Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Needle gun

Today was one of those days that had so many mixed emotions. I really had to work at my program in order to just get through the day. There have been several outbursts of anger on board toward the scientists and there have been some racial tensions. I don’t really understand a lot of details nor do I even want to know. Anyway, there seems to be a lot of unrest and it will be best when several of the crew get off the ship for good at the home port.

Amidst all of the venting and spewing, I felt overwhelmed so I did what I know works. I asked deck department to let me chip off rust with a needle gun. A needle gun is a neat power tool that has many long pieces of metal in a tube and these metal “probes” vibrate up and down and bust off the rust bubbles so that you can get down to the steel. I put in ear plugs and gunned away. The gun vibrates hard in your hand and is a great way to not only shut out everything around you due to the noise but is also a great way to just get absorbed in work and take out any and all frustrations. Maybe I'm chipping away at the rusted parts within myself to expose the steel underneath. Whatever it was, it worked because after a couple of hours of that, I felt happy and able to do the rest of the work for the day.

I finally quit work last night at around 8:30. It had been a 12 hour day and at the end of it, I was tired but content. Only one more day of Ops and then I can head back home. This has thankfully been a short cruise. I’m looking forward to getting to meetings and away from all the tension swirling around me.

12 comments:

  1. I love the analogy in this, Syd. Nice post.
    Peace,
    Scout

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  2. Way to take care of yourself, Syd! I wouldn't mind having one of those needle guns, myself. Not sure what I'd use it on. It just sounds cool!

    Peace out!
    Kari

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  3. I love to power wash my drive way for the same reasons you described. I think it's OK to shut out the world.....when the world is mis-behaving.

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  4. tension swirling around you is not good..does the boat you are on now also have a bird living on it ? if so..go hang with him..if not..imagine you are one ! lol

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  5. I like the needle gun analogy too. Glad you found a way to shut out the external chaos and center yourself. It's unfortunate this trip has been such a downer.

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  6. The needle gun sounds great, but probably wouldn't be so great for the problems encountered at a hospital.

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  7. Syd,
    I like how you can look at your work as an extension of your inner feelings. By the way, I'd like a gun like that...I can just see it take the rust from my soul bit by bit, and underneath, I can see innocence and purity...and finally I can feel peace and joy! Just think....if you could come up with one, you'd make a fortune...and obliterate all the crap in the world. That would be neat!
    You would think that people who work on boats for a living and have to live in shared quarters would know how to get along, or how to keep their feelings to themselves. And if you're a racist..you're on the wrong boat!
    I wouldn't want to be stuck with people like that on a boat for any length of time. With my temper, I might start chipping away at the wrong thing.
    Your post makes me think that we all have a lot of rust we need to get rid of.
    Safe home!

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  8. How fantastic that you explored a way to live in the solution rather than get boggled down by the negative energy.

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  9. Excellent !!! creative problem solving using the available options to you in that environment. but if it is an ongoing thing, you dont HAVE to keep taking these trips you know. but i'm sure you know that already..

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  10. What a great power tool. How are ya getting on with Step 4 and 5 ?

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