So I am going to try and start writing my jounal on my computer then uploading it to the Bloon each port.  I have to write it in Anthropology anyways, might as well make this time useful.  So here it goes!

Mar 7
Today was quick, painless and otherwise unnote-worthy.  On day-watch I ended up volunteering for Garbage Sorting/Cleaning which makes me the third person ever to volunteer for it.  Atleast I get some fame for immersing my hands in bags of maggoty garbage.  But hey, its done with now.  No more garbage for awhile!

Calm-store is tonight…  Which is good.  Although I think that I need to either eat less candy or start working out again.  Its just that I have gotten so into my new site C5-Productions I havn’t had the time to workout.  Meh, Ill try to do a 30 min workout tonight.  I am almost done the site ‘neways.

And finally to finish off, a quote: “Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.” -Phillip Brooks

Mar 9
I had a really really bad day today.  Jeezus.  I had a double day-watch first thing and I ended up with a quick and painless job, putting a second coat of blue paint onto a small patch of the mizzen super-structure.  Easy, right?  Alas, after putting my finishing touches and checking with Nik (our Bosun) to see if I did a good job and all, I began the laborous job of cleaning up my brush, and putting everything away.  In doing so, my paint can tipped over and spilt a generous amount of shiny blue paint all over my drop cloth.  Phiew I thought as I went to carefully pick up the cloth, I know what these are used for now.  I slowly made my way back to the paint locker with my various items of interest, where I then stowed them away.  Much to my alas, when I appeared back on deck my eyes caught sight of a trail of blue paint, leading right back to where I originally spilled it.

Shit.

A few minutes later I was scrubbing down the deck with some soapy water…  Around three-quarters of a hour later, the deck was as good as new.  I pranced off to Nik to show him that I am not a total idiot and I really know how to scrub down.  He was glad and told me not to beat myself up about it.  Thank god we have a nice Bosun.

About twenty minutes later I hear someone call my name as I was sanding the front of the mizzen super-structure.  I look up to see Andrea walk by, her hands covered with blue paint.  Nik motions to me that I follow him.  As I make my way up to the bow my dread of what is to come increases after each step.  Upon arriving Nik points out large splotches of blue paint, covering the ground below the Fore-mast and all over one of the bow-vents.  He explains to me that when I spill paint onto a drop-cloth I should put it out to dry, not leave it for the next people to use.  Of course, I had forgotten that small detail due to my previous problem; spilt paint.  After a few more minutes of cleaning and wiping, I return to my sanding…  Feeling absolutly horrible.  Yea, so that has been my day so far…

In other much happier news, We have started Assassin once again, except this time I am doing quite well.  Up till now I have almost 8 kills and I of course, am still alive.  For those who are unfamiliar to this interesting game, essentially everyone is givin someone else to kill.  And when I say kill, I mean attach a clothes-pin to their clothes without anyone (including the person) notices.  This chain of death continues until one person is left.

Hopefully I am that person.

Ta-ta

Mar 11
So much for assassin…  My killer was tres-sneaky and decided it would be fun to end my killing spree…  Oh well, thats the beauty of the game.  I luckly ended up with around 8 kills so I am happy. 

I still can’t quite comprehend why people don’t do anything in class.  Sometimes it just gets soo annoying when a group doesn’t do anything.  Freaking A.

Yesterday was galley which was fun.  Sorta.  Luckly nothing went bad so I had an enjoyable day.

Oh, and I almost forgot, we had a swim call today!  All of a sudden around 1:00 Mr. Cleland came on the PA and announced that there would be a swimcall at 1:3o a’midships.  Yet, to my dismay when I popped up on deck I found Ms. Galway and Ms. Kelly blowing up Maddies kiddy pool…  This had to be a joke.

“So, I suppose I should have made it more obvious in my announcement but we arn’t having a swim call.  We are playing a game that involves swimming in the baby pool………….  Ok just kidding, we are having a swimcall…” ~ Mr. Cleland @ 1:30 to the entire crew…  The balls that man has….

Anyways, I was able to jump off the bowsprite which was freeking amazing, but to top it off I climbed up the Bob-stay (a chain that supports the bowsprite) all the way up until I was sittin beside our figurehead and enjoying the view.  Check the pics out, as they should be up on my Flickr page. (provided I get some speedy internet in Oman)

Last night I hosted another Philosophy club, except this time we decided to just talk about whats on our minds…  As the meeting was very small (4 people!), it got quite intense and we shall continue on the same train of thought in a couple days.

Finally, as my last point of interest, I bought 2 quarts of icecream for my watch as a surprise in the Maldives, so the other night I brought it out and we had a huge watch party.  Shawnee even provided watermelon!  Sweet stuff eh?

Mar 12

Men go abroad to determine the merits of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the long course of the rivers, the vast compass of the ocean, and the circular motion of the stars, and yet pass themselves by.” -St. Augustine

Humph, this quote’s interesting.  But I shall puzzle it out at a better time.

Listening to: When the Night Feels my Song by the Bedouin Soundclash

Today was interesting in the sense that it was filled with work.  Work brought on by myself.  Oh well, I love it.  We started our English Project (on Hamlet) and we have decided to do a movie based on Zoolander on the last 4 scenes of Hamlet.  Basically everyone dies.  Not too hard, with a little twist anything is possible… Zoolander -> black lung; Hansel -> Gas fight; Mugatu -> Crazy…  Etc. 

Anyways as English Projects go, I have put the most work into this one; and I am only one day in.  Dang.

Off I go, to continue in the pursuit of Anthropology.  Woo.

Mar 14

Dominance doesn’t necessarily imply control. ~Anne Erlich

Sometimes I question the quotes that Ms. Galway puts on the board…  But sometimes I don’t.  Like now.

We set all the squares today, along with the Main and the staysails.  Oh and the outer jib.  Too bad there is NO WIND.    Sometimes I wonder why the captain makes us set everything for nothing.  I think he enjoys watching us work out asses off for nothing.

Maddy and Matt got their High Alt today.  As I am next in line I am going to start training h-core for it to hopefully get it in the next few weeks.  Its crazy hard, but I think I will make it.  ~_~

This journal idea is actually working out pretty well.  It will also make it easier when I get to port…  I won’t have to re-remember everything.  That’s never fun.

In other news, I am almost finished C5 Productions which is going to be my latest and greatest theme for my webdesign studio BloonLabs.  Hopefully ill have time to kick C5 off this summer with a web client, but it really matters on what happens this summer.  The tentative plan involves quite alot of travel so I might have to wait until Fall.  Eh, thats life.

Well now I am just rambling.  I guess I should stop, no-one likes to read a rambler.  So adios pechinios!  (I think I just made up a word)

Mar 15

As the week goes on, Anthro class seems to become more and more prevalent in my schedule…  Yay journaling!

A community is like a ship: everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.  ~Henrik Ibsen

Now thats a good quote.  Really brings out the leadership.  Oh yea, speaking of bringing out inner beauties, my English project is all finished.  Well I suppose I could put more work into it…  There are a few things I can think of adding/editing…  Eh…  I might have time.  Bah, whatever.  I am hoping to upload it to the web if I find a good connection but if not, it will be returning home with me on a Semester 2 DVD which I am creating.  This semester I am going to organize everything a bit better and come up with a DVD full of slideshows and movie goodness rather than just giving yall all my pics in one big unedited bunch.  Nice eh?

What I do for yall….  ~_~

I am looking forward to Oman…  With 2.5 days to go everyone is getting very excited.  Conversely people arn’t concentrating as much in class.  Interesting calamity eh?

I have a wart on my pinky finger.  Not funny.  (I will destroy it soon, so no worries)

High alt: training has begun…  Dun dun dunnnnn  *hard core electric guitar solo*

O, in other news, I am going to try and do a professional recording of our “Class Afloat 06-07 anthem”, a song Jason Stein (one of the students) made up…  Its sooo catchy and good.  Actually Ill type it now:

Vancouver to Singapore,
Singapore to Poland,
Twenty six thousand miles,
Under the sun and free.

Solomon to Odessa,
Samoa to the Isle of Rhodes,
The places that we go,
The wonders that we see.

More than it seems,
More than it seems.

Crossing all borders,
Cutting no corners,
A floating family.
Pushing the distance,
Through wind and resistance,
Shaping our lives at sea.

More than it seems,
More than it seems.

The places that we go,
Don’t matter so much,
As who we go there with,
Who we go there with.

All there is in the world,
Is standing on the bowsprite,
With the wind in your hair,
The mess under the stars.

More than it seems,
More than it seems.

Crossing all borders,
Cutting no corners,
A floating family.
Pushing the distance,
Through wind and resistance,
Shaping our lives at sea.

More than it seems,
More than it seems.

Ill try and record it soon and upload it so yall can here how it goes.  It sounds amazing when the whole crew sings along.

Au Revoir!

March 16

Life is a series of random events,
there is no such thing as morality,
there is only collective delusions,
occassional leaps of faith, and
feats of self-interested discipline
that prevents people from exploiting
one another all the time.

~Ann-Marie MacDonald (the way the crow flies)

Now thats a quote and a half.  I shall puzzle it during night watch no doubt.  But tis not the time, for I am too tired.

Today ambled along at the pace of a dead zebra.  Double chem followed by a triple spare…  Phys, double day-watch, English and finally Anthro.  A average day full of pain and sleepyness.  I finished the English-Project DVD and hopefully will burn a dvd of it soon for myself.  Its collection of videos really enlightens some aspects of the ship.  Such as night-watch and insanity.  Some of the personalities of the students also can be seen in the videos.  For those who don’t know, the videos are on Hamlet and The Tempest.  We basically recreated some of the scenes from the plays using our own theme and ideas.  My group used the theme of Zoolander while some other themes was, “The Tempest, the musicial” and “Casino night”.

Crap journaling est fini.  Back to class!

March 17

How now brown cow?  Here is a poem I thought up over the last few nights while standing night-watch.  Yea, shit I do while I stand looking at NOTHING for 30 minutes at the middle of the night.

How many ways can an elephant float,
on the itty bitty bosum, of this itty bitty boat?

How many ways can an elephant swim,
across the great seas, at his whim?

How many ways can an elephant seeth,
on his knees, if you please?

How many ways can an elephant die,
in his grave, you know why…

How many ways can an elephant ascend,
into heaven, of us men?

How many ways can we shout,
get it out, get it out!

How many ways can an elephant fall,
into the depths, of nothing at all?

Yea, I know.  Random.  There is somewhat an amount of relgious commentary in there, but I think its more the satisfaction of writing nearly nothing that makes it so fun.

Today was interesting… very interesting.  Some call it Captains Inspection, others call it hell… but its all the same.  Essentially I bounced between setting lots of sails, to polishing the reception area, to scrubbing down my cabin, to spongeing down the Galley, to going back to the reception area, to giving midships a total makeover, to dousing lots of sails…  Interesting day to say the least…  Full of work, and pain.

The only benefit of today was that I got the morning off classes.  Unfortunatly we are redoing todays missed morning tomorrow.    No fun.

In other news, I recently started watching Season 1 of Rome, a TV show based on rome back in Ceasers time.  If you get a chance try and catch a episode, as its very very interesting.  It combines all the good elements of a TV show with awesome history.  Anyways, back to Anthro.  Were watching “The Gods Must Be Crazy”

Yay.

 Fini

Well, that was an obnoxious amount of rambling I am sure.  But hey, its better than nothing at all.  As for Oman, first impressions are interesting, but nothing crazy awesome.  Some friends and me climbed up to a fort on a mountain earlier, but apart from that this port isn’t very neat.  Oh well, atleast our port programs sound sweet.

I love and miss you all,

till my next post…