Time to Graduate BDOC May 8-14th

The time is here and I though I was not ready at all. Maritime stressed me out way too much and it just had to be on the Monday of our graduation week. That could kill anyones spirits since this was probably our earliest week to actually get out of class unless you had the 2 hours of extra study. As nervous as I was taking that test it felt like everything I studied left my brain and that is never good. After feeling like it was a lost cause I finally hit submit. Needless to say this was my lowest test grade but I PASSED!!! The torment is finally over and I get graduate BDOC Friday.

With this obstacle out of the way, the girls and I went to our last brunch. This is most likely everyone's last week together unless you are stationed in the same area so why not have fun. On top of the fun we had a few more things to do before we could say goodbye to the building that has been our workplace for the past 9 weeks. We first had the CO panel that Monday and this gave us the chance to ask the questions that we probably would not ask our own CO. This also gave us an opportunity to hear all of the information from a CO's point of view on how to do things as division officers. We have had a few different panels from different positions on the ship so this just helps us mold everything together. The guy we had actually had a pretty unique background and I asked him questions to help myself out as a new division officer.

It is graduation week and as much as we want to rush through the day we can't. The rest of the week was a breeze though. Gun safety, cove homeport transit, know your ship, and WTI brief. Gun safety is self explanatory and important since we would be doing our gun qualification that Thursday. I still hate cove but it was just a rundown of how the ship transit would be for your homeport. We have people going to Japan, Spain, Jacksonville, Virginia and California so this is pretty important for us to get a glimpse of the transit. The know your ship presentations were very simple since we all were just telling the class about our specific ship. In the mist of finding the information about my crew I found out that there is an African American CO of one of the crews who happened to graduate from FAMU. So I know what mission I will be on once I get back to Cali. I even texted the nurse that I met a while back and asked did she know him because he came from our school. And short explanation of what the WTI brief was about is just another shore duty opportunity after you do your second tour. It presented some pretty cool points on its purpose but we are still on our first tour so we have time to see options on what we want to do for a shore tour.

All this stuff is going on and I still have to prepare for my 3rd cross country trip in 5 months. I still need to get an apartment which was becoming a huge fail since the prices changed daily and I couldn't physically see any of the locations until I got back. On top of all the admin things I needed to do when I got back into town, my household goods move from Florida and this bike for the PRT, my life was pretty hectic. Safe to say my move was scheduled and going to actually happen this time and I did a full practice on the bike and passed well within limits, life became a little easier.

My week is winding down and I had to have Shakin Crab one more time before I left. I invited other students from the school so they could come too. Thursday was the gun shoot and I passed my qualification! I didn't get sharp or expert shooter but I was still able to qualify and add a ribbon to my ribbon bar. I did not know how much I hated packing until I had to start stuffing my life back into a suitcase for this flight back to the west coast.

Friday was finally here and I was officially done with BDOC. We got our orders that morning and most of my friends that I made here would be heading back to either their ships or hitting the road as soon as graduation was over. I on the other hand would not be leaving until the following day. I got pictures and said my goodbyes to my classmates and hung with some friends I knew before coming to BDOC. The repacking process after living in a hotel for 2 months was a love hate relationship.

Cali I'm Back!!!

Saturday morning was finally here and I packed up my rental and headed to the airport. Returning the rental was easy but getting checked in was super difficult. I arrived 2 hours before my flight and ALMOST missed it because I'm assuming military and civilians all had to have a flight that morning. Thankfully I didn't miss my flight and my voyage began once again. My first flight I was knocked out but the second flight I took advantage of the free movies that American Airlines offers. I watched Dr Strange and majority of Moana.

Once landing in California the weather was great! Virginia has no comparison with its weird weather. Kay came and got me and before we made it back to her house we stopped at one of the apartments that I was really interested in and ending up signing a lease. Ya girl isn't a squatter anymore!!!

Now that I have an apartment it is time for the important stuff...furniture. I got rid of all my furniture from college except a lamp so I am starting off fresh. I spent majority of my day Sunday looking at bedroom sets and after like the 6th store I found exactly what I wanted. I'm still in my cheap phase so when I had to pay for my bedroom set I cried on the inside about the price lol. But I am at a point in life where I can buy myself nice things as long as I'm not crazy with spending.

The hard stuff is out the way now so all I have to worry about when I go back to work Monday is a bunch of admin stuff and killing it on the PRT.

The Struggle is Upon Us May 1-7th

This week we don't have an exam this week but the information overload is setting in. Maritime just has so much information in it. As much as I wanted to do something else with my life I had to make sure I was getting some type of studying done. I will not lie I did fall asleep a lot while attempting to look at this material but it is not a fun read.

On top of the mental torment we did have the leadership portions in the afternoon to ease some of the pain off of our brains but I basically got senioritis with this lesson. Plus I had other things on my mind like the PRT that I would be taking the week that I got back to California and how I don't want to be a crappy Ensign. The PRT is just the fitness test that consist of push ups, sit ups, and a 1.5 mile run in a certain amount of time. Alternate cardio is offered but you need to know your requirements on that so you don't go and fail. A classmate and I attempted to run but that run was horrible lol (i hate running).

I made the comment about doing the bike as my alternate cardio because that run/jog/walk killed my soul. I asked one of my friends who does the bike where was the requirements for how many calories you would have to burn on the bike located. He told me the location and we went and looked up what we needed to do to be successful. For my weight group you only need to burn 100 calories to pass the run portion of the PRT. Now before I got myself all hyped up I sent an email to my squadron to make sure I was eve allowed to do the alternate cardio and once I got the email saying I could my focus shifted.

The first day I attempted the bike was horrible and I doubted myself, but after doing it a few times I knew that I would not have any issues the day of the PRT. I did the bike everyday so my body could get used to the resistance I was using and made a great playlist to help me push through the pain.

Almost Like Old Times

I mentioned before that I did have some girls stationed out here in Virginia. We haven't got much time to hang out since they actually have to do their jobs on their ships and having duty every so many days. But May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) both Candis and Bri were off and I was ready to have a good time with them. This was probably the first time since coming back from Atlanta that all of us were drinking together. Plus its always fun to wind down after a long work week/death by PowerPoint. We started at Bri's house and went down to the strip. We all had a fun time that night and even made sure that Bri was able to make to duty the next morning since we were out late Friday night. All you really need to know about duty is that you are on the ship for 24 hours.


Now Saturday was super fun and I finally got to use some of these military benefits. Candis and I went to Busch Gardens and the great thing about this is that military is able to get in free once a year to one of Seaworld's Parks. We got our fast passes and went to the rides that were on our passes first then got on the other ones. I think we only got one decent picture on the roller coasters 😂 the rest look like we were stressed out. I enjoy going on roller coasters I just hate the load up portion. I'm not sure if it is the clicking sounds or just being able to watch your precious life go from safe to "why did I pick this ride" in a matter of minutes. I'll open my eyes once the ride starts but anything before that I have my eyes shut tight and a small prayer going on. After about 5-6 hours of being at the park we were able to get on all the rides. We were tired and ready to be in bed by 8 that night lol.

And Sunday was may dreadful can I drop out, I hope I don't fail, what happens if I don't show up tomorrow exam preparation. I probably had 2 mental breakdowns and recalculated how many questions I could get wrong and still pass a few times that day.

Only 2 Weeks Left April 24-30

This week went pretty fast. This lesson that we started learning was just taught in just 3 days so you can imagine how stressful it could be. Damage Control is simple but there is more to it than the basics and when learned everything. And once that exam came I swear everyone had the same feeling. When we usually take our exams it will tell you right away if you passed or failed but we ran into problem after problem with that. The site that they would put up our exams on was not working and people could not access the exam. Then we had to take a paper test (worst thing ever). Crappy part about that was that we could not look at our study materials during the 20+ minutes that we were waiting for our copies to be printed. So we literally just had to try and quiz each other and hope that we remembered everything.

Now since we took a paper exam the wait to find out if you passed or failed was even longer. Everyone had the same reaction after the exam. A lot of us thought we failed that exam, including me. The stress began to build up as we had to line up row by row to find out our fate. With all the nervousness I had I saw my grade and didn't do bad at all lol. With me passing that exam that means that there is only one exam left. Plus that extra study won't cut into my weekend plans of going to D.C.

Exam 5 is over and now the real haze happens. Maritime warfare started off complex and I knew that I was in for a long miserable time with this subject. Since the subject is so complex we are taught maritime in the morning and leadership activities in the afternoon to give our brains a break. To be honest majority of the class has clocked out on BDOC and either plays solitaire or pacman during the lectures. The individuals who bring their laptops to class just download games and play them during the lessons. I'm guilty of downloading games on my laptop and mentally clocking out for 15 minutes during a 90 minute lecture. We aren't rude with it but the instructors can see our computer screens anyway form the main desk. I think as long as we aren't sleeping they are cool about it.

Oh yea and another cool thing is that a panel that my class did earlier in the course is now being used in a brief Navy wide amongst Admirals and other commands. I saw a few of my key points in the PowerPoint so I was pretty excited. I had to do it one time for all the FAMU kids who have used the famous phrase "no face, no case". Yea I said it in an open discussion lol. It got the point across to actually be a bullet point in a brief so thats pretty lit. To sum up what the brief was about, it is referring to the whole Marines United incident that happened in that huge Facebook group with all those pictures.

I also finally got to try a place called Cookout. I would hear so much about it but never actually went. The girls and I went there for lunch one day and the menu is pretty legit and cheap. Its more of a small restaurant chain so I think it is only in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. It could be in a lot more states but those are the states that I know it is in for sure.

Weekend Trip to D.C.

Being in Norfolk makes it super easy to go to D.C. and I finally made plans to go. I was supposed to go with someone but things happen and it became a solo trip (no big deal). With my trip becoming a solo trip I was fortunate enough for one of my aunt's close friends to live in the area and I didn't have to book a hotel for the weekend. If people don't know me by now they definitely should know that I don't mind doing things by myself. I actually make my plans first THEN tell other people just in case they end up not going.

I know people who live in the D.C. area so it was not like I was really alone in a different city. Friday after class was over I made that drive and it was not bad but I finally got to see why everyone hates the Hampton tunnel. It was 2 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic for a good 20 miles and the speed limit is already slow here. My first night I didn't do much of anything besides get to know my aunt's friend and found out that we have a few things in common. She is a biology professor at Howard University and I was a biology student during my undergrad. It can sound nerdy but we ended up having a nice science filled conversation and I enjoyed every bit of it. She also gave me some pointers of things to do while I am down here.

My Saturday consisted of getting up early and going to see the African American museum. Since I am military I did not have to print out a ticket and I ended up being the 4th person in line. I'm glad I got in line early because by 9:45 the line was really long. I have been to D.C. twice before when I was little so I have seen all the other museums. This was the only attraction on my list that I had to really see.


I spent a good 3-4 hours in there but I know I did not see everything that the museum had to offer. What I mean by that is actually reading every excerpt that was on the walls. I got a lot of pictures on my camera that I finally used lol. You won't be able to see everything in one day but you'll get a lot of information just by walking through all the pieces. There are some gruesome areas in the museum but it's a part of history that many people try to sweep under the rug. They even has Emmet Till's casket on display.

Of course it went through the slavery and civil rights portion of history but it also documents everything up until today. So you will see all the music, movie, and political sides of African American history. I know whenever I go back to D.C. I'll go to that museum again and try to read everything on the first few floors.

The museum was not my only stop while I did my day exploring. I called myself "walking" to the White House and kinda ended up in a protest about climate change that was also going to the White House. I didn't know that the protest would be going on so I definitely was not expecting it but I did see some pretty funny signs. After the White House shenanigans I went to the capital and the Martin Luther King monument.

My daytime endeavors was over and I took a little break before I went out with some people I knew in the area. I had a good time that night and got a slight glimpse of Howard University. I might be biased but the portion I saw was small compared to FAMU.

Sunday was more chill and I got up and went to this brunch spot called Old Ebbit Grill. The food was pretty good and I see what the crab cakes are about since everyone told me that I must try em. The brunch spot was around the corner from the White House so I was able to get a better view without all the protesters and send selfies to my parents. I also went and spent some time at National Harbor before I left. I found out that they were having a wine festival and if I did not have to drive back to Norfolk I would have bought my ticket and enjoyed everything that festival had to offer. Luckily I live in California and you can go up to Wine Country and enjoy tons of wine one weekend. Being the responsible adult that I am I made the better decision and passed up the opportunity. My drive back to Norfolk was fortunate enough to be a lot better and quicker than me going so I was able to make it back at a decent hour and prepare for week 8 of BDOC. But before I actually settled in I tried this place called The Dirty Buffalo and slightly went into a food coma with their wings.