Liberty Call! Liberty Call!

I have now become a United States Sailor in the United States Navy!
I'm looking around at all of my shipmates as we begin walking into the graduation hall with our big smiles showing. I have never seen the other side of the gates and Friday was the day I was free to do so.
Graduation went smooth, everyone marched fairly well and knew what they were supposed to do in the ceremony, I'm just glad it is over. I guess it was two and a half hours long, but it only felt like I was standing for a half hour.
I got out into the car and we went down to the Navy Pier and saw the new Avatar movie. That was an Awesome movie, everything going on made my head spin in circles trying to catch up. I could see tiny bugs fifteen feet away from me. It was amazing! I was the skeptical guy thinking it would just be another stupid Juno movie and it turned out to be a blast to watch. I can't wait to see what happens with the next generation of films in 3-D. Is 3-D new? Why does it seem like we are just getting into this third dimension crap when it's been out for forever ago!
Enough about movies, I have been locked up inside a room for the past nine weeks I guess I should probably fill you all in on what it was like.
A typical day for me was waking up early, let's say 6am was the latest I woke up. I guess we would wake up earlier if we had important things to do, usually important things were firing weapons or fire fighting. Those were the most fun as well. I will gladly wake up early to get paid to fire a gun! The things we did after we woke up usually were brushing our teeth/shaving, then going downstairs to eat(chow). After that we'd usually do some sort of studying, physical Training, or if we were lucky, a cool interactive course like Line Handling, or Fire Fighting, Weapons Training, Gas Chamber, Studying, Drill Marching for graduation(Practice), studying, oh yeah and more studying. I know the entire history of the United States Navy front and back which is pretty cool. After all of that we would usually go back to our ship(Building) and eat chow. Soon after that I was off to do ship's staff which means I was about to take part in a team effort to get the ship on 'spot'(clean). I was a janitor! YAY! I would clean the ship every night at around 1800-2000 and that usually was my boring/crappy part of the day. After that we usually studied or went over anything that we needed to know for the next day and usually hit the racks at about 2200. Sometimes we'd go to sleep earlier if we had to wake up at 4 the next day, sometimes.
We always had to stand watch and there was always someone standing watch in two places; the Compartment(my room) or the quarterdeck where everyone boarded the ship. I know i have a ton of new terms for everyone to understand, so bear with me. When standing watch you can't go anywhere, you have to stand there and wait for people to enter and challenge them with a salute and a sound off. Souding off is usually something like...Seaman Recruit Camillucci Division 074 USS. Enterprise(my ship) Ship 10 Junior Officer Of The Deck Respectfully Requesting Permission To See Your Military Identification
It's not a lot to say but it's usually pretty tough when someone of high importance walks in and is in a hurry so you have to sound off quickly. It was pretty fun getting to do that because we were able to get used to challenging officers and chiefs and regular civilian employees. It will help me when I go to my A-school because only a few people were chosen to become Ship's Staff and now I can skip a week of learning.
The days would go by sooo slow in the beginning. I don't think i stepped outside for anything until week two when we had to go to another building thirty feet away. That wasn't my favorite part too much. I think they really drive home the dehumanizing part when they only let you eat, sleep, shit, and study when they want you to. That is one of the hardest things to deal with, especially when you get out into the civilian world and have to come back to the compartment and do everything when they want you to again. I leave for my school Tuesday and today is Sunday so I only have two days left of the bullshit I guess.

I miss my personal freedoms, I can't explain how fun it was for me to sit on my deck and stare up at the stars smoking a cigarette and enjoying the night sky. Now I only get to go outside to take out the trash and I'm fully dressed with a ski mask, scarf, gloves, knit cap and giant parka. What a crazy contrast to what I was doing two years ago. Helping homeless people with all of the freedoms in the world to do great thinngs for people and friends around me. Now the hardest thing for me is not being able to go outside when I want to. I know my school will be a lot like college without any of the on campus partying but I would just like it to come right now instead of later.
I have learned some great skills such as; sowing buttons, ironing, and learning how to fold various items of clothing, also how to shine my shoes. I cant believe I've been alive this long and haven't taken my time to make everything neat and clean. Taking the time to prepare your shit and clean up immidately or fold and stow your clothes directly after you get them is my new goal in life.
I would like to be an organized sailor.
I need to get going back to the base now, we have to leave the hotel by 1300 and it's drawing ever so close.
I miss my friends, I miss my family and I miss Lyn a whole lot.
I know everything will work out for the best regardless whatever happens. I just need to stay on top of my studying and stay at the top of my class and I should be squared away.
I will probably get more time to update in the coming weeks with an address as well.
miss you guys
Chris

music in my head
Grizzley Bear - Southern Point