Ship of Fools

There are experiences, there are memorable experiences and then there are once in a lifetime experiences. I'm not really sure where this boat ride fits into that paradigm but it was a day (and night) at sea that most of us will never forget, if only we hadn't got so drunk and forgot everything. Because our softball team doesn't drink enough on Saturday's El Gimpo decided that it would be a good idea to have a team junk and to have it on a Friday night the day before we have a playoff doubleheader starting at 9 a.m. It was truly an inspired idea from a truly inspried gentleman who has long put the sur in surreal.

I mixed up a batch of non-hangover rum from Koh Samui (http://www.rhumdistillerie.com/en/) that Flash (above - well into a rummed up tither) found quite, uhm, intoxicating. This rum would easily have done what it was advertised to do - namely allow you to get fall down drunk and then pick yourself up the next day with nary a minor headache - IF you only drink the rum. Mix in ten bottles of wine and eight cases of beer and all non-hangovers bet's are obviously off. Seems pretty straightforward to me but what the hell do I know. For those of you who missed out on it, we set off from Sai Kung in a seriously pimped out rig. Here are some of the highlights, and lowlights, of the last junk trip I will be doing in Hong Kong for a long, long time.

Cindy Harrison, left, did her best Linda Blair impression for her husband Rick (far right) and Michael Slim-Mac.com

After a succesful exorcism, performed by the ships' captian Damian Choi (in the background), Cindy's head was squarely back on its axis.

Upon hearing that they were going to be on the Dick Cavett show instead of a junk sailing through Hong Kong harbour, both Brian Pohli and Mark Looram gleefully crossed their legs to prepare for the interview.

Fresh from their recent appearance at the Osmond Family Reunion, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir brightened up the evening.

Meanwhile, the glum-chums brought their own brand of mirth to the evening's festivities.

Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again

Well I seem to have been stuck in Carmel for the last two months. Yikes. Of course I have been on the road still, and the road stretched from Carmel to Big Sur to Pismo Beach to L.A. to Palm Springs to Scottsdale and Sedona through the dust bowl known as Barstow then up to Paso Robles, San Francisky over to Sun River, Oregon then through the parking lot known as Seattle back to C-eh-n-eh-d-eh and the considerably-more-tolerable-in-late-March-than-mid-January Vancouver, followed by Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and, for a brief moment or two, some place called Hong Kong before the undertow of life sweeps me away once more to another psuedo exotic port.

The bottom line is I am still a fat and lazy son-of-a-bitch who has not found the time to update this thing for a couple of months. I have some stories of places and some pictures too that I will share with you shortly, if you are so inclined. The above is a picture of me with a couple of softball friends with way too many perfect white teeth. There's, not mine... I have to admit to being somewhat suprised that a few people were reading this thing. Some asked for more updates and I am also told there is some sort of mechanism whereby you can get a notification when a blog is updated. That's sounds way too civilized for me and for you as well. Just come back here when you find the time. That's what I'm doing.

BIG SUR UPDATE COMING VERY SHORTLY! In fact it should be here in minutes featuring a beatnik bash with Lizzy Taylor and Chuck Bronson (that's right Bronson as a beatnik - you don't want to miss it!)