So, this blog is meant to represent your typical, run-of-the-mill boy just graduated college, boy then works for $9.00/hour, boy gets discouraged, boy stumbles upon an opportunity, boy lands first job, boy moves 2400 miles away to a semi-remote, tropical island - journal. I hope for it to also be a composition of bizarre island discoveries, recollection of awkward moments handled by me, weather log telling you what temperature it is so you eventually stop reading this, list of random things I plan to steal/already have stolen as my “island trophies”, and updated tally of how many wild, jungle boars I’ve killed with my bare hands - journal.
Let’s get to it!
1. “Donny Potato”
How do you introduce/handle an introduction when you meet a child less than 4 years old for the first time?
“High five!” (Way to prove that that never gets a reaction…..for the third time tonight.)
“Heyyyy, pal.” (Yeah. The cool guy approach. Is there a jukebox anywhere I can thump so that this kid will like me?)
“Hello. My name is Ben.” (Oh, whoops. Her mom already introduced me as Ben. Why did I just say “My name is Ben?” Now, even the kid thinks I’m a moron. Ahhh. Now what do I do with my hands?)
“Want some of my rum & coke?” (Nailed it!)
2. “Have a nice day.”
The other day, we had a bit of a scare on the job site. The workers leave to go home for the night at 3:30PM. Us “higher ups” don’t leave until around 5:00PM. Sometime during that span, someone parked an unmarked truck outside the gates to the site. No one was in it either. Why is this scary you ask? Because there have been incidences where thieves have gotten into the project grounds and stolen equipment, materials, etc. On one specific occasion, $10000 worth of welding leads were stolen. The senior PM got on the walkie and said to the 3-4 of us that were still at work at 5:30PM that this situation shouldn’t be taken lightly. Another piece of information. A murder had just been committed the previous weekend where someone’s guts were hanging out of them in a relatively chill part of the island. So. Here I go marching out on the site trying to find any wannabe copper pipe robbers with nothing but a walkie. Then it hits me that a robber might be inclined to carry a weapon and USE that weapon if he feels he has been caught. Long story short. No worries, no thief was present. The best part of the story is what happened while roaming the job site.
I happen to pass a 42” pipe inlet whilst roaming and notice something huddled nearby. A dog. Now, there seems to be a fair amount of stray dogs around St. Croix and, being the dog liker that I am, kinda want to take them all home. So, I go walking up, nice and easy, to this dog, which is curled up and looking cold, with a generally-concerned-for-the-dog look on my face. I get about six feet away from the dog and the following takes place:
Ben: “Hey, boy. Are you lost?”
Dog: “……”
Ben: “Did somebody dump you off here?”
Dog: “……”
Ben (inching even closer, now encouragingly smiling): “Awwww, it’s OK. Don’t be scared.”
Dog (baring teeth): “GRRRRRRRR!”
Ben (losing all emotion in face and tone): “Have a nice day.”
And I walk away.
3. “Bennie and the Jets(ki)”
This past weekend Tip Top (which, for future reference, will be known as “TTC”) put on a little beachside bash to celebrate Matt and Jen’s wedding from July. Matt, for clarification, is the project manager at TTC. I, am the assistant project manager. (No! Not assistant TO the project manager)! Anyway, a guy by the name of Rhett happens to be at this party. And Mr. Rhett also happens owns a jet ski. He, with the help of a few of us red-meat eating men, unloaded this thing right along the shore of the ocean. And who gets the first spin? The new guy!
Now, ever since I was little I have always wanted to ride/pilot a jet ski. I grew up having a two acre pond a few dozen feet away from my house and always wondered what it would be like to zip around in one of those bad boys on said pond. So, you can imagine how excited I was to try this thing out. It, like many of my experiences to date on the island, was surreal.
Well. After about 30 straight seconds of my stalling the engine while drifting further and further away from shore (and more importantly, competent operators of a jet ski), I got it to start. At that moment, another thing gets nixed from my bucket list as I’m off. And by “I’m off”, I mean going about 6 mph across some of the calmest water the Caribbean Sea has to offer. Every time I got going fast, I felt like the nose of the jet ski was going to dive right under the water, taking me with it. What a wuss. After I got done riding, all I could think of was how uncanny my resemblance to Lloyd Christmas had to have been (see below clip from 1:45-1:48). Imagine that three second clip drug out for an entire five minute jet ski excursion. That was me.
All is well. I miss all of my loved ones back home. My mom, dad, brother and family. Family Siembida. Family Carson. Bestest of friends in Columbus. And last but not least…KatieBear. But she doesn’t really count as she’ll be down in (a hopefully short) eleven days.
I hope to keep up with this blog my entire stay in St. Croix. And the phrase “I’ll have a new post in a few weeks”, you’ll learn, will really mean “Meh, I’ll get around to it.” That’s me using “island time” to my advantage.
See?
I’m catching on.
