Little joys, tiny sorrows. . .

Working on the back deck isn't too bad by itself. I get to see the sunsets, stand in the cool breeze watching the seagulls. On a rough day like this afternoon, I get to see the tips of the tallest waves snipped of by the wind and the resulting fine spray creating a momentary but strikingly clear rainbow!

It's only when the days roll into weeks that the outlook begins to change :P. But I'm hoping that won't happen this time :).

This would have been just an ordinary day, except for the little bird that flew in and crashed unceremoniously on the cable-deck floor around 11 in the night! We picked it up a couple of times to let it fly off again, only to see it crash headlong into something or other each time :(. Figuring that it was probably thoroughly exhausted, we got it some food and a little bit of water, but the bird wasn't interested. I figured we might as well let it fly away and perched it on the railing. But a couple of tentative flaps made it clear that even if it did fly off, it wouldn't make it too far.

Sorry about the shaky pic,
but I was worried another exposure to the bright orange pre-shot light
might scare the poor thing to death :(

So I just put it into a bucket so it wouldn't fly into a cable reel or something. And a crew-mate, who has a mildly annoying habit of addressing all living organisms of undetermined sex as 'she', almost broke the poor thing's neck trying to forcefeed it tiny particles of bread :|. In all this commotion it was suddenly shift change, so we cautioned the other chaps about the bird, hoping they wouldn't throw a spanner or wrench into the bucket assuming it to be empty.

I was kinda hoping I'd be able to see the bird tomorrow, maybe find it in better shape and see it fly off in the daylight. But that was not to be. I heard just now that it'd taken the plunge into the night and while it might be doing fine... something tells me this is another false hope :-<.

Feeling: disappointed
Listening to : The Waifs - Take it in

False starts

At the beginning of this trip I was sure of working at the office in Perth. And with it there were hopes of seeing more of the land down under. However, some people are trying to get me a Malaysian visa instead to go do office in KL, so hopes of kangaroo sightings are rather effectively dashed.

At the beginning of this weekend I was relieved that there would be no more protracted back-deck work this trip. Tomorrow we will be back to retrieving gear, and then putting it back out again :(. I have noticed that Sundays (with some notable exceptions) tend to be the busiest days of the week for me while on the ship!

Yesterday was crew-change. No, I obviously didn't get off the boat. It was the marine crew swapping over with the other rotation. We watched the choppers come and go with an extremely uncharacteristic disinterest. Now the fresh bunch of galley staff have totally trashed the high standards set by the ones that left :(. I mean how dificult is it to leave decent left-overs so I can make myself an interesting after-shift meal!

Have been reading Interpreter of Maladies. It's been quite a while since I've read any short stories, since I, Robot actually. And even that I refuse to classify as merely a bunch of short stories. Anyway, the first story had me thinking for a very long time, wondering who would turn the lights on again, and then... Reminded me of Tagore's definition of the short story :). Apologies, but I don't think I'm quite capable of providing even a rough translation.

Oh, and I was quite excited about the Asansol reference in one of the other stories :D. Was almost hoping there'll be some description on the place. But it started and ended on the road to Konarak, sadly.

Feeling: amused
Listening to: The Waifs - Crazy train

Less than perfect.

It was supposed to be the perfect Champions League final, between Arsenal and Barcelona, but I was left with a distinctly less than perfect feeling. And that's even more surprising since the team I was supporting won! First the red card, the first in a final in 50 years, leaving Arsenal with 10 men. Then the terrible free kick decision that handed Arsenal their goal! Add to that the defensive way in which Barca played even when they were a goal down, and you definitely don't get a quality game :(. Even the famed Ronaldinho failed to impress, having the ball taken away from him during half hearted attacks and shooting wide on at least four attempts on goal! At the end I couldn't but feel a little sympathetic towads Almunia. It was good to see an old-timer like Henrik Larsson appear at the end to set things somewhat right!

Probably the main reason I was so unhappy with the match was the unexpected 45 minute delay at the start! I'd heard the transmission was to start at 2 am, but hadn't counted on the protracted opening ceremony :(. Anyway, at least I got to see the match :).

Someone asked me the other day which team I'll be suporting in the World Cup, and I replied Argentina without the slightest pause. But then he asked me why, and I was stumped! Eventually I had to put it to the fact that I've supported them in every World Cup I have ever seen :). The first time was when I was 6 and they were the reigning world champions! It was heartbreaking to see them lose in the finals, and I think I've been hoping to set things right since! For not having been old enough to watch them win in '86 :P. In the meantime I've come to love players like Caniggia, Batistuta and Crespo. So I guess until India comes up with a team in the World Cup, it's going to be Argentina for me :). If nothing else, then simply for want of a good enough reason to change old loyalties.

--There's something I find rather touching in this picture. A fragile wisp holding on to the last remnants of a glowing past. Knowing that the light will eventually fade away, leaving it in darkness.

Current Mood: contemplative
Listening to: The Waifs - London still

Big surprises, small surprises.

All sorts of stuff has been happening. The vessel net's gone all haywire because the antenna's getting too hot in it's air-conditioned dome /:). The spectre of another long stretch on the back-deck has just been removed, to everyone's immense relief! And I was off again on another small-boat trip today.

The planned activity was something going by the impressive name of the Sippican Probe dip. It's this velocity profiling probe that's sent to the bottom of the ocean and sends back the speed of sound through water at different depths. Why I'm going into so much detail I don't know. But the thing is, the probe's mounted on this cool looking gun-type thingie, so I was kinda expecting something like a harpoon going blasting off, trailing a copper tail or something like that! Instead, they merely tipped the thing over, and continued to look massively bored while the probe sank to 100.. 200... 300.... 400 metres :|. I must have had anti-climax written all over my face, from the looks from the others...And then there was the whale sighting. It wasn't my first this trip, but I must say I was rather surprised with the time it took for me to finally spot this second one! But tracking the successive 'blow's as the rather tiny whale (at least as far as whales go) went scooting all over the place was fun.

I found out today, from another blog, that Pearl Jam have released a new album!!! It has songs with titles like Life wasted, I'm never going back again... Needs to be checked out pronto (i.e. as soon as reasonably practicable :|).

And of course, the thing that has had the instrument room completely stunned for the past 2 days, Richie's got a blog!!! :D I have a sneaky feeling that the clinching factor in overcoming his hithero rather cynical attitude towards blogs, was my last post extolling the achievements of Liverpool, and the possibility of a ready platform for furthering cause of the Liverpool FC :).

Current Mood: still getting over a non-existant weekend :-<
Listening to: U2 - Sweetest thing

Sunday! Bloody Sunday!!

It was great!! By far the best Sunday I've had on the ship! I probably haven't mentioned on my blog yet that we finally have satellite TV onboard :D. True, for a long time we could only get it heading in a particular direction, but that, and loads of other painful things got sorted out in time for last night's FA Cup final between Liverpool and underdogs West Ham.

Now I'm not particularly into English league football, but there are certain members in the crew who are actually from Liverpool and such other places, and their enthusiasm is infectious. So while some watched the match in the theatre I had to remain satisfied with online updates in the instrument room :(. I was on shift. But the cliffhanger of a match eventually went into overtime, and extended beyond midnight :D. I raced off to change out of my coveralls and made a dash for the theatre ('No work gear allowed!', says the notice on the door) landing up all excited in front of a live football coverage after God knows how long!
It worked as a nice preview to the World Cup, thunderous crowds, the teams trying way beyond the ordinary to conjure a goal out of nowhere, and tensed faces staring into the TV with me! The agony in the "Ahh!" when the transmission snapped for a moment during one of the spot-kicks :). Now I'm really looking forward to the 19 straight days of unadlterated international football coming up in less than a month!
Add to that a really peaceful day and a bright moonlit night with the stars proudly holding their own and the horizon clear as day. Sundays don't often get any better :).

Feeling: enthusiastic
Listening to: U2 - Sunday bloody Sunday (live, War Tour)

Pics from here.