Welcome, May!

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The past few weeks have been stressful. Training new employees, dealing with difficult customers, not sleeping well, not exercising (I’ve gained 20 pounds in the last two years), getting through family drama (two life-threatening events in the same day, 2000 miles apart: my dad’s heart attack in NM and a 9 year grandchild starting the rest of his life with Type 1 Diabetes) . . .  My CrossFit lifestyle withered into oblivion when I lost my job at the University in 2020, as Covid got going. Deep depression brought me to a standstill as I took a few months to try to reset. Since then, my physical status has been on steady decline. Now my daily schedule looks something like this: Work 3-11 pm (on a good day), Go to bed at 4 am, get up between 10:30 am and noon, get booted up and go back to work. If I get one day off a week I’m fortunate. At least I don’t have to work all night for now. That was the worst.  So I haven’t had time or energy to do much, even read, much less write. And since my

"10 THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE SEA" by Lorenzo Fonda

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I'd like to share a poem with you. But first, a word from it's creator:

"This video is based on footage I shot on marine vessel 'Portland Senator' on the route from Los Angeles to Shanghai, in December 2008. Warning: this film requires ten minutes of your life and hopefully no phone calls during the screening. thank you."


One expects a poem to have an "author" and perhaps that is the better choice of word than "creator" but if you've sanctified ten minutes and experienced the film, you understand why the term falls woefully short. I'll venture that if you merely watched the film, you missed the experience.

Coupled with a soundtrack by the greatest ambient post-rock bands of all time ever ("Hammock"), this short film--this poem--sits you down and makes you think, feel  . . . well, you decide. I know how it made me feel. 

The photography: amazing
The music: moving
The insights: deep

Frankly, I'm intrigued with the idea of taking a cruise to a foreign port on a freighter:
  • Un-glamorous. I want to hear and feel the engines, the wind and the water.
  • Without distractions of the glittery; more personal freedom on deck 'cause nobody else is there!
  • On a mission. Think about it--seeing the world a passenger and not as a tourist.
  • A freighter will go through a storm, not around it.

Please visit Lorenzo's page to learn more about this trip and his experiences. Enjoy other photographs and insights as well.




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