'm going to get shit for it), but that is okay. I'll talk to everyone later!

Happy New Year!

This is the first post in the new year, decade, fiscal quarter. Pictured above is the view from my balcony. Fireworks go off every night from this hotel/touristy area, but not like this. (Obviously) Japanese people really do not celebrate Christmas since it's a Christian holiday. They do however take New Year's very seriously. Lots of parties, but also a type of holiday to have a family dinner together. Americans just use New Year to get lit up, but here it's a little different.

So there I was, planning on going to Fukuoka for the holiday, right? No, it didn't happen. John's girlfriend's mom called him personally and asked him to celebrate with their family (which here is a big deal), and Matt's girlfriend wanted to go with us (but Matt didn't want to take her). Moral of this story? Women ruin plans. Because the two guys I was going to go with bailed, I had to engage plan B. What did I do? I stood duty. This time it wasn't out of charity how Christmas was. Maybe there was a monetary trade-off, and he agreed to take one of my duties later this month. I still had a problem, before I agreed to take a friend's duty, I agreed to invite some other friends over to my place for New Year's Eve. So there I was with 7 bottles of wine, butI had to be a good little boy because walking into work at 0630 smelling like a distillery is always discouraged. Luckily my friends present (pictured above) were thirsty and drank most of the wine and they acted like it. The guy, Nick, threw up all over my bathroom but he was a good sport and cleaned up his mess before I made him do it. The long-haired girl, Christina, broke not just one, but 2 wine glasses. The second glass wasn't even hers, it was mine, and it's because of this I thought it was safe, but no. I left it for 20 seconds to get some food and I'm not sure how she did it but there is shattered across the floor. She was really upset/embarrassed so all I could do was laugh it off. Next year I'm going all plastic.

Maybe because I was the most sober one at the little party I was the most irritated. I live 30 minutes from base/downtown. There is a train that can be taken which is about a 20 minute walk from my house. I have a spare bedroom with a futon and blankets and a couch. There should have been no reason for Christina's parents to insist that she come home that night. She was the drunkest of them all! Shawana, the other girl, had her Dad pick her up that night too! Maybe I have some sort of disease or funky smell on me I don't know about. My point is, they assumed unnecessary risks when they didn't have to. It was dumb. Okay I think I'm done venting on this one.

Watching the fireworks go boom and bang made me think though. I got a little nostalgic with some goosebumps and my eyes got a little wet. Here I was in Japan celebrating 2010. A decade ago was Y2K, I was in 8th grade. Never would I have guessed I would be celebrating this holiday here. I look back, even 5 years ago and I see where my life has taken me, and for the most part I'm happy with it. Some speedbumps here and there, but which road doesn't have those? Looking back was almost as exciting as looking forward to this ensuing year. You better believe I'm motivated and ready to go. There is so much to do, and I feel like I'm putting myself in a position to accept and take-on these challenges. I will never say it is easy, but I will say it will be worth it. I'm proud of myself I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Last night I went out to finally celebrate New Year's the way it ought to be. I started the night with $100 and woke up with $6. Had a really good time though. The stars aligned just right,

strangley enough I was sitting next to the EOD locker's senior chief at the resteraunt/bar we were at. Pictured above is the record holder for woman's largest chin. Thing was massive, and I dubbed her Ms. Jay Leno Chin. Since it was cooler I had to rock the Slapshot jersey, and it never is short in getting some good comments.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new era. I'm not just talking about the 2 month long mustache brigade marathon. This paragraph is talking about something different. My Stew Smith PT program officially kicks off. I'm pretty excited for it. Who is Stew Smith? He is the guy who invented the perfect push-up we all see on TV. He is a former navy SEAL naval academy alumni. Dr. Margraf highly recommended his program. For 12 weeks it's $200 and I'm given personalized workouts weekly. I'm given a diet to follow, his personal cellphone number (though I don't call), and he emails are usually returned within an hour. After this 12 weeks I plan to do my PRT for the EOD package, but still keep up with the program until I hear back from them. Time will tell on this one, and looking at his 1st week workout, I'm in for a beatdown.

The advancement exam is in 8 weeks. I have yet to study, but that is normal. I will have to put that on my to-do list. I've volunteered to help teach advancement classes too which start this week. My tuition assistance headache is starting to go away. It's actually kinda easy, but just takes time to register for everything and gain permission, etc.

Bought new running shoes and are in the mail. My new work shoes came in the mail, and they look really sharp. I'm hesitant to wear them though because they are chloroframs. My current work shoe is leather, and there is nothing sexier on a uniform than nicely shined leather shoes. I'm still waiting for a CD to come in the mail I ordered on my way back from Singapore. All my barstools came in though. Finally got around to picking up a kerosene heater at the housing office. It was free, and kerosene isn't that expensive compared to the electric heater I would be using. Oh, I also bought light module's for the rooms in the place. I no longer have to walk around my bedroom at night with a flashlight.

Things are looking good. Morale is high. No incidents, ship moored as before.

Lose the fattitude

This is my Christmas tree. There are many like it, but this one is mine...

That is my weak attempt to satire the Rifleman's Creed. In reality the tree was a hand-down by a family who upgraded to a 4' tree, and the lights were borrowed from a clinic nurse who didn't get around to hang them in his office. I have to return them after New Year's. Rarely my lights are turned on though. I suppose that's because it's only me, but I wanted to prove to everyone back home that I do have a tree, and it is "decorated." All my presents I either bought for myself as furniture, or was mailed to me in care-packages and I was too impatient to wait till Christmas to open them up. Actually I do like to open my packages at work. I like to share what my loved ones sent, and if it's candy or some sort of perishable treat I will most always share with them. My personal favorite thing to do is read my letters from my little brother, Max to everyone. His innocent writing is rather entertaining to everyone. Anything to lighten up the morale of the boys in the pharmacy.

This past week was Christmas. "Lucky" me I was on duty. It didn't originally start out that way though. When the December watch-bill came out I wasn't on it at all. Basically I had to pick which days I wanted to stand duty. On Christmas a guy named Jonathan was supposed to stand watch. Jonathan is a newly-wed and wouldn't be able to celebrate his first Christmas with his wife, so I decided to take his place. It wasn't like I had anything going on. Another reason I wanted to take Christmas day was the Chief-Of-the-Day (COD). It was SW1 Frey, a guy who I really like and we always end up having a motivating conversation or two. In fact, he came down to the desk at 2130 to tell me he was going to bed, but we ended up talking for 2 hours. What actually ended up happening was we were talking so much that I took someone else's scheduled watch accidently. What did we talk about? Usually it's about fitness, leadership, goals, I complain about my problems, trade stories, and the usual stuff. I look up to him, he made first class in only 5 1/2 years, and he is only 25 years old. We have a lot of stuff in common I think.

Back to Christmas Day though. If I could ever be given a present on Christmas while on duty, I certainly got it. There was not one telephone consult, walk-in patient, or emergency we had to arrive to. The only time I was in the ambulance was to check-off and drive to the galley for food. I did plenty of sleeping! For breakfast the USO organized a steak and egg meal. It was real steak too and not that minute steak crap every other day of the week. For lunch my LCPO, Chief Bennett, bought lunch and gave us ANOTHER present. He told us that if we are standing duty Christmas Day we would be given a 96 hour special liberty pass! Dinner was maybe the most special. The galley was serving roast beef (again the real stuff) and lobster tail! Maybe medical duty crew got a hook-up and maybe I had 3 lobster tails. Yes, it was pretty much awesome. It wasn't 15 minutes after the stroke of midnight though that our first phone-call came. I want to personally thank CFAS for not thinking they needed medical attention on Christmas Day and making our day as easy as it was.

The day after Christmas was a different story. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to have a special swimming work-out. We invited our top swimmers to join Kristoph and myself in the traditional 100x100 set. We would have to swim 100 100's every 2:00. There was 7 of us total in the pool. The youngest was 7 and she swam 40 100's. Next was a 12 year old boy who knocked out 50 before he had to pull-out. Third place was a tie between two sisters. One was 12 and another was 15. They each did 7,000 meters. I was next on the quit-list and finished with 75 100's. Kristoph was the only one who finished the entire set. This morning I could barely move. I was sore in places I didn't know possible. We had a good time though. Kristoph and I had lunch afterwards and laughed about it though I was a little embarrassed even though I couldn't lift my arms above my head. Yes, it was a stupid idea, but I'm glad I did it and next year I will triumph!

Also last night, I rented a couple of movies. I wanted to go out because I had nothing going on today, but was just too tired from the swim. So I threw in a movie and cracked open a bottle of wine. One bottle would have been plenty, but I decided to take it to another level and one bottle soon became two. I did find out though I like shiraz wine, and not pinot grigio so much. Though I can't call the states from my cellphone, I was still a functioning enough drunk to use skype. I was all over the place, sending pictures to my friend, confirming visits from friends, making ridiculous claims, and waging bets I could not back-up. Overall it was a suprisingly fun time. Rented The Hangover, always a good choice, and decided to make it my first blu-ray purchase. I also bought the ultimate Eric Clapton collection deluxe CD, and Dwight Yoakum's greatest hits. I owned that CD once before, but it was stolen from my car when I lived with Sarah in high school. Oh, this is when I'll make my plug-in for testifying that Dashboard Confessional's newest CD "Alter the Ending" is amazing and I would recommend it to just about anyone.

Funny story. So there I was at work, and there was a patient at my window. It was on Thursday, only a half day, and I might have come in unshaven and looking shitbag-like. We get to talking, and this patient is really cool, he was very polite and interesting. Then his phone rings and he answers it with "This is the XO." You could see the blood flush to my face with embarrassment. Here I was looking like an asshole in appearance, talking to a patient like he is a dependant (very non-military bearing-like), and really who I'm talking to is the Executive Officer (2nd highest in command) for one of the ships! That isn't the funny part though, just part of the story. Turns out this XO was wearing an Oklahoma University sweatshirt. We get to talking about college football and he asked me where I was from. I replied with the right answer, and he was like, "Wisconsin!? My best friend at boot-camp, through 'A' school, and our first command was from Wisconsin!" The XO was a mustang, former enlisted, and his friend was from Neenah. He told me how his friend's mom would drive down every weekend and take them back to Neenah-Menasha. I was more than impressed, I was stunned. I rebuttaled to him though with a dream I had shortly before I enlisted about how I had to make a choice whether or not to join the navy because I was offered a job to coach the high school boys Neenah High School swim team. He liked that story and we became friends. Next time I see him I'm going to ask for a challenge coin.

I've been in this country for 8 months now, and this past Monday is the first time I have ever actually shopped and bought something from a Japanese grocery store! You know what? I like how they roll here! I can't buy like spices and other stuff because everything is obviously written in Japanese, but their meats and sushi supply is incredible! Japanese culture really prides itself on the freshness of their food, and after 5pm all the fresh food is marked like 50% off. It's awesome. I'm a total whore for stuffed rice balls. A canteloupe though here is like $17! Not sure why it's so expensive. I did laugh to myself though when I realized that Buck Owen's song, "Act Naturally" played on repeat throughout the store.

Hmm, I'm trying to think of anything else that pops out, but nothing really comes to mind. Next week is New Years and I plan to be in Fukuoka, which I'm VERY excited about. Morale is very high and I'm very tired. The title is a reference to my good friend Mr. Andy Bauer and my lifestyle now that I'm back from Diego Garcia. I'm bumping up the PT another notch and taking it to the next level. Dr. Margraf is strongly suggesting I take up Stew Smith's excercise program, and I'm strongly considering it. For another time though.

Since DGAR (epilouge)

My life sort of went back to the way it was. Being away put a breath of fresh wind in my sails though. I came back more motivated, disciplined, and locked-on to my purpose there. I realized that things really weren't that bad in Sasebo. As long as I stay(ed) motivated and kept my attitude positive everything would work itself out. I came back with a plan and sense of purpose. So far everything has been going great, and the forecast is to keep it that way. I wrote lots of letters on the island, recaliberated my life, and it has been a very beneficial experience.

Since then I added some new pieces of furniture to my apartment. I now have a desk to write/study on, a futon for guests, back in the swing of things with swim club, and I put in Tuition Assistance for the next semester's classes. I also have bar stools for my counter in the dining room, and I'm back to watching lots of movies on the weekends. I did watch a crazy ton of movies on the island though. In fact I watched all 5 seasons of house on DVD in about a week.

Last night I went out and saw Paranormal Activity. I actually really enjoyed it, but then again I am a sucker for those low budget hand-held cam corder movies like Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.

Things are back on track, I'm PT-ing harder than before I left and continuing forward with that special warfare package. Morale is super high and I hope to keep up with this blog at a normal schedule just like before all those weeks ago.