Sorry, it's been a couple of weeks since I dropped in.
Life is good, if busy. If I'm not working, I'm sailing. If I'm not sailing, I'm working. That's life this summer. I'm trying to log as many hours as possible, as each hour on the water makes it a safer sport. I'm still learning new tricks almost every time. Besides, I won't be able to do this in the winter, so I'm packing in as much outdoor time as possible.
One point of contention is that OLK and I are spending very little time together these days. We're blessed with benefits. She's busy with acting roles, and booked most evenings that I'm home. Unfortunately neither of our schedules are flexible, so it'll have to stay this way for a bit.
Having said that, I could have done better this weekend. I went for my usual Friday night sail from 6 to 9pm. At nine, we brought the boat back in and opened a few bottles of beer. At 4:30am the last 5 of us decided to leave the club and head home! Plastered. OLK woke me up a few hours later when she was leaving for work, to let me know that she was mad. If she'd woke up at 4am and noticed that I wasn't home, she apparently would have phoned the police, worried.
Later that morning, I woke up and went back to the sailing club for a social event. Only half of the previous night's endeavor were able to get out of bed. Unfortunately, the event organizers were in the "stay in bed" crowd. We had a great time anyway, but got home before midnight.
It's way too easy to drink at this place. Friendly people, and a neverending supply of beer means I often stay for "1 more." I'm going to try to abstain on the weeknights, as I agree that it's getting to be too much. Working out at the gym is getting harder again, and I'm going to start looking my age soon.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Lottery
Last night, one person in Canada won the $40million lottery. I have a ticket in my wallet, and haven't checked it yet.
If I win, OLK gets a house, I get a yacht, and we both get to quit our day jobs to follow artistic pursuits. We both get to tell a few people where to go (and how to get there).
I know I didn't win, but for now my fantasy is one step closer to reality. That dream of sitting at the bow of my 37' Tartan sailboat, strumming my guitar while smoking a Cohiba, reflecting on the 4-5 day sail I just did down to Bonaire.
After spending some time in Fantasyland, I'll close down my fantasy and check my numbers later this morning. It may be a 20,000,000:1 chance, but there still the '1'...
If I win, OLK gets a house, I get a yacht, and we both get to quit our day jobs to follow artistic pursuits. We both get to tell a few people where to go (and how to get there).
I know I didn't win, but for now my fantasy is one step closer to reality. That dream of sitting at the bow of my 37' Tartan sailboat, strumming my guitar while smoking a Cohiba, reflecting on the 4-5 day sail I just did down to Bonaire.
After spending some time in Fantasyland, I'll close down my fantasy and check my numbers later this morning. It may be a 20,000,000:1 chance, but there still the '1'...
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The Biggest Losers
Tuesday night was spent racing at the sailing club. It was really windy, so we put on a small foresail and reefed down our main (to make it smaller too).
All eight boats ran along the starting line, and when the horn went off we were at the head of the pack. The wind blew our hair back, the waves splashed against the hull, we were speeding through the harbour.
About 10 seconds later, a 2' rip appeared in our mainsail. It turns out that the reefing line wasn't reinforced (cheap sail), and the force of the wind pulled it through the fabric. Our night of racing ended immediately.
Wednesday night was also spent racing at the sailing club. This time, we didn't hear the 5-minute warning horn, and thus weren't ready when the starting horn went off. Still, we headed up the course and had caught up to the pack at the turning buoy. Unfortunately we hit some bad wind and wandered aimlessly for around 5 minutes while watching all the other boats escape. Finally back on track and with power, we bumped into the buoy. This meant that we had to circle around it before getting back on track. While circling, we hit the bad wind again.
We were so far behind the pack that when we were 1/2 finished, the commodore (ref) thought we were finishing and rated us 3rd place! Unfortunately this meant that we were only 3/4 finished the first race when he started the second.
Again, we managed to find some good wind and sped back up to the rest of the pack. We didn’t finish last on that second race, which was quite an accomplishment considering we started quite far behind everyone else.
This was not an ideal week for sailing. Still, I'm discovering the truth in an old saying: A bad day sailing is better than a good day in the office.
All eight boats ran along the starting line, and when the horn went off we were at the head of the pack. The wind blew our hair back, the waves splashed against the hull, we were speeding through the harbour.
About 10 seconds later, a 2' rip appeared in our mainsail. It turns out that the reefing line wasn't reinforced (cheap sail), and the force of the wind pulled it through the fabric. Our night of racing ended immediately.
Wednesday night was also spent racing at the sailing club. This time, we didn't hear the 5-minute warning horn, and thus weren't ready when the starting horn went off. Still, we headed up the course and had caught up to the pack at the turning buoy. Unfortunately we hit some bad wind and wandered aimlessly for around 5 minutes while watching all the other boats escape. Finally back on track and with power, we bumped into the buoy. This meant that we had to circle around it before getting back on track. While circling, we hit the bad wind again.
We were so far behind the pack that when we were 1/2 finished, the commodore (ref) thought we were finishing and rated us 3rd place! Unfortunately this meant that we were only 3/4 finished the first race when he started the second.
Again, we managed to find some good wind and sped back up to the rest of the pack. We didn’t finish last on that second race, which was quite an accomplishment considering we started quite far behind everyone else.
This was not an ideal week for sailing. Still, I'm discovering the truth in an old saying: A bad day sailing is better than a good day in the office.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Holiday Schedule
Sorry, I forgot I had a blog.
I took last week off work, desperate for a break. I spent the first weekend helping a friend move, the last weekend celebrating OLK's birthday, and the week in between following a strict regime:
Wake up.
Lounge around for the morning watching Sons Of Anarchy.
Have breakfast at noon and work on music for a few hours.
Have lunch around 4pm, then go sailing.
Get stinking drunk at the sailing club, and head home just before the subway closes.
Rinse.
Repeat.
It was a good week.
I took last week off work, desperate for a break. I spent the first weekend helping a friend move, the last weekend celebrating OLK's birthday, and the week in between following a strict regime:
Wake up.
Lounge around for the morning watching Sons Of Anarchy.
Have breakfast at noon and work on music for a few hours.
Have lunch around 4pm, then go sailing.
Get stinking drunk at the sailing club, and head home just before the subway closes.
Rinse.
Repeat.
It was a good week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)