on the advantages of a misspent youth...

The downside of being Amish, this explains a lot, and a must read from Orlov...

Someone wrote the other day and asked what sort of talents were needful for the whole cruising into the sunset gig...

Well, being semi-talentless I'm probably the last person you'd want to ask. Face it, my real talents, which were exhibited at an early age, seemed to be getting in trouble, being in the wrong place at an inappropriate time, and pissing people off. Not exactly the sort of talents you want to stick on your resume or brag about to potential mother-in-laws.

That said, having those talents does tend to create a feedback loop of a positive sort. For instance, if you have a knack for getting into trouble you quickly learn to fix stuff or you wind up cleansed from the gene pool in short order. Same goes for being in the wrong place thing as that amps up your situational awareness (spidey sense) to the Nth degree and that, mostly, will get you out of Dodge before the serious shit hits the fan.

Of course, you all know this from the "What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger Handbook".

Oh, and for the pissing off thing? Not so unsuited to a curmudgeonly sailor with little interest in sailing/cruising as a group/summer camp activity...

Listening to the Electric Flag

So it goes...