My New Haircut

If anyone has seen the youtube clip of this, you know what I'm talking about. Not really, but kinda actually. Maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about, and if that is the case then log onto youtube.com and type in "my new haircut." There you would be able to listen/watch the biggest tools EVER! I think they're just kidding, but really, there really is idiots out there. I'll get to what I mean by "my new haircut" on a personal level in a minute. For now, I will begin with the intended start of this blog (minus this paragraph of course).

Nevermind from random, that has already been achieved in the first paragraph. My mind is wondering from place to place, and I'm not quite sure where to start. Oh! the places I go. Let's start with the most exciting news of the week: this past Friday night I finally made my trip to Tokyo. More specifically, the Ropongii District. Now, for many you who don't know what I'm talking about, Ropongii is the bar/club/party district of Tokyo. As we all know, Tokyo is one of the world's largerst cities in the world (actually according to www.mongabay.com it is the largest city according to population of 34,000,000 people). You can only imagine the scale of this place...and I did not go home disappointed.

So there I was (I really do leading off a story with that phrase; thank you HM2 Slyvestor), having "trained" for the past 3 weekends in the streets of Yokosuka. Having spent enough money to make my mother extremely pissed, numerous drunken calls/emails, and more than one hungover morning the next day at work, I was trained. In Yokosuka, much like Sasebo, within earshot of the shore patrol that roam the streets there is a policy of no drinking after 0200 on the weekends. It's a good rule since nothing good happens after midnight. This rule does not apply to where we were going. Yes, I said "we" meaning it was 2 other guys along with myself. My friend John Benningfield could not make it this weekend, so I went with two junior pharmacy techs from work: Jason and Matt. Though not the crew I had originally planned to be with, by the time we got on the train to go to Tokyo I knew the night was going to be alright.

Ropongii is a marathon, not a sprint. What I mean by that is the trains stop running at midnight, and don't start up again until 0600 the next day. We'd be stuck there for the night. Unless you're bringing someone to a hotel room at the end of the night (which I had absolutely no intention of doing for reasons to be discussed at a later time in this post), you have to stick it out all night. The name of the game is pacing yourself, which if you know me for longer than a night at the bars is something I wouldn't call my strong-suit...at all. Good thing I had all those crazy nights in Yoko to prepare for this night!

Because of scheduling we decided on Friday night. After work I dashed to the barbershop to get my haircut. How I miss Sasebo and my "regular" barber, Inowei, but I dealt with what I had for where I was, you know? Any ounce of common sense would have told me to then take a quick nap, but not this guy. I relaxed for a bit facebooking and youtubing. Then Matt calls me telling me that he is coming over to my place to start pre-gaming. It was about 1830 at this time and though I thought this wasn't the best idea seeing how we weren't going to leave for another couple of hours, I invited him in. Matt and I had a good time at my place, and the last 45 minutes or so Jason finally came over. Matt was about 4-5 500ml beers in him when we finally left at 2130 for the train station. I thought I was going to get a chance to skype Danielle, but turns out she was still sleeping and in fact had no recollection of our phone conversation when I called her before I left!

The train situation was a bit interesting. Jason had been to Ropongii only once before whereas Matt and I had never been. We asked quite a few people if we were taking the right routes and blah blah blah. Matt was from what I could tell had a good buzz to him, if not too good for how early it was in the night. Finally we made it to Tokyo, and instead of getting on the metro, we bit the bullet and paid for a taxi to take us to where we wanted to go. We paid $16 instead of the $1.50 subway ride. I guess we were getting a bit impatient! Once we arrived the jaws started dropping.

Now, for the past 15 months I have lived in Sasebo, Japan. It is labeled as a country town which I really never understood seeing how it's 250,000 people. Compare that to the towns of Wisconsin, and it would place 2nd among all of them right behind Milwaukee. Needless to say, I was not about to be prepared enough for what I saw. Next to the overall United States and Singapore, the street that I was on was easily the biggest melting pot I have ever seen. There were people from all over the world! I don't know how many European models I walked by, African hustlers trying to finagle me into the club that hired them to do so, and the girls! I've heard rumors about how many women walked this street, but it was still nothing what I had expected. Lots of eye-candy, but I was on a no-touch policy tonight which strangely enough didn't bother me, not one bit.

Another thing I didn't expect was the amount of peddlers. Remember those African guys I just mentioned? Well, they must have seen the expression on my face that only screamed "Ropongii virgin" and they must have licked their lips at the sight of us. We couldn't walk 15 meters without being bothered to come to this club or that bar. They appeared to be our best friends within the first 20 seconds of meeting them, and I was too in shock-and-awe to take serious note of their true agenda. I had a sliver of this the night I was in Atlanta, but even then it was from a single seemingly homeless guy just looking for a tip so he can go buy his 40 of malt liquor. Anyway, I was finally coarsed into this one club. It was a slight mistake.

Our first club of the night had a $30 cover charge (I converted all the currency charges to USD since the Yen and American Dollar is so close now in conversion rates), and it was all you can drink for an hour, kinda. At first it seemed like a good way to start off the night, but really this place was a glorified Filipino buy-me-drink bar. The girls would come up next to us and start talking and flirting which was really awkward because a)I'm not good at spitting game b) I didn't know what their agenda was c) I have decided to take a path of higher values than to sit here and fall for these working women of the night. In order to protect myself as much as possible I told them that I was actually Canadian, not in the navy, but an exchange student in international relations from Fukuoka University, and I had no family. Just in case they kidnapped me and decided to hold me ransom and tortured me with threatening to kill my family, etc. A bit cheesy and lame, but they really had no reason of knowing my story.

Matt was having a good time, maybe too good of a time. Remember how he had a strong buzz before we even left my place in Yokosuka? Add on top of this many more very-strong whiskey and cokes. I was having supposedly rum and cokes, but really it was whiskey...I decided to not argue because it was all doing to end up doing the same thing for me, the alcohol that is. When we left we decided to go bar-hopping. That was when the fun really started.

The bars were packed, the music was blasting, and everyone was dancing having the best times. Luckily all the music was in English and many American artist. Who would have thunk that Abba would have been a smash hit? How a round in a club would work: we would snake through everyone (took more than a couple of minutes) to the back of the bar. Then we would order a round where each of us were taking turns. We'd drink about half of the beer while we danced and then started our treck outside to the next bar. Luckily we buzzed enough at the very first club we were at so we didn't need to buy many $9 beers.

This one bar we were at I think we were the only Americans. Jason is Filipino by birth so no one knew about him, but I'm 6'2" and Matt is 6'5" and here we were in a Japanese club/bar and Bon Jovi "It's My Life" starts playing. I almost thought that everyone was looking at us! Kinda cool. I didn't care if I was dancing like I was a 1960's history teacher, and no one around me seemed to care either. I only wish I took more pictures of the places we went. I just hope I don't get Alzheimer's within the next 70 years or so!

We did that for a few bars and ended up at our last bar. Here I decided to dance with someone, but if said it was harmless what I really meant by it was it was pathetic to watch. The entire night I only was wishing I was dancing with someone very specific somewhere very far away. After the last bar we walked outside, and it was daylight! We saw the McDonald's arches and we began to long-step it over there, but not before the REAL ladies of the night tried to recruit us for their "massage" services. Jason and I still knew what was going on, but not Matt. The poor bastard was able to somehow look at us in the face and tell us that he just wanted to go to bed, and he went off with 2 women. That idiot! We scratched it off not as leaving a shipmate behind, but the newbie has to learn his lesson, even if that means the hard way. He'd be fine, it's Japan afterall, but he make wake up to be a little less rich than before the night started.

Jason was able to get a phone number at McDonalds. That's how many women were at this place, he was able to get a fricking phone number at a fast food joint drunk as hell, too. I decided to wait for him outside where I saw some guy sleeping in the street, passed out. Two guys were eating their McD's over him, and I asked where they were from. Their reply? "Russia" in a thick accent, it was awesome, and I wish that story could be better told, but it was one of those "you had to have been there moments."

After we ate it was time for the journey home. Waiting for the first train was one of the biggest challenges of them all. Takes real character to push through that kind of adversity, but we somehow made it. When we got on the last train to take us to Yokosuka, I closed my eyes. Only opening them to move out of the way to let someone pass, and to get off the train. We got home at 0720. What's the translation on that? Well, if we had to go stand duty (which neither of us needed to do) we could have in a worst case scenerio. I went home to do a couple of emails, and was off to bed.

This story is not over quite yet. At 1315 Matt calls me to say that he just got back to Yokosuka. Apparently he was blacked out after the very first bar, and didn't come out of his funk until that next morning when he was walking down some random street in Tokyo! Afterwards he spent 6 hours sleeping on the train and somehow made it back. It is Sunday night here, and as of Sunday afternoon he and yet to check his online banking to survey the damage. Poor guy.

Besides that my week was pretty boring. I go home to Sasebo this Wednesday which I am looking very forward to, but that is neither here nor there. What I would comment on is my admission of yes, I am actually going to a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I bought the tickets earlier this week. After trying to decide with Danielle what to do, that seemed like the next best thing besides harassing new recruits at Great Lakes. We have logged a lot skype time this past week which is good. I will end here on this subject because this post is getting long enough!

Minor tuffle with my college class. There was some slight miscommunication with my course, and I went to do my homework tonight for my intro to interpersonnel communication class, but apparentley the professor closes conferences sometime in the middle of the week. That wasn't the case for my other 2 courses I have taken from UMUC, and an email to the teacher quickly followed my recent discovery. Grumblegrumble.

Alright, I ahve said my piece for the week. Next weekend is the 4th of July. I was supposed to make a roadtrip up to Mt. Fuji/Tokyo/Yokosuka with Kristoph and his wife, but I now believe that isn't going to happen. There is a 750 meter swim/7.5km run that is rescheduled till next weekend from last weekend due to all the rain in Sasebo (it hasn't rained that much here actually compared to the rainy season I'm used to). Nothing good can happen from that aquathon, but I'll save that for another time. Morale is high, and I'm looking forward to pressing on.

The Good Chief

Now, I've talked about my chief numerous times in previous posts to this, but I don't think I ever headlined with him, nor mention him in my title. Both could be considered quite an honor in my little world. Either way, I'm going to owe someone a beer, and by the time I'm done with this story, you will know why.

So there I was, knocking out some prescriptions in Yokosuka still (remember how I'm here till June 30th). I probably had done close to a 1,000 by then, and the LPO (leading petty officer) came up with a printed email. It had something to do with 'c' schools. A 'c' school is like where I went to pharmacy tech school; it's an advanced training program. Other examples of 'c' schools in the corpsmen rate would be radiology tech, nuclear med tech, cardiology tech, aviation med tech, and dive med tech. It's the last one here that caught my attention as we should all know by now. On top of that, it's what was said about DMT school. It was a hot-fill billet. That means it's a critically manned position. If there was ever a break to be caught, this was my day.

About 5 minutes after reading that I was on the phone with Sasebo's career councelors telling them let's get something started on this. I received an email back saying I need to call the detailer and ask permission if they would release me from my current NEC as a pharm tech. Knowing this would be an uphill battle I emailed my chief and asked him what I should do. He replied back saying that we could conference call the detailer together that night. This got the juices flowing, and rightly so! That night I stayed up till 2200 (0800 in Millington, TN where the detailer was), and waited for a phone call. When nothing happened I decided to take manners into my own hands. I didn't know if Chief was held up, or what, but patience is something I was never really good at. I had to know!

I wish I didn't call. My phone call was maybe 3:30 minutes long. Essentially what I was told was even though it was a hot-fill and critically manned, I would not even be considered because I was only 1 full year into my obligserv as a pharm tech. On top of that I would need at least 2 full years to be looked at. Nothing else mattered. I thanked her for my time, and slept depressed. I woke up depressed, and went through my day depressed. My entire day I was making stupid mistakes that were more uncharacteristic than normal, and I was getting really angry, but no one was to blame or subject to get yelled at except myself. It was all very sad to see me unravel. I was thinking about next duty stations as a pharm tech, and after my experience here in Yoko I knew a big command was out of the question. Possbily a ship in Washington State or New England region. I wanted to go somewhere cold. I even flirted with the idea of a submarine possibly.

Then I was talking to my friend, Darryl. He said he talked to Chief, and was calling me a dumbass for calling the detailer by myself. Chief then told Darryl that tonight was going to be the night he'd call the detailer. Apparently I wasn't the only junior sailor he had to bat for. I was told to expect a phone call from him later on that night.

There I was, in a bar Friday night still depressed watching the world cup with my friends. It was the Serbia vs. Germany game which we dubbed The Battle of Revenge: Serb Jews vs. The Nazis. 2215 rolled by, and sure enough Chief Bennett calls me asking for my social security number. Remember that I was in a bar, and it was very crowded, as most Japanese bars are tiny. I had to quickly dash outside into the rain, stealing someone's umbrella as I went. That phone call lasted maybe 90 seconds, and he said he'd call me back. There I waited in the bar trying to not get my hopes up having just had the discussion with the detailer 24 hours ago.

A half hour later I get a phone call from Chief. It went like this:
Chief: When do you get back to Sasebo again, shipmate?
Me: June 30th, Chief.
Chief: Okay, on July 1st I want a 'c' school package on my desk in the morning.
Me: You're fucking with me, right?
Chief: No, have a good night and don't get in trouble.
Me: Go USA.

I don't know what he said, or what he did, but he did it. HMC Bennett will forever be called The Good Chief. I don't care what anyone said, he has given me a chance at real Happiness in this institution we call the Navy. I want to romanticize the conversation he had with the detailer by him really throwing those anchors around and telling them who is the boss and reminding them that's it's the chiefs who run the navy. Who cares, I owe him a beer, or something. In reality he hasn't drank since 1994 so I will have to dig deeper into my bag of originality. Shouldn't be too hard. If this all pans out (and it's projected to) I owe him a lot.

Besides that, there really isn't much else to share! I watch all the world cup that I can. The USA vs. Slovenia game was intense. Having just heard the news from Chief I was on cloud 9. It got a little hairy, but to come back from a 2-0 defecit was just as intoxicating to all the beers before that. When we scored we had to decide on a shot, how fitting it was to be in Japan and call Kamakazi's for the group.

Tell you what though, the world cup is something else. I don't typically watch soccer, but it's the world's sport, and it's that sport's biggest event. There is a lot of national pride at stake, and it's interesting being in a foreign country where winning and losing in this tournament means something. Too bad the Japanese team sucks. I blame it on them being so short and having to run twice as fast as everyone else, and how that can get tiring I can only imagine. So in other words, world cup is big news here in Japan, but American coverage is limited. Thank you ESPN.com

Haven't gone to Tokyo, yet. Next weekend is my last weekend here in Yoko, and that will have to be the encore. I'm getting very excited. Sorry no pictures posted just yet, and I'm not sure when news will be put up either. I'm a little concerned because my camera software is on my old laptop, and it shuts down after every 5 minutes or so. That is a little worrisome.

Alright, time to go for now. Things are good. Only 8 more working days up here with one more weekend. Sasebo, I'm coming home! Morale is high.

Roger up Sconniesailor, you're not in Sasebo anymore

So here I am, in sitting in my hotel room in Yokosuka, Japan. It is about 700 miles north of Sasebo, and a stone throw away from Tokyo. You may ask what the Hell I'm doing here, and I may tell you "good question." I was sent here to cover in the capacity of a pharmacy technician over here at the big house. Naval Hospital Yokosuka is the parent command here in Japan, and it is the largest US hospital in Japan. Naval Branch Health Clinic Sasebo is a satellite clinic of Yokosuka. Our commanding officer is here, and so is the Director of Branch Clinics. So are the master chiefs, you can't forget about them.

Working here is no joke. It's super busy up here. I deal with more patients in an hour and fill more prescriptions in that time than I did at a full day's work back in Sasebo. I don't sit down unless I'm at the front window bringing patients on the computer. There is no chiving here, and I only check my email when I'm leaving work. When I do check my email, it's when I am released from work, and I am in no mood to be at the pharmacy any longer, so I forward all my emails to my hotmail account and reply in my hotel room. In Sasebo the window closes at 1600 and we go home...not the case here. The earliest that I go home is 1640! On Friday we didn't get to go home till 1700. That warrants a definite grumblegrumble right there.

On top of that I am required to attend command PT. It isn't too big of a deal except that I really don't like command PT the way it is. It's on Mondays instead of Fridays, but the pharmacy opens up at the same usual time. In Sasebo the pharmacy opens 1 1/2 hours later than normal. Needless to say the tempo is high here, and it's all the time.

On Friday though the Surgeon General of the Navy, Vice Admiral Adam Fitzgerald, came to visit. I saw him once at Great Lakes when he visited Corps School. He looks good, like he lost some weight. I did have a question for him during the admiral's call, but I ultimately decided against it. There was a lot of brass in that room, and I didn't want to appear dumber than he had the ability of making me look. Either way it got me a hour out of work. The ability to skate in this place is almost nonexistent, and that's not cool.

I still keep in touch with Sasebo though. Well, mostly just HM2 Oldenburg. We talk a couple times a day on the phone, and send emails here and there. I also talk to Icenhour, Kristoph, and a few other people on skype.

Come to think about it, I do a lot of more writing now that I'm here. I knock out emails like they are a joke. Because of my self-proclaimed policy of not cheating one on a good story they tend to be long. That's why Danielle, if you're reading this, you won't be reading anything you don't already know ;)

John Benningfield is up here, and that is great. It's always nice to see old friends. Last night he took me out, and I got royally drunk. Another clue that I'm not in Sasebo, a credit card was stolen and I had to cancel it after I saw a $1,100 charge! The company was some Japanese name, but that didn't matter. I had a good time, but not that expensive of one! I did wake up to find my wallet empty of all the yen I had inside. It was a lot of fun, but I felt like hammered shit all day today. Just paying for my sins of a good time. Thee is the Wade Hayes song, "too much fun," and I think there actually is such a thing.

I have another friend up here who I know from my time in Diego Garcia. Her name is Sarah, and as it turns out, it may just be a cursed name! We hung out every day this week having dinner together (she was recently stationed on the USS Blue Ridge, a flag ship). She was only in Yoko for 10 days before me, but I've been in Japan for 13 months longer than her. Anyway, she met up with John and I last night, I did something stupid in the midst of being drunk (imagine that), and we aren't talking anymore. It's okay, I'm moving on.

Somehow I found a website that all of the season 6 House episodes, so I was rocking through that. I watched all 21 episodes, so it will be interesting as to what I will do now with my free time. Maybe I will actually start running. I'm thinking about it.

What else is there? Took the bullet train to get up here, and that was awesome. It was the quietest, smoothest mode of travel I've ever had. I can say too I've traveled faster landspeed than anyone I know! Lots of goodbye parties too. Had dinner with HM1 Martinez and her family two days before I left. They will be back in the states before I return. Icenhour will staying at my home for the 10 or so days before he goes back to the states. Normally people stay at the navy lodge before they rotate back to the states, but because I won't be home during that time I agreed to just let him stay at my house. That meant I got to give my apartment intense cleaning before I left. It's okay, I really don't mind. He will be in Japan for one more night the day I get back. It's going to be a hungover day the following morning I can sense it already.

Meh, I still have to iron my uniform. Since I have so much free time in my evenings now I can probably get back on a once a week posting cycle again. In the meantime, I am here and morale is stable. Either way this is a new experience for me, and I'm trying to seize every opportunity that becomes available.