Gun metal gray, non skid, thickly applied
Hydraulic fluid, Skydraul, bordering on toxic
Chili simmering in galley attracting a jolt to the system followed quickly by heartburn
Fifth meal of the day in the middle of the night called Mid Rats
Small desk with round dial safe built in as well as letter slots
Twelve inch linoleum tiles, black with scuff marks from combat boot's soles
Steel bunk beds with eight inch lip to hold mattress curved upwards at head and foot
Elevator for aircraft from hangar deck to flight deck positioning planes for launch, catapault, arresting gear (cables), buzzing flouresent lights, screeching, slamming, vibrations
Playboy pin ups scotch taped to walls of roommates bunk
Blown up picture (poster size) of my wife in a flight suit in front of an A-4J after a fast taxi ride I gave her when I got my wings
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Top Ten List and fragments
Top Ten List of Significant Moments in my Life
1 Eighth and ninth grade in Naples Italy
2 End of high school-acceptance to the Naval Academy
3 Letter to parents defining my beliefs
4 Lack of fear
5 Vietnam combat duty
6 Religious beliefs
7 Discussion about adoption
8 Newly wed life
9 Sharing everything
10 Large extended family and realization that my wife and I are enablers
I have no fear. I’m really not afraid of anything. Sure, I get excited, feel the rush of adrenalin and get ready to act but I don’t think of fear itself. I run towards houses on fire, explosions or natural disasters. I am wired as a helper and enabler and was brought up knowing that a martyr was someone special. A Christian in a lion’s den was an opportunity to show what you were made of. I’m not a gladiator or fighter but just a human being that feels the need to help others in trouble.
I tell people I’m sort of a Lutheran as Luther and I were both excommunicated from the Catholic Church. I didn’t really fight the church I just quit going. Another way I answer the religion question (who asks any more?) is that I tested out of Catholicism. I went to Catholic schools from first thru twelve, was an altar boy and served daily mass at the house next door (a Navy chaplain with his own altar in the guest bedroom). Everyone can relate to getting credit built up or airline miles amassed. I’m going first class to heaven on points. I hope they don’t expire? I better check on that loophole. In truth I just didn’t buy it anymore. When I was eighteen, and at the Naval Academy, I wrote my parents a letter informing them about my new belief system. “Don’t lie, cheat or steal and treat everyone like you want to be treated.” PS I’m not going to church any more so you can stop hoping and praying I’ll come around. I hope they didn’t save that letter. I can’t believe I did it. I thought I had to nip it in the bud right then. I was eighteen.
I have three brothers and we’re not that far apart in age. My parents were old school and Mom stayed at home and Dad was a Naval Officer but didn’t go to sea. My brothers and I were raised very much alike under solid rules with love dispersed evenly as needed so how did we become a conscientious objector, two Naval Officers (pilots) and a surfer. What’s more is one is Libertarian, one Democrat, one Republican and a surfer.
We don’t have any kids ourselves but we raised two nieces, a nephew, a sister-in-law, two exchange students and a family friend. We’ve been married thirty-nine years, moved twenty five times and have owned eleven homes or condos along the way. How do we feel? We are extremely happy to be alive. We’re looking forward to the next phase of life. What is that going to be?
I went away for nine months. It was a standard ship deployment schedule in the Navy. My squadron went aboard the USS Enterprise CVAN 65 and off we went to the Gulf of Tonkin within flying distance to Hanoi. At first it was a relief to be away from my last desk job of recruiting at the University of California at Berkley. I felt uncomfortable asking others to sign up especially when they’re in your face spitting “baby killers” all over you. I had grown up on Navy bases and then went to the Naval Academy so I knew all about duty, honor and Country. I didn’t know any “baby killers”. I was sworn into the Navy in the summer of ’65. Who would have thought the conflict would be escalating seven years later. My goose is cooked.
1 Eighth and ninth grade in Naples Italy
2 End of high school-acceptance to the Naval Academy
3 Letter to parents defining my beliefs
4 Lack of fear
5 Vietnam combat duty
6 Religious beliefs
7 Discussion about adoption
8 Newly wed life
9 Sharing everything
10 Large extended family and realization that my wife and I are enablers
I have no fear. I’m really not afraid of anything. Sure, I get excited, feel the rush of adrenalin and get ready to act but I don’t think of fear itself. I run towards houses on fire, explosions or natural disasters. I am wired as a helper and enabler and was brought up knowing that a martyr was someone special. A Christian in a lion’s den was an opportunity to show what you were made of. I’m not a gladiator or fighter but just a human being that feels the need to help others in trouble.
I tell people I’m sort of a Lutheran as Luther and I were both excommunicated from the Catholic Church. I didn’t really fight the church I just quit going. Another way I answer the religion question (who asks any more?) is that I tested out of Catholicism. I went to Catholic schools from first thru twelve, was an altar boy and served daily mass at the house next door (a Navy chaplain with his own altar in the guest bedroom). Everyone can relate to getting credit built up or airline miles amassed. I’m going first class to heaven on points. I hope they don’t expire? I better check on that loophole. In truth I just didn’t buy it anymore. When I was eighteen, and at the Naval Academy, I wrote my parents a letter informing them about my new belief system. “Don’t lie, cheat or steal and treat everyone like you want to be treated.” PS I’m not going to church any more so you can stop hoping and praying I’ll come around. I hope they didn’t save that letter. I can’t believe I did it. I thought I had to nip it in the bud right then. I was eighteen.
I have three brothers and we’re not that far apart in age. My parents were old school and Mom stayed at home and Dad was a Naval Officer but didn’t go to sea. My brothers and I were raised very much alike under solid rules with love dispersed evenly as needed so how did we become a conscientious objector, two Naval Officers (pilots) and a surfer. What’s more is one is Libertarian, one Democrat, one Republican and a surfer.
We don’t have any kids ourselves but we raised two nieces, a nephew, a sister-in-law, two exchange students and a family friend. We’ve been married thirty-nine years, moved twenty five times and have owned eleven homes or condos along the way. How do we feel? We are extremely happy to be alive. We’re looking forward to the next phase of life. What is that going to be?
I went away for nine months. It was a standard ship deployment schedule in the Navy. My squadron went aboard the USS Enterprise CVAN 65 and off we went to the Gulf of Tonkin within flying distance to Hanoi. At first it was a relief to be away from my last desk job of recruiting at the University of California at Berkley. I felt uncomfortable asking others to sign up especially when they’re in your face spitting “baby killers” all over you. I had grown up on Navy bases and then went to the Naval Academy so I knew all about duty, honor and Country. I didn’t know any “baby killers”. I was sworn into the Navy in the summer of ’65. Who would have thought the conflict would be escalating seven years later. My goose is cooked.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Two Pages
Lesson one - read articles, choose a topic and write two pages. Advice given is to not listen to anything but natural sounds. Starbucks is out, pushing their CDs through the sound system. OK an outside table will be better. That's out; young lady is typing on her computer but listening to her music with no earphones. I'll go get a haircut and think of somewhere to listen to nothing but nature. Writing in a quiet reflective place is what I need. Just where is that? 92.9 FM is the choice of the barbers. More musical interruptions. Just think! Where can I get two hours of silence or just natural sounds. I'll go home and just not turn on the TV. Yikes! the chipper shredder across the street is constant. Chain saws starting and stopping isn't good.
I'll get on the #1 bus and just ride around and think of what I'm going to write about. You've got to be kidding! Do they know how much music and bass tones escape their IPOD earphones? They're nodding to the artificial sounds and I can't wait to get off. Harvard Square isn't any better. Buskers bleating and drummers beating to fill your ears and their pockets. Ah, a park is the perfect place. I'll find a bench and listen to the birds and watch the squirrels gathering their nuts for the winter. Class must be out; all the benches are full of cell phones users and smokers talking to each other in raspy voices.
This isn't good at all. I'm trying to write "people"! I've brought my yellow pad and a fine Cross pen I accidentally kept when I was staying at the "Kempinski" hotel in Berlin. Now that was a quiet hotel. No music in the lobby; the bellhops and concierge were exceptionally soft spoken. Down in the spa area their were plenty of tables and no noise other than the trickle of water in the marble fountain.
Well, I'm not going to get to Berlin tonight and I have to write now. I guess I'll just have to realize I live in a city and there are city sounds I can't escape. I'll try not to write and see if this reverse philosophy works. The more I get used to these city sounds, the more I will quiet down inside my mind and be able to concentrate on the writing. Rain! I hadn't thought about the elements. The wind is picking up. Is that a "dust devil" swirling the leaves around and around? I better go inside and remember "try not to write". Let it flow and bubble to the top. That's the philosophy.
Wait, if I'm trying not to write is that really trying? Can I use meditation or yoga to try and clear my mind? That's too much work. all I'm doing is trying to find two hours to write if I can first find a subject to write about. This is not rocket science. I'm a grown man and should be able to focus on a task and accomplish it. I have always been mission oriented but I don't think I'll be able to write two measly pages.
I'll get on the #1 bus and just ride around and think of what I'm going to write about. You've got to be kidding! Do they know how much music and bass tones escape their IPOD earphones? They're nodding to the artificial sounds and I can't wait to get off. Harvard Square isn't any better. Buskers bleating and drummers beating to fill your ears and their pockets. Ah, a park is the perfect place. I'll find a bench and listen to the birds and watch the squirrels gathering their nuts for the winter. Class must be out; all the benches are full of cell phones users and smokers talking to each other in raspy voices.
This isn't good at all. I'm trying to write "people"! I've brought my yellow pad and a fine Cross pen I accidentally kept when I was staying at the "Kempinski" hotel in Berlin. Now that was a quiet hotel. No music in the lobby; the bellhops and concierge were exceptionally soft spoken. Down in the spa area their were plenty of tables and no noise other than the trickle of water in the marble fountain.
Well, I'm not going to get to Berlin tonight and I have to write now. I guess I'll just have to realize I live in a city and there are city sounds I can't escape. I'll try not to write and see if this reverse philosophy works. The more I get used to these city sounds, the more I will quiet down inside my mind and be able to concentrate on the writing. Rain! I hadn't thought about the elements. The wind is picking up. Is that a "dust devil" swirling the leaves around and around? I better go inside and remember "try not to write". Let it flow and bubble to the top. That's the philosophy.
Wait, if I'm trying not to write is that really trying? Can I use meditation or yoga to try and clear my mind? That's too much work. all I'm doing is trying to find two hours to write if I can first find a subject to write about. This is not rocket science. I'm a grown man and should be able to focus on a task and accomplish it. I have always been mission oriented but I don't think I'll be able to write two measly pages.
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