Jumping

When you jump you take a risk. When I graduated college I jumped into a new life called grad school. I jumped into a new state, a new city, and a new school. When I decided to no longer pursue my PhD I jumped again. That time I jumped into a totally different life situation: full-time career like job, tropical island, new culture, new friends, new life again. This weekend I made another jump... less figuratively though.

In the past I've jumped out of an airplane, off a cliff into a river, off a swing as a child, from a diving board, and on my bed. This weekend I decided to jump off a pier. Saturday I met my friend Chad and headed out to Rainbow Beach on the west end of the island. It was a good day for the beach, the sun was out, the water was cool, the drinks were good. The co-op's, Meredith and Sacha, met up with us, and Chad had a couple friends out there as well. The day was fun, the sun went down, and after having some great pizza for dinner at a place called Lost Dog (they made pineapple and pepperoni which was fantastic) we decided to go back to the pier and jump off. Where we were the ocean was about 20ft deep but you could see to the bottom it was that clear. The pier was about 10ft high off the water level. We jumped. I jumped. I just let go and jumped. I am so glad I did too, because it was a lot of fun. Needless to say I am glad I didn't know then what I know now, else I probably wouldn't have done it.

When you jump you take a risk. Apparently sharks do a lot of feeding around that pier, and are most active at night. Great... well I'm glad I didn't get eaten by a shark.

If You Like Pina Coladas...

Okay, so I haven't actually had any pina coladas since I've been here, but I've had quite a number of rum drinks. A good weekend breakfast drink is the Painkiller. Now... Other than rum, I'm not exactly sure what's in it, but it does take the edge off. It's very sweet though, so I can't always have more than 1 or 2. A lot of people move on the the bloody mary... or they just start with that. Another great signature island drink is the Bushwacker. I'm definitely not sure what's in it, but it's frozen and I'm pretty sure every ingredient is alcohol (other than the ice). You can't tell though, it's so delicious. Now, just because I live on an island does not mean I drink every night, but maybe a couple of nights a week, and the weekends in particular. Though this week has been pretty active. Sunday was a long day of doing nothing but being lazy. We had some drinks and watched the Phillies, but stayed up late because the game didn't end until midnight. Monday, our catalyst vendor was on island and they took me and Alex (the other hydroprocessing engineer) out to dinner. I had an amazing filet mignon and lobster tail with a rum cake for dessert. Then Alex and I went out west to see our friend's (my new friend's) bar that he just opened up. Ayo is local to the island of St. Croix, and he's been a Moka Jumbi here, which is a traditional dancer on stilts, and now he owns a bar out west. It was a nice place, but it turned into a late night. Last night the vendor was still in town and they took us and another engineer out to a formal dinner in town. Great food and great wine, with good people, and took it later to the boardwalk for a few more drinks, turning into another late night. Tonight I am in bed early. I hope this entry is substantial enough for people who read this thing.