Bravery

Once, scuba diving was my sole passion. I lived for being under water, often feeling claustrophobic if I missed a weekend diving. There was a beach just past Nanakuli on Oahu that had a formal name but we all called it Pray for Sex; someone had spraypainted it on a rock out in the water years ago. At first I thought prayforsex was some kind of Hawaiian word, just goes to show... well don't know what it shows, but there it is.
I beach dove there, then when we had a little dive boat we would put in at Nanakuli boat dock and motor up. One sunny morning we motored up and dove just off the promentary on a reef. When I dive I live totally in my head, you can't really talk and unless there is something urgent, no need to do so. I was poking around looking at the animals living on the reef and saw two tiny shrimp in a cave about the size of my gloved finger. (check out the link, they are really cute;http://www.petshrimp.com/hawaiianredshrimp.html ) They were hanging out by the front, but when they saw me both retreated into the cave. I pointed at the cave to my dive buddy and one of the shrimp bristled and came at my finger. My finger was bigger around at the tip than the entire shrimp, but that shrimp came right at me! I pulled my finger away and he followed it out, snapping his little arm and springing into the 'air'. He did this a couple of times, then I left him alone.
The rest of the dive, and yet today even, I couldn't get it out of my head how brave he was, that teeny tiny shrimp.

First Impressions

I discovered One Minute Writer today, click on my First Impressions Title and it will take you there too (but 1st, don't you want to read my blog story?). I was caught by one of the daily writing prompts; to write about a first impression. Check out the link for yourself, I liked it.

I was in the Navy and had just transferred to the Pearl Harbor repair facility. I had been stationed in Great Lakes for 5 years, where only 10% of the personnel were women. Odd experience. Anyway, I needed to pick up an amplifier from a ship in drydock so I grabbed my toolbag and caught a ride over. This was the 1st time I had seen a ship in drydock, very impressive; large sections of the walls were cut out to bring in new equipment, the deafening welding, sanding, drilling, loud clanging and men crawling all over the ship. I put in my earplugs & picked my way through the controlled madness to the deck two floors below. The ship's electrical was disconnected so cords were strung everywhere to bring lighting in to the work areas, but it was still dim. I was starting to be a little intimidated and overwhlemed. When I walked into the room, welders were working with the arc lights blazing and acrid smell of the metal hanging in the room. I had a quick flash of wierdness from being the only woman in the room, an odd 'out of place' feeling like I didn't belong there. Then the welding stopped, three of the welders took off their faceshields and turned around to say hi. They were all women.

I still laugh about that and it was 20 years ago.

What not to do when you aren't working

The first thing not to do is stare out the windows. Go out or stay in, but don't look at your neighbor's dog. I did it, I don't recommend it. The dog sits out in the kennel all day, barks for attention when its owner comes home, doesn't get any, so lays in the snow. Waiting. Waiting. No water because the water bucket was kicked over, no attention since it is only fed once a day in the morning. (I keep typing moron for morning, go figure). The shed has a wooden pallet to sleep on so there are thick sores on its legs from laying on it (yes I used the binos, don't do that either). At least on the night it hit 30 below (windchill) he took the dog in. Guess he figured 20 below was OK.



The 2nd thing not to do is call the cops to go talk to the guy. He gets mad and comes over and yells. Since I am not working, I was here for it. And the dog suffered for two days without water, retribution maybe. (binos, again, checking for footsteps to the kennel)



And the 3rd thing? Remember that the humane officer is very busy in the rural areas since their funding was CUT to give tax breaks to people to buy cars and they just pass the phone call on to the police. And the guy comes over and yells. Cycle of no water, repeat. Something awful about dogs eating snow...

Billboarding

Every so often something happens that I feel the need to post a rant, question, or a comment on a billboard. A big one, by the highway so people see it when they are driving in to work. I don't do it 'cause I'm broke, but I dream of it, streamline my thoughts into the atomosphere, even focus on the exact billboard I want to use.

As in "Why do I always buy a house next to the guy that doesn't feed, water, or shelter his DOG! Just how many of YOU are there?" Or "Stop talking about tax credits for people who buy a new car! People who can buy a car don't need the credit. People who can't buy a car need JOBS not credits!"

Stuff like that.

So you are going to hear it. I hope you aren't reading this on your way to work.