{"id":3990,"date":"2015-10-09T20:21:46","date_gmt":"2015-10-10T03:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3990"},"modified":"2015-10-09T20:21:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T03:21:46","slug":"dressed-in-your-pajamasagain-at-sea-10032015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3990","title":{"rendered":"Dressed in your Pajamas\u2026again \u2013 At Sea \u2013 [10\/03\/2015]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"269152\"<\/a>They tell us that in an actual emergency 60% of people will do nothing at all\u2026they don\u2019t freeze, they don\u2019t panic, they simply don\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n

Experience continues to tell me that this is a true statistic, though before tonight I had only been in a situation onboard twice when the alarm was actually sounded for anything other than a drill.<\/p>\n

It continues to be the most surreal experience that you could have out here. You feel like you\u2019re in a whole different dimension from everyone else.<\/p>\n

One moment you\u2019re slopping rice and beef stew onto your plate for supper, and the next\u2026well, there\u2019s that micro-second of complete silence as<\/em> the first stage alarm sounds where no one in the crew mess moves. That split-second dead space where everyone\u2019s heart stops and everyone takes a beat to process that they\u2019re hearing what they think they\u2019re hearing. And then you move, you don\u2019t think about it, you don\u2019t process it, you just move \u2013 plates hit tables, glasses get dropped, silverware hits the floor with a clatter and those of us who don\u2019t have an emergency function just get out of the way<\/em>\u2026and then suddenly the mess is empty\u2026moments before it was teaming, and then it\u2019s just\u2026empty.<\/p>\n

It was eerie.<\/p>\n

Since neither Amras or I have an emergency function that requires us to head to stations before the second stage alarm we crossed the empty room, put our plates down, and tried to eat something. But it\u2019s tough to focus on beef stew when your ears are straining for the \u2018ding-dong-ding\u2019 of the announcement bell. As always I paraphrase conversations slightly, but something along the lines of<\/p>\n

Hun, don\u2019t you live in fire zone 5?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, yes I do\u2026so\u2026my cabin\u2019s off-limits. Good thing all my important stuff is in my purse, and I left that in your room\u2026except my coat, dammit I don\u2019t think my coat is in yours.<\/em><\/p>\n

The last tenant\u2019s girlfriend left a spare jacket in my closet remember? That will fit you. If it comes to it\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

If it comes to it\u2026you try so hard not to think about the \u2018if it comes to it\u2019. I almost missed the days when I had an immediate emergency function, when I was doing<\/em> something right away and that kept my mind of what may or may not happen\u2026not that I really thought anything would but it\u2019s so odd to sit there and do nothing\u2026or just wait for someone to tell you what<\/em> to do.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so strange the things you think of at times like that. Of all the things I could have focused on, all that kept clambering into my head was Neverland of all things. Of all the stuff I could have picked to worry about, that was what stuck\u2026the fact that if something happened, I wasn\u2019t going to be able to save my embroidery; that I hadn\u2019t thought to rip it from the frame.<\/p>\n

No idea why that was suddenly so important, but it was.<\/p>\n

The whole thing was over in about an hour, turns out that it wasn\u2019t a fire at all, the smoke was coming from something completely different and once located was taken care of quickly and safely. Our emergency teams know what they\u2019re doing. There was never any real danger.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s one of those moments where you become mightily aware just how vulnerable you are on here in the middle of the Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They tell us that in an actual emergency 60% of people will do nothing at all\u2026they don\u2019t freeze, they don\u2019t panic, they simply don\u2019t respond. Experience continues to tell me that this is a true statistic, though before tonight I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[80,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northern-exposure-2015","category-summer-contracts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-12m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990","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=3990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}