Captain yakless; Crew advises becoming a hooker

[dwest]

The first problem is Captain remains yakless. Much to Procurement Officer’s too obvious pleasure, the budget is stretched drum-tight and boat acquisition funds are insufficient.

The second problem is the Crasher (aka yak tender) is also in drydock. Final touches on upgrades are not quite done, a trailer fender needs to be welded back on, and DMV and insurance clearance arrangements and payments are not yet done.

The third problem is Captain has salmon fever. After decades of ignoring the opportunity to catch probably the safest fish to eat from The Delta, Captain decided to investigate the salmon as a potential ‘yak activity. Recent success has fueled Captain’s desire to bring home the chrome:

http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/forumsyabb/YaBB.pl?num=1161236946

Crew (aka darn cat) is tired of watching Captain pace up and down like a feline in a cage. [“You are starting to bother me. Get a grip. Take a trip. Go fishing; better yet - go catching!”]

“Crew, you don’t understand, there are higher priorities. If I work this weekend maybe I can create enough room in the budget to get one of the fleet on the water. It burns me not to be mission-ready!” [“Now convince yourself! I know that look in your eye: you need to set some hook. Not that you ever seem to bring anything back to base.”]

“Hey, look at that salmon I took over to my mom for her birthday!” [“My point exactly. You catch a fish to bring back and does it show up in my chow at the base mess – no, it gets diverted to some civilian celebration! Makes me wonder if it was an authorized use of service resources.”]

Captain studied his friend. He knew Crew was joking, but, as always with Crew, there was a deeper message if only Captain was patient enough to let it sink in. “So, you think I would be better off giving in to this temptation?”

[“First, picture in your mind the feeling you have when fishing, try to focus on one recent image that sums up what being out there does for you.”]

“Okay, Crew, here it is:”


[Now, with that image in mind: is going fishing a temptation to weakness, or are you fooling yourself by resisting who you really are? You’ve been drawn to the water and to fishing your entire life, maybe the weakness is failure to align your life more closely to your true nature. Maybe you should recognize a duty to yourself.]


“So, is that what you’re doing here – recognizing a duty to yourself?”





[“Bath towel cat-fu is one of the disciplines! Besides, I suspected this towel of an inferior thread count, far below service requirements.”]

“Okay, Crew, you do your duty, and I’ll do mine.”

Calm, or at least silence, returns to the base.