Seeing the Light...

Well, I'm halfway through the year and I can taste the freedom that will come to me at the end of next year. I know it's a bit far out there, but you need to visualize what you'll be doing about that time so you can plan accordingly. If there's one thing the Navy has taught me, among many various things (Never Again Volunteer Yourself), it's that it's best to plan very well for yourself or you'll be working after hours on a Friday..Metaphorically, of course. Sometimes literally.

Most folks that I work with speak of "getting out" as though being released from prison. Sometimes it's exactly the case, I mean, just look at our old Utility Uniforms, they look exactly like inmate uniforms. Unfortunately some of those that desperately would like to see a cross-rate to civilian find themselves at the mercy of a solid, yet modest, paycheck and decide that the constant dumbassery is far better than taking a chance on the "outside".

Makes you think...I now know exactly why we call a toilet a "head". It's all good though, because what I want is almost never what someone else may want.

I haven't written any music in almost 5 years. I'm worried. I have plenty of material to write about, but the music doesn't find my fingers like it once did. Although, I'll be the first to say that it always took me a lot of work to come up with one half-decent song. Funny, one of my catchiest songs came to me in about 20 minutes. I'm probably nuking the hell out of it and expecting way too much out of myself.

I finally decided that now is about the right time as well to ask some hand-picked folks about forming a group to start playing when I get out of the Navy. More to follow on that if everything works out well. I've heard affirmatives from 2 of the 3 that I sent invites to. Now....band names....
Sending the Zen,
~chase

...and another Blog.

Sitting here listening to Go Big Casino on my duty day, today just so happens to be the first day back from our little underway. I guess it could be a whole lot worse, but who's counting. Figured I would start a blog about life in the new Navy.

Well, to start off, I thought I was joining my Grandfather's (WWII) navy. Oh well, a guy has a right to dream. Life isn't so bad these days though, just finished up my first tour in Yokosuka, Japan. Had a blast with some of the guys I met and places I had seen. Just wasn't our home port a whole hell of a lot. These days my duty runs aboard a DDG (Destroyer) based out of San Diego. So far it seems like good duty as much as sea-duty can be good.

Lots to do here, but I miss the Japanese food that I could get right off base at Yoko. Maybe I could make it to more music shows now, at least?

If anyone is interested in trying some Japanese-style curry, which is CHO GENKI! Might I strongly recommend S&B Gold Curry? Tenderize some chicken breast until about 1 1/2cm thick and bread with egg/cracker-crumbs or egg/batter and fry it up. Make up some sticky rice and put the sliced chicken on half the rice and pour the curry over half the chicken. Finish up with some strings of white cheddar and some roasted garlic bits. I'm starting to drool just thinking about it. You'll be eating the closest thing to CoCos Ichibanya Curry House's style as you can get without having to read Kanji.

Sending the Zen,
~chase