Filed under: Uncategorized
GUYS & GALS!!!
Listening to: Six Pence none the richer (Kiss me) which I currently have playing in my head, the sounds of HALO 3 combat playing in the background… and ambient noise from the hallway.
So let me just say Thanks to all the wonderful Happy birthdays I got over the weekend. My birthday went REALLY well. Lets see here – To recap…
Friday started off really well, bring that our MCMAP class was cancelled due to relative lack of people in attendance (prior commitments) so that started my day off EXCELLENT. I finally got to sit down and have a nice breakfast compared to the normal hurry and grab a egg and cheese biscuit and run out the door. Work went fine, took a picture in front of a F-18 which is ALWAYS fun in my book. For the most part – went through the motions of a typical friday. One of the other shops on the Van pad did call me – and when I answered everyone gathered around the phone shouted a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY at me… which was VERY thoughtful – makes ya feel kin da special.
After work we ran on home to change back into comfortable clothes (civies if there was EVER a doubt) and proceeded to wait around. I TOTALLY got to talk to my lovely girlfriend Melissa.
Speaking of, She is gallivanting around in France right now at this very second… so I am Jealous and sad at the same time. Its AMAZING that she has had the opportunity to go – its just sad because its a little burden on our talk time – good thing is…
Doesn’t change a thing about the way I feel about her!
SO! Got home, talked to her – totally opened a present form her WHICH I might add is a stunning fossil watch to replace the old and busted one I used to have… old and bus ted… new hotness. (2 points to the first one who remembers that movie)
^
^ – New Hotness
We TOTALLY went swimming in the outdoor REC pool too, which being that I haven’t been in an outdoor pool since sometime last august – I was fairly excited. A few of my friends and I went there to play around – ended up wrestling, diving,racing, playing keep-away,playing jackpot, and trying to see who can hold their breath the longest. In general being a guy lol.
Came on home – washed up, and that’s when things got a little more birthday like. We ordered pizza and Wilson and started to do yet ANOTHER thing I have been neglecting…. Playing HALO online. Halo was fun as always, I came to realize how different halo 3 is from 2… and on top of that how freaking RUSSSSTTTY I have become.
- I can only imagine my paint ball fingers being the same way :’-( -
So pizza, cake, Rock band… Dr. Pepper… and a bunch of friends occupied the rest of my night. I posted a couple of pictures that I took/had taken at the party just to get you an idea of what was going on. Wilson and Canseco supervised the heck out of me with some gifts of their very own…. an Aerosmith CD and a wolfmother DVD… they know me SO well . Thanks again for all the great birthday wishes… but I have more MMCMAP tomorrow – so I will be off! Until next time – Sionara
———EDIT———–
I got a lovely comment from my madre…. Recounting the fact that I "neglected" to mention the wonderful phone call I got from her on my birthday. A TRAVESTY. I really cant tell if it was the massive guit trip (;-p) or my overt sense of sarcasm that makes made me post this… but here it goes. Oh yeah – my mom called…
THE END!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hey!!!!
Some of you may know, some may not – But the fact of the matter is that I just bought a new guitar. ANNNNDDDD I’m pretty happy with it…. and I play it a lot.. I got it from Guitar Center .com, its an Epiphone Les Paul, had a pretty good exchange with them – no qualms with shipping, delivery – packaging – nothing. Highly Recommended. If anyone has any tips/tricks – or good places to help me learn more, feel free to lemme know! Btw… Here she is:
Filed under: Random
Quoted from http://www.nataliedee.com/nd-archives/ndarchive-may08.php:
5-15-08
HA lol – the next best way to grilling out over memorial day!
Quoted from http://iwakuni.usmc.mil/news/stories/2008/05/080523-marauders/080523-marauders.html:
Marauders walk hard for Warrior Night : The Iwakuni Approach : MCAS Iwakuni
Lance Cpl. Noah S. Leffler Iwakuni Approach staff
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan (May 23, 2008) – Led by their senior enlisted advisor Sgt. Maj. James C. Kirkland, members of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 take part in a seven-mile hike around the air station May 16. The hike kicked off the second annual Warrior Night, an evening of unit camaraderie among MALS-12 sergeants and below, which featured barbecue, a bonfire, competitions and a movie tent at the north side football field. “I thought it went better than last year’s,” Kirkland said. “It had a little bit of modification. This year we had a gladiator-themed night with a mess night, and it seemed to go well.”
Thats right… we Walk Hard….. Haarrrrddddddddd
Thats basically it… the night was filled with a lot more than just the march. The mess night they attempted to pull off went well, it was just slightly un-organized to explain exactly WHAT is a mess night entailed. I have a rough understanding now… Consequently I am looking forward to the NEXT mess night where things will hopefully go a little smoother. Not being one to complain, we did have lots of decent food – and plenty to drink so the night was fun all in all. I left early, (around 10:00 PM) because of the post I had the next day leaving me out of the Mass MALS slumber party, but there’s always next year….
SOOOO let me begin with two options – You can either read this from a positive point of view (A) or from a SLIGHTLY more negative one (B)
The choice is yours –
(A) SOOO this holiday has actually been pretty dang sweet. I mean, there was an air show that I almost got to watch that seemed pretty cool. I, for the first time in a long while, felt at ease with the Japanese Nationals…That sort of came about in an odd turn of events as well. After all of my working and set-up… We had to wave off the truckloads of busses that filled up the parking lot (I should venture to guess around 140+) each and every one filled to the brim with locals. In all honestly the whole day went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. You can attest that to the professional drivers we were able to work with, having such a large place to park them, or even the efficiency of the Japanese themselves… either way Friendship day went off smoothly. When a bus had accounted for its entire people, each would pull out normally and start to head for one of the marines to be directed where to go. The coolest thing however, was how most of the people onboard would wave to you when they went by – this simple gesture really made me feel more welcomed over here. And I’m not just talking a little wave – you would start to wave and half of the bus would start standing up – climbing to the windows, and waving hysterically.
(B) So this is about the schedule I went through
1. Wake up around 2:15
2. Walk in the rain to PMO for formation @ 3:00
3. Stand in the rain @ PMO for about an hour
4. Walk in the rain to the bus parking lot
5. Wait around in the rain until sun up
6. Sun up – vehicles start to arrive, start to park them
7. No it’s about 7:30ish…. no one can move until the ribbon ceremony, try and explain that to the Bus drivers as best you can
8. Continually park busses until lunch
9. Take your 30 min, eat an MRE, walk around – find lost child and forget about lunch
10. Half the air show is over – busses begin to leave
11. All busses are gone, begin the tear down
12. Walk across the entire flight line to north gate – told to do something…
13. Get fed up with superiors, take another marine and start to work…
14. hundred Zip ties, probably 45 barriers, 45 concrete bases, steel plating to go with that, and about 300 yards of orange traffic netting later – north gate is clean.
15. Rest of group catches up – no one elects to help you, so we keep working on lcpl initiative.
16. FOD walk swoops us up – check the whole flight ops area for debris…
17. Word isn’t passed; we arrive to fod walk an already cleaned area
18. Wait around some more
19. Getting dark… lets pick up trash after the vendors..
20. Dark… get your stuff and march to PMO
21. Awesome… we are here, but there is a gear accountability problem.
22. He had someone else’s backpack, a Kevlar and flask appeared out of nowhere, and the radio was dealt with…
23. GO home
Overall I think it was a pretty good experience, it bought and paid for THIS weekend. By that I mean everyone here is working through the weekend because the higher ups say so… So I have been working on logos and playing video games this weekend… Hopefully you have had a blasti blast as well – P.S. – Like the redesign? lol
So let’s see… I feel pretty confident that you don’t have ANY idea what Friendship day is… BUT that’s about to change, if of course you decide to continue reading. Basically if you have ever been to an Air show before, the idea is exactly the same, where pilots play in multi-million dollar aircraft that we fix when inevitably something breaks.
If its the same concept of an air show… what makes friendship day os special then??
WEEELLLLLLLLL.. Impatient are we? Think air show – in the middle of a foreign country. So here in a few days somewhere (weather depending) in the range of 150-300,000 Japanese nationals will be coming on base to enjoy the festivities. I am SO fortunate to be on a working party directing traffic (at least that’s what they hinted at…. who knows I might be walking around with a benelli)
Ill try and take pictures of the day – but Right now, Its Saturday and I have to be at work by 0800 –
Via con dios!
Listening to:
Jack Johnson: Do you Remember
Location:
Kadena AFB, Okinawa Japan
So hey guys! wow – Its been a looong time since I posted to my little bloggy here… honestly it probably didn’t leave a mark on anywhere BUT STILL! The whole point of this blog was to keep it updated to let friends and family know what I have been up to…. Thats an all and well mission statement when you actually have access to the Internet. After the barracks move our new rooms have an excellent signal to the router, but the router was not meant to handle the amount of stress we as a whole put on it.
-Sad Days-
So my Internet prowess has been limited to barely hanging onto MSN messenger, crawling away at my usual comic sites, and relying on outlook to sync up emails when ever a burst of speed comes through. Notice I didn’t mention blogging anywhere in there. So you may ask, what exactly have you been up to there mr complainy no Internet complainerton??!?!?!
Oh ho ho my friends – let me recount to you my adventures and unbelievably exciting tribulations…
not much of anything
So in all actuality life moves on, certain people get older (MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)<— my evil laugh, and the world keeps spinning. I’m still the positive/happy-go-lucky guy that I always have been… I do think that Ive either grown up a little (GET BACK YOU AGE MONGRELS!!!!) or that Ive gotten a little better at holding in my add fueled rampages.
the latter seems more likely
Work has been treating me EXTREMELY well, and by that I mean I fixed a bench problem, Wilson and I cleared a backlog of about 7 Q’s built up from YEARS past all the way down to 0. Now this may not seem like a lot – but lets put it into perspective. Imagine your a toy maker, you love working on toys but your pretty new into the game… not exactly an expert on toys. Well day one on your toy job shows you that you have a room in the back filled to the brim with toys missing part s- legs – head – …. the WHOLE kit and caboodle. a room full of pigged out toys. Now imagine that after 9 months you get that room cleared out to nothing – not a toy in sight…
Toys aside – I am pretty proud at what we accomplished.
Personal wise Melissa and I are still doing FANTASTIC. Lately Ive been experiencing some up/downs when it comes to my relationship purely stemming from the fact that sometime when I try and talk to her I don’t feel as completely focused as I should be, or that theres just not enough time to talk, and the inevitable why did I put us through this thinking that usually leads me to reminisce about the amazing people we got the chance to grow up to be together – and everything is usually better after that. Nothing can pull me out of a funk like hearing her happy and (assumably That my friends is a good feeling. Maybe I’m just lying in bed with not a whole lot to do but think and listen to music….. but I cant tell you how great that feeling is. My lunch break from work usually consists of me :
getting off work as soon as I can
walking pretty quickly to the chow hall
nabbing a bag of lunch
power walk to the post office
power walk to the smp plop my laptop down and turn it on
THEN plug in the power cord, lets not waste any time here
sit down and connect to the net and power up messenger
make contact lol
and THEN open up my lunch and start chowing down
Maybe its just me but I just want to get the most time possible to talk to her. We don’t always even talk about super deep and meaningful conversations about physics and the source of life in the universe. But to be fair… totally have 
But Hearing form her and more importantly how her day has gone sets the rest of my day on a higher plane – takes me out of whatever funk I might have been feeling and replaces it all with a smile. I find myself to be pretty busy during the day but whenever I slow down and get to return to my own thoughts…. they usually include her or something for her. Is that love?
I can say comfortably… yes
I fought for a long time with myself to know if love or lust was what was controlling my mind (first started dating) but as Ive told Melissa before. There was a time we sat there talking about our futures and my decision to join the marine corps… and she said something that Ill never forget.
“I’d rather you join and be happy… than to be living with you later with regrets”
GAH I LOVE HER… – In fact – those 4 words took me 6 time to type out because I kept going to fast and screwing it up. But that phrase is what made me decide to stick through the boot camp decision, and I can honestly say that without her I could very well have been in a different state of mind right now. All the inside jokes we share and all the ones we’ve forgotten… Its just a remarkable circumstance to me.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEWAYS should probably be off to bed – Ive got two netflix movies for tomorrow… all in hopes of passing the time I have to wait until she can come online to talk – But until then – From one hopeless romantic to you, hold the one you love – and just realize how lucky you are to have arms to hold, a person to share with, and the freedom to do so.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So first and foremost I apologize for NOT POSTING what so ever in a long long time… There has been WAY too much stuff going on lately to even TRY and recap for you all – so I think Im going to just give you the highlights
-Been snowboarding a few times
-Got my Tuition Assistance Approved
-I’m about to move barracks
-bought some AMAZING new headphones
-bought a roomba!!!!@!@!@!@!!@
Which speaking of… I think Im going to ask for some help in naming my little guy… or girl -
I guess I dunno yet lol.
Its previous owner was an older woman who had named it hazel… and Im totally not digging that – so we gotta change – give me some ideas if anything pops into your head.
One of my fav comic strips TOTALLY has been off in crazy land which is awesome – so If you haven’t ever read questionablecontent.net you MUST!!
Ive been working on the community website lately too – trying to figure out all about the programs and tablet Ive got running – always entertaining.
I think thats about it – OH WAIT! if you like silly randomness – you def need to check out nataliedee.com comics
MhahaHAHAHAHA – well … thats how I FEEL anyway 
Oh well – Ill def try and keep ontop of this little guy – its a good place to vent some stuff so I suppose – until next time ladies and gents –
Well hey there blogosphere!
I have had a CRAZY blast-tacular time this weekend snowboarding. And as of late Ive been kinda sacrificing quantity for quality when Im writing… but I def want this to be a place that you (if there is anyone out there lol) can check back randoly for funny little comments and otherwise snarky behavior.
BTW – Snarky… TOTALLY my new fav word
ANYWAYS! This weekend was full of rather hilarous goings on so let me recap. I had a snowboarding trip that included boarding hobo’s, tree popscicles, and a ironically delivered dose of karma from the woman herself… YEs I do belive karkas a woman and y? BECAUSE! who else would fit that job description?
"Ummm yes, Id like a job please"
What are your qualifications?
"well specifically I can twist your words into an indepth examination of your self conciousness to include dramatic ridicule and/or a shattering realization to your self image"
…… your hired!
What did karma deal to me? Well as it seems I had jsut made it through a couple of switchbacks in a fashion I actually didnt think was sub par… and thats when My rear end had the bright Idea to utter these words… "I think I’m getting the hang of this"
<insert> C:/Windows/Program Files/KARKA/Ironic_Twists_of_fate.exe </insert>
… Whats that mr front edge? oh you want to slam my body into the snow? By all means! And thats when I broke my stride and slammed into the deck… AWESOME!
Neways adoring fans and naysayers all the same – Im gonna get the pics of the weekend posted eventually – but HAve a great Week Everyone!
Filed under: Car Sickness!, Caustic Acid spitting volcano the next, Events, Human One Day, Snowboarding Trip, Weekend Outing
Imagine…
Its officially 5:30 AM
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Your alarm has gone off twice
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You really want to sleep some more… but you have a reason to get up
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Not just any reason, its not work, its not breakfast, its not even a trip to Disney land…
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Its something better, something faster, colder, and more exciting…
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A SNOWBOARDING TRIP!!!!
You hurriedly, albeit quietly (think of your roommate for heavens sake) thrown on the layers uopn layer of clothing you have set out for the day – put on an extra pair of socks, and grab your boots… Its time
Downstairs the formalities of checking out liberty cards, assigning buddies, and packing/piling into that car all goes without a hiccup. Heading toward the gate in a 7 seater (HA! they must have consulted with the guys who set the recommendations for the capacity of tents) Japanese mini van currently holding 6 able bodies marines and all their equip for snowboarding* !WAIT! Do we all have enough yen? … -screech-… umm no, PIT STOP! one stop to the ATM and a significant amount of yen in our hands… we were off. Now… the place Mega Hira… In a 100% assumption I think the title roughly is meant to mean greater Hiroshima Prefecture. But I dunno for sure. We started the trip out just fine, no problems or anything aside from being squashed in the back seat… Now before you ppl that know me start worrying… actually no, keep worrying its adds to the dramatic intrigue when you have an idea what I’m talking about personally… (I didn’t earn the title ‘pukemaster 5000′ on a whim you know) NEWAYS we were driving for quite a while when I started to get really overheated. Now kind listeners in the blogging world… I don’t suppose you could know this but I apparently DO NOT mesh well with the backseat of a vehicle where I cant stay cool. Its happened before and on a side note my stomach has always been on the weaker side, but this is my cross to bear , not yours.
- Did I mention this Van has no AC? -
About half way there I start shedding layers as if I was spontaneously combusting and start focusing to reassure my stomach, who is begging to make an entrance, that his time for stardom has not yet come to fruition. We managed to crack a window (the sunroof) and let some cool air reach us in the back. The spit started building up in my mouth in a valiant attempt to protect my gizzard from the insanely corrosive acid thats about half a second, two degrees, and just one more bump away from rocketing out of my mouth. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Ask my dad, hes the one who told me and its true – you start salivating when your about to throw up.
-Focus!-
The cool air from the outside helped a lot, actually it did wonders for my comfort level and I went ahead and officially changed my caustic volcano level so green (come on now.. terrorism threat level… r/o/y/g… its a joke PPL!) Thats when mother nature, whom I previously thought that I was on good terms with, decided to go ahead and turn that level back up to red in a cruel twist of weather conditions.
-It started raining-
Naturally this forced us to close the sun roof and for the ambient temp of the van to start rising on a pretty quick interval. Should I throw up and get it over… or should I hold it in? Now usually I can pose this question to my self and answer it based on my condition pretty quickly… but I’m in a predicament. Back seat, behind a wall of snowboards, no bags, and no real stopping point. Yeah, there was no choice- cap the geyser and take it like a man. Holding my hand on the window-absorbing the cold-and then holding it on my neck/head/temples/wherever it helped seemed to work for a little bit, but after hearing we missed our turn and went about 10 minutes past, thats where my pressure gauges started pinging. The so close and yet so far was playing through my head, I was considering pulling out an umbrella for everyone and more importantly… FINDING a bag when we cracked the window and made the short back-track and found a parking spot…
-Pressure levels decreasing, emergency containment field holding…”Sir” I think shes gonna hold-
Yeah, thx Scotty. That being the case, WE’RE HERE! Boards out, clothes on – and to the ticket counter we go. Guess who also happens to be there? My buddy Thomas and his Fiance (imagine theres a fancy tilde over it) Awesome! Greeting were passed around, but more than anything we just wanted to hit the slopes. Now for all of you American types who have ever been skiing/snow boarding… You know how big most Ski Resorts are… well check this out
Granted its not a vast array of spider like trails filled with fun and excitement around every cornet. But its our mountain, we’ve paid to be on it… and dog-gonnit… People like me! (Random SNL commentary brought to you today by the makers of Reeses Miniature Peanut butter cups) Having never snowboarded, skate boarded, dirt boarded ( well thats another story from a while ago) I was a little apprehensive about it but I had no worries that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Melissa had said something earlier about one of her friends tall boyfriend had trouble balancing and what not… I am set and determined to make this work. I got on Google (my fav) and looked up what to do, leaned some info… and planed to use it. So come hell or high water Melissa and I are going to both be crazy boarding ppl… either that or look goofy and hurt myself in the process..(last statement 100% in my direction… Melissa looks hot no matter the place/event shes at)
-Lets call it a little of both-
Straight off I strap in, and head to the very top of the mountain. The bunny slopes aren’t gonna help me and Id like to be able to spend more than a half-nano second actually riding the slope so top, here I come:
First attempts not so hot – Standing up is becoming a challenge for me… Maybe the tall factor is coming into play.
Turns out that falling steals just a little bit of your soul each time… who knew
Ah! Standing up heels down the mountain helps me out BUNCHES!
ok… 
check
Totally got this!
been to the top and down a few times now… lets try and figure out carving with the front edge…
basically can go straight now with out catching an edge… Ill keep trying
-Lunch Break-
Ok, Rough start… apparently I got over zealous during lunch
front edge carving still weird to me… I don’t like facing backwards downhill
more and more trips up and down the mountain
Hit pretty hard, headache… gonna rest for a bit
-Warm Liquids Time/Rest Muscles-
Head out, Getting better, can hold my own and not fall for a considerably lengthier amount of time
YAY!!!! Snowboarding is awesome
WORTHINGTON! Met up with him, fiance took a rest… real advice is now go for launch
Coached through cutting with the front edge
Take a slope facing up mountain the whole time
Assuming the typical snowboarder routine is pretty tough right now
-Side Note: I think for a time I had a real ignorance of wanting to lean with the hill and all that… I want to stay PERPENDICULAR with GRAVITY! but NO!!
My front edge to rear edge transition decent…. its juut getting the other one going now…
Thomas needs to go – Free Spa and All… Thinking hes civilized or something lol
I GOT IT! Its slow, and took a lot of falling… but I got it, I can successfully make an S-turn now, still fairly large but HEY! I CAN DO IT!
Went down, utilized the s-turn… didn’t fall but for low-speed stopped/balance issues!
Rest of group wants to go… Savidge and I head out for 2 more runs before we go.
Thats about how my day went
Up and down the mountain,
lots of falling
not much hurting (kinda got a lot of abrasions from the icy-type-style
lots of rolling over onto my stomach
Mostly 100% non-graceful dismount of the chair lift
A successful glide off from a lift… I’m so proud
Oh the way home I set up an automatic drip for my hand (ice cold water) and immediately closed my eyes and tried to negotiate the bouncing of the car
Little bit weary, stomachs a bit unsettled… but we hame it back to town – MCD’s anyone?
Did you know that they have shrimp burgers here? They’re pretty tasty (had a single bite… thats all my stomach felt like playing with)
Got back to base
unpacked non-rented items
checked back in liberty cards
showered
chill… figuratively this time 
So thats it everyone… Theres a chance I might be going into Hiroshima tomorrow – but that one we will toy with when the call arrives… until next time loyal readers… Same (and yet somewhat totally random) bat time, same bat channel!
6 Snowboards
6 Pairs of Boots
6 ski jackets
6 ski pants
+/- 4 backpacks
at least 4 cameras – two dSLR’s and two point 4 point and shoot
And again I stress this is a Japanese mini van… not a whole lot of space left after all that.
