Home for the Holidays

Unfortunately the title of this post is misleading. I am not home for the holidays. I will be spending my first Christmas away from my family. It is a sad affair to spend Christmas in Florida without snow, without family. It would be completely unbearable, but John is here so that makes up for a lot of it. We will have lots of fun I am sure, but I still wish it would snow here. Fat chance.

I miss home though. Wisconsin is beautiful in the winter. Everyone who doesn't live there thinks that it is a wintery, frozen wasteland, but they could not be more wrong. Wisconsin could very well be the design for all the snow globes that are around this time of year. Waking up the morning after a big snow and seeing everything covered in white is just beautiful. The secret is to wake up before anyone else, and see it all untouched; no tracks, no footprints, nothing but pure clean snow everywhere. It is like a beautiful picture but better because you get to play in it. Winter nights are wonderful too. There is a smell in the air of freshness. The cold kills all the artificial garbage of the commercialized "holiday season" that big cities deal with. And all that is left is the clean smell of Merry Christmas. To walk the streets of downtown Mayville or Horicon during December is magical, if you take the time to appreciate it. All the streetlights have wreaths and garland on them and the traffic lights have lights strung across them. Main street has an ice sculpture contest and people get pretty creative with ice. People stop and talk to each other on the street. Cars drive slow, both to look at the decorations and because of the snow. Life slows down to a manageable pace at Christmas.

Drive out to my house. First, you will have a hard time because the plows never made it out that far. Second, if you do make it, you will not regret it. The front porch is wrapped in lights and wreaths. For some reason Mom has two deer made of lights on the yard. Walk through the front door, stomp the snow off your boots, and hang up your coat. The kitchen undoubtedly will be full of treats: sugar cookies, candy-canes, and Woopi-pies (if your lucky). Take a right and see the living room. The room will be different than it was the last time you were there, we never put things in the same place for Christmas, I don't know why.

The tree will be in a corner, wrapped in lights and ornaments. The old ones from the kids' first Christmas's, all the home-made ones that should be thrown away but never will be. There used to be a lot of presents under there, but now there are not so many. Presents don't matter anymore. It is the presence that fills the room. Mom and Dad have spent years filling this house with love. That, combined with Alvin and the Chipmunks singing in the background, Uncle Larry sleeping in the chair, and guests from all over crowding around, makes Christmas what it is at home. My favorite memories as a child are of the whole family sitting in the living room with only the Christmas tree lights on, listening to Nat King Cole. Dad would pull out his old Bible and read us the Christmas story. We would sit and enjoy being a family togethere. It is so strong a feeling that even hundreds of miles away, I can feel it here.

This is the first year that we are not all together. Nicole is with Eric in Iowa, very pregnant and on bedrest, John is here with me, and Mom and Dad are at home. Luckily we are all in pairs, and very shortly we will all be together. But the spirit of Christmas is not lost. Christ is still the center of Christmas and the love of a family is not hindered by miles of road between us. I will call them Christmas morning, John and I will listen to Nat King Cole and the Chipmunks, and I will eat to much good food. Even without snow or a pine tree, I will celebrate Christmas just as joyously as I do every year. I am healthy, I am happy, and so is my family. What more could I ask for?

Lately

My life has been nuts lately. We have had several inspections since I got back from school. They were difficult to say the least. People were staying over the weekend and working til all hours of the night for two weeks straight. We finished a while ago and we are getting ready for another one in the spring. The stress level is high and people are very happy to be going on holiday leave. Unfortunately for me, I got stuck with the second leave period, so I am in Florida by myself for Christmas. Matthew got first leave period and he is already back in Wisconsin enjoying the weather and his family.

I miss Wisconsin and my family a lot. The weather is still in sunny and warm like summer. It finally got cold here the last few days, and it rains a lot, so there is some precipitation, but it is not snow. And the only point of cold weather is to get snow and go sledding and such. And plus I miss my family like crazy. I have never had a Christmas away from them. I guess that comes with the territory of the Navy though. Luckily for me, John is done with finals early enough that he can come down for Christmas. I am very excited for him to come visit! Hopefully it will be nice and warm so we can go out and tear it up. It will be nice to have family in town for the holiday. It is very lonely and depressing down here without Matthew around. Plus works sucks. I am sure it will get better. But feel free to drop me a line if you are free. I assume if you read this then we are friends. No one else would read this. Hah. Talk to you later.

Pool

Today we entered into the last and most challenging week of our VBSS training. I knew today would be a difficult one for me in particular because we went to the pool for water survival training. I remember when I was a kid I loved to be in the water, and I used to be a really good swimmer. As I have grown up though, I have lost my familiarity with the water and I have come to give it a healthy dose of respect, some would call it fear. I still enjoy swimming, however when you jump in fully clothed and with an extra 50 lbs of gear on, one gets a little nervous. Luckily for me that 50 lbs of gear is designed to keep you afloat with your head out of the water.

It turned out that the training while challenging was not that bad and no one failed. I actually wasn't even the closest to having problems. We had to do a ladder climb from an inflatable boat in the pool with a bunch of water spraying on us. It was very slick and there was no boat to lean against while climbing. This made the ladder spin which added to the difficulty. It was a piece of cake though. On top of the healthy respect I have for water, I also have a healthy respect for heights. So when we had to do a Controlled High Survival Drop, I was feeling pretty good.

When all that was done, we returned to the class room for a test and some Defensive Tactics. We ended the day learning about Biometrics and the technology we have to record and store information on the subjects we run across. It was a very long day and the rest of the week promises to be just as long and harder. We will be moving into the box with the instructors playing the bad guys and then moving to an actual boarding of a ship in the basin. Bruises and headaches to follow. I'll keep you posted.

Training

I am enrolled in a school right now for the VBSS team. I was apprehensive to start it because I had heard from a lot of people that it was very hands-on and extremely physical. Apparently the instructors, who are all jacked ex-Navy SEALs and combat Marines, love to beat the crap out of the students. They do so to make sure that when we actually get out there and board suspect vessels we will be ready to encounter real danger and handle it accordingly. The first few days have been very challenging, but very rewarding. We have learned hand to hand combat, ground work, climbing, and rappelling. As many know, I am scared of heights, so the rappelling was a total andrenaline rush. Being parrallel with the ground 3 stories up suspended by a line and a piece of climbing gear made me very uncomfortable, but I got used to it after a minute and had a real good time walking down a wall 3o feet. Today we started our hand to hand combat training as well as ground fighting training. Being one of the bigger guys in the class, I got paired with another big guy. He beat me up pretty good. I had little to no training and he had enough to take me out. Needless to say, my body is very sore, and I know it will be worse tomorrow. It is really cool though to be doing training that I have always wanted to do and will help beat people up. Haha. Just kidding. But it is very cool, and I am really have a good time. More to follow.

So much coffee

I have had a whole pot of coffee by myself tonight and I am super hyper. I also haven't written in a while and I found out I have a new follower (thanks Sheli). "A new follower", sounds like I have a cult. Haha. I am watching "I Love you Man". It is hilarious. It reminds me of me and Matthew, one because we saw it together right before I left and also because it totally reminds me of me and him. My parents think it is a little crude, they are probably right, but it is still funny. Me and ma also watched "17 Again". And I don't care how gay it sounds, but that movie is great. It was really funny. It was like a mix of "It's a Wonderful City" and "A Christmas Carol". So I don't know why they stole plots from two Christmas movies, I guess they figured no one would notice since it is not a Christmas movie. Who cares, it is a good movie.

It is very nice to be home. I haven't spent a lot of time actually at home. I have been going all over the place: Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago. I had a lot of people to see, but I wish I had more time to just sit around and do nothing by myself. Or spending time with my folks. I know that they are jealous of the time I have spent moving around. Also, it is a nice just to sit at home and remember what is like to be a normal person again. I got to go for a run today on the Goose Trail, something that I had been wanting to do for a while now. It was perfect Wisconsin fall weather too. It had been raining and it was nice and cold. I had been used to such hot and humid weather down south that it was very refreshing to run in the cold. It was great.

Awkward man kisses that don't belong in movies, like the one in "I love you, Man". Very funny!

Random factoid: Men see the color blue as a strong color associated with power, while women see it as cold and icy. On the other hand, women see the color red as the color of love and passion, while men see red as a color of aggression and violence and fire. Random factoid for the day.

I am starting to come off of my caffeine buzz so I will go now, but I will be writing again soon. Stay tuned listeners.

Home

I had been worried the last few weeks that coming home would not be all that I had built it up to be. They had these people come onboard the ship from Fleet Family Services and they warned us that things have changed and it may not be what you expect it to be. I was nervous that home would have changed for me, that it would not feel right or that I would not fit in.

I got home yesterday, and it was and is everything that I had thought it would be. Wisconsin in the fall is a beautiful, peaceful, amazing place. It feels so good to be home. The smells are exactly what I remember. The cold is enough to chill me, but not enough to keep me inside. After being out at sea for six months, I needed a place where I could be myself and relax. It is here on the front porch, looking out at the leaves changing colors, smelling the cool wet night settling over me, that I can do that. I can remember myself and rest. I had thought that I had changed, and in many ways I have, I have learned so much, and I have grown even more, but I am the same person as when I left. I still have my joy, and I still retain the goofiness that so many know me for. It is so good to be home, relaxing, and getting back to being me.

Back Again

Hello everyone. Back inport and I have finally have the chance to get online. There have been some requests for some of my writing while at sea. I might have to upload some stuff. Well, we have been gone for four months and we are almost done. I have learned a lot and I have seen a lot of cool things. I have travelled all over and I have never been more tired, but besides all that, life is going really well. I cannot wait to get back to the States and come home and visit everyone. If any of my Sigma Pi guys are reading this, I really miss the house and RUSH. With the weather getting hot, it is all I can think about. Miss you guys. I learned a very important lesson about the Navy recently - don't sleep. As long as you don't sleep, you will be fine. If you think that you are done for the day - wrong. You actually have a lot more to do, there is no time for sleep. Hah. There is always something more to do. Whenever I think about sleeping, I go check my email or my tracker and then I realized that I actually have about three more things to do. It is okay, because when I get my work done, I feel much better about my day, and the fact that I am drop-dead tired doesn't matter as much. It is a weird phenomena. Well, I should be going. My liberty group is ready to go. I will post some of the stuff I have written now.



Bitter End
The bitter end
Call it out, repeat it
Walk it out, walk it to the edge
Don’t drop it, Can’t just toss it
The end of line, looped sometimes
When older, most times ragged
Ragged edge, bitter end
Flailing under tension, much less controlled
Reacting more on instinct,
Than on the direction of those who handle it

Safety concern, the bitter end
Lashing out, hold on tight
The bitter end, end of the rope
Who can hold on?
Not me, I must observe and hope for the best




Sleeping at Sea

Seven feet by two by two
the only personal space given
blue curtains as good as screen doors
closed off from the rest of the steel world

no such thing as silence
congestion of ship and shipmate
create a melody of living vessel
never quiet, a lullaby for sailors

the rock of the sea, the crash of waves
the grey lady sings us to sleep
like a mother to her grown men children
she sings to us, so we can sleep at sea

While we wake the lady demands much of us
We must work and toil to respect her
Some must remain at night to keep her company
She does not sleep and so neither can we





I could tell you, I could
We could walk hand in hand
Sharing stories and coy looks
Our eyes could laugh together, they would
I could meet your parents, I could
We could split holidays, here, there
I could kiss your neck
Below your jaw and lower
My hand could graze your side
Drawing you close
We could swap kisses and promises
Our lives could entangle,
Our legs could get tangled
We could love each other, we could
I could stroke your hair and shiver
We could lose ourselves
My parents would love you, my sister too
My brother could like your sister, he could
We could talk of Italy and Ireland
We could share our own talk
Our silences could share secrets
Our hearts could play well together
I could love you forever, I could
But I can’t tell you sunny lies, I can’t
Or can I?
Your dress could be white
The day would be perfect, it could be our own
Our friends could cry and laugh and clap
Your mother could be there, mine too
They would love each other
Grasp each others’ arms, new found friends
My dad could stand there, he could
He would cry, he always does
Your dad would grip my hand and slap my arm
He always does
We could smile at each other
All day and all night, never tiring

Our love could last the night, it could
I could love you forever, I would
Our hands would know each other
Their grooves would grow to miss the other
Our lips could taste each others’ longings

So far

Hey y'all,


So it has been a month. Wow, a lot has happened since then. We have done so much. Wish I could tell you about it but I really can't for security reasons. I will tell you that I am having a good time and that I am learning a lot. I am really starting to figure things out. Unfortunately I find myself really loving my job. This normally isn't a bad thing. However, if I keep at it like this I might just stay in for a long time. Time at sea is good for a lot of things. There are so few distractions that I can focus on what I need to do and what I want to do. Of course I miss being home and having free time, but when we are out at sea I know that I can't do those things so I am not divided in my time. I have settled with the idea that we are gone so with that done it is very easy to just live life on the ship. I have very limited internet time so I should wrap this up. If you want to stay in touch my email on the ship is marshag@ffg56.navymil and that is the best way to stay in touch. Facebook does not work, unfortunately. I don't know when I will get to get back on here so I will say that I miss you all very much. I am enjoying my time though, and I will be home soon. See you then.

Leaving

This will be the last post for a while. I leave soon so I want to leave you all with something new. Before that, I just want you all to know that I will be thinking of you all and missing you incredibly. But just think, in 6 months I will be able to take some leave and come home and visit. I am planning on taking a few weeks and driving around the Midwest and visiting as many as people as I can. (That means I have to buy a car, haha) I am excited to go. I am very nervous as well, being the first deployment I am going on. My ship's email address is marshag@ff56.navy.mil . The ship's address is : USS Simpson FFG 56; FPOAA; 34093-1510. Each ";" is a line break, address it to ENS Andrew Marsh. I will try to post on here as often as I can, and I will try to learn how to upload pictures. If not you will have to wait til I get back. Do not worry about me, I am kept in the hands of God and there is no safer place to be. I will get emails so feel free to contact me, I'd love to hear from you. Well, that's enough, here you go it's a work in progress....

Leaving

The Sea calls to me sweetly, enchanting
Holding untold fortune in her strange song
In her tumultuous fingers, she carries us
Crying salt tears for another to join her

None of us know how the Lady will bear us
We plot our course and pray for Almighty providence
But we put ourselves at the mercy of the waves and wind
Uncertain of true course and speed, we drift

Only God can stave off the wrath of the Grey Sea
Good Captain and Crew, will bring us home again
My face will again be seen in my father’s home
Not now, now I am leaving for unknown shores

Stuck too long in certain, solid ground
I will pry my feet free of murky mud, holding my legs down
The wide earth longs to be seen and traversed
the wild ocean waits for me, calling to me

Singing sweetly, enchanting, drawing me to unknown shores.
I am leaving.

Very Busy

So the count is winding down. We are leaving very soon. I am hectically trying to gather everything up that I am going to need to live on a ship for 6 months. It is really the little things that you don't think of. Extra toothbrush in case I drop one on the deck (not picking it up), soap, batteries. And then there are the big things. All the necessary uniform items, the equipment that I will need for training and qualifications, and of course my books. :) Every time I go onboard the ship and talk to my roommates they suggest something else that I did not think of to bring along. Another trip to the NEX or Walmart. And I have to shine my shoes, iron my uniforms, and do all the laundry I need to do before Sunday. Plus, I am trying my best to stay in contact with everyone that means so much to me. A tough task since I have amazing friends and the best family this side of St Peters' Gate. And all of this is after work, where I am busy training and trying to get qualified. But I love it. I am so excited.

All of it, the busy-work, the hustle, the correspondance is all part of the experience that I have anticipated for four and a half years. This deployment marks the first-step of a journy that I have been pursuing since sophomore year of high school. In a way its a culmination of the preperation of all that time at Madison and ROTC. And at the same time it is only the beginning of my Navy adventure. I feel like I am standing on the first page of a new, grand story. And plus i am such a romantic that i can't wait to get out onto the open sea, working with my men, finally joining that great fraternity of sea-faring men who brave the wide, wild ocean to do what other men shake their heads at in wonder. I cannot wait to see it all, take it all in, and tell you all about it. Until then, pray for me and my ship, to keep us safe. I will keep you posted.

Duty

So with my ship winding down to go on deployment the crew has split into two leave periods; half of them taking off the first two weeks and the second half taking the last two weeks off before we leave. Because of this, the crew that remains has duty every third day. Since I am new and haven't built up any leave I get to be around for all of the POM period. That means for a month, every third day is spent on the ship. Duty day means that turnover starts at 0645 on one day and you do not leave the ship until the next day at 0645. If that day happens to roll into another work day during the week then you stay on the ship and continue to work until you are done for the day.

During the week duty can turn one long day into three long days. Especially for me. I do not have a division yet, so most of my day is spent with online training and shadowing people to learn their jobs. On duty days, it turns into very long days. And the way schedule works it ends up taking away one of your weekend days as well. Even if you have duty on Sunday, it takes away your Saturday night, and the best of the week to relax and enjoy some time off. There is some good things about duty though. I get to stand watch with my shipmates and its a good chance to get to know them better. Its also a chance for me to start getting qualified, start becoming useful. Slowly but surely I am starting to get the hang of things. I am starting to find my place, which in turn allows a little bit of my personality to come out. I am starting to feel like myself and then I can enjoy what I am doing.

I'll keep you posted.

I love my Life!

So I had a great weekend. After having a long day on Thursday (whole other post) I got to cut out early on Friday, good start. Friday night started off with a Fairwell to some of the Engineering personnel at the local Dave and Busters. I had never been there before and it turns out that place is a lot of fun. Later that night myself and Matthew went out about the town and painted the town. We rocked out and ran into a lot of cool people that night. We are starting to get a feel for our new town. Saturday I just laid around and caught up on sleep. The weather down here is great.

Today after church we went to the beach! It was 80 degrees outside and sunny. We set up a horshoe pit on the beach and played a few games before some of our new friends from church showed up. The water was kind of cold but no worse than Lake Michigan in June (y'all know what I am talking about, John). After you get used to it, the ocean is sweet! Did a bunch of body-surfing and football. The weather down here is gorgeous. I cannot believe that it is March. It felt like the middle of summer today. I heard that in Wisconsin it was cold, rainy, and dreary. I apologize for rubbing it in people's faces, but if it helps the watere down here smells like farts. I have started calling it "fart water". Matthew and I went out to eat with some of the others from church for dinner. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. If it keeps up like this, I will probably not leave Florida. Come on down to visit me.

A lot of firsts

I just got back from my first underway. It was very educational. Not only did I find out what I will be doing for the foreseeable future, but also what my life will be like in the Navy. I do not have a specific job but instead I was put into the Engineering Department and into a position where the only thing I can and will do is observe, learn, and train to be a better leader and officer. It was a lot of walking around (lost) asking what to do and what I should be doing.

At first I felt that I was really wasting my time and not doing what I should be. But as the first few days went on I found that the best thing I could do was ask around and learn as much as possible. I may not know what is going on or what I should be doing all the time, but I know that this experience is invaluable for me as a leader in any situation. Everyone is new and lost at some point. This will not be the last time that I am new and out of place. The attitude I decide to take will determine my success. For now I will be confident in my position of learning and training. I will not be embarassed to ask a lot of questions. In this state, I will figure out what to do and will excel.

Keep you posted.

Florida!

Here I am, in Florida starting my new life. I've got to tell you it is amazingly exciting and nerve-wracking. The apartment is great. My roommate is as crazy as ever and I love it! It is good to be back living with Matthew. By the end of last year our friendship had gotten very close and it is great to be back in close proximity to it. The apartment is really nice and the weather is nicer. It is weird to be down here, starting my naval career. I have been looking towards this for so long and now it is here. It almost feels like another summer training cruise. I know that will all change on a six month deployment. It will feel very real then. I was very nervous before I came down. But it has been a good opportunity for me to rely on God's plan for me. Looking to Him is the only way to keep focused and calm. I will still be nervous of course, but I think that a certain amount of stress is normal and healthy. The opposite would be unwise. If I came into this new position carefree and thinking that I knew everything, it would turn out badly. I have great respect for the job that I have and so I approach it carefully and eager to learn all that I can. I will keep you updated on my progress.

In a Weird Mood

So I know that it happens to everybody but I am in a weird mood. It started with just being really antsy/squirrelly. Then it moved to going stir-crazy. When I decided to sit down and write and read it changed completely around. Now I sit on my bed in my sweats completely happy. It is funny how a mood can change so quickly. I wonder how many of our decisions are based on mood and how many are based on sound judgment. That would be a good study to conduct. Even for myself. How many decisions do I make on sound judgment and how many are based on emotions?

The thing is most emotions are just chemicals firing off. Lately mine have been firing in all directions whenever they feel like it. My daily routine is so off. Since my jaw has been wired shut I have changed many things. I cannot workout as often or as intensely as before which changes the physical/chemical makeup of my body. My diet has completely changed since I cannot open my teeth to eat food. I miss eating, chewing on food and swallowing. This not only messes with my chemical makeup but it also messes with my head. Food is something that I enjoy. It is a small thing and admittedly a dumb thing. But try for a week not eating solid food, not chewing anything. Switch to all dairy-based shakes and soup diet. It will drive you crazy.

I cannot speak properly either. I love to talk and interact with people. I always said that my only real talent was talking to people. Now that is gone as well. Maybe this is a time for to develop other skills. Oh well, different topic, different day. I also am unable to sing, which I love to do. It is one of the few pure expressions of emotions that I have found. Losing that is like losing my left arm. I can function but it is not fun.

All these factors and more that I am forgetting have added together to put me into a Funk. It is odd how simple things can push you off-kilter. And now sitting and writing is helping significantly. Simple things can move you back to center. I guess it is important to figure out what it is in life that keeps you in line, and what pushes you off. Avoid the bad and when you do move a bit off kilter, remember those things that keep you level.

Dan

Last but certainly not least is my roommate Dan. Dan was the guy I knew best before we moved into the new apartment. We were in the same degree plan and had a lot of classes. When he pledged we actually had a class together without planning it out. From then on we always planned our schedules to have at least one class together. Dan is a great friend and a great roommate. He is the quietest of the bunch but that's okay because I am the loudest. I talk enough for the both of us. I think Dan grounds us all a little bit. Dan is seriously obsessed with studying. He gets in these moods where he will study for hours on end. On Thursday nights when we go out Dan likes to stay in and study. He kind of reminds us that we are students and not just college kids.

Me and Dan do not agree on everything. We have very different views on some things. But the great thing about Dan is that we can discuss it and still be cool. If we fight, both of us feel awful and never stay mad long. I enjoy disagreeing with him because it challenges my simple views. It can be something as serious as politics or as simple as movie preference or literature. We always have a good discussion no matter what the topic.

My favorite thing about Dan is that he is a good running partner. I normally do not like to run with people, I usually avoid it. However, we started running together a couple of years ago and it really helps. We push each other when we need it and we know when the other needs to take it easy. We can run and talk at the same time and we always have good runs. This past summer we got pretty fast. We ran nearly every day. By the end of the summer we were cruising. Dan is just a good guy to hang out with. I have gone down to Florida with him for Spring Break. And I have visited his house for New Years. We can absolutely anything or absolutely nothing and still have fun. Having a guy like Dan as a roommate is great because we can talk about stuff I can't talk about with other people. He knows me pretty well and he knows how to not piss me off. He's a great guy and an even better friend.

Alex

What can I say about Alex? He has the most nicknames in the apartment. He pays our bills on time. He is equally as addicted to Scrubs as I am. And he is a great guy. Genuine would be the word I use to describe him. What you see is what you get. To quote the great, green philosopher Shrek, Alex is like an onion. "Onions have layers. Ogres have layers." Alex is not an ogre, most of the time, but he does have layers. The more you get to know him the more you like him.



We spent winter break in Madison together. We both had to work and since no one else was around we spent most of our time hanging out together. I had known him pretty well beforehand, but in the cold winter weather of Wisconsin there isn't a lot to do beside drink a few beers and shoot the bull for a while. We got to know each other pretty well. There are few people that I respect more than Alex. People give him a lot of crap but he is pretty kickass.

My favorite thing about Alex is that he is down to Earth. He knows whats going on. He enjoys simple things like Scrubs. Alex can easily watch four hours a day of Scrubs (more if it were on more). And I can watch it with him. It's a great show. It really is the simple things in life that mean the most. Sure Alex can get worked up about things from time to time, but who doesn't. You put a Wii-mote in his hand or turn on his favorite show and he is as happy as a clam.

Roommates - Adam

Adam is the good-looking guy in our apartment. I chuckle to myself even writing that because I know my other roommates will give me crap for it. I only mean that he is the only of us that looks like a movie star. If you have seen the new James Bond movies or just know who Daniel Craig is, then you have seen my roommate Adam. He, no kidding, looks just like him. He has people come up to him all the time at the bars saying, "You know who look like? That James Bond guy!" It's pretty funny to watch. On top of looking like a movie star, Adam would also be considered the fashionable guy in our apartment. He likes to sport his designer T's or a nice sweater. I am not by any means saying that he is a Diva or anything. In fact he is quite the opposite - very humble. But he knows how to dress.

Adam is also one of the better cooks in our apartment. Everyone in our apartment (besides me) is a pretty decent cook, but Adam has surprised a couple of times with the meals he makes. Whereas I generally make a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich, Adam's favorite meal is a stuffed chicken breast with potatos and some sort of vegetable. The only vegetables I eat are Doritos. Adam is also very clean. He doesn't like to do the dishes that often (Just kidding Adam) but he is very neat. For the most part Adam and I have very similar views. We can discuss politics, religion, or social issues without getting into any heated debates. Obviously we do not agree on everything, but we still enjoy a nice discussion about the others' view.

I think my favorite thing about Adam is going out to the bars with him. When we go out to the bars and such Adam is always the first one on the dance floor. The guy loves to dance, and the thing is - he's pretty good at it too. This opens up the floor for me to dance because I also love dancing at the bars. I am nowhere close to his skill level. I am pretty sure he took classes somewhere. But his skill takesk the focus off of me so I can just have a good time. That's what he does. He sets the stage for others to have a good time. He has pretty corny jokes and a dry sense of humor buts its great. Adam adds a little bit of spice to our apartment mix.

Roommates - Joe

It is the beginning of another semester. All of my roommates are back in town now and over the break I realized that I had missed living with them. I know a lot of people are crazy about their roommates and while it is true that my roommates are great we are not all "best friends" like some apartments. We all knew each other coming into this year and we generally liked everybody else, but we were not an inseperable clique. I have heard that it is a really bad idea to roommate with a best friend, and I have heard stories to back it up.

However, the situation with my roommates and I is ideal. We knew each other well enough to be comfortable living with each other right off the back, but we were not so close that we got sick of each other either. That is the biggest danger of having roommates. There is nothing worse than living with someone for a year and finding out 2 months in that you absolutely hate their guts (at least living with them).

So I guess this post is an Ode to My Roomies. It will be in four installments, describing each of my roommates and why they are awesome to live with. Some of you think is trite and juvenille but the truth of the matter is that good roommates, really good roommates are hard to come by.

I will start with Joe. Every apartment needs a guy like Joe. Joe is the most honest, forthright person I have ever met. He is direct and to the point. There has not been a situation in the apartment that Joe has had a problem addressing. If we have a problem with rent or we need something fixed, Joe is the guy to go over and talk to somebody. He does not worry about stepping on people's toes because he knows that if needs to get done, it is someone's job to get it done. He is the same with in the apartment. If someone doesn't clean up their crap or doesn't pay their rent on time. He has no problem saying "Hey clean up your crap". And the thing of it is, I don't of one time that anyone has gotten mad at him for doing so. It needs to get done and the guy responsible knows it. It isn't offensive because Joe is sweet like that.

We do not spend all our time together. We don't share secrets. And we don't borrow each others' clothes. But there has never been any question about our friendship. We hang out whenever, and when we are in the living room or cooking we all always have extremely pleasant conversation. Joe is a no-nonsense kind of guy. He doesn't let stupid things get in the way of him living his life. That's the best thing about him. He is realistic, down to earth, and therefore just a great guy to hang out with. Every apartment should have a Joe. If you need the landlord to stop stalling and fix something, if you need to yell at a roommate for never throwing out his sour milk, or if you just need to shoot the shit on a Friday after class - everybody needs a Joe.

Day 2

So the plan was for me to be in Florida by now. I was actually scheduled to be on a plane right now to move. Unfortunately, my face is broken, my jaw really, and now I am wired shut for a while. These circumstances keep me in Madison. I do not know for how long I will be around but it is nice to have more time with my friends at the UW.

As I am stuck with my mouth shut, it has forced me to do some thinking. Thinking about life, relationships, and those things that matter most. As I was preparing for graduation and commissioning I tried not to do the "this is my last..." conversation with myself. I avoided it like the plague in fact because I had seen too many people do it for everything. "This is my last Tuesday before a test", "this is my last Thursday night where I'm gonna eat T-Bell". I hated it. I determined that I would not be one of those sappy, crying-face seniors that would get all worked up over nothing.

Then the weirdest thing happened. I missed it. My senior (and a half) semester flew by. Before I knew it, it was over. It hit me hardest when I had my last fraternity chapter meeting. The friendships that I had cultivated over 4 years, the men that I had met, and the experiences that I had there literally changed my life. That first year at school, the fraternity is what kept me from quitting. And standing there before my Brothers saying goodbye, I realized that I was going to miss it. I was going to miss the stupid fights, the drunken beer pong matches, and the sense of family that comes with living with a group of guys for four years.

Many people look down on fraternities because they think that its a group of drunken college boys being jackasses together. And for some fraternities that may be the case. But as with all stereotypes, there may be some extreme true examples but for the most part the stereotype is proven wrong over and over again by the vast majority. This is the case with my fraternity, the Sigma Pi chapter at UW Madison. From the very beginning, what drew me to it was the sense of family and brotherhood that I experienced there. I have cried and laughed and done absolutely nothing with these men. The truest expression of friendship is to spend a day doing absolutely nothing with someone and being completely comfortable.

The men in my fraternity are the best and truest that I know. Their character is the best I've seen. When I joined, 9 of the original 40 Founding Fathers (including me) were members of the military. It is often said that the bond that is forged in battle creates an esprit de corps that forms those men into a band of brothers. This relationship is hard to find anywhere else, but I think that I have found something similar. The guys I have met will be in my wedding, they will be there when my kids are born, and they will be at my funeral. I love these guys. They are my truest brothers.

IF you are looking for a stereotype to break look no further than fraternities. The next time you meet someone who says "Yeah, I'm in a frat", take the time to get to know them. Chances are they may surprise you. The friendships they cultivate, the leadership they possess, and the sincerity of character are sure to turn the most cynical skeptic.

Hello

Hey everybody,

As this is my first post on my first blog I think introductions are in order. My name is Andrew Marsh, I am a new ensign in the United States Navy, and I created this site to stay connected to the people in my life who may not be able to otherwise keep in touch. I hope to post at least once a week but there will undoubtedly be times when I won't be able to post for a long time. I will try to keep you all updated on whats going on in my life. I will also be using this post as a means of getting my writing out to people to see it and critique it (Dan). So feel free to comment, be critical but not mean. Besides that, I hope this will keep you interested and in the loop. Talk to you later.

Andrew