2.6.07

Musings

Credits Neil, Hi Surf Advisory.
Been a helluva few days. Champster-meister luau is in the books, the following Memorial Day 24 shift is pau, and 3 surf sessions sandwiched in between the garishness of the pink, and finishing with 24 yesterday at FireCom. I believe in the past 6 days, about 18 hours of sleep have been captured; coffee and more coffee along with a never ending stoke factor of water time have kept this dog sane.

Lack of sleep creates for minor demented thoughts carousing thru my age-addled, salt water filled brain waves. (why the hell do I always try to spell Sleep as Sllep?) Never mind.

Had to do the SCBA competency test for the Fire Department yesterday. always fun to don 90 pounds of equipment - (sorry- SCBA - Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) or The big tank of air latched to our backs. Then run up a buncha flights of stairs, run down, run over to 200 feet of inch and a half hose, run it out till it is done, and thats it. Just drain the sweat from your body after, and we are all good. Passed, and did not falter, so thats good. FWIW.

After surfing for 3 hours the day before, it didnt make it it any easier, I guess. No sunburn, as I am a crispy shade of brown and dont really get hacked too much from the UV rays. Just the fun wax-rash from the board that makes putting on clothes soooooo much fun. Lemme explain - you see, in order to have so traction on the surfboard, you gotta apply wax to repel the water to make a surface on which you can stand and adhere to. Eating shit falling off a slick board is no fun, and will do nothing to raise your status in the line-up as well, meaning "the boys" wont let you get shit waves if you are a dweeb. So wax that stick. Problem is, wax is kinda like, irratating. And water well, is cold. And nipples, well they get 'proud' when they are cold. There is a reason for those wet T-Shirt contests, you know, yeah?

OK, back to nipple erestion problems, and what the wax has to do with that. Ya see, you prone out on the board to paddle. So said erect nipples rub the shit outta the wax on the fiberglassed board; and you paddle alot. So those said nipples get awful fricking raw. And they scab. And they reallly, REALLY dont like clothing after they get all pissed off from all that rubbing.

But you never know how sore it might be till after, of course.

Them inner thighs take a beating, too. Compression shorts help, but not when those session go on and on, and well, ON. I imagine salt water plays a factor, but thats a given, eh?

Gawd, now I am a Canadian.

Never mind.

OK, back to the self induced hallucinations due to lack of sleep. (shit - I spelt it right the first time, but is that how to spell spelt?) Spell check, please. Irreagardless, the damn things suck eggs when trying to do the damn SCBA competency is what the hell pointless poit I was making.

Ergo.

FireCom has been just a bundle of bees pissed off from someone shaking the hive, fo' sure. Around 200 alarms a shift. (spelt alarms wrong, - damn) But it hasnt been with out the resident whack jobs -

"Theres a large boat off shore to the South East of Sandy Beach, I think its unmarked, it could be a terrorist vessel"

Ok. What makes you think it might be a terrorist vessel?

Do you remember Pearl Harbor? Its terrorists.

That woulda have been planes, sir.

I know that! What'd about 9.11? Do you remember that?

Yes sir, I do. But what cause you to beleive it is a terrorist vessel? What reason brings you to that opinion? (I do reallllllly well when tired with bullshitting the warped ones.)

You need to call the military, you are gonna be wrong, I can tell.

(those pesky voices again, eh?) Sir, I will connect you to the coast guard, how about that?

Do they have guns?

----Transfered----

Just more fun as usual. Of course tradgedy is always right up there with the fun. Because the calls are routed thru 911 call takers they give the choice of Police, Fire, or Ambulance. Some people are in such a state of shock that they have no idea who to ask for. And horrors of discovering loved ones self-inflicted damage or death is not pleasant nor is it ever expected. Hearing terrifed parents/loved ones on the other end kinda fucks with your mind a bit, but your job is to rescue, heal, help so that kind overrides the halting-ness of the discovery, You question, you investigate. And you move real fast. In the field, you see the damage, you can compartmentalize the scene away from your minds eye. Focus on the patient demands attention, at FireCom voices are always ringing your personal call button.

Rattling on, arent I?

Have a damn sweet Sunday.

Aloha!

3 comments:

Sandy said...

lol, I don't get sore nipples
Perhaps you need to wear a bikini too.
hehehe
The twins both got belly rash after a few days at the beach this week, poor babies
what do you recommend to put on them?

Little Kenny said...

Heh, now that I'd pay to see. Crazyman out in the line up wearing a bikini top to protect the nipples. Who knows Mark, you might start a whole new trend.

alan said...

You have given me a whole new insight into what it's like to be on the other end of all those calls, dear friend...

None of you get paid enough!

alan