|
Hehehehe |
I was going to make this the “All Good News” edition, but every single story ended up with a flip side. In the words of
Robert Carlyle’s marvelously creepy Rumpelstiltskin on
Once Upon A Time, “All magic comes with a price!”
|
Judith Tebbutt |
1: The good news: On
Wednesday, Judith Tebbutt, the British woman who was whisked away from the Kenyan resort of
Kiwayu Safari Village by Somali "pirates," was released after six months of captivity. The bad news…is considerable. One, the son who secured her release appears to have paid a ransom of over a million dollars. Two, she had no idea until she was a free woman again that her husband had been killed during the kidnapping. Three, there are still several civilians being held in
Somalia, not to mention the nearly
two hundred sailors being held on vessels at sea.
|
All those dots mean booze. |
2: The good news:
Washington state residents are only a couple months away from
Booze Emancipation, June 1. Recently, a fun and helpful
interactive map was published that allows you to zoom in on your neighborhood and see who has applied for a liquor license. It’s just as you’d expect: grocery chains like QFC and Safeway, “pharmacies” like Walgreens and Bartell, and big box stores like Target and—of course—Cost Co. I am all abuzz over the potential for competition and, simply, the new convenience. I can get me rum at the same time I get my cheese, Bandaids, or toilet paper…all the essentials in one spot. The question: specialties. Are the buyers at Safeway really going to think to stock
Rogue Blackbeard Dark Rum,
Punt e Mes, or
Domaine de Canton, or are they just going to stock Bacardi and Martini & Rossi? Are there going to be stand-alone liquor stores for bartenders or at-home mixologists? Liberation: It's never as simple as how you imagined it.
3: The good news...is that there's no news about the
Kalakala. No reports of taking on water, no threats of immediate demise. The bad news: Steve Rodrigues' trailer next to the ferry was hauled away by the property owners, and, as of last report on
March 8th, he is depending on family and friends for a place to live. I am not here to discuss Steve's personal affairs, but since Steve IS the sole visionary for the
Kalakala's future this is yet another bad omen. The one-cent buyer remains a shadow. The vast majority of online commentary on the
Kalakala is negative, most calling for the boat to be scrapped or sunk. So no news really means that the fate of the
Kalakala is still hanging by that same slender, ragged thread.
|
And you thought he was ugly alive... |
4: The good news: Shane is dead. The bad news: So is Dale, and we all have to wait til Fall for more
The Walking Dead. But there will be
Mad Men, and
Christina Hendricks is infinitely more sexy than a walker in a barn.
|
The Goddess Joan |
5: We got an email from our landlord that we need to move by May 31. This is a complex mixture of good and bad news. It was inevitable, and in a way I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. After the initial shock, compounded by the fact that it was morning--I am not a morning person, justsoyaknow-- I have come to realize that this is an opportunity. Yeah, it's gonna be a gargantuan hassle. But, in fact, I
like moving, and it's something I've done a lot. Moving is a reset button. It's a chance to assess your material possessions, sort, and eliminate. Moving, even just crosstown, means new environs and a chance to learn and explore. Hell, it's a chance to redecorate, which means maybe I can set up my pirate cave. For all you readers, I am not going to make this a blog about the move (since this isn't going to mean fulfilling my liveaboard fantasy), and naturally this will temporarily impede my ability to write. Another day, another horizon. Watch for my signal flags.