I bin sailin twixt the arbors o sanity but constantly gettin lost in de fog o insanitee!
![Toxicated xd](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_toxicated.gif)
Ey know, ey know, it sure be soundin like jolly good time. Tho allow me to remind ye lads, tis not sounding even HALF as jolly as it is in actualitee!
\o/
At the very moment I'm still rather wet, which is what I've been for the most of the day. During these few days I've learned that in this town, the rain patterns are similar to those of London. At one moment it's sunny and a few wee clouds sailin' across the sky, and BOOM! HEADSHOT! After you blink it begins to rain, and the trees are frantically trying to uproot themselves and scram. And it doesn't always rain only water, either, got a nice hailstorm accompanied with some out-of-the-blue thundering the other day. So anyway, this morning it was raining mad when I had to bike the 4,2km (2,5 miles?) to the school. Then after a few normal (but still wet) lessons (after almost having dried up) we jumped into the pool with crappy clothes on and practiced some emergency survival stuff for a coupla hours. It was fun but I gotta tell you, climbing a rope ladder when your clothes are sucking half the pool's water with them, ain't as easy as it seems in the movies. Wasn't impossibly hard now, but I imagine it will be once we get to the pool that has cold water, wavemakers and a wind machine installed. Oh well, I'll have time to train before that one... We also have a couple of practice sessions scheduled in a special naval facility, they pour oil into an old ship and set it on fire, and then we gotta do stuff inside (ie. get out asaFpFFS*). Can't wait!
*as soon as FUCKING possible FOR FUCK'S SAKE
The education seems surprisingly practical in many other ways, too. During this first half a year we'll learn all sorts of basic heavy duty machine-handling stuff, like welding and changing all the oils of a ship and other basic repairing, and of course running the ship's engines as well. When at sea, and in an emergency, nothing guarantees that the engineers are still alive and kicking, so people gotta know how to run the damn thing, even if just crudely... or at least turn the engines off so the propellers won't chop up all the survivors when they jump overboard. F***! When I Am Ki..aptain I'll carry a gun with me in case of emergency. Not to kill myself painlessly, but to shoot at the propellers! YEAAAH! AIN'T NOTHING LIKE RAW FORCE WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE! YAAARGH!
![Wut 8|](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_wut.gif)
Another interesting surprise was that after the first half a year we'll be thrown out to sea. On a ship, that is. We'll get to be the lowliest rats \o/ for two months at least. After that point we'll qualify for the first certificate, and those who performed well will mostly be hired to that position from that point on. If they did less well, and have bad luck, they'll get to continue as the lowliest rat, despite the certification. It's not a must to continue after the two first months, but it's highly recommended, as there's time reserved for just that until the next autumn. With luck and hard work one might have some good recommendations, a whole lot of experience (both practical as well as pleasant, seeing distant lands etc!), and also some nice monies by the time the next year starts! Yay for monies.
If one is still interested after the first year, then the true officer training begins. It'll continue according to the normal schedule for the rest of the education, however the summer breaks are a little longer, 4-5 months. It's expected that one works at sea all those periods, so that once new certificates are gained one automatically has the required amount of sea experience as well. And the monies again aren't bad I suppose~ one of the l33t elder students is driving an expensive looking motorbike.
![Cool B)](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_cool.gif)
Working will always include some training by your experienced peers and higher-ups, so learning will continue even during the summer breaks. All in all the whole thing should last five years, unless one decides to take a year off and stay at sea... to gain EVEN MORE MONIES! HOOORAY! \o/ And working the whole summer means your 'time off' from work will extend to cover some of the time you study, and you'll continue getting paid. It'll be work and time off in 2:1 relation, until one reaches the higher levels, where it's 1:1. Yeah, I'm already gonna book me some motorcycle training lessons for this fall so I'll qualify as soon as I have secured some... MONIES!
![Toxicated xd](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_toxicated.gif)
There are only two big buts in the matter: firstly, I haven't been to the doctor's examination yet, and I'm not sure if my eyesight is enough as it is... though I'm comforted by the fact that the laser surgery prices have gone down greatly, and I can afford getting that thing done right away, if need be. The idea of someone pointing surgical lasers at my retina isn't too fancy, though. They have to cut off the outer lens thingie first, too.
![Ehm :s](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_ehm.gif)
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/sd_smilie_wink.gif)
Dunno why I wrote all this now, as I'll probably come home for this weekend tomorrow. Tried to get to irc, but for some reason these puters in the official puter room can't access the irc server. The puters at our own class could, but I can't be bothered walking up the stairs ^_^; won't be many of you there at this hour anyway. Oh, and I just realised that I've been alone in the room for a while now... ... ... http://www.kindgirls.com ->
PS. Love you all! xoxo
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)