I call this series "Just Vignettes" because that's what they are, just short snapshots of things that have happened to me or have been told to me. I can vouch the stories you read here are mostly true.

The Japanese city, Kagoshima, is often described by travel writers as the Naples of the Eastern World. However, the day the USS Kirk anchored near the Sakurajima volcano, the city seemed rather gray, dreary, and windy. At breakfast, the executive officer described a dream he had the night before. He dreamt that once the Kirk was anchored, Sakurajima would erupt. Its lava flows would cut off t...