Bingo is MY GAME baby!

Guess who won…TWICE! Alas, once I had to split it 5-ways and ended up with $15 and the other time I had to split it 3 ways and then in half again for a grand total of $65. Snaps for bingo!

The best part, though? I got to call bingo tonight on the closed-circuit TV channel on the boat. So much fun!

Now I can’t wait to get home and go out to dinner with B and the Bro who’s visiting from WI! Why does everyone have to visit while I’m gone?? Perhaps it’s time to change my deoderant…

Sing it with me, people - we all know the song.  And it is officially on the Soundtrack to My Life.

Yesterday we pulled into San Diego for a couple of days in preparation for a major inspection.  However, they let us leave at 3:30 in the afternoon to go blow off some steam.  My friend that I was supposed to go out with for sushi got stuck at work which left me without anyone to go out with, so I walked over to the base Exchange to buy a couple of things I needed for the ship (you know, like a pink cardigan…).  When I was there, I had the keys from the First Class Association’s van dropped on my table with a kind, “YOUHAVETOTAKETHESESOICANGOOUTANDGETDRUNK.” 

Oh, you haven’t heard?  Sailors on liberty like to go drink.  Fortunately, I’m pretty much over that and can merrily do without, so I agreed - admittedly reluctantly - to take the van.  We went to the bowling alley where most of the crew that stayed on base went, and at about 11, I left to take us back to the ship before our 11:30 curfew.  On our way back to the ship, I saw a lot of Sailors that had a hefty hike ahead of them so when I dropped off my group, I turned around and went back for more.  That group got back at 11:22, but I’d passed even more Sailors (who were running at a full sprint) on the way back, so I turned around for that one last group.  I got them on the pier at 11:27, parked the van and got out to hop to it back to the quarterdeck before 11:30. 

Two minutes was plenty of time to make it back, but I knew I would have to be quick about it, so I was walking as fast as one can walk without running - you know, that ridiculous walk where you wonder why they don’t just run, because they look so stupid?  That was me.  The road gave way to a perfectly smooth concrete area on the pier that led to the stairs up to the ship, and half of me thanks god for that and three-quarters of me curses it, because the next thing I knew, my foot caught the lip where the two met and I began the long and horrifyingly embarrassing descent to the ground.

I have never before heard of someone neck-planting, but I neck-planted.  You know those cartoons where the character’s head is on the ground and their legs are bent awkwardly over their heads?  You know, like this? 

 That was me.  Except that along the way I managed to slam my knees, and then the heels of my hands, followed by my elbows, followed by my neck.  My neck!

All of this, of course, was made worse by the fact that the guy driving with me was from the Safety office, and all of the Security patrolmen were watching, half in horror, half in amusement.  But!  I made it back just in the nick of time, albeit with some sore joints and limbs and hands…and did I mention, neck?

I sure am glad my parents didn’t go with the name “Grace” for me.

Sorry I haven’t written much lately, I was out to sea for the last two weeks.  Our workup was cut short due to a technical difficulty…we dragged one of our propellers back which made for a very interesting, VERY motion-sickness-inducing ride home.

Because we got home the extra day early, I got to see my in-laws before they flew back to Iceland.  It was so nice to see them!  I also got to surprise the kids who didn’t know I was coming, so that was a lot of fun too.

I want to update my blog more often, but the problem is…well, there are two problems:  1, I work long hours and usually don’t get out of my office until 11 or 12 at night…i’m up at reveille at 6am and into work by 7:30 so that makes for looong days.  The other part of the problem is that it’s hard to find stuff to write about…things have changed a lot over the last couple of years and I’m in a very different position now than I was when I was out to sea last time.  My observations have changed, I have great stories to tell, but alas, they’re dealing with young Sailors’ stupidity and they’re mad at me enough already for working where I do…I don’t need to give them fuel to file a complaint against me because they read a blog that detailed their theft of a ham. That story I think I’m pretty safe to say as it happened in Spain several years ago, but it’s still a favorite.

But I digress.

I am at an impasse in my blog now.  I read back through old posts and I’m so glad I’ve done this, but at the same time, I don’t know what to write about anymore that won’t a.) get in me in trouble at work; or b.) cause my kids to need therapy in 10 years.  Until I figure out what to do, I do hope you check back occasionally, because I do hope to start up again…I just have to figure out how.

I’m generally not a very grumpy person, but today was Evil Saturday vs. Karyn and Evil Saturday won.  It all started yesterday when I started to feel like I was coming down with something.  By last night, I knew it was over, so anticipating that, I made sure things were going to be quiet today - I flipped the switch on the power strip that controls the video games and upstairs TV, I changed the passwords on the computer so the kids couldn’t get on and be fighting over “who gets a turn”.

Let me back up for a moment and explain a strange phenomenon:  My kids do not like to wake up in the morning for school.  They drag butt, particularly Anja, and need a LOT of prodding to get moving.  But!  on the weekends?  They’re up before 7am.  I do not understand this, at all.

So anyway, I made some banana bread today to cheer myself up, nice and crusty and good.  I thought that would improve my mood, but alas, Evil Saturday had already sunk its claws into me.  A kind request of Anja to take a shower turned into yelling and forced naptime (for her) which led to a defeated naptime (for me) which apparently did everything for her mood but nothing for mine.

And then there was The Drama of the 10 Year Old, which irritates the crap out of me.

I had wanted to get out today to run some errands but instead I spent the day in the house, grumpy all day.  I am looking forward to this day being over.  The banana bread is gone, and I am done.

The morning of your Chief’s exam is generally not the morning to oversleep.

Fortunately, I was able to be dressed and on the mess decks in 8 minutes and although I was the last person in line, I was able to take my test.

And with that, let the games begin!  Please please pleeeease let me get a ticket to the ball!

Good news!  We had water today!

Bad news?  Not a drop of it was hot.  Or even lukewarm.

O privacy, how much I miss thee.

I am in a relatively small berthing (sleeping area).  Our section of berthing has “only” 24 racks - broken up into 4 sections and divided into stacks of 3 racks.  Getting up is fun - most of us get up at generally the same time so there are a lot of people moving in a very small space, all of whom are disoriented from the sleep and haven’t had their morning coffee yet.  And female.

Besides our berthing, we share with two other departments and they have similar compartments with about the same number of racks.  The space is one long space broken up with “knee knockers” (kind of elevated doorways) and curtains dividing each department’s berthing from the next.  In the middle one is the one bathroom.  The one bathroom with the 6 toilets and the 5 sinks (only 3 of which function) and the 4 showers.

So let’s do the math: about 75 people, and 4 showers.  Not only those 75 people but the other thousand-something people waking up about the same thing.   All things considered, things run surprisingly smoothly most mornings; outside of the occasional line for the shower or the knocked head trying to comb my hair.  This morning, however, I was not so lucky. 

I try to be conservative with my water, so I turn the water pressure down and I turn off the water when I’m washing.  This morning I put on a thick coat of conditioner on my hair and lathered up; when I turned the water back on to rinse, the pressure was very low, so I tried fiddling with the shower head.  As I fiddled, it only seemed to make it worse.  My panic increased as the water decreased, until it was coming out in little drips, and then stopped altogether.  I stood there for a few minutes, waiting, turning the water off and then on, off and then on, as the conditioner slimed down my back.

Finally I got out and checked the water in the sinks but alas, they too were dry.  Resigned, I toweled off the soap and started combing my hair with a fine toothed comb to try and comb out some of the conditioner.  And just as I opened the door to go out of the bathroom, the water started up again.

I just know there was some mechanic somewhere cackling to himself as this all played out.