Almost forgot a title I was so excited to start writing

This post is a shout-out to the guy who is in the picture with me, Joe Laughlin. I just heard earlier this week that he is leaving in October to continue on with his naval career. His orders are up and time to move onto the next command. Rumor has it he'll be going to FMSS (Field Medicine Service School) and learn field medicine so he can go run around with the marines. It's what he wants, and I give him props though it's not what I'd want to do. Out of FMSS I'm not sure where he is going to do. He wants to hit up a 'C' school like what I did, but not pharmacy. What is the motto we give to departing shipmates, Far skies and following seas? Laughlin will be missed, but that's just the way she goes in this business.

That brings me to an interesting sidebar. It's hard to have "best friends" in the navy since we are always moving on and doing other things. At least in college for the most part nobody is going anywhere for at least 4 years which in my opinion is certainly enough time to build a solid enough foundation for everlasting friendships. Maybe that'll change when I've been to a command for more than 6 months, but as of right now, that's just the way she goes. Don't worry boys, I don't need to be telling you all who is still my number one(s).

Interesting week to say the least. First of all I took a phone call from a lady who will be going on leave to Manitowoc, WI. She was fearful of the hayfever will really get to her, as if the motherland has worse allergies than Japan. Either way it was cool that in a way I found one of my own people here who understood my accent and didn't jest about it. That by the way is something Laughlin's West Virginian ass was very good at.

I got a lot done this week I felt, and I really set myself for the next month for sure. To begin with I strolled into the Navy College Office as I promised myself I would. Classes start in about a month, and I wanted to really give myself enough time to get my ducks in a row with getting all the paper work squared away. That's one thing about the navy, give yourself enough time for the paper work to go through. Anyways, I found out that with my civilian credits and credits earned at my slew of training commands that I have already earned my associates degree. That sounds pretty exciting right? I mean, I now am entitled to a piece of paper that says I know something a level higher than my high school diploma. The truth is though I won't actually be getting my associates, not from Excelsior College anyway. It is the only school that will give me a degree without a residency status, but the "graduation fee" is to the tune of $495. To me right now that is not worth it.

Instead I have chosen to go through University of Maryland University College. They have an office on base with a representative which communication much easier and less of a headache. Today I'm thinking I'm going to complete the Legal Studies Associates degree, minor in history for the undergrad, and major in political science. Down the road this same college has Public Administration as a master's program. Seems to me I'm finally mapping out the rest of my education. That makes me happy. Though I don't know right now just how many credits shy I am from finishing my undergrad with my already earned credits I will guess it is to the tune of 30-ish. My estimating brings me to right about the time I leave this command, and I will have my undergrad, and finally I won't feel like such a let failure. It's funny that my education is one of the most important tools to measure my success especially myself I compare myself to my friends. I mean, two of my best friends are registered nurses, one is a computer science major, Neuman is finishing his double major at GB still, Amy and Beyja is at grad school, Dearest is going to grad school, Carlee is at grad school to be a vet, and then there is me the college drop-out.

The other day after watch the watch billet coordinator asked me my thoughts on taking the EMT course. Of course I want to jump at that opportunity. Just one more qualification, right? It's a lot of responsibility, but I won't have to pull the 0300-0600 watch anymore, and I get a full night's sleep. I get to ride in the front of the ambulance on the way to chow instead of the back (it's the little things that matters) too. The course is 3 weeks long, and I have to submit a chit to my chain of command asking for permission. Just asking my department head he thought there shouldn't be a problem, but my LPO had a grimmace on her face when I brought it up. It would stretch the pharmacy a little thin, but it's in the name of helping the command as a whole if I successfully complete the course. The catch 22 is I haven't yet been at the command for 90 days and this is a class they generally like to give to sailors who have been around for a while becuase it is such a for lack of better word "prestigous" position. Time will tell on this one.

Also, I'm very close to completing everything I need to earn my overnight liberty card aka blue card. I need to take one 4 day class called Navy PRIDE. It is a class that talks about the dangers of drinking and taking pride in serving in the navy. Not a big deal, right? Well, with going out on the limb of asking off for 3 weeks to do the EMT class about a year ahead of schedule, I feel that requesting an extra 4 days on top of that is really pushing my luck. This class wouldn't be for the clinic though, but only my own selfish reasons. I need a blue card to be eligble to move out in town, and not worry about being back on base before midnight.

Since moving out in town was brought up, I can expand on that. I found out that I will be officially be paid as an e4 on Sept 16th which means it'll start showing up on my paystub the 1st of October. With everything going on, I might hold off until then assuming I don't get a roommate before that. I'm very close to paying off my laptop and I can really get cracking on paying off my private college loan (the federal loan is being taken care of in 3 annual payments with the loan repayment program). Also, I took out a private loan to pay off my Wells Fargo and UW Credit Union credit cards so I can centralize those payments with Navy Federal Credit Union. I could wait to take the Navy PRIDE class, but I just want to knock that out before my 90 days at the command is up. Not worrying about a curfew as a 21 year old petty officer would be nice.

As mentioned above, I went on the field trip needed to complete my blue card check off. Because it's summer I thought it would only be appropriate if I went to a baseball game. Let's not forget

it was Japan who won the World Baseball Classic. Needless to say, they take their baseball pretty seriously pretty seriously. All games are played in domes, and the teams are named after its sponsors rather than in America where teams are named after their home city or state. The place was packed, and I was reminded I was in Japan to the cramped seating. Prices for beer were fair ($6.50/16oz glass) and the beer was dispensed out of a CO2 tap. The picture of what I mean is on facebook. Though our team lost big time, the fans are nuts. Really cool experience.

Also this week, today actually I swam in my first swim meet since my days at Green Bay. The pool was short course meters (25 meter lenth pool), and the meet was an invite to the Japanese community club swim teams. As a swim coach for the MWR swimming program, I was invited to swim along with the other swim coach, Kris. Well, Kris is a navy diver I remind you, and he swam for the Bahama national swim team as a civilian, so he was a little more in shape than I was, but it either way we dominated most of the races. I took second in the 50m freestyle (27.3), and 3rd in the 50m butterfly (32. 0). We also were part of the 2nd placing 100 IM relay. The meet was totally legit, we earned medals and everything! Unfortunately, I forgot to put the charging battery back in my camera for the meet, so I don't have any personal pictures, but I will try to hunt a couple down from the meet. It just felt good to be back competing in the pool, but I still wouldn't trade it to coach full time.

Went and saw the new Transformers sequel. All I can say is slow motion + Megan Fox = saved the movie. I will not call this movie intelligent, thought out, but the suits got in a room and knocked out the fastests way to make the most money. No, I will not be seeing this movie again and it would be very hard to recommend seeing it. Go see it if you want to join in the conversation around the water cooler, but be prepared to be let down if you compare it to the first Transformers.

The picture above are a couple taken when I took the tour of the USS New Orleans. It is an amphibious ship that carries marines to here and there. In this case they were coming back from a 10 month deployment in Iraq. I couldn't get over just how big the ship was! Honestly it was my first time being on one which is sad since I am in the navy and all. I have a rule, and I don't care who disagrees with me, but marines are dumb. As a corpsmen it can kept as a golden rule that one is. Anyways, there was a table marines had to sign out at to leave ship and go ashore to go on liberty. On the table was a bucket full of lifestyle condoms to be passed out. Marines are dumb. Check out the facebook pics.

That's about it for now I think. I called Max this weekend and I asked him if he read the blog and said he didn't because "it was too long." 10 year old kids, I'll tell you. Our camoflouge uniform is now totally authorized to wear on days we have duty which is awesome, they look really sharp. Garcia and I are the only two cats at the command who have them so we get some interesting looks. I just tell people here that'll they'll get the same looks when they get back to states looking like prisoners in the current utility uniform. Morale is back on high and I'm coasting. Time is flying and I'm back to being awesome. I got my new haircut (once a week), PT is tomorrow morning, and I rented the movie "Fanboys" to watch while I'm shining my boots. Yeah, life is back to being good. I'll get to telling my idea for my new story in a later blog, just remind me about it.