Shoot for the stars!
I was thinking of writing and sharing what I experience on board through blogging. As a seaman, I know the colorful life we have at sea and here on land. Colorful since we have the good times, bad times, and the best times of our lives that only our fellow seaman can relate. We are nomads and we have a huge cubicle as our home.
Being observant in our lives at sea, I discovered a unique kind of experience that only sailors can testify. With the help of some books that lived through the ages, I learned that the Sea we’re navigating are the same Waters that witnessed countless battles throughout the history of mankind. From the time of the dinosaurs to the first ship that floated up until our modern day era, it’s the same Sea that lived and watched the world’s history unfold.
Yes She’s there. She is silent but subtle. And She knows more about you. Her every slap on your hull is a sign that She’s watching you. She is the very water that we call Sea.
Now let’s steer 180° away from what I just told you and share another story. Blogging is my outlet. If you here me talk about something with my mouth, I would sound less convincing or boring. But I can play with words- written words that is. Writing is not new to me but I know I have a lot of rooms for improvement and I love that part. It means I can grow. Like the Sea, writing gives me life. Learning is a fun and painstaking process but if you love what you’re doing, then that pain is good. A Eustress. Yes, blogging is my outlet.
So I have this awesome experience from my work. I love writing and telling stories through pen and paper. And I know sailors love to share adventures at sea especially to their families and friends. Combining all these stuffs and I have a recipe for a great blog.
First things first, before I started a blog, I needed to have a website name or a domain name. That’s the www.seamanmemories.com in my case. Then, also comes a web hosting company. Think of it as a place where you house your website and everything that you put in it. To make the long story short, I started familiarizing my website and everything that goes with it. With the help of a few online video tutorials, my blog was up in just a few weeks. Well, others could make it in just hours but since this is very new to me, it took me weeks!
Then came in my published posts and blog customization. It was really tricky on that part- at least that’s what I felt. But even so, I enjoyed the process.
After 24 posts, and almost sleepless nights tweaking my blog, I suddenly came across an error on my webpage. Those who visited www.seamanmemories.com last week would have known this. And guess where the problem lies? On the back end! Some of the codes went haywired and I didn’t know why. You see, when you look at a website, the page that you’re staring at including this one, is the result of complex codes written in specific pattern. If just one code is missing, mistyped or misplaced, everything falls apart. Including you, if it is your website.
I started looking for help from support groups on Social Media and the internet. They told me something about some lines of codes but I was clueless about what they’re talking about. Geez! If I told them about the sea, ballast tanks, cofferdams, spring lines, mast risers and wildcats all in one paragraph, they would know how I feel.
This went on for days. It was tiresome and frustrating. If the problem was like a Force 9 weather, I could just simply go to the bridge, get some fresh air and I would be fine. But this is totally different. It’s not connected to the Sea. My momentum for writing also came to a screeching halt like a Formula One driver pulling his emergency brake.
I tried different methods and finally found the error and fixed it. How did I know? Let’s just say I studied it so hard. To tell you honestly, it was difficult. Something a part of me was missing when my site broke down. But during those moments, I enjoyed the process of learned something new. I had a little bit of taste of an IT experience.
It was cool but seafaring is way cooler! Why not?
May the winds be on your favor.
