Spring is here!

Hello again.

I just wanted to share with you my Sunflower plant. I got some free seeds from the flower farm and a free pot from the owner and now can grow sunflower seeds.

Good thing they're edible cause this being unemployed thing makes me hungry. And with my sunflower seeds maybe I can find sunflower recipes and post them on the recipe site.

In U.S. Navy news, I was supposed to leave for OCS this weekend, but I've been delayed until August. Hopefully the U.S. Census Bureau will hire me to be an enumerator and walk about ym neighborhood counting the citizens.

Nice job if you can get it: serving the country, getting some exercise, and making some extra income (or just income at all).

I hope to upload photos of the plant as it continues to grow.

Thanks for reading and best regards,

Alya

Phonetic Alphabet

Hello everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been preparing to go to OCS.

In my studying before leaving I have to learn the Phonetic Alphabet. You know, A-Alpha, B-Bravo, C-Charlie, etc. In doing so I discovered that in the phonetic alphabet only Q and X are not phonetically represented by their own letter. The words begin with that letter (Quebec, X-ray), but the pronunciation does not (kay-bek, ecks-ray). Does this mean these letters are completely superfluous seeing as how other letters or letter combinations could replace them? Many languages remove the letters they find useless. Or, as in French, reserve letters for special sounds (the C replaces the hard K sound or is used with H for a CH sound, and the K is almost never used).

Your thoughts are welcome, which is what makes this blog so interactive.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

U. S. Navy

I have FINALLY heard a reply from the U.S. Navy, and have been professionally recommended to attend Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. Luckily I reran my fitness test and did it in 13 minutes! That is so exciting for me you really have no idea. In high school I did a mile in 14:30 and NOW I can run a mile and a half in 13 minutes.

YAY! Serious sense of accomplishment there.

More photos from my trip to the beach. This one is what I've had as my desktop background for a while.

Also, I'm going to NYC this weekend, and hopefully going to find some time to visit the U.S.S. Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum. I know, you're all super jealous.

;)

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

The Waiting Game

Sorry! Haven't updated in a while. I've been busy looking for jobs and learning how to drive and writing and making up recipes. And taking photographs. This photograph is of ICE!

Additionally, for all those who wonder, I still haven't heard from the U.S. Navy in regards to my officer candidate status. This is not a big deal because I was told it would take some time.

HOWEVER, I did apply to be a U.S. Census Enumerator in the off chance that either #1 I don't get into the Navy, or #2 There's more waiting in between now and OCS. It's a great way to serve my country and carry out the constitution, really. Article 1, Section 2 clearly defines the rules of the U.S. Census and I would be honored to be a part of that. Wouldn't you?

For anyone who wants some extra cash, the U.S. Census and the Department of Commerce are hiring people from all neighborhoods at $16-24 an hour, to help track down those people who haven't filled out their census cards. Don't worry if you haven't because they haven't been sent out yet. The job would be mostly evening hours and weekends when people are at home. All you have to do is complete a test (get 10/28 questions correct and you pass... for some reason).

So wish me luck in all these job ventures!

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

More List Making

I was recently asked what things I would spend excess income on if I had any, and I've come up with a few things:

1. A series of antique maps of East and Central Africa from the 1600-1800s.

2. Zoe Keating's CDs. All of them. Yesss quantum cello.

3. New clothes, because I have lost a lot of weight and now I'm wearing my sister's clothes and I want my own clothes, kthanks.

4. Stock in Apple. Because everyone should own stock in Apple.

I think that's it. Nothing outrageous. Nothing extravagant like a wii or a car or anything.

And now I just need to the income to pay my Sallie Mae and rent so I can have the aforementioned items. Still waiting to hear from the Navy. I don't know what is taking to long. Maybe they actually read the essays...

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

Physical Fitness Test

Today is my practice PRT for the Navy. The entrance exam to test my Physical Fitness. I'm referring to it from now on as the "Pretty Freaking Tough" Exam cause I somehow have to pull 21 push ups, 58 sit ups and a "fun" run of a mile and a half out of my butt within 20 minutes.

Even though I've been training for this for a while, I have a bad shoulder right now and I'm kind of worried about my ability to pull this off. I just have to remember that I have made it through worse and even when I'm hurting out there on the track, I've hurt worse... like when I had Malaria... or busted my ankle. I can so DO THIS. I want to be an officer in the U.S. Navy. I want to serve my country and my Commander in Chief. I want to lead with distinction. I can do this. This is not the hardest thing I will ever have to do.

So... Good luck to me... I'll update you all later as to my status of pass or fail.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya


RESULTS:
Toe touch: PASS!
Push ups: 37! Excellent
Sit ups: 62! Good
Fun run: 16 minutes (fail) so I get to do it again! :( sick.

Navy Update and Arrr!Pirates

I know many of you have been wondering what's going on with this Navy processing of mine and I want you to know that my application was OFFICIALLY SUBMITTED TODAY.

I should be sitting before the boards in January and, pending Congressional approval, will go to Officer Candidate School in Feb/March.

IF I am not selected to become a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Navy I did complete my 2010 registration for the Foreign Service Officer Test. Again. Much to my chagrin. Happily it only took 40 minutes, and not the 3 hours it took last year because I had a print out of last year's in my desk. (Pack rat 1 - Cleaning people 0)

NOW, if you've been following my Naval aspirations then you know that my dream Navy job is to work off of the East African Coast doing Intelligence for Pirate Hunters. I even planned my own TV Show, with Kathleen:
Ensign Aly, Pirate Hunter
with a theme song...
"Bum de da da Pirate Hunter!
Bum de da da, on the sea!
Bum de da da Pirate Hunter!
Keeps the world safe for you and me!"

Yeah. ANYWAY, my computer shows the top 20 headlines from the day's news. Today, #10 was: "Some in crew blame captain for pirate attack."

Pirate story!? *click*

Okay let's read the story together and then come back and discuss. So everyone go here and read THE ARTICLE.

You liked that, right? Okay so we're gonna break it down:

Let's start with the photo and the caption. Firstly, NICE HAT, Captain Phillips. Are you winking? I can't tell if your eyes are open or closed. HEY! Maybe that's why you didn't see those pirates coming!

Caption:

The former captain of the Maersk Alabama, Richard Phillips, listens to a question during a Nov. 19 news conference in Norfolk, Va. The lifeboat from which he was rescued is on display behind him.

He LISTENS to questions. He doesn't answer them. You can't say Captain Phillips isn't a good listener.

Alright so the first paragraph basically says, he was taken captive, so he's a hero, even though he was kinda told not to go there, so he's also kind of a douche. Oh and it wasn't just one warning, it was like 7 warnings. Let's simulate that, shall we?

Hey, Capt. Phillips,
Don't go there. Don't go there.
Don't go there. Don't go there. Don't go there.
Don't go there. Don't go there.
Best of luck,
The maritime safety group peeps

"If you go to the grocery store and eight people get mugged on that street, wouldn't you go a different way?" said the ship's navigator, Ken Quinn, of Tampa, Fla.

YES, YES I WOULD. In fact, Even though I am the President of the Upper Orange Street Block Watch*, I would MOVE.

The rationale for sailing in the "pirate zone" was to conserve fuel. So I want to know how much they were going to SAVE versus how much it cost to save his butt from the pirates.

Company spokesman Kevin Speers would say only that the Maersk Alabama operated in "high-risk waters quite frequently, and that is part of the considerations that we take in putting together vessel security plans."

Good thinking, Kevin. Ships that operate in dangerous waters should have security plans... Hey Kev, have you met my friend Captain Obvious? I think he has lots of idea on how you can protect your ships. Like um... LISTEN TO THE WARNINGS, and er... KEEP TO THE 600 MILE SAFETY AREA.

Now this is what confuses me: "[the]Crew [were] unaware of advisories" BUT WAIT! I just read that "Four of the 20 crew members told the AP that they blame Phillips for the hijacking." Huh. So really the crew don't know why they got attacked by pirates, but when in doubt, just blame management.

Related Article: Admiral: Sea too large to stop all pirate attacks... Dude, THEY ALL COME FROM SOMALIA. MAYBE, now I'm just throwing this out there, MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT SOMALIA NOT HAVING ANY INFRASTRUCTURE.

Best quote: "It's a big ocean. To stay 600 miles away, it's kind of hard to do, at some point. There's a limit to what they could reasonably do." Wait... You just said it was a big ocean. So... it should be EASY to stay away. Don't be cheap.

Best advice ever: If we look at this here GIANT MAP OF PIRATE ATTACKS, we can plainly see that YOU SHOULDN'T TAKE A BOAT ANYWHERE THERE.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

*Upper Orange Street Block Watch was formerly known as the East Rock Block Watch. Please stayed tuned for a funny block watch article involving a missing chicken.

Thanksgiving

This was a decent Thanksgiving. I just ate so much turkey I'm gonna pass out.

Happily I was able to both be helpful in the kitchen allllll day, and also not get so angry that the parents refuse to feed me! Victory is mine.

We had so much insane food. Pies and seafood and turkey... nom nom nom.

It was so strange that my dad decided to tell everyone he worked with that I was joining the Navy. They all had questions and when I asked, "dad, how many people did you tell?" only then did people seem to understand that perhaps I didn't want to talk about this...

The strangest part of the night however was when someone at the table asked if we could make a toast to the troops defending our country. My father looked at me, dead in the eyes, and said, "I won't mind if people feel like they want to do that."

The other odd thing was that a former Department of State employee was there. He and I started speaking in French, and we had our own conversation about Bantu languages and living in Africa and the Comoros (he's been there and I work at the Comorian U.N./ U.S. Embassy). It was bizarre to see other people try to join into this conversation. As if they understood any of the linguistic roots of Malagasy, Kicomoro or Kiswahili... why do people need to participate in EVERY conversation?

My mom does this all the time. I'll have a conversation about African politics or economics, and she'll interrupt and go "Well, You know what my favorite country is?" And some unsuspecting person will try to be inclusive and say "what?" and she'll break out into song. "Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Can't go far in Zanzibar! Don't need a car in Zanzibar!" Etc. etc. etc. until I die of mortification and have to say "You know Zanzibar is NOT a country, it's a protectorate of Tanzania, and since I'm the only on at the table who has ever BEEN to Zanzibar, I can tell you that the island is QUITE big, and we needed a car." I mean... I wish I could add, 'Do we need to go look at pictures on my computer to get you to stfu?' BUT I don't.

Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Can't go far in Zanzibar! Don't need a car in-- crap now it's stuck in my head. Stupid song...

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

Recruiter Vs. My Mom: Round 1

As some of you may know I intend on joining the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer.

So my recruiter came to the house today to have me sign some paperwork. And she met my mother. If ever I needed motivation for suicide... ha ha ha... ha ha ha kidding!

...

Now For those of you who have met my mother, you know she is sometimes not so good with "the people." Especially the people she thinks may be conservative. So firstly, instead of knowing how to address Chief Juliet Snell, NCC Navy Recruiter NRD New England, she called her "girlfriend." As in "girlfriend! What are all those buttons for?" (by buttons she was referring to Chief Snell's 12 Naval Medals, including a distinguished service ribbon, a good conduct ribbon, a global war on terrorism medal, and a humanitarian service medal for her work during both Katrina and some flooding somewhere. That's 12 not including duplicates. 20 years of service and my mom calls her "girlfriend."

Oh and my mom tries to get Chief Snell to let my mother wear her hat. Which I just have to say was ENTIRELY DISTRACTING while I'm signing paperwork. So distracting in fact, that I misspelled MY OWN NAME. TWICE. Yeah, devastated.

Enjoy my pathetic life! I can only hope the Navy takes pity on me by making me an officer candidate after putting me through so much paperwork. I mean, I have a recommendation from a United Nations Ambassador. My application does kind of kick ass.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

Procrastination

I have so much trouble sitting down and getting my work done when I've had a huge portion of coffee. Pretty sure this mug about sums up how I'm feeling about the whole thing right now.

I'm supposed to be reading books/writing books but I can't concentrate. As a result, I am listening to old episodes of This American Life and figuring out how to make the Crystal Noodle packaged soup taste better... I'm thinking some sauteed leeks, cilantro, scallions, peanut butter, coconut milk, chili peppers, srirachi, and garlic. Check out Recipe Stockpile once I've perfected this.

So, I'm supposed to be reading the MILPERSMAN: Naval Military Personnel Manual. It's 3160 pages long.

Okay seriously, I'm gonna try to get the coffee out of my system and then write more of the book.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

OceanFreight and DryShips and my $$

So as usual I invested about $1000 into a company (OCNF) that I thought had extreme growth potential just to watch it drop 6% the very next day. (See ANX, which then recovered and I missed out on 100% gains)

But we have to remember what happened when that happened with DRYS: I made 41% a week later. So... I just have to hold and hope for the best and not let the stress give me a heart attack before it pays out.

And I'm investing in shipping companies because? Well, it gives me a chance to learn about the ocean, which I will need when I join the Navy. I know, you don't have to say it: Pathetic.

In other news I'm organizing the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) vote at the UN this week so I shouldn't even have time to look at the market, but my fancy blackberry makes it possible. Oh crackberry, how I worship thee.

OH ALSO!!! Good news: I've decided that working at the UN, despite it being unpaid, definitely qualifies me as EMPLOYED, so I'm changing this site to "Marginally Employed in My Parents' Attic." Enjoy.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya