seeing yourself through someone else's eyes

or, GOT DAMMN i am so glad the internet is around. you have all probably bumped up against a former shipmate a time or two. the internet gives me the chance to bump up against a bunch of them... there are a couple of shipmates that i get a chance to shoot the breeze with (albiet via this blog), but it's still a connection to those earlier days.
so i want to say Hiya HOP and Dave. you guys are why i started all of this in the first place. my sailing list (linked over on the right) keeps growing, and i get a chance to electronically converse with sailors that sailed the seawolf from new construction days in the 50's all the up to decomm in the late 80s. what a great gift ALGORE gave us with his invention of the internet.

in that light, i'd like to share bits of an email from one of the latest guys i've been connected with from the old days.

I was looking at your posted photos and saw a couple of you from Navy Days. I realized I remembered you and the nook quite well. I used to visit you in the nook to synchronize the nook chronometer. We engaged in droll conversation. I also remember watching the first episode of Saturday Night Live with you on a Duty night in the Crews Mess, Fall '76. We agreed that it was too good of a show to make it, nobody would "get it" and would be canceled soon.

(the nook he's talking about is the nucleonics lab where i hung out and worked when not standing watch in the engineering plant, or doing some scut work as punishment for some transgression... of which there were many, as i recall)
to continue:

how did you stay a Nuke so long? You were a very glib Son of a Bitch. I always thought you would make millions in Sales; cars, real estate, burial plots, something like that. Anyway, seems like you have a very nice life, as do I. Things have a way of working out. Dave

i found it pretty amusing to hear what he thought i might be when i grew up. burial plots. that's funny

anyway, the internet has given me a chance to stay in touch with guys i would never see or hear from again. very cool