keje kuat...penjaga meriam kuning diraja cik Melati
time flies when you are having fun...or in my case..when there is so much work to do...looking at the calendar today i noticed that i had been around this ship for almost 5 months now....come August 3rd..i will be exactly 5 months onboard this fine lady...
i`m getting much2 slower at speed now...compared to what i was few months ago...my working momentum is dropping and i`m coming to a dead stop...which in a seafaring career is a natural behavior...
how would you feel when you had to do the same thing ever single day....sometimes you just feel bored and tired of the same routine all over...but this is the reality of life...
routine is something of a norm in seafaring....everyday is a routine...starting a day at four in the morning...coming up to the bridge for watch...keeping watch...making log entries at the end of the watch...conducting fire rounds...going for overtime...ensuring all fire fighting or life saving appliances is in good order...and in place..ready for use and ready for any sudden inspection planned by the company....
but what make a difference on every routine that every single day there is something new...sometimes..you came up to the bridge with nothing registered on radar...clear sky and calm seas...sometimes the radar is cluttered with targets...ships coming down and overtaking right and left...crossing from port to starboard and vice versa...
and while you feel like "i dont wanna work today" after watch..you can just lay on bed and had a shut eye...or test yourself with a game of Supreme Commander or Left For Dead...just for fun...but on any other days...it just work..and work..
seafaring is not fun anymore...with tonnes of paperwork and filing...it feels like your working on a normal day job somewhere in the office of a corporation in Kuala Lumpur....with the difference of you are at sea and far away from your love ones....
albeit...somewhere in the hectic day to day operations of a ship....a bit of fun and enjoyment were in place...karaoke..smoking while chatting and gossiping about our nation political stupidities or experiences of some of old timer crew in the company those days...with a cup of coffee or iced milo with environment like kedai mamak tepi jalan...do make us human again after a while...
but after a while...you feel like..."i had enough"...and that is the day when you requested for signing off at the next convenient port...
with that...i'm counting my days to that very day....coz i had enough..
-come to sea and see for yourself-
