Things are different now.

So it's been a long time since I've written in this thing, and the only reason I even feel compelled to do so again is because of the relatively few number of hits I've actually received on this blog... and I'm really bored at watch right now too.

I haven't really been up to much. I decided I would focus on my military career as much as possible for awhile since I had finally established myself here in Italy; it definitely paid off! For my evaluation in March I was selected as the number one "Must Promote" which was fairly amazing. Next came with a short deployment aboard the USS MOUNT WHITNEY that I was selected for my command's Junior Sailor of the Quarter, which is to say the least a big deal! I did not end up winning, but if you had told me a year ago that I would have even been selected I would have told you to stop sniffing markers. After that I had another deployment to the ship, but when I came back is when things really started getting interesting.

So go back to November with me and I'll tell you a story. My friend Nick and I went to school together at Dam Neck and now we're at the same command. Tragically, he has to live in the barracks on base, which here is not that desirable. So one night I told him we would go out to a club down the street from my house, called Rico's, and we would both get absolutely hammered! So we go to Rico's and drink... a lot! I win about three games of pool in a row, very rare for me considering I'm pretty terrible, and we recommence the drinking. Although now at the bar next to where we were co-located were two very pretty women.

Me being the outgoing and eccentric person that I am, I have no problem meeting new people and talking with perfect strangers. Nick however is a more introverted fellow, so I after I preceded to pour just a little more alcohol down both our throats I tell him he should talk to them. When Nick says no, I don't back down. So over the course of an hour I try to have Nick strike up a conversation, with myself becoming louder and drunker by the jaeger bomb, eventually I got tired it and started talking to them myself. The rest of the night gets pretty fuzzy and I don't even remember walking home.

So later the next day I get a phone call from a number I don't recognize. Now, normally my policy is not to answer the phone if it's a number I don't know or am not expecting. But I figured "Hey what the hell, this could be fun," and answered. "Hello?" I was answered by eastern-European accented English. It was the woman from the night before, Agata, and she was wondering if I was free the following week for some karaoke. Being the true-to-roots Japan sailor that I am I quickly respond with a "Hell yea!"

We went out a couple of times, always with her friends, and could tell she she was interested, and I was kind of interested too, but I wasn't looking for a relationship. I had about two-and-a-half years left in the Navy and I wanted out with a clean break and no attachments. This is where I decided I would focus on my career as mentioned above, no distractions, a clean break.

Fast forward to the end of my last deployment.

After dropping off a buddy whose car was getting repairs done I head straight for the fridge where I had strategically placed a six-pack for my triumphant return home. Before I could even open the first frosty, foamy and full-bodied beer, I get a text message from a number I was pretty sure I knew. It was Agata, and she wanted to know how things were going because we hadn't talked in a long time. I answered I had just disembarked from the ship in Gaeta only mere hours ago. I thought the timing might be more than coincidence, so we agreed to go out that Friday.

And from their our relationship has grown into something wonderful that I haven't had in years. She is probably the first nice girl I've been with since before I moved to Japan! Now I'm no stranger to dating foreign women, I know the dangers short and long term dangers of falling into the trap of a woman who would marry you for nothing more than a shot at getting out of whatever shit-hole she happens to be in exchange for some usually meaningless sex and sometimes a baby or two. Believe me I've seen it before and I'll see it again. It's what many sailors face at the end of a long and often brutally ending relationship.

However Agata reminds me of a me that trusts people, and still has faith in the human race. You know, before I departed for the real world. But with the economy as bad as it is (and I REFUSE to believe its as bad as CNN says it is because the media is full of lies and propaganda) I realize now that re-enlistment probably isn't such a bad idea. And along with that reconsideration comes a lot of others, like maybe a good relationship with a nice girl is just what I need right now. So I'll continue to see Agata (duh!) and enjoy the oh-so delicious Polish food she and her mom make for me.

Peace Out!

Been Away...

I realized this morning I haven't written on this thing in quite awhile. Can't really say much has been going on though. I worked the night shift for both Christmas and New Years, and now I'm getting over a pretty nasty cold thats been going around the office. I haven't really made any life changing decisions and I don't have any New Year resolutions. But there are few things happening in the world I would like to talk about.

First and foremost would be the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. It's a tragic event that has shaken the world, although I can't really say I'm surprised. She was a great woman but she had to have known that she was dead the moment she returned to Pakistan. Her first day home and someone tried to blow her up! I'm glad she wasn't deterred by the threats to her life because that shows their are still people in this world willing to stand up and try to fight injustice! And then in her will she names her son as her successor, but then her husband (where the hell has he been anyway?) tries to take the center stage. You know you see this kind of shit in soap operas. I'll say again that Bhutto's death is tragic but she should have known better than to be sticking her head out of her car, did no one learn from JFK? Come on people! Now all we can do is wait and see how things will turn out in Pakistan.

Something else I'd like to talk about is whats currently happening in the presidental race. I wasn't surprised by the outcome in the Iowa Caucases (lol, I said caucases!). Obama is backed by Oprah, thats the vote of millions upon millions of bored ass house wives with nothing better to do than take that woman's word as gospel. That explains why Clinton doesn't have the majority of woman voters... well that and she's a communist. And now all she's doing is attacking Iowa stating it's a worthless state. Iowa may not be the biggest turning point in the race, but people like to see winners, and the fact that she lost is a crushing blow to the Clinton campaign. Have we seen the last of Mrs. Clinton (oh dear GOD please tell me shes going away!), probably not. She has millions upon millions in campaign funds left. She'll be sticking around like the flies around a horses ass. Now Mike Huckabee, now were did this guy come from!? I didn't even know who he was until the Iowa Caucases (lol... caucases). Granted it's only one win and he needs to do well in New Hampshire before he can compete with the other republican frontrunners. But hot damn I haven't seen a beatdown like that since the movie critics reviewed the last two Matrix movies. This guy was on fire in Iowa, cause if anyone thought Mike wasn't gonna win Iowa than your living a life fairly similar to the now-deranged Britney Spears! I believe the republican seat is still wide open, and it'll be interesting to watch as it unfolds. And by the way, just give up Rudy Giuliani! You were a fucking Mayor, and people say Obama is inexperienced! Yes he was Mayor of NYC, but say it with me people... "MAYOR!" The only reason people know who he is was because he was Mayor during 9/11 (God rest their souls) and that's it. Could the average person outside New York tell you who's Mayor of NYC without looking it up, probably not.

Well, there's other stuff I'd like to talk about, but I'm afraid if I did I'd be thrown in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison. So... I guess I'll get back to work now.

Thinking...

Well today is the fifth day out eight days of twelve hour watches, the good news is that its the weekend and it'll be relativily slow. I'm just looking forward to Tuesday night and going out with my Italian friends for some well earned relaxation

In other news, there was an Italian trucker stirke earlier this weekend, meaning all things moved on wheels, which is pretty much everything in Italy, was not available. Produce, gas, mail, meats, medicine, it was gone! I moved on base because I live a good ways away from where I work and didn't want to run the risk of running out of gas on the highway, and there were also reports of violence and that's never fun. The strike is over now but I'm still in the hotel on base because I'm still saving on gas money and I already paid up through Sunday night.

Other than that I've just had a lot on my mind lately. Past relationships, work stuff I've got going right now, plans for the future. Or maybe the lack thereof! I've been reevaluating my situation in life, and I keep coming back to the fact I have no real direction or major plans for the future. I always thought I had everything worked out, and for the most part I can deal with whatever comes my way. But I try thinking about where I'll be in five years and I haven't the slightest clue. Sure maybe I've get a few general ideas, but for the most part I'm just drawing a blank. My options are pretty limited; get out of the Navy and go to school, stay in and make Chief, or get accepted to a commissioning program where I'll go to school and become an officer.

I've been looking into college stuff a lot lately, and I definitely know if I want to go to school it'll be at Texas A&M, and my majors narrowed down to Business Management, Communications and Theatre Arts. The latter being what I would love to do but couldn't see myself making a living off of. But then again, if I do go officer by the time I'd be able to get out I'd be six years away from retirement. I know my line of thought at that point would be "Fuck it, just stick it out for another six years and get the retirement benefits!" And honestly it doesn't sound like that bad an idea, full retirement at 38, talk about every mans dream!

I've been looking into doing some distance learning courses as well to help ease the course load when I do get to school. Most the commoon core courses like math, history, english, etc. Plus I found out that my military experience and training my actually count as college credit! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Plus at Texas A&M, prior enlisted members of their NROTC program have the option of whether or not to participate in the majority of their functions and operations. An absolute minimum involvement in military duties while going to school AND getting paid to do it, the situation just keeps getting better!

I've been talking to a few of my friends from back home as well, and it's just made me miss everyone back home so much. I don't know where I would be without them as my friends, there have been so many times when just the thought of everyone back home has kept me going, given me a reason to get up in the morning, something to look forward to, especially when coming home on leave! They know for the most part how important they are to me, or at least I would hope they do. My friends have always been their for me, even when I'm only around a few weeks out of the year, and that means the world to me. I have the greatest friends in the world, and if you guys are reading this... Good Times!

Higher Education

Lately I've been thinking of trying to do the commissioning route to become an officer by going to college. I'd have a lot of benefits by going to college full time while still on active duty, like getting paid, having my rent paid for me, and number of other advantages. Two big, daunting concerns keep popping into head though: what would I study and what in Gods name would I do with a college education?

Even before graduating high school, I realized I have no idea what I want to do with my life, in a professional sense. There's really nothing out there that I would really enjoy doing for the rest of my life. One of the reasons I'll probably stay in the military is because I already have a career path, not mention a great retirement fund and plenty invested as well. Money isn't really the issue for me so it's pretty much my choice of what I want to do. Sadly what I want to do is spend my days on a tropical beach sipping pina coladas and drinking beer, sadly I can't think of a major for that one.

Well lets say I get my higher education and get that commission as an Ensign. I'd have to serve at least another five years, by then I'm thirty-two and have six years left until military retirement. Modestly speaking I could easily retire as a Lieutenant Commander at the age of thirty-eight, so what am I going to do with a Bachelor's of X after retirement? I'll already have full retirement benefits and pay to the point where I don't even have to work. Sure I could go on serving my country, but you know twenty years is enough for one lifetime thank you. And maybe I don't have to work but I sure wouldn't be making enough to be hitting the aforementioned beach professionally either. So what's a middle-aged retired guy supposed to do besides have a mid-life crisis?

These are some pretty big questions for me, a lot of soul searching and decisions need to be made before I can answer these questions.

Or I could just say fuck it and wing it like I've been doing since high school! Everything's been going pretty well so far, it couldn't be too bad could making uninformed decisions about my life without actually thinking about it?

Right?

Greatness and Laziness

I've traveled to a good portion of the world, more than most people see in their lives. I lived in Japan, Italy and of course the US. I've been to Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, England, Singapore, and I'm planning and seeing a lot more of Europe in the next few years. There is one thing I keep coming back to in mind, and when I say this don't think I'm some singled-minded bigot because I'm not. But America is really the greatest country in the world.

And I'm not just saying in terms of the economy or the quality of living in the States, I'm talking about the beauty of it all. Sure maybe America doesn't have as rich or ancient a culture as say Japan or Europe. But I mean think about it, the clear blue waters of the Florida Keys, or maybe the striking outline of the Rocky Mountains in the distance, or even the beautiful night line of New York City. Sure I've seen clear blue waters elsewhere, I mean come on I spent almost half of the last two years underway on the Kitty Hawk where there's nothing BUT blue water to look at! But really, no where else I have seen the wide open spaces, and I'm not just talking fields and such. Even looking at LA or NYC, two of the most crowded cities the US has, they are so much more open then any other city in the world, except for maybe Australia.

What brings about these thoughts are not the actually any of the things I've described above, but in fact the work ethic of the Neopolitians, or lack thereof. The most noticeable about such is that EVERYONE in the Naples area takes off for the whole month of August, and I mean everyone! I asked some of my friends about it and they told me that everyone works so hard all year long they want a vacation, so everyone I guess just decided on the month of August. But when they said "hard" I became skeptical. So I decided to do some research, I found online an article from the New York Times from 1894 about a reporter who traveled to Naples, and he noticed four things: the lack of work ethic, the trash, the beautiful scenery, and the lack of young beautiful women. With the exception of the last one, Naples really hasn't changed in over a hundred years. Maybe this is the region time forgot? Surely you could ask any senior citizen what the internet is only to have them look at you like you've sprouted a third eye.

Nonetheless, the point to all this is... I believe a lot Americans who have never left America take it for granted. Go someplace like Singapore, trying looking at the cops their crossed eyed and see if you don't end up in a hospital. Don't believe me, neither did a first class from Kitty Hawk engineering department. And it's not just limited to a particular preference either, cops in other countries will beat the piss out of anyone regardless of race or sex, they're equal opportunity beaters. you should see the cops in Hong Kong, I wouldn't mess with those guys for all the shady electronic goods in China. Plus speaking your mind, not such a big thing around the world, or religious freedom (middle east anyone?). I'd like to see someone go to Angola and try suing McDonalds for making them fat, cause that'd probably go over REAL well. Then again I'm not even sure if people in Angola sue to begin with...

First Blog

I've heard the wonders and horrors I've blogging, a term that I'm not even sure I'm ok with. I like the idea of having my opionin floating out and around in cyberspace, but the term blogging just nips at my heel like a hormonally imbalanced chihuahua. But nontheless I feel the need for some kind of outlet. I'm going to start my first blog with some info on yours truly. This will probably be a little longer than you may be willing to sir down for, fair warning and all.

Probably the most important aspect of my life is that I'm a Sailor in the US Navy. I used to think enlisting was the single greatest mistake in my life, but recently I've been more inclined to believe that I actually made a good decision. I did the whole boot camp thing, which for the Navy is a joke. I spent nine months in specialized tech schools to become an intelligence specialst (IS) in Virginia Beach, easily the most boring place in existance. I soon left for my first tour with Strike Fighter Squadron One Zero Two, or VFA-102 for short. It was here I learned that the past eleven months of training amounted up to exactly dick. Almost a year of of preparing for this job and none of it really meant anything. I found this to be infinitely amusing and I still do to this day, if in a less-disgruntled sort of way.

VFA-102 is forward deployed to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi, Japan located in the city of Ayase, Japan just outside of Yokohama. I lived in the barracks on base because I was high enough ranking to live out in town. Let me tell you something, anyone in the military that claims they haven't experienced the "college life" is lying their ass off. Being in a military barracks is like living in a college dorm, except here we had maids! I can't ever remember a night in barracks 985 where at least one person wasn't partying. The aviation community in the Navy is pretty diverse but everyone has one thing in common... getting off work means it's time for the booze to flow. I had a lot of great friends in Japan, and we shared some good times and some not so good times.

Living in Japan, even though being on base is like Little America, was a very unique experience and one that I'm grateful for. The Japanese are an amazing people with a country like none other in the world. Unfortunetly, in the two years I was there I had to spend time in hell. No, I'm not referring to fire and brimstone. That would have been better... I'm talking about the USS Kitty Hawk, lovingly referred to by all who set foot onboard as the Shitty Kitty. The ship is the oldest in the fleet, and i knew it was bad when my grandpa said "That piece a crap is still floating?" Ya, it's THAT old! To make matters worse, the ships company I got to work with were one of a kind in that we-all-hate-our-lives-and-want-to-die way. And the leadership was worse, I quote I use from a friend of mine "I've never seen a chain of command that hates their lower enlisted more than this place." I was very lucky in the fact that not my duties in way, shape or form involved anyone outside of my squadron, so my exposure to the Shitty Kitty OZ division leadership was highly limited. I made no secret either that I wanted no part of anything they represented, and boy did they HATE me for it! Something I'm actaully rather proud of thinking back.

I loved Japan, and I loved VFA-102 and my leadership. But I very quickly accomplished everything I could while I was there. In two years and eight months I was already a warfare qualified second class, a major step up from the green seaman apprentice I was when I first showed up. Instead of spending another year having to deal with Shitty Kitty, I applied for orders to Command Sixth Fleet based in Naples, Italy. I very quickly realized after arriving that I didn't hate the Navy as I once thought, just the Kitty Hawk. I moved here about five months ago, and already I've got myself into a nice little niche here.

I live alone in house out in Lago Patria, the area used to be a private retreat for some Roman general. The great thing about Lago Patria is the quiet, the only think I can hear is a little traffic and the dogs barking next door. Most people would take this for granted but I used to live on a military air base, and when I wasn't there I was on an aircraft carrier. Between the literaly deafening jets flying overhead and the ever-constant playing of bad rap music, times of peace and quiet were few and far in between. Now the only noises I hear are my own, which could easily make for an entirely different conversation.

I'd say that's a pretty decent summary for the last few years, my recent activities have been limited to standing twelve hour watches, frozen pizzas and various pastas. I have a decent number of sea stories, random thoughts, and bitching to fill this blog... I still don't like it.