The Cast of Characters & Quick Guide to the Story

Monday, August 29, 2011

Off the Boat


Right this moment I am sitting at the Holiday Inn in Traverse City, Michigan. I left the boat this morning at 8:30. It's the first time I've been more than an hour away from the Marlin in the last six months. I feel the tension in the rubber band being exhausted; it's about to snap.

This distance, aside from being inevitable at this point, has been necessary for me to give the future and all its possibilities a chance to mature. So here's what I got. The answer to the big What Are You Going to do Next question. Here's what I'm going to do in the next twelve months:

10. Read Moby Dick.
9. Sail to Baja or around the Greek Islands or the Great Lakes in a small boat, with a small crew, not as a job, but because I can.
8. Live on $6 a day - see if it's possible, if only for a short time, to recreate my food math from the boat when not cooking for a crew and making bulk purchases.
7. Make a business plan for my own business.
6. Work on seeing if I can get this blog published, and therefore edited and re-written with the missing stories and subplot...
5. Discuss with the captain of the boat I'm interested in working on in California whether or not it would be possible to do a Jaime Oliver -type program for the kids onboard.
4. Get my things out of storage and plant myself somewhere (hopefully south).
3. Lose 5-10 pounds (what I gained since I started working on boats!).
2. Exercise 3-5 times a week.
1. And... drum roll... the number one thing I want to do... is get to know the man in my life. I've alluded to him a few times in these posts, so the astute reader may already be in-the-know. It's been smooth sailing on my own, but I'm ready for a companion. I want that more than anything. And who knows, maybe we won't work out. Maybe we don't want the same things. Maybe we're incompatible on some level. But I've got to go and find out. Or start finding out. It may seem like a small thing in comparison to starting a business or sailing across an ocean, but getting to know someone could take a lifetime. It's a pretty big exploratory mission. So I better start right away. Tomorrow, in fact.

And that's it. The last port. The last menu. The last entry as cook on the Marlin. Thanks again for coming along on this journey with me. Until we meet again, fair winds and following seas,
C. Cook

Monday's Menu
Breakfast
Yoghurt and granola and real maple syrup
Lunch
Two hot dogs at House of Doggs (a Rock Dogg and a Chicago Dogg)
Dinner
I ate a really fabulous meal at Red Ginger, starting with a cucumber martini, edamame and spring rolls; then shrimp tempura sushi and mee krab. I had the most fascinating dinner conversation I've had in a while, with a man who owns multiple businesses, has invested in an orphanage in Haiti, and was just in Manhattan, quite near my old stomping grounds. You just never know who'll you'll meet or where life will take you... which is why you should always be alert. Life is happening all around you if you're just awake to it. 

3 comments:

  1. 9. yes
    4. i'm trying for charleston! (i might be there, and if you go there i have several people i think you might connect w)
    and everything below 4. :) -4

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  2. Kip says: no im not working on my norsea im sailing though the san juans and canadain gulf islands on Skuld (my other boat) and its been AWSOME! the voyage is almost over though ill just the straits of juan de fuca tomorow and bee back in Port townsend. if your serios about getting this printed (and i think it would work well) check out gorham printing as its run by a relative of mine

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  3. Best of luck and fair winds.
    Bruce & Nancy / Wilmington

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