let's take a moment to contemplate on the greatness that is... pirates. i remember one summer while on our annual fishing trip to tofino i was out in the boat with my dad and a smaller sized yacht was passing by us. i was at the age when i thought it was "so cool" to wave at other boaters and was about to do just that when my dad warned me not to. he proceeded to tell me that it was entirely possible that the men on that particular boat could be pirates. as it turns out they were not pirates, in fact, as he well knew and was just trying to make the day more exciting for me... but from that moment i became absolutely enthralled by the idea that there were REAL LIVE PIRATES sailing the open seas. i had been so sheltered... believing that all pirates must wear big hats and velvet coats, brandishing swords (like the, unfortunately for us, unattractive fellow in the picture above) and if they were lucky, a hook for a hand! how wrong i had been to think that pilfering and plundering must be restricted to the story books i grew up reading. my fascination has been fueled by many following documentaries, stories, movies, turns on the disneyland ride (haha)... and other pirate influenced things. while on an alaskan cruise i often daydreamed about our ship being commandeered by a band of pirates. now obviously i wouldn't want anybody to be hurt or anything... i guess i like to think that any encounters i have would be friendly encounters, if not peaceful. ... and of course all pirates are hot. there's something sexy about their manner... at least all the best ones. haha. i mean... i think that's why my halloween costume idea went over so well with the other 3 because who wouldn't want to have their boyfriend dress up as a pirate? and then us girls got to be wenches... which is, by definition, hot also... unless they're 'dirty' wenches, that's not hot because usually that would lead to an std, i'm sure. :P yup... well, i was just thinking about pirates today so that's where this random post came from.