Do I know you?

Since moving to Pacific Grove, I've been told about a half dozen times that I "look familiar". At various times since high school I've been told that I resemble Boris Becker and Seth Green, but I haven't ever had so many people give me the same double-take you give a person when you're pretty sure you went to Elementary School with them. It's kind of wierd, actually. I keep thinking that there must be some television personality around here that has the good fortune of looking like me, but so far I've not been able to identify such a person.
I'm finally starting to get my name known and respected at the various dive shops and whale watching operations in Monterey. It's a really rewarding feeling to volunteer to work on a boat for a day, for no pay, as a sort of working interview, and at the end of it have them tell me that "you can work with us anytime". That's happened three times now, and I'm excited about the prospect of getting a lot of work once the holidays are over. It's really rather ironic that the diveboats all struggle to get a full guest list during the wintertime, when here in California that is by far the best time to dive. Just today, I went out for the first time with a boat and wound up leading a buddy pair for their two dives. The visibility was between 50 and 80 feet and we were the only boat out there! Overall I am very happy with the way things went, both with the crew and with the guests. I kept one woman from bolting to the surface twice, including when she "suddenly" ran out of air (how that goes unnoticed is beyond me, since prevention involves simply looking at your air gauge every so often), I handled the boat lines and anchoring system well, and even managed to grab six golf balls from the bottom. We were about 300 yards offshore, so I don't know who the hell is hitting the balls out there but maybe they ought to call up the PGA. We also saw three sea otters, and were escorted underwater by a young sea lion for awhile.
All in all, things are looking better. There are still a couple of things that concern me (the housemate situation, the drunken neighbor who keeps leering at me and saying, "If only I were 30 years younger...uh!", the fact that I no longer have a bed, etc.), but I'm hoping that these things will become irrelevant or dealt with in time.

Employed...sort of

It looks like my days of being unemployed are numbered. That (along with the fact that I've moved into an apartment that is literally a stone's throw from a beautiful beach) is the good news. The less good news is that I'll probably be working at two or three places simultaneously in order to work at least five days per week. Several dive boats have expressed interest in hiring me as a weekend divemaster, which, in conjuction with scrubbing boat hulls in the harbor (while on scuba), should keep me busy for 3 to 4 days per week. Now I need to find work for a couple more days during the week. It's possible that I'll find deckhand jobs on some of the whale watching boats to fill that time, which would effectively keep me at or in the sea nearly every day of the week. The possibility of being water-logged for the next five months is a distinct one!
I say "five months" because I have just purchased my flights to Germany for the wedding next summer! It's going to be an incredible trip, between experiencing the marriage of Matthias and Melli, and the promise of travelling with Aaron (a good from from Australia, the first time around) down through Austria to Slovenia and Croatia afterwards. Both Slovenia and Croatia are countries that I've been wanting to explore, but I am also using this trip as an opportunity to find out about the possibility of living and working in both. I'm still strongly considering becoming certified to teach english as a foreign language, and these two are countries that I'm interested in considering.
And so, as I remarked to Matthias on the phone today, it looks like my days of scheming, travelling, and adventuring are far from over. I actually look forward to the day I can settle somewhere with the intention of staying for more than 6 months, but I'm hoping there'll be time for that later. For now though, I can't imagine being any better suited for this aloof lifestyle I've crafted for myself. It's nice to have some good company along the way, though.

1 minute, 44 seconds

When I walked out my front door this morning, bearing a hot cup of Chai tea, it took me less than two minutes to put my feet into the sands of Lover's Point! I watched the waves for a while and considered diving today, but decided against it by the time the cup ran dry. It's okay, because there's plenty else to keep me occupied.
Within a five minute walk from my apartment are the following amenities: local grocer, laundromat, library, beach volleyball court, Natural History Museum, local produce shop, Monarch Butterfly Grove, soccer field, and plenty of interesting little shops. Within a ten minute bike-ride is the magnificent Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Fisherman's Pier. Honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg, but I think the point is made: This place is awesome! Gabe was right, I am a lucky guy.
I'm in the process of securing a few different jobs, between the diving and whale watching boats(as a deckhand and/or divemaster), and a number of other random places such as Pebble Beach Golf Course and a couple of upscale hotels. My current plan is thus: earn/save money for a trip to Germany next summer, in time for Matthias's wedding. I somehow doubt that I'll be lacking for entertainment in the meantime. I'm just wondering if indeed this is too good to be true...