Or at least fits my mood today. Weather here is cold, windy and rainy, putting a damper on my hopes of playing golf.
Yesterday, the S.O. went to a Shrine sale. She goes with a bunch of other ladies , Japanese and American, and they leave early. I rolled over and went back to sleep, only to reawaken to a note from her asking me to do some errands in Yokohama-would I please, please, do these for her? Damn! Perfectly beautiful day-meant for golf-ruined. Plus, I have to live with the underlying fear of the corroding effect on the S.O.; spending too much time with specimens of American womanhood-filling her head with really bad ideas-just a risk that will have to be taken, I guess.
So I saddled up. Pulled out some Rush, Jethro Tull and Outlaws CD’s since this was going to require about 100 km of travel in the car and on the way home, no guarantees of a quick ride down the road. Least I could do is rock out. For you youngsters out there asking, “Who or what is Rush?”-I weep for you.
First stop, my usual golf course where they were having a Ping demo day. Hit about 100 balls while trying to make up my mind between the new fusion driver they have and the G5. I’d already made up my mind I wanted a new driver ( proving again the theory that new equipment can solve any problem with my game-NOT!) I just needed it proved to me that a higher loft would work better for me and keep me from slicing so much. Decided on the G5. Called the S.O. and told her thanks for my Christmas present……..the one she did not know she was buying. She could stop by and pay for it next week when it is delivered!
After that, off to Camp Zama to get some things framed for the S.O. Bought her some small Christmas presents-saved the receipts cause I know she will make me take them back if she does not like them. The set out for the journey home.
Missed the turn to take me back to the expressway and ended up really lost. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the entrance to Tokyo Engineering University-which is in east Yokohama. Cut back down another series of roads only to find myself in more and more unfamiliar territory. Thank goodness I could read Japanese because the English signs had all but vanished. Long story short I turned a 1 hour return trip into 2 hours-thank God for the rock and roll!
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The new Master Chief of the US Navy continues to impress me. (MCPON). He is slowly but very surely undoing all of the bad ideas his predecessor put into place. First he got rid of the tiny CMC badges that were worn as an affront to every ship, sub or squadron commanding officer, and now he has gone ahead and gotten rid of another gross insult:
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) (SW/FMF) Joe R. Campa Jr. announced Dec. 4 that upcoming revisions to the command master chief (CMDCM) instruction will feature the return of the traditional command master chief title for 25 senior leaders previously appointed Chief of Naval Operations Directed Master Chiefs (CNOCMs).
Word has it he wants the Chief’s mess to return its roots. Good for him. Having been blessed in my time as a commanding officer with an outstanding chief’s mess and a command master chief who I still revere as both a man and a leader-its a change for the better.
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My shoulders are sore today. Having gotten up to see Donald Rumsfeld’s banishment retirement ceremony on the news and having gotten lost on the road-I had a lot of pent up rage to work off. It was either put my fist through the TV when I heard his “farewell” speech or go work out. I chose the latter-splitting my time between the treadmill and the exercise machines.
So even in parting, Rummy causes me pain!
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My favorite curmudgeon, Fred, has once again captured my thoughts on the pompous nitwits who insist on legislating morality-which regrettably includes a lot of denizens here in bloggerville-and in the armed services. You folks know who you are, trying to lecture those of us who have chosen a different path. He foretells my future sitting in Pattaya someday. And why, without the curse of divorce and its financial constraints-transferring hard earned wealth to a worthless, fat, bitch-it would be a good path for me:
We live in a censorious age in America, an age of “Gotcha!” in which drinking looms loathsome, smoking is a crime to be punished, second-hand smoke a fearful threat to children and plants and wallpaper. Oh dear. We all must be vigilant for racism, sexism, and the rest. Psychologists call it passive aggressiveness, though I think that “the Higher
Priss” does nicely. Well, I say, each to his or her or its own. Still, I have always found people who smoke and drink and do the occasional doob to be more interesting than those who don’t, certainly more than the drab Comstocks of the current Carryan Nation.So I’ll cut these guys some slack. You choose an exit door, or fall through one. They have. So will you.
Take that all you budding moralists-hypocrites each and every one!
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Madame Chiang has an interesting post up about the Subic Bay rape case. One of her commenters, a certain Filipino named , the Jester made the startling pronouncement that :
“The overall feeling I got from the case was not that justice was being sought for ‘Nicole’, but that justice was being sought for years of American colonisation.”i’d like to think that this case was nicole’s, but then again it can be a beacon of hope for 2000+ sexual assault cases perpetrated by US servicemen in the country that justice someday will be served.
If the majority of Filipinos believe this line of thought, and I do not really think they do, then the country may be farther gone than I thought. First of all, I’m not so sure PFC Smith is a worthy martyr for all of America’s so-called colonial sins, second, just about every good thing that is in the PI today came from America or American society (except perhaps Angeles or Emrita….). and third, there is considerable doubt about the veracity of young Nicole’s story. Couple with the fact that the Philippines hardly has what one would term an efficient government or justice system. Or for that matter a capable police force or judicary.
I’m not buying it Jester. Perhaps then you could explain to me why the Philippine government has done such a bang up job of pacifying Jolo and Mindanao Islands?
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Spike has a good summary of Hong Kong blogs up. Useful for me since , as I have noted before, I am actually enjoying reading those more than some of the american ones lately-particularly the one’s where like mindness is a prerequiesite of entry. He’s also put up a post about the 50 worst songs in history-far too many of which are ones I like!
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Finally, in case you think I have forgotten it some beer and babes. Went to what I hope was my last “offical” Christmas party last night. The ones here are far more non-fun than the ones I went to last year. Probably because down here there is much more a sense of haves and have nots than used to be at my previous place of employ. At least there folks wanted to have fun. Here, folks want to avoid pissing off the big guy.
So now I can focus on something really fun. This:
And these:
Desperately seeking Skippy!
7 more days till Christmas!
