Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Shattered Fortress

Tomorrow's sunday. A good day, I suppose. I'm a bit worn out, for one reason or another. I think I'll go biking after church, and then make my way to a party or two. Monday is the big day. I don't want to talk about it...

These next 3 weeks will be a flurry of action. Next weekend will be the DC trip, take two. The original plans have changed around quite a bit, but hopefully the same core ideas are still intact.

Erin will be leaving in a week. It actually kinda sucks. I've made a good friend.
On the 4th, our ship will be leaving. I guess this could be counted as an emergency sort of underway. Maybe I'll be able to explain what we are going to do one day.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Yessir

Yep, I get it now. :)

Tomorrow will be a great day. Deep peace.

What do you think about when you sing?
I find myself singing more often than not now. I seek to harmonize with the music, but sometimes, when I'm in the right mood I actually listen to the lyrics that I'm singing.

Today I was listening to the lyrics. Much of what I speak is figurative, meaning, I am referring to something else or going for the intellectual side of things. Imagination. Yeah, that's *Imaaaaaaginaaaation* (with the rainbow and all that, yeah).

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Sorry to mass blog, but...

Stumbleupon.com is pretty fun. Lots of cool stuff on there. This isn't an advertisement!!!!

Keeping myself busy by doing situps, pushups, and shoulder exercises. BorING. Yeah.

The Count of Tuscany has to be my favorite Dream Theater song now...

Namaste

I just watched some food network production about hunting truffles... talk about weird. I guess I'm a better person for it? I didn't really explain my day adequately in the previous blog, so I guess I'm gonna do so here.
Today has been insanely relaxed. I stood watch this morning, took a few naps on and off, and hung outside for about an hour. It's a fairly sunny day, so it was relaxing to be able to enjoy the breeze and the sun. I climbed up to one of the upper levels and started scanning the parking lot for Pennsylvania license plates. Yeah. She's definitely still winning.
Lunch was good. We had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and cookies. Not exactly the healthiest, but you get what you pay for, I suppose. Dinner was horrendous. Some sort of beef product, with no taste, and tough as hell. Yeah, I'm gonna be hungry tonight.

For the last hour now, I've been reading texts from last night, twitter stuff, and looking up Geico information. I suppose some time this week, I need to take care of all the automobile stuff I've had piling up. Oil change too. If i'm gonna be making the trip up to D.C., it's gonna be a must.

Our communications exercise officially starts tomorrow. Last week was the dress rehearsal, and now it's time for the real deal.
Tomorrow is gonna be busy. I'm gonna attempt to ask one of my friends to take my duty next friday, that way I can leave early for D.C. If not, i suppose early saturday morning will have to work? It's also not lost on me that I need to request BAH. It will be a drawn out process, and chances are, there will be a few people that will tell me no. I just have to go to the right people.

I've got a lot of stuff in my head that I'd like to see carried out. Sometime this next week, i'd like to go to seashore state park. Maybe walk, maybe bike, i dont know. I just want to do something. Italian restaurants are on my mind too. The beach, maybe? I know on Sunday, mana wants to do dinner with emily, jayson and I. That should be cool. It will be nice to be hanging out with the gang again. Maybe Jayson won't be cranky? Lol...

Planet Smasher

It's been another good weekend. Not much to be said, really, that hasn't been said before. I've been pretty happy recently.

There's rumor that our ship is going back to the 4 day work-week schedule again. That would be amazing! I hope I get mondays off again...

Huburt?

What kind of name is Huburt? :)

Friday, July 17, 2009

Blogasaurus rex.

What sums it up? Awesome? Yeah, that's it. This week has been awesome. Even though we weren't able to go to the Marine Science Museum, it was still fun.



Well, let me sum up the past week... It's been about 7 days now since our ship returned from a little five day excursion. About 5 days since my last blog, which was completed while I was on duty. Since then, I've been working at a rather regular schedule. Our ship has been going through a string of communications exercises that, obviously, I can't go into great detail about. What matters is, that the first half is over, and this week is going to be exceptionally grueling.


I'm gonna try on monday to ask for BAH. If i forget, will you please remind me? This is rather important... And I ain't settlin' for anything less than perfect, I hope you know. There's only a handful of Apartments I've ever liked, and Norfolk isn't my idea of a fun place. VA Beach is definitely where it's at, as far as housing goes.

Ya know? I really wish I had blog stalkers. I think I've said it before, but I guess I mean it. And, at the same time I post this, I believe I have at least one blog stalker. It's not a bad thing though, for sure. Some people could say, a benevolent blog stalker. BBS. BBSs are much sought after. They leave constructive criticism, read and understand all blogs, and most importantly, are wanted by the poster of said blog. Yeah. It's in the Urban Dictionary. Look it up. BBS

Is this kid, the one who is trying so desperately, the one who is making up lies? I'll make sure his car doesn't start in the morning. Blame it on the rain. Mwahahahahaha.

Oh, and I went on a run tonight. It was pretty rad. I need to get a little chronometer, or whatever that thing is that measures footsteps and tells you the distance. Not a chronometer... whatever. Anyways, I ran around the block once, ran down past the park, through the forest, and around the lake. I guess it was about a 3o minute run. Didn't stop once. This is good.... When I was doing my cool-down walk around freehold close, I started coming up on a big Rottweiler. The big dog stopped, looked back at me, and started whining. I took a chance, thinking it was lost, and cautiously approached him. I came in from the side, and made sure not to look him in the eye. I don't know if that's the proper way to address a strange dog, but it made sense to me. So I walked up to him, held out my hand, and he immediately came up and licked it. He seemed kinda lost, and was whining in-between panting. I started running back towards one of the houses that I remembered as having a Rotty, and he started following me. About 2 streets down, he stopped all of a sudden, and turned around. I didn't try to follow him, and I'm still considering going out and looking for him again. Chances are, he belongs to the house in Chase's cul-de-sac. That family is pretty ignorant. They usually let their dogs have free reign of their un-fenced yard. Not cool.

Okay, so that's pretty much my update. Thanks for listening, beautiful. :-D

By the way, I wish I had my fish tanks set up again. That way, I could have facebook messages every five minutes too. :o)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Intelligent life...

"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons."
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
— Calvin & Hobbes

"You can not escape the fact that the distance between stars in the galaxy/universe is very large. Intelligent life usually requires a great deal of resources to stay alive. Therefore, it is quite possible that it is very difficult for intelligent beings to travel the distances needed to visit other stars (at least not very often). It could be that intelligent life is fairly common, but the ability to visit other planets with intelligent life is very uncommon."
-Peter


Interesting stuff. Would you visit earth? Eff that, I'm going to pluto. He's the cool one.

Live here?


I want to live in a house like THIS!




Too bad it's like $490,000.

Rusty Potato Chips and Crunchy Screws

Not really sure where the title is coming from, but this is the blog that expresses my true boredom. Especially today. Moreso than ever, today. Duty days usually aren't bad for me. I mean, I have the internet at my disposal, and a limited amount of cell phone connectivity, so I can usually survive. I brought my new book; "Good Omens", and am currently reading it intermittently. My mind is on something, or someone else though. Can't really get this out of my head, nor do I want to. Yester day/night was a ton of fun. Stellar amounts of fun. I just wish neither of us had to go to sleep that early.

So, right now I'm in a teleconference. Is it bad that I'm just kind of zoning out? This stuff they are talking about... it's kind of dull. These exercises, they just seem kind of silly. I suppose it's good in the end though. It prepares us to deal with any obstacles that we may come in contact with while we are out to sea. We may in fact deal with hostiles this next deployment. They didn't add more guns to the ship for no reason. :) But don't worry, I'm sure we will be safe! Did I ever tell you the story about the bad guys we chased while we were in the Med. Sea? Yeah, that was fun. Scary, but fun.


I've decided not to go to North Carolina this weekend. I really can't explain why, other than it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right, and I don't want to waste money on something that would, in the end, be so pointless. It would be more of a, "Hey! It's been 5 years since I've seen you! It's great to see you!" Yeah. So now what? I'll stick with what I've got. I've got a lot. It's taken me a while to realize it, but I do.

One thing I hope you realize, is that I really don't want to go. You can understand the feeling of leaving those you love dearly, with the anticipation of having a great time, and creating new memories. The one thing that kills that feeling, though, is seeing those loved ones standing on the shore, knowing that it will be six months before you see their faces again. I'm going to bring my laptop, and go to as many foreign internet cafes as possible. Video chat, for the win. I'm sure you will be getting your fair share of African junk in the mail, too. Postcards, amongst other things.

I'll be able to foot part of the bill if we get a place to stay. I'll definitely keep up my end of the bargain, but I just have to use my money wisely. One thing for sure, however, is that I WILL be getting compensated for housing upon my return from deployment. I may be able to assume responsibility over a larger portion of the bill, thus making it easier for us to survive.
When are we buying that track pack for rock band, by the way?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Assuage my confusion about the Universe and reality!

Okay, so I bumped my head this morning, about half an hour ago. It's bleeding a lot. You know how when you get a cut on your head, and it bleeds and bleeds, but you don't feel anything? Yeah, I don't feel anything. I hope it stops soon. At least it wasn't luggage that fell on my head...

I finished reading Feed yesterday. That book has affected me more than the myriad amount of Science Fiction and Fantasy books that I've read throughout my life. I'm constantly thinking about what I say out loud now, and the negative effects of using technology too much and letting it control you. Meanwhile, I'm really glad I read it, and it was a great way to unwind after a long days work. I'm going to start gathering books for this deployment, even though I have a list of things to work on. I've got a few books from Brian Jacques that need reading, and I know he's released one or two more during the time I've spent away from the bookstore. I still need to find out what that book is called... the satirical one about an angel and a demon, enjoying their last few days on earth before armageddon. What is it called...?

Well, Friday should be meg cool. I'll be coming back late-ish, and getting off around 8 at night, but I'll still be able to have fun, hopefully. I'm thinking of going to the boardwalk, weather permitting. Party on Saturday. This one should be epic. It's gonna have lots of wine, and lots of people.

Oh, and yesterday was a pleasant surprise. I was able to call someone that had a birthday, :) and able to text a few people that I normally wouldn't have been able to contact through email. I hope the birthday wishes made your day better.

Okay, that's all for now!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Mental Tan

I smell like oil. I can feel it in my pores, too. This is kinda weird... I've worked with grease and oil and dirt before, but never in a space that is all-encompassing, so huge, with nothing but the whirrr of the engines to make a soundtrack in your head. You can't even think. You just keep wiping up oil, keep trying to suck in as much cool oxygen as possible. When you work on a car, you are in control. When you work on a ship, you are just a tiny little ant in the belly of a whale.

This is a pretty crappy little whale.

Hopefully we pull in tomorrow. I dunno, I haven't heard anything recently that would confirm, nor deny that notion.

There are a few cute midshipmen (women!) on this boat right now. They are training to become officers right now, so they aren't off limits yet. I'm not going to even try to talk to them though... it would be kinda silly to do so. It's funny to sit back and watch as all the men on the boat try to take shots at them. One of them, Melba, I think her name is, says hello to me all the time, and even asked me if I had a myspace and all that. I dunno, I don't think I'm really interested though. I definitely wouldn't want to date/see a girl while working with her at the same time. That would be just plain inefficient and counterproductive.

Anywho, this is our third day of engineering training. In the mornings, the inspectors walk through the lower levels of the ship, ensuring that the spaces are ready and safe to train in. So far, today, we have passed with flying colors. Today and tomorrow will determine how my summer is spent. If we fail, then I will be spending pretty much every other week out to sea. If we pass, it will be smooth sailing from here on out. That was a gay pun.

Last night was pretty fun. Me and a few buddies sat in our respective beds and poked fun at one another. My friend Ben started rattling off Transformers quotes, and then we started talking about random movies and that sort of thing. It's interesting to say, I have a closer friends base on the ship now than I did before. Before, during deployment, it was just a few friends that I would say, "Hey, what's up dude?" and then carry on my merry way. I think these new friends will make this next deployment much more bearable.

"Oh, been ordering from the Adam and Eve collection again, I see!"

Weenie man, to the weenie mobile.

Weenie man awaay!

This book has me depressed. It really has me thinking about technology. Is society going down the right path? Are these endless feeds starting to change us? I remember back in the day, when I never had a facebook, never had a myspace. I was still happy, right? Yeah, I sure was. Being away from home for a long time makes you realize that you aren't really dependent on these things, but in my field, it's difficult to separate yourself from technology for an extended period of time.
Maybe I should toss my myspace too. Even as I type, it feels ironic, seeing as I have no intentions of doing so.

For whose benefit am I posting these thoughts? Certainly not my own. I have my own personal blog for that. Am I losing touch with the ability to communicate feelings to others through normal conversation? I hope not.

I really hope you are okay out there, alright?

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Salad Days

Intermittent. The blogs during this underway period will sadly be intermittent in nature. Our internet capabilities, which I cannot discuss in too much detail, are quite lacking.

I do believe that when I get back, every day will be a Salad Day. What makes a Day a Salad Day, you ask? Well, Salads are happy of course. Why is a Salad happy? Ranch.

Right now my schedule is a bit topsy-turvy. I wake up at 3:30 every morning, and try to get to sleep by about 10 every night. In addition to the normal duties of fixing other users computers, I'm now a full-time Damage Control Petty Officer. It's a meg bummer, but I suppose getting back will be really brag. The purpose of this time out to sea is to finish our Engineering drills, and I guess having me on the Engineering team will help accomplish this.

In other news, I'm reading a pretty kickass book right now called "Feed". I actually had to reread the first few pages when I started the book, because the grammar and work usage took me aback. I've never read a book where the narrator uses the word "like" as a filler. This book is totally Unit.

Anywho, I can't stay on long. I wish you all a good week, and I hope to hear from you soon! :)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Useless.

All this stuff is. I only want to be lost on a deserted Isle with one person. It's that simple. Coconuts, fishing, living in a lean-to and exploring. Diving for lobsters. Yeah. That would rock. A fire on the beach, sippin' on coconut milk.
I'm pretty sure I would be the happiest guy on earth. Maybe a dog would be a nice addition. A nice black labrador or something.

Maybe that Island would have a local population of pygmies. That would be cool too. And a dentist. And a Vet. Oh wait... and transportation too. Come to think of it, a few other people would be nice. My parents too. How about a few of my friends? Oh no... I'll never leave willingly, will I?

Someone needs to airlift my ass onto a deserted Island. Just leave me there.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I'm a pirate!!

I was once told I was a pirate. In fact, it went exactly like this... "Haha, you are a pirate Dave. Ultimate Pirate!"
I have to say though, you probably won't remember this, seeing as you most definitely were drunk. How many beers was it? Two?! Lightweight...

Anyways, I hope I can tie this in somehow. Tomorrow I'm going to be a pirate for a day. It's pretty much gonna be a short day out to sea, and then a morning arrival. Just in time for the weekend! I must admit, I am going to be INCREDIBLY happy to be out of that stifling Camouflage uniform. For me, out to sea, I wear the good 'ole coveralls. Way cooler, and way more simple.

Back to being a pirate... I'm going to bring a water gun onboard next underway time. This will provide me with a level of entertainment never experienced before!
I suppose I'm not going anywhere with this... I tried though!

I'll post another one before I go to sleep for the night.