Gacked from beggar_always
As she said, sometimes people can lose track of what's going on in their LJ-friends' lives, especially if they have a big flist or a long period of non-access. So, a recap, as it were, or an introduction, depending on your point of view.
FIRST NAME:
I'm not actually comfortable posting my real first name, since this is my only online presence with some semblance of anonymity, and I don't really want to link it to my Facebook or whatever, as well. So we'll just say Chris for now. Even though I'm not going to state what my real name is, several of my off-line friends are on my flist, and I'm sure I shall meet others of you at cons and such in the future, so it'll come out eventually, I am sure.
FUN FACT: Adding in my own one of these. My mother named all of her children from the Bible, and I also have a town in Illinois and a college in Pennsylvania and a town in Israel with the same name. Actually, the town in Israel may not necessarily be there anymore.
2. AGE:
29. Apparently I look quite a bit younger, however, courtesy of good genes. And I definitely act younger, courtesty of being around a bunch of younguns all the time.
3. LOCATION:
Yokosuka, Japan.
4. OCCUPATION:
US Navy Sailor.
5. PARTNER:
It is not possible to partner me with anyone. I am the One, the Only. Okay, not really. We've come to the conclusion that I am living in the wrong century and we need to find me a man from a couple of centuries ago, or a vampire or something. Apparently I'm manlier than a lot of the men my group knows. Sad, really.
6. KIDS:
How's about lambs instead? Cubs? Cygnets? Calves? Foals? No, I have no kidlets. I do want some eventually, though. I love children. Especially covered in caramel sauce and with added chocolate sprinkles. An excellent post-dinner dessert, much better than sherbet or fruit.
7. BROTHERS/SISTERS:
My older brother was killed in an automobile accident ten years ago. He would have been 31 on Thanksgiving. My little sister will be 25 in March. She's married and finishing up her master's degree in Environmental Psychology, then she'll be moving to Philly where her husband is going to begin work on his master's in Creative Writing. And my little brother, who still lives at home with my mother and didn't finish high school, will be 27 next Saturday, actually.
8. PETS:
I have none of my own. :( I want a dog, though. A Yorkie, for preference, because they're small and cute and portable. Portability and tinyness are great assets in my line of work. Do you have idea how small apartments in Spain and Japan are? Okay, and I have an emotional attachment to Yorkies in particular, as opposed to any of the other breeds of small yapping dogs, because my aunt used to have one that I grew up with and loved muchly.
I just love dogs in general, though, so a big ol' Husky or Wolfhound or Dobie or Shepherd would be awesome, too. I just don't really have the room for such a dog.
9. LIST THE 3-5 BIGGEST THINGS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE:
I. I just moved to Japan and my first shipboard command. I have a LOT of qualifications to get, everything from basic shipboard maintenance to firefighting and first aid to engineering and weapons systems. All while adjusting to a culture that is completely alien to my own. This is not my first time overseas. I've been stationed in Spain and Greece as well. The adjustment was not nearly so large as it is here. And the time difference really sucks. I'm about 15 hours ahead of my family in Illinois.
II. I'm buying furniture for the first time. Always before I've been able to use loaner furniture: beds, dressers, tables, couches. Never needed to buy my own, which made my packouts every time I moved much easier. I'm going to be a first-class petty officer soon, though, and shortly after that either a chief or an officer, and it's time I bought my own. Right now I'm starting small: a nice futon sofa bed with associated chair and ottoman, and a really fabulous and beautiful queen-size storage bed with a bookcase in the headboard and drawers underneath in a gorgeous hardwood. I'm going to be spending most of my time on the ship anyway. I might add a desk or table at a later date, as well.
III. I've come to a crossroads in my Naval career. Do I want to stay enlisted and retire as a Chief Petty Officer, pursue a Warrant, or pursue a commission? Apparently the LDO option for my rate has disappeared, so if I want the commission, I will have to go through OCS. That's Officer Candidate School for the civilians of my flist, which is basically everyone. I'm fairly certain I don't want to be a Warrant officer, just because of the neither fish nor fowl nature of the warrant. Chief's Initiation and OCS would both be physically arduous processes, ones I'd need to prepare for well in advance. For that matter, both of them require the same sort of preparations and assembling the package for either one needs to start as early as possible. More research is needed.
IV. I am one foreign language requirement away from my bachelor's degree. You'd think that a year of college Russian, plus three years of Spanish and two each of French and Latin in high school, plus four years of living abroad would fulfill the bloody requirement, but apparently the University of Illinois does not think so. So I am researching ways to do so, especially being 6,000 miles or so away. Not to mention frequently at sea. I am also researching master's degree programs, probably in military history, or strategic and security policy studies. Possibly both.
V. This is my first ship. Apparently I am prone to seasickness. Also, the particular ship that I am on porthops. Frequently. I flew to meet it in Singapore, and then we visited Vietnam on our way back to Japan. Previous to my joining her, the ship visited Malaysia, Guam, New Caledonia, and Australia. Last year, she went to Hong Kong. Apparently we visit both Korea and the Phillipines rather frequently. This is an awesome amount of traveling, but the workload is daunting. Very excited but also apprehensive.
10. PARENTS:
My parents have been divorced for about 23 years. Oddly enough, my father still contributes rather substantially to my mom and my brother's upkeep. They get along much better now, perhaps because my mother can send him home when he starts to get on her nerves. As to the cause of the divorce: well, my father was an abusive, narrow-minded twit. He's still a narrow-minded twit, he just doesn't have the opportunity for the abuse anymore. My dad's a long-haul truck driver who lives in Northern Indiana while my mother lives in east Central Illinois. She mostly works as an in-home hospice aide, although she also does mystery shopping and suchlike on the side. My whole family loves to read, but I get my inability to put down a good book and GO TO BED from my mother.
11. WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS?
My favorite uncle, who is twenty years younger than my mother and about six and a half years olfer than me, and who is married to a woman my age, is more like a brother to me than an uncle. We're very close, and it is entirely his fault. What, you may ask, is his fault. Easy: everything. My love for science fiction and fantasy, my gamer geekness, my interest in history, especially medieval and military history, my involvement in Dagorhir and the Vampire LARP I played in college, my exposure to Eric Flint and David Weber and John Ringo and Firefly and Mythbusters.
I blame Star Trek and Dark Shadows on his sister that isn't my mother, though.
I don't know that I would say I have all that many close close friends, really. In high school I was always the weird loner kid, the poor girl in the gifted class among all the comfortably off children of doctors and lawyers and teachers. And then I joined the military, an essentially transient lifestyle. When I came back to college, I was older than many of my TAs, let alone other students. I love my favorite tiny Russian, and the guys from my uncle's gaming group, but as for platonic lifemates? I have none of those.
Next up, because I bought the season pass for Leverage and it is currently downloading all aired episodes thus far as long as the internet will cooperate, my personal fanon on each character's background, history, motivation, et cetera. Why Eliot is so angry at the world. Who or what did he lose? Answers at ten.
FIRST NAME:
I'm not actually comfortable posting my real first name, since this is my only online presence with some semblance of anonymity, and I don't really want to link it to my Facebook or whatever, as well. So we'll just say Chris for now. Even though I'm not going to state what my real name is, several of my off-line friends are on my flist, and I'm sure I shall meet others of you at cons and such in the future, so it'll come out eventually, I am sure.
FUN FACT: Adding in my own one of these. My mother named all of her children from the Bible, and I also have a town in Illinois and a college in Pennsylvania and a town in Israel with the same name. Actually, the town in Israel may not necessarily be there anymore.
2. AGE:
29. Apparently I look quite a bit younger, however, courtesy of good genes. And I definitely act younger, courtesty of being around a bunch of younguns all the time.
3. LOCATION:
Yokosuka, Japan.
4. OCCUPATION:
US Navy Sailor.
5. PARTNER:
It is not possible to partner me with anyone. I am the One, the Only. Okay, not really. We've come to the conclusion that I am living in the wrong century and we need to find me a man from a couple of centuries ago, or a vampire or something. Apparently I'm manlier than a lot of the men my group knows. Sad, really.
6. KIDS:
How's about lambs instead? Cubs? Cygnets? Calves? Foals? No, I have no kidlets. I do want some eventually, though. I love children. Especially covered in caramel sauce and with added chocolate sprinkles. An excellent post-dinner dessert, much better than sherbet or fruit.
7. BROTHERS/SISTERS:
My older brother was killed in an automobile accident ten years ago. He would have been 31 on Thanksgiving. My little sister will be 25 in March. She's married and finishing up her master's degree in Environmental Psychology, then she'll be moving to Philly where her husband is going to begin work on his master's in Creative Writing. And my little brother, who still lives at home with my mother and didn't finish high school, will be 27 next Saturday, actually.
8. PETS:
I have none of my own. :( I want a dog, though. A Yorkie, for preference, because they're small and cute and portable. Portability and tinyness are great assets in my line of work. Do you have idea how small apartments in Spain and Japan are? Okay, and I have an emotional attachment to Yorkies in particular, as opposed to any of the other breeds of small yapping dogs, because my aunt used to have one that I grew up with and loved muchly.
I just love dogs in general, though, so a big ol' Husky or Wolfhound or Dobie or Shepherd would be awesome, too. I just don't really have the room for such a dog.
9. LIST THE 3-5 BIGGEST THINGS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE:
I. I just moved to Japan and my first shipboard command. I have a LOT of qualifications to get, everything from basic shipboard maintenance to firefighting and first aid to engineering and weapons systems. All while adjusting to a culture that is completely alien to my own. This is not my first time overseas. I've been stationed in Spain and Greece as well. The adjustment was not nearly so large as it is here. And the time difference really sucks. I'm about 15 hours ahead of my family in Illinois.
II. I'm buying furniture for the first time. Always before I've been able to use loaner furniture: beds, dressers, tables, couches. Never needed to buy my own, which made my packouts every time I moved much easier. I'm going to be a first-class petty officer soon, though, and shortly after that either a chief or an officer, and it's time I bought my own. Right now I'm starting small: a nice futon sofa bed with associated chair and ottoman, and a really fabulous and beautiful queen-size storage bed with a bookcase in the headboard and drawers underneath in a gorgeous hardwood. I'm going to be spending most of my time on the ship anyway. I might add a desk or table at a later date, as well.
III. I've come to a crossroads in my Naval career. Do I want to stay enlisted and retire as a Chief Petty Officer, pursue a Warrant, or pursue a commission? Apparently the LDO option for my rate has disappeared, so if I want the commission, I will have to go through OCS. That's Officer Candidate School for the civilians of my flist, which is basically everyone. I'm fairly certain I don't want to be a Warrant officer, just because of the neither fish nor fowl nature of the warrant. Chief's Initiation and OCS would both be physically arduous processes, ones I'd need to prepare for well in advance. For that matter, both of them require the same sort of preparations and assembling the package for either one needs to start as early as possible. More research is needed.
IV. I am one foreign language requirement away from my bachelor's degree. You'd think that a year of college Russian, plus three years of Spanish and two each of French and Latin in high school, plus four years of living abroad would fulfill the bloody requirement, but apparently the University of Illinois does not think so. So I am researching ways to do so, especially being 6,000 miles or so away. Not to mention frequently at sea. I am also researching master's degree programs, probably in military history, or strategic and security policy studies. Possibly both.
V. This is my first ship. Apparently I am prone to seasickness. Also, the particular ship that I am on porthops. Frequently. I flew to meet it in Singapore, and then we visited Vietnam on our way back to Japan. Previous to my joining her, the ship visited Malaysia, Guam, New Caledonia, and Australia. Last year, she went to Hong Kong. Apparently we visit both Korea and the Phillipines rather frequently. This is an awesome amount of traveling, but the workload is daunting. Very excited but also apprehensive.
10. PARENTS:
My parents have been divorced for about 23 years. Oddly enough, my father still contributes rather substantially to my mom and my brother's upkeep. They get along much better now, perhaps because my mother can send him home when he starts to get on her nerves. As to the cause of the divorce: well, my father was an abusive, narrow-minded twit. He's still a narrow-minded twit, he just doesn't have the opportunity for the abuse anymore. My dad's a long-haul truck driver who lives in Northern Indiana while my mother lives in east Central Illinois. She mostly works as an in-home hospice aide, although she also does mystery shopping and suchlike on the side. My whole family loves to read, but I get my inability to put down a good book and GO TO BED from my mother.
11. WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS?
My favorite uncle, who is twenty years younger than my mother and about six and a half years olfer than me, and who is married to a woman my age, is more like a brother to me than an uncle. We're very close, and it is entirely his fault. What, you may ask, is his fault. Easy: everything. My love for science fiction and fantasy, my gamer geekness, my interest in history, especially medieval and military history, my involvement in Dagorhir and the Vampire LARP I played in college, my exposure to Eric Flint and David Weber and John Ringo and Firefly and Mythbusters.
I blame Star Trek and Dark Shadows on his sister that isn't my mother, though.
I don't know that I would say I have all that many close close friends, really. In high school I was always the weird loner kid, the poor girl in the gifted class among all the comfortably off children of doctors and lawyers and teachers. And then I joined the military, an essentially transient lifestyle. When I came back to college, I was older than many of my TAs, let alone other students. I love my favorite tiny Russian, and the guys from my uncle's gaming group, but as for platonic lifemates? I have none of those.
Next up, because I bought the season pass for Leverage and it is currently downloading all aired episodes thus far as long as the internet will cooperate, my personal fanon on each character's background, history, motivation, et cetera. Why Eliot is so angry at the world. Who or what did he lose? Answers at ten.