Grumblegrumble

I think I have grooved into the habit to making one post a week, lest of course something comes up that renders a special blog. Of course such an occurrence will arise when deserving, but as for now, let's just roll with what I just said in the above statement. What we are looking at are Andy Bauer and myself when I was coaching in Seymour. The picture was taken at JV Conference which we both look clueless, but we all know that was never the case (cough, cough). Sadly I don't have any pictures yet of my latest coaching stint, but if you bare with me I'm sure some will pop from the woodwork eventually. I just like this picture cause that was a very special/important time in my life, coaching Seymour. I'm grateful I was able to share it with such a good friend in Andy, but also, it taught me a lot about myself. This is a gig I want to continue.

We can certainly talk about my new job as a coach. I'm officially the Head Coach for the MWR Main Base swim team. There are two teams at the command. Every other week we have a meet with only that team. This is all volunteering mind you, and with that comes some drawbacks. For starters we only practice 2 days a week. This is good for my work schedule, but a killer to maximize improvment and success potential. For two, the kids are young, and very inexperienced. Complex sets and times are non-existant as I'm trying to teach kids how to start without belly-flopping and flip-turning without rolling over on their sides. As a pharmacy technician for the base, I know what drugs the kids are on, and Ritalin is very common which shows when I'm trying to explain the next drill. I've talked about it more than once, but the commanding officer's kids' are on the team, and a master chief has some kids on the team too. This can be political pressure though they may say it doesn't/shouldn't ,but it does.

One thing though I really like about the swim team is the other coach assigned to me. His name is Kristoph Carey, and he is the leading example that it is a small navy since I served in the same boot camp division as his younger brother. He is from the Bahamas and he has a very credited swimming past. He has swam for the Bahama nation team, swam at the Pan-Am games, Olympic trials (for the Bahamas), and swam at the college level. He and I willingly get stuck talking about swimming and almost anything. So far he is pretty cool. Today, perfect example, it was lightening before practice started. Practice starts at 6pm and I cancelled it at 5:30pm. He wasn't there so I texted him not to come since all I was doing was baby-sitting those kids already at the pool before their folks picked them up. He texted back and told me that he'd baby-sit with me, and we stood in the shed by the pool for an hour after we sent the last kid home talking about swimming, college war stories, and previous jobs. I'm glad to have him on board. Did I mention that he is a navy diver too? That is another story for another time.

Alright, so the MCPON, or Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, came to visit the command today. This guy is the most senior enlisted personel in the entire navy. Needless to say, he is very important. Listening to him talk you can tell that once you get to a certain level in the navy if just becomes as political as any other Washington assigned job. The MCPON's office is in the Pentagon and he works directly under the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO, a 4 star admiral). What is funny is the entourage the MCPON came with. A bunch of photographers and other khaki running around with him kissing his ass. Good stuff. I looked over his uniform to try and call him out on anything wrong with it, but he was very VERY squared away; fun to watch really, I like these kind of things.

This past weekend was a movie extravaganza. I went to go see the newest Star Trek installment. I found it very entertaining and captivating. Not more than 3 hours later I was back in the theater watching the new romantic comedy "The Proposal." It starred Sandra Bullock (who will always be sexy) and Ryan Reynolds (very funny man in his own right). It too was enjoyed by my group. One thing that is funny/irking is my friends, Laughlin and Icenhouer have no sense of volume control. They talk in a theater like they rented it and took it home. Hill people, I'll tell you. My movie watching didn't end there. I watched a Ken Burns documentary on my boy, Thomas Jefferson. It was good, but I knew most of what they already talked about though. I also watched Friday the 13th (the newest one), Defiance, and He's Just Not That Into You. On tap is something that has been on my back-burner for some time, Scent of a Woman.

I don't think I like being a pharmacy technician. As tired as I am right now it is hard for me to put it into words at the moment, but I feel like I should be doing more. As if I don't belong "trapped" in a pharmacy counting pills. It can get soul sucking. Plus there is no advantage to my 6 months of schooling except I'm put on another watch billet. Sure I can handle narcotics and most other corpsmen can't, but so what? Sure it is a good gig once I get on the outside moonlighting while I'm going to school, but there is no edge while I'm active duty. I don't get paid more, no preferrial treatment, no advantage over the next corpsmen straight out of 'A' school/the 18 year old fresh out of high school. Why did I take this job that I'm contractually obligated to for the next 3 years if there is no incentive?

That is why I've been working out hard. I wake up every morning at 0410 to get to the field at 0430 and get some 4-5 days a week. Don't laugh, but I've been thing about special warfare. Not SEALs, but either EOD or a diver. Possibly a diver medical technician? I need to get in mad shape, put some time in as a pharm tech, and be an all around on point sailor if I want to get a chance to either change rates, or get a new NEC especially before my contract as a pharm tech is over.

In the end, I don't know what I want to do. I want to do something big, not count pills. What is big though? How far can I push myself? What is satisfying to Cal Rastall? The sky is still my limit, but I just need to look at the branded ink in both of my arms, and gather some "patience" and "understanding" because I'm low on each right about now.

My finances are looking in the up and up though. Things are being paid off, and winter plans to a foreign country are still in the works. Sad news though, I won't be seeing Christina "Dearest" Solomon before she leaves South Korea to go back home to the states. We thought about meeting in Tokyo for a night if she decided to take a long lay-over from Seoul to Chicago, but that fell through. For a round trip flight from Sasebo to Toyko and one night at a hotel it would $670. August is a bad time of year to visit Japan for all you motivators out there.

This past Saturday I was talked into going to the little mart on base to get a six-pack of beer. I'd be damned, but they have Leinkugel's Honey Weiss. Of course I bought a little pack. Y'all, I had 3 beers, and I woke up with a hang-over. Figure that one out, and read between those lines.

Morale is a little low because of my latest frustrations with my job, but I'm still trucking forward. It all works out. I've been in country for a little more than 2 months now, and the time has flown by. Only another 22 to go, and I'm either back in the states, or Europe. Failure isn't an option, I'm a warrior, I'm awesome.