Chop-in-Training by Day, Super Hero by Night

Well, well, here we are. Providence, that is. Moving into the new house in Newport (sort of Newport) tomorrow. I’m somewhat concerned that, based on the posters I’ve been selecting, my room is still going to resemble a college dorm room, but oh well. I can still call myself “student” so I’m going to postpone growing up for a little bit longer. No idea when I’m actually going to start supply school; ideally I’ll be good to go in January, but I may be waiting here until April. Alas and alack. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner school starts, the sooner it will be over and I can move on to bigger and better things. I’ll have been spending too much time in Rhode Island anyway by the time the January class graduates.

But in the meantime I’ve got my life packed up in my car (which was quite a trick). I’ve decided that I am never going to drive through that little stretch of Canada between Port Huron and Niagara Falls during the winter again. Holy crap. I’ve been through there a lot but only during May and August. This was not okay. Hopefully New England stays relatively clear of snow for the next few days so I can get down to Newport without trouble tomorrow and so that I can scoot to Boston on Thursday before I check in. I owe the Bostonians a visit, and if I have to wait until next week they’ll have started finals.

Next step, researching fencing clubs so I can get back into it when I get my gear here after Christmas.

New way to pass the time: through an odd series of events beginning with Carmen Sandiego, I’ve found a copy of the Tale of Genji. Ought to keep me occupied for a while, as it’s roughly 1000 pages long…

Oh, and may have forgotten to mention that I am once more in the outside world. A few more weeks at home, then back to school for about five months after the new year. After that, sailing for adventure on the bounding main!

After four years of needing 5 giant Rubbermaid bins and a U-Haul trailer to move to Boston, my life now fits into a single, rather small duffel.

My stuff has been sitting in a pile for weeks, and I finally got around to packing. It did not take very long. Oh what a change from the good ol’ college days…

…the good ol’ college days which are still sitting in the aforementioned 5 Rubbermaid tubs. Oh huzzah for spending the last four days of freedom sorting through them. All of my stuff needs to be ready for storage before I leave in case I can’t get back to Michigan when the government takes it away.

Which means, as of Thursday I will be officially Moving Out (even if it turns out they put me on OHARP in Michigan after OCS, in which case I will simply be a transient—nay, a drifter).

No more internet after Wednesday, but I’ll have my trusty phone until Sunday morning. Now I simply need to break the stranglehold attachment I have to Facebook.

Reliable email is looking like a no-go, so the good people over at a fake newspaper have offered to take part in a highly nontechnical relay system by which I can continue posting through snail mail. Many thanks to a fake newspaper, where they might believe in phony journalism but I can’t actually finish this because as far as I know there is no slogan. Hey Chiggles: you need a punch line.

Attention campers, this is your two week warning for Newport round 1. Passed the PRT with 70 points which, while not fab, is adequate. Much too hot a day to push it any further than that. Nothing to do now but to just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming (and running).

If I have email access, I will update from afar when I can; if I don’t, then I won’t. All I need is to be able to send outgoing mail, but the interwebz have yet to give me a solid answer on that one.

But wait, I’m confused. wtf’s a chop? So glad you asked. A chop is in the Navy supply corps. Now you know, and we can move on with life.

But wait, I’m still confused. What’s all this “Newport round 1” nonsense you’re talking about? Hardly nonsense, I assure you. I am, of course, referring to Officer Candidate School, while round 2 (far off in the future though it may be) is Supply Corps School—several months longer but less yelling.