The juice

I'm really not sure what I'm doing here. (And it's good to hear
myself say that)

Too diurnal

The night here is very beautiful and serene. And the sun isn't
beating down, fucking with my skin DNA and giving me freckles. I
want to get on a more nocturnal schedule, but the sun and the
hardness of my sleeping surface wake me up early. Not sure about the
solution.

I totally came up with a theory of why sunburns make you chilly.
And I'm going to be chilly tonight because the woman to whom I I
improvised this theory now has my sweatshirt (sweatshirt =
sleepingbag/2) I opened the computer to look up her boyfriends
number and see if he could bring it back to me on the scooter, but
then I started "blogging".

Boat to rio now very

Boat to rio now very probable. Can meet it in the dr or jamaica. Fuck yeah. Duck yao.

Vieques

One of the most beautiful places I've ever been is the cemetery in
Isabella Segunda on the island of Vieques. Vieques is a larger
island off the coast of Puerto Rico, best known (by me anyway) for
having kicked out the Navy. This cemetery overlooked the ocean, and
the graves were so haphazardly close it was like walking through a maze.

Most stone was bright, sun-drenched white, and graves were adorned
with huge fake (and therefore immortal) floral displays. Some palms
bordered the cemetery, but on the whole it was utterly free of shade.

Our host in Vieques had lost a son in 9/11. His son was a broker on
one of the upper floors, and he spoke with him that morning after one
of the planes hit. He was a firefighter, so he also lost many, many
friends. He gave me a card with his son's picture on it, which I'm
getting more and more determined to take to Brazil.

2 reasons why I've been taking showers lately

First thanks goes to the evangelical Christians. My campsite,
selected for being near town but secluded from the road, had a shower
all along-- a makeshift water collection type thing. But I didn't
know until these folks rented the trailer I'd been camping behind for
the Presidents' Day weekend-- they showed me.

The second thanks goes to Bernie, ex NYC fire fighter and current
restaurant owner, who let me stay at his friend's awesome house in
Vieques. I sailed over there with some folks I'd met some of whom
were visiting him, thought I was going to be camping, and he invited
me to stay at this awesome house he was looking after for a friend.
Dude is also the kind of New Yorker who doesn't let you pay for
anything when you're out with him. He was an extremely generous and
gracious host. So, if you're in Queens out near JFK, look up the
Harbor Light restaurant and go eat there with a bunch of friends.

They suggested I shave the beard to not look intimidating while I'm
traveling or looking for rides, so I'm gonna do that soon.

"Splish splash I was takin' a bath" or "when I shower I feel like a happy elephant"

A few days ago in the shower I started thinking "Well uh, splish
Splash I was takin' a bath..." and picturing that Sesame Street short
where elephants get hosed down and spray themselves with their
trunks. Those elephants were big, clumsy, dirty animals and so
excited to be bathing. Seems that's how I feel, because whenever I
shower I start giggling and singing that song in my head in the
shower. It gets funnier each time.

"Uh well uh, splish splash I was takin' a bath..."

Say you're showering in a makeshift outdoor shower. Or you're really
salty from days of being in the ocean. Or you aren't showering that
much and it's a treat. Each of these things un-alienates you from
the simple joy of taking a shower. 'Cause normally you're
alienated-- either by habit, convenience or overuse. I think a lot
about alienation on this trip. It's come up most often regarding
transportation (scooters v. cars, sailboats v. flights). But here it
is again. Baths. Elephants. Splishing and splashing.

Moral of the story: don't let modern amenities prevent you from
feeling like a happy elephant.

Drinkin' sake long with some sushi me in Juanita Ba's

i.e. : I went to sushi night at this restaurant called Juanita
Bananas, and I got a tuna roll (yumi) with sake, and of course I'm
thinking about Killa Cam except that I'm eating sushi instead of
riding a suzuki (though I did ride a suzuki today) and I'm in a
restaurant called Juanita Bay-nanas? instead of Osaka Bay.

The sake was this creamy opaque kind that my friend Mini introduced
me to in Seattle when we went to see a musical with my aunt's family.

This happened a few days ago... I'm catching up.