First Entry

Hi, my name is Brandon and this is my new blog.

Between 2003 and 2009 I spent a lot of time working in Asia as an ESL teacher. I got really bored one day in Thailand and decided to write a blog, or whatever it's called, on Myspace (this was before Facebook was common) and received a lot of positive feedback from some friends there.

This encouraged me to not only continue to blog about my experiences overseas but to also buy an inexpensive digital camera and take photos which I didn't bother to do my first 2 years in China.

Eventually, I decided to stop posting blogs on myspace when I discovered this site and I've been here ever since....I don't even remember the last time I logged onto Myspace!

I came back to the USA in September 2009 to look for work but obviously the economy was weak and jobs were scarce. I'd been contemplating joining the Navy (or Air Force) for several years but always let people talk me out of enlisting. With a bad economy and a lack of decent employment it was finally easy enough for me to ignore everyone and just enlist which I did in Spring 2010. I received my contract in July 2010 but was told I wouldn't be able to ship out for 11 months....so, I basically stayed in California for 11 months without steady work or income which sucked but at least I got to spend some time with my family and do some reading.

Anyway, I just graduated from Boot Camp about 2 weeks ago and have been in Pensacola, Florida since then. I am going to be here for about 6 months I'm told and will train to become an Aviation Electronics Technician.

I intend to continue to study Mandarin Chinese and maybe take the language proficiency exam sometime in 2012. I'll earn a little more money if I pass but that's not what is motivating me to study. I want to pass just for the sake of passing but if the Navy wants to pay me extra that's cool too.

Hopefully, I'll get to spend a good portion of the next 4 years (or longer if I decide to re-enlist) travelling around the world, taking photos and writing about my experiences here for friends and family to read.

I also think it would be fun for me to come back in 5, 10, 20 years and read this...I even asked my family to save all the letters I sent them from boot camp to post up here eventually.

Well, that's all for now. I hope I will have some fun stories to write about here in the weeks, months and years to come.

Brandon