DREAMS, HOPES, STORIES

Sorry about my sporadic posts...I've been busy, and in transfer between jobs.

Today, I find myself feeling down.  I went to church this past sunday, and the priest gave a speech which has touched me and left me drained.
Basically, he said we're all going to hell.
The rest of the speech doesn't matter much, but he said we (christian people) tend to do things, and then ask for forgiveness...but most of the time, we don't even know what we're asking forgiveness for...
Example:
At my work there are people (including me) who come to work, and clock in...and then spend at least an hour talking and doing nothing.  That means EVERYDAY, I lie, cheat, and steal...and never ask for forgiveness for that.
 I lie by clocking in, saying that I'm doing work...
 I cheat by adding hours to what I'm really working...
 I steal by getting pay for time I did not earn...

It's not only myself, but seeing others do it, is it just as bad not saying anything about it?
We christians (catholics, protestants..whatever...we're all the same) tend to ask God to "forgive all our sins", but..if we don't even know why we're asking for forgiveness...should we expect any?  and if we ask for forgiveness, and then do it again the next day..should HE give us any?
So...it is with a heavy heart that I'm writing this post...maybe I'll feel better later, but for now, I'll think more on it.....

**sighs**

So...there I was, my first time hunting deer.  A co-worker, and good friend invited me for a two day trip to his home in upper michigan.  It is freaking cold up there, and there was lots of snow.
We left early in the morning, and found a good spot to with lots of deer tracks (so he says, I don't know any better), near a river.  He says: "get up on that tree limb, nice and high so they can't see or smell you."
Ok, so I found this one tree overhanging the river bed, with a nice thick limb almost as wide as my body, so I climbed it and set my gear up there...a backpack, a rifle, and me.
I lay on the tree limb, and we waited all morning.  I don't know if it was the cold, the unactivity, or what...but I fell asleep.
(next part is narrated as told to me by my buddy).
Early in the afternoon, we started hearing dogs, and he knew that deer was probably going to come soon trying to run away from whoever was hunting them with dogs, so he looked at me laying at the limb to warn me, when he noticed...I've fallen asleep.
Oh, well..he thought, I'll just wake him up later if I catch something.
(me again)
As the dogs near our position, I start to wake up...still a little drowsy, I suddenly hear the loud sound of a gun going off, and...yep! Me, my bag, and my gun, all fell into the river.
I was freezing cold, and as I was coming out of the water, I saw my partner point with his gun and shoot three quick rounds...taking out two deers.
He grabbed one and told me to take the other one to the truck...yeah, righ! I was freezing!
Anyways, he convinced me, and we hauled both of them to the truck, we went to his home and warmed up.
Today for lunch,. I had my first taste of deer meat....it is wonderful, I don't think I can ever go back to eating cows...

Sorry everyone, I've been busy at work and with interviews...

So, Last friday (day after Halloween), I was riding my motorcycle about 8pm from an interview in Norfolk.  I was trotting along minding my own business on a four lane road, when this guy in a shitty honda accord passed me on the next lane, changed lane to the one I was in,and stopped almost dead under the traffic light..to a point to where I barely managed to hang on to my bike while braking so as not to fall head first.  I thought he was a jerk, but I changed lane to the other side, and waited for the light..it didn't take long.  I gunned my bike to put as much distance as I could away from this idiot...but the next light caught me on red again.  This time, he pulled up beside me, rolled down the passenger window, and showed me a gun....light be dammend, I gunned out of there.
Straight road, I was leaving him behind.  I decided the next left was leading me to the Naval base gate, and it would be a good place to stop, even thought I no longer hold a military ID.  Just before the base gate, there's a Burguer King on the corner, and I happened to glance and see a cop car.  I make a VERY tight turn in to the parking lot, and I saw the cop (walking to his car) start to open his door.  I rode up, and stopped right in front of him, he started to walk towards me, and the honda came into the parking lot doing the same tight turn.  He guy saw the cop car, and he bawled out of there.  The cop left me, and run after the other car...not even thirty seconds later, another cop car drove into the parking lot and asked me what happened. I told him, and I heard him call his partner on the first cop car to watch out because he was armed and dangerous.
I gave my name and phone number, and the last I heard, the guy was being arrested for shooting at the first cop, among other things....what an idiot!

  For those with experience...
I'm trying to change jobs to a different field, and I've had some offers but they all offer LESS than what I'm making right now.
Should I continue looking for something that offers more? 
Should I settle for one of the jobs offered (althought it pays less) just to get the experience, knowing that it is the bottom and can only go up from there?
Or should I just say, forget it, and keep on the same field I'm in right now?

Thoughts, suggestions, others are welcome... 

We had a discussion that I think is worth mentioning here...
Did you ever let your mind wander wherever it may go? If you did...when did it happen, and where did it go?  Did it follow a good path, or wonder about things you would never do?
For example...
When I let my mind wander, it is hard to say where it will end up (that's part of the fun of it), but sometimes it scares me because it goes in a totally evil and sometimes very sick direction in which I would never act.
Am I a monster for allowing this? Or is it a healthy thing to do because it keeps you aware of bad things?

Of course, that only a few of my wanderings..mostly it turns into phylosofical thoughts, often even religious.

So, what are your answers?  I'm not judging anyone, just looking for honest answers and possibly add to the rest of the week's discussion at work.

 Remember Josh? the guy that got fired?  Weel, today he showed up to pick up his last paycheck, and i was trying to ignore him when someone else told me to look behind him...LOL
He had a mistletoe attached to the belt loop behind his back...HAHAhaa....

I love this job, never a day without something else new happening.

I'm always telling people that I like all type of music...I especially love when different types mix for a new take on old songs. If you like classical, or hip hop, check this video out, it's wonderful.

I don't know what it is, but she drives me crazy!
I don't know what she does, but she drives me wild!
I know that she can let me be the man that I want to be,
Or she can leave me helpless as a child.

I don't know how it is, but she has the power.
She can make me laugh when I want to cry.
She tells me that I'm in control, but I know it's just a lie.

And I don't mind, no!

Will she love you tomorrow like she loves you today?
She can keep your heart guessing,
But she's yours if she stays.
That's what if feels like...
to love a woman.

When you're lookin' in her eyes you can see forever.
You're captured by the beauty of her soul.
You know you're never gonna find a woman like this again,
So don't let go.

Oh, she can make your day.
Oh, she can take it all away 
Oh, whether it is wrong or right
you know that it in the end, you'd do it all again
To love a woman.
Just to love a woman.

oh, you know
Yes I know, Yes I know

Will she love you tomorrow like she loves you today? (when she loves you)
She can keep your heart guessing,
But she's yours if she stays. (who knows if she'll stay?)
And that's what if feels like (oh, I wanna say)
That's what it feels like (what it feels like)
And that's what it feels like to love a woman.
To love a Woman.
Oh yea, just to love a woman.

Well..no wonder he was so happy!
He told me later that he was trying to break up with her, but didn't know how....letting it all play out made it easier for him to say (and I quote)"I'm sorry, we're throught then..".
I actually made his life easier without trying, I told him to give me a raise or I would call Beth back up...*laughs*..just kidding...but no seriously, I need that raise..HAHaha..just kidding..unless he's really going to give me a raise (this is about the part where he walks away).....

So, he did come back, and he was mad..he came to me (how did he know?), and started cursing me out.  I stood there, smiling, enjoying myself.  Finally, he said.."thank you", and that really threw me off.
"Huh?" I said
"Thank you for making my life a living hell...it was really fun.." and then he started to laugh.
I have no idea what he was talking about, but I'm glad I got away from it scot-free...LOL

(by the way....ten brownie points to the first person to truly explain what the phrase "scot-free" means)

Pues no me siento bien hoy, y no sé porqué....
A lo mejor es el tiempo, a veces hace calór, a veces hace frío, no se sabe lo que quiere....
Ahora mismo está lloviendo.  Normalmente esto significa que me voy por una corrida, pero no tengo ganas...estoy en el trabajo muy aburrio, y no quiero hace ná (por eso estoy en el LJ...LOL).  
Bueno pues ya me aburrí de leer lo que la gente no escribe ;-)
*sighs*

HAHAHAHAAA!!!!! 

I listen to radio station Z104 (hampton roads, Virginia) while at work in the mornings..they have different things they do throughtout the week which I think are funny.
Starting tomorrow, they'll be bringing back the "you're an expert" contest..rules are simple.  Be caller 104 and tell them what you're an expert on.  You'll automatically win $100 just for being caller 104.  They will ask you one question about the subject you picked...answer right, you win $500. Answer wrong, and you only win the $100.
Supossing that you got throught and was the 104th caller...what subject would you pick? It can be anything about anything..the more specific you are, the harder the question would be, but the more broad the subject, the less chance you have of them asking you something you know...so..WHAT ARE YOU AN EXPERT ON?

Just want to say, that I also love to listen to "Torture Tuesdays" were they tend to do some funny things like:

• drinking kool aid out of a toilet tank,
• shoot Shaggy (the main person being tortured) with paintballs when he's dressed like a turkey,
• stand in front of the police station with a sign that says "free cocaine here" and distribute the energy drink "cocaine" to anyone brave enough to go there,
• 4th of July fireworks in their boss's office while he's inside,
• Shaggy running across a four lane road, blindfolded, during high traffic time
• etc..etc...

.

 

Navy loves acronyms (even the word NAVY supposedly means "Never Again Volunteer Yourself..lol), so it is easy to "misslead" a new sailor straight out of boot camp.
I had a new sailor just joined my division, and since at the time I was the only specialized tech for my equipment, it fell on me to do all the dirty work to keep it running.  Part of that dirty work included flushing the pipes of dirt which had been accumulating for a while.
I took the new guy with me to the front of the ship and I showed him how to flush the pipes, the pipe was label MMO, so my maintenance card was label "Blow the MMO".  When I was done, I asked him if he understood the directions..it was pretty easy, all he had to do was open a valve to the outside of the ship, and reverse the flow of water throught the pipe.  He said he did, so I sent him to the Helicopter Hangar to do the same maintenance. His directions were: "Go to the Helo Hangar, find the pipe label MPO, and do the same maintenance, if you can't find the pipe just ask anyone out there..they'll show you were it is".  Of course, he walked to the back of the ship, and could not find the pipe..the first person he saw (an airman), he asked where the MPO was located, and he was sent to an office.  Walking in, he saw an officer sitting on his desk..he looked around at the pipes until the officer asked what he was looking for.  "Well, sir" he said, "I'm here to blow the MPO", at which time the Maritime Patrol Officer stood up, and started to unzip.......
Don't worry, he high-tailed out of there, and that's as far as it went...LOL

Every once in a blue moon, I think about the past..it is never related to anything going on now, but it's usually a fun anecdote.
Today I was thinking of a time when I was on the ship. I was sent to take a reading of the water temperature. In order to do this, it requires that I go to the back of the ship and drop an "XBT".  It is a simple torpedo looking tube attached to a copper wire that reads the temperature as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
This day, I had a new officer that has just joined the division the week before..it was a brand new kid (19 i think) straight out of the academy, so he didn't have ANY experience aboard a ship.
I dropped the tube, and held on to the other end of the wire...on the phone, I was talking to control who was doing the reading.  The officer asked if he could help, and I said "sure, you can hold the other side, while i talk on the phone".
I was given the go-ahead on the phone which means we were finished, so I instructed the officer to "reel back the XBT".
This copper wire is hair thin, and it is designed to break which i thought he was going to do..instead he really tried to reel it in, and of course the wired broke...
As I'm placing the headset back on its craddle, the officer suddenly turned to me with a frighten expression.."oh, oh..he said..the wired broke!"
I couldn't help myself.. "I started yelling at him that we had just lost a "expendable baby torpedo" in the water, and that he had broken the wired guidance system which means we had no control, and now we'll become the target since there was nothing else to hit in the middle of this ocean...Hehehehe
His face turned white and asked me what to do..I told him that I would go to control and try to minimize the damage we were going to surelly receive, and that he should inform the captain... (bad idea)
I proceded to control room, and sit down like nothing was wrong...two minutes later, the captain showed up still wet from the shower he had been taking when the officer runned into his room yelling about a torpedo in the water...HAHAHAHA!!!
Obviously I had to explain to the captain, that we had just dropped an XBT in the water, and everything was fine...he gave me a "good talking to", and then asked the officer to leave the room.  As soon as the officer was gone, he started laughing...hard.  Finally, he calmed down, and told me not to do it again...LOL
Needless to say, the officer was a lot more wary of anything i said after that, and he quickly learned to keep his cool in the worst of situations...especially the ones he really knew nothing about...

Choices, choices...
I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about some guy who went to cash his bonds that were worth $35.88.  The teller made a mistake, and instead he received $3,588.00.  What did he do? He spent it all..now the bank is trying to get the money back from him, and he refuses to pay it back...duh!
My thought is..if I knew the teller made a huge mistake like that...would I bring it back, and say something? Or do I spend it too?
If I spend it, the money would probably go towards paying all my bills.  The question is: Should I be honest and return the money? or be "well-off" because my bills are paid?
Don't know, and I can go back and forth, but until it actually happens, I'll probably never know...

Sometimes i wonder...everything i like to do revolves around music.  Sometimes (like now), I take my ipod off so it will charge while I'm on lunch and writing in here, but my headphones are still on. I think it repels people from work from spending too much time talking to me.  It's not that I'm anti-social or anything, but I can only talk so much before it becomes boring.  Since my job doesn't require that i listen to anything, I pretty much wear my headphones all day long.  As long as my job gets done, no one gives a hoot what I do or don't do.  which is why people in here are taking advantage of it all the time.
I can't believe what people do..it is so dishonest...
They come to work 30 minutes to an hour prior to when they are supposed to be, and they clock in (of course we get pay by the hour), then spend the next 1-2 hours doing anything but work..school, checking e-mail, smoking (ugh!), chatting, etc... After that they do about half hour work, and start chatting again.  11 or 12 rolls around, and they go to lunch, without clocking out for about two hours.  Come back, clock out for at least half hour to cover the fact that they did go to lunch in case someone asks.
Then they spend another half hour to one hour doing work, and some more chatting, playing ast throwing rubber bands at each other, doing school work, e-mails, other on internet, etc...
5 rools around, we're supposed to leave, but people still stay on the clock doing nothing for another half hour at least.
Imagine this being done everyday, to a total of 10 hours+ overtime in every paycheck...I can't believe the company is still in business.  
There are some who won't even do anything, and when their work gets too far behind, they complain to the boss that they need help, and we're all supposed to help them...what a load of crap!
One of these lazy people have gotten in my last nerve, so I pulled my information on how to fix things away from him...of course this became someone of an argument as he wanted to use that information to cut down on his troubleshooting time, so he'll have more time to do his school stuff.....bull crap..bite me fag boy.

 My biggest influence to becoming a better writer has been... life.  
I was born in another country so coming to Americas was a cultural shock.  Because I had to learn English as a second language, I became a more avid reader which in turn made me a better speller.  Reading fiction books from many different authors rubs off on you and forces your imagination to work on overtime.  When your imagination works in such a way you're forced to write it down, and therefore the magic of writing was open to new possibilities for me.
Most people will give credit to one person or another, but it really is that person's choice to become a writer.  Think about this next time you read someone else's answer about their teacher/.parent/friend/etc... that other person has probably inteeracted with many other people so why only influence that one writer?  Probably because the writer was already showing of becoming interested in the subject.
So..what makes me a better writer? I will proudly say: "MYSELF! Of course!"