We Need More Lights!

      Nothing very interesting occurred today, just went to the store to buy new clothes since I haven’t in years and most of mine are falling apart. More specifically I got exercise outfits which I’ll need to start getting more physically fit. Normal clothes are ok depending on what you’re doing, but light weight shorts and jerseys that breathe in the heat (or don’t cause you to overheat) are always good things to have. I also got a watch since I’ve never really had one before. Actually I’ve never really kept track of time in any way at all before so it’ll be helpful to have as well.

      On the way back I noticed something interesting and stopped to take pictures. Someone set up quite a large display of Christmas lights and decorations. I’ve never really paid attention to this sort of thing before but the display was quite large and right next to the highway. Most of the pictures are here.

      There was everything from Spider-man to Snoopy and even some houses with lights synchronized to Christmas music. Unfortunately not all of the pictures turned out very well so not everything I was hoping for is there. It was fairly late, cold, and it did begin to rain a few minutes after I arrived so I think I did an OK job with the pictures that I feel are worth showing. Regardless it’s a neat sight to see and I hope everyone enjoys the few good images I actually managed to get!

      I guess this post isn’t entirely related to the purpose of this blog but I thought I’d use this time to wish a happy Christmas. I hope everyone enjoys theirs!

12/20/08

      Again, to view the pictures of the Christmas lights click the image directly above or this direct link: http://picasaweb.google.com/casval/122008?authkey=-Ny5xNQKhdI#

Simple? Who Wants That?!

      My old teacher (the head of the now closed school) wanted to meet with us today at the college itself to give to me my transcript. We went there a little bit early just in case; it never hurts to be prepared. The meeting time passed and we continued to wait. Eventually she showed up, around ten minutes late but I was in no hurry. Apparently there was an accident involving multiple cars and that’s why she was delayed.

      So she comes up and hands the transcript to me and starts talking about the status of my education. She states that I’ve finished up to a certain level and that I was actually only a few credits away from graduating. Then she says that she hadn’t placed any of my previously earned credits for the final year on the transcript precisely because it was incomplete and that if I went back to her to finish she would give me all of my credits proper (it can’t be legal to exclude credits on a whim?! I’m not going to stand for this). At that point I wasn’t very pleased and I knew right then and there that it wasn’t right. When it’s someone’s future you’re messing up, especially if you’re supposed to be a teacher, it’s just not right at all. I don’t believe she did it out of any malicious will but still I think it’s unacceptable.

      Her and my father then began talking for a while; I knew it wasn’t going to end quickly. When my father starts there’s pretty much no stopping. Among some of the things my old teacher mentioned was that she said her identity was stolen and she’d lost all her money and so on. She then claimed that she was dealing with the FBI about it and that she had received multiple E-Mails from the same FBI E-Mail address but from two separate people; both of them telling her that she wasn’t supposed to deal with the other. Then she also claimed that she was hearing Christmas music all the time in her head that no one else could hear. She continued saying that once she had gotten a lawyer to deal with the FBI because of the contradictory emails that the music suddenly stopped and she didn’t hear it again.

      She also mentioned other colorful events but I don’t think it’d be appropriate to go into that here. Personally I’d just attribute it to her age since she is quite old. She even once told me that her grandmother was at the last Indian raid on a town in the US; so that should give you a good idea time-wise. I really don’t know how true any of what she said at our meeting was, and I’m certainly not getting involved. I realize how ridiculous it all sounds and I’m not trying to slander anyone here; merely stating events and facts as they happened. So I certainly hope no one gets the wrong impression.

      She then began talking about my educational situation again. She claimed that it was too late in the year for her to register and re-open her school. Then she mentioned that if we registered ourselves as a private school that she would come to our house and help to finish my few credits that I didn’t yet have. She went on to say that it would take two years to finish and that it would be one-hundred dollars an hour or if that was too much seventy-five or if that was too much even cheaper; she seemed fairly desperate for work in my opinion which I can totally understand if she was having such difficult money issues.

      Maybe I missed something here but I don’t quite understand how we would be able to register if she couldn’t; it was beginning to sound like more trouble than it was worth. I also am not willing to go through two years just for a handful of credits (and missing credits that she didn’t put on the transcript) so that I could start college. This really didn’t sound appealing at all considering the fact that classes available at the college to finish my few remaining credits wouldn’t even take half that long if very much time at all.

      Not much later she left and as I got into the truck with my father I quickly learned he felt more or less exactly how I did about the whole situation and what had just occurred. Hopefully I’m not going to lose credits over some arbitrary decision; I’m certainly not going let it go without a fight. I'm going to go through as many people as I need to in order to get this resolved.

      Somewhat unrelated again but my father had bought the wrong size gypsum (sheet rock) and so we had to load back into the truck and return seven of the eight 4’ x 8’ sheets which was not what I wanted to do today. When we got to the store I found out that the size he needed was in fact 4’ x 12’ sheets of gypsum; eight of them. Eight twelve foot sheets of sheet rock. I was not exactly eager to move them all.

From 12/19/08

      After we paid for them and began moving the sheets to load them into the truck I thought they were simply too large for the truck to carry back home without snapping apart. I told my father this and he said it’d be fine so I just said “Ok” since it wasn’t my money and continued to help loading them. Once we had about three or four sheets on the truck bed he decided he didn’t want the sheets we had loaded because they were scratched and would require taping and some other additional work he didn’t want to do. They were kept outside of the store and thus exposed to the weather so I could understand why he didn’t want the top most ones, I guess. We then unloaded those and loaded undamaged sheets. Well after a few new sheets in I again pointed out that I didn’t think it was going to work, especially with them stacked they drooped down over the edge of the tailgate even more. A random passerby drove up to the loading area (to get his own supplies) and commented how it wouldn’t work either.

From 12/19/08

      At this point my father gave in and went in to buy some planks of wood to place on the bottom of the truck bed to support the weight of the protruding portions of the sheet rock. So then we had to unload about five of the twelve foot sheets, place the planks of wood into the bed and reload the sheets all over again. During this one of the workers thought my father had stolen the wood and was trying to steal the gypsum and went to get the manager. The manager came out and didn’t look very happy (though it was obvious why) and asked to see our receipts which we clearly did have. In order to avoid appearing as if he was singling out customers he then very slowly wandered around the area asking other customers to see their receipts. This was nothing short of hilarious to watch due to his embarrassment. We continued loading until we had all eight sheets needed, at which point I had to go into the store and buy something to drink since I was thirsty from all the lifting which wasn’t exactly light in weight.

From 12/19/08

      When we arrived home we again unloaded and moved the sheets into the house. When that was done my hands were killing me, it’s not so much that they were in pain but it felt like my fingers were just going to fall off at each and every joint. Like I’ve said in my previous post, I just consider this my very first step in physical training. It turned out to be kind of funny actually because after we were finished my father said something similar.

      I just hope after I get into exercise a bit that I’ll start to build up a little more endurance. I know it’s only going to get harder, but I’ll do my best to prepare.

When Paperwork is Not Enough...

We went to pick up my transcript from the Jones County Board of Education today only to find that they did not have the transcript. Apparently the teacher had never turned in the transcripts of any of the students to the board of education despite the fact that the school had been closed for a while now and I hadn’t been there in a couple years. I would think there would be some kind of law or even a regulation requiring you to turn them in but I didn’t care so long as I was able to get mine.

The receptionist said my old teacher had called previously that day to update her phone number and at that time she requested the transcript to which my old teacher told the receptionist that she wanted us to call her personally and arrange a meeting to pick up the transcript. The entire situation was getting overly complicated for my taste but again I didn’t care so long as I was able to get my transcript and get on with my attempt to become a pilot.

I don’t want to say anything bad about anyone but this sort of thing should be resolved internally rather than requiring you to do a lot of the running around to get your own papers that should have been stored with the board of education to begin with. Regardless they refunded my processing fee which was two dollars. I just so happened to pay with a single two dollar bill which was now replaced with two separate one dollar bills. I certainly didn’t mind as the entire point of my spending two dollar bills is to spread their circulation around but I just think it's funny how quickly people jump at the chance to obtain them. You can get them from most banks if you request it.

At any rate we then returned to Havelock High School to pick up my transcript there. Knowing it was already there was comforting since I knew the entire ordeal with obtaining them was halfway resolved. I don’t know how it is at most colleges but the one that I will be at (Craven Community College) requires the transcripts to be sealed; I guess people have tried tampering with them. So as we were leaving I looked at the envelope to make certain it was properly sealed and labeled when I noticed that my name was wrong.

They had placed my middle name as if it were my first and dropped my first name completely. When I went back to get it fixed they claimed that they didn’t know which was my first or middle name. Again I don’t understand what the confusion was because I had written my name on the form cleanly and correctly. I didn’t think ‘oh hey this’ll be a neat trick’ and reverse my names or anything. Despite the error it was resolved in a minute or so and I was on my way again.

Hopefully the other transcript will be obtained without error or difficulty though at this point I don’t know how likely that’ll be.

There's a Form for That

      I went to order my transcripts today and I wish I could say it was relatively uneventful but things never are…

      First I went to the board of education for Jones County to order some of my transcripts needed and confusion shortly followed. I went to the front desk and they gave me a form to fill out to request the transcript. After I was finished with that the receptionist then called Jones High School to obtain the transcript. The person on the other end (I have no idea who) couldn’t find my records, so the receptionist asked if they’d be in the archives and the person on the other end of the line went to go look.

      Now here’s the problem, I never went to Jones High School. In fact on the form I had to fill out it asks for your schools name to which I wrote ‘New Bern Country Day’ (a now closed school which also looks nothing like ‘Jones High School’). When asked why she was calling Jones High School the receptionist said it was because they would likely have my transcript. I assumed she was calling there because of the fact that the school which I went to was closed, but when asked why they would have the records of a closed school a look of confusion just consumed her.

      I told her which school I went to and then she asked in reply “So you never went to Jones?” to which I could say nothing other than “No.” She then realized she had sent the other person on a wild goose chase that could likely end up taking a while. After everything was clear (which I don’t see why it wasn’t to begin with) she said it would take a day to process and obtain the transcripts and to come back tomorrow at which point I could pick them up.

      So then I left for the Craven County Board of Education to get the rest of my transcripts. When I arrived I noticed that the board of education building had locked doors that only open electronically (are they afraid people will steal their records?) and once inside they gave me another form to fill out that was similar to the one before. This time however, they told me that they don’t accept the transcript orders and they also don’t have the archived transcripts at the board of education. Instead you have to turn in the form at the actual school you went to.

      I then went to Havelock High School (where I had gone previously as a student) and again the doors were locked and only open from the inside or electronically. One of the people in the office was pushing the button that allows them to open but no matter which door I tried none of them worked. Finally, someone just opened the door and I went to where I needed to go to hand in my form. The person in that office told me that they don’t keep transcripts at the school but in fact they’re kept at the board of education who told us the exact opposite thing. On top of that the form which I had to give to the school directly is then faxed over to the board of education who then faxes back the transcript; bureaucracy at it's finest. Since I got to the school a half hour before they closed I was expecting the transcript to be faxed over the next day; instead by the time I got home they called and said it was faxed over already, much to my surprise. Much too late to go back so it will be tomorrow regardless.

      Somewhat unrelated but we also bought eight sheets of 4’ x 8’ gypsum today because my father has been working on the house for a while and is replacing some walls. I knew sheet rock wasn’t light but I wasn’t prepared for just how heavy it actually was and since no one else was around I had the privilege of helping to load, unload, and move the gypsum. I know it might sound kind of silly but since I’ve never really been physically active before I kind of consider it the beginning of my physical training. My hands were certainly sore enough after we were done moving it.

From 12/17/08	From 12/17/08

The College

      Not very much happened today. We went to the local college (Craven Community College) because my father had questions about his enrollment in upcoming classes and to find out what was required for me to enroll as well. The very first person we came across was one of the security guards who my father just happened to know since he used to be in the Marines as well. However unlike most encounters of this type they didn’t spend all day talking, I guess because everyone was busy.

      After my father asked the questions he wanted about his classes in the front office, his friend the security guard showed us where the offices were that I needed visit to see about getting my diploma so I could then enroll. The building we went to was being painted on the interior (I don’t remember why) so it was mostly empty save for some desks and cables. Most of the staff was gone as well since they had left for lunch, but there were still a couple people there and we started talking to one of them about what I needed. This was different because I’ve never done anything like this before but I had no idea just how ‘different’ the conversation would get…

      The person we were talking to said that in order to start any kind of classes they needed my transcript from high school and told us we could get it from the board of education which I thought was simple enough. While we were there I signed up for the orientation that starts in January which is where you have to present your transcript. My father tried to sign up for the orientation as well; as the staff member signed him up and started taking down his information she paused to ask if he was already taking classes at the college and he said he was to which she replied saying that you can’t sign up for orientation if you’re already taking classes as she began to erase his name. So then my father said he wasn’t taking any classes right now and she began to write down his name again. She then stops and asks if he’s currently enrolled to start taking classes to which my father says he is causing her to erase his name again when he then says that they haven’t started yet and she begins to write down his name yet again. She then asks when they start and when he said January she erased his name another time and said with a laugh that he couldn’t do both, but if he dropped his enrollment he could sign up for the orientation as she prepared to write his name one more time and my father replied also with a laugh that he didn’t want to do that.

      At this point she asked why he wanted to sign up and he said it was because he didn’t want to leave me alone. He then goes on to say it’s because I don’t have a drivers license and he didn’t want to drop me off and come back but I knew it was because he was trying to be slick. He asks if he can sit in on it with me and the staff member says no and then looks at me and asks me if I’ll be alright at which point I just sort of turned away shaking my head due to the ridiculousness of the entire situation.

      After this we went back to the main office because my father had more questions about his enrollment. One thing he wanted to know was how many credits he currently had from past classes he had taken throughout his years in the military. When the staff member at the main office pulled up his list of past classes and credits he said something along the lines of ‘Oh my god!’ followed by ‘I’ve never seen a transcript this long!’ which was made all the more towering when my father looked at it and said a lot of classes were missing from that list. Apparently when you take classes from a military school you need a special kind of transcript; in his case it was a ‘SMART Transcript’ (which I believe stands for "Sailor / Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript").

      Finally he talked to his friend the security guard again for a short time before we left to do other unimportant and unrelated things.

The Prospect

      So I finally went to the recruiter for the first time today. Just to see what kind of qualifications are needed and how the enlistment and officer systems work. It was an interesting experience.

      I went with my father who spent twenty-eight years in the USMC, I wasn’t planning on it but he was there and I knew it was then or never. I hadn’t been putting it off or anything but I didn’t have a chance before then (and no one took me seriously) and since we were there I figured his input in the very least would be helpful.

      We had just gone to the Navy Federal Credit Union nearby when I said I wanted to go in the recruiter office and he was looking at the stores around it thinking I couldn’t possibly want to go there or be serious about it. Well I was and as soon as we went over I walked to the USMC recruiters’ door and he mentioned that the Air Force door was on the other side. I said “OK, that’s nice.” then opened the door to the USMC office.

      The entire career center was small, just a rented out section in a strip mall. Apparently they were having their lights worked on for some reason because just inside the USMC office were two guys, various tools, and a ladder just under a sizable hole in the ceiling. We had to wait for them to move their stuff before we could get into the room and it was slightly cramped but I didn’t care.

      The recruiter asked me what he could do for me and I wasn’t really sure what to say but I managed to force out something along the lines of ‘I’d like to explore any possibilities I might have here.’ He said exploring possibilities is good and we started talking. He asked me the general questions of my name, age, address, all that stuff; when he asked what my highest level of education was, sadly I had to tell him I didn’t even know. Long story short my education and placement was just one big mess after another and I’ll just leave it at that. He told me to my surprise, there was a recent change to requirements to join the Marines; he said that you now need at least fifteen college credits minimum due to a surge of people wanting to join due to the economy. This didn’t really bother me much because it’s easy enough to start classes and get those credits. On top of that to be a pilot you have to be an officer and you need a degree.

      At this point he handed me a card for the Army recruiter saying their requirements were lower to which I said un-eagerly “I don’t know about that…” My father then said jokingly “He doesn’t want a baseball cap, he wants a real hat.” (the joke being that US Army hats are more or less typical baseball style hats whereas Marine hats actually have a crest and tips on them. See here). The recruiter was trying his best to avoid any kind of cross-branch rivalry and I can completely understand his position. He said that it might be something worth looking into but I wasn’t really interested. I was exactly where I wanted to be.

      One thing I was curious about was the DEP (delayed enlistment program). As far as I understood it the program is for when you can’t pass the initial strength test and you spend time getting physically prepared for the test before you get sent to boot camp. Since I was going to spend time getting college credits anyway I figured that I’d also start getting exercise and the like concurrently; killing two birds with one stone so to speak. Since that’s the case the DEP most likely isn’t something I’d have to bother with, which is good I suppose. He then gave me his card after writing something on the back of it, which I assumed was one of his phone numbers (since he actually had three cell-phones because he got so many calls from different people) and I placed it into my pocket.

      Another thing I was curious about was in fact how I should prepare physically. There’s no sense in wasting time after all, it only delays achieving what I want most; to be a pilot. I’ve always considered myself underweight since I’m 5’10” and roughly 130 pounds but he said I was fine, and when I asked him what I could do to prepare he said to look on the back of his card that he had handed me. I pulled it out and saw that he had written three times and days of the week on it. It turns out that he does PT three times a week and welcomes all potential recruits to join him.

      This is where I really started to like the guy because he began talking about how he starts people off at what they’re capable of doing and works them up from there. He was saying how he wouldn’t make it easy but also wouldn’t ask the impossible. He would give you something you’re capable of doing but challenges you at the same time. He started talking about a few examples and was saying how he’d have people start running at one point at the strip mall and have others start running near the end of it and tell them that they had to pass the first group. He says he does this because he doesn’t want to send anyone to boot camp who isn’t prepared or can’t handle it and that he wants to make certain the people he does send can physically withstand it. This gave me a lot of respect for him because I’ve heard a lot of stories about recruiters who just don’t care.

      He then looked at me and said “Don’t ask me about the minimum, if you’re asking about the minimum you're probably in the wrong office.” to which I thought to myself ‘Ha, a fun poke at the other branches.’ He continued and said, “I’m gonna give you the maximum. Expect the maximum.” At which point I nearly lost it and tried very hard not to laugh. This’ll take some explaining for most people. I didn’t want to laugh at him, how he said it, or anything like that; what was so amusing about it were the words ‘expect the maximum.’ If you’re a Gundam fan you might already see why. You see in one of the many Gundam shows (Gundam Wing specifically), there is an episode about two characters using overly excessive force in their duties and when confronted by the very main characters who instructed them one of the two (named Walker) says, “I’m expecting the maximum as you always taught me to do.” This has since become a popular inside joke in most of the English speaking Gundam fan-base and was the very last thing I was expecting to hear. I know it’s kind of nerdy of me but I don’t deny that I’m a huge Gundam fan.

      He began talking about other people who had successfully prepared and enlisted through him; he even had a board on the wall with pictures of what I would assume to be everyone he has recruited. One of the people he pointed out he said wasn’t even able to do a single pull-up upon first visiting him. He said one guy was currently at Paris Island right now (a Marine boot camp) and pointed him out on the board then he said in the last letter he received from him he wrote that he was enjoying boot camp, and with a slight laugh he said, “That’s the only letter I’ve gotten saying someone enjoyed Paris Island. I need to check up on him.” The reason he said that is because boot camp is hardly a pleasant experience.

      At this point (and countless times in-between everything up to now) is about when my father started talking, which made the entire process last about three times longer than it normally would have. You see, he’s the kind of person that can go practically anywhere and find people he knows. He’s also the kind of person that can talk forever. Even I can ramble from time to time but he can talk for hours. Eventually I managed to break back into the conversation with a few questions I still wanted to ask.

      Afterwards he told me that if I ever had any more questions to write them and call him because he didn’t want me calling saying I had a question and then saying “I forgot.” Apparently that happens a lot, but I was planning on doing that anyway. He also told me that I could go online and look at a mock ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test so I would know what to practice for when the time came. Feel free to try it out and test your aptitude here! 

      Overall he seemed like a really nice guy, I’ve heard a lot of people say that recruiters are only interested in quota’s and don’t really care about people wanting to enlist or if they’re ready or prepared. I don’t know how true those stories are but I can see the possibility, so I think I was really lucky to meet the recruiter that I did. Though I’m going to try and get advice from as many people as I can to try and find the best path for me.

Only time will tell. (Wow that was a lot to type!)

And so it Begins...

      I was never really sure what I wanted to do with my life for the longest time, but now I know. There are only two things I’d really want to do; fly and write. So I figured why not do both?

      If I ever did fly I would never be satisfied with airliners or small private planes. Though there is a certain charm to privately owned aircraft I’m just not interested in civilian planes in the least. This coupled with the fact that my family has a long history of being in the military (and that it would be great writing experience) lead me to the desire to be a military pilot. Not just any military force either… the United States Marine Corps!

      That’s where this blog comes in. I don’t have much practice with writing and I’m not qualified to fly or even enlist yet. I’m not even physically active or fit. Therefore I thought I would chronicle my journey attempting to join the USMC and one day becoming a pilot. And what better way to get and share helpful advice or tips than to do this on a blog?

      And so without any further explanation I invite any and all to witness my quest and continuing transformation…