Photography 101 Challenge: Natural World

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As usual, I’m late and having a hard time keeping up with the tasks for the Photography 101 challenge. This is my post for the Day 8 assignment: The Natural World.

I’ve been super busy and haven’t really had the chance to get out and take any NEW photos for this challenge. I did go to Moody Gardens on the way home from the FRC course in Galveston the other day and took a bunch of pictures very similar to these. I just haven’t had the chance to upload them onto my computer yet.

Do you consider it ‘cheating’ that these pictures were all taken at an aquarium and I wasn’t actually underwater myself?

Let me know what you think of the photos. I’m doing the challenge to practice my photography and get feedback on what works and what doesn’t. 🙂

 

Photography 101 Challenge: Landmark

As usual, I’m late and having a hard time keeping up with the tasks for the Photography 101 challenge. This is my choice for the Day 8: Landmark assignment.

This was taken in Korea back in April. I was at the Busan Tower and took tons of pictures. I was lucky enough to be in Korea during the celebrations for Buddha’s birthday. There were dozens of these traditional paper lanterns set up here around the tower and other places around town.

Sorry to say, it was also a very sad time while I was there and lots of the usual festivities were cancelled due to the Sewol ferry disaster.

Photography 101 Challenge: Connect

As usual, I’m late and having a hard time keeping up with the tasks for the Photography 101 challenge. This is my choice for the Day 7: Connect assignment.

lovers locks

This was taken in Korea back in April. I was at the Busan Tower and took tons of pictures of these locks. I was told it’s kind-of a tradition that when couples decide they want to ‘go steady’ or get engaged, they come up here and put these locks up to show the world that they’re ‘locked together forever’. 🙂

I couldn’t decide on just one here. Which one do you like best? Why?

Photography 101 Challenge: Solitude

As usual, I’m late and having a hard time keeping up with the tasks for the Photography 101 challenge. This is my photo for the Day 5: Solitude assignment.

This was a little easier for me than the last one (bliss).  I don’t normally take a lot of pictures of people, but I do sometimes catch them in a photo if I see something that just happens to catch my eye.

I took a lot more than usual people pictures on my recent trip to Korea. This was taken in Busan back in April. I’m not sure why, but this is one of my favorite pictures from that trip. 🙂

Photography 101 Challenge: Bliss

As usual, I’m late and having a hard time keeping up with the tasks for the Photography 101 challenge. This is my photo for the Day 4: Bliss assignment.

This was a hard one for me. I had a hard time coming up with an idea of how to represent the idea of “bliss” in a photo. I had an especially hard time since I don’t normally take a lot of pictures of people.

Then I remembered my recent trip to Korea and these photos of Buddha. I was in Korea for Buddhas Birthday celebrations (this picture was taken in Seoul). I’m not religious, but I thought I remembered something about Buddha and it related to the idea of bliss. Buddha and nirvana, right?

Some of his statues make him seem like he has discovered bliss (maybe not this one tho).

Photography 101 Challenge: Water

I’m going to try again to participate in one of the Blogging University’s challenges. This one is Photography 101. A picture a day to challenge us to improve our photography. I HOPE I can keep up with this one, but I’m already a couple of days behind.

I’m due off the rig and will start traveling home tomorrow morning (if all goes well). So I’ll probably have even less internet access than I’ve had here on board. I’m also stuck without my good camera here and can’t take any photos here anyway (I have to get a hot work permit to use the camera on deck).

Anyway, here’s my photo for ‘water’.

water- 3 kinds- clouds, rainbow, ocean

water- 3 kinds- clouds, rainbow, ocean

I’m out on the rig right now. A different one than the one I took that picture from. I was working in the Gulf of Mexico then. The water is pretty much the same here off the West Coast of Africa. So far, it hasn’t even been rough yet. I’ve been surprised at how calm it’s been here.

It’s also been very overcast since I started working here in July. I wonder what the reason is for it always being so cloudy. Just the last couple of weeks it’s started clearing up off and on. I hope that continues. I much prefer clear blue skies and starry nights to dreary, grey overcast days.

I take a LOT of pictures of water, that IS where I spend most of my time. 😉

If you want to see more, you might like to check out some of these earlier posts (or just search my blog for “water”).

Photography 101 Challenge: Street

I’m going to try again to participate in one of the Blogging University’s challenges. This one is Photography 101. A picture a day to challenge us to improve our photography. I HOPE I can keep up with this one, but I’m already a couple of days behind.

I’m due off the rig and will start traveling home tomorrow morning (if all goes well). So I’ll probably have even less internet access than I’ve had here on board. I’m also stuck without my good camera here and can’t take any photos here anyway (I have to get a hot work permit to use the camera on deck).

Anyway, here’s my photo for ‘street’.

This is a photo I took last time I was down at the beach. I say beach cause the name of the town is ‘Surfside Beach’ (Texas).

I used to live down there for a while and most of my friends still do. If I go out when I’m home, this is usually where I go. I don’t actually spend much time anymore on the real beach like I used to. I just like to hang out with my friends and catch up on all the local news and gossip.

I really only stopped to take the photo because of the huge thunderstorm on the way. Notice the big black clouds in the background. The weather is usually pretty nice there. It’s especially nice in the summer when there’s always a good sea breeze. The winter is my favorite time to go to the beach there, there’s nobody else around and you can drive all the way to Galveston right at the waters edge. 🙂

PS- the featured image for this post was taken right around the corner from the one I chose for this post. I took it at the St Patrick’s Day Parade last year (it was raining, but that didn’t stop the parade). 🙂

Let me know which photo you like better (and why), it will help me improve my photography, which is part of the reason I’m doing this challenge.

Thanks! 🙂

Photography 101 Challenge: Home

I’m going to try again to participate in one of the Blogging University’s challenges. This one is Photography 101. A picture a day to challenge us to improve our photography. I HOPE I can keep up with this one, but I’m already a couple of days behind.

I’m due off the rig and will start traveling home tomorrow morning (if all goes well). So I’ll probably have even less internet access than I’ve had here on board. I’m also stuck without my good camera here and can’t take any photos here anyway (I have to get a hot work permit to use the camera on deck).

Anyway, here’s my photo for ‘home’.

This is a picture of my living room/library/bar. I spend a lot of my time on the couch there when I happen to be in town. I use my laptop there and it’s pretty comfortable to work there.

I’ve been trying to pack up my library and have made some progress, but it’s taking me a long time. I hate to get rid of my books! I don’t know if you can tell from this picture, but a few of the shelves are now (almost) empty. Before I started weeding them out, every one of them was stuffed full and books all over the furniture and floor too!

I LOVE to read!

This room also has a bar (notice the bar stools on the right of the photo). My dad made those barstools for me. 🙂

I fell in love with this house when I saw this room. It’s perfect for me to hang out. It also looks out through a sliding glass door onto a screened in porch. There was a big, old oak tree right next to it. I could watch the squirrels chase each other around all day. 🙂

That tree fell on my roof a couple of times, so I’m glad I finally found the cash to allow me to have it removed. I still have a couple more in the back yard, I just can’t see them from my living room couch.

I got the house cheap. Mostly because of that tree. It had fallen on the roof and caused a lot of damage. I spent a couple of months cleaning up the mess. I do a little bit of improvements whenever I have the time and the money at the same time.

I always have lots of projects to do when I’m home. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime- New Orleans

I love to take pictures at night. They almost never turn out very good but I keep trying. I was glad to see the Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime.

Here are a few I took the last time I was in New Orleans. I always try to go to the Workboat Show if I’m home. It’s usually in December. Last year someone forgot to reserve the convention center (duh). So they had the show in October.

It was nice to see New Orleans dressed up for Halloween instead of Christmas. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime- Brazoria County Fair

I love to take pictures at night. They almost never turn out very good but I keep trying. I was glad to see the Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime.

I’ve got a few good ones. I like to take pictures of everything, so I have a good variety of stuff. Here are a few from last years Brazoria County Fair. I’ll miss it this year. My new job has me missing pretty much EVERYTHING I usually try to do when I’m home. 🙁

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime- Bikes and Blues

I love to take pictures at night. They almost never turn out very good but I keep trying. I was glad to see the Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime.

I’ve got a few good ones. I like to take pictures of everything, so I have a good variety of stuff. Here are a few from the last time I went to the Bikes and Blues Fest in Freeport TX. I missed it this year. 🙁

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime- Full Moon

I love to take pictures at night. They almost never turn out very good but I keep trying. I was glad to see the Weekly Photo Challenge: Nighttime.

It’s very interesting to see what others have been able to do. Some of them are just gorgeous. It’s also nice to be able to share some of mine.

I like to take pictures of the moon, especially when it’s full. Too bad it almost never turns out very well. Here’s a good one. 🙂

Writing 101: Contrasting Views

But Mike, a free country would never FORCE someone to buy anything.

But Jill, they already force us to buy car insurance.

I don’t HAVE to have car insurance Mike, in fact I don’t even HAVE to have a car! But that’s not right either. So, according to you, 2 wrongs make a right?

Nooooo, but people NEED ‘health insurance’.

Who says?

It’s just common sense Jill.

Really? I think it’s a HUGE scam!

Scam? Come on Jill. Health care is so expensive, if anything happens to you, you can easily get financially wiped out.

And the reason for that is the fact that ‘our’ government has become so involved with the health care system. It is not anything remotely resembling a free market anymore. Before they started screwing it up (100 years ago), it was the best in the world. We had a system that was affordable and innovative. The few people who couldn’t afford what they needed were helped out by charities, as well as friends and neighbors.

WTF are you talking about Jill?

Well, lets see. To start with, they went right along with the requests of the ‘doctors’ to restrict entry to the medical profession. They created ‘licenses’ and ‘accredited’ medical schools. People could no longer see the health care professional they wanted to, they were restricted to only those approved by the government. Of course, when you restrict the supply of something, the price goes up. Just like those doctors ordered.

Then, they created the FDA (not called that to begin with). That created the same problems with the supply of drugs and other products to do with health care. Now, it’s to the point where a company has to spend multi-MILLIONS of dollars to get an ‘approved’ drug on the market. No wonder the prices for drugs are so high here when the same things cost 90% less everywhere else. And, most places you don’t need to get a prescription either (saving you more doctors fees).

Are you nuts Jill? You want to let the snake oil salesmen loose again and allow people to buy adulterated products?

No Mike. I want to let the free market work. If you would ALLOW it to, there would be PRIVATE groups that would take over those functions that we really NEEDED. Just like the UL and Consumer Reports checks out many things now and informs people of whats up. There would be groups doing the same thing for health care providers and for drugs and other items related to health care.

But there would be no force behind those groups!

Yeah Mike, that’s the idea. No FORCE. Why do you think people need to be FORCED into doing things all the time?

If they won’t do what they ought to on their own, then someone needs to find a way to get them to do it.

REALLY? So who gets to decide what everybody OUGHT to do? You? Me? The President? Some irresponsible government bureaucrat?

Well, since Congress passed the law, then we all ought to follow it!

REALLY? Last time I looked, the LAW (the Constitution) said we are still a Constitutional Republic, NOT a democracy. The Bill of Rights still stands and there is NOTHING in there that authorizes Congress to write any such law, therefore regardless of what they may pass, it is NOT valid.

This country is SUPPOSED to be one that respects individual rights. It was formed specifically to do just that! When it violates that principle, then it is our right and duty to protest, up to and including civil disobedience and refusal to follow such unconstitutional so-called ‘laws’.

Oh Jill, you kill me. Go ahead and do that and go to jail. Get yourself shot for your beliefs.

No Mike, really its you and people with your attitude who are killing me. With every ‘fix’ your people put into effect, to ‘fix’ the things they screwed up before, it makes it harder and harder for me (and everyone else) to get decent health care in this country! I haven’t even got into the REAL drivers of the high cost of health care.

Oh?

Yeah. Do you realize that pretty much NOBODY ever had or needed health insurance til the government enacted wage and price controls towards the end of WWll? Health care was very affordable up until that time, even with the restrictions on providers and drugs. Because of the restrictions on wages, companies had to offer something ELSE to get the workers they needed. That something just happened to be health insurance.

That started the whole deal of tying insurance to your job (a HUGE problem), and it started the big problem we have now. That being no real price control. When people don’t have any concern about what something costs, then usually those costs are going to go up. Company paid health insurance started that ball rolling.

Medicare and Medicaid started in the 60s and really started pushing that ball!

So, now you’ve got restrictions on supply and a humongously increased demand and what could you possibly expect but that prices will go up?

Yeah, but SOMETHING needed to be done. People are dying because they can’t afford health care! Do you just want to let them die? That’s pretty harsh.

Mike, no one is turned away from an emergency room if they can’t pay. The hospital is required to take them (that’s another problem). Then they’ll have HUGE bills to pay (which they’ll either stay in debt forever or just walk away).

What I think is that we need to actually try to fix the REAL problem, which is government interference with the market.

Oh yeah, always back to the government. The government boogyman. You’re a broken record Jill.

If I am, it’s only because the government IS the root of most of our problems!

Yeah Jill, whatever.

Writing 101: An Interesting Character

I met Capt Hugh a few months back at one of the weekly meetings I go to whenever I’m home. The Campaign for Liberty is an offshoot of Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign and I’m a big supporter of his views. So is Capt Hugh.

I still don’t know Capt Hugh very well. We haven’t both been home off our ships at the same time very often. He looks like an ordinary guy. Comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. Middle aged, average height and weight, nothing really special about his looks. But it all comes out when you talk to him. His passion for life and liberty, his sense of adventure, his determination to do whatever it takes to further his goals.

He doesn’t live near here. He lives up near Dallas somewhere, I think. That’s a few hours drive from here. He comes all the way down to our meetings when he’s home from work. It shows a high level of commitment to the goals we’re working toward (increasing freedom and liberty).

He works offshore like I do. He’s working as captain on some kind of oilfield support vessel. Recently he’s been working out of Africa (me too). I’m working off the Congo River, Hugh is working further north. He’s on a much smaller vessel than I am and so he gets to go into port occasionally.

If you’ve never worked out of Africa, you have no idea what that entails. It’s very chaotic and can be extremely frustrating. It takes a really special person to not only go there and do the work that needs to be done, but to ENJOY it. I’ve only met a couple of people like that so far and each of them was full of great stories and a love of life that showed through.

I follow Capt Hugh on Facebook. He’s quite an adventurer. He’s planning a vacation in Africa whenever he gets off work (who knows when). With everything going on over there, including an epidemic of Ebola, he doesn’t let it stop him. He takes the opportunity when it’s offered. A ‘free’ trip to Africa! What a deal!

Capt Hugh is not only captain of the supply vessel he is employed on, he has his own little sailboat too. That’s another feather in his cap! He’s willing to put everything he has on the line, buy a boat, fix up what he can, and then take off for parts unknown. That all shows a real spirit of adventure, love for the ocean, and a desire to find the freedom we’ve lost here.

I hope he is able to sail off soon. I’ll keep track on Facebook. It’ll inspire me to see where he winds up. I know it’ll be somewhere worth going.

Writing 101: Be Brief

Along the Old River the shrimp boats unloaded. A battered white envelope drifted in the breeze. Bored, I picked it up. Something interesting?

“Dave” was the only address. I opened it.

“Dear Dave” it began. Would Dave clean up his act if he read the list of his shortcomings?

Nah.

3 Significant Songs

Todays’ assignment from the Writing 101 Challenge is to write about the ‘three most important songs in your life’. Then they carry on in the assignment about ‘free writing’ and ‘committing to a writing practice”.

Here goes…

1. Son of a Son of a Sailor by Jimmy Buffet. I’m sure some of you might have an idea of why this song is important to me. “I went out on the sea for adventure”. Yep, that’s me. I always have identified with this particular song. I always loved Jimmy Buffet. I think he’s a great songwriter. He always tells a story in his songs and it’s usually a story I can understand and relate to. I grew up on the beach in Florida. My town used to be a little fishing village. We had plenty of characters hanging around. Many of them were the same familiar types Buffet sings about. I remember a few times growing up when Buffet would come through our town visiting. I saw him play a few times at some of my favorite local bars (I was still underage). My stepmother told me once that his manager was married to my stepsister. I never was that close to her so I never investigated any of that. I love that particular song since it seems to tell so much of what I feel like. The only thing that gets me is the whole “SON” of a “SON” of a Sailor. They never talk about the ‘daughter’ of a sailor, unless it’s something like she’s sitting around waiting for her loved one to come home. I was always a little jealous (maybe more than a little) about how the men always had it so easy. They could do all the things I always wanted to do so badly. For ME, it was always such a huge fight. Even now, it’s still a struggle. I should have been born a man!

2. House of the Rising Sun. I always loved this song. It was the first song I learned how to play on the guitar. It’s such a soulful song and so easy to sing. I still sing it for kareoke sometimes. I love New Orleans. It’s one of the reasons I chose to move to Texas to go to school for my AB ticket instead of one of the other 2 schools in the country at the time (San Diego or North Carolina). I thought I would be able to go to New Orleans every weekend to party. I thought I could go to Mexico every other weekend and El Paso to visit family fairly often too. I had NO idea how big Texas was or how long it took to drive to any of those places from where I moved to go to school.

3. What do you do with a Drunken Sailor. This was the song we sang all the time when we were getting rowdy when I was in high school on the sailing ships. We sang it at the end of my high school graduation on the wharf in Copenhagen. We were all dressed in our blue jeans and blue Oceanic t- shirts with our yellow foul weather jackets on. We had our diplomas printed on the back side of some Russian chocolate wrappers we had saved up special for it. I love how this song is such a FUN song to sing. It gets more and more creative after the first few verses.

——————————————————————————————————————–

OK. I went a couple of minutes over my time limit that I set for myself to ‘free write’. I had a hard time holding back from adding some interesting links. No editing, no thinking hard, just letting the words flllooooowwwww…

So, I didn’t want to deprive anyone of seeing what I’m talking about, so here are some links. 🙂

Here’s a video Son of a Son of a Sailor

Here’s one of the Animals singing the House of the Rising Sun

And here’s a link to an earlier post with a great video of the Drunken Sailor Song. 🙂

Writing 101: Ship Scenes

OK. I’m behind again. I’m trying to work through this Writing 101 challenge (again). I tried it before when I was at work and just could not keep up. Real life is once again interfering with my time in the blogosphere.

I’m doing the best I can but ya’ll are going to have to just bear with me. 😉

So, today I’m working on the assignment for Day 2. It’s actually Day 7. 🙁

The assignment is to write about a place, describe a setting. They ask you if you could be anywhere you wanted to be, where would you be ‘right now’?

I’m having a hard time winnowing that down. I could imagine myself at the top of Macchu Picchu or chillin out in Ubud. I could put myself under the sea on a dive in the Great Blue Hole off Belize or the atolls of the Pacific Ocean. I could imagine myself at home with my family when I was growing up in Florida or sitting around the gangway on my old ship with some great friends.

But I think I’m going to go with a cruise. I can hardly remember a better time than I spent as a kid on those sailing ships. I had such a great time. It was such a fantastic adventure.

Yeah, I was probably my usual self at the time, bitching about having to holystone the decks on Sundays or having to do laundry by hand. But I’ve very rarely had as many awesome, intense, all encompassing feelings of exhilaration and pure joy. Of just being fully and completely ALIVE and in complete harmony with myself and my surroundings.

I remember sailing on the Ariadne across the Atlantic Ocean. We left La Gomera in the Canary Islands and sailed for Martinique in the West Indies. We had a couple of weeks to make the trip.

The Ariadne was a large, 3 masted schooner. She carried a German crew and a few passengers and our entire school of fairly rowdy teenagers. I was 16 at the time. I remember long lazy days split between classroom, projects, and learning the ship.

I remember lying in the itchy, rough manila net under the bowsprit. Looking out for ships, weather, loose containers or anything else of interest. I would cheer on the dolphins as they sped along with us. No sound but the bubbling champagne rush of the sea along the sides of the ship and the waves lightly slapping the bow as the ship sliced through the slowly heaving blue-green swells.

The sun shone brightly in the perfectly clear, china blue sky and made the infinite depths of the ocean glow with stars of vividly bright patterns in so many gorgeous colors: neon green, canary yellow, turquoise, violet, wine, maroon, and purple.

Not too hot and not too cold. The days were warm and the sweat dripped in my eyes as I worked to sand down the pinrails.The nights held a chill, just enough to appreciate my wool watch cap. The winds were fair and powered us along at a steady rate as we worked the ship to get the best speed we could out of her with sails alone.

The winds brought the smell of salt and seaweed, yet it was somehow so FRESH. Sometimes the light, clean, crisp smell of rain and dew in the mornings. We would find flying fish dead- or almost- along the bulwarks sometimes, as we made our way forward to the galley for breakfast. We collected them for the cook who might fry them up for us or pass them on fresh to Whiskey the ships shaggy grey and white mutt.

Breakfast was served family style with fresh bread, butter and jam. Ham, cheese, eggs, fruit and milk (while they lasted). Helping the cook wash the dishes and prepare the meals was another way we passed the time. Peeling potatoes was a daily chore, everyone liked french fries. Hot and salty, crispy on the outside and nice and fluffy inside. Just perfect, every day. 🙂

We spent 4 hours on watch divided between helmsman, lookout duty and odd jobs. Then another 4 in school tending to our studies in Math, English, Cultural Studies, Oceanography, etc and things like Celestial Navigation, Marlinspike Seamanship, Sailtraining, etc. The shipboard schedule was the same as the traditional worldwide merchant fleet: 4 hours on, 8 off, 24/7.

Night watch in the middle of the ocean is like nothing else. It’s just amazing to see the black velvet sky, awash with those STARS like blazing diamonds. Nothing else around you. Occasional sounds of a creaking line or a sail luffing in the wind. The ship is dark except for the running lights which are purposely made as so not to interfere with your ability to see at night. Listening to the soft hiss of the swells as they pass down your side as you gaze in awe at the night sky.

Tweaking out the constellations from the abundant array of twinkling stars normally masked by the bright lights of town is a challenge. Remembering the stories of those star clusters is another way to keep your mind at play. Acting lookout is a wonderful way to calm yourself. You can take the time to really THINK.

It doesn’t surprise me at all how many famous artists (writers) were seaman at some point in their lives. There’s just something about it. “It gets in your blood”. I’ve never had another adventure like that one. I’ve been hoping to ever since.

I’ll never forget it.

 

Anyone On Youtube?

I’ve been trying to figure out youtube tonight. I’ve only looked at it a few times in my life so far. Yeah, I know I’m out of it. 😉

Anyway, I was thinking that I’d like to post a video I made on here. I can’t figure out how to put it on here. Then I thought… I’ve posted videos from youtube on here before with no problems.

So, then I thought I should upload my videos onto youtube. That’s where I’m having trouble. I guess there must be some tricks I’m not aware of.

I can get it to the point of trying to upload. Then it tells me it will take HUNDREDS of minutes!!! Obviously, I’m not going to sit around and wait for 500 minutes so I cancel the operation. It’s not really that large of a file.

I haven’t figured out how to do ANY editing of my videos on my computer. I have windows live movie maker, but when I tried to edit a video and save it, I couldn’t open it again at all.

Has anyone here worked with videos? Have any helpful hints? I’m lost and I admit I don’t have enough interest at this time to spend a lot of time fooling around with it if I can’t figure it out pretty quickly.

Yeah, I’m being lazy on this. Just too much to do in real life to play with it for too long.

Writing 101: Try Again

OK. I’m going to try this “Writing 101” thing again. I tried it before, but I was on the ship and could never find the time to do the assignments. I’m really glad the folks at WordPress decided to run this challenge again. I would like to improve my writing.

Today is the first day of the challenge. I got home late Friday after a couple of days traveling home from the ship. We were working offshore Angola (West Africa). I worked all night Wednesday and then started my voyage home Thursday morning.

I was basically up for about 60 hours straight, not counting the few minutes at a time I managed to doze off on the plane(s). I’ve had a couple of days to rest up and catch up on mail, etc so I hope I can find the time now to keep up with the assignments for this challenge. 🙂

Today’s assignment is pretty easy. It’s to “JUST WRITE”. Just like talking, I can always find something to say, I can always find things to write. Who knows if anyone will listen to what I have to say either way I put my thoughts out there? It seems most of the time I am ignored. 🙁

I think I have some good ideas and some good solutions to a lot of the things no one likes to see happening around the world. It’s all about FREEDOM. Too bad I’m not the dictator of the world. What a paradox. 😉

I would SO love to see this world full of people where everyone is able to live their lives the way they choose. I would love to see everyone able to live to their fullest potential. I would love to see everyone have enough to eat and comfortable surroundings and work that they enjoy.

I used to have long arguments with my best friend J. about this kind of thing. I told her once I would love to buy an island. I would have to buy it so that it would be mine, as legitimately mine as it would be possible to be. (Not to get into the whole argument about is it really legitimate for people to own land at all). I just don’t want it to be claimed by any government, they would ALL be totally against everything I’m trying to do.

I would turn that island into my own country. Anyone could come there and do anything they wanted to do, as long as they didn’t hurt anyone else (no murder, rape, robbery, etc). That is my basic premise in life. That is the idea that I live by.

Of course the USA would probably bomb the hell of my island. There’s NO WAY they would allow the world to see that a place with REAL freedom could exist and prosper. It would prove to the entire world what a fraud (and a danger to the entire planet) the US has become.

Yes, on my island you could drive without a license, without wearing seatbelts or helmets. You could drink or get high on whatever you wanted to (but you would be responsible for your actions whether high or not). There would be no spying allowed for any reason. There would be no universal ID such as social security has become (and therefore a magnet for identity theft). There would be no such things as ‘guilty property’ (asset forfeiture), money laundering laws, etc. Yes, there would be legal gambling and prostitution and there would be no such thing as a ‘victimless crime’. You could work at whatever you chose, for whoever you chose, for whatever wages and benefits you chose. There would be no government licensing of anything.

Since this island is based completely on voluntary action, I can see people working together to provide all the things we need and want without resorting to the use of force. If we need roads, schools, etc, people will come up with ways to provide them just like they did in colonial times in the USA. I can’t even think of anything we would need taxes for, so there probably wouldn’t even be any of those! 🙂

I would base my laws on the US constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights and I would follow the letter and the INTENTION of those documents! That being to promote INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM! To keep the people in control of the government and NOT the other way around.

We would get into huge arguments about what exactly was meant by the word “hurt”. I told her, I think it would have to be defined as an ‘objective’ hurt. Something obvious to everyone else. Otherwise, anyone could just make anything up they wanted.

I think it would have to be something ‘proveable’. Something that you could prove actually happened to you and that it actually did hurt you. You should be able to prove real harm.

So, we got into all these arguments over ‘what if?’…

‘what if she moved in next door to my multi-million dollar mansion and built a junkyard?’, (who said I would have a multi-million dollar mansion? I just spent all my money to buy this island!

‘what if she came to my (multi-million dollar mansion) and shit on my floor?’ (multi-million dollar mansion??), if she shit on my floor on purpose, then I think I would throw her out of my house. If she was sick or something and couldn’t control herself, then I think I would send her to the hospital but still get her out of my house!

‘what if somebody’s feelings got hurt?’ see above point about being objective and proveable

‘what if somebody trashed your boat?’ unbelieveable! they would have to pay restitution for the damages and/or they would get deported!

After a while of this kind of thing, we both got sick of the argument. I decided I would not really want to be dictator after all. It’s too much work!

I really just want to be left alone to live my life in peace. I don’t want to BE alone, I just want to be LEFT alone. There’s a huge difference.

It seems very few people understand where I’m coming from. Almost everyone seems to think people are somehow better off with other people running their lives instead of themselves. I am totally in opposition to that idea.

This is why I am searching so hard to find some PLACE where I can live the rest of my life. It is no longer possible to have that in the USA. The country that was founded to allow people exactly that freedom.

My only hope now is to somehow get out of the US permanently and find some out of the way place where the people will just accept you for who you are. Where they are happy to live and let live. Where their government does not have the resources to constantly interfere. And if it does, where the people will force it to back off!!!

So, OK, I’ve rambled on now for over the 20 minutes the assignment called for. Hope some of you made it all the way to the end. 😉

Any comments on this subject (or any other) is always appreciated. 🙂

 

 

Almost Home!

I made it off the ship and an 8 hour flight from Luanda to Paris. Now I’m almost ready to jump on the 10 1/2 hour flight from Paris to Houston.

Here’s to hoping my luggage makes the same journey I do this time. 😉

Bloglovin

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11124955/?claim=rzs5hjkxrgw”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11124955/?claim=rzs5hjkxrgw”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Trying a new way to publicize my blog. I recently found out about Bloglovin. I’m trying to figure out how it works here.

Does anyone else have a blog on Bloglovin? Does anyone here follow blogs there?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fray

For this weekly photo challenge (the idea is “fray”), I chose this photo I took at the photography workshop in Washington DC I went to a couple of years ago.

We spent some time wandering around some of the famous monuments like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. We had some free time to wander around and take pictures of different things.

One day they had set up a bunch of different items in a big room at the hotel we were staying in. The idea was to practice getting shots from all different angles. Different viewpoints, different subjects, different focus, different light, different effects…

I had just bought this camera (Canon) and was trying to figure out how to use it. I usually just use a point and shoot. I can’t usually carry around a nice, big camera with the fancy lenses. I just don’t have the space in my carry on. 🙁

I got this camera to try and learn how to take pictures good enough to get my photos accepted on some of the stock photography sites. One more attempt to find SOME way to support myself without having to stay out on a boat for half the year or more.

I am still trying to do that. I am still trying to learn how to use that camera. I am still trying to figure out how to get my photos accepted onto a stock photography site. I am still trying to figure out how to make the TIME to do that.

I think that last one may be the key. 🙂

Silhouette at Sea: Ship and Seagull

I thought this photo would be another good one for the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. This week the subject is “silhouette”.

I took the photo a couple of months ago when I was in Korea. I had gone there to attend a workshop on travel writing and photography.

I flew into Incheon and decided to stay there for a day or 2. Just to rest up before figuring out what I wanted to do. I had a couple of weeks to spend on my own before meeting the rest of the group in Seoul.

I took this picture my first day there. I wound up down by the waterfront (of course) at a place called Wolmi Island. Its one of those “pleasure islands” the Asians seem so fond of.

I wandered around for a while taking pictures. I had some local junk food (tried the little boiled  ‘silkworm cocoons’- which I did NOT like at all! they tasted like salty dirt!).

I was surprised at how nice and quiet and peaceful it was there. I really enjoyed my afternoon there. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

Here’s another entry to the Weekly Photo Challenge. I took this one at the Houston Zoo last time I was home. I have to say I’ve never felt the texture of a live rattlesnake like this guy. 😉

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture (Simple Sea Creatures)

I’ve been busy all week working on my taxes. I had to take a break and decided to go up to Moody Gardens in Galveston for Shark night. I had a good time. They had a pretty cool film showing about Great White sharks and elephant seals.

I’m trying to catch up on my email now. I got one for the Weekly Photo Challenge from the Daily Post. So, here’s my entry.

I took all these pictures there except the last one. I took that one in Korea at the fish market. Seems people there really love to eat those things. I’m not sure exactly what they are. I think they’re some kind of sea squirt.

  

Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic

This is my entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic. Here’s the story behind the photos I chose for my entry.

I took a trip to Indonesia a couple of years ago to look into having a sailboat built for me. I have been trying to find a way to move out of the USA for years.

The main hold up has been that no other country will give me a work visa (unless I can do something no one else in their country can do). I thought about teaching English (TEFL) and I still think about doing that sometimes (maybe I will one of these days, but I hate to  put myself in a situation where that is my only option. I started writing and blogging as another option to hopefully help me make a living without being stuck in the USA.

I am looking for more freedom. I don’t want to jump from the frying pan of the USA (which is rapidly becoming a police state) into a situation where I don’t really know the rules and have restricted myself by not having the finances (because I had to take a low paying job) to get out of any trouble I don’t know enough to stay out of.

So, maybe I’m trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I really think we all deserve to live a wonderful life. The life WE choose. Free to do the things we enjoy, in the physical location we want to be.

I don’t agree with borders in principle. I don’t agree with the idea of any political authority. “Leaders” are just regular people and governments are just groups of people. None of them are any more special than you or me. I believe we are ALL equal under the law (natural law) and we should ALL have the same opportunity to live our own lives without interference.

I think we ALL have the inherent right to do anything we want as long as we don’t hurt anyone else (who has the same rights as we do). The founding fathers of the USA enshrined that principle in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (Bill of Rights), but the government we have now has corrupted that ideal beyond belief.

We are already FAR beyond the point where the original colonists revolted. I keep wondering WTF has happened to the American people that they submit without question to things like the TSA groping their children in the airports.

We have gone from a country where we had a revolution over a 4% tax on TEA, to a country where the government routinely locks up people for LIFE for mere possession of a harmless plant!?!

OK, enough with the politics (for now). 😉

I went to Indonesia look into buying a boat. I thought I could build a business with it that would allow me to live in a foreign country. I thought if I had a means to support myself, I could make the move. Too bad the price of the boats had gone up so much since I first heard about them. There was really no way I could afford one.

Unless it was one like the ones in these pictures. 🙁

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/relic/

500

I noticed last night that I was at 499 posts. So this is my #500 post since I started this blog.

For some reason, I keep thinking of Molly Shannon doing Sally O’Malley (I’m 50!). 🙂

I was little surprised to see that number. That’s averaging a little over 1 post a day. I did try to do 1 a day for a while. I did a post a day challenge a while back. That was for the Zero to Hero challenge. That was just too much for me. It was stressing me out trying to keep up with the blog while I was also offshore working.

Since then, I’ve given up on the once a day posting and have settled for the once a week challenge instead. That seems to be working out just fine. 🙂

I tried to do the Blogging 201 challenge, but I was too busy with other things and could not keep up with everyone else. I didn’t get as much out of it as I had hoped to. I am still working on the last couple of ‘assignments’. Maybe I’ll actually finish it up here in the next week or so. 🙂

I don’t feel like I have to find something to post about. I post something when I have something interesting to say. Something I think is interesting. You all may or may not agree, but I hope it’s at least something to distract you for a minute or two. Maybe even get you to think about something a little bit different than your usual day to day stuff. 😉

So, here’s to the next 500!

A Word A Week Photograph Challenge- Orange

Here’s another photography challenge entry. This one is from the blog A Word In Your Ear. Here’s the link to it if you want to get involved…

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-orange/

Here are a few of my photos that show off ‘orange’…

orange wave (sculpture on Gwangali Beach Korea)

orange wave (sculpture on Gwangali Beach Korea)

orange flowers

orange flowers (Jayu Park, Incheon Korea)

orange food?

orange food? (fish market, Incheon Korea)

orange sunset at sea

orange sunset at sea

orange sunrise, Tarawa, Kiribati

orange sunrise, Tarawa Kiribati

orange beard

orange beard (Surfside Texas)

orange umbrellas (and hair)

orange umbrellas (and hair)

orange fish

orange fish

another orange fish

another orange fish

orange spots on fish

orange spots on another fish

orange boat(s)

orange boat(s) alongside at Fourchon, LA

orange uniforms on the boat

orange uniforms on the boat (me and Jess on the DS-5)

orange sky

orange sky at sea

orange chopper

orange chopper (USCG)

one more orange boat (lifeboat)

one more orange boat (lifeboat)

I hope you like these. These photo challenges are fun. I really wish I had the time to go out and take some more pictures for them but no time so I have to use some from the past. 🙁

Poll: How Did You Find Capt Jills Journeys?

I’m still working my way through the Blogging 201 challenge. This is my attempt to complete the assignment for Day 12 (create a poll/survey to gather feedback from your readers on your site and its content).

The Blogging 201 challenge actually ended a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to finish it anyway. I’m hopeful that by following through I will continue to learn how to make my blog better.

I hope that will help me grow my audience.

So, here’s a poll. Please feel free to add anything you’d like to say in the comment section below (as always!). I’m interested to know how people found my blog (and also what they like about it).

Thanks!

Blogging 201: Day Eleven- Buddy Up

Late to start. Late to finish. That’s just typical for me. 🙁

I started the Blogging 201 challenge a couple of weeks late. Too late to really get into the whole community aspect of it. IMHO, that is the best part of it. Interacting with all the other bloggers working on the same challenge and all their different takes on it.

Since I was so far behind, everyone was working on totally different things than I was. I just kept an eye on what they were doing and tried to catch up.

The challenge ended a couple of weeks ago, but I hate to quit anything I’ve started. So, here I am again, plugging on with the Blogging 201 challenge.

The assignment for Day 11 was (is) to “find a blog buddy”.

I did read the assignment only a few days late. 😉 I’ve been thinking about it since (in the back of my mind). I haven’t yet come up with anybody specific to ask to ‘be my buddy’. 🙁

I wonder if it would be better to try and buddy with someone with similar interests (offshore, maritime, travel, politics, nature, sailing, boats, philosophy, liberty, food & drinks, music, books), or someone with interests that I really don’t post about much here (fashion, beauty, celebrities, family, kids, relationships, sports).

I think for now, I’ll still just keep this idea in the back of my mind. I really haven’t had the time to work on this blog as much as I would like to lately. I’d hate to have someone else depending on my being able to keep to a writing schedule right now. 🙁

At some point in the future, I’d like to try to use the guest blogging idea. I think either way (like/unlike my blog) would work to try a different audience.

Has anybody else been participating in the Blogging 201 challenge? Did you complete the assignment for Day 11? How did it go?

Does anybody want to be my buddy?