Typhoon Time! Seriously, I'm scared to death...

Welcome to the Island, Typhoon Morakot! GO AWAY NOW!

Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness 3 was issued for Okinawa at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in advance of Tropical Storm Morakot, the ninth named storm of the season, officials at Kadena Air Base’s 18th Wing Weather Flight said.

Should Okinawa feel Morakot’s full force, it would be the first significant tropical storm to hit the island since Man-yi unleashed 105 mph winds and 10 inches of rain on July 13, 2007.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Morakot sat 550 miles east-southeast of Okinawa, churning west-northwest at 12 mph, packing sustained 46 mph winds with 58 mph gusts. Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts called for Morakot to rapidly move past Okinawa on Friday and into China early Saturday.

Kadena Weather Flight forecasts call for Okinawa to feel Morakot’s outer bands starting just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, with winds increasing into Thursday, when gusts of up to 70 mph could come between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Winds should dissipate by early Saturday morning.

Much depends on the storm’s forward speed, said Senior Master Sgt. Brian McDonald of the 18th Wing Weather Flight.

The storm’s current rapid movement “doesn’t give it a chance to really strengthen much,” he said. “If it slows down dramatically, it will be a stronger storm, which is what we don’t want.”

Base officials strongly recommended securing outdoor items; cobbling together typhoon kits with flashlights, bottled water and nonperishable foods; and putting towels under windows and doors to keep water out.

This is the lovely typhoon that I have been preparing for since Mr. Top Gun came home last night and informed me of this lovely little guests arrival! I was happy and excited that I got an appt. booked in Flight Medicine on Friday, but as he told me: "Yeah, I don't think your appt. is gonna happen..." WTF!!??! I have been here less than two weeks and in that time span have managed to do the following: 1. Managed to find our dream home before mandatory base housing kicked in. 2. Received my Japanese drivers license. 3. Purchased some cars. 4. Learned the basic Japanese greetings, customs and courtesies. 5. Been greeted at the airport upon our arrival and told this.. "Mr. Top Gun is on the next trip to the giant sandbox." "Oh, welcome to Japan!" 6. Received our temporary furniture, went shopping for food and stocked my pantry up. 7. TYPHOON MORAKOT is ON IT'S WAY!!!! 8. Freaked out (still am) ran to the commissary to get 4 HUGE 48 pack cases of bottled water, enough soup to live on for a week, break, milk, plastic baggies of all sizes, tissues for an entire Army, rice, extra towels to mop up water with, ice, plastic cups and bowels and utensils and plates, batteries and flashlights and the best part? Starkist Tuna lunch to go packs- which Mr. Top Gun conveniently picked up in the back of the commissary in the "Typhoon Preparedness Center." Seriously, he was uber excited about having found a 20 pack of them! Oh, Mr. Top Gun you are easily amused and I love you dearly even if you are a donkey :P

I will keep everyone posted as to how things are going over on my side of the pond, as long as I have power and internet access. I would like to ask all of my lovely blog buddies to please keep Mr. Top Gun and I in your prayers as well as the rest of the island, as we all ride this one out. May God keep us in his hands!

Not me Monday!

Today, I did not do any of these things:

*I did NOT argue with Sprint for an hour until they realized what PCS orders look like.

*I did NOT tell Mr. Top Gun to shut up (sorry, I love you.)

*I did NOT get in my car and storm out of the house in an angry, messy, fury...

*I did NOT get on the highway and let my lead foot out...

*I did NOT almost get pulled over by a State Trooper who was hiding in the bushes...

*I did NOT sustain myself all day long on only water.

*I did NOT break down in a ball of tears after visiting the grave site of one of my old HS student who passed away 3 years ago. I miss him so very much.

*I did NOT give a person the "Howdy, and welcome to Texas hello" in the parking lot...

*I did NOT throw a fit after hearing that some of the houses we have been looking at in Japan all of a sudden became 'occupied...'

*I did NOT spend copious amounts of Mr. Top Gun's money buying make-up today...

*And last I checked, I did NOT lose my mind... It's here somewhere, where are you?

Now, I am off to make dinner: Chicken fried steak, cream gravy, mashed potatoes and Mexican corn casserole :)

PCS induced schizophrenia, and Mr. Top Gun gets his feet done...

Does PCS'ing make you crazy? It there such a thing as PCS induced schizophrenia? Well, if so- guess what? The Top Gun's have this disease, and judging by the photos shown below I think we both need to be committed. Thanks for the craziness, Air Force! I totally LOVE you right now. Where are my medicines at? Seriously, at this point I don't think our lives could possibly get any crazier or crappy, and if so then feel free to just throw ANYTHING else you may have in store my way- I'm ready, waiting, and will deal with it (in my high heels, of course.)

Anyways, the other evening Mr. Top Gun and I were watching t.v. and I asked him if I could draw on him. Yes, like give him a tattoo or two... See, Mrs. Top Gun has two tattoos and that makes me the 'naughty girl' in Mr. Top Gun's eyes. He has none, and never will, so me drawing on him with a sharpie is as close to 'getting inked' that he shall ever get. He looked at me like I was a space cadet, and then agreed to let me 'ink' him up! On his feet only though... I asked why, and he says: "No one can see my feet in my flight boots. Besides how gay would it be if I had to get a physical or something, and all of a sudden I bend over and the guys see my lower back tattoo drawn by you." First, when does a pop up flight physical occur? It's not time for him to get one, so I figured he would let me ink his lower back. Nope. Oh well, I got his feet!

See, Mr. Top Gun really does LOVE TEXAS!

I drew a star on his left foot with a silver sharpie marker. His big toe got a smiley face! I later learned that silver sharpie marker is HARD as HECK to remove, so Mr. Top Gun walked around with silly looking feet for a few days.

These photos are proof that PCS'ing does make you crazy. So, for those of you that have made the BIG MOVE (overseas or not) what crazy thing (s) did you do? I would like to hope I am not actually going insane!

I'm Ranting, oh yes I am!

This pretty much sums it up...

*click on it to make it bigger*

Mrs. Top Gun is tired today. I don't give a rats butt about much and Mr. Top Gun is still "MIA." Not sure where he is, when he is going to come home to me- but I am pretty sure I would like to take a freakin' sledgehammer to his PLANE!!! RANT DAY?? YES!!!!!!! Planes break, I get that. Planes breaking every time he flies? CRAP. Where have all the good maintenance guys gone? Are there children fixing Mr. Top Gun's plane? No offense to my fellow Maintenance wives- your Husbands know what they are doing, the people at Mr. Top Gun's base do not. I feel bad for him, I really do. I wish I could fix things for him, I wish he didn't have to be all alone, and I want him to have a home cooked meal instead of eating at the chow hall every night. But, I sit amongst the 'Silent Ranks.' All I can do is give him all of the support and encouragement I can, without sounding like a mother. Mr. Top Gun is getting very antsy. His freakin' plane has managed to run his vitally important flights into the ground, and he was supposed to be home weeks ago.

Yes, I know I signed up for this crap when I married him. I lived this life as a kid, being shuttled around every few years, and crying for my daddy. So, I am entitled to rant about this now. I can only hope his flight this evening goes well *PRAYERS* If so, i'll have him home soon. I'm done now. Thanks for listening to my RANT!