A fifth of my time here in Australia is gone, my dear readers! This calls for even more adventures. I sneezed today and felt my ears pop like they should and without the whooshing sound of air passing through my eardrum. This is a good sign, and hopefully I'll be blowing bubbles again soon.
Today was a great day. I made my first sale(s) at the shop! It was a cargo bag, and I'll never forget it. The shine of the plastic bag it came in, the strange plastic smell of the material, the five minutes I spent swiping the customer's card the wrong way; I can remember the magic even now. I also sold a torch (flashlight for Americans). Far less exciting, but I did pull of a pretty sweet split payment, which I never learned in my EVE training. I just fly by the seat of my pants, no big deal.
The rest of the day was quiet. I'm off to bed now, as these past couple days have taken it out of me. But on my day off, I'll come back and embellish some of the things I did.
Yours in Being Short and Sweet,
Robert
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Day 39: All the Live-Long Day
Another day in the dive shop! This one was a bit more exciting than the last, for several reasons. The big one was that I made a total rookie mistake, and left the compressor's freezer on. In context: a pipe carrying air from the compressor runs through the freezer, causing the water in the air to condense out. Except when you leave the freezer running over night, water freezes in the pipes, making compressing a lot harder. Which translated into me checking the freezer every hour or so, looking for progress. It was almost as bad as waiting for Popsicles to freeze.
I also got to continue my work on the batch of valves from Sunday. This is the best way to stave off the urge to sleep, as I'm more afraid of killing somebody with valve-maintenance negligence than I am tired. I spent much of the day with a toothbrush in my hand, scrubbing. If I ever get punished in the Army, I'll be ready.
Later on, I started up the now-thawed compressor, filled tanks for tomorrow, and washed gear. The washing bit is perhaps my favorite, as the others pop in from time to time. Cem usually joins me for the gear wash, and gives me advice on how to wash gear, kill with my bare hands, and woo the ladies. This must be how Luke Skywalker felt.
Not too much going on tonight, and I'm hitting the hay early. I have to be up early for a secret maritime missio... I've already said too much.
Yours in Hyperbole,
Robert
p.s. Tales of debauchery, forests, and Sydney are on the way!
I also got to continue my work on the batch of valves from Sunday. This is the best way to stave off the urge to sleep, as I'm more afraid of killing somebody with valve-maintenance negligence than I am tired. I spent much of the day with a toothbrush in my hand, scrubbing. If I ever get punished in the Army, I'll be ready.
Later on, I started up the now-thawed compressor, filled tanks for tomorrow, and washed gear. The washing bit is perhaps my favorite, as the others pop in from time to time. Cem usually joins me for the gear wash, and gives me advice on how to wash gear, kill with my bare hands, and woo the ladies. This must be how Luke Skywalker felt.
Not too much going on tonight, and I'm hitting the hay early. I have to be up early for a secret maritime missio... I've already said too much.
Yours in Hyperbole,
Robert
p.s. Tales of debauchery, forests, and Sydney are on the way!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Day 36: "We're Getting Lois a Yard Glass"
It's Lois' birthday! Knowing how much she parties on non-special occasions, I spent my lunch time drafting a will on napkins, just in case. The fact that she'd be receiving a glass that would encourage her to drink a yard-worth of beer in one go didn't help.
Work before was dandy, as usual. I started servicing a huge batch of tank valves, cleaning each one meticulously to ensure that anyone renting a tank wouldn't meet a watery end. It's a bit of a gross job because over time, the lubricants in the valve collect dirt and salt from the ocean. This either corrodes the insides or fills them with oily black goo (a technical term), and eventually makes the valve unusable. But I get to pull them apart and scrub everything down with a toothbrush. That's dedication.
Fortunately I don't have to use a toothbrush to wash gear, so the afternoon chores flew by. It helps that the Open Water students learn to wash everything on the second day of their course. It was Day Two for Teagan and the other Open Waters, so I mostly filled tanks.
Afterward, I got dressed for the night and walked to the pub. Lois and Sam were already working on filling The Yardglass when I arrived. The table around it was filled with empty bottles. I knew it would be an interesting night, hopefully without the loss of any eardrums.
I spent much of the night wandering from group to group. I had a chance to talk more with Lois' parents, some of the nicest people I've met on my trip so far. Her mum all but adopted me, and in true motherly fashion, scolded me for having an untidy room.
Throughout the night, there were games of sort. At one point, it was deemed a good idea to give Lois a plastic bat, spin her unnecessarily, and blindfold her. She managed to break the bat before the pinata, so we roomie-tagteamed it, and I brought a chair down on top the paper mache fish. And after, we got gift bags!
As the affair was open-bar, things got a bit loud early in the night, so the party dispersed. Teagan and I got a ride home with Pix and Tara, one of whom hadn't been drinking (the details for the later part of the night were a bit hazy). We waited up for a bit for Lois to arrive, and after saying our last Happy Birthdays, we all turned in. Tomorrow is my day off, so I'm shooting for not being up before noon. I get the feeling I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight.
Yours in Saying Happy Birthday to Lois,
Robert
Work before was dandy, as usual. I started servicing a huge batch of tank valves, cleaning each one meticulously to ensure that anyone renting a tank wouldn't meet a watery end. It's a bit of a gross job because over time, the lubricants in the valve collect dirt and salt from the ocean. This either corrodes the insides or fills them with oily black goo (a technical term), and eventually makes the valve unusable. But I get to pull them apart and scrub everything down with a toothbrush. That's dedication.
Fortunately I don't have to use a toothbrush to wash gear, so the afternoon chores flew by. It helps that the Open Water students learn to wash everything on the second day of their course. It was Day Two for Teagan and the other Open Waters, so I mostly filled tanks.
Afterward, I got dressed for the night and walked to the pub. Lois and Sam were already working on filling The Yardglass when I arrived. The table around it was filled with empty bottles. I knew it would be an interesting night, hopefully without the loss of any eardrums.
I spent much of the night wandering from group to group. I had a chance to talk more with Lois' parents, some of the nicest people I've met on my trip so far. Her mum all but adopted me, and in true motherly fashion, scolded me for having an untidy room.
Throughout the night, there were games of sort. At one point, it was deemed a good idea to give Lois a plastic bat, spin her unnecessarily, and blindfold her. She managed to break the bat before the pinata, so we roomie-tagteamed it, and I brought a chair down on top the paper mache fish. And after, we got gift bags!
As the affair was open-bar, things got a bit loud early in the night, so the party dispersed. Teagan and I got a ride home with Pix and Tara, one of whom hadn't been drinking (the details for the later part of the night were a bit hazy). We waited up for a bit for Lois to arrive, and after saying our last Happy Birthdays, we all turned in. Tomorrow is my day off, so I'm shooting for not being up before noon. I get the feeling I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight.
Yours in Saying Happy Birthday to Lois,
Robert
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