Fire, Whiskey, and Wine!

I think I've got a new oath to proclaim when annoyed. I have a few that I keep in stock to haul out whenever the situation calls for it, "Blood and Shale!" (Via the wombat), or "Skuld's Holy Hammer!" (An Ah! My Goddess reference if you're feeling lost) for example. sometimes I mix languages and go for "Nan da Hell?" just for variety and of course there's the good ol' fashion stand-bys of "Bleeping Bleep of a Bleep!" which is usually not said bleeped of course.

Well, it used to not be. Now I've got to watch the language given the two parrots that live with me and myself also having no wish to have to revive my Beloved after she faints from shock from hearing that tumble from her sons' innocent lips.

But I think I can now add in "Fire, Whiskey, and Wine!" as a new one, and for good reason.

Hazmat on the scene!

September 1st was Japan wide disaster drills, it being the 89th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that leveled Tokyo back in 1923. This year, our neck of the woods was chosen for being the drill site. Now when I saw drill site, I mean something a wee bit more impressive than it sounds. The elementary school was transformed into a disaster of epic proportions that involved the local fire departments, the local volunteer fire fighters (Which was why I was there), the police departments, paramedics  Hazmat, DMAT (Japan's Disaster Medical Assistant Team), Search and Rescue, the Japan Ground Self Defense Force, the gas, water, and electrical departments, local media (Both reporting the event and acting as media during a disaster to provide info), the city's mayor and council, and about a good 200 people acting as victims or volunteers to help out.

Fighting fires... or trees. Either or.

During the event, we were covering what would happen should a major earthquake strike the elementary school, then moved on to injured people, collapsed buildings, flooding, broken water and gas pipes, avalanches, a typhoon, more fires, and a spill of some kind, all within an hour and a half. I don't think we had a drill for an attack by Godzilla, but we might have and I just missed it. Of course, while the drills are going on and we have firetrucks, ambulances, Humvees, and helicopters going around and about, the city was using the fact that a number of people showed up to conduct some education so we also had various simulators for quakes, fires, etc. Chaotic doesn't even begin to describe it, but I guess even THAT helps with getting into the swing of things should something actually happen.

This never happened

So the fire part of my oath was a literal fire, or a few of them, that we were using to train on, in uniform, under the hot sun. After it was all said and done, we also got to set the elementary school back to what it's supposed to be and so we spent about an hour cleaning the grounds so that come Monday, the kids wouldn't know that a helicopter landed on their field.

Such hard work, my company commanded stated, requires us to have a party as a reward. Thus part two, whiskey. A true Japanese BBQ soon commenced, and by true, I mean all of us sitting around grills, cooking slices of beef and drinking whiskey and other hard drinks, and a lot of them. Fun? Yes. Even when it started to rain and we continued to still sit outside, drink whiskey, tell ribald jokes, and eat beef it was fun. But after a rather large amount of whiskey, the clock told me it was time to head home.

Why, you may ask?

Because my day wasn't over yet... The international club was having wine tasting that night that I was expected, as a wine lover, to attend. So I capped out the evening with two glasses of wine and a number of rich foods for the savor of it all. Needless to say, I arrived back at the house with Beloved and the boys having a hard time walking straight and more or less fell into my futon determined to sleep.

But at least I got to use my new oath straight away with "Fire, whiskey and wine! 6:30 is too early in the morning for you guys to wake up!"

Sadly, the boys felt that no, no it wasn't and in fact, it was time for Daddy to wake up and play with them, even if he was feeling slightly delicate that morning.