Work and play

5 MAY - 1AM

I know how glam it seems, going to Tahiti. Believe you me I about wet my choneys when I pushed the 'send' button to book the boat (a gorgeous mod 47' Catana catamaran). But while everyone else is aiming to sink into a vegetative state about par with a tomato, my goal is to raise the bar a bit over the next three weeks.

• write every day. regardless. post as often as pirated wifi allows
• shoot with a journalistic eye. i have been surrounded by such great photographers, hopefully some of their talent has rubbed off ... and discipline! 
• be more intimately involved with the navigation and systems onboard. I plan to get my Captain's license this year. hop to!
• serve our guests with a cheerful heart

(This is of course in addition to lots of snorkeling, exploring, morning swims, evening skinny dips, dancing at Bloody Mary's, shopping at Le Grande Marche, etc.) 

And I have a lot of thinking to do. I'm at a fork in the road: do I try to buckle down and get my own place and a steady job Or keep freelancing here & there? Or just throw it all in and live at sea? Surely the winds of change are blowing, and blowing hard. 

So Air Tahiti Nui is pretty civilized (with the exception of the ridiculous $75 charge for the extra boat bag. Boo! Hiss!) The decor is a refreshing mix of turquoise and cornflower blue (I am conspicuously dressed to match by some fate, and b-l-e-n-d in to the seats :-o) The flight attendant passes out small heavenly smelling flowers. Dinner (pasta salad and salad0-salad) comes with rice pudding. We get little foot mitts and eye covers (all matching my ensemble) and blankets (are you listening American Airlines?!) When I order a Bloody Mary - she gives me a petite bottle of wine (French) while I wait (to stave off the DTs?) until she can get my drink (free) ... five minutes later. Of course all these niceties don't exactly make up for the ridiculous $75 luggage charge, but if that wasn't lurking in the minus column, I'd think they were pretty bomb.

Well a sane person would be sleeping right now. I think however I'll review some paperwork, finalize the provisioning list (and budget) and see is slumber comes ...