July 2013 ~ Around The World In 80 Cruise Ships

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fiji-Escape TO Reality

Coming home to a place I've never been before. It's Fee-Gee (Fiji) Hiow did I end up in a place like this? Favoritism.

John Denver visited this island today-Sunshine On My Shoulders.

You can't get any further away before you start coming back.Imagine sailing across the blue waters of the South Pacific, passing by idylic islands, teeming with exotic fish and majestic coral reefs--Oh wait I don't have to use my imagination because what you see is what you get. Bula.
OMG I'm a Country Boy

The Law of Diminishing Returns

You know, addiction isn't the problem - it's the solution-
When all you care about is here, this is a good place to be

It is the theory that the more your experience something, the less effective it becomes. Think of the drug addict that needs more and more drugs, just to achieve the same high.

Beyond that point, more and more gains in any one particular area adds less and less to happiness.
So in a sense, you can have too much of a good thing. The more you experience of the good thing, your overall happiness will decline.

I am needing a larger and larger DOSES of paradise-Bora Bora, Moorea, now Fiji---to get the same feeling I had when I simply visited Europe or even Canada. It's STILL working!

EGOnomics 101

Fiji has over 300 islands- I have seen about 25 so far this trip. I'm concerned that "the wow factor" no longer applies. Yet if I take an imaginary a ride down Southern California's Carmageddon- Interstate 405, breath in some smog while stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I still want to escape to MY reality--being in the South Pacific! I love the Free Parking for all boats, ships and anything that floats.

Hawaii- Go East Young Man

Hotel @nyware11:21 AMNo comments

Hawaii was the experience that answered all my questions about time-it didn't exist. Everything is NOW on a ship, and the only easy day is YESterday. On The Pacific Ocean, I may not have been Mr Right, but I felt ok being Mr Right Now.

When we would dock off Kona or in Kauai, I was in the MOment. It was only in the "Mainland" where My Aloha Vibe got distracted with Caffeine and the Malls, and I was on default. just another Haole--- the other. not a true person from here.

In the South, they don't care how you do it Up North-in Hawaii, they just don't care- I met "adults" who never wore pants-just shorts, flip flops. Aloha Friday and Naked

On The Set

Tuesdays-Oorah!

Aloha Time Lets Things Happen When They're Ready to Happen, and I was ready to happen.

Moonwalking With The Kahunas ---The Art and Science of Forgetting Everything I Learned About Clock Time See: Time Millionaire-Who Wants To Be One?

Aloha Time Is Divine Time, and, more than that, you "get paid" for who you are---on the Divine Payroll, -an energetic force that has your best interest at heart that you can tap into it any time you want...and things show up when you want them. It's more than liquid, it's a fluid life.

Next I got this gig on LOST

First thing I did was start teaching

In other words, What you focus on gets BIGGER, and Analysis is Paralysis. There is always a Mental time-travel , one of the greatest gifts of the mind. It makes us human, and it makes us special. It is the
clash between the "experiencing self" and the "remembering self". Just saying the word "Hawaii" is like talking about my youth, a time I remember so well because it was a place of "firsts". Novelty has such an impact on us.

I used to call it nostalgia--- the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. On further consideration, I'd like to use what psychologists call, the “reminiscence bump”---that great feeling I

Then I bought this SAAB

have as I get older, where I remember things more vividly that not only happened in my 20's and 30's but also in my 40's and 50's. Could it be because I am constantly adding to my life narrative, and remembering to remember?

Identity is the internalized life story we tell ourselves. Read More: The Autobiographical Philosophy. In Fact, we favor recollections and stories, whatever their emotional charge, that reinforce who we think we are at any age. It's kinda weird that I am still becoming the person I am going to be.

Here is how it went in The Garden Island: The Monotony of the Mainland collapsed time; the novelty of Kauai unfolded it. Before all of the above took place. I had a:

Full Frontal Luau

Energy flows where attention goes...

These are the 7 Principles of Huna Wisdom. They are timeless, and designed for people to live joyful simple lives.

IKE – The world is what you think it is
Be Aware
KALA – Everything is possible
Be Limitless
MAKIA – Energy flows where attention goes
Be Focused
MANAWA – Now is the moment of power
Be Here
ALOHA – To love is to be happy with
Be Happy
MANA – All power comes from within
Be Confident
PONO – Effectiveness is the measure of truth
Be In Tune

I'm in Nawiliwili, Kauai . Love this place. Attention Follows Energy. Everything Is Energy. Peace and Loveism.

Neurons that wire together fire together...That is to say, the more I do something, the more likely I am to do it in the future.

Neurons that fire apart wire apart---Everyday I stay in Hawaii, is a day away from my addictions and a re-organization and a re-creation and reshaping of my brain and my reality.

"Don't just stand there, do nothing"- In other words, Procrastinate Now!! Seven days can make one weak, but Someday is the busiest day of the week in Kauai. Yet with every new experience I am creating a new reality for myself. Step One: Think your way to a better life.

Loveism

I'm thinking in pictures. Right now, you don't need Power Point to explain my job description but I need it to explain when ShiFt Happens.The trick, of course, lies in knowing when to trust that instant response, and when to question it.

I find it so much easier to think in Hawaiian since I only know,
like four words:Aloha (Hello-Goodbye)
Mahalo(Thank You) E komo mai (Welcome) and Ono (Delicious).

Kauai is known for its spectacular cliffs, canyons and rain forests. It also has some of the most picture postcard scenery---white powdered sandy beaches surround the isle and most are off the beaten path away from the crowds.

Today I settle for the one closest to town.

I wrote a lot about Hawaii, I hold a special place in my heart for the land and the people, and the Aloha Vibe.

Huna-Helped By Hidden Hands

Hotel @nyware5:43 PMNo comments

I showed up In Hawaii and magical things began to happen.
It all started with the simple decision-to go. I lived what
Campbell calls, "The Soul's High Adventure"
I've been riding (on) a/the wave ever since.
I wrote on 8/27/2007

...

Being T/here in Hawaii has put me in a unique space ..

... that supports personal exploration, oneness and the mystical experiences of Huna, the Shamans about manifesting and tapping into "mana" "Chi" also known as the life force.

One of the most important aspects of this entire approach is getting in touch with the Higher Self. According to the Huna knowledge, once this connection is made, amazing coincidences will start occurring in your life--and I can affirm, They Did!

The Aloha Spirit is a well known reference to the attitude of friendly acceptance.Bless everyone and everything that represents what you want! That's all there is to it. An Ancient secret for modern living. It vitalizes.

It starts with sacrifice, from sacrifice comes bliss.My general formula for my students is"Follow your bliss." Find where it is, and don't be afraid to follow it. Joseph Campbell

Bill Moyers: Did you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

Joseph Campbell: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Hotel @nyware2:30 PMNo comments

Veritus-You shall know it, but first it will piss you off:.
Harvard Business School is the West Point of capitalism.The rest is just Karaoke, cheap imitations.

Ponzi Diploma Mill

We guys from The 80's got in early reaped the rewards, spread the buzz that "You need a college degree". As more ppl went, tuition went up, student loans soared.Pyramid schemes punish those late to the party. The Bernie Madoff of investing in yourself scandal is a B.A. from a Liberal Arts, Technical, Beauty or Fashion School.

Khao San University in Bangkok-Get a US Degree for $20 Bucks!

I definitely over-paid for my diploma!You give them money.

They give you a degree. Just spell your name on this

piece of paper. They'll print you up a diploma

No tests.No Books .Nobody is turned down.

FADE IN:

At the boat house, Row, row, row, your boat gently down the stream...life is but a dream...One year ago today, July 25,2012, I was in Glacier National Park with natures bulldozers:

Glacier National Park-Of The Mountains

Marjorie Glacier is one of the most photogenic glaciers in
Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. I had the good fortune to be there today

None of these landscapes are ugly because they are natural and wild!

I learn about geography by traveling by cruise ship; geology, the day after a huge event-- They take place every day somewhere around the planet--- earthquakes, hurricanes, even glaciers move.

When I attempt to pick out anything by itself in Alaska , I find it connected to everything else in the Universe, yet I feel my smallness because of its vastness. The wilderness is therapy: Only by going alone in silence, without baggage and buffets,could I truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other traveling, including on this ship, is Karaoke traveling-a cheap imitation. But it's still worth doing. I can hear the ice sheet-music of the glacier calving and the music of the bay written in ice river lines.

..

Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean-John MUir

Are We Clear? Crystal

New Hampton, New Hampshire

Hotel @nyware10:22 AMNo comments

Sunshine State, Empire State, Aloha State-Wimps compared to New Hampshire's Motto: Live Free or Die.

It was named after England. So it was the 'New' England. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The Bigger the Summer Vacation, the harder The Fall

The last time I was on the East Coast, was April 2010, onboard the Costa Atlantica, on our way across the Atlantic. We hugged the shoreline up to Quebec City and then over to (Old) England. In New England, we stopped in Norfolk, VA,The birthplace of Naval History; Washington. D.C.; Newport, RI; Boston MA and Bar Harbor Maine.

Pahk the Kah In Harvard Yard

This is the first time I have been on land in New Hampshire. Looking forward to seeing some amazing natural beauty.

I've Been to The Mountain Top(s)

Hotel @nyware4:44 PMNo comments

The Promised Land Is Right Where You Are

When you are following your bliss

My universe is made of stories, not atoms: land, air and sea travel and the power of now. If I wanted to be a multinational soul, and leverage my best asset,me, I couldn't do it in cities where I lived like New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo or Paris alone-I needed to get consecrated by sailing on the oceans.letting your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic.

It's a wonderful thing to get rid of everything and everybody and just go some place where you don't know anyone; where, as Melville said,"God's one and only voice is Silence."

The sceneries paint themselves. I'm just the middleman.
You can't create experiences like this, you undergo them.

If a man speaks in the forest and there are
no women around to hear it, is he still wrong?

Living on a ship, might be summed up as monotony tinged with hysteria.

It's not real life but an alibi. It is like going out of your mind everyday- in order to come to your senses; and a fool who persists in his folly becomes wise. If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it, After all, success doesn't come to you, you go to it. It's not easy getting a gig on a ship.The Only Easy Day on board was Yesterday.

Ship/ Shift Happens

The Greeks invented the idea of nemesis to show how any single virtue, stubbornly maintained gradually changes into a destructive vice. Having a vague and abstract love for everybody and everything has its moments, but by becoming passionate and vowing fidelity to concrete relationships, persons, institutions, and places are ideas whose time has come.

Fire In The Belly-

Steve Jobs said, “Money is life’s report card"; Sam Keen, "Nice gets you a C+ in life" This is the lesser known, I don't have a dream speech. After all, the first 40 years of "childhood" are always the hardest. Growing old isn't optional, growing up is.

I've seen this kind of "success" as a drug of choice. More than that, success without fulfillment, is failure, yet, this kind of failure is going to get your best material.

Choosing experiences and travel adventures over working away your life for material things is what college is all about, right? So why stop there.

I am STILL happier when I spend money on experiences instead of material goods.

As An Art Director and World Cruise Coordinator, the experiences at sea turned my cant's (no resources) into cans (resourcefulness) and leveraged my dreams (I haven't been everywhere but it is on my list) into serendipity a thousand unseen helping hands.

As I stated in my Youtube channel bio--No matter how low the budget bar gets, I always manage to limbo my way under it. If you think about it, I am the Wilt Chamberlain of shoe-string travel.putting up #'s so unthinkable, mere normals will never, ever reach them.-300 ports in 38 months...

Money isn't the root of all evil, boredom is the root of all evil, a spiritual anorexia- the despairing refusal to be oneself.

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are, once you let go of the life you have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for you. I have come to love this new self, not by being a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly, and renewed with a sense of wonder about this. It’s only by becoming intimately acquainted with these narratives that we can begin to live consciously and, as the Sufi poet Rumi said, “unfold our own myth.”

We live in a storytelling economy, and gets paid for the stories we tell.

I too am constantly writing and re-writing my autobiography in this blog.(but I get paid in attention more than cash.).

Being born in America is like being kidnapped and sold into entrepreneurship

the shared hallucination of running on the treadmill of consumption and materialism. It's a mask that eats up the face.

...It's also like winning the lottery, a currency, and I wanted to spend it well.Yet, we value material, we ignore emotions. If I wanted to serve my country, I had to betray it.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

What was the blue chip idea worth betraying? What was the lie I told myself? The disease of more in a world of plenty where most of the developing world is starving. The lack of simplicity and the yearn for complexity was, and in many ways still is, my blind spot.The most total opposite of pleasure is not pain but boredom. I was willing to risk pain ( culture shock) to make a boring life interesting and re framing (Home is a feeling not a place) travel as a verb and not a noun. You have to DO it.--- A 1 man National geographic on that everywhere trip.

The good, the bad and the ugly American- Why be difficult when you can be impossible--Hell was about to be other people,other cultures, other languages, and the National Anthem of Hell, was Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way". I had to make the switch from tourist to traveler, and adapt, otherwise this journey would be Karaoke traveling, a cheap imitation of the best yet to come.Without risk, faith is an impossibility. My "leap of faith" to give up all things material was curiosity.

The Power of NEW

The cure for my ennui and boredom was "Any place but here" and "I want to be surprised everyday". There's nothing ethical about the work ethic on ships. I got paid in cash, visited nice places, had a hotel room and six all you can eat meals a day! If the passengers were behaving badly, there was always a new group every 7 or 14 days to keep my interest.Now that I didn't need Power Point to explain my job, how much was I worth now that I was no longer in the w2 world of 9 to 5.

I am a time millionaire. It is going to be about resourcefulness and not resources.Who does not love the sea? The beach is a place of healing and joy. The salt cleanses us and the sun embraces us in its warmth. The ocean heals the heart, mind, and soul. life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment.Yet, the sea has never been friendly to me. At most it has been the accomplice of my restlessness.So there is no cure for this curiosity.

TV is an eraser and Youtube and Blogger, a paint brush. My leap of faith to go on ships was recreation and re-creation and re-invention. There are second acts in American lives, and third and fourths.No Man Is An Island, yet after age 40, land is seldom seen and you can count your friends on one hand.I am an expat, yet not every country will do. I don't know why, some countries fill the gaps and others emphasize my expat-ness. In reality those that satisfy me are those who simply allow me to live with my ''idea of them."

Life’s a beach in an ocean of ennui is the take away from places like Fiji, Tahiti and the Maldives, even Alaska, aka, The Big Alone., It is when laziness finds respectability.

These "Islands" are extraordinary within their limits, but their limits are extraordinary. Yet if I do the math, an emotional algebra adds up to 1+1=infinity. It's a pristine place.This is no 9 to 5. You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. It is just a fraction of you. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating on a cruise ship, walking the painted line, where everything is nicely arranged--formal nights, shore excursions, shopping, bottled water.

When you’re perpetually cruising , you are what you are right there and then.

People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yes in yesterdays on the road.I know both sides because I am both sides: a tourist who doesn't know where I've been; a traveller who doesn't know where he's going. I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.

I thought college was the longest vacation I ever took; but this Graduate School seamester is a kind of study abroad in Nomadic Pursuits.

I meet therefore I am- a multinational soul. I shrink therefore I am part of — and apart from American, European and Asian culture. and the countries I visit(ed) and live(d) in are as eclectic and restless as ports of call I "inhabit" for six hours or at most three daze (days).

Along with the displacement, and the associated "jet" lag" and culture shock, I am simply a fairly glib product of a movable feast, living and working in a world that is itself increasingly small and increasingly hybrid---a transit lounger, forever heading to the all "aboard" by 6PM gangway.

The cult of the amateur wanderers is growing; global souls who haven't been everywhere but it is on their list; for whom home is a feeling, not a place in the soil but inside yourself.

I am one of the privileged homeless. Is there a new kind of person being created by a new kind of life?

"I'm not really choosing between experiences,I am choosing between memories of experiences. Even when I think about future vacations, I don’t think of my future ports of call normally as experiences. I think of my future vacations as anticipated memories."

Here it from the Oracle himself, Joseph Campbell:

Alaska-The Great Land-Action Plan

Hotel @nyware10:49 AMNo comments

Being There

Wow What a Summer-Alaska is a lot like pizza. When it's good, it's really good.

When it's bad, it's still pretty good; and like the Pizza Guy, Alaska always delivers.

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe videos. Nature's living mirror, however is water---whether still or in motion,The most beautiful landscapes go better with H 2 Ooooooooh!

The Happy go Locals don't tan, they rust, and if they smoke, they smoke salmon.The cruisers who inhabit this place for 6 hours a day may have come on different ships, but they are all in the same boat-Mother Nature's.