Joshua Slocum

Joshua Slocum was the first man to sail around the globe alone. This is an excerpt from his book Sailing Alone Around the World:


No one can know the pleasure of sailing free over the great oceans save
those who have had the experience. It is not necessary, in order to
realize the utmost enjoyment of going around the globe, to sail alone,
yet for once and the first time there was a great deal of fun in it.
My friend the government expert, and saltest of salt sea-captains,
standing only yesterday on the deck of the _Spray_, was convinced of
her famous qualities, and he spoke enthusiastically of selling his
farm on Cape Cod and putting to sea again.

To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go. The tales of rough
usage are for the most part exaggerations, as also are the stories of
sea danger. I had a fair schooling in the so-called "hard ships" on
the hard Western Ocean, and in the years there I do not remember
having once been "called out of my name." Such recollections have
endeared the sea to me. I owe it further to the officers of all the
ships I ever sailed in as boy and man to say that not one ever lifted
so much as a finger to me. I did not live among angels, but among men
who could be roused. My wish was, though, to please the officers of my
ship wherever I was, and so I got on. Dangers there are, to be sure,
on the sea as well as on the land, but the intelligence and skill God
gives to man reduce these to a minimum. And here comes in again the
skilfully modeled ship worthy to sail the seas.

To face the elements is, to be sure, no light matter when the sea is
in its grandest mood. You must then know the sea, and know that you
know it, and not forget that it was made to be sailed over.

I have given in the plans of the _Spray_ the dimensions of such a ship
as I should call seaworthy in all conditions of weather and on all
seas. It is only right to say, though, that to insure a reasonable
measure of success, experience should sail with the ship. But in order
to be a successful navigator or sailor it is not necessary to hang a
tar-bucket about one's neck. On the other hand, much thought
concerning the brass buttons one should wear adds nothing to the
safety of the ship.

I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea,
Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes;

I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me,
I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads....

-sara teasdale

excitement!

a good friend of mine just found out she is going up to NYC to work on a film set as the 2nd AD (applause is in order) and it is a...PAID...job! woo-hoo! (after working on unpaid student sets for 12 hours a day, many days in a row, that's a really big deal) :) Dreams do come true. I'm super happy for her and for the fact that all of her hard work and passion is finding an outlet "out there" in the "real world".

well done you. :)

when i congratulated her for the second time today, she told me that she put a wallpaper on her phone that says,

"NEVER GIVE UP on something you can't go a day without thinking about."

♥ ♥ ♥

who has my affections,
what shapes the motivation of my heart?

society? a society that has no feelings for me, that wants my time, money, affection, in exchange for a chance to run around a rat wheel in an attempt to climb the ridiculous ladder of success. right. that incredibly secure ladder--the one that will fall over at the slightest blow of wind.

not worth it. at all.

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." -mt. 6:20

why serve a dead idol when there is a living, loving God who is madly in love with me, longing to be the One who forms my affections and shapes the motivation of my heart...

See how the fearful chandelier
Trembles above you
Each time you open your mouth
To sing. Sing.

-donald justice

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

-T.S. Eliot

"...sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness."

-Galway Kinnell