Thursday, April 21, 2005

Full Metal Irony. 

All this week in the Armed Sentry Course, we've been doing small arms qualifications, which means no alcohol, all week.

I don't particularly like guns.

At all.

During the 9mm and shotgun courses it was pretty obvious how uncomfortable I was 'cause the instructors kept telling me to "relax", "move fast, shoot slow", which is a sick joke to me. I'd only shot either of them once before, but never for a score, much less an actual qualification.

Today's course was on the M16, which I'd never held or fired before. Despite a couple double-feeds I quall'ed expert. I've found my small arms niche, apparently.

Next week will (thankfully) be my last week of this shit. At least now I'll have a ribbon to show for it.

posted by Matthew @ 6:25 PM 0 comments

Peep This. 



A day in the life of a G-Unit sailor, through the eyes of a peep.

Proceed with caution.

posted by Matthew @ 5:53 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Out of sheer curiosity: 

Due to some strange anonymous traffic I've been getting as of late, I gotta ask:
Maybe I'll send the more unique responses something interesting from Japan.

posted by Matthew @ 11:30 PM 0 comments

Monday, April 18, 2005

I'm going... going... 

back... back...

...to Joliet.

I talked to my mother yesterday, something I seldom do, due as much to circumstance as intent. I only called to let her know I'd be home on leave in the near future but it turned into a catch-up conversation. "Catching-up" about the old days, about Joliet, about relatives and the church I grew up in, always comes with bad news. I haven't been home since Christmas 2002.

I just want to go home, take some pictures, eat some Chicago style Deep Dish pizza, in Chicago, reminisce about the days before hip-hop up-and-died with Hamilton Riley, and get drunk have a couple Old Styles with Mo at Wrigley.

I don't want drama. I don't want grief.

Is that too much to ask?

I've got a gut feeling I'll just be reminded of why I left in the first place.

posted by Matthew @ 9:43 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Guess Who's Bizack. 

My first weekend back in Japan was wild. The best guy I've ever worked for since I've been in the Navy transferred Monday morning. It being his last hurrah in Japan (at least for awhile) we hit Roppongi pretty hard.

Unfortunatley, I didn't have my camera Saturday morning. I stayed in a hotel near Harujuku and woke up about noon to some spectacular weather. I could've got some awesome pictures of the cherry blossoms but it's all pretty much over with now. Better luck next year I guess.

I'm in school this week, learning how to be a sentry. It's being taught by a bunch of the "former military / tough guy" types that I can't fucking stand. I've only been in it since Monday but it's felt like an eternity. Yesterday, in particular, was a real treat. We all got sprayed with oleoresin capsicum, which isn't your daddy's pepper spray. It's fucking hell in a can. Every recruit goes through something dubbed the "gas chamber" in boot camp. Just so you get exposed to some sort of CBR and you don't go nuts out in the fleet should the situation ever arise. OC spray is 1000x worse than that shit. We got exposed to it directly. Right in the face. After getting sprayed we had to run a gauntlet using baton and hand to hand techniques. I did alright 'cause the shit didn't really hit me 'til I went to wash it off.

There's a tape of it. It's pretty comical.

I can honestly say now with conviction: DO NOT FUCK WITH A GATE GUARD. EVER. He might've gone through this class and be really pissed off.

posted by Matthew @ 9:53 PM 0 comments

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Miss Saigon 

To say my stay in Ho Chi Minh City was memorable would be a colossal understatement. It's nice to hit a port every once in a while that doesn't have a Navy ship pull in every other day. Don't get me wrong; I love the Busans and Singapores of the world but for the locals, seeing us was as new for them as coming to Vietnam was for us, which was refreshing.



I'm feeling really lazy right now and I don't feel like doing up the thumbnail treatment to all the pics I took so if you're interested you can always check out this directory and my flickr page.

I'll be back in Yoko' next week. Got a few DS games waiting for me; namely Meteos and Electroplankton. Impressions are soon to follow.

posted by Matthew @ 12:06 AM 0 comments

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