reminding myself i'm bad at blogging...

... but I suppose there are some of you out there who like to hear about my life. So here goes. I'm one full month into a 7-month deployment, so that's good. Though I am already through 1.5 containers of chocolate covered espresso beans, which i was supposed to limit myself to one per month, so that may become a problem around August or September. Speaking of rationing snacks, it's really bizarre but as much as I love food in general in life, there isn't really anything specific that I miss. I keep trying to think of stuff for friends/family to send me in care packages and I can't think of much. Mostly it just makes me sad that everyone else (especially my roommate on the ship) gets a care package every 2 or 3 weeks when we get mail, and I want to feel loved (yes i know if you're reading this you love me, so thanks, no need to pity me..)... but I keep reminding myself that I actually don't really care a whole lot for material things, and the things I do care about I already have, like my ipod and books and a pirate do-rag. And it also turns out I don't wear pirate do-rags, so that's sort of a waste of space, even. Oh, and I have my camera, but I'm bad at thinking of good times to take pictures. Aside from that, I have taken a few that I suppose I should share with you all, so if I have the patience after I finish writing this, perhaps I'll add a few to this post.

So, right now I'm in Singapore, our first real port visit of the deployment. We did stop in Hawaii for a couple of days, but it was a working port and I only had one day off. I saw a couple of navy friends stationed there, spent one evening at the beach drinking fruity, overpriced beverages and watching the sunset behind the palm trees, but otherwise it was pretty unmemorable. I hope we'll get to stop there on the way home, too, and I'll actually get to climb a mountain or go snorkeling or diving or something. Anyway, we're in Singapore for a few days, most notably for our Change of Command tomorrow, which is where our current CO leaves and we get a new one. So a lot of us in leadership positions have spent a fair amount of time going through paperwork, walking the new CO through our spaces on the ship, etc, but I did get Wednesday evening and yesterday off to see the city. And luckily it's pretty small, so I did get to see most of it. First we (my roommate Shaunnah, and another girl from the ship, Lis) checked into our ridiculously nice hotel room, then we wandered around to find food. I really wanted some indian food, but we were so starving we ended up eating when we smelled a food court in an area called Bugis. English is the main language here, but the stall I decided to get food from didnt have anyone speaking english, so I just pointed at a couple of things that looked like curried vegetables and chicken, though i'm still not sure what it was. Anyway, most things here are way more expensive than at home, especially now with the US dollar so weak, but I managed to get a giant plate of food (i think the "chicken" was actually some sort of bean curd or something, but was delicious) for the equivalent of about $1.50. Then walking around later I had some fresh squeezed dragon fruit juice which was a little weird but good. We didn't do much else the first night but wandered around in and out of street markets and just taking it all in. We got back to the hotel and wandered down to the spa, where for the equivalent of US$130 you could get a 60 minute massage, or, for free, you could go to the "relaxation room" or in one of the three hot tubs, sauna, steam room, or showers with those crazy rain shower heads. So Shaunnah and I spent about an hour there, and then i crashed at about 10. We had talked about going out drinking/dancing/what have you, but I was majorly sleep deprived and passed out as soon as I hit the bed. Then yesterday we wandered around some more, saw a couple hindu temples and a mosque, spent at least an hour just walking through Chinatown, and went for a "bumboat" ride along the Singapore River, where the tour guide/ boat driver didn't speak English but they did have a tape recording of a very peppy American guy giving a tour that they played in the back of the boat, which was pretty hilarious. OK.. not much else was too exciting, and I think i'm getting into too great detail about Singapore anyway, so i'll move on...

Well, as far as work (and therefore my life) goes, I was getting very excited for the changes that are sure to come with the new captain, but now it turns out I'm going over to the carrier in our strike group for at least a month as a "desron fellow" for our destroyer squadron-- basically my captain's boss who's in charge of the 5 smaller ships that deploy with the carrier. They like to take junior officers from the ships for a few weeks at a time to learn what it's like over there and to be a sort of liaison to the ship. I was really excited about escaping here for a month or so, until the timing worked out such that I will be missing the first month of our new CO's tenure, AND I'll be missing some really awesome port visits with Shoup while i'm gone, since they're splitting from the rest of the strike group for a few weeks. I can't tell you details now for obvious reasons but in a couple of months I'll let you all know, and probably whine about it some more then, too. But in the end I think it'll be good to get away for a little while. I'm also trying to figure out my future right now, since i have this "oceanography option" to stay in the navy but as a meteorology/oceanography officer-- basically instead of going to a second ship, at the end of this year i'd go forecast weather or map the ocean floor or something, at a shore facility. This sounds like an obvious choice, but I'm starting to think more about my long-term future and honestly I dont think I want to make the Surface Navy or oceanography into a career, so I'm sort of torn about what to do. But... in the end I'm fairly sure I'll do the oceanography thing, which will land me most likely in Mississippi, San Diego, or Monterey, CA. As those of you in Seattle already know, I'm pretty heartbroken about having to leave Seattle, but I suppose either way I'd have to eventually.

OK, this is much longer than I intended, and I do have some work to do... but first, here are some pictures.

This is just an average sunset from our flight deck, with an SH-60B helicopter in the background. I think I took this one when we were in the Sulu Sea, around the Phillipines.


I couldn't help but take this one from a little courtyard in Singapore, where they had tables with checkerboards carved/painted on, and dudes playing checkers and chess. Just like Harvard Square, but without the Au Bon Pain.


And here's Singapore from the bumboat. Tropical flora, crazy modern architechture, and some mythology... the "merlion" fountain protects the city. Lion because the name Singapura means "Lion City".