Wow, it's been over a month since I've posted here. I genuinely have been terrible at even looking at my Friend's List feed, let alone posting, so I truly do apologize, and hope that no one takes my silence personally.

That said, I can do some catch up later, but right now, I'm in an interesting predicament...

Some local friends and I are going to be doing Umloud again this year! This time, however, we're stepping things up a notching and all going as a Batman villain themed band. XD Not surprisingly I was picked to be The Riddler, which is fine by me. But I'm not doing any of that full leotard crap - I'm going for the classy Riddler from The Animated Series. Awwww yeah.

So I have about a month to make my costume, and I have NEVER cosplayed in my entire life. Most of what I need should be easy, though - 

• Green bowler hat (can get that at any novelty shop, thanks to St. Paddy's Day)
• Purple dynamo mask (I already have one - don't ask)
• Black button up shirt (easypeasy)
• White tie (again, easy, and I can just paint or sew on a felt purple question mark)
• Grey slacks (too easy)
• SCREW the green shoes, I'm going with normal footwear
• A cane, which could probably be found at a thrift store
• And the most difficult of all - a GREEN blazer. I've searched, and there is nothing really appropriate out there. I have no good ideas right now on how to get that blazer that I want.

So there you have it. Any ideas for the blazer or anything else I need?  

Oh, and we're still debating on what song to perform. My best suggestion is Skullcrusher Mountain by Jonathan Coulton, or Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. XD

And DADT is officially over today. Congratulations, America, on looking like a laughing stock to the rest of the world by fighting so hard to keep this inane policy in place, and for so long. We now join over 40 other secular countries in acceptance and tolerance, with some members of you still kicking and screaming like a petulant child. It will all be okay.

Today is a good day.

I have no plans to say anything upfront about my own sexuality in the military, now that it's "legal" to even do so. But I won't lie if someone asks, and nor will I let any snide, ignorant remarks go unanswered.

I just went on a walk through downtown Winchester with maggock, and we ended up in a huge cemetery. The best combined name we found was "Lycurgus Haymaker". I now want to write a story about him. He sounds like a bad-ass werewolf enforcer, doling out his own brand of justice to the denizens of the underworld. He'd probably fall in love with a vampire, too. Bastard.

So, in a nutshell, the vacation is going great. :) We've been relaxing and watching a bunch of bad movies (and some good ones!), swimming, and lots of *CENSORED*. Tonight we're headed to the Alamo Drafthouse to take in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".

Also, amazingly, I now have a copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii again, with full collector's tin! We found a used copy for an amazingly low price, and in excellent condition, so Maggie picked it up for me as an early Christmas gift. :> I am so lucky in so many ways.

I would depend on who is asking, honestly. I have some rather crafty and devious friends for whom saying "dare" would be a very dangerous choice. :) On a side note... Please please please please let me sleep... I need sleep so bad... Mind, why you no want to sleeeeeeeep?

Looks like I'm failing at using social media again. I'm really sorry for not reading LJ's or look at Facebook or Google+ streams and the like. I guess it's been tough for me to really find the motivation. >.> Standing midwatchs is actually taking more out of me than I had originally anticipated. I think I'm getting LESS time off, because for the majority of that time off I'm tired and trying to recalibrate my sleeping schedule.

Personally, not much is going on. My last night of work is tonight, then I'll be on vacation in Virginia to see Maggie! I've also started my first college course ever, and that's pretty fun. There's some cruddy stuff (lack of money), but I don't think I can really complain. Gotta keep looking forward!

Wow, what a day. My first day breaking in as Communications Watch Officer and it's been a really busy day. I've had personnel issues, serious equipment issues, tons of visitors on the ops deck, new people to train, and just all out non-stop work. I LOVED it. Well, I don't know about "loved", but the time went by fast and I learned a hell of a lot.

My schedule also changed a bit, so I'm working AGAIN tomorrow, have the weekend off, then I begin mids on Monday. I'm really hoping that I can get CWO qualified by September. It'd be a great way to finish off work before my vacation at the beginning of the month to go see Maggie. :>

Aw yeah! Things are moving rather swiftly for me here at CAMSPAC.  Before I can do my billeted job here at CAMSPAC I have to be qualified in the watchstanding positions beneath me. (As the Communications Watch Officer, I'll be the seniormost person on watch at any given time, and thus responsible for CAMSPAC operations.) I was told that it would take a few months to get fully qualified. I took care of two of the watch positions within two weeks of arriving, and today I became qualified in the Tech Support position, in just under a month!

My final qualification will be the actual CWO, and I'm hoping to finish that by September. And they said it would take me four months to get fully qualified. Ha! There is a big benefit to getting qualified, too - as soon as I'm CWO I'll be put into a better watch rotation, which means more time off for me.

I'm also starting midwatches beginning next week... ugh, that's going to be an odd transition.

So I went to my first ever motorcycle riding lesson today! And what's better... I survived!

I just got back from training for 6 hours on a Kawasaki Eliminator motorcycle. (Why the hell would you name a beginner's motorcycle "Eliminator"!?) The training was really fun, and yet exhausting as well. Plus, I'm at kind of a disadvantage, because I have never driven a stick shift before. So all of this clutch, shifting, friction zone, etc is kind of foreign to me. Which was rather evident after my fourth stalled start in 15 minutes. :) I think I've got it under control now, though. Did about 10 miles total, with everything from cornering (I thought I would die), quick stops (I thought I would die) and gear shifting (I thought the bike would explode and then I would die). Still have 6 more hours tomorrow to look forward to, as well!

My body's full of aches and pains from the riding, too, but I'm sure that's a standard thing.

If I do end up riding, it probably won't be for a while. At least, I won't be riding to work for a while. I'd need to get some more practice in first before a ride filled with lots of inclines, drops, twists and turns and some sweet ass straightaways. :p

CAMSPAC is turning out to be a pretty neat place! I'm still a bit surprised by how small it is in relation to the TRACEN. For the past six and a half years I was used to working in a large building with many floors and rooms, and that nestled amongst many other large buildings in one big complex. Here, though... there's the operations deck, an admin office, some rooms for the officers, and that's about it. I don't know if the place IS small, but that's just how I perceive it.

The drive in to work is beautiful, not to mention the area. I'm right on the water at Point Reyes, just a few minutes away from the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Unfortunately the drive is also an hour long and eats up about a quarter of a tank of gas just to get there and back home. So I am thinking of the possibility of getting a motorcycle. I'm not a rider right now, and I've talked a bit with Bfly and Nancy about the possibility. Bfly's advice was great - take a riding course first, and then figure out if riding is something I'd want to do. Fortunately the Coast Guard will repay me for taking a riding course and getting that "M" on my license... so it can't hurt. I've been browsing through Craigslist and it looks like there are a lot of beginner bikes being sold in my area for around $1500, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I guess I'll find out after I take the course!

I'm slowly learning the ropes of my job, which surprisingly has a lot of responsibility. I'm rather excited to jump into it, although it'll still take me about two months to get qualified. Beginning next week I'll be starting break-in watches - two on, two off, with sliding weekends. So essentially I work 5 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, then work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. o_o But then I'm off Monday and Tuesday, work Wednesday and Thursday, then off of work until the following Monday. Then the cycle starts again. It may take me a while to get used to the hours, but I'm looking forward to it!