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..."