So I'm officially an operator trainee (or captain trainee, or "mate", as my company designates this position). I've done a week and a half (took four days out of my last hitch to enjoy Russian Easter, which, incidentally, Jake attended with me and survived - good job, babe!) as trainee and haven't done much actual … Continue reading 2.5 Years
Yesterday was wild... in the sleepiest way. I was exhausted for most of the day because I was up on watch from 0330 to 1030, with about 3.5 hours of sleep, and was then woken up again after a 2-hour nap to go into the office for a meeting. I had also smart-assed my captain … Continue reading At Last
Not much has changed as far as work goes; I’m still a deck hand-engineer at Baydelta, and though I wait for an operator trainee spot to inevitably open up and I’m frustrated at times with the apparent lack of movement, I can still say even on the worst days that I would rather be on … Continue reading My Garden
Hooooly crap I hate how long it has been since I last wrote an entry here. This site has been a huge part of my life for years, and I wanted to keep blogging about my maritime and non-maritime life but the main problem for me was that Google stopped properly supporting Blogger (its blog-creating … Continue reading Hello WordPress!
One month ago, I was driving home from the airport. I had flown into SFO from Seattle and I was headed home through Sonoma county to mom’s house in Napa, where I would get my things together before going to work that night. I was sitting there in the afternoon traffic in Carneros when I … Continue reading Chief
Much like autumn, I always forget how much I adore spring until suddenly it's right in my face. Especially in the Bay Area, there is something so delicious, so magical about the smells in the air - ALL the flowers, ALL the green grass; about the temperature - sweet and balmy, no-longer-sweater-weather; about the birdsong … Continue reading My Other Favorite Season
I didn’t do well in 2017. I wasn’t motivated, I wasn’t focused, I forgot things all over the place. I fucked so many things up, in life and at work but especially at work. And I was harder and harder on myself as I internalized the resentment I felt from others. I can’t remember a … Continue reading 2k17
The last couple days we’ve been needlegunning the top of the wheelhouse, which has been in dire need of chipping for some time. Nothing seems to be as cathartic as popping open one rust blister after another with a pneumatic chipping gun. And we are taking advantage of some amazing Northern California winter weather - … Continue reading Rust Busting
In 2009, I hated my life. I woke up every day questioning everything. I drove to work every day questioning everything; driving through the Posey tube in my company car, wondering what it would be like to take a left turn and head for the mountains instead of continuing to my job as a ship … Continue reading Then vs. Now
Back in July, we were tasked with moving an old steamship, the Cape Breton, out of the Ready Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay. We headed out from Benicia early in the morning, paddling eastward as the sun came up on the last of the ships anchored in the mud. When I was a little girl, … Continue reading Cape Breton
