I’m gonna start by saying that I am considerably drunk. Four Bombay Gin & tonics will do that to you. And none of that Bombay Sapphire stuff, this is Bombay dry. Anyway I also think I should note in a bit burnt out on Neil Stephenson. I read the ENTIRE Baroque Cycle before I read “Snow Crash”, so I know his particular tropes. Particularly the “Strong Female Character” he seems to love so well. In fact, he loves this particular slant so much he has two strong female characters in “Snow Crash”. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I happen to know quite a few women who can handle their own business. But after reading much of his other works the formula begins to become all too clear. It’s the most obvious kind of fan service. Plus the statutory tape is a bit disturbing. The apologist stance for Catholicism doesn’t endear it to me either, being a Catholic myself. Denying the Resurrection denies the central point of Christianity. But I’m drunk, what do I know? Anyway the whole plot feels a bit like literary masturbation. You like Japanese culture, yeah we get that. Does it need to play such a central part in all of your stories? Does your protagonist need to have katanas as he weapons of choice? I think not. Also Stephenson fails to address that half-black half-asians are usually short. I have a friend who is Afro-Japanese and he’s about. 5’3”. Anyway I found this book distinctly less-than-satisfying. I loved “The Diamond Age”, but I feel like Stephenson’s body of work does not stand up to the standard that novel sets . I like the whole “enclave” style of governance, but it gets bogged down in so much fan service it’s painful to read. If I had to rate it out of ten, I’d give it a five. It isn’t entirely stupid, but the entire experience was painful at best.

The Best Western in Staunton VA provides a complimentary rubber duck in the bath tub. It’s a nice touch that costs almost nothing. It is symptomatic of an overall level of care that is evident. It’s clean and there is a bed, which is all I really need at this point. In fact the room has two beds, which feels weird since I’m the only one here.

It felt weird to leave today too. I got a nice send-off, as well as help with the crazy amounts of stuff I seem to have accumulated. And in classic fashion I almost destroyed my coffee maker while loading it up. It was good to leave when I did. It was a nice goodbye, heartfelt but without any tears or theatrics. It’s like I was going away for a vacation instead of leaving Annapolis for good. I think if I would have stuck around until there was time for a real going away party I would have broken down. I would have been a melancholy drunk; salting my gin and tonic with my own bitter tears (yes Abbott I used that semicolon just to annoy you). No one wants to see that. I think the fact that I’m actually gone is still sinking in. I feel like tomorrow I’ll wake up to chow calls and formation. Like I’ll go to meals and class. Like I’ll worry about the same midshipman problems as always. But those days are gone. It hurts to know that I won’t be a part of that world. I’ll see all the statuses about I-ball and ring deliveries and people bitching about parade practice from far away. It’s the small things I’ll miss. The small things and the people who made them worthwhile. My friends who were more like brothers than friends.

I guess I could get bitter. I could get angry and spiteful, even though the blame for getting kicked out is mine. But I don’t think I will. I still love the Academy, even though it sent me away. I won’t forget the bad parts, but on the whole I still love the USNA. All its stupidity right along with its intelligence and beauty.

Anyway that’s enough of that. I have waxed melancholic enough for two posts by my estimate. I’ll be keeping this blog so people can keep track of me (and know exactly when I start using crystal meth). Also CDR Huey told me to keep a journal. So here’s me keeping a journal. I’ve got 10 hours to drive tomorrow so I guess I’ll try and sleep now.

I write this somewhere halfway between Baltimore and Germany. I’ve been drinking gin and tonics for the last hour or so. I’m pretty sure the flight attendant thinks I’m an alcoholic at this point. I really enjoy gin and tonic because you really know when you’ve had enough. I think this will be my new go-to beverage. Anyway, I figure now is as good a time as any to write. Once we get to Ramstein Aim going to get a real leather notebook for writing. This iPhone touchscreen really doesn’t cut it.

I never really appreciated Hemingway until now. He sparse prose is straight and to the point. And a little bitter, a bit like a gin and tonic. It’s powerful without droning on about itself. What I found interesting was how Hemingway realized the fault with the failure of his first marriage. He was weak, naive and male. An unfortunate condition that probably afflicts an eighth of the world’s populace. This book strikes me as an excellent Springboard for understanding the rest of his work. Now when I’m reading “the Sun Also Rises” I can see who inspired some of the characters in that story. It gives you a great background to the rest of his books. Also it’s made me fall in love with the idea of Paris a little. I can’t really fall in love with the city proper till I get there. But it’s a wonderful abstraction. The chapters jump around a bit. There’s no real continuous narrative, probably because it was published after he died. For all that it’s still very powerful. It is a bit like watching a dead friend’s home videos. It is emotional, powerful, and and deeply intimate. It shows a proud man’s failings of character. Were I to meet Hemingway in the street today I doubt we would be friends. Despite that I admire his work and his life. Vive la mor, vive la guerre. (correct spelling on last line?)

Note: this post was written entirely on my iPhone.

I’m going to start with a warning; this is about to be really roundabout and somewhat nerdy.

So I was reading BBC online just now and I noticed a strange headline. “Anonymous Declares War on Orlando” This in turn answers a question I asked myself earlier today. Namely: what happened to all the people on 4chan?

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It’s 1:30 here on the east coast, and once again I’m awake. I made the mistake of reading in bed instead of going straight to sleep. I do this every night, yet I always seem to expect a different outcome. I believe that is a loose definition of insanity.

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Well I seem to have forgotten a simple fact of drinking. Namely that your body metabolizes alcohol at a constant rate. So despite the fact that I’ve finished my bottle of wine, I’m still getting drunker. Hooray! And since I’m still drunk, I can continue to post. It’s my personal bias against false advertising. I don’t do drunken book reviews unless I’m actually drunk. So I’ll take advantage of my drunkenness to continue reviewing.

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