8-15-05 So I’ve been hanging out on the rig since Wednesday morning, the 10th. We have phones, but there is no one to call. No internet…..ugh. I’m really loving it!!! LOL!! So I’ve decided to just start writing in my word processor whenever I get a chance, and then when I hit land, I’ll cut and paste it to my diary. So here it goes!! Got the call Tuesday morning to head out, hence my last entry. Hauled ass to south Louisiana, and got a motel room there. Bad things happened that night. I lost not only a friend, but a lover. My best friend. I think it was bound to happen, and I’ve been prolonging the agony. I finally got mad and hurt enough to just say that I was sorry, and that I felt that it was time for me to move on. This has been very hard for me to swallow. I am so glad that I’m on the rig now……it helps me deal with things, and I have a hell of a support group in the group of guys that I work with. I have, in my opinion, the best bunch of guys to work with. Smart, sharp, willing to teach, and help me get rolling with the system here. I feel so very fortunate to be among so many great and diverse minds, and not only that, but friendly to boot!! The first couple of days sucked pretty bad, getting used to how things worked, being a third party hand. Got our equipment lined out, and figured out that I don’t have to work all the time. That has taken some getting used to. When there is nothing to do, there is nothing to do. Just sit in our office, listen to music on the laptops (everyone brings 1-2 laptops,) reading magazines (Men’s Health, Maxim, Stuff, FHM, etc.,) bullshitting, napping, and something I really was not expecting…..porn. Lots and lots and lots of porn. LOL! I get such a kick out of these guys when a new flick comes on that someone brings out on their ’puter that they haven’t seen. Circling the offending computer like a pack of buzzards. Especially the guys that have been out here for 20+ days. They get excited at first, then, leave the office frustrated that they are still stuck out here with a bunch of guys. I tell ya what, if a particularly lonely gal wandered out here, she’d not be lonely any longer! All jokes aside, it is nice to be able to relax and not stress and bust ass all of the time. And to be surrounded with like minds. Intelligent people, mechanically inclined, but diverse enough in life to carry on a conversation about anything. I actually talked about different ways to prepare sushi with one of the guys a couple of days ago. He learned different techniques while in Japan with the military. I work with a bunch of ex-military guys. One guy was one of the top tank gunners in the nation for 3 years running. I respect them all for different reasons. One because he is an actual engineer, when there is a bad problem with the equipment, he is the one to turn to. REALLY smart guy. One is pretty much my mentor. He has answered all the questions that I’ve had, and privately told me that expects me to be his night hand in the future, should I not decided on a career overseas. A couple of guys have extensive military histories, and the stories just keep on coming. The kinds of stories that I hope to have someday, about far away and exotic places that most folks just read about, or hear about on T.V. Even the guys from other companies that hang out with us are just super. Any time I have been working really hard, they come by and volunteer to fill in for me so that I may walk about and stretch my legs, go to eat, get a drink, or whathaveyou. And just about everyone is ready to share their wealth of knowledge. Most of the guys respect me for where I come from. I tell them stories of working as a roughneck, busting ass on the drill floor, a place where most of these guys are afraid to go, as they have been taught that it is a very dangerous place to be (and rightly so!) They listen in wonderment as I talk about rough necking, working up in the derrick, hanging off of the monkey board……even asking technical questions about how a rig is made, set-up, and what different functions particular pieces of equipment serve. It’s such a good feeling to be able to explain in detail how things out here work to guys that are not only my senior in the company, but, in my opinion, are my intellectual superior. Well, things have not gone as planned. What should have been a 7 day job has turned into a 14-20 day job. And if things continue to go as they have, longer than that. Initially, things got off to a rough start on the company’s end, not taking care of the paperwork that they had to do. That killed almost a day. And then when they were running anchors, an anchor cable that is 4” in diameter got twisted like a bread tie. Bad, bad, BAD deal. It has been almost a week now, and they are finally getting to the point that they are getting it fixed, but they are having to replace like three miles of this cable…….yeah, I said three MILES. Then the equipment that we were sent here to work on did not operate properly. So we are having to kinda re-write the rules and change our standard procedure and get it done another way, but so far, we’ve had to add like 6 days to the job. UGH! Although I’m not complaining, it is how I get paid! LOL! So far, I’m on day 6 away from home, but it has been really easy, not having to do back breaking work all the time, having really good friends, not having a girl back on the beach that I talk to and miss all the time. I should probably call mom and dad, but I just really don’t feel like thinking about land now. I’m finally back to the place where I feel at home. On a rig. Where my blood came from, and God willing, where my blood will go after I am gone. Hopefully where my children will learn that it truly does pay to work hard, be honest, have good morals, and be fair in all their dealings. I will admit that I miss all of my friends here on SitD. I miss keeping up with ya’ll, living vicariously through ya’ll, and chatting with ya’ll on the net. As ya’ll know, when I go to Ukraine (hopefully this year!!) I will not have net access for quite some time…..that’s gonna suck! Anyhow, I’ve all but quit smoking….something that I did not think I could do on the rig. I’m just fed up with it. The nasty rooms, the disgusting taste, the way my body feels after I burn one……sick of it! I have smoked 1-2 cigarettes a day for the last few days, and am contemplating just not going into the smokeshack with the guys after dinner anymore. That is hard to do. That’s the time that we all get together, bullshit, chill out, tell funny stories, and reminisce about bygone good times spent with other crewmembers. But I don’t NEED all that stuff. It’s nice, but not necessary. I’ll definitely miss it, but not so much that I cannot bear it. Well, it’s after 3a.m., I need to shut it down for the night…gotta get up at 11 to make it to the safety meeting. Goodnight, and God bless. 8-16-05.……0228 What a day!!! Probably the hardest working day that I’ve had so far out here. Yeah, it was pretty easy. I just stayed up too late last night typing my entry. Ehhh, no biggie. Finally got past our problems of the last couple of days, and if all goes well, I’ll be home in about a week. Today is the first time I’ve really started to miss home. Kinda strange for me, especially since I really have no one to come home to. I think that I may just go out on friendly dates with some female friends of mine. That’s not my usual style, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense - to hang out with people that I already like to talk to and hang out with. I don’t have any friends that I can see getting into a long term thing with, but it’d just be nice to go out on a simple date again. No having to drive halfway across the world to pick up someone and drive back the other way for hours and then have to make another round trip. It’s just not worth it. Not that I will put a price on love……love is not only expensive, it is definitely priceless; but I really don’t think that it is wrong for me to want someone that is self-sufficient, self-supporting, and who is mentally and emotionally stable…….is it? Anyhow, back at the ranch, I am currently homesick, and although I probably won’t be tomorrow, and for this reason, I pray that sleep comes hard and fast tonight. I pray that tomorrow I will wake to a sun bringing warmth and the hopes and dreams of a new day. I pray that I will once again forget about land and the past couple of hellish weeks, and be able to see a bright future. I pray that that phone will ring and my boss will say that the chopper is coming for me, to get my bags packed for Ukraine. I pray that my mind will not wander. I pray that I will stay focused and devoted to myself, that I will look out for number one, and that my love of the Lord will carry my through another day in this paradise that I live in. I pray that you all have a wonderful day, and that the Lord will bless you with the gifts that will carry you through many happy years of love-filled life. Good night, and God bless. 8-17-05.………..0203 Oh what a day! Started off bad with some equipment that I was running causing a problem due to lack of communication. Just luckier than shit that no one (namely me!) was hurt or killed. It wouldn’t have taken much, just got really lucky that everyone reacted correctly and quickly. After that everything went smooth and slow. My lead has begun to put a lot of faith and trust in my work….in my opinion, more than he puts in some of the other guy’s work. Don’t want to talk down about anyone, but I’ve been told that I am doing really good, picking up this stuff, and even though the equipment that we have on this job is really simple, the problems that I have helped overcome have really made me stand out. I’m starting to get labeled as an over achiever. When the problem occurred today, about all I could say for myself was that I was doing my job, and it was not my problem that the communication lines broke down, and that if I’d have been doing nothing, like some of the other guys were doing, well, nothing would have been getting done. The only downside to this is that I feel like I am causing some tension…..messing up the pecking order. Kinda displacing egos. Egos that aren’t used to being displaced. There is one guy that works the other shift that I really feel like he’s holding a grudge, feeling like I’m trying to overshadow him. It’s not that I want anyone to look bad, it is that I want to do the best that I possibly can, and if you aren’t going to do your best, or if your best isn’t as good as mine, well, sorry. I am not going to slow down my learning process or slack in my work ethic because you don’t want to bust ass. I have a job. I don’t just want to keep it, I want to move up, to make a name for myself, and to impress those around me, to let them know I’m not just a leech, sucking up a paycheck, sitting on my hands. My lead hand got word today that he would be going home in about 36 hours. I’m glad to hear that, he’s been out here for like 33 days now, and he’s really burned out, missing home, missing his wife and family and stuff. I wish I had someone or something to miss. The homesickness that I was feeling yesterday is now gone, and I feel like I am again ready to go forever. When my lead goes in in a couple of days, the tech that is coming out is my best friend at home. The guy is a friggin genus. I am so excited about getting to work with him, learn from him, take what he would give to anyone, the ability to do this job, and do it to a T. I am so very fortunate to be blessed with being surrounded by so many great guys. I have worked with other guys here, and although they knew their business, it just was like they were there to follow what the book said, and if things got hairy, well, then they’d freak. Not really freak, but just kinda ehhhh, whatever. My understanding is that I will probably be going home in 3-4 days. I hope that I get assigned to meet the equipment at the dock for loading onto a truck back to Houston. That’d be another day or so away from home, and another day or so of pay. YEAH!!! I find it totally amazing - the things we are doing. Working on oil and gas wells that over a mile under us. Damn near 6500 feet under the water’s surface. The particular field that I am in now is this particular oil company’s pride and joy. There and more than a couple of wells here that, since their inception, have made slightly over a million dollars of profit A DAY. And several of these wells have been here for almost 10 years. You do the math. I was informed the other day that one of the platforms on the horizon is the BP Thunderhorse PDQ platform. The one that made all the news after the latest hurricane in the gulf, listing to 25 degrees before they were able to begin to get it upright again. That thing is HUGE! It is approximately five times the size of the rig that I am currently on. And this is a big rig. Saw two of my favorite offshore sights today. First off, the sunset was AWESOME. Beautiful reds, yellows and oranges, reflecting off of the water, like sun on the horizon of the greatest desert in the universe. Second was the moon. I love how a full, or almost full moon will be at about 45 degrees above the horizon, and is so bright, and the night is so clear that the light of the moon reflects off of the water. I thought it could only be done in movies, or at perfect angles, until I came offshore, then I realized what beauty the Lord has set here for us to enjoy. We are so blessed, and so many people take it for granted. Well, there are a couple of solitare games waiting for me, and then shower, work out and bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Goodnight ya’ll. I love you. 8-17-05.………..1753 Currently working at our latest, favorite past time……waiting. I sweated for about 30 minutes today, out on deck, getting things ready to go. Been ready for things to get started for about four hours now. I’ve been reading magazines and playing music and chilling out all day. I can’t believe that they pay me what they do for doing this. I was talking to one of the guys today and it dawned on me that last year I was on the verge of going to Iraq to work for Brown and Root, and sitting here today I realized that if I’d have done that, I wouldn’t be getting near the compensation that I get now, and I’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere (as I am now) with no a/c (that I have now) and no ready source of adult beverages and adult entertainment (as I have now, most of the time.) I am SO glad that it didn’t work out!! LOL! 20/20 hindsight, right? I was also thinking today about my ex. She should have started her new job this week. I sure hope that works out for her. I still think that she is limiting herself….not pushing her envelope, but it is certainly better than the go-nowhere job that she’s had. Maybe this is the springboard that she needs to get started in life, in making a better life for herself, in coming around, full circle and becoming a grown woman that she has the capability of becoming. I hope she does well. Occasionally I want to call her, to see how she is doing…..this is the longest time that we’ve spent and not talked or chatted in six months. Such is life. I need to move on, and hanging around will not just hurt me, it would hurt her too. Of course, if she wants to talk, she has my number, and I will not blow her off or anything……I will remain that awesome guy that she and everyone else knows and loves. 8-19-05.………………1704 Well, another day of watching and waiting. We have been latched on to the well for a few days now, and are trying to get it plugged and away from it. We should have been pulling out by now. I really don’t mind being out here longer, but I want everything to work, and when it doesn’t, it gets frustrating for everybody. We had an injury on the rig yesterday. Shortly before I came on tower, a worker got his hand caught inbetween a suspended load of pipe and a load of pipe on the ground. That doesn’t sound too bad until you figure that the suspended pipe was 5.5” diameter, and weighed 30 pounds per foot, and the pipe on the ground was 8” diameter, and weighed 250 pounds per foot. Yeah, his hand got hurt pretty bad. Not sure if it got broken, but it peeled the skin off, and it was about twice its normal size. Kinda weird, to think that I used to do his job, and put myself in a position to do that all the time….so much so that I didn’t even see the danger in it anymore. Kinda funny, the longer I am out here, the more and more comfortable I get with everything. This is a bad thing. As you get like that, then you start to lose respect for the iron that is constantly swinging around here, over our heads, what have you. Makes you more and more susceptible to getting hurt or killed out here. Kinda a spooky thought, that they keep body bags onboard. And the possibility is very real that as I stay out here longer and longer, that I will at some point in time have to carry a friend or coworker off of this floating piece of junk iron, and hopefully he will be allright. I have had several friends sustain minor injuries out here…….but a debilitating accident is always just around the corner. Like the problem that we had with communication the other day…..that could have been catastrophic. Thank heavens that what happened was all that happened. We got word today that we will probably be going home either Sunday or Monday. I am personally hoping for Monday, although if the rest of the crew knew that, they’d lynch me. Except for a few, everyone out here has been out for 21+ days, and most of them have families. I think that shortly we are going to go balls to the wall, and be gone A LOT. I personally am shooting for some overseas work, but things will be pretty busy here in the Gulf of Mexico, also. One of my buddies that I work with out here, he’s a really cool guy, I had to laugh at him today. He was joking about fixing me up with his sister-in-law the other day. He also quickly nixed the idea, saying that she liked to party too much and too hard, and that I probably wouldn’t like her. I really didn’t give it any thought…….just noted that he had a sister in law that liked to party hard. Well, today we were talking about stuff back home (he is originally from around my hometown,) and we got to talking about going bowling, and going to the different bars around there, and karaoking and stuff. I laughed and said that he was speaking my language, bowling and singing and drinking a little bit. He immediately started laughing and said that maybe his sister-in-law and I would get along after all. LOL, I guess you just had to be there….It was hilarious. Well, I am fixing to have to go back outside and monitor the well some more. Ya’ll have a good one, and God bless.