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Damn |
May 25th, 2008 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Nada
Feeling: changed
Wow. It's been two and a half years since I have written here. Needed a place to go and talk, relieve pressure, maybe vent where no one knows me. I have deleted all of my friends from here. I haven't talked to any of them since I gave up SitD back in '05. We'll see who shows back up. |
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Moving |
December 26th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
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So a lot has happened, and a lot is going my way, but I've tried to type 3 entries on here today, and it's all been erased!!! So I'm taking this as a sign that maybe I don't need to lay my private life out here in public. So I'm moving my blog.......For now anyhow....If you are truely my friend, you know were it has gone. |
| 194 hit(s) |
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Headed Out |
November 23rd, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: None
Feeling: eager
Hey ya'll, I just got my callout - headed to a rig owned by my old company. I fly out 0500 tomorrow morning. Yeah, THANKSGIVING morning!!! Sheesh!
Eh, I kinda figured it would happen that way. That's why I get paid what I get paid to do this kinda (easy) work.
Anyhow, I sould be back in a couple of weeks.
Ya'll take care, and God Bless!
The Rat |
| 125 hit(s) |
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Checking Out the New Place |
November 22nd, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Def Leppard - Rock of Ages
Feeling: neurotic
Well, my friend/soon-to-be-roomie has found a couple of houses that we are fixing to go check out. I am kinda nervous. I am about to enter into a year-long contract that pertains to my living situation. I haven't lived in a real house in almost 3 years. I haven't had a roomie in six months, and I haven't had a female roomie in almost 3 years.
I have to get 98% of the stuff out of my apartment out today. I am calling friends to help and no one is home......most of the guys are offshore......Including the one that I will be moving in with for a month until my other friend and I move into the house. STRESS!!!
On a happier note, I will be leaving behind a lot of memories that I have at my current residence, and begin making new ones at my new home(s) while starting a new life again. I went out by myself the other night to watch some football and have some wings at BW3's. I was just chillin out and this girl started talking to me and invited me to the table there with her and her sister and her sister's boyfriend. We ended up hitting it off really well, and have plans to meet up for dinner later this week. She is, I think, too much older than me to seriously consider a relationship, but she is a blast to hang out with, and she is REALLY hot!!! LOL! MILF!! Okay, I'm over it now.
Point is, I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would be right now. I went to workout last night and planned on just doing like 15-30 minutes of weight work, but ended up doing 30 mins on the bike and felt so good about it that I did another 30 mins on the elliptical (SP?) trainer. I am SO loving life! Just being me has done me really well thus far.
Anyhow, I need to run, have to meet up to check out the houses we are looking at.
Ya'll take care, and God bless.
The Rat |
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Moving and Such |
November 20th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Len - Man of the Year
Feeling: unhealthy
Well, back to packing - got almost my whole kitchen done, most of my bedroom, some of the office, fixing to work on the bathroom. I am so sick of moving. Hopefully just one more major one for the next decade. It really sucks not having my friends here helping me and B.S.ing. This sucks.
On a brighter note, I had a blind date last night. It didn't go bad, but it wasn't excellent. Perhaps a new friend. We'll see. I met with one of my best friends back home before the date and we shot some pool and had a couple of beers together. Then I picked her up and we had some really good mexican food. Cruised around the town and then out in the country for awhile. It really was fun, and nice to have a good conversationalist with me. Met back up with my friend after the date and shot a couple more games of pool at this little dive bar back home that we meet up at. Then we went to another spot in town that had some live music playing, and I started running into a LOT of old friends....Like folks I haven't seen in 5+ years. Ran into a girl that I sponsored when I was in 8th grade and she was in first.....then we hung out and smoked! LOL! That was REALLY strange. Kinda made me feel old.....but getting hit on by the girls from back home really made up for it though. I kinda miss my home......maybe when I buy my home next year, I can get my company to let me live down there. We'll see.
Well, I'll try to update in the next day or so.
Ya'll take care, and God Bless!
The Rat |
| 133 hit(s) |
(4 comments) |
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While I Was Offshore |
November 16th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Talking on the Phone
Feeling: happy
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.
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| 117 hit(s) |
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Moving |
November 1st, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Robert Earl Keen - Road to No Return
Feeling: busy
Back at it again!!
I took a job with another department at work, due to the lack of work in the department that I had been working in. Now, instead of controlling X-Mas trees, I will be setting wellheads and running tubing hangers. As if that makes ANY sense to ya'll! LOL This department is very short handed, and I will probably be gone A LOT. I leave the day after tomorrow for my first job with them. One of my friends works over there, and he is working on his 6th week offshore in a row right now. He has gotten to sleep in his own bed for one night during this span. Hopefully I will be able to do the same in a month or so.
Not only will I be working more, but I will get a bit of a raise in pay......I'm really excited. I will miss all of my off-time, but I need to bust ass for the next year in order to buy the kind of house that I want next fall.
I am also moving out of my apartment. It is insane for me to pay the equivilant of a house payment to live in an apartment. A payment on a very nice house. I am going to move everything into a storage unit, and to my buddy's house, and crash there for free for awhile, and more than likely I will move in with another friend of mine in January. She called just a bit ago and told me that with her discount, at her apartment complex, we could get a very large two bedroom, two bath, with a fireplace, and the rent would be just a bit higher than what mine is now....and we are gonna go halves on all the bills and stuff. Hopefully all that will work out good, and things will progress slowly into what I need the situation to be like next year.
Well, that's my current life and state of mind. Ya'll take care, and God bless. |
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My Weekend!!! |
October 30th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Robert Earl Keen - That Buckin' Song
What a weekend!!! Friday I was supposed to go to Yoakum to hang out with friends, but I got off of work late, so I stayed home. My best friend called and told me to come over, so I went and we hashed out some work stuff, and he filled me in on his latest love, then we went to workout. I skated 1.5 miles, jogged about 3/4 of a mile, and then did some light weight lifting....damn that felt good!
Then we hooked up with his brother and his girl, and some of her friends....damn some of those girls were wild! lol! Had a blast going out with them, and then just hanging out at the house all night, talking, singing, and just enjoying ourselves.
Saturday, I went down to meet with my other friend that I skipped out on the night before. I ended up going to Shiner, where the costume party was going to be, to help set-up. We went back to his family's place to get ready, and it totally made my day when his 3 year old daughter opened the door and screamed "It's Gerd!!!!!" and jumped into my arms. Damn, I can't wait to have kids.
I dressed up as the morning after guy....the guy that gets trashed at the bar, gets beat-up, arrested, etc. Had blood pouring out of my ears, nose, and mouth, had a tooth blacked out, a black eye, some stitches, and blood all over my shirt. Had my goatee in pigtails, too....THAT was funny!
Had a blast at the party.....Lots of mixer games, and plenty of drink. It was also my friends wife's 30'th party. GOOD TIMES!!!
When we finally got down to dancing, the DJ turned up the volume and turned down the lights, I asked a couple of girls to dance, and never had to ask again....every female in there couldn't wait for me to spin them around!! Several can't wait for me to come back, so that they can try to hook me up with their friends.
Ended up crashing at my buddy's sister-in-law's place, we stayed up for the longest talking about everything under the sun. She's kinda nice, but not my type at all.
Took off from there and cleaned up the hall this morning, then went to Flatonia to check out a community gathering there. What fun!!
I actually ran into a girl that I had some college classes with, and we sorta had a thing going during class and around town (she didn't live there during college.) But she was there with her now-husband.....that was wierd. But he seems like a good guy. Damn, she was a GREAT kisser. And now she's doing cancer research to get her master's......what a babe!
Came back to town tonight, and met a friend of mine. She made dinner, and we had a bottle of wine. Then we went to a haunted house......VERY awesome. It was like a 4-in-1 deal, and one of them was a 3D house....DAMN. Went back to her place, had a few more drinks, and I cleaned her kitchen....much to her chagrin, and called it a night.
That's my weekend...how was ya'll's?
Take care, and God bless! |
| 129 hit(s) |
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Back in the Saddle |
October 27th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Billy Joel - Pressure
Feeling: happy
That's what I'm feeling now......Back in the saddle again. Kinda like the AC/DC song. I'm back in the saddle again.....Movin' on.
For the first time in a long time I went to the bar, and didn't have to fight the urge to get lit up. I realized the other day that the bar needs me, I don't need it. So I went in, shot some pool (and did very well!!) and went home. Just sitting there shooting pool, I realized that I didn't have to do anything to impress girls, they just came to me, and, in retrospect, they always have, but I blew them off.....trying to save a relationship that I was told (by her, but not verbally) wasn't salvageable.
It was really cool to just hang out, not get drunk, not having to stop somewhere on the way home, not feel woozy, not get drunk at all, and still have a good time. I just wish I'd have realized it a long time ago, I'd have saved a LOT of $$$$.
Anyhow, I was going to Aikido tonight (my martial art,) and there was a mega wreck on one of the highways, and the only way around was through a neighborhood, and it wasn't a nice one, so I just headed back home. On the way back, a newer friend of mine calls, and she was really upset. One of her close friends died today. He was in a car wreck last night, and due to the injuries to his head and neck, didn't last the day. I didn't know what to tell her. All I could say was "I'm sorry." What else can you say??? So we talked for awhile, and she started talking about other things, and so I let her go.....she'll be fine.
Really cool story as to how I met her.....She was the photographer's assistant at my sister's wedding this weekend. We hit it off, and she ended up wearing my suit coat during the whole reception to keep warm. It was really funny, most of my family was asking what was going on between us, because we were talking all night, and she was wearing my coat. She turned out to just be a really cool girl. Relly nice, really sweet, and just a nice person to hang out with....I can't wait to go dancing with her again! |
| 118 hit(s) |
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Slammed - EDIT |
October 10th, 2005 @ 12:00am |
Listening to: Rain outside my window
Feeling: inquisitive
So, I did something stupid saturday night, and ended up with a very painful injury. I got my finger tip slammed in a sliding glass door. Don't ask for the circumstances, cause I won't tell.
Anyhow, left it packed in ice all night, and the next morning, the pressure was unbelieveable. By the time that I made it back home and tried to rest and relax the pain away, the swelling had caused the skin underneith my fingernail to start to bulge out.
So I called a buddy of mine that is really sharp.....a really smart guy, and asked him if he would drill through the nail to help relieve the pressure. I went over to his house for him to look at it, and he immediately grimaced in pain. Said he was surprised that the nail hadn't split due to the pressure that was being exerted on it from the swelling in the tip of my finger.
So we packed ice around the finger and let it get numb. While I was waiting for it to get numb, he went and got out his cordless drill, and the smallest bit that he could find.
Now picture this: I am standing in my friend's driveway, soaking my hand in ice, listening to my other friend talk smack and try to rattle my nerves, and my friend walks out of his garage with a cordless drill, revving the motor, and giving me this wild-eyed look. I almost ran.
So I compose myself for some of the toughest pain I've ever dealt with, kneel down behind my friend's truck, and lay my arm on his tailgate. The other buddy is joking about using a ratchet strap to hold my arm still as I feel the first time the drill bit make contact with my nail.
I am trembling with pain and anxiety as he whittles away a tiny hole in my finger, knowing that I'd love my decision in 2-3 days. We had to stop the drilling several times during the course of the operation to resoak my hand in the ice and numb it again, as the drill bit produced quite a bit of heat, and this in turn caused the numbing effect of the ice to go away.
Finally we knew that we were almost all of the way through the nail, and I had sunken into a deeper conciousness. A place, a practice, that I reserve for when I am in extreme pain......physically or mentally/emotionally. I had stopped shaking, and opened my eyes, and was talking, taking regular breaths. And suddenly the pain that I had gotten accustomed to, had given a name to, had assigned a taste and color to......suddenly it became satan, exploding through my finger, causing my hand to burst, and my body to almost black out. Blood shot 8 feet into the air, landing on my shoulder and my back, and when I could finally raise my head, there was a steady one inch stream of blood squirting from the top of my finger nail.
We were through.
Now was time to soak it, get all of that bad blood out, and clean it, making sure that there is no chance for infection.
I have gone through 8 dressings on my finger, the first 5-6 were replaced because the blood soaked through. Now though, I am just trying to keep it clean. I have accepted the fact that I will lose my fingernail, and it is in the Lord's hands as to weather the end of my finger gets infected, or if the trauma to it was enough for my body to just quit supplying it, and have it die. If this becomes the case (VERY slim chance,) please send flowers to the hospital, and ladies, the giving of physical favors has been proven to improve recovery time of trauma patients....(hint,hint,hint.)
I apoligize for any typos, as I am typing with my left hand, and pecking with my right. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and is in less pain than me!
* EDIT *
These are pics that I took when I changed the dressing this evening. It is almost back to it's normal size, and the color is coming back. Until now, it has been absolutely black, and swollen to about 200% it's normal size.
Ya'll take care, and God bless.
Riggy |
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