"What the hell happened? Where are you?"I have heard this a bit over the last few weeks. After I went off on a tired and teary rant about how I just wasn't having any fun here anymore, I sort of disappeared, as I tend to do any time I get overwhelmed. I just shut down and watch Netflix or read books all night and check in on Facebook sometimes, and that's about it. I had a lot of long conversations with family, friends and even strangers about what my next move was going to ...
Time Off
5 Days In The Bahamas (and That Time I Averted an Underwater Disaster)
(I don't know what happened to this post from last year, but it never went live! I figured better late than never, right... I often get put into the 'travel' blog category even though I'm more of an expat than a traveler. So here's a post from my travels!)What can you do with just five days in the Bahamas? Actually, a lot!I made a quick trip to Nassau in the Bahamas last year when I was in Florida to try and get a visitor B1/B2 visa for the US so that I could work on foreign yachts that ...
100 Days of Summer
So technically way more than 100 days of endless summer now from Vancouver to Roatan to Belize to Mexico to Miami... but 100 posts on Cubicle Throwdown! I've had this blog for nearly a year now and this is my hundredth post. Yay me!What's new in Miami?Not much actually. I'm still hanging around waiting for the yacht to get here with my dive gear.I'm starting my STCW-95 safety course next week so that will keep me busy. After that I'm planning to do ...
Where in the world is Rika??
Hola from… Miami Beach..!? Yes, as I’ve previously alluded to, I am in fact in Miami right now. I’m not even in Roatan!How the hell did I end up here? Good question, long story! This might be the longest post I’ve ever written, but there are pictures, I promise.Let’s start from the beginning.If we’re all being honest here…right before Christmas, I was absolutely miserable in Roatan. I had an unpleasant personal situation that managed to infiltrate every facet of my life here (which is ...
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade and drink it on a yacht.
Merry Christmas from the Caribbean Sea!!You may have noticed I have been conspicuously absent lately. I have a good reason for this, I promise.It's this:Yep. That's a 105 ft yacht, and I'm on it right now sailing to Belize, Cozumel, Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cuba, and finally through the Florida Keys on the way to Ft. Lauderdale where the boat is going into the yard and I'm flying back to Roatan from Miami. Did I mention I'm getting paid? Way more than I make at my current ...
The calm before the storm.
Things are easygoing right now, so I'm doing my best to enjoy it. It's hard to believe that in a week from today I'll be waking up for the first time in Roatan. I'll be hot and sweaty and disoriented, and then once the fog clears I'll realize that I just woke up in my new place...and I'm going diving... and I'm not going anywhere for a long time.These are my last few days in Vancouver.... my last sushi, last sunset at Kits Beach, last dinner with a friend, last appointments and ...
When your brain starts to leave.
I thought I was getting the hang of this working 70-80 hours a week thing. I wrote a post all about how to work two full-time jobs. I have perfected cooking a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners in one night - case in point, here is this week:I have been keeping all my menu planning for my weekly batch cooking - if anyone is interested just email me. It is mainly vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free food and I only spend about $45/week to feed one person 3 meals a day ...
A half day off.
I slept in, had brunch with friends (my first meal out with friends in over a month), walked by the ocean with a tea, went around the neighborhood and took in the sights of the fluffy pink cherry trees, took a nap and then got ready for work. A 5:30pm shift is infinitely better than a 2:30pm shift.Less than three weeks until Roatan! I figured out how to post from my iPhone so there might even be a post or two from paradise. I posted this from my phone so we'll see what it looks like when I ...