It Is Not October Yet

Jared has always found a strange enjoyment of startling me. He is careful to not terrorize me. I would not tolerate that. It is usually only small things to make me jump or squeak; usually both. My reactions are apparently "cute."

Usually, his stunts to startle me are somewhat infrequent and, to a point, I have become accustomed to this. October, however, is his time to indulge. In his words, it is what October is all about. It is a spooky month deserving of many pranks.

I understand his view. But it is not October yet. Why is there a sudden urgency to behave as if it is? I am again forced to anticipate what prank will come next. I cannot open a cabinet door or blindly put my hand into my purse for fear of what will happen next. Will an airhorn sound if I sit down? What will happen when I enter my own home?

I wonder if it is because of the impending deployment and he is afraid he will miss something. I love that he plays with me and be sure I have given back as well as I have been given; imagine me setting a prank on the ship where I have no access and he thought himself perfectly safe. Now he knows better. I have 300 confederates. lol

The difference of us is he is incessant. I must build stress before I retaliate. I suppose the ratio is 3 or 4 to 1. My best are when he is where he believes himself safe and make up for having less pranks than he. My last on ship prank lasted for weeks before he could discover source.

I suppose I should consider that October has come early. If so, let my retaliation begin.

Journey to Lake Okutama, Schools Begin

Jared and I decided a trip to Lake Okutama was in order. It was one of our favorite places to visit during the last tour. I see no reason why it should not be this time.

Our first stop was to get refreshments. It is a long drive. It was hot. This store has a large selection of things to buy. One must be careful of what they buy. It is easy to spend too much since this place is so close to the highway and prices are set for tourists. Still, it is interesting the things you can find here. I have always been curious who developed this name for a drink.

After getting our drinks we set out for our walk in the forest. To get there, one can drive around the lake but what fun is there in that? We decided to cross the lake on the foot bridge.

It is not too long of a walk but it adds to the experience. There is a longer bridge you could cross but it does not end where our hike was to begin. Having a small person with shorter legs with you causes you to keep things as close together as possible; unless you enjoy hear complaints of feet hurting and being tired.

It is worth the walk. It is peaceful. It has something that is rare in Japan when one is outside. It is quiet. One almost feels guilt for making any kind of noise. As we met others on the trail we passed in reverent silence only exchanging a light version of the customary bow.

It is sometimes difficult to return to hustle and bustle of our usual life after visiting here. I will seek this place often. Chao lei enjoyed this place too. It was and endless supply of interesting things for him. I must bring a bag of some kind bag to bring it all home for him next time. This time my hands were too full and Jared was required to carry some of his son's treaures.

It is good to have had this adventure at this time. Chao lei began first grade yesterday. If I am to judge by his excitement when he returned home, he enjoyed it very much. I believe it was far more traumatic for me than him. I spent the day with small moments of panic when I could not locate him despite the fact I took him to school. I am unaccustomed to a quiet day. 

My silent days will end soon enough. University begins tomorrow so I will have two days per week, at the least, of students of my own. They will have their own questions and comments to fill my day. I only hope there are fewer of what I termed "schedule challenged" students this term. It never ceased to surprise me how unorganized and time foolish what otherwise intelligent  students could be.

So we begin this part of our adventure. Schools begin and deployment looms. We will survive. lol

Military Minute: On or Off

Do you prefer on- or off-post living, and why?



My preference for where I live is offpost.


When I am CONUS, housing is usually much better than what is on-base. There is variety in styles. This is important to me. I do not wish to live in a house that is a duplicate of another. Base housing tends to be a repetitive style. I prefer my house to be unique, inside and out. The cost is not usually very expensive. There is, at the least, a sense of “normal” living. And the rules are not as restrictive off-base as is on-base.


When I am OCONUS, my preference remains off-base, but conditions may influence where we live. The last tour in Japan, we began off-base. I loved my house. It was so beautiful. Its location made it impractical. It was far from the base. Jared wished to be closer but gave me my choice. It was unfair since he is the one who was required to drive so far, every day. Also, the distance to an American hospital proved later to be an important consideration. Its cost made it near unaffordable; almost $4000 per month. There was much I gave up living there. A move on-base was considered appropriate.


I cannot condemn the apartment towers that became our home. They were large and well-arranged but for us they were too much. A three-bedroom apartment has more space than can be used. Growing up in China has given me the tendency to prefer small homes that have plenty of room but not so much it is wasted. Giving birth to Chao lei helped us use more space but a two-bedroom apartment would have been more appropriate.


For this tour, we are off-base, and I cannot foresee a reason to live elsewhere. The location of our new house is very close to the base. I can walk to the gate in ten minutes, less if I am hurried. The rent is reasonable. A plus to living here is I am not required to play the politics. I can leave that on-base and live relaxed and peaceful with no worries of who my neighbor is and what rank they are. If you come to my house, please leave your rank on-base.


I do not intend to make our time here as horrible. It is the opposite. There are wonderful things to do, places to go and people to know. It is only easier to live when one minimizes the silly games some “adults” insist on playing. Living off-base allows me to do that.


If conditions are such that we find it necessary to move on-base, I will do as I need to and adapt to it. I can recreate the shelter from most all that is negative again. All that is important to me is I am where my family is. Everything else can be overcome but my preference remains to live off-base.

Beginning Where We Ended... sort of

I have found Sakai. He was my house keeper before. So there is good news and bad news. Bad news... Sakai has retired. Good news... his daughter Miyuki has replaced him.

I know Miyuki from when she helped me care for Chao lei after he was born. She is very much as her father was in her attention to her duties. Her father is proud of her and that is all I need to hear to decide to employ her. Yes, I was spoiled the first time. I see no reason to not continue being spoiled. lol  Also, her rates are as her fathers and very reasonable. She will come and do the major cleaning so I will be required to do is the daily upkeep.

I believe day care was a good choice for Chao lei. He seems to be making friends with other children that will attend class with him when school begins. One child is even from a family that is part of the ship. I think this will be good for them both once their fathers are deployed. They can go through the experience together and hopefully reassure each other.

As each day passes, I become more confident this tour will be better. Yes, we start with a deployment this time but that was coming anyway. It will just be done earlier than expected. There are too many other things that go very well to allow the negatives to control how I feel for this tour. Our time in Pensacola was only a brief respite. We are now home again.

If this week is to be common, it seems I will only start where I stopped last time. Returning to the same ship helps to support that feeling. The only one of us that this is a new place is Chao lei and even then, it is not. He was born here. He only does not remember it. I have a new house but it contains my things so it is not as drastic a change. Jared has the same berth onboard. This does not please him. lol He often complained of it before.

The worst negative thing is we the impending deployment date. The ship will "earn its money" in a few weeks. The pre-deployment brief is only a two weeks from today. All of the accompanying events begin too such as "Financing and Deployments" classes.

What it really means is our sailors are going to be gone for several weeks. The last cruise Jared was on was 28 weeks. In my terms it was 2/3 of a pregnancy. Hopefully there will be no repeat of that time. I want another baby but I do not want to do it alone. Again.

The good thing of predeployment is our activity level increases. We take more excursions to the surrounding communities. I suppose it is a way to make up for his departure. I do not complain, mind you. I did pledge to see more of Japan this time and I am doing it with my two favorite people.

The last tour began with the ship in dry dock for two months, finishing repairs for another month and shakedown cruises for a couple more. It was an entire year before I had to endure deployment. This tour I begin with an underway and deployment. At the least, I have experience at deployments.

Good Day, Bad Day and Really Great Day

I love the Friendship Festival. It is as the base has converted to a carnival. Traffic is terrible; car and foot. It is wise to avoid the main gate if possible. It is fortunate for us that, this time, we live close to the Womble gate. The festival is primarily for adults but there were some activities for children. Chao lei had no difficulties being entertained.

The Child Development Center was not my friend. It was fortunate that Jared was not away since Chao lei needed to be retrieved from the center. I was at the university and unable to retrieve him so I called Jared and he was able to get away. The air conditioner stopped working so we were required to retrieve children. At 87° and 79% humidity, it was certainly a prudent call.

I admit, I am taking some time to adjust to the weather. When we first arrived it was not so warm. Now it remains at the upper 80's+ and cools at night to only the lower 80's. The humidity is what causes one to be uncomfortable. It remains in the 70%+ range. Why I am so uncomfortable is unknown. It is not as if Pensacola was much different. Perhaps riding the train with a million other people has something to do with it.

I am surprised that my car is already known by many of the crew. I suppose it is because Jared has been driving it. What I know is, when I get out of the car with one of these...

… several crew members pay close attention and disembark the ship to see if there are more. 

There were eight more trays awaiting them. There were supposed to be nine more trays but Jared took one tray this morning knowing the enlisted crew do not share well. I suspect I will receive ten empty trays tonight when Jared returns home. I will be happy when Dorothy's hhg arrive and she is able to help me with her cookie sheets and utensils. So my first cookie delivery is done. I am again Aunt Mei.

I may successfully start again where I ended the last tour. I have returned to Japan with my husband and son, I am returning to the university to teach and  my sailors are my family again. Who would wish a different life?

It has been a productive week. First, I finished my directory project for the Ombudsman's office. Honestly, it was not a difficult project. It was only a directory. All that was required of me was to assemble all the information and make it pretty. They would have been satisfied with legible but I opted for attractiveness.

I have also become involved with the ship's welfare team again. Providing I am not forced to witness the same as last time, it should be a fulfilling activity. Visiting the families of the ship is important to me. Their morale suffers as much, if not more, when their spouse is under way. It is important to keep it up so those on ship can function with little worry of their families.

It also seems there are crew who have not changed since we were stationed here last and remember. I have been asked if I will return to baking for the crew, especially for the single sailors to help keep their spirits up. I have agreed. These single sailors are like my own and I care very much that someone remembers them. I am happy when I am greeted by them around the base and see their smiles.

My lesson planning is going well also. I am to have 2 morning classes. I will teach "Introduction to Probability for Computer Scientists" and "Programming Abstractions." These are first and second year courses so are not overly complicated to teach.

A very important difference has greeted us to Japan this time. The year in Japan is now “1” with the crowning of Emperor Naruhito.

The former Emperor of Japan, Akihito, is now the “Emperor emeritus” of Japan. He was coronated  in 1989. The years since are referred to as the Heisei era. The number of the year of his reign was on all of my power bills. So, if it was 9/13/2008 (Written as in the USA) the Japanese would be 20/9/13. “20” being how many years the emperor had been ruling. This can be confusing when trying to determine when the power bill is due. I will adapt.
There is some to adapt to, much to readapt to and much exploring to be done before school begins. It seems we will leave Jared alone now and then since I will be teaching school and Chao lei will be attending school.