Excellence Award

And a most humble thanks to Malicious Intent (who is much more kindly-natured than her psuedonym would suggest) for awarding me this honor. I am flattered and more than a bit surprised. Thank you so much. I`ll try to live up to it.

Departure

I am leaving Osaka on 26th of January for Cebu, Philippines, approximately 1600 miles to the south.  It should take me three weeks.  I`ll be in touch when I arrive.  Wish me fair winds.

Emergency contact:  
Dibble Manning
phone:  001 - 803 - 787 - 4352  
email:cmann1960@aol.com>
also check addresss in "to" column

Friends in Nishinomiya

Oneshi....Suwa.....Everyone at Nishinomiya Marina!  Thankyou so so much.  I hope you know how grateful I am for all the help you`ve given me.  Incredible.  I couldn`t have done it without you.  But the kindness was more than I deserved.

 

Me and Brian Vaughn are kickin: it, drinking cocoa as it rains outside, and arguing about the existence of a spiritual world, a material world, a self, morality, intellectual property rights, odds and prbability, women, honesty,building aluminium catamarans, ebook readers, becoming millionaires, starting religious cults. . . you know. . . the standard.

Dark Tower

There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met
To view the last of me, a living frame
For one more picture! In a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew. 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.' –Robert Browning

Heidi - you have to love this girl

senseless nonesense

 

Rambling.

Japan – language – loneliness – sailors at last - the next plan

 

Japan is different than anywhere I have traveled before.   To the eye, there is a seeming commonality with the western world.  There are interstates and bridges and vending machines, Starbucks Coffee and cell phones.   But under this illusory semblance is a far more divide.

Firstly, more than a language barrier, there is also a different alphabet, or, no alphabet; they use a entirely different symbolic system.   I believe this accounts for the poverty of English speakers here—it isn't only learning another language—but a whole new system as well.

When I go to the grocery store, there is absolutely nothing on the packaging to give a hint to what is inside.   I have bought iced coffee thinking it was chocolate milk.  I bought dish soap today, bought it entirely on its appearance, hoping that it isn't washing-machine soap or some like.

I walk down the street and each shop is as unidentifiable as the next.  The irony comes when trucks drive past with English catch-phrases and brand names.

I have only had two clear conversations with English-speaking Japanese.   One yesterday, with a guy who had grown up in Portland for thirteen years; one in October.  This is scant conversing.

 

However, yesterday morning while running I noticed a foreign yacht (a nice steel one I might add) on the dock at one of the big marinas.   That afternoon I went to introduce myself and was happy to find them amenable and they offered me to come aboard.  I was glad to accept.  

It turned out that they have been in Japan for something like 18 months and have seen a fair lot of it.   They laughed at my stories of inability in the face of linguistic difficulties.  That is just the way it is, they said. You need a goal and a logical approach.

One story let to the next which led to tea, then rum, then dinner, then coffee.   This was the first rum I've drank with a sailor since Vanuatu in early September.  Wow.  How the time goes.

 

The strange bit is that I find I was more lonely back in South Carolina than I am here, all alone.   I read in a book about a solo sailor who said he was never alone at sea, only amidst a city full of strangers.  In many ways this is true for me.   I can't remember being lonely at sea, but sometimes I'm lonely in port thinking of people who aren't there.  But certainly, sitting at home, waiting for someone to call, then they don't, then I'm lonely.   (This is often my own doing.)  Strange to think about.  It isn't how one would suppose it.   I can't even hold a simple conversation, but—currently—I'm not lonely.

 

Japan is busy and sophisticated.  Cars, cars, cars.  And yet, most people ride bikes.  It is so great to see all these little old ladies riding these old jalopies.   No wonder they age well: they are fit. (And they don't wear helmets.)  I miss the quiet of the islands.  I miss general communication—being able to get things done in an expedient way.   I can't even find a hardware store!  Distilled (as opposed to mineral) water was right out of the question.

I love the people.  Great hospitality and generosity, courtesy; but I feel obstructed.   Ineffectiveness is a bore and life is too short to be unproductive.

My friend Brian is coming in a couple of days from China and we will spend some days or weeks sailing around so I can get a truer feel for the country, instead of simply sailing away without giving a place a chance as I sometimes do.   In the meantime I am working on my batteries which are now dying.  (Hence the distilled water.)

 

So, in short: Life is Good.  I am invigorated to be back doing what I love to do.   I am rejuvenated after the time away.  My head is clearing of the fog that has plagued it for months now.  Here is the current plan:  Sail from here to the Philippines, there to . . . maybe Borneo, but south eventually to NW Australia.  From there I will sail the Kimberlies south along the west coast of Oz to Perth, then west around the south of Oz to Hobart, Tasmania; and from there across and to Dunedin, NZ.    There I will look for a steel hull and perhaps some med. Training.  That will be through Nov. or Jan. of this year.

 

So there, my 2008 Annual Plan.  There are some sizable holes in it currently.   As always.

--

Faustus

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?

.....how I love that line......Marlowe

sources and info

This email was simply too packed with interesting info to not share it with anyone interested in this sort of thing.

 

---------------------------------------

 

Jonah,
 
Take a look at the sources, everything mentioned in the Zmovie is sourced... I will find a link...
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/sources.htm
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/transcript.htm
I am looking to talk about this at church, so I have been doing some research into it, this last link is really helpful where everything is sourced.  Recall that screen shot when Chirstianity is compared to Egypthology?  And it scrolls for like 15 seconds.  You said, "I wish I could read that."
Well I printed it out, it is about 4 foot tall at 14 pt font!  Here it is: link:http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/GMappendix.htm

As far as books I have been reading:
The True Story of the Bilderberg Group , D. Estulin talks about the global elits plan to kill 80% of the world's population.
If you want to watch a movie about the Bilderbergs, with Estulin in it, and the whole story spun around this group go here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053600562261

I also found several free press sites that I like: http://www.rockcreekfreepress.com/ and the American Free Press

 
Alex Jones is my new hero: http://www.prisonplanet.com/, http://www.infowars.com/, funny thing, that video you have about Lucid Dreaming...Alex Jones is the guy in a car with the loudspeaker, ranting about the New World Order.  When I saw that I was like, Who is that guy ?
 
Alex has a radio show _14 years_ who has been exposing the New World Order.  This week he was interviewing Benjamin Fulford, you can hear that interview here:  
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/120108Fulford.htm
Being in the East, this is HOT! Apparently, there is a Do-Good-Mofia that is anti New World Order and it's rooted in China, since the New World Order has singled out asians and apparently developed bioweapons to specifically kill asians: SARS being one of them, these guys have the western elite in their crosshairs.
 
I have been also reading about the Fed; http://www.xat.org/ and http://www.rense.com/ufo2/fedrez.htm
 
Lastly:  the most downloaded internet film of record: Loose Change, much more detail about 9/11; short options, insurance on WTC specifically for acts of terrorism, previous drills for unmaned aircraft, link to Cleveland airport and NASA, tempurature required to melt steel (higher than jet fuel can burn), eye witnesses claiming of bombs going off, etc. We Are Change and Truth 9/11 are two groups that are confronting the Bilderbergers, you can search them out on YouTube and watch them confron Rockefeller and Clinton, and many more.
 
Man, this gets deep.  Once you embark, and begin to shed previous beliefs, it is a one way road, you can not turn back.
 
-J
 

Whole-hearted Thanks

And Thank you, Thank you, eveyone.
Man I had such a great time: kids and horses, skiing, Widge, sailing, fresh baked pies, sleeping on the floor (which was the best!), in the van, and in cabins, Thanksgiving!!!, football, snowshoeing, running, climbing, duckhunting, hottubs, existential conversing, politics, politics, politics--how it never ended! Watching the ducks and sushi, the farm on fire! haha; tacky sweaters, haha; oysters and guitar jams, walks in the dark moutains, mimosas and Jason:s fine cooking. And, of course, dancing! Who could forget? (I even sold the van!) Thank you so much for such a holiday. Dad, you;re the man! Thank you.
And Long Live Heathy!

Back in the Saddle

Back at last!!

And, imagine this: Araby was actually Floating!  Floating. . . at her waterline no less!  I can:t tell you how my heart lept when seeing her as I left her.  I was so proud!

 

After sleeping for approximately 19 hours, I feel almost myself again.  All that anxiety of setting off again has been washed away with the serenity of being *in my place*.  I stared at a globe for a few hours today.  Already my mind is starting to turn as it once did.  I am excited.  What is to come. . .

HACKED

I reckon I was hacked into yesterday somehow.  I was able to regain control of my google accounts but I don't know what was done with them.  It was an uncomfortable experience.

THE END IS NEAR

I'm leaving thursday morn.  Crazy how the time passes--always in a flash.

NO MORE CELL

And what was the point.....no one ever calls me back anyway.  Are people so busy that we can't return phone calls?  I don't understand and it makes me sad.  I really love you guys and I have such a short time home. . . it bothers me more than a little to be ignored when I don't have the time to wait around.  Bummer.
And if you are reading this. . . it probably has NOTHING to do with you.

I had a perfect day

Family gathering....ducks..... a wildfire.....sushi....a date with a girl named Abby...what more could a man hope for?