11-07-05 - 0152 It has been months since I’ve written anything from a rig. Kinda strange to do my SitD on MSWord and have to cut and paste it again when I get home. Kinda strange to be on a rig again period. Kinda nice to be settling in again, and feeling ‘at home.’ Sometimes I need this. I have done about all the work that there is to do with the tool that we have out here. The day lead man seems pretty confident that I can handle myself (a bit more confident than I am, actually,) and is already talking about a week and a half from now when he leaves for vacation. I have no doubts that by then that I will have a solid grasp on how this tool works, and will be able to operate it, maintain it, and represent my company in a manner that is conductive to good business, pure professionalism, and in a manner that I want to represent myself. I am rather proud that I have taken this assignment and ran with it……to the extent that I can anyhow. The lead left me in charge today to prep for tomorrows work and he went to bed. I had to coordinate the efforts of about 10 men to get the job done, and it was completed about as smoothly as could be imagined. I wouldn’t let anyone know it, but I was beaming on the inside. There is one other guy out here with us, a trainee. I worry that he will take exception to me running the show after our lead man leaves. I hope that I am wrong, but I think there is a bit of friction between us. He did not like the way that I did a couple of the operations earlier today, and tried to call me out on it in front of the rest of the rig. No couth. We’ll just have to see how it plays out. I am sure that in the end we will work like a well-oiled machine, and will take care of business like we were born to work together. I was sick the first couple of days out. I didn’t let anyone know it, but I came out here feeling like crap, and I am certain that if anyone checked, I would have had a fever. I think that it was just a 24-48 hour stomach bug, and although I am still recovering my strength and stamina, it was no big deal. Apparently there is something going around the rig…guys are all complaining about getting a cold, being achy, fevers, stomach problems, etc. I just have to try to keep myself healthy. This is also the first time that I have written while out here that I didn’t have a girl back home. LOL, It was on a rig that I found out about SitD. And here I am! :4) Well, I am about beat. Think I am going to rest some more. The schedule has been really hectic…Work 14 hours, sleep 3 hours, work 6 hours, sleep 2 hours, work 2 hours, sleep 14 hours, etc. My body’s clock is wacked. Good night ya’ll. Take care, and God bless. 11-10-05 1510 Things have gotten progressively better on the rig. The job has smoothed out, and he have kinda gotten a schedule going. I am still trying to get used to our 14-18 hour day-cycle. That is about how long it takes us to finish one job, move the rig over a few hundred feet, and do it all again. We are currently on pile 7 of 12...a little over halfway done. I have actually found myself a bit homesick this time out……REALLY unusual for me. I miss my friends, a thought that has never gone through me head while I have been out before. I actually want to be on land…….perhaps this is a part of the revolution that I have been going through lately. Wanting a steady girl, hardly partying at all, kinda watching my friends and their kids, wishing for my own. I dunno…..time to get off of that. I have too long out here to think about that stuff. I am looking forward to getting out of my apartment when I get back in. I will move some of my stuff to a friend’s house for awhile, the rest to storage, and in January, more than likely, I will be moving in with another friend of mine. She should be looking at houses for rent while I am away. It is so nice to have a platonic female friend again. I have totally avoided female friends for the last several months, and I’ve decided that it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. I miss hanging out with the gentler sex. Hopefully we can be friends, roommates, and not let the strain of living together hurt our friendship. I don’t think it will, I’ve had one female roomie before, and it worked out VERY nicely. She had her side of the house, I had mine, and we cohabitated splendidly. Hopefully this will work the same way again. My lead man on the rig has let me know that there has been quite a bit of talk about how well I am handling my new assignment out here. The rig crew and the crew’s supervisors have been very impressed, and my supervisors back on land have apparently heard about how I (and my co-worker) are handling our business. I am really proud to put on my coveralls and walk through the halls, going outside or to the galley. I am so glad to be me! I rock!!! Ya’ll take care, and God bless. 11-13-05 0009 Well, I saw the first tuna that I’ve seen since coming back out here. The other night, I had just finished my duties on the rig for awhile and lust leaned out on the handrail, enjoying the night, the moon, the breeze, and the satisfaction of a job well done. I noticed that there were some random splashes out away from the rig, and they were getting closer. Finally, I saw that the flying fish had gotten themselves herded up by the tuna, and were being pushed through the water, like so many buffalo, as the tuna fed off of them. It was really exciting to watch this life-and-death struggle for survival unfold right before my eyes. I love it out here. I talked to a friend of mine tonight - the girl that I will probably be moving in with in a month or so. She told me that she had some bad news, so I figured that there had been a problem finding a place to call home. She told me that she totaled her vehicle last week, dodging a deer. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and her sunroof was open, and when the vehicle rolled, her head started going out the sunroof, and as the vehicle rolled, her face got really hurt. Plus the injury from wearing a baseball cap and her head hitting the steering wheel. It was such a good feeling though, she told me that she wanted to wait till I got back in to buy another vehicle, because she trusts that I won’t let her get taken, and can help her find something decent. It’s really nice to know that someone thinks that highly of me. Well, I gotta cut this out now, I am about to have to go outside again. I should be home in a couple of days - I can’t wait…..I’ve got a surprise to unfold for someone. Ya’ll take care, and God bless. 11-14-05 0954 Well, I had a pleasant surprise yesterday. I was going home earlier than I’d thought I would. It’s always a good feeling when you are on the helicopter and it lifts off, and you look at the horizon……knowing that you will be back on dry land again in short order. It is always a bad feeling when there is a loud sound that comes from the engine and the chopper loses altitude, and turns around sharply back to the rig. This is the second time that it has happened to me. We landed, and the pilot gets out, and opens the door, points to me and yelled (he had to yell because of the engine noise) for me to get out and get my bags, there was an emergency and I had to stay. I think I almost cried. I got my gear from the chopper storage area, and headed back down to my bunk. On the way there, I ran into my coworker that had stayed behind…..and his bags were packed. He briefly told me that his father-in-law had just passed on, and he had to get to his wife. Great. I’m not trying to get down on the situation. Were I in his shoes, I’d have had to do the same, but I got tossed a ton of paperwork, and the responsibility of the remainder of the job (two or three more days) without warning, and no hand-over notes. UGH! YIKES! *cry* So I got with my company man, got filled in on what the rig operations were, and set about taking care of the things that I knew I needed to take care of. Hopefully we will be finished tonight or tomorrow…..I have a case of Shiner Bock beer and a couple of rib eye steaks waiting on me. By the time I get to leave, it will have been two weeks since I left home. I actually feel pretty good about being out here, and don’t think that there would be a problem if I had to stay longer……Yesterday just sucked because I was looking forward to being on land again, having a beer, a decent meal, and some good-looking company. Had I not already been in-flight, it would not have been nearly so bad. Oh well.