July 23rd, 2015
I'm not sure how to explain this. Everyone should go to an island. Its doesn't have to be an actual island. Find a way to hide from the world. I don't mean your neighbors or your coworkers or your families, but from the corporate media, from any TV, especially the news. Hide from technology a bit. It might not be as beautiful an island as this place but it will still be a great place. The world "we" created sucks. News reports suck.
The people around you don't suck. The people you bother to keep company with are great, interesting people, that easily get lost in the drama created by their televisions, and by most other media they pay attention to.
Of course this stems from being so isolated out here. We were given TV's out here connected to AFN, or the Armed Forces Network. I think there are 5 channels maybe. FOX news is one of them. There is a "movie" type channel that has "commercials" for servicemen. The commercials are mainly about the heroic actions of soldiers in past wars, but sometimes are behavioral ads for enlisted men and women on proper conduct.
Our cafeteria, was for a month TV free. It was soo perfectly quiet. We all talked to each other, and could hear each other. Then Eric, the guy "running" the shire (man camp) installed TV's on the walls in two places. I get there at 5:30, and my breakfast mate Sherri, shortly after. We talk for a bit, in the quiet. Eric comes in, randomly later, and has to...HAS to turn on the tv. He has to turn on the (FOX, CNN or whatever it is) news. The voices of those people. They have to hire newscasters with annoying voices to get your attention. Even the voices from the annoying nasal sounding voices back in the 60's and 70's had to be intentionally ugly to the ears. The voices are one thing, the content is a whole new level of annoying. Its intended for only the most complete idiots in the idiocracy. Shark attacks, ISIS, AlqIda, terrorist this or terrorist that, this republican said this, or this democrat said that. SHAKE and REPEAT, then throw in some idiotic racial disparities every other day and there you have it......THE NEWS.
Get away....go to an island....just a place free from the world and full of nice people...who happen to be around you everday.
A good guy I met down here recently posted this video on you tube
http://youtu.be/oVig6sXS1G8
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
July 18, 2015
Ok here are some random pictures off my phone, because the crappy other camera broke.
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| This is the boat I am now allowed to use. 27 ft, twin 140hp inboards. |
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| This is Jacks boat. I don't know Jack too well, but I know he built this boat. His wife and him have sailed this thing all over the world including Europe. He works on the boat, she works making money here. |
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| Again the boat I am so grateful to have the use of. I just have to pay for gas, and its pretty cheap. |
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| THIS is my dream boat. I'm going to ask Jack to give me a tour some day, but I hear its nice inside. |
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| This is the harbor. Our supplies just arrived! |
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| Half of these sailboats are semi abandoned. Owners are counting on someone here to sell them for them cause they are not on island anymore. |
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| A Marshallese guy named Bilwa was catching crabs this size for lunch everyday for a week. Spread out like that he's about the size of a basketball, and maybe 3 pounds. |
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Tuesday July 14, 2015
Ok.. a few days or almost a week ago, I posted I was going out (and I declined to talk about it). Here I am...talking about it.
The boat is called the Cherokee. It's a 1968 homebuilt trimaran sailboat. I didn't take any pictures cause my water proof camera wasn't waterproof. The boat is owned by 3 less than silent partners and a few silent ones, that aren't so silent. The original three, Paul, TC and John spent 3 years sailing around out here. By "Out here" I mean Indonesia, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, and a few others I can't recall. Paul is leaving tomorrow so it was his "PCS" ing party. I forget what the acronym means, but he's leaving Kwaj. I just met him about a month ago. He showed up to Frisbee. He kind of reminds me of Robert Redford, but he's maybe 5 years older than I, but in good shape 'cause he more than kept up playing Frisbee. One other thing I love about Ultimate is that it completely gives you great insight into the quality of a person. Maybe all group sports are like that, I don't really know. Its just, you can tell a lot about a person by their sportsmanship, which is why I miss my friends that I played with back home. All incredibly great people to be around. Paul and TC show that same great sportsmanship.
So after last Friday's Ultimate Game, where Paul drank a few beers at the field with us, then later showed up at the Vets Hall, which James and I stopped by on the way back to the Shire. He told us "You guys are coming sailing with me next Tuesday, it will be a sunset cruise". Jordan was standing there when he invited us and he told Paul "Stop inviting Dudes, you need to invite some chicks". So I kind of assumed there would be 10 or 12 dudes.
I ran to the store right after work to get a bottle of wine. On my way I passed the marina where I saw Paul and someone getting in the dingy to go get Cherokee. At the store, at least 3 different people asked me something about "going out on the Cherokee". I get to the small boat marina (its for boats under a hundred feet), and there's a few people there, like 12. Monica and Kacie, Gail and ........... I keep looking and there's quite a few people there. The small boat marina is closed during the week. Closed as far as renting a boat, which is the only reason anyone might go there. So I run out and help them dock Cherokee. In the next half hour, 33 people go on board. 33 people!! 33 really great people. Ok so I only knew 25 of them, but still. Older people (a few near 70) and mostly younger (than me) people. So we get motoring out of the harbor, and I see Dan (from Alaska married to Karen both around 37) starting to undo the sails. When I had seen Cherokee out in the lagoon a few times, Paul was just motoring to where they were going, no sails. Tonight, the sails were coming out! Its just cooler with sails. After he did his kind of "welcome aboard and safety speech" he said that we have to pick someone up at "North Point", which is just the north end of Kwaj. I kind of wondered how that was all going to work out. We got up there, and he asked for an adventurous volunteer. I didn't really know what the adventure was. I got in the dingy that we were dragging behind, and went and picked up Liz who was swimming out about a quarter mile away, and closer to the reef than you would want to take a big boat. Liz is from Australia. She's a few inches shorter than me, and has dread locks and piercings and tattoos. I've seen her around, and talked to her a little bit, but not enough to give her much confidence with me going towards her with the ten horsepower dingy. She had all rights to have no confidence in me cause I had never run one of those little outboard motors. I also had never run one attached to a little teeny boat like that with way too much water in it that brought the bow up too high to see what was in front of it. Oh and the lagoon had 2 foot waves in it. I thought about backing out of my volunteering, but I silently talked myself into it, after staring at the engine long enough. It took me a minute or two to figure out how to put the motor down, and then to get it running. I was secretly worried about making a complete ass out of myself with all those people watching. I got it started and then headed to shore. After a minute or two of heading straight in I saw the flat water that marked the reef, and the end of it. I wondered if those watching me thought I would just run the little dingy up on the reef. I ran it out in front of her about ten feet shut the motor off and she managed to pull herself onboard and we headed back to the boat.
We sailed out past the rental boat ("b" boat) range (6 miles) inside the lagoon and kept going another 3 miles. It rained most of the time on the way out. No one really cared. Some were sheltered from some of the rain, some just sat there and got wet. Everyone just talked and had a great time. James and I later talked about how easy it would be to lose someone overboard on a cruise like that. Even if you managed to realize they were missing, going back to find them in the dark would be extremely tough. No one fell overboard, and everyone had a great time, especially me.
Here's a pic James took after I helped them dock the boat....and another terrible one out at sail
The boat is called the Cherokee. It's a 1968 homebuilt trimaran sailboat. I didn't take any pictures cause my water proof camera wasn't waterproof. The boat is owned by 3 less than silent partners and a few silent ones, that aren't so silent. The original three, Paul, TC and John spent 3 years sailing around out here. By "Out here" I mean Indonesia, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, and a few others I can't recall. Paul is leaving tomorrow so it was his "PCS" ing party. I forget what the acronym means, but he's leaving Kwaj. I just met him about a month ago. He showed up to Frisbee. He kind of reminds me of Robert Redford, but he's maybe 5 years older than I, but in good shape 'cause he more than kept up playing Frisbee. One other thing I love about Ultimate is that it completely gives you great insight into the quality of a person. Maybe all group sports are like that, I don't really know. Its just, you can tell a lot about a person by their sportsmanship, which is why I miss my friends that I played with back home. All incredibly great people to be around. Paul and TC show that same great sportsmanship.
So after last Friday's Ultimate Game, where Paul drank a few beers at the field with us, then later showed up at the Vets Hall, which James and I stopped by on the way back to the Shire. He told us "You guys are coming sailing with me next Tuesday, it will be a sunset cruise". Jordan was standing there when he invited us and he told Paul "Stop inviting Dudes, you need to invite some chicks". So I kind of assumed there would be 10 or 12 dudes.
I ran to the store right after work to get a bottle of wine. On my way I passed the marina where I saw Paul and someone getting in the dingy to go get Cherokee. At the store, at least 3 different people asked me something about "going out on the Cherokee". I get to the small boat marina (its for boats under a hundred feet), and there's a few people there, like 12. Monica and Kacie, Gail and ........... I keep looking and there's quite a few people there. The small boat marina is closed during the week. Closed as far as renting a boat, which is the only reason anyone might go there. So I run out and help them dock Cherokee. In the next half hour, 33 people go on board. 33 people!! 33 really great people. Ok so I only knew 25 of them, but still. Older people (a few near 70) and mostly younger (than me) people. So we get motoring out of the harbor, and I see Dan (from Alaska married to Karen both around 37) starting to undo the sails. When I had seen Cherokee out in the lagoon a few times, Paul was just motoring to where they were going, no sails. Tonight, the sails were coming out! Its just cooler with sails. After he did his kind of "welcome aboard and safety speech" he said that we have to pick someone up at "North Point", which is just the north end of Kwaj. I kind of wondered how that was all going to work out. We got up there, and he asked for an adventurous volunteer. I didn't really know what the adventure was. I got in the dingy that we were dragging behind, and went and picked up Liz who was swimming out about a quarter mile away, and closer to the reef than you would want to take a big boat. Liz is from Australia. She's a few inches shorter than me, and has dread locks and piercings and tattoos. I've seen her around, and talked to her a little bit, but not enough to give her much confidence with me going towards her with the ten horsepower dingy. She had all rights to have no confidence in me cause I had never run one of those little outboard motors. I also had never run one attached to a little teeny boat like that with way too much water in it that brought the bow up too high to see what was in front of it. Oh and the lagoon had 2 foot waves in it. I thought about backing out of my volunteering, but I silently talked myself into it, after staring at the engine long enough. It took me a minute or two to figure out how to put the motor down, and then to get it running. I was secretly worried about making a complete ass out of myself with all those people watching. I got it started and then headed to shore. After a minute or two of heading straight in I saw the flat water that marked the reef, and the end of it. I wondered if those watching me thought I would just run the little dingy up on the reef. I ran it out in front of her about ten feet shut the motor off and she managed to pull herself onboard and we headed back to the boat.
We sailed out past the rental boat ("b" boat) range (6 miles) inside the lagoon and kept going another 3 miles. It rained most of the time on the way out. No one really cared. Some were sheltered from some of the rain, some just sat there and got wet. Everyone just talked and had a great time. James and I later talked about how easy it would be to lose someone overboard on a cruise like that. Even if you managed to realize they were missing, going back to find them in the dark would be extremely tough. No one fell overboard, and everyone had a great time, especially me.
Here's a pic James took after I helped them dock the boat....and another terrible one out at sail
Sunday, July 12, 2015
If you think you are lucky, I can definitely ONE UP you! July 11, 2015
Not only did I manage to find this job, with all it direct benefits (ie pay, tax benefits, great island, etc), the, no THE best indirect benefit they didn't really discuss with me when the human resources people talked about my contract, just manifested itself. That benefit would be the 27ft, twin engine cabin cruiser that I am allowed to take out. There are two others on the island that can take it out too, one is over it, and the other wants to take it out for scuba diving but has no one to go with. So basically, I have a boat out here I can take out whenever I want, and take whomever I want to take.
I went wakeboarding today, off the back of a 27 ft cabin cruiser in the south pacific, just off this beautiful island called Carlson, with 6 really great people. My roommate Jim. Jim, who recently decided to be called "Jim" because there are too many "James"'s on the island. Jim is 6'4" tall and around 220lbs, and his heart is about 8ft tall and 500lbs. Then there was Julia, or Dr. Heinz or Heins, or, well I call her Julia. She's smaller, about 5'4" and a hundred pounds and close to my age. She's from Alaska, where she learned to surf, and is out here with her daughter, Zayla, who also surfs. I've heard she has this completely gorgeous house in Haines, on the side of some cliff or mountain or something with incredible windows and views. Jordan, who I don't really know too well, but he's done a good bit of travelling around the world. He's about 6ft, maybe 165lbs, dark haired, funny and very athletic, especially at Frisbee. Lisa is from Cleveland, or a suburb. She is Seans' girlfriend, and a great cook and dinner party hostess. She does a lot of house sitting out here, which just means she gets to live in a nice house, and invite many of us over for dinner parties and not have to stay in her BQ (Bachelor Quarters). She's early 40's, and retired from the air force. Sean has been one of the nicest guys out here to me. I met him surfing. He's included me in so much fun early on that I will be forever in his debt. He invited me out with his buddy Tim, on the B Boat when we went snorkeling and spearfishing and to those dinner parties where Lisa has pirated a house. Tim was the youngest out on the boat today, and the best surfer by far. He's low to mid thirties dark hair, around 5'9" and stocky. I'm really not sure what he does out here, except he's part of the crew on one of the larger boats that I have no idea what they do out here. He's pretty observant, sharp and a great guy to have out with you on the boat because he's just so aware of everything about boating.
So that's the crew I was with today. That's the people I invited on "my" little yacht out here in this beautiful place where I am so grateful to be.
We wakeboarded. It was choppy, but still fun for everyone including me, cause that boat puts out huge wake. After we got back, (I'll have to skip some cool stuff) and I did all that I needed to do to the boat, Jim and I were heading back to the Shire. The Yacht club is on the way, and they were out there with the small "Sunfish" sailboats playing in the lagoon. Apparently, Sunfish are pretty popular small sailboats. We stopped, because I was hopin to go out on the Hobie Cat catamaran they have. Instead, I got "signed off" on the "sunfish". You have to take it out and do a few "jibes" and "tacks" and then dump it, or capsize it and recover it to get the sign off. If you look at those silly little boats sailing around out there, they don't look like much fun. Its much better if you are in them. We had light winds tonight, but they were still fun to get up and cruising. I can imagine if the winds were higher...
So, yea, I'm pretty lucky.
I went wakeboarding today, off the back of a 27 ft cabin cruiser in the south pacific, just off this beautiful island called Carlson, with 6 really great people. My roommate Jim. Jim, who recently decided to be called "Jim" because there are too many "James"'s on the island. Jim is 6'4" tall and around 220lbs, and his heart is about 8ft tall and 500lbs. Then there was Julia, or Dr. Heinz or Heins, or, well I call her Julia. She's smaller, about 5'4" and a hundred pounds and close to my age. She's from Alaska, where she learned to surf, and is out here with her daughter, Zayla, who also surfs. I've heard she has this completely gorgeous house in Haines, on the side of some cliff or mountain or something with incredible windows and views. Jordan, who I don't really know too well, but he's done a good bit of travelling around the world. He's about 6ft, maybe 165lbs, dark haired, funny and very athletic, especially at Frisbee. Lisa is from Cleveland, or a suburb. She is Seans' girlfriend, and a great cook and dinner party hostess. She does a lot of house sitting out here, which just means she gets to live in a nice house, and invite many of us over for dinner parties and not have to stay in her BQ (Bachelor Quarters). She's early 40's, and retired from the air force. Sean has been one of the nicest guys out here to me. I met him surfing. He's included me in so much fun early on that I will be forever in his debt. He invited me out with his buddy Tim, on the B Boat when we went snorkeling and spearfishing and to those dinner parties where Lisa has pirated a house. Tim was the youngest out on the boat today, and the best surfer by far. He's low to mid thirties dark hair, around 5'9" and stocky. I'm really not sure what he does out here, except he's part of the crew on one of the larger boats that I have no idea what they do out here. He's pretty observant, sharp and a great guy to have out with you on the boat because he's just so aware of everything about boating.
So that's the crew I was with today. That's the people I invited on "my" little yacht out here in this beautiful place where I am so grateful to be.
We wakeboarded. It was choppy, but still fun for everyone including me, cause that boat puts out huge wake. After we got back, (I'll have to skip some cool stuff) and I did all that I needed to do to the boat, Jim and I were heading back to the Shire. The Yacht club is on the way, and they were out there with the small "Sunfish" sailboats playing in the lagoon. Apparently, Sunfish are pretty popular small sailboats. We stopped, because I was hopin to go out on the Hobie Cat catamaran they have. Instead, I got "signed off" on the "sunfish". You have to take it out and do a few "jibes" and "tacks" and then dump it, or capsize it and recover it to get the sign off. If you look at those silly little boats sailing around out there, they don't look like much fun. Its much better if you are in them. We had light winds tonight, but they were still fun to get up and cruising. I can imagine if the winds were higher...
So, yea, I'm pretty lucky.
Friday, July 10, 2015
July...whatever, 2015
I'm going out on the F@#$ ....ok I can't talk about it here. I'm going out on the best .....ok well I'm going out on a boat (minus some really really cool explatives, and narratives and other " 'tives'.) Its like the deal with FIGHT CLUB. The first rule of (I can't say) is that we don't talk about (I can't say). Let me compare this whole experience, that I'm going to have with.....well I'll draw an analogy with caving. Cavers, who never, ever call themselves "spelunkers" unless of course they are European tourists, only use superlatives as loosely as I am at this moment, when they refer to "never ever" tell other people where the caves are. It is a very very secret deal the cavers have. I now have a complete respect for them, not because of the arduous journeys they take to the beautiful armpits of the earth, but because of the quiet nature they do it with, because of the intelligence of keeping things to themselves, in spite of the huge call we humans have to "brag" about our experiences. Thinking about all this now, please expect my facebook posts to be much more boring and vague (and yes I realize they were pretty bad already). I guess it's one sad thing about the internet...the more you talk about an experience, the more one "brags" or "boasts" or even just "enjoys" an experience "out loud" the more that "experience" has the potential to be adulterated by others with no respect for how hard your journey to that place was.
My first little example of this, which I share often, is of the great time I had in Alaska. Two months, homeless with two really great people in kayaks. We explored 1000 miles of shoreline, saw things up close and personal. Killer wales beside us miles from shore, Humpback wales under the kayaks....there just isn't time here in this analogy to completely describe the beauty of being there in person bearing witness to so many incredible circumstances (I have to throw in "Grizzly Bears"). I brought back thousands of pictures when I returned home to Ohio. A thousand pictures not just from me but from the rest of us in the group, and our extended hitchhiking group. When I went to share them with people, with all the excitement of just having come home from this extrafabulatitistic journey, I narrowed the number of my pictures down to 50. I thought, knowing the patience of people looking at vacation pictures that 50 was pretty good. 50 out of a thousand. I think the second person I showed them to said, and yes I sadly quote "yea I saw that on the discovery channel". I stopped showing pictures after that.
Ok, that example is is not a great example of why cavers keep their stuff secret, more of me bitching. The real example or reason not to be to detailed online about the locations you visit that people are too lazy to discover for themselves, is that it will completely ruin it. People find it, and people screw it up.
We played ultimate tonight. Paul showed up. He's not only a great frisbee player but he's part owner in a trimaran that has been around the world. He's basically a hero for me. He told us, while we sat around having a few beers after frisbee, about some of the places he had been out here a while ago, and how he has recently revisited them. One place, had a phenomenal beach break for surfing. Ten years ago, he said, he had it all to himself. When he went back last month, "the second richest guy in the world" was there with huge catamarns, and noisy helicopters, and he was "clearly not happy about me being there". He had other stories about other beautiful places adultrated by people. I guess that's how we roll unfortunately.
I also got an invite to go sailing Tuesday night with a great group of people out here on a Trimaran that has been out and about for 2 years with Paul, TC and John.
My first little example of this, which I share often, is of the great time I had in Alaska. Two months, homeless with two really great people in kayaks. We explored 1000 miles of shoreline, saw things up close and personal. Killer wales beside us miles from shore, Humpback wales under the kayaks....there just isn't time here in this analogy to completely describe the beauty of being there in person bearing witness to so many incredible circumstances (I have to throw in "Grizzly Bears"). I brought back thousands of pictures when I returned home to Ohio. A thousand pictures not just from me but from the rest of us in the group, and our extended hitchhiking group. When I went to share them with people, with all the excitement of just having come home from this extrafabulatitistic journey, I narrowed the number of my pictures down to 50. I thought, knowing the patience of people looking at vacation pictures that 50 was pretty good. 50 out of a thousand. I think the second person I showed them to said, and yes I sadly quote "yea I saw that on the discovery channel". I stopped showing pictures after that.
Ok, that example is is not a great example of why cavers keep their stuff secret, more of me bitching. The real example or reason not to be to detailed online about the locations you visit that people are too lazy to discover for themselves, is that it will completely ruin it. People find it, and people screw it up.
We played ultimate tonight. Paul showed up. He's not only a great frisbee player but he's part owner in a trimaran that has been around the world. He's basically a hero for me. He told us, while we sat around having a few beers after frisbee, about some of the places he had been out here a while ago, and how he has recently revisited them. One place, had a phenomenal beach break for surfing. Ten years ago, he said, he had it all to himself. When he went back last month, "the second richest guy in the world" was there with huge catamarns, and noisy helicopters, and he was "clearly not happy about me being there". He had other stories about other beautiful places adultrated by people. I guess that's how we roll unfortunately.
I also got an invite to go sailing Tuesday night with a great group of people out here on a Trimaran that has been out and about for 2 years with Paul, TC and John.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
July 5th, 2015
I am having trouble writing here. I mean I know at least one of my sisters reads this blog, which I started kind of for her, but also a way to chronicle my thoughts and probably more just as therapy for me. This is my way of talking thru things, and of remembering things, and of just journaling. The reason I'm having a bit of trouble is that I love my sisters, but I can't go back and this probably isn't the place that Heather should read this.
Last month I struggled with the whole "how do people live this transient lifestyle"..."how do folks walk away from friends...from family". I still really don't know the answer to those questions, but the bigger thing for me is "how do I not continue on" ...."how do I not buy a boat and just go". I've had that dream in the back of my head for so long it hurts. Life in the states, comfortable as it was, barely sustainable as it was, kept that dream/this dream so far in the back of my possibilities list that there was no point thinking about it. I wrote it off so much, so easily. I was spending $200 a month on my cell phone, internet, Netflix, and hot spot. In the Philippines I can have a 1500 square foot house on the beach for that alone. I was spending $350 for a car, not counting the gas, and that is incredibly cheap for a car. I only needed the car to take me to work, which I needed to pay for the car, that sat motionless all day. I needed the work to pay for my home, that I left empty most of the day so I could go to the job to pay for it.
Whatever you decide to do, is less about money, and more about desire. I walked away from a $70k job 12 years ago, I hung my uniform on the quote "you only get one chance at life, you should choose to be happy". I grew to hate the place (UPS) and I had 18 more years to go before I could retire. I decided that you only get one chance to live, and that...THAT wasn't going to be how I was going to do it.
Which ........
Last month I struggled with the whole "how do people live this transient lifestyle"..."how do folks walk away from friends...from family". I still really don't know the answer to those questions, but the bigger thing for me is "how do I not continue on" ...."how do I not buy a boat and just go". I've had that dream in the back of my head for so long it hurts. Life in the states, comfortable as it was, barely sustainable as it was, kept that dream/this dream so far in the back of my possibilities list that there was no point thinking about it. I wrote it off so much, so easily. I was spending $200 a month on my cell phone, internet, Netflix, and hot spot. In the Philippines I can have a 1500 square foot house on the beach for that alone. I was spending $350 for a car, not counting the gas, and that is incredibly cheap for a car. I only needed the car to take me to work, which I needed to pay for the car, that sat motionless all day. I needed the work to pay for my home, that I left empty most of the day so I could go to the job to pay for it.
Whatever you decide to do, is less about money, and more about desire. I walked away from a $70k job 12 years ago, I hung my uniform on the quote "you only get one chance at life, you should choose to be happy". I grew to hate the place (UPS) and I had 18 more years to go before I could retire. I decided that you only get one chance to live, and that...THAT wasn't going to be how I was going to do it.
Which ........
Saturday, July 4, 2015
July 4th....2015
This whole blog deal, was mainly for me and a way for my sisters to keep up with me. I love them, and despite my not being completely in their lives, they love me, and I know it. It's also a journal for me, a little stupid chronicle for when I'm older and maybe need some reflecting. Ok, so there are other reasons too, one of them being self therapy maybe. It makes me feel good to write about all this. Here is a "cut and paste" from an email I sent to my middle sister tonight
Ok, I'm drunk.....
Which makes me happy. I was riding my bike back from the bar, thinking about what you told Miles and Kay for some reason. You told me that Miles said something along the lines of "He can fall in a pile of shit and come out smelling like roses". ..and you told him I had "never fallen in a pile of shit". Metaphorically I did. You may have forgotten this, but I'm sure I told you....I was being lowered into manholes sixty feet deep with sewers on the bottom, and it was going to get worse. I did come out smelling like roses.
Of course, I was smiling when they lowered me....and I'm smiling now
Love it.
The Vets Hall tonight had a great band from Hawaii. They played a lot of cover music. Awesome. I danced with Shonna, who, for some reason (I'll attribute it to drunkenness) was very friendly tonight. She's from Alaska, and cannot wait to leave this island. She says its better in Alaska. I can't imagine. It's kind of a crap shoot out here, depending on who you talk to. Some love it, some don't. Obviously, I'm a lover of this place, however I can now officially say "I fell in a pile of shit and came out smelling like roses" . Its my parents, and my sisters who gave me this attitude, and I will forever be thankful. I actually had some brains when I was younger and thanked Mom and Dad for everything they did for me.
I wrote then erased "I had no idea the profound effect they had on my life" (in regards to my parents) .....Apparently I did. Sending those letters I sent to them at their jobs when I was much younger, thanking them for ...everything I could think of...is one of the larger moments of pride in my life. I've heard that "being grateful" is a big part of being happy. My sisters, at the time, like anyone would expect a sibling to be, called me a "brown noser" ..pretty much a "kiss ass". YUP.
Ok, I'm drunk.....
Which makes me happy. I was riding my bike back from the bar, thinking about what you told Miles and Kay for some reason. You told me that Miles said something along the lines of "He can fall in a pile of shit and come out smelling like roses". ..and you told him I had "never fallen in a pile of shit". Metaphorically I did. You may have forgotten this, but I'm sure I told you....I was being lowered into manholes sixty feet deep with sewers on the bottom, and it was going to get worse. I did come out smelling like roses.
Of course, I was smiling when they lowered me....and I'm smiling now
Love it.
The Vets Hall tonight had a great band from Hawaii. They played a lot of cover music. Awesome. I danced with Shonna, who, for some reason (I'll attribute it to drunkenness) was very friendly tonight. She's from Alaska, and cannot wait to leave this island. She says its better in Alaska. I can't imagine. It's kind of a crap shoot out here, depending on who you talk to. Some love it, some don't. Obviously, I'm a lover of this place, however I can now officially say "I fell in a pile of shit and came out smelling like roses" . Its my parents, and my sisters who gave me this attitude, and I will forever be thankful. I actually had some brains when I was younger and thanked Mom and Dad for everything they did for me.
I wrote then erased "I had no idea the profound effect they had on my life" (in regards to my parents) .....Apparently I did. Sending those letters I sent to them at their jobs when I was much younger, thanking them for ...everything I could think of...is one of the larger moments of pride in my life. I've heard that "being grateful" is a big part of being happy. My sisters, at the time, like anyone would expect a sibling to be, called me a "brown noser" ..pretty much a "kiss ass". YUP.
Friday, July 3, 2015
July 3rd, 2015
Its a great combination. The adrenaline from Frisbee, the energy of good people hanging out, and ...of course Beer. Combine the endorphins from running with the energy of good folks and throw a few too many beers in there. Also you can get some redundancy. I was smiling all night talking to everyone, just feeling great, because everyone is having a great time. Before Frisbee I went to Jobie's place and took his wakeboard. I had an idea where he lived, well not exactly. I got close, and found Sarah, Ted's wife out behind her home with one of her self proclaimed "Hellion" children. She kind of pointed me in the direction of Jobie and Ambers "house", The houses here don't exactly look like homes in the states, they are more Frank Lloyd Wright style shoe boxes. There was a bit of an issue in my head because Jobie had told me to just come to his back porch and take his wakeboard if I wanted it. I wasn't completely comfortable with that so I got his phone number and called , only to leave a message asking to borrow the wakeboard that he said to take. I did the facebook thing with his wife Amber about it, but hadn't heard back. I learned tonight she was on the "Worthy" "sailing" back from Australia. For some reason people with boats with no sails, call it "sailing" even if its just "motoring". Apparently, my primary need of wakeboarding trumped the need to be polite with Jobie. I knocked on the back door of his shoe box, no one answered, so I swiped the board sitting on his back porch. I'm fairly certain that will not be one of the reason I go to hell.
I'll fix this later...
I'll fix this later...
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