Oh! Slacker!

Here's what happened with that sailing trip:

The N. Pacific Voyage of the Minnow

Everythingsago!

Background Information:

What are we doing: Sailing from Honolulu to the Aleutian Islands via Midway. Specifically Honolulu, to Midway (it's questionable whether or not we can stop on any islands along the way), hopefully Attu Island and Adak Islands, inevitably Unalaska for customs, and along the American/Canadian coast.

Why are we doing this: I have no idea.

Who's involved: Bob, Mike, Josh, and I from Honolulu to Alaska (after that a few of us will probably jump ship). Cathy until from Honolulu to Midway because she's smart.

When are we doing this: June 12/13th to indefinitely.

What are we going in: The Minnow, a Catana 522 Ocean Class, hull number 11.

Who's captain: Generally the youngest person on board (me) but when we get into trouble, I blame anyone.

Is there safety equipment on board: Yes, we have two kayaks and a baritone.

Will there be emailing: Yes, we will email via satellite phone and set up a semi-daily blog. We will also have a site where people can text us on the sat phone via the internet. It's free<-- hint.

What kind of food will be on board: Probably 1,429,148,903,492 bananas since Mike and Bob are doing the majority of the grocery shopping.

What will we do when we're bored: learn a different language, read, watch movies, cook, bake, play music, sand coconuts, whip lines, sail, clean, draw pictures, play scrabble, uno, chess, and poker, edit, take photographs and video, be annoying, exercise, do laps, break stuff, fix stuff.

What will we do when someone's being annoying: learn a different language, read, watch movies, cook, bake, play music, sand coconuts, whip lines, sail, clean, draw pictures, play scrabble, uno, chess, and poker, edit, take photographs and video, be annoying, exercise, do laps, break stuff, fix stuff. See also: keelhaul.

Do all of us get along: Don't know yet.

Do we have sailing experience: Some; depends on how you define experience. Here's Mike and Bob's experience.

How cold will it be: Pretty darn cold, especially if it's windy.

Is hypothermia a possibility: Always.

Are we scared: Yes.

What will we do in the case of a storm: Keep calm. Remember that the boat is very stable when inverted.

How warm will it be on board: As warm as it can be from the oven. We have lots of blankets and cold weather gear.

How warm will it be in general: As warm as the Midway islands get.

How long will we be in Midway: 5-10 days, depending on our visa. We may be the only tourist visa for Midway this year.

What's on Midway: Birds, people, an airport from WWII, a naval base, and garbage.

How long will it take to get to Alaska from Midway: Possibly one to two months or longer, weather dependent.

What is Attu and Adak like: Great places for migratory birds. Foggy, windy, rainy. All the development from WWII era has been abandoned. I think there's a (abandoned) McDonald's on Adak where we can get a quarter pounder with cheese.

What are we packing in our suitcase: Gloves, hat, swimsuit, waterproof pants, wetsuit, goggles, rubber boots, waterproof coat, lots of fleece, socks, underwear, and long underwear, sunscreen, sunglasses, toothpaste. No wool.

LINKS

About the Minnow:

http://viaboat.com/

The Minnow Blog:

http://hmsminnow.blogspot.com/

Our hypothetical track:




Another hypothetical track:

Mexico

It was extremely sunny, warm, pleasant, and everything else good.

Photos

More details soon.

Muvees

I saw a disturbing film last night called "There will be Blood."

I thought, "Well hey, if it's been nominated for eight academy awards, there must be some entertaining substance in it."

...Did I gripe.

It consisted of a continuous sickening, high-strung plot lasting nearly three hours. I was actually slightly upset over this, which has never happened before. I simply could not believe the maliciousness and morbid violence of the film. I felt angry, I was angry, I was grumpy. Grumble grumble grumble.

I slept on it.

The next day I woke up thinking how odd it was that I was so tore up over a twisted plot of some film. Gave it some thought, and realized there must be something to it more than just a bad film.

The fact that I was so pissed off at the film, at its sickening plot, characters, and end, is actually a bit impressive. I actually hate the main character of the film, but not for bad acting. How often do stories intentionally accomplish this? Granted, the film is gifted with better technology, but wasn't that what Shakespeare was supposedly pushing for similar emotions? It simply wouldn't have been right for such a film to end on a note of remorse; I would've just thrown it into the mediocre drama category. But no, the producers chose to piss me off and it's disgruntling impressive that the film emphasized such dark psychological intent.

So in the end, I absolutely hate "There will be Blood," but that's just because the acting is damn great.

My brain and education.

School? Good. Health? Improving. I'm at my wit's end with commuting. The breaking news is a snow forecast tomorrow. We tried climbing Mt. Pugh and Mt. Dickerman which were both wonderful climbs.

Oklahoma and Hawaii are in the near future.

I'm schleepy.