happy Valentine's Day! Today (if they're not snowed under in Indianapolis) my sister Stephanie is supposed tofind out if she's having a boy or a girl--exciting stuff! it's tough to be so far away for such important events at home, but it's worth it to be going to the beach while they hunker down for a blizzard (8" of snow already!)
During our induction to Sealord, we watched a video & were given a policy book pertaining ot our new job packing fish. Everything seemed fairly innocuous until my eyes focused in like a cartoon characters, the words leaping out of the void, magically enlarging & bolder in font, as feelings of horror grew withing me: "NO HORSEPLAY." What?? We're going to be doing God-knows-what w/ stinky, slimy fish, & there's "no horseplay?" we're wearing full battle dress, practically ready for chemical warfare, covered from head-to-toe in white, w/ a dress of an apron, even Rubbermaid gloves that we change every break. How can this be? Needless to say, the "no horseplay," lasted but a few hours, though i made sure to keep quiet about it, 1st by teasing an old-timer about throwing his fish tails into my bucket, giving him undeserved dirty looks & wagging the finger of shame.
The next day, the guys who dig the guts out (they're deboning the fish, technically, & are actually called "boners!" can you believe that?!) accidentally splashed me as they tossed the degutted fish into the bucket that takes them on the conveyer belt to my station, where i weigh the fish & distribute properly (as I'd already been "promoted" since my supe loves me!). Of course, I couldn't let this slip (despite the aforementioned enveloping apron & in fact already had scales stuck to my arm), & made sure to properly train these blokes in fish dispersal techniques. Further transgressions were meted out such punishments as returning all fish w/ slight problems to 1 guy, whether he was to blame or not, & making him fix them all. A few leftover projectiles (bone, cartilege, etc.) might also sneakily have been tossed at them from afar...
I didn't want the packing girls to be bored, so I made them do a song & dance for me to receive their fish. Whatever gets you through the day, right? (that, & at least 2 lattes toward the beginning of the shift from their free coffee/hot chocolate/tea machine.)
Most of the time, I'm weighing fish (b/c I've got "a good head on my shoulders"), but I did get to pull the stinky guts out for about 20 mins, then slime them down Liz.
And now you're wondering how Liz puts up w/ me, right? Actually, for having been unable to escape each other for 3 months, we're getting along quite well. It's been tough to have just 1 person who's your end-all, be-all for such a length of time; sometimes it gets lonely (anyone know Akon's "Lonely" song? it's hilarious!), & upon occasion, inevitably, we get frustrated w/ each other, but for the most part, we're both pretty mellow & accepting. As I've said before, it helps that we have similar goals & expectations for the trip. Also, this is from my perspective--ask her & you might receive a different answer, but at least she hasn't tried to ditch me yet!
