Accolade

Good morning! It is, in fact, the morning.

I haven't yet blogged about yesterday. Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. Moving in the morning, beachness in the afternoon. Moving was fun; luckily I had my friend Christina helping too. The beach, however, was a freaking mess! It was a wonder we found parking! My buddy Tommy said we could park at his house next time; he lives about 4 blocks away from the beach. That's a bit of money saved, eh?

So, after the beach, i went home, got picked up by the Emz, and headed out to pick up Amanda. So, we went to Chipotle, got some burritos, and shot the shit out on the patio. It was quite refreshing, actually. I wish that corona had a lime in it... :(. Emily made a friend, like she always does. "HEY YOUR CAR IS HOT!" Tactful. Lol. AND, it was a Honda, no less. For all you viewers out there, Hondas are not exactly Emily's make of choice. Speaking of broken records... :p, Scion Xbs are the new 'thing'.

So, after the Chipotle stuff, we headed to the Oceanfront, and played mini golf. Emily managed to make ANOTHER friend, and we all had a good time trying to get those elusive balls into those damned tiny holes. Some of those holes were dirty. They didn't have little cup holders. How disappointing. After jungle golf, we headed to the strip. Mana and I walked out to the water, and Emily took a break on the steps. Didn't see any little crab dudes... that was unfortunate. I love those little buggers. Fun to catch.

Anywho, it's about 1 AM right now. I'm still on watch... I get off in an hour and a half, pretty much. I'll get about an hour and a half of sleep, and then leave the ship early. Hopefully getting to the Schoolhouse an hour early will guarantee me a spot in the class. Cool beans, eh?
Well, I'll be talkin' to yall tomorra.

The Endless Feed

I just realized my watch is a Fossil. In brand name, and in antiquity. It's dead. /cry

Today has been a freakishly good day. I was recently approved by the XO to go to a school for the Linux Operating system. For those of you who don't know, Linux is a well-known spinoff of the original OS (Operating System) of Unix. Unix is a command based language. It's pretty much you, the user, telling your computer to directly do something. Picture this:

/h/NTCSS_RSUP/bin/syb/utils

If you notice, it looks a lot like a file path in a windows system. Unix/Linux system users use this sort of "code" as a way to manipulate files and commands. It's actually pretty interesting, but it's paaaaainstakingly lengthy to type anything in. The reason why these OS's are so popular is that they are pretty much bulletproof and require almost no computer memory to operate. So it's pretty much a low-budget, but direct, way to communicate with large servers. You can manipulate user's profiles, and change the way the entire system is run, with one simple command. There's just too many commands to memorize!!! :-/

So, with that being said, I will hopefully be going to this school. I just put in a request form, and i should have my answer by monday. In addition, I'm going to a fiber-optics school on monday. I'm gonna be there at 430 to ensure my place there!

That's pretty much it for my update. I'll be back tomorrow morning, but I'll be going up on a crane and messing with some antennas, so I'll probably be off by around 4 or so...
See ya'll tomorrow!

By the Pain I see in others...

Greetings! Another fine evening! This will mark the... third day of being out to sea.

Sorry, all my non-verizon peeps; It's tough to email ya!

Tonight, I am busying myself with the arduous task of creating an Evaluation document for myself. Have you ever tried to sell yourself? I'm not talking of late nights, out on the street....
I'm talking about, "Hey! Look at me! Yeah, that's right! ME! I'm the one you want to talk to, the one with all the information you need, and who you can trust!" Yeah... it's a bit tough to sell yourself to the masses. I mean, you are walking a constant fine line between being an Adonis, and placing yourself below the rest of the people that you compete with.
I am one of about 16 Third Class Petty Officers onboard this ship. That means, when i write my evaluation, it has to be worthy of placement above 15 other souls... Yep! Fun stuff!

Today was a lot of fun, actually. From now until eternity, I will never play the game, "Sorry", without bursting into uncontrollable laughter. From now until this blasted Seaman leaves, I will never hear the end of the plethora of Chuck Norris jokes he has...
Today, we wrote up a special request form, stating that, whenever Seaman Schubring wants to speak, he must first ask permission via writing. Everyone got a kick out of that, except for Schubring, who had to write down his dismal feelings on a sheet of paper. Ker poW!

I helped out a buddy a few weeks ago, named Andre. He's a russian national who just got married about a year ago. He fell in love quite quickly, and moved in with her and her two children. I can't say that what he did was the most frugal of things, but I can see it in his eyes that he is one of the proudest and happiest men on the ship. So, the man's issue was this; He recently started talking to one of his long time loves from Russia. What he failed to tell her was that he was happily married. So here we are, sitting on the mess decks, and he's telling me his whole story. By this time, he's already decided that his next email to the woman in question will state that he is married, and that he wishes to be good friends. Now, the issue at hand is that he needs to tell his wife...or not? Now, me myself and I are all advocates of the truth, but we all know how difficult it is to tell the truth when there are so many conflicting items... I straight up told him, "Tell your wife. Be blunt. If she gets angry... accept this. You talked to a woman, and failed to tell her, "Where it's at, yo". You failed the initial test. Don't fuck it up more. But be sure to explain to her all aspects of where you went wrong, and what you plan to do to correct said mistake." I think that was a good recommendation, right? I hope so. Lol... Apparently I'm the one to go to for suggestions on marital problems on this piece...

So, back I go to writing this Evaluation. Afterward, a few chapters of The Da Vinci Code, and then a few pages of the Iliad.

So tell me, how does it feel to run out of nothing?

April Ethereal

Howdy howdy howdy!
Today is April the 20th, 2009!
What a wonderful day! Today we left for a week of sea time, and will be pulling in on friday. Waking up this morning SUCKED, to put it nicely. At least I'm on the ship now, and will be going to sleep shortly.

Well, now today is the 21st of April, 2009. Last night was a busy one! I pretty much did a bunch of running around here and there, fixing accounts, and modifying user priveleges. Just busy work, that's all.
Things seem to be shaping up at home; My parents recently got back from their week long outing into the forays of New York City. Sunday night kinda sucked; I felt bad for my parents. I got home around 1045 from the DC trip, and I pretty much said, "Hello, goodbye, I'll see you in another week." They were cool with it though, and I suppose I'll see them on friday. I'll be spending friday at home.

This week, we got a new ITSN (Information Technician Seaman), who seemed to be pretty cool at first. As the week is wearing on, however, he is really starting to get on our nerves over here in radio. Today I was awakened to the sound of a loud pounding on my bed, and the words "Wakey, wakey, hands off snakey!" If he were within distance, I would have punched him. Nobody likes being woken up with loud noises or unnecessary talking. Oh, and he's 27 years old...

This weekend will be fairly busy for me. In the afternoon, i'm supposed to be going to the beach with Christina, and then after that, I'm supposed to help a family friend move some stuff out of their old house, and into a new one. Sunday, I have duty.

Well, here's to hoping you all have a great evening. I'll post another couple of blogs later this week.

It's purulent, allright?!?

I was thinking of naming this blog "Metatarsal Mayhem".

Today was an awesome day. I can't say I've had an Easter so enlightening, and rewarding, in a long time.

Chasing dogs, introducing people, and laughing at hamsters. Fulfilling weird prophecies of Deja-vu involving Aliens and Dogs-that-would-be-superheroes. These were all highlights of the day.
It started out innocent enough. I woke up, dusted all the spermatophytes off of my car, and got ready for church. The Church service was awesome! It had a great lesson, and at the end, Kenny had a few people raise their hands to accept Christ. It's always great to watch... :)

Perhaps it's the rising temperature, and the greening of the branches, but it seems that moods are brightening with each passing day. I've always loved spring. It symbolizes new beginnings and personifies rebirth. The one thing I have started to hate, since caring about my vehicles' complexions, is pollen. That stuff is the devil incarnate. I hate it. Hate.

Meanwhile, sleep is still not coming easy to me. This is really gonna suck when i have work on tuesday... lets just hope everyone leaves early so I can catch up.

Anyways, I just made my bed the other day. Clean sheets, new thingie (what is it, like a second layer?) underneath the sheets, and washed all the comforters and stuff. I love the feeling of a new bed, but I always seem to have to personalize it. I always move around; you know I can't sit still. I end up un-tucking the sheets from under the matress, every time. Don't know why/how this is relevant.
In other news, I'm going to have to find something to do after i get off work each day now.

And Tony.... seriously.... stop twittering so damn much.

The Death and The Healing

You know what would be really cool? One of those old-style payphones. Ya know? One of those superman stand-ups? Encased in glass. A world apart from the rest. I think I'd place it in my dining room. Don't know if I'd really make any phone calls from it; It's a bit too uncomfortable for my tastes. I suppose I would get one only for the sheer novelty of it all. Guess it wouldn't really flow with what i have planned... but oh well.

How do you picture your first home? I'm going to interject for a moment and guess that it's probably very similar in structure to your place of birth. Maybe it's a dream home? Suffice to say that most of us haven't really been inside a really expensive, luxurious place of living, so it's difficult to see exactly how it would look. In my minds eye, I picture my first home just like my home growing up. In fact, the only differences are tonal things; i.e, the colors of the walls, the tile, the banister, and the furniture in the house. I imagine bamboo themed bathrooms, with light green colored walls, maybe one wall being a darker green for accent. In the kitchen, a maple colored island table, not unlike the one currently sitting in my parent's house. The family room would be a relaxing place. Maybe maroon italian leather sofas? I thinkI would have many house plants... that much is certain. Neanthabella(I think that's what theyre called) Palms, Peace lilies, ficus, they add a sense of well being to the abode, and makes it a little more easy-going too. The carpets... I'm not really sure what color the carpets would be. Maybe I'll ask you one day. A dark red, perhaps?

"Yes, my name is Harold Crick. I'm a character in one of her stories. Well, it's a new one. And I think she's trying to kill me. So you see, it's fairly important that I talk to her."
As I'm speaking, the Satellite connection is dropping out. Why does it do this? It seems like the sea sets itself against us. Mood's changing rapidly. I need another deployment, but I want all of you to come with me this time.
I was talking to Mike this morning. He raises a good point. Always, whenever you look for something, it eludes you. Whenever you seem content, and don't worry about things, it's when the thing you wanted the most will seek you out. Wise words. Often times I find myself wishing so fervently that I have something, that I stop caring about other things/people around me. I've been praying a lot more lately. Is that such a bad thing, that whenever I need something, or seek counsel, it's when I pray the most? I don't think it necessarily is. I mean, look at it from God's perspective. If He wants you to come to Him, He's gonna make the road to Him a clear enough path, am I right? The path may not be completely clear of brambles and pitfalls, but it's gonna be there, nonetheless. The fact that you find this path during a crisis isn't bad. I suppose the real test would be continuing on this path once you have reacquired balance within your life. Just rambling... thats all.

Well, we've been down on satellite for almost an hour now. We just got word from the bridge about our current heading and speed, so with that data, I should be able to bring the satellite link back up. Cross your fingers, eh?

Still troubleshooting... Now it's just a waiting game. It's the quiet hour right now, so I'm sitting here at the desk, reading The DaVinci Code. This is actually a really well done book, despite my original negative outlook on the bias that is present against Christianity. I'm not really far enough through the book to pass judgement yet though, so I won't speak quite yet.
Apparently I'm not allowed to be reading this book yet; Emily wants me to read some book called, The Perks of Being A Wallflower. Whatever that's about. What's a wallflower? A person who goes unnoticed in the world? Sounds interesting enough. I guess I just needed something to read.

Well, I had a bit of a suprise just now. We have a sliver of cell phone service now. I suppose I'll try to send out some messages in a minute. Right now I'm standing outside in the frigid sea-winds, trying to re-aquire our satellite. It's not as technical as it sounds, really. All I'm doing is calling a tech-control service and giving them information about our current heading, position, and relative speed.

So, what am I going to do tomorrow? Well, I may just stay home. Any of you guys wanna come over and watch a movie? Tony? Emily? Amanda? Christina? You are all welcome over here. Perhaps there are some decent movies out on DVD now. Yeah, as soon as the satellite comes back up, I'll look up something. In addition, I'm gonna look up the schematics for brake assemblies for Scion. Most of them should be pretty similar. Unhook the brake lines, depress the piston (one or two?), and then swing off the caliper. Should be pretty simple from there. :)
It may indeed be "tomorrow" by the time this blog is posted. Will anyone be awake this late on a thursday evening?

Notes from Africa

HAH. I just had the fondest memory.

It was the summer of, say... 2001. Yeah, i think it was then. Around that time, I was really into growing Bonsai. Yep, I would go outside, right after school, and prune and water those little babies. It was a hot day, and the sun was beating down through the old Maple tree in the backyard. The side gate was open, and I could see my dad talking with Neighbor Val (For that is what we called him, and still do). Me, I was sitting there on the garden swing, reading a book. I remember Val walking in through the side gate, and seeing my Japanese Maple Bonsai collection. His first reaction was, "David, are you growing Marijuana?" I, of course, immediately started laughing. The leaves of the Japanese Maple definitely are reminiscent of the dreaded cannabis. I had to tell him that I wasn't growing pot... that was the fun part. He got a big laugh out of it, and said to me, "Haha, Dave, I was just kidding." Xavier's dad always had a great laugh. Funny guy, too.
Another memory, not so fondly looked upon, but still something i would never take back, was a few weeks later. A month prior, I had gotten a Serissa japonica... a somewhat more difficult to care for flowering plant. Now, I was definitely a beginner when it came to caring for this specimen, but I had done my best, and it had finally flowered! I had uprooted it about a week prior, and stuck it in the soil at an artistic slant, in order to give it the look of a wild and unkempt tree. Well, i stuck it out in the front yard, because that's where the morning and afternoon sun always seem to strike the most. One day, on the way back from school, I noticed something odd right away. My precious bonsai was uprooted, and then stuck back in at a 90 degree angle. I was furious!!! I asked around the house, "Who could have uprooted my bonsai!" My parents and sisters were all clueless; they had no idea. Hours later, one of the neighborhood kids showed up at the door. "Hey, David!!! Did you see what I did to your tree?!? I fixed it!!! It was at some crazy angle, and I fixed it!" Oh man, was I ever angry. I definitely told him off, but it was hard to stay mad at someone who was seemingly so innocent. Who are we to hold a grudge?

It's been several hours now. The Helicopter is still dancing with our flight deck. How much longer will this last? Who says we don't do any work? I've been monitoring the communications circuit with these flyboys for going on 3 hours now. I doubt any of you know, but our ship had a pretty serious run-in with a chopper several years ago, before my time. I have to video, actually... Try to imagine... It was a blustery, choppy day, out in the capes of the chesapeake bay. The flight deck crew was waving in a chopper, coming in at a normal speed. As the ship takes a wave off the starboard bow, the flight deck lurches and swiftly falls below the crest of the wave. The chopper tries to complete the landing, and indeed, he does. As the Seahawk lands, the pilot fails to lock the landing gear into the landing chassis. The ship takes another wave. The helicopter teeters and starts to fall on it's side. The pilot successfully turns off the blades, as the mighty machine falls all the way over. At this point, the video cuts off. I really don't know why they didn't continue filming. Perhaps someone edited it? Hours later, the flight crew successfully raises the Seahawk right-side-up. Now, can you see the necessity of training? It makes it no easier to bear, but you can see why we have to go through so many periods of sea time.

Well, this has been one of the more comtemplative blogs. I think posting these things has been a pretty good experience for me. In the years after high school, i've found that i've been typing less and less. It's good for me to express myself typographically, and exercise my mind a bit. I suppose this helped pass the time a bit, but it doesn't draw from the fact that I have 10 hours left of watch, and my best friends are out doing Karaoke right now. Have fun!

Deep Peace

Well, this update is a bit of a late one. Its about 520 AM right now. I've spent the majority of the night doing small, pointless tasks. I should be sleeping well after i get off....

Not too much has happened today. I mean, other than the normal busy work. Before I get off of watch, I've gotta do some sort of training for the division. It's mostly a bullshit session; all i have to do is read off of a prepared paper, and then provide an example.

Sorry this blog doesn't have much info, or many exciting things, for that matter. I'll possibly provide a better update tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope everybody has a great day tomorrow, and I hope it's super productive too!

Dave

My acid words

The Voyager.
Well, today has been a fairly, uneventful, but decent day. In other news, it felt like our ship JUST ran over a whale. I hope it wasn's Shamu. Man, he got away so many times, just to get run over by the Mighty Nicholas. AHahaha.

Well, this morning, I got to revel in God's creations a few times. I was unhooking the fiber optic connection from the pier, when i looked down into the water. There, I saw a pretty sweet looking jellyfish. It was a dark red, with insanely long tentacles. I know a few of you guys know my regular train of thought, but for those of you who don't, I immediately thought back to the origins of that animal. These guys start out as sessile little guys. They pretty much sit there, lookin' like little retarded squigglies. Then, they start to grow. Imagine a little flower. Speaking of which, i know you really really dont like flowers being picked for you, but i picked one for you the other day. It was your "favorite" kind. White Daffodil with yellowish/orange center.... yeah. That was when i was pulling those damned spring onions out of the garden. I totally left it on the fence post, but i suppose it was for the best. Okay, so back to the topic at hand. These jellyfish, they start out as little underwater flowers, completely anchored to the substrate on which they were born. As they develop, they start to detach from the base of their being. They essentially become free-floating animals. From then on, they are at the mercy of the current. A seldom known fact, they have no useful method of locomotion; they can neither control their trajectory, nor prevent themselves from washing up on the shore. The only thing they can do is turn themselves in a certain direction, and hope that tasty little piece of plankton thinks his tentacles look pretty. Really, when you draw the lines, you realize that your life is much like this Voyager. You start out as a miniscule little flower, taking in everything around you. Then, suddenly, the current of life sweeps you out of your comfort zone. You are thrown into a sea of sharks. What can you do?! Well, I guess what you could do, is find more jellyfish friends. :-) Now, granted, when i saw the jellyfish, all this didn't immediately flow through my neural network. I mean, i thought about the life cycle and all that, but I didnt draw the parallels until a bit later.

Well, back to reality. Right now, we are going through a series of drills and inspections. The real reason for going out to sea is currently unknown to me, but supposedly, it helps with the inspection. Hm. The room that i work in, for at least 12 hours a day, is about the size of your average kitchen. It contains all sorts of equipment that i'm not allowed to speak of, but you can probably imagine what it is, considering my job.

My friend just got a copy of the new Wolverine movie. It's that X men origins flick thats supposed to come out in a few months. Apparently, when the fellow that stole this movie made the copy, they weren't even close to finishing the movie. So while you are watching, you see the actors jumping around during fights with bungee cords on their backs. It's gotta be the funniest thing i've seen in a while.

Now, onward to describe the latest dream I've had. Today was a sound sleep. Sleep that i've needed for a while. So my dream starts off in a jungle. It's a bit hazy, but i know where i was. Then, a bunch of army dudes show up. Whats up, mister camouflage man?! Then, an alien ship shows up. I'm like, oh, wtf, it's an alien ship. Nothing out of the ordinary there. So, me and my badass army dude friends decide to fend off the supposed "alien threat". Now, a long and arduous battle ensues. Queue, epic sci-fi music. The badass army dude's numbers are slowly dwindling... It's down to one B.A.R.D. (I should coin that) and Me. Now, as usual, I'm completely shredded. I mean, I'm a Badass Navy Dude, right? (B.A.N.D.) Hahaha. So, It's me, him, and the Alien Menace now. The ship is juking around, trying to get a bead on us ground-dwellers, and we are throwing all we've got at him. I mean, machine guns, leftovers, grenades, wallabies... you name it! Suddenly, we are transported to the city of Washington D.C.! Oh no! (This is where the dream started making less and less sense) Apparently, I had something more important to do, so i found myself driving somewhere... Meanwhile, on the horizon, I see the alien menace! (and this is how i remember it) Suddenly, the alien ship is struck by some sort of explosion! It slowly starts to tumble out of the sky... into the smithsonian institute! WTF! The horizon is filled with cheesy, B-grade movie explosions. Shouldn't dreams be in high definition? This couldn't have come at a worse time! Now my vacation plans are ruined! Told you my dreams are weird... but they, in some way or another, always seem to mirror things in my life.

Okay, well, this blog has been pretty long. I really don't want to lose anybody here, so i will be signing off in a moment. Just as a parting gift, I am listening to Rush right now. Lol. My communications watch officer thinks I'm the coolest guy ever now. He was definitely a rock and roll child. By the way, I don't think there are any "Psychics" on this ship, because we never seem to know what we are doing the next day. Or perhaps, the world isn't ready for a Navy that knows what it's doing...

Peace out!

Still day beneath the sun

That was a complete waste of time. This fucking "nightly internet" issue is grating on me. I tried for 30 minutes to get ANY sort of connectivity going, but it didnt work. So, here I am, in an attempt to show I care, going downstairs in order to log in. This is bullshit. I have no idea what this is talking about. Relevancy seems to elude, as always.

Meanwhile, I've had stomach issues for over a week. I'm going to see the doctor on monday. Its getting to the point where it's starting to affect me in undesirable ways. Yeah, it's getting bad. My diet hasn't changed that much recently, has it?

I know this is my first blog in a while. I've been out and about, mostly. A little of this, and a little of that. Today was a good day. Got up, washed the car, got rid of those I-vtec stickers on the Si, and went to practice. After the rehearsal, Me, Amanda, Jayson, and Em went to Applebees to get dinner. After that, we saw "I love you, man". It actually turned out to be a refreshing comedic flick. Not bad at all. Lots of quotable moments. That's what comedies are about, right? You can relive that same moment time and time again, and it's at least semi-personable, because you can relate with the people that have seen the movie.

Meanwhile, tomorrow, I should be waking up around 9 for church. I don't think the extra person is tagging along, so I should be able to get up, moving, and outta the house by 940. It sucks. Today, i just realized that I go to that church for very few good reasons. One of course, is my good friend Christina, whom is great company. I have realized that I need to start branching out within my church, but it is tough to start conversations with somebody, based on "how today's sermon was". Yeah, that's not a great beginning.... So, i think, starting tomorrow, I'll try to involve myself a bit more. Maybe attend the College level singles class. That's usually a good start.
Sorry this blog was on a sort of negative note. I guess the songs i've been listening to tonight kind of sort of mirror my thoughts. This excerpt should do the trick in conveying my feelings at this moment. Stupid clicker on the left hand computer "mouse". I hate you...!


Into the orchard I walk peering way past the gate
Wilted scenes for us who couldn't wait
Drained by the coldest caress, stalking shadows ahead
Halo of death, all I see is departure
Mourner's lament but it's me who's the martyr

Spirit painted sin
Embers neath my skin
Veiled in pale embrace
Reached and touched my face

Into the orchard I walk peering way past the gate
Wilted scenes for us who couldn't wait
Drained by the coldest caress, stalking shadows ahead
(Release your grip, let me go, into the night)
Halo of death, All I see is departure
Mourner's lament but it's me who's the martyr


Lol. I guess thats why I like y'alls music so much now. All my shit is sad.
Thanks for being my anchor, guys.