Maturity sucks. I feel like I’ve definitely stated this in the past. I’m sure I have. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to just be completely oblivious and blind to the truths? Wouldn’t we be so much happier to maintain our childish mentalities and ways of the past? Imagine always seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Ah, ignorance is bliss.
I set out on the latest of my adventures less than a week ago. Deployment. Already, though, I feel like I’ve grown in some ways. It’s the little things. I can’t stand my department as you know if you’ve talked to me at all in the past year. I have a strong hatred for my job and almost all parts of it. The people and their selfishness and stupidity nearly drive me to the brink of insanity. And yet, despite of it all, being out on the water, with no escape for extended periods of time, I sometimes manage to find some happiness.
It’s the little things. It’s staring out at the open water feeling the wind on your face. It’s catching a nice sunset. It’s managing to escape the stupidity for an additional 5 minutes. It’s those small victories you win over the morons running the show. Things like that. They make all the difference.
With my current job, once a day at various times that vary from the early hours of the morning to the middle of the night on, I rotate through 6 different stations for 5 hours. Sounds pretty terrible, right? I certainly don’t find it too appealing. Once you get used to it, though, you can learn to appreciate it at times. Those times almost never include the wee hours of the morning.
For example, I get out of the ship. I get to be outside. I have the opportunity to feel fresh air and see some of the marvels of the oceans and see countries and cities from a distance as we make our way towards them. Other jobs spend the majority of their time inside, cooped up, eyes fixed on a computer screen. Honestly, while I strive to obtain some of those jobs, others would bore me out of my mind.
Another example of why I’m able to be somewhat grateful for the bottom of the barrel position I have, is that I know what it’s like to be on the bottom. I know what it’s like to be stuck, unable to progress. I know what it’s like to work hard. I know what not to do as a boss or a person of authority. Lastly, I feel like I get the true experience of being in this branch. Others work their little cushiony jobs without ever experiencing anything but easy. While that can be nice, it doesn’t offer a lot of opportunity for character building and personal growth. If you’re never faced with conflict, then you certainly won’t know how to handle such when you eventually are. If you don’t have to deal with pain and suffering, then how can you know how others in those positions truly feel? (That last part sounds a little dramatic, I know, but there’s been plenty of pain that I’ve deal with here, I promise. Mentally and physically.) And without such, how you can ever truly appreciate the happiness and joy? You won’t.
Many of these points are things that I’ve experienced before and perhaps even known, but those points have only been driven in more and allowed me to grow even more. So for those reasons and more, I’m thankful to have been placed in what I view as one of the worst positions in this gig.
I’m even beginning to look forward to some of the countries and places I’m going to visit and be able to experience. I’m looking forward to all the pictures I can take and sharing the experiences with others. I’m not looking forward to carrying around my camera so much, but nonetheless, it’ll be worth it and I’ll make it work. I know I’m going to have some good times and make some good memories that I will carry around with me for the rest of my life.
Hope has been restored in my life. My resolve has strengthened. Everything happens for a reason, and I know that I’m where I need to be and I’ll be where I need to be. All in good time.
I normally keep my blogs fairly secular, but I wanted to share this reading.
We need to ask Him to help us see the early warning signs, and then we need to learn to give our worries and cares to Him and trust Him to do the work through us, in His way and in His time. “Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.”
Today, being stuck on the ship, was a complete and utter joke. And by that, I mean it sucked. If you’re the slave, monkey on a string, robot, yes man kind of person – then I highly recommend you consider a career change and take up my job. Let me tell you something, which I’m sure you all know. I am not. I subscribe to a higher intelligence. And while the world does need those kind of people, I’m not one of them. I’ve learned to be one in certain circumstances and when the time calls for it. But I just can’t do it all the time. I can’t. I can’t swallow it 100% of the time. Sometimes I just get to that point where I’ve had enough of the injustices and can no longer swallow the BS that’s being forced down my throat. Today was one of those days. Was it all that bad? Maybe not, but it’s a whatever.
The vast majority of us were immediately told to go change into our “dirty”, “painting” uniforms. These uniforms are the same as others. They still cost good money. But if you’ve been unfortunate enough to end up in my delightful apartment, then you’re obligated to keep a uniform that’s strictly used for dirtier jobs. There’s a lot of them. It’s almost like the show sometimes, just not even remotely as fun. In fact it’s usually quite the opposite. You just grudgingly accept your fate and try to get through it. ‘Making the best of it’ is not even an appropriate expression. The amount of stupidity that myself and my colleagues are required to suffer through prevents you from doing that.
Anyways. We were told rotations would take place about every hour and a half. Now, if you believe that I’ll tell you another. However, that’s what I’m told. So that’s what I’m going to hold you to, even if I don’t think you’ll follow through on it. I’m very big on that. If I’m told something, then I expect it. I don’t do that so much in my current job because there have just been one too many letdowns, however, I still try to apply it when I can, especially if it works to my benefit. Does that sound that terrible? Eh, maybe. I don’t think so.
Well, I got out there up on this precarious machine painting the sides of the ship at about 8AM with another guy, and we went strong until about 11:30/12:00PM. I had requested a rotation a little earlier. For one, it should have taken place without my asking. Secondly, I was starting to get all around irritated and hungry as well. So, some guys came back from lunch finally, and we swapped out.
I was initially told to be back at 1PM, but upon returning, I was told I didn’t need to be back until 2:45PM. In theory, that sounds great. However, I knew better. I glanced up at the work the other two nubs had done, and I was pretty angry, actually. They barely moved a foot. I knew if the work we supposedly had to get done in order to be finished for the day was actually going to be completed, I had to step up and get back to painting. So, I did that around 1:30PM.
Let me tell you something, I stayed in that machine for about another three to three and a half hours. It got to the point, however, that I knew what we needed to get done was not going to be finished by sundown. And ya know what else? I was done. Enough was enough. I don’t mind working. And I don’t mind working hard when it calls for it. BUT – I do not like being take advantage of. And unfortunately, in my job, and not just my department, this is how it works. It does not pay to work harder. Not one little bit. Sounds absurd, right? Think again. I’ll tell you why. The harder you work, the more they work you because they know you’ll work and get the job done. If you work less, and don’t work as hard, they use you less and just give you bogus jobs. You want to find that happy medium. Work enough and get your stuff done so the man stays off your back, but don’t’ work too hard or you’re headed towards straight up slavery. It’s such backwards, reverse thinking and absolutely stupid. I’m aware of this. But look at my occupation. Need I say more?
So, at this point, it was dinner time. I was hungry and tired and over it. I put my foot on the pedal and took us down. My partner questioned me, but I ignored his protests and proceeded towards ground. Upon stepping off, I walked up towards the little boy in charge and told him that I was done. I stated that there were too many people standing around for him to not be following the intended rotational plan. Being the little boy that he is, at 20 years of age, he wanted to prove that he was the in charge, so he responded with a question, “Are you telling me or are you requesting?” Well, I pick my battles and I’ve told this guy off before, so I took the surer route and said, “Ok, I’m requesting.” Don’t worry, I put a face on and made it as sarcastic as I could. He can have those small victories. He needs the ego boost. I’m the true victor there.
I got my way and screwed around for the rest of the day, but still took care of some little odd jobs. Found out later that one of the heads of my department, a fairly unintelligent specimen, asked why I wasn’t up there painting anymore. My previous partner told him that he wasn’t sure, that I had just quit. The boss replied with, “Well…..that’s just how Powell is sometimes. Shoot, he probably worked harder than any one of these guys out here today. So screw it. One day, you’ll understand.” Made my day and I laughed it up. I changed some of the obscenities in there that were actually used, but you get the idea. Haha. That little man boy really couldn’t say anything now. Point – me.
Hawai'i has been amazing. It’s been like a vacation out here. We get put on slave watch once every 4 days, but other than that my free time is my own. I’m definitely making the most of it and good ol’ A-ron has been helping me do so. He knew a lot of great spots because he was here for his honeymoon, so that’s really come in handy.
First day, me and my buddy just got a hotel room and hung out in downtown Hawaii. Had a few drinks, wandered a bit. Ultimately, not really where we wanted to be. Our true objective was to acquire a car. We were just having a hard time doing so. It’s middle of the summer plus there are lots of other things going on. The hotel was more than we wanted to pay, but we had checked a lot and they all were booked. Eventually, we just had to settle and take the one we had found.
The next day was slow, and we spent the whole morning and a small portion of the afternoon waiting around on a car rental place for someone to return one. It was the best price we had found and the only one with even the promise of cars. Everything was yet again, booked. After waiting and waiting, we finally got our car and rented it out for the week. Totally worth it and a necessity in my opinion.
Since then, we’ve been having straight fun. Snorkeling has been great. We’ve spent a lot of our time up at North Shore. We snorkeled at 3 Tables and Shark’s Cove twice now. We’ve also snorkeled up at Turtle Bay. 3 Tables and surrounding areas are much more colorful and you get a much larger variety in fish. Turtle Bay as could be expected allowed us to see more sea turtles. Swimming amongst sea turtles is an amazing experience. They’re such peaceful creatures, and I’ve come across some really large ones. It’s really neat to watch them come up for air and see their heads poke up out of the water.
While snorkeling up at Turtle Bay, we stopped on the sand for a little bit because one of my friends spotted some coconuts in a nearby tree. He was intent on getting some. The only issue there was that he acted purely as the spotter. When push to came to shove, I climbed up the tree barefoot like a true native and managed to knock 3 coconuts down. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do without shoes or any clothing on besides board shorts, but I accomplished the mission. Fortunately, it wasn’t too high. High, but not unattainable height.
The only downfall here was that only one of the coconuts was large and ripe enough to eat. After banging around on rocks like apes and using a knife here and there, we finally got into it and shared the sweet milk within. We then cracked it open and enjoyed the coconut meat. Worth it.
From there, we started to make our return swim to where we started and ran into some other buddies of ours that we had told to meet us there earlier. We swam for a bit more, and then packed up the cars to go get some food. 9I needed something good. A-ron came through again and recommended a great restaurant. I went with the fish of the day, which happened to be a Thai snapper. They serve the whole fish and it’s definitely got some flavor. I’d go there again. Overall, great day.
The next day was dedicated to hiking. Oh, and what a hike it was. I must say, I’ve hiked a pretty decent amount throughout my life (in my opinion), but I think this was one of the more strenuous hikes I’ve done. We were fortunate enough to even find the place.
We ended up at this cattle ranch, at least that’s what I think it was. All kinds of people were there checking out what they had for sale and going on tours and things like that. We talked to a few people about a certain mountain we had researched the night before. After finally locating someone who actually knew what we were talking about, we were informed that we could not hike the mountain because it was owned by the ranch. The two women seemed very suspicious both myself and my friends, and I’m inclined to believe that they were just trying to keep the haoles out. Who knows.
Fortunately, some locals were doing some manual labor for the place and overheard that we were looking to do some hiking. They beckoned us over and informed us of a spot fairly close by. Awesome. My friends and I jumped in the car and without too much difficulty located the area the locals were talking about. After pulling over to the side of the road, we loaded up our gear, changed clothes, and set out on the hike.
Now, originally, we were intending to stay out for the night. I was slightly disinclined to believe that would ever come to fruition from the start, but I was still excited at the prospect of doing so. Well, we soon came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t going to happen. No problem. All that did was lighten our load.
I thoroughly enjoyed that hike. The views it provided were insane. Absolutely breathtaking. And I don’t use that word often. Lugging around my camera was well worth it. In all honesty, it’s hardly lugging. Sure, I carry around all my other lenses which increases the weight and is probably unnecessary (I just like to be prepared), but my older brother definitely steered me in the right direction with a micro four thirds over a digital SLR. Besides, I really enjoy dabbling in photography.
Getting up on the peaks of those mountains was incredible. I mean, we were literally trekking on these extremely narrow, precarious pathways from peak to peak. One wrong step could have sent us right over the side. Fortunately for us, we all made it down to the bottom in one piece, though not without a little difficulty.
We had set our hearts on finding this waterfall and someone had told us we were close, but I think they were being generous with their time estimation of arrival. All we were doing was continuing to go up and over. It got to the point where we decided with hesitation that we should be turning around.
We encountered some rain on our descent. After all, it’s the summer in Hawai’i and hurricane season as well. Nothing too serious, though. Problems arose when our leader unintentionally took us off the main path and straight into the heart of the jungle. In all seriousness, it was some pretty heavy bush. The going was slow and everything was wet, which only made going down even more treacherous.
My buddies had stopped to attempt to retrieve a pineapple from a nearby tree, but I had other things in mind. I was done with that mess and wanted nothing else than to get back to the actually hiking trail. Everyone shot down my suggestions to climb up through the woods in order to get to the nearest peak, but it looked to me like it could be done. I went with my gut and ignored them. I started climbing up the nearest side, up through the forest and all of its snares and entanglements. My companions would yell up from time to time to check on my progress. I’m not saying it was the easiest thing, but I got out of those woods and back on that trail. And it was glorious. With a little encouragement and voice commands, I helped navigate the rest of the group up to my position. Everyone was relieved.
The most ironic thing about that, is my sense of direction on roadways is the absolutely worst. I get yelled at about it from time to time. I think there should be a little leeway there, though. I mean, when you’re driving and your co-pilot is constantly giving you directions and telling you where to go, there’s not much thinking required on your part. So, I’m not retaining much there. Regardless, I guess my forest sense is a little better. Or maybe I got lucky. Either way, it was a small victory.
Upon returning to ground level, we were all pretty exhausted. Not to mention soaked in sweat. I was ready to get out of those clothes. Before we went anywhere, I insisted everyone wait for me to go jump in the nearby bay. 5 minutes was all I needed. I felt refreshed and revived. In my opinion, failure to accompany me was their own loss. Day well spent.
My first ‘vacation’ in Hawai’i is soon coming to an end. I’ll be returning to the ship tomorrow (7/7/14). Most people will be off, but unfortunately I have work. Oh well, it was a good run. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Aside from spending time with my younger brother in California, this has been some of the most enjoyable and memorable times in my current job. I’m optimistic and hopeful that there will be more to come during the approaching months.
The only real issues I faced here were continuously applying sunblock, which ultimately proved ineffective, and water in my ears. The latter eventually caused ear infections in both of my ears. I just couldn’t get it out. I was banging my ahead around like I was at a rock concert and probably looked like a moron. I tried all kinds of home remedies. Everything. Nothing worked. Eventually I was forced to go to the medical staff, at which point they informed me of the ear infections and told me to stop putting stuff in my ears. Ha, they got me there.
Returning to the vessel means its back to dealing with idiots for more hours in a day than I care to count. It is what it is. Port calls and falling into routines will help get me through it. I’ll have some good days and some bad days, but I’ll survive. I’m still trying to get out of my current department, and I’m still failing to do so. Maybe the results that come out in another 10 days will prove me wrong. Fingers crossed.
Going to be a while before I get another post out. I know it’s been quite some time, but I just really didn’t have anything inspiring. Hawai’i provided me with adventure. Hope you enjoyed.
