God it's good to be here walkin together, my friend. - Stevie Ray Vaughn, Life by the Drop

Here are some misc things I've been up to lately. Well, besides a LOT of work and doctor appts and nurse corps meetings, etc.

1. Rock Band night. Silly Tanya. She bought rock band a while back and we all got together to start her up one night. It was good times. I look like I'm concentrating really hard....









2. Living Water Gala with my young adult group from First Baptist Rockville. These are some great friends I've made in the past few months! I treasure them a lot.



3. Library of Congress and Tortilla Coast (tex-mex place in Capitol Hill owned by native texans) with Tara!







It's been a fun couple of weeks. Like I said, very busy though. I feel like I've been going nonstop. This week, more meetings and dentist appt. The navy nurse corps birthday week is coming up the first 2 weeks in May! Then, it's getting all my stuff settled to go on predeployment leave at the beginning of June.

God has really been putting me at peace through this whole thing and I'm very grateful. The normal Candice would be freaking out a bit...but so far, I feel at ease with the whole thing. I know everything is going to work out and be fine.

We know a place where we are free, we throw our suits into the sea. - B-52s, Theme From A Nude Beach

Okay, so this whole time I knew that if I wanted to go overseas next and then apply for the grad school program and attend school on the west coast, that I should head to Japan. This would be much easier for me to attain school on the west coast.

I thought that I wanted to go to Yokosuka, which is the Naval base closer to Tokyo. I emailed my detailer (the guy who will help me get placed for my next duty station) and told him my plan and where I would want to go next. He said it was a great plan, but that I might do better at Okinawa or Guam because they're larger hospitals. I didn't know that. It surprised me. Well, I thought pfff Okinawa? No, silly marines are always acting up over there and they put the base on lock down a TON, plus the people that live there are usually sick of us being there (even though they need us for their economy).

Then, I thought. Guam....pfffff....where is guam and what is really there? A tiny little island of nothing.....UNTIL I STARTED SURFING THE WEB ON IT!

FORGET JAPAN! I WANT GUAM!

It's beautiful! It's a teeny, tiny little island that the US owns and is mostly occupied by the military. It's like our own little island! Amazing beaches, the best diving in the world, blue water, white sand, lots of recreation outside. It's a tropical paradise. It would be like I was on vacation for 2 years. I've heard from a few of my higher ranking officers that their favorite duty station was Guam, but I just put it aside. Now I see why! Look at this:



Um, yeah. That's got to be my next duty station. Even better...the detailer is AWESOME and said he can probably correlate my PCS-ing to my next duty station in May or June of 2009 instead of my PRD date of Sept 2009. That would be a huge favor because I'm wanting to apply for the grad school program for the navy and that means, I would have to be ready to leave for school around the summertime, in July, so I would have to already be at my next duty station by June of 2009 to go to the following duty station (wherever I end up going for school) in July 2011. This is pretty sweet.

So, Kuwait: June 2008-January 2009
Back to DC: January 2009-May 2009
Guam: June 2009-July 2011
DUINS (grad school): either San Diego or Seattle: July 2011

Now, of course, all this being said....I have plenty of time to change my mind as you all see I do on a weekly, or daily basis. I also have to pray about this a lot. I really want to make sure I'm going to end up doing what God wants for my life, not my own choices. If he ends up wanting to send me to Okinawa, so be it. I will have a wonderful time there too. In the end, all of the navy bases have amazing things to do. It's just all so exciting. The detailer said to keep my contact info and write him when September of this year comes up and we'll start working on my next duty station.

Seriously....http://www.guam-online.com/military/military.htm

When all you've got to keep is strong, move along, move along like I know you do. ~Move Along by All American Rejects

Again, summer is coming up and you know what that means? All my coworkers start PCSing. That means, a lot of them are about to move on to their next duty stations. I think what is hitting me hard is my two favorite corpsmen are leaving me! HM3 Woodson was the first corpsman I ever remember working with. He's going to OR tech school at the end of this month. HN Spignardo is going to be moving to....oh shoot, I think he's going to Bremerton, WA. I had this picture of the three of us when I first started as a navy nurse back in the fall of '06:




Compare that one of the three of us to one I just took today:


Did I grow some??? I don't seem as short. Man, I'm really gonna miss these guys. I told them we have to meet up on the west coast some time. I know Spig is gonna become an officer and I'll see him again and then I'll actually be able to get to know him and his wife better. Woody, who knows. I can see him staying on the enlisted side, but doing pretty good. I'm not sure if he wants to stay in or not, but I think he should. Then again, I'm biased. OR Tech school should ensure that he'll have to stay in for a few more years. haha.

Let's see. Woodson leaves this month. Spig next month. Me in June. This is hard. Everyone comes in and out of your life. They're there for a short time, but make such a huge impact on you. I'll never forget all these guys I'm working with. This has been such a great duty station after all. I found out one of our earlier corpsman, who left for respiratory therapy school, is now stationed in Yokosuka (where I want to go next). That's awesome....so seeeeeee, it's a small navy and I will see a lot of people again!

Also, you wouldn't believe the awesome billets that are open for nurses right now. For ltjg's/lt's there are a TON of hospitals open right now. Big ones, small ones, clinics...etc. Great places too: Japan, Spain, Italy, Charleston, Seattle, etc...Also, there are a ton of operational billets. There are about 6 ships looking for nurses (that rarely happens. it's so hard to get on a ship normally). You have to be a LT or LCDR though. Some day. Not today. There are also some spots open for field medicine and officer training in R.I. Damn, it's a fine navy day. ;)

God has been so amazing in my life. I can't thank Him enough. I don't deserve to have such a smooth life. haha. There have been the ups and downs, but overall, the down times really taught me a lot and helped me get to all the ups.

Uneducated, underdeveloped, undisciplined, but mostly unaware. We join the flavor of the month. - Disposable Heroes of Hiphopri

There's no 'dumb-ass' vaccine. - Jimmy Buffett, Permanent Reminder Of A Temporary Feeling

Pre-deployment stuff left to do:
-See the smallpox clinic and get my shot
-Get 5 more anthrax shots. (those suckers HURT the next day! I could barely move my arms this morning)
-See legal about my power of attorney and will, etc. (that won't take long...I don't have anything)
*The cat goes to my parents...or possibly shelley. I'll let you all fight it out!
*My car-probably my parents. I think my dad might like it.
*My scrapbooking supplies can go to Tanya
*My snowboard to Shelley (In hopes she could start riding!)
*Underwear dividers to my sister. She has more underwear than all the victoria's secrets in Texas
*My ikea furniture can go to Courtney. She likes ikea.... :)
That's pretty much all my will can consist of. I have nothing of value. haha.
-well woman checkup. woot. not.
-PDHA
-get my two fillings fixed. booo.


Other things before I go on leave at the beginning of June:
-reserve a storage room for my stuff
-get my parents plane tickets to fly up here and help me move
-plan the camping/tubing trip
-get misc stuff to pack in my seabag (not too much because I've already heard by the time I leave Cali I'm gonna have 4 seabags to haul around)
-buy protection for my laptop
-get an 80 gb ipod since i now have like 60 gb of music and it won't fit on my 30gb
-figure out how to make my webcam work so I can still stay in touch with everyone and go to small group if I get the time! :)

I'm so excited. It's going to be an excellent learning experience. I'll get to see another country and another culture. I have a friend who knows a guy in the Kuwaiti Marines, so I'll have a contact over there.

If anyone has tips about being deployed, pass them on. (Like, what to take, etc)