Military Life: Part 2 Uniforms

One night while Amy was here, she walked into my room and saw me with an ironing board, my uniform, a ruler, and a book. She laughed at me and asked me what I was doing. I guess I didn't realize how funny this looked and said "I'm getting my uniform ready for work tomorrow." The ruler and book was to make sure I had my ranks, ribbons, and pins on correctly. Instead of wearing scrubs to work, I rotate between my khaki uniforms and the new blue cami's. Being a nurse in the military is much different from the civilian sector and we have a lot more responsibilities. Making sure our uniforms are squared away is just one part of it.

This week, we had a command wide uniform inspection for our new cami's. It was pretty crazy walking out and seeing a huge sea of people in blue cami's. Sometimes when you work in a hospital, the military aspect gets pushed aside and you focus only on your job. Uniform inspections always give you a nice smack in the face to remind you that you are a military member and you're held at a higher standard, especially as a Naval Officer. We lined up at 0700 outside in ranks. I've been sick for a couple weeks now and haven't been feeling too good. Standing at attention outside in cold weather was not fun. Times like these make me really happy though, since I'm in San Diego and 40 degrees is considered freezing instead of being back home in MD where it's in the 20-30's. It's always intimidating when the Captain steps in front of you and looks you up and down to see if there's anything wrong with your uniform they can pick out. Luckily there were so many of us, they didn't go into too much detail and got thru all of us pretty quickly. I spent an hour the night before ironing and cutting off loose threads on my uniform. All that for a 30 second up and down look from the Captain. Good times. NOT! I wish I had gotten a picture... hopefully they will post some up and I can post them here later.

**EDIT**
As promised, here are pics!

Thanksgiving

Been way too long since I posted. Does anyone even read this thing anymore? I always check once in a while to see if anyone's posted anything but am usually sad to see inactive blogs.

Anyways, I've been going thru a lot of things lately and a lot of heartbreak especially with Dia Oi passing. I started writing a blog about it and all my feelings but decided not to post it. It's been hard dealing with a lot of things on my own and I wasn't looking forward to spending the holidays alone but this Thanksgiving I got to welcome Amy and John over!!!

I have to say, after trying to cope with things on my own, it was so wonderful having family around. We even got to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal and went shopping. It was a much needed break and I can't say how happy and rejuvenated I feel after spending a little time having fun with family. It really got me to take my mind off things and I feel so much better.

Some pics:

There was this man downtown who had a talent for balancing rocks. Crazy!



We got to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner complete with Champagne. I can't tell you how nice it is to come home after work to food and family!


Instead of going out, we spent one night in putting up a tree!! And we did a lot of damage shopping at the outlets!

If tears could build a stairway,
And memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven
And bring you home again.

To the beat of the salsa

Summer is making one mean comeback! Just when I thought summer had said goodbye and fall was on its way with lower temperatures, it jumped up to 113 degrees on Monday! I slept thru most of the day since I worked the night before but when I got up, my buddy and I went to the beach to catch some waves. I hadn't been to the beach/swimming in the longest time, let alone surfing. I've been so busy lately and working night shifts doesn't work so well for getting things done during the day. It was so nice and refreshing to actually be up when the sun was still out! The waves were pretty huge but luckily we caught a break and they settled down enough for us to paddle out. Before long, we were out pretty far and that's when I saw fins in the water! They were rounded fins and I'm almost 100% positive they were dolphins but I was still totally freaked out, especially ever since shark week! So, we decided to paddle back in a little lol. After catching a few waves, we decided to call it a day, we were both pretty wiped out. What a workout! I got out just in time to watch the sunset too! It really was a great day to de-stress from all the craziness of work lately.


Caught the chopper as it was passing by (looks like a dot in this small pic tho)!


Ever since Rob left on deployment, I've been having a lot more free time and a lot more time alone too (at least when I'm not working). It's been rough, so I've decided to try new things and explore the area more, hopefully meeting new people in the process or at least help pass the time faster. The other week, I finally made my way down to the outlets close to my place. Though I didn't buy anything, there were some pretty nice stores down there and it was nice to explore a new place. This week, after surfing I decided to try something I never thought I would try: Salsa dancing!! My co-worker had been asking me several times to go with her and I finally decided to go. What the heck, why not? Since we were both running too late to show up for lessons, she went over the basic steps with me beforehand. I felt very intimidated and out of place when we got to the club; everyone was so good and they all knew what they were doing! The good thing about being a girl, however, is that all you have to do is look cute, tell the guy you have no idea what you're doing, and follow his lead. =) The guys at the club were all so good and they were pretty patient too. Surprisingly, I had an awesome time and was able to catch on (somewhat) hahaha. I was glad to say that I was able to step out of my comfort zone and try something fun and new! It's definitely something I would try again. I could probably use a lot of lessons and practice though. haha I would love to be like one of these professionals on Dancing with the Stars! hahaha


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNAOCphVTAQ&feature=related

Phone calls!

Super happy today cuz I got a phone call from my marine over in Afghanistan. Glad to report everything is going well so far. :)

A random act of kindness

Adjusting back to the night schedule hasn't been easy and work is tougher when you're stuck with all civilian nurses. For some reason, most of the night civilian nurses on my unit are pretty lazy and love pawning all the work on the military nurses and corpsman. Work is much better when I have another military nurse to back me up. We stick together, help each other out, and get thru the long shift together. Sunday night was difficult. It was my 3rd 12hr shift in a row and we were pretty busy. Our charge nurse that night was a civilian and as expected, pawned all the difficult patients and hard work on me and my fellow shipmate. By the end of the shift, my co-worker and I were wiped out. But of course we couldn't go home yet because we each had to stay over and get additional things done. I had to run around and get signatures (and a shot-ouch!) for my upcoming TAD (Temporary Assigned Duty) in Temecula. My co-worker had to go to PSD and get a new ID card. So afterward, we decided to go get breakfast at Denny's.

We left straight from work, still in our uniforms... we were both so starved. As we both sat down, I noticed this middle aged man looking at us... no big deal, I'm used to getting stares a lot when in uniform. Before he left, he came over to us and said "Have a nice day." We both thanked him and didn't think much of it. But when it was time for us to get the check, the waiter came over and told us that the elderly gentleman that was sitting across from us had already paid for our meals. What a surprise!!!! After a long hard night at work, it really brightened up our morning. I wish he was still there so we could thank him personally. Military life hasn't been easy but random acts of kindness from strangers like that really puts everything in perspective and makes me proud to be serving our country. I love living in a military town where there's so much support for our troops!

It's good to be HOME.

Military Life: Part 1 Here today, gone tomorrow

I haven't been so good at blogging, even though there's been a lot I could write about. I blame it on busy work schedules and being lazy! lol. So I've decided to start something new... blogger: military series. I'll try to make one post about military life every once in a while in addition to my other posts.

This week's theme is "Here today, gone tomorrow." I never really realized how difficult military life was and the sacrifices our brave men and women have to make until I joined. It's not so bad for me right now b/c I'm not settled down yet and I don't have any kids but leaving my life and my family behind and going to a whole new area where I knew nobody was not easy. One lesson I've learned pretty quickly is not to get too attached to anyone because being in the military, one of you could be moving away at the drop of a hat. I made some awesome friends at Officer Development School and grew pretty attached within 5 weeks but after graduation, we all went our separate ways. We keep in contact every now and then but it's not the same. I've also started making new friends here too and really enjoy working with a lot of my "shipmates". Unfortunately, 3 have deployed and I already know within the next 6 months, we'll have mostly new faces around. It's hard not getting attached and constantly having to change and adapt, which brings me to my next point....

I wouldn't usually write about this but what the heck. My next point is finding love... ok maybe not that deep but at least dating and having a stable relationship. How is that possible in the military with the potential of deployment/PCS looming over your head? It's not easy! Ok ok, you're probably wondering why I bring this up and I guess I ought to confess... I've finally met someone cool! We've been dating for just a little while but we have a lot in common, one of which may not be a good thing... we're both in the military. I'm a Naval Officer, he's a Marine officer. Yeah, I know what you may be thinking and I never thought I'd go for a Marine either but he's different from all your other Jarheads. We get along well and always have a good time together. Unfortunately, he's deploying next month =( Just my luck, when I finally meet someone cool that I can actually date (b/c as officers, we're not allowed to date enlisted members). Bah-hum-bug!

=)

Been a while since I wrote, and a lot has been going on lately. I'm not gonna lie, when I first moved here, I was extremely terrified and it was lonely for a very long time. I got used to being by myself a lot of the time, cooking for myself, eating by myself, going out to eat alone, going to the movies alone, going shopping alone. But like anything, things have changed with time and I am totally in love with life right now. =P

This past weekend, I got to go to an awesome party with some friends. It was so refreshing to meet other people, especially men! I've been surrounded by too many hormonal women at work with all these mommy's and babies. The party was hosted by one of the doctors at work who lives in a mansion with a bunch of other Navy and Marine officers. It was an awesome time ;-)

The next day, I went to the beach to go boogie boarding. It was such a beautiful day and the sun was out and shining. My co-worker and I were talking about no matter how stressful work gets, how could it get any better, living in a place where people come to vacation?

And on Monday I finally got to take my surfboard out for the first time! The sun was setting and it was getting dark, but we decided to hop in anyways. The scenery totally takes my breath away...





Now I'm preparing for what's gonna be an awesome week with some of my guhs coming to visit! Will continue post later...

Happy 4th!

I haven't been so good with blogging lately. It's been soo busy and hectic. I had some family in town last week and between work, taking them around, and trying to switch between night and day schedules, I was exhausted. It was so much fun though. I wish I could have gotten more days off! Pics are uploaded on my facebook.

But in other news, Happy 4th of July everyone! I wish I could have been home to go to OC and watch the fireworks with my family like every year and also to be home for Amy's bridal shower but I had some fun here in SD too.

My cousin came down and spent the weekend with me. We got to go to the San Diego County Fair which was pretty huge. All the fatty, artery clogging food you could ask for!

Fried Butter Anyone?



Speaking of Butter...


And of course, you can't go to the fair without getting funnel cake...


Even the goats got 4th of July spirit!


We thought about staying at the fair for the fireworks, but after being conned out of all our money on games we couldn't win, we decided to leave and go see fireworks somewhere else. This year, I got to see fireworks on a military base. There's a private beach here on base and they were having their own beach bash and fireworks display. It was really crowded when we got there but they had a live band going and everything. It was definitely a different experience this year, one that had much more meaning than any of the years prior. It made me think of what July 4th really is about, celebrating America's Freedom! Prior to the show, they had a video displaying pictures thanking our troops and the general even came out and made a mini speech before giving away a free car to a lucky service member (no, it wasn't me =(

The fireworks display was choreographed to all patriotic songs and all the marines and sailors were singing along. Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" even made an appearance. And after the fireworks were over (and even before they started) the crowd broke out into chants of "U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A" This is how we should celebrate our 4th of July! Proud to be an American and proud to be free! Happy 4th folks!

Fireworks to "God Bless the USA"


Can't figure out how to turn the video right side up yet, but it's almost 4am and I should prob hit the sack now.

Latest Happenings

Time for an update on the latest happenings around here!

Working Nights
They put me on nights after I got back from Maryland. It hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be but it's still brutal... especially around that 4am, 5am mark. It's not as busy at night and I'm usually not rounding on my patients as much, mainly because I don't want to disturb them while they're trying to get some sleep. I like the people I work with on nights... well most of them at least, they're pretty laid back. It's tough keeping the night schedule routine though, and it's been keeping me from watching the world cup! =( The other day, I came home from work and got in bed by 8am. I set an alarm to get up to watch the USA vs. England game (which was airing at 11:30am PT) but I ended up setting my alarm for 11:30pm. So I slept from 8am all the way til 5:40pm!!! I couldn't believe I had slept that long. Of course when I got up, I had 20min to get ready to go back to work.

Visitors
My friend's brother and his friend were taking a road trip along the CA coast and was planning on spending a couple days in the SD/Oceanside area. I don't know my friend's brother too well but I've met him a couple times and he's a pretty chill and funny guy. They were supposed to spend a couple nights in the area at a friends place but that didn't work out too well. Apparently, this guy already had 2 other people staying in his crowded apartment and his place was pretty trashed and smelled of urine. So I offered my living room and they ended up staying two nights. I took them on a quick drive thru of base, went to the pier and had burgers right on the pier over the water. The next day, we met up with his dad and went to this park with tide pools, and an awesome view of SD. Oh and I finally tried a California Burrito! I don't know about other people, but I still prefer Chipotle! It was a fun time.


At the bottom when the tide is low, there are small pockets/pools where animals sometimes get stranded. The tide was high that day so we didn't get to play in the tide pools.


View of SD (Picture does it no justice and it was gloomy that day- see below)


Visiting the seals in La Jolla

June Gloom
As you can see from the pics above, June Gloom is upon us. This is when the clouds come in from the shore and it's overcast and cloudy most of the day. Sometimes it'll break and we'll get the sun back in the afternoons. I don't mind so much though since the gloominess helps me sleep when I get off work at 7am in the morning!

M-9
I was sad that we never got to play with, erhh I mean learn about weapons and guns during ODS. We got to do other training like fire fighting, mending a sinking ship, etc, but no guns. I finally got a chance to learn about the M-9 Pistol before I left for Maryland. Guns can be pretty scary especially if you've never handled one before. I was fortunate enough to have my cousin (ex Army) take me shooting once back in Maryland. I remember being totally freaked out and scared (mainly because I didn't know anything about guns and never handled one before). Anyways, our training was two days. The first day, we had to sit thru class time for most of the morning. In the afternoon, we got to actually handle (an unloaded) weapon. We took it apart, put it back together, then went out back and practiced our stance and drawing our weapon from the holster. Drawing your weapon from the dang holster is the hardest part, not aiming and firing! Next day, we got to go out to the range (somewhere on base in the middle of some dessert mountains/open fields aka middle of nowhere) and fire the weapon. Afterward, we came back, took the weapon apart, cleaned them, and put them back together. I finally felt like a real (and badass) military member. hahahaha. I want to go out to the shooting range and practice some more so I can earn my expert/sharp shooter. Now that I've learn about the weapon, I'm not as scared about it. Thinking about getting one... maybe? haha

Earthquakes
Since I've moved here, there have been a few small earthquakes. The first one I noticed was when I was at work. You could feel the place rumble and shake but it wasn't too big (one of my coworkers who was up walking around didn't notice). The other night though, we had a 5.7 mag quake centered southeast of me. It was kinda freaky and scary! I was sitting in my living room watching TV and then all of a sudden, the place starts rumbling and swaying. I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a big one like some of the news stations are saying.

~~~~
Things can get pretty lonely out here but it's a great place to be. I love the area and the scenery and weather is awesome. Being independent isn't easy but I'm learning a lot. And I'm also really enjoying the military. Granted there are a lot of pains and things (usually) don't go your way but I'm really proud to serve among my fellow sailors and marines. I never thought I'd feel this way, but I hope they deploy me in the next couple years. I'm ready to see the world!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to having more visitors later this week!

Pleasant Surprises

This post is a shout out to Amy to say thanks for the pleasant surprise in the mail! It's a little late but better late than never? haha. Anyways I came home from work the other day and found a package waiting for me at the door. I had no idea what it was or who it was from. This is what I found inside:




This totally made my day!! Thank you Amy for remembering me all the way over here! Holy crap, I'm a quarter century now! In a whole new age bracket =(

Operation Fool Mommy= Success

This past week was awesome. Work Monday, off Tuesday, learn about the M-9 Pistol Wednesday, shoot and play with the M-9 Thursday (I felt like a real military person playing with guns, shooting them, then taking them apart, cleaning them and putting them back together), fly home Thursday night, rehearsal dinner for friend's wedding Friday, Wedding Saturday, and Surprise Bday for Mom (and my 25th birthday) Sunday. What a busy and awesome week! I'm so happy I got to go home, even though it was way too short and I didn't get to spend enough time with my family. The best part though had to be how happy and surprised my mom was.

My mom turned the big 5-0 this year on May 27th. I wasn't home then but I knew I wanted to do something big for her. She has to be the best mom in the whole world. Talented in every single aspect (I can't really think of anything she can't do or learn to do... except maybe fixing cars lol). She's helped me with soo many things, and not only me, but she's a crusader in nature so she helps everyone around her too (whether they ask for it or not). We were throwing her a surprise party the weekend I was coming home for my friend's wedding at Hunan. Usually you can't get anything past my mom or fool her. A lot of the times, she knows what you're gonna do before you do it. Also, since my dad can't keep a secret for the life of him, this party was going to be surprise for him too. My parents thought they were coming to the restaurant for my cousin's graduation party and when we yelled "SURPRISE" my mom was totally confused. She saw the priest from our church and all of our family and was like, "What's going on?" When she finally caught wind of what was going on, she was totally shocked and speechless. Operation Fool Mommy was a success!!! I'm so happy I could finally do something nice for my mom since she's done so much for me. It was really nice being home even though it was only for a short period of time.

You know work has taken over your life when....

You know work has taken over your life when... you start dreaming about babies and have nightmares about teaching women how to breastfeed! lol. And I'm not kidding, I actually dreamt about this last night! haha Thank God I'm coming home to MD this weekend! Can't wait!!

Sea World

So much to update on but no time! It's been so crazy busy lately. At work, we're either dying from boredom or dying from being too busy. Well, this week was a full moon and all the moms were giving birth. Our entire floor was full and we started doubling up rooms. I was a complete zombie wanting to kill myself by the end of the week.... but that's a different story for another time. This blog is dedicated to Shamu! lol

So my aunt was in town for a work conference. My cousin, who's currently living in LA for school, drove down and the 3 of us got to spend a nice Sunday together. We started out the day going to the NEX (Navy Exchange) so they could go shopping. The NEX is pretty much like a giant Macy's/shopping mall with just about anything you'd be interested in buying. The best part is that everything is at a discounted price AND you don't have to pay tax. I bought my mommy a Coach purse for her 50th birthday and my aunt bought one for herself. After the NEX, we went to Sea World! This was my very first time going to (any) Sea World. I love sea life and dolphins are my favorite animals so I was looking forward to it. It was kinda windy and a little chilly that day but sunshine all around!

The best part was that I got to go in the park for free and I got my aunt and cousin 20% off. Sea World had a "Here's to the Hero" thing going on and gave free admission to all military members. It was so awesome. On top of that, around the park there were signs that read "Here's to the Hero's". And to my surprise, right before the Shamu show, they asked all military personnel past and present to stand up and applauded us. I felt so honored and was so happy to see how much support the troops were getting from Sea World.

The show was great, it felt short but it's amazing how they train these animals. Here are some videos and pictures:




Shamu!








Dolphins!!

This one goes out to...

This blog goes out to my family who I miss dearly!

To my dad: who sat down and wrote me a real letter! He even stuck a crisp $20 bill in there and told me not to forget to start saving for retirement! hahaha Oh I love my dad!

To my mom: who never tires of me calling and asking for advice on what to cook or how to cook this and make that. Always there to offer her advice, even if you don't need it =P.

To my sister: who still goes out of her way to do stupid things I request back home. I know times are a little tough now with the job and stress and all but I have all the faith in the world in you. I'm sure I'll be seeing you out here soon ;-)

To the rest of you: miss you guys and I hope to see you out here soon (before they decide they want to deploy me!) lol

Happy Armed Forces Day

I am a couple days late but Happy Armed Forces Day! It's still hard to believe that I am now part of the United States Navy. I am proud to serve my country and the brave men and women who are risking it all to protect our freedom. Here's to all of you!

M*A*S*H* Relay

It's 9:30pm and I am completely exhausted...like wiped out. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I did NOTHING today at work. I had two patients, one of which I saw for a span of 5min before she was discharged to go home. Right now, I'm mainly shadowing since I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. I spent about an hour watching my preceptor trying to help a woman breastfeed. Wtf? I'm supposed to be helping women breastfeed? How the hell am I gonna do that? I've never had kids and this is NOT my specialty area.... oh boy. I'm a med-surg nurse, not a post partum labor & delivery nurse! Before I got here, I was really hoping they would put me in med-surg... that's what I know. But I guess being the baby Ensign and being a FEMALE, they stuck me with the moms and babies. Amy! I need your help! Being on this unit is soooo different from what I'm used to. Aside from the patient population, just one small example... I used to spend about 15min in the supply room looking for the right kind of fluids for my patient because there would be about 20 different kinds to choose from. Normal Saline, D5 and 1/2, Lactated Ringers, .45 NS, on and on. Well, now I only have 2 to choose from and most patients aren't even hooked to an IV. This is going to be one (hopefully just one before I can switch) boring year. Believe it or not, we're one of the busier units in the hospitals because when Marines aren't busy breaking bones and making orthopedic injuries, they are making babies... haha go figure.

Anywho when it was about 10:45, I got changed into my PT gear and went down to the field. For the last day of nurses' week (yay my very first nurses week!!), there was a MASH relay race. I volunteered to do the race with my unit. There's a picture of the race but I can only access it from work so I'll have to save it and post it later. The first station was a "grenade toss" aka throwing a grenade waterballoon and having a team member catch a whole one in a bucket. I got to catch the grenade (and got my shoe soaked) and then I had to do the next station which was a low crawl. Then the next person had to do an "ammo" carry, which was only 2 gallons heavy. Then we had to answer 5 trivia questions and if we got it wrong we had to do 10 push-ups or jumping jacks. When the team answered all 5 questions (or got to 50 pushups lol) the next person had to do a wheelchair race to the next station. After that, the team had to do a litter carry, which is carrying a heavy ass mannequin on a stretcher and running on the track to the next person where we had to splint a person's leg using a board and toilet paper. The last part after that was picking the stretcher back up and running to the finish line. That darn thing was heavier and harder than I anticipated. I felt sooo out of shape. Well, my teammates were hoping to just finish the race but out of 9 teams, we got 3rd place!!!! Woo hooo.



^ litter carry. Lucky we didn't have to wear full gear like that. We got to wear shorts and a T shirt. hehe.

Of course, 1st place was won by the "B52" team which were corpsman from area 52 clinic who did it in their t-shirt with camis, boots and all. They were mocho big bulky guys. They finished in 3min something seconds. I wish I had pictures but hopefully they will post the professional pictures and I can get them then.

Anywho, after that was a BBQ where we got to have burgers and hotdogs. I had both. Real healthy! Then we had to go back to work.... I did absolutely nothing the rest of the day except walk around looking for something to keep myself occupied and watch episodes of 16 and pregnant on MTV. LOL. What a day and yet I'm still exhausted as hell. Tomorrow, I'm bringing a book and PT clothes to exercise. I hope we aren't swamped tomorrow.


*EDIT*

The litter carry picture is cut off but I'm too noob to figure out how to fix it so just click on it to see the full pic. If you are nerdy... I mean expert and cool enough to know how to fix it, please enlighten this "stupid Ensign" =P

Course Layout:

Learning how the Californians d0 it

So the past couple weekends that I've been off have been dedicated to cleaning, apt stuff, shopping (not the fun kind), and cooking. I haven't really had too much time to go out and explore, or meet new people for that matter. On some afternoons after work, I'll drive to the beach by myself to either squeeze some PT time in and go for a jog, or just de-stress by the ocean. It's so nice to live so close to the beach, it feels like a permanent vacation. It has been lonely though and I do miss my family. But this weekend, I actually got to go out on the town and meet new people. My coworker is awesome and invited me out to play beach volleyball. She lives right on the beach!! Now, I play a lot of sports... soccer, tennis, basketball, football... you name it, but volleyball is one sport I just completely SUCK at. We had to wait a looooong time to finally get a open court (although I didn't mind haha). The scenery was great and I was thinking how much fun it would be to have a beach party at Moonlight Beach.

The funnest part was that night, after our game. There were a couple birthdays over the weekend and one of the girls rented a party bus to go downtown. The bus was equipped with a wet bar, lights, music, and a stripper pole. And the best part was, the bus dropped us off and picked us up right outside the club... no need to worry about a DD. We went down to Stingaree and since one of the girls knew the owner, we all got to go straight in for free. Yes, a group of about 20 of us!! It's also crazy how insanely small this world is because one of the girls that we went out with that night graduated in my class from high school!! Anyways, here are some pictures from the party bus.


I wish GB was here so we could all rent a party bus. How much fun would that be?




Apparently, it's not uncommon around here to rent a party bus and take a bunch of your friends downtown. I guess Californians really know how to party. I could get used to this!

To top off the weekend, I got to video chat with Taylor, Home, and Amy this weekend. Technology is awesome! Then today, I got to see Ranak since she was in town for a wedding. We got to go around downtown and just chill. Woo hoo for three day weekends. Tomorrow, I start my first 12hr shift. And it's nurses week!


*Edit* Man, I really wished I had used suntan lotion today, soo burnt!

I don't wanna grow up, I wanna be a toys r us kid...

So you'd think that once you are finished school and start working, you'd have tons of free time right? I mean, no more studying, no more assignments, just go to work, come home and then do whatever you want... WRONG. I think I am even more busy now than I was before. A different kind a busy. One that never seems to end. I tell ya, growing up is not all it's cracked up to be. LOL.

Anyways, I guess it would make sense to start at the beginning of my move but that might take too long and I want to get to bed at a decent hour considering it's getting harder and harder to get up at 5am as the week is nearing towards the end. I'll try to go into more details about my road trip and all (if anyone is even interested) but to sum things up, in the span of two weeks I was able to:
-Drive my car cross country from east coast to west coast
-Find a new place to live
-Completely furnish that said place
-Have my belongings delivered and unpack my heap of craplo
-Get TV and internet hooked up
-Check into my new command
-Find the nearest Wooowmart (where I've been residing for a good 2 weeks now)
And last but not least:
-Find the quickest way to get to the beach

It's been a really stressful and hectic time. I thought I would be given 10 days house hunting leave once I checked into my command but they were no longer officially allowing this leave. Luckily my boss let me have off Thurs and Friday. And even more lucky for me, I got to SD a day early and started my house hunting right away. I found my place in two days. Funny thing was, after I visited all the different places on my list, I ended up going back to sign the lease at the very first place I visited. I like the area and it's really close to work... not to mention it's only a 10min drive for me to get to the beach. So after signing the lease, I had to go buy furniture. Everything from a couch to a bed. Got this done in another 2 days. After dropping enough money to make my eyes and bank account bleed, I think I am finally settled. Right now I'm waiting for visitors! It's tough being in a new place and I haven't really met anyone yet. Then again, I've only been living here for a week. Everyone around me is military pretty much (you can tell just by looking at them). It's definitely been a challenge trying to juggle two things at once: 1) Learning military life and how to be an officer 2) Getting ready to learn how to be a nurse. More about this later....

Time for some pictures. Place is a little empty at present but it's got all the essentials =)

My front door:


Live life simply!



My living room:


Another angle of the living room:


Kitchen:


Making my first meal:


And viola! Not as good as mom but it'll do (no, I did not make the thit kho)


My Bathroom:


Oceanside Pier:


Beeeeeach:


California Traffic:

Lucky for me I take the small roads to base at 6am where there aren't quite as many cars.


Anywho... will continue more later

Don't get caught!

Week 3 done!!! 2 weeks from today, we will be graduating! Wooo hooo. I can't wait. I was really hoping we'd get off base liberty this weekend so we could go down to Newport and check out the town, or maybe drive out to the famous mansions and check them out. We are confined to the base this weekend. On the bright side, no time limits on internet time and now we can go anywhere on base... which means real food at the Officer's Club instead of nasty galley food and bowling.

The motto here among my shipmates and I is "Proceed until Apprehended" and "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission". But the main idea here is not to get caught, whhich might be one of the reasons we're confined on base this weekend. A couple people decided to go to the bowling alley during the weekday. They never really specifically said that we couldn't but senior chief was there with his family and caught some people there. When another group showed up and had no excuse, he got pretty pissed. We've also been yelled at for not working as a team. Some people just have bad attitudes and don't want to be here. We call these the Flotsam... or is it Jetsam? I forget... lol

We took two exams today. F.O.C and B.O.C. which stands for Fleet Officer Ciriculum and Basic Officer Ciriculum. They need to come up with a better acronym... lol. Anywho, I'm just glad I passed and I was guessing a lot by the end. Woot, one step closer to graduation!

The next two weeks should be fun. We are starting the DAWSEY courses... leadership stuff. I'm excited cuz LT said we can have coffee and food in class! We also get to do the Buttercup wet trainer and Fire Fighting training next week. I can't wait!

Now that we have some liberty this weekend, I'm gonna try to come back and post some pictures. We had our Dress Blue inspections today and I'm getting my pictures taken tomorrow. Can't wait til we can leave base!

AYE SIR

Time is running short so I'll have to make this a quick one. "Indoctrination" phase is over! W00t. That means less getting yelled at, less getting hammered, and less push-ups! Our days are getting better with more free time after dinner. Case in point, even tho it's like 30 degrees out and pouring rain, me and my shipmates made the treck over to the internet cafe just to have access to gmail and facebook. We were thinking about changing out of our uniforms into our PT gear but decided we were already stretching our luck. haha. Makes us jealous to see the CDO clothes wear civilian clothes walking around the mess hall. We like to make fun of them too. We were obnoxiously loud today at dinner with our "AYE SIR" and "FORWARD MARCH" and "LAST SAILORS". I wish we could video tape our class and the OCS class so we could show everyone at home.

I'm missing home a lot and it's kind of hit me that even after I'm done here, I won't get to go back home... I'll be moving all the way across the country to go to Cali. A part of me doesn't want to go anymore... I miss home too much but I know this is just a new chapter and something I have to do. Maybe I'll request for them to send me to Bethesda Navy Hospital Center after my 3 years are up if I want to continue with the Navy.

There's so much to say about my experiences here so far but so little time! I'm hoping we get more liberty soon so I can upload some pictures and share some more stories. In the meantime, I'm loving all the mail from home! It's like gold! Love and miss you guys!

Freeeeeedommmmm.... ok not really

We were granted our first days of "liberty" this weekend. The parameters are: you're not allowed to leave base, you're only allowed out in your uniform, you only have a 30 minute limit at the liberty center and 30 minutes at the NEX, and you have to travel everywhere with a buddy. Hey, I'll take it. It's been a rough couple weeks and I'll take anything that can help me feel like normal person again, i.e. checking my personal email. Hooorahhh

Everyone here is constantly exhausted. Days usually begin at 0430 and we start with PT. MWF are run days and Tues Thurs are strengthening days (i.e. 8 count body builders, push ups, sit-ups, jack webs, etc). We don't usually know what's going on but we are usually in a rush to get ready cuz the motto is "hurry up and wait". We do that a lot around here... standing around and waiting. It's also a rule that if you're not early, then you are considered late. I'd give anything to sleep past 0500. Sundays are supposed to be our days off but now we have to do PT and drill practice on weekends. The weather has gotten sunnier and warmer which is really great and uplifting.

It's been quite an experience here... I'm still trying to grasp the concept that I'm really part of this now. Wearing this uniform, marching in formation, saluting, answering "yes, sir" or "yes senior chief" and making sure not to mix up the two. The uniforms look pretty spiffy but they've messed up my pants a couple times now. The first time they were too long and too tight but I had to bear with it since my second pair hadn't come in yet. I took them back to hem up but now they are too short and still too tight. I'm still waiting on my second pair of pants to come in... lol.

It feels pretty awesome and weird at the same time to walk around base and have people salute you. I'm learning a lot here... especially about working with other people. Some people here just don't really give a crap and have bad attitudes. I really have no idea what they're doing here. They have a mind of their own and always want to put out their opinion. My thoughts are, just suck it up, do what you're told and it will all be over in 3 weeks. The more we work together as a team and the less we screw up, the more liberty and freedom we get. Case in point, we were given back our chairs at chow and now are allowed to lean back in our chairs! Woot victory. Now if only we can get senior chief to allow us to have dessert and regular soda.

Well my time is up. until next time!

First Days

Been enjoying liberty since I arrived here yesterday. Gotta make the most of our free time before all of our freedom is stripped away tonight at 2000. Met some cool people and went bowling last night. Today, a couple of us went to downtown Newport. It reminds me a lot of Annapolis... I miss home!

There are a lot of rules and regulations to go thru with even more things to memorize. Making my bed and setting up my room was no easy feat either. It took me like 30min to get my bed just perfectly right; I didn't want to sleep in it afterwards. Since we haven't been issued anything yet, and I forgot to bring a pair of sweatpants, I was freezing my butt off last night. Lucky thing I stole my nonexistent roommate's blanket. We're all supposed to have one other roommate but for some reason I don't have one. I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse cuz I'm gonna be the odd man out and will also be responsible for cleaning the entire room instead of just half.

Not sure what to expect come tonight but all that I know is that I'm really nervous and a little scared. Now time to go study!

Happiness and Passion

"...the saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there's nothing to make it last..."

The most agonizing 3 days

Taking the NCLEX has got to be one of the most traumatizing experiences ever. Granted, I can be pretty melodramatic sometimes, but this exam really got the best of me. I had been studying and doING practice questions on repeat since graduation. I was still scoring in the 60-70% range. There was just too much information and too little time! My emotions were going crazy. One minute I was thinking, shoo I got this... I was educated at one of the best schools on the east coast. No CNL has ever failed before... Then one minute later, I went to the dark side... omg what if I fail? I can't do this. I suck at exam taking! My life will be over if I fail! Yes, this was the yo-yo whirlwind I was going thru for a good two weeks before the exam.

So the big day comes. Of course, my face has completely broken out in blemishes and I couldn't sleep for the life of me. As I was standing there waiting with the other students, I could feel my heart pumping out of my chest. OMG, this is really it. After being finger printed, palm scanned, picture taken, and security checked I sat down and began the exam. First question... hey this isn't so bad. Second question... wtf? And so went the rest of the exam; I guessed on about all of them. When I got up to 60 questions, I just kept thinking please shut off at 75, I'm tired of this. (You can get anywhere from 75-265 questions). Well, the machine cut me off at 76 questions. As soon as the screen went blue and said, "thank you, your exam is now complete", all I could think about was how badly I had just failed.

So the next 2 days were spent in prayer as I waited for my results. While at work, I decided to check the Maryland Board of Nursing website and look up my name. Lo and behold, there was my name with a license number after it. I just about fell out of my chair. I had just passed the NCLEX!!! I am now officially a Registered Nurse!!

Words really can't express how happy and relieved I am. Now I can spend the next month relaxing, chilling with my friends and family, working out, packing, looking for a place to live, and getting ready for ODS and my career as a Navy Nurse. Woo hoo!!!

Our nation's awesome capitol

It's always been kinda sad how much we take living so close to DC for granted. It's such a wonderful place with tons of things to do and explore! I know I've always felt this way but I think it's hitting me harder now that I'm actually moving away from it!

We had some guests visiting from South Carolina this weekend so we took advantage of the opportunity and took them to explore DC. I was excited because we got to go to the spy museum! I had heard a lot of great things about it but never really had the opportunity to go explore it. Unfortunately, they didn't let us take any pictures inside so I don't have any to share here. The museum was bigger than I thought it would be and there were a lot of cool things inside. I would highly recommend it, just make sure you have a lot of time to spend since there's lots of reading and exploring to do! Next time I want to try one of the missions where you're a spy and they give you a task to complete. I always wondered what it'd be like to be a spy...

After the museum, we went to see a bunch of monuments... the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln, Vietnam Memorial, Iwo Jima/Marine Corps Memorial, and the Roosevelt Memorial. LOTS! Let's just say my legs were ready to fall off by the end of the day. lol. Here are some pictures.


The US Capitol! Too bad we didn't have time to go here.


Taken at the WWII Memorial. Go Navy!



WWII Memorial, really liked how this pic turned out, well except for the pipes and dried up pool. haha but the background colors are nice.


Taken at the top of the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.


Iwo Jima/Marine Corps Memorial. This thing is massssive! Really awesome, it strikes a cord in me. Represents freedom and what we're fighting for!

I still have quite a lot more to explore, til next time DC!!!



*For some reason, the pics came out extremely small... don't know how to make them bigger so just click on them to get the bigger version. Really do love how these pics turned out*