Documentaries

 After getting in last night and messing around, cooking up a bowl of ramen, etc. I listed 15 things on Ebay and then watched a couple or three documentaries. 

First I found a great one about Glenn Gould, so I just had to watch that. Oh, to be upper-middle-class and have parents who'd indulge whatever interest I had - I had a fierce interest and perhaps talent for music when I was little but Mom would not let me even touch the piano and the lady up the street with a Steinway grand in her living room, didn't want to teach me but rather my youngest sister, who really had no interest. 

Then I found on about some British guy who enters this race to sail around the world, in his apparently self-designed trimaran. Well, the thing started springing leaks before he even got into the "Southern Ocean" so he lollygagged around S. America, even put in for repairs, and then kinda-sorta realized that while he could simply wait for the other guys to come around and join them in returning to England, he'd be caught in his deception. Especially as they kept sinking or otherwise dropping out, leaving him under a spotlight. He either offed himself or fell off his boat - according to the Wikipedia, he was rather clumsy and had a talent for falling overboard. 

Then at bed time I got all involved in reading "They Called Us Enemy" by Mr. Sulu himself, and even signed by the guy. That was another little free library find. It's a graphic novel and really worth reading. He and his family weren't just in a camp, they got put into the "no-no" camp where they were treated as enemy aliens. His mother, born in the US as his father wasn't, even took part in a program to renounce her citizenship with the idea they'd get sent as a family back to Japan but at least they'd be together. It took a lot of effort and a very good lawyer to get her citizenship back and keep them together, here in the US.

So after all this I was up until 10AM and finally hit the sack.  I was awakened out of a fairly deep sleep when the delivery guy brought a big box containing packing tape. I didn't have to sign, just shout out my name and that was good enough. The box had barbecue sauce smeared on one side for some reason, so I opened it carefully and took the sub-boxes out, and put the box out front and went back to sleep - until almost 7. 

Right now, at 8:20 at night, it's 74 degrees outside and it would normally be about 54 degrees. They said on the radio it would get warmer, but this is more than I expected. What's the saying on r/collapse, Faster Than Expected(tm)? I mean, come on, it's late October. 

I need to get moving as far as selling off things goes. I need to sell off the smart phone, Galaxy S9? I have, since I've had it for weeks now and have had zero interest in using it. When I return to Hawaii, I don't plan to take a laptop or anything like that with me. I plan to just buy what I need when I get there. Probably take my flip phone with me because even without a local plan it's a 911 phone. I need to have my things down to a carry-on bag that will have essential things like flutes and a change of clothes, a checked bag that will have things that I want but it won't wreck my life if they go missing, and both bags have to be easily carry-able. 

I still toy with the idea of taking a cruise ship over. As long as they stop in Honolulu I can jump ship. It would give at least a few days' time to be out on the ocean and clear my mind, and I've not been out at sea since I went to Korea courtesy of the Military Sealift Command, and while that was a bit Spartan it was pretty neat. 

That's another thing I got lost in last night, looking at stuff on single handed sailing to Hawaii. There's a single-handed Transpac, and I've long decided that if I did something like that I'd do it in time with the Transpac because it would mean more "friendlies" around me out at sea. But it's a hell of a lot of expense for a single trip. It'd be OK if I wanted to become someone who operates an inter-island service after getting back home, or sail more otherwise, but I really plan to just get back home and that's that. 

Who knows maybe things will get so much worse in the next couple of years that Matson will start offering passenger service again. And the trip will cost a mere $10 grand, payable in silver...