CHANGES UNDER CONSIDERATION

Quarantine in almost all countries on the world still rages on to starve out the corona virus pandemic. While countries are struggling to combat this , most people in the world are stranded on their homes and their workplace due to almost worldwide lockdown , and on my case since I'm a seafarer - I'm stranded on my workplace as well. In addition there has been some reports on the social media that Filipino seafarers are being discriminated back in our own home country , some dormitories, hotels , condominiums and even motel and apartments refuse board and lodging to Filipino seafarers because they fear that seafarers are carriers of the COVID 19 Virus. One video I saw in Facebook was one resident of a condominium was publicly harassing Seafarers on a  passenger ship and yelling that "they are a pest and should not be allowed to enter the building"  

Although in a technical sense , this workplace may be the safest round environment against a pandemic - it is out of irony , one of the most stressful and unsafe when it comes to mental health. In any case , My situation being stranded here is really a burden for me than an advantage and there is nothing much I can do about it . I'm really eager to be off on this ship as soon as lockdown is lifted in the Philippines. Although I myself will be in a dilemma since folks back home don’t want us to return .

Situation here in this ship is a big letdown , when my expectations doesn’t materialize. Why ?? Imagine having no Payout salary onboard for 6 months now (and still ongoing), and no shore leave (essentially trapped and locked down) , and even the "Private Orders" for items are cancelled. The more I think about this disappointments on this principal  , the more I remember the good times with my previous principal which has better treatment . (the more my urges desires to return to my previous employer, for better treatment) I'm not saying that TCC is a good principal , In fact TCC is another kind of fuck up company however at least in there I have a better chance of something rather than here.

What happened here on this working contract is that I just basically swapped my bad employer to something even far worse.

In other news …

I might be phasing out (or retire) the use of my "Military Water Canteen" type of equipment and be shifting to a more light weight type which can carry more water. The reason why I had to shift from the model I had been using for the past five years was because of weight luggage constraints at the airport. (Seafarers are only limited to two sets of check in luggage ,each with a 20 kilogram limitation). From what I really the "Military Type" water canteen weighs at least near a kilogram. 

I'm also considering the possibility that I could at least salvage some parts of my working belt and not wholly throw it away after this ship assignment. I checked thoroughly and perhaps the main belt can be possibly salvaged aside from the Leg Rig, as I checked it has only a little dirt and almost little degration - making it at least suitable to used for another ship contract perhaps, . I'm thinking that maybe I could bring it back home just to save money on the cost of almost buying a new one each year (or each ship contract). Maybe I'd just put those in the washing machine before I store them back to my luggage.  

Another thing that I'd be making changes (or probably still greatly "under consideration") is transfer of the Microsoft OneNote , and other office apps to the android platform. In other words , I'm planning or thinking that I might be phasing out a windows based tablet computer . although Up to now  I'm still heavily considering the possibilities of using an android tablet as the main computer for those kinds of functions .

Android Tablet / Phone ----> specialized apps (for banking , social media , GPS Maps  , and can also handle phone calls and send / received text SMS message plus email . Practically almost an all in one Gadget for office / work type plus internet.

PROBLEM ?? Limited storage capacity, scope of usability beyond "specialization" app,  easily gets obsolete

Windows Tablet / Computer ----> General purpose computer, can be used offline, can access internet and social media, Better battery capacity and computing output

PROBLEM ?? Limited storage capacity , Bulky equipment, weight issues on luggage , Problem with data synchronization

In any case I'm still greatly thinking on what possibilities , I can use for my line of work and currently undergoing some trial and error process and a series of experiments which is suited best . It really depends on the practicality of use,

In other matters relating to what's going on in the work place ….

There has been a ruckus lately last Sunday . Apparently O.S. Dalida has outdone himself in bothering people again on this ship. This time he makes a lot of noise on his cabin to the point that its bothering people in the B deck area. One crew member (O.S. "Alvin" ) got fed up on his annoyance that he took matters in his own hands and went thru O.S. Dalida's cabin and smacked his face , In return O.S. Dalida fought back and things got messy , to the point that both of them got the attention of the whole crew residing in B - Deck area along with the rest of officers residing in C and D Deck as well. From what i heard both of them have been summoned after the incident to the captains office and from there I assumed the captain filed some sort of crew report.

I don’t know the exact details on what happened and only heard what happened in the morning, however I suspected something was already going on the afternoon when I went outside my cabin to wash some clothes to the laundry room, and when I was about to get back - I saw O.S. Dalida's luggage bag inside one of the spare rooms in upper deck area (which is exactly the right next to my room). At first I figured that this ship might be expecting some visitors probably an inspector or a superintendent perhaps and they wanted O.S. Dalida to be out of his cabin so the guest can use it. My suspicions was wrong when I heard to other crew members in the morning that the reason O.S. Dalida moved out of his cabin was because of the common.

In any case , I wont take sides on whatever grudges they have against each other, and wont let myself be plagued with these trivial things because I roughly got only two months left before my contract finishes and get the hell out of here, Besides I knew better that both of them have problems when it comes to their manner's. Alvin being aggressive and too dominating to other people (co-workers) , and Dalida on the other hand being a dick and an asshole in general when it comes to on and off work.  Frankly Dalida got what he deserve for being an annoyance and a scumbag , especially on his exploits disturbing and annoying people during off work.  Same goes also to Alvin , getting on what he deserves for taking matters in his own hands and being dumb in not seeing the consequences in his actions. 

As far as possible I'd try to stay out of trouble and the ruckus they made was a good diversion , Now all eyes of the crew are in both of these people and I'd stay hidden and unnoticed.

"Military Water canteen Type" which i will be retiring this year and be replaced with a new light weight type 

The new type of water canteen i will use by next year (or next contract) 

TOR BROWSER : DRILL A HOLE ON THE FIREWALL

After months of figuring out on how to bypass the internet firewall of this ship, I have now finally came up with a solution and progress. TOR browser which is mainly used by activist (and in some cases espionage activities) can be used here onboard as well.  The trials I had made using this web browser were a success and I can now browse internet site that up to now is blocked by this ship's firewall.

Although its successful it is still limited to browse websites and cannot do online transactions like buying digital video games as of the moment , (probably because of the "cookies" thing when it comes to login). In any case it's still a big help that I can access website that are "censored" on ships internet connection.

Of course as a precaution, I will not tell anyone on the crew about this and will keep this secret only to myself - as I have trust issues with them. Besides that this information / knowledge should not be shared with people like them who rat out they're fellow crewmates. Best keep it only to myself and inside my head.

TOR Browser is very similar to Firefox Mozilla browser when it comes to function with few notable exemptions of course. I highly recommend TOR Browser to seafarers who have problems accessing websites on their ships Internet connection due to firewall.

In other news ….

While news about my disembarkation is still nowhere to be heard of., I'm already spending my time preparing for the items (and equipment) I will get to use next year. In fact I'm already prepared a list and this time the provider for the item I will buy online will not be LAZADA but its competitor company called "Shoppee" . Hopefully the product they sell their have a better quality than the near "China Made" quality Lazada markets.

I have nothing against lazada but lately , they opened their business to Chinese suppliers which by accident led some of their products selling to have a lower quality. Some of their product they were selling were even defective as well.   

CREW CHANGE SUSPENDED

I was not very happy to hear the news of "crew change will be not allowed for the time being" ., especially that I had already submitted my early vacation request. In fact I'm furious over my current situation because I dislike the ships working environment., I'm itching and hurrying to get out of this ship and change principals as soon as I can but with this current situation where most Asian countries are currently implementing a lockdown on their borders (due to the COVID pandemic) and might It take some time before it settles. For now crew change on this company is temporarily halted until further notice.

Speaking of crew change suspension . It seems that the first batch of crew change on this ship in south Africa is halted as well, and probably crew change will be now somewhere in the U.S. - at least for those who have a U.S. Visa around, for those who don’t - then they'd have to wait for the next available non  U.S. territory for a crew change , a country that has no lock down.

Hopefully based on the Philippine Tv news ., The nationwide lockdown will be lifted probably around April 14.

I'm still hopeful that maybe I can get off on this ship by May

In other news …

Here life onboard is on the usual routine, and as always O.S. Dalida pesters me around on his chatting of none important things but its more of an inconvenience now rather than an annoyance. As much as possible I tried tgo ride along with his worthless chat or if it gets to annoying , I try to ignore it.

Not much to write about anything ., the whole news is flooded with this corona virus , no new memo about crew change

Speaking of which there is rumors that even shore leave might be cancelled in the U.S. as well . Captain here is paranoid that one of crew the might get infected along the way , so probably he's thinking that the stuff were trying to buy in the U.S. will be just for sorts  "private orders".

In any case U.S. is not officially lockdown yet , so there's a possibility for a crew change for non - filipino's . 

THE LONG 90 DAYS

By the time this ship arrived , every crew here was wearing his issued standard "disease and prevention" kit as a prevention on this corona virus thing. Personally I think this suit is somewhat overboard as the area in china in which this ship berthed is relatively disease free and no infections. Still despite being relatively safe., xenophobia here on this ship is way over the top, such instance was fourth engineer being furious that a Chinese is having his pack meal inside the crew mess. He looked on to this people with digust and malice , saying that they're "polluting" the area with their viruses and disease.

Even some of my co-workers avoid , even talking to Chinese jetty men and let them do all the work on the cargo hose connection in the loading arm. For myself I don’t harbor any disgust or xenophobia against them, they're just simply workers doing their job and nothing more.

Xenophobia here is really extreme that sometimes I'm thinking that my co-workers are already being a racist and that they're just justifying it because of this corona virus thing .

After the discharge operations., this ship proceeded to Singapore for its routine bunkering and provisioning supplies. Due to the ship reaching this area within less than 14 days of local quarantine regulations on this country., no crew change was allowed and will have to wait on next port

On the moment that bunkering and provisioning ops was finished , it came the news that this ship will be heading off to Texas U.S.A.  For loading cargo and then discharging it back to south Korea. Apparently from what I heard the whole trip will take about 90 days at least , (35 days going to the area , and possibly another 35 going back , and this doesn’t include the days involved in loading and anchoring) which meant that this will be going to be a very long trip and knowing that south Korea will be in some sort of lockdown quarantine , its possible that no crew change will be allowed for the whole trip.

No crew change means people here are stuck until they sort out this whole shit and allow freedom of movement on ship workers.

EFFORTS WILL BE REWARDED

Its already the month of march now , and a few more months of waiting , all my efforts and hardships will soon be rewarded. If my contract tells me correct , my stay here on this crappy ship will only be up to June and after that - that big plane home and probably deliver that "retribution" thing I really wanted.

For now I have to be patient , and continue my struggle and it won't be long till I get the hell out of this. Aside from the contract due date, There's also an option called "Early Vacation" thing . Although its unofficial, I'm also aiming for that goal to be at least home by May (a month earlier than the contract deadline), I'm not entirely sure If this principal grants it , but I'd take my chances in submitting an "early vacation" request rather than do nothing and endure all that bullying and harassment.

Speaking of "Early Vacation" request, I had already finished making a request letter for it and already gave it to A.B. Noel , so that both of us can submit it to the captain , simultaneously. I'd figured that our claim of having an early request would be more valid if there is more than one person submitting this kind of request. The more people involved in it , the higher the chances that it will be considered and probably be approved.

Initially there were four of us who wanted to have an earlier vacation , Me, A.B. "Noel" , Fitter and Mess man. Unfortunately Mess man's request didn’t materialized because of the schedules we were requesting, which leaves him out . So basically now there's three of us left.

Me and A.B. Noel had been discussing this for several days now and had several delays before deciding to submit it (which I assume that probably "Noel" was not experienced dealing with this early vacation leave thing) , then on the day that were finally going to submit it , it was delayed again because fitter on the last minute decided to submit his request and join up. I don’t mind the delays, besides the more people joining in on this objective , then the better.  In any case hopefully "Noel" is able to submit it by now and honestly we are running a bit late on the schedule of submission., I'm going to check later just to ensure that the request was really submitted

THE FATE OF TCC

It's been seven days since my last log, took quite a few days to have me log back probably because my emotions have been more stable and perhaps some part of it may be due to lack of time. Anyway I'd start ….

It has been my suspicion that the whole news of me wanting to go home early have already spread even on the engine crew , (No thanks to that backstabbing gossiper O.S. Dalida) because I was asked by one of the oiler's on what is the reason that I intend to pass an E.V.L. , I simply just gave him a makeup reason that the income here is unsatisfactory and I have to go back to the "Other" principal.  In any case I should have known not to trust him (O.S. Dalida) its was a very big mistake in doing so and that I should have gone "solo" on my problems ., Good thing I didn't reveal all the plans I had up ahead . Anything that he knows is basically none essential information and I have already stopped giving details of any other things

Officially I haven't submitted yet my EVL ., and that I'm still waiting for A.B. "Noel" to make a move so I can hitch with they're request to make it more valid. Up to now I'm still waiting for news on them since Noel hesitates in making one. From what I heard here , the policy of OSM is to make the request earlier than the usual one month notice on other companies and that its implied that it should be at least two months. Given that if that’s the rule , then I have to submit it somewhere in March.

On my best bet if this is the situation then I'd have to submit it either via 7th  of march or 14th of March. I could submit it now , but I'm still thinking that I have to wait until "Merk" is gotten rid of first for more efficiency on my EVL. Somehow (and a fact) I distrust a fellow Filipino as a seafarer especially Filipino Senior ship officers.  

In relation to this topic, I have received word from my former co-worker which I chatted via Facebook messenger that TCC is apparently will phase out OSM as it manning agent - meaning that TCC will transfer to a new company somewhere in makati. From what I heard to my former co-worker, "Vanguard" and "Excelsius" ship is scheduled to be sold by October this year. So on my end , I'm feeling a bit down because this principal is my "safe zone" here in OSM and that my possible planned return there will not materialize , if the news were true.

In any case, TCC or not what I can tell is that I cannot stay here on this "Hunter" ships and I'd be better off somewhere (or anywhere) than here, maybe on another principal or another company. I have to think of the possibility that if no other solution applies then I have to result in abandoning OSM as well ., The only question if that possibility happens is where should I go next ?

PICK A WRONG MONTH

Never thought that I'd be handling the job of painting again , not at all and it never occurred to me ever since O.S. Dalida made bad rumors against me and told an accusation to Pumpman Carnaje that "I don’t know how to mix paint" . Ever since then my job at that moment was more related to cleaning rather than painting, but to this day I was simply dumb folded (or maybe puzzled) to know that the job order assigned for me was painting. In any case I'm glad id be stretching my hands and fingers again after a long time in painting some "Tiger Marks" on those bollards.

In other news….

From what I heard, A.B. Noel is planning to have an early vacation and the latest news is that there's at least four of us here planning to have it. I suggested to A.B. Noel to submit a "collective" kind of request letter to the captain detailing that four of us request to have an early vacation and in that way , our request could be more valid and thus have less chances of being turned down. He already spoke to fitter about this and I'm still waiting on what time and date will he submit  and if it will be a collective request or maybe a "per person" request letter.

In any case if this plan will not materialize (because I'm not ruling out that A.B. Noel might hesitate ), I have to prepare for a backup plan on my own to submit an E.V.L. by sometime in April. Hopefully if all goes well "Noel" should go for it and make a EVL for all of us four, and finally it's up to this principal for them to approve this . As much as possible I want to get of this as much as possible and don’t plan to stay any longer than necessary.

Another news that I have to write about is that it looks like that OSM management will be making changes on its policy about the payroll, based on the documents they circulated to all of their fleets - it looks like that they're MPO (also known as "Special allotment" colloquially ) will be phased out and replaced with an "online banking" type of system similar to my previous two employers "CF Sharp" and "UPL - Shell" , which is based that monthly wages will be automatically be forwarded to their respective online dollar accounts (in my case BDO Dollar ). It also said on their memo documents that the implementation will be on January 2020 , but as of yet February 2020 there still no sign yet that they have transferred the cumulative wages OSM owe me.

On my end ., Online banking is fine (and if not welcomed) but the problem is that they picked a wrong time for the MPO to be cancelled and that they are scheduled payments that I have to make and without any assurance that my salary will be forwarded it will be a disastrous time for them to implement.

here are the document memos they put up in the crew mess

TRUSTWORTHY AS A WEASEL

O.S. dalida is starting to get on to my nerve' s by ratting out some information that I considered private and confidential. Such example is my plan for early vacation leave which annoyed me a lot when he mentioned it in front of everyone and even in front of Pumpman Carnaje. I intend to keep this information on a hush silent basis but turns out because of Dalida's ratting habit, it now became public knowledge. This really will hurt his image on my perception and that O.S. dalida is not a trustworthy person whom I should talk about confidential and private information, as a result of I would be very careful in mentioning details now and other private information I know of. Its best I keep my mouth shut and do not mention anything that I knew.

It maybe the year of the rat on Chinese new year but what I hate the most are that kind of people. If I wasn’t into trouble and my predicament was severe , I would not have sought an agreement with him in the first place and it was a big mistake that I did so , I really hate making an alliance on a person who betray his allies. He's trustworthy as a weasel.

As retaliation , I will make actions against him - but will be done in a "cloak and dagger" style. A retaliation that will be in Secrecy. If there will be done changes on my behavior (and restrictions) it should be subtle in order not to raise suspicion. 

Like I said earlier on my blog entries, I should trust no one here and that I'm all alone and surrounded by enemies. I better make every move I made to be precise and silent .

In any case although it is relatively bad that my "Early Vacation Leave"  went public. It has its uses after all , and discovered that there at least two more crewmate whom had plans for an "Early Vacation Leave" as well. Namely A.B. "Noel" and "Fitter". All I had to do is ask to join them to make our request more valid and bingo ! E.V.L. could be approved and as what they say "The more the merrier"

REVENGE AND RESOLVE

As much as I wanted to share any technical knowledge on computers and help people around here, in the spirit of co-operation. Sadly I will have to refrain from doing so and keep such knowledge a secret and deny the existence of it, this  may sound cruel and greedy, but I have to take proper precautions and in some extent harsh action given on my circumstances. I think it's only logical for any person to refuse helping people who are in some ways helping the enemy or in any way sympathetic to them or in any person whom I might deem as a threat to my safety and security. 

So it means I won't be sharing the contents of my Hard drive (multimedia entertainments) , Video game installers, and any other software / hardware I had to the rest of the crew here. This of course is not limited to that , even things that might help them (any hardware) that I have unfortunately will also be "Sanctioned" . (not sure if this is the correct term). 

As far as I can tell people here only approach me when they needed something,  after that they won't even bother to help me out even if I asked for help, Definitely the "garbage" type of people.

In other matters …

Aside from "sanctions" , I lately chatted with one of my college friends on Facebook and had a conversation about my situation here. The subjects that we chatted about is that he asked if I'm going to file a "Onboard Complaint" report., I said I would love to but I would hesitate to submit one if it will be done onboard this ship due to fear of my safety and security, which is not a guarantee here. After a short conversation with my old college friend , I learned from him that the "Onboard Complaint" report can be filed AFTER MY CONTRACT IS FINSIHED ON THIS SHIP, meaning I can file and submit this if I'm already in the Philippines where my safety and security is already guaranteed. In other words "Onboard complaint" form does not only work while I'm on a ship and is not only limited to that.

The moment my friend said that , my whole face lighten up from a grim look to a more hopeful optimistic one . Meaning that I still have perhaps a chance to have justice (or maybe revenge) on all that bullying and harassment I had been enduring on this ship., I can never forgive those people who caused me torment and that I have strong beliefs that no seaman should ever suffer that kind of emotional stress from all that bullying and harassment and physical harm that I had sustained on this ship.

This may be called "revenge" on some extent , people can call it whatever they want and I won't blame them. What matters is I cannot let the person slip away who have done me wrong, I am fighting for my rights - My right to exist ! Every word said , every letter ,  every will and effort I made to survive here is a declaration of my anger and that no enemy can deny my will and no cause too great for my struggle and endeavor that I will not rise to meet it

The Office will know If I cannot move heaven and earth to achieve justice , then I shall raise hell

The conversation with my college friend lit a fire inside me , That I have a sense of purpose and should not be drowning in despair and more importantly a resolve. That I can and must get out of this ship and exact retribution to those people.

I am looking forward on the day that I get out of this ship and report back to the office and file a report. For now I'm not going to tell a soul on this ship about my plans, I have to ensure secrecy and that there will be no leakage of information of any kind. Its best I keep it that way and I'm pretty good in keeping secrets . If rumors or suspicions arise about this , I will just simply deny it and let them think that they are winning and I have been reduced to a near pathetic state

Good thing there's a burger laying around somewhere in the kitchen. I'm pretty sure the owner of this will be fine without it

oh by the way, If you want me to starve to death , you should have rather left me for dead on some desolate planet hehehhe So Fuck you hunter saga ! hehehe

THORNS OF MY NECK

Now that it has been confirmed that "merk" will disembark and be replaced sometime either mid or late February. I can only giggle perhaps in excitement that one of my thorns on my neck will be removed , and much to my delight as well, Perhaps Pump man's arrogance will be considerably be trimmed down, without the protection of his beloved "chief officer" he'd think twice before even starting trouble,. Truthfully I never liked having a Filipino chief officer in the first place, as far as what have I experience as a seafarer - Filipino senior ship officers usually are a disaster and most of the time only bring trouble.

The thought of "Merk" being out of my way brings me joy.

However despite my delight and excitement on this news, it still bring troubles on my end on the part that most of the job orders (work orders) I do come from him, and without him means no job orders. And no job orders means I'm a sitting duck doing nothing because there's no work around and would get me easily targeted and reported to have me fired. I have to think of a way of how to solve this before time runs out for me - I have to start thinking long term , at least until May to have someone issuing me job orders for work.

Anyway I have to write down what happened on the loading operation in Saudi Arabia.

In the morning on 5am , I usually go to the bridge and get job orders from "Merk" and when I got there, "Merk" just said the ship will "go berthing". I didn’t ask any furthermore question because I knew what it meant. I called in to O.S. Dalia at about 7.30 to confirm some details about the berthing and it seemed that he's more well informed on what are the specific time schedules compared to me , and he withheld those information. In any case I learned from him that pilot will be boarding at around 10am and we will have to go outside on work at the usual 8am schedule to do some preparation equipment.

10am came and I was waiting for someone to inform me that we will have to standby on the designated area for the arrival of the pilot via helicopter. To my dismay nobody informed me , like they have an intent to sabotage, or basically the crew intent to leave me out, hmpf !!! So much for the said "TEAM WORK" . No thanks to those bunch of jack ass Filipino crewmates - What a total dick ! . Good thing O.S. dalida had a hunch and told me that we should now go to the helipad marking on the right side of the ship. Turns out O.S. Dalida's hunch were correct and we are the last ones to arrive on the area. Good thing out of stroke of luck the pilot decided not to board using the helicopter and instead be boarding via tugboat (as said by the bridge). So I was saved by luck …

I went on the usual prep for the pilot boarding via gangway ladder , and when the pilot boarded he immediately went to the bridge. After that I proceeded on the forward mooring area and there helped out on the mooring (Mooring is SBM type , Single Bouy Mooring)., There was a minor delayed on the mooring on the part that the ship was a few meters shy away on the buoy and they had to readjust and move the ship a little - after that the ship was moored on the lines by the buoy.

Everything went out on the usual on this loading operation and there was no anything to write about it ., This ship casted off in two days' time after the cargo loading was completed and will be heading back in the pacific to discharge somewhere in china.

After long years of service , I am finally retiring this equipment and will be finding a new replacement by this year .