Each tack is a transition

I have failed miserably in this business of updating. But I'm turning a new leaf and trying harder this time. Much has happened since I last wrote in July. I spend the next month and a half teaching high schoolers how to sail and operate on a boat. Which was largely a joke considering most of them had no idea how to wash a dish, think abstractly or unselfishly. Well at least some of that changed. I got to pretend to be a drill Sargent and make them all do five push ups for every minute they were late to watch. Yelling is so much fun. But there was also a decent amount of hand-holding when they missed their lives of complacency, understandably. It is something new to teach kids that are only a few years younger than myself, reprimand them when they are irresponsible and also cuddle them when they need reassurance. All of those things are very foreign to me. The chief scientist once told me that all this was preparing me for motherhood. I flicked him off.
Here are some pictures, far more interesting than my rambling preamble:
After I got off the Cramer, I stalked another boat the Lettie G. Howard in the Gloucester Schooner race and then followed them on their transit down to New York City. It occurred to me that perhaps sailing on my vacation from sailing was silly, but the trip was awesome. I didn't take any pictures, I know I fail once again, but I'll try better next time.

After spending a few days in NYC and after partaking in some ruckus there, I pretty much had zero time before flying off to San Francisco to start my next job as a deckhand/educator on the schooner Seaward that does education sails for fourth and fifth graders in the SF Bay area. I somehow have the feeling that me being responsible for educating small children was perhaps a poor choice, but time will tell. Thus far, my introduction to California has been a little crazy. Getting out here was a debacle that involved my taxi breaking down on a very steep road, where i had to call AAA while the cab driver sobbed to herself and cradled a stuffed hello kitty. The boat itself if very yachty, which is off-putting for me and the crew is tiny (there are only four of us). I have the feeling I will escape often to this nearby (and by nearby i mean 30 minute walk away) internet cafe. Thus, there will hopefully be many updates and stories of how I make small children do push ups when they answer questions incorrectly. That's allowed, right?

Here's a quote I've become enamoured with: "I'm glad I did it, partly because it was well worth it, but chiefly because I shall never ever have to do it again."- Mark Twain (shockingly this quote is about sailing across the Atlantic)

Schooner Seaward: