Fights always make me nervous, scare me and make me almost ill. I was taught and trained to avoid them, and if not able to avoid them, end them.
Once upon a time in the Navy
Favorite Food
We all have favorite things that we'd be loath to relinquish, even if threatened with death. And I've known patients who told their doctors and nurse exactly where to place it rather than give up their beloved kielbasa and kapusta.
Directions, Not Places
The other day I let my fingertips travel to the website of a small regional newspaper that covers the community on the coast that once was a focus of my life. I observed that some small things remained the same.
Work
I received an early indoctrination from my father on volunteering and management. He had a sort of pragmatic wisdom from having served in the Maine Corp and the Merchant Marine.
Twilight
Twilight is not just a simple fading of the light. If you're a sailor, there is civil twilight and nautical twilight. Then some sit, gin and tonic in hand, waiting to see the green flash as the rapid tropical sunset fades into the short tropical twilight
Drama Versus The Prosaic
As a carver, I work with many flammiferous materials; the worst are the solvents and finishes. But I've found that while you can take precautions around the shop to be safe from things like a spontaneous combustion of sawdust and rags, safety from inflammable people is something else.
Romance
Romance is where you find it. For an anthropologist, it's the places where you do fieldwork.
Geedunks
I was the chief cook & bottle washer. Or, in Naval parlance, Mess cook. Indeed not the chef. Culinary expertise was not called upon aboard the Psyche to serve the Cap'n.
Lucky
Most people won't publicly acknowledge their little "luck-enhancing" tokens or behaviors. But most of us have them.
bad coffee
Griping about things is part of being a sailor. I discovered this from my father, a Merchant Marine engineer, and had it confirmed while in the Navy. Griping as an art form was re-affirmed to me while working in the marine trades as a carver and catch as can boatyard worker.
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