Recently I received a question from my friend Samantha, who was on my study abroad program in Cyprus and now works as a Study Abroad Adviser at SUNY:
Do you work with many other young people on the rigs? What is social life like?
As for people my age, there are a number of them. The lowest positions on the totem pole, "roustabouts", generally hire recent high school graduates or drop-outs. The less ambitious of these will get promoted to "roughneck" eventually and remain there for decades. The more advanced positions of drillers, directional drillers, and company men tend to be held by older and older men as they go higher and higher (yes, men. I have only ever met one female directional driller, but that was socially and not through work). But overall on the rig there is a great variety of ages, from 16 to 70 and everywhere in between.
Regarding the social life, for me it kind of "is and it isn't". I don't have the sort of schedule that lends well to making friends normally or dating, especially. But there are about 150 other field engineers in my office in Louisiana who are mostly my age group and are in the same predicament, so there's always someone in town to hang out with and commiserate on the craziness of the job when I do get home.
Sometimes I do make new friends when I'm in Lafayette during my days off. I did some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity back in August when I was waiting around for this job to start. It would have been a good way to get acquainted with non-oilfield people (a first!), but then I spent the next four weeks offshore, my two weeks away from the rig mostly in Boston, the next five weeks offshore again, and I'm intending to spend the next week up in Boston for Thanksgiving, so any potential friends I could have made would barely remember me by the time I was in Lafayette again for more than 36 hours.
Does it get lonely? Occasionally. Does it bother me? Rarely. I know it's not a permanent situation, and I have the internet to keep me in contact with all the friendships I'd like to maintain. What more could a girl ask for?
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Act NOW before it's too late!!!
I WANT YOU!
I want you, my dear readers, to submit your questions about oilfield life, oilfield work, and my life in general in response to this post. I have 5 days left before I leave the rig for my self-determined Thanksgiving break, and I will do my best to answer any and all questions as thoroughly as possible between now and then.
You see, I came to a small sort of epiphany during my last break. I was up in Boston, visiting friends and family, but I was unable to completely relax. I still felt the weight of my job pushing me down, even though I was on "official" vacation, and should have been able to release those feelings. But they kept pressing on me, and I eventually realized it was because everyone was so curious about what I was doing, I kept fielding questions and going into long, detailed descriptions about all the facets of my life and work. After four straight weeks on the rig, this was like reliving a traumatic episode again, and again, and again (although far less serious than actual trauma -- my job isn't that bad).
But I was unable to let go of the constant weight of my work, and was therefore unable to fully enjoy my vacation. So during this upcoming holiday, I am going to do my best to promote my own peace of mind by saying "NO!". I am NOT going to answer any questions about my job, I am NOT going to go into drawn-out explanations of what it's like for a woman to live on a floating steel island with 150 men, and I am not going to discuss the technologies I utilize to help oil companies find their prize. So apologies in advance to everyone who might want to pepper me with questions over turkey and cranberry sauce, but I'm not gonna do it this time.
To make it up to you, however, I will devote this next week to answering all of your questions through this blog so that you may satisfy your curiosity in advance. Whoever feels so inclined may either post a comment to this post or email me in person to submit their query. I am scheduled to leave the rig on Tuesday morning, so hurry up and start asking away!
And remember: once I step off that helicopter, I will pretend I no longer work in the oilfield. If you ask me to my face how my job is going, you just might receive a confused look and "what job?" for an answer. Any questions posed online will then be put aside until I've had time to decompress.
I want you, my dear readers, to submit your questions about oilfield life, oilfield work, and my life in general in response to this post. I have 5 days left before I leave the rig for my self-determined Thanksgiving break, and I will do my best to answer any and all questions as thoroughly as possible between now and then.
You see, I came to a small sort of epiphany during my last break. I was up in Boston, visiting friends and family, but I was unable to completely relax. I still felt the weight of my job pushing me down, even though I was on "official" vacation, and should have been able to release those feelings. But they kept pressing on me, and I eventually realized it was because everyone was so curious about what I was doing, I kept fielding questions and going into long, detailed descriptions about all the facets of my life and work. After four straight weeks on the rig, this was like reliving a traumatic episode again, and again, and again (although far less serious than actual trauma -- my job isn't that bad).
But I was unable to let go of the constant weight of my work, and was therefore unable to fully enjoy my vacation. So during this upcoming holiday, I am going to do my best to promote my own peace of mind by saying "NO!". I am NOT going to answer any questions about my job, I am NOT going to go into drawn-out explanations of what it's like for a woman to live on a floating steel island with 150 men, and I am not going to discuss the technologies I utilize to help oil companies find their prize. So apologies in advance to everyone who might want to pepper me with questions over turkey and cranberry sauce, but I'm not gonna do it this time.
To make it up to you, however, I will devote this next week to answering all of your questions through this blog so that you may satisfy your curiosity in advance. Whoever feels so inclined may either post a comment to this post or email me in person to submit their query. I am scheduled to leave the rig on Tuesday morning, so hurry up and start asking away!
And remember: once I step off that helicopter, I will pretend I no longer work in the oilfield. If you ask me to my face how my job is going, you just might receive a confused look and "what job?" for an answer. Any questions posed online will then be put aside until I've had time to decompress.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Short on Tea and Patience
Today marks week four of my current hitch.
I am three days away from setting a personal record in number of consecutive days offshore. I am two days away from reaching 150 offshore days this year. I am a week away from my scheduled departure date.
A few days ago I had no scheduled departure date. When people asked me how long I was out here for, I'd blithely reply "When we're done drilling!". But now the problem is that nobody seems to know when or where that will be. Various estimates include: 2500 feet deeper, 1000 feet deeper, 300 feet deeper, and yesterday. In the meantime we're "Waiting on Weather" due to rough seas, and not drilling.
After a bunch of back-and-forth on prospective plans -- one possibility is to fill the last 15000 feet we drilled and kick off at an earlier point to do a sidetrack well -- I decided that enough was enough and I was going to go home at the five week mark. I've already got my relief lined up and I'm making plans to be home for Thanksgiving.
I had planned on using this hitch to learn as much as possible about nuclear operations. As it turned out, I learned some (not quite enough), and now I'm running out of energy to process all of this into retrievable memory in my brain. I have been on two jobs before where I got to see all the preparation in running a nuclear tool: programming the tool, loading the source, starting data acquisition at surface, but both times I was sent home before we got very far. I've never seen a complete nuclear run. And I'm never going to get my next promotion until I do.
But there's only so much that a person can take.
My longest hitch ever was 6 weeks in Wyoming. Just under a year ago, I spent Thanksgiving on a rig in the middle of some sandy mountains. But while there I was able to take a couple day trips to the tiny little towns that were within a reasonable driving distance, so it never really felt like a full 6 weeks of work. Comparing the length of a hitch on land to the length of a hitch offshore is like comparing apples to oranges. There is no comparison.
My cell manager's longest hitch offshore was 75 days. He was hired about 5 years ago when things seemed a lot less pleasant for people in our job. His first year alone he had more than 260 rig days. I can't even fathom that.
But now I cannot help keeping a running countdown till my estimated departure date. No matter how I try to avoid thinking about it, my brain is always tracking the days now that it's set. Depending on the drilling plans, we might even leave earlier due to finishing the well -- but I can't depend on that so I'm trying not to even consider it. Regardless, I'm leaving no later than Tuesday. For now I'm running out of tea, so it's going to be enough of a hardship to have to ration my supplies.
Until then...
I am three days away from setting a personal record in number of consecutive days offshore. I am two days away from reaching 150 offshore days this year. I am a week away from my scheduled departure date.
A few days ago I had no scheduled departure date. When people asked me how long I was out here for, I'd blithely reply "When we're done drilling!". But now the problem is that nobody seems to know when or where that will be. Various estimates include: 2500 feet deeper, 1000 feet deeper, 300 feet deeper, and yesterday. In the meantime we're "Waiting on Weather" due to rough seas, and not drilling.
After a bunch of back-and-forth on prospective plans -- one possibility is to fill the last 15000 feet we drilled and kick off at an earlier point to do a sidetrack well -- I decided that enough was enough and I was going to go home at the five week mark. I've already got my relief lined up and I'm making plans to be home for Thanksgiving.
I had planned on using this hitch to learn as much as possible about nuclear operations. As it turned out, I learned some (not quite enough), and now I'm running out of energy to process all of this into retrievable memory in my brain. I have been on two jobs before where I got to see all the preparation in running a nuclear tool: programming the tool, loading the source, starting data acquisition at surface, but both times I was sent home before we got very far. I've never seen a complete nuclear run. And I'm never going to get my next promotion until I do.
But there's only so much that a person can take.
My longest hitch ever was 6 weeks in Wyoming. Just under a year ago, I spent Thanksgiving on a rig in the middle of some sandy mountains. But while there I was able to take a couple day trips to the tiny little towns that were within a reasonable driving distance, so it never really felt like a full 6 weeks of work. Comparing the length of a hitch on land to the length of a hitch offshore is like comparing apples to oranges. There is no comparison.
My cell manager's longest hitch offshore was 75 days. He was hired about 5 years ago when things seemed a lot less pleasant for people in our job. His first year alone he had more than 260 rig days. I can't even fathom that.
But now I cannot help keeping a running countdown till my estimated departure date. No matter how I try to avoid thinking about it, my brain is always tracking the days now that it's set. Depending on the drilling plans, we might even leave earlier due to finishing the well -- but I can't depend on that so I'm trying not to even consider it. Regardless, I'm leaving no later than Tuesday. For now I'm running out of tea, so it's going to be enough of a hardship to have to ration my supplies.
Until then...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
On Second Thought...
Well, it seems like the head honchos back in Houston, TX have decided, in their meteorological expertise, that Tropical Storm Ida will be too weak to cause us any trouble when she comes our way.
So we're staying.
Now I was disappointed at first; I HATE it when someone says I might get to go home and then dashes all my hopes once I've just gotten them up. But I was able to quickly progress from indignation to stoic resignation to satisfied acceptance and even willingness to stay, since the longer I am offshore, the stronger my case for a nice long break after I finally DO get home.
And... dare I hope? A Thanksgiving with family?
Nope, nope, nope. Ignore the above. I don't want to jinx it.
So we're staying.
Now I was disappointed at first; I HATE it when someone says I might get to go home and then dashes all my hopes once I've just gotten them up. But I was able to quickly progress from indignation to stoic resignation to satisfied acceptance and even willingness to stay, since the longer I am offshore, the stronger my case for a nice long break after I finally DO get home.
And... dare I hope? A Thanksgiving with family?
Nope, nope, nope. Ignore the above. I don't want to jinx it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
1 Year
Today marks exactly one year from the day I started working in this company, and it's been one doozy of a year.
I remember leaving Boston and flying to Houston the day before. I was excited to be starting my new job, but inexpressibly sad at what was the inevitable end of the recent era in my life. I remember arriving at the hotel in Houston the night before orientation began, unpacking my suitcases, and ordering Greek food for dinner. As I waited for my food to arrive, I sat down on the sofa and curled up in a ball and stared into space. I was terrified. I was finally out on my own, and I was more scared than I could ever remember being. But after a few self-indulgent minutes in the fetal position, I gave myself a mental shake and pep talk. One day at a time. I can handle it.
It's now been 366 days (it was a leap year!), and I've come a long way. I'm still scared a lot of the time because this job likes to throw a lot of curve balls my way, but at least I now know what to expect. Let's revisit a few of the highlights from my year:
For work was sent to 3 states I had never been to before, bringing my total up to 23, so I can no longer say that I've been to more countries than I have US States (I've been to 22 countries). I was drenched by a stunning waterfall in the Ozarks, saw Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone, and I went skydiving over the fields of Texas.
I spent the 4th of July kayaking through the bayous of Louisiana. I spent my birthday exploring Little Rock, Arkansas. I spent Labor Day on the beach in Duxbury, MA. I went to my office in Lafayette on Halloween dressed in a costume I had made and won a prize. I ate deep-fried Turkey on a rig in Wyoming on Thanksgiving. I spent Christmas in Pennsylvania with my family, and I went to bed at 7pm on New Year's Eve so I could be up for the start of my shift on an offshore rig at 6am the next day.
I certainly look forward to sitting down next year to write about all the interesting things I've done. With any luck the list will be twice as long and ten times as interesting!
I remember leaving Boston and flying to Houston the day before. I was excited to be starting my new job, but inexpressibly sad at what was the inevitable end of the recent era in my life. I remember arriving at the hotel in Houston the night before orientation began, unpacking my suitcases, and ordering Greek food for dinner. As I waited for my food to arrive, I sat down on the sofa and curled up in a ball and stared into space. I was terrified. I was finally out on my own, and I was more scared than I could ever remember being. But after a few self-indulgent minutes in the fetal position, I gave myself a mental shake and pep talk. One day at a time. I can handle it.
It's now been 366 days (it was a leap year!), and I've come a long way. I'm still scared a lot of the time because this job likes to throw a lot of curve balls my way, but at least I now know what to expect. Let's revisit a few of the highlights from my year:
For work was sent to 3 states I had never been to before, bringing my total up to 23, so I can no longer say that I've been to more countries than I have US States (I've been to 22 countries). I was drenched by a stunning waterfall in the Ozarks, saw Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone, and I went skydiving over the fields of Texas.
I spent the 4th of July kayaking through the bayous of Louisiana. I spent my birthday exploring Little Rock, Arkansas. I spent Labor Day on the beach in Duxbury, MA. I went to my office in Lafayette on Halloween dressed in a costume I had made and won a prize. I ate deep-fried Turkey on a rig in Wyoming on Thanksgiving. I spent Christmas in Pennsylvania with my family, and I went to bed at 7pm on New Year's Eve so I could be up for the start of my shift on an offshore rig at 6am the next day.
I certainly look forward to sitting down next year to write about all the interesting things I've done. With any luck the list will be twice as long and ten times as interesting!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving on the Rig
Happy Thanksgiving!
This is, unfortunately, NOT my first holiday working. Back in May I had to attend school in Houston on Memorial day, but I did not mourn the loss of that missed vacation day in any way except to wish that I could spend the day by our mediocre hotel pool instead.
Today, however, being a major family holiday, feels like much more of a loss. But don't feel too bad for me, for the mental preparation I have had in the expectation that I would be on a rig for virtually every holiday this year has worked wonders in preventing disappointment. I have pretty much counted on this ever since I took this job (or ever since I interviewed for it!). I also get an extra bonus for working on a holiday, and I think one for tomorrow as well.
Another upside: I don't actually have to work tonight aside from a couple hours of reports to complete. We finished drilling this section at about 4pm today, so they will be pulling out the bit, my tools, and the 3+ miles of drillpipe that are in the hole all night. The next plan is to do a couple of sampling runs, which means I have about a week in which to perform about six hours worth of paperwork. What I'll most likely do is watch dozens of movies on our satellite TV and put the paperwork off until the last minute. I may even get a chance to drive into town! The closest town, La Barge, is 15 miles away and has a population of 435. I have counted 2 churches and 2 bars, so far. The best bet for entertainment, however, is the 60-mile distant Pinedale of a whopping 1,400+ people. It has a small ski hill, but unfortunately I doubt I'll have time to go for that.
Tonight the Geologists, the Safety Guys, and the ExxonMobil Company Men (they supervise the whole operation) cooked us quite the Thanksgiving spread. Three turkeys, about five dishes of potatoes, stuffing, rolls, greenbean casserole, corn, yams, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and coconut cream pie for desert were all laid out for the entire rig crew. The greenbean casserole, which you might have seen on a Cambell's Soup commercial (for it followed that recipe exactly), despite being one of the only green dishes on the table, was barely picked at. The fried onions atop it, however, disappeared rather quickly.
It seems natural at this juncture to remind myself of what I'm thankful for, in case I need help getting through the winter. I am thankful for having a good job that pays my student loans and enables me to travel to places I never thought I'd go. I'm thankful for having a manager, who although very recently appointed, is nonetheless extremely sensible and already highly values me. The second part of which I am VERY thankful for in light of the expected round of layoffs in our office come January. I'm thankful for the new friend I made who also works nights and therefore plays online scrabble with me all through our shifts. I'm thankful for my family, who although distant, are probably going to be the ones reading this blog and must not be left out.
And thanks to Katy, who prompted me to finally get this thing started.
More to come soon. It'll be a slow week.
This is, unfortunately, NOT my first holiday working. Back in May I had to attend school in Houston on Memorial day, but I did not mourn the loss of that missed vacation day in any way except to wish that I could spend the day by our mediocre hotel pool instead.
Today, however, being a major family holiday, feels like much more of a loss. But don't feel too bad for me, for the mental preparation I have had in the expectation that I would be on a rig for virtually every holiday this year has worked wonders in preventing disappointment. I have pretty much counted on this ever since I took this job (or ever since I interviewed for it!). I also get an extra bonus for working on a holiday, and I think one for tomorrow as well.
Another upside: I don't actually have to work tonight aside from a couple hours of reports to complete. We finished drilling this section at about 4pm today, so they will be pulling out the bit, my tools, and the 3+ miles of drillpipe that are in the hole all night. The next plan is to do a couple of sampling runs, which means I have about a week in which to perform about six hours worth of paperwork. What I'll most likely do is watch dozens of movies on our satellite TV and put the paperwork off until the last minute. I may even get a chance to drive into town! The closest town, La Barge, is 15 miles away and has a population of 435. I have counted 2 churches and 2 bars, so far. The best bet for entertainment, however, is the 60-mile distant Pinedale of a whopping 1,400+ people. It has a small ski hill, but unfortunately I doubt I'll have time to go for that.
Tonight the Geologists, the Safety Guys, and the ExxonMobil Company Men (they supervise the whole operation) cooked us quite the Thanksgiving spread. Three turkeys, about five dishes of potatoes, stuffing, rolls, greenbean casserole, corn, yams, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and coconut cream pie for desert were all laid out for the entire rig crew. The greenbean casserole, which you might have seen on a Cambell's Soup commercial (for it followed that recipe exactly), despite being one of the only green dishes on the table, was barely picked at. The fried onions atop it, however, disappeared rather quickly.
It seems natural at this juncture to remind myself of what I'm thankful for, in case I need help getting through the winter. I am thankful for having a good job that pays my student loans and enables me to travel to places I never thought I'd go. I'm thankful for having a manager, who although very recently appointed, is nonetheless extremely sensible and already highly values me. The second part of which I am VERY thankful for in light of the expected round of layoffs in our office come January. I'm thankful for the new friend I made who also works nights and therefore plays online scrabble with me all through our shifts. I'm thankful for my family, who although distant, are probably going to be the ones reading this blog and must not be left out.
And thanks to Katy, who prompted me to finally get this thing started.
More to come soon. It'll be a slow week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)