Friday marked the last day for my command's port and starboard schedule. Most commands here got to go on this holiday routine, others weren't so lucky. Can you really have a port and starboard routine in the medical field? Not really, since people are constantly getting sick or pretending to be. I do feel bad for those who didn't get to enjoy some days off in a much rather slower pace during the holidays.
This however was not a good holiday schedule for me as I lost A LOT of sleep. Most nights when the following morning was a day off, I'd spend it in front of my laptop watching The Simpsons, watching a movie my room mate put on, video gaming, or surfing the net. Time tended to lose track in those nights but were made up by waking up around noon. But there were times that there was no sleep at all, just tossing and turning in bed for no reason. Usually those nights liked to be when there was work in the morning, so while I sleepily walked across base to work, my brain was still trying to get to bed. As soon as work would be over it would be time to go to the gym, but that proved disastrous because of almost passing out on the treadmill. This were not a fun experience. By the way, I want to personally thank anyone in my command who's reading this for not having computer troubles while I was working during port and starboard. I would have hated having to drive to Schwab or Kinser, another incident is not what Okinawa needs.
So with yesterday being the final day of port and starboard, how did I celebrate? Duty. Oh yes, instead of being able to go home and crash on my bed, I was standing by waiting for possible dental emergencies. I caught myself falling asleep on the office chair a few times, and thankfully wasn't caught by the right wrong person. Even this morning was tough since I still wanted to get some rest, but I managed to make it out alive by 1130. Turns out that when I'm sleep deprived, I go into auto pilot and lift the censor mechanism. This was personally noticed when I realized that I was flirting with one of the female officers. And no, she didn't scold me for that.
I'd like to end this by saying something about going to bed, but I just woke up not long ago after passing out from a food coma courtesy of CoCo's curry (level 10 of course). Looks like tonight is gonna be just like last week.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
I don't need to look at the clock to see when the New Year arrives, I just listen to outside of my room with all the drunks hollering and saying farewell to 2012. Although back home in Visalia it's still 2012 with less than 17 hours to go before I see Facebook blow up with the new year posts from friends and family. I hope you guys are doing ok and don't do anything that will get you killed.
So what do I plan to do for 2013? I definitely want to go back home and see my family again. Since we lost our dog some time ago I'm thinking about getting my mom a new one from the shelter that will hopefully make a great addition to the family. If I do get to come home I'll make sure to go on another road trip again, but with some company. Last time I went home for Thanksgiving I made a solo trip to Provo, Utah mainly for the 12 hour drive and to visit Temple Square since I never actually got to go. If I do get to come back home in April (mainly for my birthday so my command wont ruin it for a 3rd straight year) I may or may not crash the wedding of a certain someone who happens to plan to be married in Tucson, Arizona. If the date keeps, I'll go. Plus it'll give me a very good reason to visit my mission field. Although it's sad to say that I haven't kept in touch with many people from there, so I don't know who I would visit if I did find them online.
Another place I would like to go back to is mainland Japan, either Kyoto or return to Tokyo. Kyoto would be for the historic value of the city and how it still retains much of the history whereas Tokyo has evolved into a concrete jungle, although a very impressive concrete jungle. The other country nearby I'd like to visit is China, however it would be very expensive to go if I signed up with the MCCS group that goes. I don't think I want to drop $3000 and be part of a military tourist group. Can you imagine the Chinese just waltzing into my hotel room while I'm out and about checking to see if I'm a spy? Although it would be funny to witness their faces upon finding a trolling note. That might not bring a smile to the Chinese government, but it would still be worth it :P
Update outside (12:16am): "Happy Birthday" was sung to someone.
The third and most economical plan for the year is to stay put and save my money. As tough as it is to pick up rank out here, I have the feeling that I wont this coming advancement exam. Other than not studying, it's hard to look good on paper when no collaterals are given to the E-nothings since the command insists that those go to E-4 and above. Yet they tell us to work as if we're already at the next rank, but the credit goes to the person who holds that collateral. The other option is to volunteer, however that doesn't get you much on its own. Plus, with the way things are here, it has not been a great start to my military career. I can go on about my plans for the future, but that alone is a post on its own.
Update outside (12:37am): "Happy Birthday" was sung again. Drunks are funny.
Going to the gym will be a pain this month, with all the losing weight resolutions being made. Earlier today it was fairly crowded for a Monday afternoon on New Year's Eve, but it'll be a whole different song all day when the sun comes back up. There's nothing wrong people wanting to lose weight, it's perfect timing since beach season isn't for another 3-4 months on Okinawa and about 5-6 back in America. If it does get too crowded after work in the gym, I'll start using the small gym in the barracks for lifting and run off base for the cardio. It'll be fun to run the Stairway to Heaven since it's very close, and have never attempted.
With the 96 almost over and two incidents (before New Year's Eve), let's see what will happen to the liberty policy for III MEF. It's most likely going to bring back the Jerk Report.
So what do I plan to do for 2013? I definitely want to go back home and see my family again. Since we lost our dog some time ago I'm thinking about getting my mom a new one from the shelter that will hopefully make a great addition to the family. If I do get to come home I'll make sure to go on another road trip again, but with some company. Last time I went home for Thanksgiving I made a solo trip to Provo, Utah mainly for the 12 hour drive and to visit Temple Square since I never actually got to go. If I do get to come back home in April (mainly for my birthday so my command wont ruin it for a 3rd straight year) I may or may not crash the wedding of a certain someone who happens to plan to be married in Tucson, Arizona. If the date keeps, I'll go. Plus it'll give me a very good reason to visit my mission field. Although it's sad to say that I haven't kept in touch with many people from there, so I don't know who I would visit if I did find them online.
Another place I would like to go back to is mainland Japan, either Kyoto or return to Tokyo. Kyoto would be for the historic value of the city and how it still retains much of the history whereas Tokyo has evolved into a concrete jungle, although a very impressive concrete jungle. The other country nearby I'd like to visit is China, however it would be very expensive to go if I signed up with the MCCS group that goes. I don't think I want to drop $3000 and be part of a military tourist group. Can you imagine the Chinese just waltzing into my hotel room while I'm out and about checking to see if I'm a spy? Although it would be funny to witness their faces upon finding a trolling note. That might not bring a smile to the Chinese government, but it would still be worth it :P
Update outside (12:16am): "Happy Birthday" was sung to someone.
The third and most economical plan for the year is to stay put and save my money. As tough as it is to pick up rank out here, I have the feeling that I wont this coming advancement exam. Other than not studying, it's hard to look good on paper when no collaterals are given to the E-nothings since the command insists that those go to E-4 and above. Yet they tell us to work as if we're already at the next rank, but the credit goes to the person who holds that collateral. The other option is to volunteer, however that doesn't get you much on its own. Plus, with the way things are here, it has not been a great start to my military career. I can go on about my plans for the future, but that alone is a post on its own.
Update outside (12:37am): "Happy Birthday" was sung again. Drunks are funny.
Going to the gym will be a pain this month, with all the losing weight resolutions being made. Earlier today it was fairly crowded for a Monday afternoon on New Year's Eve, but it'll be a whole different song all day when the sun comes back up. There's nothing wrong people wanting to lose weight, it's perfect timing since beach season isn't for another 3-4 months on Okinawa and about 5-6 back in America. If it does get too crowded after work in the gym, I'll start using the small gym in the barracks for lifting and run off base for the cardio. It'll be fun to run the Stairway to Heaven since it's very close, and have never attempted.
With the 96 almost over and two incidents (before New Year's Eve), let's see what will happen to the liberty policy for III MEF. It's most likely going to bring back the Jerk Report.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Not Ready for 2013
It's been a good long while since I last made a blog (who remembers Xanga?). I figured with living outside of the United States for 2 years and gained a hobby for traveling, this could be something where I could write about my adventures in Japan and where ever else I get to visit around the world. Also my occasional headaches I get from work might make its way on this blog and possibly the return of the Jerk Report. We'll see.
With 2013 coming in tomorrow night, I will most likely ring it in playing video games or watching The Simpsons. Since I don't drink alcohol at all, New Year's Eve is a day off of work for me while the rest of the world celebrates with plenty of drinking. I personally would love to be in one of the world's major cities to count down to the new year with thousands of strangers, but I have curfew. As does every active duty personnel here, so their celebration is going to be somewhere on one of the bases at the enlisted clubs or barracks. Nothing makes you want to forget about 2012 more than having to be back to your base before midnight thanks to someone you don't know getting into an alcohol related incident out in town.
I still haven't made any resolutions for 2013, unless getting out of Okinawa counts. I don't have any bad habits that I would want to give up. I don't drink or smoke, and those two tend to be on most people's resolution list. I guess something I could go easy on is my love of fast food. McDonald's is so good here in Japan, the french fries alone is worth going, and seeing the Japanese ladies in the uniform has become eye candy to me. Trust me, it beats out America's stores any day of the year. The other restaurant that would be included on the fast food list is CoCo Curry. It's definitely the fast food version of the many curry joints in Japan. I think they put crack in their curry because it's so addicting, plus I can't resist getting the level 10 spice. That credit goes to my mom on raising me with spicy Mexican food. Now that I think about it, I don't really go to McDonald's or CoCo more than once a month, so maybe I'm doing ok in that department.
I still have a day to come up with resolutions.
With 2013 coming in tomorrow night, I will most likely ring it in playing video games or watching The Simpsons. Since I don't drink alcohol at all, New Year's Eve is a day off of work for me while the rest of the world celebrates with plenty of drinking. I personally would love to be in one of the world's major cities to count down to the new year with thousands of strangers, but I have curfew. As does every active duty personnel here, so their celebration is going to be somewhere on one of the bases at the enlisted clubs or barracks. Nothing makes you want to forget about 2012 more than having to be back to your base before midnight thanks to someone you don't know getting into an alcohol related incident out in town.
I still haven't made any resolutions for 2013, unless getting out of Okinawa counts. I don't have any bad habits that I would want to give up. I don't drink or smoke, and those two tend to be on most people's resolution list. I guess something I could go easy on is my love of fast food. McDonald's is so good here in Japan, the french fries alone is worth going, and seeing the Japanese ladies in the uniform has become eye candy to me. Trust me, it beats out America's stores any day of the year. The other restaurant that would be included on the fast food list is CoCo Curry. It's definitely the fast food version of the many curry joints in Japan. I think they put crack in their curry because it's so addicting, plus I can't resist getting the level 10 spice. That credit goes to my mom on raising me with spicy Mexican food. Now that I think about it, I don't really go to McDonald's or CoCo more than once a month, so maybe I'm doing ok in that department.
I still have a day to come up with resolutions.
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