50-50-90

Some of you may be wondering what this 50-50-90 is all about.

Old combination number? No
Computer password? No

The first time I heard 50-50-90 was while I was attending Naval Nuclear Power School in Goose Creek, SC. What it means is every time you are presented with a question or a situation that is a 50/50 chance, 90% of the time, the answer you choose is wrong.

While it can be quite comical, for me it seems to mean a bit more. It's more of the story of my life. I'm given some choices for what I can do, and most of the time, it seems like, I choose wrong. Some people know exactly what they want out of life. They work hard for it, get good grades in high school and go to the college of their choice, and end up happy with the choices they have made. I don't really have a goal that i am shooting for, I don't think I ever have had one, and maybe that's why I am where I am.

I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth, because I chose to be lazy about doing my work, graduated with a C- average. Then I decided to join the Navy, which I believe was a good choice for me, except for the field I went into. While nuclear power is extremely interesting, and I loved learning about all of it, it is extremely fast paced. So, when I had the surgery on my knee, and spent 6 months out of training, everything that i had learned before, was almost all forgotten by the time my physical therapy was over and I moved on to my next training command.

After struggling to catch up, and ultimately failing, I ended up getting kicked out of the Nuclear pipeline, and sent to Navy Limbo, aka Groton, CT. I was given another choice. I was told that due to the circumstances of which I was kicked out of nuke school, that I had the choice to get out of the Navy with an Honorable Discharge. That, or I could choose a new rate, and since I had already been in for over 2 years, that I would have to add on more time to my contract. Well at this point, my knee didn't feel like the surgery was holding (which later proved to be true), and I wasn't able to work out like I needed to to keep mself in shape. Even though I could have gotten out of the running portion of our physical fitness test based on my knee, without being able to run to keep my weight down, I wouldn't have been able to pass the weight/body fat portion of the physical fitness test, a part of which I still would have had to participate in regardless of my knee. Well after you fail 3 consecutive PFA's (physical fitness assesment) you are no longer able to re-enlist, and if I couldn't re-enlist, then I wouldn't be able to pick a new rate, and I would have eventually been kicked out of the Navy on bad terms. So I figured get out now while the DD214 will still look good.

Right now I am still trying to figure out whether or not that was a good idea. So far is seems like it wasn't. I probably should have tried to wait/tough it out, and see where it led me. However, I chose to get out while I could, and go home to no job, and no real goal for the future other than to find a job so I can figure out what I want to do.

5 months on unemployment, I took a job at Kirby, slinging vacuum cleaners door-to-door. Though not in the sense that some of you are thinking, but either way it was still fun. I was doing something, working, but not working for much. We got paid on commission for every vacuum we sold, and were guaranteed a certain amount of money a month so long as we put on a certain number of vacuum demonstrations per month. So after 3 weeks there, only having made 2 sales, which totaled $90 paid to me, and only having one more week to reach the 50 required appts a month for the guaranteed money, all the while only sitting on 15 appts, I decided that I couldn't do that anymore and needed to quit cause it was using up all of my gas and I wasn't getting paid worth anything. Back on unemployment while I look for another job, if you have any ideas for me let me know.

For now... life goes on.