OK, so it's July 18, 2005. We've been at war with Iraqi insurgents and their buddies for quite some time now. Our men and women have been getting shot at and shot up. In my simple mind it just reaffirms my support of our boys and girls in the desert. That being said, I ran across a real buffoon at the bank this afternoon. I was there, minding my own business when a fellow not much older than me walked in and started a conversation with a teller about 'The Woe' ( that one's for Ping ). He made a few comments that made me think he was a total moron and then out came the most ridiculous shit I've heard anyone say in quite some time. Apparently this male human being of American citizenship, I can't call him a red blooded American man. He told his sons that he would disown them if they joined the military and the military is no place for civilized people. I was merely taken aback at first. Then I was disappointed and finally just really pissed off. I wanted to say something to him to the effect of then go live in Iraq or Afghanistan because you're no better than those people are. But of course, I was doing some business and didn't want to cause a scene so I said nothing about it. Now it's really bugging the shit out of me. I'm just as mad at myself for not saying a thing as I am at what he did say.
Anyway, other than that, life is good and we're progressing right along towards EAOS. It's coming, but not soon enough for me. Y'all take care and have fun.
Yeah so the 4th was an awesome weekend. I think Jerm may be able his road weariness by now. We drove down, saw a couple friends in Raleigh and crashed there. The next day we rolled back to Luke's and bought Pizza, drinks and liquor. We consumed every drop of liquor, all but 2 pizzas and most of the drinks. I got way too drunk, again. But it's all good. I was fine til I took a huge chug from a rum n coke because my mouth was on fire from hot pizza. It got ugly from there, insert your own images as I'm sure they're as good as any picture I could paint for you verbally. Anyway, it was a blast, just the 3 of us. We invited a couple of other friends out, but apparently Jerm driving all the way from NY just isn't good enough and it's rude for us to not drive yet even further. Oh well, some people will just never learn that to keep friends means more than just a phone call or an email every now and then. It takes effort and work. Enough about all this. I gotta roll for now. Just wanted to update the journal. Peace love n chicken grease.
OK, it's 6:52 pm on Thursday, tomorrow I get to drive to NC with Jerm to hang out with Luke. It's been TO FUCKING LONG since we've all gotten to hang out. I wish we could get together more often, god knows I'd give a testicle to see my bros more. But alas it's just not possible these days. We've managed to spread ourselves pretty much up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I'm here, Luke's in NC where he needs to be and Jerm's way the hell up in bumfuck NY. It's only for another 466 days though. That's how long I have left in the Navy before I can move back to NC. Anyway, I just wanna say I'M FUCKIN STOKED!!!! That's all.
I just gotta post this lil tidbit. I went and put my name on the list for a 2007 Shelby Cobra GT500 a day or so ago. I'm ninth on their list, and they're expecting to get 15 of them. I can't wait, now I just hope I don't miss the call because I'll have about an hour to get up there with a check for the deposit. Deliveries are anticipated sometime in late 2006, just in time for me to enjoy when I get out of the Navy.
I would just like to say that you 3 fucktards on my short but distinguished friends list need to update more often. For the love of Peanut Butter & Jelly.
With that being said, here we go. Well it's been a while again hasn't it? I've been up to all kinds of wonderful stuff. Landscaping, sitting in class and making the Mustang faster. That's right boys n girls. I've actually been somewhat productive. The Mustang dyno'd out at 242 ponies and 281 ft-lbs of torque. That all works out to 285 ponies and 331 ft-lbs of torque for gains of 20 horsepower and 26 ft-lbs torque. And I haven't even cracked a valve cover gasket yet. Just wait til the warranty expires. Can we all say supercharger?? I can. Anyway, our POS house with no curb appeal now has a tad more. We've been busy planting and mulching and sodding and weeding and seeding and fertilizing and all that stuff that I vowed I wouldn't do ever again. It actually looks quite good. Now I gotta get some gutters and some doors rehung. I called 4 or 5 contractors about all that not long ago, no replies. Yet one day last week I was sitting in the house minding my own business and stepped out to smoke. Some dude was parked across the street waiting on the landlord of my kingdom to arrive. He asked if the landlord was here yet. I gave him my best, 'you're a fucking retard look' and replied with no, she's at work because he said 'she' somewhere in his statement. Then he asked if I knew anything about some drywall work that needed to be done. (insert laughs here) I smiled and said yeah, I know all about some drywall that needs to be done here, but I own this house and someone gave you some bad info because I've owned it for 3 years. He looked at his sheet and called the number on there. Surprise surprise, it was disconnected. I invited him in to take a look around because I was in fact looking for a contractor to do some work for me. Long story short ( I know, too late ) I got his business card and plan on calling him in September when I'm all done with school. Lemme see what else has been going on. Oh yeah, I'm having a chunk of my ass removed in September. I've been developing these abscesses back there and they SUCK ROYAL ASS!!! So I'm having some surgery done so I don't get them anymore. The down side, if you can call it that, is I can't sit down for a while. In fact for the first week or so, I can only lay on my stomach. Oh heavens to betsy what am I gonna do. You can't jerk off if you're lying on your stomach.
Anyway, that's my life these days. As boring as it is, I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.
Well well well. How the world can change in a short period of time. My buddy Tony is now a daddy. His daughter was born last night. I haven't gone to see her yet because I can't stand hospitals, but I'll go see her once she's home. What else......lemme see....we closed on the new mortgage last week. Man what a relief, I was gettin really tired of all the phone calls every day. I really have decided that I don't want to be a business man when I grow up. I hate talking on the phone and that's about all I've done for the last 3 weeks or so. My brother found a wrecked T-bird turbocoupe for sale. It's got the wheels that I want for the 83 plus the rear end I want and the transmission he wants so I think we're gonna buy it and strip it down. We gotta convince his wife to let us put it in their garage for a couple weeks first so she doesn't have a cow. I know Leslie's not too keen on the idea, but hey...this is what hot roddin's all about. Donor cars and weeks in the garage. It's even got a freshly rebuilt head, lower end and new turbo on it. That'd be sweet to stick in dad's 4 banger and play around with. Who knows though, the way our luck is someone else will buy it the day Scott heads up there with a check. Leslie and I went and saw Monster In Law today. I highly recommend it to any of the 3 people that may read this journal. Work is good. I'll be sending off my application to school next week. I know I've been sayin that for a few weeks now, but crunch time is coming up quick if I want to have my degree before I get out of the Navy. Only 8 classes, doesn't seem like much when you just say it. But when you say 8 classes, 16 months and no more than 2 at a time, the math just doesn't work very well. We've been somewhat busy here at the house the past week. Work has cranked up outside now, back to landscaping and flower beds. Man do I hate planting flowers, just seems like such a pansy thing to do. Bent over on my knees for hours on end for what end??? To watch some pink delicate little bud pop up from the ground only to die in a few days. Seems pointless to me, but hey anyone that looks at the house to purchase it will want to see some of them around so hey, I'll oblige them as long as their money is good. That's about all this go 'round. I'll update again when something else of note happens.
Man, February 22 huh.....I really should update this thing more often. Not a lot going on around here these days. I have had a pair of abscesses on my tailbone, pinodial I think is what they're calling them. I gotta go to the doc Wednesday to talk about some kind of surgery that'll make it so I don't get these anymore. Man I do hate doctor's. Every damn time I go see one a really sharp blade and some part of my anatomy are involved. That means blood, my blood. The only upside is I get good drugs and hopefully some time off work. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not right now though. I'm supposed to start a 4 month block of schools in mid May and I don't want to miss out on them because they'll be very valuable to me in the civilian world which is coming up soon. Speaking of such things, we had the house reappraised last week. All I can say is HOLY RAT SHIT BAT MAN!!! This place has appreciated just under 100 grand sine we bought it. Man does that make me sleep easier at night, knowing that we're gonna sell this house for enough profit to pay off both cars and have a monstrous down payment on another house when I get out of the Navy. All's quiet on the home front for the most part. We're having a family reunion of my dad's side over Memorial Day. I'm really looking forward to that because I do love that side of my family and I never get to see them. I plan on changing that as soon as I possibly can. I haven't seen my cousin Karen since her brother's wedding over 2 years ago. Even then I didn't get to talk to her much because she was part of the wedding party and I was a mere observer. It's all good though and I can't wait to get home and see everyone. Anyway, that's all for now. I'll update again in a couple months I guess LOL. Naaaah I'll try to do it again sooner than that.
Well that was fun. I got to spend my entire weekend holed up in my brothers garage with him and my dad working on a motor. It reminded me a lot of when I was just a kid, helping dad do one thing or another to the cars. It's been a really long time since we've done that kind of stuff, all 3 of us. I think the last time all 3 of us tore down a motor was when I was 12 and that ,my friends, was a LONG TIME AGO. It was air compressors and impact wrenches. Antifreeze and motor oil all over the place. I know I've scrubbed my hands numerous times since I left that place and I still have black stains in my every imperfection of the skin on my hands. The cool thing is, I don't mind one bit. I got to see my brother on patrol. I got to play with my nephews and hang out a lot with my sister in law. All of these are good things. I just wish I had gotten to see some of my dwindling number of friends. I ate some dinner with Chris and his wife Friday, it lasted only a short while, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. They are really cool people that I count myself lucky to know. Anyway, work progresses slowly here at the house. I have to seal the grout on the floor before I do much more. Once that is done I'm looking at a day or so of finish carpentry and then I get to do plumbing. Can you feel the excitement oozing from my words about that.....yay, woohoo. I can't fucking wait to do plumbing. But the upside is, once the plumbing is done, I'm 90% done in there. So anyway on another note. I transferred to this new command and it has become self evident that I don't have much time left in the Navy, THANK GOD. Everyday I think of something else that I want to do before i get out and then I wonder if I will have time to get it all done. This realization of how little time I have left in has also made my longing for home even worse than it already was. It was really hard to come back to Va Beach yesterday afternoon. I was having way too much fun at home, also there was way too much work left to be done to that motor to leave. But Scott and dad are completely capable of getting it done. I reckon I'm just jealous because I won't get to play in the grease anymore. Anyway, that's about all I have for now. Y'all have fun, or at least try to.
Well, it's now February 3, 2005. Yesterday was the last day that I was a crew member of USS Enterprise. After 4 years, 8 months and a few days. It felt incredible to salute the ensign one last time as I departed for good. I walked down the brow with a huge grin on my face. Bigger even than coming home after a first deployment. There were lots of handshakes and congratulations and thanks exchanged before I left. The RO even shook my hand and said thanks for the hard work as I left Rx Admin for the last time. That was definitely unexpected. The RCA asked if I had anything I'd like to say to him before leaving. I just looked him dead in the eye, set my jaw and told him that I had nothing to say to him. He looked offended, good maybe he's not as dumb as I thought he was. Today, I slept in til almost 11 when I woke up with a cat on my chest, the phone ringing and FREEZING MY ASS OFF. Leslie had turned the thermostat down to like 66 when she left. I think I'm gonna go do something now....I'm not too sure what but I'm gonna do something.....maybe some painting is in order, maybe not. Who knows....I'll fill y'all in later.
OK, so I have my check out card from the Enterprise now, it's almost complete. One of the things I accomplished on it today was my checkout interview with the Command Master Chief. And Jerm, you'd be impressed, this guy's pretty genuine and a decent fella as far as I can tell. CMC does these interviews 2-3 guys at a time to make things a little quicker and it also facilitates a little discussion about the command in general. CMC asked one of the other guys in there with me how long he had been there and how his time on board was. THe replied with 2 years and he loved it. This caused me to reflect upon my time on the 'Prise. Of course my mind immediately flashed to 3 section liberty and week long fast cruises. I cringed when my mind harkened back to those days. Much to my surprise the very next thing I thought of was how much fun I had with guys from there and the places we'd been. Rome, Lisbon, Rhodes, Lauderdale and Jacksonville. Man the stores we could all tell about each other if we ever got together to hang out sometime. I've been pondering this question ever since 0830 this morning when it was asked of me and the answer assumed since he realized that I'm a nuke. Honestly, I can not say that my time on board that ship overall was terrible. Yes, there have been incredibly long days that I never thought would end. There were 2 deployments, one of which caused the ruination of a perfectly planned wedding and honeymoon. My marriage was almost destroyed. There were months of doing nothing but driving to work and coming home 12+ hours later. And I do believe I have started getting gray hairs, at the very least some of it is coming out now. On the flip side, I have had endless hours of fun and hilarity with some really awesome people. I got to see most of Europe on someone else's dime with one of the greatest guys alive with me. Most of all, I finally grew the fuck up. That place and the conditions which I survived in made me mature beyond what I expected I would in a fairly short period of time. So I think the next time someone asks me how my time on the 'Prise was, my answer will be, enlightening, trying and difficult, but enlightening.
