Throughout this past weekend I cooked aboard the boat. We set sail early Saturday morning and my dad was the only person out along the Montlake Cut to wave us by. The first time this adored brig caught my eye was opening day of boating season back in 1994. I watched the boats pass through the Cut while picnicking on the grass. All yards were manned, and the people on the topgallants were right at the level of the Montlake Bridge. She was impressive.
There's this cool 18-year-old kid that's newly interested in our boat. We found him during dockside tours. He seemed awed by her rigging, and asked me what it took to become a volunteer. We talked for an hour or so. I advised that he simply show up as often as possible and offer to help. The crew was a bit shorthanded in, so I told him to show up before every sail and see if they could use him. Apparently he did this, and ended up appealing to the crew. He has a refreshingly humble approach, which is how I imagine Captain A was years ago. He even looks a little like Captain A. The crew already loves him and today he joined them for their transit and tours further south. It's wonderful watching new crew adapt to our mealtime topics. Anything crude and funny is allowed. He may have blushed when the captain asked the bosun's mate if he'd made sure to scrub his "pink parts" while taking a bath in the lake. We're heavy on male crew right now, and one of the girls told me that they spend too much time discussing male genitalia and bodily wastes. We had this issue last year too. It's not the topics, it's all the forlorn cries they emit when the females start discussing their "goings-on". My attempts at testing them for resistance to female issues have been thwarted twice now. We may all be crude, but this year's boys have proven themselves open-minded and appreciative as well.
A Cloudy Week in August
I'm an omnivore but I've decided that it's ridiculous to have so much vegetarian product in the world that pretends to be meat. Veggie wieners, burgers, sausage, etc. It may be good for children, elderly and people who for medical reasons have to go veggie, but besides that it's stupid. When the lottery finally comes through for me, I shall start a company that does NOT try to fake you out. It will have inventive recipes for vegetarians, but mostly be an Americanized, over packaged twist on falafel and croquettes. Personally I have no problem with seeing a fried, wiener-shaped glob of shredded carrots and lentil paste in my hotdog bun. We cover it up with condiments anyway. My brilliant name for this new company will be "No Faux". Thank you . Free coupons for "No Faux" wiener globs will be offered inside my designer handbags. This was my genius idea from last year: mood-themed purses that show the world just how much therapy you need. The bigger the purse (or suitcase), the more problems you are having. I call it "Emotional Baggage".
Yes, everyone hopes this sailing thing will work out.
Yes, everyone hopes this sailing thing will work out.
Lady Love
Before leaving Austin, Pru said "I'll drive you to your tentative flight tomorrow". Ever a believer in the power of positive thinking, I insisted that there was nothing tentative about this flight and that only once in my life had my flight schedule been upset. Sure enough, my flight from Austin to Dallas was cancelled. It was a very long day of layovers and flying and now I can say I've seen Shrek 2 THREE TIMES. My shipmate MarkO turned to me today and asked me if I still knew the Muffin Man. Without hesitation I informed him that he was down on Drury Lane.
My last night in Austin was a blast. Scuba Steve, Pru, Pru's sister and I went to "Dallas" country bar, then out for food. Scuba Steve is always enjoyable company and will be missed. He plans to bring his girlfriend Jen on our big group trip to Vegas that I'm about to start organizing.
Upon arrival at Nans, she too wanted to go out for a beer. Let's just say that I haven't gotten much sleep this week. The following night, my sister joined me for an overnighter at my dad's, then I met my favorite boat and got to crew her through some popular local waterways. We had a wonderful sail last night. 20 kt winds, heeled over slightly with tops and topgallants set - a great feeling. A late trip to Cold Stone Creamery put me in a blissful sugary high that resulted in some entertaining rack parties back on the boat.
The crew right now is loads of laughs. Especially Captain M. There's rarely a dull moment around him. This morning he enticed five of us to join him in jumping off the side of the boat into the marina. See, the people who moor at the marina there don't voyage and don't need shower facilities. We do. Captain M. and the bosun's mate soaped up on deck and jumped back in again. The lake was rather warm, too! Later on I brought my sister out for a sail. She enjoyed the crew more than the sail, I think. The crew is truly what makes this boat. How I had missed her and her crew! It'll be hard to just go work a regular job instead of sailing off with her again. This boat is my home.
My last night in Austin was a blast. Scuba Steve, Pru, Pru's sister and I went to "Dallas" country bar, then out for food. Scuba Steve is always enjoyable company and will be missed. He plans to bring his girlfriend Jen on our big group trip to Vegas that I'm about to start organizing.
Upon arrival at Nans, she too wanted to go out for a beer. Let's just say that I haven't gotten much sleep this week. The following night, my sister joined me for an overnighter at my dad's, then I met my favorite boat and got to crew her through some popular local waterways. We had a wonderful sail last night. 20 kt winds, heeled over slightly with tops and topgallants set - a great feeling. A late trip to Cold Stone Creamery put me in a blissful sugary high that resulted in some entertaining rack parties back on the boat.
The crew right now is loads of laughs. Especially Captain M. There's rarely a dull moment around him. This morning he enticed five of us to join him in jumping off the side of the boat into the marina. See, the people who moor at the marina there don't voyage and don't need shower facilities. We do. Captain M. and the bosun's mate soaped up on deck and jumped back in again. The lake was rather warm, too! Later on I brought my sister out for a sail. She enjoyed the crew more than the sail, I think. The crew is truly what makes this boat. How I had missed her and her crew! It'll be hard to just go work a regular job instead of sailing off with her again. This boat is my home.
If You Wanna Play In Texas...
The last two days have been pretty fun. Last night an old friend, Scuba Steve, came over and we talked about sailing over a bottle of wine, then Pru and his sister got here and we played Balderdash, which turned out to be a fun game. Scuba Steve, Pru and I had hung out together several times in Hawaii, and then S.S. moved to Austin not too long after Pru returned. We all reminisced over that crazy Halloween week in 2001. The weekend prior to Halloween I held a big party at the brothel with my roommates. Pru came wearing only the giant stuffed duck made to fit over his red-flag-touch area, and S.S. found a few things that made him look like a Mario Brother in Pru's car. My costume was just a lot of fake blood coming out of my mouth and dripping down my chest. I was a cannibal. The best part of that night was when we ditched our own party to drive the wet rainy roads of Tantalus to a party at some rich kid's house. We parked just off the main road and climbed slippery steps lined with glow-in-the-dark skulls through the tropical foliage to a house full of people we'd never met. Pru got hit on by a girl who's costume was Alanis Morrissette. We all seemed entertained by the dude with the orange "Mr. T Shirt", and S.S. and I were a little perplexed over the giant pentagram on the floor in the living room. It wasn't drawn on for the party. It was a beautiful wood floor with the pentagram, about 5 feet in diameter, BUILT IN as part of the design of the floor. I'm all for paganism, and very openminded, but that seemed a little unusual. But we didn't find a pregnant Mia Farrow locked in some back room or anything.
Later on that week, for Halloween night, P-Funk and I dressed in 80's rock star costumes that we'd pieced together at the thrift store. She was Duran Duran video girl, I was Lita Ford. We found a very believeable David Lee Roth out on the street that night too. Pru was the duck again, complete with squeaker and quite a hit with all the Japanese tourists armed with camcorders. S.S. was a bucket. He'd found a big blue bucket, cut holes in the bottom for his legs, then lined it with a plastic bag and filled it with ice. I asked him last night how he didn't totally freeze his junk off with all that ice. He said he was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to USE his junk should the opportunity have arisen. We walked the streets of Waikiki, stopping at every ABC convenience store to buy 6-packs and shove the bottles into S.S.'s bucket and drinking them along the way. How we got away with that in public I'll never know. At Chili's, bottles started falling out of his bucket, then we got kicked out of the Irish Rose because S.S. kept going on stage, bothering the band. We ended up on the beach - Pru and Scuba both in the water. Pru and P-Funk and some others made off to another bar, and I helped a near-passed-out Scuba make it back to the car. S.S. doesn't consciously know French but he can speak it when he's piss drunk. That, and every sentence starts with "Here's the thing....". Pretty entertaining, especially if I hadn't had to practically carry him from the Moana to the zoo parking lot. But he made it up to me later by taking me out for steak at Hale'iwa Joes. He's a real character. At the time he was nearing the end of a five-year personal willpower test. To not use forks. He ate his entire steak with a knife and spoon. When his five years ended, Scuba had an engraved fork made for the occasion.
Anyway, last night we talked about Hawaii days and Magoos, then we all played Balderdash, and I pissed Pru off during the game. The game works by one person reading a rare word, i.e. "anserine" or "uxb" or "horripilation". The reader knows the correct definition, but everyone else does not, and writes down a fake definition, turns it into the reader, then the reader reads all the fake definitions and the real one. The others have to guess which one is the real definition. You get points if someone picks your fake definition, thinking it's the real one. For example, my definition of "uxb" was "16th century Dutch plow", which one person thought sounded correct, and ended up getting me a point. The reader gets points if nobody chooses the right definition. Once, it was my turn to read, and I think the word was "hetasus". Pru's definition was "the center antennae (singular antennae) of the deep sea carnivore". I could not stop laughing. Every time I tried to read it, I cracked up, which totally gave away that that definition was bunk, so there was no way he would get points. He didn't understand why I couldn't stop laughing. We eventually quit Balderdash and stole some pallets from HEB and started a bonfire in Pru's yard. Overall, a fun night.
Today we floated the Guadalupe River. Tubing is a production down here. You rent the tube, including an extra for your cooler full of beer, then float 3 hours to the place where the tube rental staff picks you up, loads you and the tube into a truck and returns you to your car. Pru's sister and K.C. triple baggied their cigarettes and we started the float. Within minutes Pru and the beer tube flipped in some rapids, but Pru artfully saved all the beer. The rest of the way was tame in parts, with nice scenery and rapids here and there. I had a real Texas moment while passing a group of campers playing loud country music - "If you wanna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band..." and we're all holding our beers and enjoying the sun and the river. There were cute boys in cowboy hats with their girlfriends, drinking, floating and playing on ropeswings. Lots of turtles in that river too. After tubing we hit a little diner called Star Seeds. The waitress was very chilled out and sat and talked with us the entire time, telling stories about all the crazies who frequent the diner during the "Lush Rush" after 2am every night.
My time in Austin is almost up, and I look forward to getting home to enjoy the rest of another beautiful Northwest summer.
Later on that week, for Halloween night, P-Funk and I dressed in 80's rock star costumes that we'd pieced together at the thrift store. She was Duran Duran video girl, I was Lita Ford. We found a very believeable David Lee Roth out on the street that night too. Pru was the duck again, complete with squeaker and quite a hit with all the Japanese tourists armed with camcorders. S.S. was a bucket. He'd found a big blue bucket, cut holes in the bottom for his legs, then lined it with a plastic bag and filled it with ice. I asked him last night how he didn't totally freeze his junk off with all that ice. He said he was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to USE his junk should the opportunity have arisen. We walked the streets of Waikiki, stopping at every ABC convenience store to buy 6-packs and shove the bottles into S.S.'s bucket and drinking them along the way. How we got away with that in public I'll never know. At Chili's, bottles started falling out of his bucket, then we got kicked out of the Irish Rose because S.S. kept going on stage, bothering the band. We ended up on the beach - Pru and Scuba both in the water. Pru and P-Funk and some others made off to another bar, and I helped a near-passed-out Scuba make it back to the car. S.S. doesn't consciously know French but he can speak it when he's piss drunk. That, and every sentence starts with "Here's the thing....". Pretty entertaining, especially if I hadn't had to practically carry him from the Moana to the zoo parking lot. But he made it up to me later by taking me out for steak at Hale'iwa Joes. He's a real character. At the time he was nearing the end of a five-year personal willpower test. To not use forks. He ate his entire steak with a knife and spoon. When his five years ended, Scuba had an engraved fork made for the occasion.
Anyway, last night we talked about Hawaii days and Magoos, then we all played Balderdash, and I pissed Pru off during the game. The game works by one person reading a rare word, i.e. "anserine" or "uxb" or "horripilation". The reader knows the correct definition, but everyone else does not, and writes down a fake definition, turns it into the reader, then the reader reads all the fake definitions and the real one. The others have to guess which one is the real definition. You get points if someone picks your fake definition, thinking it's the real one. For example, my definition of "uxb" was "16th century Dutch plow", which one person thought sounded correct, and ended up getting me a point. The reader gets points if nobody chooses the right definition. Once, it was my turn to read, and I think the word was "hetasus". Pru's definition was "the center antennae (singular antennae) of the deep sea carnivore". I could not stop laughing. Every time I tried to read it, I cracked up, which totally gave away that that definition was bunk, so there was no way he would get points. He didn't understand why I couldn't stop laughing. We eventually quit Balderdash and stole some pallets from HEB and started a bonfire in Pru's yard. Overall, a fun night.
Today we floated the Guadalupe River. Tubing is a production down here. You rent the tube, including an extra for your cooler full of beer, then float 3 hours to the place where the tube rental staff picks you up, loads you and the tube into a truck and returns you to your car. Pru's sister and K.C. triple baggied their cigarettes and we started the float. Within minutes Pru and the beer tube flipped in some rapids, but Pru artfully saved all the beer. The rest of the way was tame in parts, with nice scenery and rapids here and there. I had a real Texas moment while passing a group of campers playing loud country music - "If you wanna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band..." and we're all holding our beers and enjoying the sun and the river. There were cute boys in cowboy hats with their girlfriends, drinking, floating and playing on ropeswings. Lots of turtles in that river too. After tubing we hit a little diner called Star Seeds. The waitress was very chilled out and sat and talked with us the entire time, telling stories about all the crazies who frequent the diner during the "Lush Rush" after 2am every night.
My time in Austin is almost up, and I look forward to getting home to enjoy the rest of another beautiful Northwest summer.
Freshly Tarred
I reek of pine tar - under my fingernails, under my skin and inside broken blisters, unable to be washed off my arms and legs. Essence of Tall Ship. A fortune could be made if a cleaner version of pine tar ended up in little perfume bottles with ships painted on the front. My friend Captain A. said that sailors will buy anything with a picture of a ship on it. Captain A.'s hair looks and smells a little like oakum, but before meeting him this lovely scent had eluded me. People always ask me "How did you become interested in sailing?" and I proceed to describe Captain A., and how inspiring he was for me. But really he may have drugged me with the scent of pine tar. Like in my favorite book - Jitterbug Perfume. Pine trees are my beets. Any idea sounds grand when under the influence! J.B. would be Pan. He completely soaks his hair in pine tar, dances a jig and smokes a pipe. His big crystal blue eyes search your soul while you play with the beads in his goatee. J.B. and Captain A. are the sexiest salty sailors that I have ever met. After months apart we greet each other with smiles and long warm hugs.
Whenever I smell pine tar I think of tall ships, the ocean, and A. (who unknowingly represents my initial inspiration and resulting contentment from choosing this lifestyle). Today, aboard the barque by the Gulf, whilst tarring the headrig, I realized how much I had missed the ocean and being with people who equally love these special boats. Probably 3 days away from the ocean is enough from now on.
Whenever I smell pine tar I think of tall ships, the ocean, and A. (who unknowingly represents my initial inspiration and resulting contentment from choosing this lifestyle). Today, aboard the barque by the Gulf, whilst tarring the headrig, I realized how much I had missed the ocean and being with people who equally love these special boats. Probably 3 days away from the ocean is enough from now on.
There's an essay on nerds linked to Drew Hamlin's blog. He appears to be a sweet 18-year-old computer geek near Bellevue. It's about being a nerd in secondary school and the difference between nerds and popular kids, how it was never cool to be smart, which seems contrary to the years before and after high school. That's debatable - it depends on where you live and what you're into. In my often over-generalizing way I would say that Seattle is one of the few places where smart almost always equals cool outside of the high school years. And even at my high school, in an upper middle-class white neighborhood in the Seattle suburbs (somewhat comparable to Drew's), most of the popular girls were getting all A's, and the ASB president was a Thespian and a skate punk.
The part of the essay that I read focused on how popularity is more determined by looks and charisma. That makes perfect sense, though. We're still animals. We've been blessed with these unique brains which ideally should make us really special in a good way. But when it comes down to living things reaching the age when reproduction is possible, it's all about Natural Selection. There would be less angst in the world if everyone sought out the cause of things, rather than complain about the effects.
I was neither popular nor a nerd, but I loved nerdy boys. For me it's always been brains over beauty. You know how anthropologists say that long ago the first humans split into two different groups? The neanderthals and the group that looks most like today's humans? Maybe the Age of Information is the beginning of another split - the Brainiacs and the Beautiful People. The neanderthals never made it. Will the Beautiful People survive? Darwin is on their side. I still don't fully fit into either group. I'll gladly follow the Brainiacs though. I'll handle their vacations.
The part of the essay that I read focused on how popularity is more determined by looks and charisma. That makes perfect sense, though. We're still animals. We've been blessed with these unique brains which ideally should make us really special in a good way. But when it comes down to living things reaching the age when reproduction is possible, it's all about Natural Selection. There would be less angst in the world if everyone sought out the cause of things, rather than complain about the effects.
I was neither popular nor a nerd, but I loved nerdy boys. For me it's always been brains over beauty. You know how anthropologists say that long ago the first humans split into two different groups? The neanderthals and the group that looks most like today's humans? Maybe the Age of Information is the beginning of another split - the Brainiacs and the Beautiful People. The neanderthals never made it. Will the Beautiful People survive? Darwin is on their side. I still don't fully fit into either group. I'll gladly follow the Brainiacs though. I'll handle their vacations.
Is the End of the Rainbow when I'm Over the Hill?
What a moody day. With my new blog here it's been a small inner debate when it comes to deciding how personal my posts should be. There's definitely some paranoia regarding stalkers and freaks taking notes on all this juicy info, then "accidentally" meeting me somewhere I frequent. Wow! We have so much in common! It seems like we've known each other forever! Isn't that how the stalkers do it in the creepy Lifetime Special movies? If one of my relatives didn't work at the jail and if there hadn't already been two incidents of men masturbating in front of me in public, then I might not be so wary.
What am I talking about? I am a buff sailor chick with good instincts and mace. And I'm ready to kick some stalker ass any day. Bring it!
My moodiness stems from the Nature of Man (and Woman). Never being satisfied. This is where I dream of having an addictive personality. Every acquaintance of mine that smokes pot on a regular basis is 20 times more tolerant than I. The same goes for my friends who like to go to the bar several nights a week, and the friends who smoke cigarettes, too. My attempts at starting a cigarette smoking habit have all crashed and burned. Pot is out of the question, as drug tests are common in my line of work. Drinking is fine, but I'm a lightweight who just started getting hangovers in the last year. All the other drugs are completely foreign to me. You could say "work hard towards your goals then, Kim" which is my answer too, even though every workaholic overachiever that I know wants something different or better. It's just the nature of man, right?
I'm a worthwhile human being only when doing things for the greater good. It's not all that selfless - the volunteer work I do is nothing like feeding the homeless. It's more in support of art, history and education. It gives me purpose. I do not want to have a child in order to fill that need of purposefulness. My last boyfriend found his purpose in relationships. That's not for me. It's selfish to spend a life purely to benefit oneself or your significant other, especially if they too are able to work towards the greater good.
It seems ridiculous to be dissatisfied. I travel, sail, have good friends and loving family. I made 8 thousand dollars last year and still managed to sail the entire west coast for 6 months, live in the Caribbean for 2 months, fall in love twice, make wonderful lifelong friends, learn many new skills and become a more capable person because of all this. And this was not an unusually special year for me! Ridiculous isn't accurate enough. It's heinous and plain wrong to be so dissatisfied. My dad thinks what I really want is to settle down. His ex wife, who raised me, thinks I'm subconciously depressed (?). Interestingly enough, both of their lives revolve around these conclusions, respectively. I keep thinking I'll figure it out when I'm 50 or so.
nocturnally yours (while in Texas, anyway!),
Kimber
P.S. - Here's a tip to other victims of having to watch perverts masturbate in front of you - don't act angry. The cops told me that that gets them off. The second time it happened to me I had nowhere to escape to (the Aurora bus stop in Fremont - on the overpass just south of the zoo) so I stood 3 feet away, facing him, looking him up and down and dead in the eyes - trying to remember his clothes and his face. He was visibly uncomfortable with me looking deadpan at his face. He put it away and started walking away. I followed him until he went into a house near the bus stop. Might not work for everyone, but I certainly didn't feel like a victim after handling it that way.
What am I talking about? I am a buff sailor chick with good instincts and mace. And I'm ready to kick some stalker ass any day. Bring it!
My moodiness stems from the Nature of Man (and Woman). Never being satisfied. This is where I dream of having an addictive personality. Every acquaintance of mine that smokes pot on a regular basis is 20 times more tolerant than I. The same goes for my friends who like to go to the bar several nights a week, and the friends who smoke cigarettes, too. My attempts at starting a cigarette smoking habit have all crashed and burned. Pot is out of the question, as drug tests are common in my line of work. Drinking is fine, but I'm a lightweight who just started getting hangovers in the last year. All the other drugs are completely foreign to me. You could say "work hard towards your goals then, Kim" which is my answer too, even though every workaholic overachiever that I know wants something different or better. It's just the nature of man, right?
I'm a worthwhile human being only when doing things for the greater good. It's not all that selfless - the volunteer work I do is nothing like feeding the homeless. It's more in support of art, history and education. It gives me purpose. I do not want to have a child in order to fill that need of purposefulness. My last boyfriend found his purpose in relationships. That's not for me. It's selfish to spend a life purely to benefit oneself or your significant other, especially if they too are able to work towards the greater good.
It seems ridiculous to be dissatisfied. I travel, sail, have good friends and loving family. I made 8 thousand dollars last year and still managed to sail the entire west coast for 6 months, live in the Caribbean for 2 months, fall in love twice, make wonderful lifelong friends, learn many new skills and become a more capable person because of all this. And this was not an unusually special year for me! Ridiculous isn't accurate enough. It's heinous and plain wrong to be so dissatisfied. My dad thinks what I really want is to settle down. His ex wife, who raised me, thinks I'm subconciously depressed (?). Interestingly enough, both of their lives revolve around these conclusions, respectively. I keep thinking I'll figure it out when I'm 50 or so.
nocturnally yours (while in Texas, anyway!),
Kimber
P.S. - Here's a tip to other victims of having to watch perverts masturbate in front of you - don't act angry. The cops told me that that gets them off. The second time it happened to me I had nowhere to escape to (the Aurora bus stop in Fremont - on the overpass just south of the zoo) so I stood 3 feet away, facing him, looking him up and down and dead in the eyes - trying to remember his clothes and his face. He was visibly uncomfortable with me looking deadpan at his face. He put it away and started walking away. I followed him until he went into a house near the bus stop. Might not work for everyone, but I certainly didn't feel like a victim after handling it that way.
Long Drive To Lubbock
I would practically donate a kidney if Pru would just drive me to Galveston so I could volunteer a few days aboard "Elissa". It's just 4 hours away, which seemed like a lot to ask. Instead Pru got a wild hair to take a 7 hour drive to Lubbock, Texas, where his good friend (we'll call him "Tenacious Hunter") had just moved. It's pretty country (I drove through about 7 years ago too), but it's August and staying around 100 degrees every day. The AC in his car is dysfunctional, so there would not have been much difference if I'd sat in a small steel and glass box in the desert for 7 hours. Hot wind on your face doesn't help much. What does help is free ice from 7-11 or McDonalds in my nalgene, and using an absorbent tank top to wipe down my arms and legs and wrap around my head. We spent a lot of time in the town of Post, looking for a liquor store. Tenacious had requested Jack Daniels' Green Label, because Lubbock is in a "Dry" county. Yet strangely we spent all evening at a downtown brewpub. But more about that later. Pru misunderstood and spent much time searching for Johnny Walker's Green Label, which does not exist. We settled for Wild Turkey as a replacement. The girls at this place had never heard of Mount Gay rum, and they giggled a lot when I inquired about it. I didn't even bother asking for Goslings. I'm no experienced drinker, but I'd finally found rum I liked (Mount Gay) in the Caribbean. They sponsor all the sailing races too, so it's everywhere down there. Goslings was popular with my friends and previous shipmates Old Dirty Swilley and J.L.. We left with the Wild Turkey and headed over to the drive thru beer and wine store. I've seen drive UP liquor barns in Arkansas, but this was literally drive THRU. I believe it was once a car wash. They had coolers and PBR and that's about it. Oh jeez - what a snob I am, eh?
In Lubbock I stumbled out of the car and into Tenacious Hunter's for a cold shower before we headed over to the downtown brewpub. Nice place! Another friend, Jason, met us there. Jason spent most of the night checking out women. But he's not one of those guys who disrespects women, no, he absolutely appreciates them. Just about every hot girl getting ready for her first year at Texas Tech was there last night, but the only female in the place that Jason showed sincere desire for was a heavy girl with a beautiful face and nice smile. He didn't talk to any of them though. Too bad! The girls are missing out on a cool guy. Even cooler was Pru's friend Tenacious, who really has his s**t together, in my opinion. Thoughtful, intelligent, good looking and responsible - if I was looking for a boyfriend, it would be the sailing version of Tenacious. Any family of a breeding-age girl prays for a guy like Tenacious. I want to stay in touch with both Tenacious and Jason and see if I can't pull off a group Vegas trip next spring or summer. Maybe bring down some friends from Seattle and maybe even the Jersey Girls as well. Once in Hawaii I worked for a group of 30-something tourists who had all known each other for years, and every year a different person had the job of collecting their money and planning a surprise adventure-trip for the rest of the group. What a great idea.
Back at Tenacious Hunter's, the boys wrestled until they broke a speaker stand and then we all eventually dozed off. Did I mention that Mondays were 99 cent pint night at this brewpub? And after enough of those you can be suckered into buying thimble-sized shots of Jager for $2 (!!!) Needless to say, the hangover at 9am was cured by going back to sleep until 1pm and eating Tenacious' venison sausage with eggs, plus my homemade bread for toast, and a mango I'd brought. Note to self, though - send T.H. some decent coffee. The boys played some video games and I checked out sailboats for sale on the internet. Here's an important realization! If you want a boat, and find a 22' Columbia that's been sitting in a hermit's yard for 15 years and needing just a little work, and he offers to give it to you practically for FREE if you'll just get it off his property, TAKE IT. Oh man, I think I regret that one just a little. Tortola was pretty and all... but similar boats, in just slightly better condition, run for $7 thousand and up. There was even one on ebay, same year, for $45 thousand!
ANYWAY... after watching the ever happy-go-lucky film Leaving Las Vegas, we began our night drive back to Austin. God please bless the little possum whose tail I think I smushed. Lesson for today - in Texas, the nocturnal creatures have got this whole heat-acclimation thing down.
Fair and Cooler Winds!
In Lubbock I stumbled out of the car and into Tenacious Hunter's for a cold shower before we headed over to the downtown brewpub. Nice place! Another friend, Jason, met us there. Jason spent most of the night checking out women. But he's not one of those guys who disrespects women, no, he absolutely appreciates them. Just about every hot girl getting ready for her first year at Texas Tech was there last night, but the only female in the place that Jason showed sincere desire for was a heavy girl with a beautiful face and nice smile. He didn't talk to any of them though. Too bad! The girls are missing out on a cool guy. Even cooler was Pru's friend Tenacious, who really has his s**t together, in my opinion. Thoughtful, intelligent, good looking and responsible - if I was looking for a boyfriend, it would be the sailing version of Tenacious. Any family of a breeding-age girl prays for a guy like Tenacious. I want to stay in touch with both Tenacious and Jason and see if I can't pull off a group Vegas trip next spring or summer. Maybe bring down some friends from Seattle and maybe even the Jersey Girls as well. Once in Hawaii I worked for a group of 30-something tourists who had all known each other for years, and every year a different person had the job of collecting their money and planning a surprise adventure-trip for the rest of the group. What a great idea.
Back at Tenacious Hunter's, the boys wrestled until they broke a speaker stand and then we all eventually dozed off. Did I mention that Mondays were 99 cent pint night at this brewpub? And after enough of those you can be suckered into buying thimble-sized shots of Jager for $2 (!!!) Needless to say, the hangover at 9am was cured by going back to sleep until 1pm and eating Tenacious' venison sausage with eggs, plus my homemade bread for toast, and a mango I'd brought. Note to self, though - send T.H. some decent coffee. The boys played some video games and I checked out sailboats for sale on the internet. Here's an important realization! If you want a boat, and find a 22' Columbia that's been sitting in a hermit's yard for 15 years and needing just a little work, and he offers to give it to you practically for FREE if you'll just get it off his property, TAKE IT. Oh man, I think I regret that one just a little. Tortola was pretty and all... but similar boats, in just slightly better condition, run for $7 thousand and up. There was even one on ebay, same year, for $45 thousand!
ANYWAY... after watching the ever happy-go-lucky film Leaving Las Vegas, we began our night drive back to Austin. God please bless the little possum whose tail I think I smushed. Lesson for today - in Texas, the nocturnal creatures have got this whole heat-acclimation thing down.
Fair and Cooler Winds!
The Mikey Pru Austin Experience
I'm currently visiting my good friend Pru here in his hometown, Austin, Texas. We spent today walking around an area of Austin close to the University of Texas. Was it "Guadalupe" Street? Not sure.
At Half Price Books I located the maritime history section and ended up flipping through a book about old naval battles. It's amazing - there were dozens and dozens of ships fighting all at once in a close area, and in heavy seas! Compared to my sweetwater experiences with worming, loading, tamping and moving just one and 3-pounders without shot... well I'm in awe and complete appreciation of the gunners who could perform this work on bigger guns in heavy seas. There was mention of "fire ships" as well. These were ships loaded with combustibles and sent downwind, basically as giant smoking, flaming bombs. The smoke blinded the enemy, and as we all know, fire ain't no friend to wooden boats! Or any boat, for that matter. Another book there that caught my eye was a book about a "floating brothel". Back when all the convicts were being sent Down Under, a boatload of female petty criminals were sent to provide some love and attention, and had a great time along the way. As usual, diminished funds prevented this purchase, but maybe that fancy new library in Seattle will lend it to me when I return. Ballard's getting a new library too! But back to the brothel - why did they want the convicts to breed? It must have been crazy down there! It's likely that many of the convicts sent there were either not guilty or maybe just not very criminally minded, and they seem a nice bunch now, so it all worked out I suppose.
After Pru picked up a book on how to raise his new puppy "Jezzie", we headed to Buffalo Exchange. Every thrift store in the country has different things to offer. The B.E. in Austin has cornered the market on kitschy hipster retro tee shirts. My sister would love this shop. And they're not like the cheesy Dukes of Hazzard iron-on fakes at the Red Light in Seattle. They're authentic and old. I've a newfound love of threadbare tees after living in the Caribbean. Nice new thick tees are just sweat collectors in the tropics.
After the thrift store we stopped by a cool bar called Texas Showdown for "Happy Minutes". That means we had 15 minutes to buy imports for 75 cents each. We downed two each. This bar is unpretentious and big, with foosball and darts and an outside seating area and friendly staff. If I lived here I'd stop by for Happy Minutes every day!
We made our way to a toy/party supply type store that sold all the same stuff as Archie McPhee's in Ballard, even the J.P. Patches doll (???) when nobody outside the northwest has even heard of him. What might compel a Texas shopper to buy a figurine of a hobo clown that they've never seen, with a picture of the Space Needle behind him? I don't know. But they did have a funny picture of Elijah Wood, with his freaky eyes, saying "Lost your marbles?" next to the marble basket, plus a little metal toy where you can make Dubya and Kerry box each other.
Next stop was I Love Video, a video store in the spirit of Scarecrow Video in Seattle or Diamondhead Video in Waikiki. Or maybe I Love Video came first. The movies grouped by director section was fun. Bertolucci's section was missing The Dreamers, which was total wanna-be-profound crap anyway. And why had I always thought Terry Gilliam made Fight Club? It's actually David Fincher. ALL of the Kurosawa films were checked out (two shelves worth!), and in D. Lynch's section there was a VHS copy of Wild At Heart that had some staff comments on it. Something like "This is the only copy we have and it's out of print so if you lose it you pay $80 and if you steal it I will KILL YOU!" Is Wild At Heart not on DVD? That would be weird. Makes it valuable, too. I need to add that movie to my favorites list. "My head feels... sticky"
And while it truly was "Hotter than Georgia asphalt" we headed to a sub shop where Pru bought a FOURTEEN INCH philly cheesesteak and we sat and watched the last 20 minutes of the first Matrix. (Trinity loves Neo! He really is The One!) Then over to Quacks Cafe - a great little place that serves espresso shakes (!) and an assortment of delectable baked goods. Then it was off to HEB to buy beer and wine, where, while confusedly wandering the wine aisles, I had the idea to start a blog specifically to rate new beers and wines so that we might be able to make an informed decision in the future. Those wine-tastings and classes hold no appeal for me, but I'd like some advice so that my money isn't wasted. The blog is called "The Wino And I Know" and the addy is teamspirits.blogspot.com. Anyone can post and offer input or ask to become a team member.
So that was my tour of Austin today. We'd already been to Barton Springs and First Thursday, and tomorrow we're heading to Lubbock to visit Pru's friend T.H.. It's a SEVEN HOUR drive. It stays around 100 degrees here. I'm going to look like The Mummy when I get there!
At Half Price Books I located the maritime history section and ended up flipping through a book about old naval battles. It's amazing - there were dozens and dozens of ships fighting all at once in a close area, and in heavy seas! Compared to my sweetwater experiences with worming, loading, tamping and moving just one and 3-pounders without shot... well I'm in awe and complete appreciation of the gunners who could perform this work on bigger guns in heavy seas. There was mention of "fire ships" as well. These were ships loaded with combustibles and sent downwind, basically as giant smoking, flaming bombs. The smoke blinded the enemy, and as we all know, fire ain't no friend to wooden boats! Or any boat, for that matter. Another book there that caught my eye was a book about a "floating brothel". Back when all the convicts were being sent Down Under, a boatload of female petty criminals were sent to provide some love and attention, and had a great time along the way. As usual, diminished funds prevented this purchase, but maybe that fancy new library in Seattle will lend it to me when I return. Ballard's getting a new library too! But back to the brothel - why did they want the convicts to breed? It must have been crazy down there! It's likely that many of the convicts sent there were either not guilty or maybe just not very criminally minded, and they seem a nice bunch now, so it all worked out I suppose.
After Pru picked up a book on how to raise his new puppy "Jezzie", we headed to Buffalo Exchange. Every thrift store in the country has different things to offer. The B.E. in Austin has cornered the market on kitschy hipster retro tee shirts. My sister would love this shop. And they're not like the cheesy Dukes of Hazzard iron-on fakes at the Red Light in Seattle. They're authentic and old. I've a newfound love of threadbare tees after living in the Caribbean. Nice new thick tees are just sweat collectors in the tropics.
After the thrift store we stopped by a cool bar called Texas Showdown for "Happy Minutes". That means we had 15 minutes to buy imports for 75 cents each. We downed two each. This bar is unpretentious and big, with foosball and darts and an outside seating area and friendly staff. If I lived here I'd stop by for Happy Minutes every day!
We made our way to a toy/party supply type store that sold all the same stuff as Archie McPhee's in Ballard, even the J.P. Patches doll (???) when nobody outside the northwest has even heard of him. What might compel a Texas shopper to buy a figurine of a hobo clown that they've never seen, with a picture of the Space Needle behind him? I don't know. But they did have a funny picture of Elijah Wood, with his freaky eyes, saying "Lost your marbles?" next to the marble basket, plus a little metal toy where you can make Dubya and Kerry box each other.
Next stop was I Love Video, a video store in the spirit of Scarecrow Video in Seattle or Diamondhead Video in Waikiki. Or maybe I Love Video came first. The movies grouped by director section was fun. Bertolucci's section was missing The Dreamers, which was total wanna-be-profound crap anyway. And why had I always thought Terry Gilliam made Fight Club? It's actually David Fincher. ALL of the Kurosawa films were checked out (two shelves worth!), and in D. Lynch's section there was a VHS copy of Wild At Heart that had some staff comments on it. Something like "This is the only copy we have and it's out of print so if you lose it you pay $80 and if you steal it I will KILL YOU!" Is Wild At Heart not on DVD? That would be weird. Makes it valuable, too. I need to add that movie to my favorites list. "My head feels... sticky"
And while it truly was "Hotter than Georgia asphalt" we headed to a sub shop where Pru bought a FOURTEEN INCH philly cheesesteak and we sat and watched the last 20 minutes of the first Matrix. (Trinity loves Neo! He really is The One!) Then over to Quacks Cafe - a great little place that serves espresso shakes (!) and an assortment of delectable baked goods. Then it was off to HEB to buy beer and wine, where, while confusedly wandering the wine aisles, I had the idea to start a blog specifically to rate new beers and wines so that we might be able to make an informed decision in the future. Those wine-tastings and classes hold no appeal for me, but I'd like some advice so that my money isn't wasted. The blog is called "The Wino And I Know" and the addy is teamspirits.blogspot.com. Anyone can post and offer input or ask to become a team member.
So that was my tour of Austin today. We'd already been to Barton Springs and First Thursday, and tomorrow we're heading to Lubbock to visit Pru's friend T.H.. It's a SEVEN HOUR drive. It stays around 100 degrees here. I'm going to look like The Mummy when I get there!
My Word-of-Mouth Advertising
This blog is new, and I am new to blogs. I haven't really got a feel for what I want to do here. Do I urge my friends and family to read about Me! Me! ME! Or will this be more of a personal journal? Typing is a hell of a lot faster than writing, so this is far more appealing than those damn notebooks I've collected - ranting and raving about whatever current relationship in the first 10 pages, then maybe there's a list of books I need to read, and a few random pages here and there with phone numbers, or websites I should check out, or music I want to download. Pages ripped out when I needed to leave a note on a friend's door... then if I later find anything of substance in the forgotten journal, it's left in a chest in my grandmother's shed. That's so all the children that I never plan on having can get to know me.
If this is as close as I will ever get to getting my opinions out to the general public, then I must admit that my favorite kind of advertising is Word of Mouth. There's a few things that work so well for me that I want to tell EVERYONE about them!!!! Then maybe later I'll come up with some really profound posts. Anything can happen! For now, I have some recommendations to anyone who works on the water, likes boats/sailing, or just has an adventurous spirit.
Filson Tincloth workwear - Carhaarts are great - we all know that, but when I wax up my leather trimmed Filsons I'm more than satisfied. Windproof and rainproof once waxed, I've worn mine on cold, rainy 4 hour watches with only silk long underwear underneath and been as comfy as if I was sitting in a log cabin next to a warm fire. Mine were a Christmas present from my dad.
Grunden raingear - I can't afford all that pricey Helly Hansen stuff. And being from Seattle and working on boats, I'm not ready to trust waterproof "coatings" to last long anyway. My dad's birthday present for me this year was Grunden's basic "Brigg" raincoat with neoprene cuffs. Those cuffs are a godsend in the rigging! I chose orange in the event of MOB. But let's not think about that.
Maui Jim sunglasses - I constantly lose shades, but when I moved to Hawaii the sun and my office with it's old monitor and fluorescent lighting were killing my eyes. I saved up for my Maui Jims and they saved my eyes. I broke them and they sent me new ones. I don't recommend the flex hinges, as I ended up breaking them again and again, but I'm really hard on shades. Overall, Maui Jims are well worth the price. I've met other Maui Jim lovers on tall ships, on ranches, and in the Caribbean and everyone swears by them.
I get a lot of people who ask me how they can sail around without having to buy a boat or spend lots of money. They want to learn how to sail, and they want to travel. My suggestion is to either "Pier Head Jump" (arriving with resume and bag packed at a boat and asking to crew) in Maine or the New England area in May or October, or check out the "billet bank" on the American Sail Training Association's website, or "crew wanted" at floatplan.com.
Some other great websites are seasteading.org if you are interested in a subsistence liveaboard lifestyle, and the Oar Club's site, if you are interested in becoming a true sailor (sans motor).
All sailors in Seattle could gain from either visiting, volunteering or becoming a member of the Center for Wooden Boats on south Lake Union. And nobody should miss the best sailing festival of the year - the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in September!
That's it for now. For someone who didn't have much to say, this turned out to be quite a bit!
Fair Winds!
If this is as close as I will ever get to getting my opinions out to the general public, then I must admit that my favorite kind of advertising is Word of Mouth. There's a few things that work so well for me that I want to tell EVERYONE about them!!!! Then maybe later I'll come up with some really profound posts. Anything can happen! For now, I have some recommendations to anyone who works on the water, likes boats/sailing, or just has an adventurous spirit.
Filson Tincloth workwear - Carhaarts are great - we all know that, but when I wax up my leather trimmed Filsons I'm more than satisfied. Windproof and rainproof once waxed, I've worn mine on cold, rainy 4 hour watches with only silk long underwear underneath and been as comfy as if I was sitting in a log cabin next to a warm fire. Mine were a Christmas present from my dad.
Grunden raingear - I can't afford all that pricey Helly Hansen stuff. And being from Seattle and working on boats, I'm not ready to trust waterproof "coatings" to last long anyway. My dad's birthday present for me this year was Grunden's basic "Brigg" raincoat with neoprene cuffs. Those cuffs are a godsend in the rigging! I chose orange in the event of MOB. But let's not think about that.
Maui Jim sunglasses - I constantly lose shades, but when I moved to Hawaii the sun and my office with it's old monitor and fluorescent lighting were killing my eyes. I saved up for my Maui Jims and they saved my eyes. I broke them and they sent me new ones. I don't recommend the flex hinges, as I ended up breaking them again and again, but I'm really hard on shades. Overall, Maui Jims are well worth the price. I've met other Maui Jim lovers on tall ships, on ranches, and in the Caribbean and everyone swears by them.
I get a lot of people who ask me how they can sail around without having to buy a boat or spend lots of money. They want to learn how to sail, and they want to travel. My suggestion is to either "Pier Head Jump" (arriving with resume and bag packed at a boat and asking to crew) in Maine or the New England area in May or October, or check out the "billet bank" on the American Sail Training Association's website, or "crew wanted" at floatplan.com.
Some other great websites are seasteading.org if you are interested in a subsistence liveaboard lifestyle, and the Oar Club's site, if you are interested in becoming a true sailor (sans motor).
All sailors in Seattle could gain from either visiting, volunteering or becoming a member of the Center for Wooden Boats on south Lake Union. And nobody should miss the best sailing festival of the year - the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in September!
That's it for now. For someone who didn't have much to say, this turned out to be quite a bit!
Fair Winds!
