Birthday world is saved, should we ever want to revisit it… but we’re going to create a new world moving forward. And it shall be called … NEVERLAND. Players shall be knows as THE LOST. The world will be difficult, and unforgiving. Great riches and adventure await the bold.
Use the tools at your disposal. Want to make an automatic farm?: It’s been done, check youtube, and build it. Want diamond armor? Check out mining pointers on Google. Want to enchant stuff? You’ll need level 30 experience, and there’s no easier way to get that than a Spider Spawner. Youtube that, and see what you come up with.
Please continue to chat in our Discord! I’m not cutting anyone off from some help here and there. However, I will NOT SULLY NEVERLAND with teleportation, or save game roll-backs without serious merit.
NEVERLAND details
Server address:
asdf.net (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) *
Gamemode:
Survival
Difficulty:
Normal
Force Gamemode:
true
PvP:
false
Hell world:
true
Allow Nether:
true
Allow Flying:
false
Keep Inventory:
false
* As before, the server will be compatible with both Java and Bedrock Minecraft versions. Let me know if you have issues connecting. Whitelist has been enabled to combat griefing. It’s like an enforced guest list for the server. If you get an error message about a whitelist, shoot me a note, and I’ll get your Minecraft username added.
For THE LOST players, I recommend a headset with microphone. This improves quality, and irritating echoes. You can get an upgrade mic for headphones you already have for $35, or a whole new pair of headphones for $40. Reputable article for gaming headsets 2021 at Tomsguide.com.
Alison said she was interested in hearing what was going on as well. Put Discord on your phone, connect (lurk) the channel the kiddos are in, and leave the phone on speaker where ever you happen to be.
Some general times in PST:
Monday-Friday 3-5PM Saturday and Sunday 10AM-2PM
There are many ways to make Minecraft easy. But, take it from your parents: easy things aren’t worth much. Trying failing, trying again and succeeding is the sweetest feeling.
For the adventurous, for the persistent, for the brave: your adventure awaits in NEVERLAND!
On the bottom left, under Other Calendars, hit the +, then Subscribe To Calendar
Then on the left side select From URL
Paste in your URL, ending in .ics from the list below**
Hit Add Calendar
Scroll to the bottom of of your screen, and you’ll see your newly added, automatically updating, calendar in the bottom left.
I change the name of the calendar here, and leave everything else default.
Top left hit the left arrow to get back to your normal Calendar view. Scroll down again and there’s your new calendar under Other Calendars.
Mouse over the new calendar, hit the dot-dot-dot, and change the color to make it pretty
the newly added calendar should also sync up with your phone auto-magically
I have enough calendars in there for Work, Robin, Chicken Rotation, etc, that several of my calendars aren’t even displayed. But when they are, I want to make sure the colors are different so I don’t mix them up. I purposely chose the same color for Robin and the Bryant calendar. Robin is where I add my own stuff, whereas Bryant calendar is the one that I’m subscribed to.
Now on your phone. I have an android. I suspect that if you install or use the Google Calendar app on your iPhone, the instructions will be similar or the same.
Hit the hamburger menu (three stacked horizontal lines) in the top left. Scroll down to Settings, select that.
Under your gmail account, there will be a Show More button, select that.
You should see the calendar you created and renamed.
Select it, and you can change the color here too on your phone. Same guidelines from above apply here.
Make sense? Clear as mud? Email me any suggestions and I’ll rewrite it to make it easier. Hope this helps someone! drew@kerlee.com
A few other pointers from the tech guy I emailed with:
Any calendar suggestions could also go to info@tacoma.k12.wa.us. You could probably also contact the office coordinator at the school and ask them to have the webmaster add specific events to the calendar. Some of our schools are better than others about updating content on their sites.
** all the ICS calendar links for Tacoma Schools. Wow, lots of them.
*** You’re going to need about 12 hours to make this rocket *** I’ve seen (and done) hot-glue slap-dash rocket builds, and it ain’t pretty. But do what you can!
A note from Robin to her friends: I don’t want to say anything. fffffdfththth what does that say? what did you say? Why did you do that? ffffththththt hehehhhheeee hahaha why are you doing that Drew?!?! kkkkkkkkthththhththt you farted! kkkkheheheh what did that say Drew? WHat are you writing? what did you say drew? Why are you saying?? If it’s too loud, you should bring some headphones. Like these: amazon $13. Robin says the rockets aren’t too loud to me, but some kids might think so. And, by the way, there’s a Geocaching Headquarters in Seattle. I had a great time there! Here’s a pic.
The Facebook event for RSVPing. If you’re not on Facebook, no problem. Message myself or Alison using whatever method you’d like.
You should have one of two kits, the Fiesta (three fins, streamer recovery), or Tristar (two two-part fins, parachute recovery). You’ll make this in a few rounds of glue-drying, which is why it takes 12-24 hours.
Each rocket has it’s own instructions. These instructions and videos are additional tips, pics, and videos for helping things go a little smoother.
First round gluing and assembly
Engine mount – for the engine mount, you’re going to measure a length and make a small incision in the tube that one end of the motor clip will go into. The other doughnut looking things will hold that metal clip in place. Put a light bead of Elmer’s glue along the top and bottom sides of both doughnuts, so four beads total. There’s a single smaller doughnut that is going to go inside the top end of the tube. Put a light bead of glue in the engine tube, and twist slide that guy into place. It should butt up against the piece of the metal clip that’s protruding into the engine tube.
Recovery system – both versions of rockets will have a small polygon cutout. Use plenty of glue to wrap the shock-cord up into the tri-fold of that paper polygon. Once you squish it together, glue will be coming out, that’s good. Put a small weight on top to hold it while it dries. You can attach the parachute to nose-cone, or streamer to shock-cord at this point also.
Launch lug – This is what holds the rocket prior to lift off, and gives it it’s initial direction from the launch rod. It doesn’t have to be perfect (none of this does!)
Fins – one of the more tricky parts of construction. There are two main tips here for fin: use a door jam with the tube and pencil to make your lines. And second once you get the fin on, lean it against something to sit basically correct while the glue kicks. Between those things, just eye-ball it, you should be close enough. Each fin requires one round of glue and wait. A video of course
Engine mount – you should use a leftover piece of balsa wood as a glue paint brush. Make a couple marks on the tube with the engine mount, so you can visualize where the mount rings will be inside the body tube. Hold the piece of balsa wood up there where you should wipe the glue on the upper engine mount ring. While the piece is on the outside, it’s easy to see how far you should put it in there. When you put some glue on the stick, you can stick it up there to your mark, and start wiping it around the inside of the tube. Stick the engine mount up in there, before the second ring goes in, cover that with glue all the way around. Up we go, and bob’s your uncle. A video of what I’m talking about.
Shock-cord and nose cone to the body tube. The folded-paper end of the shock cord has to be at least far enough into the body tube so the nose cone can slide cleanly into the body tube. Be careful not to get any glue on the part of the tube the nose cone will be in contact with. Ideally, the nose cone would fall out of the rocket if you turn it upside down. Bend that tri-folded piece of paper so it pretty much holds the shape of the inside of the body tube. Put some glue on the outside of the paper, and give it five minutes to set up. Carefully put the paper into the tube, and pinch it against the inside of the body tube. Once you release it, it should stay right where it’s at. If it bends away from the inside of the tube, just keep holding it. Mounting video
the finished rocket
Engines, velocities, and other fun facts
I’ve got this neat rocket simulation program. It will give me a good idea of what to expect from various rockets, if everything else is nominal (normal).
Estes black powder rocket engines have been around for years. They are divided up by both diameter and impulse. Impulse is how much a thing pushes. The first part of the designation is a letter then a number (B4, B6, 1/2A6) signifying the impulse. Then it’s followed by a dash, then another number. The second number is the delay between engine burnout and the parachute charge blowing out. Ideally you want the parachute to pop out right at 0MPH, after the engine burns out, the rocket finishes coasting and the “nose over” point happens as it starts to head back towards Earth.
1/2A6-2: apogee 152ft, velocity at deployment 20MPH, max velocity 75MPH, max acceleration 812 ft/s^2, time to apogee 2.7 seconds, flight time 19 seconds
B4-5: apogee 832ft, velocity at deployment 9MPH, max velocity 220MPH, max acceleration 1116 ft/s^2, time to apogee 6.3 seconds, flight time 90 seconds
B6-5: apogee 834ft, velocity at deployment 11MPH, max velocity 234MPH, max acceleration 1088 ft/s^2, time to apogee 6 seconds, flight time 90 seconds
C6-5: apogee 1480ft, velocity at deployment 11MPH, max velocity 341MPH, max acceleration 1095 ft/s^2, time to apogee 7.5 seconds, flight time 156 seconds
apogee: highest point, velocity: speed, ft/s^2 a measure of acceleration “feet per second squared” or “feet per second per second” aka positive number gas pedal, negative number brake pedal
The thing you can notice here is how LONG some of these rockets spend on their parachutes. All of that time they are susceptible to sideways winds, only going where the wind pushes them. The longer they spend on their chutes, the more likely we’ll lose the rocket. So, depending on the day, we may not get out the bigger engines. And it’s ALWAYS a good idea to acknowledge that every rocket flight is saying goodbye, and we’re lucky if we get to fly again 😉
We just bought a 2013 Nissan Leaf. Like many things, I was at work when it went down, so I haven’t even seen the car yet! But I’ve been reading all about it, and without a doubt, charging the car is the biggest drawback to owning one of these things.
Level 1 charging (L1). The regular plug in your home. It’s got 110 volts of AC current. Besides a toaster, you can plug in your little car. If your Leaf is dead as a door-nail, it may take up to 12 hours to charge it to 100%
Level 2 charging (L2). This is up to 4 times faster, than L1 charging. If you see an electric car charging podium with a little wire coming off it, chances are it’s an L2 charger. The business end looks like this
You’ll get 240 volts through there, and a lot more amps. If you have an electric clothes drier, it will be plugged into a 240V plug. Those plugs might look like one of these, NEMA 14-30 (14 is the style, 30 is amps the wires attached to it are rated for) or NEMA 14-50.
You can plug your electric car into one of those plugs too with the proper charging cable. See link for EVSE Upgrade website link below in bibliography. Or buy an upgraded L2 charging cable off eBay $379 + s/h.
Level 3 Charging As you’re planning your day, you should be aware of where you can get a quick charge, should you need one. The app and website, plugshare.com, is a one stop shop for where these things are. I’ve used the L3 Quick Charger at REI in Seattle twice now, and it’s been awesome. That one is operated by EVgo. Speaking of which, get a bunch of charging cards. They are cheap and easy to get. Just sign up for the pay as you go versions. I think we’ve used the EVgo and the Chargepoint so far. But it’s nice to have them already if you need them. I chucked them in the center console.
L2 Charging at home I recently got a wall mounted EVSE (electric vehicle service equipment) called a Juicebox. The Pro version is wifi enabled. I really enjoy being able to track numbers over time. How much electricity am I using to get from A to B in the Leaf? What’s it cost me? How much is it saving me vs driving a gas car? Once you put in your electrical rates, and local gas prices, this wall-mounted EVSE figures all that out for you – and that’s fun!
At the moment, I have my Juicebox plugged into a NEMA 14-30 plug (the four-prong outlet in the pic above. This is a problem because the Juicebox can pull up to 40 amps, so the plug only fits a NEMA 14-50 (50 amp capacity outlet). But, emotorwerks (makers of Juicebox) also sell a short pig-tail adapter. Then, I went into the boxes web-interface, and told it to not draw more than 24 amps. Problem solved – until I can get a 50 amp plug installed, and I can uncork the Leaf’s on-board charger, and the Juicebox EVSE and charge as fast as possible at home.
Pizza story I was down at work, and wanted pizza. I called my wife, and asked if she could pick up some pizzas and bring them down. She said: sure, but the car is almost out of juice, so I have to go home for an hour or so to charge up, then I’ll bring you pizza. True story. It can happen! With a car that can only go 70 miles before needing a charge, you’ve got to plan your days. Not a huge inconvenience when you consider the gas you’re not burning, in my opinion.
A couple of lines I specifically liked from her post were “boys will be boys” and how that pretty much condones sexual harassment. Both assigning behavior to boys, simply because they’re boys, and making a cute excuse for acting out.
Why do boys seem to get into more trouble than girls? Is that generalization not based in facts? How do boys misbehave vs. how do girls misbehave?
I wish there was an eloquent response or post from a boy at this school. Maybe I’ll see if I can write her and try and get her to repost a blog from a boy that’s like a response to this or something.
From what I’ve read, girls develop a better vocabulary and the ability to express themselves earlier in life than boys do. I don’t think you can make a sweeping generalization that girls are better at writing than boys at any age. But this blog entry is good! Maybe the writing skills also translate to misbehaving.
Perhaps boys and girls at the same age, and different developmental stages both misbehave – but the type of misbehavior is different enough that one of them lands in the principal’s office and the other just gets nasty looks.
Actually might be harder than you think! There are many things that you’ve got if you’re living where you’ve been living for a long time. Once you move to a new location, you’ll find yourself without things you didn’t even know you had.
In my moving around I learned a few things about myself. Three things I absolutley need to be happy.
1. a safe place to live
2. something to do with my time (usually a job)
3. friends to call and hang out with
1. Place to live
Barenaba Ln
There have been two or three occasions where I “sold everything and moved.” One of them was out to the Big Island of Hawaii. My brother and I moved out there, and while we knew one guy and his family, essentially we didn’t know anyone. We arrived with only a couple of bags of clothes, and had packed up some things from our last house and mailed them to ourselves there. Jensen and I rented this total dump of a house for $750/month, three bedroom house. There were two of us, and we wanted another roommate, making rent a reasonable $250/month each. Here’s a pic of the house on the left.
So, Jensen and I got the house sorted out. It was empty! No furnishings. We had a kitchen and no silverware. We had a living room, and no place to sit. I had this picture that I can’t find of Jensen and I sitting on a box throwing cards into a hat in an empty living room. Our stuff was in boxes, but we didn’t have anyplace to put the stuff even if we unpacked the boxes. The picture struck a cord with me because we were in an empty white room. We had no furniture. We were in a town where we didn’t know anyone. I remember that striking home with me: I didn’t have anyone to call even if I wanted to. I didn’t have a job to go to. We had nothing there at all.
Sitting in that empty room, throwing cards into a hat was a learning moment. This is what happens when you take everything away and start fresh.
2. something to do with you time
The easiest and most obvious thing here is a JOB. You gotta get a job to pay rent because the savings you moved here with is dwindling. I was hitting the job market hard. I had nothing else going on, so I dedicated most of my day to getting a job. Even in a little town like Hilo, there were some jobs to be had. Nothing that paid much, but at my portion of rent $250/mo, I didn’t need much.
How about school? Another great thing to be doing in a new place. Your days will have purpose. You will have someplace you need to be, things you need to do. I’m no zen master. In fact, if I don’t have anything going on, I will start making stuff up. And those “projects” can often be pretty useless. But I like doing things, it feels good.
School and job easily segues into the third part:
3. friends
Imagine going to a job, and coming home. Your home is comfortable. You’ve got internet, a TV, maybe a goldfish and a couple of potted plants that need watering from time to time. You get home, check your blogs, and go to sleep. Next morning, wake up, go to that job, come home, repeat. For me, that is a frustrating cycle. I need people to talk to, joke with and hang out with. When I work a job, it’s usually so I can have a little money to spend on the weekend, gas money for camping, or movies, or other stuff. My job is important, but the people I meet are more important.
Another place I sold it all and moved to was Bozeman Montana. I showed up in that town with one friend, and again, didn’t know a soul except the person I went there with. I knew that even though I liked this person a lot, I needed more people. I looked around for a restaurant job. Waiters are witty, chatty, night owls who are good with strangers and probably don’t have day jobs. I looked around for a busy restaurant in town with young people and took a good look at the other employees. Would I like to be friends with these people? I did, so I applied, and it all worked out great.
Yet another time I sold everything and moved to California with my now wife, we both got jobs. I made some decent friends at a restaurant I worked at, and school I was attending. Alison got a job at REI. She said it was because she’d worked at an REI before, and it was easy to transition there. REI doesn’t pay worth a damn, like any other run of the mill retail job. But the people, now they are special. Alison and I went on all sorts of adventures with her true friends that she made at work.
If you don’t like people you work with, and haven’t found any groups to participate in (did you look at meetup.com? I’ve had success there), then cold calling is an option. I think this is easier for boys because we’ve had to do cold calls for quite some time. We learned by hitting on women. Think of it like you’re hitting on girls, but instead, hit on dudes. You size them up, does this dude look like the kind of person I want to be a friend? Then chat him up. It’s really that easy, and difficult!
I think jensen is standing on a curb or something
I met one of my favorite roommates in just this way. I was working at a pancake house in Hilo, and there was this dude with a giant backpack who was taking up one of my booths. I got to chatting to him, and turned out he was looking for a place to rent in town. I had just the place. I made a date with him for beers later, and we hit it off right away. Rick, Jensen and I were all a terrific match, and had some really great times for a whole year at Barenaba Ln. You can imagine that story either way where Rick was a girl, and she and I ended up dating, so wonderful! Or, Rick turned out to be a cool guy and a wonderful roommate, also wonderful! The process I used was the same. Albeit a different end-game 😉
How about you…
Does selling it all and moving appeal to you? Have you ever done it before?
What sorts of things do you need for basic functioning? How about to function and have a good time every once and a while.
Get to know yourself a little better by trying to take a step back. You are already a complex person with needs, if you know it or not. You’ve already done a lot of this work already, you just need to identify it. Dig up some old photos and start looking at different parts of your life.
In these photos, where were you? Mountains, beach, hot, cold, city, suburbs, water, desert. Do you remember being happy there, or miserable? (both are helpful) What did your daily life look like when that picture was taken? How about your weekends or vacations. What sort of job did you have? Like it, hate it, tolerate it? Did you make friends at that job?
Look at pictures of you with friends. Where did you meet them? How close were you with them? How long did it take for you to become close with them? Friends don’t fall off trees. (Hopefully they don’t)
Ideally, friendships would start natural, unforced, comfortable, organic. Unless you grow up with someone, how else is it going to start? It’s okay to start off awkward. Generally people seek connection with others. When you first meet someone it seems forced, awkward, shallow, and it probably IS. Once you start to develop some rapport with them, some stories, and share some experiences together, it will start becoming more natural.
Side note here. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Dude circa 1934 answered these questions on his own and wrote a book. Here they are from him:
Self-Actualization needs – realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
To wrap up
Moving to a new place is hard! You may have an easy time of it where “things just fall into place,” but those things that fall into place are still important. For the times when it doesn’t work out, you can approach it from a more cognitive side. You gotta identify those magic things, and make them happen. You’ll know if something is missing because you’ll be miserable, or sad, or uncomfortable. Things won’t feel right. Use that as an opportunity to learn about yourself: what are your needs, and how can you meet them?
I recently got to put into practice a plan of mine: getting wood to heat my house from the forest with a truck and a chainsaw. I gotta tell you, it was awesome.
Alison and I went on our own and managed to get a couple of bits in our truck. Not a total wash, but a small amount. Her little, brand new, Stihl kicked butt. While my big ol’ 044 Stihl not so much. I forgot to put bar oil in it, and it got try and stopped spinning the chain. Thankfully I didn’t destroy it.
But then, later on, I went chainsawing with Jensen. That kid is lucky, I’ll tell you what! We stopped the truck twice, and managed to get a half load each time. By the end of the late afternoon, Jensen and I had piled that truck about as full as I’d ever want it to be. I need to get a net or something so I can pile higher, and still tie it all down. I have other plans for making life a little easier too. Here’s an awesome picture of my plan.
I’m going to get some rigging stuff, and use it to haul these little logs down (or up!) to the road. Then I can chop them up right there next to the road and it’ll be way easier on my back. This last time Jensen and I went, I had to throw the same stump like four or five times to get it into the back of the truck. Lots of hunching over, picking up, and chucking.
Once I got my 044 back from the shop, got all the right fluids in it, and I had even been out chainsawing once before, everything went much smoother. Jensen and I went up there in a late afternoon, and in a couple of hours killed it. We filled the back of the pick up. Jensen had followed me out there, so he was able to just keep on driving home back to Seattle. What a great weekend I had with him. It’s so great to be close to family.
So it seems that after this much traveling, I should do another blog. I should check my blog and see where I left off!…
Looks like last we spoke, I was in Freetown.
So I had this grand plan: forego the immediate free plane ride back to America and travel around for a while. And what better way to see Africa, then making my way north via roads and sleeping the same places other travelers sleep! I wish I had known what I was about to be in for.
West Africa is NOT for tourists. I was there with Amistad, and I had a wonderful time. I could come back to the boat in the evenings for free room and board. The food was clean and prepared in a clean kitchen. The plugs are 110 volts. I got to meet some great friends at the US embassy and hang out in their apartment. And let me tell you, working for The Man in foreign service is a great way to fly.
Wow, just perusing these pictures brings back a lot of memories. If you’re interested in looking at them, click on pictures on the front page. I’m good about writing descriptions for all of them, so sometimes that’s a better way to get a feel for what was going on. Certainly, more of a visual experience anyways – but for those of who prefer reading (boring!) I’ll keep writing.
Africa is a hard place to be. You can’t drink the water. You can’t eat the food. Take a moment to contemplate those last to statements. … okay. They add up to: you’re fucked. Once I left Amistad, the only meal that did not make me sick was some flatbread I’d bought at the store, then I would spice it up with a little something I call: peanut butter and Nutella. It was a tortilla and a reeses pieces every day for lunch and dinner. I got tired of that real fast, and tried to eat something. Diarrhea city. I think overall I lost about ten pounds in as many days.
Jesus H, there was this one time – and I don’t know what possessed me to listen to this guy, but I went to “pick up Alison” in Conakry Guinea. My “guide” had this plan that when we got to the border, we’d get out of the taxi and get on an okada (motorcycle taxi, really a lot of fun in a city!) then simply blow through the border without paying the $100 fee that all Americans had to pay. He’d also mentioned in off handed conversation before, that I’d failed to pick up on, that he and Gina, a fellow American Amistad crew mate, were almost deported from Mali and forced to go back to Conakry and fly back to America. The only reason they were not deported was because there was no money, and the guards didn’t want to have to drive them all the way back. So here I am, in the customs office sitting across from the head honcho of the Guinea border. He’s looking over my passport, which I probably shouldn’t’ve given him in the first place and he sees no visa. We’re arguing, partly in English on my part, and my guide in broken French. The guy crosses his arms over his chest and gives me this look of: you’re fucked buddy. Turn around and go back. I don’t care where, just back and out of my office. Luckily, my guide has a brother a few doors down who gets me stamped and into Guinea. What an ordeal. Of course, when we’re there, I’m expected to pay for everything, which doubles everything: me and my guide. End of the story, three days later, $600 out of pocket, and Alison and I cross the deck of Amistad, safe at last. Needless to say, next time I go to enter to Guinea and Mali, I check to see if I need visas, and I buy them!
The first night in Conakry Guinea was after a long drive over the a shitty potholed road that I’d traveled down three times already. After riding in the bush taxi, you have red dust on your goddamn eye lashes! It’s lame. The taxi drivers are out to extort all the money they possibly can from us. Alison and I were routinely lied to, stolen from, and mislead all through our experience there. We had these two dead beat taxi drivers drive off with our change – laughing. True story from Conakry Guinea.
Alison and I went out to see some music one night to a jazz club. It turned out to be more of a rock club, but the music was sound and I enjoyed myself.
So like I’d said, we wanted to travel over land, see the sights. But, what ended up happening was a string of bad luck interspersed with some memorable times. By the time we got to Bamako Mali, I had a fever that went from utterly down and out to not bad to bad, to good, then back to the beginning again. I don’t get sick very often, but my body and mind was being attacked from all angle here. I felt so sick, I went to the hospital to get a blood test for malaria. I’d get fleeced everywhere I’d go, I was being poisoned every day from bad food and water, it was dirty, smoky, crowded, and generally exhausting. I had to get to Europe.
From Bamako Mali, Alison and I bought two (expensive) plane tickets to Lisbon. The second I arrived my friend Rafael picked us up from airport. I got a hot shower, nice bed with clean sheets, and some amazing tasting water. Alison said it was only because I’m used to the balance of chemicals in the water, but I’m telling you: the shit tasted good. I tasted better than it’s tasted in months.
I did meet a few Italian dudes who’d came for the sights and were, in fact, going to see them. The things in Mali are: Timbuktu, a big mud house, and this other thing… but I was in no shape to see anything, so we bugged out of there.
Ah, here’s something: no running water. electricity only 60% of the day, other than that it’s generators. No sewers. No trash service. These cities are CROWDED. Every single day of the week, people burn their trash right in front of their houses. You cough and hack all the time. Another thing I realized is that America is not in the world’s good graces right now, but we do have things figured out. We have business, imports, exports, and all the basics figured out. Our dollar may be doing poorly: but our houses have electricity 24/7. I can go to California for school if I want. I have opportunities to go places, learn things, be entertained, make/save money, drive a car, play glof blah blah. The list of things goes on and on of why America has if figured out – like most of the world.
For those of you who have not been to Africa, you can read this stuff and think about it – but the true measure of what I’m talking about will never hit home. I cannot sum up, in words or pictures, my experience there. I’m not saying it was amazing, beautiful nirvana where all of human kind certainly emanates from – on the contrary, it made me sick as hell. I can tell you that nothing I say can prepare you for going to this place. You know those annoying tour buses that drive around with tinted windows, people looking out snapping pictures and never setting foot outside of their AC buses to meet the locals? Well, if you’re considering going to Africa, think twice, and think: tour bus. Tour it, the whole way – pay for the coddling, because the other side of that coin just isn’t worth it.
It’s Alison and I’s second day together cruising around Freetown, and today has been a productive and fun day for sure. In the morning, we met a few friends: Samuel and Mabinty. Mabinty showed up in her newly repaired car, so that instantly made the rest of the day very easy. First stop was the bank to get a little money out of there – er wait, was it lunch… what did I eat for lunch? Hmmm Ah, first stop: look up a party acquaintance at the Special Court, then the bank, then a nice little cafe called Bliss. I think the owners of this place, Bliss, are certainly from a different country and had the idea for ambiance, menu, and amenities dialed out for Americans, Europeans and rich westerners. For us, it certainly was a blissful experience. Except for a little mild indigestion I got from my chicken wrap (which was superb and toasted) the place is nice. Tables, chairs, air conditioning, bakery with tasty homemade junk food, latte, cappuccino, mocha, it was wonderful. Oh they had doughnuts too! We bought a box of their delicious baked goodies to bring back to the boat.
The Special Court was a pretty neat place. The dude that we met there, Peter Anderson, was very informative, and gave a wonderful talk question and answer about the history of the special court and some of the people tried and convicted there. I’m sorry I’m such crap about remembering names and places, I don’t think I remember a single one right now… anyways, the campus was nice – holding cells – 18 in total, they were holding 8 at the time we visited. The courthouse is supposed to resemble large scales, but to me it looked more like an open book. Pretty place, nicely terraced lawn leading up to the two main courthouses. They also had this large, humvee war vehicle looking thing. It had a line of four large knobby wheels on each side, armor and guns all around.
After the Special Court, we went to Bliss (see above), then for a little shopping to two markets.I got two cool items: a string of glass beads of different colors for 40,000 Le ($13) and a africana outfit (pants and shirt) made in China but very classy with some linen in it for 80,000 Le ($26). It’s a sweet looking getup, all I need now is a little round hat to top it off – or a bald head. Alison said I looked like some sort of guru in it.
In our near future, we have to look. So there you have an exciting day in the life of Drew and Alison in Sierra Leone Africa. Forward to a possible ride with Amistad from here to Dakar. After that, we hope to ride the train or bus to Dogon Country in Mali for trekking, then to Morocco to see some sights, and catch a $5 plane flight on Ryan Air up to Europe.
On a personal note, I’m extremely happy that Alison has been able to join me here. Since April I’d been trying to get her along with me on Amistad’s ticket, but they have jerked me around the entire time. Not pleased with them. But I am pleased that Alison as taken matters into her own hands: gotten all the vaccinations, all the visas, picked up the plane tickets on her own, and been able to join Amistad – despite their lack of organization or interest – as a volunteer. I feel like I’ve sorta been holding back for her to get here before I really start having fun. Certainly not the way to be, but it was sorta the truth for me. In fact, Eve said that she felt there was some sort of little string that kept me from going off the deep end. I had hoped that Alison would soon be with me. Ah yes, and my perseverance has paid off in spades.
mr Drew The pictures will keep flowing, and the blogs trickling. Hope everyone is well, drop me a line if you’d like. It’s always nice to hear from old and new friends.
I realize that I should probably start writing about Africa before Alison shows up and after she shows up. For me, this is a real turning point in the entire trip – being as how I’ve been thinking of her most of the time. After working my second yard period contract in a row, I was happy to stand on the dock and watch Amistad sail away with out me. I remember standing there on the dock with one friend of mine, and picking up water bottles after the festivities because Long Wharf was back to a ghost town after the boat had left. It would feel like only a blink of an eye before I was able to join them again in Falmouth England. The first leg students had disembarked in Falmouth, and left double crew there to take the boat from Falmouth to Liverpool where we would meet up with our second leg students and say good bye to the first leg crew. That trip was a real puker for me. I wrote this horrible blog about motion sickness somewhere on the Amistadamerica.org website. Long story short, I made it to Liverpool alive. This second leg of the trip was scheduled to be six months for the long crew (myself and three others). There were many port stops – I should try to find them all… ain’t no time like the present right?!
08/26/07 Liverpool England
08/29/07 Bristol England
09/05/07 Scilly Isles, England
09/08/07 Tor Bay, England
09/11/07 Dover, England
09/12/07 Tilbury Landing, England
09/14/07 London Bridge, Canary Wharf, London, England
09/26/07 Falmouth, England
10/04/07 Cascais, Portugal
10/13/07 Lisbon, Portugal
10/24/07 – 11/11/07 Cascais, Portugal
11/17/07 – 11/22/07 Lanzarote, Canary Islands
11/28/07 Porto Da Palmeira
11/29/07 – 11/30/07 Ilha Da Boavista, Cape Verde
12/07/07 White Man’s Bay, Sierra Leone, Africa
12/09/07 Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa
12/18/07 at anchor off Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa
Well, that’s an exciting looking itinerary isn’t it? Many of those stops weren’t really planned, but se la vie, especially onboard a ship when all sorts of things can go strangely and not according to schedule.
Bristol was a wonderful city. Lots of neat life to be had there, friendly people, nice pubs around. I’m going to suggest to Alison that we try going there and staying for a month or so. She and I have limited time, so I want us both to decide what to do during our vacation time. Perhaps living and working somewhere is not what she has in mind?! Heh
Dover was really impressive. The entry to the harbor has big walls, and bright light houses. The cliffs of the mountains are steep and beautiful, rising quickly behind the mass of the city by the water. I think it was actually the little harbor boat that impressed me a lot too. They had these nifty blueish running lights making them look like they had a landing pad on either side of the boat.
London was… it could’ve been much better. I think our arrival and advertising for our open boat was done very poorly. For the whole time we were open, only a few hundred people came by. Sounds like a lot, but really it was a slow trickle pretty much the whole time. One thing I can’t complain about though was the weather – I remember it being wonderful the whole time we were there.
Portugal was pretty neat. The dock we were at there in Lisbon was mediocre but the boats coming and going – it was impressive to be sure. And the other tallship folks were so friendly. Many of our crew got tours aboard other ships. I got to go aboard a Finnish ship. I can say without a doubt that our two “interpreters” Alexandria and Renato really made the experience of Portugal a special one. Had we been there without their support, surely the student tours wouldn’t’ve happened, and we would’ve missed out on many things that Portugal has to offer. I had one of the more amazing meals I’ve ever had there in Renato’s company. It was wonderful to be out with them, and I’ll never forget it.
So how about a moral to this story?: Six months is a long time to be apart from family and friends and home. I’m moving into another part of my life. I have the four years pretty much planned out in a maritime academy, and living with Alison. I’ve spent so much time thinking about what that will be like… I don’t know if I’ve really lived like I normally do while she’s been gone.
As we went further down south, the weather gradually was getting warmer and warmer. Our first developing country stop was a small island that we stayed at for only a few hours. I think it was Cape Verde. I was surprised at how poor everyone was. Freetown Sierra Leone. By far and away the most successful and busy dockside tours we’ve ever had. The estimate for the week was 15,000 people across our decks. Luckily, the first day I had off. I heard it went to hell in a hand basket. The local police had no idea how to handle all these people and it was chaos all day long. When I arrived on Tuesday, Mike Moreland had designed and executed an excellent plan for keeping people moving through the boat, and in an orderly fashion. The rest of the week was only fine tuning the experience for everyone. They were busy days, and our patience was always wearing thin, but I could tell how much our presence there meant to the locals. Sengbe Pieh is on the 5,000 Leone note for God’s sake. Now that I sit here and write this, it seems like a long time ago that we had all the students and rest of the crew onboard – and now we’re down to a skeleton crew just maintaining each day. Doing a little work here and there, but mostly relaxing. From the looks of the logbook, I think most of the crew left the boat on 12/22/07 and we’ve been running on this short crew the whole time. There are three watches: Even and Barry, Drew and Gina, and Rev. Paul and Johnny. On 01/15/08 Gina will be leaving, and two days after Alison will be showing up and Drew and Alison will make up the second watch until the new crew and students come to Sierra Leone to relieve us and take Amistad to her new destinations.
Now, more than ever, I feel like a sailor. I answer with out hesitation when someone asks me what my day job is: sailor. Sometimes people do a double take because there aren’t that many sailors around all that much anymore. I suppose they’ve gone the way of the farmer: machinery and technology has taken us so far, you simply don’t need that many people for the job anymore. To ship 5,000 cars from America to China? To harvest 1,000 acres of corn? Hmm I might say you’re just as likely to run into a sailor in the shopping mall as you are a farmer. Well, I’m about out of steam for the moment – from now until Alison gets here, it’s a safe bet that I’m maintaining Amistad and trying to stay out of the full sun. Until next time, mrDrew
Level 1 charging (L1). The regular plug in your home. It’s got 110 volts of AC current. Besides a toaster, you can plug in your little car. If your Leaf is dead as a door-nail, it may take up to 12 hours to charge it to 100%
Level 3 Charging As you’re planning your day, you should be aware of where you can get a quick charge, should you need one. The app and website, 
