Here With an Epic Update
I realize it's been a while since I've really chronicled anything that's been going on in my life. My last real post was about the maintainers getting arrested and that was my second flight on deployment. Now I'm back in Misawa and things should be relatively quiet for the next few weeks before I go home of the holidays.

Det was somewhat eventful, I suppose; though I'm not too sure how much more eventful than normal. A big group got down there a day before I left and I couldn't help but think I was going to miss some good times. But at the same time, I have to remember why I came back up: to go home, visit family and friends, and hopefully make some memorable times myself. So don't disappoint, people!

In October, some friends got me into snorkeling. I had never used a snorkel on a tropical island before and generally had a low opinion of them. As you might expect, pools and the North Atlantic leave something to be imagined when wearing a snorkel. My first time out I saw some neat things but the waters were choppy and we didn't spend very long out there. My second time we went out to a small(er) island and there were much fewer fish out and about. I don't know if it was the time of day or if the season was changing. It was still nice, though. It's always nice to get out to the ocean but I guess you guys wouldn't know much about that. I kid.

Halloween was pretty damn fun. We were changing buildings the next day and many of us had packing to do and I certainly didn't enjoy the thought of moving with a hangover. But not even an imminent Armageddon could keep a sailor from a night of drinking and debauchery.

The night started out at the enlisted club where people were partying it up and getting ready to see Ashanti perform. My friends couldn't get tickets so we only stayed there for an hour or so. Ashanti performed on base for free the next day, anyway. And she's not good enough to waste money on. After the E club we headed out in town. Our first stop was the X Bar. the only one of us in a costume was Pratt who was wearing a panda costume he picked up for $60 at a local costume shop. The Asian women loved it! They have some kind of thing for pandas, I guess. Or they're big into that "furries" porn. Whatever Asians saw when they looked at Pratt is beyond me but us South Park fans had a completely different image come to mind. It was pretty funny, though. Other events that night include more names none of you care about. Huron and Smith wound up going after the same girl before Huron got sidetracked and "had it out" (verbally) with Urban (whom Huron always had some issue with). Pratt was hitting on some cute chick before a guy who was not old enough to be the woman's father told my panda garbed friend to keep his paws off his daughter. I wound up talking ot the guy later and found out he has two daughters, neither of which had yet to reach double digits in their ages. So that was pretty funny. I believe we went to the strip club Center Stage after that but it's hard to be sure. The strip clubs in Okinawa are pretty sweet, to say the least. Put up a dollar and the girls will come over, put the bill on your mouth, and remove it with their breasts. Put of five dollars and you get pulled up on stage and probably face humped. It's crazy. The Halloween themes made it all more kinky. Later on when the strippers were changing out and there was a period of empty stage, Pratt went up in his panda costume and started spinning around the poles. I don't recall him getting any tips so he must have sucked.

So that was my Halloween and my biggest night out for a couple weeks until we went out to see this classic hard rock band that was pretty awesome. After that show we all migrated to a karaoke bar for some food, more booze, and horrible singing to the tunes we all know and love. I think what I loved most about that night was that I was an E-4 out with officers and chiefs, among others, and no one mentioned (or perhaps no one thought to mention) that I was out past the E-4 and below curfew of midnight. Perhaps the most redeeming quality about the navy and all of its stupid rules is that there are so many who don't care about the stupid rules and look out for their people.

Then, about four days later, I was on my way to Thailand for what I expected to be at least a week-long trip. We wound up being in Thailand for a little more than 48 hours before we were pulled back due to what we realized was a rather asinine mission (this had nothing to do with the protests that erupted days later). Nonetheless, a lot can be accomplished in Thailand in 48 hours, even with a 10.2 hour mission in the middle of it, and I can attest to that. I was there with Pratt, Chief Wang, Chief Schrawyer, and LT Larkins. Chief Wang has been in the navy for over 19 years now (so close to that retirement check for the rest of his life) and this man knows Asia and he definitely knows Thailand. He's always good to go out with. There are definitely stories to tell but I don't really feel like writing them down right now. You'll just have to remind me in the future to talk about mooning, strip clubs, soapies, old men picking up hookers, and other things I'm disinclined to talk to you about.

When I got back to Okinawa, I found out I had made 2nd class. So I'll have 9-12 months of extra pay before I get out. That will be nice. I'm trying to save up a nice sum of money right now as I'll be needing it for things like a car, a place to stay, and time between work. I also want to start investing in property. An excellent time for it, don't you think?

Anyway, the next couple weeks had some good weather. It was nice to get out, go down to the ocean, and take in the view. There was a great restaurant right by the sea wall called Trasit Cafe. The second story had a patio with a fantastic view. I loved it.

I had to fly for Thanksgiving and the officers pitched in to buy the crew a turkey meal from Popepeys, complete with mashed potatoes, gravy, and biscuits. My command was also having a turkey dinner, which was ready about an hour after we got back to the barracks. It was a good time but not much to tell about. We went out, had a good meal, and socialized. There was some delicious pumpkin cheese cake, which I had never heard of before. When cleaning up, I threw away a plate of bones which contained the wish bones one of my coworkers wanted to have people pull apart for tradition's sake. I apologized but when she told me to fish them out of the garbage I told her she was out of luck. That was pretty much it for Thanksgiving.

The second to last night before I left, a small group of us went out to have some fun. The night started with ¥50 (about $.50) beer. A restaurant down in Okinawa called Sais (not sure exactly how it's spelled) sells beer for ¥50 from 6 to 8 PM every evening. Some people said starting off here was a bad idea but beer isn't a problem. I never have a problem with beer. After Sais we hit up the X Bar where Pratt and I sang some J. Guiles Band (Centerfold!) before finishing our drinks and moving on. Next we hit up this Irish bar (or pub as the owner calls it) run by this Irishman who has been in Okinawa for quite some time. Apparently he knew the EP-3 crew that went down in China back in 2001. On our way in he saw my Red Sox shirt and said "Fuck Boston!" "Fuck Boston? Fuck you!" Yeah, that guy was pretty cool. he had some U2 CDs out ("U2? Do you guys even claim them as Irish anymore?" "Fuck U2!") and a Manchester United banner hanging up ("Is this an Irish pub or a British Sports bar?"), so I busted the guy's ass about that a little bit. Then he gave us all free shots of whiskey. After that, I started talking to this Japanese guy sitting at the bar by himself. He wound up being the writer and publisher of a local pamphlet that was monthly or weekly or something. I was pretty drunk by this point. I talked about wanting to be a journalist and how I thought it was cool that he published his own pamphlet. He gave me a couple of the pamphlets but I was so far gone by the end of the night that there was no way to expect I'd still have them come morning. Anyway, the guy must have enjoyed my company because he bought me a glass of whiskey. I drank it all up.

After the Irish pub, we went over to Jack Nasty's. The owner of that place, Jack, is some kind of cross-dressing local rock star and he had the videos to prove it. Behind the live band is a TV with never-ending clips of Jack up on stage in drag, playing to large, excited crowds and participating in weird antics. The band there, by the way, kicks ass. It's made up of four middle-aged Japanese guys you would never suspect for rockers. The bassist looks like a total bum (clothes and all) but he rocks the bass like a pro and belts out lyrics in a deep, melodic voice, absent of any accent. My first time there I was impressed.

After Jack's I'm told we hit up some bars on the way to Center Stage. I have absolutely no recollection of these other bars. However, I remember walking into Center Stage and then spending most of my time there in the bathroom. I have heard it said that the only thing I missed was the sink. After they got done hosing the room down, it was mere minutes later I found myself back in there with the bar tender throwing his arms up in defeat. The next day my buddy and fellow IT, Barker, told me he had been feeding me triple jack-and-cokes at the bars before Center Stage. Again, I don't remember this at all. "What the fuck!" I yelled at him. But I was laughing about the incident when my hangover was gone and at the point when you can laugh off such things, it's hard to stay mad. That night I had to move over to a hotel on Camp Foster for a night. I spent it resting and recuperating in my $110 suite. That was pretty nice.

I've probably talked a lot about things many of you don't care about but I would like to try keeping track of more things that happen in my life. I recently got a message from wefeelfine.org about including a picture of mine from my New Year's post a couple years back in their upcoming book. I went back and re-read the post, remembering fond memories that I had completely forgotten. If for no other reason, this is worth keeping a journal. I also know Chris Brennan recently urged people in his LJ to talk about their lives more on here to better stay in touch with one another. A good idea that I would like to keep from procrastinating on so often.

That's it for now. It's late here and I have work in the morning. Ugh.