31 December 2010 – New Year’s Eve…8 hours before all my peeps!

Hey y’all! Wow – can you believe it? New Year’s Eve already. 2011 is upon us. And I have completed my first 3 months on this contract! ¼ of the way through it. Only 9 more months to go…and March will be spent almost entirely at home. Woo Hoo I have to say I have had a pretty good week this week. Been a lot happier for some reason. Maybe because the Holidays are pretty much behind me and I have been extremely busy at work! Having the boss on R&R and me being involved in just about everything going on, sure makes for the time to pass quickly. NICE! I’ll take that part of it all, for sure!

So, what is everyone doing tonight to help ring in the New Year? Tonight is Friday, so it’s Seafood Friday in the Galley. Crab legs I hear. Yummy! Nice little meal for the New Year’s celebration! After that, they are having “Let’s Make a Deal” at 11 Degrees North before the Black & White Dance Party starts at 2200. Sigh…I do not have any of my fancy cocktail dresses here with me…but I do have a couple I can wear, if only to feel like a girl for the night! I ordered a few new dresses recently from Victoria’s Secret in preparation for the cruise next Aug. I know, it’s early. But all the summer stuff is cheap right now! So I am torn between a purple, red or navy & white dress. I am thinking about going with the red…just to be the exact opposite of the intent of the party! Ha ha Sounds like me, eh? So I am sure red it is!

This weekend is jam packed! I have diving trips both Sat. and Sun. I am finishing up the dive requirements for my Advanced Open Water certification. This includes doing my first deep dive – 100 feet below the surface. And then perhaps a wreck dive and a navigational dive. Can this girl navigate her way around in the water? We’ll see. Looking forward to it all! But damn it, the mail is so backed up right now. I ordered 2 wetsuits…which have not come in yet. The water is getting a bit chilly for me…so I was hoping for sure to have my wetsuit for the deep dive. Good thing on deep dives we won’t stay down too long. I’ll let you know how it goes…apparently I have to do math on this dive! I have to do a math problem at the surface and then do it again at depth. To see how my reaction time changes. Hope it’s not a hard math problem! And hope I am not hung over tomorrow after the party tonight! I can be responsible once in awhile, right? ;-) Right!

Wow – the day just got crazy! When all Hell breaks loose…it sure does, right? Whew…I have a breather again for a minute. Just hopped onto a gator and popped up to see the CO, Capt. Banaji. I made copies of some of those fabulous Whale Shark photos. It’s hard to tell if any good photos will come out when you have a disposable underwater camera. So I wanted to be sure he had some really high quality shots from the guys I went with that first time. You know, the same photos I have posted.

Speaking of going to see the Whale Sharks with the top brass…I don’t think I told y’all how that went! We had a BLAST! We saw so many Whale Sharks that day. The weather was great, the water a little chilly, but all-in-all a fantastic day! I think the bigwigs were able to let their hair down a bit (tee hee) and get in some much needed R&R. The XO, CDR Wilson, got in a couple of dives as well. I think he would agree that the water and undersea life here is quite amazing. Capt. Banaji and CMC Wilson both had plenty of time in the water with the Whale Sharks and then snorkeling at the reef as well. We had a great group of guys with us and a great ride out. We met up with another of Dolphin Excursions boats, the Deli, and were able to tie up and board it. It is one of those huge wooden boats that has multiple cabins in it. I can’t remember how many it sleeps…but it was a beautiful boat. Dan, from Dolphin, says their next venture will be setting out for several days on the Deli to hit multiple dive locations and spend each night on the boat under the stars! SIGN ME UP! That would be a wonderful way to spend a few days and nights! I’ll keep you posted on that. Looks like they might try this out starting in February! Maybe my wetsuits will be here by then! J Anyway, I think the top 3 had a great day out on the water. It is nice to get away, if only for the day.

I am sitting here at my desk jamming to some awesome 80’s tunes. Trying to get prepared for the party tonight! Hoping they play some fun music. We haven’t actually had a dance here yet…so this should be interesting. Could be like what you see in the movies with the old USO having dances for the servicemen…a bunch of local ladies lined up hoping someone asks them to dance. Maybe some punch and snacks to munch on? Ha Ha We do have a whole new set of people that have arrived recently. So we’ll see how they mingle in with the oldies but goodies who have been here for awhile.

Some of my friends are doing overnights at the Kempinski or Sheraton hotels tonight. One of these days I plan to try that as well. To have a real bed with a real shower…maybe even take a bath! Imagine! Just the little luxuries! I tell you what, when I did the spa day at the Kempinski, I think my favorite part was the real shower that had awesome water pressure and I didn’t have to shut it off every 10 seconds! Aaahhhhh……

Well just about everyone in this building has checked out for the day. I am thinking I might not be far behind them! I need to do my nails, toenails, fix my hair and make-up and figure out how I am going to wear heels again after all this time! It’s a busy afternoon! Wow – gonna look like a girl again tonight…you don’t see that too much around here. Too hot, too dusty, and too much gravel and sand. If you aren’t wearing a uniform, you are wearing jeans or something you aren’t too worried about getting dirty. I am honestly looking forward to wearing a dress again!

So…next week I will post pictures and tell you all about ringing in a New Year at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa! Here’s wishing you all an amazing night tonight and an even more amazing year in 2011! Looking forward to all the blessings I know are coming our way! Love and miss all of you!

Ciao!