Around the bend

Have I mentioned that Norway and India form no part of my plans for this coming break? I will be back stateside. And while there, try and be done with the whole office rotation thing for good. It goes without saying that the usual terms and conditions apply...

I've never been to Houston. Beyond the airport that is. I wonder what two weeks there will be like. A bit warmer than ten days in Connecticut, I imagine :). Apparently it's even been snowing in N. Carolina! It never snows there! My aunt is understandably quite frantic :D.

I am looking forward to this more than anything I can remember in the recent past. Obviously. And that inevitably leads to anxiety. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but naturally, that's not working out too well :).

But it's crew-change tomorrow. So that's keeping things in perspective somewhat :D. I even had confirmed flights almost a week before the day this time!!

There have been some nice sunrises these last few days. Just enough clouds to dazzle.

Looking forward to chilling out for a bit. And hoping that the next time I'm here, life will begin to feel a little less rushed :).

Currently: studying!
Listening to: Salmonella Dub - Ramblings from the Anatoki

Strings that tie...

I know there's been no solid reason to expect otherwise, but I was kinda hoping I'd not be this clueless about how things would work out by now :|. Yes, we grow up, and then realise it didn't do any good :).

Looks like the little break in reading's given a new lease of life to my enthusiasm for Larsson's Second :).

In the mean time I decided to attempt further craziness. A half-marathon row. (Isn't it ironic? I row on an indoor-rower set up close to the bow of a ship, inside, of course. It even points the right way!) End result? A highly respectable time (in my own opinion only, but still!), and cramps in muscles I didn't even know you could possibly cramp :|. Felt good though :).

Almost into no-mores. Should be a good thing shouldn't it?

Currently: in-between hopes and rocks
Listening to: Vitamin String Quartet - Be my escape

Staring into the void

Finding yourself out on the back deck at midnight on 1st Jan probably isn't the best start to the year. But as a friend pointed out, it's likely that the year would get better from that point :). Thus far, I can't disagree.

Even managed a boat trip, a first this trip. If only the weather had been better. It's been quite unusually rough actually! The Red Sea's normally supposed to be a pretty calm place. I guess heading further towards the Gulf of Aden hasn't helped our cause any on that front. Thus far it has also not helped my luck with sighting any of the supposedly prolific Red Sea Shark :|.

Can't say a whole lot is happening. The wind's howling and the waves are thrashing about the resolute bow of the ship. But within there's a sense of quiet.

For a number of reasons, my reading's stalled a little. I'm not too distressed. The days seem to be slipping past regardless. Rather contrary to the usual, I almost caught myself thinking about New Year resolutions. :)) It would appear that few of the things I really want to happen this year allow much by way of direct intervention from myself :).

Bright blue skies and white-capped rollers. Not a combination you get to see often. How much longer will we be in this part of the world? Months? Years? What about just me?

Feeling: repressed anxiety blues
Listening to: The Weepies - Be my thrill/ Vitamin String Quartet - Back in black

PS: It appears that the last of the Christmas and New Year decorations on the boat have been taken down... At least now I have a choice of portholes to look out of the mess again :).

Turning another page

So it does rain in the desert, it would appear :). The blindingly bright blue skies have disappeared for a bit and rolling thunder heads have blanketed the world in a deep grey. We are almost exactly halfway through this trip, and almost through with another year. This has been a somewhat odd one :).

For one thing I've had the most fun ever travelling while on office time :). And somewhat unexpectedly so, seeing how the last ten months in and out of Oslo have been strung together by a fortuitous (and sometimes not so fortuitous) series of coincidences. It was almost as if I hung around another year for no particular reason, but had some fun in the bargain...

I'm beginning to lose my sense of time a little. On the one hand it feels like it was hardly any time back that we were blasting down the highway to Key West. On the other, so much seems to have happened since! Road-trips, snowboarding weekends! The drama with the lost wallet =)). Oh dear, this is beginning to feel all too familiar.

Things I wish hadn't happened, happened anyway, and left some of us a little different. Or a lot. I'm still no good at saying the right thing. But at least sometimes it's enough to just be.

And a lot of time spent in hyperspace :). I'm glad I've started reading a little more these days. I think I have anyway, it's hard to keep track, the way I keep weaving in and out of books. But like they say, there's always so much more, just waiting. I think at this point the only non-optimal for travel thing left in my packing is the fact that I don't have an electronic book reader. And I'm glad that is so. Somehow I can't bring myself to let go of the comforting and endearing feeling of the paperback :).

There's also been a lot of new music. I should listen to more of it!

I am looking forward to so many things in the coming months. And of course, I'm wondering what it'll be like in another four or six months. My life that is. If there's something of use I've learnt this year it would be that there's no point wondering how the last year was :). There's never quite anything to compare with, is there?

On the other side of the edge of midnight I'll be busy bringing in 2011 hard at work on the back deck. I wont be the only one, and to you lot I've got to say, this too shall pass!! :) And to everyone, wish you all a happier, brighter New Year!


Currently: waiting, wishing, hoping...
Listening to: Flunk - Play

Ho Ho Ho!

This is usually not a good time to be on the boat :). Through the gaps in the general efforts at merriment and in-between the awesome lunch and dinner spreads and the other things we do to make the holiday season feel festive, that feeling leaks through, that we would all much rather be elsewhere.

But, the Christmas celebrations help :). This time as it turned out Santa didn't even need a false beard (or an artificial waistline :D)! I was quite happy with my gift :D. It was exactly what I wanted! Not that that was a complete coincidence... :P. But I don't think too many others would have wanted the Bill Bryson anyway :).

And in keeping with my on-board Christmas luck, our table managed to completely blow everyone else out of the water in the inaugural (and possibly only) Trident Annual Christmas 'Pub' Quiz, complete with alcohol free Budweiser and lots of photos of pubs (and presumably not alcohol-free beer) on the super size screen /:). I think it may have helped a little that the quiz-setter and I have discussed favourite music in the not too distant past ;).In the mean time I pretty much raced through the rest of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The strange thing is that the end seemed to go a little sideways when it came to the plot, but the pace stayed relentless. So I ended up screaming through the first few chapters of The Girl Who Played with Fire before running out of steam somewhat.
I think I should really start studying :-<. Maybe after the New Year. We'll see.

Currently: wondering why Guinness World Records exist
Listening to: Aerosmith - Sunshine