Hero stumbles, lands dazed in city of Heroes

Hero can hear the faint, distant meowing of his cat, Kimchee. All the way from Rome - that's right, Rome - Hero listens to the mocking meow of the cat, who says, "I told you so."

Alas, Hero's quest to race the TJV has amounted to a whole lot of thunder and precious little lightning. After training and fundraising as fast and loudly as is possible, capital-H Hero has run out of sea-room and called it off. The reasons are numerous and dull and somewhat humbling, but the most resonant is that Paul and I couldn't land sufficient cash or tech sponsorship in the short time we had. It's a shame, but it was a long shot, after all. Heroic Theorem of Squirrelly Occurrence: "Everything happens for a reason, especially in squirrelly, harebrained schemes with highly unstable quantities of squirrelliness and harebrainitia." If you'll recall, this whole program was launched by a phone call from a certified lunatic named Antonio (who by the way holds the record for youngest Spaniard to solo Atlantic). But then Tony was sent to the booby-hatch. As for the Brixton toro, Paul, I'd never met him before I boarded the Polarity, and whenever I see him again will be far too soon. (There I go shooting off at the mouth).

Antonio, meanwhile, is cooking up new plans and potential future Long Shots, including the King's Cup, in which he skippered a boat last year.

So, in answer to Jeff's and Kizz's concerns, the Long Shot finds Hero in Rome, where he is recuperating. Since he has sublet his NYC apartment until December 1, he's still trying to figure out his options. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, please let me know. The truth is, Hero doesn't want to go crawling back to his hypercritical cat with his tail between his legs.