Deck Loads, Courage, and White Trash Scams

" I knew at that young age that many state borders were completely arbitrary lines drawn by men, but somehow, nature acknowledged them and created unique sensory experiences in each state, distinctly different from one to the next, even when the border was nothing more than a longitudinal invention."
 --Colorado Chrome

I.

From a seafood website: "The term "deck-load" describes the largest hauls for a fisherman, when the hold is full and fish are still on deck."

I've heard stories about the "deck load." It is incredibly dangerous to have any fish on deck and I'd like to see how it was done. You want to hose your deck immediately after a pull, otherwise the deck is covered in blood, slime, and squid, and you'll break your neck and the boat will smell like the dying sea. But the stories I have heard was that the deck was filled with fish. Given that you must intermediately fillet a halibut because its blood and organs immediately ruin the flesh, and then you must belly-ice a halibut immediately to prevent the beast from spoiling, how they hell is a "deck load" possible? Did they go into the hold and take the ice out and belly ice the halibut and then top ice the fish on deck? No, the hold is already full and the ice is being used down in the hold. Either deck load is  lie or legend or it is fish you don't want to buy. A seafood website's bragging about a "deck load" can backfire. Is it really deck load? How long was it siting on the deck in that sun when it should have been in an icy hold?

II.

There is a misunderstanding about what Becker meant by an individual's "expression of courage." By "courage" Becker meant 'expression of life force energy its its greatest and most unfettered manner.' It did not always mean a 1000 meter cliff dive or fucking a Hungarian chick without a condom, although the condomless sex with the Hungarian did mean a more unfettered expression of freedom but at a cost.

III.

The taxi driver was also from the East side of Austin. "But it was different back then. I mean, there were rough parts but we were white trash. We raised hell but we didn't take down liquor stores. We worked as carpenters and drank beer and blew up fireworks at night and drove all around when back then you could drive drunk. Worst thing we did was scams, for beer and food. The pizza scam was where you ordered a big-ass double meat and anchovy pizza right before they close and then don't pick it up. Hour after they close it's in the dumpster, still pretty hot. Other scam was going into the supermarket back when they had bottle returns and counting the type and number of every bottle in font someone had just left off. We checked out with our beer and pointed to the empty bottles, and, since we had counted, they believed us, and gave us enough money for beer. Beer and food scams, that was the worst we did as white trash. No drive by shootings."