working

I have had a job for 11 days now! not too bad since i got fired after 5 days....
it's the tattoo, the ever lasting job stopper. there is no chance of me having it removed, despite the captain researching that for me (thanks buddy). The first mate bought me a tattoo cover kit, it covers the tattoo, but then leaves a large flesh colored spot on my arm- which is worse? I know you are wonder "why is a pirate having a tattoo a problem?". we work under cover to infiltrate the extraordinarily wealthy and the tat gives me away.
The captain knew about the tattoo (tough sticker, as he calls it) before i was hired, but the boat needed some one asap and i was available. Since i have been on i have made great friends with the crew and become indispensable, kinda- really they just can't find anyone better.
now i just get to wait until i really am fired or the owners get over their issues with body modification.

octopus

much excitement, minimal payoff.
I had a temp job on the Mega Yacht Octopus. http://www.yachtmati.com/Octopus/index.htm
When i call friends in the industry to let them know there was heaps of excitement and envy. This is a very famous boat with extreme security and very few people get to see and touch it.
It was a simple job, we washed the boat. I did not see the interior, I did not see anyone famous. I did sign a very intimidating confidentiality agreement, so thats' about all i can say.

put on the black arm band

a huge part of my life has left me.
we were young silly fiercely independent teens when we met and even though we grew apart for a while, we stayed together. she was a constant in my life. As i went through phases and moods trying to figure myself out, she stood by me. I was very lucky for that. There were mornings I wished she was gone from my life, very cold, frost covered mornings. Mornings where I was running late and she was not running at all. I would gently coax her to a hill, put all my weight on her and start running, put her in second, hope no one was at the next intersection, and pop the clutch- never failed! and then realizing i had not scraped the ice off the windshield.
Now she is someone else's joy, and burden (good luck in Arizona! she does not like it over 94 degrees). After nearly 16 years together, my precious 1974 Volkswagen Thing has gone to a new home. Her new family really wanted her, to fly from Phoenix and transport her back. I hope they love her half as much as I do, but wash her more often. Sixteens years together, a lifetime.
It's the car I really learned to drive in, stuff you don't learn in Driver's Ed. Like pulling into on coming traffic to pass a slow car, backing up across the mall parking lot to check out boys, hopping curbs and medians to avoid traffic and the art of running stop signs. I truly believe police radar cannot pick up the color yellow, I know we were going over 65mph. Maybe the cops just liked her, we were pulled over dozens of times and never ticketed, once going down a one-way street the wrong way, for a few blocks.
We were the one car parade, seeing people smile at the sight of a 70's yellow convertible, and seeing the envy of the consumers in their flashy expensive sports cars, knowing that they cannot buy this kind of happiness. Friendly waves everywhere, even from the guy tailgating me on Mo-Pac.
Once a man in a vintage Jaguar at a car wash asked me, "what's next?" and i could only reply, "this is it, the one and only". Then he gave me his number and said to call if i ever consider selling her, at the time I could only laugh in response.

This is not an end of an era, just a hiatus. There is still only one car I have ever wanted.

snot of the 7 seas

who knew floral arranging could go wrong?


doing my part to keep all the pirates on board happy by assisting the chief stew Ina, from Lithuania, with the mandatory floral arrangements. great fun and heaps of learing and a bottle of wine (yo ho ho!). and then a celebratory pub crawl for creating 3 gorgeous arrangements from $100 of flowers. and breakfast at The Floridian http://fort.lauderdale.diningguide.com/data/d104165.htm.

the next day we are coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever...

and of course i have job interviews lined up now- anyone have great remedies?

while you where out

finally!!
I am free!! so soon and sudden i left the boat, the boat i renamed "the ship of solitude and sandwiches".
the recap my boating life: nice little boat 105', great captain (from South Africa), great deck hand (from Chile) cute little cabin to myself (very rare) and a decent family.
But no one cooked. i do not cook, especially after a 10 hour work day in the sunshine and heat. so it was sandwiches. and the deck hand is in mid greencard process and cannot leave the country, who would help on deck? no one knew... i already had too much to do with out enough time. and there was no fun to be had on this boat. i thought i found the fun vacuum and was ready to toss i t overboard, but is was just a very large juicer. i realized that under these conditions i would lose all social skills ( the little i have) and develope a bit of OCD over food.
Halloween was my last day, so i had a huge halloween! and a wonderful weekend.
I am not homeless or even a bit destitude like most pirates would be with out a boat, i have connections. We look out for our kind. The crew of a friendly boat 121' invited me to join until i have a job- so i have a boat, 3 meals a day and the loveliest of crews, 6 of 'em! i am living large.
and working hard for them and even harder to find my self a happy boat with a chef.
Yesterday: went for a run on the beach, polished all the stainless in deck, don scuba gear and scrub the barnicles off the hull of the tender (little boat, 32'), delicious dinner with crew, then to a friends for tea and napkin folding (a very important skill for pirates!). life is as it should be, with a constant uncertain future.
hope thats enough for now. out of time at the library

on the boat

time flies when you are out at sea...
i am in St. Augustine, Fl (the oldest town in America!) waiting out a storm with 8 minutes remaining online (at a public library).
to answer a common question: the boat does not currently have Internet access (due to the computer being covered in something a 2 year old would spill out of a sippy cup)

this should change once we get to Ft. Lauderdale. but we cannot go until the storm, settles a little (it was bad coming in)

more later, when i can find a computer

new york, new york

i love (visiting ) new york city!!!
I arrived Friday and have had in quality time with best mates Tricia and Andrea!Tricia lives on the upper East side where you have to dodge nannies with strollers and herds of private school kids, also very close to Central Park and typical NYC greatness. Andrea live in Brooklyn, kinda Williamsburg, where you have to dodge trash talking preteens and hipsters, and always crazy fun. Saturday, we had brunch and got rained on while shopping, then dinner party at Andrea's and fun, fun, fun all night long. Sunday, brunch and sunshine and the Tenement Museum and Tricia and i wondered thru Chinatown and got ICE CREAM!!! from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/.
Monday i went to the Bronx Zoo http://www.bronxzoo.com/ , why do i not know anyone who has ever been there? The Bronx Zoo is responsible for re-established the American Bison after the pioneer tried to eliminate the species, and lots of other stuff- they also have a crazy huge rattle snake (to think i grew up with those guys hanging out in the backyard).
Tuesday, the bodies exhibit http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/intro.html and more quality girl time with Andrea. OH OH!! and i met Philip Winter, a lifelong New Yorker (age 65) and local author, on the bus. He said i was the most intresting person he had met today! we swapped emails and shall keep in touch...
Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will get a pedicure (mani/pedi only $22) and ANdrea and will got to the Museum of Natural History for the "Dragons, Unicorns, And Mermaids" exhibit http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythiccreatures/ . yup.
Thursday i will relax and prepare for my first day of work on Friday!

this has just been a warm-up mini adventure, much more to come!!

from November 2006, where have i been?

where did i go, where have i been?
June 2001 left Austin to live in Yellowstone National Park for the summer and got sent back home in September...
Beginning of 2002 i got a job and they sent me to Arlington, VA/Washington D.C. I lived with Patricia for a few months- that was awesome! then she left for grad school and took all of the fun with her. while on the East Coast i did get to visit New York City and Philadelphia several times and had a few climbing trips out to Seneca Rocks. I stuck around DC until summer 2003 when i transferred to Berkeley, CA.
The Bay Area was great! Everything i wanted! i worked with great people, got to do wonderful things: rock climbing in Yosemite, cruising in the harbor in a yacht, hiking in Marin, fun nights out in San Francisco, taking in the amazing view everyday, eating weird food, frequent weekend trips for snowboarding in Heavenly, day trips down HWY 1, great days on a cold cold beach, taking care of other peoples dogs... the fun never ends!
then the big move July 2004- NEW ZEALAND! i flew into Auckland and immediately headed North for the Bay of Islands then partied my way down to Whakapap/Mt. Ruapehue for a season of snowboarding on a volcano! i cant even describe the beauty- constantly gasping at the view and my reality. the season ended and it was time for the beach. To the South Island and settled in Nelson very quickly. great friends that became family. I did my time on the Nelson beaches and mountains- then off again to hitch hike down the wild West Coast. Beyond spectacular! the pictures barely represent the experience. Then i landed flat broke in Queenstown- not too bad of a place. I got to clean hotel rooms to get enough money to move onto Christchurch to find a "real job". super quick i found a job managing an outdoor adventure store and they sponsored me for a visa! isn't life great? and landed in the coolest flat with the coolest folks. i will never forget Tim and Vanessa- even James wasn't all that bad. Christchurch is a super little metropolis (pop. 300,000), i did enjoy my 9 months there.
Then a great stroke of luck. The company i worked for went bankrupt and liquidated in a matter of hours. Amazing how fast that can happen. As soon as i knew, i applied for a job with the Department of Conservation- they manage the National Parks. within a week i was selling everything and moving to Aoraki/ Mt. Cook. by far one of the 20 best thing to happen to me while in NZ!
it was short summer season on the glacier covered mountain range, but i met my best friends there. i was constantly reminded that i live a charmed life, i am impossibly lucky. my job was mostly in the regional office assisting tourist- but there were the occasional helicopter flights up the glacier for "work" (well, some one was working). it was a tiny village filled with rugged mountain adventure enthusiasts- never a dull moment. I did get in a bit of rock climbing and was introduced to more adventurous snow activities, like creating a 5 mile track in waist deep snow.
It was all over too fast. The season was over, I was out of a job and my visa was soon to expire. Time to move on.
June/July 2006 i spent on the Australian East Coast. Lots of sunshine, beaches and a bit of adventure. And the experience of being an illegal day laborer! I got a great gig rebuilding and finishing a huge deck with an amazing view. and then i moved on to Magnetic Island and was grounds keeper for a camp ground/ koala park.
August I spent in Thailand. Island hoped and got Scuba certified, got chased by monkeys, watched the rain, and lots of rock climbing in Krabi.
September was a quick stop in Texas to refuel for the Caribbean.
Topped the adventure off with 3 weeks on a yacht in Bonaire and St. Maarten. It was work, but much more fun.
Landed back in Austin October 30, 2006. just in time for my niece McKenzie's first Halloween.
Cant wait to get going again.

land locked

I have been land locked in wonderful Austin, Texas for a year now. In 48 hours i set off for NYC- an island! and then to the boat that will be my home until.... who knows? While "trapped" in my home town i fell in love with her all over again. great weather (if you love heat and this year, rain rain rain), great food (if you love heat), fun stuff to do everyday! by Friday i was usually too exhausted to go out, after catching live music and swing dancing all week. As much as this place changes, nothing ever really changes: same cute deli guy at Wheatsville http://wheatsville.coop/, same unreliable bus system, same music festivals (just bigger), same fun crazies dancing in the streets, same good vs. evil environmental issues. but my first ACL Fest http://www.aclfestival.com/default.aspx! i was warned it was a festival too big for it's britches and that between the hype and the crowds i would wish i didn't... but it was great! 3 action packed days of music i didn't know i loved. GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY !http://www.myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory !! these local heroes put on a fabulous show and dance dance dance!

yesterday was INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY! i hope you celebrated, mark it on your calendar for next year. http://www.talklikeapirate.com/