I once knew a wise girl. Everything that happened in her life, the good, the bad, the awkward and unseen were all “Part of the Plan.” It didn’t matter what happened to her she’d shrug it off and say that it was in the Plan. This inspired her friends and perhaps aggravated her parents. While she was alive and I knew her a bit I simply assumed she had a plan, some grand way paved through life. It made me a tad jealous as she was four years younger then me. Then last October she was in a fatal car crash. I heard the news while I was waiting for my plane in the Madrid airport, it hit me real hard for a few reasons. 1-I’d been praying for her since the accident had happened 2 days before. 2- it was the day before my friend Tucker’s third anniversary of his death. 3- she was real young. But maybe this was in her plan too. It was only after her passing and learning more about her through various channels that I realized the real Plan was to have no plan.
That’s the best kind of plan I could ever think of. If you have no plan there’s no disappointment if something falls through. And lately I’ve had a lot fall through in my life. First London and being deported. And most recently the Coast Guard. I found out last month my physical wasn’t up to their standards and I got declined. That sent me into my most recent funk of ruined dreams. Along with a pile of personal life fall throughs. So I’ve been sulking about the house for a while now not knowing what to do or where to go in my life. I’d made the mistake of having a Plan.
Having a plan seems to be my constant downfall. Because I think of all the doors that have been opened when I didn’t plan them too. Silly me though I kept making plans. I’ve been telling myself since I got deported that I don’t want to go back to school. Why? Quite frankly it was boring a hell. My mistake there though, I chose a majors I loved and knew a lot about so naturally I was relearning things I’ve known since high school. I’ve been entertaining going back to school for a week or so now on a pre-med track but all the majors were something I knew about and I didn’t fancy any of them. And just today it dawned on me that maybe I just needed major I knew absolutely nothing about. So I started looking around at unis. I looked at places my friends had been too/are at. And low and behold I found something that was real cool sounding and I knew nothing about it. Neuroscience. Legitimate sounding right? All I know is what I read on the uni sights, it’s the study of the brain. So clearly if I know nothing about it I’m going to be motivated to attend class, learn and graduate. I’ll have to study since I’m clueless as to what it is. It’s going to be a challenge… something I’ve been dying for since… well years it seems. I left middle school assuming High School would be hard. It wasn’t. So I turned my sights to university and again I was let down to my flaw of planning and choosing something I could easily pass.
Now I’ve got a Life Non-Plan to apply to a few schools to be a Neuroscience Pre-health major. I’m not planning on graduating or getting in. I’m done planning. The Plan is to have no plan. So from now on everything is going to be a part of The Plan.. Confusing right? The Plan is no plan… but catchy and easily achieved. So wish me luck as I stumble toward the horizon and my Life Non-Plan… whatever it really is.
Cheers,
Not only did I get breathalyzed but I had to pee in a cup too! And strip naked for an exam! Intense right?
What was that intenseness for? Well I got processed. Processed at Fort Hamilton’s Military Entrance Processing Station, aka the MEPS. Still on the clueless page? Remember when I made up my mind to join the Coast Guard? And I went to see my Recruiter? Well on Wednesday I hit my 80% mark of my enlistment process. I went to Fort Hamilton to do my physical.
Now before I embark onto my Epic Physical Experience I will relate the tale of my Epic Excursion to Fort Hamilton. My parents had volunteered to drive me all the way in. I said no for a few reasons 1- I wanted to do it myself 2- it was 1hour 45minutes one way 3- Tolls would be killer. So I googled directions in via public transport. My recruiter said it was under the Verrazano Bridge… turns out it’s really under the bridge as I found out when I arrived at 5h30. Since the Raritan Valley line of NJ Transit doesn’t run early I had my dad drop me at Newark Penn Station at 3h40 in the morning. Turns out not all entrances are open before 4h30. I ended up having to walk half way around Newark Penn Station at 3h40 in the morning then I walked up bought my Path ticket and waited. I got on the 4h00 Path to World Trade Center. I got there about a half hour later. I excited the station to the left and started walking. As I got a block away I realized I should have seen Cortland St subway by now so I pulled out my phone to GPS myself. I guess I looked lost (even though I was trying to pull off the not lost look ) and a guy probably my mum’s age who was going to work asked where I was going. I told him and he let me know I left the Path station the wrong way. So all I had to do was go back past the Path and walk another block and I’d be at the Subway. I think he was an angel there just to help me out at 4h40 in the morning alone on deserted NYC streets. So I found the Subway hoped on the N line toward Coney Island got off at 56th St in Brooklyn. I was paranoid my R line connection would take too long to catch so I left the station to catch a cab… yeah that was a near crash and burn. Turns out there are like 0 cabs on Brooklyn. But I walked about 5 blocks from the station and I saw one and I hailed it like a champ! But the driver had no clue where Fort Hamilton was, so I gave him vague directions and I managed to get there a half hour early and sat under the Verrazano Bridge. It was loud as hell but kind of pretty to look out…
The physical was long as hell. I wasn’t the last to leave and I’d already been there for 7 hours when I handed my paperwork to my liaison. It took sooooooooooo long because of all the waiting. Waiting. Waiting. And more waiting. It started off real quick for me because there were only me and another boy for the Coast Guard. So my liaison gave me the low down on the whole day and sent left me waiting with the other recruits for the Sergeant to address us. First thing I did was snag my name tag from my liaison, it took 2 seconds because he saw me coming toward his office and had the stick tag ready. I went and got put in the system. Went upstairs to Medical and filled out the questionnaire form. Got my hearing tested, I got a bunch of 05s and 10s and I have no clue if that’s good or bad. Then I got my eyes checked, I have normal color vision and 20/20 vision I do know that’s good. Then we got briefed on the rest of the day and off we went.
First I had to get blood taken… Now let me tell you I HATE needles! I can stand them but it doesn’t diminish my hate for them. You see I gave blood in High School (mainly to skip class) but I could take the needles. I got my tattoo and I could stand that needle. I just look away. So I figured I’d be fine getting one teeny tiny test tube of blood. Wrong! I made a mistake I watched her take out the HUGE needle. I did my best to look away and ignore it and not feel it in my arm but god it felt so freaking big. So I start getting the sweats and my vision starts going prickly and I knew I was close to passing out because I’d had the same feelings while giving blood and the nurse flipped and lay me down. But I sternly told my self not to pass out. And I kept up a steady mantra of “Don’t pass out” to me it felt like ages but really I swear it was only a few seconds before she pulled out the needle and sent me out to the Female waiting room.
Next was giving a urine sample. For me that was super easy. I’d read ahead of time online that we’d need to give a urine sample so I drank lots of water on the way in and by the time it came to giving a sample I had to really go. So that was a breeze thank goodness. Some girls got squeamish and couldn’t go for a while.
Then all the girls were put in a room, there was only 7 of us. And we had to strip to our underwear and bra. No biggie it was like gym class all over again. Then the fun began. We had to do a bunch of odd exercise. Like swinging our arms in a circle. Touching out toes. Kicking forward and backward. Walking fast. Duck walking. And standing from a kneeling position without our hands. It was funny to watch some of the girls. We had to repeat most of he exercise multiple times till we all got it right.
Next was the actual physical. There was an interview part where they just asked you if you did drugs in about 5 different ways. Then it was like a normal physical at a doctors. Super easy.
Lunch was the last thing I did. I got to eat a turkey sandwich and chips. It was delish. Then I grabbed my paper work, went to my liaison and he faxed my recruiter and I was done. I had intended to grab a cab back up to the subway. But my liaison told me I had to walk a block out from the front gate and five up to grab the R line. And I was off to Manhattan for the day!
Okay so I’d planned to stay on Manhattan all day but alas it was in the 90s and I’d woken up at 2am. So I was hot and tired and ended up not doing much. I stopped by the Time Square Visitor Center because I forgot where New York Penn Station was. I got a map and a city guide to plan my next trip in. Then I walked toward Penn Station. When I started getting too hot I’d pop into a well air conditioned store and “look around” before heading off again. I got a Starbucks Passion Tazo Tea right my the station then walked over and picked up cheesecake as a present for my family before I finally got to the train. It was only 3h46 when I left. I was too tired and hot to wait for a train that went all the way out to my stop so I took the early one and had my parents meet me at the station. And I came home and was a zombie till I went to bed at 9h00.
Over all I was proud of myself for getting there and back without any problems and for kicking so much ass on my physical!
And to leave you... the few pictures I took
Cheers,
What have I been up to lately? I’ve been up to a decent amount of this and that. So strap in and be ready for a nice long post of… everything really. Pictures, Music, and lots of words!
First things first I’d like to rant on and on about...
the Coast Guard. I got my ASVAB scores back. I scored an 87!! Turns out that means I can do any job in the Coast Guard that I want. I’m going to stick with Operation Specialist because I think I’d never get bored. Each case would be different and just as exciting as the last. What does an OS do? Well on my sheet it says “The primary duties range from search and rescue and law enforcement execution to combat information canter and intelligence operations.” Pretty cool right? My recruiter is also an OS so he’s been able to tell me a lot about the job. He also told me I get to go to Petaluma California for my OS A School. That’s super exciting for me, I’ve never been to the west coast. It gets even cooler, Petaluma is an hour north of San Francisco. EPIC! And there’s a lot I’ll be able to explore out there when I have time off. Then after about 7 months of A School I get sent off to my first post! I can’t tell you how excited I am. And since my scores were really good and I don’t have medical issues it makes me pretty cool…. I think. Haha. But my recruiter wants me shipped by October which means I need to be done with basic before then sooooo since Basic Training is 8 week I’ll be leaving soon for that and oh man is that mind boggling. I’ll be done with this life style and moving onto a new path. Check out this video about basic… for some reason when I watch it it makes me inspired and even more excited about leaving.
An added bonus of going to see my recruiter is the fact that he’s in Manhattan aka New York City aka one of my most favorite places. This means when I go in to see him I get to spend that day in the city with my mum after I sign papers and what not. The first time we just did the normal wander around the city eat sushi and just enjoy our selves. Oh and take a lot of pictures
We also went to the native American Museum.
But I suppose that should be a blog of it’s own. It’d make this one way too excessively long. But I will tell you it was pretty interesting.
The second time we went in which was last Wednesday I got to sign lots and lots of papers. A tad boring but I’m a few steps closer to being off on a new adventure. After that we grabbed a cab to Sheridan Square found some lunch and hit up a metaphysical store. I got some nifty stones… hmm maybe I should blog about my stones… maybe. Any how after that we started walking up town.
Here’s where it gets epic. My mum has been say how she want to see Jesus Christ Superstar. So we looked up the matinee times. 2:00pm. We were at 28th street and I googled the theater… we had to get to 52nd street in about 23 minutes. I look at my mum and I’m like we going for it? And she obviously said yes. So we booked it to the theater. Got there at legitimately 1:59pm walked to the ticket window asked if they still had tickets for the show. We buy our last minute tickets for a total of $175 we go in to sit and this is what we see
EPICNESS!! We were in the first row of the mezzanine. We’d barely settled into our seats when the lights went down and it started. It was so amazing. Check out some of these videos. Josh Young who plays Judas has an amazing voice!
Hopefully I’ll be going back into the city this week!
And now onto some writing stuff. Remember I had my first book published by Publish America when I was a senior? Well…. About those royalties… I never got paid. So I’m getting my rights back. I’d really like to rant on about how angry I am at Publish America but that’s childish… so I’ll just leave you with the fact that I’m super angry with them. When I’ve signed all the paperwork and I officially own my novel rights again I plan on doing more edits (as it’s a rather bland book) and I’m going to release it again as an Ebook. So good news to people who have a hard copy… it’s the only hard copy ever. Cheers!
Also on the Ebook tangent. I’m reworking Entangled Fates a bit and that too is going to come out as an Ebook soon. So stay tuned! I’m really super excited about this all! And it’s nice to be back in the swing of writing and editing. I really got kicked out of the rhythm for a while.
Plus remember Crimson Clashed with Ivory? I’ve also been doing serious work on it. I’ve just been pounding through chapters. For me the part that makes it fun is the fact that the places I’m having them Hunt in are places I’ve been. Like Limerick, Ireland. Rome, Italy. And I’ve got a few of my friends playing roles… like my Spanish Sister has a leading role in Limerick. It makes it easy to write when I base parts of my characters off friends because I simply think “What would they say in this situation?” And at da hilarious monologues.
While I write I like to listen to music. Here are a few of the songs I’ve been listening too.
^Where I Belong by Building 429^
^Little Eye covering Katy Perry's Part of Me^
^We Are Young by Fun.^
^Walk Off The Earth preforming Little Boxes^
Cheers,
Last fall I reached a fork in the road of life. I could have come home with my tail between my legs but I didn't. I said fuck you to failure and did something fun. It was the most exciting and fun time in my life, so far. Yeah even better the Ireland. Why? I had freedom. I didn't have class I could do whatever I wanted. And I did a lot of really cool things simply because I wanted to.
That’s how I like to live. I like to have my own freedom. I like to live without limits. I do things because I want to.
I had a plan for myself when I graduated high school… back then I was naïve. I still believed it was best to have a plan to live life successfully. Then I learned if you wanted a wonderful life then the plan would be to have no plan. Go where your heart takes you.
My heart wants to take me to Europe and never let me leave… but I can’t. It’s not possible right now. I’m sick of university which was my ticket there. Since I’m not going to university I have no way to spend a prolonged time there. But I’ve cast my sight away from Europe for a tiny bit.
I’m going to see America first.
After a lot of thinking I’ve made a decision. I’m joining the United Sates Coast Guard. For those of you who are staring at the screen with dumbfounded expressions at this abrupt change in my life… well it’s not too horribly abrupt for me.
You see March 2nd I went to my niece Kirsten’s graduation from the Coast Guard training academy in Cape May. I talked to her a bit and started doing research of my own into the Coast Guard. She inspired me to join.
You see I’ve known for a while that I didn’t want to finish uni. But I didn’t know how I’d break it to my family because going to university had always been something my parents pushed my brothers and I too. Plus I didn’t know what I’d do if I dropped out. I mean I simply thought I’d be doomed to a minimum wage job for the rest of my life. Then I saw Kirsten graduate and it dawned on me that I had another path I could walk if I wanted to quit formal school.
So after a few weeks of research and a trip to NYC to see a recruiter I’ve made a firm decision. I’m joining the Coast Guard. I take my ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) tomorrow at 10h00. So by this time tomorrow I’ll know if I scored high enough to get a position as an OS.
It’s exhilarating how fast my life has started to move. Once I take the ASVAB I get to see my recruiter again and make everything official. I can’t wait to start this new life chapter.
Cheers,
