Games to look out for: [in order of my excitement :D]

1) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjqsYzBrP-M

2) Mass Effect 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnEej1RfqTs

3) Battlefield 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA378g_gD1I&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b77Z_50xpHE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHIHxYXeLs&feature=related

but really, Mass Effect and Skyrim are equal-one my character is saved and ready to save the universe, the other is a completely new adventure and character that will slay dragons and possibly cover the world in darkness.

and some cool music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk9XYQMRiLY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so7mYHZRVag&feature=feedlik

Fuck Budget Cuts

I can't even take classes at Mesa college over the summer anymore http://schedule.sdccd.edu/docs/sws_summer_2011_planning_message.pdf

What marines are doing in Afganistan

UCLA NROTC held a fund raiser for school supplies that were donated to the school in THIS video. This was a while ago i just remembered about this video today and wanted to post it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1CEabu7dmQ

Caio!

This is what i did during Italian!

https://www.converse.com/#/products/shoes/converseone/builder/chuTayOxCan1010,,,244209430

¡Que Benissimo!

Spring ball has begun!

Basically we're starting over on defense with three new coaches and a whole new scheme so basically starting at square one again. But the new coaches seem a little more competant so it should be good in the long run. Still, practices three times a week for two hours on top of the five days a week of workouts... not the best in the middle of spring.

People and elevators...

I hate it when people crowd the elevators trying to get in while people are trying to get out. annoying. and stupid.
and to compound their stupidity: when on a floor above 1. idiots going down dont look at the lights indicating the direction the elevator is going on and get on the elevator going up as im trying to get out and i laugh as they travel the wrong way.

we had our DADT brief today. that put me to sleep. also fell asleep during physics. again, although my physics buddy was in the process of falling asleep as well when the teacher made a fun little joke about me.

Advice from the old people?

Please impart on us some wisdom concerning cover letters and resumes

Doing online HW

B. Mario, ti piace? Your new friend Mario likes some aspects of American culture, but not others. Read the list of the things he likes and doesn’t like, then decide what he would say based on his list.

Mi piace il fast food. Mi piace la musica rock, ma (but) non mi piace la musica country. Mi piace Lebron James. Non mi piace il cinema dell’orrore (horror).

My good friend Mario has lots to say about AMERICA! QUE FANTASTICO!

on the list of things he likes or doenst like, DAVE MATTHEWS was included. what a star.
also Shania Twain, im just going to assume he (or she) is a country singer...

My first Italian class

It's in a little shit classroom in the basement of HAINES. smells like piss and mold. also the class is full of weirdos.
the best part?

its a little old asian lady teaching the class.

i swear to god i was speaking spanish this first class...everything sounds the same to my tired old ear...

plan on asking my teacher: "Como se dice "(english word)" en italiano?"

Thanks!

I just used the oder neutralizing spray you guys got me for Christmas! Its great! Thanks a bunch!

Racist White Girl at UCLA

all my asians friends are pissed at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg3tIERI-D4

Goin to Baja!!!

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

World College Rankings

Why do UC's Kick SO much ass?!?!

8-Cal
11-UCLA
29-UCSB
32-UCSD
49-UCI
54-UCD
68-UCSC
117-UCR

I guess Merced didnt cut it. and 73rd? those faggity ass trojans.

now that we are on the subject of using politically incorrect terms one certain SSGT claims that with the appeal of DADT now it is okay to say "stop being a gay, you faggot!" what an optimistic conservative.


in other news my girlfriend was given the key to my dorm as i went to class so she could enter it to get her study materials and then enter the lounge to study. apparently she decided to bail on me so i have no way into my room....chicks.

Spring Break!

perfectly timed so that it doesn't overlap with anybody else's break. yay semester system.

The weekly groceries of people from around the world

http://i.imgur.com/KecYs.jpg

Funny Joke!

The FBI, the CIA, and the LAPD are all arguing about who is the best at apprehending criminals, so they devise a test: they release a rabbit into a forest, and whoever can catch it the quickest wins.

The CIA goes in. They place animal informants throughout the forest. They question all plant and mineral witnesses. After three months of extensive investigations they conclude that rabbits do not exist.

The FBI goes in. After two weeks with no leads they burn down the forest, killing everything in it, including the rabbit. They make no apologies. The rabbit had it coming.

A new rabbit and forest are procured, and the LAPD goes in. They come out two hours later with a badly beaten bear, who is yelling: "Okay! Okay! I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit!

hey

i also posted a picture of a cute hamster http://i.imgur.com/UIcPw.jpg

and i did not any love at all! boooo

emerging from the cave

yeaaaa im here. murderously busy tho. I got a research job with a professor on PMCs!

Pauley Pavilion

Went to the very last game in Pauley Pavilion as we know it (it is being renovated)

Got free access to the game by volunteering with ROTC to pass goody bags out to fans as they entered. Got free seats near the student section and also got to chill on the floor level for a bit near one of the corners of the court and watch big tall people put a ball in a hoop repeatedly.

Left with 3.5 min to go in the game cuz mindy and i were hungry and we were ahead anywhere from 10-15 pts. woo hoo i havent actually found out if we beat U of A tho... so some one update me!

Also

where are those darn kids nick and ryan? scoundrels I say

History update

15-20 page original reseach paper for history. Yay, primary sources are fun!!! :D

FEX

in other words, field exercise.

rain and mud and really slippery metal bars made the whole day tiring. woke up at 0400 and got to sleep around 2200.

basically we ran around the whole day with M16's and our 45 lbs packs. the mud was a lot more tiring than i thought weight down my boots by a good 5 lbs each. but luckily we hit pavement and gravel for the majority of the 8 mile hike. i actually wish we hit the mud more because i know i wouldnt have fallen out and would have enjoyed to see more USC kids fall out (this fex was for the UCLA and USC battalion). in my squad i was the very point man so on our fire team and squad patrolling drill i got to pretend i was searching for bad people. also i was road guard so every time we hit a road i had to run ahead and stand there and pray a car wouldnt hit me, or the platoon. that was really lame but it let me do something interesting cuz our pace was really slow, 3-4 mi/hr compared to our thursday hikes of 5 mi/hr.

i ate about 4500 calories, not including dinner, it was insane and the warm domino's pizza we had after the hike and MRE's and while it was raining was the best pizza ive tasted cuz i was so cold.

at night i had a weird dream, and basically it ended up with my trying to strangle some one in my dream, but that kind of turned into me "attacking" mindy in the middle of the night but luckily i was fully awake before my hands could fully get on her and do any damage so we were both scared shitless...hmmm i have lots of dreams when im dead tired, if you ever end up sleeping next to me when im exhausted be warned, you might be strangled, or worse...

imagine the cutest most innocent little girls voice ever:

"Sir, are you in the army?"

imagine me with most bewildered and disgusted look on my face.

enough of these ROTC quotes

how bout some pomona ones?

Just before yeast culture lab ...

Bio professor: "Yeast, being simple Eukaryotes, are extemely useful in the lab. What do we use yeast for?"

Most of class: quiet mumbling about isolating mutations and other genetics stuff.

Pause.

Creepy but awesome guy in the back: "Beer!"

to kornawski from SSGT

youre just that guy arent you...
you know what, im surprised you survived fucking childhood.

Facebook

nick got one

nuff sed.

awwww

http://i.imgur.com/UIcPw.jpg

SUPER BOWLLLL!!!!!!

...............
yeah, that's about it

Super Sunday

Knock Knock Knockin' on Seven's Door

why am i at a liberal arts college?

hardest class of the semester by far: Environmental History of North Africa and the Middle East

over the course of the past 2 weeks i have spent over 20 hours reading over 500 pages of "environmental" history, which is really just history except they emphasize water management and throw in words like "Islamic Green-Revolution" and "imperialistic deforestation." stupid breadth requirements

humping it

that means going on a hike

butts to nuts
that means get really close and cuddly in a column while we are stopped. i dont know why tho...

and after our hike last thursday we were given conflicting instructions to
1) cut all the dead skin off the blister and apply mole-skin
2) leave it alone as long as possible because the more it hurts the more it will help later on

What i learned today:

My "Origins of Christianity, Judaism and Islam" teacher knows me as the "Well Dressed Man." I would like to thank my dashing looks and naturally dapper style. however i shouldnt forget to give credit for the small contribution that ROTC makes for requiring us to wear our uniforms every tuesday.

Also i learned marines lie to their CO's when deployed saying stuff like "OH yeah we got it, its all taken care of" and "Roger that, sir, wont happen again."

Alright time for some "Gay-ass story time"
apparently the Geneva convention says no mines/ordnance that is detonated without some one actually being there to press a trigger, ie. pressure/trip wire mines are out the window. lame.
well whats a fire team of 4 scout snipers gonna do when they raid a house and set up shop for a few days?
rig their detonators to allow for pressure release or pressure detonation of claymores so they can cover their asses as they watch from the stories above.
well suppose that this is all fine and dandy cuz one of the guys is running around telling his chain of command of all the cool stuff he did. just fyi they zip tie all the doors and windows, and keep the family upstairs locked in a bathroom. long story short, anyone snooping around is not supposed to be there, so the mines are perfectly safe (ha.).
until one night they take over a building under construction without any doors to seal off...
well one thing leads to another and the claymores are set up without any type of warning off system (for example a similar rigging but with a flare pointed upwards outside the door).
and soon after a loud, like really loud boom happens...apparently wild dogs made their way in and set off the 2 claymores set up guarding the stairs.
the scout snipers' base starts radioing them thinking they are getting hit by everything bad in the area and is about to scramble the every asset they have, but luckily things were clarified. except that once a higher authority heard what happened the big "WHAT?" question was asked about the claymores.
all of the sudden the COs of the company and battalion had no idea about the claymores... so orders were given to cut that action out.
this is where the "Roger that, sir" (its not your ass on the line) ;) come in.

My sunday.

woke up in the morning, had a delicious dorm food brunch and got to work reading about jesus...boooooring..
hit up the gym for 2 hours and as i get into the ward room guess who calls? noelle. saying she is out side my dorm building with katie in their car. i direct them down the hill almost onto campus and meet them. as i got in the car they warned me they needed gas, altho failed to mention that they needed gas in the next two min. or their car would die. so instead of pulling a U-turn and going down the hill past de neve (a dorm building) and ending up right at a chevron I take them down towards sorority row. but as soon as we hit hilegard (the farthest away from the chevron we could possibly get the car dies. so i run the 2 miles to the gas station and deal with a non english speaking cashier trying to get a gallon holder and finally after i get the holder i spend the next 15 min figuring how to work the damn thing. after running the 2 miles back it was a whole different deal trying to get the gas into the car...so i ended up with gasoline all over my hands and shorts but had the success of having enough gas to drive to the chevron.

after that fiasco i started the physics i was supposed to be doing for the past couple hours and then dinner!

Mindy's family happened to be in LA and they dropped off lucky money for....vietnamese new years? or chinese new years but seeing as they arent chinese that seems to not make sense. either way i got 66 bucks (the best part was the three 2 dollar bills i received!)
and along with the gift of cash they brought food. really really really good food. like amazing vietnamese bbq. that is served in the same fashion as hawaiian or korean bbq. i had some fantabulous pork and beef and something along the lines of an egg roll thats wrapped in like a clear rice wrap with pork in it. needless to say i stuffed myself and feel really sick as i embark on a journey to finish my physics, read about jesus and finish the hang over.

Best claim of 2011

"...if anything smoking MJ is good for you"
my roommate (obviously not erk)

and on the note of MJ, my roommate decided to make a deal in our room and he also knows someone who actually had people search his room, meaning in order to hide certain things he ran into my dorm room looking for a good spot, luckily my roommate wasnt there to make sense of the situation!

Packers Win!!!

Since I have no one else to root for I have adopted the cheese makers. Now someone needs to concuss Sanchez and I will be happy.

Hey apple people!

As all of you know, my screen cracked. The itouch was still fully functional albeit with some cracks, but now I can't unlock the damn thing. The thing is teasing me; I can slide the unlock peg about half way and then, once it reaches half way, it resets--its like the digitizer is broken on the bottom right hand corner of the itouch. If I double click the home button, I can still slide the volume tab across the entire horizontal length of the screen. What a terrible 1/16th part of my screen to be broken.

So...

Do I bring it to the store? I hear repairs could cost like 200. I dropped the ipod in the first place so the 1 year given warranty I believe is void(please correct me if i'm wrong);however, since the device was working after I dropped and then it faulted ex-post facto is there a loophole?

Or

But a Kit and then Do it yourself?

So, I've killed 2 Macbooks and my now 3rd ipod(1 mini and 2 itouches). What do I do now?

And I quote...

"Nothing to fear. Got a big marine dude to feel safe. U dont get scared so i will try to not. Its just talking to friends right? No bid deal"
"I like men in uniform. Its sexy. lol. so i will picture you naked then! Haha."

this is all after 6 essays all txted to me before i can write "frak off" in a nice way.
and this is the girl who was freaking out all weekend about our presentation and who has consistently been freaking out for the past 2 weeks.

-_-

Tito's for lunch

showed dube, amis and kornuts tito's tacos. ran into some bruin alum who have been going there since 1976! can you believe that?

SSgt's are funny

one of the Staff sergeants today suggested to amis and me that we go to the sperm bank 3 times a week. the only reason he couldn't do it was because he was under 5'10"
apparently you get anywhere from 1300-1700 dollars a month depending on the raising and lowering of rates, for three visits a week. not a bad deal.
should i or should i not?? the bank is right in westwood north of wilshire, not far at all...

PR broken

18 hours in bed! righteous.

Never say never

never thought i would read, or own for that matter a bible. Or even a Qur'an!

but now i do for one of my classes and i made it through half the book for Genesis before saying "Foxtrot This Sierra!" and turned to spark notes.

and for the record i was actually interested and excited to read this, but then of course i started reading it and things fell apart from there....

Coming home Thursday

Brace yourselves!

going to lone pine

we get three days off for studying so im going to lone pine to screw around. yeah buddy

I can almost taste it...

SPRINTTTTTTTTTTT

Mother should have warned me...

to not get into Season 1 of 24 right before finals!

With no commercial breaks and back to back episodes it's freaking addicting!
After 24 firefly is queued up and ready to go!

Winning the war on terror one ear at a time

Terror obviously being the lack of reggae in one's life.
Mindy today has accomplished some vital steps to becoming a full (well hopefully just part) time reggae listener.
She admitted to liking Bob Marley, although she apparently just likes three little birds, but we all know that will change in a matter of months (if not weeks).
She also is currently (currently being 1738, 4Dec10) listening to Ziggy Marley, son of we know who. True to Myself seems to have caught her fancy, this is just another step to finally admitting to the appreciating and enjoying of reggae, just like dispatch, state radio, sublime, and the dirty heads were.

Much love,
Keenan (and reggae too)

BLOOD BOWL, NROTC UCLA vs. USC flag football

We wrecked, 26-12
I played O-line up until the last min. of the game, left side (theres only 3 o line men in this version of flag fb) knocked 2 people on their asses, the o-line did not give up a single sack, we pissed off their d-line so much they made at least 4 personnel swaps.
I also got in at d line for a couple drives knocking around their o line. almost got the QB once but he managed to throw the ball as i was in the air trying to block the ball, which i happened to miss...
No one got injured this game, apparently one of the first times in a long while, i take that apparently good news as bad news, next year i will be sure we are not acting like little girls and i will knock some bastards lights out to get back into the tradition of concussions and broken bones, much more bad ass that way, and thats what its all about!

More quotes from ROTC

Gay people are fucking talented

I LEARNED HOW TO TIE A TIE!

NO MORE CLIP-ONS!

!

Sprint to the Finish!

Injuries will heal. Fatigue will fade. Pride is forever.

Congrats to TP

Football team is in the semifinals! Although some of you probably already know that.

Game 9

Just realized I never posted a recap of game 9. Unfortunately is was a loss, making our final record 1-8. It was a very good game though. We played our rivals from the other claremont colleges and they were supposed to destroy us. But we held them to a mere 24 points in regular time. In overtime we gave up a touchdown but the offense did work and managed to score as well. We all felt it would be best to go for the win so we went for 2 but didn't get it. Thus, we lost 31-30 in our second overtime game in two weeks.

Day one of no football

So, today (tuesday) was basically the first day I really noticed that there was no football. Out of habit I started walking towards the locker room after spanish and got halfway there before I realized my dorm was behind me. Now I'm sitting in my room confused about what I should do because I usually don't start my homework until around 9 at night but I know I should start now. My only homework is an 8-10 page research paper, but it should be interesting because it's about ethanol. Procrastination is rapidly becoming the bane of my life.

CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKD55K5ipFc

Birthday Ball

1500 arrive in ward room to await instructions to load vans with swords, a bell and the flags
1530 receive word vans were loaded at 1400
1600 Mindy arrives all dressed up
1610 1st convoy of vans leave for the Sheraton Universal Hotel in the Starlight lounge (big room with dance floor on the 21st floor with a panoramic view of LA)
1730 practice sword arch on the dance floor
1900 meet back up with Mindy downstairs and head back up for the birthday ceremony

The Ceremony: watched messages from some admirals and generals about the 235th birthday and honoring past service members, particularly members who served in the Korean war. Stood at parade rest forever as the CO of camp pendelton gave a long ass speech, it was much appreciated, however my feet and hands hurt like hell for holding my sword in the same position for a long ass while and having to wear shitty ass dress shoes. had a cake cutting ceremony, come retired Cpl and then a freshman MO from USC got the 1st bites of cake. after that long ass ceremony we had dinner, steak and potatoes was the main course for both mindy and me. I ended up finishing one other persons dinner too so that was nice cuz i was starving, i think i am officially labeled the trash can of the unit, if food needs to be eaten im the guy to do it. after that we had the traditional videos presented by USC and UCLA to bash on eachother, ours kicked ass and i will try to get a copy. we did an 8 clap at the end and USC tried to respond but we out shouted them and they failed. its funny cuz the CO of the ROTC unit (both the USC and UCLA branch) is an SC alum, so each year he is real impressed with UCLA out does SC in the videos.

most memorable quotes:
"Hurry up and get your ass over there next to cuddle nuts"
"If one of you fucking messes up im taking the flag and stabbing you with it, you see how fucking pointy this shit is?"
"Faix, is this your date? Well, get your fucking ass out there and dance!" (i know you wont believe me but everyone just got up from having dessert and was milling around talking about the videos and introducing their dates to the staff and other MIDN, THE DANCE FLOOR WAS EMPTY i wasnt being an ass and not dancing, and for the record i did dance and had some awesome moves with amis and conte, who had better moves than i....)

after the ball i had a great time hanging out with a bunch of MIDN and our dates at one MIDN's place...

235th marine birthday

had some motivational PT this morning, formation run with some cadences and then some readings of the actions performed by Medal of Honor recipients.
Veteran's day ceremony, it was short and sweet and the coolest part was seeing a pair of F22's do a fly by
Cake cutting ceremony, was the youngest MIDN present so i got to stand there with the CO of the ROTC unit and the guest of honor as the cake was cut and was honored with the 2nd bite! spiffy. Before the cake ceremony began i was sitting there trying to eat my cookies cuz it was starving and didnt eat lunch, SSGT gets mad at people looks around and spots the only freshman in the room, he shouts "You, fucking grab someone and set this shit up now!" as he points the wall behind him. Having no fricking idea what the hell hes talking about: "Aye, Aye! Staff Sergeant!" and I get the hell out of dodge, on my way to finding some other freshman i see the MIDN 3/C who was supposed to be setting up the whole thing, i say "SSGT is yelling at me to find some one to help me set something up" she laughs and spares me from SSGT's wrath.
Then Adm Mullen came, that was motivational and he gave a good speech and was very intent on answering all our questions. Shook his hand and got a token with his name on it! YAYYY! it was cool though, being able to sit front row with the Chairman of the JCS 3 ft away from me. not every day a lowly MIDN gets to see the top ranking military officer...

oh, a side note, have 2.5 more study hours to complete this week by friday (which is a problem cuz thursday we all have off, so recording the hours will be an issue...), but i was invited with the other freshman MO's to sushi out in westwood with the older MO's and a couple MECPs. Marine Bday takes priority over studying (sorry mom!)so i had a baked lobster roll and a crunchy roll...mmmm...it was delicious

One good thing I learned at the CCS trainer

saying "Die motherfucker Die!" in your head will give you the proper 8-12 round burst while holding down the "trigger" for a 50 cal

Alright, for some of the gunners you need to work on the length of your bursts, some of you were fucking saying 'die motherfucker, die motherfucker, die motherfucker, die'
SSGT Fazica

Game 8

A WIN!!!

I know, it's unbelievable. We finally got our first win against La Verne, thereby earning ourselves the title of not-worst. It was a very close game. We were winning 13-6 at halftime, then the offense marched down the field on the first drive of the second half and scored to make it 20-6. Then they marched down the field on their first drive of the second half and scored making it 20-13. Then the offense threw a pick-six making it 20-20. We held them out of the endzone for the rest of the game thanks in part to a stupid holding penalty with 20 seconds left in the game which made it easier for us to block it. Then we went into overtime: we don't score, they don't score. Then double overtime: they don't score, we get a fieldgoal blocked. Then triple overtime. Finally the offense scored a TD and converted the two point conversion and we had to hold them out of the endzone to win. But they scored and all they had to do was convert a two point conversion to tie it up. But they failed! We didn't really stop them, their quarterback just kind of threw it into the dirt. But it felt good anyway.

Anyway, we officially have a win and although I didn't play great I certainly played better than last week and I batted down a few important passes. Next week is the last game of the season, homecoming, rival match, and any other important thing you can think of. It's going to be a tough game and they don't pass much but I'm still excited. Keep you posted.

Funny quotes at the ccs today

We leave the FOB and take a right on the main road
thats racist man

SHOOT THE GOATS FAIX!

good job not killing the fucking goats, normally marines woulda just shot the haji or run over the fucking goats.

I wanted to see if my M4 would shoot through the glass, soon as i pulled the trigger the guy running away dropped dead

Vic 3, this is Vic 2, youre shooting at us over

when youre changing formations and shit, fucking run, cuz when youre fucking walking around taking your sweet time, not only does it make me want to puke, it also kinda wanna makes me come over there and kick you in the balls

I VOTED

IT WAS AWESOMEEEEE!

Great Quote of the Day

I gotta plan: whoever comes up with the best plan gets a day off!
-SSGT Fazica

after a series of questions about what plan we had to make:

Come up with an invasion plan of Somalia, that's where we're fucking going next - SSGT Fazica

Does the plan have to be politically or morally correct? - SGT Kurpasi

Hahha, yes, no genocide or any shit like that, BUT if it was my fucking plan I would put bombers fucking wing to wing and just carpet bomb the fuck out of Mogadishu - SSGT Fazica

I would just mine every inch of water they have and stop piracy at it's source, and place a couple of destroyers off the coast and launch missles - OC Tran

I can't fucking think about this right now I gotta paper due in 15 min - SGT Kurpasi

Game 7

Another loss. This time to a team we definitely could have beaten. I had another interception, this time a jump ball in the endzone, and my pass coverage was pretty good overall, but I missed a lot of tackles. So many in fact that I'm actually embarassed and really don't look forward to watching film tonight. I also injured my rotator cuff again, the same one that's been bothering me since sophomore year. 2 games left in the season and realistically only one is winnable. Cross your fingers.

NJROTC DRILL MEET

sooo i wake up at 0440 with about 4 hours 40 min of sleep and i have a throbbing headache and was massively dehydrated for unknown reasons. THANK GOD FOR ANDREW (the pirate), packing advil in his college survival bin.

after chugging 3 bottles of water and pissing like a race horse i headed off to do the Unit Personnel Inspection. Me and 4 other guys walked around the High School units and made sure they looked all pretty. We were warned to be nice and reminded that they were only 13-15 in most cases and that some had learning disabilities and I even got to inspect a chick who only spoke spanish! that was fun, using hand signals to tell her to essentially spin around doing about faces since she couldn't understand the knowledge questions.

no one cried this meet at inspection (the PT events were a different story), however i made on chunky kid lose his voice with fear. Westview down from SD looked really really good and they took first place in a few events (one being my event, inspection) and took 1st place overall.

hopefully the meet pictures come out soon and i will post them on FB. reminding me, any bastards without facebook should have their roommates add me so you can see pic. updates whenever they happen....well only if you want to.

ROTC quotes of the week

How many fucking times do I need to tell you guys you don't need to fucking study

(SSGT Fazica)

...And the mission is...well it's the fucking mission

(SGT Kupasi)

gotta love the marine corps

A Special Request... Writing 39B Blog Post #1

Man V.s Wild(North Africa 4 Clips) Forum Post:

3.) In the quest for profitability and popularity, all television programming broadcasted today is premised upon the value of entertainment. While the discovery channel is widely recognized for its high educational value (relative to other programming say MTV) there is always an appeal to the entertainment experienced by the viewer.

A confluence of logic and psychology tells us that humans will seek to integrate what is perceived as enjoyable into their lives. The inherent purpose behind entertainment is to bequeath its viewers an enjoyable experience. Although, education is often the secondary objective of much television programming, the educational value of a show does not increase viewership or profitability. This is empirically evidenced to the fact where the profitability of educational programming such as C-Span or televised are lilliputian in contrast to entertainment oriented shows such as “Dancing with the stars.” This very effect has become the obsession of the media industry, because their profitability and success is contingent upon their amount of viewers. The entertainment value of a show can be soundly quantified by the amount of viewers. This is true because a show gains prestige by providing content entertaining enough to keep viewers continually watching their program, as well as facilitation of the attraction of new viewers.

This aim for entertainment centered programming is evident throughout “Man vs Wild.” This aim is evidenced in the composition of the show itself. The objective end of all entertainment in current society is to provide an “escape” from what we know of as our boring and mundane lives. To this extent we are captivated by any change, be it the outrageous lives of celebrities, the thrill of saving America one terrorist at a time, or the experience of super natural powers; all a far cry from the 9-5 spent in the cubicle.

Discovery realizes that this foreign element is what creates entertainment, and integrates as many shocking, alien, and norm breaking elements as possible. Firstly, the show is located in a myriad of exotic locales ranging from lush rain forests to the inhospitable blistering deserts of North Africa. The locations themselves provide the audiences a huge break from what we know of in either the cities of the suburbs. The foreign lands feed into our inner desires of traveling the many exotic and distance parts of the globe. Also, without this unique environment, the show would have no basis as we all know how to survive with the amenities civilization provides us with, the comforting cage we yearn to break in out every day lives. While the entertainment value is immense, the educational value is quite trivial. We are not learning much, as we are already cognizant of these exotic locations, and can already predict what challenges the environments will provide Bear Grylls With.

The center of the show: the host himself provides a second insight into this heavily skewed education/entertainment balance within the show. The host’s name is Bear Grylls. Let me repeat “Bear Grylls.” His name screams of action and adventure a far cry from the average “John Smith” who works at your neighborhood accounting office. On top of that, Bear is a survival expert an ex veteran of the British Military. Bear plays the part perfectly, with his action hero worthy frame, cool demeanor, and an ever attractive British accent. Bear Grylls is the archetypical action hero which we idolize, are attracted , and are unable to resist. Distracted by the entertainment value we are unable to absorb more than a modicum of educational value. Bear Grylls educates us on his tasks on only a level of experiences, as he does not display a deep understanding to nuances and intricacies of survival, only what he has been trained to do in specific situations. Moreover, we are realistically never going to find ourselves in the situations Bear finds himself in, further mitigating the practical educational value of
Man vs Wild.”

A final analysis into the specific actions presented in the show completes argument that education is severely shortchanged in the name of entertainment value. “Man vs Wild” is designed to shock us. Bear’s outrageous acts such as recycling his urine and eating a live octopus are what we as viewers demand. Although actions such a building a campfire are presented, the focus is on the outrageous. From eating bugs to wearing a urine soaked shirt, Bear Grylls keeps us engaged as to the extreme actions he must take to “survive.” Us as viewers, use entertainment to escape from the daily grind of life. We don’t care about anything he has done or can do. We only care about what shocks us, and Bear Grylls is more than happy to supply. Although, we might believe that watching Bear perform these “acts of survival” will in some way educate us on how to survive, this is false. What Bear is teaching us has little practice value, because his survival skills cannot be gained by merely watching the T.V, they must be practiced and endured through extensive training, the likes of which Bear Grylls has completed.

Analysis allows us to conclude that the real focus of this show is on entertainment. The educational value of the show is at best, trivial. Not only does “Man vs Wild” throw viewer education in the backseat to entertainment, the show exploits education by claiming it an additional reason to be watching the show, when in reality it is quite the contrary.

Game 6

Another loss to a bigger, faster team.

This time it was Cal Lutheran, one of the top 15 ranked D3 schools in the country. We played them tough, but with a D1 transfer quarterback (from Marshall), two D1 transfer wide receivers (from ???), and an O-line that averaged 290 pounds we never really stood a chance. To make things even more ridiculous, our starting quarterback was injured and didn't play a down the whole game. His backup is only a sophomore and not very experienced. Due to the offenses inability to move the football, the defense took far more plays this game than in previous games. When the game was finally over the score stood at 38-7 and I was RIDICULOUSLY sore. So sore in fact that after posting this I'm going to pop a couple of Ibuprofen and go to sleep. As always though, there was a bright side for me. Over four quarters of almost constantly being on the field I racked up 9 tackles and 3 broken up passes. 3 of my tackles were in the backfield which I think impressed the coach. I did give up a big pass to one of their D1 receivers and let up a touchdown at the very end of the game when we had already lost and I was just trying to make memorable plays (never bite on the hitch, it could be a stop-and-go). After the game though, one of the junior O-linemen told me I'm the best DB we have right now. Probably not true, but it felt good to hear anyway.

Next week is a home game against Whittier, one of the few teams not significantly bigger than us. Should be winnable!

How'd you spend your Friday night?

I tried to make myself puke. Not with alcohol, not with drugs...with good old fashioned PT.
Amis, Wigle and I tried Body Busters...jesus that was tough, i quit out at 80 while amis went on to 100 (he's the master of calisthenics and running as far as ROTC goes).
Then wigle and amis went on for dinner and since I had eaten prior to PT I went to the Wooden center for 1 and a half doing all sorts of leg and back lifts to make myself ridiculously sore this morning as Amis and I did a pyramid of pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups.

also: any suggestions on my current ab condition?
Situation: Abs are hella sore due to killing them each and every day for the past week and a half during PT.
Mission: Make them stop feeling sore and weak.

1st flag football game with cleats...

WENT AMAZING!

where to begin...SGT Yu made a jerry rice catch, dragged the toes in the end zone to tie up the game
their QB slide into a SSGT trying to get the touchdown but he ended up getting a foul (no sliding into contact) and breaking a rib. ambulance came to the IM field to take him off on a stretcher.
One jackass on their team who kept tackling people on ours decided to dive after our QB the last play of the game, he ended up knocking the wind out of himself...so i talk shit across the field and one of the SSGTs, well everyone else around me too tells me to knock it off :P

Personal Highlights: Playing Safety: "tackled" (no wrapping up just knocking on the ground) 2 people, only got called for 1 of them i think...
pass blocked the hell out of their DE. Then got a pass and ran for a good amount, 2 guys tried to tackle my legs but i managed to dodge most of the contact and rolled over them.

Next time i plan on getting a pick 4 6

HOLY SHIT I'M POSTING

I have to blog regularly for my writing class, which kills my desire to blog some more.

Anyways funny story...

Suitemate goes to go hang out with his girlfriend, come back and then takes a shower. He forgets his key thus locking himself out (half-naked). The suite goes out to check-out what the commotion is and we see fresh bite marks on his chest. Hmm....

uhhh

1.) I'm interning at the re-election campaign for Lorreta Sanchez; I got to strike up a casual conversation with here...no biggie...i'm just that cool(I keep it real with powerful women-Hilary is next grr...) j/k

2.) I went to a debate tournament last week and lost in finals. (My partner is a really good debater, but hes an asshole-I will deal.)

I'm eating healthy! I eat salad everyday for lunch!

MID TERMS and more important updates.

Physics and Chem midterm both friday
gotta flag football game thurs. actually have cleats (and gloves!) now so im ready to kick ass!
fell asleep during a movie about Maya Lin :D

Who needs sleep?

Due to some mismanagement of my time early on in the week and then an excessive amount of new homework assignments I slept less than 5 hours a night Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Needless to say I can hardly keep my eyes open any more and will be taking advantage of having almost no homework tonight to log some serious Z's.

On the bright side, I just received an email that says I have a package to pick up. Wonder what it is.

Game Recap

I'll start with the worst and work towards the best:

1) Final score: Redlands 41, Pomona 33. To be fair, the school has much lower academic requirements and therefor had about 100 kids on the team, vs our 45. Even though we were smaller, slower, and generally less athletic, we played with enthusiasm and put up a good fight.

2) My groin is hurting worse now. As some of you may or may not know, I pulled my groin Thursday, but there was no one else to play so the coaches just said suck it up. Lots of ice and ibuprofen is preventing the worst right now but I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning.

3) Two penalties on me while I was playing corner. 1: offsides (wierd, I know) 5 yds; 2: pass interference 15 yds.

4) But to have penalties called on me means I must have been playing, right? Correct! I played two series in the first half and every down in the second half. On top of that, I continue to participate on every special team except for field goal/PAT and I didn't make too many mistakes, except on kick off return.

5) Had a whole slew of tackles this game. At least 5 or 6. One of them was even a tackle for a loss (we were playing cover 2 and the running back got bounced outside right into my arms).

6) And the kicker ........... drum roll please ............ a picked 6! It's true. I picked off a well anticipated out route and ran it back sixty yards for 6 points. Between being winded from the sprint and almost being crushed to death by my teammates I thought for sure I was going to die. But I'm still here. For the record, that makes three games in a row that I've had a turnover. Not a bad run at all.

I'll keep you guys updated on the groin and Pomona football in the coming days.

Nick and Ryan: post more shit. I'm sure your lives aren't that boring.

This morning

Had an inspection in the CNTs (khaki uniforms), i think i passed it...
A film crew has been hanging around the past couple days making a recruiting video, they feature the ROTC units of Ohio State and UCLA and they filmed us doing a PRT on monday, I hope they didnt catch me looking like im about to throw up after finishing 4th out of all the marines in the whole unit!!! im proud. A 4th year Midshipman 1st class is our battalion CO and I passed him up in the middle of the run and he gave me the mission to pass the guy in front of him, i failed, but he did get to shout at me the rest of the PRT so that was very motivational of him

After inspection today (tuesday) they picked 5 marine options (I was one cuz im so diverse looking, but 3 white guys and a half Asian (me) and a half black freshman (not amha)) and we got to do like 5 shots of us walking around campus talking to each other. Imma be famous! i will send out copies of the recruiting video when i get them from the makers.

football

another loss for the team, but another good performance for me. seems to be becoming a pattern.

i got another fumble recovery and two more tackles today. better yet i managed to actually block the people i'm supposed to block on kick return. due to recent injuries i'm now on six special teams (kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return, onside kick, and hands team) and i even got to play two series at corner in the second quarter and two in the fourth.

unlike last week, we were actually winning at halftime. but yet another defensive collapse led to the game spiraling out of control. final score: 41-17.

interesting fact: i got to block blake vanderwiel (spelling?) a few times on kick return. in case you don't know he played QB for torrey pines three or four years ago. now he's playing linebacker for Chapman. pretty big dude.

YO YO YO

YO YO YO, I've stopped being a lazy fatass, and worked out on thursday and today. Been playing some basketball and frisbee. Went to downtown Santa Cruz and bought a longboard last weekend!!! Gonna hopefully bomb some sweet hills and not die... or just ride it around lol. Santa Cruz is totally sweet, the campus is awesome, and downtown is a lot of fun. We still waiting on our minifridge but once we get it we gonna have some sweet chilled drinks and maybe some microwaveable food. Dining halls are actually pretty good, I got some really good Indian food the other night at one of them. MY FIRST LEGIT POST!

college is easy. lol

aced chemistry test, destroyed spanish essay and test, even got an A on my essay in a writing class! i hate writing. something tells me things are going to get harder though ... damn

College Life

I went to bed at 930 last night, tonight i plan on sleeping at 830-9 WOW

Fuck Ups of the week

Ate half a cup cake for dessert, along with my regular apple- Wed night
Ate an ice cream cone, half filled with ice cream, and a banana - Thurs night
Plugged in 180 instead of 360 Thurs Afternoon
Clicked show answer thinking I could copy and paste it into the answer bar and get credit - Thurs. Afternoon
Didnt play halo Reach since sunday!
skipped out on a floor event to post this, BTW where is everyone with exciting news on college? your telling me nothing at all worth saying has happened to you these past couple weeks??

I gotta story: Since im ONLY on 14P, meaning i only get 2 meals a day for the week, I have to survive throughout the day by not eating a real lunch. how i do this? I steal apples. Tues I had 6 apples in my bag and by dinner they were gone! in class, to class, away from class, apples! im actually getting sick of apples, and surprisingly i feel like im eating healthier here. I have a GINORMOUS salad each night (check check, tonight i didnt cuz i was sick of all the fiber i was getting) and I eat fruit all day!
i feel bad for the staff at the dining halls, it clearly says no bags allowed inside the eating area, but since im such a stud muffin and im hella confident i walk in with my bag and they dont say anything. then i take at least 3 apples when it says im only allowed to have one, im such a jerk :(

Oh and imma bad ass marcher, we march for 2 hours in one of the main plazas and I was the only 4/C Marine Option (meaning i look like a bad ass in desert camies while the navy has their retarded blue ones). and i was leading everyone around and all these Asian tourists come over and take pictures of me! (well me leading us, us being freshman MIDN)
im playing halo, screw editing, my apologies

Heatwave???

Anyone else notice the sun is out of control? Someone should do something. I vote Ryan.

Where r Nick and Ryan

They're quiet ... too quiet. o_O (suspicious face)

First Friday of Classes

Woke up at 7 to PT, then I went to physics. That was almost interesting, turns out we are learning all the same stuff as last year, should have gotten that 5,5 on the 2 AP tests but this will make 1st quarter a breeze.
The physics discussion class was an hour later and for some hella ( :P ) dumb reason it's all the way in north campus in BROAD art center. strange.
after lunch i headed to Chem. I fell asleep. So basically I missed out on the talk about the lecture, dont even remember my teachers name or what the class web site is. Thank god I know 2 MIDN from ROTC who are taking the class.
after chem I PT-ed again for some ridiculous reason. I was planning on meeting up with two MIDN 2/C or 3/C and a 4/C but they were late so I ended up doing a 2 hour chest and back circuit with a SGT from the Marines. This was not the plan as i originally intended to lift for half an hour. Let me just say this SGT is a bad ass, he was a Scout Sniper and has done "a few" deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and he is hella strong ( :D )

Volunteer PT with a tad of Jackassery

supposed to show up at 0530 today. this PT was for people who were late to PT last friday and monday. Yesterday i suddenly decided I wanted to go so I volunteer to show up and get put on the list.
I set my alarm for 0500 yesterday, however i set the alarm to make no sound in order to not wake my roommates, apparently that wasnt a good idea because i wake up at 0620 to my phone beeping from a txt, the alarm is still silently yelling at me.
Thinking "OH FRACK!" I leap out of bed, throw on my PT gear and sprint to the ROTC building. Half way there I see my classmates in their PT gear walking back to the hill. "FRACK!" I stop, they tell me no worries the guys in charge knew i was volunteering and continued PT with out me and that I wasnt going to be in any trouble, then they told me just to walk back and forget about it.
"YEAH frackin' right!" I sprint off and talk to SSGT Fazica saying my alarm was set improperly and he makes another SSGT take care of me. I end up jumping up Jans steps twice, doing 30 pushups total and 25 pullups total. NOT BAD AT ALL! I was stoked but felt like a complete jackass. I didnt even get shouted at, just lectured a tad by SSGT Fazica and had to recite my lesson "learned" to the Sergeant Major of the Battalion. "If you volunteer for something you need to commit and actually do it"
I think they realized afterwords that had I not been committed or motivated to go to PT I wouldnt have shown up at all, and they warned me not to be scared to volunteering for things in the future. Im thinking "Shit Im going to volunteer for everything just to make up for this" hopefully things work out...

The past however long its been

So I pretty much lost all sense of time so I will begin here:
This girl who is a complete geek randomly decides she is going to a frat party with her floor mates. We have known each other since middle school so I was slightly confused. Since she has zero experience at frats she decides I would be a good buddy to have and chill with as everyone else gets their socializing on. We go at around 9 and at about 11 we are both sick of it and walk back to the dorms. I believe that night I stayed up until 12ish walking around the Wooden Center showing people what it was all about.
The next morning was Volunteer Day. They pile all the freshmen onto buses and drive them all across LA to do community service. Having spent a late night up, I was well rested and enthusiastic to wake up at 7 o'clock and start the day! We get to the bus stop at 8. Get picked up at 11 and get to this small elementary school at 12. What a waste of time...My "service" consisted of pulling weeds that will grow back in a week, and raking dead leaves that will be replaced as winter draws nearer. I was AMPED! Pretty much reinforced my understanding of how awesome and useful community service is and vindicated my complete obsession with it during high school. That night I hung out in westwood with some ROTC buddies. I went to Tommy's burgers and ate and then we went to Ditty Reese's and had cookies. After that some of us saw "The Town" which was gory and awesome and full of head shots. After the movie I hung out in the dorm with some peeps from other floors until 3 and woke up at 7 to PT. In fact that would be today's story...
So today after PT I was dead tired and went to my room to dress into swim shorts for the Mandatory Fun Day and the beach with the whole ROTC unit. We had a BBQ and I played frisbee, football and swam for 2 min until I realized it was really, really, really (that's 3 really's) cold. We had cheeseburgers and hot dogs and got to see all the senior personnel be really nice to everyone for a change! Oh and the LA sun seems to be a bit more intense than SD cuz I am a bit burned. No pain, yet but definitely red all along my chest and back. Another great thing that happened at the beach was that the sergeants decided all people late last friday and this monday for PT would do more PT tomorrow (Thursday the 23). I suddenly decided since my entire work out group had to go I would volunteer myself to go! Great show of leadership and initiative right! Well turns out we are meeting at 0530 for something "new and interesting." Kinda regretting it now since I've only gotten 9 hours of sleep, and worked out 3-5 times, these past 2 days. But what the hell?!?!?! Imma teenager and I can pull this stuff off and be fine! I've almost got myself convinced I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning...


Oh man, it is late, lack of sleep and I keep forgetting what day I did things. Today I also went to an Ultimate Frisbee Club meeting. Practice is Monday 5-7 and Friday 3-5, 3 tournaments this quarter, one in LA, one in Irvine and one in SD. Be there! if i actually keep up with it...
Walked around campus today trying to find classes, actually my friend tagged along and we ended up just finding her classes. no time to scope out mine, I had the ultimate frisbee meeting!
Yesterday after volunteer day I walked into Ralphs and bought 24 burger buns for the bbq that happened today. I looked awesome walking around with a bag full of buns.

I think that is it.

GIMME SOME O' DAT PT! (physical training, not...well, never mind)

had pt at 630 this morning. It was easy so me and a guy named AMIS were running around making sure people didnt fall out of the run. that was entertaining pushing people to catch the column. After that Amis and I lectured the freshman how to run properly, and I went into how to eat healthy and properly to gain strength and get the most out of working out. Then Amis and I went with a Navy Option called CONTE to do squats. That was fun, but Amis is a cross country guy, so he's a lot faster and he can lift his weight a lot better than I can, but when we hit the gym I'm the guy in charge.

So far the leaders are Amis, Conte, Consteadt and me. I'm buddying up with all of them so we can whip our unit into shape because so far all the staff is not impressed with the unit as a whole. A lot of work to do but that just makes ROTC that much more interesting...

Yesterday the MO's went for a run. We ran into one of the sergeants there and he was impressed because he instructed us to do PT Mon. Wed. and Fri. So bonus points for us. Then Amis and I went down to the gym at around 1430 to lift, saw a few of our squad leaders there, so far Amis and I are getting a good reputation for working hard.

I'm sad the school year is starting, I wont be able to work out when i feel like it and just hang out all day. The thought of thinking kills me.

AGAIN NEW URL

my god i got tired of typing people's initials. swanshake.blogspot.com

MY APOLOGIES! im still working out the kinks

Back from Oregon

Unfotunately the defense (which I was not a part of for this game) received a serious spanking (final score: 63-37 in favor of Lewis and Clark College XP). Luckily for me, all that crazy shit meant lots of special teams of which I am on three (kickoff, kickoff return, punt) so I got two tackles and a forced/recovered fumble. Overall the trip was really fun, despite the fact that I am now exhausted and sick (which explains why I am sitting alone in my dorm room on a Saturday night). Next week is bye week, and after today's display of the worst tackling I have ever seen in my life I can be sure to expect long practices and lots of tackling drills (there go my healthy back and shoulders, very sad)

(note to self, use fewer parentheses)

new url

changed it to aknrrw in order to recognize mr. amha and wob

Poetry

"To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."

Below

Q(^.^Q)

so you are actually going to have to click older posts to view my overview of O-week from the begging

yes it is long but i was either getting much needed sleep or preping my uniforms or doing things with the unit. there was NO FREE TIME for the past 5 days so sorry my email/text responses were either short or non-existent.

Complaints, Likes, Impressions and Rambles

Orientation:
So basically it was 5 days of fun! It all blurs together because I have an awful memory to begin with and when each day is 20 hours long and you do a godzillion things stories and timelines get FUBAR-ed.

The first day I got to detail stories out. The next day I was able to write a list of things worth nothing so:

I was top 2 for strongest as well as top 2 for fastest, the 1st strongest and 1st fastest definitely were not well rounded like I was. Which allowed me to make a good impression on the staff. The guy who is quick though is skinny, so he can do 16-10 pull-ups while I only hit 14 the first day. We did a three-mile run and it was a piece of cake, at the end we raced to see which squad would get first. I was in second (with the fastest and strongest guys which was nice), and I came in third behind the fastest guy and a SGT Steele who is 28 and is starting college and ROTC in the grey area between a second and third year. So it wasn’t too shabby. One of the staff actually started chasing me and warned me to not let him pass him, so I think I cut him off at a turn and pulled away the last 20 yards, almost catching the SGT Steele.
As a marine option I was put in charge of a naval guy who needed help (damn navy) I had to basically be responsible for him at all times and make sure he got his shit together (and he did) I like the whole trying being the best thing, it’s fun and you get more attention, which sometimes involves a lot of screaming but I had a good time being shouted at.
During the swim test the demonstrator demonstrated the side-stroke by putting his head underwater, and he specifically said to do that, then I do it and my observer tells me not to (god damned contradictions, happened all week, it was fun seeing the staff not be on the same page with each other, one time the whole freshman group was ordered to do one thing, then ordered not to do it, then the process repeated 2 more times, that was fun to deal with). The swimming test also had me fill trousers with air, which was fun because I’m sitting there treading water with my feet buttoning the pants up after I took them off in the water and I’m spinning in circles just cause I feel like it and I’m really relaxed not really giving a shit and the staff is kind of looking at me like WTF is this guy doing? And then a few seconds later I’m the first one done and out of the water.
During the swim test one instructor walks up to me and asks if I played football I say yes and he says I should join the “Blood Bowl,” an ROTC flag football game between UCLA and USC. I think I impressed everyone with my “massive” muscles; it was fun being asked to join the flag football team the unit puts together.
PEOPLES NAMES! I hate names, names are hard to remember, even harder when everyone else is fucking them up and everyone is shouting some weird grunt that only sounds like the name a little bit. Each time we had to walk past someone during O-week we had to greet him or her. Of course I couldn’t remember any of the staffs names “Good morning Mr/Ms….Shit…” That got a me a few ear fulls but it was all in good fun.
Wearing my uniform and walking around campus = AWESOME! I really enjoyed sitting at the airport with my hair cut all militarily and such but the looks given here with the uniform on are a billion times better! For example: walking into my dorm during a move-in day the older students are all greeting the freshman waving flags and shirts screaming and having a good time, I walk by and the stop and stare for a bit and are in awe. My roommate was chilling in our room today too and his two friends looked scared when I walked in. The girl asked what grade I was in and was surprised to find out I was in her grade.
THANKS DAD! For giving me a “marine only” belt, the first day I get questioned where I got my belt and I had to go on and explain everything because supposedly ONLY marines are supposed to have them. Just because of a belt I get put in the spotlight, and who’s the naval jackass that did that to me? FATHER!


Day 3-4 was spent on the road. First we stopped by Point Loma Naval base to check out a Nuclear Submarine. That was cool but a lot worse than the trip I did with Mr. Flieschman Senior year on a different (same model though) nuclear sub. We went to Pendleton as well the third day. We shot M9’s and I scored a 223 out of 240. 3rd best of the freshmen BUT! I didn’t know the “learning” phase was also the qualifying phase. So I’m sitting there practicing being quick, not giving too much of a damn and not worrying about patience or accuracy, thinking I will get more ammo and be able to shoot better, that didn’t work out so well, so the 223 was what I had to deal with.
The night of the 3rd day we spent folding bunks, basically 2 hours of SSGT shouting at us and being angry with us for not being quick enough. That was fun, until I had fire watch at 0200 to 0300. That was actually really fun, waking up in the middle of the night to watch the barracks with 2 other guards. We were supposed to all walk around the bunks counting people and making sure nothing stupid happened and also were supposed to clean the barracks and bathroom. Of course OC Tran (who was watching us) gets angry at the two other people for not knowing their shit so I had to count, clean (mop and sweep) all by my lonely-es :( That was fun because he talked to my squad leader and I got a good reputation.
The 4th day we did some leadership obstacles, when I led my team through one I got everyone “killed” because my plan sucked ass, well actually I didn’t have a plan and the people I assigned to do shit had no idea how to adjust to the situation. So the only opportunity I was officially in charge of someone in the field led to a 90% casualty rate. After that we hit the O-course and I was dead tired so I didn’t compete in the fastest person to do the O-course, next time I hope. After the O-course was infiltration training, which actually was training us how a fire team assaults something so no crawling around stabbing people… BUT that was almost good, the Marine Options were put in one group (4 of us) and the SGT there put the worst 2 people in charge during our 2 times thru the course. No one knew what to do but me and I was the only one sprinting my ass of with my rubber M16. So as a unit we would have died but I think I made a good impression


Swearing in ceremony (day 5): Wake up at 0430 and realize I fell asleep before I ironed my uniform, I have an hour to get packed and get my PT gear on and 2 sets of dress uniform ready depending on what we would wear that day for the ceremony. I get it done and the Marines start off with their PFT. We were supposed to do a 3 mile run but the track was closed so we ended up running a made up route. I think it was more than 3 miles but what do I know? I keep up with SSGT Steele and at the end I offer to race him, the last 100 yards. We are head to head until the last 5 yards where finally I decided I wasn’t going fast enough and beat him, pulling ahead by a body width (not length).
Before the ceremony we put on our white uniforms, I couldn’t find my nametag and I swore to god I put it in my sea bag before I fell asleep, but I tell my squad leader and then I run all the way back to my dorm only to not find it. So I run all the way back, realize I didn’t check my sea bag pocket and THERE IS! All that running after a PRT for nothing. I was issued Midshipman 1st class shoulder boards and that’s no good because I’m only 4th class, so after the ceremony at the picnic 8 staff members come up and question me and I have to explain that I already told my squad leader and I was going to exchange them ASAP. That was entertaining having all these seniors and juniors and sophomores telling me that they should now call me sir or that they are now the same rank as me.
At the picnic OC Tran tells me if there was a draft for the Orientation members I was top 5 in the pick at least and that if he went to our commission ceremony he would hide in the shadows, whisper me over and take a quick picture then get the hell out of dodge. Basically the staff feels like our group is mainly shit and there was only 3 really squared away people (myself included) that the OC could name off the top of his head. And apparently the marine options are the worst physically fit the unit has had in a long time. There are 4 of us, one guy runs a 4,43 mile and then there is me. Then there is the guy who does 0 pull ups for our PRT today and then the other guy drops out of a 1.5 mile jog the first day.

Overall: despite me complaining I loved every second of it, worked hard from 0500 to 1800 each night then had a meeting/”class” with the squad for an hour. Then cleaned up and used the info I just learned to square away my uniforms and study the knowledge packet and hydrate, then bed at 0100-0200. Despite the work and lack of sleep it was a great learning opportunity and the whole unit knows now what to do and fix in order to meet expectations. I loved being shouted at, I found it humorous because I knew as soon as O-week was over everyone would be nice to us, and after the ceremony EVERY instructor changed, they were kind and were actually interested in us and were willing to help us out nicely, it was incredible to see the transformation of the instructors and surprise on all the other freshman’s faces.

first day

\ Wake up at 500 get there at 550 people make us get in attention and start shouting at us, I know their game so I start cracking up so I have 3 senior enlisted folk shouting at me as Im cracking a smile, then my friend Robbie starts smiling and almost gets his ass chewed out.
Had my hair buzzed, they still made me get a hair cut and wasted 10 dollars, didn’t know how they could cut a no guard anyways so I just had the lady go really no guard xP there goes my lunch money
Ran 1.5 miles it was nothing, everyone was heaving and I was chanting away with the staff sarge and the older midshipmen
Screwed up names so often that’s all I got shouted at for, tho I can keep my composure pretty well so they cant yell at me too much cuz it gets boring, tho they do like to ask me questions cuz I know jack shit.
Some enlisted girl is shouting at me to put all my stuff back into my sea bag, we have 60 seconds and im so good I don’t get flustered, I actually start chuckling, she immediately gives up and starts shouting at the girl beside me. Keenan 1, ROTC 0
Was talking to a peer, we were instructed to quiz each other, he didn’t hear so I ask him, he flips out and stutters and is jittery thinking im an instructor or something, he even called me sir, I enjoyed that. But eventually I told him to relax and take a breath.
Did 14 pull ups for Mr. Bell, then another Mr. comes along 5 min later after Bell leaves and makes me do pull ups, got to 7 then I said, Mr. ______ , Mr. Bell already made me do these. He almost felt bad.
Actually lost count doing pull ups, they asked me what and I said I don’t know, they say oh okay so you did one or 2, then Bell says, I believe it was about 14, I expect you to get 15 at Pendleton, I was like shit cant I keep the 1 or 2?
Almost told an officer his cadence was off for marching, even the enlisted guy transferring in to ROTC as a junior was off because of the guys screw up. He blamed me tho, and told me to adjust.
1.5 mile run we got to chant about daddy giving PT time to mommy, actually got a cramp laughing to myself.


Overall a great mixture of tiredness, humor, nervousness and productiveness today. I think the staff likes me cuz I see thru their act and they like me keeping my composure and looking confident enough. I love watching the unit take things personally as they get shouted at by 3 people, thank god for football.
And one more thing that made me laugh, I can just imagine my little bald dad as a commander sitting at a desk being all chill, great contrast compared to these people.

Weston

wants to know what life is like at UCLA

Insensitive

I'm not fat.

Breaking News:

The weather gods have gone insane in Claremont. Temperature drops from 100 to 60 and water falls from the sky. Evacuation and widespread panic recommended.

Freedom?

First day off from football since I came up here. Hardly know what to do with myself. Oh yeah, homework.

Interesting events of Sunday Sept. 5

Beat my dad in chess on the first try, that was in the morning and I managed to refuse to replay him the rest of the day, he's begging for a rematch!

The family watched "The Big Lebowski"   needless to say they loved it. 

Watch out for those marmots.

YO IM FASTER THAN RYAN

RYAN YOUR A FATASS

Ryan and nick are slow, wont check their emails or do anything with this awesome blog

anyways,  played ultimate Frisbee again today, barefoot again, and stepped on a bee again, i wonder who's fault that is?   Practicing for sweet ultimate Frisbee games up at LA, hopefully there is a club league or something... more on that when i actually get to college....