5 Free books

A different kind of “sailing.”

Ahoy Shanghaied readers! I didn’t mean to be gone from here so long. We enjoyed a month touring Japan, and then it takes a while to catch up with a month’s accumulated stuff. I think I’ve taken these entries too seriously. If I loosen up and have more fun with them, I bet they’ll happen more often.

The other day, I was thrinking about how context changes “everything.” The furniture from the home I grew up in? Once the home is gone, the stuff that was in it isn’t as dear to me as I thought it would be (listen to George Carlin’s “stuff” monologue). Several land-bound concepts change at sea too.

“Grounded?” The ocean that intervenes between a sailor’s feet and the “ground” changes this concept. The ground is so distant, it’s almost a fiction. Grounded? On a forever shifting deck, without realizing it, you keep flexing your feet to maintain your balance. They can’t simply “ground” and be done.

“Control?” The wind exercises its changing direction and speed all the time. Our only hope is to not rage or ignore it, but to converse with it.

Along this line of thought, to say “our flight arrives at 5:00” sounds cavalier to a sailor. The same with estimating your time of arrival when sailing. So much could happen between now and “5:00.” Change is constant. Remember? Rather,“our flight is planned to arrive at 5:00.” Key word, “planned.”

What about Shanghaied’s context? Paperback, hard cover, digital, or audiobook. And if it ever turns into a movie? Same story, but dramatically different context.

Speaking of paperback, I’d like to mail a copy of Shanghaied to the next five people to enter their info on this site’s Contact page. And I’d like to visit with you here again sooner instead of later. Until then, all the best to you.