and on again...

 Well, back to work for me. 

 I'm being turned out like a whore again, but this is, strangely, part of the plan. 

 After a few months of not having a permanent assignment, we now have a home. It's not nice, but it's ours. Sort of. My partner B and I have to get into a rotation that will work, which meant that there wasn't a place for me on board for 2 more weeks from now, but my back-to-work date was today, thus, I am being used to fill in the gaps. IOW, I be a ho. 

 Currently, I'm on a big ass barge that stays busy. I was over here filling in for a few days last month, so I already have the basics down, at least. At the moment, I'm only supposed to be here for a few days, and while my first watch on board was hectic, and the watch rotation is the dreaded 6 on/6 off, my second watch, the 0000-0600 right now, tonight, we are sitting with a small load on board that a local terminal wanted to get out of their tanks and which will get blended into something else in a few days, hopefully by the grace of God, after I'm already on to my next assignment. 

      So it was a whirlwind of a time off, for sure. I was productive, I had fun, got to spend time with family... everything was as hoped for. I knew I was going to be a harbor whore for this 2-week period, so I determined not to worry about it, and thus arrived to work without all the usual preoccupation that has been bothering me these last few months, wondering when I was going to get reassigned yet again. 

 I don't like change. I'll admit it. I gasp, I expire, whatever, I wither on the vine without I have some sense of permanency. Hell, this is a temporary job I took almost 12 years ago. I should probably use quotes on the word temporary at this point. 

       We're coming into the fall season, when American companies start stocking warehouses and retail shelves for Christmas, and the cooler weather shifts gasoline blending to winter blends. And business has picked up a bit for us, which is a blessing. I'm more sanguine now about us getting by in the next few months, me especially. I went home with a vague dread that my new barge assignment was going to get yanked out from under me, since there wasn't much work on board my first 2 weeks there. I was worried for a bit that she'd get laid up too, but in the past week there's been plenty of work for her, which is a fine thing. I hope there will be more.