2nd Amendment Defended

This was written by my father, there's no question where I get my literary ability now.  But I agree with him, and if you don't, that's ok.  It's your Constitutional right.  Just please read and consider, but don't be a jerk about it.

I find it hypocritical that the people who so fervently defend their constitutional rights of free speech and religion (the first amendment) are so willing to infringe and restrict the supporters of second amendment. If someone tries to restrict your religious rights, you scream to the highest mountaintops. If someone tries to restrict the press and your right of free speech, you call them oppressors and run to the courts to put an immediate stop to it. So why do you want to chip away at the second amendment? I certainly do not approve of pornography, but it is protected. I do not approve of the half-truths the so-called unbiased press spews out on a daily basis, but it too is protected. Mayor Bloomberg and his Orwellian beliefs goes from his private penthouse protected by armed guards, to his guarded limo, to his guarded office and believes we, the law abiding citizens should be restricted from having weapons. He does not live out in the country areas where budget cuts have decimated our police forces and the average time for an officer to get to my home to help is 20 minutes on a good day. By the time they get there it's all over but writing the report on what happened. I watched in disgust as David Gregory interviewed the mayor with kid gloves and did not contradict him when he made incorrect statements. The very next week he (David Gregory) went at Wayne LaPierre from the NRA like a pack of wild dogs on an injured rabbit.

Our constitutional rights (all of them) should be protected with equal enthusiasm by all Americans and should not be allowed to be subverted by any person who does not like a part of the Constitution or by special interest groups, lobbyists, or the fool who does not believe they are all equally important and necessary. My heart goes out to all those affected by the senseless act of some sicko, who by all accounts should have been institutionalized. Unfortunately, we are blaming the weapon, the magazine, the NRA, and law abiding gun owners for this senseless act and demanding to restrict them for these terrible actions. The abysmal failure of society to deal with deranged people properly instead of coddling them is coming home to roost. The failure of the legal system to effectively prosecute criminals instead of making deals and keeping the criminal on the street,  is now the fault of the rest of us and we should pay the price for the criminal rather than put them in jail where they belong. Stop blaming everything on the gun or the magazine and put the blame where it belongs -- on the criminal or the deranged animal that carries out these senseless acts.

All of your rhetoric and demands for stricter laws have scared the law abiding citizens into running out and purchasing so-called assault weapons and high capacity magazines to the point they are now on back order for fear you are going to take away their rights. What you have accomplished is a near panic among the usually reasonable populous because they now are in fear of the government. When the people fear the government, they are poised to do irrational things, which none of us want. It's time to step back, take a deep breath and work on fixing the problem in a reasonable and sensible manner keeping mind that the Constitution must be defended on all parts.

New Year, New Rules

Ok, so this one, yet again, only has a little bit to do with the Navy.  It's more or less just me being me, again. Haha.  But since 2012 is about to end, I feel like I need rules for 2013.  2012, while not overall a bad year, was for lack of a better term, a clusterf$%#.  But, for better or for worse, I have learned a few lessons.  So those lessons have been translated into new rules.  For those of you who read this and know me, please all of you be whip crackers and slave drivers to keep me to these!  I won't be mad at you, for I'm asking you to do this. So here goes:

Rule #1.) Above all else, family comes first.  I know I'm not the greatest at saying so, but I love you guys.  If it weren't for you, I would have failed so many things so many times over.  So as part of this rule, I need to make sure I tell you that I love you and I appreciate you.  And I know this life is almost as hard on you as it is on me.  I hate saying goodbye to you, even when you can stay with me all the way until I have to board my plane.  But I have decided that this difficulty in saying goodbye simply translates into love.  And I thank God for that.

Rule #2.) After family, comes me.  I've learned that putting other people first is the wrong way to go about things, unless they are family.  So after making sure I'm square with my family, I need to take care of myself.  This includes watching what I eat, working out on a regular basis, and doing what I need to do to get where I need to be.  Which leads me to rule #3....

Rule #3.)  Relationships will be verified and dealt with accordingly.  Any relationships deemed toxic will be excised as one would treat a cancerous cell.  I can't afford these emotionally taxing relationships anymore.  I'm too old to deal with this stress, haha.  I know who my friends are, I know who the people are who love me.  I don't need some silly little boy who thinks he's a man invading my life.  I'm done with the drama, I'm done with the utter bullshit and I'm moving on.  If this means I'm on par with a nun, then so be it.  I'm perfectly ok with that.  I'm not trying to be Saint Jessica, I just need to be more selective about who I keep in my life and who I let go.

Rule #4.)  Be careful who you trust.  Not everyone in this world is worthy of trust.  In fact, most people aren't.  While there are people who the Navy trusts at my command (and every other command) with massive state secrets, that doesn't mean they're worth telling a single word of your life to.  In fact, most of them will gossip like old red hens and run around spreading your business with their big mouths.  If the government trusts them, it doesn't necessarily mean I should, too.

Rule #5.) Find God.  I've never been an atheist, I've always believed God exists, but it's about time I found Him.  I have no idea how I'm going to do this.  I might try churches, though I never feel comfortable there, I might go back to Vinyasa yoga, or just meditation and reading on my own. This is perhaps going to be the most difficult of goals, but I don't think it's impossible.  I always remember a line from the movie, Eat Pray Love, "God dwells in you, as you." So maybe by finding God, I'll find myself.  Hopefully.

Well, that's about all I have for now.  It's a bit emotional, especially for me.  But hopefully by putting this in black and white and having it out there for the world to see, I'll be more inclined to stick to it. We'll see. Take care, blogger world.  I'll write again soon.  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, I know I did!

Christmas Leave!

Well, this is probably going to have nothing to do with the Navy at all, especially since I've been home since the 12th :)  But it's all good, I just felt the need to write something!!!

So the last days have been pretty awesome.  No work, no responsibilities, nada.  I love it!!!  It was a well needed break, and with the last weekend I had in Virginia, I was more than happy to leave and recharge.  I've spent all of my time with my family.  But living on a 30 acre farm means I don't have to deal with the city, which makes me happy.  One of the first nights I was home, I was lucky enough to watch the Gemini meteor showers from the roof of my mom's truck.  I've never seen the sky fall like that, it was GORGEOUS!!!!  The last time a meteor shower was happening, I was stuck on base and couldn't see anything, not even one meteor!  That's ok, this last shower more than made up for the others I've missed!!!  I spent two days wandering around Frankenmuth, which is this great little German-style town that is pretty famous for Bronner's, the largest Christmas store in existence.  The second day I spent with my brother's girlfriend, which was nice since I only get to see her and my brother a few days a year. :(

I've spent more than a few days working on a few handmade presents.  I decided my gift list would include one commercially produced item and one handmade item per person.  I won't say exactly what I'm making yet, since it's not Christmas and I'm not entirely sure who reads this blog... (I can only account for two or three people.)  But once Christmas has passed, I'll post what I made :)  Anyway, hopefully everyone is doing well.  Have a safe and Merry Christmas!!!! <3

Welcome to the last post before I go home for Christmas!!! Yay!!!  Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about going home, especially after the weekend I just had.  While the exact details shall remain a mystery to these pages, just trust me when I say it was extremely stressful and chaotic. But that's over, lesson learned.  Next phase, lol.

Tonight as my watch team and I came onto shift, we were greeted by our LPO's.  It was just to go over our mid-term evaluations, nothing overly serious.  As I sat down for mine, I noticed I wasn't nervous.  I'm almost always nervous when faced with being the center of attention regarding, well, anything.  Fortunately, the jist of it all was to keep on being self-motivated and pushing forward, and to keep helping others to push forward as well.  I admitted that I have basically zero confidence in any of my abilities, and was given a solid piece of advice I hope I never forget:  When faced with a decision, it is more important to make a decision and stick to it than to flounder and back down.  Even if you're wrong, so long as the decision was not made with malicious intent, it is correctable.  You learn a lesson, and you move on.  The message they were trying to get across was that we're all human, we're going to make mistakes.  That's how we learn.  Now I just face the task of trusting myself to make a decision in the first place, let alone stick to one! It will take time, but I'll figure it all out.  Fortunately, I have a good chain of command, and they honestly care about their people.  They see everything we do, and everything we don't.  Nothing goes unnoticed, and both the good and the bad are talked about behind their door.  Moral of the story: find your guns, then stick to them. 

It's a good thing I've put this here, because honestly, after today, I DON'T CARE I'M ON LEAVE!!!!! Bahahhaha!  I can't wait to see snow again! This 70+ degrees in the middle of December crap is for the birds!  Have a good night, all!!

Ok, so this post really doesn't have much to do with the Navy, the bulk of it is going to be me whining about stuff, haha, sorry!!  Enjoy it anyway :-P

So on Tuesday, after an all hands call, I had to sit what's called a murder board for my warfare pin.  And no, for those of you who don't know, no one was actually murdered.  You sit in front of a panel of First and the occasional Second Class Petty Officers, and they drill you on every possible question from every section of your PQS.  This process took four hours total.  I felt ok until they started asking questions about a particular watch floor in my command.  Then I just felt absolutely retarded.  Fortunately my short-comings there weren't enough to fail me, so I still passed.  I just need to go back and talk to two of the First Classes about three sections in total (one was the one I thought I failed, the other two I just wasn't as strong as I could have been) as well as going to speak to every chief in the building.  I'm pretty excited about that one.

Unfortunately, later that evening I tried to qualify on the rifle.  Can we say epic fail???? I was qualifying with five guys, and at first I was doing really well.  I was beating all but one guy after the prone position rounds.  Kneeling was an entirely foreign concept to me, so I didn't do very well there.  But my archnemesis was the standing round.  I've never been very steady with standing and shooting anyway, and this was no exception.  My eye protection was in the way, the second set of hearing protection was in the way, and I was frustrated.  So needless to say, I didn't qualify :(  I almost feel ashamed because I've been taught how to shoot properly, by people who know exactly what the hell to do in combat and non-combat situations, but I still failed.  Granted, I've talked to two guys who I regard pretty highly and both of them agree the AR-15 isn't the best rifle anyway, and shooting it from the standing postion sucks.  So I didn't feel quite so bad, but still.  At least dinner came out well that night.  I made whiskey ribs with apple whiskey barbecue sauce and smashed garlic red potatoes for a friend who had helped me move into my  new place.  Not gonna lie, I was more worried about that not turning out than qualifying for rifle.

But on to the real whining.  Since I lost 50 lbs., I've been forever concerned with how I look, and my body composition.  Granted, being around guys who are completely cut doesn't make me feel any better, either.  So as per my general schedule, my weekly leg workout was Wednesday.  I upped the weight a little, since I'm only supposed to be doing a mid-level weight for this one, but damn I'm hurting!!!  I could hardly walk yesterday, so I did 45 minutes on an elliptical to try to push some of the lactic acid out of the muscles. Yeah, that didn't help.  Today, I'm stuck at work for 12 hours, which means the muscles will be given even more time to freeze up and get stiff.  I have a feeling I'll be wandering in circles just to keep blood flow up... ugh.  I get that beauty is pain, but really??  Oh well, what can you do?  If I ever hope to be really sexy and look good without clothes on, it's something I have to deal with.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be, so I'll be cracking down on my diet and exercise for a long time.  I hate the fact that the pressure is always on to be perfect.  There are days when it just makes me wish I'd been born a boy, not a girl.  At least then I wouldn't get dirty looks at the gym for using the free weights.  *le sigh*  Anyway, that's all I've got for now.  Next Wednesday I'll be home in Michigan for two weeks and I'll be pretty happy about that!

Fire Extinguisher = $50, False Teeth = $500, Me knocking you out with a fire extinguisher because you're a fucking moron = Priceless. There are some things money can't buy.....

Welcome to December!!!! One month left in this year, and I can't believe how quickly the year has gone for me.  While the last few weeks have been pretty decent, no major trauma or chaos, last night managed to change all of that. 

I went out to dinner with some people for work, which was a good time, made it home just fine, and passed out.  About an hour later, I was very rudely (though politely) woken up by the fire alarms.  I was horribly confused at first, because the fire alarms actually talk to you, asking you to kindly evacuate the building and to not use the elevators.  I find my way to the main entrance of the building to see that I'm one of a handful of people that actually got up and left their room as instructed.  This, as it turns out, is normal.  At least twice a weekend, these little punk ass children someone put in the Navy decide it is perfectly acceptable (and more than likely hilarious to them)  to wake up an entire, very massive building of people.  They set off fire alarms and discharge at least two extinguishers, leaving the empty canisters for the fire department to find.  Now, while this is irriating by itself, the  most disturbing feature had yet to be revealed to me until last night:  the building has NO security cameras what-so-ever.  WTF?!?!?!  Who in the world thought putting a multi-million dollar building up without installing a security system was a good idea???  Especially when that building is designed to house sailors, most of whom have never lived outside of their mama's house before now, and have no concept of respect or any shred of decency.  These are the same idiots that break washing and drying machines because mama did their laundry and wiped their asses until they left for boot camp.  Fortunately, I did find out there's a bounty on the heads of these little assholes, and I can promise you I'll be hunting them down like it's the opening day of gun season. 

So here's the lesson of the day:  DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE!  Karma's a bitch, she'll get you in her own time, and it will be the most inconvenient for you.  Or one of these days you'll grow up and some little shitbird will return the favor (which is the ending I'm hoping for...) Anyway, that's all I had to rant about.  I spent the day shopping and spending too much money (as usual), and now I'm working a midnight shift so I don't have to be there if the alarms get tripped again.  Win.  Haha.  Happy reading!