Care packages!!!

Today we pulled into Puerto Prinsesa, Philippines and recieved mail....a month's-worth of mail. Packages, postcards, snail mail, anything and everything. If you want to see some sailors as happy as a child on Christmas morning then all you need to do is witness a mass of packages being distributed throughout the ship. Everyone's sharing a portion of various baked goods, packaged meat (SlimJims, Jerky), and other assorted goodies. One of the more common and prized bounties are homemade cookies/brownies. I was lucky enough to have received some rather well-travelled cookies (Chocolate Chip and Peanutbutter Kisses! SQUEE!) from my wife. I was able to trade a few of them, not unlike prison currency.

My mother in-law even had an awesome idea to put wooden block puzzles, yo-yos, crazy putty, and cup & ball game in her package. I'll enjoy those when I'm slowing going insane on the console.

Ramen is always a welcomed sight. I can never have too much of it, especially since my watch hours easily dictate when I sleep and what meals I miss. It's always handy to have a bowl of ramen ready to head up when the mess lines are long since closed.

Also, part of my Amazon.com order arrived that included a couple of my favorite books to read while underway. 1984 by George Orwell and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I would always rather carry a paper (read: Analog. For those technophiles in the crowd) copy of the books than digital. Owen Meany gives a person hope and reminds me that regardless how little of a role one plays in their life, your actions oculd mean the world to another. Funny enough, I first heard of the book through a song called "Goodbye Sky Harbor" by Jimmy Eat World. I suggest you check both out.

Long day for me, watch started at midnight and ended at 0700. I've been awake since because of one thing or another, and it's not 1800 (6:00pm). Lunch was a processed Chicken patty's excuse for Parmesian Chicken. The patties are a go-to these days for being eatible. Then I missed dinner altogether. Oh well....RAMEN!

Think I'm going to take a nap. I miss my girls badly. To quote the Cure (cliche?), "I've been looking so long at these pictures of you, that I almost believe that they're real." Goodnight everyone.

I'll never take my own bed for granted again, pinky promise.

With prospect of finally staying overnight in a n actual bed, I'm started to think I may be pampering myself. The place we're looking at staying is a privately owned little hotel with a nice little get up. A relaxing-looking pool with a bar in the water, free WiFi interwebz that I might finally get to video chat with my wife and daughter after 2 1/2 months. It will be a nice chance to take it easy and lie down in bed and watch some TV, maybe see some sights and get some more souvenirs.

My souvenirs, may I add, are staring to pile up and I've had to find a new hding spot for them during our space inspections.

During this time I'll actually sit down and post some pictures to this blog, laong with my Facebook profile. Something that is long overdue for anyone who keeps up with this blog. I'll post some pics of the place I'll be staying also, though I can't disclose quite where it is yet.

Interesting note; someone in Shanghai, China is checking out this blog. Friend? Foe? Ni Hao!

IIII wanna perform preventative maintenance all niiiight, and party every day.

Sometimes there are long nights on the ship...well, most of the time. I'll wake up around 11:15pm, and grab some midrats(Midnight rations) to eat, and try to make some coffee before I start on the night's agenda. Most of the time I'm pretty well-rested and ready for either maintenance of the preventative or corrective kind. If all I need to do is straighten the workspace up, then it usually ends up with me finishing early and reflecting on things. With a huge inspection coming up, I'm getting tasking from at least 5 supervisors telling me they all need lists made, corrections applied, statuses updated, blah blah blah blah, etc. Honestly, it feels like Office Space. And yes, we have something similar to TPS reports, right down to the same 5 people telling me that I did them wrong. Our inspection isn't for another 7-8 months away.

Tonight's problem; I am aware that my cooling syetem needs some TLC. We apparently recieved an email from the leading Petty Officer in that particular engineering space about it, because there is a creeping leak in it, causing water to create running rust. My workcenter has been focusing on other matters, and my superiors know about this. I'll probably be reminded again, in the morning for the third time from someone else, that I need to focus on the skid. I love it. We stand 5-7 hours of watch on the console, then we can take 5-7 hours for oursleves for working out, eating, or the occasional movie...or any paperwork/ corrective work. Every third day, I like to relax and unwind by watching a movie for myself after my 1200-1700 watch. Doesn't always happen because things will pop up. Then we have 5-7 hours for sleeping. The times we get for all those depends on what watch we have during the day.

I'm ready to be done with all this. Taking classes is going to seem like a cakewalk. Some folk's schedules are even more insane, like the folks on Flight Quarters staitons, those people are up at all hours of the night for Helo support. They also get paid extra though, haha!

This is just a another rant about life while underway. Time to resume the watch...goodnight.

Another day to mark off the countdown calendar.

It seems like seeing the Coronado bridge pass overhead for the last time is a sweet distant memory of the my life in San Diego. Though, it's crazy to think that it's only been a couple of months since that moment. Next time I pass under it I'll be throwing my white "Dixie cup" hat over the side to follow tradition, a happy thought I keep in the back of my mind.

According to tradition, at least from what I've heard in San Diego, a sailor returning home from his last deployment must throw his White Hat over the side when directly underneath the symbol of returning/leaving port that is the Coronado bridge. If the White Hat floats, the sailor is destined to go back to sea. If it sinks, the sailor will never see another deployment in his life. As you can guess, most sailor's tie the heaviest object they can possibly lift to the Dixie Hat so that there's no question what's in store for their future.

I feel like I would like cheating fate would only encourage it, so I'll be throwing my Dixie Cup sans weight with a clear mind.


In other news, I have received my acceptance into Middle Tennessee State University for the completion of my degree in Music Recording Industry! The last time I felt this excited about going to school must have been when I was in Kindergarten. I'm looking forward to finally working on completing my dream of being a producer and owner of my own studio and label.

I have my wife, Laura, to thank for helping me keep my dream alive when I was about to just throw in the towel and settle for less.

I have already routed my separation request for Dec 2nd, 2011 and I'll be taking my terminal leave about 20 days before that. With any luck we'll be back in North Carolina by mid-late November and looking for our new home in Nashville. Will know something soon about my request. Looking forward to seeing everyone once I get back!

PARTY AT MY PLACE WHEN WHEN I SEPARATE!!!!

Sending the Zen-
~chase

A peek into my small world

Some of the folks that read this blog have been asking me what it's like to live as a Tin Can Sailor. Well, I figured it was about time to post some pictures I was able to snag from my wife when she visited my berthing area.






When I lay on my back in the rack I'm able to bend my arm at the elbow and touch the top of the rack. There is a gap of about 6 inches from the bottom of my mattress to the very end of the enclosure that is my rack, my feet hang off this gap onto the cold metal. I've made a habit of putting my old fleece sleeping bag in that area to keep out the cold air.

I've actually attached velcro to the top of the rack so I can put my iPad up there to watch movies or TV shows. Works pretty well, imagine sitting really close to a big screen TV.

You can't see them in these pictures, but I've put pictures of my loved one on the side of the wall inside, where I sleep.

Starbucks, a universal constant in this world.

Regardless of where I may find myself in the world, there's something that will always be there. If you find yourself one day after all these years at the gates of hell or heaven (whichever your case may be), I could almost guarantee that there will be a Starbucks Coffee shop on the corner adjacent to it. Thanks to globalization, and the fact that the store itself isn't too much of a capital investment, you can find these puppies just about everywhere. In fact, due to the unique nature of these shops and the fact that they offer location-based mugs that have the city names on them, many folks I know onboard the ship have started to collect these mugs as they would Hard Rock Cafe pins/glasses to show where they've been with something that is as recognized as a McDonald's would be. I myself have purchased a Jakarta mug due to a lack of good coffee mugs that I own on the ship.

There's something to be said for being able to make your own coffee onboard a ship. Lets say that you've stayed up all night troubleshooting a problem with the system and you're now running on fumes...but alas, you forgot, you have the next watch at 1200-1700. Damn. At least you have the option to make your favorite caffeinated beverage of choice.

Kuantan, Malaysia;
Initially I was a bit skeptical about heading out into this port. Though, I have to say that it isn't as oppressive as Indonesia was. Quite a bit more laid back, and not nearly as populated. It's a bit how I imagine the general living of a Micronesian area to be like. The food is still quite alien to me, as I can't recognize most of it, and it still surprises me that there is so much English. On more than one occasion I've seen hamburgers advertised as "Hamburgers, USA style".

Souvenirs have been few and far between, but thanks to my mother for suggesting looking for some Batik fabric, I stumbled upon one of the best shops I've seen since being deployed. Batik is a process of graphical design that utilizes a prepared beeswax drawn onto any fabric such as silk, cotton, hemp, canvas, anything really. Once the wax has hardened you may use any combination of colors that you would like to fill in the designs between the wax. I picked up several selections for my mother and wife, and even a little DIY batik kit for my daughter! if you would like to see the shop yourself, it is called Natural Batik Village. The journey to get there wasn't bad at all really, just found a cab and showed him the address, 10 minutes later we arrived and asked the cabbie to wait for us. The whole round trip was 20 USD.

I wish that I a little bit more money to spent at the shop because I could find something for nearly everyone there. My buddy ended up spending over $200 there on apparel and paintings. I think I managed to keep my budget under $75, so I think I managed alright.

With any luck, I'll have enough liberty time to reserve a hotel and upload some pictures and other items with the provided interwebs. That's all for now!

Dear Diary pt. 2....

I found a way to top Rick 'Rolling the entire ship one morning....I have now Rick 'Rolled the ship twice. Thank you, and good night.