What a great day!

Matty showed up at around 0600, and the front door was iced shut so he came in through the bottom only to find that it had been plasticked shut on the inside. Unfortunately, he didn't relaize this until too late and so just finished the job and came in to add to stockings and have a bit of cider. I went back to sleep around 0630 and didn't get back up until the sun had firmly risen.
We had Yulekaga and EggKaka and assorted other traditional foods for breakfast and then the arm wrestling began.
But that's another story for another post, suffice it to say the day was well spent and ranks among the best Christmases I've had in a long time.

It's so cold here.
19 below zero when I got home last night.
26 below this morning.

Samui Tamatama

Christmas leave is going great. It's only been one week, but I already feel like a new man and have more or less cleansed myself of the military mindset. It's so stinking cold here that I'd laugh about it if I weren't afraid of freezing my lungs. You think I'm kidding, it was -19 when I woke up this morning! But I digress.

Looks like Chad and I might be able to meet somewhere on Christmas Eve, so I'm pretty happy about that. I've never met his better half in person, but she's a journalist, and she's managed to put up with Chad now for a bit, so I'm sure she's a stand up gal.

Check out my new site Ask Ace which also appears as a link in my sidebar.
Go ahead, hit me with your best shot.
-Ace

So I made it to Minesoooota alive and man is it cold here.
I've been telling all my friends in Japan about how cold it gets here but found that I'd forgotten how truly cold it is. I'm here to tell you it only got down to -4 here this morning and I'm officially ready to not have it get any colder.

So i did it!
well, almost did it.
I completed my last post and have gone home for the day.
Now it's a three day weekend to pack and then I sign out and am off to the states!

In honor of that, here's a poem about life in Duluth and eating a little bad chinese up on seven bridges road.

Stopping on a Sunday night
for teriaki beef,
I'm reminded of when you and i
ate barefoot on the river rocks
while rushing water passed us by
with laughter.

I have decided that since I'll only be back in the states for two weeks, I don't think I'm going to fritter any of it away on the second floor of UTC; the first floor however is a different story as those fools were always pretty nice to me.

Have yet to hear back from my brother, who's car I may be using to get around, so there are no hard and fast dates yet as to when I'll be in the Brainerd area but right now it's looking like somewhere around the 17th. I'll shoot smartypants and that can-guy an email when I know for sure and maybe we can put out the word for lunch at that Chinese place... Hey Canman, are you still on speaking terms with any of the girlies from Marketing?

Chad, if I don't get my brothers car I probably can't make it all the way out to your new place but if you're going to be in Brainerd or D.L. or even the Fargo area just let me know when and I'll get there if it means hoping one of the coal cars...

Thanksgiving was pretty good to me this year.

I had to work from the butt-crack of dawn till it was dark again, but since everyone else who has a normal job over here had it off there was a lot of foot traffic coming through the gate and everybody was in a good mood and smiling.
Total strangers started bringing us food around noon or so, and plates just kept arriving up until I left for the day. There was so much food we didn't know what to do with it all. The Japanese Civilian Police who work with us couldn't believe that these same people who cuss us out one day were bringing us hot turkey, and ham, and Cajun chicken, and sweet potato pie, and corn, and stuffing, and salad, and curried chicken wings, and more stuffing, and some sort of cornbread-chili-pie-thingy that was actually quite tasty if I do say so myself, and rice, and beans, and more stuffing, and more turkey... but i digress.

So, to answer MadChatthew's question from the previous post, I did have a great Thanksgiving, but not because of the food, it was more the happy people that kept coming in and going out. Nobody has extended family over here, so around the holiday times everybody welcomes everybody, and total strangers will open their homes and invite you on over for a feast you didn't contribute to in any way.

Homework :/

Homework I loathe you for you make me think, you question and frustrate and move me to drink. Another large latte instead of the gym, my waist isn't shrinking but my pocketbook's thin. If you've ever had coffee on the town in Japan, you know what I mean how they long for your ¥en.

In the same way they long I too have a yen, for a night without homework and a day to sleep in. Yet instead of my homework my English, my Psych, I find myself waxing profusely tonight. Which isn't so bad except as I've said I have two assignments before I hit bed.

I found out today that I did extremely well on my advancement exam!
I still won't advance because I don't have enough time in rate and my command doesn't believe in giving out awards. The good news is that I get to take the exam again in March. The bad news is that I don't stand a chance of advancing then for the same reason I didn't this time. The testing cycle they have in place discourages rate specific knowledge in favor of sitting there like a lump until you've built up enough time in the navy to advance at the expense of someone who's test score doubled yours.

What can I say, tomorrow's another day.

I was bored the other day...

I found out today that I didn't make the advancement to MA2.

To be fair to myself, there were only 17 openings in the probably 500 people who took the exam. Still that's like 3.4% which means all I would have had to do is score in the top 96.6 percentile.

I have to say I'm not used to not succeeding, so for a few hours there I was really in a pretty bad mood. Then I talked with a friend who's missed making first class three times now, and they're percentile is a bit larger than 3.4%. The way he handled the news really put things into perspective for me and even though I'm now at a disadvantage for taking the test this spring, life goes on and I'll just have to study more this time than I did last time.

Just what I need, more homework...

My mind has turned to mush. I've been reading to much and not playing nearly enough Halo2 or Battlefront. My T.V. sits in the corner quietly giving me the evil eye of neglected solitude while I curl up with this blog and a copy of the sound and the fury, which reads like it was written by Benjy instead of about him; but which also, when compared to Steven Kings treatment of Duddits in the Dream Catcher, seems like he straight up kicked Faulkner in the literary nuts and stole the character of Benjy while he was writhing on the ground in agony.


But i digress...

The Homework Question...
5)We hypothesize that people in a good mood are more likely than those in a bad (or sad) mood to help another in need. Plan and design an experiment to test this hypothesis. Include enough detail to show you understand the essential steps for constructing an experiment. Be sure to identify the independent and the dependent variables. What extraneous factors do you need to control for?
_____________________________________________________

My answer....
Experiment Overview:
College Students in a 100 person lecture were asked if they would like to help a psychology professor by filling out an anonymous 20 question multiple choice survey dealing with their adjustment to college life. Those who agreed were randomly assigned to three groups.

Group A: Would be induced to a good mood with the promise of 25 dollars cash (they would see a stack of five dollar bills in the researchers hand) paid in full upon the completion of their survey. Additionally the researcher would have a second survey which he would claim was his own and explain that he was an undergraduate psychology student who would really appreciate some help with a study of his own. On a totally voluntary basis, if they would fill out the second survey upon turning in the first it would really help him out.

Group B: Would be induced to a bad mood with the promise of 25 dollars cash paid in full upon the completion of their survey. Additionally the researcher would have a second survey which he would claim was his own and explain that he was an undergraduate psychology student who would really appreciate some help with a study of his own. On a totally voluntary basis, if they would fill out the second survey upon turning in the first it would really help him out. As soon as they began the first survey, another researcher would enter the room, have a word or two privately with the first researcher, and then address the group claiming that due to overwhelming volunteer response, there was only enough money to pay two groups of volunteers, and their group had "picked the short straw, as it were."

Group C: Would have no mention made of the 25 dollars, however the researcher would have a second survey which he would claim was his own and explain that he was an undergraduate psychology student who would really appreciate some help with a study of his own. On a totally voluntary basis, if they would fill out the second survey upon turning in the first it would really help him out.

Independent Variable: Payment of the 25 dollar reward.
Dependent Variable: Helping the undergrad with the second survey.
Extraneous Variables: Time of Day, Location, amount of time between when they enter the room and when the survey is handed out. Gender and attire of the researcher administering the survey, Time of year, Questions on survey 1, Survey 1 and 2 need to both be 1 page. Layout of the room, adherence to script by the researchers.

What a day...
Military spouses really get to me some days.
We impounded a car last night and the drivers husband was a Chief.
He came down for an appology today and I had to sit there for an hour while myself, another patrolman and our Chief explained to him how his wife had broken a number of laws, became extremely irate when cited for it. He was pissed and wanted to file a complaint against one of the other MA's because of what had happened out there. In the end he ended up not filing a grievance, mostly because his wife kept telling him she didn't want that to happen. I think that she finally realized what would happen to her if her actions were to come out in any sort of formal inquiry. After all, if we were to have done things by the book, she should have been aprehended,searched and brought to the staion for simple assault on a police officer. The reason we didn't is basically that while it is within the boundaries of the law to apprehend someone for getting out of controll pissed-off over two traffic tickets to the point where they threaten their safety and ours, it's also a bit punative.

So I'm looking at my blog with a friend "Jon" who for the purposes of anonymity will otherwise known as C-Love. He doesn't understand the appeal of publishing a blog, so I figured I'd introduce him to it and thereby record our conversation for posterity.

Ace: C-Love, is there anything you'd like to tell the whole wide world?
C-Love: umm, hee hee hee, grin... no.

Finally! I recieved word from my school that they recieved my paperwork and everything will go through without a hitch. Registering for College over the internet is such a pain, especially when the time difference between where they are and where you are is around 12 hours. I'd have to call them at night, and they'd ask me to fax forms. I'd send them first thing in the morning, which was their night, and somehow the paper work would never get funnled to the right department.

At any rate, the hassle is over and I'm registered! Now all I have to worry about is the homework... ;(

This is insane.
the following is the list of required books for one of my upcoming classes.

A Farewell to Arms
By: Hemingway Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN: 0020519001U Ed: 1987
This item is required
***Only available used***

Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape.
By: O'Neill Publisher: Nacscorp
ISBN: 0679763953 Ed: 1972
This item is required
***Only available used***

Cane
By: Toomer Publisher: Nacscorp
ISBN: 0871401517 Ed: 1993
This item is required

Light in August
By: Faulkner Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 067964248X Ed: 2002
This item is required
***Only available used***

Plays by American Women, 1900-1930 Revised edition
By: Barlow Publisher: Applause Theatre Books
ISBN: 1557830088 Ed: 1985
This item is required

Robert Frost's Poems
By: Frost Publisher: Nacscorp
ISBN: 0312983328 Ed: 2002
This item is required

Selected Poems
By: Eliot Publisher: Nacscorp
ISBN: 0156806479 Ed: 1964
This item is required

The Great Gatsby
By: Fitzgerald Publisher: Gale Group
ISBN: 0684717603U Ed: 1953
This item is required
***Only available used***

The Professor's House
By: Cather Publisher: Nacscorp
ISBN: 0679731806 Ed: 1990
This item is required

The Sound and the Fury
By: Faulkner Publisher: Ingram
ISBN: 0394747747U Ed: 1989
This item is required
***Only available used***

The Sun Also Rises
By: Hemingway Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0684800713 Ed: 1954
This item is required

Their Eyes Were Watching God
By: Hurston Publisher: Ingram
ISBN: 0060916508U Ed: 1990
This item is required
***Only available used***

So I broke down and decided to go back to school and actually finish my degree. Know what that means? Yes, Yes, I know. It means I have to quit dangling participles, but aside from that it means hours devoted to my blog in avoidance of homework. You got it, count on me to be posting a lot more from now on. In fact, from here on out pretty much every post you read will mean I've shirked at least an hour of homework somewhere along the line. Unless of course you're an MA1, in which case I'm literally losing sleep to ensure that the Navy's investment in my education is money well spent.

O.K. I've been busted by the "redundant fluff" department and they tell me it's time to actually post something original or kiss my kneecaps goodbye. As it would turn out my kneecaps and I have this special bond that supersedes my need for sleep; ergo, I will post.

We had a typhoon the other day. It wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, although it did blow some ships around, down a lot of trees, blow a few buildings over and flood a number of major streets. As luck would have it I was working when it actually hit us, so imagine my surprise when I stepped out the back door of HQ, a thousand thoughts in my mind, to be confronted by the offgoing section's dispatcher holding one of The Big Wheel's son. I asked if he was ok, and it was about that point that Wheel's wife and daughter came around the corner soaking wet to say that her car had died in the middle of the street after going through a deep patch of standing water. I scooped his son from the dispatcher and escorted the three of them inside to a lounge. Brown Sugar pop tarts and an Uncle Ben's rice bowl later (I knew, I should have packed a bigger lunch)they were set for the storm and I had to go out to secure a hazardous portion of road from traffic.

The thing that struck me was how brave his kids were. You have to realize his son's maybe four and his daughter six, yet they were very calm about the whole thing. I sat with them for a bit while his wife used a phone in the other room to let him know things were good. His son was smiling like they hadn't just walked in from 50mph winds and sideways rain, while his daughter leaned over to where I was sitting and hugged my soaking wet arm (I hadn't removed my wet-gear) while telling me about the birthday party they were on their way to.

That should be enough to save my kneecaps for now,
-Ace

we had an inspeciton the other day and I took the opportunity to snap a pic.

Well, it's official. This afternoon I'm bored, so instead of studying Arabic I decided to do a Jigsw Puzzel.

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
The North Shore of Lake Superior

2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?
Khaki pants

3.. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?
Sarah Grove

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
I work nights, so if you wake me up in the morning please bring a coffee.

5. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE Movie(s)
The Princess Bride, Starwars, Leon

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Guitar

7. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
Blue

8. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?
Both. I'd get an Evo...

9. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?
Yes. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, rest assured it believes in you.

10. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK?
The Chronicles of Narnia

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Fall

12. IF YOU HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Don't need a super power, I help save lives every day.

13. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
No tatoo's.

14. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
No

15. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK
AND TALK TO?
I'd like to go back about ten years to when I left the university for a tech school, give myself a kick in the nuts and a big fat bunch of "now you listen here..."

16. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
Christmas Eve

17. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?
Car wash supplies.

18, Sushi OR HAMBURGER?
Ebi Sushi Kudasai (shrimp sushi please).

19. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO
RESPOND FIRST?
Not emailing it.

20. WHO'S LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Robbert. Just kidding,

21. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?
My Uncle Rick.

22. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?
Unbleached? Whole wheat? I guess it's hard to say.

23. DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?
There are a lot of peole I'd love to throttle at first sight, but I'm working on that.

24. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM JOB?
Being part of the crew that patrolls for modern day pirates.

25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
Cajun shrimp and broccoli!

I joined a softball team the other day. Haven't played since the early 90's, and boy did it show, but it was still a lot of fun. Also, got to play some poker the other night. Didn't win a whole lot of money, but doubled what I came with. Yesterday I gave the winnings to a Navy charity designed to help the hurricane victims back home.

Also, did a lot of Christmas shopping over the last few days and now have a closet full of gifts just waiting to be sent home. A lot of the things I picked up are pretty cool, and it'd be a big fat lie to say that it never crossed my mind to keep them all and instead send a card to everyone of those wankers who neglected to get me a present last year, or a card, or even an email.
Were I to do that however I think I'd probably implode under the combined weight of guilty pleasure and frivolous waste. After all how many Christmas presents does a guy need to buy himself?
...O.K. at least four
But I've been really good this year
Honest...

A hose up your nose for the mace in the face!

That's right, today we qualified to carry O.C. (pepper) spray. I've been sprayed twice now, and let me tell you this time was much easier than the other. Although our instructors didn't want to admit it, the stuff we're going to carry here, which is also what we qualified with, doesn't hold a candle to the raging wildfire that they shot us with in Texas. Don't get me wrong it still hurt; but well, it's like this...

Have your momma hit you in the head with a frying pan, it's gonna hurt. Then have Sammy Sosa hit you in the head with a angry red, fresh off the stove, so hot it's white in the middle, frying pan; and leave it there for ten minutes.

I think you get the picture now, both of em hurt, but one's just an entirely new level of pain.

Had an interesting night last night. I was able to secure a crime scene and observe an NCIS agent in action. The circumstances surrounding the whole situation were exceedingly unfortunate but are something I'm going to have to get used to.

What can I say, some days are good, some days are bad.
Life goes on and I'll be there to write the report when it's over.

My orders came in but they didn't include a dog...

This is a mixed blessing indeed. On the one hand I didn't want an MWD and having one would have added a lot of hours to my work day. On the other hand Bomb dogs save lives, and if I could have been a part of that I'd do it gladly. As things go my orders have been cut without a canine, however my department career councilor is looking into where the dog orders were dropped in the hopes of getting them back for me. Either way I'll be happy, but not having a dog will definitely free me up to develop professionally in other areas.

HOLY CRAP!
I was browsing the net while composing this post and came across this. It's a new film called "Sky Captain & the World Of Tomorrow" and it's being touted as the most stylistically original picture since 'Being John Malchevich'. Whether you like this sort of thing or not, do yourself a favor and go the above link then The Film/trailers to see a slice of it's CGI goodness. Apparently the actors for the film were shot on bluescreen and almost everything else in the movie was added on via CGI.

The bottom line:
If you like Errol Flynn, Buckling Swashes, Crimpson Skies, Metropolis (either one), The Old James Bond, The First Batman, The Words Stylized, Erstwhile, Intrepid, and Futuristic in the same sentence, or Angelina Jolie With An Eye Patch -harr harr harr, then there's only one thing to do... You've got to see this movie!

It's been a busy few days...
I took my advancement exam and think I bombed it horribly, I took a bit of time to start working with a dog handler from the kennels, and think I have secured a position in the MWD department, as their administrative aid. For the most part, work is pretty normal; a few fights, a few destructions, you get the picture. There was a death yesterday, but I can't really talk about it as it's still under investigation.

O yeah~ The Vikes won their season opener against Dallas! And lets be clear here, by win I mean they whipped 'em like a five dollar mule.

I was able to help save a life tonight...
It should be clear that the hero of this story is my friend who jumped into that polluted cesspool of a bay to save a sailor who was going under. Everybody involved in the evolution helped save his life, but if my boy hadn't dove in after him it would have been all over but the crying.

As I was working on a Christmas leave chit at HQ, a call came in for "man overboard". No it wasn't a drill, the man had fallen approximately sixty feet off the fantail of a carrier before he hit the water. We scrambled our units to the nearest point of land and I arrived in time to see my boy MA2, responding in a patrol boat. The victim was going under, so this dude straps on a life jacket and dives into the water after him. He secured the victim but the boat began drifting away from him. The bowhook riding with him, who was brand new to the position, didn't know how to coxswain (drive the boat), so I switched radio channels to her network and began to give her instructions on what levers to push and how to turn the wheel. With no experience in coxswaining it was too dangerous for her to get close to our people in the water, so she drove the boat over to the pier I was on and myself and an MA1 jumped down onto the craft. From that point, I was able to pilot it over for the rescue where she held it steady while the MA1 and I pulled first the victim then our patrolman out of the briny deep.

Warm woolen blankets and EMT's later MA2 was relieved to shower off the crap he'd been swimming in and the victim was rushed to the emergency room while I stayed behind with the bowhook to help tie up some loose ends.

Two years ago, people thought I was insane to leave the security of my old life and run off to be a cop in the Navy. Every once in a while I'll think the same thing myself and then something like this'll happen and it just makes me smile. Pulling that guy out of the water tonight; yeah, I know I made the right decision.

I'm studying for an exam tomorrow.
I've gone over a lot of the material, but there's just so much information they'll be testing us on. It's 11:57 pm here and the test is at 0730, but before you accuse me of cramming all night instead of sleeping you have to realize that I work nights so this is when I'm normally up and instead of wasting my last few hours doing something stupid I've chosen to go over a few chapters again, and again and again...

Also, I recieved confirmation today that I will be going to a C-School when I detach from this command in order to train as a dog handler for my next duty station. It's not really the career choice I would have made for myself, but sometimes things like this happen and you just have to roll with it.

At least now I'll get to have a dog.

Tonight at work we were trying to convince The Big Wheel to try out for the upcoming "Tough Enough". His first objection, "This is stupid. What would I be called." We thought about it for a moment, then a moment longer and finally decided that we'd spend the rest of our break creating his character and special moves.

Wrestling Name: "The Hurt Locker"
Wrestling Moves: The Captains Mast, NJP (Non-Judicial Punishment), The Court Martial, The 45-45, The Rear Admiral, The Keel Haul, The "BCD" (Bad Conduct Discharge), The Square Knot, The Bends, The Scuttlebutt, The Bulkhead, The Upper Deck, The Field Day, The Anchor Chain, The Salty Dog, The Needle Gun and The Deck Seaman.

Well, it's official. I'm going to Bahrain...
There is some confusion about my job though and I need to get it straightened out. Apparently the billet they slotted me to fill is as a dog handler and I neither have nor want the necessary training this would require. Don't get me wrong, dogs are fun pets, but Military Working Dogs are an entirely different animal. Also, once you're in that job community it's hard to break out of and there are a lot of things I want to do in the Navy that don't include a canine.

MAGNETIC POETRY! I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!
You can find it on the web here, but I will be adding it to my site as a permanent link sometime in the near future.

I'm trying to save up some cash and so have been laying low for the past few weeks. Not much exiting is going on over here. I watched AVP last night. Character development was pretty non existant, but lets be honest you don't watch a movie like that to find out a particular characters motivation. If they see you they kill you, that's enough motivation for anyone.

I want a puppy.
I was reading a post by Petunia about walking her cousin's dog in the park and it made me regret not being able to obtain a mutt of my own. I'm not looking for a super expensive dog, nor any great mastiff with bloodlines that lead back to the dawn of black and white T.V.. Rather I'd prefer a puppy from the pound, smallish to medium size, and good tempered.

The way things are right now though I won't be able to get a dog until I get out of the service. O well. T-Minus 3 years, 3 months and counting.

This is one of my favorite pics in the whole world.
Back when I had one, it hung in my cube.

I was hanging out at a furniture store today while The Big Wheel was taking care of some business, so I used the time to my advantage and snapped this photo with my cell-cam.

Haven't updated for a while becuase I've been doing other mundane type things.
It's coming up on the hottest part of the year over here and my section has shifted to working nights. I love the fact that we escaped the heat, but also I feel halfway bad for those poor suckers who rotated to days. It's like I've always said, if it was fun they wouldn't pay us.

My baby brother has been back from Bosnia for some time now so I called to see what he was up to. As it turns out he is moving up in the world and has taken a management position within his company.

Also, I called CanOpenner even though I check up on his blog often enough. He's doing good but has, as it were, bats in his belfry. That's a story for him to tell though so I won't ruin it by blabing here first.

Not normally the type of guy who gets into eating cream from a colon, tonight I made an exception... And people wonder why I say Japanese junk food is so much fun to eat.

My life has been really boring lately.
I went looking for ghosts last night with a friend who knows of an old POW Camp for Koreans. There are a lot of local legends surrounding it but we didn't find any ghosts, or perhaps they didn't find us... :(
I can't say I'm surprised. After hearing all the stories about floating heads, bodyless footsteps and blood chilling screams from behind, I can't help but feel a bit robbed by the whole experience.

I put this together a while ago and am still working out the bugs. For those of you who are interested, here is a Virtual Tour of a park near the base I work at.

While waiting for a meeting with our Senior Chief after work this morning, my roomate and I entertained ourselves over breakfast.

Also I did submit a new dream sheet today with totally new choices for where I want to go. My top choices were to areas where I'd be guarding important people in potentially hostile environments, after that came a few places in Europe and also an opening on the central east coast.
If I get any of these I'll be happy, so now it's a waiting game for a week or so to see if I was picked up for any of them.

My ride is now tinted and sporting some tunes!
Towards the interest of posterity, I've documented the Cinderella like audio conversion.


Laugh if you want, but you should have seen what I was listening to before.



My temporary $14 speakers and mp3 player.


What have we here? I puzzle over the connections which are nothing like the wiring harness that came with my stereo. Notice the gecko floormats. I like em, my friend says they're too girly. What can I say to that, if I was looking for validation from a car I wouldn't have sold my monster to buy this tin can.


I know there's a lot of electrical tape over connections, but don't worry that was just a temporary thing until I can sort out some electrical problems with my acc.


The satisfied smile that can only mean no traffic and sweet melodies.

The weekend is here! The weekend is here!
I've got a new car to play with, the weekend is here!

That's right. Instead of waiting for the skyline, I broke down and bought an Escudo. I've never owned anything quite like this before, but find it to be the perfect vehicle for Japan. It's short, but has surprisingly good leg and head room for the driver/passenger. If you want more than two people in it though things do get a bit crowded. The guy I bought it from neglected a few things on it's upkeep, which I don't mind so much as fixing it up gives me something to do on the weekends.

To Do List of crap that needs fixin...

1) Install Stereo - It's stereo was sawed/ripped/cut out by some wayward youth a few months before I bought it.
2) Window Tint - I have a home tint kit for the back windows. After reading the instructions that came with it (they were in kanji) the basic idea seems to be to get more of it on the window than on me, in theory this should be no problem.
3) Touch Up Paint - It's a 4x4 and has lots of little scratches and scrapes.
4) Spare Tire - The spare tire is dry-rotted and flat. Thanks to my old car this shouldn't be to hard to replace as I have a tire man who knows me by name and is always happy to hook me up.
5) New Windshield Wipers - Don't know how that cheap-O went without new wipers for so long.

I put in my dream sheet for orders today.
Ideally I'll be going to Bahrain or London, but will probably end up working stateside on the east coast or somewhere equally mundane.

Mundane is good too though. Being stateside would mean more trips home and getting to start paperwork on some real estate up around Lake Superior's
North Shore

You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're
normal, but deep down you really just want to
strip off your clothes and roll around in chicken fat.

What Horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

Also, It was a long and hot today which only served to confirm my existance ala Descartes most famous supposition... "I stink therefore I am."

Have nothing new to write.
A few of my co-workers are reading this Blog and one of them started
his own which I have also linked to in my sidebar. He's a good guy and also the co-star of the video I posted last week about my camera.

People were saying that my blog took to long to load, so I skimmed some of the fat off the top. Now it's bare bones but quicker, I'm gonna change it in the near future but want to do some research into other layouts before comitting to anything.

Anybody have inputs as to what they'd like to see/not see?

The Story Of My Camera.

Things to remember when viewing this file.
*  The file is 1.04 mb and my take a moment to download.
*  It plays with either windows media or divix.
*  My parents are so cool I would have just given the camera to them if they'd have asked.

I saw this guy in the store today. He was a suicide attempt a while back and we did an emergency search of his house to find out specifically what pills he'd taken and how many were left etc... Just being there and searching to save his life, finding the note he'd left for his parents and girl friend, it was like I knew this kid.

Anyway I saw him today laughing and joking around with his girl, so different than the last time I'd seen him, half comatose and choking on his own saliva.  It then occurred to me to wonder...
Does he resent us? You know, harbor hatred that we'd kept him from ending it all.
Does he feel violated? He lived off base, so when you add all the Japanese Police to everyone we brought, there were eight or nine people traipsing into his house, laying it bare, opening every cupboard and drawer, digging through his fridge and freezer and pantry.
I would feel violated. 
I suppose his resentment would hinge on whether or not he wanted to actually go through with it or use it as a cry for help.

Today was well spent to say the least...

It started at the butt-crack of dawn, which is about three hours later than I usually sleep except that I didn't go to sleep until four hours previous, needless to say I was one braindead puppy.  I woke up early so that my friend and I could get a workout in before putting a transmission in his car. I've never even seen a transmission before (unless you count the pictures and schematics) and he hasn't either, so it made for an interesting day. The day started slow.  I was shooting some video for my blog, before you start looking it's not out there yet, and we were having fun. Eight hours later that !@#@!@#! transmission was in, but we couldn't rotate the shaft to tighten the last two gear differential bolts down. Frustrated, tired, hot, sweating like pigs, we figured we'd failed to properly bolt down the bell housing and had seized everything up. The guy who was supposed to know how this all worked, who in fact still owns the car until the transmission is in and it's working, decided to bail and wasn't answering his cell phone. Not being able to go any further and not wanting to permanently damage anything we took it all apart and put it back in storage effectively wasting the better part of a day... I wanted to kick this mechanical expert dude in the nuts. I wanted to kick this car in the nuts. I wanted to kick the bell housing in the nuts! I haven't been that frustrated in a long, long, time. You want to know the icing on the cake. What really kicked my nuts? The mechanical expert dude calls Wheel's late tonight to explain to him that it's not supposed to rotate once everything is bolted on because the car was engaged in Park and not Neutral.

Like I said, I learned a lot today. How to install and remove a transmission and also how to stage your tools and everything else for it. Next time, even if this mechanic wanker decides to skip out I think we'll have the trannie installed and ready a much shorter amount of time. 

Also, I realized today that I really like to hear myself talk. I was watching the video preparing to cut/edit it and came to the conclusion that I need to work on not being so conceited. Maybe it was the early morning brain-fog, maybe it was the four hours of sleep, who knows. Still it's something I noticed right away so I'm sure other people pick up on it too. 

MY CAMERA CAME TODAY!
Well, O.K. it came three days ago, but today was the day I was able to pick it up.

I had grand plans for this weekend involving lots of buming around the country taking photos, but my friend (the one who's selling me his Skyline) needs help putting a transmission in his Mustang.  Until he's got the stang up and kickin I don't get the Skyline and without a set of wheels life during the summer in Japan is measured in how long you get to stay in the A/C before having to venture back out into the heat.

But I digress... To make a short story long, look for more pics and videos of crazyness sometime in the near future.

 

Perhaps there's a future for me in this business after all...
 
We had a potentially disturbing call early this morning at work. Since the dispatcher wasn't sure of the exact nature of the situation (whether or not it involved a female) I grabbed my old partner who is now on her own and we both responded. To make a long story short, this is the first time I've ever had anyone so drunk they just wouldn't reason, and force had to be used.
 
I've been to a number of them as an additional officer, but this was the first time I was right there in the middle of it. When everything was said and done, and this guy was safely back on board his ship and on his way to a bad next few years due to the nature of his initial crime, the offgoing road supervisor kept telling everyone how well things went because of me and the offgoing section chief actually pulled me to the side to make it clear that I should transfer into his section.
 
I'm happy right where I am. Still it was a nice change to be noticed for doing something right.

So I wasn't able to make it to my friends wedding and now I feel really bad because apparently there were others who didn't as well. When I think back to the good times we've had over the past few years I can't help but feel like a wanker for not being there.  ;(  
 
On the other hand he's found a decent girl (I knew there were a few of you out there somewhere, just didn't think you'd  be hiding in North Dakota) and is well on his way to fat happy grandchildren and all that comes along with them. That makes me really smile.  
 
Gaaaaa. It's been one of those days and thinking kinda hurts.

Not much new happening in my life lately. My old roommate from A school is going to be in Tokyo later this month and it'll be cool to catch up and see how much we've changed having both been out in our selected professions for a year now. I sold my car on accident, and am buying a 93 Nissan Skyline to replace it. I say accidently because, the relationship I had with my old car was really a love-hate thing and as a consequence every time I'd get pissed enough to sell her, something would happen and I'd have second thoughts which would lead to me taking down the flyers and removing her from the market.

As it happened, someone who wanted her a bit more than I did had procured one of the afore mentioned flyers and sat on it for two months while he squirreled enough cash away. His phone call came while the car and I were having issues with the way she can't go into ninety percent of the parking garages here in Japan due to the height of her kit. The cash he was offering was more than I would have been able to get normally, so I sold her down the river and set my sights on something a bit younger.

Went to an amusement park a few days back. It was located around the base of Mt. Fuji and let me tell you the view when you were up on the coaster was just awesome! They the normal rides you'd expect, coasters, that mighty mouse mini coaster thingy, the haunted house, the looping starship, as well as some that I'd never seen before.

All in all it was a full day but not nearly as expensive as I'd thought it would be and actually a lot more fun than I was expecting. That ride I linked to, yeah it held you upside down as it was spinning the socks off of you, but man it was fun. And the Japanese people are always so nice to be around. On the coaster they actually have people stationed on either side of the rails who's job it is to give each person riding a high five as the coaster rolls by them on it's way out of the boarding platform.

I had some authentic Japanese carnival food too, teriyaki glazed corn on the cob and squid on a stick. Yep, the biggest darn squid I've ever seen either I might add. I've never had it prepared quite like that before but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

I realized today as I was talking to someone about my new partner today and realized how cliche my life sounds...

We've only worked together for three weeks now, she's new to our command but very squared away and goal oriented. Extremely driven, extremely young, and extremely hardcore. I call her "Iron" and tell her it's cause she's so hard, her only response is to laugh and flex some biceps. Truthfully, the "Iron" is because she reminds me of Mike Tyson in how she approaches every suspect we are involved with like a terrier cornering a rat. It's the first thing I noticed about her and it's really not good. Don't get me wrong, she's like the kid sister I never had, and is gonna make a great cop once she smoothes out a few rough edges. I'm hoping that by helping her become aware of how she is perceived by others, she'll slow her roll a little bit and learn to communicate with people to resolve issues rather than unleashing the beast.
The awesome thing about having her as a partner is that her squared away approach to work is really challenging me to better my own self. Without even realizing it I had become complacent in my job, merely doing my time here rather than making the most of it. Ideals are another thing, she's still young enough to have them, to feel the difference between right and wrong on a moral and ethical level rather than one of convenience or politics.

What do you think thirty years in the future will hold for the human race?
Where do you think science will take us?

I was thinking about this while standing post today and came to some odd conclusions. For one, we will be on the brink of digitizing the human brain and recreating an actual consciousness, in some sort of high end computing getup (HECG). The tech for this is getting closer all the time. Every eight months or so the hardware behind it gets faster, smaller, and more reliable.

Which lead to the obvious question of what will we do when the tech gets better than the organic original? When the hardware behind the HECG makes it's host better able to compete in the marketplace because they can out think, out last, and literally outperform the competition.

The way I see it, once we reach that point the human race as we know it currently will come to exist in digitized text alone. It will start harmlessly with a hardware upgrade to your frontal lobe here, and a new cortex there, eventually moving on to bigger and better things.

I thought a lot more, but am too tired to write it all down here now.
What do you think?

I'm getting my old glasses fixed soon! I'm so happy I can again retire the Navy specials that I am currently forced to endure. Also my new uniforms are almost ready and my new boots are on order and should be here in late July! The uniform and boots are something I've been putting off for far to long and just needed to go out and get. The glasses broke and it's been hell trying to figure out who actually made them and where I could buy replacement frames.
but i digress...

My mom's so cyber-gangsta...

She's getting a blog! Well, she has a blog and is teasing me with the whereabouts of it's hosting. I'm so proud! Now if only she'd actually break down and tell me where it is...

I finally finished my BASIC MACHINES NRTC!!!
Now I can start focusing on my in rate qualifications and on the second class exam that's coming up.

Also, I quit playing EQ online. It was fun, but I found myself spending much to much time playing it when I could have been doing something constructive like updating...

The weekend is here! I'm off to buy some stuff to patch the kit on my car and paint it. Other than that nothing new is going on.


______________________________


But then, it being the rainy season and all, it rained all day so I stayed inside played some games and did homework...

I met an old friend at the coffee shop tonight. He is just now coming to terms with the idea that this church he was going to is more of a cult.
I actually met him through them, when I was looking for a church after first moving here. They claim to be Christian based, but that base is about as far as it goes. The first time I was there they had an official greeter who got all my contact information (well, he tried to get it) and while I felt some trepadation about the group I wanted to give it a little time to be sure I wasn't basing my feelings about them on a bad day at work.
They were constantly trying to involve me in church based activities. Every day they had something going on and if I wasn't at work or reading their home published "devotionals" I was expected to be there. It got to the point where I felt so wierded out about them I stopped going all together and started doing research about them on the net.
It should come as no surprise that they were out there, a lot, and nobody had good things to say about them. Most of what I read dealt with the same controlling/manipulative issues I had experienced with them and was published by ex-members who had been with them for many years before friends/family interviened.

After finding that, I never went back. To make a short story long, the guy I saw tonight has made the same decision I did and it still coming to terms with regaining controll over his life. He's been with them for at least a year now and is still so scared to see any of them that he's disconectd his room phone and wanted me to use a code knock if I ever stop over.

Those of you who know me know that I love poker... There's this new movie out, The Big Blind that is supposed to finally capture the essence of the game.

For me, Texas Holdem is the pinnacle of card games.
I still remember the first time I played. I was with some friends, so drunk off my butt that they had to keep repeating the rules, and lost within the first 25 minutes of the game. It was only a $10 game so I wasn't pissed, to the contrary I woke up in the morning feeling like the game had been made specifically for me!

crap. I'm late! more on this later...

I processed a domestic this morning.
They had this cute little two year old who was just so oblivious to everything that was going on to her parents. We were trying to talk with one of them to get some basic information and the whole time she was messing with her mothers paperwork, or playing peek-a-boo from behind an interview room door. What can I say, it's a tough world she'll figure it out some time tonight when Daddy doesn't come home for dinner.

Some days are worse than others, today was one of them.

My bosses aren't a bunch of THIEVING bastards!

After asking around, I found out today that the money went to someone from another section who was having similar personal issues. I think my MA1 was offended when I asked him where the money had gotten to. What can I say, life's tough in the big city and sometimes you gotta ask the hard questions.

In a separate but similar circumstance today, I finally had it out with one of my supervisors who at times can be a real jackass. I was in a bad mood and not putting up with crap this morning when he tried some shady tactics on me. I let him know what I thought and he responded by actually asking me if I was doing ok. He said he'd noticed that I hadn't been my normally cheerful self for the past few weeks. I'll spare you the semantic details that followed in my retort, suffice it to say I gave him both barrels in what I hoped was a constructive manner.
I felt better immediately and at least now he knows how his actions have been effecting everyone in the section.

My friends mother recently was in the emergency room for some sort of heart trouble. He was going to go on emergency leave, so everyone took up a collection to cover travel costs and things like that. The only thing is, his mom turned out to be ok, the emergency was fixed and so he didn't take leave. Happy ending right?

Well, yes it is for my friend, but all that money that got collected never got to him and now nobody really seems to know where it is. How wrong is that? I mean I realize that he didn't end up going and so the money shouldn't go to him, but really it needs to be accounted for somehow and maybe held for the next person.

Right now I'm holding out under a thin belief that someone did set the cash aside and that it was documented somewhere. Basically I don't want to think that I work with a bunch of thieving bastards, but what can I say. A bag full of money is pretty tempting to anyone.

Nothing new to write. Well, almost nothing. Lets see...
:: I almost lost my finger in a bizarre air conditioning accident.
:: I Rearranged my room to make more efficient use of space and give me a spot by the window to read.
:: I made a lot of headway in the not choking out my boss department this week.
:: I resolved to sponsor an underprivileged kid (probably through CFC, but I'm looking into other avenues as well)
:: I started writing again, and have tentatively published a new blog with some poetry and what not. It's called Imagination Blooms and can be found in my links.

that's about it. Like I said nothing much is new this week.

Not much happening lately. I'm working on this Navy course called "Basic Machines" and it's really frustrating me... It's nice because I never had a lot of math or science related classes in college, but it's sort of frustrating at the same time because we're dealing with fluid dynamics and gear ratios, and other equally interesting topics on which I have no background. So I end up doing a lot of extra homework.

The upside to it is that I get to mess with my friends heads. They'll ask if I want to go to a movie and I'll tell them I can't because I'm working out problems based on the effects derived by varying the amount of hydrostatic pressure on a torpedoes depth engine. Their response is usually a wild eyed stammer followed by a hastily beaten retreat, unless their job is to deal with torpedoes in which case they do my homework in their heads while I'm looking for car keys and then we go to the movie.

What can I say, at least something about this homework makes me smile...

For Mike on his birthday

They played Pink Floyd again tonight
And you were nowhere near
My oldest friend I raise a toast
It's been to long, wish you were here.

Asa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Headache

You ever had one of those days
where life just keeps kicking
you in the head

that's been my whole week
so quit whining
I've got a headache.

Asa

Today was a very long/boring day.
It's starting to get hot, but it's also the rainy season which means you can expect a good soaking at least once a day. People still aren't bringing rain gear to work with them and I'm just amazed... I mean we stand outside for a living and you're gonna forget your poncho during the rainy season? They get what they deserve I guess. a

and now for a brief poem:
ahhhem...

The weekend is here!
The weekend is here!
The guy who was going to buy my car wasted all his money on cheap whisky
and bar girls, now it burns when he pees!
The weekend is here!

I know it won't win any prizes,
but there's no dening it came from the heart.

P.S. Anybody want to buy a car?

I almost tapped out my boss's boss today...
He lost some paperwork I gave him and called me out at guardmount to make an example of me for losing it. That's not what set me off. It was a tough thing to do, but he's new to the section and I didn't want to make him look like an idiot in front of everyone so I told him I'd explain it after guardmount. When everything was over, I reminded him that the last time I saw the paperwork was right after I gave it to him to sign. He signed it and I watched him give it to our dispatcher to log. Do you know what his response was? To yell at me for not having made a copy! Still, I kept my cool and went to go look for this paperwork on our quarterdeck. It wasn't anywhere to be found, so I re-filled out the form and brought it back out for him to sign. After he signed it I was heading back to the quarterdeck to log it myself when that !@O*#U@*#!@!@#'N BASTARD was heard to say that I was "unsat and a dirtbag for having lost the paperwork in the first place and trying to cover it up." (You have to understand that in the Navy there's nothing more detrimental to your professional reputation than to be labeled an unsat dirtbag.)

I tell you the truth. When I heard what he was saying about me, it was just to much. MA1 or not he was, as we say in the Navy, "In for heavy rolls". Thankfully, my partner saw what was going on and immediately headed me off at the pass before I could do or say anything I would regret.

A few hours on post did wonders for me. I calmed down and was able to think about the situation from a rational point of view. The bottom line? What's in the past is in the past, but from now on I'm photocopying EVERYTHING.

Had an interesting day today. Well, ok, maybe not...
I spent a majority of it on watch contemplating the various activities of anyone within sight. I'm working days now which means less drunken brawls and more traffic accidents. Other than that it's pretty much SSDD. Dishwala is playing tonight, but I don't think I'll go. It's beginning to heat up and right now the A/C in my room is much to enticing.

It's the weekend today and I have most of the day off. I do need to go talk to my career counselor about my next duty station and also need to fit in some time at P.A.W.S. and a Bible study. For the next six or seven hours though I'm free, so I'm heading to Yakota with my boys for some fun in the sun.

That's right, no drunks, no rapes, no traffic accidents or injuries, no boats, no work no nuthin!!!
-so what the heck am I doing writing this?

So there I was in the early afternoon. 60 mile an hour gusts, motor guards clanging against each other, swells bigger than I've seen this year, and me flapping in the breeze by one hand contemplating that long dark swim to the bottom.
Let me back it up a minute. There was a small craft warning out, I was working with our harbor patrol so that one of the bowhooks could get time on the road. The pier where we normally moor up to get refueled was full, so we had to do some pretty tricky maneuvering to make it to a secondary location and rondevouz with the fuel truck. I don't want to point fingers. My coxswain was awesome and did everything possible to make the evolution run smoothly, but sometimes it's just not in the cards. Another boat was already moored up and in the process of toping off it's tanks, so we decided to slide our boat along side it to Moor up. As we made the approach we were spun from behind and our props were sent in to theirs. I rushed aft to try and separate our crafts as did another bowhook and in the resulting chaos to keep from crushing him I was tossed overboard between our two craft.
At that point I was thankful for three things almost instantaneously.
1) That I was reintroduced to God a few years back and he actually saw fit to redeem me.
2) That wind blows in gusts and chose that moment not to, which resulted in the boats to temporarily not thrashing against each other. (or me)
3) That the first piece of knowledge I ever received about bowhooking was to always hang on to something with one hand while working with the other.

Let's see, where was I big wind, huge swells, claning motor guard, flapping in the breeze... Ah yes, here we go. I pulled myself out of the drink and gave our coxswain the thumbs up so she could disengage and take another run at it. I guess it looked worse from her position than it did from mine because she was really freaked out about the whole thing. I just smiled and gave her my patented response as I readied the lines for our next approach. "I joined the Navy to live a life of danger. Today you made that happen."

I'm getting a new holster... Just ordered it online today.
The one's that we are provided with are ok, but the one I ordered today is supposed to be much safer. I've talked with a few people who use this model and they all really like it.

Anyway, not much else to say. I'm thinking of sponsoring an orphan. Does anyone have suggestions on a good organization to go through?

It's official, my baby's gone in less than a week.
I put up flyers with the below picture and got a call on her not even eight hours later. The guy said he'd need a bit of time to raise the cash, and I had a few repairs to do to get her base legal bu tnow that she's ready and he's got the bucks time is running short.

Why I'll miss her
- She's always a fun ride.
- She's a little dinged, a little chipped, and there's no disguising that she's kicked around the block.
- For all of that she still manages to turn heads every time she's out.
- She's sort of high maintenance, not that I mind.
- I can fit four friends in her comfortably (six if they're good friends)
- The snap of her turbo kicking in as I bound on down the highway.
- The way she crouches when first put into gear.
- The wipers on her side view mirrors.

The last few days have been a blur.

The summer officially started a few days ago and boy did they let us know it. Raped bar girls, child endangerment, a 35 man bar fight, bloody fools (literally), idiots runing around on everything from habu sake to who know's what...

but I digress,
it's time to sleep.

I've really been at a loss when it comes to posting lately.

I became a volunteer for P.A.W.S. today and got to walk a dog.
I think she was wooped a lot before we got her because when I first went out there to get her she cowered in the back of her run and I had to actually go inside to leash her. Once she realized what was up and that I wasn't some sort of puppie kicking wanker we got along famously. We didn't go to far because I had to have her back in fifteen minutes, but we did manage to chase a few cats and catch a glimpse of the ocean before it was time to put her back.

So
I found out that my 800 dollar exhaust can be fixed for $30!!!

Just a few minor things to fix on the old girl and she's as good as sold.



Had an interesting conversation with a friend this morning about cheating on your wife. He's tempted by this particular person who is newly married herself and while they have yet to do the horizontal mambo, he was definitely trying to rationalize it away.
I know many of you out there probably have opinions on this, but the bottom line as far as I'm concerned is that cheating on your marriage is fundamentally harmful to both yourself and the long term relationship with your spouse. It's like I told him. "one night might be fun, but is it really worth your family? Is it really worth your career? Is it worth possibly losing your kids forever?"

The other guy who was there told him it wouldn't count as cheating if he did her in the rear and that, knowing the girl in question, he would tap it except that if his wife ever found out she'd hog-tie him, chop off his shelaely and feed it to the pigs while he watched.

Had an interesting night last night.

There was a huge fight between probably twenty guy's, but they were all so intoxicated that nobody could remember if they actually hit anybody or if anybody hit them. (Yeah right...) but since there were no witnesses it means less paperwork for me.
Also my car is an expensive bastard.
They want 800 bucks to fix it's exhaust.
800 bucks for the parts.
not the labor, the parts.
labor's extra.

The thing is I have found someone who wants to buy the car for 1500.
Before he'll buy it though it needs to meet base inspection.
In order to meet base inspection it needs the new muffler plus a few other things the cost of which all total out to be about 1300 bucks.

So, I think I'll just call the guy and see if he wants it for 400 instead of 1500
It'll be a good deal for him and since he's a gearhead with a Japanese wife he'll be able to get the parts from a Japanese junkyard and they won't cost nearly as much as they would if I got em from the manufacturer.

I'm taking this as A sign from God that I'm just not supposed to have fish...

Apparently while threatening their fishy existence last night I asked someone if they knew of anyone who wanted some homeless fish and my roommate overheard it. I then cooled down and decided to spare the little plankton munchers but it was too late to buy them a tank that night.

So after everything I did to preserve their sushi-futured lives, I left for a few hours and returned to find that my roommate, figuring I didn't want them anymore, had given the fish to his friend.

ajdfs;lkajsdf;kljadsf;lkjasdf;lkjadfs;lkj

*!@L!!! so frustrated I can't even articulate!


so i found someone to buy my car. He says he'll give me $100 more than I'm asking if it passes base inspection. So I brought it in for inspection today and five hours later they gave me a laundry list of stuff that's wrong with it.

I talked to the guy and explained the situation. Most of it is stuff that can be done quickly and he said he'd still be interested in the car if I got it all fixed, but it's just such a pain in the ass...

also my fish tank cracked.
cracked and spilled water all over.
all over the entertainement center
all over the x-box
all over the tv
all over the carpet
but at least we were able to save the fishies...
right now they're in a garbage can because I can't make it to the store for another tank.

To totally add irony to the situation, as I was walking back upstairs from throwing away the tank, my mind all full of hatefull thoughts about the newly homeless fishies, I became a volunteer for P.A.W.S. (our local animal shelter).

Conversation I had driving to work yesterday...

Bailey: Sure was hot and humid last nigh.
Me: No kidding, it was a bitch for sleeping. You're AC working yet?
Bailey: Nope. Yours?
Me: To tell ya the truth, I wish my AC was more like your mom...
Bailey: What!?! How so?
Me: (With a shrug) What can I say, I know how to turn your mom on and keep her going all night long. :O
Bailey: You bastard!
Me: Hee hee hee!

things sort of digressed from there, but you get the picture.

So my friend Jas comes over this afternoon (woke me up actually, but it's ok he owed me money) to see if I wanted to take in some lunch. Not even realizing it was Saturday, I agreed and as we were on our way to the local food court we ran across an Asian/Pacific Islander festival. Jas loved it and while I've never really been exposed to anything from the pacific islands, a home cooked meal is hard to come by out here so I was all sorts of down for hanging around. It turned out to be one of those "Moments Of Zen" that happen every so often. We were enjoying some Filipino cuisine, the sun was shining, we had a bit of shade, the salty breeze was a blowin, and the hula girls were doing their thing... Even though I only had an hour or so to spend, it was still a lot of fun.

Will wonders never cease.
-to kick me in the pants when I'm not looking...


Ok. So I show up for work a little early yesterday (at 3pm) in order to get some stuff in place for training with my partner tonight. A few carefully placed words and craftily dropped hints later we were insured all the confrontational type assignments that came up throughout the night. It started ok with some general security type issues and then began to rain...
That's right, rain.
Normally rain is my best friend as it keeps everyone inside and out of mayhem. Don't get me wrong, I was still happy for the rain as it would mean an easy night, but at the same time my partner needs experience more than I need peace. But what do you do...

we waited,
and waited,
and finally!!!
Dilligence and lack of hard work paid off when my partner and I became crucially involved in removing an unauthorized female from our base, and detaining the dude who was with her. It was the perfect venue because it involved confrontation (mostly on a verbal level) but gave her an excelent example of how you don't always have to restrain someone to gain compliance.

Also, we responded to a suicide attempt this morning (as I understand it he's now stable) and I was able to help process my first crime scene. That and I worked 18.5 hours instead of 12.

It's Thursday night and my partner doesn't like confrontation. They put her with me in the hopes that I can do something to help her put a round turn on it, but I'm afraid it may lead to an ass wooping for me if we actually have to do anything more than talk to someone. Don't get me wrong, she's pretty cool, she's got a good head on her shoulders, but somewhere in her childhood I think she was smacked around pretty good and the way she choose to cope with it was to freeze and go into her little shell. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, everyone's got to deal in their own way, but for what we do here and now... Well, it's a pretty bad thing.

The nights are getting warmer and people are getting paid, tonight especially is going to be bad, and I just hope we can come up with some sort of different coping mechanism prior to her not holding up her half of a fight.
Our coremen are cool and everything, but I don't want to spend the first half of my weekend getting X-rayed.

Here's the note I attached to some flowers for my mom.

Mom,
You're the greatest woman I know.
If I ammount to anything at all in
this life it is because when I'm
talking with my Chief I envision
you right behind me, at the ready
with your big wooden paddle of
justice.

;D Ace

Maxfield Parrish amazes me. I think it's his skies, or perhaps the way he bends color to his whimsy. The first time I came across his work was at a friends house. He had this big old 3x6 of "Daybreak" and I remember staring at it for quite some time, completely lost to the world. I can't explain it exactly, there's just such an... innocence about his work.

It's such a gorgeous day outside.
It's Saturday the sun is shining and the temp is somewhere around 85 degrees. A light ocean breeze keeps things from getting muggy while the clouds are billowing, but in one of those awe inspiring Bierstadt mountainscape sort of ways.

And I have to do homework :(
Then I have to go to do real work :( :(

THAT'S RIGHT BABY I'VE STILL GOT IT!

No, not that... the pills worked their magic and the burning is totally gone.
I am of course referring to my car. It has these adjustable shocks that have been giving me issues ever since I bought it. Effectively, one side will always be higher than the other by a few inches. This may not sound like much but trust me, with the body kit and low profile tires it looks like smacked ass.

Not really being a gearhead I was at a loss as to how to resolve the issue until the other day when someone was making fun of my baby and told me they wouldn't pay five bucks for a car with a jacked up computer. "COMPUTER!?!" I said dumbfounded, "Hells fire she's got a computer!" It's no secret that I'm all thumbs when it comes to an engine, but computers are a different story. I can't exactly explain why, computers and I just seem to get along.

To make a short story long, after realizing that it was a computer controlling the suspension the logical next step is to conclude that resetting the computer would zero out my suspension, effectively leveling the car and replacing it's stigma with one of awe. (She really is beautiful, and wow so much power!)

So, not knowing how to interface with my computer, or even where it was located I did the only thing I could think of to reset it and unhooked my battery for five minutes praying that it didn't have some sort of microsoft operating system. Sure enough, five minutes (and no blue screens) later the battery was hooked up and when I started the car she leveled off like a champ.

Copper colored spicy tongued
warm and softly speaking
our whispered words
of love, devotion,
tango through the night.

Candles flicker on the wall
slide their light accross your face
caresses you gently with soft kisses
falling sweetly on bare skin.


It's old, but i didn't feel like writing anything tonight.
-Ace

"Won't it be fun the next time someone asks you "what time is it?" and you can enjoy their bewildered expression when you flash your wrist emblazoned with glowing binary? Yes it will, you quietly smirk to yourself." -ThinkGeek.com ======================= I'm such a dork. I can't believe it, but I'm actually thinking of buying an led binary watch just to show people I can read binary. Don't know how to read binary, here's a quick binary tutorial that should shed some light on the issue.

my image hoster is having issues~!
GRRRRRRR

I miss books.

In my adjustment to the spartan life there are necessary concessions that must be made.
Space is a limited commodity and so while I do have a laptop, my library is noticeably absent. Currently it lies boxed and neglected in the attic of my parents house.

I do have some books here, but they are of the pulp fiction variety and while temporarily enjoyable, seem to lose their luster soon after a first reading only to be discarded in a pile at the back of my locker never again to see the light of day. Specifically I've been jonesing for a bit of Epictetus lately. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he's considered the father of modern stoic thought. The Enchiridion, a copy of his sayings transcribed from shorthand notes taken by one of his students Flavius Arrian, was my first exposure to his philosophy. In a nutshell it was written around 138 A.D. and was widely used as a manual for the roman foot soldier.

"Whatever moral rules you have deliberately proposed to yourself. abide by them as they were laws, and as if you would be guilty of impiety by violating any of them. Don't regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern of yours."

-Epictetus, The Enchiridion


" Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun. "

" Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that is longer but of less account! "

" Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and her eyes they blind."

" It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. "

-Epictetus

Things are great today.
I was able to communicate with the lady at the pet store and got the right additives for my fish tank.
Now the guppies are swimming normally and have more or less stopped lurching around at the bottom.

Also, I have my ride back! I talked to Warrant this morning and he almost wasn't going to give them to me. He claimed that he had told me to do a physical security survey of our base and I hadn't done one. I think he saw the "I'm two seconds from filing wrongful appropriation charges against you for stealing my car sir." look in my eye because he paused for a second and then retrieved the keys saying that I should complete the survey by the end of the month.

I'm kinda pissed about the survey, but have taken good notes on my forays about the perimeter and so only need to convert them from MS Word to whatever official format our physical security department requires.

Last night was crazy crazy crazy!

Early in the morning about 0130 or so, we were alerted by our main gate about a report that one of our sailors had made a mad dash from the cabby of a Yokohama taxi in an attempt to outrun a $130 dollar fare... I can't go into too much detail but as it turns out, we had video footage of his schenanigans and were able to use it to have the cabby positively identify him. From there it was a simple thing to track his deadbeat butt down and haul him back up to where the cabby was in order to persuade him to abandon his temporary foray into a life of crime.

Wouldn't you know it, the cabby agrees to drop the charges if he pays, but the fool hasn't got the cash. Not on him, not in the bank, not available as space on a credit card, he just doesn't have the funds. So, in a last attempt to keep this kid from serious criminal charges we drop a dime to his chain of command, and let them know what's going on and that it'll only take 130 bucks to resolve the issue. Of course they agree to send someone down with the money right away and thank us for helping to take care of it a the lowest possible level. Fifteen minutes later the OOD (Officer Of The Deck) of his ship and LPO (Leading Petty Officer) from his shop show up to pay the debt and take him into custody.

At this point it's like 0200 or so and when the kids Chief and a JG show up to put the pinch on him they are less than pleased. The Chief in particular is feeling a bit "genki" as he was no doubt roused from sleep to attend to the issue at hand. All I could think of as the Chief is giving this kid the stink eye is that the kid isn't going to be able to remember what it's like to walk on land by the time old Chief is done with him.

Speaking of Chiefs, I almost slammed one a little later on in the morning. It's about 0330 and my partner and I are called to respond to three males possibly fighting at the taxi stand. There are only two of us and so we're discussing ways to secure the third individual (handcuff wise) as we whip around and hit the codes (cherries). As we pull up (the codes are off at this point) two salty dogs in civies jump up off a bench and quickly start closing the gap on our unit. My window was already down all the way so I gave them a bit of verbal judo, "Stand Fast RIGHT THERE!" and the pointer finger of justice (yeah you dirt bag), to halt their progress and give my partner and I time to jump out. Surprisingly enough the one in front stopped so fast the other bumped into him. At this point they are obviously extremely intoxicated not to mention missing the third member of their party which is good because we only have two sets of handcuffs but bad because I'm wondering what the hell did they do to the third guy. Being closer to them than my partner is (he's still coming around the unit) I introduce myself and ask for id. They both start smiling, laugh, and fumble for identification.

I caught a whiff of their breath as the wind changed and almost fell over, thankfully it changed again and as the fog cleared I could make out via the id cards they handed me that one of them was a Chief. Judging by the way they were bobbing and weaving as they stood there I'd guess they had a higher alcohol volume than those badly flavored sissy la la drinks you can get about two fingers of for three bucks during happy hour. At this point I'm thinking to myself that they don't look aggressive at all and probably rushed the unit as we pulled up because they thought it was a cab. My partner is coming to the same conclusion I have, and we both take a quick look around to see if the guy's we were sent here for are somewhere else close by.

When asked what happened to their friend, they say he stumbled home but that they are TAD (temporary assigned duty) from another base and they can't remember how to get to their ship. We ask about the reports of fighting and they both look a bit confused and say that they didn't report a fight, but had called security to ask for a CTO van (the Courtesy Turn Over van takes drunk sailors from the main gate to their ship to avoid them falling down a dy dock in a drunken stupor, but had secured a few hours earlier). Normally we wouldn't do this, but since it was early and not a lot was going on and these guy's obviously weren't going to make it on their own, we let em slide into the back seat and dropped em off in front of their ship.

All in all it wasn't a bad night. Nobody got shot, nobody got hurt very badly. This one guy did get cut on a bit, but from what I could make out it wasn't very deep and he had it coming.

Do you think my blog is to "Busy"?

I was noticing all these other blogs that I go to and none of them seem to have really changed their templates.
Of the ones that have changed, they seem to have progressed in more of a minimalist direction.
Maximilism, that's what my blog seems to lean towards.
But is that really a bad thing?

The following post was sent to me via email by an old friend Steve Smith.

Med School:

First-year students at Med School were receiving their first anatomy class with a real dead human body. They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, "In medicine, it is necessary to have 2 important qualities as a doctor. The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the human body." For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the corpse, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth. "Go ahead and do the same thing," he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the butt of the dead body and sucking on it. When everyone had finished, the Professor looked at them and told them, "The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger. Now learn to pay attention."

Had another award winning night last night...

Basically it was like every night for the past few weeks except that it's starting to get a bit warmer, people still had some yen in their pockets and everybody was feeling a little big genki. We had a few people acting all drunk and disorderly, a fire, and of course the obligatory racist bastard claiming the only reason he'd been arrested was that he was a white guy in a black bar. He was hassling the bartender and who asked us to remove him. We weren't going to apprehend him at first but he became violent and pretty angry when asked to finish his drink and move on out to a different bar, so they slapped him in restraints (cuffed his dumb arse) and brought him in to HQ to determine the level of his alcoholic stupor and arrange for someone from his command to take custody of him. It's nothing that goes on his permanent record, merely a way the Navy has developed to make sure drunken sailors don't become the subject or victim of a mugging, raping, shooting, or fall in a dry-docks on the way home, get run over in traffic, etc...

They got him back to HQ and he began calling on those of us who were white to back him up and get him in contact with our watch commander. He kept saying we had to stick up for him because we were supposed to stick together. It turns out he's done things like this a lot in the past and they Navy was actually processing him for separation. As we ever so lightly placed his daintily restrained form into a unit to transport him back to his command he left us with to many cusswords to remember in this post and a promise that he was going to talk to "The Man" (Our Capt.) who was white, and that he'd see us all going to mast before he left the Navy.


As he rolled off into the blackness still fire-mouthed and bitter at being llightly placed and daintily restrained, all I could think of was "Why do they have to run off and join the Navy..."

Character History -

     She awoke without moving, nostrils flaring slightly, involuntarily, someone had entered the room. Nobody that quiet can be up to any good, she knew this automatically. Calming herself, eyes closed, she purposefully began inhaling through both her nose mouth, rewarded a moment later with the scent of industrial strength laundry cleaner. Freshly washed gear?
     Another recruit. Possibly with a message? No they'd been to quiet. Was she late for a watch? No, not her night. They weren't moving whoever they were. Was she mistaken? Could all this be some sort of dream. No, no dream. She'd been in this rack for two years now spent countless nights staring at the ceiling, listening to nothing but the atmo as it bounced of f the walls. The room was not empty, whatever else it was this was definitely not a dream. Was it perhaps a test? Perhaps.

THE ROMANCE OF ORIENTAL BONE CHINA...

Lorna is one of my Mom's oldest friends. I can remember my mom visiting her around when I was maybe six or seven although I think they've known each other for longer than that. She had this huge old dog, Grover, who was part wolf part husky. Grover was just plain huge but at the same time such a baby. My brothers and I were pretty small at the time and this dog would actually let us try to ride her. Needless to say it never went to far as the body mechanics of a wolf mountain are far from conducive to bareback riding, but it was fun to try and Grover never seemed to mind.

When I found out I was coming to Japan, I asked Lorna if there was anything over here that she wanted and she mentioned a bone china tea set. Not realizing that it's not like we're living in the early 20th century where the quality of what she could get here was better than what she could get stateside, not to mention that this is Japan not Hong Kong, and that she'd probably pay more over here for a set of the same quality as she would for one from a department store over there, I agreed without hesitation. Now that I know better I haven't really burst her bubble because I think she's involved in the whole romantic idea of getting a set of bone china from a young sailor in the orient.

Hmmm. Now that I put it to words, it does make me smile. Reminds me of growing up and visiting Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner when she'd pull out all the china my pop bought her from when he was stationed over here. My Grandpa on the other side would do the same thing, but with china my uncles had picked up when they were over here. Sort of tweaks at the heart with warm fuzzies, remaining me of a kinder, purer time.

Could it be that I'm falling prey to the same romance of oriental bone china? Perhaps I should pick up a set for myself as well...

My MA1 got the wrong message on my punishment and rather than giving me the two weeks without a car, he also added a bunch of other crap that was supposed to be only for the guy ho was driving the police unit. I went through with it tonight, but asked him to check with Warrant because I didn't think the other guy's punishment was supposed to apply to me. He's a pretty stand up guy and said that seemed pretty fair and promised to check into it further.

One of the extra punishments was a foot patrol perimeter survey. I thought this was going to really suck, but it was actually quite nice. Japan is a beautiful country, and the perimeter of a naval base contains a lot of shoreline. The moon was out, the waves rolled in and we hoofed it about halfway around before getting called back in to take care of some other stuff. We were going to do the other half tonight, but it's payday and it's not going to rain, which means we're probably gonna have our hands full with drunken sailors, drunken cheating spouses who's better halves are out to sea, and anyone else who feels like wooping it up because it's the first decent night in a week and they have some fresh yen in their pocket. That being the case I don't think they'll have time for us to finish the perimeter survey, but I can always hope.

Saw some interesting stuff last night...
I was on patrol outside the base and we saw this kid not really "covered" in blood, but pretty bloody none the less. To make a short story long he and a guy from his ship had words over who was or wasn't going to drink these two shots of tequila and he ended up putting the other guy's head through the plate glass door on a standing beer cooler.

OK, So my meeting with the Warrant went pretty good. He pretty much said the charges were a bunch of BS but since it was a LTCDR who sent a personal email about it to the CAPT of my base, and the CAPT sends it on down the chain, there's not a lot he could do to help us out. I understood that and told him I wasn't interested in trying to sea-lawyer my way out of it, but rather wanted to take responsibility for my actions and accept whatever came along with it.

As crazy as it sounds, I think this may have been the single best thing I've ever done at this command. Before this nobody in the upper chain at my command really new who I was and, while this may not have been the best way to get to know them I think they now have a grudging respect for how I handle business.

The thing of it is that I was really torn about how to go about this. As Madchatthew mentioned in an earlier reply I have a bit of a history of abusing the rules in every way possible to weasel my way out of trouble. The thing of it is that the command has no jurisdiction out in Japan where this LTCDR saw me. Furthermore they can't legally do anything to me as I was in civilian clothes in a personal vehicle on my own time. If Japanese Police had caught me the story would be different, but without them the Navy really wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on if I wanted to push the issue and get a JAG. I'm a different person now than I was when MadChatthew and I went to the tech and as foolish as I feel putting it to words have put a round-turn on my evil ways and am trying, these days, to be as honest and upright as possible.

So now you see the crux of the situation. Here I am in a position to threaten the command with a JAG and get the whole thing put behind me except that:
1) I really was (for the most part) doing what the LTCDR claimed in the email.
2) If I lied to get out of trouble then I really hadn't changed that much after all.
3) I prayed about it opened my Bible and asked God what the right thing to do was and he actually specifically answered me. As it turns out I had opened to Proverbs 16:2 which says "We can always prove that we are right, but is the lord convinced."

So, to make a short story long, I rogered up to it and took my medicine like a man. Things turned out pretty good after all and although I can't drive my car for two weeks that's a whole lot better than I was expecting. The guy driving the police unit also went up to the Warrant with me and he ended up getting a month of perimeter foot patrol out of the deal. That may not sound so bad, but we work 12 hour shifts and are the largest naval base on this side of the world. Needless to say between the two of us he definitely got the short end of the stick.

I got a call from my Operations officer today. He said that someone called in to tell them that I was drag racing against a police unit out in Japan this morning. I have to go see him tomorrow morning and they won't tell me what actions if any they intend to take or even the extent of what I'm being acused of. They won't tell me who called but I have a feeling it's someone who knows me, recognized my car and wanted to "hook me up." The Warrant said they called in my plate number, but if they claim I was drag racing like hell then how did they copy the plate? They also said I was driving with passengers (I wasn't) they misidentified by name the driver of the police unit and said that there were passengers in it as well. Like I said they were trying to hook me up and stretched the truth of the matter to the breaking point. Anyway, I have a feeling this will really screw me because my command has a history of taking little things that would be ignored if they happened to anyone else and really making an example out of the people who do them simply because we belong to their command.

Living in Japan, I had the unique opportunity last night to talk with a Japanese National at some length about the hostages that are being held pending Japan's removal of it's forces from Iraq. My friend basically said that he did not think Prime Minister Koizumi is wrong to stand firm against cowardly threats, but in the same breath said that he believes the three will die tomorrow.

In order to fully appreciate Japan's position, you have to realize that this is the first time they have comitted troops abroad since WWII. The families of the three and many other Japanese are protesting Japan's involvment in Iraq even though they are there in a humanitarian capacity only.
-More on this later, it's been a long night.