so i haven't posted in a month. i guess i'd say my excuse is that i've been too busy having fun. well that was the case up until a couple weeks ago. i've been hanging out and partying with the roommates a lot this summer, which has been pretty fun. two weeks ago i came to hell... oops, i mean virginia. this place is horrible. first of all, for the second summer in a row, i am stuck on a ship that is not going anywhere. we sit next to the pier for the entire 3 1/2 weeks that i am here. on top of that it's hot and muggy here, the beaches are crowded, the waves are small, and apparently i've been spoiled by the good looking girls of the west coast. VA girls are none to hot if you ask me. worst of all, this is supposed to be an AVIATION cruise. there are no jet squadrons even assigned to this carrier because it hasn't even been commissioned yet. if you ever have the opportunity to go to norfolk, va turn it down. go to bakersfield, go to death valley, but don't go here.

on a more postive note, the guys in my stateroom are pretty cool, and one of them has a car. so we get out of here every chance we get. we've gone to this bar a couple times in the waterside of norfolk (whatever that means, it's a local term). on tuesdays they have $3 pitchers of beer and all the food items are 2 for 1. so that's a good, cheap time. that's one thing norfolk has on LA i guess. it's a lot cheaper to go out here. but when you're faced with the fact that there's little reason to go out because the girls are all either in the navy or just not on par with what i'm used to, you understand why everything comes so inexpensive.

next weekend the ship is getting commissioned. it's the uss ronald reagan, an aircraft carrier. i guess nancy will be coming out for the ceremony, but ronnie is just getting to old to leave the ranch nowadays. good ol' dick cheney will be here too. hope he doesn't have any heart attacks while he's here. although i hear he's getting pretty used to em, kinda like that bears fan that chris farley used to play on snl. i guess we all have to wear our summer white uniforms for the ceremony. that should be fun, polyester on a muggy 90 degree day. apparently there's going to be about 20,000 people here for it. crazy. we'll see if they task me with some menial duty that day. i swear i could take off and they'd never miss me. oh well, the bright side is that coming home is something to look forward to. i miss LA so much. i miss my apartment and my roommates and my friends, and even the crazy cat. i miss work too. i swear that place falls apart without me sometimes.

the best part of being here is meeting all these different characters on board. there's this chief warrant officer that talks about twice as loud as the normal human being, and he stands with his knees bent all weird and a crook in his back. i swear he's some sort of robo-human or something that is running low on bearing grease. then there's "dirty sanchez", (LT Suarez). he's the only guy who assigns us work to do (us being the midshipmen), but it's work that doesn't need to be done. the other day he says, "i'm gonna task you guys with some real leadership experience. do you know how to use a spellchecker?" i kid you not, he had us spellcheck his evals. leadership experience my butt. he also had us draw a map of the roads on base so that they'd know where to drive the bus to pick up the guests for the commissioning. last time i checked most naval bases already have their own maps of their own facilities, call me crazy. i guess he's trying to keep us busy, but c'mon. i'd rather peel potatoes. then there's the officer that is what i like to call a loud laugher. you'll be sitting there enjoying your dinner, well as much enjoyment as you can get out of a tuna melt, and all of a sudden this bellowing laugh comes roaring through the wardroom. first time i heard it i spilled my drink in my food. still scares the crap outta me everytime i hear it.

anyways, i guess we're gonna go play whiffle ball in the hanger bay on a few decks down. that should be fun. oh yeah, my leg's finally getting better. i've been playing raquetball this week. i'm not completely 100% mobile yet, but i'm good enough to beat the guys in my stateroom. that's all for now, i'll try to write more later, but i don't have much chance to cuz the navy doesn't give me internet access. i'm using an officer's access right now.