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.