I DECLARE.....

my intentions to write a blog!

I know I have been yet again bad at writing, but I would like to write a blog now. Sadly, I have not the time as I must sleep to try and conquer this stupid cold that has taken over my life. For the 3 people that are interested in what I have to say, stay tuned.

After these messages, we'll be right back!

A Brief Note

I haven't written for awhile, so I thought I would just let everyone know that I am still alive! Patty and I haven't been up to much since camping. Last weekend we ran a 5k race together. The weather turned out to be quite hot, but overall it was a good race. We ended up going with a friend of ours named Kara, who was quite stoked to run the race, and also really wants to do the triathlon that is coming up! I will be in MD then I think, so I will not be able to participate! I can't say as though I am terribly sad about it. I like to do physical activity alot, but I'm just not a big race person.

Other than that it has been really low key for us. Patty has become addicted to a farming game. She plays it all day long! Basically she has a little farm which she plants vegetables in, and then when they have grown she harvests them and sells them! Sometimes these "plants" take days to grow!

In retaliation of her online farm, I started to play a rather silly game called Tagoria. I don't know how much of a game it actually is because all you do is really click on things to and wait to find out what happens. It is pretty uneventful, but strangely addicting. I find myself looking forward to the little battle reports it gives about the fights. They are really kind of ridiculous, but oh well...it is something to do! The link to the game is below so you can all ck out the "game".

Anyways, that is about it.

Promotion!!

Well, I have been waiting all week to find out the results of my promotion test to E-6 (TSgt), and today I finally found out!  I got promoted!!  Needless to say I am pretty flabbergasted!  I honestly didn't think I made it, but I guess all that studying I did the few days before really paid off!  I only made it by 2 pts, but it doesn't matter because I passed!  This was only my 2nd time testing for Tech so I feel great!  The average is much higher.  The average to make TSgt is about 11-12 years...but I made it at the end of my 8th!  So, even though I was slow to pick up SSgt (mainly due to apathy) looks like I made up for it here and I am still ahead of the curve!!

Unfortunately, I won't sew on till next year around this time.  My line number is 6811, which has nothing to do with my score, but just my time in service/time in grade.  The way I am looking at it though, the hard part is out of the way!  Now I just have to sit back, and wait for my line number to come up! 

A bunch of us are going out to dinner to celebrate at this amazing Korean restaurant in Hachinohe.  Patty and I are both wicked excited!  Some of the best food ever.  And there will probably be much drinking to go along with the food aswell...hey..it's a celebration!

Anyways, I got promoted.  I am happy.  That is all! 

College Bound

As you may or may not know, I have been trying to make some headway on my higher education for awhile now.  So, a few weeks ago I signed up for a few classes, and today marks the start of the term.   Unfortunately the "military lifestyle" is sometimes none too conducive to taking classes.  Luckily, it seems that I will all together avoid shift work here at Misawa, and beable to be on a day shift indefinitely.  I am absolutely thrilled at this...not because I really love day hours, but just to beable to have a steady shift that I know I can take classes is a huge load off my shoulders. To be honest, I feel quite behind the curve education wise at this point in my life.  I always imagined I would have finished my schooling way before now.  I am a bit embarrassed truth be told.  That's not to say that I haven't had alot of school since joining the military, because hell...I'm a linguist...but it doesn't equate to a degree.  Pretty  much everyone in my family has a degree of Bachelors or higher, and I want to join the club!  

I'm pretty close to finishing my CCAF degree in Communications Technology, and I am also very close to completing the course work for my Associates in Chinese from DLI.  I will feel much happier at least when those are done.  However, I am still quite a ways away from finishing my BS, which I am proud to say I am majoring in Psychology!  I'm really excited to take these classes and soak up as much knowledge as I can.  I have alot of ideas on what I could do with this, or down which paths in the future this could lead me when I get out, but for now I know I need to learn to walk before I can run.  As the Chinese say, "一步一步!"

Anyways, wish me luck in this new(ish) endeavor!  

Swine Flu

Speaking of being sick, here is a picture of the Swine Flu.  Let's hope I don't have it!!

I couldn't stave off the sickness

So, after about 1 1/2 weeks of staving off Patty's illness, I have finally contracted this silly bug.  What's worse, is that my voice still hasn't recovered from karaoke on Friday night, so I kind of sound like my vocal cords have leprosy.  It is unfortunate.  I hope I am better soon.  

Curious Cuisine

On Sunday Patty and I decided to go up to the Shimoda Mall for fun...ok, actually I really wanted to see the new Star Trek movie, and we haven't been to a Japanese movie theater before. They really are a bit different from American theaters for 2 main reasons. One, the price is about $20 per person, and second, there is actually reserved seating that you choose when you purchase your ticket. Pretty crazy, right?
Now, what I really wanted to mention here though is there is this great shop that sells all manner of wonderfully delicious breads/desserts. We have been by that place several times, and infact one of the first places that we were taken when we came to Misawa was the mall, and this little bread shop. They have just about everything you could imagine...cheese bread, scones, nan filled with indian curry (delicious btw), cold pizza slices, and the oddest one, a breaded and fried ham and cheese sandwich. Yes...that is right. They bread and then fry 2 slices of ham and a slice of cheese between two pieces of white bread. Maybe your not that suprised by it, but I sure was. I suppose Americans tend to fry some pretty weird stuff too, but I just had never heard of breading and frying a sandwich!
We ended up getting one, and to tell the truth, I liked it! It was pretty much just how you would think it should taste...crunchy on the outside, and ham sandwichy on the inside. My only critisizim would be that it was cold. I think it would have tasted way better had it been hot or even warm. I wish I had a picture of it, but sadly we didn't think of taking one...oh well..maybe next time.

Delicious

This morning while waiting for a friend to pick up his car from the mechanic, I stopped at a Lawsons (a japanese convienence store) and got a little riceball and a bottle of green tea. I have to say, having those two things in the morning were great! They really woke me up, filled me up, and didn't sit too heavy in my stomache. I seem to find that most breakfast type items usually feel heavy in your belly and kind of wear you down. This did just the opposite! I felt quite spry afterwards! Patty and I went to the gym about an hour after I ate, and we both ran and felt pretty good about it! Patty is starting to really starting to find her groove again with running. I'm very happy for her! I just need to work on finding my own..it's just too bad I hate running. Oh well..maybe with more green tea and riceballs I will feel more positive towards running!

Thoughts on Vitamin Water

So, I'm not a fan.  A friend of mine offered me a bottle of this beverage while we were hanging out earlier and at the time it sounded good.  It was supposed to be dragon-fruit flavored.  I thought, "well, I like dragon-fruit...I bet this will be pretty good".  Unfortunately, it followed suit with every other sip of Vitamin Water I've ever had.  It just tastes like really watered down gatorade.  The worst part is that it is about $1.00 per bottle!  Crazy....well, I guess no more insane than buying a bottle of gatorade, but then why wouldn't you just buy gatorade?  You could just buy a bottle of water instead, and it would probably be much more satisfying....and if you got it out of the tap or such dispensing units, it would be for free!

Thinking on it, what specifically is Vitamin H2O supposed to do for you?  Supply you with your daily amount of vitamins?  Don't people realize yet that taking 500% of your DRI is not particularly good for you?  For that matter, gatorade is way over-used too...I don't think your body needs that many electrolytes.  

That's really all I have.  Sorry...didn't mean to rant.  

Dilemma...well to me

Oh yeah...just thought of one other thing I can share.  

So, I recently just got ripped off of an ebay deal, which I was quite unhappy about.  Hopefully I will be getting the money back though, so I can go and spend it on something else.  :)

For those of you who do not know the extremely fun, yet incredible time sink/money pit hobby known as Warhammer, you won't really understand, but my dilemma is this:  I want to start a new 40k army, but I don't know which one to do.  I can't decide between the Eldar, Tau or Daemons.  So many choices, and each has their own positives and negatives.  So, I could really use your help!  If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!  

A New Beginning

Well, as you all may or may not know, my last attempt at blogging was a miserable failure.  So, in an attempt to inspire myself to keep my blog up to date, I have decided to make a new blog!  I can't promise anything interesting, but I will try to write a little something from time to time.  I hope this will be as pleasurable for me as well as for all of you!  That's all I really have for this installment!  Please stay tuned for more!

Ooo....the theme song from Edward Scissor Hands was just playing...!  

:)