Summer Break In the Navy

I have as close to a summer break as I could possibly ask for in the Navy. After 6 months of grueling torture learning the basics (emphasize: basics) of Naval Nuclear Power, I have been placed on this glorious thing called grad hold. Some minor inconveniences notwithstanding, this is the most cake job I've ever had. PT on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 0600 (not bad at all). Normal muster times at 0800 (this is like sleeping in for the military). The latest I ever finish work is at 1230. Today I got out at 1000. THIS IS GREAT!

Went and swam some laps at the pool with Mike Jameson after work. He's busy rehabbing his ankle sprain and I'm trying to add some upper body definition. Weight loss wasn't kind to my figure, but I'm hoping to chip away at it.

Going to go smoke my pipe now and discuss our plans for New York. Since I could only get my Dad and Tregg to come visit me out here in South Carolina, I hope I can get more people to come to NY with the promise that NYC, Montreal, and Boston are an easy day trip away.

Also, I plan on going to Vegas during my 30-day transfer period to my first ship after prototype. If you want in, let me know. It'll be in February/March some time, so if you think you can get some time off I'd love for you to join me in gambling my fortunes away(side note: I am not the biggest fan of gambling, so I'll probably see a few shows, drink a few drinks, and eat lavish foods a few times).

Well that's that. I miss Texas, but I am now to the point where coming home isn't a long affair anymore... a few days max. I even have to contemplate the prospects of starting a family soon (the fact that I can't meet a decent Christian girl to save my life is a different post entirely).

God bless, and cheers!

RP

It Is Done

Thank you Lord it's over. No more study hours. No more dealing with idiots like Youngert, Miller, and Cassidy. No more of Shammas eating his scabs or interjecting into every single one of my conversations. No more of this nonsense.

McKinley and Carpenter failed. Medeiros failed. That sucks, those are 3 hard working guys that don't deserve having to spend 15 hours a day for the next week studying for Re-Comp. I plan on going in and helping them so that they rock out re-comp next week.

McKinley came over for a bit to commiserate, but he showed me everyone's individual scores from the sections. I got a perfect score on Chemistry (4.0), 3.58 on Heat Transfer, and got kicked in the nuts by Materials, MTMO, and ETMO. How Hurd left MTMO blank and got a higher score than I did on MTMO is peculiar... I call shenanigans on either what she said or how they graded.

Either way, it's over. Back to normal... I don't know how to do that, but I'll figure it out again.

PEACE!

Cancellations

Just got screwed by the Navy. I thought I was moving to New York after I graduate from Power School on May 14th. Plan was to leave Charleston on Monday May 17th, drive to DC, stay the night with Mike's friend, then get to our place in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday the 18th. Get settled and fly out of Albany to Dallas for a few days, then report to MARF (my reactor in NY) on May 30th.

All that just got ruined.

Oh well, I should survive. Just gotta beg for a refund from Delta.

Haze Gray and Underway

I was going to just post a one liner on Twitter or Facebook about how I feel right now, but that is just impossible. I would literally draw a blank because one sentence is either not enough or way too much. I can't decide.

Basically, for most of 2010 I've been jaded, in a haze, zoning out, etc. I have a feeling it's my subconscious telling me "you're not meant to do anything technical or mechanical." My grades have been slipping, but I already decided not to put in an Officer Packet yet so that has little to no bearing. I'm still passing, haven't failed anything yet, but what was once 3.4s are now 3.0s.

As far as relationships go, I feel like I'm very distant nowadays, even with the people I see and talk to regularly. It's so bizarre. Usually, I've had a few people that I could really engage with all the time (I'm looking at you Ted, Greg if you're reading this). But I'm missing that here.

I keep waiting for things to pick back up again, to get my spirits going and whatnot... but I feel like I've been waiting for a long time.

OK, had to get that off my mind. It's been eating away at me. Hope all is well, sorry I don't use this much anymore.

RP

BIG TYME

No post in a while, and no excuses. Here's some music I've been making recently with my M-Audio USB Synth. Going to get some decks potentially soon.

A little R&B madness/Drake inspired downtempo.

Some Dallas-esque generic dance rap.

And again.

Trying some uptempo dance stuff.

Recut of the Earth, Wind, and Fire song "Groove Tonight"

Instrumental of the song I called "Planetary" before my friend Zheryk laid a track on it.

That's all I got. Enjoy.

Upcoming

Things in the new year I'm excited for:

-Baseball season and the Texas Rangers.
-The World Cup (the USA has a fighting chance)
-Baylor Basketball
-A better year in movies
-Graduating Power School
-Possibly moving to New York
-Putting in my officer package
-Getting a car??

The New Year

Thank God it's here. 2009 was exhausting. However, all things considered, it was a much better year than 2008. That had to be the worst.

Things are getting weird now. Everyone is growing up. I knew I would drift away from people, mostly people I didn't really care for so that's fine. But now I'm starting to drift from people I really do care about. That's a hard feeling to take in. I'm talking about people who shaped who I am, and who taught me to first and foremost be real.

You know, it's a funny thing about being real. It's not accepted by a lot of people. Sure, people like to say that honesty is the best policy. But think about how unpleasant reality is in a lot of cases. I can think of countless times when my version of real was just too much for others. It's hard to do 100% of the time, and it's hard to take 100% of the time. C'est la vie (correct me if I'm wrong).

I have a few goals for 2010. Read the Bible more. Read more in general. Go to church. Separate from immaturity and embrace being grown. Start a hardcore savings plan. Learn the basics of a new language not named Spanish. Swear less. Love more. Word hard. Go all out all the time.

Also, I'm going to work on my girl situation. It's been about a solid year since I've had any kind of remote romantic interests (outside of a few brief flings with girls in the Charleston area). I am seriously lagging behind a few of my friends, and Christmas leave reminded me that I have to work on my game some more. It's not like college where guys and girls are constantly on the lookout for some action... it's the real world and the game is a lot different.

Well that's it for now. I hope to keep this up more in the New Year. Power school isn't that bad, and I am mastering it pretty well, so I think I'll have more time than in A-School.

Cheers