Time/Date: 2335 (GMT), 17-Jan-11
Location: Senegal
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A minor side-benefit to sitting on drill rigs through night shift: they occasionally break down.
This allows one to do fun activities, like having a sip of water/coffee, eating, using the bathroom, or completing data entry. When the drill is coring, it’s possible to have no chance to do them.
(Un)fortunately for me, even when things are semi-chaotic, I ponder things a lot. Blame lack of focus, multitasking, whatever.
Since I’ve been listening to my iPod non-stop since leaving YFC, I’ve been pondering music. And I’ve been reading a lot, so I’ve been pondering books, too.
At this very second, the rig is on a prolonged breakdown (& I completed all activities listed above). So I get to type up my ponderings in my corner office.
 |
| The corner office. Great view. |
Pondering Topic #1
I firmly believe
Hey Rosetta! (myspace
here) is severely underrated. I’ve listened to
Into Your Lungs a few times while working & find it brilliant.
You can pick up their album on iTunes
here. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Pondering Topic #2
One of my
11 for 11 goals was to read more meaningful shit. Not being mentally prepared to dive into
Walden (reading it now, more on that below), I started with
The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio.
Le Clézio was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008, so it’s easy to believe he writes meaningful material. The book was good; I recommend it.
But...
**SPOILER ALERT**
The ending pissed me off so much I wanted to throw the book in the nightwatchman’s campfire. I like stories with endings of ‘boy wins game (in this case, finds treasure), boy gets girl, they live happily ever after.’
I read hundreds of pages to discover the main character doesn’t find the treasure or get the girl, and then lays down in the woods to die. He doesn’t do much to change that whole ‘cheese-eating surrender monkey’ stereotype.
Pondering Topic #3
To recover from the piss-off of
The Prospector, I grabbed
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham from the community pile in camp.
I’m not a Grisham fan, but I needed a light-hearted read & the first few pages seemed to fit the bill.
Verdict: #win
And yes, the boy wins the game & gets the girl.
Pondering Topic #4
Wintersleep (myspace
here) was on Letterman last week (video below). This is great; congrats to them. The US is a tough market to break into; national TV is a delightful way to do it.
I really enjoy their first three albums & saw them live a few times in F’ton & Vancouver. The Van show at the Commodore Ballroom ranks up as one of my favourite shows.
My personal opinion: I was disappointed they hauled out Weighty Ghost for Letterman. They have much better stuff. I can assume why, though: it’s the tune most appealing to the masses.
If I was to see them live (again), I’d much rather hear this:
Or this:
(yes, I realize they wouldn’t be able to crank out a 9 minute song on Letterman. If anyone writes a comment to me regarding that, you’re officially a tit-head)
Regardless, best of luck to them. I love it when Maritimers kick ass.
Pondering Topic #5
I’m a couple chapters in on
Walden by Henry David Thoreau. It’s pretty deep.
To summarize:
Shit just ain’t right.
Pondering Topic #6
When you find yourself at a drill rig at the wee hours of the morning & having a few more hours to push through (without the aid of coffee), I highly recommend this tune to help get the synapses firing:
On that note, the drill just fired up.
I must have one last sip of water to prepare for the onslaught of drill core.
See you at 7AM cross-shift.
