vivamus atque amemus -- Catullus

Ah, the perils of starting a blog. One, there is a basic implicit presumption that you feel you have something worth saying, or being read by others. Well, those are just the naysayers, the “energy-suckers” (thanks E.A. for defining that years ago), those smiling skeptically with one arched eyebrow. Well who cares! It will be fun to look back one day and marvel at the lack of wisdom I sure will permeate this blog. Plus, it’s just good, damn clean fun. Props to Jonah and Dr. L (‘a friend of a friend’) for providing inspiration.

There is also the danger that a blog about spending the summer abroad in nautical pursuits will turn into haughty-taughty “woe is me they only had Heineken light on Ios” sort of dribble. The fact that my full name sounds exceedingly preppy certainly brings me one more step closer to that eventual outcome of the blog. “Buffy, warm up the catamaran, we’re late for the sunset cruise around the volcano!” Hopefully I can capture a few of the memorable images of current life in the nooks of the world I will be inhabiting, and thus perhaps give that final nudge to a bunch of my cohorts who are thisclose to pulling the trigger on getting their momentum-lacking selves over there. I know, I know, it ain’t easy to get there, but it is damn easy to live cheaply and perfectly happily. Pause, and read those final two words again. I tell ya, easy. Pick up a copy of Ralph Potts’ VAGABONDING, or just ask anyone who has dropped everything to separate themselves from their current reliable, semi-predictable existence; find out if any have regretted it. I am seriously still looking for that person who says that they shouldn’t have taken that leap of faith, that they shouldn’t have stretched their moolah a little thin on that crazy monster plane ticket, so that my data will be mildly more interesting and reputable, but I haven’t found one. Also check out the book HONEYMOON WITH MY BROTHER; a bit self-indulgent message in that book, but the basic idea is clear: get going. Pop in a “Café Del Mar” CD near a body of water and you’ll start to get the drift about what life is like in these places in summer, for just about everyone; seriously. (a lot of these random references will be fully revealed later on – I’m feeling some ‘Lost’ influences on the blog here) I envision posting about the demeanor of interesting people I will encounter, e.g. Greek island bus drivers, among whom I would happily spend many days with if my fluency was at all a reality and of course if they’d let “Emriki” (Americans) hang with them. Probably not, I ain’t cool enough. If anything, by the end of the summer let’s just hope peeps don’t have many “listen, buddy, what the **** is the point of your story?” moments. At least if that comment is posted I can sit back, flash an omniscient e-wink at the movie reference, and laugh at the concept of a blog at all. Got the idea?