Me fail English? That's unpossible!
Currently playing: The Hives - HateTo Say I Told You So
So, I went sailing again this weekend. Met up with Cap'n Larry at his house, only this time his wife Jennifer came, with a friend of hers from work, Emma. Unfortunately for us, we got a late start, and by the time we got to our destination, Egmont Key, we honestly should have turned right back around for the docks. Instead, we not only threw caution to the wind, we tossed common sense right out with it, nearly killed a group of kids (well, ok, it wasn't THAT bad, but at the time, it sure looked like it), and nearly plowed into another boat on the way out (again, the situation was actually well in hand, but that didn't stop strangers from yelling at us). By the time we got to the pier at Ft. De Soto (where we dropped off the girls; they had parked there so they could get home earlier) it was getting near 6 PM. At this point, you'd think, with the sun going down, we'd head back up the coast to the docks, the same way we came in, right? Well, wrong, actually. Remember, caution and common sense were floating somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, miles from where we were. So, we decided to sail up the opposite side of the coast, and take the ship channel along the Sunshine Skyway Bridge back to the docks. A longer route, but a much more scenic one, to be sure. And it was a gorgeous ride back in, with the sun setting over Ft. De Soto as we headed toward the bridge. And all of this was fine and dandy until we ran aground trying to find the channel in the dark.
It took a minute to realize we actually weren't moving anymore. We had felt the bumps of the sea floor (an odd thing to call sand under a foot and a half of water, but there you go) on the bottom of the boat, but it looked like we were actually in the channel. It probably didn't help that I had no idea how to read a sea map, even a computerized one hooked up to a GPS. And after further inspection of the map, what we were in wasn't a channel at all. The actual channel wasn't far off, but in the dark, with the hard chop of the tide coming back in, and the fact that the channel was only about fifty feet wide (that may not sound small to you, but you try and steer a 27' boat with a stick attached to a bent rudder and see how well YOU fare), we suddenly discovered caution floating alongside the boat (common sense, it seemed, had escaped us for good). We decided to turn around, and take the long, but known, route back to the docks, using the outboard motor to help us escape our sandy doom.
Anyway.
On the way back, I paused to take in my surroundings. By this point, it was about 10 PM. The Cap'n had already called his wife to let her know what had happened, and after that, there wasn't much to talk about. We were both tired from the day's trip. The only sound to be heard was the soft rolling of the waves against the hull; with the wind at our backs, they were moving only slightly faster than us. The moon was out, full and bright against the dark sky, and it's reflection on the inky surface of the water created a constantly shifting kaliedoscope of light and dark, rolling along with us, breathtaking in it's beauty.
I can understand why people fall in love with the sea now.
We got back to the dock at 12:45 AM, a mere 16 hours after we had gotten there. We were both ravenously hungry, completely exhausted, and rather cold. Well, I guess I was the only one who was cold, because the good Cap'n thought it would be more comfortable to blast the AC once we got back in his car. Two shut vents and thirty minutes later, we arrived at his house. I think he mumbled a goodbye, but I don't recall completely. I drove off from his house, stopping to make a Border Run 3 Meximelts and a Medium Pepsi got me home alive and fed.
It's two days later, and I ache everywhere. Amazingly, I seem to not have burned, but we'll find out in a few days when my skin decides whether or not to do it's leper impersonation. Lessons were learned by someone, I'm sure, but it probably wasn't me.
On a completely different note, We here at the Brain would like to congratulate Jamie and Roger on their engagement. Roger is a fine lad, and I think his method of proposal will go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest ever. But I'll save that for later.
Streaming pr0n music 24/7!
So, I'm thinking about acquiring a home digital music system. In my little fantasy land, where I really have a million dollars, right after I buy you a K-Car (a nice Reliant automobile!), I would pick up one of these. I am not an iPod geek by any stretch of the imagination - but this system is so well thought out and designed that both the technical nerd and music freak sides of my personality have ceased hostilities in the ongoing war over enjoying the new Paul McCartney album in order to commence slack-jawed drooling. Of course, that's when the financial planner in me (if a psychiatrist were to size up the different people in me, if they didn't run away screaming immediately, they would discover the FP would be a diminutive speck of a man - but he'd also be the one carrying the semiautomatic pistol) shows up and proceeds to piss on my cornflakes.
So, anyone have experiences with one of these digital media appliance thingies? I know Gax has one, and his input is definitely welcome here - but anyone else? Sarah? Anyone?