A number of interesting things have happened this week. None of them were interesting enough on their own to justify a forum post, but since there were so many of them, I thought maybe I should write one anyway. Sorry about the long post if you don't agree.

Monday: My first day back at work after my holiday was the most perfect, astounding, beautiful day. It was as good as weather gets on the water. It was the kind of day that made me want to work on boats in the first place, and it was good to be reminded of that. When I got up at 3 a.m. it was beautiful outside, with moonlight and lots of stars. It was perfectly silent outside, and I could smell the trees in the bush area behind my block of flats. On the first trips out, with an empty boat and all the room in the world to stand around looking at the water going past and not thinking of anything very much, it was simply breathtaking. The water was like a mirror, there wasn't a touch of wind all day, and the sunrise was good enough to make me forget the annoyance of knowing I was watching a sunrise after having already been at work for three hours.

Tuesday: Day off. I applied for a lot of office jobs, since I now have the year of full-time employment on commercial vessels which I intended to achieve. And, despite days like yesterday, I still have a perverse desire to earn enough money to live on, not change shifts every two days, and hold a job which could not be done equally well by one of the lower primates.

Wednesday: I got rejected by all the jobs I applied for yesterday, because of being overqualified or underqualified, in some cases for the exact same job.

Thursday: After work I go to an interview with a temping agency, where I am required to take a typing test. I learn that I type 76 wpm. However, I do not achieve 100% accuracy, because I inadvertently corrected a spelling error which was in the test document they gave me to type, changed a US spelling to NZ spelling, and took out an accidentally doubled word. I did all this without realising I was doing it. The agency people said they had never seen anything like it, after they stopped rolling around on the floor laughing. In the evening, I watch an incredibly bad sword-and-sorcery video starring David Carradine.

Friday: Again, I have an interview with a recruitment agency after work. By now I am pretty zonked by the 3 a.m. starts this week, and it is hard to explain to somebody that your evening interview with them is technically stupid o'clock by your own personal timetable. I startle the interviewer when, in response to the question "Tell me about a recent conflict situation at work, and how you resolved it", I mention the stoned yelling guy who believed some random other passenger had stolen his invisible dog or something and started threatening people at random with a beer bottle. I think she was expecting something more along the lines of how I'd deal with a co-worker who used the last piece of copier paper and didn't reload.

Saturday, ie Today: It's a 13 hour working day, but I get to sleep in until quarter to five. The fact that this actually feels like a luxury frightens me. There was a Monster Truck parked near the wharf today, which was very cool and I wanted to see if I could climb up one of the wheels, but I was in uniform and people were looking. It was an even better day on the water than Monday, if that is possible. Spring is definitely here. The square-rigger I've worked on went past the ferry in full sail during the morning, and all the America's Cup racing yachts were out practising. In the small local newspaper which is produced on one of the islands on our route, I read the following ad, which sums up island life perfectly: "WANTED, any interesting old junk or bits and pieces. Will pay in fish, next summer." Further down the page is one where somebody is seeking the short-term loan of a goat.

Tomorrow is another 13 hour day, and then I'm looking forward to my weekend on Monday and Tuesday.

Brunnen-"also, I had homemade pizza no less than three times this week, but that's because I always make too much dough the first time"G