confidentialmisanthropy

I barely survived Hong Kong this time around. Last time I was there, we were pretty much on a sightseeing and shopping mission. When the Gary pulled in last week I got a taste of Hong Kong winter. I'm from Chicago, where winter means wind chill and salt trucks. In Hong Kong it's... a little different. It was pointless to even bother going to Lantau, or Victoria's Peak, 'cause of the suffocating fog.

The first night in I think I broke my "hammered record". At least that's how I felt the next morning. There's photographic evidence floating around the ship of me dancing with a couple of sisters, which'll be promptly gmailed once I track it down. The second day I slept in 'til about 1400. Ish. Magma dragged me back to the club we were at the first night to see some girl and we ended up staying 'til closing time. I stayed pretty sober the whole night but I found the next morning that my $500 camera was nowhere to be found. I knew I'd had it at the club but no one was around that morning when I went to check if they'd found it.

On the fourth day I made it back there but either no one found the camera, or I just got plain jacked. I'm leaning towards the latter. I had some really awesome shots that I was going to upload but they're fucking gone now. Not to mention some "express laundry" place I turned some stuff into is still in posession of my clothes.

But despite leaving a camera and a pair of coveralls short I still managed to have a good time.

Sorry for the haitus. Swear to God, it was completely unplanned. It's not that I haven't had much to say, just haven't had the time to post it. Someone's gotta take care of shit while ScottP's blogging, hogging all the bandwidth.

Since I last posted I've been to Korea twice. I got a letter from the DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY while we were in Chinhae. It was addressed directly to me and said OFFICIAL BUSINESS. It was… pretty shocking. I’d type out the whole thing for you to read but I think it was mostly FOUO type shit. It was basically a recruitment letter from NSWDG (Naval Special Warfare Development Group). These billets don’t appear on JASS, so everyone at the command has to be recruited and screened.

The guy who’s trying to recruit me, a Senior Chief IT, tells me the command is a CNO priority One Major Command and had 36 people make Chief last year. On top of that, if I do end up taking him up on this opportunity, I could get some non-standard quals like static-line and freefall parachuting. The kicker however is the eligibility requirements:

Volunteer and agree to serve for 4 years.
No NJP or civil offenses in the last three years
No Alcohol related incidents in the last three years
No financial problems that will prevent a TS SCI clearance
Be a U.S. Citizen (no dual-citizenship)
No medical problems that prevent PT/physical activity
Qualify 2nd Class swimmer 6 months after reporting onboard
Be willing to participate in SEAL training evolutions
Be on call (pager) 24x7 (except leave periods)

I've decided I'm gonna email this Senior Chief and get more details. Feel free to talk me out of it in the comments.

Fear it.

I picked up Catch!Touch!Yoshi! yesterday. Turns out it's not quite what I was looking for, but it's getting damn close.

If you were one of the many people hoping for a Yoshi's Island sequel, I'm afraid it's not quite what you're looking for either. On the plus side, it's not a port of any kind. You control the game via the touchscreen and (get this) the microphone (for blowing away clouds you've "drawn").

Yeah. It's pretty safe to say, I've never played anything quite like this. So if C!T!Y! accomplishes nothing else it is completely original.

There's a half-dozen modes in the game but you start with two. There are basically two types of levels. Vertical and horizontal. The vertical stages have Baby Mario falling through the sky, slowed by his emergency baloons, on the top screen. Meanwhile, you encircle baddies in clouds, turning them into coins encased in bubbles. You can also re-route Baby Mario's descent with "cloud paths" to keep his baloons from getting popped by flying shy-guys and the like.

The vertical segments have Yoshi hauling Mario around a-la-Yoshi's Island. But the stages auto scroll and Yoshi moves forward on his own. With the stylus, you create cloud bridges to allow Yoshi to cross pitfalls, all the while launching eggs at coins at baddies by tapping the stylus in that direction.

It all takes some getting used to, but it's a nice departure, if a bit fleeting.

In other news... I've been using my PSP for evil.

Just thinking about Sammy in an Orioles jersey is pretty fucking hard for me. In a couple weeks, when Spring Training kicks off, not much will be left for my imagination. As sad as it is, it had to be done.

Quoted from the Trib':

The success of the trade does not depend on how Sosa plays for the Orioles this season. If he hits 50 home runs, it will not mean the Cubs made a mistake. The success of the trade will be that it was made. The success of the trade will not be gauged by whom the Cubs get in return for Sosa. They could get the next Mickey Mantle or the next Mickey Rooney, and it won't matter. The success of the trade will be that it was made.




Doesn't matter if the Cubs finish a game out of the playoffs. Doesn't matter if they miss the playoffs because of a lack of power.

Moving Sosa is the right thing now and forever. He walked out on his teammates.
End of story.

The window of oppurtunity for the Cubs is closing it seems. Pardon my pessimism, but fuck. With Alou and Sosa gone you've got a huge gap to fill, no matter how you look at it. Even still, the Cubs crutch has been middle relief and that has yet to be rectified. At any rate, it's going to be an interesting Summer in Wrigleyville. That's for damn sure.

I'm back from Saipan. My stay was... educational. I'll say that much. If you want details, and you have the clearance, you know where to find me.

It hit me today though. I've been here for six months now. I'm 25% done with my tour on the Gary. When you've done an active duty enlistment in the Navy, you learn the value of six months. The value of my last six months was apparently up for debate on the trip down to the Marianas. I haven't really spoken about it much, but this guy I work with, who I'll refer to as Black Rob, has been nothing short of an ass to me since I got to the command. To be fair, he's not a bad guy, we just have seriously conflicting personalities. It could have something to do with me coming from a carrier and him coming from somewhere a lot less demanding... from an IT standpoint anyhow.

The problem is, he thinks his shit doesn't stink (a common IT trait that I happen to loathe). My chief happens to agree, and considering how far up Rob's ass he is I'd almost be inclined to agree. Truth is though, chief created a monster. Rob doesn't have a fraction of the sea-time I have. When he got to Gary he got schooled up the ass and has every NEC known to man. Not to sound pompous, but the network I ran for 3 years with Mo on ChuckV had roughly 4 times the clientele of the entire crew on Gary. I'm a 4 year 2nd class with damn near 4 years of sea-time and qualified in two Warfare Specialist fields. I'm overqualified for the job I do now.

I told Ski' the night before getting underway, completely under the influence that Black Rob and I were gonna have words. I'm not an... argumenative person. I have a very long wick and I tend to let people who want to act ignorant stay that way, but as Mo can atest, I have buttons that when pushed can bring out the Hyde in me.

So yeah. Black Rob found that out. And it's safe to say the value of my last six months is no longer an issue.