Paintball, Parties and Pizza Hut

Any chance I get to get out of Sasebo is a good one. Even if it means only going to the marine base in Iwakuni for less than 24 hours.

Our quarterly branch training was done this time up north so it was our turn to hop the train and go there to unite with the rest of our branch for military training as a whole. While she had every one up there our NCOIC decided to have the Christmas Party as well. Good times and good food were at the party as we unusually were in the saem location together.

Our training consisted of moving under direct fire, on the paintball field. Seperately the two sides (Sasebo and Iwakuni) don't have enough to play but since we were together we had two teams and one muddy field. I havent played in a while and the last time I played it wasnt against co-workers who were looking to vent frustration on each other. I have about 5 welts from close range shots that won't be going away anytime soon. You could almost see joy in my vets eyes as he blasted the paint into my chest and arms.

Each time I leave Sasebo I try and get what we don't have as much as I can. This case was pizza hut pizza. We don't have one down here and when I saw theirs I knew I had to hit it up. Our Anthony's Pizza (blah) tries its hardest to get the whole pizza thing down but the dont do the justice that pizza hut (or papa john's) can do. I got enough to last for a while :)

The trip, as I stated was earlier was a little short. Since I know this will be a semi annual thing next time I plan on taking leave in conjunction and seeing some of the sights up there. 15 more months left, I got to see everything while I get the chance!!!

The Beginners Luck Has Worn Off

My last outing on the golf course was a good one, I beat the guy who had been playing for a while and I was just having fun.

Now that I couldn't use "It's my first time" as an excuse it seemed like the pressure was on to play up to the standards of my first round.

I knew it was going to be a bad day as soon as my club hit the ball on the first tee. 20 yds. That's all I got. On a hole 190 yards long, I got 20 yards off the tee. "Great" I thought, "this is going to be a long day"

And it was. I couldn't remember how I was htting the ball that first day and if I hit it straight, it went short, if I hit it long it slice into the woods. I think I lost more balls on this day than in my first one.

And the icing on the cake around the 16th hole it started raining. Now I had played baseball/softball in the rain and even hit tennis balls in the rain and NEVER let go of the object I was swinging. So it didn't cross my mind at all that it could happen. But my glove hand got wet and so did my other one. It was the long drive hole, so a trophy was waiting for the farthest hit. All the factors came together to send my 3 wood into the woods just left of the tee box. My group ducked to remove them selves from the projectile's trajectory but the height I put on that club cleared all the trees and sailed into the nearby ravine. Gone Forever.

For all but one of my friends that was the first time they had seen that. I'm glad my horrible day brought smiles to their faces.

Somewhere along the day I was told this: Golf is a weird game, you do good one day and the next you play crappy. Just when you are about to quit it gives you a great shot and a chance for hope, but then quickly makes it go away. It's an endless cycle

I'm starting to believe it's true. But for some reason I know I am going to be out there next time.

Sasebo's Amazing Race

Publishers Note: This took place the weekend before Thanksgiving, but I was waiting to get the pictures from a friend before posting the story.







All the Racers






Mad scramble to turn in all the clues at the finish line






The Champs






Have you seen the Amazing Race? you know that reality show on cbs that was one of the first 'reality' shows to make it big. Well cut out the budget that CBS has, shrink the race course down from the world to a small navy base, and reduce the million dollar prize to bragging rights for a while and you have Sasebo's version of The Amazing Race.

I had seen posters advertising the event and didn't think much of it until RJ (my race partner) called me and asked if I wanted to do it. Since my day consisted of nothing, I quickly accepted the invite.

A friend of ours won last years event so we asked him what all they had to endure in hopes of getting a leg up in the race. He gave us info on what to look out for and what happened during his race.

Fortunately for us this year it was ran by someone completely different who understood the TV show alot more than the person who ran it last year. This years race took us all over the base and even off of it to Nimitz Park where we play softball. The tasks included heights conquering by jumping off the High Dive into the pool, aiming strtegies as we kicked soccer balls into goals from about 30 yards out and a kokeshi doll search by digging up the volleyball pit. Add to those three about 4 miles of running and you have the course.

RJ and I were in 2nd place all the way until the doll hunt where we found our doll quick and got back on the road before the other team could. They must of had a really bad time because we were neck and neck until that point and we ended up 5 minutes ahead.

We both expected it to be longer but as we got to the next stage we were asked to turn in all of our clues and the doll because the end was here.

We were elated to hear "You are the first team to arrive"

Hopefully we will be able to defend our title next time the Amazing Race comes to Sasebo, but we did become targets this time around and were promised it won't be such an easy victory next time.