Sail ho!

Well, today I spent the day with friends having a party for one of my friends that is leaving for Virginia in less then a month. We got all dressed up and went and explored a Victorian house and a garden or two. But the two part is a secret. We were really only supposed to be in the one. Today was really fun, but I'm really going to miss Charlyn.

Right now I'm reading a book called "Two Years Before the Mast" written by Richard Henry Dana Jr (it's a true story). It is about a Harvard student that got the measles and had to take some time off from studying, so he decided to join a ship as a sailor for a two year trip around the horn and hide trading off of the California coast. (Did I mention the book was written and takes place in 1834). After his trip he came back and finished his law degree. He never wrote another book. It is very interesting and very detailed in the art of sailing. So if any of you are fond of sailing ships and all their gory details (and yes, I do mean gory, sailing was not an easy profession) this would be a wonderful book to read. And if you aren't fond of sailing ships there is still a reason for you to read this book. When Dana published his book it actually changed the way American sailors were treated on board ships. There had not been a true to life account of the conditions of sailors written before by someone from the upper/middle class. However, Dana was from a good family and had been very well educated so for the first time people took notice of the lowly sailor's plight and things started to change. There, now if you are a Horatio Hornblower fan or not, you have to read this book.


Cheers!

Your Literary Junkophile.

Amendment 1: I will let you know how the book ends. I haven't actually finished it yet.

Amendment 2: If anyone cares to know: The reason the Heisenberg jokes are funny is because he developed something called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It basically says that you can't know where something is and how fast it is going. You can know one or the other but not both. This of course only applies to atomic particles. Since I'm sure you and I are quite capable of knowing how fast we are going and where we are at the same time. Now you can laugh heartily with me when Heisenberg said "No, but I know where I am".