Student Writing: Shipboard Life

Author: Jon Dean

Location: Trinidad

This is one of the epiphanies I will have while on my journey. Last week, after and exhausting day of carnival, all I wanted to do was sleep. When the captain asked me to find a piece of wood, saw it to the correct width, length and height, find the right nails and glue it to a bookshelf in the salon I wasn’t exactly excited. I became frustrated while rummaging through the lazartte, hoping and expecting praise or a reward when I finished. After cutting the piece and while I was plaining the board down to the correct height, I forgot my frustration, and became more motivated as I started to get into my project. I took pride in what I was crafting and wanted to make it nice rather than just setting it down. Finally, after two hours of work the piece was nailed and glued. Cap came over and said, “Yeah, it’s alright,” when I asked him to critique my work. At this point recognition did not matter to me. I was satisfied with what I had created and was only concerned with that rather than just praise, which is what I was looking for in the beginning.