Sententiae Draconis

The HMS Bounty has sunk off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina during Hurricane Sandy. Fourteen of the crew have been rescued, but apparently two are still missing, including Captain Robin and a woman I don't know.

I sailed on the Bounty for about a month the summer after I graduated from high school. She wasn't exactly a good ship - she was leaky and poorly organized - but she was my home for that time and I have fond memories (even while shaking my head in retrospect). As far as I can tell most of the people from my time - except Robin - weren't on board anymore and are safe. I'm not sure if I knew anyone else who was there, though because in general I've been terrible at keeping in touch. But being on the Bounty was an important time in my life. It's (indirectly) the reason I know denisia since her friend R was a shipmate of mine and we stayed at her place in New York after I got off the boat. And I learned a lot while I was there.

My brother called me this morning at 7am to let me know what had happened. And I'm glad I heard it from him first, since he was the one who got me on board in the first place, and we could reminisce together. But after that I got emails and texts from all sorts of people, which is cool. Obviously people actually listen to my crazy sailor stories.

When I was on board we sailed from Jacksonville, FL up to Long Island. When we went by Cape Hatteras on the way into Beaufort, North Carolina it was calm, which is very unusual. Cape Hatteras is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic for good reason. Cape Hatteras is bordered by a series of (I think) three sets of shoals, which is why it's so dangerous. The Frying Pan Shoals are the best named of the lot. I remember getting off watch at 4 in the morning as we were passing and Matt, our first mate, making a terrible joke about the Frying Pan Shoals. Actually he didn't get the chance to make the joke, he just started it and then we all groaned and left to go to bed.

I'll probably write a little more about the Bounty later and my sailing experiences, but for now I think that's what I've got.

Robin, I hope you're okay, but what the fuck were you thinking trying to go around Cape Hatteras (of all places) in a Hurricane?

Today is absolutely gorgeous and I've been feeling weird etc (hence the post earlier today) so I really needed to get out. So I went and braved the maze of construction on Princess St. to get a rare roast beef sandwich and some pastries from Pan Chancho (Om nom nom) got some coffee from the Goat and walked out to the waterfront by the Murney Tower (workplace of hellish coworkers lo these many moons ago) and sat about eating my little picnic and reading Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff.

It was really good to see the Lake. The wind was up and chill but not too cold. The sun was glinting off the water. The Windmills on Wolfe Island were turning prettily. And there weren't too many people around because it is still fairly cold out (the Australians would not be impressed - I have nothing against Aussies, but I can't help but laugh at them when they insist that it gets cold there - 6 or 7 is not cold!). It was lovely.

And Smoke and Mirrors is still awesome. Tony Foster is my favourite. I love this series. I could totally read it all the time and not get bored. Tony/Lee is one of the only canon pairings that I love beyond all reason. I wish that it was a TV show so that I would have pictures of the actors I could draw hearts around. /girlish gushing.

But most importantly there was the water. I don't think I could have gone to Edmonton and UofA for no other reason than because there is no water (that river-like thing does not count). I need something I can sail on properly. Even if I don't get the chance to sail.

Why are all of my friends on it again?

Le Sigh.

Apparently in the Facebook photo uploader when it says "Upload Failed. Please try again." what it really means is "Upload Succeeded! Please try again because we like to fuck with you and make you upload your photos in triplicate! And then we'll be annoying in other ways because we're Facebook." Honestly if all my friends weren't on Facebook I would gladly not participate. But because they are all there it's a great place to keep in touch, and also to share my photos with everyone in a fell swoop.

So I got a few more of my photos up on Facebook for my Italy trip (if you have me there do take a look - some of them are quite funny). I am going to put up a post of the very best pictures and a running commentary about what the hell I did over here, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It's on my to do list along with several other things that are remarkably important. (So probably the post will happen before the important things. Ha!)

I've been absolutely terrible at posting lately. I think I generally need a bit of time to get back in the swing of things after I've been away from easy internet for an extended period of time. Which is of course why I'm going to leave the internet again quite soon! (What you thought you'd get to hear more inane things from my life? Wrong!) I'm going sailing for the month of September on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. So you won't be hearing that much from me in the near future either. (Sorry.)

I'm going to be sailing on Appledore V which is a schooner I sailed on two years ago up the St. Lawrence River. So I already know the Captain. I've never sailed in Lake Michigan, and I've only done a little bit in the south of Lake Huron so I'm really looking forward to it. Plus, after this month all I'll need is Lake Superior and I'll have the full set!

In other news I've finally got things set up so that I can post from Dreamwidth onto Livejournal. So I'm going to be working from DW from now on. I'm still going to read my LJ Reading List though, so I'll still get your updates if you are not a Dreamwidth person. Likewise if any of you are Dreamwdith people who are crossposting please let me know (and add me, I'm aderam over there - surprise)! If you're just straight up crossposting I might take you off my LJ so that I don't get repeats, so please let me know what you're doing!

Anyway, more updates soon.

You'd say I'm putting you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

I haven't been sleeping much lately. I think I may be living off the wonders of coffee and the wind seeping into my brain.

On the upside I'm going sailing tomorrow!!! It may be with family, but at least I'll be on the water and hopefully that'll change my sleeplessness. I haven't been on the water in so long I think I've been drooling over the page-a-day boat pictures calendar I've got.

My hands are locked up tight in fists
My mind is racing filled with lists
of things to do and things I've done
Another sleepless night's begun

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won't sleep
I countdown, I look around