March 30th, 2013
San Anselmo, California

Christa in her slip San Rafael CA

It is true that I still own Christa, and it is true that she is up for sale. Since I returned to California in 2010 I've not sailed her....not once. Weird huh? For some reason I simply lost my desire to sail. Kind of a "been there done that" type of feeling. So here I am 2 plus years later, and I've had some inner rumblings starting to manifest desiring an adventure. However, the amount of effort and expense to go cruising again just stop me in my tracks. I can say I will go sailing again one day, just not aboard Christa. Right now I am laser focused on building my mortgage loan business and continuing to practice yoga. 

CC

The Kid....February 2013

San Anselmo, California

I suppose I needed a break from blogging during my time in college. The demands of writing to earn my humanities degree was extreme. So, I simply stopped blogging. I graduated in May of 2012 and now I find myself 10 months post graduation in a position to start again. Wahoo!

This begs the question as to what I begin to write about. My life has changed so drastically since I first started my blog on sailblogs in the spring of 2007. Truthfully, I'm a little confused as to whether I abandon this blog, let it sit amongst the inner webs or start a new project all together. This question is one of the reason I've not begun blogging again. So I've decided that starting a new blog would be a royal pain in the ass. Thus I will just start to write again, post pictures and write about my life. And that is all!

If you were a loyal follower of my blog and found yourself bummed out I just stopped blogging, I'm sorry about that. Things get busy!

Capt Chris

Blogging Again

San Anselmo California

After taking off 14 months from the christianallaire.com. I think I'll restart.... I wonder if anyone will listen?

Christian Allaire

Day One 2012

Glen Ellen, California


Time is such a tricky topic. Philosophers still can't define time's exact nature. We can measure it, track it, but seem to struggle to explain why it speeds up or slows down. Yes yes, tis all in the mind. Another year has slipped on by. 


I found this video below, and thought it looks compelling. The filming is really good capturing well what the sea looks like from the deck of a small boat. I find it interesting that more than a few people in their early 20's who decide to sail on rickety sailboats on a shoestring budget consider entering college or getting a job as "selling out." How did this come to be? If a young person wants to undertake an adventure, that is wonderful. If a young person instead enters college, and subsequently slays in the business world that's great to. Neither is a sell out and each path comes at a personal cost. Off me soap box!


Between Home: Odyssey of an unusual sea bandit - OFFICIAL TRAILER from Jack Rath on Vimeo.

2011 was the year I traded in my boat for my house as permanent living arrangements. That is big news. I lived aboard Christa for 12 years. Spurred by the fact my renters had gutted portions of my house and were growing dope to sell for the medical marijuana industry here in California. Oh, did I mention they failed to pay rent? Last spring was a tough time. I never did write about any of that in this here blog, as the monetary hemorrhage was to grand for me to continue to revisit in blog form. As with most things in life, bad experience illuminates the path to good and renewal. Turns out I love living in a house. Situated in the Sonoma wine country, I've been chipping away at fixing this 1930's ugly home into a small little oasis. I think I'm nesting, readying my life for the moment when a women appears for me to settle with. Here are some random things that occurred in 2011:

I discovered I love to garden. 
I acquired a chicken, and now plan on raising the little critters. 
I became a yoga teacher. Gasp! A Job! 
I built raised garden beds, and began to refurbish an existing one. 
I find AT&T more revolting than ever. 
I installed two bamboo floors. 
I read thousands of pages of text. 
I increased my GPA to 3.94 percent.
Inducted into the Gamma Sigma Honor Society of Dominican University of California. 
Began to write a Memoir. 
Learned a great deal about the Roman Empire. Lessons abound. Wrote numerous essays, totaling hundreds of pages. 
Completed a wonderful internship at a library. 
Helped organize and write a play. 
Basked in the California sunshine. 
Hiked many of California's hills and valley's.
Made new friends, and deepened existing friendships. 

  All in all, I've no complaints concerning my life position. Surely I have disappointments, am left flummoxed with certain things, have real concerns about our counties path, but ultimately am optimistic about my future. My future can substantially be directed by my discipline and effort. Maybe some luck to! Lets all have a great 2012! 

Capt C

Ernest Shackelton and Endurance

Glen Ellen, California

Some stories should be read, reread, and fully absorbed by all hands. Sir Ernest Shackleton's life should be part of any amateur historians short list of epics. His book, South : The Endurance Expedition is a well thumbed volume sitting upon the physical and electronic shelf of my life. It can be turned to for inspiration during times of difficulty and tumult. 

During my Coast Guard career leadership was a constant topic. What is it? Is it innate or developed, or maybe a latent gene activated during times of stress? What does it mean to "take care of your people?" What is the correct mix of nurturing and Bligh like discipline? The story of the rush to the South Pole is a terrific study in different leadership styles. Since I have been to the Antarctic while serving aboard a Polar Class icebreaker, The Polar Sea, I've always found all things Polar to be fascinating. Pictured below is Endurance's Lifeboat, the James Caired. Shackleton used this lifeboat to make one of the most treacherous journeys ever in the history of the nautical. He and a small crew crossed the Weddell Sea at the onset of winter in the JC, a 22 foot open lifeboat, navigating his way to South Georgia Island, and then mountaineering his way across the island to a whaling station. He continued to push to save his 28 man crew, and was successful. This unbelievable story took place from 1914-1917.

More than ten years ago, while on one of my numerous walkabouts around New York City, I stood at the chiseled marble steps of the The New York Metropolitan Museum staring wide eyed with my jam dangling. A huge banner read "The Shackleton Exhibit." Holy Ice Floes Batman!!! Within five I was running my fingers along the gunwhale of the James Caird, the actual boat pictured above. My heart thumping, nose pressing against the glass as I looked at Shackleton's journal, ships log, and the sextant used to navigate to South Georgia Island. 

A Chapter From My Memoir

Glen Ellen, California 

I've been working somewhat diligently on my book, likely named Land & Sea A Memoir. I was spurred to write by a senior project I must complete for my graduation from Dominican University in May. Once I learned how easy it is to publish, I thought, why not? I've got a story to tell. Below is a little sample of what I've been up to.

Photo Credit Jim Patterson Photography

 

Chapter XX It’s Turn Key

Boats are a funny thing. Men especially become neurotically attached to these floating affairs. Many become enamored with the dream of sailing around the world. Stroll the docks of any marina and you will see beautiful sailing boats, tricked out with every offshore amenity known to mankind. This is why sailors are fond of saying “You know what boat stands for? Break Out Another Thousand.” Everyone gets a good belly roll out of that well trammeled joke. Like all popular jokes and stereotypes they have a modicum of truth. Once the intention is set to head offshore for a long world-wide sojourn, a low-grade mental illness can set it. The lure of the sea is indeed powerful, and may be imbedded in the male human DNA.

Yoga Independent Study Paper

Glen Ellen, CA


 I used my yoga teacher training I attended in October 2011 as an independent study for one credit hour at Dominican University of California. Because I am a philosophy major, I was able to parlay a little bit with the school. I was required to write a research paper on the experience, and the result is below! I hope you enjoy reading. To reveal the entire post, please click on the "read more" button at the bottom.

Photo Credit yogaschoolofindia.com

 

            In October of 2011, I took a significant leap forward in personal transformation by attending a yoga teacher training in Austin, Texas. I’ve subsequently started teaching classes at a local yoga studio. This step, the training and teaching, was the culmination of an incremental swallowing up of my life, and a new way of being, by a consistent yoga practice I’d taken up a couple of year prior. This paper details my yoga journey, some historical research about Indian philosophy, the origins of yoga, the nature of charisma, and a powerful yoga master named Baron Baptiste.

            During my inquiry of self via the ancient practice of yoga, and in concert with my academic pursuits at the Dominican University of California, I’ve come to a deeper understanding of the crossroads of philosophic thought. Including, Indian and Greek philosophy, Hinduism, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, modern day yoga masters such as B.K.S. Iyengar, and one of his famous students, Baron Baptiste whom I recently trained under. I was transformed during my week of Level 1 Teaching Training in Austin, and an honor to learn from Baron. Baron Baptiste is world renown, successful yoga teacher, and it’s no stretch to claim he has created a yoga empire via his Baptiste Power Vinyasa Flow yoga. I say empire in a respectful yogic way, as I found Baron to be impressive, charismatic, and possessing leadership qualities I admire. I find the development of personal magnetism to the degree that Baptiste has achieved to be fascinating, and worth a serious inquiry. In this essay, I will lay out the evolution of Baron Baptiste, his style of yoga, and to whom he takes his philosophic cues. A “cult of personality” somewhat surrounds him, much to his chagrin I surmise. I discuss some scholarly research in the field of charisma that feeds such cults.  

My Rooster the Squater

Glen Ellen, California,

I've never written a blog post regarding how I came to own, and now live in my little house in the California wine country. I came to own my house in 2003, purchased while I was stationed here in California. I kept it rented out during the duration of my service time, and subsequent sailing adventure. Painfully, my management company rented the house to some dirt bags who gutted the place, and started to grow pot inside, and outside the house to fuel the burgeoning medical marijuana industry. I got them out of the house, and just did not have the stomach to be a land lord again, especially in a down economy which attracts economically in stable people. It is an old house to begin with making it even harder for me to find good renters. The laws are stacked against landlords, California is the worst, especially in Sonoma county.  It is a shame, because affordable rentals are few. But, more and more people like me become freaked out because the laws become so complicated, resulting in the need for lawyers for the smallest of issues, because a mistake can send you reeling into the 7th circle of hell. I will spare the details of my 7th circle of hell getting my renters out. I feel lucky as my experience could have been much worse than it was. 

Shot with my Canon G11

Thus, I found myself moving off of Christa after living aboard her for 12 years. Surprise surprise, I found I loved living in my house. Even at 1000 square feet I marveled at all the room. I fired up a garden for the first time, and enjoyed that experience. In fact, just this morning I plucked tomato's, and fresh spinach from my garden.

Onward. About a month a go, a Rooster simply showed up in my driveway. No idea where the fella came from. Sonoma county has a fair amount of farming going on, but I know of none that is with-in a mile or two of my house. Maybe someone has a small operation going in the backyard. He showed up on a weekend, I feed him some bird seed, thinking I'll just call animal control on Monday, and they will come by and scoop him up. No joy. They won't come pick him up until I catch and cage him. Thanks for nothing. Another ding against Sonoma county. Now, I've actually taken to the guy. He greets me in my driving and then runs in front of my car down the driveway squawking as I pull up. It is pretty funny. He knows me now, and will eat out of my hand. He never crows, but makes little noises when I emerge in the morning as if to say "good morning." 

Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

San Rafael, CA

ancandid.com

 I took an Art History class this semester that is now coming to an end. A theme in my life has developed over the past couple of years of being astonished at some of the things I've become interested in. Yoga is a total no brainer on the astonishment scale. I mean who would have ever predicted that? If you had told me I'd be teaching yoga in the near future when I was anchored not long ago in Bequia, I would have accused you of shopping for fruit as a cover at the Rasta Man Stand. He sold more than fruit. As an aside 
I am teaching class after class now, and loving it so.

Another pleasant surprise has been my Art History of the Greek & Roman World class. I give substantial credit to my professor, Heidi who is so dog gone passionate about the subject, that you just can't help but get swept up into her historical narrative. Art boring? NOT! I really learned a ton, and would have worn a Toga to class, but Dominican University has a Convent on the campus, and that would have been weird.

I wrote a paper about Roman power in Art after learning that the Saddam Hussein statue that was yanked down in Baghdad after the U.S. invasion in 2003 was inspired directly by the Romans. I started to do some more research, and I've come to learn almost all art is used to project messaging in some fashion. Anyway, below is the paper. Read it if you will or not. Maybe you'll see some connections. Jefferson's Monticello anyone?


CC

Manifestation of Power Via Art In the Roman Empire

            Today the Roman Empire is discussed in the context of a once great empire, its spectacular fall spurred by unchecked pride. The inevitable comparison between contemporary America, and her apparent hubris leading to over reach. The breath, scope, achievements, and length of the Roman Empire are truly amazing. Like all giants, the Romans stood upon the shoulders of those who came before. This famous metaphor, “Standing on the shoulder of giants,” was propelled into our modern lexicon by Sir Isaac Newton in 1676. However, the first usage of this metaphor stretches back to ancient mythological Greece when Orion, the blind giant god carries his servant Cedalion on his shoulders. Indeed, the Roman ruler Hadrian highlights his respect for his much admired predecessor Trajan, by inserting himself in panels on TheArch of Trajan at Benevento; thereby communicating to the Roman citizenry whose shoulders he stands atop.

Happiness on the Otherside of Success

Glen Ellen, California


Another awesome video from Teds.com. This chat is from Shawn Achor who wrote the book The Happiness Advantage. This a great video. Please take the time to view, and comment if you will.


CC