In the Navy (and other things)

A friend of mine is going to join the navy. He will be catching a flight to Chicago on Monday to start basic training and, once he's done, they'll have him building bombs on an aircraft carrier somewhere. I am happy that he's found a career and I hope he's ready for such an intense job. You see, this friend of mine has graduated from high school many years ago and has yet to find his calling in life. He went to college for a short time to study to be an electrician, but lost interest and dropped out. After a couple years of doddering about, he spent several weeks at some kind of job training camp in Sacramento, but didn't seem to find anything that excited him. I don't really blame the guy's lethargy because he's had some black spots in his past. His dad died several years ago from a heart attack and his mom became an emotional wreck. I haven't seen his mom in a long time, but judging on what I hear she seems to be doing okay. This Saturday my other friends and I will be hanging out with him one last time before he goes off for training. We'll probably spend the whole day playing Dark Heresy, Dungeons and Dragons, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I hope he will enjoy himself and I wish him luck in the navy.

This wouldn't be the first time I've seen a friend go off to the navy. Back in high school, I knew a guy who joined and worked on a submarine in the Pacific. His parents threw him a going-away party and invited lots of people, including myself, to come over and wish him well. This guy was known for being weird and wacky, so I decided to buy him an appropriate gift. I went to the local Safeway and purchased some cheap action figures from their "toy" aisle (and when I say "aisle" I mean one lonely rack sitting between the canned foods and frozen TV dinners). On the day of the party, I handed this friend the wrapped gifts and said, "since you're going into the navy, I bought you some sea men." He looked at me funny and slowly unwrapped the presents as if he were afraid to find what was inside. His reaction was precious. His face lit up as if he were a little kid on Christmas day and thanked me profusely. I was surprised, to say the least. It was a gag gift, but he immediately opened the boxes and started to play with the action figures and their little plastic guns. It was as if those toys were the best thing to happen to him all day.

This post would have been a review/critique of Suckerpunch, but since the weather insisted to be wet and miserable, my brothers and I stayed home. I spent a good portion of the day running around Azeroth as my dwarf shaman while the rain pelted my bedroom window. Dinner was fish sandwiches and french fries from Wendy's. Mmmm...fish.