Quite the month

This Feburary has been quite the month. The Seabee Ball committee had a very successful fund raising event. (Selling Yakitori at the main gate from 3pm on Saturday afternoon until we sold out at 1200 am on Sunday.) It's almost like taking candy from a baby, hitting up all of those drunk kids for munchies on their way back onto base. The one we held on the 3rd was very successful, raking in about $600 after all expenses were paid.

Then on the 19th, Kristin, Ronan, and myself went up to Nagano Prefecture to play in the snow for a couple of days. It was a beautiful trip, from getting on a train in Zushi, riding up to Tokyo for the first time, to getting on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), and taking that up to the city of Nagano. It was a good trip. Most of the Navfac wardroom came, so there wasn't that much in the way of family time, but we had a good time none the less. The resort we were staying at had Oonsens (Hot springs), and karaoke. So Kristin went to her first Oonsen, which she admitted to being kind of apprehensive about. (We Americans are not used to walking around naked in front of other people.) But it turns out that she loved it. I think in the two days we were there she made three visits to the Oonsens. Of the two I have been to, this one was not that great, but after a day of skiing it felt really nice.
I also tried out karaoke for the first time. It a little different here. You don't go to a bar and get up on a stage, or in front of other people and make a fool of yourself. You get to do it only in front of your own party. So basically you rent out these big booths with the sound system and monitor in them. They typically have a couch in them and a phone to call the waiter for more beer or food. I was there with Mike G. and Wayne L. from work. These guys are pretty avid karaoke goers, so they jumped right in and started singing. I spent a lot of time flipping through the book, thinking to myself, "I am not drunk enough for this." I only sang one song, but by midnight everyone in the room was singing along with whatever song was up there. It was a good time.

A couple weeks after that a tragic even happened. The bases Operations officer passed away in his sleep. He was only 39, and it hit everyone pretty hard. Drew was a great guy. Very friendly and gregarious. He will be missed.

This last weekend, March 3rd, he held another Yakitori sale. This one made even more money then the last. I think we brought in about $1000 after expenses. The weather was warmer, and I was cooking. That had to be the difference. I was cooking.

At any rate that's it for now. I'll post a couple pictures of the Nagano trip and getting set up for Yakitori.

~jp