Tests, Of All Kinds

Friday's written test (short answer, multiple choice & T/F, comprising 50 questions) turned out a 92% for me. Some tricky questions in there... and three of the four I missed were T/F, of course.

This morning we had the PRT, and I think my overall range is in the Excellent category this time: 89 curl-ups, 29 push-ups, and 13:30 on my 1.5 mile run. I hadn't been practicing as much as I should, but with all the leave I took the last two months, it's not too shocking. :) The grass was very wet this morning, and the sun was as bright as ever, but we were done by 0920... before it had a chance to noticeably affect the heat.

And of course, I forgot that we would be taking our practical in the lab today. I went second, and got flustered... (we were doing it one-on-one, and it had been at least 5 days since we had been taught it) and I missed a couple little things and only got a 95%, when most of the class got 98-100's. During class-time, I was the only one who bothered to start taking notes. It frustrates me that I put out so much effort, but still others do better on tests. There's a 3-way "tie" for 3rd place (at 92%) and I'm on the bottom of that (at 5th place), behind by 0.07%.

But what aggravates me most is how much this affects my spirits. My family is intensely competitive sometimes, and test-taking has always been a sore spot for me. I'm not the best at it, and sometimes it takes me a while to get things, but I work hard for it. What bothers me most is that inside I'm hoping for the others to screw up, so I can get some sort of pat on the back for being the best. What's crazy, is that the ranking in this class does not matter at all... just so you pass (80%). It doesn't affect orders, or anything else. I can't get the top of the class award, because I missed it in A school by 0.25%... that and the leader in this class has a 98.2ish%.

What am I saying with all this? God, please help me. I want to show off your grace and peace, not my selfishness. Give me your joy with whatever ranking I have. Help me to remember what is important and what is not.

Made It!

The few days with very little food worked wonders! I got there early, weighed in at 164 pounds! Yay! The limit for my 67 inches is 167 lbs. I stood up tall when I was measured and the guy spotted me at 68"... which would have given me even more leeway. Don't know what the limit is for that... 172 or something. Don't understand that though... it's not like a person's height changes. You'd think that piece of data would be kept in the record. Oh, well!

In other exciting news, I filled out and turned in a brand new holiday stand-down leave request. The first one I filled out was based on September's Leave & Earnings Statement (LES). So I went to the SRC (student resource center) and printed the October LES (2nd floor), got a new form from admin (1st floor), picked up my previous printed-out itinerary from the classroom (3rd floor), got my duty section's watchbill coordinator's signature (2nd floor), then returned to admin, filled out a "counseling chit" because I have a little less leave than I'm taking (10.5 days at this point for the 17 day leave, but I will make it up by January though), and then finally turned it in. God bless it.

And this LES is very exciting... it has my first Basic Housing Allowance (BAH), and that for San Diego too. This is since I'm now a married E-4... and it comes out to around $1,900 a month for that alone, and was back-dated to September 17th. Apparently, half is paid on the 1st (this LES), and half at mid-month.

Otherwise, today we studied a bit more. Had some review questions... and tomorrow is our test. Yay! Won't have time to discharge the information over the weekend. Especially with the PRT (curl-ups, push-ups & run) on Monday around 0800.

More of the Same...

Monday was the first day without living on base... !!! And of course, I forgot my badge at home when I changed out the t-shirt and socks from my backpack. I biked there in my PT uniform, worked out... I've starting bench-pressing in an attempt to help my pushups. And running on the elliptical trainer (1.5 miles in 12:30, averaging 7.5 mph). Did the same workout Tuesday after school... we got out early. But during class I managed to get through most of a lecture in my note-taking. Hibbard and I started off the day with the first lab, but other than that it was hang out time (for most of the class) while the teacher did labs with everyone by twos.

Tuesday's quarters is at 0730, so I had to get there early. Got there early for breakfast, driving the car this time (left my bike on base on Monday since I didn't feel like changing back into PT clothes... my boots won't fit into the stirrups). Checked out of my barracks room and turned in my key. No more staying there for me. Then I did extra study for 2 full hours, catching up on lots of notes during the quiet. Lunch break, then class for like what seemed like forever. And I did do the next lab with Hibbard just before he let us go. Finished taking the notes! Yay!

Today, I got there just on time before noon. Just study time... I asked my shipmates questions from my notes and we studied like that for nearly the first 3 hours, solid. In my haste, I forgot lunch, so I grabbed a chicken salad snack and iced tea at the NEX about 1330. Everyone got through the second lab, and STG2 Akins finished the last lecture before letting us go.

Tomorrow morning is the weigh-in for the PRT... finally! I think my stomach has shrunk a little this week. :)

Money and More

Thursday I slept so late I only barely made it to lunch before the GMT. So glad I woke when I did... I was thinking colors would wake me back up at 0800, but I slept right through it.

The GMT was on financial management, taught by a jovial and excitable retired Command Master Chief. He came up to my class while we were waiting outside for it to start, and began telling really awful one-liners... lol! What a funny guy.

In class we had one more lecture, then I nearly finished taking notes before we were let go... around 1715 by my mentor, STG1 Cooper, who is also in charge of the system we're learning.

Today I woke in plenty of time to go to extra study for a half hour... then we breezed through 3 lectures this afternoon. Thankfully all of them were shorter. This'll leave just one lecture for Monday, and then we'll be doing lots of labs.

More Lecture

But only one today... and I was able to finish the first lecture from yesterday as well as most of the second. Only 7 more slides! The hour of extra study helped this morning.

Yesterday's PT was all focused on my arms... bench pressing, standing rows, dips, preacher curls, and push-ups. Today I did a little more pushups, about 82 situps in 2 minutes and a mile-and-a-half on the eliptical.

Tomorrow's PT is cancelled due to a GMT (general training) at the auditorium. Hmm... weigh-in's are next Thursday and PRT is on Halloween... what timing.

The Next Set

We completed two lectures today from our new topic... only ten more to go. This next set of powerpoints will take the next two weeks before we're able to test... talk about a lot of information!

We also have to dive through a huge amount of information in the tech pubs in order to answer all the study questions; today that drove me crazy until somebody helped me out with how to search for it. A little hit and miss, really.

So brain is fried and will be for quite some time. Come sweet December 14! :)

More Class

Friday's are usually pointless... at least the first two have been. We had maybe a good hour of studying as a class, and only that because we were scared into thinking the test was an hour after we heard. Our teacher is a great jokester... :) I was able to finish writing all my notes, however.

Today we had all day to study, then we took the test a bit after 1600. I scored a 96%, which puts me in third place by a 1/2 a percent... an overall of 91% for these first two weeks. Much happier with this week's score.

Happy Birthday Navy

On the 236th year anniversary of the founding of this fine organization, I fried my brain in class, trying to catch up with yesterday's 169 slide presentation on oceanography while also listening to a second lecture and taking in a lab. I suppose it's much more fun than last year's occasion for me... I was just beginning boot camp.

Happy birthday, my Navy. I hope to serve you well.

First Test and Then Some

So yesterday was our first test... and our second. The first revision we saw was half about things we hadn't been told to study or were things we weren't taught. So everyone failed. Came back from lunch and they said, "So that was a practice." And we immediately took a second version which was mostly all stuff we covered. I made a few mistakes and only got an 86% (missing 7 questions)... at least I passed it and can move on to the next weeks and aim higher.

Today we had urinalysis, then four hours of solid studying the new topic of oceanography.

I am hitting PT hard this week though... trying out Insanity with my classmate.

Lectures & First Lab

Tuesday and Wednesday we had three lectures, but still had four to go... I was a little worried about the amount of info we'd have to know. Turns out one was a lab on basic operating movements on the main segment, and the other three were pretty short.

Wednesday we started Mando from 0900-1100, and today we PT'd for the first time. I did my new usual workout... weights and push-ups, sit-ups, then cardio.

It's pretty standard for us to be released for the day when we're released for dinner at 1715 or so. And we've gotten through all the notes, and only need to memorize now.

Mando and Mast

We were able to get almost an hour of mandatory study in this morning... but that wasn't until 0900! I woke up just in time to catch breakfast, then returned to bed for a half-hour before I took a shower. Such a stressful morning. :)

The open Captain's Mast was held in the auditorium of Bldg 52 this time, so while the Captain cross-questioned each of the four offenders, we were allowed to sit down. Only while he was reading the charges of cheating, underage drinking (and supplying) and Spice use and while he handed out the punishments were we required to stand at attention.

Couldn't believe the automated answers the Captain got when he asked specific questions about what was going through their minds when they did wrong. He spoke to us briefly when all was done... he really seems to care that we do well. And that feels good to have a Captain like that.

Overview Day

My new schedule is so odd... We had the Tuesday quarters this morning at 0730, and then I had nothing to do until 1200! Did a few pushups in the barracks after having a long talk with Mom & Dad... even sat in the lounge and talked... that's so much nicer now that my new phone has reception in there. I can sit down comfortably on a couch and talk... imagine that!

Had lunch with Hibbard... and then we all went up to room #360 (in the south-east corner of the building) and selected a front row seat, like always. :) We had our first lecture, and boy, is it going to be a difficult week. Lots of stuff to memorize.

So for the rest of the week we have mandatory extra study from 0900-1100 with no PT... then lunch, then supposedly, class until 1900 with a break for dinner. Today we didn't have lunch break, but we were let go for the day at dinner time, or 1715ish.

But I also had watch this morning from my duty section being yesterday. 0130 to 0630, Bravo Duty Driver. I had the phone with me in my room and napped sporadically, waking and checking it. Worked out well though, since we had an NSU inspection at quarters... so I didn't need to change!

Back to School

There were a bunch of us conglomerated outside the quarterdeck to class up... there were two of my kind of classes, as well as an A-school class, and probably some others.

First they sent us to the second floor of the schoolhouse, interrupting my friend Witte's class. Then they sent us up one more flight to 361 where we waited for a long time, so they could figure out what happened to the guy that wasn't there. We then were given a quick brief about being good students and how if we're caught cheating we'll probably get kicked out of the Navy... things are so full now. We filled out our information on a class roster and were given the new schedule for the next 10 weeks (I'm in the afternoon class): 1100-1200: PT, 1200-1300: lunch, 1300-1900: class. Whew! We'll see how this goes. PT is on Mon, Wed, & Thursdays, and we have a 0730 quarters on Tuesdays. Tomorrow we're opening it with a bang: NSU inspection.

Then we worked on numbering and stamping our notebooks, and since this was the same procedure as in A-school, it went fast enough, and we were posted for the day.

And I found my new "WATERS" name-tapes arrived at the post office afterwords. :)