Long Night's Day

Its starting to get light outside.

I've been working for the last eighteen hours, and that's not counting the two days prior. I have to smile to myself as I get up. So much for the “Labour Day” weekend. Still I can't really complain, I enjoy my job. The hours are long and frequently creep into the weekends, but they're rarely rushed or stressful - if you don't count the occasional burst before a last-minute deadline. Even those are enjoyable; there's a rush that comes with nailing everything down when pressure is on. You can feel all the pistons firing and you know its going to be finished in time and work like it should because it has to.

Its time to take a break, catch up on sleep. Leaning down to wash my face the spigot starts crackling and spurting. The tanks must be nearly empty. I'm still drowsy, in a bit of a daze as slip the shoes over my feet. I'm together enough to remember to slide back the hatch on the way up though, there's been enough bumps on the head to drill that one in.

It wasn't a very satisfying night, a lot of effort without much tangible to show for it. Its not really worth dwelling on, though thats exactly what I do as I bend down to turn on the hose, dragging it back over the railing. Unscrewing the cap I fit the nozzle and open the stream. Finally looking up at the sky and seeing the red and orange light dance across the water, I manage to relax a little.

There are certain compensations to this lifestyle after all.

Graduation Powerball

One of my sisters is a senior this year in high school.

If I had to give her some brotherly advice, it would sound like this:

First off, its your senior year. Live like it, because it only comes once and despite the cliche you really will look back at it as one of the best times of your life. So have fun.

But besides that, in between the good times do a little planning. Pretend what it would be like to win the lottery. If you had all the money you ever needed, and never had to work another day in your life. Think about all of the things you would buy and places you would go.

Now pretend two years have gone by. You've bought all the toys, maybe travelled all around the world. People talk about how they'd spend every day sitting on beaches drinking pina coladas out of coconuts at some island resort. Sure that sounds great for the first couple months. Hell, that sounds pretty good for the next couple months too, but at some point its going to wear thin. What are you going to do to fill all that time?

This is the interesting question. Maybe you'd learn to fly and spend your days in the sky. Maybe you'd take up scuba diving and be under the sea in an octopus' garden. Some people wish they could sail around the world. Perhaps you're the selfless type who'd start a charity and find a way to help people.

Whatever the case, the hardest thing in life is knowing what you want. Not just an impulse that will fade the moment you actually have it, but the real thing. If you can learn what would make you happy then all you have to do is start working to make it happen.

If you want to fly you can save up for lessons and start reading everything you can. Maybe you can find a small charter service to work for and get some practice time in. Sailing would be similar. Scuba diving doesn't take very long to get started, and you could always become a dive instructor or maybe a career in marine biology would be worth exploring. And of course there's hundreds of ways to donate your time to help others. I think you get the idea.

Sometime soon you're going to have to start looking at colleges and choose a field of study, or at least find an alternative. If you're really lucky, you'll have some idea of what you want to do with your life. Try to find a way to tie that in with the plans you make now. At least consider what will and won't afford you the time and opportunity to persue those goals. That way you've got a great chance of finding something that will make you happy.

Of course winning the lottery would still be nice.