Tag Archives: ramblings

Bah, Humbug

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I visited a mall yesterday for the first time in ages.  It was a bit of a shock to see Santa’s village set up with the elves for taking pictures and then, around the corner, to see a gift wrapping table.  Although I’m not sure why I was so surprised, it being December and all.

I’ve been getting into the mood of advent; the anticipation, expectation, and preparation, but I’m not yet ready for Christmas.  I’m especially not ready for big Christmas trees, pop singers singing the latest and greatest mix of Christmas songs, and gifts everywhere.  I feel a bit like a grinch at times.  Can’t we dial back the Christmas cheer and spend some more time in reflection on what this season really means?
I am less excited by the little baby born in a manger in Bethlehem than I am by the thought of that little baby’s life and teaching and eventual return.  Advent means the coming of a notable person, thing, or event.  I would much rather celebrate that Christ has come, Christ has risen, and that Christ will come again than celebrate a fat man in a red suit.

Worlds Away

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I may be only about ten years older than the majority of high school students right now, but I feel generations apart.  Has being a teenager changed that dramatically in the last decade or am I just an exceptional person who was immune to many of the things that teenagers do?  I feel like it is the former.  I hope that this is not a product of some vain sense of superiority on my part, but I don’t think so.

Most of the young people I’ve been interacting with over the last few months seem to be from an elite privileged group.  I even notice it on the bus to and from downtown; they talk loudly on their cell phones and to each other as they listen to iPods and flaunt the latest in designer fashion.  They talk about how they “like just have to” get the newest this or that or how so-and-so is “like so” this or that…  They seem to think they know everything about this celebrity or that band but are clueless as to the more important things in life.  Like how to boil water. Seriously, I’ve been asked.  Some have been everywhere at mommy or daddy’s expense but haven’t experienced anything other than the shopping and five star hotels in those places.  Others haven’t been outside of their city but are equally clueless about life.  The world we live in today is such a global village that to be uninformed about life outside of your small bubble seems a crime.  We live in a period when we have the unique ability to go anywhere and do anything.  Why squander it with ignorance?
One of the most frequent things I hear on the boat is “this is the best food I’ve ever eaten” or “you are an amazing cook,” and sometimes “will you come home with me and cook all the time, I never eat like this at home.”  Again, ego would suggest otherwise, but I really don’t think I am that incredible or the food I make is that wonderfully unique.  I just make things like what I grew up on: random bits of pork cooked with a glaze, potatoes, spaghetti, pasta casseroles, rice dishes…  Part of it is the outdoor environment.  Everyone is hungrier when they spend all day outside and when you are hungry, anything tastes good.  I have another theory about why everyone thinks boat food is so good.  I think it has to do with the food they are accustomed to eating.  (This also goes back to the “How do you boil water?” comment.)  Many of them come from busy working families where parents just don’t have the time to cook a real meal.  This generation has grown up on instant.  Not only do they want everything now, they are not used to anything that cannot be microwaved in less than ten minutes.  No wonder boat food tastes good!  When you are used to over-processed, reheated food, anything made with real fresh ingredients tastes good.  It is saddening to think of what people are missing.
None of this is meant as a broad-brush generalization, painting in all of the young people in our society.  I just feel that it is an overwhelming majority of those with whom I have observed in recent months since returning home from Offshore.  I hope it is just a case of the squeaky wheel being the one taken note of.
Does a rant like this officially classify me as “old fart”?

The Green Shift

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$100 Climate Action Dividend for British Columbians – – this year’s Provincial budget is making it easier for British Columbians to choose a lower carbon lifestyle.
For more information on the Climate Action Dividend and tips on going green while saving money, please visit: http://www.smartchoicesbc.ca
Best Regards,
Premier Gordon Campbell

Thank you Gordon and the BC Liberals.  I got my $100 cheque in the mail and promptly deposited it, thinking about all the ways $100 could stretch to help me reduce my carbon emissions.  Oh wait, I have very little, except when the stove on the boat is acting up.  Thanks anyway.  Now the Federal Liberals are following suit with their ‘Green Shift’ plan.  

The biggest green shift I’ve noticed recently is my own shift from a mostly green wardrobe to blue.  Crazy.  Not sure how that happened.

Ummm, home?!?

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So, I’m home.  Back in Canada that is, and not living on a boat.  Home is somewhat of a nebulous concept as half of my belongings are still currently in a storage locker and the other half are spread around the spare room at Dad’s, waiting for me to brave the chaos and organize/sort/get rid of things.  Its a bit overwhelming.  Currently, I’m in the den with the Internet avoiding chaos.

Post-offshore, I’ve discovered that I have friends in Vancouver (yes, newsflash, Gillian has friends) and I am rediscovering the joys of a social life.  Being on a boat for a year does incur a certain amount of social-ness, however you’re pretty much always seeing everyone so the whole concept of making dates and going somewhere is fairly novel.
Update on the next little bit: In and out of Vancouver… Montreal end of June-beginning of July… possibly PG end of July and Edmonton beginning of August then back to the boat for the last two summer trips around the Island and working in Victoria for the fall.  Its nice to have these things laid out for you, saves brain power.  
Brain power is at a premium at the moment.  I have been declining all food-related decisions other than “I like that” or “I don’t really enjoy eating that” and will continue to do so for another few weeks.  I have been thinking about little other than food for the last year.  I need a break.  Its to the point that I am actually not interested in food.  Oh, I eat.  Otherwise I would be ravenously hungry all the time and then I’d have to make food decisions, then where would I be?  I just don’t sit and think about all the wonderful food items I would like to enjoy and I have little in the way of cravings.  
I’m contemplating adding to Flikr my favorite photos I’ve taken on Offshore (about 200) so all can see them.  Thoughts? Will they be looked at or is that a massive waste of my time?

An end and a beginning

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And just like that, the spring season of sailing is done. I’m sitting here, in Dad’s computer room, on a beautiful sunny Monday (why is it always gorgeous when I’m not on the boat??) visiting for the last time before we leave in something like 3 and a bit weeks. Fabulous ferry crossing today… I sat on the outer deck the whole way in my T-shirt, enjoying the sun. There wasn’t much wind, so I was hoping I’d catch a glimpse of the boats if they were sailing, but I think they’d long passed that area. So now the fears and apprehensions I had starting off the spring season have returned full-force as the magnitude of preparing for Offshore begins to hit me. It actually began to hit a few weeks ago, which partially explains my silence lately.
As the weather gets nicer, I’ve enjoyed wandering around Victoria on the weekends. I love living close to downtown so that I can just wander in when I feel like it, and I make a point of walking a lot on the weekend to make up for my week of no to little movement on the boat. The cherry blossoms have just finished, but there was a period of a few weeks when they were spectacular; especially in Chinatown where the cherry trees alternate with well-maintained evergreen trees making the street a feast of colour.
Reading and re-reading some Madeleine L’Engle has also been a highlight of the last few weeks. I love her ability, in her non-fiction work, to say what I want to say but can’t or say what I wish I’d thought of. It is always quite inspiring and thought-provoking. Attending Choral Evensong at the huge Gothic-inspired Cathedral has also been a joy. Last week, the service was celebrated by someone who had been an intern minister at our church in Belleville about 15 years ago. He pretty much looks just the same!
And then there is the A&E/BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice that I got from the library and watched again this weekend. It is always so depressing and uplifting at the same time, a thought which brings to mind something I read from Madeleine L’Engle (A Stone for a Pillow) on the ferry ride over here: the idea that things are both/and. Like one crew member’s comment to another “You are a genius, except when you are stupid”. Like the idea that I can love and admire someone who does something which seems to be so contrary or unworthy. Maybe one day, we will have a trinary system instead of a binary system: “yes/no” becomes “yes/no/neutral.” Jesus used this when he answered the question of paying tribute to Caesar by asking them to bring him a coin. I suppose this way prods us to move out of a comfortable rut of easy answers and blanket statements; blanket statements allow us to ignore the people and think only about the problem, something that the world does too much of as it is.
With more sleep, hopefully I’ll be in good shape after this week off. I’m finding I need to divide my time between reading the “good” things – the fun and inspiring books (like Madeleine L’Engle) and the ones which are beneficial for me to read for work (Care and Feeding of the Offshore Crew, for example), although I only brought the good stuff with me this week…

Happy Easter

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He is Risen, He is Risen indeed.
This weekend was a rare and very welcome three day weekend. Thursday night a bunch of us from work went out to The Reef and had some fantastic food. It was a fairly early night since most of us were feeling pretty much completely knackered.
Good Friday was absolutely glorious in sunshine and warmth. It wasn’t the kind of day that leads one to contemplation of the reason for the holiday. I didn’t venture out until 11 because church wasn’t until noon and I needed to return books to the library en route. I get cold easily and am easily deceived by beautiful sunshiny days: it looks nice and warm out, therefore it must be, therefore I tend to overdress when I go outside. I was removing layers all the way to church. What struck me was the number of people out walking and the number of stores that were open, even in the morning; practically all of downtown was open and there were nearly as many people out as there are on a Sunday afternoon in the summer. Thus, I was struck with a conundrum: do I do all of my running around today when I actually have time or do I try and squeeze it in tomorrow before I start cooking a turkey (more on that later) and reserve the day for what it deserves. I left church around 1:45 and ended up scumming to the shopping (or part of it) because at that point I was feeling pretty much like crap (you know that nice achy feeling you get when you are coming down with something, plus the stuffy nose) and most of the places were on my way home. I figured that if I still felt that way on Saturday, there was no way I was leaving the house to walk downtown and some things I needed to get. So we did a few random errands and found about 50% of the things I was looking for, not a great success rate. I managed to get startled out of my wits by Jose, the mate on my boat, as I was walking down Fort. At this point, I need to back up and say that the day before I was annoyed by several bikers and runners on the Galloping Goose who persisted in passing within about 6 inches of my left elbow when the whole 4 metre pathway was wide open. So when, as I am walking down Fort St, I sensed a body within tat 6 inch space for an extended period of time, I was starting to get annoyed. Then said body slapped me across the back… Jose is very lucky I looked over at him before reacting! Yes, it was startling. Friday night, Karen and I went up to the Cathedral to hear the Cathedral Choir and Orchestra perform Mozart’s Requiem. After it was over, we wandered around downtown and saw these guys out again (first time I’ve seen them this year) with their usual massive crowd. We listened for awhile before wandering some more before heading home.
Saturday I woke up at the ridiculous hour of 4am and couldn’t sleep. So I read the Economist, like any normal person does at 4am. That lead to two hours of working on my country research for Offshore, which lead to me falling asleep until 9am. So I did get some sleep out of all of that. At 10:30 I called Sarnia to say hi to the gathered family for Granny’s memorial service. Somehow everyone thought everyone else had told Jen I was on the phone, so I never did talk to my sister… Karen came over just before noon and we went shopping for our bird, stuffed our bird, and stuck it in the oven. We ended up with seven of us last night for Easter dinner – crew members who didn’t have anywhere else to be basically. There are enough leftovers to last us for a week, however none of us will be around for a week because we are all on the boat… hopefully some of it freezes and then I won’t have to buy groceries for the next few weekends. It is always fun to enjoy fellowship with them outside of the boat.

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Ever feel like you know something or have something to say that is earth-shattering but no one else knows/cares about?

Unrelated joke of the day:
How do you introduce a hamburger?
“Meat Patty”
This one never gets old… or at least it hasn’t since I heard it 2 weeks ago…

Journal Thoughts: Carpe Diem

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I spent little time with the Internet on the weekend (in stark contrast to right now) and had lots of time to think on flights etc. These are some of the latest thoughts from my Journal… (the one and only look you will ever get inside… until I decide to transcribe something else)

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Gandalf are talking at the Mines of Moria and Frodo, speaking of the Ring, says to Gandalf that he “wish[es] [the Ring] had never come to me.”
“So do all who live to see such times.” Gandalf replies, “But that is not for them to decide. All was have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
In my opinion, this is the clincher, the most important statement: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” This, essentially, is how I try/want to live my life. It is not up to me to determine whether I live or die or some of the things which happen to me along the way. What I can do, however, is decided do with the time that is given to me.
People I have talked to in the last little while have expressed envy at my life. To me, it is just my life; what I do, how I live. I hear such things like “I wish I was you,” “Do it while you are young,” or “I want your life!” Australia. Cuba. China. Europe. Now Offshore… Yes, I will admit, sailing around the South Pacific in a tall ship is a pretty darn cool prospect, but what have I done other than what Gandalf told Frodo. I just made a decision to do these things when the opportunities arose. This doesn’t just apply to my job or my travel schedule or the number of stamps in my passport (not very many believe it or not). It is more about how I want to live every aspect of my life.
People say “Do it while you are young.” But I don’t think that is it; how about “Do it while you can”? One thing I learned from Mum’s cancer and eventual death is that you cannot put off things to a more “opportune moment.” When is the moment going to be? Will you be able to recognise it? What happens if you miss it? As important as it is to live our lives, as Christians, with our eyes on the future – on the prize, as Paul said, for which God is calling us heavenward – do we not have to live here and now? In this moment? It is the decisions we make now and in this moment which will influence us forever and bring us to that prize. Not making a decision is still a decision (and I am so guilty of this. I would rather put things off than make a tough decision sometimes).
That all being said, not everyone has the same life as everyone else. We each have to decide what to do with the days given to us. Carpe Diem. Seize the Day.