February 13, 2006 Monday How do you think of time? It is linear? There’s always been one way I’ve thought of time, in terms of years, and I’d like to know how normal it is (I hope not very). First, it is dark. Not for dramatic effect, just because I don’t know what non-time…
Tag: Navy
Seeing the Light (Coming Home is a Religious Experience)
October 29, 2006 Sunday Hey guys. Overall today, I am doing well. It is a “6” day out of ten, which must be graded, as always, on the Naval Curve. I have a countdown drawn out next to me. In the lower corner is Africa, and then there are thirty circles in descending numbers…
Another Happiness
July 13, 2006 Thursday Another happiness I’ve realized today is that most of my close group on the ship are all E-5s, better known as Second Class Petty Officers. It isn’t really like a “class” like you would have in school, or I once had, but there are parallels. Our common touchstones are…
Chickens in Pants
June 23, 2006 Friday Marley– We are not the most news-making vessel to ever leak along, in elongated Mediterranean circles, so I must redefine the term. Below is a collection of odds and ends that I have been collecting this week for you, like the careful rationing of flour to finally create the smallest of edible…
To One Day Be Mad
June 11, 2006 Sunday I must make it a point to be more depressed more often, what good it will do for my spirits! No, I have not gone mad, but God do I wish I already was. At two of my lower points in the last months you have come that perfect, movie clichéd…
Our Worst Fear
June 2, 2006 Friday The ship today as a whole is a little off, and for very good reason. A person I worked with in Damage Control those many months received some horrible news early this morning by way of a Red Cross message. His five year-old daughter died last night. From what little I…
Musings, Small Yet Bright, Like the Stars Above
“Holding Steady” May 23, 2006 Tuesday In the middle of the Atlantic. I once wondered what it would be like to surrounded by water only, and here I am. I am beginning to read the many books I found in Portsmouth, beginning with O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. Spirits holding steady. “To New Things”…
Rough Seas
March 10, 2006 Friday The seas are today throwing us around like a bad carnival ride. This morning I had a dream I was on a plane undergoing extreme turbulence, the pilot continually giving the plane gas and then braking. The subject for a few days has been schools and such so I wanted to break…
A Brief Survival Guide to Being Lost at Sea
March 18, 2006 Saturday Dear Carlson Family, far away– I was asked by Marley and her family tonight, as they visit her (she has just returned from Italy) about what life is like in the Navy. More specifically, what it must be like to be out here amid the waves for so long? I…
The Great Culture Clash of Helensburgh, Scotland
February 26, 2006 Saturday The day’s work in port over by three, I said I would go with Ferrari, a fellow sonar man, because I only wanted to pick a few things up in town, and be back at a good hour to be in shape for my trip to Edinburgh on Sunday. Slowly I…
Mostly Waiting
February 25, 2006 Friday Today was spent mostly waiting, doing an odd job, then waiting some more, trying not to look at the clock yet wanting it to suddenly get to whatever point it took until they relented and let them free. Having duty today, I was not stressed by this, because my time will…
No One Will Believe You 