Duty Days

Yesterday while everyone was out and about on Sunday, I stayed on the ship for duty. Some complain about this task. Yeah, I get it. It sucks but whining doesn't help any. On days like yesterday, it's best to look on the bright side. For example, lunch SUCKED but, while I was on watch someone brought me back a Gatorade. Or, even though lunch sucked, the galley was serving corn dogs for dinner. I had TWO...and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The food is rough on the ship. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not a picky eater. Actually, I am far from it, but I wasn't aware that it was possible to mess up a boiled egg. One morning I peeled all the way down to the yolk, threw the egg back on my trey and gave up. I look at the ship galley as a challenge. What can I do to make this chicken (I think it's chicken) amazing? Or how can I turn this beef into less of a mess and more of a delicacy. Well, delicacy may be taking it a little far but if you use your brain and are up for the challenge, lunch can be quite an adventure!

So far I have discovered that tuna on the salad bar is the equivalent to gold. You can add mayonnaise and celery and onions to it and put it in between almost brick like bread. If the bread is too hard and old..the toaster is always an option. Now, that's a good sandwich right there. Also, know you can always fall back on peanut butter and jelly. I try to reserve that lunch item for when we go underway though. I fear I will get sick of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches soon enough, with time.

Any type of meat automatically gets ten extra points in my book with hot sauce or ketchup added to it. It is a good idea to make a sandwich out of any of the meat items that you are unsure about. Take roast beef for example, covered in gravy and mashed potatoes, nestled between bread, gives the"impression" of a full and hearty meal..even if it doesn't taste that good.

I know I preached earlier about using the bathroom but while I am on the lunch subject, and as I am an AO, I learned very quickly not to drink too much water during chow. For, once you go down 7 ladders to the magazine you are assigned to, it is then, that you are required to go all the way back up to use the bathroom. That is quite a chore, let me tell you!

While I was on duty yesterday I had the scanner watch from 12-16. It is a very simple watch. Your task as the scanner is to make sure everyone who leaves the ship scans their id before exiting. Apparently, a young man on "Charlie" liberty got off of the ship on my watch. (If you are on charlie liberty you are not allowed off of the ship.) All of us on watch, during that time, were recalled to identify this guy with the senior chief on duty.

Senior chief asked us if we had seen a tall white guy leave the ship during our watch. One of the girls I was on watch with replied, "Well yeah, senior chief, we saw a lot of tall white guys leave the ship today." It took everything I had not to bust out laughing right then. Sometimes, even the higher ups ask dumb questions.

Apparently, the guy they were looking for never even left the ship. Go figure. I was thankful that for turnover this morning we got off an hour early for the Superbowl. I didn't care much about the Superbowl, but I did catch up on laundry and Vampire Diaries. If anyone asked me who I was rooting for, I told them my stomach because I was more excited about the food than football. Some things never change.

I did win lunch for two, at a hotel somewhere in Yokosuka, by answering football trivia. I couldn't tell you what the question or the answer was, but I guessed C and took the prize home. Go me!

DG