Tag: midlife crisis

 

Before everybody started talking about authoritarian propaganda, I’ve already completed my manuscript and it was in the process of making it available to the world.

 

This is the link where you can get my book.  Further down its the video where I get to speak directly about my debut book.
“AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA | The Puppet Master Tools”

 

I also want to take this moment to thank you all for being beside me as I embark in this journey.  Every journey starts with one step, and these first steps you are joining me are something I do not take for granted.  Thank you!  I’ve been asked a few times to describe what this book is all about, and why I decided to write this book it in the first place.

Short answers:

What is the book about? 

The book’s premise is about how Authoritarianism and Propaganda spreads via loyal followers – and it is spreading like wildfire as we speak.  The “loyal followers” authoritarians gather might or might not be intrinsically “good people” – yet most good people who join the authoritarians tend to make nefarious decisions based on flawed metrics set forth by a propagandist or an authoritarian.  Thus, making it counterintuitive by those [otherwise good people] who are in the wrong to realize that they are parroting propaganda and authoritarianism points.  The book is intended to foster Critical Thinking paired with Intellectual Honesty.

Why I wrote it?
Because history is repeating itself, and there is no shortage of authoritarians percolating all over the world (and no, you don’t have too far away to find some examples).  An authoritarian is only as powerful as his or her followers.  The key to prevent this nefarious reality starts with personal introspection, thus mitigating and “authoritarian wanna-be” from galvanizing their power.  The world is [unfortunately] indeed going unhinged, but it is up to improve this otherwise grim situation.  We have that power – together!

Longer answer: 
This linked video.  “Authoritarianism & Propaganda | in the author’s words”

Please help me share this message far and wide.  Especially with people who thinks that the world going unhinged this does not pertain to them.  For us reading this article, we know it very much does… because we all live on this planet, right?

This is the first video that I’ve uploaded in a very long time.  Quite frankly because in the last couple of years I’ve been gone-gone.  As in floating in the middle of the ocean (while in uniform).  Therefore, I never really promoted my YouTube Channel until now.  I will be uploading more stuff every chance I get.  I actually have a bunch of cool footage and images that I very much want to share with the world.  Please subscribe so you can be notified when I upload new stuff.   Also, please be in the lookout for a Half Life Crisis Podcast in the [hopefully] near future.  I’ll post details in this very site and our social media.

Thank you for checking out the linked video and for spending this time with me.  Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you want me to expand on what we speak on this video.  Thank you again for joining me in this important journey.  HLC

HLC Close up Radio – www.halflifecrisis.com – Our Story

Every long journey starts with a first step, and our started with Close Up Radio!  Thank you for broadcasting our message your wonderful world-audience!

 

Our first big visit to the airwaves!

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 11:00am EST is a day I will always remember with great affection! The headline was: Close Up Radio to highlight Jose Marcelo Baqueroalvarez of Half Life Crisis.  This profound interview is something you don’t want to miss. Please take a moment to enjoy the interview at the following link.  And below I give you some behind the scenes highlights that made this already wonderful experience even more meaningful.

Half Life Crisis at Close Up Radio Interview 11NOV2023

 

Getting Discovered by Close Up Radio.

The story started in the first days of October 2023.  My ship, the world-famous USS COLE DDG 67, was in the Naval Weapons Stations Yorktown after so many months of back-to-back missions.  As I walked towards my car, I had a voice message from Close Up Radio.  Somebody had discovered my content!  My articles in particular.  This was the beginning of an existing journey.

Upon first opportunity, I called back and learned that the research team at Close Up Radio had found my page www.halflifecrisis.com and that they liked the value in my articles.  I was invited to speak at their radio show to be interviewed by Jim Masters.  Jim Masters is an Award-Winning Television-Radio-Multimedia On-Air Personality, Host, Presenter, Journalist, Voice Artist, Spokesperson, Executive Producer, Writer, Motivational Speaker, Content Creator, Actor, Emcee, Entertainer.

I enjoyed Close Up Radio even before they reached me.  I especially appreciated the fact they feature people with unique and inspiring stories.  To be asked to participate was very humbling, and even with my very-chatty nature, I found myself at a loss for words.

You’ve probably have noticed by my accent, vernacular, and even idiomatic blunders that English is not my first language (in fact it is my third).  But despite my language barrier, there is a lot bouncing in my mind.  And being able to share this message with a larger audience is a dream come true.  Especially because Close Up Radio has a worldwide reach. Even today I just saw the metrics from my website, and our visits are spanning so many countries around the world after the interview.  It all started with that one phone call.

Because I have been gone most of this… and the last couple of years – essentially floating around the planet onboard USS COLE; Half Life Crisis (and everything else for that matter) were placed in the back burner.   In the last couple of years, with so much time away from home (floating all over the place), I was able to complete four manuscripts, and have a few others who are not yet completed.  As you can probably gather, I love writing.  I’m sure I’ll get better at it at some point.  That’s “a” goal at least.

Sometime before I received the call from Close Up Radio, I was still working on the process to release my debut book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools.”  One thing is writing the manuscript, but the publishing and distributing process is a whole other beast.  I went the self-publishing route because I did not want to run the risk my words would be taken out of context.  Yes, even with my idiomatic blunders.

Nobody is perfect, and neither am I, but I felt the message in this book is emergent enough to push it as soon as possible.  But I also wanted to retain control over my words.  I was spot-on about the message being emergent.  I see the topic being spoken in the news and by many media outlets far and wide.  But I am also approaching the topic in a down-to-Earth manner that aims to be more inclusive rather than divisive.

I figured, if somebody can view past any idiomatic blunders, then they are ready to understand the big picture and context behind it.  People who get hanged up in the smallest blunders and “kill a forest to save a tree” – tend to have a higher proclivity for being exploited by a propagandist.  I kind of see it as what I would like to call the “Yoda” effect.  Yoda speaks in what some would say – in a pretty funny manner – in the sense of how he phrases his wisdom; but there is a lot of depth behind his words.  It was very humbling and reassuring to hear Close Up Radio had found the value of my message and vernacular.

As my book was going to be out, I knew that I am just a dude – with a still largely unknown platform.  The advantage is that I can control my content in my little Half Life Crisis platform.  And I did not know where to start to make my message resonate.  Circa that time Close Up Radio called, and it is all history from there.   I cannot thank them enough for helping me broadcast our story and my book’s message.

 

Working with the Close Up Radio Team.

If you ever had the chance to work with the Close Up Radio team, they are all all-around awesome.  The first thing that I want to highlight is that they made me feel truly appreciated, and it inspired me to continue doing what I am doing.  To spread my message, and be myself.  They were encouraging along the way, although it goes without saying exceedingly professional.  It has been a wonderful experience from the very start.

Working with one of the scriptwriters, she is amazing and after having a conversation she perfectly captured our essence and story.  Further she helped me think outside the box to put all the elements on my message in a coherent and relatable manner.  I get chills just thinking about it.  By the way, I am going to have the pleasure of working with her again in the very near term, as I was invited to return to the show.  I am very grateful.

The team took into consideration my message, and what I wanted to highlight. They worked on the press release and I won’t be able to make it justice with words.  To say I was ecstatic would be the understatement of the year. The team helped me with the press release and it went to more news outlets and posted them on more websites that I can even count.  I intend to reach each one of them and link them to our social media, and hopefully be able to speak with them in in the future.

This press release coincided with my debut book release date. I prepared it to coincide with my daughter’s birthday!  Seeing this press release and our images and photos all over these media sites and websites was the best gift I could ever wish for my child.  Afterall, everything I do is directly aimed to give her a better future.  Especially as the world continues to go unhinged.  But far from being a fatalist, I want to do my part to spark a deeper [and frankly overdue] conversation.

They made sure I was well prepared when the show was to be broadcast.  This is an experience I will forever cherish.

 

Showtime!

The day was finally here.  I woke up earlier that day to get my daughter Sammy ready for school.  Mom (my wife Alicia) was on a train somewhere crossing to the other coast (she does not like flying – at all).  My brother Dave and my fluffy doggie Aki were also here in time for the interview.  I prepared my home-office/studio for the interview. OPTEST (Operated Tested) my devices and went over my message to avoid going on a tangent.

I was not nervous, but rather very excited.  I do get a bit anxious about my accent – but that is not something I can change.  Nor do I want to, having this accent is part of what makes me, well – me.  I was just hoping that the audience would not be wondering if they could only understand one of every 7th word I was saying.  Because of my accent.  So, I did my best to articulate my words, and had a very large glass of water to ensure I was good to go.

A few minutes before the show started, I spoke to Jim Masters.  He is phenomenal, and really appreciated his candor and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.  We chatted a little bit as the prompters let us know about the timing of the show to start.  It was happening, and I was there sitting in my studio, the same desk where I had created so many other projects and dreams before.  But I was about to speak in front of the largest audience in my lifetime.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience on the show.  We covered many topics that ranged from Half Life Crisis, my company BeeZee Vision, LLC and what we do, my Naval Service, my family of course. But taking a central message, we spoke about my book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools.”  Most importantly the books message because it is emergent.  The world is not a happy place right now, and it is up to the collective to make it better. But every bit of positive change starts with personal introspection.  That is the main message behind this broadcast.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to hear it, please take a moment to enjoy it as you listen to our talk.  I promise you, there will be some value in the time you invest in it. I am very adamant about my book’s message because history is repeating itself.  And I am very concerned about what might come next.  I’ll just say that nothing that has been going on at the geopolitical level has surprised me.  I do find it disturbing, but it can get worse.  And that is why I want to spread my book’s message, because that addresses the common denominator.  The people.

Half Life Crisis at Close Up Radio Interview 11NOV2023

I received a call from Jim after the show, and we had a very deep and energetic conversation.  The type of conversations where depth and that important context is addressed as a catalyst towards a larger solution.  I cannot start to tell you how much I appreciated speaking with Jim.  We spoke about my family, the deeper context behind the book, and other manuscripts that will be released subsequently.  I was very grateful and thrilled when Jim invited me back to a future show.

 

Looking forward to returning to the show. 

Shortly after the show I received a call from the Show’s Executive producer, and we had a really awesome conversation.  It is wonderful when there is a human connection that is paired with the utmost professionalism from the entire team.  As I type this, tomorrow I will be talking again with the same script writer I had the pleasure of working on for the first show.  I am so excited to continue this conversation!

In the next show appearance, we will talk about my second book, which is currently in production.  The title is “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience.”  This is a spin-off from my debut book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools.”  My second book is meant to be a shorter read, but the reason is because the topic is also emergent.  Therefore, I wanted to make it as easily assimilated to a larger audience.  However, much like my debut book, this book is meant to be read a few more times.  There are hundreds of easter eggs hidden (like in all my art), and each time you read it the context will expand.

 

Click here to Learn more about our Original Books

 

This book will also be available worldwide almost everywhere where books are sold.  For the next show we’ll decide what else we’ll get to talk about.  But what I can promise you is that you will find a lot of value in the message we convey.

I just want to close this article by saying THANK YOU to the entire Close Up Radio team.  I could speak for hours about them.  But I wanted to take this moment to immortalize this sentiment.  I cannot wait to work with all of you again.  If you (my dear readers) for whatever reason haven’t come across Close Up Radio, please listen to the inspiring stories featured on their site.  They are truly remarkable, and they will give you hope for humanity. There are wonderful people out there.  And I am sure you will be able to identify yourself with many of their stories.  HLC

 

I arrived at the USA on July 3, 1995.  My mother finally got us reunited after many years of being separated.  It took many sacrifices to reach this goal.

 

So many memories, and time flew in a flash.

It has been 28 years since I moved to the United States of America.  My home is in Virginia, but funny enough, I was in Florida when I woke up on this Monday, July 3, 2023.  Florida is the first state where I lived when I arrived to Florida.  The difference is that the port of arrival was Miami International Airport to what would be my home an hour north in Fort Lauderdale.  As I type this article, I am onboard USS COLE DDG 67, somewhere in international waters. What a day!

 

A moment to reminisce.

When I first arrived to USA, I was only 16 years old.  The year was 1995, and I had mixed emotions.  To be honest, I loved my lifestyle back in Ecuador, where I was born.  We had a beautiful house and I had tons of amazing friends.  Some of which I affectionately keep in touch with even after all these years. That is despite the fact that we seldom get to talk.

But really, that is also consequence of the Navy life.  In the last couple of years I don’t even get to talk much with people who live in my own house!  That is my wife and daughter, mainly because I am gone out to sea so much.  Let alone actually spending social time with anybody else who lives in town, and forget about anybody out of town.  28 years later, and my greatest dread of being away from those people who I loved and meant the world to me are in fact far away.

One of the things I dreaded about missing it is that back in the day I had friends with him I could spend hours having deep conversations.  These deep and fascinating conversations seemed to never end, and we were happy to chat for hours and hours.  It was great!  Well, that is not happening in my life now (as I am typing this).

My best companion whenever I am away from home is my keyboard.  I do enjoy having conversations with my keyboard.  And this is not a diss to people onboard, there are some phenomenal people on this ship.  It is just not the same level of depth in conversation that I used to have before.  However, whenever I am back home, I do have that deep conversation opportunity.  I very much dislike shallow and small meaningless talk.  Like conversations that are intellectually stimulating.  With my wife we can speak for hours and hours about all kinds of stuff and it is always fascinating and fun.  I miss that.   And of course that makes me miss my wife a lot more as I am laying here on my bunk.

It is the end of the day, and today was a long one.  I feel sleepy, but I don’t feel like sleeping.  How paradoxical is that?  Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and we do have an Independence Day celebration onboard.  There will be a few meetings and essentially a bit of a holiday routine, peppered with taskings and other work requirements.  We will also have something we call “steel beach picnics” – where we barbeque stuff on this warship’s flight deck.  My understanding is that we are also doing a gunnery exercise.  What can be more American than that?  I’ll write an article about celebrating Independence Day onboard USS COLE tomorrow.  For now I want to be a bit selfish and talk about my story.

 

 

My story is not only mine.

Today I am alone, and although not lonely per say – I just feel empty.   To be fulfilled in my case win when I have my wife and daughter beside me.  And that is normal in my humble view, because there are a lot of emotions bottled into this date (July the third).  And to be honest that is not something I even feel about talking (in person) to any of my shipmates.   But at the same time I very much want to express what is in my mind.  Yes, a day of paradoxes.  But there is a reason for this.  As I said before, I miss these deep conversations.  I don’t really have that going on onboard this particular ship.  And I am not faulting anybody on that.  I am just not ready today to have these deep-conversations with anybody.  That is my choice, and I stand by it.  And as I stablish before, it is not like I have a choice anyway.

It has not been a bad day.  Though I did have to deal with a lot of annoying situations, and yes some of these situations involve annoying people.  I don’t say that everyone is annoying here… but I can count with at least one hand the number of people who have been very annoying to me today (I can use both hands in fact).  Generally speaking I don’t let that get to me, but at the same time TODAY I really did not want to deal with all that.  Sure that some of that would be trivial, but as the saying goes – there is a time and place for everything.

An example of an annoying situation, today I was getting off duty… meaning that I had duty the day before, and we turned over in the morning.  But that also means that I had to be up and about pretty freaking early.  And that is a bit annoying since I had to get up super early also on Sunday for duty.   Being on duty away from home is annoying – hell, it is annoying even back at home.  But here is a bit harder in a different port because I really don’t have a choice but to be stuck here, and when it is back at home at least my wife and daughter had come to visit me and spend time with me for a few hours onboard.  And whatever a uniform person wants to chime in, let me stablish that this ship (the one I am on right now) has logged the most underway days of any other ship in the Navy in the last two years.  So no, not everybody has experienced the same rigor.

Back in topic, not such a choice to have my wife visiting me today.  And we were in Mayport, FL.  I really even had a chance to talk on the phone.  This port we were in this morning is somewhat near to Jacksonville, FL.  It was super-hot, and humid.  But all in all it was not a ‘bad day’ – to be selfishly honest it is not just what I would have envisioned 28 years ago.  You know, that today I would be where I am at this exact second away from my loved ones, when back in that day was a reunion to be with my siblings with whom we were separated for so many years.

But then again, back then the story was just starting.  There was so much I would have never dreamed about.  Everything was new to me.  Even seeing my siblings in the flesh after years of separation.

Sadly, fast forward to this point and my mother, grandmother, and great-aunt passed away.  Recently also my great-uncle also passed away.  He was the closest to a male role model I’ve got growing up.  And a lot of great close friends I had have become estranged.  Better said, we have all moved on with our own lives.  No distain, no controversy, just lives takes in separated paths.  Days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years, and before we realize it, we have lost shy of three decades.

Sure that I have a lot of friends from those years still in my personal social media – but as I said we all went our separated ways.  And that includes my siblings.  Even though I have two who live in the same city as I do – I rarely get to see them.  And as I established lately, I don’t even get to see my wife and daughter as much as I wish.  And yes, whenever I am home, my two girls are my priority.

But none of this would have been possible if it was not that my mother, who passed away several years ago – in Ecuador from all places.  She brought us to USA back in 1995.  It was not easy at all to achieve this.  Though we arrived with a “Green Card” – Permanent Resident “visa” – attaining that was not easy at all.  And I am grateful to my mother all for those sacrifices she had to endure to afford us that opportunity.  I’m not going to go into detail in this article… but it is mind-bending all the complexity behind it. And although as time moved forward there was a lot which I did not agree with her.  But I do acknowledge all the good she did, and highlight credit where credit is due.  And there is plenty to go around.

And to be honest, that is the main reason why I don’t really want to talk to anybody, and the reason why I wanted to write this article – and though I am very tired I don’t want to go to sleep yet.  This is not the type of story I want to tell in person to somebody who is sitting in my presence.  First off because it might be too intense for them, and I know everybody is fighting their own demons.  I don’t need to add mine to whatever they are dealing with.  And on that note is because of that I feel that this is too sacred for me to just squander on somebody who might only pay a small percentage of attention to what this really means to me.  Even if their intent is not disrespectful.  But why even risk it, right?

As I said before, I want to be selfish and tell my story.  But this story – even if read by any of my dear readers, it is really a story for my mother.  I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that “she’s reading this from wherever she is.”  Sure, for some people who find solace on that, I’ll let them have it if that gives them closure.  It might be true for all I know, but there is no empirical demonstrable science to corroborate that as I lay down here.  And another reason is because this very though makes me deeply sad.

As any child did have plenty of fucked memories about my mother.  But as any son, I have also a million more very fond memories about her.  And to be honest, I am pretty much living a similar life as hers – except that I might be a little older than she was at the time. – Also the environment was different.  You see, when I was growing up – and I was in the 4^th Grade of elementary school – my mother started traveling back and forth from Ecuador to Florida in pursuit of a better life for all her four children.  That’s my sister, and my two other brothers and myself.  She was not perfect, and neither is anybody else walking the planet today or ever.

But because of these sacrifices I grew up with my younger brother away from her and from my two other siblings.  My sister and youngest brother were after significant legal battles were able to go to USA years before we did.  Mostly because my father was an asshole and he would block any opportunity for any of us to travel abroad, and this required a lot of legal fights.  My mother had to fight in courts for years.  And it was not until I was 13 years old that for a lack of a better description that I had to tell my father how many ways he could go and fuck himself in order to be allowed to travel abroad.  And we’ve been estranged ever since.  But at least we got a chance to travel and be “united” as a family with my siblings after so many years.  But remember – I arrived to USA at age 16, so all these tribulations after breaking free from my father still took several years to come to fruition.

Growing apart from your mother and siblings for so many years at such a critical age creates irreparable damage to these family relationships.  Period.  No matter how much we tried, it was like being strangers living under the same roof.  We were just such different people, all of us.  I am sure that was not my mother’s intent, but I would not be able to describe all these “growing pain” in detail in a single article.  Nor do I have the energy to do so at this time.  So I will just say that there was a lot that happened through the years that further demonstrated how different we were from each other.

When my mother was traveling from Ecuador to USA, she would have to spend several months and even years in USA and away from us in Ecuador.  In other words she always had two sets of her children several countries away from each other.  That went out for so many years.  We were lucky if we saw my mother coming to “visit us” in Ecuador when I was still a child… maybe see us 2-3 weeks in a year and then off she went abroad again, then return a couple of years later for a few weeks, and same thing like that.  Each time we had grown a lot, and we have changed… and so did she.  Yet, we were always so excited to see her return.  Even though she was, admittedly, a very difficult person to deal with.  That’s why any difficult wanna-be person I’ve ever met ever since are trivial to me, they cannot hold a fucking candle to my mother’s temper.

But despite all this, we were family.  As I said earlier, I give credit where credit is due.  And with that said, I will not embellish a story or a personality for the sake of nostalgia.  I loved my mother, and because of that I will be true to the person she really was.  She did sacrifice more than most people I’ve ever met – and that is not embellishment.  And she was a good mother despite all the many, many disagreements we had.  And many (if not all) of those disagreements I stand-by my arguments.  But that does not negate the fact that she tried the best she could.  And that included bringing us here to USA after procuring a beautiful home in a wealthy neighborhood.  What we lived were opportunity very few people in my already privileged environment in Ecuador would have even dreamed of.

And it took me to return to Ecuador for the second time to visit to realize how much my life had indeed transformed… arguably for the best.

But as I lay here in my bunk, I cannot help but to see a parallel between my mother and I, and my daughter Sammy.  Here I am, making a better life for my child while sacrificing the very opportunity to be with her – especially for her future.   Afterall I was already in the Navy past the “point of no return” before she was even born.  But fast forward to today, I very much know that being separated from her is actually a very toxic situation for her, and that is in the end very harmful in her upbringing – despite the many benefits trying to balance this quagmire.  Hence, I will be retiring sooner than later – next April.  But today, 28 years to the day later from where I arrived, I am floating on a warship in international waters and will not return home for a long time… again.

I know that someday all this will only be a memory.  I am grateful for all the good I’ve received while in America.  And I also know that despite the sacrifices my mother made to afford us this opportunity, nothing was easy and nothing was really handed to us after we arrived to USA.  Everything has a price, even if the price is undivided time and attention towards something or the other.  And one day I might write about that, because our time was certainly not free.  But that is a very long story, and to be honest I just don’t have the energy to even think about it all.

Just as I close this article.  I do want to thank my adopted country once again – the United States of America for receiving me.  I became a citizen in May 2008, and a United States Navy Sailor in 2003.  There has been so much trust bestowed in me by the United States that I am forever grateful, and I don’t take that for granted.  It has been 28 years.  From a teenager full of energy to an almost 45-year-old man who is nearing Retirement after 20 years of military service.  There are still many adventures left ahead of me.  And just like today I am telling this story about my 28 years anniversary in USA, for my 29^th anniversary my desire is to write a much happier article.  That’s the goal for next year.  We’ll know for sure when the day arrives.

Until that time, I will continue doing my best.  And in case it was not clear enough I will reminisce about my mother’s memory.  And from there I will call it a night.  This next conversation after I close my tablet – that will not be typed, nor spoken.  Instead it will be an inner monologue as I drift into a dream.  I might be able to spend time with her in my dreams and memories.  As I wrote in a song, there is a line which goes “in my thoughts you’ll be alive.”  HLC

 

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.

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

 

I love New Years!  To me it is a chance to start anew, even though it is really a continuation of the day before.  But you know what?  It makes me happy!

 

Welcome 2023!

I feel very positive as far as how this year is starting! There is no secret about the fact I want 2023 to be a very fun and fulfilling year. Life is very short and even the good times move very fast. I’m starting the year the best way I could only wish for. I spent it with my beloved wife Alicia and daughter Sammy, and we were also joined by my brother Dave. We enjoyed the traditions I was hoping to achieve (the ones I wrote in my previous article. And best of all, Sammy actually stayed all the way until the end. This is the first time ever for her to receive the year with us while awake! It was so much fun!

Traditions and wishes for 2023

My wife Alicia was very much into the traditions we wanted to pursue. She even researched a few more traditions I was not aware of. She even “swept the bad energy out” by sweeping the floor towards and out the front door.  She also was awesome at finding actual dollar coins, and that’s supposed to attract wealth. We also ate the 12 grapes, which are supposed to give you a chance to make 12 wishes (one per grape). We also did our “egg” experiment, which is supposedly an oracle to see what the year will bring. And of course, we did a nice drive around the neighborhood in our family SUV. I did not do the yellow underwear, but Sammy did so it is supposed to be prosperity. I thought it was for traveling… but hey, I am glad we could clarify that. You can read about those tradition in my previous article, I’ll like it at the end of this article.

And yes, I know that all these traditions are really only for fun. I’m not a superstitious person, but it was nice to hang out and do some fun games together. Dreams and wished do come true when we can give them their due focus and pair the preparation to an opportunity. Once we returned from our drive around the neighborhood, we enjoyed our favorite fu-fu drink, which is Kir Royale. And to make it more fun, I prepare them in these very nice fancy crystal and gold flutes. We also watched a movie “Bullet Train” – it was pretty fun. Of course, Sammy did not drink nor watch the movie, but she did enjoy the ride and the other traditions.

After we went to bed… not having to wake up early, sleeping next to my beautiful wife and having a fun lunch at home in our fat pants.  I love it! As I type this, we are watching “Alone” Season 8 and I have my tablet on my TV tray while I hear my wife’s really funny comments on the show. She’s actually hilarious, her commentary is always so funny.  For 2023 I’m hoping she’ll join me to do reactions on stuff we find interesting.  She has always something to say, and it is often funny as hell.

So, what’s next?

Well, actually a lot! I have tons of material I want to post and share this 2023. I’ve been seeing an uptick on my site visits and I want to expand our social media presence. However, I just don’t want to post something and hope a bunch of people show up and not have much to do when they were kind enough to come over and hang out with us.  So, I’ll be adding some additional images and fun stuff in our social media accounts to give our visitors a place where they can enjoy their visit.  I wanted them to feel welcome as they hang out with us.

Also, I will add a few more short articles I’ve written a couple of day ago, but I figure they would be relevant as we are starting this new year. If you haven’t gotten a chance to view my latest articles.  I wanted to add something that pertain to money saving techniques. I invite you to check them out this week in case it is something you want to try for yourself. Of course, these techniques I share can be started at any time. In either, case I personally love New Years, because I am pumped out to set the tone for the rest of the year. And the tone is very positive, I’m very happy about it.

Goes without saying that whenever I am not doing Half Life Crisis, I will be continue doing the best I can with my Navy duties and responsibilities. And in line with that, 2023 is when I reach my 20 years of service! So that means retirement is just around the corner! But above everything is #1 goal, and that is to spend as much quality time as possible with my wife and daughter. I’m spending this first day of the year doing exactly that, and I love it. I love being near my girls, and even though we can all do our thing, we are together. Just seeing them stroll around the house, and seeing them it is the epitome of happiness to me. And I cannot start to describe what a wonderful feeling this is. Especially as 2022 kept me so far from them. In fact, at this time last year I was floating somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

Thank you for your support, let’s continue the conversation. I’ll keep uncovering more and more fun stuff for Half Life Crisis as the days move forward.  Meanwhile there is plenty of content in our site and social media.  I’ll be adding some videos in the near future.  This is the site where I’ll mention it first all official announcements, and then I will also advertise in our official social media platforms. I have a feeling this will be a very positive year. Happy 2023, may all your goals and wishes come true. HLC