Always...trying not to live like an animal

 

Been a while...since my last post but figured since class is done and I passed and all I can fill out some details.  Class was HARD...the midterm was brutal and I really had to work my tukus off in order to pass the class, I was allowed to get only two wrong on the species ID final which earned me my new nickname "two point tony".  But I did it (i actually got the highest grade in the class) and was super happy with myself.  Otherwise, the last week of class was quite eventful.  We went to a marine mammal park in which we saw a false killer whale (that black thing below) and a bottle nosed dolphin.  Both were pretty cool to see.  Otherwise, the only other big thing that happened last week was the rain.  It rained for like 4 days striaght like torrential downpour which made the mood quite a sombre one.  Friday, after the test, there was a party at Prospect house.  Quite disjointed, but it was fun, and then spent the whole weekend catching up on sleep and such.  Monday, tuesday etc etc.  This week has been passing like a blur.  Waiting for my boat to finally come and a call to come to my cell phone saying "come on down to the gear shack, time for you to leave".  Until then, I am busy trying to not spend money (which is easy) and cooking and eating and enjoying the island cheaply.  The picture above which I never mentioned was of a beautiful rainbow I caught on a walk home.  I was kinda late on it however because it was a double rainbow like ten minutes earlier.  I plan tomorrow to go on a big hike to the falls.  I know I have been sayin it forever, however I want a day that isnt so rainy or hot both of which seem to only exist out here in hawaii.  Still sorting plans for st. pats but I know ill get some corned beef and cabagge in me.  Hopefully post again soon.

Oh the places you'll go

Well lets start this with what many of you have requested, a quick shot of where I live.  The first picture is of the view out my front door.  The second is of the "house" I live in.  I put house in quotes because...it is essentially a flop house where we are constantly fighting the urge to live like animals.  Depending on the roomates, some days it is easier than others.  It feels like a Hunter S. Thompson novel/story in all reality however most of the time.

Yes, I got to dress up as a fireman.  Cool stuff eh?  We then proceded to run though a "zero visiblitiy maze" and when i say run I really mean fumble around.  It was a training simulation for us because if the power ever goes out in a boat, we may have to do something similar to find the top deck.  It was dark...and when I mean dark I mean DARKK!!!  very unique experience and dressing up as a fireman was pretty funny and cool. Hope my pops gets a kick outta it.

Damage control:  how a little leak becomes a big problem.  Shoving items into holes to try to contain a flood is hard work.  Friday was all about situational training, first was that above picuture with the zero visiablity maze, followed by this damage control followed by some other fun activities.

Like donning our immersion suits and looking like gumby!  These things were like 9 mm suits that kept us nice and warm in the water.  We did all sorts of activities in the water such as....

 Making a star together!  It is the most effiecnt way to be noticed by an airplane if said emergency situation happens.  After this traing, we went over to...

 Testing out life jackets.  I apparantly am an amazing example because every single life jacket rights me in the water.  So no matter what, as long as I have a life jacket on, if i am knocked into the water unconscious, i will not drown.  A VERY comforting thought I must say.  The final part of that day we....

 Got to play with flares and smoke signals!  Yay orange stinky smoke!  Because we were the last group, we shot off tons of decomissioned aka out of date flares.  There were some duds, but it was beyond cool to actually set of flares in a non emergency situation.  It was quite the cool day of training, and a nice way to end the week.

Then came saturaday where I went on a MONSTER HIKE/WALK with my bunkmate josh.  We walked all the way down and around diamonhead crater.  We never really did get up diamondhead because...well...we thought there was a shortcut, butttt there wasnt.  Oh well.  It was still a really nice walk and got some decent pizza at the end.

Finally today was quite the wash of a day.  Went to walmart to get some odds and ens, but overall just spent most of it studying for the huge species ID test tomrorow.  Not intimidated by any means, but it is gonna be a toughie and I know it.  Studying must continue, I took enough of a brake!