eugene ts wong's Journal: navy; guitar; 2 friends

*****Application to the Canadian Navy*****

For those of you just joining us, I have applied to the Canadian Forces, hoping to get into the navy.

Just yesterday, I decided to call a recruiting office to follow up on my application to the Canadian navy. The guy wasn't in, so I left a message, & asked him to call me back this morning, since his answering message stated that he wouldn't be in for the rest of the afternoon. He was kind enough to call this morning. To cut to the chase, he basically said that the application was in the computer & that I could be expecting a call soon, to come in & do an apptitude test.

Oh man! I'm not sure if I ever conveyed how heavy I've been feeling for the last few days. Just this past weekend, I've been thinking about how I've never really had a successful career, or even a successful job. It really, really bothered me. Add to that the dieing baby fish, & the fact that I'm not "socially successful", ;^) & then you can probably see how I might feel.

To emphasize how I desperate I was for the phone call, let me tell you about this morning. Usually, I get up around 9am. On Sunday mornings I get up around 6:15am. These last 2 mornings, I forgot to change the alarm. So after I got up around 7am, I heard the phone ring. Almost right away, I started to run down stairs to the phone. This is very unusual for me, because I rarely pick it up, even when I'm right next to it. In fact, as I type, there is a phone on my left, that I can almost touch with my left elbow. When my dad comes into the room & asks if anybody phoned, my usual response is, "I don't know. I don't think so.". Often times, there are phone calls for him. I'm not trying to be stubborn, but it's pointless for me to pick up phone calls that aren't for me. It's easier for them to leave messages on the voice mail & the answering machine. That's just the way that it is. The ringing usually becomes background noise.

I'm feeling pretty excited. A-a-a-and cue music!!

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
What shall--

Okay, that's enough of that. Go to song 2, n-n-n-n-now!

O-o-o-o Ca-anada-a-a!
Our home & native la-a-a-and!
Tru-u-ue pa-a-atriot lo-ove
In all thy sons comma-a-and!
Wi-i-ith glo-o-owing hearts,
We-e-e see--

Okay, that'll do for now. Scene 2!

*****Guitar [a couple of unrelated thoughts]*****

I have been practising guitar lately. I've found it difficult to keep my pinky on that super thin steel string. If the steel string were any thinner, it might cut through my skin. I remember when I was playing an electric guitar, it basically did that. I noticed that the caloused skin had been split.

So, to develop my calouses, I've been using my thumb nail to press into the pinky's skin, to simulate the thin steel string. I think that this would strengthen the pinky's muscles as well, which would help me to press the strings down with a better technique.

I practised this morning [after the call from the recruiting office], & found that I was able to hold that thin steel string with my pinky much better.

I was so unbelieveablely happy, that I began to be inspired, & came up with a few new phrasings that I'd like to try. Usually I am not able to write music very well. As I played, I began to wonder about the Biblical characters who burst out into song after certain events. I really wonder if there are some patterns that could help me in my darkest hours, & patterns that could help me write music.

A-a-ah; so many questions; so many essays; so little time!

*****2 New Friends*****

Just recently, I've added a couple of guys to my friends list, that you may enjoy following. You all probably already know who they are, because they seem to be part of the FortKnox circle. Just in case, though, they are: Twirlip of the Mists & baldass_newbie. They all seem to be able to pull these neat facts out whenever an issue comes up. I don't know their backgrounds, but seem to have so many numbers in their statements. I tend to be more general in my statements, so it really helps me out to read from them, & to have them stand up for issues.

Guitar

[nob]

You could always try thicker guitar strings if you feel its too thin.

Personally, I'm thinking of getting one of these [musiciansfriend.com] , although that won't help build callouses. I'll admit, I have done the nail thing too before and it does help (although just playing guitar a lot is more fun.)

Re:one question

[eugene ts wong]

I'm not sure if you're joking/flaming or not. We've always had 1. Our latest ship purchases were in 1985, & if I recall correctly, the US & UK are still using ships from WW II. The reason I say that we've always had 1, is because when we were part of Britain, their navy would sort of be our navy. I don't know the legalities & technicalities behind everything, though, so take it all with a grain of salt.

On an unrelated note, the most surprising thing that I found out on www.forces.ca is that we actually had an aircraft carrier. That really caught me off guard. It's been retired for quite sometime now, but still. I wouldn't have guessed that we ever had 1.

eugene, eugene

[subgeek]

just because you had a successful troll, it doesn't mean that you have to feed the trolls now. let them fend for themselves or they'll never grow up and learn to be independent.

sounds like the navy thing is going well. good luck.

Re:eugene, eugene

[eugene ts wong]

I was chuckling before I even opened up the message. You have a good point.

I must say in my defense, however, that the Canadian navy has been known for having less submarines than the West Edmonton Mall. I was surprised to see that the navy actually had any @ all. So when this guy asked, I assumed quite optimistically, that we had a very uninformed person who had a genuine question.

It's just as well that I may have been trolled. It'll keep me humble. :^)

sounds like the navy thing is going well. good luck.

Thanks!