Red Herring trip 4, Saturday Feb 6

 

Wind speed: 16-18 knots. Basic sailing wisdom seems to dictate sailing at wind speeds of 10 knots per hour or less. Was able to verify means of raising mainsail and did raise it up somewhat however way too windy and other issues, did not proceed to sail. Definitely way too windy. Sleeping overnight was uncomfortable. Definitely 16-18 knots per hour wind speeds, all night long, way too windy, too choppy and a 24 foot boat, no matter how seemingly roomie inside, tosses around too much in a gale. 

Crew 2: myself skipper, son Alex crew.

Alex is showing a lot of potential. I'm a bit of an old granny as they say, I see the potential of Nature to wreak havoc in an instant.

Boaty bearsin' (on my boat, moored, not leaving moor)

 

So I doons diddled a spell (spent some time) on my boat (Red Herring) today. Diddlin' a boobsin' (entertaining a fellow human from this planet). Old man Alex, that sold me the boat, showed me how to raise the mainsail. And provided the gimble (sounds like Bryant Gumbel). I cleaned the gimble and installed it and lit it up so she is ready to fry eggs. I'll bring my coffee maker and frypan and spray oil, maybe a wooden spatula. That means I can make toast on the Red Herring frypan gimble methylated spirits cooker. El yummo. Kennedy and Baker weren't there as I never brought my phone but instead picked up 87.5fm radio on the boat radio. Some bible basher channel, like an American guy and his Australian islander sounding girlfriend with an American accent. They were talking about Joseph and Benjamin from the bible.

I'll segue to my brother Jose (Spanish for Joseph) and me (Benjamin). I realized last night in my garage where my son sometimes pops in and plays the Nintendo there, that my brother never played my Nintendo with me. It was one of those things where my father really kind of spoiled me. This thing cost like $400 in 1985 which was a small fortune in those days. Most kids just had an Atari 2600 or a commodore 64 which were like $100. I was the only kid with a $400 Nintendo. It had the light gun for duck hunt. Plus the robot with the spinning gyro tops and the regular controllers. I was telling my son I'd join him on super Mario bros and how religiously I played it as a kid and then it hit me that my brother never played it with me once. You'd think he would have played it with me but he never did, that I can recall. He had a buddy that he did some juvenile delinquent stuff with that later became a cop. They did dopey stuff together like climb electric towers or steal poles from trains. I think the guy even got a misdemeanor record. One day after he became a cop he visits with his super fat wife, he is also fat. Noone knows I'm totally my brother's punching bag for like seven years, not my father when he buys me the Nintendo, not the delinquent cum cop guy. Noone. I tell noone and knock my brother's tooth out one day as payback. I now realize I can make pasta on my boat's gimble cooker. Al dente. I mean my bro kind of seemed normal to his cop buddy or whoever and feels normal so long as he can occasionally blow off steam by punching me in the face or screaming at me or headbutting me or spitting in my face (for no reason). Once I close this avenue of stress relief to him he seems to spiral into insanity after smoking too much weed. I guess some folks just need someone else to blame all the time.

I also removed some screws and lowered the table into sleepy bed position. This makes another bed big enough for a big guy like me to sleep on. This one is even sicker as it affords beautiful views from the cockpit entryway and also through the side windows. Alex also provided another jerry can and a spinnaker poll and extra sails. I'll try raising the mainsail on Saturday. Sábado.

Yep, can't recall my brother ever playing that Nintendo, with or without me. Perhaps it was a question of ethics for my brother. I can't recall ever inviting him. I remember one time frying burgers with him and eggs, making hamburgers for dinner and watching the Young Ones tv show. So we were getting along pretty chummy that day I guess. I would have been around 14 or 15 on that occasion.

Hmmm, the people's poet and el presidente....

https://youtu.be/s5TWo8NZCGE

Or Mike 'sword of Allah' Baker & the non dancing Kennedy....

https://youtu.be/aZNNo6NsPsk

Oh yeah I have my Spanish deck of cards on board too. You know if you're ever in Spain playing mus, the two of swords is the same as the ace of swords right? They're both just an ace of swords....

I'm wondering if I should buy a laundromat business, I think that could be a good breadwinner for me.... Hmmm, kind of just wondering. 

https://youtu.be/BQUOwXbbG_4

I think I mentioned on this blog the time I spent an entire summer holiday (6 weeks) wearing the same article of underwear without washing it (although it did go in the swimming pool). One guy in my clique wanted to remove it from my bag by force and show it to two girls in our clique but I refused and was too strong for him for him to get it off me. Basically the acid from the collective groin emissions basically tore away at the fabric of my underwear and discolored it. It was like an experiment or something. Recently I tried explaining about dentist to my kids, bringing them to dentist and explaining dental care, and I realized I probably didn't brush my teeth for years as a teenager. I mean I can't remember doing it so I don't know.

Laundromat seems like a reasonable business to have...

https://youtu.be/BQUOwXbbG_4

This is pretty interesting: Simon Montefiore, an upper class English historian with a penchant for the Soviet union talks on c-span about his fascinating insight into Stalin's life and his book on Stalin and his close associates. 

https://youtu.be/f8KXnpxb3mA

This Montefiore is friends with Prince Charles. I already mentioned I thought Her Majesty was better off getting her grandson William to inherit the Royal prerogative but anyway it's not my business. This Montefiore speaks glowingly of Prince Charles. 

I certainly focused intensely on this aspect of Russian history this gentleman speaks of during my junior and senior years of high school at St Mary's senior high school (in western Sydney) and Newcastle high school (for year twelve). The latter year I also had to study the regular things that made up my kind of SAT exam preparations (Chinese history, Spanish, English, math, etc) plus I had to make time to read philosophical treatises by Gurdjieff (also from that neck of the woods but earlier on), for the sake of my personal spiritual growth and evolution. So a lot of reading happening that year (year 12). My roommate Winston Churchill (not his real name) that year in Newcastle, one night said he'd found me collapsed in a pool of my own (red - from wine) vomit outside our flat's front door. As I recall the event there was a school party and I got blackout drunk there acquainting everyone with my black out drunken ways. That was a pretty bad hangover, my buddy Tim from school dropped over as was his wont, living nearby in a beautiful, expensive home facing Newcastle beach, and regaled me of my blackout drunk actions the night before to my embarrassment and his own personal delight. My buddy Winston seemed kind of annoyed and vaguely disgusted by it but reasonably agreeable although his patience would wear increasingly thin as the year progressed. That was one of the worst hangovers I had with what I'd call a next day write off, inability to move. One time in late 2002 I drank an entire bottle of rum and that was even worse. Horrendous, just torture.

Anyway in year 11, I was in pretty good shape, I'd spent about five months in Spain, more drunken shenanigans there with my new New York, Long Island Mineola buddies, and shaken off my depression from the shitty circumstances of western Sydney and my own personal feelings of shittiness. I had put shithole high schools behind me and only would attend good high schools from that point. St Mary's senior high school was a nice little high school, although not so far from the dreaded shithole Mt Druitt, it boasted some more affluent kids from Penrith, Werrington, Kingswood, etc. Less shitholey as it were.

Because thank God I never suffered from any depression that year (11), neither the following year, and didn't have to read as much for school as year 12, I spent a large part of my free time studying everything Bolshevik and stalinesque that year, a very in depth reading. I also had a tight knit social circle.

Looking at that last depression kind of when I was 16, considering 17, 18, 19, 20 were okay, the problem was when I was 20 I got pussy whipped by this Orange County (LA) jewish princess so that really turned my world upside down. Then I'd say I slipped into anxiety but not depression but then I slipped into actual depression around late 1997 which I struggled with for a few months. I generally felt disappointed for months after that. 

Then I forgot about it then my sister died and when I got back to feeling less crazy I got depressed again in late 1999 / first half of 2000. Definitely people get into co-dependent relationships to shift and manage their malaise with the world. Looking back, a large part of my depressions (leading to actual suicidal ideation) were caused by actually being in my hometown kind of stagnated which is really a horrible place to be spiritually however I always tried to read a lot and I believe smoking marijuana caused a lot of my depression also. Also I never knew how to save money so never had enough money to disassociate myself from the horrible hometown, not emotionally strong enough/independent. 

Interesting to see in Montefiore's talk how many Jews ascended to high levels amongst these stalinist soviets. So you see, the Nazis weren't altogether false in referring to this communism as a Jewish thing. The Bolsheviks were not especially anti Jew from what I can see.

Random u2 music:

https://youtu.be/KTzmzrruHwc

Different century, different Marxist: will misguided liberal Americans and others be able to keep their cool when they [sic] 401k(s) go from $$$$$$$$ to minus $$ thanks to big spending Joe Biden.

One minute you're diddlin', next you're losing it:

https://youtu.be/_1vTGN52MCc

Joe Biden's favourite Shirley:

https://youtu.be/MVSlILP4fSk

Homework assignment: Jaws vs the shark, who wins?

 https://youtu.be/giRO_ppHMLY

Are COVID-19 vaccines killing 60+ folks and can you profit from that, buying shares in Pfeizer?

 

The case of new Zealand where covid is virtually non existent, seems to indicate yes and yes:

https://youtu.be/VVxmAIKjYM4

Reuters CEO sits on board of Pfeizer. Cozy. 

Russia's northern sea route: Beijing to Rotterdam in only 19 days (instead of 48)

 That's what the future looks like dawg:

https://youtu.be/pvy9usF7ohE

Sea [sic] even Marky Mark can save like a month like that, but only if Russia lets him coz it's mostly all their waters and ports folks would be navigating....

https://youtu.be/kaJIe8a0YmM

Also I don't think Russia cares about if america or the EU puts sanctions on them because they can just shut off Europe's oil and gas and Germany would never agree so not happening.

You say dwarf, I say mildly retarded

 

While the progressive argument about dwarves being cast as dwarves, is it unprogressive? Rages on, 

https://youtu.be/kfTDt9cV16w

I want to use that titillating debate to springboard over to one of my neighbors. She's a girl called Amber, about seven houses down. It seems like she doesn't go to school or college or work or anything because she's mildly retarded. I like her. I'd definitely go out on a date with her and want to get to know her better. Also my wife and I, we don't even like each other. I mostly don't like her just because she doesn't like me but anyway we don't like each other. I don't really pine about Amber or other women much although there was an extremely hot looking young momma at the swimming pool with a punch you in the face smoking hot body you couldn't tear your eyes from hot. Just saying.

My father often told me he sometimes wondered if I was mentally retarded and I kind of understand how he felt. I can't see Amber being any dumber or more retarded than my wife. Furthermore retarded people have an innocent charm like Balki in that TV show Perfect Strangers.

Amber is kinda like Balki, she just seems to be a real nice person me. I know none of this has anything to do with dwarves really but you can just walk around on your knees and read about it pretending you're a dwarf in a non offensive progressive way (I'd be ok with that). Consider knee pads for that, we had a Spaniard Ossie (not me) on the racing yacht last Saturday wearing a pair. They look super useful on the yacht. (He's my compatriot btw). 

I was trying to explain to my kid Alex, like yesterday, about the boom on the sailing boats. It's a giant long bar under the mainsail where the mainsail is tethered to at the foot (bottom of the mainsail). On the racing yacht it would probably just kill you if it hit you the right way in the temple. I told my kid it wasn't to be confused with the boom in the p.o.d. song:

https://youtu.be/S8vTHgVxiKM

And that I'd make sure he never gets hit by the boom on my boat and that it will swing around when we tack. Anyway I can't figure out how to raise the mainsail on my boat yet, I need an explanation from the guy, Alex, that sold it to me. Calabazas means eggplants btw if you were wondering, but because California (meaning Ho' oven, hot oven) was settled by Spaniards first (with boats, not overland), that's why you have places called Calabazas and Sierra Nevada etc in California, just sayin' y'all (not to be confused with yawl).

Oh yeah, today was first day back at school for the kids with the littlest one joining big bro and big sis on Friday to begin kindergarten on their campus with them. Big week in the Alvarez family, summer's ending.

Just discovered my garden is growing tomatoes and maybe like pumpkins or something, have to check. I must say, I also hated the Mrs' composter, just another thing to hate. Guess that's what happens when you're big bro is like Joseph Stalin or something just punching your entire childhood out, big hate fest, you just get to hating everything too much. Anyway those tomatoes and what not is thanks to that hated composter, got to say. Unexpected and pleasant sir prize.

Red Herring trip 3

 

So the highlight of the yacht race on Sydney harbour yesterday, amongst many really, was this kind of party boat called 'Miranda' went by and there was some topless page 3 kind of hot looking model, in a thong, she seemed to see me whizzing by and shook her beautiful boobs at me, perhaps I'm making it too personal and she just wanted to share her considerable assets with everyone on our boat. Certainly her own boat seemed to sport a preponderance of men on it, perhaps a bucks party.

She had an amazing rack, as the Americans say. Beautiful.

Anyway today on the Red Herring, Brett, who actually was born in North Carolina, he says, brought his little daughter along, who is best buddies with my youngest kid. Both of these girls just graduated from daycare and are headed to actual kindergarten, albeit at different campuses. Also my eldest two kids (almost 7 and 9) were on the boat. I seem to be finally confident enough to leave and approach my own moor buoy and others without help from anyone, ie, alone. Still can't figure out how to raise the mainsail, let alone the genoa. 

Hopefully the previous owner, will show me this week. This Brett says his mother got an actual plaque (not sure how you spell that) from the actual General MacArthur, for setting up a mothers group at the American army base in Germany (Woomsberg or something like that). I'm listening to the recently aforementioned Greg Kelly's father, the former police commissioner of NYC (on WABC live on the NYC late overnight show, ten minutes to midnight here in Sydney). Brett says the role his mother started became a paid job with the u.s. military base in Germany he was at, as a kid, subsequent to his momma leaving it. I'll have to run it by my best American buddy as he and his family spent some time at an American army base in Germany, not sure which. My wife has a Bulgarian buddy that joined the US army as a surgeon's assistant and was working on various surgeries for the American military there in Germany. Not sure how chummy the Mrs was with this lady, possibly not that close I'd guess.

Let's look at Trump in Texas, I think his big rally was on during this Red Herring trip, somehow overlapping, but not sure....

https://youtu.be/VBE-DYAX73g