funny old AT pictures

I just found these shots of me and Widge on Brian's website:
www.brianvaughan.net
Look at old Widge!!!

http://brianvaughan.net/at/bascom.jpg

There are several of these pix. You may have to go to the home page
and then into AT photos to see the rest.

------

My boat is cleaning up! I did the deck today. Looks a whole lot better.

I am enjoying a new sleep cycle. I want to see how long I can keep
it. To sleep at 8:30, and up at 6:30. It is the 6:30 part that i
particularly need. It is cool and fresh out. I need to get back to 6
though...that is just at day break. I've always had trouble waking up
at that hour, that is why I am skeptical I will continue to do it so
easily. So far so good.

And I must say. . . Philippine mangoes are Excellent. I eat one every
day for breakfast. They're not so sinewy as American mangoes I
remember.

I am starting to tell lies. I pretend I have a girlfriend in the
States so I will not be so regularly accosted by women. I say, "I
think one woman is enough," and they seem to appreciate this line very
much.

funny old AT pictures

I just found these shots of me and Widge on Brian's website. Look at
old Widge!!!

http://brianvaughan.net/at/bascom.jpg

sawdust

I am home. Araby is floating. Zeke is in a good mood with me. There
are familiar faces around and then some new ones as well. I spent
most of the first day home sleeping. . . and sweating. The heat is
debilitating. Today is better. Since I slept all day and night, I
was able to get up at dawn and be somewhat productive.

Malu did a fine job in cleaning my boat. I was so pleased to come
home to hospitable, if humid, surroundings.

The only real problem is a new war: Ants. There are all these midget
ants IN MY BED. I know. . . far from ideal. I have put a fair
whooping on them and there are in retreat. Now to the store. 1- 4
year old provisions are not acceptable.

So I am throwing much away. Which is nice. Heaven's how did I become
such a packrat? I have so many clothes aboard. It is shameful.

I am dying to sail. The boat is hardly ready but it is all I want to
do. I don't care where I go. I just want to sail. And, what is
worse. . . my favorite glass boat is parked for sail right next to me.
Cheap. . . a steal. Oh wouldn't it be nice to sail her. She could
go comfortably around the Horn. She could finish the job. And she's
got a working engine!!! She's a Pacific Seacraft Mariah. Beautiful
boat. And right here. How convenient. One should always dream....

I'M BACK. . . well

. . . at least in mind and spirit. Look, I'm even writing again.
Technically, I'm only "almost" back, seeing as I am still in the Hong
Kong Airport. But just hearing all the Chinese and seeing the dark
hair and dark eyes once again lifts something burdensome from my
shoulders. This is going to be good. The omens don't seem to be in
line, there may be some hardship still to come, but somehow i am far
less troubled about that than I was even yesterday.

I have always enjoyed reinvention and renewal. And this may be the
most serious reinvention I've had to do since I was eighteen--No, i
know that isn't true. Well, becoming a sailor wasn't really
reinvention, it was growth.
In the last year I have encountered many things that I am now
realizing i haven't assimilated yet. Only when i fall back into my
life, that which has been my bedrock, will I really begin to
understand how I have been affected and changed.

My initial feelings today are those of loss: I think i have lost some
sympathy. If this is true then it is a shame and I hope to regain it.
True empathy is, i think, is perhaps one of the greatest virtues.
I don't seem to taste the excitement of anticipation like I used to.
I used to revel in anticipation of things to come. I haven't felt
that in quite a while. My mind has convinced me it is impractical
because there have been so many failures and dissappoints in the past
years (plural). I am not sure whether this is temporary or permanent,
or whether is for the best or otherwise. Have I grown fearful of
disappointment? It would seem, but I am not conscious of it.

These add up to me feeling as though i am a cooler, perhaps more
reserved person, perhaps a more experienced person (and I mean that in
a negatiive). I don't want to be detached from life, judgemental of
those I disagree with, dubious of opportunities before me. Perhaps I
prefer the innocence of running boldly forward, fearless of the pain
of failure or disappointment, eager to hear all opinions and genuinely
eager to believe that there is some truth to them.

Honestly, living in the South has left me shaken in that regard.
Intellectually, I am at a loss to defend with an conscience many of
the political and social prejudices of my home. And i can not seem to
ignore that. And I can't seem to come to terms with this situation.
It is not entirely conclusive, I might add.

What I fear is that I have lost my Beginner's Mind. Once I prided
myself on my ability to learn from all those around me. I thought of
myself as a good question asker.
I began running out of questions. I want them back. I want my
curiousity, my love for the experience of others, back.

In the coming days and months I want find myself again, see how I have
changed, what to keep, what to remake in a better image. I want to
dream again and see how these have shifted with the changing world. I
want to redefine my future.

Is it so wrong to look at your life in this way? I have been
questioned for taking my life too serioously. Shouldn't it be?
What is more important. Anyway. . . time to board. I'm coming home.

--
Jonah Manning
S/V Araby

Online Journal: www.jonahmanning.name
Email - bellyofthewhale.gmail.com
Phone: n/a

c/o Charles Manning
751 Mallet Hill Rd
Apt 13105
Columbia, South Carolina, 29223
USA

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

BACK TO PHILLY

In a few hours i board a flight that will once again land me in the
Philippines. I can't say I am as excited as perhaps I should be.
Frankly I am nervous. It has been such a long time and I have been
living such an utterly different lifestyle here than the one I have
practiced while traveling. The shift back will be a serious
adjustment.
But I also know that I am happier there. And I look forward to that
feeling of peace again. It won't be long now I hope.

I want to thank all of you who have helped me these last few months,
particularly Tom and Melanie Mauldin, Dibble and Charles, Jason and
Tricia Morris, Stefan Costodi, Jess and William Lamb, and Zeke
Stephanski - and anyone who offered me an ear or thought to call and
see what I was up to.

Hopefully I will be writing more and having more to write about. I
hope we all can stay in touch and that someone, sometime actually
comes to visit me somewhere.

Thank you all. I am so so blessed with friends such as you.

wanna sail....wanna sail....wanna sail...wanna sail...wanna
sail....ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

livin' it up. . .

in E. Texas.
In route for L.A.

Texas bound

I am finally leaving South Carolina. I am driving to Texas to help a
friend pack his possessions and then take them to the Philippines.
With some luck, we will come back from the Philippines and head to
Miami where he has a boat called the Asanti. If we can make the boat
suitable to sail, we will sail her through the Panama canal to the
Philippines. And, once again I will be home on Araby.