{"id":1784,"date":"2012-11-30T11:22:11","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T00:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2012-11-30T11:22:11","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T00:22:11","slug":"hello-old-friend-at-sea-11242012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=1784","title":{"rendered":"Hello Old Friend \u2013 At Sea \u2013 [11\/24\/2012]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hello old friend, it\u2019s good to be with you
\nTime is standing still
\nAnd we\u2019ll be forever young\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Sometimes I feel like I watch other people\u2019s lives and don\u2019t really live one of my own. My life is a sample tray, I see places for a few hours at a time and am left almost always thinking how I\u2019d like to go back there sometime, but I seldom ever do, unless I go back for another stint of a few hours.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t honestly remember the last time I had a real, properly relaxing vacation. My vacations are mostly extended weekends: I spend the first week coming down from work, the second week trying to accomplish everything I\u2019ve not been able to accomplish while I\u2019m at<\/i> work, and the third week getting ready for<\/i> work.<\/p>\n

Truly I know I need a break. The good thing is that Head Office knows this as well, and has offered me one. Going against everything my work ethic and possibly my bank account screamed at me, I jumped at the chance to actually be away from work for an extended amount of time. The contracts still have to be officially confirmed, but hopefully they all work out as planned. It helps that this is something I want, and that both my shore-side supervisors want for me, at least that means we\u2019re all on the same side.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Grand Asia is doggedly winding to a close. Much as I hate to admit it, but this truly is the boring part of the cruise. With only three ports left (all Hawaii, and all back-to-back) in our fourteen remaining days, it\u2019s a lot of work to keep everyone occupied. Two stretches of five sea days means that we all fall into the draining routine of doing the same thing nearly every day \u2013 the closest thing to a normal \u2018nine to five\u2019 existence that we get out here. In some way\u2019s it\u2019s comforting, in others it makes the days go horribly slowly. I\u2019ve talked before about the carrot that we always have to dangle in front of our own noses to keep us going at certain points in the contract. Right now that\u2019s me, forcing myself to chase after the goal of being home for Christmas in a few weeks. It\u2019s a goal I\u2019ll reach of course, but it seems like forever away.<\/p>\n

The word \u2018final\u2019 is starting to creep into the flagship\u2019s vocabulary ever so gradually. Final deck sale! Final Grand Dollar Redemption <\/i>etc etc\u2026my book club \u2013 which has developed into quite a charming group of people surprisingly \u2013 is even approaching its final meeting.<\/p>\n

For my part, I\u2019m just continuing to float along. Reading more than I\u2019m writing these days; my current read is The Peach Keeper<\/i> by Sarah Addison Allen, which is just the right amount of kitchen magic mixed with reality for my somewhat sleepy state of mind just now.\u00a0 I get up, I go to work, I plan for my holidays, I laugh, I cry, I go home again. I sew a lot. In the famous words of Dolly Parton, I \u2018pour myself a cup of ambition\u2019 in the mornings and move on to the next thing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sad at all, and I\u2019m certainly not sick, I\u2019m actually happier now than I\u2019ve been in a very very long time, I\u2019m just kind of in stasis I suppose. Marking time till the next amazing thing in my life comes along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello old friend, it\u2019s good to be with you Time is standing still And we\u2019ll be forever young\u2026 Sometimes I feel like I watch other people\u2019s lives and don\u2019t really live one of my own. My life is a sample … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,26,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-grand-asiaaustralia-2012","category-reflections-below-the-waterline"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-sM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}