Counting Down the Days

As I sit here on watch, I can only help but ask myself why. Why did I come to this place to be locked up usually 6 out of 7 days a week, with many mindless, menial tasks that have nearly no purpose? After all, it was just about one year ago when I was sitting at Buffalo Wild Wings with my friend Jake watching game 6 of the ALCS where the Red Sox came from behind to force game 7 against the Rays. I can still vividly remember sitting there, eating my boneless Honey BBQ wings along with my Parmesan Garlic bone-in wings, munching on celery in between wings, all while talking baseball, fantasy football, and whatever else came to mind. I really miss going to do things like that. Unfortunately, I cannot. I decided to attend a Federal Service Academy, and that's what I shall continue to do. On the bright side, however, in just 10 days I'll be back in Minnesota doing what I want to do, rather than what the upperclassmen tell me to do. It will be a very welcome nine day break; something necessary to keep me sane, I believe.

Saturday was an okay day. Our Class B inspection was cancelled, which kept us from cleaning very late into the night. Instead, our Company Commander took all of the available Plebes on a "team building exercise" which was actually a run with a "fun" activity at the end. Because I had been sick for the previous week, my endurance wasn't quite where it could've been, so I had a more difficult time than I should've. After we finished and showered, we marched over to Ackerman to watch a presentation about hazing and the responsibility of leaders in general. This was prompted by a little incident a few weeks back where a First Co. Plebe was persuaded to drink a shot of an extremely fiery hot sauce. It was a good, informational time that I hope people really took note of, as there was some excellent info about alcohol and college students.

The, albeit cold, afternoon was taken up by the football game against the University of Rochester. Our opening drive looked promising, though our hopes fell as our team fell apart and Rochester capitalized on our mistakes. We weren't overly thrilled with the final score of 52-21, but it did get us out of the cold. Once the game finished, the RTOA told us to muster in Ackerman Auditorium in 22 minutes, which we assumed was a liberty muster. We were correct, and we were released on liberty right around 1515. Because I had gone to D.C. the weekend before, I didn't really feel a pressing need to go out, so I stayed in my room, slept, and watched a movie before our accountability muster at 2230. Not surprisingly, there was somebody who found a way to mess it up and make us wait a lot longer than we should have. When we finally did get back, I finished my movie and did a few other things before drifting off around 1 am.

I woke up around 9am not feeling totally refreshed, but I think that was because I had gotten way more sleep than I was used to within the last 24 hours. I quickly got ready and headed over to the Chapel for our Sunday morning Bible Class. After the Bible Class and the Worship Service, Mom and Dad Guest were putting on a "Going Out to Sea" seminar, mainly for the Third Classmen who will be leaving after finals to board their assigned ships. The main draw for the few Plebes that did go was Mom Guest's chili that she brought from home, along with pies and ice cream for dessert. That was the highlight of the day, as I spent the rest of the afternoon keeping tabs on football games.

The PKT was one of the more memorable ones, as there were several people called up on stage and/or made fun of for presentations that they gave. The RTOA has such an excellent sense of humor. It's really a shame that we cannot appreciate it when we're near him.

Monday was a pretty relaxed day as those of us who participated in CC's Saturday morning fun received rack-in and media privileges. I slept during my two free periods during the morning as well as my two free periods after lunch. We had our 40 minute swim in swimming class, which is actually a lot easier than it sounds when doing the modified backstroke. It's just a long time to be in the pool. CFC was a little different Monday night as it was a Coffee House night where people could perform whatever talents they thought they had. There were some excellent performances as well as some that could have been a little better, but it was good overall, with the highlight coming from a First Class Midshipman who sang "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. Even some of his closest friends did not know that he could do that and do it so well.

Today hasn't been all that exciting. As I said before, I'm on watch right now which meant that I had watch from 08-12 this morning. Nothing exciting really happened while on watch. I got my Calc and Physics tests back today. I'm pretty satisfied with both of them, so I'm sitting pretty well going into the finals for each of those classes. I would like to sleep in tomorrow, but that is not going to happen as I have Army PT at 0500. Oh well, I can sleep as much as I want in 10 days... Stand by for further posts.

D.C. and More!

I'll admit it. I've been a slacker lately when it's come to blogging. I'm going to make it a priority to get posts up more often than every week and a half or so. Anyway, the past 10 days have been fairly interesting and fairly bland at times. Then again, every day is so routine, everything feels pretty bland.

As for my reactions to the Yankees-Twins series, I don't have many good ones. It's always disheartening to see one's favorite team have that one bad inning happen every game which leads to a loss. Game One started off well with two early runs off C.C. Sabathia, but then Duensing couldn't hold it together. Game 2 was phenomenal for the Twins until Joe Nathan came in. Game 3 was pretty tense until Pavano painfully gave up some runs in the 7th. Oh well, that's come to be pretty routine for the Twins in the past 8 years to make it to the ALDS and not advance. The worst part of it for me was getting razzed by so many people here because the Yankees are king. I was in hostile territory from the beginning. Now if only the Angels can take the ALCS against the Yankees. Then I'll be pretty happy.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty routine. Friday, however, was not. Since we were given a long weekend for the Columbus Day holiday, we could leave as soon as our last class ended. Because of that, the food provider completely misplanned numberwise for lunch. They assumed that fewer people would be there to eat. In actuality, most of the Regiment showed up. Surprise! This resulted in many, many people getting very little to no lunch, which in turn spurred an angry response from a lot of Midshipmen.

Eventually, I got through class for the day and headed out with three of my friends to Penn Station where we would catch our bus to D.C. Our bus picking us up ended up being about an hour late because of traffic coming into New York. If we had known that, we would've gotten something to eat, but we figured that we didn't have enough time to find something had it been on time. That resulted in four very hungry Plebes by the time the bus rolled into downtown D.C. Eventually we made it to Georgetown University where we were staying with a friend of Aaron Kunz, one of the Plebes I was with. We had a chance to drop our stuff off before heading out to Subway at 2am. When we got back to the dorm where we were staying around 3, we passed out for quite a while.

Saturday, after a pretty late start of 1430, we headed into the area of the National Mall to check out the National Air and Space Museum before meeting one of the Plebe's aunt and uncle at a sports bar to watch the St. Louis Cardinals game. I'd been to the Air and Space Museum, but was more than happy to go back. They have quite a collection of various air and space craft dating from way back all the way to unmanned UAVs like the Predator drone. Though the Cards ended up losing, we had a great time visiting with Aaron's aunt and uncle and eating some good food. After walking around the Capitol and the Washington Monument at night, we headed back to Georgetown to find some parties to go to, but to no avail. Sunday started out a little earlier for us, though we really gained no time as we walked over 3 miles from Georgetown to a wood fire pizza place not too far away from the Verizon Center, where the Wizards and Capitols play. On our way there we encountered many people walking to raise money to cure breast cancer, as well as what seemed like tens of thousands of LGBT people for the National Equality March. I was a little unhappy that we were so conspicuous in our Summer Whites, but we didn't really have any problems. Actually, at the National Archives, they saved us a bunch of time because one of the security guards allowed us to cut the entire line and go see the Big 3 documents right away. That was pretty cool. Once we completed our quick tour of the National Archives, we took a short stroll over to the National Museum of American History. There were some pretty cool exhibits on Abraham Lincoln, as well as the U.S. Military from the early 1700s all the way until now. They had actual uniforms from Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

After we were kindly shooed out at closing time, our next stop was the Washington Monument again, followed by the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. We would've added the Vietnam War Memorial, but it wasn't where I thought it was and it was getting dark, so we decided to find an ice cream shop. After checking our phones for places, we figured it best to just start walking in case we came across one. When we did, we stopped and ate before continuing. Though we did not plan it this way, we happened to walk all the way back to Georgetown University. Another 3 mile walk back. Because I "was pretty tired", I opted to not hit up some parties with the other three guys and instead headed back to my room to relax for a while before finally falling asleep.

We planned to get up early Monday to meet Aaron's aunt and uncle for breakfast, but those plans were nixed when Aaron found out they were unavailable. A taxi took us to the bus station before we took a little walk to find some breakfast. The bus ride was pretty uneventful as we drove through Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to make it back to the Big Apple. Coming back on campus was somewhat of a downer, realizing that we were back to the daily grind.

As expected, we failed that night's PKT because people chose to not study while on Liberty. I, on the other hand, used some of my bus ride to look over the study guide.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday were all pretty normal. Nothing stands out to me right now as I write this. Only the cold temperature during the soccer game Wednesday night, where I was a ball boy, and Cookie Cafe on Thursday have any sort of lasting memories.

Because we didn't have any classes on Monday, Friday was a Monday schedule for classes. I had no objections with that, because I only have two classes on Mondays: swimming and English 1. Once lunch finished up, I relaxed until Bible Study at 1900. After Bible Study, CTO mandated that we complete our cleaning stations from 2100-2200. Afterward we had a mandatory CTO time, where the Company Commander (CC) and CTO lectured us on working on building team unity, and not letting "stupid high school crap" get in our way. This was necessary as we've had some issues between Plebes as of late. Now, it's off to bed for me. Stand by for future posts.

A Contrasting Two Weeks

I'll put this pretty bluntly, last week was awful. I'll detail it more in a little bit, but I am so happy it is over.

Saturday the 26th was our Apple Picking TM. Ironically, it was my last really good day before this past Sunday. After our Red Cross training, we left on a school bus and drove to an apple orchard northwest of the Bronx on the mainland of New York. There was an unusual amount of traffic for a Saturday afternoon which ate up a bunch of our time at the orchard, but I still had a blast picking apples with my friends. Once we had all filled our bags with McIntoshes and Cortlands, we loaded up the bus again and headed to Mom and Dad Guest's house. Upon arrival we were met with a table filled with oatmeal raisin cookies, brownies, and cold milk for us to munch on while we divided up and made homemade waffle cones and ice cream, melted chocolate and caramel for dipping sauces, carved pumpkins, sliced up our apples for the dipping sauces, and of course, readied apple pies for baking. Our night there was filled with great food, awesome fellowship, and a wonderful time of singing and playing games. My day had another high point: seeing Old Yankee Stadium and New Yankee Stadium for the first time. No baseball fan is complete until he has visited or at least seen one of those in person.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all a blur for me as I spent a good chunk of time working on my English paper. Sunday stood out because we were granted day liberty. My friend Ryan and I decided to take the bus out to Great Neck to grab some lunch and catch some football. Midway into my pizza and the Giants-Bucs game, I got a call from Chaplain Sias asking if Ryan was with me, because his parents wanted to speak with him. I later found out that they came to the campus without explicitly telling him, so they came down to Great Neck and took us back to the Academy. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football and studying my PKT knowledge along with the Air Force Hymn.

I don't really remember much of Monday because most of it was spent working on my paper. Tuesday, however, I remember a little bit more. It was my birthday, even though it didn't really feel like it. I think it was probably my worst birthday ever. Even worse than my 16th birthday where I was in the middle of a two week grounding. I didn't get any mail, nothing special really happened, my friends didn't ask me to go to dinner with them, and we got IT'ed for CTO time to top it all off.

Wednesday was nondescript as well, though I just seem to remember unpleasantness at some point during the day. Though I just remembered that we had a sort of inter-squad game for baseball practice. In my first inning of pitching I did really well, got three quick outs. My second inning felt a lot worse even though I didn't allow any runs. This day of pitching will figure in with why Sunday was such a good day. Thursday was marginally better because of Cookie Cafe in the afternoon.

Friday was a lot of fun at night because it was Homecoming weekend here at the Academy and I signed up to drive alumni around in golf carts. Because not all of them wanted rides or were walking around after 7 pm, a few of us had a lot of fun screwing around with the golf carts driving all over the campus. Little did we know of the fury that would be unleashed the following morning.

Saturday started okay, with a bunch of us raising the #1 Ensign on the main flagpole (the largest US flag we have if you do not know). Upon the flag being raised, all of the Plebes (at that moment) headed over to Ackerman Auditorium to listen to VADM Albert Herberger, USN, the first USMMA grad to attain the rank of VADM in the United States Navy. After he finished, the RTOA, RTO, and RX all had their fun yelling at us for being worthless Plebes. So worthless in fact, that they decided to revoke our overnight liberty for the weekend AND demote us to Plebe Candidates again, which meant that we could no longer talk in Delano. Once we were released from that, our morale were way below the basement. I had to work the soccer game as a ballboy again to help pay for the baseball team's trip to Florida in the spring. After the game finished I got into khakis to watch the football game. It was a pretty good game until it started pouring torrential amounts of rain from the sky which flooded our FieldTurf field which delayed the game for over an hour. Thankfully, we were dismissed from the game which allowed us to stay in our rooms and work on other stuff like homework, or in my case, listen to the Twins squeak one out against the Royals. Because we had nothing better to do, we watched The Last Castle in Ackerman, which turned out to be a really good movie. I was quite happy, however, when we were released from 2300 accountability muster because then I could finally hit the rack.

Sunday was by far one of the best days I've had in a long while here at the Academy. It started off with Bible Class accented by Mom Guest's homemade cinnamon rolls. My mouth has not tasted anything so delightful for breakfast in a very, very, very, very long time. I ate too many of them, but that's definitely a forgivable offense. Because I had baseball in the afternoon, I didn't go to the Worship Service because my stained uniform needed to be replaced by a clean one before the evening's PKT. After readying a uniform, I headed off to the last baseball practice of the fall expecting to inter-squad again, though the time ended up being spent preparing the field for winter and eating lunch that was brought by the dad of one of the seniors.

After we had been eating for a while, the coaches began calling the Plebes into a makeshift office one by one. I don't know if they wanted me to be last, but it worked out that way. I want to say that I sat on the edge of my seat watching the dejected faces of those who did not make it, but I had my mind dead set on what I was going to face talking with the coaches. As I entered the coaches' makeshift office, I was offered a seat and asked how I thought the fall went. I bluntly told them that I felt that I was very inconsistent and did not play as well as I could have. The head coach contemplated what I said for a split second and replied, telling me that he had good and bad news. He gave me the choice of which he should deliver first, so I picked bad news. He told me that I would not be playing on the team as an infielder, however, for the good news, they felt that my curveball could help them out this year. I was in total shock. Even during Indoc while we had a "meet the coaches" session, I had nearly resigned myself to the fact that I had nearly no chance of making the team. Somehow, what I had to offer impressed them enough to keep me. I'm still in shock that they picked me. I was the only non-recruit to make the team. After cleaning up the locker room and field, I quickly returned to my room so I could watch the Twins-Royals game. When the Twins won to force game number 163 my day got even better. Not even the night's PKT could dampen my spirit until I headed to bed.

Yesterday was pretty nondescript also. We were finally issued our running suits which we will eventually be allowed to wear to Delano for meals. CFC was good, as we listened to a 1964 graduate who now works with Operation: Mobilization.

Today has been another great day. Even though I only got 3.5 hours of sleep and started the day off with a physics test, it has been wonderful. Class was pretty fun as our favorite asker of stupid questions, Muller, added to his collection in two classes today. His best of the day was: (paraphrased) "So did they use coal in the boilers of the Titanic to make steam?" Honestly, I'm still in disbelief after that one... After classes finished up for the day at 1500, I used the rack-in that our CTO gave us to take a short nap before doing a couple of other things.

At 1707, the Twins-Tigers game began. I had another MN guy over to watch the first couple of innings before heading to dinner. When I left for dinner in the 4th inning, I was a little down because the Twins were down 3-1, though I knew we had the ability to come back. When I returned from dinner, Orlando Cabrera launched one into the seats to put the Twins ahead 4-3. Right after that I headed to CTO time for the next 45 minutes. Once I returned, I noticed that the score was tied at 4-4 in the 9th inning. From then on I was riveted until the thrilling finish in the bottom of the 12th. I even skipped Bible study to finish the game. I'm thankful I did because that was the best game I've ever witnessed. The phenomenal ending to clinch the AL Central Division title made my week exponentially better. Everybody kept writing the Twins off, but they came back, and now they're a force to be reckoned with as they head to the Bronx to take on the Yankees. I can't wait to flaunt my Twins spirit in the presence of all the FLID Yankee fans. What a treat. Stand by for more posts and my reactions to the Twins-Yankees series.

Tuesday Until Now, Along with Some Times We Could've Done Without

It's been so long since Tuesday, but I'll try to remember. I had watch from 800-1200, but my watch relief was a little late, so it was more like 1215, but that wasn't a real big deal. That afternoon we had swimming class where we brought some of our BDU pants (cargo pants we were issued for Indoc) and learned how to inflate them and swim with them. It was actually kind of fun.

After Swimming we headed over to Calc to get our test grades. I think most people were a lot happier with these grades than they were with the first test. The first test did not go very well for most, but many people got A's or B's on this one. Once I got back from class, I used my rack-in to sleep for about 2 hours. Boy, did that feel good. When I awoke I found that Army PT had been cancelled, so I waited a little while, then went to dinner before going back on watch. Watch was again pretty uneventful, though the morning required me to take some pretty bizarre calls. All part of the experience here, I guess.

Wednesday wasn't too exciting either. Class was okay, but the day picked up quite a bit with baseball. It was another mound day for the pitchers, although we were given a new meaning for that when we weren't pitching. Since we didn't have a real bullpen, our pitching coach told those of us pitchers to start building a mound for one. Though it took us most of practice, we got one of the two pitching rubbers set, as well as the mound finished up. It was pretty cool seeing it come together like it did. Because I was one of the last people to throw, I was able to throw to some batters. I did a lot better than Sunday for some reason, but I wasn't complaining! My highlight of the day was catching a senior looking on a curveball. That was so sick!

The rest of the night was filled with study hall and more homework after that because of a physics lab being due the next day.

Thursday too, was also not the most exciting day. Come to think of it, though, most of the days start to blend together after a while. I remember that I had physics lab in the morning, which we finished about an hour early, and we had two class periods of Maritime Studies because the teacher is going to be gone the last week of the class. After class, which was comprised of Cookie Cafe at Land Hall, as well as hanging out with some friends, we lifted in the weight room for Army PT.

When I got back to the barracks, I read an email that our CTO was going to quiz us that night on our 11 General Orders. Thankfully I saw that before leaving for dinner, and I was able to study, and do well on it when I returned. Last night was spent not doing homework, like I should've been doing, but I was able to get most of it done today.

Today was a pretty fun day, though marred slightly by CTO time at 2205. We started off in Maritime Studies Lab where we worked on pipe threading. Pipe threading is a fun activity that also does not take much time, even less when with a group that is on task and has a general idea of what it's doing. Because of that, my group got out about an hour early, leaving me more time to study for my physics test 4th period. After lunch nothing substantial really occurred, though we had to march again for Reg. Period. Baseball was cancelled for today, so I spent the afternoon working on my English paper which is due next Wednesday. I finally made some headway on that, so I'm very thankful.

After dinner I headed out to the chapel for Friday night Men's Bible Study, where we talked about and looked at verses pertaining to God's dreams for us. It was a very entertaining and uplifting study. After getting back I worked on my paper some more before CTO time 2205. It started off alright, though there was no chair set up at the end of the hallway, so I figured we would not be having any fun. Because some people felt it was okay to disrespect some Midshipmen Officers, we all had to do 50 pushups. Only these were done at a cadence slower than I would've liked, with a nice break in the up position after 25. After that, those of us not on flight deck and who took the General Orders quiz last night were ordered to do our cleaning stations for the next 45 minutes. That wasn't all that great, but at least we got stuff clean. Once that finished up, I headed over to a friend's room where I have been sitting for the past 2 hours. I think it's about time for bed, as we have Red Cross training tomorrow morning at 0800, with our Apple Picking TM afterwards. Tomorrow should be a good afternoon/evening. Stand by for further posts.

Well That Wasn't Too Surprising

Sunday was a pretty good day. I woke up, went to church, got back around 1245 and chilled in my room until baseball. Pair church with some good food during the Bible Class, and one has a near unbeatable combination. Baseball was pretty fun because we scrimmaged ourselves. My first at-bat I had to face a 6'10" righty who throws harder any pitcher I've faced. I think he threw me an off-speed pitch, because I was able to lift it to right field for an easy pop-up. My next at-bat was against the best lefty I've ever faced. Now, at first glance, that doesn't mean a whole lot because I haven't faced many good lefties in my life, however, he had some of the sickest breaking pitches that I've seen in the box. I had two strikes on me and he threw a curveball that just nicked the outside corner to send me back to the dugout. I am 100% certain that I had no chance of hitting that pitch. I'm still in amazement of it.

After I finished my second at-bat, I started warming up so that I could go in to pitch. When I finally got to go in, my first hitter was a senior who can put a charge into the ball. I hung a changeup to him, but thankfully he hit a harmless fly ball to the right fielder. I struck out the next two batters without too much trouble. My next inning of work did not go so well. I gave up a leadoff hit before facing one of my company mates. I left a fastball out over the plate for him, and he ripped it to right-center for an easy triple. Oh well, I had fun getting on the mound and throwing to some hitters.

After practice I headed over to Land Hall to have dinner with my sponsor. She brought my fellow sponsor kids and me Subway, which was a happy change from the typical Delano fare. We spent about an hour talking and eating, which was a great way to end a fun afternoon.

Once 1900 rolled around, we were all ready for that night's PKT. We have been working on PKT #2 for a while now and it was time that we buckled down and passed it. It ended up being very easy because I think the seniors wanted us to pass as well. We found out at lunch the next day that we had passed it and had moved on to PKT 3 for next week. Unfortunately, because some kids from 4th Co. thought it was okay to watch a movie and chew tobacco while doing it, we as Plebes got our newfound music privileges revoked. Guess I was right...

Once we returned from Ackerman, where we had taken the PKT, our CTO informed us that we were going to be having a "Health and Welfare Inspection" for contraband food items. This was not unexpected, as CTO had warned us that failure to keep our rooms clean would have consequences. We had to do a set of 20 pushups for each room that got tossed on Main Deck and 2nd Deck. Once CTO had finished with 2nd Deck, we were at a total of 140 when we moved up to Flight Deck. He had just started inspecting rooms when a fellow Plebe started feeling sick and I think passed out on the floor. That put a damper on the inspection and allowed us to return to our rooms. It proved to be good timing since Sunday Night Football was about to start, so a friend and I went back to Land Hall to watch it. Watching football for the first time in a long while was an excellent experience.

Monday was nothing special. I had two classes before lunch and then was done until Dean's Hour. Because we did so well on the PKT as a company (101.8%), CTO gave us rack-in for Monday and Tuesday. I took advantage of that Monday afternoon before Dean's Hour. I also received my Army Combat Uniform (ACU) that I had ordered off eBay for use in Army Ops. I was very excited to say the least. Baseball practice, CFC, and study hall followed Dean's Hour to end the day.

I think I will cover today in my next post as my watch is just about to end. Stand by for further posts.

New Privileges + Going Off Campus = A Good Week

Thursday morning was one of the happier I've had since coming here. When I got back from my firefighting class, I found that the Plebe Regulations had changed in a few places. The main change was that we could now listen to music, so long as we use headphones. This is a huge privilege because most classes before us have not been able to listen to music on their computers or iPods until Recognition. I wouldn't be surprised though, if some "brilliant" Plebes find a way to mess this up for the rest of us.

With that news, the rest of Thursday went a whole lot better with the buzz of these changes in the regs. The rest of Thursday was really not all that exciting, though we did have a cleaning party in our barracks to clean our cleaning stations.

Friday during school hours was not too exciting either, though I got to meet my sponsor, and I got to go to the restaurant on campus where Plebes are not allowed. Sponsor families usually provide Plebes and actually Midshipmen of all classes a place to relax during Liberty or leave, as well as leave campus a couple times a trimester for dinner liberties. So far my sponsor seems to be pretty cool, so I'm pretty fortunate. We had marching practice at the end of school for some sort of parade that is coming up, but I'm not sure what exactly. We had another cleaning party that night that took about two hours to get all of the cleaning stations up to inspection standards. After we were done, our Platoon Commander (floor leader) asked us what kind of food we would like to get. Since we wanted a change from the normal choice of pizza, most of us decided on ice cream. Our Platoon Commander then went out to CVS to get us our pints of ice cream. Unfortunately, they were out of many flavors, so many didn't get their first or second choices, but real ice cream was a definite treat.

Today started about 0630 for me because I wanted to catch some breakfast before finishing up the cleaning for our inspection. There ended up being a lot more than I expected since a few things in my room didn't get done, as well as the mopping of the hallways. I did end up getting everything done, though I needed a few more minutes than everybody else. Thankfully, inspection went pretty well even though I was not satisfied with how our room turned out.

After we were secured from inspection, the rest of the Plebe class was required to attend the soccer game, but I and some of my friends did not have to go because of our BBQ off-campus with InterVarsity Fellowship at Eisenhower Park. When we got there around 1130, there were about 60 total, including the Kings Pointers. We had a great time playing touch football, Frisbee, volleyball, and an egg toss with civilian college students. It was really weird seeing people our own age who don't go to a military academy because their lives are so different from ours. I would still say that it was a great time to fellowship with people like that as well as eat some good food.

Once we got back, we were pretty much free to do whatever we want, since the football game was over. There was another overtime game this week, only this time we did not have the same result as last week. Our other arch rival, SUNY Maritime, ended up pulling off the win after we were unable to score in our overtime chance. That may have been part of the reason that we were not granted liberty, but I'm guessing there were other causes as well. Tonight was mainly spent relaxing, which felt really good after a hectic few days preparing for inspection. Tomorrow holds a scrimmage for baseball, as well as a reception for Plebes and their sponsors at Land Hall, which both should be a lot of fun. Stand by for further posts.

Life, Liberty, but Not Necessarily the Pursuit of Happiness

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted here. The past week has been pretty crazy. Wednesday and Thursday were spent getting ready for the weekend's many festivities. I was more fortunate than many Plebes since I was able to see my parents on Wednesday. They flew in that afternoon and made the trek out to the Academy to drop off some baseball stuff. Though the time was short, it was really good to see them. Looking back, I really don't remember what Thursday was like because it's all just a blur now. I do remember that sleep did not come in abundance that night. Because I wanted to take part in a spirit mission to commemorate September 11, I was outside writing names on cups, filling them with sand and candles, and organizing them until about 0045 or 0100. In addition to that, I had to finish a physics lab as well as a calculus assignment, which allowed me to finally sleep at 0330 and get up at 0530. Because of the lack of sleep, I was amazed at how awake I was Friday, but then again I was assisted by a ZipFizz and a 24 oz Monster and a good amount of Coke.

That morning my parents arrived at the Academy near 0900, which worked out well because I did not have class until 0955. Since it was Parents Weekend at the Academy, parents were able to accompany their children to classes when the teachers permitted it. I did not take mine to firefighting, but they were able to experience Dr. Lowell A. Cummings, the eccentric physics professor. They were able to walk around on their own Friday afternoon as I had to finish up some physics homework that was due that night. After a relaxing dinner in Delano, we walked around campus a little more until I had to change into my Whites for the Star-Spangled Banner Brigade part of Beat Retreat. SSBB was where Plebes marched all 50 state flags and I think 52 U.S. Flags onto the gym floor where the Regimental Band was performing for Beat Retreat. Once that wrapped up, I was able to say goodnight to my parents before heading back to the barracks for CTO time. The night ended with final preparations for the next day; our biggest day here so far.

The beginning of the day was not what I would have liked it to be. Somehow I managed to sleep through both of my alarms and my roommate slept through his also. This resulted in being woken up at 0729 by our CTO who was very perturbed. We all did make it down to muster for morning colors, but CTO had some stern words for all of us. After a very short amount of time given to us to clean our rooms before our parents were allowed to tour, we had to be back outside so that we could be ready for the Parade. Right on schedule we marched onto Tomb Field so that we could take our oaths to swear us into the U.S. Naval Reserve and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. I still managed to make a fool of myself by messing up my about face and almost falling over, but I didn't, so I can be thankful of that.

After our Parade, I had to be a ballboy for the soccer game against the Coast Guard Academy, so I quickly changed into PT gear, talked with my parents for a few minutes, and headed back to Tomb Field. It was a pretty long, slow game, but we ended up winning 2-0. Because the whole Coast Guard Academy came with their sports teams, our whole regiment marched onto the field with Coast Guard before the long-awaited football game. The game was epic; one for the ages. It went into two overtimes before Kings Point finally overcame and drove the ball for a touchdown to win, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The best part of the win was the fact that liberty was extended to 2100 the next day for all classes instead of 1800 for us Plebes. That was very much appreciated, as was Sunday's baseball practice being cancelled.

After a short briefing by the RTOA and RX in Ackerman Auditorium, we were granted our first liberty. I was so ready to leave this place I quickly packed my things and met my parents outside Wiley Hall so that we could call the taxi company to pick us up and take us to our hotel. The dynamic of leaving was a lot different this time than it was leaving on the Plebe Retreat. This time I knew that I could do nearly anything I wanted without fearing that someone might tell on me. After we dropped my stuff off, we walked down the street to a nearby restaurant to have an early celebration of my birthday. The food was good, but spending time with my parents was better. I finally had the stresses of the weekend off my back and I was able to relax and not focus on the Regiment. After we finished our, albeit long, dinner, we headed back to our hotel to chill for the rest of the night. I turned in just before 2300, which was the earliest in a while for me.

I woke up the next morning at 0745 more refreshed than I had been in longer than I could remember at the time. After a refreshing shower, I traveled downstairs to eat some breakfast before finalizing our plans for the day. We took a taxi to the train station in Bayside so that we could catch the 0956 train into Penn Station. From there we hopped onto the subway system to Chinatown on Canal Street so that we could find some good Dim Sum. Thankfully, it did not take us long to find a place that vividly reminded my dad of restaurants in Hong Kong. When the food started coming around, we were amazed at the excellent taste of each of the dishes. By the time we were ready to leave, my dad had no problem saying that Jing Fong was the best Dim Sum restaurant he'd found outside of Hong Kong.

In Chinatown we hopped back on the subway and rode it to Times Square. What a ridiculous sight! People see it numerous times every year on TV, but nothing compares to actually being there, looking up at the enormous billboards promoting a wide variety of products. I did not cry, as I've heard others do, but it was one of those awesome moments to say the least. From Times Square we walked past some of the off-Broadway theaters as well as Rockefeller Plaza, and the Radio City Music Hall where the MTV VMAs were being held later that night. No, I did not see Kanye and tell him to totally disrespect Taylor Swift. After passing by Radio City, we hopped back on the subway to take us back to Penn Station so that we could return to our hotel, giving us more time to hang out as a family before sending me back to the Academy.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazily watching tv and resting. That dreaded time of having to leave the hotel came way too quickly, with the last few moments spent taking pictures in my Whites by myself and with my family. Upon arriving back at the Academy after an, um, interesting taxi ride, I caught up with my friends about their weekends. Plebe Accountability Muster in Ackerman Auditorium at 2100 did not go as well as it could've. However, that reasoning may or may not be shared at a later time.

Monday started out almost as poorly as Saturday did. I managed to sleep through two alarms yet again. Thankfully it was not CTO banging on my door, but one of my classmates who informed us that all of the Plebes in First Company were waiting for us to get down to Zero Deck so that they could be dismissed. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, culminating with CFC and sports study hall.

Tuesday was quite similar in that regard, though that evening I was caught by my Company Commander talking in one of the stairways, which is one thing that we are definitely not supposed to do. I stayed up late finishing the essay that CTO assigned to me based on that incident, but not as late as some other nights.

Today, Wednesday, was pretty ordinary also, though Dr. Cummings started class 38 minutes late because he arrived to the Academy 30 minutes late. Baseball went well as did being ballboy for the soccer game. I'm looking forward to showering now and then heading to bed to get some, hopefully, decent sleep. Stand by for further posts.