Slice and Dice

So I just had three weird needle like slicer things stuck into me (one of them in a very sensitive area). I wish that I could say it was cool but I don't remember it at all. They strapped me down on a somewhat creepy cross-like bed and make small talk, not mentioning that they're about to be exposing me and touching me in areas that no woman ever has. I'm glad that they were wearing masks and therefore I can never recognize them. I would be way too embarrassed. It is way to cold in the o.r. Luckily I was on muscle relaxants and that countered the effects of the "chill." Thank God for small mercies. Percocet is another blessing. I didn't really think that it was necessary until this afternoon. After driving around getting my prescription filled and walking around the house, when the previous pill wore off it was not fun. Now I'm happy. Ice cream helps as well. I also have tickets for California! Socal here I come. The beach, the sun, In-N-Out, Carl's Jr., good mexican food, In-N-Out, people that know how to drive on the freeway, In-N-Out, In-N-Out . . . do you get the idea?

Moving

So, as most of my continuous readers know, I'm in the process of moving right now. This has proved to be a rather exhausting process. Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to get anything out of my old apartment. By the time that I get out of work I can't even fathom the idea of stopping by my apt. before going home. I just want to go home and relax then sleep! Of course when I get home there are 4 children between the ages of 3 and 10 that apparently only ever want to play with me, so I almost always have to appease them before they go to sleep. I'm good with kids but that has it' s draw-backs. They get all pissy when I don't play with them. Damn children! I've been awake since 3 am on duty, leave me alone!!! But they're so cute, I can't help but love them. Who knew I'd end up a kid person? I never thought that I would be that good with kids.

Bitches

Good news, I got more of my right arm done! One more sitting and it'll be complete.

So i got in touch with an old friend from high school via facebook the other day. I was perusing his profile and one of the first things that I noticed was that he was part of not one but two groups called "Fuck the Troops." I thought that it was a joke or something, but they were completely serious. Essentially these people believe that since all personnel in the military volunteered for service and we are fighting "stupid, senseless wars" those of us in the armed services are directly supporting the ruination of America. I paraphrase of course. I sent him a message asking WTF? I also mentioned that I've done many things in the Navy that have safeguarded the security of the country (obviously I can't give any explanation). His response was practically an essay on how I'm dilluded and an idiot and he thinks that my 6 months away from home on deployment were a joke. No surprise, I want to punch him in the face.

I despise, loathe. and detest my job. Get me out of this shit-hole, please.

I hate my job.

Damn!

Okay, so coffee shop girl has a boyfriend. This is very disappointing. Luckily for me I didn't find this out by asking her out. I was in the shop drawing sketches for my tattoo tonight (yay for pain) when her boyfriend walked in to tell her something. Oh well, I'll live. She is crazy hot though, and her name is Kitty apparently. For some reason that's cool to me. Maybe she has friends.

Addiction

My sister Molly brings up a good point. Body art is addicting. I've spent quite a bit of money over the past three years just on ink. Her concern is not monetary in nature, but physical. Physical in that I keep getting more done every few months. She thinks that eventually I will cover myself beyond recall. My current plan is to have two full 1/2 sleeves, finish my right side and essentially cover my upper back. But what if I have a wonderful and inspired idea 6 months after all of that is done? How do I stop myself? I think the solution lies in my own taste. I do not like the idea of leg tattoos, I don't like full sleeves (covering down to the wrists is unsightly), and my physical build does not support chest or stomach art. I will never be fat, but I will never maintain a six pack either (except in my fridge). For some twisted reason (maybe I just like pain) I enjoy getting tattooed. Finishing the inside of my arm is going to be excruciating but I am actually looking forward to it.
I must admit a certain social reasoning as well. I like the image that tattoos give. It's not about being macho or more of a bad-ass, or trying to get in with the biker crowd. I like to tell stories, and my tattoos help me tell them. They're about my family and my Navy service and my heritage. I will always love and treasure my sisters so I will never regret my first tattoo. I will always be proud of my heritage and that I was in the Navy.
Besides that, they do just look freakin' awesome!!!

Excitement

So, a little back-story- a lot of the guys that work for the ship-yard are inked up. Obviously, therefore, it's one of the easiest topics for discussion. For the past few days I've been asking around trying to find out where the best place is to get tattoos around here. Long story short, I have an appointment for Saturday at 1600. I'm gonna fill in the rest of my right arm (making a full half sleeve). On the back I'm putting my initials, and on the inside of my arm I'm gonna have a tree with the trunk going all the way through my arm-band and the roots extending down to my elbow. I want to put some cool stuff in Gaelic or Latin below my cross but I'm having trouble finding good translations. apparently there's no word for God in Gaelic or Latin (Molly- help?). I expect some negative response from some family members (since they're the only ones who read my blog) but I don't care. I am decided. Next up is my left arm- my fish, maybe a cool navy-style pinup on the inside? Input is welcome. Molly, sketches are also welcome. The tree for my right arm is an oak tree, probably without leaves (ie in winter). Comments welcome.

Many apologies

I'm sure that my many loyal blog readers have been incredibly disappointed recently since there's been a lack of new insight into my soul. I do sincerely apologize for this. My only reasoning comes from the fact that my bowls were acting of their own accord in a manner that can only be described as sickening and repulsive. I will not dare to go into further detail. And no, I don't have the swine flu. That seems to be the most common question. The sad part is that I'm so out of the loop when it comes to current events that I didn't even know what anyone was talking about at first. You would think that being in the military and having so much of my life being dictated by world happenings and goings-on that I would be more concerned, but I'm not. After Obama got elected I decided that it was better just to watch The OC and live in quiet ignorance. It's bad enough having him for a boss, I don't want to have to see him all the time on the news. Here's a question though. Who the hell cares about his stupid dog? Does anyone in the world really give a shit about some stupid water dog? I know I don't. He obviously has plenty of time on his hands to worry about those kind of things, I just hope that can eventually concentrate on things like military funding to get us paid above the poverty line maybe. What a crazy thought. Maybe I'ld settle for more money for recruiting so that I can go 4-section sometime this millennium. This duty rotation is killing us.

Enough about annoying things. There is good news. First the great news: Annabelle is up and running and spent the majority of the weekend out of the garage with her tops off in the sun. 5.0 Mustangs were no match for her. It took 5 hours of my Saturday but it was well worth it. Just the sound of her firing up was enough for me. Seeing those mustangs (and later an eclipse) fade in my rear-view was a nice bonus. No speeding tickets yet, I'll keep you all posted.
The good news is that my staff adviser from prototype in South Carolina finally moved up here. He's going to the PCU Missouri so now I have more than one friend outside work. He's also gonna let me use his garage to store/work on Annabelle, so I'll save some money.

Well, not much real insight into social or political issues today. I'll try harder on Friday.

Roommates

So to those of you who don't know, A few months ago I agreed to let a guy on my boat crash at my apartment for a while. Ironically his name is Lewis. His plan when we got back from deployment was to buy a house right away, while living in a hotel in the meantime. Upon arriving home he realized that finding a house with exactly what you want in your exact price-range can be somewhat challenging. What are the odds? Anyway, I felt bad for him spending ridiculous amounts of money on weekly hotel bills, so I told him he could crash with me for a little while while he went shopping. Ya, that was in early February. Why is he still in my living room!?!?!?

Well, I just got home from an interesting bible study at my friends church (soon to be my church for the time being). I must say that it was refreshing to have fellowship with people my age. The church I've been going to is right up the street from my apartment but it's mostly old people and the only people I know who go there are moving to SC tomorrow. So there's no real reason for me to keep going. The worship isn't amazing and the message is usually mostly storytelling. Not bad, but not always full of substance and deep meaning (milk not meat as Mom would say).

The big disappointment of the day was that I did not get my car working. I was so sure that I knew what was wrong with it too! I was all excited to get in drive around only to have nothing happen when the key was turned. literally nothing. No click or light coming on or anything. No life. I was so sad. Saturday has now gone from cruising day to day under the hood. I don't really mind that much since I enjoy working on my car, but driving it is still better than working on it. Oh well.

Music and my mood.

I came to the realization recently that my music selection is lacking to a horrible extent. I need recommendations for artists. Help me out. Anyway, today I feel unappreciated. I spent the better part of my day at work preparing to help the mechanics with their maintenance and ended up stuck at work for an extra 3 hours. And we didn't even do their work. I had to sweat my ass off in the primary sample sink. It's not even my duty day! I'm off-going! 2 years, 4 months, 29 days until freedom.

Ok, one good thing about today is that I talked to my new LPO about the possibility of leave during the summer months and he was very receptive of the idea. My two big options are a cruise and a trip to Scotland. Both are incredibly appealing and would be awesome. Where to go? Feedback please!

Now it's pretty sad when the number of comments on the blog exceeds the number of posts on the blog. This blogging thing is harder than I thought it would be. I always have so many wonderful things to say, but always end up just talking to myself while I walk to work, or when I'm on watch during a duty day (info on duty for the under-informed to come later). I should learn to stop talking to myself and save my venting for the computer screen so that all the world can read how I feel.

Right now I feel like a little bitch. There's this girl that I walk past on the way to work all the time. She never pays attention to me (not surprising) but I always notice her (she's hard not to notice). I always wondered where she was off to. All the people that are young enough to be in school are always out, but they're standing around waiting for a schoolbus, not walking anywhere. My answer came on Saturday morning. I was on my way to work to stand duty (like I said, more explanation to follow) when I drove past this cute little coffee shop down the street from my apartment. I've always wanted to stop in there, but during the week I have to be at work before they open. Weekends, however, are different. Anyway, upon realizing that they were open and that I had plenty of time before work I decided to stop in for a latte. Dunking Donuts makes passable (just ok. no one can compete with the smiths) coffee, but there is nowhere to go around here for a good latte. Well, I go in and I"m about to order my drink when who should walk up to the counter to take said latte order but the same girl who is always walking past me on my way to work. What a strange and weird coincidence right? So she's crazy cute and I've been feeling depressingly single lately so I figure, what the hell right? Why not go for it? I concocted this awesome excuse to go back for coffee before church on Sunday morning. Church being an excuse to be up and going there for a coffee and an excuse to dress nice therefore impressing her with my [not]good looks and great style.
Ya, I totally woosed out. I'm such a pansy. My excuse was that she was really busy when I went in since there were a good number of people there, but I should have said something. I even worked up a great pitch too. Oh well. The place is just down the street. I can always go back when they won't be as busy and try not appear stalkerish. I'll let you all know how that goes.

Besides that, I have duty tomorrow, so hopefully Annabelle can get up and running on my off-going day. I just want to enjoy my car in the summer!!! She wants to get out too. I think she was just upset with me for not working on her more in the winter so that she'd be more prepared for the season. My only excuse is that it was freakin cold out and I didn't want to freeze my hands off in January just for an extra 10 BHP 3 months later. My mistake. You just can't please some women. Anyway, explanation of duty to follow, then I'm off to bed.

In the navy we have a wonderful thing called "Duty." Molly, I know that you're giggling right now. Duty is where you come into work early and stand watch throughout the day and night taking logs on all of the equipment on the boat. The best part is that you don't go home, so if you have duty on Monday, you won't get to go home until you're done with work on Tuesday afternoon. It's even better when you have duty on the weekend. Yesterday I went to work at 0730 and got home today at around 0900. Right now we only have three ELTs (Engineering Laboratory Technician - that's me) so we can only support a three section duty rotation, meaning that I have duty every three days. This eliminates any possibility of ever having an actual weekend off since the best deal you can get is having duty on Friday therefore getting off work at around 0900 Saturday. That's supposed to be next weekend for me, so car show here I come.

Welcome to me

So I've been reading all that my sister Molly has had to say for the past 9 months and am inspired. I feel like sharing my own thoughts and ideas with random internet surfing people of the world, so here you go. My disclaimer is: Molly is an amazing literary type person and I have no pretensions that I am anything like her when it comes to the quality of our script. I do hope, however that someone might find it interesting. Enjoy if possible.

My first thought is one of frustration. Seth was supposed to call me an hour ago with our friday night plans. It is now 10 pm and I am sitting in my bed writing on my new blog listening to The Fray. Oh well. Most likely my evening will end with me watching tv until 3 am when I finally shower and pass out.

I just realized that my music library is quite sad. I went to put some music on to inspire myself while blogging and realized that I have very little selection. This is very sad and needs to be corrected as soon as possible. I-Tunes Store to the rescue.

I am fighting the urge to re-watch North and South. Molly intoduced me to this wonderful story not too long ago and I cannot help myself. Waiting 230 minutes with bated breather for the last three minutes of romance. I knwo I'm a girl sometimes but I don't care. Maybe I'll watch Persuasion instead (it's shorter and I do want to sleep eventually).

More to come for sure. I think that I will enjoy talking to no-one here.