That "old guy in the corner of the bar"

Hey all

Ive spoken to lots of my friends about this before, but am slowly but surely getting more and more motivated to produce a coffee table book which will be about 'that old guy at the corner of the bar"! (copyright pending)...many interests in my life just drew me to this idea.

1. My love for Beer
2. My love for socializing
   
3. I consider myself a good listener
4. Passion for photography
5. I am in a new city on such a regular basis (citizen of the ocean)
6. All the conversations involve music to some degree (my #1 Passion)
   

The situation just arises too often...U take your last glug of lager (how i miss a Hansa Pilsner), and you see 'that old guy' at the bar...they come in all shapes and forms, all races and creeds...But they all have one thing in common, one commonality that runs through their veins, and that is that their life experiences can overshadow us 'youngans' 10-fold!! I am not talking about the perennial silent alcoholic (easily noticeable), but the character!!

So often i end up chatting to 'T-O-G' about life etc and time just disappears...their lives amaze me!!!

2 examples (of many)

I remember driving home from a new year party about 3 years ago, 10 am, still a bit 'onnit' from the night before, and cracking a few beers in the back of the bakkie. About half an hour away from home 2 of us (me and my good mate Michael) were back in the swing of it, revitalized as we had merely topped up our latent alcohol levels, and so decided to carry on and 'push through'! It was around this time that Michael and i decided and made a pact to live a life of 'no regret'...cos lets face it, we regret more of the things we didn't do than those we did, and you miss 100% of the opportunities you don't take ! So this was the start of our new tag line 'no regret'

Eventually we got to a bar and as fate would have it, we got chatting to 'T-O-G' (who was doing exactly what we were doing...Hair of the dog).
We spoke about everything from politics, to religion, to the state of the springbok rugby side, and the proposed political move to have them place a Protea on their jerseys ("they'll look like a bunch of poffdas man" he said).
As some more beers flowed (now only around 1pm and Michael and I had established how old both his daughters were and that should we mention 'that' again he would 'moer' us both), we decide to impart our extreme knowledge, nay, our epiphany that we had had...our new life ideology of 'no regret'.

T-O-G loved us for it and explained all the major missed opportunities of his life...and while this was all a blur, i still remember what he said next as if it was yesterday. He quoted Tom Jones and said "To live for today and to love for tomorrow is the wisdom of a fool, because tomorrow is promised to noone".....NO REGRETS

What actually got me writing about this is because i met T-O-G at our local yachtie bar in Spain (Corner Bar). He sat and had a beer with me, that turned into about 5, he spoke about Otis Redding and I spoke about Eddie Vedder. He then drew all the parallels between his life and the words echoed in Otis Redding's 'Sitting on the dock of the bay' (lyrics below) and then he told me about his life and how he had ended up in Palma-Spain. It was amazing how a Man at the age of 50 had decided that he had more to accomplish than live in London, and so he upped and went off to Aspen for 3 years working the ski seasons, and then moved to Palma and shopped around for some work, Managed to do some real estate work before he landed work at the Corner Bar...or as he calls it "home"...He has now been there for 2 years, has an apartment above the Bar, and his only regret is that he didnt come years earlier

Sitting on the dock of the bay
Sitting in the morning sun
I'll be sitting when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
And I watch 'em roll away again


Sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay
Wasting time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the 'Frisco bay
'Cause I had nothin to live for
And look like nothing's gonna come my way

So I'm just...


Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same

Sittin here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

Now, I'm just...

The lyrics resonate with me to an extent too...and whats even better about it is he can always have the Otis Redding version in his heart...Cos believe it or not...Eddie Vedder has his own cover of the great song! (see below)

Otis Redding 'sitting on the dock of the bay'

Eddie Vedder 'sitting on the dock of the bay'

Book Pending ;-)

No Regrets

Oprah vs BEP

Hey all

You've gotta follow this link and watch the performance
20 000 person flash mob that Oprah didnt even know about.

Oprah vs The Black Eyed Peas

Enjoy

Mmmmexican dwiinkin woools (AKA Mexican drinking rules)

Well i do have a reason for having not written last night! there is 1 problem with wanting a few beers after a looong day at work in the med, and that is the fact that you pay around 5 euro a beer when you head out for a beer! However...i found out yesterday whilst at work that the 'Corner Bar'... a proper yachtie bar has a special on San Miguel's...Only 5 euro for 5!

so that was it...i had my running shoes on by 5 pm and was o so exited!!! but being the mature guy that i am i decided to tend to my emails, check in at my yachting agencies online, and chat endlessly on facebook in my cabin for at least 3 hours (all whilst sipping on some crew beers)....and it must be noted that i was also listening to M83 for the full 3 hours...They are insane to listen to when u actually kinda need to concentrate on what u typing about...cos if i listen to Robbie williams i just find myself wanting to sing every word and dance around my 2m x 2m cabin a (which i share) and strip down to my black tiger underwear...every 'real man' has a pair dont they?????

oh shit....i digress

anyway...the LONG...and short of it was that after my allocated 5 beers i had decided on, i still hadnt left my BED!! and headed out to this no 'famous' (at least in my mind) bar! upon arrival my evening...just like this installment of my blog...fell flat!!! 5 beers for 5 euro was from 5-8pm, i went there thinking i would know a couple people and didnt, i ordered 1 x Pint and proceeded to down it alone cos i 'was sure i would find it easier to meet people after that', then i actually did see some people...and i knew them, had 3 more pints, remembered i had work the next morning so purchased ( only cos i dont know if you spell it brought or bought) a pirated copy of bruno from a friendly chap on the way home who insisted that it was a perfect copy...No problems maaaan!!!! turns out i could hear the 2nd videographer ( and by 2nd i mean the chap who 'purchased' his Sony digicam from Whysalls and went to the Premier and filmed it from under his armpit!!! wow i was disappointed! and then realized at 2am that it wasn't a good idea to try and write about my day when i couldn't even remember making my prawn and salami toasted sandwich when i got back to the boat!!!mmmmm
prob a good idea!!!

but i am not sure cos tonight i was introduced to a great new invention of the the term 'standard drinking rules'! a term called mexican drinking rules.
it is a larger set of drinking rules (which resulted in me having at least half a bottle of Grey Goose vodka.)

Dust....my #1...here are the rules for you:
before u mention anyones name you have to say Cecil (IE Cecil Jamie)
No pointing
no mention of the number 21 at all
no mention of the 3 D's (drink, drunk, drank...and with all the saffas...me included dronk)
all drinks must be handled in yr LEFT hand...and pinkies must be erect
I consider myself to be a fairly astute gentleman (with words like quagmire in my vocab.....oh quagmire...word of the day)...but after yr 6th drink this game becomes a challenge!!

anyway....as you know nights like these all pan out in exactly the same way

1. the boys arrive, stand around the braai and laugh about whether the girls have made a salad
2. the girls arrive with ample salad (which we all know will not be eaten by any males because we are way too masculine for 'that')
3. the boys cook the meat, talk about rugby, cricket, farting and (in my case) boats
4. the girls talk about hair extensions, there nails, and how hot the rugby players are...and i quote 'especially that new Zelander...whats his name again...he plays number 10...ummm...'ITS FU&#EN DAN CARTER' will be bellowed from the Braai!!
5. The boys and girls will come together
6. girls will moan the meat is to rare
7. meat will go back onto the fire amidst grunts and moans
8. meat will be forgotten between beers and shooters
9. meat will come off overcooked (and we all know that burned meat is carcinogenic!!!)then the more interesting convo starts:

1. Philosophy
2. what am i doing in this life
3. racism
4. Politics
   
5. ETC ETC

so i decided to paste a fairly interesting lil piece on Life (point 1 and 2)

let me know what u think of it:

life in beautifully cliched superlatives

Life is not about the destination, but about the momentous journey...Cliche's as it sounds!!!

its about the minute increments that make up every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day!!!
Its not about achieving 100% of everything you set out to do every day...but rather about achieving 100% of what you set out to do 1% better each day...This is progressing, this is revolutionizing, this is revolutionizing!!

It is these inches that string together everything fathomable in human existence...and it is thus these inches that are to be incrementally improved on every single day!!

You don't have to achieve perfection every day, but rather progression....Regression shouldnt be an option...it isn't to me!

You also don't have to run so hard all the time that you close your eyes, but rather slow down so that you can open your eyes, and thus your soul, to the beauty of human experience!!!

Nor do you have to visit far off lands in order to grow the soul through human experience, but rather grow through human experiences in order for the soul to be re-energized by the eclectic nature of these far off lands...
Why you could ask.....?
Because you have to remember that the core of the human spirit comes through these new experiences!

be an individual!! Remembering that you were bought into this world to stand out, not to fit in!!!
Also remember that you don't have to try and stand out in order to be an individual, you just have to try and be yourself, because you are inherently an individual...and it doesn't matter how crazy 'that person' (I.E YOU) is, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do!!!

Think about this for a second, i mean seriously, who has made a lasting impact or a major revolutionary change over time by been conservative..Or ordinary for lack of a better word! Personally i equate the fracture of conservative leaders with mediocrity!!
Another question...Try name one historic thinker whose views and thoughts were conservative....BLANK!!! There are none

Now ask yourself...what can i do today, (no matter how small) that is going to move ME forward, (no matter how little), because that will be the inches that move you forward , that progress your existence, no matter how incremental.

PLEASE LIVE IT


ciao and chat soon

out

Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do. Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.

To be honest i sidnt have all that much to chat about tonight...
I am on watch (which means i am basically working untill i do a final walk around at 10pm - in 25mins and lock up etc). Pretty important considering we had a visitor at 5am this morning...and by visitor i mean idiot thief of the year so far...He stole 20pounds, and walked past 3 laptops, and was then caught!!! what a schmuck!

anyway...was listening to MGMT's 'Time to pretend' and thought i had something to write about, which has now slipped my mind! shit!!!
oh ya...its amazing just how F%#ked up the lyrics to the song are, yet it still gets radio time! What 'weirded' me out even more about it was that it actually resonates with me quite a lot over here!!!
OBVIOUSLY not the whole song, but bits and pieces...such as:

-This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.

-Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do.
Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute

-I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

-But there's really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew.

So what you all think?
ive left the comfortable (although i was bored out of my skull in my rut i had created in Durbs) life, ventured into a vast unknown, left all my loved ones back home and entered into something i knew absolutely nothing about. Which is extremely fast paced,crazy and experiential! All the time i think back to the comforts etc...but i feel i have to venture forth..'life can always start up anew'!!!

Well that was what was on my mind while i was listening to the song....although the rest is just trippy!!!..for full lyrics

Time to Pretend

Anyways...i was thinking of showing you 2 cool clips that i found....a really amazing performance from 'Ukraine's got talent', and another one by a really interesting street poet by the name of Alex Lamb....an awesome piece about Facebook....SUPERPOKE ME!! ha ha

Super-poke Me

Ukraine's Got Talent

I hope all are well and life is great...heard that there was great weather in Durban over the weekend!!

anyway, i must watch my last episode of season 4 of 'How i met your mother'. gonna be depressed when its finished!!!

ciao

Jamie

Another day...Another dollar

I had a really slow day today.
Of the full compliment of 14 crew members, only 4 remain (the rest are on holiday) with me making it 5, and there isn't all that much to be done. This is not to say that there isn't much work!!! its amazing how much there is to do on a boat!

But anyway, i thought id be able to take you through a bit of what has happened in the past 6 months, which will mean at least that i have 'caught up' to present time! Especially for those of you i didn't manage to see when i was back home for 3 weeks!

I arrived in the France on the 1st of April (and no that is not a joke), and left from Rome for my Visa run in SA on the 23rd of August.

During that time I went to the following places that i can remember:

FRANCE
Marseilles (picked up a charter)
La Ciotat (where my 1st biking accident happened)
Coglin
Saint Tropez (where it is 18 Euro for a small beer!!)
Cannes
Golfe-Juan (lived there for approx 2 months)
Juan-Les-Pins (party town)
Antibes (lived in a castle for 2 months as per this pic)

The Castle


Biot (lived for my 1st 3 weeks)
Nice (BEAUTIFUL- this is the port of Nice...its nice;-))


Beaulieu-sur-mer
Eze
Cap-d'Ail
Monaco

Italy
San Remo
Genoa
Portofino
Capri
Amalfi
Sorrento
Naples
Rome (3 pics...1 of the Colosseum..Amazing, and 2 of a crazy pub crawl)

Colosseum

These pub crawls are insane..every night during the summer they are organised. There are 6 to choose from, you pay your 20 Euro, and meet at the specific pub, and have a free bar for 1 hour, including free pizza and a free shirt (which i obviously lost in the ensuing mayhem!!).
You then go to 4 more bars and have shooters on entry...the crazy thing was that there is a minimum of 80 people on each crawl...up to 150, and all 6 meet up in the end!!! What carnage! The pics show a small tale!!

Pub Crawl:
Body shots anyone?
Happiness is...
Ischia
Ponza
Pisa
Viareggio

Croatia

Split
Dubrovnik
lots of little island whose names i have forgotten!

To go into detail on everything would be impossible, and so i am gonna just show some highlights!!

The moment that just made me realize how blessed i was (and still am) to be doing what i am and to be living my live (not just passing my time IE existing) must have been this moment when i was on early morning watch (4am-8am) on board M.Y.Passion. The sun was rising, the wind was still sleeping, and the dolphins where playing!!!BREATHTAKING - i filmed it whilst leaning over the bow while we were traveling at around 12 knots..you can actually see the reflection of the bow in the water, and of me in the top right corner!!

Then the best night out!! hmmm...that is hard..there were many, but it would probably be the night of summer salsas. it was a Sunday. Music can be played as loud and as late as you want for this one day only in France. Every bar had either a stage for live music or a DJ playing outside in the streets (u can drink in the streets, waitresses actually walked around on the streets and served people all day), then at around 11pm it started raining, but we were all having such a jol the couple hundred people at 'Le Happy Face' were unmoved, and stared up at some of the towering apartments and some crazy french nutter was waving a flare out his window, and the crowd just went insane...It was like i was in a music video!!! That was great...this is just a random pic from the night.

In a tied second it would have to be the John butler trio concert, as well as the U2 360' world tour concert. But many memories of the last 6 months have been forgotten, and maybe for the better!!! ha ha

U2-Nice

All in all i have seen so much, learned more about myself than can be explained, had my life put into perspective in a big way, and on top of that i am getting paid for it!! Yes times were tough at stages, and work was hard to come by, and the fact that you are living out of a bag for your 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th month in a row does take its toll, and when u wake up for work you pick your cloths based only on 'the smell test', because you cant keep track of your clothing when 8 people are staying in a 1 bedroom apartment for 2 months!

Uncomfortable

Ive also stayed in a tent for 7 nights with my mate Dre' in La Ciotat with no blanket, no sleeping bag and no pillow, and a small gas cooker for dinner.

it is these experiences that i am so happy to be having, and its not because i had no money! its not because i hadn't come prepared..Its because i wanted to EXPERIENCE IT! and experiencing it i am...1 Port@a time

Just, Jamie, Dre...Memories

1 x super trippy pic

Hey guys

I went for a walk around the yard today with my camera cos i had been lazy and spent the majority of my day in bed (mind you i was doing a lot of admin i had to sort out, and had gone on a bike ride earlier in the day..more about that later).
there wasnt much to capture, but this pic was just pretty trippy! what u think?

about my bike ride...got up and went at around 10am this morning...went all the way along the coast for about an hour and a half. Its pretty cool cos they have lanes the whole way along, so myself and the one other crew member Grant just decided to go for a mission cos we were both on watch yesterday.
problem was that i came so short!!! actually think i may have broken my ring finger...no problem tho...its not gonna be needed for a while! ha ha.
i feel like i am making this a bit of a habit...luckily this time noone had a camera....but have a look at the video i have attached! this was me at my best

my motivation

i want to share with you all the true beauty and growth achieved from travel!
i believe international exposure and interaction is exceptionally important to the youth of today, as there are a great deal of atrocities that can be avoided by interaction with other cultures....creating an understanding.

but after all said and done, i want you to see how much of the world there is to see...so i hope you enjoy seeing a bit of it with me!

1 port at a time!!!

big love