Boredom!!!

The last couple of days have brought the first real boredom spells of the season. These are different than the normal 'what to do now?' feelings that can be easily solved by picking up a book or listening to some music. This is real boredom, existential boredom, you can feel it to the core and it isn't because you have a few idle hours, it's because the fishing has essentially dropped off, two of the three boats that are still fishing are the boys, Dale and Jake, the other is an exercise in patience. The first few days of the slow season were pretty cool, sort of like "hey cool! look I'm getting paid to do nothing!" Well that's a short lived sensation, now the feeling is more of an "oh my God, you couldn't pay me enough to do nothing for another day!" And the problem is there still is work to be done but it's so remedial, and all for a few pounds of fish. When there's nothing to be done but wait for a few fish, when they finally arrive the small tasks involved in dealing with them cleverly hide a mental days worth of work, and for some reason it really feels that way, boat herself is slow in the motions, everything literally takes longer, efficiency goes out the window because there is no pressing need to be quick and efficient. Time creeps, we all still get paid, but the real function, our job, the work we get paid to do is so slim. I can hardly fathom why these days are more difficult than the labour intensive, nose to the grindstone days when boats are actually fishing and need us around. This sort of experience speaks loudly for the mentally rewarding aspect of hard work, it feels good to work, when at the end of the day you are exhausted but know that the keep was earned; its hard to even describe what a day like today felt like. Not depressing, not exhausting, just going through the motions, and being bored to death of those motions, they aren't challenging or new, exciting or entertaining, thinking that I could find someone else to come up and replace me, that I could do just fine with the money I've already made. After floating around for hours this morning I finally experienced the moment I was hoping would relieve me from the mental doldrums. Nothing specific, just relief, a sudden comic take on the situation, it gave me a crazy little grin when icing a fish in a five gallon bucket, I was doing it, I was actually icing a fish in a five gallon bucket, and it was hilarious. Yesterday was similar to today, I think it's just a transition, an adjustment from one style tendering to another, it'll be easier in a day or two, once this pace becomes routine. We were sitting around drinking a beer before dinner tonight when Guy stated what's been on my mind all day.. "It's going to be a long three weeks here, boredom makes time crawl..." Now if only I can get down on my hands and knees and crawl with it...Despite the boat's boredom, spirits are high, we had an awesome dinner tonight at Mosey's, enchiladas with green sauce and a fish taco...Right now I'm sitting on the roof of the Beryl E. trying to pickup a wireless conection from Haines. We're anchored out, but I seem to be getting a weak signal...P.S. The boat in that picture above is the Karluk, Kelsey and Dwight arn't getting along very well...conflicting personalities I guess.