A couple of days ago, we decided to play a prank on our Engineering Officer of the Watch. There had been some discussion about affixing his coffee cup to the ceiling with epoxy. When he was relieved in maneuvering by the Engineering Watch Supervisor for his tour, we did in fact stick his cup to the overhead - but with EB Red, which can be easily removed. To facilitate the illusion, we had our Auxiliary Electrician Aft, TheNutz, bring the tube of epoxy to maneuvering. We spent a good deal of time making sure it would appear as though the epoxy had been used. When the EOOW returned, Foxy (standing Electrical Operator) began talking at length about the adhesive properties of the epoxy; how it required 2,500 pounds of force to break, how it would set after half an hour, etc. After a few minutes of this, the EOOW ("HuggyBear") asks why he keeps talking about the epoxy. In the middle of his sentence, he notices his coffee cup stuck above his head. He is not happy. He then proceeds to pull the cup, and of course the tape gives way with much less resistance than would the epoxy. Then we all had a good laugh. It's a credit to HuggyBear, who was good-natured about the whole thing. When you stand watch in the box, you never know exactly what you'll get from the officer grab bag; we're fortunate that we got someone who can take a joke. Being newly qualified, he still has a long way to come to reach mastery of the plant, but he'll be helped (vice hindered) in gaining that understanding.
And on this previous midwatch, we were treated to a serenade from the SafariMaster Jukebox. Every so often, the right word or phrase will compel this particular colleague to break into song - and he has a wide repertoire, including a plethora of show tunes. Of the songs to which he subjected us last night, the most unexpected was certainly Weird Al Yankovic's "The Saga Begins." Every time a new tune was heard, Mumbles would remark that another quarter had been inserted. I work with some weird people, but perhaps none more so than SafariMaster. An exposition of him might soon merit a full entry here. For now, I simply shake my head and wonder how and why...