Ambled Over to La Alhambra of Al-Andalus

On Saturday I took a semi-organized trip to Granada. The cost was five Euros, which covered the busride there and back. I brought along a travel guide and a bottle of water, and read and slept on the way there. It took about four and a half hours to get to Grenada, stopping at some sort of truck stop about halfway through the trip. Once we arrived and debarked, everyone was pretty much on their own.

Luckily I had been talking with some college students working at the base over the summer at the children's camp, and they were nice enough to let me tag along with them to the Alhambra, a relatively short bus ride away. I had read about the long lines for entry during peak tourist season in the guide book, and figured I might be out of luck to get into the part of the Alhambra that most people want to see, The Nasrid Palaces (Palacios Nazaríes), as I hadn't really had any firm plans of what I was going to do in Granada, and hadn't reserved a ticket to the Alhambra. Fortunately, after about a twenty-five minute wait in line, an awkward conversation in Spanish with an attractive French woman, and ten Euros, I had a ticket, but couldn't go into the Nasrid Palaces until the preset time, 1430.

We wandered around the area, ignoring the rosemary-armed gypsies, stumbled across a wedding party, some views of Granada below (no real landmarks in their downtown), and a hotel that we thought was a mosque. We walked around the Charles V (Carlos I) Palace and its free museum. The people I was with had 1400 tickets, so they went in while I enjoyed a bocadillo (Spaniards love their simple sandwiches, Spanish ham and a baguette), and the view, but not the searing heat.

I was impressed by the craftsmanship, and the amount of labor and attention to detail it must have taken to construct those palaces, and at the same time, pretty disappointed that no one will ever again see them in their prime, you'd think if you reconquered your country you'd want to keep all of the free artwork the previous occupants left you, but judging by some of the haircuts and clothing I've seen the Spanish equivalent of white trash wearing (mohawked mullets on women, and men with capris and pink "wifebeater" shirts), sometimes bad taste knows no borders.

I didn't buy any souvenirs there, nothing really caught my eye (I don't really need any swords or pistols). I would consider going back to the Alhambra, but never again in the summer, at least not during the day. After we left the Alhambra we took a mosh pit of a busride back down to Granada and wandered around the city a little bit. I looked at a bank thermometer, 41 degrees celsius, 105.8 Fahrenheit, I have no idea if it was accurate, but it was believable.

We left Granada at around 1730, finally returning to Rota around 2200. It was a pretty tiring trip, but it felt good to get off-base.

Jet-Lagged Dreams Make for Great Spin-offs

Jack Bauer is at it again, but instead of working for the CIA's CTU, he's kicking it parochial! That's right, he's working for the Vatican. Is he considered a "Counter-Heresy Agent"? This dream's episode consists of Bauer and his newest sidekick (apparently me) chasing around a satanist couple. The devilish duo is apparently trying to kidnap a pregnant lady in the middle of mass with some kind of magic fireball. Not if Jack Bauer can help it! When we corner the couple in the church they plead ignorance, or they try, until another parishioner blows their cover. "I saw you two casting your evil spells on your front lawn last night!" The couple starts to run, and the man is clotheslined by a deacon, while the woman goes the opposite way and starts firing pistol rounds. We run after her, and then immediately lose her! It must have been some more of that devil magic (or Chinese espionage)! I see something flash out of the corner of my eye, and the chase begins again.

This is where the episode ended in my head, but I would imagine that future episodes of XXIV would feature a picture of a church calendar at the beginning and end of the show ("The following takes place between the feast days for St. Thomas Aquinas and John the Baptist"), and tactical support for Bauer would be supplied by the Swiss Guard and some Holy Helicopters. "Father O'Malley, it's Jack Bauer, the Prego-napping has been averted, but I need to speak to the Pope!" If the show played on EWTN you could put in a rosary break, so people could pray while Jack Bauer also prays, IN DYNAMIC REAL TIME! The Rome episodes would be action packed ecumenical adventures, not to mention, who wouldn't like to see Jack Bauer handle an exorcism?

Saw A Cinematic Quintet

I spent yesterday at the AMC Lynnhaven 18 Theatres out in Virginia Beach.



Over 12 hours in a movie theater, an endurance feat! I can sit like Lance Armstrong can pedal! I also won a Babel t-shirt, nice try Paramount Vantage, but you can't sway my opinion with a measly gray garment! I'm going to need something more...maybe a plot to your movie that doesn't make me ask, who the hell cares?

The Departed was the only film I had seen before, and it was the coolest of the five movies, but it didn't have the most substance. Letters From Iwo Jima was the best "from the other side's viewpoint" film I have ever seen, as it was the greatest reminder that the Imperial Japanese troops weren't all automatons dedicated to mindlessly following their Emperor's will. I still can't decide which movie was more graphic, The Departed with its cinematic litany of headshots, or Letters From Iwo Jima with its banzai charges and grenade seppuku. Letters From Iwo Jima still won out in my mind because it showed both the external and internal struggles of a doomed group of warriors from a nation on the road to defeat.

Babel was alright, but the purposely disjointed plot was its own worst enemy. Maybe someday I'll figure out if the movie had a point, I may have missed it while I was distracted by a naked and deaf teenage Japanese nymphomaniac, geographically orphaned (and pale as ghosts) children and their illegal immigrant nanny, and a Moroccan version of Cain and Abel who enjoy taking potshots at tourist buses when they're supposed to be herding their goats.

The Queen featured a good performance by Helen Mirren which should win her an Oscar, and while the film wasn't boring and provided a good argument towards the useless antiquity of English Monarchy, I felt that a citizen of the U.K. would have found the film much more captivating.

Little Miss Sunshine was almost as funny as Borat. The dysfunction of the family seemed reminiscent of the show Arrested Development, but with much darker humor that reminded me of a cross between a Wes Anderson film and Napoleon Dynamite. It was a good choice for last film of the evening, as it lightened my mood after the emotionally-heavy World War II epic that preceded it.

I hope for AMC's sake they received better attendance at their other theatres, but I wasn't complaining, prime seats = a-okay with me. I doubt they'll do this again next year, but if they do, I invite anyone to take the challenge! Sit all that you can sit, at the movies!

Thankfully, all the theatres at the base in Rota are $3, even the drive-in.

Life's a Credit Card Commercial

• Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences: $175
• Drug Facts and Comparisons: $250
• Drug Information Handbook: $64.95
• Pharmaceutical Calculations, 10th Edition, Stoklosa and Ansel: $60.95
• History of Pharmacy in the United States Navy, McCarthy, Gray, and Moldenhauer: $35
• Ethical Practices in Pharmacy in the United States Navy, A Guidebook for Pharmacy Technicians, Buerki and Voltero: $20.40
• The Bantam Medical Dictionary: $8.99
• Basic Pharmacology for Health Professionals: $69
• IV Admixture Study Guide: $38.95
• IV Workbook: $38.95
• Calculator: $10
• Lock Number/Government Lock: $15
• Total with Dispensing Jacket for Clinicals: $832.19

Getting Orders to Spain: Priceless

There are some things in life that money can't buy, for everything else...there's taxypayer dough!

Huzzah!

Analgesic Anniversaries Arrive!

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia, November 8 - The one year hiatus of pseudo-intellectual blogger David Lesser was ended today with an indulgent and spurious attempt at writing a news article. The article relies heavily on the use of an online thesaurus and can be considered a vain attempt at wit. When reached for comment at the Naval School of the Health Sciences barracks, Lesser declared himself to be, "The most promising future-Pharmacy Technician in the United States Navy Hospital Corps!" The Hospital Apprentice from Colorado then proceeded to give a gleaming statement on the hilarity of the film Borat, and laughed at the ignorance of some of the cinematic hit's unintentional stars. When asked about the planned frequency of future posts, Lesser feigned a static-filled cellular connection and hung up.

An Entry From Watchstanding

The boredom that always ensues during watch has enveloped me like a comfortable cloud of ubiquitous spite. The futility in assigning watches during ungodly hours of the night has become frustrating only when such duties fall to me, which is the case this weekend, hopefully the last Saturday and Sunday I ever spend at Naval Hospital Corps School, Great Lakes, Illinois. I graduate on the sixth of October as a Hospital Corpsman, quite a world apart from what I thought I'd be doing when I signed my initial contract with the Navy on January 5th, 2006. Having completed the Corps School Curriculum, I'm slightly surprised to report it lacking in many aspects, foremost among them: difficulty, and an assurance of student comprehension and accountability. I am beginning to doubt the importance of the Hospital Corps in U.S. Naval Medicine, the quality of the training, and the lack of actual instruction makes me wonder if the Navy's interests might be better served through outsourcing, if outsourcing is even a possibility for such menial duties.

Perhaps the late hour and my fears and worries about my new career are speaking for me a bit, and turning all my ruminations bitter. My "Shipmates" also share in a piece of the guilt pie. Navy Boot Camp, even with its modern and pathetic requirements, does a reasonable job of instilling military bearing, discipline, and a zesty semi-dash of integrity. For some reason, a lot of my fellow Corps School students left what they were indoctrinated with at RTC in their divisional compartments with their guard belts and canteens, as if military bearing was a limited resource that only needed to be passed on to the next generation of recruits. Many of my classmates have become, in no uncertain terms, dirt bags. Leaving unpaid bar tabs (in uniform, no less) in their wake, spouting profanity like stuffing on Thanksgiving, and sprinkling some good ol' disciplinary and academic infractions in for good measure. I cannot help but believe these problems to be symptomatic of a disorder within my generation. We are the Me II/Too generation. How else to explain junior enlisted kvetching about officer and NCO privilege? Or the utter lack of humility? I no longer consider it a coincidence that shows like Star Trek are so officer-centric. Who doesn't want to be Top Dog, at the upper echelon of the hierarchy? But if you've enlisted and consciously chosen to take the short straw, the path to success is built upon sucking it up, and dealing with the quirks of enlisted life in the military. Members of "The Greatest Generation" knew their place, members of the Me II Generation are still struggling with "stay", "down", and "fetch", until they can figure out how to really obey, no treat. Maybe the new recruiting commercial tag line should be, "If someone were to write a Forrest Gump-esque novel on your life, would you be Bubba, Gump, or Lt. Dan?" Now that I think about it, the question doesn't make much sense...thanks sleep deprivation.

On the subject of sleep, I do find myself grateful that life in the military has seemingly corrected my circadian rhythms, aside from duty days and weekends spent watching empty early morning spaces, only occupied by stumblin' parties of Phase III liberty partiers. I don't think I would be stretching the truth in any fashion if I were to call Corps School the least healthy environment I have ever lived in. Surprising, considering the ever-present debauchery and other factors found at the University of Arizona. Strangely, this is the only time I have ever written anything out of pure boredom, and it shows, yet time keeps dragging onward.

After this watch, I'll only have six hours of watch and four hour long sessions of sweepers cleaning crew left, no to mention two half-an-hour-or-longer 0615 duty section musters. I wonder if I've completed the PQS to be a night security guard, I mean, how many qualifications can there really be? Time is finally flowing a bit more smoothly, and as I am fifteen minutes from two hours of sleep, I can't help but wonder what wicked turn of events is around the next corner on the great road of life, or maybe the metaphor should be a carousel, who knows? I don't.

Adumbrative Articulation at Eight a.m. ?

Slip Softly Away
Aware About Everything
Eliminatin' Each Doubt
Diggin' Deep Truth
Taking Timely Warning
Watching Wasteful Fools
Force Fantasies Onward
Outlasting Omnipotent Goals
Giving Great Pause
Past Pundits Supreme
Squawk Superfluous Assurance