(no subject)
Oh, it has been tremulous.
Last weekend we had three days off and my buddy Alex and I went snowboarding in Shiga Koken, Nagano. We stayed in the same resort that held the athletes in the 1998 Winter Olympics and skiied many of the same slopes. About this time last year was the first time I had ever been snowboarding. I went with some friends on a half baked, ill prepared trip to Naeba. This year I was a much better boarder, despite not having been since last year. I had such a great time and I took on a lot of slopes that were really out of my league and although I did fall quite a bit, I think I got the better of many of the hills I went down. I even did some back country skiing through the woods. The snow was great, the accomodations could not have been better and we even got to hang out with some ladies who are American school teachers near by. Top shelf indeed.
As nice as that weekend was, it is really the only time I have had of all month. We are working so hard at the squadron to get this helicopter ready to take to sea in early February. As with most things in the Navy, our tentative plans to help the Indonesians have changed. We are now not planning on stopping to help tsumani victims on our two month trip to Hong Kong and points in China. I would have really liked to lend a hand down there, to get a little validation from the time I've spent here in Asia, but it doesn't look like that will transpire. I guess I'll just have to find passion in my work some other way (right Jess?) Truth be told, I am feeling a little disenchanted with the squadron these days. Not much flare in working twelve hours a day, six days a week. I'm trying to get qualifications so that I can be more useful but when I train for them it seems like I am being tested on things different than what they teach me. I realize that I'm lucky that I'm not in Iraq but I still have a point of view on what I am doing and frankly it isn't a good one. I've had a lot of titles slapped on me in the last couple years like "Sailor", "Airman", and "Electrician", but at my most very basic level I am a "person" and sometimes I need to behave as such. The Navy holds little room for people with a point of view though.
As soon as I get these pictures of the ski weekend through a scanner I'll post them at the photobucket site.
Last weekend we had three days off and my buddy Alex and I went snowboarding in Shiga Koken, Nagano. We stayed in the same resort that held the athletes in the 1998 Winter Olympics and skiied many of the same slopes. About this time last year was the first time I had ever been snowboarding. I went with some friends on a half baked, ill prepared trip to Naeba. This year I was a much better boarder, despite not having been since last year. I had such a great time and I took on a lot of slopes that were really out of my league and although I did fall quite a bit, I think I got the better of many of the hills I went down. I even did some back country skiing through the woods. The snow was great, the accomodations could not have been better and we even got to hang out with some ladies who are American school teachers near by. Top shelf indeed.
As nice as that weekend was, it is really the only time I have had of all month. We are working so hard at the squadron to get this helicopter ready to take to sea in early February. As with most things in the Navy, our tentative plans to help the Indonesians have changed. We are now not planning on stopping to help tsumani victims on our two month trip to Hong Kong and points in China. I would have really liked to lend a hand down there, to get a little validation from the time I've spent here in Asia, but it doesn't look like that will transpire. I guess I'll just have to find passion in my work some other way (right Jess?) Truth be told, I am feeling a little disenchanted with the squadron these days. Not much flare in working twelve hours a day, six days a week. I'm trying to get qualifications so that I can be more useful but when I train for them it seems like I am being tested on things different than what they teach me. I realize that I'm lucky that I'm not in Iraq but I still have a point of view on what I am doing and frankly it isn't a good one. I've had a lot of titles slapped on me in the last couple years like "Sailor", "Airman", and "Electrician", but at my most very basic level I am a "person" and sometimes I need to behave as such. The Navy holds little room for people with a point of view though.
As soon as I get these pictures of the ski weekend through a scanner I'll post them at the photobucket site.