Blue Man Paint?

I had wanted to go as a Stormtrooper from Star Wars this year, but there was a mix up so I don't think my costume will be here on time. No worries though. I'm making due and instead I will go as a blue man from the Blue Man Group. Problem is, I need to become blue. The Blue Men wear blue grease paint all over their heads and well, this is Okinawa, there is no blue grease paint to be found and it was too late to order it. I looked up a recipe and tried to make some of it myself. This was my crazy experiment:

The recipe called for:
2 Tablespoons of crisco
5 Teaspoons of cornstarch
1 Teaspoon of flour
Blue food coloring.

There was another recipe that called for glycerin but the only glycerin I had heard of was nitro glycerin - the stuff they use to make bombs. I figured glycerin would be hard to find so I went with the first recipe. I ended up with the following:
But getting the supplies was an adventure in itself. Who knew the food store (we call the commissary) didn't carry blue food coloring. I went and asked the bakery if they knew anything and the Okinawan man gave me a small container of it. Very nice of him. Also, in order to use a few drops... you need a dropper. I ended up buying baby tylenol just so I could get the dropper out of it. The eye dropper is just one of those things you end up just having in your house but can never find in stores. I also made sure to get a mixed dealy and measures for the teaspoons and tablespoons. I followed the instructions and came up with this:

I tried putting it on my skin but it ended up basically being like blue petroleum jelly. I still have it does not dry out. It would be too messy to wear at a Halloween Party. I would have to search out another means of becoming blue. I had already tried finding a certain Halloween store but after the first attempt I couldn't find it. I have to make this Halloween a good one no matter what problems come up. I was in boot camp last year and I want to make up for it.

Having Fun While Filming

Every year AFN holds a Persian rug sale to make money for the station. Gunny gave the Marines the task of filming a commercial to promote our event which will be near the end of November. Malta and KC came up with a crazy idea with a magic carpet, using our green screen, wigs and some how managed to make me a human bear rug.

The commercial went something like this:
KC: Hey the girls are coming over. We need a new rug.
Malta: -Agrees-
-Red bathroom rug apears-
KC: No that rug is too small
Malta: -Agrees-
-Red bathroom rug disapears and is replaced by a multicolored rug that is Castillos-
Malta: No that rug is too feminine.
KC: -Agrees-
-Mulitcolored rug disappears and is replaced by me laying on the ground like a bear rug-
KC: That's not a bear rug. That's just a man laying on the floor.
Malta: -Disgusted-
KC: Where could we get a rug...
-Malta and KC look off in the distance-
Malta is on a flying carpet and tells the audience about the rug sale in a Indian accent.

KC hopes this becomes the most talked about commercial on base. I think it was hilarious. Gunny saw it and laughed and said what's the funniest thing about it is that the man who sells the rugs sounds exactly like Malta did.

The commercial will be playing A LOT in the next month.

I wish I could post the video but I think there's some issue with it being government property yatta yatta yatta so I included some "Making of" pictures. We even managed to find where they had put all the crazy make up, wigs and mustaches.

Mock Elections at Local High School

At AFN we shoot news story all over the island. KC and Malta were going to do a video shoot at Camp Foster's (Marine base) high school. They were going to do a shoot on the mock elections the high school was holding. I was interested so I invited myself.

It turns out that in the government classes they had split up into the two (most popular) parties. They had all the aspects of the campaign, the speachwriter, the marketing people, all the odds and ends and even students posed as the canidates.

The high school was holding a mock debate in the audiorium. We were the only media covering the event. I was given the job of interviewing the government teacher in charge of the whole deal. She is a Department of Defense teacher who had tried this at her last base in Iceland (never would have guessed). I gave KC plenty of footage to edit. We also filmed interviews with the mock candiates.

After the school lunch period students from all the grades piled into the auditorium. Soon the candiates took the stage and we started filming. KC and I were on the side "Obama" was on while Malta was on the "McCain" side. After KC got some footage he let me take control of the camera and allowed me to move closer. I somewhat knew what I was doing. I just was hoping everything was in focus. The news segment will be shown on TV this week, I think.

The "McCain" really impressed me. He was a pretty good speaker. He also was in the advanced government class whereas "Obama" was picked from the regular government class but wasn't afraid of talking in front of a crowd.

These pictures were taken before the debate. "McCain" put baby powder in his hair to make him look well... old... like McCain. Of course, the baby powder was a huge mess. He just made sure to not move his head a lot.

I think the high school held their mock election. I'll find out who won.

Rainbow

It's been a long time since I've seen a rainbow. Sure it's not "manly" to like seeing rainbows but I happen to find nature amazing sometimes. This picture was taken from the parking lot in front of the AFN building.

Gas Prices

I'm glad I haven't been driving. Gas prices are lowering all around the US, but on Okinawa the company that buys the gas for the stations on the bases have bought their gas at a set price in bulk awhile back. Eventually, the prices will go down. I take a driving course soon. Soon I'll be able to get a vehicle. This island isn't that big but it would be worth getting a vehicle so I'm already saving and asking people for advice.

The price of gas in the picture is $4.06 for unleaded.

Malta Has An Accident

A week ago my buddy Malta was coming back from Chili's restaurant by himself. He had drank a little at Chilli's and was feeling nice and mellow. Malta went to go 'push' open the door when his hand went through the glass. He had put his hand through a 'pull' door.

"It took me 10 seconds to realize what I did and 10 seconds to realize I had hurt myself."

He was cut up from the glass. Luckily, there were airmen behind him who called for help.

"Thinking about which way the door opened was not on my mind."

The security forces who showed up got ahold of Corporal KC. KC drove Malta to the emergency room.

We was cleaned up and the small shards of glass were removed from his right hand. He was x-rayed and then was given two staples in his wrist.

He was told to take it easy with his hand and gave him a sling and told him not to get the wound wet.

The security forces ruled it a "medical accident" in other words, "whoops".

At the end of the week he had to confront our first sergeant. The first sergeant is in charge of all the enlisted Marines in the company. He also is in charge of punishments. He gave Malta a Page 11. A Page 11 is bad paperwork, in this case, it said Malta destroyed government property.

And of course, Malta always smiling had to put his funny spin on things. Losing his burger was, "Probably the most tragic part of the night."

If your interested you can view Malta's blog at irockgold.blogspot.com

Gas Chamber

SORRY THERE ARE NO PICTURES!!!

I wanted to bring my camera but I didn't know what the gas crystals would do to my camera lens.

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On Friday, new promoted, Corporal KC drove Castillo and I to the station. We were supposed to bring Means but we couldn't find her. We banged as hard as we could on her door but no one would come to the door. She had been out late seeing a play on base but I did leave her a sticky note telling her what time we were leaving - the sticky note was gone in the morning. The mystery aside, Castillo and I drove to the chapel where our gas chamber classes were going to be. Castillo was also doing a news story on the gas chamber so she brought her tripod and camera.

We waited around for the classes to start when we thought we saw Means in the distance - it was Means. Apparently, KC had gone back and knocked on her door once more. She came to the door. She had turned off her alarm clock and overslept. KC rushed her over and we all managed to sit together during the boring slideshow on how to properly wear everything. I came to the conclusion that if there was a chemical or biological attack I'd be screwed. I wasn't issued the gear in the first place - we're not supposed to. Apparently, there's enough gear for everyone on the base including family members.

I had remembered not to wear my contacts that day. Instead I wore my boot camp BCG's to be funny/ stupid. I got some odd looks that day for sure. In boot camp they said if you somehow managed to be wearing contacts still that the gas would make you go blind. After the class I asked why and it turns out because the gas is concentrated the gas crystals will melt the contact to your retina blinding you. Ouch.

We had almost an hour break. Means made sure to get breakfast.

We met some Marines from combat camera. Castillo and Means recognized them but they had graduated out of Fort Meade before I had gotten there. Soon they were handing out masks and suits. They had these suspender pants and jackets to wear over the cammies. We didn't have that in boot camp. I don't see why they were necessary either. I just needed the mask.

I was in the third group to go. We crowded 10 into a small hut and the gas was already flowing out of small canisters. I closed my eyes because it burns and makes your eyes tear.

The gas used in the Gas Chamber is chlorobenzylidene malonitrile, or CS Gas, a non-lethal substance that is used in all branches of the military and police departments as a riot control agent.

It really sucks. It feels like an instant sunburn. You have to break the seal inside the building and if you can't hold your breathe or open your eyes you are royally messed up until you get out. Even then the particles are still all over you and you can't touch yourself unless you want to make it worse. Your nose runs uncontrollably, your eyes water to the point you can't see and what snot isnt coming out of your nose is running down your throat.

I can see why they use it for riot control but then it's not so concentrated.

Castillo had her camera gear out when a sergeant walked up to her. He asked if we had still cameras. We didn't . He wanted to shoot a reenlistment ceremony - inside the gas chamber. A corporal decided he wanted to be motivated. It made for a great story that really just walked up to us. That's what's great about the news portion of the job - some great stories just fall into your lap.

Apparently, once inside the gas chamber that corporal tried to be a little too motivated and took off his mask fully. He didn't last long and he ran out of the chamber. He probably was puking. It doesn't take the gas long to do its job.

Congrats to him at least.

I did have to go back to work but thankfully I had done my work ahead of time so we didn't do to much before we got to go home.

Bay Orderly

I basically had last week off. One of the Marines I work with got an e-mail that she had to do bay orderly, a week off from work where you clean the barracks (dorms in Air Force terminology) instead. She was busy, I'm expendable so I did it instead. I'd say I took one for the team but it was great. I met the guy I'd be cleaning with, Senior Airman Smith (E-4). He has been on island almost a year. He also did a tour in Iraq in the mail room. He was in charge of making sure the packages got to where they needed to go and even took the mail out to the farther away camps via helicopter. He currently works the Naha, capitol of Okinawa, Airport and takes the packages off the planes and sends them to the trucks. He had done bay orderly before so he knew what to do.

It was just him and I for the four floors of the barracks. We vacuumed, swept, mopped, cleaned the lint out of all of the dryers and from all over the floor, but most importantly made sure all the trash was picked up from outside. This was the most tedious part because of all of the smokers who can't throw their butts away. We'd do a pass around the building with rubber gloves. The first day wasn't too bad at all. For the rest of the week all we did was clean up the trash and then were able to go back up into our rooms. I watched episodes of Lost. There was only one time they needed us and it was to load boxes from a storage room onto a truck.

The final day we had to move all of the furniture off of the smoke deck and pressure wash away all of the dirt and grime. It was annoying but we got it done and I got back to watching Lost. I went back to work for a couple days with a 4 day weekend after. Haha. I even managed to miss Friday because I had to go to the gas chamber.