Accountable Infinity However (Letters to Myself)
18 dic 2010
"Just because you collectively lose your sense of consequences doesn’t mean that you don’t have to live with consequences." --JHK--
From Transition Voice, which is awesome. ¶ 20:33 0 comments
From Transition Voice, which is awesome. ¶ 20:33 0 comments
16 dic 2010
This has been the sort of week i can't believe i've lived through.
For three nights, about every half hour or so, i have stood a story up, precariously balanced on pipes slathered with drilling fluid, only able to lean on a large vibrating metal box, to adjust a small splice-valve-thing while being buffeted by winds flowing up a mountain from one side while poisonous vapors steam up my glasses from the other side. (What are these poisonous vapors? Well, methane, ethane, and butane to be specific, but i couldn't be more specific than that because of ice in the line. That's why i had to go to such a place.)
For almost a month, i've 'slept' half a block from the equivalent of a fleet of jackhammers. Been covered with mud and yet without indoor running water.
For two days both of the toilets i can use were out of order due to frozen pipes.
And been basically told i'm a crazy person every time i seek solutions to these things.
While many, many other things are wrong at the moment, i don't even know how to start going into detail. The gas-trap-fumes-windchill-slippery-legs-and-hands-hurting scene, though, epitomizes it all; though the worst of it was three nights of frozen lines, it basically amounted to a straight week of continuous panic. Today there's nothing of that sort, i got the bottoms up sample 15 minutes after waking up, and all day since has been cleaning, breaking down equipment, typing up lists--the easy things i can handle. The things i could handle half asleep and hungry, even. But it's at this point where i can feel stress flowing through my back like it knows something else is about to happen, and it's going to be my fault.
i don't think i'm a crazy person for knowing working nights is unhealthy. i don't think i'm a crazy person for missing my friends. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not knowing the names of different sorts of valves. i don't think i'm a crazy person for thinking a trailer i'm going to be working in for months should have running water. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not knowing the relative registration laws of Texas vs. Pennsylvania. i don't think i'm a crazy person for being proud of both my hometown and my adopted home town. i don't think i'm a crazy person for believing history is a thing that has happened, not just shit we get to make up later. i don't think i'm a crazy person for thinking 84 hour weeks is a bit much. i don't think i'm a crazy person for using my own computer. i don't think i'm a crazy person for having interests worth pursuing in the expanses of free time. i don't think i'm a crazy person for insisting on shutting the door when talking to a mutterer when it's hailing. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not enjoying sexist "jokes." i don't think i'm a crazy person to insist on wearing gloves every time i handle poison.
i think most people in the oilfield are not just crazy, but unnecessarily cruel.
i do think i'm a crazy person for not seeing any way out of this. ¶ 23:08 0 comments
For three nights, about every half hour or so, i have stood a story up, precariously balanced on pipes slathered with drilling fluid, only able to lean on a large vibrating metal box, to adjust a small splice-valve-thing while being buffeted by winds flowing up a mountain from one side while poisonous vapors steam up my glasses from the other side. (What are these poisonous vapors? Well, methane, ethane, and butane to be specific, but i couldn't be more specific than that because of ice in the line. That's why i had to go to such a place.)
For almost a month, i've 'slept' half a block from the equivalent of a fleet of jackhammers. Been covered with mud and yet without indoor running water.
For two days both of the toilets i can use were out of order due to frozen pipes.
And been basically told i'm a crazy person every time i seek solutions to these things.
While many, many other things are wrong at the moment, i don't even know how to start going into detail. The gas-trap-fumes-windchill-slippery-legs-and-hands-hurting scene, though, epitomizes it all; though the worst of it was three nights of frozen lines, it basically amounted to a straight week of continuous panic. Today there's nothing of that sort, i got the bottoms up sample 15 minutes after waking up, and all day since has been cleaning, breaking down equipment, typing up lists--the easy things i can handle. The things i could handle half asleep and hungry, even. But it's at this point where i can feel stress flowing through my back like it knows something else is about to happen, and it's going to be my fault.
i don't think i'm a crazy person for knowing working nights is unhealthy. i don't think i'm a crazy person for missing my friends. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not knowing the names of different sorts of valves. i don't think i'm a crazy person for thinking a trailer i'm going to be working in for months should have running water. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not knowing the relative registration laws of Texas vs. Pennsylvania. i don't think i'm a crazy person for being proud of both my hometown and my adopted home town. i don't think i'm a crazy person for believing history is a thing that has happened, not just shit we get to make up later. i don't think i'm a crazy person for thinking 84 hour weeks is a bit much. i don't think i'm a crazy person for using my own computer. i don't think i'm a crazy person for having interests worth pursuing in the expanses of free time. i don't think i'm a crazy person for insisting on shutting the door when talking to a mutterer when it's hailing. i don't think i'm a crazy person for not enjoying sexist "jokes." i don't think i'm a crazy person to insist on wearing gloves every time i handle poison.
i think most people in the oilfield are not just crazy, but unnecessarily cruel.
i do think i'm a crazy person for not seeing any way out of this. ¶ 23:08 0 comments
7 dic 2010
in the makings of a tradition
Well, good lord. i don't post much anymore do i? Now that i have my own laptop, i can save links on my own thing, and don't have to post them to find them again... opps.
In any case, things are going alright. i'm back in PA and wish i was in WI, but that's pretty much par for the course in 2010.
i've come across a few crazy - interesting things (and shall try to update with such such more often!).
Japan as Number 2. Absolutely wonderful. i'm still intrigued that adbusters regularly has such great reporting. As for this article in particular, i want someone who's been to Japan lately to tell me if it seems reasonable...?
Did Climate Change Drive Prehistoric Culture Change? Ah ah ahhhh!!! One of the authors mentioned is Sierra's boyfriend Sam, so i'm really excited about another one of my friends being published! And as for the science itself, it's just fascinating, my understanding is that this is pretty well established for the middle east & africa, but this seems to be the most complete work done for north america so far. Very, very exciting stuff!
GUERRILLA GEOTHERMAL WORK. YES CANADA I <3 YOU!
Young Me Now Me. Good for, like, hours of distraction. Unbearably cute & disturbing by turns.
Oil on the Brain. Watch her TED talk! Do it! i mean, like, oil is gross and shit, it's... not a fun topic. But Lisa makes it interesting! She calls us "children of the hydrocarbon age." (Understatement)
our own peace of mynd
¶ 17:44 0 comments
Well, good lord. i don't post much anymore do i? Now that i have my own laptop, i can save links on my own thing, and don't have to post them to find them again... opps.
In any case, things are going alright. i'm back in PA and wish i was in WI, but that's pretty much par for the course in 2010.
i've come across a few crazy - interesting things (and shall try to update with such such more often!).
Japan as Number 2. Absolutely wonderful. i'm still intrigued that adbusters regularly has such great reporting. As for this article in particular, i want someone who's been to Japan lately to tell me if it seems reasonable...?
Did Climate Change Drive Prehistoric Culture Change? Ah ah ahhhh!!! One of the authors mentioned is Sierra's boyfriend Sam, so i'm really excited about another one of my friends being published! And as for the science itself, it's just fascinating, my understanding is that this is pretty well established for the middle east & africa, but this seems to be the most complete work done for north america so far. Very, very exciting stuff!
GUERRILLA GEOTHERMAL WORK. YES CANADA I <3 YOU!
Young Me Now Me. Good for, like, hours of distraction. Unbearably cute & disturbing by turns.
Oil on the Brain. Watch her TED talk! Do it! i mean, like, oil is gross and shit, it's... not a fun topic. But Lisa makes it interesting! She calls us "children of the hydrocarbon age." (Understatement)
our own peace of mynd
¶ 17:44 0 comments
