fall prey to desire

Now in the thirty-first year of my dark pilgrimage on this earth and knowing less than I ever knew before, having learned only to recognize merde when I see it, having inherited no more from my father than a good nose for merde, for every species of shit that flies-my only talent-smelling merde from every quarter, living in fact in the very century of merde, the great shithouse of scientific humanism where needs are satisfied, everyone becomes an annoyance, a warm and creative person, and prospers like a dung beetle, and one hundred percent of people are humanists and ninety-eight percent believe in God, and men are dead, dead, dead; and the malaise has settled like a fall-out and what people really fear is not that the bomb will fall but that the bomb will not fall-on this my thirtieth birthday, I know nothing and there is nothing to do but fall prey to desire.

--Walker Percy, The Moviegoer

Ironically, I read this book when I was 31 and in the middle of discovering, or more aptly, naming my own good nose for merde. With all that is happening (or not happening) in the world today I feel the malaise like fall-out. I will not be defeated by the everydayness.

Ultra-Tuff

I don't think I'll quit this boat. There are many days I think I may just because it is taking up nearly all the space in my life and it seems like it only gets bigger. But today, I think I'll keep it. We sprayed the final coat of non-skid material onto the decks of Epilogue. Over a year of work has gone into those decks: filling holes, fairing countless chips, gouges, waves and sanding through hundreds of disks. It is finally done. The application was a great success with only a little touch up to finish tomorrow. These decks are covered with an elastomeric water-based polyurethane that is supposed to be bomb-proof. There are small rubber particles in it that provide the traction. The surface is quite agressive and easy on bare feet. The next project on tap is getting the hull prepped for painting. This will take most of September.

Bob Bennett is getting closer to completing the galley re-build. All that's missing from this is a coffee maker.