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.

Coming back from Diego

I already mentioned Singapore as a whole in a previous post. Totally awesome country, and I wouldn't mind going back. Nice exchange rate, good looking women, and lots to do in general. I do remember it being very hot though since it was as close the equator as DGAR was. Oh, one thing about Diego Garcia, because it was in the southern hemisphere, it was spring there. Lots of rain, but it came in guerilla warfare style. It would creep on us, pour like crazy and as soon as it started it was gone. Also I did not see one spider there, but lots of geckos. There was a one-legged rooster we saw hopping around from time to time Joe and I called the Legend of Diego. Diego Garcia doesn't have any indigenous people anymore. They were all booted out. What they do have though is a filipino workforce. They were contracted in, and provided the services there. They ran the barber shop, resteraunts, took us out fishing, etc.

A quick story about Singapore though. I went and did some shopping out in town before I had to be at the airport. I bought 3 CD's and a Mandarin version of Twilight for Jenna (since of its large Chinese demograph I counted it). Well, I hopped in a taxi and off to the airport I went. Shortly after I was dropped off I noticed I had forgotten my things in the taxi. This is when the fun started. Of course I couldn't remember the taxi number, but I did remember the phone number needed to call in case of anything was lost. So I called it and because I didn't know the taxi number things got real complicated. I would give details and information and told to call back about every half hour. Finally after about 5 call backs they located the taxi, but there was nothing inside. As pissed off I was I finally checked in and stopped in the airport book store. Sure enough they had a marked up copy of Twilight in Mandarin which I rebought, and using the complimentary Internet booths at the airport I ordered the CD's to be delivered from Best Buy. I also gave this guy $40 because I bought his story that he was stranded, etc. Hopefully that good Karma will one day pay for itself.

One more thing about my time on the island. My boy Darryl sent me a message about a former friend, Cody. She apparently did not like how she was in my blog. I sent back an email essentially telling her I did not care what she thought, what is on the blog is my life and whatever is in it is staying. When I write untrue things that ruin her character or attack her or anyone else I will make the adjustments. This paragraph only exists because it's my subtle way of saying I hope the navy isn't so small I have to cross paths with her again.

HM1 Martinez's husband, Damion picked me up from the airport in Fukuoka. He didn't have to do that, but I'm thankful he did. I'll have to share with the command my disdain for the policy on not dropping off or picking up their sailors personally. I was told to catch the bus and wished the best of luck. All that is neither here nor there. Damion and I had a good long talk back home, and it was the first of many rounds to share my times and experiences. He is a helluva guy and I'll miss him when he leaves Japan.

Once I got back to the clinic the weirdness began to settle in. I was obviously resocialized to the ways of life of Diego Garcia. Even the mountainous terrain of Japan sort of freaked me out compared to the flatness of the island. Back to arriving at the clinic, it was the Friday after Thanksgiving (I spent Thanksgiving 2009 in Singapore), and there was no one there except for the duty crew. It was empty, and I sort of felt alone. Not going to lie I was a little spooked, almost like I didn't belong there. That feeling would stay with me for about a week while the other staff members greeted me back. Then I started feeling like if I tried to think about it real hard, my trip to DGAR could be forgotten, like it didn't even happen. Almost like dream of sorts. Sure felt nice to sleep in my own bed again.

When I arrived at my apartment I was thankful to notice it hadn't burned down. Though I gave the key to Darryl, I could tell he hadn't used it for anything. Luckily my only problem was it was a little dustier than when I left it.

hey man, it's effing Diego

Remember how I was saying we were delayed and did some shopping? Well, I wasn't alone. In fact I was with a dentist, flight surgeon, and a couple other people people. There was this one first class, a SEABEE, who first enlisted in 1981! He got out for a few years, then joined the reserves, and now was active duty for the past few years, and now he only had 3 years before he could retire. Interesting guy, and you tell he was all navy. Kinda cool actualy. I'm not going to beat around the bush, the dentist was probably the hottest woman on the island (I'll get to that in a minute), and I found out the flight surgeon was an ad hoc professor at the college I was taking classes from (again I'll touch on that in a minute) over a couple glasses of Tiger Beer while waiting at the airport terminal.

Those people were just a footnote to the story I'll share with you now. On the flight I was seated next to MCPO Smith. Master chief Smith was the CMC of WESPAC munitions command, and he was visiting Diego with his CO. Getting that much sit-down time with a master chief is invaluable and I seized the opportunity. We talked non-stop, and I can't begin to tell you how therapuetic it was. He asked me about what I thought of the navy and shared with him my personal views, my frustrations, my questions, and my confusions. All my questions were junior sailor related, and he made the chief's mess look very good. I left the plane remembering two things that use myself when talking to more junior than me sailors. They are to always remind yourself what the facts are. When you are frustrated and vexed, just step back and remind youself simply what the facts are. This helps you put everything into prespective and a plan to accomplish what you need to do. The second piece of advice he offered was to always listen. What is your leadership telling you? If they're talking to you most likely they are trying to teach you something where you can take something from it. I doubt I'll ever meet Master Chief Smith again, but that conversation pretty much saved my naval career.

We arrived on the island late in the night. It was a quick meet'n'greet with my sponsor, the pharmacy tech I was relieving, and a even shorter tour of the clinic/pharmacy. After that I was shown to my room and I went to bed. The next morning I was up to go for a short run to take a tour of the base. It was the last motivating PT I would do for the time I was there.

Diego Garcia is a funny little place. It is a shaped like a horseshoe and is 37 miles around. The widest it is only 2 miles. The island is also extremely flat. In fact the highest point of elevation above sea level is the outdoor pool that had to be man-made. I can also gloat that I was in the southern hemisphere as it is 7 degrees south of the equator. The entire island is a military base and you needed a security clearance to even check out of customs. There are 4 things to become on the island: a hunk, a chunk, a drunk, or a monk. DGAR is a great place to get in shape if you let it, or the other 3 options I suppose. Because I was only there for 30 days, I personally treated my experience like a vacation. Besides the PRT I chose to do with the command, and one other mandatory PT session, I only PT-ed twice, and it wasn't very motivating PT.

Since being overseas I have prided myself on staying away from the heavy drinking and jackassery behavior. Not there though, I really let myself go. Cigarettes, dip (when it wasn't sold out), Captain'n'Cokes, and pizza were the staple items. My diet was crap upon crap. Sure in the beginning it was very nice; I felt like I needed this break. Like most vacations though they soon get old, and I was beginning to start getting that Catholic guilt about the 2.5 week mark. Being in Diego Garcia was the closest to being on vacation without actually having to take leave.

You could say that I was productive. I took a tour of the USS Georgia, a nuclear submarine. I took my final exams on the island thanks to the flight surgeon I met in Singapore. For being in DGAR for 30 consecutive days I picked up the Global War On Terrorism (GWOT) Expeditionary ribbon. I even paid for the EMT national registry test myself and took it, though I didn't pass. Above all else I started working on my dive physical needed for a special warfare package. I'll get to conversations with Joe in a bit, but I felt like I was able to do a lot.

Like I mentioned earlier the island is a funny place. It is obviously the navy, but not really. Some things really don't happen, like the rules of fratenization. The clinic, an enlisted staff of 30, was very top heavy with 1st classes who we called "the first class mess." Immediately once I arrived I was warmly accepted and greeted with open arms. There were only 4 third classes onboard, and 2 e3 and below. We would drink and party with them like I was back in 'c' school. A very weird feeling, but it was accepted there. Hell, I don't even know all the 1st class' names in Sasebo, but once work got out or behind closed doors we were all on a first name basis on the island. I checked in on a Tuesday, and that Friday was the Captain's Cup. A monthly athletic competition between the different rates/commands on the island. It was hot and sunny, and I participated as much as I could. My one philosophy on the island was to not make others in DGAR look bad, but to make BHC Sasebo look good. Needless to say about the Captain's Cup I was rather sunburnt that would bother me for the next week. The next day was the Halloween Party and we all dressed up. I kinda stole my idea from Laughlin, and went as a dick in a box. It got lots of positive reviews.

The MWR program there was fantastic. Everyday there was something planned, and just for participating we were given a t-shirt. I raked up a couple shirts. Most notably my 100 freestyle race (of course I took 1st overall). I also qualified for the texas hold'em finals tournament but it was going to be played the day after I left. I also played in a spades tournament where my team took 3rd runner-up. Either way it was SO nice to throw some spades again. When the clinic caught wind of my swimming PRT time they put me in a triatholon relay, but it was postponed twice due to certain factors and I didn't compete before I left.

My best friend on the island was Joe Sayre. We were inseparable. In fact it got to point when the 1st class mess would ask us where our girlfriend was and we would know they were referring to me or him. He was a shit hot fellow 3rd class who had just come from the USS Truman in Quanico, VA. I can't count the nights we would have the most motivating conversations about the navy, the next step(s) in our careers, ways to get there, etc. He had bought a nintendo wii and we had some epic battles in Wii sports. My experience on the island would have been very different if he wasn't there, and call me gay, but I'm thankful I was able to know him.

Everything on the island was awesome. I even was able to go deep sea fishing. For 4 hours, 5 of us went out for only $150 ALL TOGETHER and we kept everything that we caught. The wahoo were biting and we snagged 6 and a yellow-fin tuna. For $6 a fish they would fillet them, and we took them to the local resteraunt to cook for us. We only brought 2 wahoo's and the tuna. The tuna was made into sushimi and the wahoo was cooked in like 5 different ways: grilled, garlic, sweet'n'sour, cajun, and a couple others. There were 6 grown ass men at dinner and were all very hungry, but we still each had a box full of left-overs. Awesome time.

As noted in the title, that was our battle cry. Effing is substituted for another word though ;) I'll always remember the times I had there.

Everything leading up to the island

Thank God for facebook because this post could easily be nothing, but a story in pictures. Because it is sort of a hassle to post especially multiple pictures on the blog, I will have to refer to you taking a gander at my Diego Garcia photo album. I pretty much captured everything along the way. From Korea, to Singapore, to my month on the island, and back again.

Not sure if it's good writing structure to kick-off a story with the conclusion first, but I get to make the rules here. I'm glad I was able to go and experience this. I get to get chalk this up as another opportunity for me that the navy has offered, and I get to walk away from this adventure to my desk and write a thick, juicy chapter in the story of my life. I saw some incredible things, met some extrodrinary people, did some once in a lifetime things, and accomplished things few I know have, or ever will. It has made me rethink a lot of things in my life and my path, and I'm very thankful for this.

So there I was, traveling farther east than I ever have in my life. Diego Garcia is 3 hours behind Japan, and it took many hours of flight time and miles to get there. I started out in Fukuoka on a 90 minute flight to Seoul, South Korea. I had about a 3 hour lay-over there and I was on a plane headed for Singapore. While in the Korean airport though, I did stop at a little resteraunt and had a Belgian wheat beer. Wasn't Hacker-Phsorr, but it was the next best thing. It was gold hit my lips. The entire airport had wi-fi, and because I brought my computer with me it was a no-brainer I capitalized on the service. Their power was different than America so I couldn't charge my computer in the process. After that though I really didn't see much Korea though I tell people I've been to Korea. Much like when I tell people I've been to Washington DC though it was only Dulles Airport. I stopped by and picked up a Korean edition of Twilight for my friend, Jenna. Everywhere I go in the world, I get a different copy of that country's language.

The trip to Singapore was an experience more painful than enjoyable. It was a 6 hour flight from Korea to Singapore, but luckily I was hooked up with an aisle seat. I think I've been flying enough where the novelty of sitting at a window and looking outside has worn off. Especially when you're flying over an ocean for most of the trip, and at 35,000 feet. There really isn't that much to see unless you're factoring take-off and landing, but that isn't worth sacraficing the mobility and "extra" leg space an aisle seat offers. I do remember though flying back to Korea from Singapore on my way home, and a Korean woman was so small and petite (she spoke English and told me she was 31, but didn't look a day over 24) that she was able to cross her legs in the airplane chair! Yeah, she had the window.

My original intentions of first arriving in Singapore was to see it's nightlife. I flew in at about 2200, but was tired from traveling. My hotel was on the military base which was like a 40 minute drive (after factoring traffic). Add in a day of traveling across the world, checking in, and trying to understand what everyone is saying through their accents, I was too tired to go out. It was around 2330 when I finally arrived at my hotel room. Nicer place though especially for only $75.00 USD. The exchange rate while I was about $1 USD = $1.40 Singaporean dollars. Not bad especially coming from Japan where the currency was $1 USE = 84 Yen (or about 84 cents USD). I did find out though that the McDonalds close by delivered and yes, I capitalized.

I was to be picked up at 1130 the next morning and taken to the airport originally, but there was a delay and we had a chance to drive to the shopping center, Orchid Street. Understand that the official language of Singapore was English, but the country in itself was a true melting pot of culture. There is a huge demograph of Chinese, Mayalasian, and Indonesian influences. I really liked Singapore from what I experienced. Extremely clean and safe. They don't tolerate any foul play. They have no problem caining you and are very adamit about the death penalty. Singapore doesn't tolerate drug trafficing at all and it's a garuntee death penalty, no matter what you have or how much you have. That said it's a very libral country. Prostitution is legal, banking and information services are it's biggest exports, and there is no such thing as a homeless Singaporean. The government takes care of its people by subsidizing housing, giving allowances during the hard times (the recession doesn't affect Singapore). There also isn't any corruption in government, and from what I was told is because the officials are nicely paid and aren't tempted by a higher paycheck because they already are paid nicely. Besides learning English and their parent's language, Chinese is also taught in school. This is because China isn't getting any smaller and they are so close to Singapore. I don't know how many BMW's, Mercedes, Lamborghinis, and Ferrarires I saw.

Singapore is also a bartering country. If you go into a store and see something you like, it is almost improper and rude NOT to barter with them. I'm kicking myself for not picking up a suit there. Lots of Luis Vuton, Rolex, Gucci, and other top shelf fashion stores were also there. The only depressing thing I can say about Singpore is the outstanding prices on alcohol, and that is because the government taxes the Hell out of it to deter people from by it. A pint of its homemade beer, Tiger Beer, was $15, and that's after the conversion! BTW Tiger Beer is quite delicious and I drank more than one pint.

Taxi's are dirt cheap unlike Japan, and because they spoke English I was able to rack their knowledge of the city/country. The city is the country; Singapore's borders are only 500 sq km, but they are in the process of "taking back the sea" much like what the Dutch have done since the beginning of time. With a country that rich they can do pretty much anything they want.

I flew out of the military base. It was a MAC flight and didn't cost anything. In 4 1/2 hours I would be arriving on the island. Another post will tell all.

Explaining myself

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



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



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



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



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



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

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

I'm Back!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

it's like sand paper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn the page

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So it has begun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stories upon stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morale is high and things are looking good.

Death, Blood, and Carnage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A kilo of rice

I like this picture for many reasons. First of all this picture was taken with the commanding officer of Naval Hospital Yokosuka. The Sasebo clinic is a branch, or satellite, extension of the Yokosuka system. Though we have an OIC who acts in the place of the CO when he isn't around, this is the man we have to stand in front of if we ever have to go to Captain's Mast. From time to time though he'll come down to visit and see what's going on. This particular day he was available to award us with our EMT class completion certificates. Though I didn't successfuly pass the national registry the first time I took the test, I'm not that worried cause I'm in good company. Of the 9 corpsmen that took the test, only 2 passed. Sure it would have been cool to not have to worry about it again and make my command happy for passing it the first time, but that's just the way she goes from time to time.

This picture is also very special to me because I had to really overcome adversity to pass the class. The first 10 days or so all I wanted to do was get out of the class. I wanted to beg and plead with my chief to drop me from the class. I'd been in verbal quarrels with the instructors because I didn't care. I was all jagged up in the head. Somewhere inbetween it all I found that needed motivation, and I stuck it out. Those in charge of me could have crucified upside down and nailed me hard with negative reinforcement until I got the picture, but instead they showed interest and cared and talked it through with me. One could say it was a miniture journey for me to overcome adversity and rise above my selfish wants and to look at the big picture. When the CO asked what we learned that is what I wanted to tell him, but instead I answered his question in my head.

The most superficial reason why I like the picture though is I think it's an overall good picture. It's rather symettrical, and I look pretty fit. For a time I'm making my profile picture on facebook. ;)

This week went by smoothly and without problems. I had an appointment with my councelor on Thursday and we had a good talk. She didn't give me a "homework" assignment for this week because I guess what we talked about was enough to grasped, and that I should just sit back and think about what we talked about. That is fine except it is nothing I don't knaw on already everyday. We talked about my place in this command, world, my friends and family. Overall a good talk, and I get to go back on Wednesday. It is good to just talk to someone. Especially when talking to those who I normally would are so hard to get ahold of since they live on the other side of the world.

I had the worst nightmare I have ever had. Between the death of Ted Kennedy, talking to my family on skype, my frustrations with the command, and a healthy dosing of youtube, I think I know how it was derived. This nightmare is possibly my worst fear, and I woke up crying and my subconscience could hear myself making noises. I'm just glad there wasn't someone sleeping next to me otherwise I probably would have scared the Hell out of them. My dream was I wasn't allowed to go home and I had to watch a "good-bye" video from my mother as she took her last breaths. It bothers me to think about it, but the dream was so powerful and struck such a chord I can't internalize it. Let this be a great big nod to my mother and how important she is to me.

I haven't drank in like 3 or 4 weeks. Last night a few of us went to Chili's on base. Everyone around the table was getting margaritas and tall drafts of beer. To Chili's credit they only serve MGD and Miller Light on draft. I drank diet coke. Owning a car is now a huge deterrant to drinking too since I drive so much. All it takes is one little hiccup and everything I've ever wanted to do with my naval career would vanish. Plus the BAC limit in Japan is .025 compared to .08 in the states. They don't mess around. When you mess with the bull you get the horns, and this is not a fight I want to pick. Some times living on the wild side just isn't worth it.

Highlight of my week: the swim meet today. It was Kris and I who represented the United States and the navy since we were the only Americans at the meet. Literally it was an all-Japanese meet. Years later I hope think that was kind of bad-ass, but it was confusing at the time. Luckily they were tipped that we were coming, and were very accomadating in helping us get to where we needed to be.

Of course the meet was a lot of fun. Though I didn't swim the times I wanted to, and me being the ignorrant person I am thought Kris and I would just walk in there and dominate (not the case, neither of won a race). There are piles and piles of excuses as to why I didn't swim the times I wanted to, but I'll spare you. Kristoph's girlfriend flew from San Diego for a few days and made it out to the meet too. She is very nice and pretty and if it wasn't for my lack of ability to make simple conversation with women, I might be able to tell you more about her. Just kidding, but seriously. So yeah, it was fun to get out there and just compete.

Scratch the swim meet being the highlight of my week, and I can't believe I almost forgot about this. We had a mock PRT on Friday, and I turned some heads including my own. At the end of the story I want point out that I scored an outstanding-high on my push-ups and the swim, and an outstanding-medium in the sit-ups (I missed an outstanding high by 1!). Sit-ups was 104 compared to 98 a month ago, push-ups was 87 compared to 80 a month ago, and instead of running the mile and a half I swam it instead. For a meter length pool we have to swim 450m. To get an outstanding-high at our altitude I have to swim a 6:55 or better. I clocked in at 6:26. I'm sure there are some of you out there who don't know what outstanding-high/medium means, and I don't necessary blame you. Sadly it's a much of navy/military jargon, and it would take a long time for me to write it out and explain it to you. Take this in comparison: I was looking at the PRT results from the spring cycle, and only 1 person scored an overall outstanding high, and he is now at a different command. I missed an overall outstanding-high by one sit-up and I have 6 weeks left to train for the official PRT.

One thing I didn't like about the good news of the mock PRT. Obviously word got around the ENTIRE clinic about my results, and there were all congratulating me and so forth. The guy who I train with, Darryl (Ice) didn't get one single congratulations and he is improving at a fantastic strides too. I'm getting most of the credit, but what people aren't really accepting or something is I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. A big part of me would rather not get any recongition at all if they don't want to mention his name with mine in the same sentence. Also, people aren't really talking about Dr. Margraf. I could make the argument that he saved my naval career by helping mentor me that there are larger things in this organization besides the clinic, pharmacy, and being a corpsmen in general. Now I can see how that can chap some people's ass, but with his leadership he has steered me into a direction I have too oft neglected to accept as where I need to be headed.

Some of you have gotten on the Skype train and I just wanted to say good on you. I don't need to mention any names, but I love folks who take my advice! :)

That's about it for now, but not without one last story. This is a shout-out for all you Wisconsinites who jest with me on different forums of communication regarding your misconceptions of Japanese culture. Kristoph and I were given a participation gift for competing in the meet. What we got? A kilo or rice. BOOM!

This isn't last year

To clear my good name, I will state for the record that I used this kids aiding contraption pictured here just once. If you want me to prove it I'll admit I only knocked 9 pins down. That's right, I couldn't even get a strike with a tool that forces me to only roll straight down the middle of the lane. Good thing "Awesome" is my middle name, and not "Pathetic."

A back story to us bowling now. The doctor who I workout with, Lt Margraf was just selected for Lieutenant Commander. Because he is an officer, the lines of frantinization are pretty defined. I wanted to celebrate with him so in order to bypass an "unduly familiar relationship" I got the ingenius idea to go on a "victory run" with him and Darryl (Ice) this past Friday. We ran the planned course before, but we never actually knew how far it really was. On Thursday Ice and I clocked in in my car's odometer. It came out to 10.5 km, or 6.5 miles. Friday morning came, and Lt pulls up in civilian clothes saying that he pulled his calf the evening before and couldn't make the run. If it was anyone else I would question the legitmacy in the claim, but for the good lieutenant I knew he was serious. Another Lt wanted to run with us, Lt Johnson, a nurse, who just started working out with us earlier that week. So we three take off, and I could tell that Lt Johnson's pace was not at the level of Ice and mine. Ice and I were talking about what to do Friday night and bowling came up. That was before an offer to go to a place called the "beer garden" where it's all you can eat and drink for $30. Darryl could tell I wasn't crazy about the drinking so we switched to more sober outing.

Friday night came, and I had already forgotten about bowling until I was at dinner at Chili's with Ice and he reminded me of it. When you bowl you need more than just 2 people to have a good time. So we called Laughlin and he came out. He has been on a different watch standing billet so his availabilty at night has been very limited this month so it was nice to hang with him for once. I also called a lifeguard I know, Christina, and she asked if she could bring some friends. This night wasn't going to be afterall; the more the merrier. Overall the night was fun. After bowling, Christina's sister Sarina, had just broken up with her boyfriend and she wanted to dance. So we parted ways with Darryl and Ice, and I took off with Christina and her two friends, and her little sister to the on-base dance club. We weren't there for very long when we had to take Sarina home, and right after one of Christina's friends wanted to be dropped off. Her friend, Christy, doesn't like Darryl or me that much, but that is another story for a different time. So it was now Christina, her friend Emi, and myself. We drove around Sasebo how teenagers do when one finally gets their car, and we ended up on top of a mountain which is the picture shown below.

This picture doesn't do the scenery justice. On top of the mountain we went for a walk. One thing I will vouche for is just how humid this place is this time of year! After the walk I took the girls back to Christina's house and I went home. Once home I watched the final disc of season 5 of "Entourage" and the first half of "G.I. Jane." The latter actually wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Got me a little fired up when they were showing the spec war training scenes. I stayed up for 24 hours this day which is a new personal Japan record.

My friends are beginning to understand I don't like to bothered on the weekends. I just like to keep to myself an be on my own program. That's why I rolled out of bed at 3 in the afternoon. I did my laundry and cleaned up my room a little. Christina came over at 7 and we finished watching "Dogma." She goes to a Christian college back in the states and I wanted to show her a movie that told "the truth." Darryl came over soon later and Rich skyped me. There was a nice little conference call with the 4 of us. After Rich got off we decided to go out, but not before I got a McFlurry at McDonalds. In McDonalds the largest spider I had ever seen in my life creeped in from outside and scared the Hell out of Darryl mostly, but myself too. I was really creeped out since I had my sandals on. EEEKK!

After McDonalds we picked up Sarina and we went to sing kareoke. It was lots of fun surprisingly. Sarina, all of 16, invited some 22 year old sailors from the USS Patriot to come with us. They were nice guys, but on the whole way home Ice and I scolded her about how stupid she was and blah blah blah. I think we both liked putting on the "big brother" hat. That night I watched the Clint Eastwood directed "Flags of Our Fathers." It was excellent. Tonight I'm going to fall asleep watching "Letter from Iwo Jima." I'm rather stoked.

You may be wondering about my post title. Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday. What I mean by "this isn't last year" is not a metaphor. One year ago today I was in Green Bay with my best friends having the time of my life. It was the last time I saw Rich, Jenna came to see me from MN, and I was drinking enough to kill a small horse. Fast forward to today's time and Rich is living life in Vermont (though we talk seemingly everyday on Skype), Jenna is Jenna, and I really don't drink at all. This weekend I didn't have a single drop. A year ago I was excited about going to pharmacy tech school in Portsmouth and today I have to worry about soccer practice which starts on Tuesday. The times they are a changing. I hope tonight I have sweet dreams about one year ago and how special of a time that was to me. If you were there, if you called, if you expressed your wishes of being there, but couldn't, I want to tip my hat to you.

Can't remember if I already told you all this or not, but I'm going to swim my PRT in October. After looking at the times I realized/figured out I can score higher if I swim instead of running it. That doesn't take away that I still need to work on my running because I'll need to do both for the special warfare PRT. As long as I'm in the fleet though, I'll score as high as I can. Because I chose to swim the PRT, I expect nothing less than to score an outstanding-high. In the spring PRT cycle I scored a good-medium. All of this will be discussed in more detail the closer it gets to mid-October.

This week went by a lot better than last. My councelor was right when she suggested I get more sleep. It has made all the difference. At my depression/anxiety screening it was decided I have neither, and no medications were prescribed. I was also taught some breathing exercises. Whenever I get antsy I need to learn to breath and take into consideration that a lot of this is out of my hands and just go with the flow. I still have a weekly follow-up meeting which is nice, but this department of my life is going along much smoother than before. It's amazing what a nicely pressed uniform, shined shoes, and a fresh haircut do to morale too. Here I thought it was all about just looking good, but I just feel better too when I don't look like a shitbag. Nothing in the world like a high and tight to the skin with a 2 on top.

I got a care-package from my godparents this Friday too. I've expressed my want for cheese, but it just can't be done in the hot months my godmother was told. So she sent a slew of candies and thoughtful things. I was very appreciative and need to shoot out a thank you letter after this.

I've hinted at it earlier, but I'm a little nervous about soccer. It's not that I feel like I'm incapable of handling the job, it's the schedule I'm fretting about. Practice starts at 4pm which is the time the workday ends. The commanding officer from Yokosuka is coming on Tuesday and wants a Captains Call at 430pm. I'm not sure how this will work, and this is the first day of practice! That's one nice thing about having another coach like Kris in swimming. Time will tell on this one, but I can already sense hightened stress levels. grumblegrumble.

Oh, the EMT final exam was also taken on Friday, and I passed the class! My scheduled test for the national registry exam is this Wednesday. I'm a little nervous, but what can I do about it? I can only study and pray for deliverance. My feeling is my command is holding onto my off-base housing chit until I'm registered cause I haven't seen it back yet, but this is just a hunch. Either way it's plenty of incentive depsite the shitlist I've been on since last week.

All this said, happy birthday to me, morale is high, and it should be another eventful week.