Happy Birthday to me!!!

Welp, it's august 1st here in Cali. Just hit my 23rd birthday. Kinda sounds weird to even say?! Oh well. Just been hanging in there, having a pretty easy couple of weeks here on the line shack. I'm talking like super easy- getting out like 2-3 hours early every night. But when we do work we work hard. Been doing a lot of studying lately too cuz we have a lot of free time on our hands. Which reminds me, word on the street is we are not going to get deployed until early/mid 2015. Thats like 2 fricken years!!! ughhh. But next year we will be going on a RIMPAC, which is just a bunch of navys getting together and having a fun time. We will probably cruise out to Hawaii, maybe Australia, and just hang out for like 3-5 months. I dno, guess ill just enjoy this time on land for meow. Been doing pretty good lately on my quals- out of the 4 quals i need before i can become a Plane Captain (which is what everyone is striving for), I got 2 done, and im like 7/8 done another one, and like 5/6 done another one. Then i can start studying a crap ton for my end all be all of the line shak, which will be a Plane Captain. And i'm like really really good at studying, so dont try me. its like not even fair. So Quals are getting done, been a lil stressful, but i'm happy with the path im going, and the rate im going actually. One week until i go on leave by the way!!! Holy smokes, probably gonne be the best leave ever. I honestly cannot wait. And to have my jeep out here? what could be better than that? I can do stuff on my own terms. And sometimes i just love going for a nice cruise every meow and then, especailly during the night, and i love my jeep so much. no top. Speaking of- my rentals told me they got me a bikini top for the jeep, its just a top for the driver/passeneger. Since it doesnt rain here, ill probably always have it on, just in case. But it will just be nice to have ya dig? I also picked up a really good book the other week. Called the MazeRunner. Read the back of the book and immediatly fell in love. Basically a bunch of kids stuck in a real life maze, and they have to try and get out- theres more to it than that though. I finished it in like 3 days. This was a long book. 3 days. I come to the end of the book, and i found out there is 2 more in the series AND a prequel. Like holy crap, i cant wait to get those new books and read them, they are that good. Once im hooked on a book i just cant put it down lol. So anyway- jobs good, finding myself smiling a lot more- which is good. Just trying to live it up the best i can, and all these kids are basically my age, so its like hanging out with a bunch of friends and working with them. Everyone always jokes and likes to have a good time. Its not too bad at all. Meeting a lot of people, and picking and choosing my battles wisely. Things are really working out here with this new career path, i secretly am beginning to enjoy it- just wait till i get my jeep out here... right?!?! And my good mood could also be attributed to Alyson as well. And maybe the fact that things are going really well with her, and i'll be seeing her very soon? Basically on cloud 9 right now.Oh and its my birthday. But yeah, this night check is working out really well too. Lots of people like bring in food just for kicks and giggles, its wierd. I leave and come back and theres pizza, meatball subs on the table. I dont ask questions, i just dig in. Anyway, finally get paid after like 3 weeks today, so ill put a chunk aside for when i go home, cuz i estimated my gas total to be like 800 bucks LOL. My jeep seems to be better than your average jeep on gas though, least i tend to think so. Maybe put it in neutral going down hills chris?!?! lol. ssf. Dave Garside called me today, he swore in today going for a green beret. Very nice to hear from him, and it gets me excited that he is as excited and nervous as i was when i was in his spot. Brings back that knot in my stomach. But anyway. Tonight at work, we had no flights going out, so we did some more studying/etc. And at the end of the night 6 people were chosen to stay back and help out with a jet. They jet just had some work done to it, and we needed to test out its high power abilities- meaning afterburner. We brought it to a special spot, and tied it down with this massive chain. then We let the maintainers go to work, they were in the cockpit and were testing the power. This is at like 1AM mind you, so the afterburner is gonna burn bright blue. So im like 15 feet from the jet, and its doing its normai power, then BAM a bright stream of blue shoots out the end of the jet, and the nose jerks down as it tries to go forward, but it got stopped by the chain. Incredible sight- all while your whole body is just rumbling from this noise. They did this for like 5 minutes, and it was a pretty cool thing to experience. Especially to spend my 23rd birthday. I just pretended the afterburners were my candles LOL. My buddy got a pretty cool couple pics of it that will be on facebook, ill def make sure you see them. So that was my night. Road trip is coming up quick. Talked to Paps, said we'll swing by Niagra falls real quick, then head on down to Colorado to visit Jared, hey Jared!!! cuz he lives there meow, wierd. Then shoot out to vegas for like 2 days. See some shows, and i wanted to try the freefall thing they have from that tall skyscraper. Maybe even try to convince father to do it too. Then come back to Cali, with un jeep. But just the feeling of it going to happen- the anticipation- is the best feeling in the world. I just hope time doesnt fly by when i get home, but soon enough ill be writing a blog about how my time at home was. UGhh Its crazy how days go by slow here, but the weeks go by so fast. Its actaully a little frightening. Everybodys working for the weekend lol. Takeaway points- work is good, having fun with friends, keeping in touch with friends/family, got my eye on a pretty cool girl, future looks bright.