June 16, 2012

Journal notes:

• Double rainbow!
• Busted cokes in the fridge

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???

I awake to the rain, cool drops of water blowing down onto my face through the open window. 0520.  No.  0420.  I forgot to set the clock backlast night.  I turn on the bathroom light to see the clock on the wall.  It's still dark out, and even though the window is now closed, I've left the curtains open, I don't want the light bouncing off the containers to blind the guys on the bridge.  I turn the light off and return to bed, tossing and turning for an hour and some change, before I give up and play around on the computer for a bit.  I'm getting much better at chess now.  I can beat the computer 4 times out of 5 on the easiest difficulty.  Eat your heart out, Kasparov.

Following my shower, I catch Harvey coming out of the gym (which also serves as a library) with a book in his hand, around 0715.  I breakfast on 1 sausage, 1 egg, a slice of bread, a glass of milk, two glasses of water, and 3 cups of coffee, then head out to the deck to read.  I see some rain off to the left, and about 0800, lo and behold, a rainbow.  I take a few pictures and then realize it's a double rainbow.  I take a few more pictures where I can see both parts at once, but I'm soon driven in by the rain.  I download the pictures and pick out the best 2 or 3 to put in my trip album.  Seeing blue skies from my window, I decide to head back outside.

I run into Eric in the salon, sipping coffee.  Neither he nor Harvey, I've come to learn, like to be in their cabins when the messman is cleaning.  Me?  I don't care.  I tell him about the rainbow and he asks if I got any pictures.  "Yeah," I answer.  "Let me grab my computer." I show him the pictures and he asks me about the owl - my desktop background.  He asks to see the shark pictures.  "I don't think I have any on me."  He starts to smirk, thinking I made the whole thing up.  "However, I can show you the video of me helping to haul it in."  Now, I'm grinning too.  "Wow," he says.  "That's a big fish."

I never make it back onto the deck until after lunch.  The painters are on the navigation deck, washing the ship, spraying water onto the deck below.  I finish my Elmore Leonard and come back inside.  The sea was calm this morning, but at 1600 there are a lot of whitecaps.  At 1700, I get thirsty and open up the fridge to grab a coke, and find that one of the ones in the back froze and busted, leaving me with a mess to clean up.

After dinner, I follow Harvey up to the bridge to watch the tars.  He stays only briefly, excuses himself, and heads below.  There is no moon and clouds are few.  It's great for stargazing.  "I think I'll step out for a bit," I tell the third officer.  "What?"  "Nasa labas."  "Oh, okay."

I can see the big dipper, just like Harvey said, just above the horizon off the starboard end of the ship.  Polaris is below the horizon, I notice.  I say a little prayer of thanks, asking God to please bless this ship, and its crew, and everyone I've left back home, and to keep them all safe.  I see a star fall, a streak of red illuminating the night sky for 7 or 8 seconds.  I wait outside another half hour, waiting for another, before I head inside, bid the men on the bridge good night, and return to my cabin for bed.  Tomorrow, I've decided, I'll try to fast and spend the day in prayer.