welcome to florida - lightening capital of the universe...

Okay, so I'm quite proud of myself. Went out with Molly, Tac, and Phil to a little bar called "Ernie's"... everyone else was drinking beer, but I only swigged water... AND I had a Greek salad instead of a mega-burger. I'm making a resolution to only drink once a week, and THEN, I'm only BUYing two. I'll allow for the suckers who want to try to woo me with their generosity... but, drinking is expensive and expansive... my jeans were tighter today than they were last week... I'm not allowing myself to rationalize that it has to do with my having washed and dried them on hot.... No, sirree... it ALL has to do with this indulgent lifestyle. Well, NO MORE! I'm becoming an ascetic... Nothing goes into this body unless it's absolutely healthy... Diet starts TODAY... AFTER Kim and I get back from our ice cream run...

Speaking of what goes into my body, many of you know that I take anti-anxiety meds every day because I can get a bit edgy at times. Well, I've realized that since I won't have insurance or regular contact with a doctor, things will get difficult once I get on a yacht and run OUT of my meds. SO, I've decided to wean myself off the meds and try some alternative methods. I've done some research about the subject, and I've discovered that what I thought were the side-effects of my anxiety - the "shock wave" feeling, my cloudy thoughts, and the desire to crawl out of my skin - are all WITHDRAWAL symptoms of coming off the meds!! Basically, I'm a drug addict... EEK! That could be taken TOTALLY out of context! But really, I'm fearing the worst here... my research says that withdrawal symptoms can last up to three weeks... I hope to be WELL into my first permanent job by then, and I don't need to be going through withdrawals while trying to impress my new coworkers.

Okay, the thunder is getting pretty massive... I love it though. Somewhere I read that thunder means that God and the angels are bowling... lightening means someone got a STRIKE!

Day Two of STCW tomorrow... all about staying safe in crisis situations -- fire, flood, storms, man overboard, etc. Tomorrow evening, we are going to be at the pool treading water, swimming in immersion suits, loading onto life rafts, and jumping in with our PFD -- all sounds harmless, eh? But it can be VERY dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Fun / Frightening fact: Life expectancy in Arctic waters is 15 minutes... AND hypothermia is an issue even in tropical climates.

Registered for a couple more crew agencies this evening. Hoping something comes up pretty soon... May have some day work for next week -- cleaning a yacht for showings...

OH YEAH! True Mega-Yacht story.... So Keith text messaged me this morning saying that he was cooking breakfast for some high profile NASCAR drivers. Apparently, they all flew their private jets down to party like Parrot-heads in Key West... I hope it isn't storming there like it is HERE!!

Okay, so I'm headed to my bed... Class starts at 0900.