Mental Tan

I smell like oil. I can feel it in my pores, too. This is kinda weird... I've worked with grease and oil and dirt before, but never in a space that is all-encompassing, so huge, with nothing but the whirrr of the engines to make a soundtrack in your head. You can't even think. You just keep wiping up oil, keep trying to suck in as much cool oxygen as possible. When you work on a car, you are in control. When you work on a ship, you are just a tiny little ant in the belly of a whale.

This is a pretty crappy little whale.

Hopefully we pull in tomorrow. I dunno, I haven't heard anything recently that would confirm, nor deny that notion.

There are a few cute midshipmen (women!) on this boat right now. They are training to become officers right now, so they aren't off limits yet. I'm not going to even try to talk to them though... it would be kinda silly to do so. It's funny to sit back and watch as all the men on the boat try to take shots at them. One of them, Melba, I think her name is, says hello to me all the time, and even asked me if I had a myspace and all that. I dunno, I don't think I'm really interested though. I definitely wouldn't want to date/see a girl while working with her at the same time. That would be just plain inefficient and counterproductive.

Anywho, this is our third day of engineering training. In the mornings, the inspectors walk through the lower levels of the ship, ensuring that the spaces are ready and safe to train in. So far, today, we have passed with flying colors. Today and tomorrow will determine how my summer is spent. If we fail, then I will be spending pretty much every other week out to sea. If we pass, it will be smooth sailing from here on out. That was a gay pun.

Last night was pretty fun. Me and a few buddies sat in our respective beds and poked fun at one another. My friend Ben started rattling off Transformers quotes, and then we started talking about random movies and that sort of thing. It's interesting to say, I have a closer friends base on the ship now than I did before. Before, during deployment, it was just a few friends that I would say, "Hey, what's up dude?" and then carry on my merry way. I think these new friends will make this next deployment much more bearable.

"Oh, been ordering from the Adam and Eve collection again, I see!"