Yesterday I joined Brian Clampitt to go check out the Arthur Foss hauled out for an annual check-up at the Northlake Shipyard. There were a few people working on seams and paint and getting ready to splash at 3pm. I took pics but of course I can't upload them.
JB was in town so I met him for lunch at the 5-spot on Queen Anne, where he's staying with his sister, and we walked around and eventually went to buy a bottle of wine for him to drink on his train ride later that night. I suggested he buy Owen Roe's Sharecropper's Cab, and he offered me a glass before I rode my bike home. It's pretty good - not worth $20 though. I definitely should have let it breathe a little longer before that first sip. Owen Roe's Abbots Table Red is still my favorite lately. Although I have a bottle of Terres Dorees Beau Blanc and Bellevue La Foret Fronton Rose in the fridge so I should check one of those out tonight. I'm learning more about wine, and for anyone reading who was as ignorant as I when it comes to picking wines, know that you CAN find really good wine for between $8 and $15. Abbot's Table is not that cheap, but there's a lot of good ones that are. I'm so done drinking Gato Negro, Fetzer and all that other bottom shelf crap. I drank it for a year and got burnt out on wine altogether. I'm willing to spend an extra $4 for a decent tasting wine. Especially since it doesn't make me bloaty like beer does, and it has a higher alcohol content. It's kinda fun, too. If anyone reading this is going out to buy wine soon, domestics by Owen Roe winery and Syncline are great. The french wine Les Heretiques, the italian wine "Boira," and a champagne called "Godme" are all really popular. I still don't know much about wine, but I wish I'd had someone to tell me what kind to take to dinner parties over the years!
another weekend not spent learning InDesign
this weekend i joined my friend fluffz at the wedding of his bandmate. somebody posted an entire album of pics on flickr. it was pretty fun. i like events like that, even if i dont know very many people. plus the coconut coolouts played, and i've wanted to see them for awhile, after hearing a few songs on the radio. highlights of the reception for me: the couple's dog trying to jump on them during their first dance as a married couple, cupcakes with frosting that looked like the groom, catering made up of delivery pizza, sparks, a keg, peanut m&ms, and plenty of booze, the groom taking over the job of bartender (one shot for you, one for himself) and calling out to everyone when his mom came to the bar "EVERYONE, THIS IS MY MOMMY......SHE MADE ME!!!..... YOU SHOULD ALL THANK HER!"
we then went to ballard to see a band called PartMan PartHorse for the "Reverb Festival" and got there too late. so fluffz said we should go see The Lights but instead we sat in a dirty alley waiting for the show time to come around, then ended up leaving anyway and taking (waiting for) the bus. anyway everyone seems to think the band Partman parthorse is amazing, so maybe i'll check them out another time.
the arthur foss is hauled out so i might go take some pics of that tomorrow.
we then went to ballard to see a band called PartMan PartHorse for the "Reverb Festival" and got there too late. so fluffz said we should go see The Lights but instead we sat in a dirty alley waiting for the show time to come around, then ended up leaving anyway and taking (waiting for) the bus. anyway everyone seems to think the band Partman parthorse is amazing, so maybe i'll check them out another time.
the arthur foss is hauled out so i might go take some pics of that tomorrow.
bitchiness reigns on Mars
thanks, men of the world, for teaching me that i'll get your attention and respect if i act irritated or bitchy... (but nothing during the majority of time we know each other and i still really care).
and the funny thing is that i often befriend or date the type of guy who says "girls don't like nice guys like me... they always go for assholes!"
and the funny thing is that i often befriend or date the type of guy who says "girls don't like nice guys like me... they always go for assholes!"
Goldslick Night
I haven't been posting much lately because I prefer to put up pics, but have no way of doing that right now. No working USB ports...
Yesterday was kinda fun and at the same time bad... I had a shitty, shitty morning at work. None of my deliveries were going smoothly and what should have taken 3 hours ended up taking 6. But fortunately six hours is usually how long I work on a Friday, so I tried to keep that in mind. I finally got to wash my van after work!!! Inside and out. The grime was thick... Then four of us went out for drinks in Georgetown and I got hammered AGAIN with the folks from work. Too hammered this time. I rode my drunk self back home and the minute I laid on the bed, Fluffz called to see if I wanted to check out the movie Superbad with him in the UDistrict. Drunk and queasy, I stumbled to the bus stop and got on a bus downtown. Minutes after being seated the girl next to me asks if she can use my cell, and for some reason I tell her to wait five minutes until my free minutes kick in. The guy across the aisle also asks if he can call his wife and I turn to the girl and say "what the fuck? everyone wants to use my phone??" she shrugs and i look at him and say "she's got dibs. sorry." i let her use the phone before 7 rolls around, and she's talking to someone about how she's pregnant and has sickle cell anemia and needs a place to stay next month. or as fluffz replayed my story: "i've got TB and mouth cancer... here's your phone back, thanks!"
I vaguely remember transferring buses downtown and sleeping slackjawed on my way to the UDist. Luckily some guy on the street sold me a september bus pass for five bucks last week, so I think I've saved some money using that. I found a way to cure my drunken queasiness and then headed over to meet Fluffz, and we went out for coffee before the movie. Superbad is really funny, even though I'm not all about hilarious teenage boy coming of age films. The first 20 minutes of dialogue was really, really funny. The rest was great, but they lay it on thick in the opening scenes.
Today I am lounging and vegging out big time. I've been stressing about all I have to get done, and not having time to do it, so today is about working on the computer and NOT going out I think. I've suddenly become very involved in a local sailing nonprofit and I've been asked to create not only a newsletter but a new sailtraining program as well. Plus I'm trying to help Adrian with marketing his Classic Workboat Show next month. Oh and I've pretty much taken on the position of human resource development for the collective being built in Mexico. by that i mean getting more people interested and involved in donating their time, skills, materials and money to the project for next year. I suppose marketing/advertising is fun and necessary if it's for stuff you wholeheartedly believe in, and bringing your community closer. Working with boats has gained me lots of friends and acquaintances in the boat trash community. I'm a little curious as to why a lot of these nonprofs don't work more closely together, and pool their talents.
Yesterday was kinda fun and at the same time bad... I had a shitty, shitty morning at work. None of my deliveries were going smoothly and what should have taken 3 hours ended up taking 6. But fortunately six hours is usually how long I work on a Friday, so I tried to keep that in mind. I finally got to wash my van after work!!! Inside and out. The grime was thick... Then four of us went out for drinks in Georgetown and I got hammered AGAIN with the folks from work. Too hammered this time. I rode my drunk self back home and the minute I laid on the bed, Fluffz called to see if I wanted to check out the movie Superbad with him in the UDistrict. Drunk and queasy, I stumbled to the bus stop and got on a bus downtown. Minutes after being seated the girl next to me asks if she can use my cell, and for some reason I tell her to wait five minutes until my free minutes kick in. The guy across the aisle also asks if he can call his wife and I turn to the girl and say "what the fuck? everyone wants to use my phone??" she shrugs and i look at him and say "she's got dibs. sorry." i let her use the phone before 7 rolls around, and she's talking to someone about how she's pregnant and has sickle cell anemia and needs a place to stay next month. or as fluffz replayed my story: "i've got TB and mouth cancer... here's your phone back, thanks!"
I vaguely remember transferring buses downtown and sleeping slackjawed on my way to the UDist. Luckily some guy on the street sold me a september bus pass for five bucks last week, so I think I've saved some money using that. I found a way to cure my drunken queasiness and then headed over to meet Fluffz, and we went out for coffee before the movie. Superbad is really funny, even though I'm not all about hilarious teenage boy coming of age films. The first 20 minutes of dialogue was really, really funny. The rest was great, but they lay it on thick in the opening scenes.
Today I am lounging and vegging out big time. I've been stressing about all I have to get done, and not having time to do it, so today is about working on the computer and NOT going out I think. I've suddenly become very involved in a local sailing nonprofit and I've been asked to create not only a newsletter but a new sailtraining program as well. Plus I'm trying to help Adrian with marketing his Classic Workboat Show next month. Oh and I've pretty much taken on the position of human resource development for the collective being built in Mexico. by that i mean getting more people interested and involved in donating their time, skills, materials and money to the project for next year. I suppose marketing/advertising is fun and necessary if it's for stuff you wholeheartedly believe in, and bringing your community closer. Working with boats has gained me lots of friends and acquaintances in the boat trash community. I'm a little curious as to why a lot of these nonprofs don't work more closely together, and pool their talents.
tacos, goats and diesels
Friday night I was planning on going to a party being thrown by an accountant where I work, but fell asleep :( I did however discover a wonderful taco truck in my neighborhood, next to a super deluxe mexican discotheque... i don't know how to spell that... and the truck serves burritos, quesadillas and great authentic tacos with grilled pastor and pineapple to order, great salsas, lots of cilantro and lime to top it all off with. Unfortunately it's only open friday and saturday nights when the club is hoppin. I also watched the doris day movie Glass Bottom Boat, which was stupid.
Saturday Nanette and I went to check out some local farms that were having an open house and some sort of Harvest Celebration. We hung out with chicks, goats, sheep, a lady churning butter, and then took a tour of 21 Acres, a farm trying out lots of peapatch stuff, living roofs, solar powered wells and fountains, and lots more. Very cool. I have lots of pics but no way to upload them. Saturday night I joined Eric and Cass in Fremont at the Ballroom, which was chock full of retarded college kids spilling out of oktoberfest. I had to wait in line for 20 minutes to see my friends!! I can't remember the last time I waited in line to get into a club. I think it was in LA. But it was great to see them.
Sunday I took the bus over to Adrian's, where we had some food and wine and talked about his new projects, one of which is the Classic Workboat Show happening down on South Lake Union on October 21st. He wants me to help advertise for him and maybe sell my magazine at the show. I met his friendly roommates, and we headed over to The Bit Saloon to meet up with his longtime friends Jim and Sean. Jim apparently owns and lives aboard one of the oldest tugboats in the country. He owns three altogether, but he's selling 2 of them. Both Jim and Sean play music, but hey what's new everybody plays music in Seattle. Everybody is in a band. And I mean everybody. Except me and a few of my friends. It was great seeing Adrian and hearing some of his stories, but as per usual for hanging out with diesel engineers, I woke up this morning with a KILLER hangover.
Saturday Nanette and I went to check out some local farms that were having an open house and some sort of Harvest Celebration. We hung out with chicks, goats, sheep, a lady churning butter, and then took a tour of 21 Acres, a farm trying out lots of peapatch stuff, living roofs, solar powered wells and fountains, and lots more. Very cool. I have lots of pics but no way to upload them. Saturday night I joined Eric and Cass in Fremont at the Ballroom, which was chock full of retarded college kids spilling out of oktoberfest. I had to wait in line for 20 minutes to see my friends!! I can't remember the last time I waited in line to get into a club. I think it was in LA. But it was great to see them.
Sunday I took the bus over to Adrian's, where we had some food and wine and talked about his new projects, one of which is the Classic Workboat Show happening down on South Lake Union on October 21st. He wants me to help advertise for him and maybe sell my magazine at the show. I met his friendly roommates, and we headed over to The Bit Saloon to meet up with his longtime friends Jim and Sean. Jim apparently owns and lives aboard one of the oldest tugboats in the country. He owns three altogether, but he's selling 2 of them. Both Jim and Sean play music, but hey what's new everybody plays music in Seattle. Everybody is in a band. And I mean everybody. Except me and a few of my friends. It was great seeing Adrian and hearing some of his stories, but as per usual for hanging out with diesel engineers, I woke up this morning with a KILLER hangover.
hot links
hmm that sounds good right now. any food sounds good right now. i never cook the days i work. i just go hungry at night.
i changed my links to the right of the page here, because some of my friends NEVER update their blogs. instead there's a list of the sites i visit either daily or weekly, besides myspace.
if you go to vbs.tv, you can let the videos just keep streaming. each one is around 10 minutes long, with the exception of "Do's and Dont's," which are funny little voiceovers of celebrities talking about random photos. Sarah Silverman is the best. There are a lot of great videos on this site, and I love the Travel section the best. EVERYTHING in the travel section is worth watching. the "soft focus" interviews are funny and different, and for all who appreciate the female form, there's a more tasteful look at nude models under "shot by kern."
i changed my links to the right of the page here, because some of my friends NEVER update their blogs. instead there's a list of the sites i visit either daily or weekly, besides myspace.
if you go to vbs.tv, you can let the videos just keep streaming. each one is around 10 minutes long, with the exception of "Do's and Dont's," which are funny little voiceovers of celebrities talking about random photos. Sarah Silverman is the best. There are a lot of great videos on this site, and I love the Travel section the best. EVERYTHING in the travel section is worth watching. the "soft focus" interviews are funny and different, and for all who appreciate the female form, there's a more tasteful look at nude models under "shot by kern."
Fists of Fire
I work really long days Tues, Wed and Thurs, and I'm too tired to do anything other than sleep afterwards. But yesterday I got to visit Jonathan aka "JT" over at the fire station where he works and it was pretty awesome. He showed me the living quarters for the firemen, and had me sit in the driver's seat on the fire truck!!!! We used the radio headsets, blew the horns and flashed all the crazy lights. Then we checked out the ambulance too. Sat in the back and everything. It was a nice short break from my delivery job, but it ended up being more out of the way than I thought, and after my last stop I missed the early ferry back to the warehouse, so my boss was a little peeved with me, I think. It's hard to resist hanging out in a fire truck though...
Last night Fluffz and I drank some really great wine: Abbot's Table by Owen Roe. SO GOOD. And we walked over to this little mexican restaurant by my house. Some crazy halfway house molester lookin' dude was checking us out and following us around. Man he had some crazy eyes. So we're the only ones in the restaurant and Crazy Eyes Ex Con dude sits at the bar and stares at us, has one drink and leaves. With no weapon to protect ourselves on the walk home, I decided to shake a bunch of pepper in my hand, exclaiming that I would blind mr Crazy Eyes should he try to attack us. Fluffz told me that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard and no way would it work. Once safely near my house he insisted that I throw the pepper in his face in order to prove me wrong. Well, he had glasses on, and I think the wind was in his favor. However the wind was not in MY favor, and I got a piece of pepper in my eye, and yeah, it stung a little. I don't think he totally proved me wrong.
This weekend I think my friend N. and I are going to visit a biodynamic farm and see how that all works... and on Monday I'm meeting up with a girl I used to party with when I was 19! I haven't seen her in 15 years and now she has a little girl, a husband, and a house on Queen Anne. Should be fun and interesting.
Time for bed.
Last night Fluffz and I drank some really great wine: Abbot's Table by Owen Roe. SO GOOD. And we walked over to this little mexican restaurant by my house. Some crazy halfway house molester lookin' dude was checking us out and following us around. Man he had some crazy eyes. So we're the only ones in the restaurant and Crazy Eyes Ex Con dude sits at the bar and stares at us, has one drink and leaves. With no weapon to protect ourselves on the walk home, I decided to shake a bunch of pepper in my hand, exclaiming that I would blind mr Crazy Eyes should he try to attack us. Fluffz told me that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard and no way would it work. Once safely near my house he insisted that I throw the pepper in his face in order to prove me wrong. Well, he had glasses on, and I think the wind was in his favor. However the wind was not in MY favor, and I got a piece of pepper in my eye, and yeah, it stung a little. I don't think he totally proved me wrong.
This weekend I think my friend N. and I are going to visit a biodynamic farm and see how that all works... and on Monday I'm meeting up with a girl I used to party with when I was 19! I haven't seen her in 15 years and now she has a little girl, a husband, and a house on Queen Anne. Should be fun and interesting.
Time for bed.
bad touch!
had breakfast today jen & ben, in town on a west coast road trip and getting ready to head back to traverse city. met ben's old kalamazoo friend Ursula, who is a singer for a band here in seattle. she was really cool. we rec'd bad service at smarty pants in georgetown but had fun anyway. when ben saw my camera he automatically turned around and tried to spread his butt cheeks.
below is a pic of my boss judd attempting to "bad touch" nick under the table at stellar pizza, last friday afternoon. nick looks shocked but also pleased.
starting, or stopping?
GUESS WHO is going to work as a volunteer captain of a 60 foot schooner one or two days each week, here in Seattle? Right up there on the stbd side of your monitor - ME!!! Today I got to take her through a few bridge raisings AND DOCK HER!! Yay and big thanks to JT for hooking me up with the info. Big thanks also to the awesome friends who responded to my forlorn "I need discipline" post. There were only a few of you, but your advice was and support was so very valuable and appreciated. Usually I'll erase those downer posts within a day of posting them, because it seems so ridiculously self absorbed and self pitying, but luckily I don't post like that too too often so when I do, some wonderful people feel motivated enough to offer a few words of guidance.
I think one of the best pieces of advice, coming from more than one person, was to go to school. So I'm considering a few things: the publishing arts program at seattle central, the marine carpentry program also at sccc, and then the welding class at south seattle comm. college. It crossed my mind to look into culinary and wine related courses, but that's really not my passion.
Other great advice was for me to focus on just doing things, not thinking about doing things or trying to decide what to do or be. Just DO. trying to avoid the nike reference there. and not to sound too fruity but for 2 weeks my horoscope has asked me to try harder at living in the moment (see link to the right for reliably yet eerily accurate horoscopes published by caeriel crestin). On top of that I watched the movie "Peaceful Warrior" at nanettes in the middle of the night last night. I haven't read "way of the peaceful warrior," which was highly recommended by yuri years ago, but i gleaned some of it's points from the movie. at one point i cringed, identifying what yuri always criticized me for, which was me declaring that in life i MAKE things happen rather than LET them happen to me. i hardly think that i, being such a minimalist and self sacrificing person at times, could be so easily compared to the main character... i mean shit i wholeheartedly agree that service to others brings meaning to life, and i've always felt that. but i definitely need to stop being with men with whom i feel compelled to mother. and honestly, yuri HARDLY lives his life in service to others, so if i'd watched/read this earlier maybe i could have provided a better defense.
here are some of my favorite quotes:
Dan Millman: Life has just three rules?
Socrates: And you already know them...
Dan Millman: Paradox, humour, and change.
Socrates: Paradox...
Dan Millman: Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out.
Socrates: Humour...
Dan Millman: Keep a sense of humour, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.
Socrates: Change...
Dan Millman: Know that nothing stays the same.
(i believe i have the latter 2 down. i'm going to work at the first one)
(and my favorite quote...)
There is no starting or stopping - only doing.
I think one of the best pieces of advice, coming from more than one person, was to go to school. So I'm considering a few things: the publishing arts program at seattle central, the marine carpentry program also at sccc, and then the welding class at south seattle comm. college. It crossed my mind to look into culinary and wine related courses, but that's really not my passion.
Other great advice was for me to focus on just doing things, not thinking about doing things or trying to decide what to do or be. Just DO. trying to avoid the nike reference there. and not to sound too fruity but for 2 weeks my horoscope has asked me to try harder at living in the moment (see link to the right for reliably yet eerily accurate horoscopes published by caeriel crestin). On top of that I watched the movie "Peaceful Warrior" at nanettes in the middle of the night last night. I haven't read "way of the peaceful warrior," which was highly recommended by yuri years ago, but i gleaned some of it's points from the movie. at one point i cringed, identifying what yuri always criticized me for, which was me declaring that in life i MAKE things happen rather than LET them happen to me. i hardly think that i, being such a minimalist and self sacrificing person at times, could be so easily compared to the main character... i mean shit i wholeheartedly agree that service to others brings meaning to life, and i've always felt that. but i definitely need to stop being with men with whom i feel compelled to mother. and honestly, yuri HARDLY lives his life in service to others, so if i'd watched/read this earlier maybe i could have provided a better defense.
here are some of my favorite quotes:
Dan Millman: Life has just three rules?
Socrates: And you already know them...
Dan Millman: Paradox, humour, and change.
Socrates: Paradox...
Dan Millman: Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out.
Socrates: Humour...
Dan Millman: Keep a sense of humour, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.
Socrates: Change...
Dan Millman: Know that nothing stays the same.
(i believe i have the latter 2 down. i'm going to work at the first one)
(and my favorite quote...)
There is no starting or stopping - only doing.
kinda wow
AH the weekend is here. I worked until 4, went drinking with my awesome coworkers - drank waaaay too much whiskey and beer in a very short amount of time. I know for sure I brought up dolphin related zoophilia. Always smart to get wasted with the boss! Then I had a LUCKY bike ride home, considering I didn't DIE by driving into oncoming traffic. Natural selection is either bunk or I'm a survivor like tina turner in beyond the thunderdome. and then i fell asleep after chatting up jarad, who's enjoying acl fest this weekend. my friend FluffZ called from this club in san fran. i tried to get ryan "otis" downs to go to the show but i doubt he went.
my hair is super classy these days. long bangs and sometimes i get these feathery looking wings on the side. i think it's the same cut i had when i was nine.
oh and since work sometimes takes me out of KEXP range, i've been listening to cd's that i made years ago or that loved ones have made for me. yesterday i had coffee in fairhaven and listened to jeff buckley while cruising chuckanut drive and the lovely fog laden fields in the skagit valley. it's also slightly satisfying to drive through the quaint town of laconner blasting frank zappa's "catholic girls" and "titties and beer."
my hair is super classy these days. long bangs and sometimes i get these feathery looking wings on the side. i think it's the same cut i had when i was nine.
oh and since work sometimes takes me out of KEXP range, i've been listening to cd's that i made years ago or that loved ones have made for me. yesterday i had coffee in fairhaven and listened to jeff buckley while cruising chuckanut drive and the lovely fog laden fields in the skagit valley. it's also slightly satisfying to drive through the quaint town of laconner blasting frank zappa's "catholic girls" and "titties and beer."
wbf weekend
On saturday i got a ride with the clampitts to the wooden boat fest. we met up with ta and signe, stopped by the lady wa to say hi to JB and the crew, and wandered over to the big tent. i found ozzie coming in on s/v Crusoe and he showed me the little raft that he and nate k. built on friday. later i made my way to the chanty sing and joined a few lady crew there for a while. it was funny because the pro singers sang the volunteer waltz for the lady crew... this lady crew hadn't even heard the song!! but they loved it of course. back outside the tent i was very happy to run into ozzie again, as well as eric and cass,
the beard, cass, justin and oz
and we all drank beers out in front of the tent while the clampitts went on in to meet ta. elf was there, oh and i had fun talking to mark's wife brooks. although i felt pretty dumb for being confused about who she was at first. my memory is ridiculously bad and/or confused sometimes. today i found pictures of MYSELF on my friend's computer and i can't even remember the situations in which they were taken. maybe i was drunk? i doubt it. anyway lo and behold one of my favorite sailors, nate k walks up and gives me a big hug.
the beard, nate in yellow crocs!
we chatted a bit and nate offered sleeping space to several of us, so i decided to forego a 2nd year of turning in early to ta's in port hadlock and joined cass, the beard, and their friend justin for a walk over to the cwb tug for more beer. on the way back i ran into abbie schneidler!!! i doubt anyone reading this knows who she is, but she's morgan schneidler's little sis, and adrian lipp's ex roomie, and a former coworker at vic clipper. morgan and i were the first naturalists/orca whale watch tour guides working for the clipper back in 1998. turns out morgan's been doing more boat stuff in AK and with noaa, and abbie is getting her doctorate in naturopathy at bastyr, and is engaged (upon telling me this she pointed to a dude in carhaarts playing guitar for some adventuress crew). i got abbie's address and made my way over to the tent again to find nate and we all ended up at a lovely home where nate is renting a little cottage in the back while attending the boat school in pt.
nate's sweet cottage
nate and i stayed up late talking about all kinds of stuff, and when we all got up in the morning he made us hash browns, coffee, eggs and toast. it was an awesome sunday morning. we walked back down the hill and over to adventuress, and eventually i ended up sitting alone near the entrance to the point hudson marina, watching all the boats come and go. near the end i took some video of oz sailing out on his raft.
oz sailing the raft on sunday
on the way home a woman named laurel hitched a ride with us - she's old lady and rose crew, and was telling us how happy daniel macke is with his new gf wendy. i hadn't seen daniel at the fest, which is a bummer, because i hear he played and is a good musician. i was talking on the phone with a.mckee today and he said he's crewed with laurel, and she has a lot of experience on different kinds of boats. i should have asked her for more stories but i was pretty tired from a long weekend.
today i pulled a muscle in my neck so all my plans were trashed. i took an aleve and drank some wine to help kill the pain. i've been messing around on the internet and downloading pics onto my friend's computer (my usb ports don't work), so now i can at least add a few pics to a blog.
the beard, cass, justin and oz
and we all drank beers out in front of the tent while the clampitts went on in to meet ta. elf was there, oh and i had fun talking to mark's wife brooks. although i felt pretty dumb for being confused about who she was at first. my memory is ridiculously bad and/or confused sometimes. today i found pictures of MYSELF on my friend's computer and i can't even remember the situations in which they were taken. maybe i was drunk? i doubt it. anyway lo and behold one of my favorite sailors, nate k walks up and gives me a big hug.
the beard, nate in yellow crocs!
we chatted a bit and nate offered sleeping space to several of us, so i decided to forego a 2nd year of turning in early to ta's in port hadlock and joined cass, the beard, and their friend justin for a walk over to the cwb tug for more beer. on the way back i ran into abbie schneidler!!! i doubt anyone reading this knows who she is, but she's morgan schneidler's little sis, and adrian lipp's ex roomie, and a former coworker at vic clipper. morgan and i were the first naturalists/orca whale watch tour guides working for the clipper back in 1998. turns out morgan's been doing more boat stuff in AK and with noaa, and abbie is getting her doctorate in naturopathy at bastyr, and is engaged (upon telling me this she pointed to a dude in carhaarts playing guitar for some adventuress crew). i got abbie's address and made my way over to the tent again to find nate and we all ended up at a lovely home where nate is renting a little cottage in the back while attending the boat school in pt.
nate's sweet cottage
nate and i stayed up late talking about all kinds of stuff, and when we all got up in the morning he made us hash browns, coffee, eggs and toast. it was an awesome sunday morning. we walked back down the hill and over to adventuress, and eventually i ended up sitting alone near the entrance to the point hudson marina, watching all the boats come and go. near the end i took some video of oz sailing out on his raft.
oz sailing the raft on sunday
on the way home a woman named laurel hitched a ride with us - she's old lady and rose crew, and was telling us how happy daniel macke is with his new gf wendy. i hadn't seen daniel at the fest, which is a bummer, because i hear he played and is a good musician. i was talking on the phone with a.mckee today and he said he's crewed with laurel, and she has a lot of experience on different kinds of boats. i should have asked her for more stories but i was pretty tired from a long weekend.
today i pulled a muscle in my neck so all my plans were trashed. i took an aleve and drank some wine to help kill the pain. i've been messing around on the internet and downloading pics onto my friend's computer (my usb ports don't work), so now i can at least add a few pics to a blog.
i need discipline
for those of you who didn't know already, if i have never mentioned it, i am a textbook existentialist.
ironically, i feel it's not something i chose to be. it's fucking depressing. i'm pretty tired of being so non-committal. i've got those cds in my delivery van on the 7 qualities of successful people or whatever. haven't listened to them yet. i feel like a real loser these days. i'm not accomplishing much. i'd like to find happiness in just sitting around and not having to BE or BECOME anything, but that doesn't seem to come naturally. i don't know if i should work on THAT, or really trying to BECOME something. all i really want is to be a bum on my own little boat.
i probably should have had a baby or done something that would force me to not think about how this is such a pointless universe.
i'm also a bit of a hyphochondriac and have always felt pretty sure that i'm either going to die within a few years of either cancer or a bad accident. i think my little sister is pretty tired of hearing me say "katie if something happens to me..." blah blah blah. i'll be amazed if i ever turn 60.
my friend ryan was talking about going on a road trip with my friend jimmy. i said we should all hitchhike across the country. i'm 34 and i want to hitchhike across the country, sleep in ditches and hang out with bums, with 2 25 year olds. pretty juvenile i guess.
anyone got some ideas on how i can stop procrastinating and bring some meaning and motivation to my life? for real? i don't mean bullshit like "just think about how wonderful it is to be alive! to have friends! just think about all the things you can still do! follow your dreams!" blah barf barf. i'm talking real advice, like methods, practices... cos the only solution i keep thinking about is how i wish i was an alcoholic/escapist type who was a lot more fun and crazy.
totally unrelated but very cool:
ironically, i feel it's not something i chose to be. it's fucking depressing. i'm pretty tired of being so non-committal. i've got those cds in my delivery van on the 7 qualities of successful people or whatever. haven't listened to them yet. i feel like a real loser these days. i'm not accomplishing much. i'd like to find happiness in just sitting around and not having to BE or BECOME anything, but that doesn't seem to come naturally. i don't know if i should work on THAT, or really trying to BECOME something. all i really want is to be a bum on my own little boat.
i probably should have had a baby or done something that would force me to not think about how this is such a pointless universe.
i'm also a bit of a hyphochondriac and have always felt pretty sure that i'm either going to die within a few years of either cancer or a bad accident. i think my little sister is pretty tired of hearing me say "katie if something happens to me..." blah blah blah. i'll be amazed if i ever turn 60.
my friend ryan was talking about going on a road trip with my friend jimmy. i said we should all hitchhike across the country. i'm 34 and i want to hitchhike across the country, sleep in ditches and hang out with bums, with 2 25 year olds. pretty juvenile i guess.
anyone got some ideas on how i can stop procrastinating and bring some meaning and motivation to my life? for real? i don't mean bullshit like "just think about how wonderful it is to be alive! to have friends! just think about all the things you can still do! follow your dreams!" blah barf barf. i'm talking real advice, like methods, practices... cos the only solution i keep thinking about is how i wish i was an alcoholic/escapist type who was a lot more fun and crazy.
totally unrelated but very cool:
oh flipper!
I was watching an interview with Will Oldham on VBS.TV and he was joking about people having sex with dolphins, which sounds REALLY MESSED UP. But then I found this hilarious and bizarre blogpost.
Labor Day rolls around again.
my friends bought some property in the mountains without looking at it first. yesterday we drove out to look around and found that it's on a pretty steep hill, but might be buildable. i suggested being really open-minded about housing options, because it looks like she might be building atop a very large fir and cedar root system. it was fun to get out into the mountains for a day. last night i checked out some fun bands at Chop Suey on Capitol Hill. Stereo Total was very entertaining.
The Globe
I had coffee and a doughnut at a place on Cap. Hill called The Globe, that serves almost all organic & vegan dishes. I must have been extremely hormonal or moody because I almost started crying when I sat down. My friend goes there often, as do all his friends. But I walked in and the place screamed coolfuckinhipsterhangouthippieswithtatsandpiercings etc etc. I liked Seattle better when the punks and skaters were actually dirty and ugly, and not having to TRY to look dirty and ugly. And of course nobody wants to look too ugly so these people have their hair messed up, and their clothes looking just dumb enough to still be cool. I don't have the energy to put these outfits together, or tend to that many piercings. Capitol Hill is so much a "scene" now. They could do a movie like LA Story here - same movie, just different subculture. I don't know - maybe I'm only annoyed by it because I'm not an artist like my friend. Years ago I brought up the notion and it seemed as though he genuinely didn't think this stuff was noticeable enough to be worth mentioning. It kinda reminds me of when I was living in Seattle during the bush/Kerry election. I was surrounded by Kerry supporters and was sure that he was going to win because everyone in my immediate world felt the same as I. The nice thing is that neither my friend nor his immediate friends do stupid things like wear cute hats or put stuff in their hair just to make it look messy. They all dress pretty functional. So I'm thinking about this stuff and wishing a dozen of my sailor friends would walk in at any moment, like Jesse or Krunch, dirty sailors who don't give a shit about what anyone else thinks because ultimately they know that love and friendship and really getting out there and living are what really matter in this world. While I'm wistful and uncomfortable and waaaay overanalyzing my situation, my friend says "yeah...the hippies have taken over a little, but i just really like the food here." and yeah, the coffee was excellent. as were the tofu scrambled eggs.
The Littlest Carver Leaves the Ever-Broken Nest
I just had dinner with my little sister. She's going off to college in 3 days. It's so nuts to watch a child become an adult. To have known her from birth, and all that great stuff. I feel pretty lucky to be close to her, even though I've lived far away for so much of her childhood. I don't know why I can't help but cry at things like her graduation, and today, seeing her before she moves away from Seattle for the first time. I guess there's just very few people whom I have felt so bonded with for as many years. Thank goodness that about 8 years ago I began making friends that I will probably be close with for the rest of my life.
Flush Twice!
Put this on your list of movies to watch: King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters.
If you read a review and think the content might not really interest you (in other words, you might not be into video games), disregard that and watch it anyway. It's great. I watched it last night at the Varsity in the UDistrict, where the director, Seth Gordon, introduced it and answered questions at the end. Really great footage, editing, story.. and very very low budget. Great characters.
I'm living in Georgetown now - a neighborhood just south of Seattle. I guess you can call it a neighborhood. It's kind of a cool little secret; largely uninhabited, in a wasteland/industrial zone within a major metropolitan city. I found a bumper sticker that really captured the theme of the place. It was made when the city was trying to put a new town dump here. There's all the symbols that make up the soul of Georgetown: an airplane, a semi truck, the mudflap girl, and related stuff. It says "Flush Twice! It's a long way to Georgetown." All i know is that the one tiny grocery store here is all japanese stuff and they sell MOCHI ICE CREAM!!!!
If you read a review and think the content might not really interest you (in other words, you might not be into video games), disregard that and watch it anyway. It's great. I watched it last night at the Varsity in the UDistrict, where the director, Seth Gordon, introduced it and answered questions at the end. Really great footage, editing, story.. and very very low budget. Great characters.
I'm living in Georgetown now - a neighborhood just south of Seattle. I guess you can call it a neighborhood. It's kind of a cool little secret; largely uninhabited, in a wasteland/industrial zone within a major metropolitan city. I found a bumper sticker that really captured the theme of the place. It was made when the city was trying to put a new town dump here. There's all the symbols that make up the soul of Georgetown: an airplane, a semi truck, the mudflap girl, and related stuff. It says "Flush Twice! It's a long way to Georgetown." All i know is that the one tiny grocery store here is all japanese stuff and they sell MOCHI ICE CREAM!!!!
Vikings in the Caribbean!!!
There's a few things I haven't done since returning, that I really want to do, like hang out over at Adrian's, and have some beers with Eric and Cass... but I'm thinking I'll have plenty of time for that over the next 2 weeks. I'm working for the big Seattle music festival, Bumbershoot, this weekend and Labor Day Weekend, and then after that I really need regular work. Money's running out.
It doesn't help that I poured over $70 into Nanette's gas tank this past weekend. And like the terrible granddaughter I am, I didn't even use her car to go see Gram. Instead I drove all over town, helping the Lady Washington provision at Whole Foods, and even going out to Snoqualmie Falls to hike down to the bottom and take a nap there. It was wonderful to get out of town, into REAL mountains, though. I have missed mountains lately. Um let's see I also went out for dinner at Cedar's, where the chai is bottomless and 2nd only in taste to the chai that Alan Kerstetter made from scratch on a camp stove underneath a dock in oldtown Sacramento. I went for a sail aboard Hawaiian Chieftain on friday night, hanging out with the wonderful and talented Rob, Rosie, Preston, Nick and the rest of the crew, including Crystal G., whom before friday I'd only known via the internet. In fact between both boats I met several crew whom I'd only seen online. Most importantly I finally met the man who donates the most to Jack Tar - Mr. Joe Bartlett. Last night I visted the Lady in Shilshole before she took off across the sound so I could meet Joe. He's such a great guy; he even set up a wifi antenna so that the boats could access internet via Clearwire. Half those kids have laptops. Then I heard that Jonathan T. was motoring over to brief the captains on the Brownsville event, so I stuck around in order to give JT a big hug. I haven't even talked with JT on the phone in ages. JT convinced me to sail across today with Lady.
I've only hung out with these crews a handful of hours over the last week, but I already love them. Today was a longer than necessary transit, but ending with JB docking the brig under sail with confidence and ease. I think what makes a typical Lady crew so endearing to me is that everyone is so ragtag and goofy most of the time, then when sail is being called and work is being done they jump to with enthusiasm. They all straggled into breakfast and lazed around until Elf told them what needed to be done, at which point everyone jumped up to work. And it's not like Elf has this commanding tone or even motivating way of communicating. He just said uh ok this is what needs to happen now... and they were on it. By the end of the day I'd sung a few chanties with the crew, helped drive the boat, had a few heart-to-hearts with crew I had instantly bonded with - listening to some of their personal troubles or how they ended up there, and some funny moments, like anything involving the hilarious new purser, Josh (or is it Andy?), from PT. At breakfast he proposed that if mice ever became a problem on board, they should get mongoose to eat the mice, then to get rid of the mongoose, they'd have to bring in cobras, at which point we could pitch a new movie involving mutherfucking snakes on a mutherfucking tall boat. Later on we were discussing pirates and Josh proposed telling children that actually we were vikings, not pirates, which led to another movie idea - Vikings in the Caribbean. Imagine Leif and Thor wondering why it's so freakin hot, and where the hell are they, and might Michael Bay want to produce this? Ok maybe you had to be there, but Josh is definitely one of the funniest guys on board right now. I met Liz, a 16 year old farmgirl from Westport who was finally allowed to go to sea because she fried the engine on the family tractor. This girl takes care of her brothers and sisters upon waking up and then after sitting on the tractor for 15 hours a day she puts them to bed! The Lady is definitely a vacation for her. Molly is a great steward, Matt Gempler is excellent at calling sail, and I learned that the entire Gempler clan is pulling up their roots in Boise, selling everything, and moving to PT to build a brig! This year, no less. My other favorite crewmembers were Boy Genius, Patricia, Cassie, Tiny, and Esther's little rockstar sailor sister. It was a lot of fun to spend time with all of them.
In Brownsville the Suquamish gave us all beads, I got to see JT's family and new boat, and his mother in law "Honey" gave me a ride to the ferry, where they were picking up Hal Day. At my prompting Honey told me the story of how she and her boyfriend Wayne (also in the car - they're both in their early 60's I think) met and fell in love. They're getting married this fall. Then there was a long peaceful sunset ferry ride back to Seattle. To top it off, a barista gave me an extra piece of cake AND I got to listen to young east Indian girls singing softly during the bus ride from the ferry to home. So yeah, it was a pretty great day.
It doesn't help that I poured over $70 into Nanette's gas tank this past weekend. And like the terrible granddaughter I am, I didn't even use her car to go see Gram. Instead I drove all over town, helping the Lady Washington provision at Whole Foods, and even going out to Snoqualmie Falls to hike down to the bottom and take a nap there. It was wonderful to get out of town, into REAL mountains, though. I have missed mountains lately. Um let's see I also went out for dinner at Cedar's, where the chai is bottomless and 2nd only in taste to the chai that Alan Kerstetter made from scratch on a camp stove underneath a dock in oldtown Sacramento. I went for a sail aboard Hawaiian Chieftain on friday night, hanging out with the wonderful and talented Rob, Rosie, Preston, Nick and the rest of the crew, including Crystal G., whom before friday I'd only known via the internet. In fact between both boats I met several crew whom I'd only seen online. Most importantly I finally met the man who donates the most to Jack Tar - Mr. Joe Bartlett. Last night I visted the Lady in Shilshole before she took off across the sound so I could meet Joe. He's such a great guy; he even set up a wifi antenna so that the boats could access internet via Clearwire. Half those kids have laptops. Then I heard that Jonathan T. was motoring over to brief the captains on the Brownsville event, so I stuck around in order to give JT a big hug. I haven't even talked with JT on the phone in ages. JT convinced me to sail across today with Lady.
I've only hung out with these crews a handful of hours over the last week, but I already love them. Today was a longer than necessary transit, but ending with JB docking the brig under sail with confidence and ease. I think what makes a typical Lady crew so endearing to me is that everyone is so ragtag and goofy most of the time, then when sail is being called and work is being done they jump to with enthusiasm. They all straggled into breakfast and lazed around until Elf told them what needed to be done, at which point everyone jumped up to work. And it's not like Elf has this commanding tone or even motivating way of communicating. He just said uh ok this is what needs to happen now... and they were on it. By the end of the day I'd sung a few chanties with the crew, helped drive the boat, had a few heart-to-hearts with crew I had instantly bonded with - listening to some of their personal troubles or how they ended up there, and some funny moments, like anything involving the hilarious new purser, Josh (or is it Andy?), from PT. At breakfast he proposed that if mice ever became a problem on board, they should get mongoose to eat the mice, then to get rid of the mongoose, they'd have to bring in cobras, at which point we could pitch a new movie involving mutherfucking snakes on a mutherfucking tall boat. Later on we were discussing pirates and Josh proposed telling children that actually we were vikings, not pirates, which led to another movie idea - Vikings in the Caribbean. Imagine Leif and Thor wondering why it's so freakin hot, and where the hell are they, and might Michael Bay want to produce this? Ok maybe you had to be there, but Josh is definitely one of the funniest guys on board right now. I met Liz, a 16 year old farmgirl from Westport who was finally allowed to go to sea because she fried the engine on the family tractor. This girl takes care of her brothers and sisters upon waking up and then after sitting on the tractor for 15 hours a day she puts them to bed! The Lady is definitely a vacation for her. Molly is a great steward, Matt Gempler is excellent at calling sail, and I learned that the entire Gempler clan is pulling up their roots in Boise, selling everything, and moving to PT to build a brig! This year, no less. My other favorite crewmembers were Boy Genius, Patricia, Cassie, Tiny, and Esther's little rockstar sailor sister. It was a lot of fun to spend time with all of them.
In Brownsville the Suquamish gave us all beads, I got to see JT's family and new boat, and his mother in law "Honey" gave me a ride to the ferry, where they were picking up Hal Day. At my prompting Honey told me the story of how she and her boyfriend Wayne (also in the car - they're both in their early 60's I think) met and fell in love. They're getting married this fall. Then there was a long peaceful sunset ferry ride back to Seattle. To top it off, a barista gave me an extra piece of cake AND I got to listen to young east Indian girls singing softly during the bus ride from the ferry to home. So yeah, it was a pretty great day.
Say Goodbye to Michigan
Goodbye Detroit! Goodbye Grand Rapids! Goodbye Lake Michigan! Goodbye Traverse City! Goodbye Chicago! ok that's not part of michigan but it's damn close geographically.
the seattle summer already feels 50% less humid than the midwest. i wore pants and shoes! with socks! today and felt fine. detroit was ho-hum, but my time with polly was great. she was disappointed that i wasn't having more fun. she always wants the best for me. i think what we do best is talk about stuff, and watch movies. we kill time together well. last friday night in detroit included AMAZING food at a restaurant in greektown (downtown detroit) called Pegasus. amazing, amazing greek food. i could have died from overeating if i'd had more money, time and appetite. it was that good. and the waiter kept looking down my shirt which for once i actually thought was flattering (?). after Pegasus we wanted to go into a hip hop club where everyone was looking like they were having a blast, but we would have been the only white people in the entire place, and the guys standing outside looked pretty hardcore in their scene. so we settled for the shittiest of all irish pubs i've been to so far (about 2 dozen i'd guess), called Shilleghlaghs where the band was OK but the drinks were way overpriced and the crowd was beyond irritating. polly kept asking me to taste her vodka tonic to see if i could taste any alcohol. frat daddies and their girls sang along to what seemed to be their favorite song: drunken sailor. with every "hey hey and up she rises" they would all slowly rise from their seats and raise their hands in the air. i asked the band to play wild rover but the guy next to me gave them a wad of cash to play his request, so my request was quickly forgotten. It seems that the favorite tradition in this bar is to bang things on the table. Here's a review I found:
"So the band plays another song, and you find it's time to buy another pitcher. People around you begin to chant with the band, and they start to stomp their feet. And they start to bang their hands on the table...and you watch your beer slosh dangerously. And they start to bang the ash trays on the table. And they start to bang their empty beer bottles on the table (not you, you're drinking a from a pitcher, remember). Not wanting to commit the ultimate sin of alcohol abuse in an Irish bar, you pick up your drink so it won't spill and wave it around in the air. By now, your second pitcher is obviously empty...so you bang THAT on the table. The next thing you know, you find yourself being coerced by those same dang Irishmen singing a song that goes something like this:
Dos, a beer, a Mexican beer
Ray, a guy who buys me beer
Me, the guy, Ray buys beer for
Far, a long way to the bar
So, I need another beer
La, la la la lots of beer
Tea, hell no I want a beer
and that will bring us back to Dos!"
That song was fun to watch, but then came an intermission. The crowd provides it's own entertainment during the band's break. Each long table has a number, and with the help of one especially drunk ringleader at each table, they scream out a little rhyme about how Table Number 4 is the Best, or some shit like that. Then the table next to us, slamming empty pitchers and pint glasses, yells out "TABLE 4 SUCKS! TABLE 4 SUCKS!" followed by some crap like "TABLE 2 IS BETTER THAN YOU" over and over and over again, back and forth between the tables. The band had a 25 minute break. 15 minutes into it we took off. I think i was one of 3 people in the bar over the age of 29.
I didn't see the post-apocalyptic landscape that I'd heard existed in Detroit, but I did see a higher percentage of perfectly restored classic cars. 68 mustangs in cherry condition with those special rims that keep turning, pearlescent paint jobs on 67 chevys, restored cadillacs... i don't think it was one of those drivers that pulled a hit and run on polly's parked subaru, but someone did, and that kinda sucked.
The next night there was a big bbq at the home of a couple whom Polly and her boyfriend Pat went to Michigan State with. there must have been at least 25 people there. some of them i met and they were very nice, but i was tired and missing my TC friends and simply not wanting to talk anymore about my travels and what i do. when you tell someone you work on tall ships, they ask you a million questions. i've been answering the same line of questioning an average of 10 times per day for months. Sonja, being in maritime and dealing with the same reactions, wanted to come up with answers that would in no way invite further questioning. we got a slightly different reaction when we tried it out on a drunk guy in bar in TC last week. Sonja's sister Kirsten was with us, along with Jen. the guy asks what we do. I say "she cuts hair at jcpenney, she sells shoes at sears... she doesn't work, and i'm a night shift supervisor at mcdonalds." but our facial expressions betrayed us. What do you really do? he asks. "ok ok. Sonja's a diesel engineer, Kirsten's a cop in south chicago, i'm a sailor, and jen is an anticapitalist."
he didn't believe that either.
anyway... besides one last sail in TC and a visit to the awesomely famous (and expensive) deli in Ann Arbor, MI, known as Zingermans, and trying on a million shoes at the mall without buying any (polly bought 3 pairs!), that was my last week in michigan. yesterday i took the train to chicago and lugged 3 bags across town to the blue line, which took me all the way to o'hare. i spent 4 hours on a flight between an alcholic with tremors (i thought he had parkinsons until he ordered a few double bourbons) and a lady who lovingly savored 10 chicken mcnuggets in bbq sauce over the span of the first hour. i think she licked her fingers clean after every 2 mcnuggets. waste not! upon arriving in seattle i hopped a bus to my new place but managed to disembark 2 miles short of my destination. yay me! i may have lost a pound yesterday but i felt sure i was 2 inches shorter.
the couple i'm living with are very sweet, cool artistic types and i have a big room. today i took the bus to lake union to hang out with JB, elf, rob, nick, rosemary, matt gempler, and a bunch of more unfamiliar faces, before meeting up with my sister for a meal at lockspot and cupcakes at cupcake royale while looking at her europe pictures.
i dropped off some mags at Captain's, and rec'd an overwhelming response of support from one of their employees. she gave me a lot of advice regarding getting my zine out there, offered to give me some space at pacific marine expo, and showed me a thick zine being published out of portland, free for women in commercial fishing, called Xtra Tuf but a few bucks for everyone else. Microcosm Publishing. Maybe i should contact them...
the seattle summer already feels 50% less humid than the midwest. i wore pants and shoes! with socks! today and felt fine. detroit was ho-hum, but my time with polly was great. she was disappointed that i wasn't having more fun. she always wants the best for me. i think what we do best is talk about stuff, and watch movies. we kill time together well. last friday night in detroit included AMAZING food at a restaurant in greektown (downtown detroit) called Pegasus. amazing, amazing greek food. i could have died from overeating if i'd had more money, time and appetite. it was that good. and the waiter kept looking down my shirt which for once i actually thought was flattering (?). after Pegasus we wanted to go into a hip hop club where everyone was looking like they were having a blast, but we would have been the only white people in the entire place, and the guys standing outside looked pretty hardcore in their scene. so we settled for the shittiest of all irish pubs i've been to so far (about 2 dozen i'd guess), called Shilleghlaghs where the band was OK but the drinks were way overpriced and the crowd was beyond irritating. polly kept asking me to taste her vodka tonic to see if i could taste any alcohol. frat daddies and their girls sang along to what seemed to be their favorite song: drunken sailor. with every "hey hey and up she rises" they would all slowly rise from their seats and raise their hands in the air. i asked the band to play wild rover but the guy next to me gave them a wad of cash to play his request, so my request was quickly forgotten. It seems that the favorite tradition in this bar is to bang things on the table. Here's a review I found:
"So the band plays another song, and you find it's time to buy another pitcher. People around you begin to chant with the band, and they start to stomp their feet. And they start to bang their hands on the table...and you watch your beer slosh dangerously. And they start to bang the ash trays on the table. And they start to bang their empty beer bottles on the table (not you, you're drinking a from a pitcher, remember). Not wanting to commit the ultimate sin of alcohol abuse in an Irish bar, you pick up your drink so it won't spill and wave it around in the air. By now, your second pitcher is obviously empty...so you bang THAT on the table. The next thing you know, you find yourself being coerced by those same dang Irishmen singing a song that goes something like this:
Dos, a beer, a Mexican beer
Ray, a guy who buys me beer
Me, the guy, Ray buys beer for
Far, a long way to the bar
So, I need another beer
La, la la la lots of beer
Tea, hell no I want a beer
and that will bring us back to Dos!"
That song was fun to watch, but then came an intermission. The crowd provides it's own entertainment during the band's break. Each long table has a number, and with the help of one especially drunk ringleader at each table, they scream out a little rhyme about how Table Number 4 is the Best, or some shit like that. Then the table next to us, slamming empty pitchers and pint glasses, yells out "TABLE 4 SUCKS! TABLE 4 SUCKS!" followed by some crap like "TABLE 2 IS BETTER THAN YOU" over and over and over again, back and forth between the tables. The band had a 25 minute break. 15 minutes into it we took off. I think i was one of 3 people in the bar over the age of 29.
I didn't see the post-apocalyptic landscape that I'd heard existed in Detroit, but I did see a higher percentage of perfectly restored classic cars. 68 mustangs in cherry condition with those special rims that keep turning, pearlescent paint jobs on 67 chevys, restored cadillacs... i don't think it was one of those drivers that pulled a hit and run on polly's parked subaru, but someone did, and that kinda sucked.
The next night there was a big bbq at the home of a couple whom Polly and her boyfriend Pat went to Michigan State with. there must have been at least 25 people there. some of them i met and they were very nice, but i was tired and missing my TC friends and simply not wanting to talk anymore about my travels and what i do. when you tell someone you work on tall ships, they ask you a million questions. i've been answering the same line of questioning an average of 10 times per day for months. Sonja, being in maritime and dealing with the same reactions, wanted to come up with answers that would in no way invite further questioning. we got a slightly different reaction when we tried it out on a drunk guy in bar in TC last week. Sonja's sister Kirsten was with us, along with Jen. the guy asks what we do. I say "she cuts hair at jcpenney, she sells shoes at sears... she doesn't work, and i'm a night shift supervisor at mcdonalds." but our facial expressions betrayed us. What do you really do? he asks. "ok ok. Sonja's a diesel engineer, Kirsten's a cop in south chicago, i'm a sailor, and jen is an anticapitalist."
he didn't believe that either.
anyway... besides one last sail in TC and a visit to the awesomely famous (and expensive) deli in Ann Arbor, MI, known as Zingermans, and trying on a million shoes at the mall without buying any (polly bought 3 pairs!), that was my last week in michigan. yesterday i took the train to chicago and lugged 3 bags across town to the blue line, which took me all the way to o'hare. i spent 4 hours on a flight between an alcholic with tremors (i thought he had parkinsons until he ordered a few double bourbons) and a lady who lovingly savored 10 chicken mcnuggets in bbq sauce over the span of the first hour. i think she licked her fingers clean after every 2 mcnuggets. waste not! upon arriving in seattle i hopped a bus to my new place but managed to disembark 2 miles short of my destination. yay me! i may have lost a pound yesterday but i felt sure i was 2 inches shorter.
the couple i'm living with are very sweet, cool artistic types and i have a big room. today i took the bus to lake union to hang out with JB, elf, rob, nick, rosemary, matt gempler, and a bunch of more unfamiliar faces, before meeting up with my sister for a meal at lockspot and cupcakes at cupcake royale while looking at her europe pictures.
i dropped off some mags at Captain's, and rec'd an overwhelming response of support from one of their employees. she gave me a lot of advice regarding getting my zine out there, offered to give me some space at pacific marine expo, and showed me a thick zine being published out of portland, free for women in commercial fishing, called Xtra Tuf but a few bucks for everyone else. Microcosm Publishing. Maybe i should contact them...
My Last Weekend in TC
My time in michigan is almost up and i'm making the most of what little is left. Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday morning I had breakfast with Sonja's aunt Mavis and uncle Ron, 
before heading over to the Opera House to meet Polly for a panel discussion on documentaries. 
The picture shows, from left to right, Dan Gould and Judith Halvern (Blue Vinyl), Chris Henegis and DA Pennebaker (Don't Look Back, Gimme Shelter and many many more), Brett-something (The Kid Stays in the Picture), Jack Lawrence (An American Soldier), and of course Michael Moore. My friends from S/V INLAND SEAS saved us some spots and we listened to the panelists talk about how they got into documentaries and how to better get them accepted into film festivals.
Shortly after that we headed over to the State Theater; the only theater downtown and is hasn't been used to show movies for a long time, because it's old fashioned and not up to code. Firemen were hired to stand by during the film fest, but Michael Moore is remodeling and reopening the State in November to bring indie flicks to the people of Traverse City. He introduced the movie Slaughterhouse Five, explaining how much Vonnegut changed his life and inspired him, and that he was able to spend several days at his house during the last year of his life. The movie, from the 70's I think, is awesome. It gets a little loopy in the end, but all in all it's great. All I can say is Billy Pilgrim reminds me SO MUCH of the Manitou's current first mate!!!! Holy cow.
After the movie, Justin called and said that he and Rob wanted to go sailing, but it'd be a lot more fun if there were some girls on the boat, so I convinced Polly to take a ride on Salome. We sailed around Power Island and got pretty trashed - by the end of the sail Polly was dancing a little on the stern, holding onto the backstay. We eventually ended up at Justin's and Pat met us there. I passed out before the burgers were done.
Pat and Polly went to "DuneGrass" festival the next day and I went sailing again with Rob, Justin and Sonja. This time we anchored off of Power Island and went for a swim. Plenty more happened that night but it was all a bit on the "R" rated side as far as public nudity goes... let's just say that a dinghy ride through the center of town, climbing trees in our underwear and falling into the Boardman river... yeah...we're lucky we didn't get arrested.
The next day I woke up and met up with Justin and Sonja for breakfast at Mabel's... and we didn't have energy for much else. For days now I've been wondering why I feel so bloated and fat, then I realized that I probably haven't drank beer on a regular basis like this since I lived in Germany back in '91. I gained 20 pounds that summer. I think I'm going to lay off for a while. I feel gross.
There's going to be a huge party Wednesday night because Justin and Sonja are finally done with chemistry class, and it's my last night here. Next weekend I'm going to Detroit with Polly, and I'm really looking forward to that.
ps check the last post too cos i added pics!
before heading over to the Opera House to meet Polly for a panel discussion on documentaries. The picture shows, from left to right, Dan Gould and Judith Halvern (Blue Vinyl), Chris Henegis and DA Pennebaker (Don't Look Back, Gimme Shelter and many many more), Brett-something (The Kid Stays in the Picture), Jack Lawrence (An American Soldier), and of course Michael Moore. My friends from S/V INLAND SEAS saved us some spots and we listened to the panelists talk about how they got into documentaries and how to better get them accepted into film festivals. Shortly after that we headed over to the State Theater; the only theater downtown and is hasn't been used to show movies for a long time, because it's old fashioned and not up to code. Firemen were hired to stand by during the film fest, but Michael Moore is remodeling and reopening the State in November to bring indie flicks to the people of Traverse City. He introduced the movie Slaughterhouse Five, explaining how much Vonnegut changed his life and inspired him, and that he was able to spend several days at his house during the last year of his life. The movie, from the 70's I think, is awesome. It gets a little loopy in the end, but all in all it's great. All I can say is Billy Pilgrim reminds me SO MUCH of the Manitou's current first mate!!!! Holy cow.
After the movie, Justin called and said that he and Rob wanted to go sailing, but it'd be a lot more fun if there were some girls on the boat, so I convinced Polly to take a ride on Salome. We sailed around Power Island and got pretty trashed - by the end of the sail Polly was dancing a little on the stern, holding onto the backstay. We eventually ended up at Justin's and Pat met us there. I passed out before the burgers were done.
Pat and Polly went to "DuneGrass" festival the next day and I went sailing again with Rob, Justin and Sonja. This time we anchored off of Power Island and went for a swim. Plenty more happened that night but it was all a bit on the "R" rated side as far as public nudity goes... let's just say that a dinghy ride through the center of town, climbing trees in our underwear and falling into the Boardman river... yeah...we're lucky we didn't get arrested.
The next day I woke up and met up with Justin and Sonja for breakfast at Mabel's... and we didn't have energy for much else. For days now I've been wondering why I feel so bloated and fat, then I realized that I probably haven't drank beer on a regular basis like this since I lived in Germany back in '91. I gained 20 pounds that summer. I think I'm going to lay off for a while. I feel gross.
There's going to be a huge party Wednesday night because Justin and Sonja are finally done with chemistry class, and it's my last night here. Next weekend I'm going to Detroit with Polly, and I'm really looking forward to that.
ps check the last post too cos i added pics!
