If you don't know Jérôme Poncet...

I have started watching Life, BBC TV series recently. I treated myself last year when I received an amazon gift card with buying several nature and wild life theme TV series by BBC such as Life, Madagascar, Nature most amazing events and so on. We were watching the first DVD tonight when I heard about this amazing guy called Jerome Poncet. I googled his name and here is his bio. What is in his gene that mine lacking!!! Seriously? "Having been sailing around the Antarctic area for the last 40 years, Jérôme Poncet is certainly the person who best knows the Antarctic Peninsula and all the islands of the Scotia Sea. A Pioneer in the Southern Latitudes: Known first for a 5 year round-the-world trip he accomplished in his early 20s along with his friend Gérard Janichon (from 1969 to 73) on board "Damien", a 10,10m cold moulded wooden sloop they had built. First small yacht to reach Spitzbergen (1969), to reach the Antarctic Peninsula all sound and to sail below the Antarctic Circle (1973) - Received the "Médaille de l'Ordre du Mérite" in 1973 (the French equivalent of a Knighthood) on their return to France. In 1974-75 Jérôme built "Damien II", a 15,20m-steel yacht suited to the type of navigation he had most enjoyed: Antarctica and the high southern latitudes. He has lived on "Damien II" with his wife and increasing family (his first son was born aboard) for the 12 following years, from Europe to Brazil, Polynesia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and to Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic islands. In the meantime, he participated in several Races such as the Whitbread in 1973-74 (Safety), Saint Malo-Cape Town in 1975 (Skipper), Rio-Southampton in 1975-76 (Skipper), Whitbread in 1981 (Safety) First yacht to winter in Antarctica in 1978-79 and still the only yacht to have wintered so far South (67°45'S). Since then, about 30 "Damien II" have been built around the world. In 1987 he settled down with his family on a little sheep farm on an isolated island in the Falklands, a place close to his favorite areas of sailing, to nature and to a lifestyle he and his wife wished to have with their children."

When Old Charm Let You Go

The most precious feeling that one can have is to feel you are creating somethings new, just like God.

I remember my conversation with a friend of mine. We were sat just next to each other waiting for the Engineering Math final term exam to be started. I had a feeling that she can understand what I am saying, and I was right. I don't know why at that moment we had this conversation.
I told her I want to be somebody, and by somebody I don't mean be famous at all. I want to live my life just like everyone else but with awareness. I don't want live my life blindly and just do the same things like others without knowing why. Go to school because everyone else does, got married because everyone else does, have kids because, Believe in this or that...

I want to know my options and know why I am choosing this or that. at the end maybe my life seems just like others but at least I know what I am doing, I don't just follow the society blindly. There is nothing wrong with following the society trend but I don't want my whole life in a package imposed on me.

It's like large companies get stronger and swallow small, individual shops; for example, Star bucks , Tim Horton ,etc get stronger and tiny cozy coffee houses disappear gradually. you come to yourself and everyone buy coffee from a single large company; But I love to see tiny cozy shops around that each has their own character and taste.

This is exactly what I don't want happen to us living in society growing larger and larger. I don't want a society swallow my individuality. Makes us more and more identical. Imagine in 2050 all people shop from the same store; go to the same place for vacation, have the same hobbies.

I always think there is something, called an "Old Charm" which surrounds us , keeps our foot on the ground makes us earthy. This charm makes us stop asking unanswered questions and instead helps us enjoy our everyday life : Go do some shopping; enjoy juicy gossip with a bunch of friends; be worry about your dress for tonight party, thinking about where to go for vacation, etc..

On some of us the charm works pretty well, it just never let us free even for a second. But for some of us this "old charm" gives us a break. That's a moment that you suddenly wake up from a deep sleep. All your unanswered questions come back! What I am doing here? is this what I always wanted to do? ... after asking all those unanswered questions again and again with no clue, your mind gets tired and that's when "Old Charm" come back and leashed you.

To be honest this charm has not worked very well on me lately, it keeps giving me a break and bunch of old unanswered questions storm back to my mind. There is one thing I keep telling to myself, no matter what the answer of those questions are, there is one thing for sure,

"you have a great life; enjoy every second of it, leashed or unleashed"