There's a feeling I'm having, been having for awhile now; an emptyness in the stomach; a feeling like some big guy named Guido has a plastic bag over my head; and for some reason I just won't let go, I won't submit, must get this bag off my head;
I think I know what I must do, but there's always something else, something different, some big emergency that must be done right away; things like school, writing and exercise take a back seat.
Then I think about myjob as a commercial diver; everything has an order, everything has a place.
I have to show up at 7:30, not when I get around to it. How come I can't make my walks or school work like that. When I am at work I always have big plans for the evening, but, then I get home and my plans go out the windows, due to something that needs attending to right now.
When I am underwater, where my body is constantly under pressure, the only mental pressure is getting the job done right in a timely fashion, which, don't get me wrong can be pressure enough.
The morning starts at around 6:30 when I turn the coffee on and get dressed before heading off to work, It should start around 5 so I can go for a morning swim and have a good breakfast. But, alas, that would have me going to bed at a proper time, and if I did that, that would mean thaat I don't get distracted, that i don't give into the demands of others, now, where would that leave guido, what would he do if he wasen't holding that bag over my head. Wait, who cares about Guido.
After I pour my coffee and warm up the car, I am out the door by 7 am. I go for a nice thirty minute drive, listening to tunes and drinking coffee, getting pumped for the dive day ahead of me; I grab the tanks from the shack and I head to the boat.
At that time of the morning do I care about dire emergencys, i'm sorry but I don't. I am just trying to get to work on time, because if I get fired for being late then we would have a real emergency.
Why don't I use my mentality from the morning in my daily to do list? why do I allow myself to get distracted? why do I like this bond with Guido?
The three of us divers leave the dock on our fully loaded boat around quarter to eight, a quick stop at the gas dock and were gone, off to the farms. at this point I grab my book, do you know how many books you can go through in an hour each way, each day? quite a few I tell ya.
When we get to the farms it's time to set up gear, strip naked, and get in our dive underwear to put on our drysuits; diving in jeans and cotton t-shirts is just no fun.
Getting dressed for a dive is almost like meditating. First thing in setting up your gear (after you attach your pack, more on that in a bit.) Take your first stage and attach it to a piece on the tank valve called the yoke. Make sure your second stage regulator hangs off the right side ( your second stage you wonder; that's the breathing part) There are valves and other things on the left side so we have the second stage only on your right side to avoid interference.
Now, when I am putting my gear together and checking it; do I think about the other things that I could be doing. No, my gear and the task at hand is all that is important, then why is it when im at home I can't stay on one task? why is it that I am trying to conquer the world in twenty minutes? why do I have so much trouble just sitting there till the assignments done without letting my mind wander.
Once my gear is set up and my suit is on and zipped I throw the pack on; (not literally obviously, almost though) There is a system; weight belt first; back pack (which is the bcd, tank and regulator) that goes second do up all of the buckles third, then I grab my fins, mask, hood and I head over to the first four hole.
These salmon farms use a rectangular metal grid that has 12 pens. Each pen is referred to as 100 bys, meanng that each side of the square pen is 100 ft. There are thre four holes to a 12 pen farm.
My buddies will open up the first pen by pulling back the bird net (the bird net is a black net over top to keep the birds out.) while I don my hood and fins. A quick spit in the mask and I'm good to go. So I jump; avoiding the bird net into the cold green (sometimes black) water.
I can feel the cold water hit my face.
I see the salmon that surround me.
I feel the squeeze from the air expelling from my drysuit.
I descend, as I descend I'm checking that my regulator is breathing right, and I'm equalizing my ears fquently. I put a little air in my suit for comfort.
Now, I have got about 5 minutes to descend to the first corner swim three sides of the net and from the fourth corner I swim down to the hat ( which is a contraption that lies on the bottom of the pen that sucks up the dead fish and othr garbage that collects in the net it works via a air line that runs down the blue tube till it reaches the cone which is referred to as a china hat (hat for short)
Once everthing is clean it's time to head back up checking my air gauge and equalizing as I go, as well as watching my wrist computer so that I don't ascend too quickly.
I reach the surface, climbing the ladder, no time for chit chat the clock is ticking and I only have so much time to do as much as possible, they lower the next pen and I jump right in leaving them to close up the pen i had just finished.
At work my life is so routine that guido has ceased to follow me there, at work when I have an emptyness in my stomach I eat, but to get to this poit took perserverance, persistance and the mindset too not give up: Believe me when I first started diving; guido(representing pressure) was at work with me everyday.
Now, if only i could come up with some sort of system for my home life to avoid distractions!
Well what do you know I have sat in this chair till this was done, an look no more Guido! where did he go? Wait! don't call him I have got more to do and breathing freely feels kind of nice.
