I got it! Starting in just 9 days I will begin my new job as a Well site Geoscientist! This will entail a ton of travel, up to 230 days a year away from home! I will be going to well sites all over the country and possibly the world working 12 hour shifts analyzing rock core from deep below the surface to determine whether or not oil and gas companies can make money off of it. As one coworker told me “I will be visiting all the assholes of America.” I can hardly wait. Another coworker told me the female to male ration is 1:30. Love it. Love doing things that women have not typically done, love hanging out with “dudes.” I am so excited! I can’t wait for this new challenge, to learn how to handle myself on a drill rig, to tough it out in crazy conditions and bizarre locations, to learn an entirely new set of skills in an industry I never imagined breaking into. I’m nervous about being on a rig, what if I accidently chop off a finger or slip off some stairs? Time to be alert and cautious! I’m nervous about my relationship with I__; will this make us stronger or tear us apart? Only time can tell. In a way I’m sad about leaving (sort of) my live in Boulder. It’s taken 8 months and an unusually snow free and depressing winter for me to finally feel like I have friends here. Funny how finding your niche takes so much time and emotional energy. It is likely while I am away for weeks at a time some of my new found friends will have moved on; a necessary side effect of living in a place like Boulder where so many of the young people are transient and just passing through or waiting for summer. I guess that is the beauty of the internet, it is becoming easier and easier to stay in touch with all the wonderful people I cherish, though they are scattered all over the country.
A few words regarding small towns (aka the assholes of America): Last Friday I went to the Ponderosa Inn, the only bar in the small, stoplight free, town I grew up in. It was karaoke night and I met my parents there for some Jim Beam well whiskey and a night of surprises and reflectance. For a small town with a single bar I expected the karaoke to be mildly painful, if not awful. What a pleasant surprise! Not only could nearly every singer hold a tune, the local folks were pretty good dancers as well! Looking around with whiskey warm in my stomach it dawned on me that this is the type of bar I can expect to be frequenting more and more in the upcoming years as I travel around the country. It also reminded me of the night in Tensleep, WY when our field camp of 20 students drank and played pool with the locals. The locals consisted of a few “roughnecks” from an oil field just outside of town, the owners of the Crazy Woman Cafe, and a man working on a dinosaur dig 20 miles outside of town. It was perhaps one of the best experiences of field camp, which was chalk full of crazy stories. I’ve realized that I love small towns. After several years of attempting to run away from this fact, Friday night was the perfect time to realize its truth. I have my dad’s knack for chatting with anyone and everyone, somehow always finding common ground, and as I’ve grown up I’ve learned how to avoid touchy subjects and still be charming. I can’t wait to frequent more small towns with more great bars. Some people experience America on bike, by hiking it, by hitching it. I plan to experience America by quite literally, touching the bedrock; by drinking with farmers who won’t ever give up on their patch of semi-arid soil, by visiting the one bar in the one town for 50 miles, and by embracing the paradox of life in this wonderful country. As Edward Abbey put it, “Paradox and Bedrock.”
Peace out!
Pinky
Coming up next: A Five Part Post about REE and hybrids
