Rust

Evan returns. I keep under-paying him and he keeps insisting that it's ok. I manage to do some grinding and painting, though I'd much rather just stay in bed. Paula and Evan keep doing most of the work, because they just love to do it. I fill my day with the annoying tasks like finding a place where I can buy six 3mm x 30mm x 45mm pieces of steel. (No sir, I do not want to buy a six meter lenght of flat bar!!) Paula and Evan are suffering from a syndrome called "I love working on other people's boats for nothing."

After being intimidated by instruction manuals, I pay $50 for an electrician to hook up my new solar panels to the hi-tech solar regulator. It turned out that I could have done it myself, but Scott the sparkie did a great job of making everyting tidy and during the three hour job I managed to learn a few things. I can't find a welder for the fittings that are required to screw the panels down. The panels are attached to the boat with cable ties. So be it.

I create a mess inside never seen before. Wiring, drilling and outdoor work cause every tool to be out and the saloon is covered in dust, dirt, tools, dirty clothes and food scraps. Most of the rust is gone from the deck and the hull is looking very good. There is a lot happening and most of it has nothing to do with the boat.

Relationships

Paula. Confusion. I haven't told you the history, which involves almost two years of on-and-off partnership. I have found myself suffering from a pathological fear of commitment. I have done all the wrongs with Paula and she still keeps coming back for more. Today I realise that I might soon be ready to stop being an asshole and accept that we work well together. Paula might just be ready to stop coming back and tell me to fuck off.

At the moment Paula is the best crew for my world voyage. My problem is that I am not madly in love and that I have a fear of commitment. Paula's problem is as above.

You see, I'm a bit of a player. For me, life is a smorgasbord of experiences and I want to experience them all. Yet, I feel tired and lonely and like millions of others, I would like an angel to appear and make my life perfect. That, I presume, will never happen.

You've probably gathered by now that I'm not really looking for crew. I'm looking for a partner. To share the magic of uninhabited islands, coral reefs, and the intimacy of living on a yacht, is not something I want to share with a guy. Neither do I want to do it with a girl that I'm not able to cuddle up with.
Options: Which one would you choose? E-mail me


Poison to the bottom. Interspeed 52 antifoul hits the target while some of it hits my face.



Paula lines up the masking tape.