A Few of My Favorite Things (A Picture Post)
Hey everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the holiday cheer this season. I know I am. I rarely do picture posts these days and I wanted to change that. So let me share some of the things I've been enjoying these last couple weeks back up here in Misawa.

Moving up in rank:

I am a second class petty officer now (PO2, or IT2 if you'd like to include my rate). This is the last pay/rank increase I will get before I part ways with the navy in 2010. Some of you might say, "Aw, that's too bad." I'm thinking, "YEAH! I have nothing left to accomplish. I'm fuckin' done!" ;-)

Adding books to my bookshelf:

I love collecting books. It's going to be a bitch every time I move for the rest of my life but I just love my books too much. I also love Stephen Colbert.

My Amazon Kindle:

It's really awesome. Really. I like it more than the Sony Reader I had.

Listening to new good music:

The latest Shiny Toy Guns album is just one of many that I've been enjoying recently. Also, if you don't have MediaMonkey, you should definitely go download it right now and start using it ASAP. I'm not joking. Go use it now.

My POS POV:

Just before I left for Okinawa, a guy at our command gave me his car for free because he knew it was a crap car and he had to get rid of it before he PCSed to his next command. I finally got to use it when I returned from deployment and I actually like it. It's a surprisingly smooth ride. It has good gas millage. It's also a manual, which means I get to shift with my left hand because the Japanese are crazy and drive on the wrong side of the road.

Exploring:


Having my own vehicle now means I get to go places and find things. I've been driving all over the place just because I can. Beats staying in my room or in Misawa.

Dressing up for Christmas parties:


Our command had a Christmas party last Friday and I decided to wear the suit I got in Korea, as I never have any occasion to wear it. The white tie and white shoes I had actually gotten for my white suit (which is also pimpin') but I decided to do a little mix and matching. The party was at a hotel off base, which was pretty cool. Huron got me to try on his hat but I forgot to tilt it for the full pimp effect. My chief was called me a New York mobster before I told him not to insult me. "Fine," he said, "Chicago mobster." Afterwards, we went to the enlisted club then went back off base to hit up the bars. We ran into one of our officers who is leaving soon and he asked me if someone had talked me into wearing the white tie and shoes. I was like, "Uhh... no." Later, one of my buddies comes up and tells me Mr. Virden (the officer) is shit talking me. I started laughing. "What?" I guess he was saying white people can't wear black suits with white shoes or something stupid (he's white himself). I shrugged it off. The people I was hanging out with were like, "You know you look good when you have an officer hating on you." :-)

Winning raffles at Christmas parties:

Yeah, I totally won this at our command party. My ticket was the first one picked, too. That was pretty fuckin' sweet. I plan on building a desktop and connecting it to an HDTV and this sound system. I'm looking forward to completing the project.

So that has been my time back in Misawa. For those of you who do not know (which is probably most of you), I will be arriving in Phoenix on the night of the 21st. I would like to see as many of you as possible, so if you would like to make some plans please let me know. Plans must be done because time is limited for me. I'm only taking about two weeks worth of leave and I'm spending a few days in Vegas for New Year's. I also need to spend time with family (that said, the 24th and, obviously, the 25th are out). Group activities are good since it allows me to see multiple people at once. So start brain storming and let me know what you come up with. :-)