To preface this, I should talk more about what I did. Everyday I woke up around 6:30 and left the hotel for the job site around 7:30. For the next ten-and-a-half hours (minimum) I would feel the Turkish sun in the middle of a corn field. Towards the end though I did spend a lot of time battle an inner exhaustion at the control table. This continued for five weeks with only four days off. On a particular day I was, let's just say, completely done. After about three weeks in the field the thrill of telling operators to aç and kapat the valves had become pretty repetitive. It ceased to keep me awake. I stood at the OB-31 separation station and longed for my power naps on the control room's toilet. The brine rain started to fall from the silencer and I not longer cared if the pumps started or not. But, my sister tasked me with releasing the air from the emergency dump valves and it hit me. I stood on the grates of a platform and realized that beauty exists in everything.
I took this picture to remind myself:
It's not much now, but that moment reminded me to stay positive over the long journey of commissioning. Now, as I return to school, I constantly picture this moment to stay sane. The beginning-of-the-school-year stress has come into play and I am quickly remembering why I no longer have a passion for my major. But, beauty exists in everything. The equations no longer thrill me, but the implications do. I have the power to change the world with only a calculator and a G-2 pilot. As I attempt to coast through my last year and onto law school (hopefully...) I want to remember that though things really do suck, I can find the beauty in anything.
