dave

Partying with dave this weekend. We make it a semi-tradition to have a cigar every now and then when he's around. So I will be doing that. Don't worry people - i'm not a big time smoker. In fact...i'll probably be looking for something like a vanilla flavored cigar. I'm a man. wanna fight about it?

Got assigned to Brass Quintet for the navy band here (which I may have mentioned in the last post) I'm REALLY excited. I feel back at home, and also a need to practice now. So that should make the monotony easier! I am loving this job. LOVING it.

Also - iPhone 4 + facetime = FANTASMIC.

Post bootcamp

It's been a long time since the last blog. SO much has changed. First of all i'm in the Navy now. Good ol MUSN (Musician Seaman) Garcia is my official title and I literally play "full time" for a living. Let us look back....

Bootcamp was miserable. My friend Jim Watkins can attest to this - Watkins was my protege at Rutgers, but went into the navy to play bone 1 month before I did. He said the day we saw each other in the galley was the worst he'd ever seen me. I will not disagree with him. I was absolutely disheveled emotionally and physically. My head was shaved (full heads of hair help hide fat faces apparently), my clothes were too big, and I looked like a scared 18 year-old. Which wasn't that far off...just a decade. Long story short - I DID get "beat" (a navy term for intense working out in full camos and boots....pain.) for the stupid antics of dumb teenagers just like I was afraid I would. I hated life for about 4 weeks straight. I know...it sounds dramatic. I'm dramatic. Whatever. The only thing 2 things that I look forward to, was getting in my rack at night...and the letters from Ashley, family and friends. But I made it through. Passed the PT tests, lost 22 lbs overall, and graduated. It sucked.

I almost got set back in training because of a misunderstanding AFTER I had graduated bootcamp (but that's another story) - but I didn't, and on december 1st, I flew to Norfolk, Virginia and reported to the Musician A-school at Little Creek Joint Expeditionary Base in Virginia Beach. Ash moved down from jersey the following week and we got an awesome 3 bdr/1 bath house right up the road from the base.

A-school was interesting. It was easy. Time consuming - and sometimes stupid. But easy and beneficial to my military knowledge and to my chops. I got just enough phone signal in the practice rooms to stream netflix, so I would watch "Scrubs" while I was doing long tones or whatever monotonous exercises I could think of that were good for the chops, but boring to the mind. Made some GOOD friends that I miss very much already. And learned alot from my teacher - Ssgt. Ebo (USMC). He's a KILLIN Jazz player that is rivaled by few as far as I'm concerned. I also got to witness the "hurry up and wait" that people talk about the military being about. I can do that. That's what smartphones are for. I got the 4th highest overall score in the past decade from the school - which I do attribute to my good friend Diane informing that I should take the academic portion seriously (thanks Diane!) and because of that I'll be getting an advanced promotion to E4 in mid-August.

I received emailed word that I would get stationed in Jacksonville, which was our first choice for duty station. Imagine my surprise when I received orders stating I was going to Rhode Island. Well, this was apparently a surprise to the masterchief who writes our orders...and he informed me that that was a mistake and I was definitely going to Jacksonville. And that is where I write to you from now.

We have a condo on the river, with a porch that overlooks the complex's pool. I'm 5 minutes from base, driving against traffic. I was assigned as the trombonist for the brass quintet. My wife is happy, my dogs are happy. I paid off my car and we are aggressively paying off debt, which in turn makes my bank account happy. We are close to finding a church home. And I was home by 12:30 today. God is good. Look how far He's brought me.

4 days

Remember that time I started to blog about doing P90X? Hahahahahahahahahahahahmmm....

I just spent about an hour reading my friend Tim Wylie's blog - he's a buddy that I met when we moved to Searcy and I started going to the Westside Church of Christ. I was in his brother's wedding, we used to go over and jam at his house. He always had girlfriends and guitars. We actually lived together one summer too, it was a party. If you knew him - he hasn't changed (other than maturity and brain size...oh family size too), or at least that what it seems like after reading his blog for an hour, catching up on a year of his life.

In 4 days, I'll be chillin at home, and my Navy Recruiter will roll up to my house in a government car, and pick me up. I'll go to MEPS in Brooklyn, where they will give me hotel briefing. I was informed this basically is them telling us not to do it with anyone while at the hotel, and not to leave. The following morning I'll go back to MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station?) at the buttcrack of dawn, and pee in a cup as well as get measured again. Then they'll give me a plane ticket and I'll go to an oath ceremony. There I'll swear in - and say goodbye for 2 months to the sweetest, most beautiful woman I know. This is by far, the hardest thing about the military, and I literally thank God it's only for 2 months. Oh, i'll also say goodbye to best friend/roommate Ed (which will stink too...but not as much, love you Ed). I know God will take care of her, and us - but that certainly doesn't completely alleviate the human emotions.

Basic Training - 8 weeks of doing EXACTLY what I'm told to do. No more. No less. I've been in touch with my friend Jim Watkins' mom recently - he's a rutgers grad who joined the navy after I did, to do the same thing (play trombone), but somehow managed to get to leave sooner. She is saying he's had a lot of downtime for the first few weeks of basic. Now, Jim is an alumni of the Cadets of Bergen County of DCI fame. So his version of a summer and mine are quite different, and his version of a "walk in the park" is also, I'm certain, quite different than mine. I'm expecting it to be bad. I can do the pushups I need to, I can do the situps I need to...but the running. I'm sure I'll get better at it. Especially with someone forcing me to do it.

Everyone who has been there is telling me to go for some sort of leadership position while I'm there among my division. Not a bad idea because I think it goes towards promotion. The quicker I can get to E-4 - the quicker I can get to my test for E-6 (see previous post).

In Wylie style - i'll talk about something else. I polished all my nice mouthpieces at the shop yesterday and got a DB-90 Metronome. The most awesomest ever. Everyone at dillon's has been nice and kind and sorry to see me go, and I do appreciate it. Makes me feel good.

I will miss my two babies. Even though bubble still poops randomly and sometimes without any warning at all. I think Kiko likes his eyes rubbed - probably because they stick out so far from his head.

Write me letters while I'm at basic. I'll need it to keep the sanity I have from being destroyed by uninformed and immature 18-year-olds. :-)

5 year goal

1. Become the best trombonist among the US Navy Fleet Bands

2. Become debt free

3. Be ready to take the E-6 Test by the end of my first enlistment

4. Finish my Doctorate

5. Be a legitimate improviser

Title

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God"

I should get back to that - that title is SWEET.

run

1.5 miles in exactly 12:53. Good enough for a "Good - Low" pass on the US Navy scale.

I'm not stopping there though. i'll bet I can at least get down to 210.

practice time

Practice time! Sat in and watched the book for Damn Yankees out in Northport the other night. Then played the following night. Gaps in fundamental abilities. Not good.

But fixable.