This will be my 50th post total. I've kept logs, journals, and online things before, but this is the longest I've ever dedicated to one of them. The last month has gone by at a decent pace; not too slow, not too fast. And while I am curious to see who I'll be working with and what my work will entail back on board my ship, I am still ever hesitant to return to Norfolk. What is keeping me from wanting to go back isn't the fact that my long vacation will come to an end. It's the fact that I will be returning to a place most sailors detest: The Yards. What sounds like a foreboding place out of a fantasy movie, I assure you the place exists. Oh, how it exists.
My experience of the Yards is one of self loathing, depression, drunken brawls, and a place where your very soul is slowly sucked away. While I was there, I was able to achieve 2 stays in the Emergency room, (2 nights in a row for 2 separate reasons), a frantic call to 911, a moment of self reflect where I actually considered my job at Sears was better than what I was currently doing, and the first desire to go to Iraq just to get the Hell away from that place.
While it will be the same place, I know that this go around will be different. I am more mature, smarter, and have a nice shiny second class crow on my sleeve. However, I can't help but think that no matter what they will have me doing, no matter where, I will still think back on what I achieved and accomplished in Iraq, the people I worked with, and what I did every day and sigh a little.
As if it was a sign of things to come, I received an email from my leadership. I got a few extra days and won't have to return till Thursday, vice Tuesday, which makes me a happy sailor. My uniforms are all brand spanking new, cleaned, pressed, hemmed, and patches sewn. I think this is the most squared away I've been my entire career. I've purchased the new blue camies, and while I am not exactly used to the blue digital material, I'm sure I will still look sharp as ever. I'm just happy to finally own a set of dress blues that actually fit.
So what have I done this past month? Well besides a week on the West Coast, not too much. Went fishing with my father, visited some friends, attended a party in DC, and helped around the house the best I could. Now I'm just getting my belongings into a storage unit and then it will be back to Norfolk. Besides all that, I've spent plenty of quality time with my Xbox. Oh how I missed her bliss. Thanksgiving was quiet with neighbors coming over for dinner and talk. Been a nice, relaxing vacation for the most part.
As the days go by, and my return to being a 100% sailor nears, I look forward to doing new things and going to Germany in April. Till then, whatever happens, things could always be worse.
Oh, and the movie 2012 is stupid. Very stupid. Yet, some of the best special effects I've ever seen.
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