|
spitfire31
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Rich
Gender: Male
Interests: LMS, books, movies, food
Expertise: useless trivia, movie quotes, debating the ridiculous
Occupation: doesn't matter
Industry: medical; military
Message: message me
Member Since:
11/19/2006
|
|
| As a way of transition, let me say that I was recently freed from my previous Command and have joined on with a new group. The physical transition was not an easy one, as it necessitated 3 flights over 2 days, included an overnight on the floor in an airport in Singapore, and many many many security clearances from various government and international outfits. When it was all said and done, I made it to my new Command okay....a little tired, but okay. Anyway, I'll post pictures of the beautiful 3rd world industrial port that we spent a few days at in future posts. Aside from being the seediest country I've yet been to, the last port was kind of fun. Over the past 2 days, its become apparent that perhaps the internet isn't as reliable a means of communication as i'd hoped for. I have internet access where I am....but I fear that my emails aren't reaching their intended target. I'm hopeful that in a few days my wife will be inundated with the emails I've been sending her, and that I will be inundated with emails shes been sending me. In the meantime, I hope that Xanga will allow me to summarize what I've been telling her all along: I love you baby and I can't wait to see you again. :) | | |
| There is a venomous snake on the island here called the Habu....its a kind of viper. Apparently its killed quite a few people over the years so the residents of this place decided that they'd take manners into their own hands and take care of the problem. Their solution was quite an elegant one....albeit not entirely thought out. Their solution?? Mongooses....and lots of them. In the early 1900s, they released thousands of mongooses to erradicate the Habu....mongeese, as you may or not be aware, are renown for their skills at hunting and killing cobras. Well, there was one little problem with the plan......Habu and nocturnal and mongoose are not. The result.....the Habu were not sent into extinction. Now the island has a mongoose problem....apparently the mongoose are hunting down and killing off several protected animal species on the island......whoops. Anyway, here is something you don't see everyday....unless you are stuck on this island too, then you might: 
HABU SAKE Essentially this is sake with a dead snake in the bottom. The snake is still quite venomous and the venom infuses the sake to instill a horrendous flavor....and it apparently boosts male virility, which is why they sell it in the first place. I saw this at the Exchange yesterday.....not only did they have it, they had four different sized bottles. They wanted $17 for the cheapest and smallest bottle....which didn't even have a snake in it. The large bottle was disturbing....it was like a HUGE mason jar with at least a 2 to 3 foot snake curled in the bottom. They were charging $330 for it....I didn't buy it, but the option is there if I change my mind....I figured that I'd have trouble clearing customs with more than 15mL of liquid. | | |
| I've always assumed that even in the remotest part of the world about 10% of people speak at least a modicum of English. Last night that assumption was proved to be untrue. A bunch of us decided that we'd hit the town and get some sushi at a local place near base. The final decision regarding the restaurant of choice for our first dining excursion in this country was influenced, in large part, by intelligence left us by a previous command. The restaurant we chose was touted as having a sushi buffet, and we were stoked to get our Asian cuisine adventure off to a good start. 3 of us took a separate car (there were 10 of us total) and sprinted out to the restaurant before the others...I'd say we arrived a good 30 mintues before the rest of our party. We found the place okay....went inside, were able to get a table without too much trouble....took our shoes off and sat ourselves down to peruse the menu......we looked down and saw a myriad of asian characters littering all surfaces of the menu. Some of the characters appeared to be numbers....but it was kind of hard to tell. Our waitress tried her best to explain the menu to us....her method of choice was to point at the characters and move her fingers across the page from left to right...evidently the direction we were supposed to read the characters in to make sense of the menu. When we appeared confused, she would again point at the menu and move her finger across the menu from left to right....but this time much slower. Sadly, this didn't really help the translation that much. In the end, we were able to relay that we wanted sushi (there was no buffet by the way)....we also were able to glean that beer was half price. I ordered sake....which she understood, but apparently they had a few varieties which once again started the cycle of slowly pointing at the menu and moving her finger across it.....in the end she just brought out a bunch of bottles and let me choose. By the time the others arrived, we had our sake (and beer) and appeared to have the entire situation under control. In the end we chose to just point at different menu items, hoping that they brought us plates of food and not more bottles of sake, or cokes, or whatever else they had written on their menu that we didn't understand. All told, we ate quite well....the food was delicious and we had no idea how much we were paying....turned out to be 13,000 Yen (about $120)....not bad really. It was an experience I won't forget. Thankfully we're amongst a culture here who will tolerate our American idiocy and cater to our cultural retarditude....somehow I doubt we'd be as gracious if the roles were reversed. | | |
| The military has a knack for hardening even the softest of organizations....as we were driving around the island yesterday I noticed 2 perfect examples of this: The 3rd Air Postal Squadron The 28th Dental Brigade I have to say that both groups sound quite fierce, and I wouldn't want to pit my 303rd Medical Armada against either of those two eilite fighting forces....especially the Dental Brigade, their mechanized. I think we should warriorize even more....why stop here....perhaps the Fighting Cashiers of the 101st Shopkeepers Regiment or the Holy Crusaders of the 2nd Chaplain's Division. I think its the only way we can get the world to stand up and recognize our might...... | | |
| I just spent the last 20 or so minutes reading some of my blog posts from last deployment.....It seemed to me that my time in the desert honed my ability to turn a sarcastic phrase to a knife's edge, sharp enough to slice through the monotony of the situation. Sadly, I feel as though I have lost that valuable skill.....but I feel it returning. As always, I will not reveal our deployment location....although by and large it is no secret. Suffice it to say that this time we are not in the desert.....in fact, this area is actually quite lush and reminds me of a hillier Mississippi with fewer rednecks. I haven't gotten a chance to explore the local area because we are once again confined to base....which I am assured is only temporary. We are able to make full use of the base we have in the interim however.....and its almost like being back home for the following reasons. 1. There are casino gaming machines on this camp 2. There is a Southern Grill we can eat at (run by Asians mostly) 3. We do have rednecks on this base 4. There is an ample supply of miller lite for the rednecks to enjoy Just futher evidence that American culture is taking over the world......... | | |
|
