day 24 in the sun

Woke up this morning in a stiff and sore body.  Yesterday's workout was especially evil.  It seems out medic/torturer gets very tough on us when the girls don't show up for circuit training, leaving only me and a British guy. I don't know if he takes out his anger at the girls skipping out on us, or he just delights in torturing people, but goes easy on the girls.  Whatever the case, the lazy bitches didn't show up yesterday and I fucking hurt today.  The only bright spot in the workout was not vomiting my giant hamburger and plate of fries eaten 15 minutes before, over the side. I was close, very close, but one of the cabin crew was just putting the finishing touches on a rollie and graciously offered it to me after the workout.  Stomach calmed, I walked laps for a half hour, enjoying the sun.  My eyes were nearly swollen shut this morning, however...

In opposition to the sun, I went back out on deck tonight for a little star-gazing.  The guy who joined me in discovering the Southern Cross last night had already been out and "discovered" 3 more "southern crosses" and armed me with the approximate heavenly coordinates.  He was right, there are many sets of stars that would all make suitable "southern crosses".  The real McCoy was also evident, this time on the opposite horizon and oriented right way up.  I'm still not terribly impressed and prefer any of our "discoveries" over the real deal.

I wonder, can the recent dearth of posting in the blogosphere be attributed to the approaching summer?  I find myself hitting the "discover" button in Google Reader every day, now.  It's somewhat depressing when I'm out here and the posts begin to thin out.  Come to think of it, it's even more depressing that my life narrows to the point that my mental health can be gauged by the number of favorite bloggers who post on any given day.  It's a bad day when I can read my email, blogs, comments and the news in under 5 minutes.  What to do for the rest of my 12 hour shift?  This trip, I've gotten my dept more organized and insisted on continuously developing the reports and instructions that are typically produced in a panic, three days before crew-x.  Now, the various documents sit open on my PC 24/7, getting updated as issues pop up, decisions are made, or phases of my work are finalized.  Much more efficient, but also it makes life onboard more predictable and BORING.

Learned just the other day that I'll likely be working in Southeast Asia for at least the rest of the year, with maybe a short diversion in Singapore a few months down the road.  I guess I'll be working on my tan and racking up the Qantas/New Zealand Air miles, but the 3-4 days travel either side of a trip sure cut into the time with my family:(

Yogurt and muesli as a meal is beginning to loose it's appeal.  So is the growing pile of dirty spoons on the shelf in my office.  Every night a couple hours after I start my shift, I bring a cup of yogurt/muesli back to my desk, then pitch the empty cup, tossing the spoon on a shelf, meaning to take it back down to the mess, later.  Never happens and the spoons pile up.  I've just noticed I called it muesli!  It's the European influence onboard.  Whatever, the shit is getting old and has about as much appeal as a bowl of used nicotine patches.  I think the last spoon just went into the pile...