Our ship pulled into Sasebo for a few days and unfortunately it was made a working port. Despite my best intentions to sleep and catch up on some blogging, I’ve been doing nothing by contributing to the downward spiral that is my life.
I got a room at the Navy lodge for the second time [...]
I sent my absentee ballot request off about two months ago. For the past few days I was complaining about how I never received it, and it turns out many others in the Yokosuka area haven’t either. As my luck would have it, I received it today after we pulled in to Sasebo. I took [...]
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Posted 02 November 2008
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I sincerely apologize to all my readers for disappearing, but I’ve been too busy counting down the days until I am off this piece of scrap metal, and gone from Japan…never to look back. Seriously though, I haven’t forgotten about the site. I’ve just been extremely busy and uh occupied. I’m working on two big [...]
*Sigh* Maybe one day I’ll be able to write a post about visiting a port where I have a profound cultural experience, have some crazy local food, and am deeply touched by the disadvantaged people I help at a ship-sponsored community relations program. This port is obviously not one of those.
We pulled into Nagoya, the [...]
I really like quotes. I’m pretty sure that anything I can try to articulate has already been said better by someone much more notable than myself. I’ve been trying to sort out all the problems I’m having with where I am in my life and in the Navy, and I’ve come across a lot of [...]
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Posted 23 August 2008
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The advancement results are out, and wouldn’t you know it, Jim made first class….wtf. It hasn’t fully hit me yet that I’ve crossed into the dark side, and will soon become everything I don’t like. Tuesday is the day of the frocking, or promotion ceremony, at which point I’ll be walking around with the chevrons [...]
When I was first told that I would be going to Japan, everyone started telling me how I was going to be married within a few days of arriving. Despite my assurance that I wouldn’t be, everyone insisted I was wrong. My supervisor at the time even reminisced about young Sailors she worked with in [...]
I used to think ORM was stupid. “Use common sense, idiots” I would say. Same thing with Damage Control (DC), “I’m an IT, I’ll never have to put out a fire.” I am absolutely eating all those words tonight.
After coming out of the bathroom, I smelled smoke. It smelled like some kind of plastic [...]
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Posted 25 February 2008
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Last week I was awarded my second Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, or NAM. Some places hand NAMs out like candy, and despite being here over two years, this is the first award I’ve received since being in the FDNF. My first NAM was awarded in Texas for two specific reasons. The first [...]
Despite the way I’m sometimes judged by my posts, I’m pretty receptive to other’s opinions. I got a lot of feedback from readers on my 9 Reasons Not to Join the NAVY post. Some of the comments were from people completely agreeing with what I wrote, while others said the reasons were technically true but [...]
So for some unknown reasons, four ships forward-deployed in Japan, including mine, have been ordered to get the Anthrax vaccine. I’ve always weaseled out of getting it whenever it came up at other commands because I don’t trust the Navy and I know in 30 years someone is going to uncover something that tells us [...]
I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve come to the realization that I’m 25 and there’s nothing left to aging. When I turned 18 I became an adult. When I was 21 I could drink and get into clubs. At 25, I don’t know…I can rent cars without a hassle (although being military I never [...]
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Posted 08 September 2007
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So after the crap with SoftBank, I decided to just get a new phone. I went with Au and picked up the neat Toshiba W53T(pic). Mine’s blue and not the girly red that all the websites show. It has Internet, TV, CMail, GPS, everything. I decided to test out the camera by taking a picture [...]
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Posted 23 August 2007
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I had to buy a cell phone a months ago because the ship requires its Sailors to be a phone call away at all times. I didn’t have much need for one, and didn’t really know where I could get one, so I opted for the SoftBank kiosk that sits in the on base Navy [...]
So we’re finally back. I enjoyed my weekend of doing absolutely nothing. I got to sleep, drink, download movies, take a bath, and just relax. It’s Monday and I’m starting a 7 week school, called Information Systems Administrator, or J-NETCORE. I’ve been trying to get this school for nearly 6 years. Not because I necessarily [...]
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Posted 22 July 2007
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I had the great luck of meeting Sarah, and girl who lives in Brisbane. The first night me and my “mates” went out, we ran into a bunch of girls at one of the “pubs.” After chatting them up, we all left together to eat and Sarah and I ended up going back to my [...]
So I know I’ve been MIA for a while, but I have just been exhausted by work. We’re gearing up for this huge inspection and it’s taking its toll on everyone. Basically, the people who usually get their asses kissed, want to kiss the asses of people higher than them by looking good. So us [...]
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Posted 02 May 2007
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We recently pulled in to the US territory of Guam for a four day port call. I had never been to Guam, and anything I’ve ever heard of it from other Sailors, was about the lack of anything to do. I went out expecting to be bored out of my mind, but instead had one [...]
Patriotism and Remembering 9/11.
Today was the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks. When the attacks happened I was living in the barracks of my first duty station at Subase, Bangor in Washington state. I had just finished my morning routine and was headed to the galley for breakfast. I walked past the lounge where someone was watching [...]