Shaking The Rust Off

There was a Aircraft Carrier in this weekend and as always MWR tried to get a couple of intramural sports games out of them to play the Sasebo teams. We had our first softball practice a week ago but we were out there for fun and most of our guys weren't even there. The other night however we had our full squad minus one and were looking to greet the San Diego based ship with a dose of how we do it here.

They came out and put up three runs in the top of the first as did we. Then I think we settled down and they got excited because there was probably one base runner for them the rest of the night. After three straight outs we went to the plate and put up 9 runs. 3 homeruns and lots of hard base hits were just enough to break their spirits.

After three quick outs for the other team we came in and kept up our hitting ways as we put up 6 quick runs and ended the game with the 15 run mercy rule. The game only lasted about 20 minutes but it was enough to help clear out the cobwebs before the season started. At about a month away, I'm aching to get back out there....

II DESU, The year of the pig

Posing in front of a dragon


As written earlier I felt that this was going to be a good year for me and now I have another reason to believe so. I was making plans for the Nagasaki Lantern Festival and realized that 2007 is the year of the pig, and for all of you Chinese New Year Enthusiasts you know that anyone turning 12, 24, or 36 etc this year is a PIG. And it just so happens that in 10 days I'll be turning 24.


The Lanterns were everywhere, even at MC'Ds


Anyways, after having a great time at Last Year's Festival I decided to go again and ring in the Chinese New Year in the biggest China Town in Japan. This year I went without the aid of the MWR tours and took the train down to Nagasaki and then met up with a couple of friends. The shows were similar to last years but there were definetly variations especially in the Chinese Acrobat show. We walked around the many shops / stands and enjoyed all the festivities. The finish the night off we dined at a little restaurant thinking Chinese food for the Chinese New Year would be good luck, and so far so good....


They lit up the night very well

Snow in Sasebo?

Finally after seeing so many pictures of back home getting bombarded with snow, we finally get our first real snow of the season. A few weeks ago a couple of flurries fell, but i must of been sleeping because I don't remember seeing any. But this snow storm started as I was wrapping up a 12 mile ruck run. It made it a pretty morning, but I slipped a couple of times, almost fell over. It went on until about noon and then stopped. It never accumulated though due to the high temps we have been having. All attempts to make a snow man with my fingers failed as I couldn't keep it from melting. It's like Japan is messing with me because today it's 54 degrees and almost like spring here. Just when I thought it was time for snow.....