Monday, June 11, 2012

Making history

Mark your calendars.  History was made today, just this very hour, in fact.  I'd mention what day that is, exactly, but I'm not really sure myself.  I don't even know what planet I'm on anymore, let alone the day.  It could be Sunday.  Maybe June 10?  If that really is the day, it was a complete guess.  And if it isn't the day, it's not because I'm intentionally trying to play dumb and exaggerate my indeterminate position in time.  I really am just not sure.  It's kinda like how they used to navigate, using an inertial system of sorts, by getting a fix on their position at sea every so often and then trying to keep track of how fast they have been going and for how long.  But they were using hour glasses with sand instead of clocks.  And rather than having a GPS to keep track of progress they threw a rope with some knots tied on it and counted.  That's how the term knots came to be when talking about speed.  I learned that tid bit on the History Channel, not out here at sea.

So the date thing is a little like that.  I remember knowing the date a few days ago to the 8th.  It feels like it's been a week or so since then, but once I factor in the perceived reverse time dilation, I come up with around three days since that time.  I'm fairly confident it's beyond the 9th, and don't think we're as far along as the eleventh.  So my guess is June 10.  Ok.  Looks like it's Monday the 12th, but it just turned to Monday a half hour ago, so I was off a day.  No biggie.

The history that was made was this:  My phone actually played a video all the way through.  I know.  Exciting.  I got some budget cell phone when we came back from Alaska last season just to get by for a bit.  Atrocious.  Absolutely awful.  I told Rich I was gonna go the iphone route because I like the one I had before, but I'm actually not that audacious to drop iphone cheese for a month and a half of use before going out to sea where it won't work for four months.  I could see him quietly judging me as I told him this, like "hey man.  Why don't you get your shit together a bit before getting fancy electronics."  All he really did was nod a bit.  I gotta tell you, the guy is pretty cool and mellow.  So I didn't go iphone and videos won't play. 

Except for today.  And it was kind of a ho hum.  I wasn't really expecting it to play, so I didn't invest myself fully.  It can be irritating to get into a jam only to have it stop part way.  I've nearly frisbeed my computer for this.  And now I don't really want to press my luck and try again, because I'll expect it to work only to be let down.  Maybe this is just one of those rare moments that you don't get to enjoy like the eclipse I didn't see a few weeks, or however long ago it was.  I'll just accept it and speak reverently about the one time this piece of crap phone played a video.  Like the night Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson.  Just a moment of singular brilliance.

So now I look at the calendar on my computer and it says it's the eleventh.  What day is it?  If it is the eleventh now, then it was the 10th on the day I thought it was when I started writing because it was just after midnight and I was counting it like it was the day before.  If that's the case, then I was right all along.  Man, it's tough some times being lost at sea at the dock for hours on end.  Literally have to walk off the gangway to get your feet on solid ground.  I hope the sarcasm is obvious. 

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