One Week
One week underway on anything is about all I can take any more.
One week on a submarine, however, especially a non-US sub is, in some ways unbearable. No TV, no Internet, no Phone.
NADA.
For the first time since, well, like 1996 or 1997 when we got email on good ship ANNAPOLIS, I am completely and totally unwired. OK, not completely – the MacBook is still with me (somehow, I still prefer ‘iBook’ to ‘MacBook’), the iPod is with me, and I’ve been swapping songs with a couple of the guys on the boat – Colombian ‘rancheros’ (think country music, ‘cept from South America) from them, grunge from me.
Which I guess doesn’t count as “Wired”, as wired kind of implies that it’s connected to something. And, as I think about the 3 or 4 times max each month I actually plug my computer into Ethernet, or the like zero times per month I use a hardwired phone in my personal life, ‘wired’ connotes an actual, physical wire fewer and fewer times.
I can’t say I actually miss it – I’ve actually read a couple of magazines, an entire book, cover to cover in less than three days, actually watched the second season of BattleStar Galactica (delivered, ironically enough, via iTunes prior to leaving the States), AND had enough time to keep up with the work I have been doing.
My Spanish is marginal, at best, but there’s a couple of folks on board who are fluent in english, and practically everyone on board speaks a little bit, so it’s not much of an issue, ‘cept for the constant embarassment factor.
But, all in all, I can’t complain. I miss the family, obviously, but for the first time in god knows how long, I’ve finally gotten to the bottom of my immediate “to do” list.
Now, on to the more vexing question, the one filed under “What do you want to do with your life?” Which, I guess, comes with the more vexing implication of “Am I at my potential?”, and the subsequent “If I’m not at my potential, do I really want to get there?”
(*Censored*)