confidentialmisanthropy

I got my NAM the other day... I guess in some way I should have felt somewhat vindicated, 'cause I was admittedly bitter about it leaving the Vinson. But in reality, I work nights... and the awards ceremony was on the flight deck... at high noon on the Indian Ocean. There were at least 30 other awardees, getting EOTs or LOAs for this that and the other and I was really annoyed. Standing at attention for a 1/2 hour in 90 °F + weather (and raining no less) is not how I like to spend my sleep time. I guess in a way it was the final kick in the nuts from the Vinson but this kick came with award points for my next rating exam... so I guess I should be thankful.

Anyhow, we're out here for some excersise with the Indian Navy which involved a little crew swap. A few guys went over to thier ships and came back with a few tales that I wager were a bit exaggerated but I guess since I was lucky enough to have stayed on board I can't really say either way. I got volunteered to tour a few of the guys that came to our ship, thier communicators. I'm not sure I was the right guy for the job considering I'm still new to the ship and I'm not much of a "comms" guy as much as I'm a "network" guy but that fact seemed to go right over their heads, which is understandable. The gear they were using is Smithsonian caliber shit... I'm talkin' teletype.

We pulled in
We tied up near
We anchored out near Goa / Panaji for a couple days. I slept in the first day. We didn't actually anchor out 'til about 1800 local time. You do the math. Wait 30 min for liberty call, ride the liberty boat for an hour in the rain. Wait for the bus for another 30 min to an hour. And be back to the landing in time for the last boat at 2300. Thanks for the offer but I'll have to pass.



I went out the second day with one of the guys from Radio named Kettles. He's TAD to the messdecks right now, and sadly will likely be there again after his first 90 day tour there 'cause he's the only seaman in a division of nine. I guess I can relate to him somewhat in that respect but he deals with it admirably, much better than I ever did. When I was giving the Indian guys a tour of the ship, we passed by the messdecks when I suddenly had the urge to play Symphony of the Night, which kinda struck me as odd.

Then Kettles pops up behind me and says "Recognize this music?"

Then an exclamation point popped over my head like in Metal Gear and it dawned on me that he was playing the SoTN OST on the mess decks. I must've been slow that day because I had the 'cause and effect a little backwards and it kinda freaked me out like he was in my head, Psycho Mantis style...

Anyway, that name's taken so he's Magma Echidna henceforth.

When I got back to the ship one of the Indian Comm guys asked me how I liked Goa... I'm all about foriegn relations so I told him simply "It was OK".

He assured me it's alot better when it's not raining 'cause the areas beaches are pretty popular but I'm not a beach person. I'm not a Goa person either. Magma and I caught a lib' boat (really thought I was done with those) to shore and got there sometime around 1400 I'd say. The Cowpens, a ship I'm beginning to loathe, was sitting there tied up snugly pier-side.

Fuckers.

We caught a cab from there to Panaji, which the cabbie assured us was "beautiful". I took a few pics there. But I wouldn't call the place picturesque or "beautiful". I'll upload 'em when I get some time and you can see for yourself.

Magma's priority was to do his laundry. We asked the cabbie if he new a place to wash clothes and he said nowhere near there, but he'd do the laundry. He then asked when he needed it back, to which Magma replied "tonight". That's when the cabbie said that wasn't possible 'cause he wouldn't be using a "machine".

And that right there is pretty much indicitive of the state of Goa.