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January 2002 Entries |
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01.31.02
- Detachment part-two The day has finally come. The day I graduate from my Information Systems Technician Apprentice school. The first part of detachment was right across the street - Recruit Training Command. This time I detach from Naval Training Center. I finally leave Great Lakes. It has been four long months and four months of trying to keep a group of 20 soon-to-be Information Systems Technicians in line as class master-at-arms. I received a letter of appreciation which should count as one whole point towards my evaluation when promotion comes about. I am here at the airport and I am waiting for my flight to St. Louis. The guys at the travel agency wouldn't let me miss the first flight because I wouldn't be able to receive my other half of the ticket from St. Louis to Denver, Colorado then straight to Nakarita, Japan. I should have brought at least one head phone with me so that I can listen to songs but I guess I'm out of luck. The graduation wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be. It was more walking to the check-out buildings more than anything, for that matter. Time to go work on some stuff on Flash. I suck at Flash but not after I take a course for it. I'm really excited about going to Japan. I can't wait to see some of the places I've been wanting to see like Tokyo. My parents have been constantly giving me the 'talk.' The talk about sex. It's so stupid after they keep doing it after every phone call. Oh well, I guess they are just looking out for me. I won't be seeing them for about 2 to 3 years - probably for the rest of my first 4 year contract as an enlisted member. I hope I like the life on the boat. I want to get my Air Warfare pin and my Surface Warfare pin. From what I've been told, I should go for Surface Warfare first. Why? I don't know. My friend Bryan Schaefer told me that during sailors' off-hours, there are over two hundred games of CounterStrike going on simultaneously. I will hook up my laptop if that is so. Speaking of hooking up, I will save up about eighty dollars per paycheck for a digital camera ranging from about seven hundred to a grand. I'm on the plane to St. Louis now and it is really sucking. It has undergone lots of problems. First off, it was delayed shortly followed shortly with a crew change then onto a flooding aft galley. Just as the galley problem is resolved, the flight is once again cancelled. I am reading this advertisement on the Sky Mall magazine and I am thinking of ordering this two-tape program for $29.95 about how to become a better conversationalist. I would like to be able to have better conversations knowing me. Some of the features it listed is that I can find out if a person is romantically attracted to you or being able to tell if a person is lying or not. Now that I think about it, I think that being able to lie will involve more than just a cassette. To the more experienced liars at the very least will that tape work, I would imagine. Another advertisement that would have caught my eye if I would have found out about this earlier in my Naval Training Center stay is the 'Power Strip Booster.' Apparently, its job is to boost reception and raise clarity. "A cure for shadow zones, radio frequencies and other kinds of interference that cause those infuriating dropped calls." I would have loved to boast this product if it actually did work to those many sailors who can't get signals. This is probably one of the worse flights I've been on. Actually, it's rather easy to get on the worst-side of my flight history because all the flights I've been on has been on time and had minimal problems. This one has had just about every kind of mishaps. The 1MC is used rather lavish. (For example, using it to ask people onboard if someone has a pencil.) My eyes are getting real tired as a result of a five hour sleep from last night. Too busy to pack and no time during the day today to sleep at all. This truly was a long day like chief said. Although I didn't get a chance to take a picture with Jennifer Basso, I was still able to hug her good-bye at the SATO Travel Office. 01.30.02 - One more day! I had a slight argument with one of my roommates. He kept shaking my rack over and over. I didn't say anything at first or the second or the third. Along with the rack-shaking action were the repercussions of his hand slapping against that piece of wood on the side of the bunk. He did it again and I just sat up and cursed him out. I told him when it comes to my turn I'll make sure I won't take pauses. What a way to end last night. Damn, I didn't know he was that much of an asshole until now. It seems this day is a gray one. The class gets mandatory PT and I see Lisa with another guy. I guess there's no reason for my heart to be in such a state. Though, I hope she's happy wherever she is and whomever she's with. Hey look what I found in my notebook while I was trashing stuff I didn't need in my foot locker. 11/27/2001 I decided to start this 'journal-type' memo for a reason I do not yet know. I guess it's a way of talking to myself. Anyway, I wanted to talk about a special girl. I met this girl back at Navy boot camp during 'service week.' She was the turnstile and I was a swabee. I remember I'd walk over to the podium where she's at and strike a conversation with her. She was fun to talk to and she kept joking with my surname. I would isolate myself whenever the galley crew for line 5 would be on break and she would always invite me to sit and talk with her. I found out a little about her and that she' staying at Naval Training Center for apprentice school. I said good bye to her by saying "See you at NTC" and she replied something like "Goodbye, though I doubt I'd see you there." I guess that kind of got me depressed since I really did mean what I said. Time passed and I finally moved on to my schooling. About 2-3 weeks into school, I was at the dry cleaners at the NEX when I saw her again. I wasn't too sure so I didn't say anything but then she mentioned my name and we talked again. I walked with her then we brought her friend back to her room and I waited for her to change or whatever she had to do. We then walked over to McDonald's and we ate ice cream while talking. Of course, I was super shy but I tried my best not to stay mute. I walked her back to her barracks and she said if you ever wanna chill, just drop a note at my quarterdeck. Man, I cound't stop thinking about tha tfor a while. I dropped her a note the weekend after my birthday with my cell phone number and I thought I was never going to see her again. I guess I kind of lost hope si I just called my uncle to pick me up. I was almost at his house when she called me while I was in a car. She asked me what I was doing and if I can hang out with her but I had to turn her down. I swear I was so depressed during the weekend. She seemed sad to meand I guess that is what made me feel depressed. Some time passed and I left her another note. I didn't hear from her for a while. I would doodle about her in class (like this one) then I actually thought she forogt about me. I thought she did until I ran into her in front of Pier 525. She said something like "oh, it's the guy who doesn't answer his phone" then started walking away. I was with Erick Lopez and Frank Ibrahim at the time and they told me to run after her. Why didn't I think of that? She went inside the building and so I went in after her. I saw her and she ran up to me and grabbed my arm sleeve and made me run with her back outside. She put her phone number in my cell phone. I don't exactly know what triggered me to write her a letter telling her how I felt about her but I did it anyway. I thought it was a pretty silly letter but I just left it at her quarterdeck. Apparently, she got it that night and she called me while I was at the loft. She said something like, "Hi, is this Jusay?" I asked her if she got my letter and she said "Yes, I did." She then asked me "Can you run fast?" "Come meet me at the train station but you have ten minutes till the last train arrives." What really motivated me was "Come on, I believe in you" I wish I would have made that run in time but I didn't so she called me while I was just getting to the train station and asking me what I was doing Saturday. Friday comes and I was at my uncle's house when she called me. She called me and said to meet in front of Pier 525 while I was at my uncle's house. I went back to base and made it early to our meeting point and she finally came. It was a very rainy night. We saw Spy Game because we were too late for Thirteen Ghost. I, personally, wasn't too excitede about it but I guess that it turned out to be okay. We hanged out outside for a while. We decided to eat ice cream but the parlor was already closed. We finally had no where else t ogo but back to base so soon enough we were back again where we started. We walked around for a while then we started talking at Constitution Field by the signal house. We talked about tomorrow and that maybe we should hang out tomorrow. We finally agreed to a place and time to meet and I hugged her goodbye. 12/03/01 We went out again two nights ago on another Saturday night. This time we watched Thirteen Ghost and I enjoyed it. I admit I jumped during the movie but so did she. I hope to see more movies of that nature alongside of her before we daprt in two months. I plan to buy her something...something for her to remember me by and I want to be able to take a pictgure of her in color and in old black and white film. During the ride back to base, she started leaning on me but I don't really know but I should have, anyway. Now that I think about it, I should have put my arm around her to let her know it's alright to lean on me. 12/15/01 It seems weird when a person knows you one day and another day acts like the person doesn't know you at all. Even though I didn't think our little 'relationship' was going to be this short, I didn't expect her to act like that. She just stopped calling and when I saw her near McDonald's she tried to hide herself. That's okay. 01.29.02 - Farfanugen It turns out that our instructor didn't find out about the little incident. This day was a really bad one for me. I just have this bad habit of when I get mad, I seem to get mad at everyone. I was so mad that after a while of people asking me why I am mad, I forgot the reason. I couldn't say anything...not one reason. My mind was blank. I lightened up by the time I got back from lunch. I found out that the guy going to the same place as me has lost a friend. His friend fell overboard the USS Lincoln. He was a yeoman third class. Offices in the ships are probably a lot closer to the edge and without the protection of the walls these days. (suddenly I smell a whip of sarcasm) I felt sad for him. He was depressed all day today until the very end. His roommate told me he was depressed last night, also. On a lighter note, my stomach has been really gassy since today's lunch. Damn galley food. I ate galley food last night right before night study also and I think two wrongs don't make a right. I think I pulled another 30 second fart. A fart I executed about 2 months ago. Just to let you know how gassy I really am, I farted about 8 to 10 times while writing this paragraph alone. Okay enough of this. Today I finally finished all I need to graduate. I feel so griefless. I feel no worry. My BEQ is about to be assigned a three day duty section because they caught a group of people smoking inside their rooms and a number of general minor offenses that kept adding up over time which, I guess, enraged our senior chief. So there I was today, down at the lounge, listening to IT1 Marone lecture us about this subject matter at hand while a little voice in my head was saying "I don't give a fuck" in this little childish voice. This voice is probably singing that because this new policy is effective after I leave. Wraa. I tried to develop pictures about 2 weeks ago and until now they say it's "not in yet." If they lose those pictures I'll go ballistic. I'm trying to make a damn collection of pictures so that I can have memories to look back upon. Is that asking too much? "I really want to ask her out, but my ego would never take it. And even if I got the balls, you know that the cougar would never make it." I went over to the Navy Exchange tonight and bought me 'The Professional' DVD. I have heard good remarks about this movie from my bunkmate and Lisa so I figured I'll give the movie a try. I just saw it and I thought it was a very good movie. I didn't know the movie was made at 1994 and I didn't know that Natalie Portman would be that young. However, she did some good acting in the movie. I felt sorry for the assassin. How he had to let her go amidst all what was happening. 01.28.02 - Chew-out, chunky style! Let me start off by saying that I finally added some kind of flash (though it sucks big saggy balls). Took me a while to learn how to do this but after many hours of guessing and with the help of Kaufman I was able to pull it off. I'll only get better (hopefully) from here and keep improving that one. Okay, on to the bad side of the day. Our chief told us today that we still have to go to our PTs and today was supposedly our last one. No one went except for O'Grady. People in the BEQ got caught and class 30 was told to go down to the quarterdeck. O'Grady was asked where his class was over at building 4 and he said he didn't know. And to top it off with a cherry, the BDO called our instructor/military advisor. I'm expecting a really, really, big chew out chunky style tomorrow. 01.28.02 - Half done Finished on Uniform circuit today. I was having a lot of trouble with Delta but hopefully after lunch I will be able to knock it out. I am planning on getting my rating sewn today for my dress blues and working blues uniform. I can't wait to go but I know I'll miss this place. I know a lot of people can't give a rat's ass about this place. I guess I'm too much of a mister sensitive like in that movie 'Bedazzled.' I'm down on cash once again and getting worried about how much the redirection would cost from O'Hare to the airport in St. Louis. It seems that I couldn't resist using the same font I always use on my websites. It's probably harder to see this way because it's smaller but oh well. I will probably be only doing this to this page. I'm too lazy. Even though that I just used CSS Style Sheets for this font change and what not, still too lazy of me to do it. So sad... 01.27.02 - Portman overkill Okay, even I think I'm doing a Portman overkill. I'm going to attempt to discontinue the overkill by putting some other images for the picture of the day. I don't think I can change the header and footer image until I get pictures that can fit well. I finally got my class pictures and everyone in the class to sign up. I have already put the quotes in and finished the Blink-182 and Goldfinger lyric sections. My last duty day was today and it was my worst one. I was on the Rat team and they made us strip the first deck for five hours. I'm just glad that I will be gone before they move barracks. In other news, I have been looking at some electronic catalogs and decided to save up for a digital camera. I want to get one ranging at about six to seven hundred dollars. If it takes time to save upf or that then maybe I'll just get me one of thsoe keychain-sized cards that fits into the SmartMedia slot. 01.26.02 - Last weekend Last night, we saw Black Hawk Down and I should have declined my uncle's offer because I haven't really slept that long the other night. Surely enough, I fell asleep except at the action scenes. Basically, I missed most of the storyline. My last weekend here at Great Lakes, Illinois really sucks. I have duty this Sunday and if I would have known the class party was going to be cancelled I would have asked, or tried to at least, Lisa to watch a movie. I had to go to my uncle's house to pick up my passport so either way, I get bent over a table and screwed over and over...and over. I've added a couple of things including a poll which I pay for three bucks a month and a lyrics page. This lyric page isn't going to be some huge library of lyrics for songs a through z but just the songs that I, myself, like. I haven't finished the entire lyrics section yet. I have only finished most of the Blink-182 section. Today was going to be the last time I see my uncle for God knows how long. He was like my father when I was still a little kid. I didn't see my father nor mother until I was about ten years old. He wasn't a beater like my other uncle was. He showed me all the nice places back in my country. He was my only friend. I very well thought he was my dad at that point in time. Then one day before the break of dawn, he set off to go to New York. He continued to take me to new places when I finally arrived at New York. I was confused and didn't know what to do. I forgot all about that until he made mention of it to his girlfriend right after he hugged me good bye. I've seen him leave twice. The second time being from New York going to find a new life here at Chicago. Now he's gonna watch me go. 01.25.02 - Loss of a friend Time goes by so quick. Suddenly, some song in the background starts to play (Man Overboard). So sorry, it's over. Frank Ibrahim was always a true friend to me. He helped me out a lot and hung out for quite some time. We met even before boot camp and today he leaves. He would be playful when we needed to be, and serious when we had to be. He even helped me write that letter to ask out Lisa. He helped me find out for sure if she liked me or not. He said, "yea, I asked her in front of the NEX and she was like ohh he's so adorable." Hah...I'll never forget always barging into their room when we first got here. He helped me out when I needed some cash like I did when he needed it. When he knew I was low on cash but I still wanted to treat him to something, he would turn it down and he'd offer to treat me instead. He too, wants to become an FBI. Erick Lopez wants to be an FBI also. Maybe one day all three of us will be back again though it's a long shot. He'll be going to Iceland. We had some fun times and I'm going to miss this guy. As I walk down the stairs to attend the class 10 and 20 graduation ceremony... I saw there was already a large audience. I started taking pictures mainly of Dagmara Flores, Frank Ibrahim, and a couple of people I didn't really know too well. That was the last time I saw Frank Ibrahim. After school... I went to night study at about 1300 to 1545. I learned how to set up the Sierra and Yankee circuit and ended up prac-ing out on the Yankee circuit. I can do the Uniform circuit no problem, but I have to worry about the data circuits. Later that night... I was picked up by my uncle and he was about thirty minutes late. I wasn't mad or anything. I didn't even really care. We got in the car and he started talking about some things. He kept talking for several minutes then he starts talking about a different matter. He starts off how he was kicked out of his house by his father, my grandfather, and how his parents wouldn't help him pay for his education like they did with his brother, my other uncle, as if he wasn't blood related. He started crying for a little bit and I felt really bad. 01.24.02 - Wee Once again, my awesome time budgeting skills strikes again. Here I am awake at 4:38AM because I couldn't take the time to study what I needed to study first at mandatory but instead studied ahead of the test I'm about to retake. I couldn't even study even after I got back...I couldn't. My mind was somewhere else and I didn't want it to leave that 'somewhere else' just yet. It's worth it. Worth my MAA badge. Thinking about last night, I realized what one of my numerous problems was, again. It's what many Navy personnel say, take initiative. I should have been the first one to greet her and not have to wait if she's going to do it. Coming back to my room for lunch break... I found an inspection note saying my room received an unsatisfactory. I'm really angry right now because I wake up at 4:30 in the morning so that I can have enough time to be able to take care of my uniform and get my cleaning assignment done. I don't think I've ever left the room without doing my cleaning assignment, not even when I first got here when adjusting was really tough. Now we all can't get our liberty cards and we have to be re-inspected at 2000. I have to attend night study at 1830 and want to learn my circuits for my final exam but instead I get these stupid little BS things happening to me. At least I passed my retest. I almost had a heart attack thinking about it. Unfortunately, my class leader failed his retest. His badge is on the line though I doubt he will lose it. It's too late. On top of that, he has messed up so much as a class leader and he never lost his badge. I think the instructor/military advisor is way too lenient on him as a prime example. I like the guy and all but I don't think that's right. It's not like I have the guts to say anything about it to anybody so why am I even ranting about this. Back to my room issue, I am thinking of doing that monopoly-eliminating-a-smaller-competing-company-through-lowering-prices-longer-than-the-smaller-company-can-afford tactic. I won't even bother cleaning my designated area anymore so that our second unsatisfactory room inspection will lead to a phase one liberty. I won't be staying that much longer here and they would want to earn it back. I am thinking that will be my good-bye gift to them but it's a bad one. Stupid voice in my head is telling me not to. I don't know if I already talked about this or not but movies like Spawn, Cast Away, and Pearl Harbor have one thing in common. All three movies listed has that scenario where one person is dead or thought to be dead then he comes back to see his girlfriend or wife with someone else. I was watching those movies with my roommate and I was muttering what I would do if that was to happen to me and I guess he semi-made out what I said so he asked me what I would do if that happened to me. If that were to happen to me, I would probably find the guy that took my girlfriend or wife if it was cold blood. In 'Cast Away' I don't think I would do the same because it's not the same scenario as in Spawn. Hmm, having said that, now I really feel like I remember saying this before but I don't remember where or when. I still can't believe I saw her. I was really doubting I would ever see her again. The tap on the foot of awkwardness inside the pier, a thing to not forget. I thought she didn't really want to see me anymore. I don't know if I'll ever meet someone like her again. There are only a few 'Navy chicks' that are actually as nice as her but who am I to judge when I don't know all the girls, right?. Lots of the girls here curse more than twice in one sentence. I guess I just don't like when girls curse a lot. I'm going to try and stay in contact with her via email. Knowing my luck, I always lost contact with the ones I really liked. Oh yea, our class party was cancelled because some people finally returned to their senses that a huge two hotel room with thirty or more people underage drinking party with the exception of two persons would be a bad idea. I should have asked her to see Lord of the Rings. I would have loved to see that movie with her, knowing she appreciates those types of storyline. I've noticed how good of a memory she has because she remembers what I write here better than I do. "Yea, I want to be an FBI someday." "Yea, I read that on your site." "Oh yea..." Now to talk about some other stuff. My new year's resolution was to lose weight. I want to be 155 pounds and keep it that way. I want to lose my extremely huge arse and at least be able to see a faded four pack. I want to have a more defined body especially my abs and arm. I want to have a chiseled face like I once did when I was anorexic. I'm going to get tinted prescribed contacts and do away with my glasses. 01.23.02 - Fifty, fifty This day is an OK day, I guess. I failed test 9 and passed the physical test without having to worry about being on mandatory physical training at my next command. I would imagine an aircraft carrier would hold their physical trainings at some kind of gym. Hopefully I pass the retest or else I lose my badge as Class Master at Arms. I feel bad for my bunkmate though. Today was his birthday and he failed his retest for test 8 and had to attend some kind of talk session concerning his test. He was about to be set back, but will take another retest tomorrow. I think he will pass because he's considerably smarter than me. In other news, lately I've been listening to Sum 41 more than I would have thought I would. I like most of their songs on their album which I didn't think too fondly off at first glance. My classmate that is going with me to the same aircraft carrier has told me about his friends that are already aboard the ship. His friend is friends with the Leading Chief Petty Officer of the Information Systems Technician department which is a really good thing I guess. Though, his friend is not an IT like ourselves, but my classmate said his friend is putting in a good word for us. I hope he gets us on the computer side - networking wise, not old school gateguard sort of stuff. Something I did not expect happened today. As I sit here in my room, exempt from physical training, I waited until we got our liberty cards so I can check my emails and what not. The time finally comes and I walk over to 'club non-qual' to get onto a computer. I saw a girl that might have been Lisa but I wasn't really sure. Actually, I knew it was her and I just needed a few minutes to think how to walk up to her so I sat down and thought for a while. I looked at the reflection from my monitor and saw she was gone. I looked up to make sure and thought I messed up again with that whole waiting thing again. So I thought, ah well and continued to browse when someone lightly kicked my chair from behind. It was her and I sort of looked at her and we were both feeling awkward at that point. We talked for a brief moment inside and finally we started walking around for about forty-five minutes. She explained to me why she acted the way I did and now I pretty much understand why she did. I don't think I would have been able to go through that kind of scenario. I'm pretty lucky now that I think about it. Well I'm really glad I got to have that talk with her. I'm glad I got to see her before I left, too. Having said that, I don't think this day is a fifty-fifty, anymore. Knowing that she checks this website, I'll try not to bore her with my dumb updates. 01.22.02 - A bit closer to heaven Today, I got a few pounds off my shoulders. I finally completed my overseas screening before the very tight deadline and finished my security clearance. Now all I have to worry about is test 9, tomorrow's physical test, and our final IT A School exam. I am a bit nervous about the final test but hopefully going to mandatory night study after test 9 and the physical test I'd be good enough to pass the exam. 01.21.02 - Duty Day It's one of those duty days again. This duty day, compared to the last two to three previously, is significantly more relaxed. All I have attend is the morning colors at 0715 and the regular duty section muster times. The morning colors wasn't that bad. We went about an hour before it so we just hanged out for a while then went to McDonald's afterwards. I didn't realize how much sleep I needed until I started dozing off while playing games. Sweet, Valenzuela (my roommate) just defecated and the aftermath is the object getting stuck upon flushing. Got a good picture of that too... Today, I'm really cramming on trying to work on some kind of flash movie. I was thinking making the top image move somehow while the "Angel" moves from left to right. 01.20.02 - Site development I've been working a lot to improve the visual presentation of the site. Experimenting with Photoshop 5.0 to come up with the lips and eyes of Natalie Portman above, added Picture of the Day, Latest Updates list and date, and Quote of the Week in a three column table. I've removed the Blink of the Week and moved and renamed it to Quote of the Week. I've made so that every link flies to the left with the exception of the Links page where they are highlighted instead. More stuff to come, stick around. 01.19.02 - Future Job I have been thinking lately on what type of job I want after my navy career. I know it's a long time from now but it's never too early to think of matters like that. Besides, I like to dream about a job I really want, anyway. When Ibrahim said he wanted to become an FBI agent back at the Staten Island Hotel, I always had this subconscious thought of what it would feel like to be one. I think it would be pretty cool to be in either FBI or CIA. I've done a little researching on their employment requirements and FBI is pretty much ruled out, I think. I need an uncorrected vision of no worse than 20/200 and a corrected vision of 20/20 in one eye and no worse than 20/40 in other eye. I think my uncorrected vision is like 20/300. I am so disappointed. I wish my vision wasn't so bad, but what can I do. 01.18.02 - Expanding I will and have added some new sections. So far, I have added a Pictures, Favorites, and Manifesto section. I plan to add a lyrics section for my favorite songs, basically. The aforementioned will be done by this weekend. Lately, I've been thinking. Thinking about the very few times I've encountered the opposite sex. Somehow, I always managed to screw things up by acting stupid or not acting upon something at all. The aftermath of each encounter leaves me really depressed for a long time. Today I got picked up by my uncle on a typical Friday and he was with another lady. It wasn't Gia who I thought was his girlfriend but it seems with this girl, they are a lot more cuddly than he was with Gia. It feels different and I feel like she is a fake. Not to degrade my uncle or anything but she looks like she's way out of his league when it comes to women. We ate at Gurnee Mills mall and they mention something about introducing me to a girl and I just didn't say anything. I think my uncle knows that I'm already going out with somebody but not that we broke up already. 01.17.02 - A special day Today is my mom's birthday. I don't quite know how old she is and I never did but I bid her a happy birthday after school while doing my homework. I finally finished my good-bye letter to Lisa. About time, too! Only took me a month. I made the most changes when I finally decided to make the hardcopy from the word processor and rewrote it about three times. I need some serious help trying to forget about her. I just can't. 01.16.02 - Busy days This week and the week before has been really busy for me. I've been pressed for time because of the bad combination of IT A School's needs and the BEQ needs. I would have duty days where I have to stand a watch when I have an exam or something really important right after that that would somehow put me in a bad spot. This afternoon I saw Jennifer Basso cry for the first time. I never thought a strong girl like her would cry but I guess if it's something you really care about, you tend to get emotional about it. In this case, it was her first failure in the most unlikely time with a little twist of getting accused by your military advisor/instructor of purposely flunking the test to give someone else the first place class rank. 01.15.02 - Sea duty screening In light of my future as a sailor, I am finally starting to prepare for my departure of Naval Training Center for good. While I leave behind many memories and separate from many of my best friends whom I have met during boot camp, I am finally getting ready to meet new ones. I hope to keep in contact with many of my friends even via e-mail. I will miss my true friends like Frank Ibrahim who is setting off for Iceland even before I leave. I think I will make a page for the people and where they are headed to. The sea duty screening was basically to take one shot for typhoid. Christopher Box: Satcom center - Naples, Italy Eric Pinkston: USS Constellation - San Diego, California Vasquez: USS Constellation - San Diego, California Spain: USS Constellation - San Diego, California Hahn: USS Abraham Lincoln - Seattle, Washington Schaefer: USS Kitty Hawk - Japan (with me) O'Grady: Iceland Jennifer Ann Basso: Italy Reed: Italy Warfel: Norfolk, Virginia Lopez: Norfolk, Virginia Iris Brooks: Hawaii Ibrahim: Iceland 01.14.02 - Orders!! I didn't expect them to come today but they did! Today was laid back. We didn't really do much in class except my group went to the PRAC Deck and showed us how to setup the Romeo Voice UHF circuit and the Delta Data HF circuit. It was a pretty long process of at least 30 minutes which we have to do under the rumored 3 minutes for our final exam. After lunch, Belcher told to everyone in the classroom regarding our orders. He made mention that we just got them back and after the clean-up crew finished, we joined the rest of the line outside ITC Mathieson's office to be told our fate for the next two years. I received exactly what I wanted - Japan. I am going to Japan with Schaefer. I guess we are going to be best buds for a long time. Time to do my research on this ship! I'm also happy that the eagle dumps a load tomorrow. 01.13.02 - People I've been a big fan of Natalie Portman now and I just recently looked at some of her pictures and remember why I do. It's probably a long shot if I ever end up with somebody that would look like her but it's always nice to dream. I recently signed up for hotornot.com and hopefully some people would click 'yes' to meeting me. This weekend, I've been checking out some customizing programs for my operating systems. I remember what my friend had in his computer and searched for Window Blinds. I downloaded Window Blinds from one of Zdnet.com's download sites and before you know it, I was 'skinning' my Windows XP desktop including the 'Start' button, and how the title bars look. Those are just some of the things you can customize. You can customize just about anything if you download it's cousin programs such as the CursorXP for cursors or Windows FX for the really cool effect of making your menu bars have as much or as little transparency. Menus such as the programs menus or whenever you drag a Window or when you right click. Another cousin program is the IconPackager. This enables you to change the icons you want - pretty self-explanatory. You can also create your own icons with this program, or if you aren't feeling creative or don't have the time, you can just download whatever you want. I've been adding and changing a lot of the parts of the site so that I can finish before I get to my next command which I hope will be at Japan. 01.10.02 - Daily Routine Today was a really busy day, the day that's been pressuring me all week long. Class 02030 was scheduled today for their sea bag inspection. ITC Mathieson wasn't going to be inspecting our barracks but I was still skeptical as to the level of strictness the type of person he would get to help him. It turns out that IT1 Baker, BEQ 839's sea bag inspector for class 02030 was very lenient. He didn't really check for stencils, stains, and aspects of that nature. I saw a number of people that didn't have a full sea bag inventory get away without having anything written down as a 'need-to-buy.' I had about 15 minutes to run from the school house to my barracks and prepare my sea bag inventory list and meet the inspector at the quarterdeck. I would have laid my items out much more neater if I wasn't so pressed for time. After guiding the inspector to all the rooms that we need to go to, the day was pretty much laid back because we didn't have to return to the school house until after our lunch break. I hanged out with Kaufman for a bit and even got a chance to connect to the internet after our brief trip to Five Star to realign his telephone connection to the correct side of the room. He gave me a free domain at phrosted.com along with an email account. In other news, I decided to write a letter, a final letter, to Lisa Rogers. It's not going to be nasty or anything because I can understand why she chose of the course of action that she did. It's not her fault but mine. 01.06.02 - A thought I was just thinking... I left my hometown rather, nonchalantly knowing I wouldn't be seeing my family for over 10 months or so. My parting wasn't so dramatic because I chose it not to be though I know it could have been much more emotional. I would imagine how some other people's parting with their family would be - tears falling, hugs and kisses a norm, and mourning like we are leaving for our doom. I am a bit nervous about the future of my Navy career. I feel that way because I don't know what to expect and that's how I react to things I cannot foretell. I am really hoping I get some decent orders and not on Bahrain or some place of that nature. Later that day... Here I am, I have setup my Gaming Zone 4.1 Speaker Set and my laptop and unpacked most of my luggage. The barracks isn't even fully lighted yet and only one of four of my roommates is here. I had to sign in at building 621 with my leave papers. I met Christopher Box and Troy Camp while on my way to my room and they seemed really cheery. Must be the post holiday mood thing going on. 01.05.02 - Back at Chicago O'Hare Airport is just like I left it, crowded, large, and clean as usual. It was a long walk to my baggage claim area and then to my uncle's parking space. We ate at Chili's and there I had BBQ pork chops and he had fried cat fish. We then set off to Barnes & Nobles Bookstore and I bought me the book for the second part of Lord of the Rings. After that, we watched it - my fourth time and his first. This time, it was my first hearing the term 'elemental Gandalf' which Legolas makes mention when they reached Lothorien. I was very tired so I fell asleep a couple of hours since our arrival at his apartment. 01.04.02 - Departure Here I am writing this entry at the airport, waiting for my plane almost about 2 hours from now. I am truly going to miss my family, my friend Hee Doo and the ultimate gaming room. I am planning on developing the pictures on my disposable cameras as soon as I can. I am leaning on the weekend after this one over at Gurnee Mills Mall while I spend a few hours over at Cyber Arena. I don't expect to hang out there as much as I used to simply because I already have my own computer. Though it does not have internet connection, I still think this is a really great way to spend time without having to spend a dime rather than wasting twenty-five dollars every weekend day minus the cost of the transportation and food during the duration of my stay. I am trying not to think of this but I really miss Lisa and how she is haunting me not in a sense of her fault but mine. I told, and I greatly regret doing so, my parents about her and my relationship with her and now it seems like the whole world knows about Lisa and I. I really like her and it makes it that much harder to forget about her when I am constantly being asked how she is or being suggested to maybe call her over the holidays forcing me to lie to them that I forgot to get her home phone number. I am planning to tell them that we broke up once I leave Naval Training Center because it will be very hard for us to see each other again. I think that will be very believable, in my opinion. It is quite clear to me now that if I did not join the Navy I may have ended up very badly, physically and emotionally. I looked at my uncle, and to mean no offense, he has gained weight - not tremendously but noticeably. I fear that I probably would have been really worst off than him given the fact that I was heavier than him before he gained that weight. Anyway, I hope to lose the weight I gained when I transferred over to Service School Command from Recruit Training Command. I will do so by jogging on the track during the days when we don't have Physical Training. I hope my next orders aren't anywhere near the war. It's not that I am a coward or anything, it just means less liberty time because we will be more alert and forget about going off-boat to explore. I hope to be transferring on shore duty but on a boat, I can go to many ports and discover new places and things of that sort. Also, as you can see, I've been working on the layout here at the airport since it's a pretty long wait. I think I'll leave this layout as it is for awhile seeing as I'm content with this one for the moment. I make mention of the 'ultimate gaming room' before and it's exactly what I think of that room. It has a 27' television with a VCR, Digital Television, 21' screen monitor connected to a 1.7Ghz Gateway Pentium 4 computer with 256MB of DDR RAM and adjacent to the computer screen lay my laptop which is a 1Ghz Toshiba Pentium 3 with 256MB RAM. I think that is the ultimate gaming room because it's nice and cozy and it's very remote to the rest of the house and has lots of room to do anything else besides. I have a pretty good optical mouse to play all my First-Person shooter games with which demands a top-notch everything from your computer's performance to internet connection speed and from keyboard control setup to the comfort level of your hand with your mouse setup keys. I have been deprived of FPS games ever since boot camp and everyone that used to be easy to deal with in 'mulching' now posts a problem. I decided not to play FPS games that I used to play (Half-Life: TFC, Half-Life: CS) competitively, to only revert to plain entertainment. Save myself the politics in the TFC community for they are a pretty angry crowd. I decided to only play Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games continuously seeing as I will still probably have interest in Everquest even after my Navy Career which would leave me more time to play that. It would be nice to share an apartment in a location we can all agree to live at with three of my best friends but they still have ways to go before they can decide something like that, I would imagine. Getting off to another subject, my New Years was just like the one before - boring and extremely depressing. New Years Eve always gets me depressed because of the things that happened during that time period in the past. Things like my grandma's illness, and fortunately she is able to spend New Years Eve with the family in stable condition, and things dealing with me and Patty. I still regret the day when her friend told me she say 'yes' but I never asked her, regardless. I guess someday I can learn to live with that and maybe move on. |
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