A friend and I have had an ongoing conversation for years where we speculate the joys of the mentally bereft and thier incapacity to entertain cognizance vs. the joys of being aware and able-bodied. Today reminds me of that.

“Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you’re allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It’s like killing yourself, and then you’re reborn. I guess I’ve lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now.”

Bukowski

Now obviously our lives arent standard by any means and certainly not remotely near his reference, but booze plays a part in everyday life with everyone I know, including my freinds that are recovered and spend a majority of thier time fighting booze off. I suppose Ive never thought about drinking as an emotional thing, its always just been something we’ve done. This weekend I drank yet again among the legends of the art and we all got blasted but its nothing wild in the streets like your 20′s, its tales from the mountains and the seas, sometimes quiet and sometimes raucous, thoughts and advice on women we have had or still have, stories of women we’ve always wanted but will never have, accomplishments and feats of strength and life all riddled with the usual ball-breaking and plan making fare. Friday night we staggered out of the bar late after a 12 hour marathon and by God we were gonna sail the Sound in two weeks and if the winds favored us then all the better, never mind the massive November storms, hell or high water we were doing it. Thats how we roll, like life is some sort of Mexican Standoff and weve got the twitchy trigger finger, I bet we sail that boat in November and thats half insane but that’s what makes it so good: follow through and determination to look under every stone and discover every moment, booze soaked or otherwise.

Ski season is close and here is what Im going to do: Not one cocktail until either we sink into the briny deep on our ill planned yet gloriously executed sail to Port Townsend in two weeks or until the snow has flown enough to sail my motorhome up the Mountain and reunite with my snow-tribe.
It will be a dry time. Not a down cycle, just a dry one.

In less than 36 hours I am assuming post as first mate aboard sailing vessel Wandering Star, Seattle on a three day sail around the Sound. Captained by Jerry Ceis and including the freshly minted, honorary pirate: Dave Henderson.

Cabin boy: as yet unknown.

my favorite part of this post was adding the tags.

Long ago I hooked the feeder from here and plugged it intravenously into a younger, faster Facebook solely to pick up and deliver piping hot content straight to you, some of whom never even come here despite 99% of all content being generated in these: the Ninja Ovens.

If you come here regularly, register. When you register make sure you trackback your username to your twitter, facebook profile, LiveJournal (if you have a website even better!!!)etc etc…..basically whatever boneyard you call your own here on ye olde innernet. This way I can follow you around the web like a dirty old man cackling down the 2am streets.

I havent decided what Im going to do about the newly hoary and snaggle toothed Facebook yet, its actually grown on me a little in the past 6 months of constant abuse…..I might just ignore its pathetic lead time or I may just slip it an extra morphine late in the night so it stops twitching so miserably.
Stay tuned, but if your getting your fix from there, I suggest finding a backup plan.

Welcome aboard: bring me vodka so I can function and possibly fire this thing back up. Return to broadcast is imminent.

The knee is doing well given all the attention ive been giving it. Will be on the stick all week for sure which means everyone will start calling me House, just like last time this happened. Back then I didnt know who House was, now of course I do. I dont mind the association one bit.
Late last night I stepped out with some homies for dinner and drinks at Mission here in West and today of course I couldnt resist the call of Tony Hawks Treasure Hunt so Ive been using the leg to some degree, but carefully. Using the stick for walking is decent, but using it to shake at things and remind people I am disabled is double decent. People stare at me, I look at them and remind them Im disabled. People walk past me to fast and I tell them to slow down, Im disabled. I really like being disabled. If someone is staring at me from across a room, I pound my cane on the floor with a thud and mouth silently: “wtf”. There are more stories about my communicative disability behaviours in public but I think my mother has been hanging around here lately and I would hate to tarnish any goodwill she may have towards me: your favorite social luminary. Ask anyone who has been around, they will tell you a few doozies. Dont ever ask me for spare change if you see me with a cane, or tell people you work in hotels when you really dont. I will viscerate you with my stick. My blood red stick, which i hold dear and close.
I dont think I will ski next weekend, at least to any degree. We will see how it holds out, stay tuned.
Anyone know where I can get the blue placard for special parking? I need 3 total.
Thanks for reading, thanks for caring.
Hench.

Winter to Spring transitions means much more text coming up and a fading of usual Winter fare, namely photo-blogging;  I may switch permanently to a brighter background instead of the darker styles I usually employ. What if you decided what it is though? Is it better black? Do you prefer a cleaner, brighter look? You have my email, facebook and the comment field to make the call. Most votes wins but in the meantime while I cleanse the scourge: you get this vanilla ice cream cone with NO SPRINKLES ON IT! Plain Jane.
I kinda like it.

go.

Message Boards/Tech

Until yesterday I was anxious to begin, and have been reading up on furiously, the art of a message board.  The process/reasoning here was two-fold as I need to get my hands in the fire for Admin’ing something like this for major future projects that I have been dwelling on for over a year now.  When I THINK, it gets a little smoky in here. Over the past 24 hours I have realized the doomed nature of the immediate message board i want to build, but I just might do it anyways, as a test tube case. (Lab Rats.) The nature of this board/forum is still a closely guarded secret.

Full Time Skipper

How to move into my Motorhome full time, has been burning up part of my brain for 3 months now. I reckon it will be smoldering yet, come Summertime. I have ideas…wild ones, but ideas none the less. Some of those ideas involve large sponsored message boards and large unsponsored vats of likely: Ramen Noodles for life. At least its Ramen in a motorohome on some NorthWest Coastline though.

RSS Search

I cant find a good Alaska Blog and its dissapointing. I dont care about bitchy housewife blogs, I need some keyboard grit that really presents life up there in a way that any of us would almost not understand. I will keep searching. I am of course eagerly anticipating (pictorial) results from the Fur Bikini contest, coming soon from all of the people I dont know but really should…up at the annual Fur Rondy. That looks like one fun party.

Stevens Pass Political Fails

Stevens Pass has been sitting on the front burner of my brain for weeks, on simmer. We are mere weeks away from a major announcement wherein us in the Lower Lot will likely be displaced, permanently. None of us have been given representation nor any formal voice in this case, despite a committee having been formed to provide “input” on whats best done with our sort. It is increasingly difficult to hold my tongue on this fiery issue, more and more we are being spoken of in such disposable manner, like a colony of lepers on the edge of town…a village that for the betterment of others must be burned and all its scourge and plague with it. What keeps ringing in my mind is how my money would spend BETTER anywhere else, but Im so attached to that place that it is utterly discouraging to even consider a move. I have a large piece of written work on the topic that I will share, but not until the time is right.  For a bunch of people who just want to get out of town and ski all weekend at their local ski resort, things sure have become political, and that just about takes the fun out of everything. All this heat and it begins to feel so incredibly inhospitable that you remind yourself of a rat, slinking around a rainy gutter looking for scraps, or in this case, a parking spot. For overall hospitality, general warmth and simple humanity: Stevens Pass gets an F in 2010.

Kiteboarding and ceasing to exist

Kiteboarding resumes soon, with all this early weather….I am not mentally prepared in the least….for certain death.

Borg Elders

A small matter if you dont know me, huge if you do: The Borg EldersMy parents are absolutely delightful people. They have been on my mind of late, something Im just completely unfamiliar with. Handwritten correspondence with my grandmother has also been very nice. Not enough people write letters anymore and frankly, the crinkly  feel of paper, the strain of meticulously placed ink…..it just cannot be beat.

Postal Service as a lost art

In 2009 I announced I would send anyone who wanted, a free book called Tough Trip Through Paradise, gratis. The book mattered that much, it is necessary reading. In 2009 I spent 15 quid per shipped book, start to finish, for a sum of 14 books. Not one letter or email was ever sent in exchange or gratitude. One of the reasons I did the project was to see how people would communicate back, alot of the books went to people I have never met, much less even spoken to on the phone. I was curious: do people write letters anymore? My conclusion is no, sadly. I am a proponent of paper….big time. My favorite blog posts are the scanned images of a notebook. Look for mine to begin this Spring.

Summer Hiking

I have begun my Later Summer Hike planning, it too sits on paper. A 7 day stretch through the Pacific Crest Trail, likely solo….an unsafe decision but this is a hike that cant be put off, for lack of hiking partner.

Film Footy

Been playing around with footage shot from late Autumn and early Winter. Keep watching for a finished project as I continue to buff and edit.