My Camel Broke Down

New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog

2007-04-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog

Hiya folks,

I've started a new blog, with a title that I like much better and I think fits me better too. I think I'm going to just continue posting as usual, but on the new blog. So, if you don't see anything new here for a while, check the new blog. That's where all the action is.

NEW BLOG!!!! "Knot Proficient"

http://knotproficient.blogspot.com

Come visit me there!

Cheers!

New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog New Blog

Surprise Returns!

2007-03-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up late last Sunday morning. This caused me to make a mad rush to get ready, and head down to San Diego. I drove way too fast to get down there on time, because I was worried that if I missed muster or was late, I wouldn't get a chance to head down to the shipyard to sail the Surprise back to the museum. Turns out I rushed for nothing. I was stopped short during my power walk from the parking lot to the Star by the sighting of a beautiful tallship coming around the back of one of the cruise ships. It was she! Oh beautiful ship of the sea!

Muster was thus a little disorganized, because as we usually give Jim Davis our undivided attention, too many of us kept sneaking looks over the bulwark at the Surprise as she maneuvered in the bay to get into better position for approaching the docks. Eventually Jim let us go, and there was quite a crowd that headed over to the dock where the Surprise was coming in.

She came in a bit of a wonky angle, and attempted to take out the aluminum walkway with her whisker boom, but eventually with the help of the Pilot and a line to the Star, we brought her home. After the gangway was fixed to her ramp, we piled on and began the long process of clearing her decks of the all the detritus of the weeks in dry dock. Tools went back to the Berkeley, junk was swept up, etc. I eventually headed below, and found an even bigger mess. A bunch of us began cleaning up the partial gun deck, and since all the gun barrels had been removed from their cradles, we proceeded to put them back to rights. I'm still sore from all the heavy lifting and maneuvering in tight, cramped spaces, but it was fun nonetheless.

After a few hours of cleaning up, sweeping, moving heavy objects, and putting all the parts of the unstepped mizzen mast on the poop deck, it was time to call it a day. Unfortunately (well, I guess fortunately really) the museum has decided to replace all the shrouds on the mizzen mast, which means months more work, and little chance that we (the Surprise crew) will get our long awaited chance to sail on her till probably the end of summer. *sigh*

Cheers!

Pictures!

2007-02-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures, courtesy of one of my esteemed crewmates, Bert Creighton.

That's me, over on the right, in the green shirt and white sleeves.

This is me, back in August, splicing new ratlines as part of my contribution to the refitting of the Surprise. That splice I'm working on is now up on the Mizzen.

The Surprise, gone on holiday. She's waiting to be taken in the shipyard, so this was a few days ago. I can't wait till she comes back home. Then we'll be able to take her out for a bit of a sail!

Thanks for the pictures, Bert!
L.

On Submarines, Jackets, and Stupid Tests

2007-02-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend saw a break in my mad rush of student teaching, and was a wonderful opening to what is so far turning out to be a nice relaxing week off from school. Sunday started off cloudy and warm from the storms and Santa Ana winds, even in San Diego. Even though during crew muster I didn't get picked to go down to the shipyards and work on the Surprise, I did get selected to work on the submarine. This is normally a dubious honor, but it beats getting stuck down in the engine room of the Medea, cleaning...as it turned out, it was quite lovely. I stood out on the tail of the sub, painting black over all the bird shit that had accumulated, making the sub look even worse (if that's possible) than usual.

We at the Maritime Museum have a kind of loathing for this big, black hunk of junk. We are constantly joking about ways to sink it without having a negative effect on the harbor. Yet there is still floats (barely) by the Berkeley, taking up valuable space. I guess it gives the tourists who visit our museum a thrill to force themselves through the cramped little spaces and hatches in that crappy Russian contraption. Looking at subs like that, I can only wonder why we considered the Russians such a threat for so long.

Anyway, standing on the tail end was quite pleasant because the weather had cleared, a nice warm breeze blew around me, and I had wonderful salt water all around me. Second great thing that happened was we got our jackets. The crew at the museum wear these nice, tough canvas Carhartt jackets, embroidered with the museum's logo and crew on it. We got to order some last month, and they finally came. Those of us who are new enough to the crew to not have our own jackets were overjoyed. Some of us even joked about sleeping in our jackets when we got home (not that I...would do such...a thing.....). So now I've been thoroughly enjoying my very warm, comfy jacket that marks me as a full fledged crew member of the Maritime Museum wherever I go. Yay!

Finally the best news, I passed the last part of the state test that allows me to get my teaching certification in June. This was a HUGE relief because if I hadn't passed it, I would have had to stop student teaching and waited till the fall of this year to start over, once I had passed it. I just have to say though, that I didn't study for this test. I didn't study for either of the two parts of the test (which is all about art, techniques and history). I mean, I know I should have studied...but just the fact that I didn't and still passed it....well. That just tells me how far the state has to go before they take Art Teachers seriously. And it tells me that I think I'm going to devote a significant portion of my future career in developing appropriate art education for California public schools. I just want people to take art seriously!

That's all for now! Ta!
L.

Valentine's Day SUCKS...sort of...

2007-02-14T22:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have always hated Valentine's Day. ALWAYS. It has something to do with not having any form of a significant other in my life... I really appreciate the fact that my wonderful stepdad always manages to do something nice for me on V-Day, but still. Today was a little different, however. For the first time in my life, I was approached by several cute little middle schoolers, wished a Happy Valentine's Day, and given candy.

Funny, how most of the other teachers I have met and talked to at my school say that middle schoolers are little monsters, but I kinda like them. Yes, there are 42 of them, last period of the day, and they have access to clay which is very easy to throw...but still. They all love to make things with clay. This is the second week I've been teaching them, and I am constantly surprised. They will probably never know or realize how cool I think they are. Hopefully I will not regret saying that before June 22....

Anyway, here's to a not so terrible Valentine's Day, thanks to a bunch of rather thoughtful 12 and 13 year olds.

Ta!
L.

The Dying Moon

2007-01-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

The Moon, setting behind an oil rig on the horizon.

GO GATORS!!!

2007-01-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 2007 National Champions - the Florida Gators!

All Hail The Victors of the West!

2007-01-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

It is sort of ridiculous how Michigan fans call themselves "the Victors of the West." I guess when that song was written when Michigan was considered the West...but now it seems kind of inappropriate. Especially since yesterday, once again, USC beat Michigan at the Rose Bowl. I almost feel sorry for Michigan. This is the fourth time in a row that Michigan has gone to the Rose Bowl, and been beaten. Maybe they'll get the hint and stop coming!

Funny watching these guys at the game, without a tv!

This is hard to see, but there, walking towards the middle of the field is the Man and his henchman, Darth Vader.

The Men of Troy.

Whoohoo! Beat the Wolverines! (again)

We beat Michigan! We beat Michigan! (again)

St. Shannon (for getting the tickets), in the middle, Billy, and Chris.

Who knows what will happen next year? Maybe we will see Michigan again! And beat them! Again! Happy New Year!

Star Sail Crew 2006

2006-12-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

It occured to me that I had not posted anything on working on Sail Crew in a long time. The last post I wrote was about how I'd been put on the mizzen crew on the Surprise. Well...A lot has happened since then. I guess I hadn't written about the Surprise in a while because I was so crushed, and after a while, I didn't know how to talk about it.

First off, we spent several weekends after my last post's doings, sail training. We would set all sails dockside, and pretend that we were out sailing. Captain Welton would give out commands, and the mast captains would pass them to us. "All hand prepare to wear ship!" meant that we would man the braces and get ready wear the ship. On one memorable Sunday, Captain Welton suddenly called out "Missed stays!" which threw most people into confusion. But somehow everyone figured it out and we all managed to be in the right places to follow the next orders to bring the ship back into the wind and try turning again (missed stays means that in a tack the ship has lost its ability to turn and can't finish the tack. Not a great thing to happen.) We figured it out! And slowly we, as the crew of the Surprise, got better and better, and faster as well (with the topmen able to furl the sails in 45 minutes instead of an hour and a half).

And then a big weekend came up. Captain Welton had arranged for us to take the Surprise out the two Sundays before the big sail. We wanted to make sure that we wouldn't make asses of ourselves in front of everyone, like backing up into the sub and sinking it or something (which isn't necessarily a bad thing really...). We even made arrangements for specially ordered lunches those Sundays. But alas...it was not to be. If it had happened, I surely would have plastered this blog with my recounts of the wondrous event.

We mustered on the Surprise at 7:30 with a sense of trepidation. I already knew we weren't going out, because I had placed the lunch order at work, and Captain Welton had emailed me to tell me to cancel it if I still could. But still...I had no idea it would be as disappointing as it turned out to be. We mustered, and Jim Davis, the mate of the Star, showed up to tell us what happened. The Coast Guard had been told of our coming excursions and reacted badly to it. Someone (whose name will not be mentioned) asked them permission, even though sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness. And the Coast Guard decided that we weren't properly registered and so couldn't go out.

Its all in a name. We couldn't sail because the ship was registered as a yatch. So what?! The bottom line is that the Surprise needs a Certificate of Inspection, and do to that, she has to be dry-docked. Which won't happen till at least February, and depends on the availability of the dockyard and the 40K needed to haul out her delicate 500+ ton self.

The Museum spent that morning doing what they could for the 50 or so of us that were now stuck without a ship to sail in two weeks, and suffering because of our long weeks of hard work for nothing. (I shouldn't say for nothing, because the Surprise looks so much better now, and something about her feels better too. She's ready, we just need permission now.) They offered to split the museum crew into A and B with each half going one of the two days of sail on the Star. But we didn't want to do that because it would be unfair to the Star crew and ackward for us, not knowing how to work the Star. They offered to give us the left over spots of people who didn't show up come muster time on the Sail weekend. There would only be a few spots, but some of us who'd never sailed before would get a chance to experience it. We pondered that. And they said that once our ship had been cleared, we could have a couple of good sail weekends to go out and have a blast. There was even talk of overnight weekends, because the Surprise is qualified for that. But all that would have to wait till probably March.

So, at the end of the meeting, we were all very unhappy and depressed. I think many of us were a little angry too, including our captain. But apparently we impressed the Museum by our show of solidarity as a crew and voting unanimously to wait till March instead of taking the other options. The Star crew nearly made a few of us cry a little later by standing on the poop deck of the Star and giving us a three cheers.

We spent the rest of the day continuing sail training, and same on the following Sunday. But a lot of our momentum had been lost. We are not giving up on our ship. Far from it. The silver lining of this whole incident is that we have until February to get the Surprise looking as best as absolutely possible. For me this means that I can now start on my long desired project of replacing the rotting hammock netting around the sides of the ship. With my schedule and the holidays coming up, this will probably take till February to finish. But it will be worth it. Everyting about this ship is worth it. And that's the way we all feel. One crew, the museum says, one crew, three ships. But we also thing we are a bit of three crews too. I know from sailing on the Californian, two weeks later and taking copious pictures of the Star looking gorgeous off the coast of California, that it was a great experience, but I would have given anything to have been on the Surprise out there too.

His Nibs, Prince Charlie

2006-11-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

This was almost my dog. For the live auction part of this year's annual Armenian EyeCare Project fundraiser, a puppy was purchased. It was my job to care for him all day, until the fundraiser at 6:30, and then till 8, when his number was up for grabs. I will never do this again. Most people would laugh when I seriously said I'd be stuck with a puppy all day. "That's great!" is what they'd say. But it was much harder and much more painful than I'd ever care to experience again. The reason? He is the sweetest, mellowist, easygoing, friendly 9 week old puppy you will ever see. Usually puppies tend to be hyper and happy. He is very quiet, but very friendly, and likes nothing more than to curl up on your lap, using your forearm as a pillow. I wanted to keep this puppy very badly, and my family was almost convinced to get him, but in the end, alas, we did not. Instead, the next best thing, Charlie was purchased by some close family friends, and I have been promised future interactions with him.

Till next time, Charlie! I miss you!

Mains'l Haul!

2006-10-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

The last two sundays in San Diego have been the most rewarding time I've ever spent at the Museum. Why, you ask? Well let me tell you.

The Sunday before last, the topmen on our crew finished the last of the bending on of sails. We were also sorted into our seperate little crews on deck. For each of the three masts, there is a Mast Captain. They select however many people they need for each mast to efficiently tend the lines that work the gear and sails. They also have to make sure that for each mast they have enough people who can go aloft (the topmen) and a Top Captain, who is in charge of the yards, etc.

Somehow I got lucky enough to get the posting I wanted. I'm on the Mizzen crew. There are eight of us, since the mizzen mast is the "simplest" of the three. It only has two square sails on it, the mizzen topsail and the mizzen topgallant (tops'l and t'gallant), and the spanker (which does double duty as a rudder for the ship). The mast is located on the ship's quarterdeck, where the helm is and where the Captain will spend most of his time. So, we will be guaranteed of hearing the orders first hand, AND we have a pretty spectacular view behind us. I will tell you why that is important in a minute.

The lines for the mizzen are relatively simple too. We have a pinrail on either side of the quarterdeck, as well as the fife rail around the mainmast itself, and the fife rail on the mizzen, which basically controls the spanker. After the week before last and this past Sunday, I think I have pretty much all the lines we are concerned with memorized. Which was handy this last Sunday, because on our pin rail, there are two pins on either side that have to do with the mainmast, and we get the main crew trapsing about the place constantly. I had to stop a couple of them from taking our mizzen topsail clew off the pin instead of their main t'gallant brace from their pin. (pictures to follow for those who haven't got a 'clew' of what I'm talking about)

So, the week before last, we divided up into our masts, and went about setting all the sails. We had to make sure that nothing was fouled or stuck, that gear wouldn't come tumbling down from aloft and hurt anyone. This was the very first time that the working sails of the ship had been set since they brought the Surprise to the Museum, a year and a half ago. Some of us went out onto the Embarcadero to take a look at our beautiful old girl. She was drawing quite a crowd too. She looked spectacular. And you could tell that the ship wanted to go, especially since she was working hard at pulling the floating pier off its docking collar.

After all the excitement, we doused all the sails and stowed them on their respective yards. We cleaned up the deck and hung all the lines back on their pins. I think we were all really pleased that things had worked out so well.

This last Sunday was even more exciting. We started on sail drills. We set all the sails, and worked as one crew to tack and wear the ship (dockside) under the commands of our Captain and Mast Captains. We spent the morning doing this three times. The first time took a while, because we'd never done it before. The second time was better, and the third time was much improved. The Captain seemed to be pretty pleased at how we all did. On our respective masts, we were working out the kinks of who was to be on what line at any given time, and how to efficiently and safely carry out all the commands. I think we did pretty well on the mizzen. After clearing the decks, dousing the sails, and cleaning everything up, we all felt pretty good about the fact that we were actually working well as a crew and that the ship was looking better and better.

And now, why is it important that we have that great view off the stern? Well, the sails on the Surprise are so unbelievably big that when they are set, you can't see down the length of the boat. In fact, you can't see anything. The mains'l is so huge that you can only see people on the forward side of it from the knees down. So, the only places on the ship to get a good view of anything when we are sailing will be at the end of the bowsprit, or right at the bow, and the stern. Granted, we will have the Spanker set, but we will still have a pretty good view of the sea.

So, that's what's been happening in San Diego. We are going to be drilling again next weekend, and the weekend after, as well as any other maintenance related issues on board. But I'm really looking forward to Oct. 29th, when we are going to take the Surprise out for her first sea trials. Our captain is utterly determined to do this, as are the crew, however there are a lot of rumors flying around that the Admiralty of the museum (so to speak) are holding back. Still, we can hope and pray that we'll be able to take her out, at least once, before the Sail on Nov. 11. We need to make sure that we don't make complete asses of ourselves getting out of the terrible docking position we are in.

So, lots to look forward to! We've come a long way, and have a long way yet to go. But we'll make it!

Ta!

Long we've tossed on the rolling main,
Now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmates,
ral dee ral dee ral dee ral dee rye eye ho!

Surprise!

2006-09-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Last November I embarked upon a crazy adventure. I joined the Maintenance Crew at the San Diego Maritime Museum. Crazy you ask? How is that crazy? Well, because I have to get up literaly at the crack of dawn to drive down to San Diego on a Sunday morning. Because the drive is an hour and half each way. But I think its worth it. And when I started, they told us about the Test in July, about the selections for Sail Crew if we were worthy enough. A chance to sail on either the Star of India, the Californian or the HMS Surprise? Rock on!

Well, yesterday all the driving, the hard work, the coming home covered in rust and dirt, all the effort was rewarded. I squeaked through the test in July and yesterday we were given the List, telling us who'd been selected for this year's Sail Crew. I did it. And I got the berth I wanted, the HMS Surprise. WHOO HOO!!

Molly, Kirsten, Fiona and I all agreed that yesterday was going to be a good day. And we were right. It was marvelous. The Surprise crew spent the day attempting to bend on sails. Attempting because we had no idea how they were supposed to go on. We resorted to grabbing pictures from the Museum store to see how they were set during filming of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. We all thought that was rather funny. It does tell you, however, how far we have to go before the ship is ready to sail. That so many of the lines aren't yet in their correct places along the pin rails should tell you how successful re-rigging the ship has been. But we are all very enthusiastic about getting her ready. I'm really looking forward to the sail.

Its a long hard road for us though. Next week is the last time we muster at 8:30. After next week, muster is at 7:30 in the morning. I nearly cried when I heard this, but whatever. I gotta do what I gotta do.

Another good thing we that as we were finishing bending on the spanker, I heard someone call out my name. I looked around, and noticed someone calling out from an open window on the upper deck of the Berkeley. It was Pamela! The first mate of the Robert C. Seamans! We had a nice little reunion, and seeing her made me really miss the ship again. *sigh* It was nice seeing her again, and I was glad she got to see me among my museum mates, and the beautiful old ship that we are working so hard to make seaworthy again.

So, here's to the Surprise!

Ta!

RCS Day Two

2006-09-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

The wake up call went through the ship early on Thursday morning, and after manuevering around my neighbors in Sleepy Hollow, I made it out on deck. I was greated by an incredible sight. The sky over the Bay was clear and blue, and the sun was lighting up every thing it touched in that special early morning way. Turning around to see Sausalito, I was startled to discover a huge heavy fog bank covering most of it, and after further inspection, most of the edges of the bay were the same.

Once everyone was up and had eaten breakfast, the Captain got us under way. Once the anchor was raised, we headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which was under part of the fog bank. As we got closer to it, most of it became visible, except for the very tips of the top of the bridge. Pamela, the first mate, was in the middle of giving some of us a run down on the lines and pin rails, but I kept wanting to look at the bridge and take pictures. She realized that some of us had never seen the Gate from this vantage and kindly let us enjoy the experience. I got some beautiful pictures, as well as a video of the passage under the Gate.

As we left the Gate behind, we started to encounter the sea swell that mixed with the bay waters. At this point everything was overcast. I kept mostly to the prow, and even though I was not on watch, I kept the lookout company. I was really enjoying the way the prow kept dipping down and rising up high in the waves. And I was stupidly happy that I didn't feel seasick at all. Well. Let me tell you. That didn't last very long. As soon as I moved aft, I began to feel the effects. I don't really remember much of the rest of the day. I do remember sitting on the dog house roof, staring at the horizon and wishing that the people around me would pipe down so that I could enjoy my misery in silence. Poor Rita, one of my watchmates, she was sick for a long time. Our wonderful steward brought up a large tray of nachos, and I couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to eat anything. I decided to try a piece, and miracle of miracles, I felt better! Salt! It is a wonderful thing. I snacked for a while, and felt a little better, enough so that I could venture below. There I was told that the best way to get over the motion of the ship was to sleep it off. Apparently when you are laying down, your body has an easier time of adjusting. So, off to bed I went. It was very difficult getting into that bunk with the ship rolling about, and my seasickness was back in full force. But I managed.

Somebody decided it was time to wake me, sometime in the early afternoon, for the afternoon meeting and class. Despite my groggy protests, my presence was required, so I stumbled up to the deck. The meeting went fairly quickly, but I was glad in the long run that I had made it on deck because we had reached the Farallon Islands. These Islands are famous for being the largest seabird colony in the United States, outside of Hawaii and Alaska. There is also a large population of seals here, contributing to one of the largest North American populations of Great White sharks. We didn't see any, but we did see a lot of birds, including the Sooty Sheerwater, a bird whose migration route takes it 24,000 miles a year.

After the excitement was over, we were being tossed about by some nice little waves, and I followed the Steward's advice and slept some more. I got in about 3 hours or so before it was our watch's turn to take the deck. The sleep did wonders for me, and I woke in time for the evening meal, which was hot and salty. Just what I needed. I felt great. We came on watch at 7pm, and stayed on watch until 11pm. My first post was forward lookout, which suited me just fine. I thoroughly enjoyed the ship's movements there, dipping down into the huge troughs and rising up high on the peak of the swells. I saw the sunset, and as the weather had cleared a bit, I got to watch the first stars come out. By the time it was totally dark out and I was enjoying finding the constellations, I was called back to the quarterdeck (QD) for boat check. I managed the lower deck, but once we got to the engine room, I started to get really queasy again, so I returned to the deck to do the deck check. I was then assigned to take the wheel.

Let me tell you, there is no feeling in the world like steering a sailing ship in high seas. Or any seas for that matter. I will never forget it. I was given a course to steer by, and while keeping a constant eye on the binacle (the deck compass), I did my best to keep within 5 degrees on either side of the course ordered. It was fun. The huge swells would pick up the ship and then dump her down, and she's veer off course till the swell would let go. Then she would meander back to her original line. Later in the trip, when we had calmer seas, it was easier to keep her on course, but I still thought the swells were fun. I did discover that handling the wheel tended to make my arms sore in strange places. I was still at the helm when our watch was relieved, so I was able to relinquish my control of the ship to B watch. After a short watch meeting, we all clambered down to our bunks and blissfull sleep. Our next watch was after breakfast at 7 the next morning. We would be on watch till 1 in the afternoon.

Ta!

RCS Day One

2006-08-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

As exciting as it might be, I think I'm going to gloss over my arrival and initial adventures in San Francisco. I flew in, and after wandering around Market Street in the city on a tangent adventure, I made my way to the Embarcadero and the Pier where the ship was docked. My lack of success on that tangent adventure resulted in my being 2 hours early to the ship, and was very politely told that we would not be getting under way till the appointed time. So, I had to go find stuff to do for a couple of hours.

Two hours later, I was welcomed aboard along with a small crowd of other budding sailors. I was happy and surprised to see a Maintenance Crew member from the Maritime Museum in San Diego, my friend Scott. I have to say that it was nice to have him there because I noticed that most of my fellow shipmates had connections with other tallships, mostly the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, home of the Exy and Irving Johnson. Also, I was glad that I had included my crew shirt in my kit, allowing me to represent my museum amongst all these LA people. Scott had his shirt too. SDMM was very well represented.

We were all welcomed aboard, and the rules of the ship were explained. We were to be divided into 3 watches made up of 6 volunteer crew (us), a deckhand, a science officer, and a mate. Scott and I ended up in A watch, along with Rita, Alan, Kathryn and Ed. Our deckhand was Nicky, our intrepid science officer was Austen, and our mate was First Mate Pamela. We had a pretty good group. After 7 days together, I have to say that I think we all worked well together, got a long fine, and were in general a pretty good watch.

B Watch consisted of Gerald, Geoff, John, Dave, Steven and Jennifer. I think that their Mate was Carter, deckhand was Amanda and scientist was Skye. C Watch consisted of Doug, David, Bob, Don, Joan and Malcom. If I got B Watch right, then C's mate was Kate, deckhand was AJ and scientist was Sarah. (note: I welcome any corrections to my account.)

Aside from the watches and assigned crew members, there was Captain Binh, visiting Captain Terry, the stewards, Shawn and her assistant Lil, and the engineers, Ted and Seth. They were all called The Others, to be awoken at certain times, to join the off watches for meals and so forth.

After introductions, we were given our bunk assignments and were sent off to stow our stuff and get acquainted with the ship we were going to call home for 7 days. The next few hours were a bit of a blur for me. We left the dock and proceeded out into the Bay, with a nice amount of wind to sail by. We were introduced to the organized chaos of setting sails and maneuvering around the bay. We were rudely tailgated by a touring catamaran and after an hour or so of zipping about on that gorgeous day, found ourselves just off of Sausalito. While the Captain secured the ship at our chosen anchor point, I stood there staring at the incredible view of the Bay, with the city on one side, and the Bay Bridge stretching across. I've only been to SF three times, and this visit was without a doubt the most beautiful.

I think dinner happened at some point, and the rest of the evening was given over to safety proceedures. Each watch had assigned duties in the event of an emergency. Ours included manning the fire hoses, launching the life rafts, getting the launch into the water, etc. Then the entire crew was introduced to the Emersion suits (formerly known as the survival suits). I've seen them before on the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, where the fishermen in the Bering Sea were required to be able to put them on. We were told two minutes was the goal, and the ship's record was 17 seconds. As this was said, the captain walked past and muttered "with a whole jar of vaseline". I don't know how long it took to get mine on, but I think it was pretty fast. I didn't lay down on the deck like everyone else, I just stepped into it and pulled it on. Once that was done, we put away all the gear, and the crew (non-volunteer) kindly took the night watches and let us all go to bed for a full night's sleep. This was the last normal night for us. We went to sleep on a quiet ship with a clear night sky above us and a flat calm bay.

I went to bed in my top bunk, with its port hole looking out at the lights of nighttime Sausalito. Wake-up was at 0630 hrs, Thursday morning. Goodnight.

7 Days On The Robert C. Seamans Pt. 1

2006-08-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

It is 12 am and I am sitting here dearly wishing that I was elsewhere. I get this way after going on a trip somewhere, but I think this is a little different. Instead of wishing I was in Wales or France, I wish I was standing on the lookout bench at the prow of the Robert C. Seamans and halfway through my turn as forward lookout. I miss the feeling of standing there, holding onto the stay with the jib and the fore stays'l rustling above me and the bow dipping deep and rising high in the swell. I actually had a moment at work when I dearly missed the feeling of the ship responding to the turn of the rudder, and the 5 degrees rudder angle I just put on to compensate for the 8 ft Pacific swell messing with my course ordered. I miss the midwatch (11pm to 3am) and the sound of the water flowing past the ship during the night. I miss the quiet of the rest of the crew asleep, minus my watch, and the moon lighting everything so well that we didn't need flashlights to do the on-deck boat check. I miss the starry sky and being far enough out to sea that we couldn't see land. And even though it was my first time out to sea, I think I have some small idea of what countless others before me have felt and expressed in so many songs and stories about the sea. I can't wait to go out again.

Over the next few days, I will give a daily account of what I did and what I went through on that awesome trip. Above are a few pictures I took on my trip. More to come.

Ta!

Comic-Con International, 2006

2006-07-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday afternoon, upon bolting from work as fast as I could at 3pm, and after some hasty packing, I was on my way to San Diego. It was the yearly trek for the San Diego Comic Convention. I will go into my adventures at length later, but for now, here are some pictures I took. They are mostly for the benefit of my older brother, because despite his disdain for most of the things I like, he was midly curious as to what this thing was all about. He did benefit from it somewhat, as I was able to secure some little trinkets for the upcoming horror film "Snakes on a Plane." On the other hand, while I did charge up my camera battery, I somehow managed to leave behind my SD card. So I was limited to a few pictures on the camera's memory. I wish I could have taken more. *sigh* Here are a few:

There are a few more pictures to come, including one of the Stormtrooper platoon marching in formation on their way to the Con, and pictures of my loot. Yes, there is loot. Quite a bit for just one and a half days of madness. But despite it all, I manage to keep my purchases to under $300, which includes my hostel room, gas money, and food. Wee! I can't wait for next year!

Ta!

Baby Name of the Day - July 24th

2006-07-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today's Baby Name of the Day is:

"Eleanor
Style: Antique Charm, Ladies and Gentleman
Nicknames: Nell, Ellie, Nora, Lana
Variants: Elinor, Eleanora, Leonor
Sisters: Evelyn, Josephine, Clara, Violet, Beatrice
Brothers: Louis, Everett, Willis, Charles, Marshall
* Our unscientific survey ranks Eleanor and Lillian as the names men and women disagree on the most. Women find them gentle and dignified: elegant ladies with a backbone. Men just think they sound old. How could men be so wrong...er, I mean, what an unfortunate difference of opinion. If you can talk him into Eleanor, there's a great selection of nicknames he can pick from."

Note: For references, see post "Baby Name of the Day - July 17th"

Baby Name of the Day - July 17th

2006-07-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Well folks, upon exploration of the local Barnes and Noble, Catherine discovered a fascinating book about baby names that I decided I just had to get. Our subsequent perusal led us to all sorts of interesting facts and commentaries on baby names. So, I'm going to start posting some of them, just for fun. Mind you, this is a more contemporary take on names, as opposed to the traditional: "Lauren comes from Laurel, which is a tree."

Our first name comes from the boys' section:

"Angel - Style: Androgynous, Latino, Latina
Sisters: Alondra, Valeria, Dulce, Esmeralda, Amaya
Brothers: Jesus, Alejandro, Andres, Xander, Diego
*Like Jesus, Angel is a Spanish hit that's been virtually taboo for boys in English. The pronunciation is key: Said the Spanish way (AHN-hel), it's fashionably suave. With an English pronunciation, it's still chiefly for girls and vampires."

*Note* All baby names and facts in this post and subsequent posts are taken from Laura Wattenberg's book "The Baby Name Wizard," published by Broadway Books, New York, 2005.

Update on the War

2006-07-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Catherine from DC is here! After picking her up at the airport and driving her to my house, I began the necessary but very short tour of my little pad, and its surroundings. While admiring my plants and telling stories about the stupidities of my landlord and what he did to my porch railing, I spotted one of the enemy. He was brazenly perched out in the open, on the railing, and by far the largest of them. Goliath, sitting there staring at me. So, I ran into my house, grabbed what munitions I could find and retaliated. Well...more of a preemptive strike really. My poisonous spray from the last battle and another spray that smells like oranges, were employed in direct spraying of the little bastard. And behold! within moments he was kicking and spinning in his death throes and then hung limply from his thread of webbing. Now his pathetic little body is lying curled in a ball on the porch, and I am ecstatic that the spray really worked. Now I know that every single one of those little guerrillas from the other day is dead. Very very dead.

*evil chuckle*

The War of the Spiders

2006-07-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've noticed over the last few weeks that there has been a lot of cobweb growth on the christmas lights strung on my stair rail. When I pass them, walking up and down the stairs, little shapes go skittering under the lights. Since I have no real way to clean this mess, I decided today to get an adapter for my sink faucet and attach a hose to it.

This I did and after putting it on my faucet, I was ready. I walked the hose through my apartment, out the door, and turned it on. A wonderfully powerful stream of water came flooding out of the hose, and thus the War began. I sprayed the stairs, I sprayed the railing, I sprayed all the nooks and crannies of the stairs, AND I sprayed the tree. I had noticed earlier that there were some fairly large spiders making webs from the top of the tree, over the stairs to the eaves of my house. So I sprayed them too. My spray not being the absolute torrent I had wanted, I was unable to rocket the spiders out over the tree and into the street, smashing their small, pathetic bodies, but I did manage to chase them back into the tree and destroy their webs.

With the long distance artillery expended, I moved to the heat-seaking missles and grenade launchers. I had also purchased a very large can of insecticide that claims to kill ants, roaches and spiders. I started spraying the stairs, the railing, the nooks and crannies, and once again, the tree. Well. Much to my horror, the sneaking little guerrilas had apparently been living en-mass in the tree, waiting to attack. My mass killing techniques forced them out of hiding. There were at least dozens of them. Little tiny buggers, medium sized ones, and those at least as big as a penny. They came dropping out of the leaves, desperately scrambling to get clear of the toxic spray.

I have mixed reactions about this. While I am happy that my spray seemed to be doing a good job of instilling mass chaos within the enemy, I am also horrified that there are so many of the little bastards living in the tree, and that I've been passing them daily, many of them within inches of my cringing skin. Now I'm terrified of walking down my stairs. I mean, who knows what doth lurk in the shadows? After expending my can of poison, I beat a hasty retreat back into my house, with a small feeling of satisfaction at having cleaned up my stairs, but also with apprehension. At some point, I'm going to have to leave, either to go to work, get food, or whittle down the massive pile of laundry I've accumulated. I'm hoping that the spray lingers on the leaves of the tree and on the railing, so as to discourage the enemy from encroaching on my borders...but one never knows...Especially if I've been living along side them at unknown distances for so long without knowing they were there....*shudder*

One last horrifing thought crosses my mind. If that is state of the outside of my house....what is the inside like? How many spies have infiltrated these hallowed grounds?

On Movies

2006-07-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I just feel the need to express myself about a few things, and I would like you to just nod and smile, and put it all down to Lori being excitable.

I often peruse the Apple trailers site for fun, and not having done so in a couple of weeks, it is only now that I discovered this. Gwen Stacy, The Goblin, The Sandman AND VENOM in ONE movie?? S***. I mean, I really liked Superman, but as Batman is really the only DC character I've ever followed, I consider myself more of a Marvel fan, and seeing this preview nearly made me stop breathing.

Now, despite what I just said about DC, I did like Superman a lot. I can now sort of forgive Brian Singer for ditching the X-Men the way he did (although I can't forgive James Marsden, aka Cyclops, for following him). But I would like to note one thing. You can put this down to my being a big Kevin Spacey fan. I think I know now who I'd vote for if a choice came up on who will play Spider Jerusalem, if they ever get around to making a movie out of the Transmetropolitan comics. I mean, I love Patrick Stewart, but I can't see him playing Magical Truthsaying Bastard Spidey as well as Kevin Spacey. I must admit, when I first heard he was playing Lex Luthor, I couldn't imagine it. But now that I have seen the movie twice, I am convinced that he could pull off Spidey with a bang.

Whew. Okay. I needed to get that off my chest. There will be more on movies to follow, as I am still trying to collect my thoughts. Oh! and don't forget about the biggest movie of the summer! Yarr!

Fun Things to Distract Your Mind

2006-06-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Reading Penny Arcade every morning has become a daily ritual that I great look forward...that is, when they've posted something new. Today they included info on some links, one of which I found highly entertaining and interesting.

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Explore and enjoy!

L.

The Evils of Commuting

2006-06-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

As you might know, I recently started working in a bakery. One word describes it: Fun. It is very complicated, however. I've only been in the bakery for a few days, off and on, no consecutive days. Its been tough to learn everything I need to know in order to function properly in the bakery.

A few days ago, I was told that I would be sent up to South Pasadena, where Bristol Farms has another store, and be trained under their cake decorator. First I was going for 2 days, and then I found out I'd be there a whole week. Monday through Saturday, with Wednesday off, every day from 8 am to 5 pm. I'll admit I was excited about it, and I've learned a lot in the two days I've had up there so far. But the commute? OMG. Monday was a bad judge, because I drove my step-grandmother, Gloria, to LAX before going to work. But on the way home, I decided to try leaving Pasadena on the 110 and getting on the 5 freeway to the 710 freeway and home on the 405. The mileage from the exit off the Pasadena Freeway to the 710 is something like 12 miles.

It took me ONE HOUR to go 12 miles.

Once I got on the 710, I managed to get home in another hour or so. Today, I tried a different tactic, because in the bakery we were listening to the radio, and the station announced 3 accidents on the 5, one on the 710 and 2 on the 605. So, I decided to brave the 110 through downtown LA and go straight to the 405. But since the 110 was horrible too, I got off and drove through downtown via surface streets, ending up on Broadway and driving the length of the 110 on it. I got back on the 110 just before it met the 405, and then, home. Still took me 2 hours, but at least the drive was far more entertaining.

But let me tell you. When you have been driving for 2 hours, standing for 8 and then driving for 2 more hours, you tend to get a little tired, and thus become a frustrated a little more easily than normal. Anyone riding in the car with me today would have been more than a little shocked. But now I am home. And I have had a nice long shower. So, with the prospect of a whole day off tomorrow, I can forget about all the stupid morons who don't know HOW TO USE THEIR F****** SIGNALS WHEN CHANGING LANES IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC and all the other various frustrations of the Freeways.

Ta!

Sail Ho!

2006-06-01T21:59:00.001-07:00

So, a few weeks ago, I got this email from the SEA organization, based in Woods Hole, MA. They have a ship out here on the west coast called the Robert C. Seamans, a 135 foot Brigantine. It is sailing from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a 10 day sail, and they have some open volunteer crew positions available. Granted, one must pay for the honor, but dude. What could be cooler?

I finally got an email from the big wig in charge of crewing the ship, and yes! There is a spot for me! All I had to do was put down my deposit! So, I called and said, "Hi! Can I give you some money?" and they said "Yes!" So, there you have it! I'm going sailing on August 9th! Whoohoo!!

Isn't she a beautiful ship? Built in 2001, so a relatively new ship.

Can't wait for August!

Ta!

A Baker's Dozen

2006-05-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

I find that lately I haven't had much contact with the people I regularly talk to, so its entirely possible that most people don't know that I got a new job. I had been working at Pier One and I guess it was okay. There really wasn't anything wrong with that job. I liked the people I was working with (for the most part anyway), the store was beautiful, and it was interesting learning about that side of retail. But I didn't feel like I fit. I really don't like ramming products down people's throats. And trying to persuade them to buy (almost to the point of begging) and having them fill out In Touch forms, and trying to get them to open credit cards...I just didn't like it. I liked helping people figure out how to put a room together, that sort of thing. But that's it.

Several weeks ago, the wonderful lady who hired me quit her job, much to the chagrin of all of us who worked there. She was an awesome boss, and if I ever end up in her shoes, I hope to fill them as well as she did. So now we have a new boss, and she's pretty cool too. But less experienced and a little more desperate to get the store doing better. I can't hold that against her, 'cause its her job, but it has shaken our world a bit. So, I figured since there was all this change going on, I might as well look for something new. (A major catalyst to my spurt of job-hunting might have been that my new boss changed my schedule from a well balanced mix of days and night shifts to closing for the last four weeks...ick).

My job-hunting didn't last long...mainly 'cause I found a new job. I now work at this really posh supermarket down the street from me. It is so close that it takes me about 10 minutes to ride my bike there. I've always enjoyed shopping there, 'cause they have a lot of stuff from around the world, and their meat and produce is second to none, even though the store is way to expensive for me to go there all the time. They've hired me to work in a couple of different departments. They have a Cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as doing events like wine tastings. They also have a Coffee Bar that serves Pete's Coffee (the bar is more of a place to get coffee drinks, and ground coffee, rather than a Starbucks. That's what the cafe is for). I got hired for those two departments, as well as working the registers in the front and part-time in the bakery to do cake decoration.

So far, I have done a day on the registers (Memorial Day in fact, which was crazy) and today I worked in the bakery. 8 hours, starting at 5:30 in the morning. But let me tell you. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was hard, and my feet are killing me, and I'd rather not have to get up that early in the morning, but the job rocks. And working in the bakery that early in the morning means you are around when stuff is being made for the day, so the smells are unbelievable. While I managed to only consume two cookies during the course of the whole day, I think I gained 10 pounds just from the smells alone. At one point I had to melt chocolate so that I could dip eclairs for tonight's wine tasting, and Kim, the full-time cake lady, hands me this 3 gallon bucket of Chocolate Truffle. Literally a big bucket of the best chocolate you could ever get. And I had to scoop it out and melt it. The self-control involved in not sticking my gloved fingers in my mouth was almost impossible. Only the thought of an undercover health inspector watching me from the other side of the counter stopped me, really.

My least favorite thing about that job? well...It would have to be the freezer. I decided right away that I didn't like walking into the big room that was so cold you had to wear a parka to keep from shivering uncontrollably within a minute. And sometimes it is more expedient to simply run in there, grab whatever it is you need and run out...but still, that takes a few seconds. You can see your breath the moment you walk in, and by the time you get out, you have stand right up close to the ovens to get limbs working again. And since I'm the newbie on site, I'm asked to go in there a lot...Not to hold that against Kim. She was very very nice, and much to my pleasure, she thanked me often for helping her with all the stuff we did.

Okay, so here's what I accomplished. I made (decorated) two cakes with an underwater scene of fish and seaweed, prepped several cakes for Kim to decorate, decorated a whole mess of cupcakes, mixed a lot of buttercream, made a really pretty cake surrounded by ladyfingers and topped with strawberries, and two cakes totally covered in chocolate shavings. I learned a lot in a day.

And now I'm very tired. And I have to go to class. So. Adieu. I shall return with more tales of the bakery, after my next shift on Friday.

Ta!

Manned and Ready!

2006-04-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, its been a while since my last post and a lots happened since the last one. Forgive me if this one is a little lengthy.

First off, the most important news of the day: I got accepted to graduate school at Vanguard University of Southern California! (on a silly note, this means I have a Bachelor's from USC, and I'll have a Masters from VUSC.) Anyway, this is a good thing, cause when I'm done, I'll have some sort of anchor in my life. And you never know, despite all my foot-dragging, I might actually like it! Just a thought.

What this means is that by next June, I'll have my teaching credential for Art and History, and I'll be able to teach in the state of California. If I continue on the second year, I'll have a Masters in Education. Whee!

Okay, the next bit is about my adventures in San Diego. Since I took the test 3 weeks ago and finally passed it, I was on this week's list for sailing on the Californian. I have to say, I did get quite the thrill hearing my name called on the list. Once we were called, we got sent of to the ship before the morning muster was over. Onboard, we spent about 40 minutes or so being introduced to the layout of the ship and safety procedures. Then a few of our number left (to return on the afternoon voyage) so that our numbers wouldn't be too obstructive during the sail. Then we got underway. The Californian can run under engine power as well as sail, so we putted away from the dock and off into the harbor. A relatively windless day contributed to a lack of chaos on board, but allowed us to have things explained without to much trouble (we were told that on a windy day, to do a revolution of tacking and wearing and such, things can get very crazy and the experienced crew preferred a lack of wind on a training day, with all of us newbies around).

Hauling on the halyard to raise one of the sails
The topsail and topgallant braced to catch the wind.
Lynn showing us how to do a balantyne coil.
A finished balantyne, ready to run free when needed.

We sailed till 11, when we had to be back at the dock. Thus ended my first training sail. I have to go on one more, then pass the "open-boat" pinrail exam (filling in a blank sheet with the correct lines and such) and I'll be allowed to volunteer for days when the Californian takes passengers out.

We mustered again before lunch, to divide up jobs that would continue on through the afternoon. Once we devoured Swanny's latest delicious concoctions, the work began. Those who didn't get to sail in the morning left, and the rest of us worked to move some barrels and chests to the Surprise, and then help raise, set and lower the fore upper topsail on the Star. I stayed long enough that afternoon to help move two very large piles of rusty standing rigging from the Surprise to dockside. Apparently, when Fox Studios purchased the Rose for their movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World they decided that the standing rigging wasn't good enough and replaced it with their own crap. Now we have to sort it all out and decide what to do with it all. I'm not sure yet what we are doing about replacing all the "fake" rigging Fox put up. Anyway, tired, sore and covered in rust, I decided to head home. So ended a long and wonderful day.

Ta!

old memories

2006-04-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

So, a really good friend of mine told me the other day that she was moving to Wales, to go to school in Aberystwyth. She wanted to know what it was like there. That whole conversation brought back a flood of memories of a place that I will always hold dear to my heart. I started looking through my pictures from my trip to Wales and to England. I found this:

It was sitting in the little parking lot at the foot of Cader Idris in Northern Wales. Its a beautiful vintage Aero Morgan. This is a car that I would gladly own. But the chances that I will ever see a car like this again are very slim.

Ta!

Crazy Matt

2006-03-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

My brother is coming! My brother is coming! It is always nice to have him out here. Especially if he is in the mood to play games.

I have fond memories of one visit, while I was still living at my parents' place on Carnation, and he discovered that I not only had an XBox, but also the new Halo 2 game. I persuaded him to give it a try, and for the remaining few days he was here, he was totally addicted to the fine art of driving the Warthog and firing the RocketLauncher. We played online, and got our butts kicked continuously, but still had fun. It was so bad that we'd be sitting at the dining table, after we had all finished eating, and the grown-ups were sitting back, and talking. The two of us would look at eachother, and I'd make hand motions as if I were driving a car and honking the horn, and he would grin and glance at the stairs suggestively. Mom would look at us after we'd been doing this for a few minutes and say "Okay, you two, off you go." You'd think we were both 5 years old or something...not the 30 and 24 that we are.

More Aqualung

2006-03-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, I promised more photos, so here you go. Just click here and you can get more pics, and here to download the sound files of two Aqualung songs (one of them new!).

(btw, this post marks the first time I've used links. Safari didn't give me an option to link sites, but now I'm using Firefox. *does the happy link dance*)

They Put A Spell On Me

2006-03-22T00:53:00.000-08:00

My dear wonderful friend Meg once again was able to get tickets to another concert at the Universal Amphitheatre in Hollywood. Almost a year ago we went for one of her radio stations' concerts and one of the acts was a (at that time) two-man band called Aqualung. They are British brothers who are absolute geniuses at the whole music thing. Tonight they were opening for David Gray. I must confess that I had little interest in seeing his concert because I vary rarely listen to his music, I only have one of his albums and I only know about three of his songs. But whatever. Aqualung was totally worth it. Since the Amphitheatre is not one of the barbaric types of venues that doesn't allow cameras, I was able to get some wonderful pictures and a couple of nice videos. The videos are more for the music than the picture. Still nice though, especially when the drummer, Dave, broke one of his drums, and while it was being replaced, Matt and company sang an impromtu song about Dave busting his drum and I recorded it. I'm sure it'll be a classic.

Anyway, here is a picture from the my collection. I'll add more later, because it is 1am now and I have to go to bed.

Third Time's A Charm

2006-03-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so here's what's been going on. Sail Training 101 ended several weeks ago, so I'm back down to just participating in Maintenance Crew, which is the first and third Sundays of the month. I found out the last meeting that I'd failed my knots and belay test. It was a big deal for me, because my tester had said I'd passed and I had gotten myself all excited about the prospect of being allowed to crew on the Californian. I was very dissappointed and a little upset. So, a couple of weeks passed and I had crew again this last Sunday. I got to take the test again, and this time I got all my knots right but I flunked the belay test. I really blew it. Got all nervous and confused and couldn't remember the sequence of belays.

In case you don't understand what belaying is, here's the deal. Any line that comes down to the deck or through a block on the deck and back up to the rail around the sides of the ship has to be tied off to something. So there are pin rails that have pins sticking out of them in order to tie the line off to them. These are called belaying pins. Its also where the term "Belay that" comes from. Its essentially the stopping point for the line. There are four ways of tying off a line. It depends on whether the line comes from above and forward, above and aft or below forward or aft. Its not that hard to remember. But we are expected to know it without any hesitation whatsoever, and for good reason. On a nice windy day, the ship might tack (turn to catch the wind from different angles) several times in the space of an hour, which means you could tie off a line and ten minutes later have to do it again. You have to be able to know what you are doing immediately, or else you slow the whole ship down and cause discord among your mates. Bad. So...I know what I did wrong, and I just have to practice practice practice to get it right. So now I have two weeks to practice my knots and belay, and to get it right. And then maybe I'll be allowed to go sailing.

This Sunday was nice though, because my folks came down to San Diego to visit the museum. And they brought my grandfather. He's always asking me all sorts of questions about the Star, so I thought it would be easier to explain my answers if he could see the ship. I get the impression that he (and my folks too) thoroughly enjoyed their visit. I think they know understand why I'm doing this. Why I get up really early and drive a very long way to spend my day working at the museum. And that's important to me.

Here are some pictures from Sunday. The people qualified to be topmen where being educated in the ways of climbing the shrouds and going out on the yards. I only have pictures of them going out on the foresail and the fore lower topsail, but later in the afternoon, the people who stayed went all the way up to the royal yard. Pretty cool.

the next step

2006-03-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I survived the Test last Sunday. The whole morning was an interesting experience. We (all 100 of us) were divided into our groups and sent to various testing locations for the different parts of the test: knots/belaying, physical or climbing depending on what we were qualified for, and the written test. Steve, the ship's purser, says that the written tests look good. However, we got an email from one of the guys in charge of the test saying that about 70% of us failed our knots/belaying test. That makes me worry. I was among the first group to get tested in that, and my tester, Mary, said I did fine....so....but who knows. I really desperately want to go sailing, and I really hope that I actually passed.

Anyway, that's the story. Steve also said that Jim Davis, our First Mate, has something special planned for us newbie volunteers. That really makes me worry. That man makes me nervous....and not just because I've been told that my last name is cursed. Well, its something to look forward to..I guess....

Ta!

Nervous....

2006-02-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I think I've been driving my co-workers crazy with my nervousness about my test tomorrow. During the really quiet periods when there was no one in the store, I'd walk around the store with my piece of paper that has the diagram of all the lines on the Star of India, muttering to myself. One or two people were kind enough to wish me luck. Maybe it is silly that I am so nervous about this test, but it means so much to me and passing it could offer me a world of opportunities in the future...so...I think I have an excuse. Here's one of the many diagrams that I have to know...well, fairly well, in order to pass tomorrow.

The Calm Before the Storm

2006-02-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday. Feb. 19th. The last Sunday before The Test. I don't know why I'm so nervous about my sail training exam, but I guess it might be because I feel like so much is riding on it. Today was a breakthrough for me, and now I want to pass the exam more than ever. It started out super early, because I'm sleeping over at a friend's house to watch her dogs. The weather has been kinda bad, but I think that stormy weather is the best catalyst for beautiful sunrises and sunsets. This is what greeted me on the 73 and near Camp Pendelton this morning.

Today, the lessons were not so much on the Star of India, and more on the other ships of the museum. We had one class with Captain Chris aboard the Surprise. He gave us a run down on the history of the ship, originally known as the HMS Rose, built as a replica of a 1750s sixth-rate man-o-war ship in the British Navy. The ship was a bit of a fiasco from the start, being very badly underfunded, and spent a few years going into disrepair. She was eventually overhauled and rebuilt to meet more recent Coast Guard standards, and soon afterwards was purchased by Fox Studios for the movie "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". Fox had to change a great deal aboard the Surprise to make her more like a British ship-of-the-line of the early 1800s. There doesn't seem to be any sense to some of the stuff that they did to that poor ship. And since I don't understand a lot of the stuff, I won't try to go into it for fear of leading you astray. Suffice to say that it seems like Captain Chris is going to be the man to run the Surprise and the higher ups of the volunteer crew are worried about the commitment of their newest volunteers regarding the Surprise. They are going to need as many people as possible to work on fixing the ship and then learning to sail it. The rigging and sail configuration of the ship are different from the Star and the Californian, which ought to make things interesting for those of us who are having a hard time learning this stuff as it is. Oh well.

Our next stop was the Californian. We were given a good run down of the sail plan on the two-masted topsail schooner and after that, a run down of the anatomy of the ship. We were then told about what will happen after the test. If we past the test next Sunday, then we are

qualified to sail, and crew. Which means, technically, that if I pass the test, then the following weekend, the first Sunday of March, I can go sailing on the Californian. Now there are a lot of us who want to do this. But there are a lot of opportunities because the Californian sails all week, all the time. If we pass, then we will be given many additional materials to learn about the details of the ship. For example, the Californian sails to Catalina and sometimes Santa Barbara, which means there is night sailing. You have to know the ropes, the pins they are belayed on, and your knots. To know them in the dark. No hesitation. So. No pressure...or anything.

The last bit of my eventful day was my networking out a bit. I made friends early on with a wonderful crew member named Anne. She has now taught me splicing and a bunch of stuff. Today, she went out of her way to introduce me to a fellow named Bob Ross, and Captain Chris. They gave me lots of tips and advice on my goal of getting a paid crew job somewhere. Also, I volunteered for Galley Duty, to clean the pots and galley after the crew had eaten lunch (today was a Maintenance Day for regular volunteers, and they get lunch on the days they come.) and I got to spend time with Swammy (David) the "grumpy old cook." He is actually pretty cool, and was happy to tell me about being a ship's cook among other things. So, now I have a lot to think about this week, and I have people who know me in the regualar crew.

One last note. The First Mate of the Star, who is pretty much in charge of the crew (outside the captains) is called Jim Davis. He is a bear. A perfect first mate. I won't go near him. He's one of those really tough guys who will only gruffly be nice to you and only if you've earned his respect. Maybe by that you have some idea of what he's like. I had several people tell me today that I had either a blessed name or that they were sorry my last name was Davis. It is a very tiny note of distinction for me. A dubious honor at best.

With luck, I will be doing the above (sailing on the Californian) in two or three weeks. Ta!

A Fateful NIght

2006-02-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

As this last Thursday began to turn into yet another day with nothing to do, I decided to make a trip up to Long Beach. One of my stops was visiting the Queen Mary, which is currently featuring an exhibit of artifacts from the RMS Titanic. I haven't been to the Queen Mary since I was nine or ten, so I was looking forward to seeing the ship again. I started out in the Engine Room of the Queen Mary at the Titanic Exhibit. At the beginning you are given a boarding pass, and on the back is the name and info of a passenger who was on the Titanic the night it sank. Mine belonged to a 22 year old girl whose name was Helen Ragnhild Otsby, who was traveling with her father. They were on their way home from a European and North African tour, and most recently Egypt. They were both in 1st class. It also said that the pair always traveled on the ships of the White Star Line, and were looking forward to comparing the Titanic to the other ships they'd been on.

So, I began wandering the exhibit. There was all sorts of artifacts like port holes, a giant iron wrench that was all eaten away, nuts, bolts and all sorts of tools. There were pieces of jewelry, some clothing, an old leather trunk, and a lot of porcelain dishes and glasses. There was a whole display of money that was recovered, coins from all over the world and a really interesting array of paper money from various places, but mostly from the U.S., both federal and privately printed bills. The standardization of paper money in the U.S. didn't come for a couple more years after the Titanic sank. The most astonishing artifacts they had were two bottles, one of champagne and the other of an unidentified liquid. Both bottles were sealed and full.

There was a room in the exhibit that really freaked me out. It was an open room, with a walkway that went around three sides, and a smell of salt water. I glanced over the rail of the walkway....and saw a giant propeller. Some people might not know this about me, but I am terrified of depths. I have a very very hard time looking at pictures of shipwrecks or thinking about things like the Marianas Trench. The movie "The Abyss" actually didn't bother me much, but the movie "Titanic" did at the parts where they showed the ship breaking up under water and sinking into the depths. I think that it is the only thing that scares me more that spiders. I took one look at that propeller and freaked out. I stared at the wall next to me and ran through the room to the next room. This next one was only slightly better after a shock like I'd had. It was very dark, with simulated stars all over the ceiling and a giant slab of ice against one wall. You could walk up to it and touch it. It was like standing on the deck of the Titanic and touching the iceberg as it slid by.

Well, I finished up the exhibit finally and at the end was a wall with the passenger manifest, both the survivors and those lost when the Titanic went down. I found Helen Otsby on the list of survivors. Both she and her father made it back to New York. I kinda felt relieved, but still freaked out by the whole experience. When I left the exhibit and went around to the entrance for the tour of the Queen Mary, I saw that it went back down towards the engine room again. I decided to go home. My revisit with the Queen Mary will have to wait till another day. I now have a deeper appreciation for the fate of the Titanic and the folly of its creators in thinking that they could possibly conquer the sea.

Handsomely now! Ease the main royal halyard!

2006-02-12T15:58:00.000-08:00

This sunday was the third class of Sail Training, and we are really starting to learn things now. We've been taught line handling, how to belay a line on the pin rails, how to properly coil the lines, and today, how to "fake" a line. Faking is how to lay a line out on the deck, so that it is out of the way of main foot traffic, and so that once the line is thrown off its pin, it can run free and without snagging in the blocks. It is very important to know how to do this properly, for the safety of the crew and the ship, and to be able to do it fast and efficiently, because of how fast the crew can go through an evolution (setting the sails to catch the wind and tacking).

Whilst learning the line handling, we went through an exercise. On both the main and the fore masts, the first two yards from the deck up are fixed to the masts. They can't move. But the next three yards move up and down on the masts. This allows for safely setting the sails and being able to take them in very quickly. To raise the yard, there is a chain that runs from the center of the yard, by the mast, down to the pin rails (the sides of the ship where the lines are tied off). But there are balancing lines as well, called Braces, that run from the very ends of the yard to the pin rails. To haul on the halyard to raise the yard, you have to ease off the braces, and the other way around to lower the yard. Well, our group was assigned the halyard, but two of us (myself included) were assigned to the two braces. We followed our commands and as I worked I could see the Royal yard (the highest one on the mast) rise up the mast, and back down when we were done. My counterpart on the opposite brace and I were beside ourselves with happiness, that we finally were able to do something useful on the ship. It was so cool!

The last thing I learned how to do today was to splice a line. I made a loop of line and uncoiled the three strands a bit and had to twist them back into the line to seal the loop. It is amazing how strong this really makes the line. I couldn't break the splice no matter how much force I put on it. Here are some pictures of what I did.

Next week is our last week for learning the basics of sailing the Star of India. We've been over the rigging, the sails, the anatomy of the ship, the history of it, line handling, and knots. Next week we are learning the mechanics of steering the ship, as well as how the sails and lines work on the Californian. The last week is when we have our test. Big day. I have a lot of practicing and studying to do. If I pass the test, then I qualify for the Sail Crew. This means that in July, they give everyone, no matter how many times they have sailed, a qualification test for the November crew. If I pass that, then I go into 8 weeks of intensive sail training. Since I've gone out for Deck Crew, I'll be assigned a station on the ship, and I'll have to learn all the lines of my station, what they do and how to work them. That among a lot of other jobs. That all happens 8 weeks before the ship sails in November. I can't wait. Weeeee!

Ta!

those awesome Brits!

2006-02-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

My dear, darhling friend, Meg, and her boyfriend got tickets to see Coldplay this past Monday at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. I managed to get my camera into the stadium, and this is the only picture that, amazingly, turned out well. I also got a video of the band playing "Yellow" and "In My Place", which shows off the band's incredible light show. Unfortunately, the bass that we could all feel replacing our heartbeats overwhelmed the mic on my camera. You can hear the music and crowd real well, but there is an annoying buzz from the bass. Too bad. Still, the show was SO worth it. I have never seen a band put on concerts the way Coldplay does.

Ta!

Man the flying jib gear! Ease the flying jib halyard!

2006-01-31T22:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are remotely interested in the things that I am totally passionate about, here are some points of clarification on what I have gotten myself into on Sunday mornings.

First off, this is the Star of India. She is a 278 foot long, 3 masted Barque, with a main mast height of 124 feet from the deck. She was launched on Nov. 14, 1863, five days before Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address. She had a rocky start from her first maiden voyage from England to India, and had many problems for the first couple years of service. Eventually she ended up as a cargo and passenger ship ferrying immigrants (willing and wanting to go) from England to New Zealand. Over the course of her career, she made 22 trips around the world. For those of you who don't appreciate the wonders of sailing ships, that is like going to Vegas and rolling 22 winning throws in a row at the craps tables. Eventually she ended up in Hawaii, just as those beautiful isles were annexed to the US, and thus began her life as a US Citizen. She was purchased by a lumber company in San Francisco and after a few years of service was laid up in the Alameda bone yard to be decommissioned. Her fate as a movie prop or military target practice was averted when some concerned citizens from San Diego purchased her. She was towed down to San Diego, and continued her rotting for another few years, at one point narrowly escaping being used for bullets in WWII. After a scathing commentary on the shortcomings of San Diegans was published in a major newspaper by a well-respected ship master who was horrified by the Star's condition, the city decided enough was enough and the ship was gradually restored. She now serves as the oldest active iron-hulled tall ship in the in the world, and is a gallant survivor of the glorious age of sail.

More on the others ships later. The classes I'm taking are all on the Star, and focused on her, but applicable to most other kinds of tall ships. The goal of the class is to qualify for the Sail Crew that sails her out on her annual voyage up and down the San Diego bay in November. MY goal is to not only do that but also be a part of the museum's other major project. The restoration of the HMS Surprise. She is not sail worthy at the moment, thanks to Fox Studios, but will be, hopefully by then end of next year. It would take a herculean effort to render her worthy by this November, and I think there are enough of us willing to try, but the First Mate and both Captains don't seem to enthusiastic about that much effort. So, next year. So, for now, the Star. And she is a beautiful ship.

Now, I know what you are thinking. It is a big metal thing with a lot of canvas and everyonce in a while, people go floating on water with it. Well, I disagree. The Star is a beautiful lady, with her own personality, her own way of communicating, and she is a prime example of some of the wonders of engineering and transportation that man has accomplished in our history. And if you can't see that, well, that is why I am crazy enough to get up at a quarter to 6 on Sunday mornings to drive an hour and half to spend the day keeping her in tip top shape, and you are not.

Ta! (and yes, I know. I'm crazy. I love a ship. *sigh*)

On the main! lay aloft and loose all sail!

2006-01-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was the first day of Sail Training. Muster was at 7:30, on the docks, for sign in and such, which meant that I'd have to leave my house at 6:15 to get there on time. I was all set. I had both my alarms set and all my stuff ready. That morning, the first alarm went off, and I turned it off, waiting for the second to go off 30 minutes later at 5:45. I woke myself up a couple of times, and then wondered why it was getting light out. I looked at my clock, and it said 6:30. CRAP! I was out of bed in an instant, and within 10 minutes I was dressed, teeth brushed and out the door. I made it to San Diego at 7:45. I won't say how fast I was driving. I got there just in time to stand in a line for 20 minutes. *sigh*

After that, things got better. There were about 130+ people there, so we were divided up into groups. Each group had a station to be at, to learn new things for a certain period of time, then the groups would rotate. We learned to tie some of the very important and common knots on board ship, we learned history, we learned terminology, we learned safety and we had a physical test. There are three jobs for crew members. There is the Deck Crew, who work the lines and capstans and such on deck. There is the Top Crew, which go up the shrouds to the yards and take care of the sails, all the way up to the top of the masts. And there is the Jib Crew. They go out on the jib boom, which sticks out of the very front of the ship, to tend the four sails that anchor to that boom. To qualify for deck crew, I had to be able to haul a 75 lb bag of rocks about 15 ft in the air vertically, and from a horizontal rope (the rope came down from the pulley, through a block anchored to the floor and over to me). To qualify for Top crew, I had to climb a 15 rope and be able to do 2 pull ups. And to qualify for Jib crew, I had to be able to hang from each arm for 5 seconds. I passed for deck crew only. I can't do the other things...yet. But I don't ever want to go up top anyway. The Star of India's mainmast rises 148 feet off the deck....I ain't goin' up there. Ever.

So anyway. The classes went well. I can now tie a bowline knot, and do a clove hitch or two half hitches, make a stopper knot and do a figure 8 knot. I also know the names of all the sails, the anatomy of the ship and a few other things. But I think that the most important thing about this entire experience is that I've been making friends. The people who teach us, the maintenance crew and the new trainees are all volunteers. They are there because they love the ships. And most of them are really really nice. That's important to me. Making friends, learning new stuff, and most importantly, getting to know better and spend time on these marvelous creations that up until a hundred years ago, were the way to travel the world.

Ta!

Rise tacks and sheets! Haul away on the port braces!

2006-01-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

To me there is something mysterious and beautiful about a tall ship. The way the masts rise up out of the deck, carrying great billowing sails. The way the ship moves through the water.

I've liked ships for as long as I can remember. And ever since I first visited San Diego, I've loved visiting the San Diego Maritime Museum's family of ships. The beautiful 3-masted barque, Star of India, the charming little topsail schooner and privateer, the Californian, and most recently added, the lovely HMS Surprise, or as she was once known, the HMS Rose. Well, back in November I recieved an email from the museum, saying that they were going to offer one of their rare sail training courses. It is a 5 week course, covering the basics and some details of sailing tall ships. If one were to pass the course and final exams, one would be elligible for the Sail Crew, to go sailing on the Star of India when she goes out on her annual sail down the San Diego bay. And of course, to go out on the Californian whenever possible, as she sails constantly.

I freaked out when I saw that, and I've been desperately waiting for it ever since. I've gone to several Maintenance Crew meetings, on Sunday mornings and I really enjoyed those. I also got a lot of volunteer hours racked up, because to be on the Sail Crew, one also has to have as many volunteer hours as possible. Happily, my total drive time counts towards those hours, so that's an extra 2 and a half hours to me each visit! Yay! But most importantly, I've been meeting people, and making friends. So its been worth it.

Still Here

2006-01-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

When I first started this blog, the temptation to simply ignore its existence and not write anything for long periods of time, was something I had to try to get over. Obviously it has been a loosing battle. But the war is not over. I have returned. If only temporarily.

'tis the season

2005-12-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a while since I've last visited these hallowed grounds. There are excuses though. Nothing much has been going on. After escaping the confines of Laguna Beach, I wallowed around in my own misery for 3 or 4 weeks, till some generous people asked if they could pay me $14/hour for two weeks. I lived through that, and after a nice week in Florida with my Dad and Kathy, I started back in on the wallowing. Honestly, I can't really remember what I've been doing these last few weeks. I know movies were involved, a lot of sitting on the floor, doing things with leather.

There is, however, something wrong when you find yourself going to bed later and later, and sleeping in half the morning, because you are trying to waste the day away and avoid eating so you don't have to spend money on food. (The money goes towards the movies instead, and I lose weight at the same time. A win-win situation.)

I haven't been neglecting the job searching though. I drive around every few days, looking for "Now Hiring" signs and applying to those places. But there isn't much that I can do when NOBODY CALLS ME BACK. This has been the crux of all my mental problems. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly happy sitting around on the floor making leather bags and whatnot to use as Christmas presents. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's a lot lacking. I really miss the rhythm of work. And the pride of a job well done, going home, and doing it again the next day. And now that my parents are in town, there's added pressure because I'd really like to avoid those semi-disappointed looks from various family members, that I'm not comfortably situated in the normal patterns of life that they come to expect.

But the Lord was looking out for me. I was persitent enough with one of the places that I applied to, that they gave me an interview time, and yesterday, I got into my car and started playing loud happy music with the wind whipping through my hair, because on Jan. 3rd, I'm rejoining the workforce. I'm a little nervous because I've never worked in strictly retail before, but I think I can do it.

Now I can sit back and enjoy my holidays. I hope.

Ta!

You Eel in Snake's Clothing!!

2005-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, so tonight I decided to revisit some of my favorite childhood movies. And I have to say, for those of you who have never seen Disney's Robin Hood, you are missing out. It is one of the few things Disney that I consider mandatory and obligatory viewing for all well-rounded persons. "Hiss! Stop hissing in my ear!"

Of course, Mary Poppins was fun, as always, and next up on the list is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one, because even though I love Gene Wilder, I really liked the way Tim Burton put the Factory together, and of course, there's Danny Elfman's masterful score).

And you wanna know what brought all this on? My brother was in town recently, and while chauffering him around one evening, after considerable consumption of fermented grape juice on his part, he randomly asked me if I remembered Robin Hood. "Oh there you are P.J.! Guess what! The stork is really Robin Hood!" Do I remember it? What kind of question is that? I mean, I who watched it everyday after school, who wore oversized green polo shirts tied at the waist with a belt, who loves archery? Really. The mere question...And after 5 minutes of passionate quoting, sufficiently proving that I did, in fact, remember it, I had him in giggles. I should get him drunk more often...(Creepy! Buster! Long One! Who does that dopey Duke think he is?) Besides, the University Of Southern California fight song is in it! Proving that I was destined to be a Trojan! Fight On!

So, if you are looking for some good, old-fashioned fun, I highly recommend it.

Ta!

Deed is Done

2005-10-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

Well, today was an incredibly dull sort of day. At least for a last day at the current place of employment. My boss had this big shindig at the Marriott in Dana Point to set up for and would be there all day long. He called me this morning requesting some supplies, which I dutifully ran down to the hotel. Then I sat around watching the exciting Apple presentations their PR guy was playing while Roark set up his gig. Did that till noon. Then I returned to the studio, and after a long a relaxing lunch break, I got to work. I sprayed 32 grey-fade backgrounds. COUNT THEM! THIRTY TWO!!! I think its a record for me in one day. Now my hand is totally cramped up. So I quit that, cleaned up my mess, found a box to put all my stuff in, cleared my desk-so to speak-and left. No send-off, no goodbyes, nobody cares. Oh well. I'm going back in the morning to get my checks and talk to Roark about references and stuff.

I guess I kinda thought that after a year of devoted work for them, even though the last few weeks have been pretty rocky, that they would have the courtesy to give me some sort of send off. Or SOMETHING. I mean, jeez. It just feels like, even though I know they care that I'm leaving, it doesn't feel like it. It feels like I mean nothing to them. It feels like crap.

I'm gonna take this next week off. No work, no interviews, no jobseeking, nothing. I'm going to sit on the beach for a week and do nothing. My parents get in tomorrow, and hopefully they will not make any noises against my decision. I really feel like it is necessary for me to be by myself for a few days thinking over what I'm going to do with myself. I have to think up a convincing argument for the Peace Corps so that they'll accept me. And maybe, just maybe, I'll do some art. MY art. My very own creations. Maybe.

As Coolsville Turns

2005-10-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

After spending an absolutely wonderful and totally relaxing weekend in Washington D.C. with Catherine, I found myself ready for a new week at work. The last week at work. Thursday is D-Day. And my boss is treating me like honey. Un-F*****-believable. Things have returned to the way they were before we went to New York. Giving me all sorts of compliments, allowing me to do all sorts of cool errands and projects to work on. He keeps asking me what will I do without them? without the harrasment? the torture? I told him today that most likely I will end up at the blackboard of a classroom with spitwads stuck to the back of me....

They are totally making me feel bad. To tell you the truth, I am scared about the future, having to find a new job...having my parents 4 houses down from me the day after I finish my job, watching every move I make....But I know I have to leave. It was a great place to work. However good it was for a while, my boss lost his respect for my abilities, and myself. And its crashing down on him now. So he's being as nice to me as possible, and making me feel guilty. That in itself is a reason to hitch up my skirts and run as fast as I can.

*sigh*

addendum

2005-09-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

I just want to add this as a comment made by my good friend Catherine. This is pretty much what I went through this afternoon at work.

"okguysihavethisletterforyouohlookatthetimeidbettergobye!"

=P

ta!

Doing the deed

2005-09-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I did it. I gave my very nicely written letters of resignation to my bosses today. That is, my two weeks notice. I was, however, too cowardly to give it to them and wait for their reactions. I waited till the end of the day and then beat a hasty retreat. So, I know not the reactions my letter provoked. I have been told to expect them not to be surprised. And I doubt it can come as a huge shock after last Friday's goings on and my abrubt departure at lunch time. So, we'll see.

So, here's to October the 13th! I simply can't wait!

Ta!

getting my butt off the floor

2005-09-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Getting out and doing things is harder than it looks. But when you finally do, it is like a flash of lightning to the brain. Today, after going to a church service that was a bit of a wake-up call, I ventured out to play Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of strangers from one of the church groups.

Now, for those of you who don't know what Ultimate Frisbee is, well here you go. Basically it is playing soccer with a frisbee. And because of the informality of the group, it also doesn't involve any contact. Real Fun, real safe. When I was a kid, I LOVED frisbee. I'm relatively good with a frisbee. Only problem is...I'm out of shape. Within the first 10 minutes of play, i had a HUGE stitch in my side. Ugh. But hey, so far, so fun. We played two games in 2 1/2 hours. The first, my team lost. The second, my team won, and I have the pride to say that I scored 3 points out of 11. There is nothing like finding yourself in the goal area, and having a guy chuck a frisbee at you, heaving yourself into the air and snagging it to score the point.

With everything that's been turning over in my head this weekend--with the prospect of giving notice at work tomorrow, I think I really needed that huge boost of confidence in myself that came with how well I did today. I had a lot of fun, found that yes, I am good at stuff, and that there is a group of people that *might* be looking forward to playing with me next sunday. I think it was God's way of telling me that things would be okay. That there is more to life than work and work-related problems.

I'm glad I went. Despite the fact that I am now so sore I can barely climb the stairs to my apartment.....but that should get better.

Ta!

Duh

2005-09-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, if Life were easy, it would be hard to appreciate, right? I should really start paying attention to the messages my sci-fi/fantasy books have bound within their hallowed pages.

By the way, I hear tell that the ANSWER is 42. Spread the word.

my first post, isn't it grand?

2005-09-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

so, all my friends have blogs, and i'm ashamed to say that I don't really read them...ever... Who's to say that they will ever read mine? but I find myself needing to express myself, and I hope that it will get noticed. I'm not much of a writer, so we'll see.

Those who know me best know that I've been having some serious problems with what I'm doing with myself in life. Mainly my job. Well, those problems got worse today, and as usual, they got me thinking. I think that my problems have to do with my being scared. I'm scared to confront my boss, I'm scared to change myself, or the way I think. I'm scared to quit, because I've never quit a job before and even more that I'm terrified of being jobless again and searching for work. I do, however, recognize that if I never do anything about it, it isn't going to change. Even if I'm scared, I still have to do something. All I can hope for is that in the end, I've learned something from the experience. That's what is important here. And I'm the only one who can do anything about it.

So, while I am terrified to do it, I'm going to write a letter to my boss, give it to him on Monday morning and give him my two weeks notice. (Tune in on Monday to see if I actually go through with it). It will mean I'll be jobless for however long it takes me to get my act together, get my ass off my floor and do something about it.

Here is a thank you to all of my friends for all of their continued and much appreciated advice and support.

Ta!