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.