My name is Zari (like you care) and this page is a project for my 9th grade Global Liturature class. I read A Pirate Looks at Fifty for my travel book, then made this page to inform everybody who wants to know that I actually read the book and didn't just put some graphics together and pull in a few quotes and passages that I didn't evern bother reading (heheh, of course I didn't...).

To tell you the truth, it was a pretty good book. I chose it because Jimmy Buffett is one of my all-time favorite singers (he's my favorite male artist), and he's a great songwriter. When I was picking my book, the first thought that came to my head was, "Hey, Jimmy Buffett probably wrote a huge story about visiting the carribean and since he's a good songwriter, he must be a good storywriter, too.". Okay, that was a lie. I only wish that had been my first thought, because that would have been smart. Instead, I decided to be stupid and pick my travel book a week late at the bookstore.

I had been searching for about an hour at Barnes & Noble for the travel section (while dodging several 'Learn to Speak Japanese' books) when I threw my hands up in disgust and went over to the chubby costumer service lady for help. Waving a porky hand, she kindly directed me to the travel section and commented on just how freakishly skinny I was. In turn, I kindly dirtected her to the exersize and health section and went on my way. I browsed the titles of the books, as each one seemed compleatley and utterly un-entertaining; The Sewers of Siam by Margaret Adler, Microbiology in Turkey by Jacob Barnes, A Pirate Looks at Fifty by Jimmy Buffet, Three ways to Congo by Carol Cal-- Wait! Did I see Jimmy Buffett? Yes, I did! I then gleefully picked up the book off the shelf, tucked it under my arm, and placed a twenty down at the register. I went home later that night, basking in my triumph at finding the perfect book, when it hit me - I had to read it.

I had spent the last few weeks diving in and out of my book in between classes, and this page is dedicated to what I have learned. Please enjoy my site (no, really?) and read on!

P.S. All of the links are based on Jimmy Buffett songtitles and may be a little confusing, but here is a handy guide:

Jimmy Dreams - About the author, Jimmy Buffett.
Meet Me in Margaritaville - Places Jimmy visited in the book.
Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attidutes - Thoughts and feelings about his story, and particular chapters I liked/disliked.
Off to See the Lizard - Picture gallery of Jimmy, the places he visited, and a map from the book.
Coconut Telegraph - E-mail yours truly.

Don't bother scrolling down any farther. Just click on the words/songtitles around this frame. They are links. That means click on them.

----------------------------

Jimmy Dreams

"Jimmy Stares toward the bright Pleiades
I'ts so strange what his distant eye sees
Who knows why you start rediscovering your heart
But you do it again and again"

- "Jimmy Dreams"

Jimmy Buffett is a male vocal artist born in Alabama, to put it simply. One song of his in particular, A Pirate Looks at Forty (yes, that's where the book title came from, except Jimmy's looking at fifty instead of fourty), really describes who he is throught his life ("Yes I am a pirate, two-hundred years too late.." - "A Pirate Looks at Forty"). Ack, yet again I have lied - but only partially. He actually wrote this song for a friend of his who was struggling for an occupation in the twentieth-century, but he did mention a few times that he relates to this song quite well. Instead of taking the tedious time to explain EVERY SINGLE DETAIL, I took the liberty of posting the lyrics to the actual song. Here they are, America, the lyrics to 'A Pirate Looks at Fourty':

A Pirate Looks At Forty

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all

Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of 'em dream, most of 'em dream

Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

I've done a bit of smugglin', I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last

And I have been drunk now for over two weeks
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got stop wishin', got to go fishin'
Down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends

I go for younger women, lived with several awhile
Though I ran 'em away, they'd come back one day
Still could manage to smile
Just takes a while, just takes a while

Mother, mother ocean, after all the years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

Now wasn't that just lovely? *wipes a tear* Not just in his songs, but throught the book I enjoyed getting to know who Jimmy Buffett really is. He's a normal person just like anybody (gee, like anybody's normal), but with a few more years and stories under his belt. He's a great writer, and I've had my share of laughs reading the book.

----------------------------

Meet Me in Margaritaville

"Strange bird flying low
'Cross the Gulf of Mexico...
God only knows where the strange bird goes
When he's flying"

-"Strange Bird"

In A Pirate Looks at Fifty, Jimmy vistits many lush, tropical locations in the Carribean, aboard the plane, the Hemisphere Dancer. All of these locations he truly describes to be beautiful, but my favorite place he vistited was a little beach in Costa Rica. It was so breath-taking in my mind that I would love to visit there someday. It brings me back to my love for surfing.

I paddle out through the break. The water is a refreshing tempurature, and the salt tastes good. As I paddle through the break, the water feels like electric energy accentuated by the roar of the surf, sending goosebumps down my spine. I spot a patch of smooth water where it looks like a deeper channel stretches from the beach past the impact point, and I head for it. I glide through a small school of jack crevalle that bounce out of the foam. Randall passes, riding an unfolding four-foot swell. He kicks out, and we paddle out to the lineup together. We sit there bobbing on our boards and checking out the shoreline.

The thing that strikes me most is the beauty of the coastal landscape. From the lineup in Palm Beach I can see my house s well as a thousand others. From Anse de Flamande in St. Barts I can see arid hills. But from off the Costa Rican coast, we are looking at mountains that dissapear into the clouds and emerald-green pastures that run down to the shore. Overhead the gulls and turns fly low to the waves, trolling for breakfast. It is all very pretty, but we havent come there to birdwatch.

- Page 236-237, "A Pirate Looks at Fifty"

I love the way he embraced the landscape in words; it makes you want to fly off over there.

----------------------------

Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes

"These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
Through all of the islands and all of the highlands
If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane"

-"Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes"

Throught the book, I really felt like I got to know Jimmy as a person, and not just as a famous singer I'm stalking (lol). He didn't really change too much at the end of the story, probably because he's taken so many trips around the world. He has a wife and child, and he didn't miss a beat telling who they were at all. He seemed to be quite passionate about using his words to communicate what he was feeling, which included several that would make my grandmother faint.

I now think I understand where his songs come from, and how he becomes so inspired. He meets alot of great people with wonderful stories, which add to his own collection of wonderful tales.

Before we set out on this trip, I would like to tell you about an old one. What we learned from our mistakes and misfortunes is the best knowledge, and before I go blasting off for Central America, I find myself thinking back to August 25, 1994. It began as a day of total fun, doing the things that I love to do the most - fly and fly-fish. It ended in the nightmare crash of my flying boat that would have killed me if it hadn't been for the intervention of God, Buddah, Saint Christopher, my guardian angel, my fishing buddies, luck, and the Untited States Navy water-survival training. Thus the story of how I survived to pack for another adventure.

- Page 39, "A Pirate Looks at Fifty"

----------------------------

Off to See the Lizard

"I'm turning off the waterfall, the tourists can go home
I feel it time to travel, time to write a poem
Time to seek some therapy, I'm going walkabout
Answers are the easy part, questions raise the doubt"

-"Off to See the Lizard"

Here's a quick gallery I put together, I hope you enjoy!

Pic of Jimmy

The map of where Jimmy went aboard the Hemisphere Dancer

Yet another pic of Jimmy

The cover of A Pirate Looks at Fifty

The Caribbean

Such a parrothead

----------------------------