Well, it has been a whole year since I posted and a whole year since I worked. (And As predicted I don’t have anyone to talk about rocks with!) Early on last year I saw a meme someone had made about a time traveler coming back in time and learning that it was 2020 and the time traveler going something like “oh the first year of quarantine…”. At the time many people laughed and a few groaned thinking it can’t be true! But after celebrating the one year anniversary of “two weeks to flatten the curve” it’s looking more realistic that the end of this madness is not here yet. I could fill a full post about the crazy Covid rules I have seen and I am sure you could too.
In some ways we are better off now than we were a year ago oil wise. ‘The other guys’ are in office now and that leads to stability. The rig count is up (348 this week last year) 432 this week. The price of oil has made a strong recovery after hitting negative numbers last year. Currently at $63 a barrel for WTI. In Alaska specifically things are looking up. The rumor mill has it that Beastie (the biggest rig in North America) is getting commissioned and should be drilling before the end of the year. So it is a time for hope. Hope that this madness will one day come to an end and life can move forward. Hope that we won’t be on unemployment forever. Hope that robots will not take all of our jobs before we can go back to work.
In some ways we are exactly the same as a year ago. A year ago today I left the rig and the slope for what felt like forever. I have hopes of going back. Someday that rig will come back on line and in the office they will find directions on how to turn napkins into masks and the new guys will think to themselves ‘what a crazy time that was!’ Getting on that plane on that last day was the closest I have felt to be in a dystopia movie. We have to leave and we have to leave now. Everyone on the plane! It was a crazy few days there. I am still convinced that people on the slope had Covid before the world knew to fear the virus. As I said though it was not all bad. Flying during Covid was not that bad. A whole row to yourself, or even a whole plane, fewer people, no crowds in the airports. After I got off that plane and another one, I applied for unemployment. I am grateful that I live in a world and country where we have a system in place to help those in need when they need it. When I went thru my first down turn in the oil industry I was reluctant to take unemployment. I had worked hard, saved my money and paid in to the system, but I thought unemployment was for people who needed it. But as it took me week after week to find a new job, I was glad that I had listened to the advice given to me and taken unemployment. This time around I knew Covid was going to be with us for a long time and there were going to be people who needed help and I knew I was going to be one of them. So without hesitation I applied for unemployment. I’m still not proud of it but it has been a lifeline. The system is not perfect and there are lots of loopholes and problems and the rules change every week. I have had to call more than once and try to figure out why my benefits have stopped or what the new rules are. Of course they don’t give money away for free. You have to earn it. I have to actively look for jobs every week. And I do. I have even found a few that almost called me. There are a few jobs out there and that is a sign that things are maybe someday going to come back. I know the system is built on other people paying in and the workers working and someday the well will run dry. When I was working I did not begrudge paying in to the system. We are lucky to live in a world that thinks of others and helps when needed. Trust me it’s not a lot of help by any means but it is better than a poke in the eye.
This forced vacation has been good in some ways. I have not had to work nights in over a year and sleeping at night is amazing! I had time to work on my garden over the summer, something I could never do while on an oil rig. I have worked on a lot more projects around the house. Painting inside and out, cooking a lot more especially as restaurants remained closed or take out only. I have had time to work on all the arts and crafts projects I said I would work on someday. We tried to travel a little locally but it is just not the same when all the attractions are closed. I even got to spend all the holidays in the same place! From Halloween, to thanksgiving, Christmas, New year’s, and my birthday! Something that hasn’t happened since college! I have even found a way to volunteer some of my time teaching English to Ukrainian college students. And as someone who teaches on zoom now, I can categorically say I despise long distance learning. The best way to describe zoom is a digital séance. ‘If you can hear me smile and nod’ ‘we can see you but we can’t hear you’ ‘is your microphone on?’ ‘I can hear you but I can’t see you, if you can hear me make a sound’. I never thought I would find anything in the world that I disliked more than the flat parries of Kansas but Zoom is pretty high up on the list of terrible things. The students have been great even in these horrendous times and they tolerate my silly antics. I’m not a trained educator but I have a lot of respect for the ones that are.
I look forward to the day I can go back to the oil rigs. I will hate to leave my garden and home life. This is the longest my husband and I have been in the same place since we got married (and it has made a big difference). I suspect that before I can return to work I will have to get one of the many vaccines for this nasty virus. I am not yet eligible seeing as I am young and healthy but I hope to get in the line someday. Until then I have to figure out how to grow sweet potatoes and find some pizza seeds. I have looked everywhere for pizza seeds to plant and I just can’t find them! I had hoped to add them to the garden this summer.
P.S. Has anyone else been watching what is happening in Iceland?!?!?!?!?! Road trip anyone???