28 Days Later

You've just spent 28 days offshore. You worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. You had a routine. You had fun. Now you're back to the real world though. What are you going to do with your first full day back on land?

Well, if you're me, you're going to sleep. I've done nothing exciting today, but I did start to catch up on some of that sleep I was missing out on offshore. However, while I was offshore, I had a friend ask me what my life is like out there. So I've decided that I'll share the pictures I shared with her with all of you.

My bedroom 

 My bed/desk/porthole

Roommate's bed/our lockers/bathroom/door out 

Bathroom 

Shower 

TV/Lockers 

Leftover feast from VIP visit 

I love feasts! 

FEASTS!!! 

 Ice Sculptures

Relaxing on Monkey Island 

View from Monkey Island

After a hard day of work

So, as you can see, my rig is quite great! It has amazing people, amazing food, and just is a great place to be a second home. While I'm not sad to be back on land, I do feel like I'm going through withdrawals. It's weird to not see the same people every day. I'm no longer getting picked on all day long. People don't send me appointment reminders (that drive me insane but also make me smile). I'm not having pranks pulled on me. It's nice, but doesn't seem normal. 

This last hitch, there was a time that I was called up to the rig floor just because I never hung out up there. Then there were the many appointment reminders my rig BFFs sent me just because they knew they annoyed me. Then I found out that my nickname on the rig is Peanut (because of my last name). All of that with the many other pranks/conversations, really make a girl feel at home.

As you can tell, we like to have fun out in the sea. Especially when you plant yourself as "one of the guys" and they start to prank you just like they prank each other. While I may have been gone for 28 days, once I got back into the offshore lifestyle and we got things more organized, it really wasn't an issue. If anything, it's weirder returning home than it ever is returning to the rig. I may work a lot while I'm offshore, but there's also plenty of play as well. Luckily, I have my nephew's 2nd birthday coming up this weekend and am going camping next weekend, so all of my time on land will be spent with people I love. Then back out to sea on the 17th! My summer's gonna fly by with a schedule like this.

What are your summer plans?

King's Biergarten

This weekend, I went to the best restaurant in Houston… Okay, so it’s actually in Pearland, but that doesn't matter because it was PHENOMENAL!

I realized that day, that I’m kind of a foodie…  I’m not the kind of foodie that can tell you what spice was used in a spaetzle; I’m just the kind that can tell you that food is delicious. That’s okay with me though, I love good food and that’s what matters.

So this is what I had at my new favorite restaurant:

The Famous Schnitzel Sandwich with a side of Spaetzle

It was delicious! I put their dusseldorf mustard on the sandwich and stole some of my friend’s sauerkraut for the second half of my sandwich.  We finished off our meal by splitting a Cream Cheese Strudel.

So thank you to King's Biergarten & Restaurant for reconnecting me with my German heritage. I had forgotten how delicious German food can be, and am extremely happy to be reconnected with it.

Next goal: Learn how to make traditional German meals and begin mastering them and embracing my heritage.

What are ways that you embrace your heritage?

I'm an Adult, I Swear.

Yesterday morning, I was listening to Disney music while getting ready… I’m an adult, I swear.

I cut myself, went to grab a Band-Aid and realized my Band-Aids are Finding Nemo themed… I’m an adult, I SWEAR!

While trying to pick out what to wear to work, all I wanted to wear was my onesie pajamas… I’M AN ADULT, I SWEAR!!!

I should have realized that at some point, my day of feeling like a little kid would end up getting in my way. I just never imagined it’d be due to being hangry (hunger turning you angry) and impatient and those two things combined causing me to explode.

What are you suppose to do when you’re suppose to be a professional adult and you just start kicking and screaming like a toddler? When you can no longer control yourself because your hunger has gotten in the way? I just completely lost control of myself. It’s never happened that badly to me before.

So I had a few options:

Finally grab lunch then go curl up in my bedroom and cry. The route that I like to call “continuing the toddler streak”.

Finally grab lunch then pretend like the morning never happened.  Nicknamed “ignorance is bliss”.

Or, my final option…

Finally grab lunch, and then reevaluate the day. Determine ways to better handle these situations in the future, and why it was such a bomb today. AKA “being an adult sucks”.

Obviously, all routes must begin by grabbing food. So I went home, grabbed a frozen pizza, and began debating the second half of my route. Which fork in the road do I want to take? When I realized that I had to head over to Louisiana the next day to head back out to a rig, my choice was pretty easy. “Being an adult sucks” would have to be the fork I chose.

So that’s where I was, being an adult. Listening to Disney music as I started laundry and packing for my trip to the rig, but still, being an adult. 

In this world, it’s not always the most fun decision, but when you’re an adult; it’s necessary to remember that you don’t have a choice if you want to succeed. So here I am, trying to determine how to better handle stress when hangry and beginning to prepare for my next task. I’m looking forward to the next time I visit home and can opt for the toddler route again because I have my parents to be the adults, but until then, I suppose I will have to rub some dirt in it and move on.

Lessons learned:

• Always carry snacks.
• Never wait until 3pm or later for lunch (sorry work, you don’t always come first).
• Sometimes admitting defeat is the best option.
• Did I mention to always carry snacks?

When was the last time you wished you didn’t have to be an adult? What did you do to help you prevail through that slump?

Freedom to Fail

Have you ever been listening to music on shuffle, not really paying any attention, and then a song comes on. That one song catches your attention. You’re not sure why. You were busy facebooking, reading a blog, working, etc. and now you’ve lost track of what you’re doing because you’re singing along to THIS song. Oh, you haven’t? Well, that’s what happened to me tonight, so bear with me.

I was just sitting at work, typing up a report, and then, out of nowhere, I’m singing "Freedom to Fail" by Jaron and the Long Road to Love at the top of my lungs. Thankfully, I work alone right now, so no one was staring at me when I realized how loudly I was singing along. I don’t know if you’ve heard this song before, but even if you don’t like the lyrics, the beat makes you tap your toes.

What I realized after singing to it 3-4 times in a row (yes, I put it on “repeat 1”) was that the reason this song popped out when no other songs were was because this is where I currently feel I am.

• I am a young woman with my daddy’s ideas (or what I imagine they were at this point in his life).

• I do have my momma’s eyes (but I don’t have a Texas tan).

• I’m constantly moving to new cities.

• I’m always coming up with new dreams.

• I usually decide they can’t come true (just yet) because I don’t have the money for them.

• I would rather walk with nature than do anything I have to pay for, ANY day.

• I believe that one should have no regrets.

Okay, I could pull some more things out, but you get the idea. I AM THIS GIRL! Jaron is singing about ME!!

Then I listened to the song a few more times… Yes, it’s still on repeat. No, I’m no longer at work. Yes, Mom, I got those reports done. As I continue to listen, I realize, this song isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us that chase our dreams. Some people may think we’re crazy, but we do it because that’s our dream!

Sometimes that’s something I forget. I have MY dreams, but they’re just mine. My siblings’ dreams are different than mine. My best friend’s dreams are different than mine. My parents’ may have different dreams for me than I have for myself.

In the end, it doesn’t matter who has what dream, we’re going to chase our own dream (or I hope you’re brave enough to).  That’s what I think this song is telling us. Chase your dreams! We’re lucky enough to have that option.  The important thing is to believe in yourself and remember that sometimes failure is for the best. Yes, I just said that. FAILURE IS BEST.

Sometimes you need to fail. You need to be humbled. I remember applying to jobs after my volunteer year. It was the first time that I was consistently being rejected, or even worse, IGNORED. I’d never felt like such a failure. Then, 2 months before I had to leave Sacramento, I was blessed with an interview and an offer letter. If I hadn’t failed so much, I wouldn’t have appreciated the offer as much as I did.

If we didn’t have so many failed relationships, how would we know when we were finally in the right one?

So when you fail, remember it’s because you have the freedom to dream and to continue pursuing your dream. Failure isn’t there to tell you to give up; it’s there to make you try harder.

I’ve posted the lyrics to the song below. I highly suggest that you actually go look up the song though, and I hope that it puts a smile on your face and allows you to feel as free as I do when I listen to it.

Cheers,

Krystal

What song makes you start singing at the top of your lungs? Comment below.

Freedom To Fail by Jaron and the Long Road to Love

She wakes up with a drink in her hand

She’s got her daddy’s ideas and a Texas tan

And with her momma’s eyes

Could probably kick-start a war

She’s got trouble in the house

Cops in the street

A dozen people saw

But they don’t know what they’ve seen

A girl with the whole world

Is coming apart at the seams

Yeah

She’s had one chance in Boston

She’s had one chance in Vail

Yeah, she’ll run ‘til she’s exhausted

Thru rain, snow, and hail

Now she’s on her way to Phoenix

As another dream sets sail

With a spirit so tough

And the freedom to fail

She may be a prisoner to poverty

But her minds set sail on the big blue sea

There are millions of things she says

Money just can’t buy

Now, there’s a breaking heart in a guy tonight

Six foot one but too tired to fight

He knows he ain’t wrong but he knows

It don’t make him right

Yeah

She’s had one chance in Boston

She’s had one chance in Vail

Yeah, she’ll run ‘til she’s exhausted

Thru the rain, snow, and hail

Now she’s on her way to Phoenix

As another dream sets sail

With a spirit so tough

And the freedom to fail

She looks life in the eye

Says I’m prepared to die

To live

And I may not always get it right

But I sleep in bed at night

Like I did

She’s had one chance in Boston

She’s had one chance in Vail

Yeah, she’ll run ‘til she’s exhausted

Thru rain, snow, and hail

Now she’s on her way to Phoenix

As another dream sets sail

With a spirit so tough

And the freedom to fail

With a spirit so tough

And the freedom to fail

Live Your Life!

Sometimes, when you decide to give up on life is when you finally start feeling alive. Those days when you just get so frustrated with your job, you can’t handle how boring your life seems, you know you were meant to get out there and LIVE. I haven’t written in a while because, as I told my mom, “My life is boring.” However, my life is “boring” because I’ve been refusing to remember all the great things that happen to me every day. I’ve lost my appreciation for having time to have a Netflix-athon, or for having a solid job that pays me regularly. I’ve decided that I feel like settling down has constricted me and made me stop living.

However, working in a unit by yourself from 6pm – 6am for a week makes you start to think. Really, I feel like I can’t do anything but think out here. Which is a good thing. I’ve felt like my life is boring, but in the last year, I took multiple vacations (sure, mostly for weddings or to visit family, but vacations nonetheless). When 2014 hit, I was on one of those vacations, visiting friends and family back in Kansas. Then a little over a week later, I took the most exciting vacation I’d had in 6 months.

In 2014, I’ve been away from Houston more than I’ve been in Houston. I spent 4 full days in Los Angeles, CA, exploring the city and playing Frisbee with great friends that I hadn’t seen since I moved away from Sacramento. I got to ring in the New Year with an old friend and some new friends back home. I’ve been out on my rig for a week and have 2 more to go before returning to Houston. I’m still traveling; I’ve just started taking it for granted. I suppose when most of your vacations in a year are for weddings, they don’t seem as vacation-y, but they’re still great breaks from work. They’re adventures and escapades waiting to happen. Hopefully, they turn into stories that you will pass on to your children and grandchildren (or nieces and nephews, or cats and dogs, whatever you prefer).

Don’t get me wrong, I still dream of awesome adventures through Europe, eclectic escapades in Australia and New Zealand, etc. I will always dream of grand trips that lead to stories that I’ll never forget. I will never forget the day that I got lost with my (at the time) new best friend in Galway. I hope to add more stories like that to the book of my life. Sometimes you never feel more alive than when you’ve let yourself get lost. However, I need to remember that just because I’m not taking any grand international adventures does not mean that my life has all of a sudden become boring. Shoot! I’m one of few women that work on my oil rig, HOW CAN MY LIFE BE BORING?! But to keep me preoccupied while I’m out here at work, I think I’ll start planning my next grand adventure. Maybe that will give me something to save up for and look forward to. Should it be an international experience or maybe just a massive USA road trip to explore the many states that I’ve never spent time in? Maybe I’ll start planning both. All I know right now is that your life is only boring if you decide that it is. Choose exciting! Find the new friends and stories in your daily life that make it an adventure. Write your novel!