It's been awhile since I have been able to set my thoughts in type. Alot of things have happened. I finally got the house I wanted. Talk about the hardest thing I have ever done! Not only is it stressful because of the amount of debt, but USAA did not make it easy and I thought I would lose the house. Thankfully I was able to get it and have been living in it since July 3rd. Only a few problems here and there, but I love it.
I have also transfer up to Cape Canaveral. Yeah, I sometimes wish I was back on the Cutter. Things are sometimes difficult for the "New Guy" and I definitely have it difficult. Ok maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is stressful to start all over again and get acclimated to station life. I will adjust eventually. Once I get fully qualified things will change dramatically.
I have also dropped 30lbs since I moved up here. I got a personal trainer again and have been woeking out almost everyday. My main goal is to do pull ups. I can't do a single one. Never have. Three months later and I still can't but at least I'm closer!
Well I know this isn't nearly enough to catch up on everything, but it's a start and I will try to lay down some more thoughts.
I thought finding a house to buy would be a little easier than finding one to rent. Well, not so much. I mean, I actually found a couple I was interested in, unlike my rental experience.
I looked at 5 houses on Tuesday. 2 were no-goes right of the bat. 1 wasn't too bad, but it needed some work and the asking price was kinda high for my price range. The last two were nice. One I really wanted. It needed alot of work, but for the asking price it was do-able. It had some holes in the ceiling and walls were the previous people had taken speakers and stuff out. It also needed the carpet taken out and some fresh paint here and there. I really like the place. The bad thing was it was a foreclosure. By the time I got my offer in, there was already 4 in. Needless to say they went with the highest offer and didn't bother to counter offer anyone.
So with that one gone, I decided to put in an offer for the other house. It is much bigger and the layout is kinda confusing, but it only really needed some paint and carpet taken out of the spare beds. Two words: Brown Shag. Yuck. All in all it was in better shape and had a better resale effect later on. So I put in an offer. My Realtor told me there wasn't any offers in according to the listing agent. A little later my realtor called back and said that there was an offer and it had been accepted I guess the listing agent is a dumbass, but said that if the offer falls through then they will call me.
So either way I am pretty much at square one. I am still in the running if that other offer doesn't work out, but other than that I have nothing. So I get to search all over again. Grrr. The bad thing is that home buying is a lengthy process and I just hope I can find something in time for me to move. Yeah. Wish me luck.
What also sucks is that I can't quite fucking sneezing! I am getting over a sore throat/other crude from being at the dentist, so I have been taking some Tylenol Cold & Flu stuff. It has my nose going from faucet status to plugged drain status. It can't make up its mind. When I went to mom's the other day, all of the orange trees were starting to bloom. Orange blossoms smell absolutely amazing, but I think it totally fucked up my allergies. Yay. I'm just taking things as they come. Not much more I can do.
Ketchup! Haha so this is my catch-up post. See what I did there? I have alot of exciting things about to happen to me so I have to get up to date. So this might be a long one....
So the boat is finally fixed. We are finally done with Rybovich Marina...at least for now.... We were finally able to go out for some patrols. That was an experience! We got two big migrant cases. I also got to start breaking in underway OOD! Exciting, exciting. So first the migrant cases. I'm not sure how much I am actually allowed to write, but seeing as this is more for me than anybody...I put whatever I damn well please. Haha. So the first one was a call about a broken down boat. When we got there, near Bimini/Bahamas, there were alot of people on a small boat. Basically each person had just over a foot of room. And only two life jackets. So as soon as we got them on the cutter, it started to pour down rain. Good thing we got them because they probably would have died. One of them almost did because of hypothermia. So I got the fist security watch. It was kinda comical. I was protective because on one side we had the two smugglers and the guy needing medical treatment. Our EMT was there helping the guy and I was making sure the two guys stayed put and didn't try to overtake her. At one point one of the guys started to get up. I asked him "What are you doing?" He pointed over to the inner side of the deck and mentioned he was getting wet. I very sternly told him "No. Sit down. If I have to get wet, you have to get wet." The other guy on security started to laugh and was like that was awesome. The other smuggler just kinda giggled. Well he got it too because just shortly after that, the boat leaned to the other side and all the water that was collecting on the gun mount cover ended up smacking him directly in the face. Then it was my time to giggle. The one guy never looked at me for the rest of the trip. Haha. I'm such a bitch.
The second migrant case was a two part. The first part was lame because we just took migrants from another FRC. But later on that night we got a call from a cruise saying they picked up two people on a broken down boat. They also tried to sneak in. Haha gotcha. What was entertaining about the FRC transferred migrants was that one of them decided to eat a bolt. Yeah, a bolt. Evidently he worked one loose some where and ate it. Let's just say that by the time he got on board our boat he was hurting and regretting that decision. The doc that came with them said he just had to wait and let it "pass" haha.
Also during the first part (or second, I can't remember cause it all blends) we went to Sector Jacksonville to work their area because one of their cutters were down. We did our patrol thing, boarded some boats, punched holes through the water and eventually moored up. We moored up near the place we did for hurricane evacuation. What was cool was that some of the guys from Station Port Canaveral stopped over. I showed them the boat and they gave me the low down on the station. Yup, its a station. Good all drama. Haha It's normal, but they told me the command has been waiting for a female with some authority to set some non-rates in their place. Awesome. I told them that when I'm not being a bitch, I'm being an asshole. Haha they laughed and said the command will love me. Haha. Only a couple more months...and here I come!
Before the patrol I was busy busy. I finally got to see the Kugel-bean! I gave my friends a week to let everything kinda calm down and then I went to go see the baby. OMG Hunter totally stole my heart! There was one point where I was holding him and he started to get kinda fussy so I sang the Muppet song Mahna Mahna and he stopped fussing. I told him "Hunter, you and me are going to get along just fine." and he smiled! Damn kid brought a tear to my eye! Yup, he stole my heart.
Tonneau Cover
I have also did some truck mods. Yeah, sexy beast got some updates. First off, after months of sitting in my back seat, I finally installed my tonneau cover. After install, re-install (cause I goofed), and about an hour worth of drilling holes by hand cause my drill sucks ass.... 3 hours later.... I finally got my tonneau cover on. ALL BY MYSELF!!!! Yeah, I'm the shit. On another day I installed new headlight assemblies and a new third brake light. My baby is really looking good.
After
Before
Third Brake Light
I also added some excitement to my apartment. The first was a new beta fish. I named him Kevin. I really missed Pete, the other beta I had. So I decided to get another. Regrettably, he doesn't seem to like me as much as Pete did. Yeah, I know its a fish. Pete used to swim towards me when ever I came close, this guy doesn't seem to care I exist. Well maybe he will change his mind.
Kevin
Planks
Sails
I also ended up getting two kittens. Kinda on accident. I was wanting to get a cat so I had some company here but could also take care of it's self when I'm gone. (I'm still a huge dog fan at heart, but I just can't take care of one right now). i intended on getting an older cat so he would know the deal. But these two male kittens caught my heart. They are only two months old! I had to get both. This way they can entertain each other and keep each other company when I'm gone. Thankfully they are the most well behaved two month olds I have ever seen. As soon as I brought them home I put them in the litter box and said here is where you shit. I showed them where the food and water was and then let them explore. After a few days I had duty so I left them home alone for over 24 hours. When I came home I was pleasantly surprised to see everything was pretty much where I left it and no messes! So shocked!
So when I got the kittens, I was on leave. I went up to Cape Canaveral to try to find some place to live. Well that was not as hopeful as I wanted. I went and looked at a few places, but nothing really worked. So that leads into my next BIG adventure. I am taking the beginning of this week off to go back up to Cape Canaveral to ....look at....houses....to....BUY! Yeah, BUY! Holy shit I am terrified! That is a HUGE commitment. I know it's the right decision, but its scary all the same. I will leave this conversation about the house as it stands right now because I want to make a separate post about it. Just know that I am all crazy emotioned up and pray that I make good choices!
Also I was in the Coast Guard Blog. Haha I had it out with some retard that made a stupid comment. Well I'll let you read it for yourself. But yeah, send me whatever you want me to autograph and I will. haha I'm famous bitches!
I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted something. What a slack-ass. Haha I wish. I have just been too damn busy to type anything or just too tired to words into sentences. My free time has been spent either vegin' out on the couch or out and about.
Ohh the things that has happened in a month. One of the best is I got ANOTHER tattoo. Haha. Yeah, I know. I just got one. Well I had some money left over and I got another. I only have a little bit left on my right arm and it will finally be a full sleeve. I just don't know exactly what I want to do yet. It's all good though because I will be around for the next 4 years. I got time. If you want to read more about the tat then click HERE!
I also came up with a new quote. "Just put my ashes in an Etch-A-Sketch." Haha. I thought it was funny.
Ok so I am running out of time to write more but here is what I need to catch you up on:
Back from Rybovich
Band-aides
Underway schedule AKA Kraken released
Cape Canaveral
Truck work (VERY Excited to show you these pics)
Kugel-bean
Range
Coast Guard Blog
Pitch Perfect (if you haven't seen it, well what are you doing? Watch it now! haha)
They just keep getting better and better. I have found my tattoo place here in Florida. Chris Slota at Rock-A-Billy in Lauderhill, is OUT-freakin-STANDING. I give him an idea and he delivers! And his prices are really awesome for the work that he does.
So back to the tattoo...This one means alot to me like every other one I have. Haha. Each part has its own story. So I will give you the low down...
The simplest way is to start with the roses (since they kinda have a similar story behind them). So the first rose is a "George Burns Rose". I had it (and the other one) back when I lived in Ohio. Here's a pic of the rose in real life:
Close up
Every bloom is different
I have this rose because growing up, George Burns was my idol. Yeah I was a weird kid. But he always looked at life and made the best out of it and he was hell bent on having a good time. He once said that he was 90 something years old and he was going to drink and smoke as much as he wanted and nobody was going to stop him. He lived his whole life doing what he wanted and didn't care what anyone thought. He must have been doing something right seeing as though he lived to be 100! Not that I want to live that long, but I want to have the same youthful spirit as he did. And I think I do.
The second rose is a "Ronald Reagan Rose". Yes you guessed it I had that rose bush also and yes he was another idol growing up. You're so damn smart.
I love the story about Ronald. He was such an awesome guy. He was different from George Burns, but he still struck a cord with me. To briefly describe his past, I would say I can't. He did so much in his life. The two main things that stuck with me the most was how he stood up for people and his love for his wife Nancy. Back in the days before he joined politics...bare with me here it might get boring, but it's important to me.... he was an actor. He saw how everyone was being treated unfairly and he spoke up for everyone. He always had a way of speaking and everyone just listened and couldn't help but like the guy. After improving on the worklife of actors, he moved on to politics..yada yada yada... Deep down the hopeless romantic in me (which I usually keep locked up with a armed guard) has fallen in love with the relationship between him and Nancy. He loved her SO much. He was always writing her love notes. It's just unbelievable how much one man can love his "girl".
And finally the middle: the compass.
So growing up, another one of my idols was the guy who invented the compass. Haha. Nah I'm just fucking with you. It symbolizes that I may not always know where I am headed, and most of the time it's all over the place, but I always manage to get exactly where I am supposed to be. Simple as that. I left the design of the compass up to Chris and this is what he came up with. I really like it. You can't really tell by this picture but it's kinda angled. And I really love the nautical star.
I am really surprised it stands out just as much as the roses do. That's a whole lot of color going on in just a small amount of area. That's just the way I like it.
Done by Chris Slota at Rock-A-Billy Tattoos in Lauderhill, FL
Lower right arm (inner)
**On a side note, I want to thank my two unlikely idols (as a girl growing up). You may be gone, but you're with me always.**
Well my BFF is back home in Ohio. Bummer. We had such a blast in the short time she was here. The first day it rained all day. Yuck! We still had fun. I picked her up and showed her my boat then went and got some food. We went to Bulldog Barbecue. Then it was off to the adult candy store (aka Total Wine and More). Since it was raining I decided to take her out on the town. We started drinking at my apartment then went to Duffy's to grab some dinner. After food and drinks we went to the Hard Rock Casino. She had never been to one before. What a great opportunity for me to pop her casino cherry! The Hard Rock in Hollywood is pretty awesome.
We met one of the guys I work with and his wife, brother and brother's girlfriend. Then we hit the slots. She wanted to start with something easy. I did pretty good for once. At one machine I had around 7 bucks then ended with 25. Of course I lost it all later. Jenni didn't do as good. Poor thing kept losing it all. Haha. After that I took her outside to where the dance clubs are. We walked by a few until this one caught out attention. It was playing some older music. We decided to go for it. It was a blast! The band was awesome! So were the people there. It's surprising. I kept telling her how mean people in Miami are and everyone we met that day was nice. Weird. Anyhow... I kinda called her out. I wrote the band a note and they announced it in front of everyone. It said: Jenni from Ohio down here visiting, recently divorced and single, ready to mingle" haha. That got her alot of attention. Haha. She gave me dirty looks, but she deserved to have some attention. We talked to a guy who looked like Pitbull's twin. After a few hours she hit that wall and it was time to go.
I made sure I was quite that next morning. Haha. Mostly because I wanted her to be able to get as much sleep as she needed. There is nothing wrong with sleeping in. Or at least I think so. Once she was up we spent the morning just relaxing on the balcony and soaking up some much needed sun. It ended up being a beautiful day! No rain, alittle windy, but the sun was out and it was warm. It made for a great tourist day. We ate at Shuckers. I knew she would like it because you could sit in the sun and be right by the water. Next I showed her Sector, then drove all the way up South Beach. It was the typical SoBe. We almost got ran over by two semis pulling onto the road, got to see a man walking his bunny (no seriously, a real bunny), all the crazy looking people, the mess of driving, and then we drove by the boat show. That was pretty amazing seeing all the nice boats. Then it was beach time. I stopped at Haulover Inlet. There was hardly anyone there so we were able to just walk along the beach and pick up shells. The water really wasn't that bad either. I was surprised it wasn't colder.
After about an hour or so at the beach it was time to do some shopping. Well souvenirs anyways. I bought some stuff for myself, but I also got some stuff for the girls too. I think they will enjoy everything. I wished they could have came down too, but Miami really isn't a good place for kids. Plus Mommy needed some time away to relax and be her again. Next time Jenni comes and visits, I will hopefully be in Cape Canaveral and the girls will have a better time there. So like all good things, the mini vacation had to end. Jenni flew home this morning and now I am lost without her. I miss her and can't wait till we met up again. This trip brought us close again so I know we will still talk all the time, but it's just nice to be able to hang out together from time to time.
Now I kinda wished I worked today. I'm off my "best friend" high and I'm home alone. Just sitting here kinda bummed. But next week will be yet another busy (and most likely stressful) week. Oh joy...
I'm so glad it's Friday. I was having a crappy/stressful week. Monday I had the OOD and shit hit the fan. Of course. We had the computer systems go down, the a/c go down, divers, technicians all over the place and people taking shit apart. XO granted liberty early so I mostly had the boat to myself. The computers got fixed. The a/c got a band aide. The band aide was a portable a/c unit near the bow with piping down a hatch. Whatever, it works. But the biggest pain in my ass was the red gear technicians. They needed more of the piping off then what was secured. So I had to give the Senior Chief a call and made sure it was ok then started to shut off some valves. I thought I had most of them but some of the engineers came back to pick some stuff up and they helped out. Only they didn't have all the valves secured.
So as the guys are starting to take pipes off, Senior appeared and started securing breakers to the engine. So I had alarms going off and water spraying all over. Come to find out a couple of the valves that needed secured, well they don't close all the way. I'm down there (already covered in grease) with a crow-bar trying to close it with as much pressure as I could. Well after alot of water flooding the bildge, and searching for some wooden plugs, the techs put one of the check valves on to stop the flow. Uhhh busy night!
Tuesday afternoon I had to run all the way down to Sector to grab the full dress bag for the boat and all the crap in shipping and receiving. That was a pain. Then I found out that Amanda (my friend that was on the boat but then got pregnant) was at the hospital in labor. I tried to go visit, but she didn't want any company. I understood. As I was making my way back up to West Palm on Wednesday morning, I got a text saying that she had her baby at 4 that morning. Poor thing was in labor 24 hours. Aww. I'm gonna try to swing by next week and say "hi" and take a look at the little fella.
Then because alot of people had firefighting school, those who didn't had to stand extra duty. I was the OOD on Monday and then JOOD on Wednesday. Wednesday duty was alittle better, but it felt like I was on a "port and report" schedule. Thursday morning I woke up and had to drive all the way down to Sector for a dental appt. I get there and have to wait almost a half an hour before they get me in there. After they said I needed to get a cleaning before they could fill the rest of my cavities. Haha that's when things got interesting. The Doc asked if I had made an appointment and I sad no. She started to give me some flack about it and I just flat out told her there was a reason that I haven't made an appointment. I told her that I wouldn't unless I absolutely had to and that there is no reason why I should be forced to have my mouth ripped apart for a so called cleaning. We got into a conversation about it and her and the assistant said they never she Rosie (the woman who cleans your teeth, aka Rosie the Ripper). They go some where else. So after talking and joking around with me they talked to her and fit me in for a cleaning. This time it wasn't so bad. She must have gotten her pee-pee stomped on. She put some numbing topical on my gums multiple times and apologizes when she poked a little too hard and was actually fairly gentle. Usually I'm walking out of there with tears in my eyes. I have a high pain tolerance so that's saying something!
So when today rolled around I was so glad to have it off! I went to the store and stocked up for my visit with my BFF. And so it begins..... YAY!!!!
Well not much going on today. I stopped by Rock-A-Billy Tattoo in Lauderhill to see Chris Slota, the guy that did my tall ship tattoo. He was in the middle of a tattoo of course, but I had some quick works on a tattoo idea I have to fill the space on my arm by my tall ship. He thought it was freakin awesome and he seemed just as amped to do it as I am. What is it you might ask? Well if I told you it would ruin the surprise! haha. I"ll just say that it has ALOT of color and detail work and one aspect of it I am leaving it solely up to his imagination to come up with the design. It's probably going to take a couple of sessions. The bad part is that I have to wait a until the 22nd for the first apt. He is booked up till then. At least he will have some time to come up with a really cool design. SO STOKED!
I'm also stoked for next weekend! I took some leave because my BFF from Ohio, Jenni, is coming down to visit! It's been around 4 years since I had last seen her. It is going to be soooo much fun! No matter how long we go without talking, we can always pick up where we left off. Now that she is newly single again I am going to make sure she has a really good time. She deserves it!
I will have to make a trip up to Ohio at some point to see Jenni's mom and the girls. The youngest I last saw as a newborn. She doesn't remember me at all, but the other girl Hannah is my bestie. She used to call me Aunt Tishelle. Haha I love her to death!
Lastly the broken pile of shit is up at Rybovich Marina again. So far it has sucked. I don't know what the command has in their heads, but it surely isn't the crew. We almost didn't get Friday off even though they had promised it to us. After the good Ole' Senior Chief had a few words, it was left up to the department head's discretion. So of course they gave us the day off. Seriously people? The boat is dragging everybody down and the command isn't helping. We are tired of the boat always breaking and then have to give up days off and also deal with a longer work day. Shit has to stop! The only good thing is that we can still work out in the mornings. Rybovich has an awesome gym.
So with this I leave you with one of my latest quotes:
"When you're so far down the shithole it's gonna be dark. There is no bright side."
Yeah I know. I haven't written anything in a while. Mostly its been because I have been sick, tired, too busy reading, or just plain blah. I'm getting a little better. Yesterday I had to come home from work early. I had a major migraine with my ear hurting as well. It was like two major explosions in my head that clashed against each other. I laid down to take a nap around 11:30 am and didn't wake up until 6 pm. That was only so I could pee and grab a bite to eat. Then back to bed. It hurt to breath, blink and everything was slow-mo. I had a hard time thinking or even forming sentences. Yeah it was a bad one. I still have the headache (it's been hanging around for almost a week now) but it's manageable.
Last week I had my right eardrum blasted by someone making a pipe. I was sitting below the speaker when the pipe went off. It wouldn't have been bad if he wasn't so damn loud. I think the people at the other end of the base heard him. So of course I felt that dreadful "pop" in my ear and it hurt for 5 days. I was scared because it started off just like my left ear did. (A couple of years ago I had was near a horn when it went off and after 6 excrutiating months the doctors were able to determine it was nerve damage due to acuostic trama. It still hurts when it gets too cold.) Thankfully it isn't as bad and it only hurt for the few days. I can't catch a break.
Nothing else exciting has happened. We get ready to leave to get the boat fixed here soon. We will be out of commission for about a month. Supposedly we are still going to do some small boat adventures but we'll see how that works out. Everything like to break. Speaking of breaking, the makers of our red gears (reduction gears-takes the rotation of from the engine to the propellers) have found that there is a factory flaw in the design and it effects every FRC being built. They have found a solution, but I have a feeling that it will just turn out to be a failure just like our engines.
On a good note the PUR filter I bought finally came in and I installed it on the sink on the mess deck. Now I can have filtered water for my coffee instead of having to get bottled water. I can finally drink the potable water without my stomach getting upset. I also bought the best polish EVER. 3M Marine Metal Restorer & Polish. It's like porn in a can, only for BM's. Because we get off on shiny shit. Haha. I took our bell which was so oxidized. It took me less than a quarter of amount of time it wpuld take me with Never-Dull. OMG! This shit is amazing!!!! You should buy some. Although it cost $23 for a small jar. But it only takes a little bit of polish and it is sooooooo worth it. Best stuff I have come across in my 6+ years in the Coast Guard.
Couldn't find the picture of the bell, but here is where I was polishing my "knocker"
It only takes a part worth a dollar to ruin a million dollar engine. Yes we are broken yet again. A bolt in part of the engine came loose because of some idiot back in Germany can't do his fucking job. Since he fail to tighten this said bolt, and his boss didn't double check (who needs QA right?) it came loose and banged around the engine causing it to be a piece of shit. So we are headed back to Rybovich Marina to have the engine REPLACED AGAIN! Yeah, same engine that was already replaced once. FUCK THIS SHIT!
The 3rd boat is already in West Palm getting repaired, we are headed there soon, and the 1st boat will be there shortly as well. Talk about a FAIL! The 4th boat is still in Key West doing it's preps. Its only a matter of time before it starts to break. They should just move our homeport to West Palm. Better yet, we all should sail back to Louisianna and beach all the FRC's and walk away.
We had only been underway a couple of hours when we shut the engine down. We were on our way to Key West to do a 3 week patrol. We didn't even make it half way there when the EOW came to the CO to tell him to shut down the starboard engine because of a knocking noise. So we shut it down and started to head back. We didn't pull into Miami. We waited off shore, cutting holes in the water, until a factory technician could come on board to look at the engine. Of course that meant the next day. So we patrolled off shore on one engine all night. Yeah GREAT idea. Needless to say, the next morning we lost the other engine. It just all of a sudden reduced power. The engineers secured the port engine and we sat drifting in the middle of the ocean with only the bow thruster. Thankfully it was only a loose plug so we were able to restart the port engine and took our happy asses back into Miami. Also during all of this we had major computer issues. We basically went both days without any computer access. Awesome.
To top all this off, I am getting over being sick. I slept all last weekend. So Monday morning when I woke up I felt like crap and it progressively got worse as they day went on. I was kinda glad the we came back on Tuesday because that meant I could get some good drugs. Ok maybe not good, but at least sick call provided them instead of me buying them. Today is the first day I feel really good. I had to stop taking the meds because they made me loopy as hell.
So this week we return to work to sit on our asses and pretend we are a patrol boat.
So Friday I had duty and I was STILL waiting on my orders. The 11th was suppose to be the last day for priority 1-3 to get them according to the BM timeline posted a while back. So since I had yet to get them I decided to look up that message again to see if maybe I had mistaken the date. As I was looking at the message board I saw I message from the 9th that all priority 1-3 BM orders have been completed and those who didn't receive their orders yet should contact their AO (assignment officer) immediately. Not good.
So I went down to talk to the XO and show him the message. He called the AO and was like "WTF?" After a few "Uh huh, yes, ok, I see" he hung up the phone. XO turned to me and stated that the AO has had my orders done for a while and just forgot to release them! SERIOUSLY!!!
Anyways, I get to stay in Sunny Florida. I got my #11 Station Port Canaveral. Not quite what I was hoping for. I mean it was my #1 station, but I really needed to get an ATON unit for my career. A buoy tender would have been perfect because I would have gotten my sea time and ATON experience all at once. I guess the Coast Guard doesn't believe in "two birds, one stone". I am glad I got a station though. I really wanted to work on my pursuit and tactical coxswain. At the station I can do that. Plus they have 3 RBS (response boat small 25ft) which is the boat I have always loved and actually got my first coxswain qual on.
BUT at least it isn't Miami anymore! UH, I am so over this town! I can't stand the way people are here. There is just too many people with too many attitudes. I will only be a couple of hours from here so I can still visit if I want. But I'm excited to see what Cape Canaveral brings. I should go on a field trip when I get back from patrol. Just to see how it all is. I was only there briefly when we evacuated for that one hurricane. I really didn't get to see too much.
So I guess we shall see how things go. I will have alot to think about when I get there. If I should stay a second the whole time so I have a better change at getting an ATON unit or advancing and taking a change. Only time will tell. My horoscope said that this will be an awesome year for me. Let's hope it's right!
And not a moment too soon. I have finally begun to work on my full sleeve. A big chunk of it is done by my latest piece. I still have room for a little more. That will be done a little while from now.
This bad boy was done by Chris Slota at Rock-a-Billy Tattoos in Lauderhill, Fl. I think I have found my "tattoo guy" here in Florida. He is amazing. The guy who did my foot tattoo (see My Twelveth Tattoo...) recommended this new shop. There were quite a few artists there and after looking at all their books twice I decided on Chris. He had alot of really colorful tattoos. It works with the rest of my arm.
The meaning behind this tattoo is simple. I love the sea and really old pirate style sail boats. I wanted the sails to be tattered because it shows that the things I had been through haven't always been smooth. The palm trees were also added because nothing makes me happier than palm trees and sunshine.
Stencil
Outline
Shading
Final
Done by Chris Slota at Rock-A-Billy Tattoos in Lauderhill, FL
