I have been waiting for this for a while – and from there will be some “waiting” to go. But you know, retirement is on the horizon, and i love it!
One year until I retire!
This is another instance where it feels as though it was a blink of an eye, but here we are almost 20 years in the U.S. Navy as I write these words. It has been a busy day of sorts, currently in my career whatever is it that I do for a living is quite frankly very easy. And I can get it done pretty quickly… as it should… For the most part I’ve been working on what I leave behind once my time in uniform comes to an end. As I write this, it is about 6:00pm for all you civilian folks, or 1800 for us in the military. I have duty; therefore, I’ll spend the night here. Meanwhile, I figured I should take a break and ponder on the significance of this moment.
One of the questions I’ll get often will be: “Do you miss it?” Referring to my time in the U.S. Navy. And that is a loaded question, there is a lot I will miss – and there is a lot I’ll be happy it is in the rearview mirror. This response is not disparaging in nature – but 1/5 of a century its quite a long time. And I entered the service already when I was 1/4 century old… I was 25 years old… I had a lot of interesting experiences before the Navy, and I’ve gathered so many new memories ever since. I don’t regret it for a minute, but this chapter of my life is ending, and I am ready for it.
One thing I will miss is the Sailors. There are so many wonderful people wearing this uniform. As I type this, I am eye-balling a mango one of the junior culinary specialists gave me. As I was putting my dish this morning from breakfast, he greeted me with a smile, asked me if I like mangos, and got me this mango. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to enjoy it… and there is a non-zero chance I won’t chow down on that as soon as I finish writing this article. But the point of this anecdote is illustrative of the little surprises of kindness you get to be part of this team. Sure, it is only a mango – but the human connection and kindness is a lot larger than the actual fruit, and I appreciate it. It’s hard to explain, but it is fun.
One of the things that has been keeping me busy is the deployment cruise book. I volunteered to put it together. And yes, it has been taking a long time. Then again, it is only one of me putting this thing together and I’m using my own computer, my own software, my own media, and for the most part the several thousands of photos I took during this deployment time. It is time consuming, but I rather make people wait for something that is worth-while than rush it and just “get it done” – also, it is because I want to make sure this will help them tell the story of our shared adventure to their loved ones. And there are literally hundreds of small easter eggs hidden all over the book. I really want this to be something nice for them. Thus far everyone who’s seen the preview likes it very much. And I am glad.
Of course, that it does take time, effort, and expertise. I am among other things a professional graphic designer, so it is not just a book with a bunch of pictures slapped on the pages. Hopefully I’ll be done with it in the next few days. The truth is that if I am spending time working on the book, then I am simply not doing something else. And I’ve even been using the little bit of time off I have, even on vacation time to work on it. And for anybody who has worked on creative design, you know that this can be a very time-consuming endeavor. Especially when there is a sense of complex creativity and continuity involved. This particularly merges hundreds of events and stories – as well as actual history. It is easy to slap images and text onto something. But it is a lot different to design it and write all the text and create a feel that marries the images to the context in the shared lives of an entire crew. That’s the intent with this book.
I’ll be able to put samples of the book in the future. I plan to use it also as a recent example of graphic design. Afterall, it is something I would like to do for “professional fun” once I leave the Navy. And when I think about it, I’ve done so many graphic design projects in the last 20 years for the Navy – really pro-bono because it is not like I’ve been given a computer with the specialized software I am utilizing. All specialized graphic design I’ve created have been in my own computers, in my own time.
But of course, my Naval career has been so much more than graphic design. I’m just talking about it right now, because it is the last thing I was doing before I sat down to write this article. And it is the next thing I’ll do once I proofread this article AND eat my mango.
© 2023 Marcelo Baqueroalvarez / HLC | Me at the Chiefs Mess onboard USS COLE DDG 67
So, what’s next for me?
Well, a lot… actually. And I do have a plan for all that. Some of those plans are not 100% solidified, but that’ s the nature of the beast. I am not worried necessarily, but I do realize there are timelines and a bunch of stuff that needs to be in place in order to finish my transition. I can’t wait.
As I sit here, I know my daughter had been acting up a bit. And that’s normal given the circumstances. But I want to be there for my child and of course for my wife, because it is a lot to deal with for any one parent. I feel I am in the right track to get this sorted out properly. It has been stressful, and there is a lot that has not been started yet. However, I’m a big proponent on being positive even in the face of adversity. Not to say that I won’t contend and complain if I’m not happy during a period of discontent. But then again, I find it healthy to vent – if this will help me moving forward to complete these goals.
And with that, let’s start the countdown. In one year from today, it will be Wednesday 31 January 2024. By then I should be spending my last several weeks of leave and other time off I’ve accrued. And you know what? I’m going to look feral and happy. I’ll let my hair and beard grow, I will put earrings in my already pierced ears, and it will be awesome. I’ll spend time at home whenever I want and give that free time to my wife and daughter. There is so much we’ve missed, and time won’t wait for anybody. But at least we can make some new memories together.
Of course, I’ve been getting ready for years with my little company BeeZee Vision, LLC which specializes in web-development. The company will turn 10 years this 2023! However, because of the very dynamic Navy schedule I chose not to scale up, but now I can finally work on doing so. And of course, I have this very project you know – Half Life Crisis (this site), and all the cool stuff that’s in store related to this. There is a huge chance I’ll be getting 100% disability after all these years in uniform, so I would not technically need to work unless I really want to. That’s good news because I want to do what I love. And what I love doing is ranting about all kinds of stuff I find interesting. That’s why I created Half Life Crisis. Aside from that, I love spending time with my girls, but that also implies they want to spend time with me too. Which normally they do, and I appreciate that.
As the countdown dwindles down, I’ll do an update every now and then. Possibly at the end of each month. But who knows, life tends to be crazy on this ship. For now, I’m just going to sit down, proofread this AND eat my mango. Thank you for hanging out with me. Let me know if you’ve retired already, and what do you like most and least about it. Let’s continue the conversation. HLC