Surviving on Giants, and not much else

I've been better. Then again, I've been worse. But not often and not by much. It's getting better though. Sort of. I have a little breathing space. The fact that I have no idea when I will touch dry land again isn't looming as large in my mind as it ordinarily would, or should I suppose, 'cos I'm simply too tired to go into the implications.

Flashback to the start of the month, and I was quite happily surprised to find the entry into Saudi Arabia and the subsequent trip out to the boat, which was tied up alongside Jeddah at the time, to be quite painless really! Much better than Angola, thankyouverymuch! The first day of steaming out of port was expectedly peaceful.Things sort of went downhill from there. I was so deep into the deployment muck that even the fact that my newest trainee (and only helping hand on shift) has a name starting with X, didn't strike me till only yesterday. I needn't have bothered, he assured me that X.Z. were perfectly common initials. Numerous even :|.It's hot here! And this is well into the nice and cool part of the year, apparently!

I've been reading a bit these days. Starting with the time I was at home really! Haven't finished a whole book in less than a day in a couple of years. But just had to get through Second Foundation double quick on my last day home just so I could carry the last two Foundation books with me when I left. It helped that I didn't remember much of the details from the last time I read them all, over seven years back.

Unfortunately it's been down to a couple of pages a day just before I pass out over these last weeks. I think I've said this before. I like the four other books of Foundation better than the original trilogy, somehow :).
Oh well. It's comforting to feel the muted thunder of the guns reverberating through the boat to reach me in my cabin, which is about as far away from any outer bulkhead of the boat as physically possible. Sweet lullaby. The better part of a year, we are supposed to be here. Oh boy.
Oh! Been taking some pictures! Not many. Just enough to keep the shutters from sticking shut with disuse :). It's Durga Pujo time back home.

Currently: wishing I could catch up on some of that sleep I've lost these last 2 weeks!
Listening to: Chicane - From where I stand

Sleeping awake

Well, I'm back home again. But no sooner had I stepped in through the door, than my outbound flight details found their way into my inbox :|. Nope, no luck with the Mediterranean hopes... Jeddah it is.

And that means of course, going through the 11 pages of joining instructions that came with the flights. Mostly a huge list of what not to do, with frequent reminders that the penalty for disobedience could quite likely be incarceration, 'or worse' :-<.

I'm getting a very Angola-esque vibe from all of this :(. At least for the first crew change there I didn't really have a clue how bad it could be. This time I have a benchmark :|.

Oh well. I still have another couple of days. And no, I am not getting the expected 2 weeks off, as it turns out. What is it with us and early on-signing crew changes?!

I get the feeling there was something not particularly depressing I was about to put in when I started. But somehow I cant seem to remember what that was :|.

It's almost, but not quite, a whole month since I last took a picture...

Currently:*sigh*
Listening to: Chicane - What am I doing here? (Part 1/Part 2)

Lost sunsets

It's been a while since I unpacked in Cal, but this time I figured I'd just do it as a matter of form, before I packed for the usual family trip starting tomorrow. Somehow, I was a little surprised to find my slightly battered copy of On the Road. It seems like my extended office stay has completely warped my sense of time for the last few months.

Before I put the book away on my shelf though, I leafed through it and found no less than nine boarding pass stubs, and one hotel receipt. Couldn't resist reading scraps from here and there. Well, it turned into somewhat more than scraps, and an inexplicable feeling of aircraft turbulence came over me...

Been here since Saturday night, following a remarkably uneventful one stop trip from Oslo, supposedly, on a full two week time off. I say supposedly, because in reality, I haven't a clue when I'm supposed to leave. Or where I'm going for that matter. Vague rumours hint at possibilities including Sicily, Malta and of course some sandy port or other in Saudi. I guess in the mean time I'll chill out here. The temperature's almost about the same as it was in Asker when I got there in July. A bit more humid maybe :).

Currently: home!
Listening to: Chicane - Sunstroke

Sense and beyond

Sight:

Have I ever mentioned (read gone gaga over) The Big Picture? I don't think I have. Surprisingly. When it comes to visuals, stills are my preferred choice for memory preservation. Videos are too realistic for my liking :). Either way, this guy really really blows you away! I mean would you look at that?!!!

Touch:

Raindrops. The kind where you can tell them apart. I looked up yesterday afternoon and there were hardly any clouds! Honestly! There was more blue than anything else straight up. But instantly, there I was, watching someone literally dancing in the rain. In the front yard that felt distinctly like a back yard. How long ago was that? Three years? Maybe longer.

Smell:

It came from somewhere within the maze of a completely nondescript apartment block as I was walking unsuspectingly by. The kind of building with a hundred doors and windows all around, but no obvious way to enter. I'm not particularly crazy about food. Most of the time. But memories have a funny way of resurfacing at the oddest of moments.

Taste:

:D That not crazy about food thing does not apply to desserts. I have one word for you, Tiramisu. And I have a tub of that sitting in my fridge right now :).

Sound:

Surprise of the month. I was at work. Plugged into the music as usual. The playlist was heavy on Chicane and I though I heard something that had no business being there! But the distorted Bangla lyrics amidst a sea of electro trance wasn't the end of it! Some people had clearly way too much time on their hands and had come up with some interesting lyrics of their own! Of course my cousin and I had a fun time trying to translate it for ourselves :D.
--

This is probably the closest I've ever come to being 'home'sick, for lack of a better expression. The definition of home here is a bit... well, ... hmm.

Currently: one and a wake up!!
Listening to: Chicane - Daylight/ Locking down

Sing along to songs you dont know

It's been a quiet couple of weeks :). For the most part anyway. Barring the couple of Friday night (mis?)adventures that is :D.

Oh!! Oh!!! Completely forgot about the last day - last show viewing of Inception :D. I figured I might as well take the last chance (for the time being anyway) to satisfy my curiosity regarding the mystery of the white sleeve :P. And of course I promptly figured out how even that does not necessarily prove anything. Then again, it's just a movie, so.

There was the US Open in the mean time. And I'd been watching quite a few of the matches. Was rather surprised to see Nadal fly relatively under the radar all the way into the finals! I was all set to watch it Sunday night, then of course they had to postpone it. Managed to have a pretty good time watching the match last night, all the way until the rain break. After that of course the time difference and work in the morning meant the I only heard of the Career Slam this morning :-<. I wonder if they'll show a replay of the match today.

On a side note, browsing through some player stats the other day I came upon a rather intriguing bit of info. Anyone remember Nicole Vaidisova? Young Czech girl that back in the '06 French Open blasted her way past Mauresmo and Venus in consecutive matches! That obviously made me an instant fan. However, as usual, I lost track and it turns out she retired earlier this year! At 20!!!! And here's the kicker, the reason was "due to a lack of interest in tennis"! I guess when you take into account the fact that she started at 6, that's already 14 years of tennis! Who said starting early is a good thing then?

Most importantly though, I'm finally into the last week of my stay here this time! Phew! I'll be honest and admit that there really wasn't a whole lot of careful planning that lead me to do what I do for a living, I mean, not really. But there are times when I'm extremely glad it is the way it is! Imagine me trying to do an office job full time! Recipe for disaster! Big time :|.

Been listening to a lot of electronicky stuff these days, múm, Bonobo, Gui Boratto, Chicane, Boards of Canada, Etro Anime, Ellen Allien... Side effects seem to include but are not limited to comfy isolation from everyone and everything else at work, weird dreams, the fact that I actually remember said dreams, more or less happy thoughts in the absence of any thread or structured thinking, surprised and sometimes amused stares from passers by on the street at my ill-advised attempts to sing along on my way back and forth from work... So mostly good stuff then.

Currently: three and a wake up!
Listening to: múm - Don't be afraid, you have just got your eyes closed