Today I fly to Chicago, then Fort Lauderdale. Tomorrow I fly Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago to Kansas City to Denver to Anchorage. Unfortunately I love good deals and this was one. No, it is not possible to just stay in KC and wait for my flight tomorrow. The flight originates in Florida so I have to get on the plane there if I want to go to Anchorage. I'm excited to get home and get to work. I'm excited to listen to a different 400 songs on my ipod and to wear a pair of jeans for the first time in 2 months.
I got a lot done here during the past week. Found out that the high school classmates that said they would work on the reunion really hadn't done much. People were starting to bother me (since I was the president) about wheour 10-year. So I decided to plan it and just make it most convenient to me. I scheduled it for the week after our tourism season is over and before I'm planning to leave for NZ, Sept 26-28. So I've been busy finding venues, calling old classmates to help, setting up myspace, facebook and email accounts for it, etc. I lost the Amazing Race last Monday and did not make it home for the baseball games. I sat in the NYC airport from 6 am to 5 pm, as all the flights to Chicago left full or overbooked (cancellations from previous day's weather). Tried to go to the doubleheader on Wednesday but it was rained out. Tried to race back from the choir competition in Emporia to catch a game on Saturday but Brandon didn't play (was the relief pitcher but the starter threw a 2-hitter). So didn't end up seeing any of Brandon's baseball. Did watch Into the Wild again (love it, identify slightly and less extremely with it), Sicko and Brandon's solo at state though. Took Brandon and a friend to the Royals on Sunday. Of course we got in free. A lady was holding up 3 tickets and saying "free tickets". The guys walked past her, thinking they heard "three". I am learning them the value of listening better. Also, helped Brandon with his homework a little and did some shopping for him a couple of times.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Goodbye New York
New York has pretty much been awesome. Blue cloudless skies and increasing warmer every day.
On Wednesday, Leigh and I took the subway to the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge and walked on the pedestrian path across to Manhattan, wound our way down to the South Street Seaport (think Chicago's Navy Pier), then took the subway up to try to get in to David Letterman's show. I had called earlier and been put on the standby list. The two people in front of us got in, but we didn't. We found out that a better way to score tickets is to show up at the box office in person on the day of the show to be put in to the "lottery". After perusing just a corner of Central Park, Leigh went to try to see a screening of the Sarah Marshall movie and I headed north on the subway to see if I could scalp a Yankees ticket. I had put an ad on craigslist for a bleacher ticket (face value $14), the cheapest, but got no response. So I figured I would just show up at game time and SURELY someone would have an extra. When I arrived, there were 125,000 people still trying to squeeze through the gates to get in. No one tried to sell me a ticket. I walked around to the main gate and still no one tried to sell me a ticket. I saw three people sitting on a ledge, a guy and a girl with Yankees jerseys and another guy a few feet away. They looked nice so I asked them if scalping was illegal and if there would be a way to get a ticket. They thought maybe I could buy a ticket from StubHub, so I tried but couldn't. So I meandered kinda back towards them and they told me not to give up, they'd find one for me. Soon there was a guy selling a ticket, but he wanted $50. I asked the nice people if they were going to the game and they said "not really". I must have looked confused. Then one of the guys says "I can probably get you in, come with me" (I followed, assuming he knew where to buy a ticket). Then he sticks out his hand and says "I'm Will, I'm an undercover cop". Dope! While ticketholders were still crowding to get through security, Will ushered me up to a lady with a badge guarding a ramp, spoke 2 seconds to her in Spanish, she moved the barrier and we entered the stadium in left field. Then Will led me to another lady with a badge to whom he spoke Spanish again, she looked at me, giggled, slapped him on the arm, and gave me a seat in a row of folding chairs, 8 rows up. The game turned out to be pretty eventful, final score 15-9 Yankees over the Red Sox, and I got to hear a lot of Manny Ramirez taunting. I sat next to a bunch of typical NY guys who made me eat peanuts and tried to buy me beer. Every time their team scored, the fans gave each other high fives. The (drunkish) guy in the row ahead liked to say "Give it to me baby red!" when he high fived me. They all talked to me (about Alaska and the Yankees) until about the sixth inning when they weren't sober anymore and entertained each other for the remainder of the game with dirty jokes about Jews, Italians, gay Irish dinosaurs, etc. The undercover cop guy came to check on me partway through the game and then I thought about leaving early (the game lasted over 4 hours) because I was kinda cold, but didn't want to run into him on the way out. So I stayed til the almost end. On the way back to Brooklyn, I made the mistake of looking at a map on the subway and soon had four different guys arguing amongst themselves about what route I should take. I kept trying to tell them that I had it and that THEY were the confused ones, they didn't listen. That is one example of helpful NYers, I have several. The moral of the story is that I went to the Yankees/Red Sox game for free while the other 54,667 people paid at least $50-75.
Thursday morning Leigh went to meet up with another friend and I headed to the city to sign up for Letterman. Put my name in for the show and they called 20 minutes later to say I gotten a ticket. I wasted some time by hopping on a bus to see more of the city, then had to return at 2 to pick up the ticket, then at 3:45 for the show. The show was just okay. I didn't get on TV and the coolest guest was Kelly Ripa. My favorite part was when the band messed up. I did a year's worth of clapping. I like Leno better, Letterman's gimmicks just aren't as funny to me. After the show, I met up with Leigh and went out for Ethiopian food, then walked a few miles towards the Empire State Building (blah), then met up with David O and some of his friends at a semi-lame bar. We stayed out late but didn't drink, since prices are ridiculous. $6 a beer?
Friday Leigh left and I took the subway to the Meatpacking district because I'd been told to go see something there on Friday, I just couldn't remember what I was supposed to see. Nothing much going on, so I took on a bus to the north end of Central Park and planned to do a lot of walking. However, it was pretty warm and I needed to save my feet for the Museum of Modern Art, which instead of $20, costs zero dollars on Fridays from 4-8. I know that I am not a big fan of museums, but always feel obligated to them once in awhile, as if its my moral patriotic duty. I thought, at least I like photography exhibits if nothing else. Well, obviously all tourists do indeed love museums or just feel guilted into going like me, since every one of them was there. Too many people, too much "You call that art? I could paint that with my toes" and a closed photography exhibit reminded me once again how disinterested I am in art. But I did make it to some of the famous works, took obligatory photos, then rested in the lounge and talked on the phone. Eventually it was time to meet up for dinner with David's friend Dave, whom I had met the previous evening at the bar. Dave and I ate Thai food and he made for good conversation (about Alaska and his desire to quit his NYU professor job and go travel) and for free dinner. After dinner I went to my first rave. A rave is, according to my imagination, a dance party with glowsticks, hypnotic techno music and perhaps a lot of Ecstasy pills. Held in Union Square, this "Silent Rave" was slightly difference. A silent rave, according to NYC, is when a ton of people get together to dance to their ipods. So thousands of people, ages 8-50, with headphones, dancing in (relative) silence for a couple of hours was my first rave. It was really fun. One guy had a pineapple with glowsticks sticking up from the top and every time he raised the pineapple, everyone cheered. I don't get it, but maybe that's the point.
Saturday, yesterday, I took the train to New Haven, Connecticut, to visit my college friend Danae who is recovering from surgery. What, in January, was supposed to be outpatient exploratory surgery of an ovarian mass turned into internal bleeding, emergency surgery number 2(they actually ran through storage areas with her on the gurney), 4 blood transfusions, the wound becoming severely infected, a third surgery, and overall a total of 18 nights in the hospital. Now its 3 months later and she is at home with an open wound the size of a baseball stuffed with gauze(better for healing from the inside out and preventing infection) and blisters and a rash from an allergic reaction to the vacuum pump that was sucking out tissue and fluids to aid the healing process. Her mom has been there for several weeks missing the birth of a grandchild and Layne, Danae's husband is exhausted. Layne is a PhD student at Yale and has also been going to Danae's "special-ed certification" classes and doing her homework, while waiting on her, helping her out of bed, helping her go the bathroom, etc and putting up with his mother-in-law. Danae needs to pass this semester because they need her income next year, so Layne is stressed ("I need a vacation" he says).
I trained it back to the city today, missed the Pope (who cares), and then did some more wandering/walking/sightseeing but I'm about NYCed out. I did about everything I wanted to do, although I'd like to bike around Central Park on another trip.
Tomorrow my flight leaves for KC at 4 pm, but Brandon has baseball games rescheduled from a rainout. So I called United to see if its possible to fly standby earlier in the day. It is, but the flights are all sold out. I am going to show up anyway and see if I can Amazing Race it to KC. I looked the flights up and the problem is Chicago to KC. There are flights every hour from NYC to Chicago and some have available seats, but the 3 flights out of Chicago tomorrow morning that I'd want are completely booked. My plan is to try for the earliest flight out of NY, at 6 am. Putting me in Chicago by 7:30 am, I will then have a chance at all three flights to KC. Its first come, first serve so I'm feeling a little overconfident at this point that I'll be able to get to KC early enough. Then I thought, hmmm, what happens to my bag that's checked on the 4 pm flight? I don't want to have to drive all the way out to the airport later to pick it up. Well, according to United, if I get confirmed on an earlier flight at least 45 minutes before that flight's departure, the ticket agent can (supposedly) have the bag transferred. Yeah right. So I'm going to repack, using my smaller daypack and perhaps a big plastic bag, and try to maximize my carryon allowance. That way, maybe I won't even need to retrieve my big pack from the airport, I can just grab it on the way to Alaska (via Florida) next week. Pretty genius if it works. And Amazing Racing it to LaGuardia should be fun...catching a couple of subways, then a bus should take awhile at 330 am, when service is minimal. I love adventures.
Other NYC observations.
1. People have been really nice, friendly, happy, etc. Saw a guy run ahead to open the door for a mom with a stroller, a guy giving up his seat on the subway to Leigh, a girl asking me where I got my pants because she liked them (my only pair of pants on this trip, I've been wearing them for at least a week straight, I bought them at a thrift store). Plus the undercover cop was nice, the Yankees fans, other strangers who have given directions, all of them nice.
2. Most New York guys are gay. Not just look gay or act gay. Are definitely gay. I hate skinny jeans! David O might be one of the manliest in NY, with his white man's fro, bandana, and facial hair.
3. There are lots of cops. Undercover cops. Dog cops. Cops on the corners, cops at the silent rave, cops in the subway stations, cops with megaphones directing subway users at the Yankees game. Cops, cops, cops.
4. Didn't see any celebrities other than David Letterman and Kelly Ripa, and they don't count. One of my goals was to spot a celebrity on the street but I decided to give up, since there are only a handful of celebs that I'd probably actually recognize in passing, the other 99% I wouldn't even know if they had their name tattooed on their forehead. I decided to look for rats instead, because you always hear about the rats in NY. I've only seen one, on the subway tracks.
On Wednesday, Leigh and I took the subway to the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge and walked on the pedestrian path across to Manhattan, wound our way down to the South Street Seaport (think Chicago's Navy Pier), then took the subway up to try to get in to David Letterman's show. I had called earlier and been put on the standby list. The two people in front of us got in, but we didn't. We found out that a better way to score tickets is to show up at the box office in person on the day of the show to be put in to the "lottery". After perusing just a corner of Central Park, Leigh went to try to see a screening of the Sarah Marshall movie and I headed north on the subway to see if I could scalp a Yankees ticket. I had put an ad on craigslist for a bleacher ticket (face value $14), the cheapest, but got no response. So I figured I would just show up at game time and SURELY someone would have an extra. When I arrived, there were 125,000 people still trying to squeeze through the gates to get in. No one tried to sell me a ticket. I walked around to the main gate and still no one tried to sell me a ticket. I saw three people sitting on a ledge, a guy and a girl with Yankees jerseys and another guy a few feet away. They looked nice so I asked them if scalping was illegal and if there would be a way to get a ticket. They thought maybe I could buy a ticket from StubHub, so I tried but couldn't. So I meandered kinda back towards them and they told me not to give up, they'd find one for me. Soon there was a guy selling a ticket, but he wanted $50. I asked the nice people if they were going to the game and they said "not really". I must have looked confused. Then one of the guys says "I can probably get you in, come with me" (I followed, assuming he knew where to buy a ticket). Then he sticks out his hand and says "I'm Will, I'm an undercover cop". Dope! While ticketholders were still crowding to get through security, Will ushered me up to a lady with a badge guarding a ramp, spoke 2 seconds to her in Spanish, she moved the barrier and we entered the stadium in left field. Then Will led me to another lady with a badge to whom he spoke Spanish again, she looked at me, giggled, slapped him on the arm, and gave me a seat in a row of folding chairs, 8 rows up. The game turned out to be pretty eventful, final score 15-9 Yankees over the Red Sox, and I got to hear a lot of Manny Ramirez taunting. I sat next to a bunch of typical NY guys who made me eat peanuts and tried to buy me beer. Every time their team scored, the fans gave each other high fives. The (drunkish) guy in the row ahead liked to say "Give it to me baby red!" when he high fived me. They all talked to me (about Alaska and the Yankees) until about the sixth inning when they weren't sober anymore and entertained each other for the remainder of the game with dirty jokes about Jews, Italians, gay Irish dinosaurs, etc. The undercover cop guy came to check on me partway through the game and then I thought about leaving early (the game lasted over 4 hours) because I was kinda cold, but didn't want to run into him on the way out. So I stayed til the almost end. On the way back to Brooklyn, I made the mistake of looking at a map on the subway and soon had four different guys arguing amongst themselves about what route I should take. I kept trying to tell them that I had it and that THEY were the confused ones, they didn't listen. That is one example of helpful NYers, I have several. The moral of the story is that I went to the Yankees/Red Sox game for free while the other 54,667 people paid at least $50-75.
Thursday morning Leigh went to meet up with another friend and I headed to the city to sign up for Letterman. Put my name in for the show and they called 20 minutes later to say I gotten a ticket. I wasted some time by hopping on a bus to see more of the city, then had to return at 2 to pick up the ticket, then at 3:45 for the show. The show was just okay. I didn't get on TV and the coolest guest was Kelly Ripa. My favorite part was when the band messed up. I did a year's worth of clapping. I like Leno better, Letterman's gimmicks just aren't as funny to me. After the show, I met up with Leigh and went out for Ethiopian food, then walked a few miles towards the Empire State Building (blah), then met up with David O and some of his friends at a semi-lame bar. We stayed out late but didn't drink, since prices are ridiculous. $6 a beer?
Friday Leigh left and I took the subway to the Meatpacking district because I'd been told to go see something there on Friday, I just couldn't remember what I was supposed to see. Nothing much going on, so I took on a bus to the north end of Central Park and planned to do a lot of walking. However, it was pretty warm and I needed to save my feet for the Museum of Modern Art, which instead of $20, costs zero dollars on Fridays from 4-8. I know that I am not a big fan of museums, but always feel obligated to them once in awhile, as if its my moral patriotic duty. I thought, at least I like photography exhibits if nothing else. Well, obviously all tourists do indeed love museums or just feel guilted into going like me, since every one of them was there. Too many people, too much "You call that art? I could paint that with my toes" and a closed photography exhibit reminded me once again how disinterested I am in art. But I did make it to some of the famous works, took obligatory photos, then rested in the lounge and talked on the phone. Eventually it was time to meet up for dinner with David's friend Dave, whom I had met the previous evening at the bar. Dave and I ate Thai food and he made for good conversation (about Alaska and his desire to quit his NYU professor job and go travel) and for free dinner. After dinner I went to my first rave. A rave is, according to my imagination, a dance party with glowsticks, hypnotic techno music and perhaps a lot of Ecstasy pills. Held in Union Square, this "Silent Rave" was slightly difference. A silent rave, according to NYC, is when a ton of people get together to dance to their ipods. So thousands of people, ages 8-50, with headphones, dancing in (relative) silence for a couple of hours was my first rave. It was really fun. One guy had a pineapple with glowsticks sticking up from the top and every time he raised the pineapple, everyone cheered. I don't get it, but maybe that's the point.
Saturday, yesterday, I took the train to New Haven, Connecticut, to visit my college friend Danae who is recovering from surgery. What, in January, was supposed to be outpatient exploratory surgery of an ovarian mass turned into internal bleeding, emergency surgery number 2(they actually ran through storage areas with her on the gurney), 4 blood transfusions, the wound becoming severely infected, a third surgery, and overall a total of 18 nights in the hospital. Now its 3 months later and she is at home with an open wound the size of a baseball stuffed with gauze(better for healing from the inside out and preventing infection) and blisters and a rash from an allergic reaction to the vacuum pump that was sucking out tissue and fluids to aid the healing process. Her mom has been there for several weeks missing the birth of a grandchild and Layne, Danae's husband is exhausted. Layne is a PhD student at Yale and has also been going to Danae's "special-ed certification" classes and doing her homework, while waiting on her, helping her out of bed, helping her go the bathroom, etc and putting up with his mother-in-law. Danae needs to pass this semester because they need her income next year, so Layne is stressed ("I need a vacation" he says).
I trained it back to the city today, missed the Pope (who cares), and then did some more wandering/walking/sightseeing but I'm about NYCed out. I did about everything I wanted to do, although I'd like to bike around Central Park on another trip.
Tomorrow my flight leaves for KC at 4 pm, but Brandon has baseball games rescheduled from a rainout. So I called United to see if its possible to fly standby earlier in the day. It is, but the flights are all sold out. I am going to show up anyway and see if I can Amazing Race it to KC. I looked the flights up and the problem is Chicago to KC. There are flights every hour from NYC to Chicago and some have available seats, but the 3 flights out of Chicago tomorrow morning that I'd want are completely booked. My plan is to try for the earliest flight out of NY, at 6 am. Putting me in Chicago by 7:30 am, I will then have a chance at all three flights to KC. Its first come, first serve so I'm feeling a little overconfident at this point that I'll be able to get to KC early enough. Then I thought, hmmm, what happens to my bag that's checked on the 4 pm flight? I don't want to have to drive all the way out to the airport later to pick it up. Well, according to United, if I get confirmed on an earlier flight at least 45 minutes before that flight's departure, the ticket agent can (supposedly) have the bag transferred. Yeah right. So I'm going to repack, using my smaller daypack and perhaps a big plastic bag, and try to maximize my carryon allowance. That way, maybe I won't even need to retrieve my big pack from the airport, I can just grab it on the way to Alaska (via Florida) next week. Pretty genius if it works. And Amazing Racing it to LaGuardia should be fun...catching a couple of subways, then a bus should take awhile at 330 am, when service is minimal. I love adventures.
Other NYC observations.
1. People have been really nice, friendly, happy, etc. Saw a guy run ahead to open the door for a mom with a stroller, a guy giving up his seat on the subway to Leigh, a girl asking me where I got my pants because she liked them (my only pair of pants on this trip, I've been wearing them for at least a week straight, I bought them at a thrift store). Plus the undercover cop was nice, the Yankees fans, other strangers who have given directions, all of them nice.
2. Most New York guys are gay. Not just look gay or act gay. Are definitely gay. I hate skinny jeans! David O might be one of the manliest in NY, with his white man's fro, bandana, and facial hair.
3. There are lots of cops. Undercover cops. Dog cops. Cops on the corners, cops at the silent rave, cops in the subway stations, cops with megaphones directing subway users at the Yankees game. Cops, cops, cops.
4. Didn't see any celebrities other than David Letterman and Kelly Ripa, and they don't count. One of my goals was to spot a celebrity on the street but I decided to give up, since there are only a handful of celebs that I'd probably actually recognize in passing, the other 99% I wouldn't even know if they had their name tattooed on their forehead. I decided to look for rats instead, because you always hear about the rats in NY. I've only seen one, on the subway tracks.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Just a quickie
2 minutes of free internet in Times Square left. Just a quick note to say that I succeeded in going to the Yankees/Red Sox game last night, hoping to pay face value, ended up going FREE thanks to a nice undercover cop (who I asked about scalping tickets). Now I've successfully procured a ticket to The Late Show and have to be there for the taping in a few minutes. NYC is treating me well. Just found out I have a friend from Alaska in town. NYers have been way too nice...okay more later.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Hello New York
Well, my sixth cruise has been survived...we arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday morning. While waiting to be picked up by our friend Heather, Matt and I got to meet up with Nick, our friend from AK, who was boarding another Celebrity ship to begin his first contract working onboard. The timing was perfect and we got about 45minutes to hang out with him. Heather drove us to Miami Beach where she had planned for us to go on a Duck tour, a Duck being an amphibious vehicle that took down a couple of streets, then into the water where we went past houses of a couple of celebrities and our slighly annoying tour guide trying to impress us with how much each of the houses cost. After surviving that, we went to lunch on Lincoln Ave/Rd/Blvd and headed back to Heather's apartment where Matt cooked pasta and we watched the Red Sox (Heather's from Boston) game. Flew out of Miami the next morning, yesterday I guess and made it to JFK here in NYC. My friend David O from SNU has a loft in Brooklyn but I actually met up with him at NYU in Manhattan, where he is doing graduate work. He has another friend visiting this week from San Diego, Leigh so I have someone to frolic with around town. We ate really good sushi with two of David's friends, Taylor and Anaid (who just spent 2 years working on a yacht). David's loft in Brooklyn is about 2 feet away from the train tracks and the station is directly in front of his windows. Last night I watched 2 kids throw rocks at us. We sleep with ear plugs. This morning my luggage arrived shortly after Leigh and I woke up. Its the second time in the last 3 months my luggage has been delayed. Last time it was on a nonstop flight and this time I had a 2.5 hour layover in DC, so I was surprised when it didnt show up and the agent told me it would be coming on a later flight. It was actually better that I didn't have to haul it into Manhattan and I carry a backup toothbrush anyway.
Sidenote, Leigh (my co-frolicker) is currently lifeguarding in Kansas City but is returing to work in Yosemite for her second summer as a cook there. She has been is also studying to become a midwife. She also studied a year in Kenya and has done some travelling on her own. She is going to DC, Pennsylvania and Maryland after NYC. She has a degree from Point Loma in religion and philosophy. We get along and it is nice to have her here because David is pretty busy.
I have been to New York on 2 separate occasions for a total of about 36 hours. Both times I've been with friends with preplanned agendas and both times its been winter and either rainy or cold. So the city is a lot more inviting this time around. THe weather has been perfect and there is a lot I didn't realize I wanted to do. Today Leigh and I walked through downtown, more specifically lower Manhattan, we took the (free) ferry to Staten Island because it passes by the statue of liberty, then took it right back (along with a lot of other tourists who didnt want to pay or wait in line to visit the Statue for real). We walked a lot when we got back...through Battery Park and around Ground Zero. Then we met David at Anaid's apartment in the West Village area of town, had leftover fish cooked on a yacht yesterday by Anaid's ex-boyfriend who doesn't like to waste food, and now David and Anaid are in class while Leigh and I waste time on NYU computers.
I am probably going to New Haven on Saturday to see Danae. I talked to her today and she is still in a hospice facility and still heavily drugged. She says she basically just gets high and sleeps a lot. I will "Danae-sit" while Layne takes her mom to the airport. Julie might try to find a flight and meet me there (and sidenote, Julie and Mike are having a girl). Talked to Doug today, he is still planning to make it up to Anchorage for a visit in May. Also talked to Jared who needed to know the size of the window in his bedroom in the condo because he is making curtains with his grandma ("the most cabiny I can find" he says).
Gonna see whats going on in NYC this weekend, maybe go to a show or a Yankees game. I'm pretty sure I've blown the budget, so I figure I might as well blow it bigtime and just sub every day in May, whether I feel like it or not.
Sidenote, Leigh (my co-frolicker) is currently lifeguarding in Kansas City but is returing to work in Yosemite for her second summer as a cook there. She has been is also studying to become a midwife. She also studied a year in Kenya and has done some travelling on her own. She is going to DC, Pennsylvania and Maryland after NYC. She has a degree from Point Loma in religion and philosophy. We get along and it is nice to have her here because David is pretty busy.
I have been to New York on 2 separate occasions for a total of about 36 hours. Both times I've been with friends with preplanned agendas and both times its been winter and either rainy or cold. So the city is a lot more inviting this time around. THe weather has been perfect and there is a lot I didn't realize I wanted to do. Today Leigh and I walked through downtown, more specifically lower Manhattan, we took the (free) ferry to Staten Island because it passes by the statue of liberty, then took it right back (along with a lot of other tourists who didnt want to pay or wait in line to visit the Statue for real). We walked a lot when we got back...through Battery Park and around Ground Zero. Then we met David at Anaid's apartment in the West Village area of town, had leftover fish cooked on a yacht yesterday by Anaid's ex-boyfriend who doesn't like to waste food, and now David and Anaid are in class while Leigh and I waste time on NYU computers.
I am probably going to New Haven on Saturday to see Danae. I talked to her today and she is still in a hospice facility and still heavily drugged. She says she basically just gets high and sleeps a lot. I will "Danae-sit" while Layne takes her mom to the airport. Julie might try to find a flight and meet me there (and sidenote, Julie and Mike are having a girl). Talked to Doug today, he is still planning to make it up to Anchorage for a visit in May. Also talked to Jared who needed to know the size of the window in his bedroom in the condo because he is making curtains with his grandma ("the most cabiny I can find" he says).
Gonna see whats going on in NYC this weekend, maybe go to a show or a Yankees game. I'm pretty sure I've blown the budget, so I figure I might as well blow it bigtime and just sub every day in May, whether I feel like it or not.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Cruise, Day 12
Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Might go to the beach, might not. Panama Canal looked the same as it did the last time. Colombia was cool but lots of peddlers and stares from people who don't see freckles or blue eyes very often. Sitting on a park bench, guy sat down by me, ended up being a poet so he wrote a poem for me in spanish. The title can be translated to "Speckles of Chocolate". Haven't really hung out with the Double Couple, as Matt and I affectionately call our 4 travelmates. They do their own thing, like today they paid $100 (EACH) to get into a resort and lay on the beach and drink for free. Whatever, not our style, even if they would have made an attempt to invite us. Some days I hardly see anyone in our group except for dinner. Having my own room keeps me a little out of the loop, but I kinda dont care about being in the loop this cruise. My room attendant is great and the ice cream guy is really cute and there is a friendly Jamaica bartender that brought me a free drink yesterday, but our main waiter is nothing special and the activities staff is unfriendly. The captain is younger and good looking and funny. In his daily announcement he says things with his Greek accent like "Thank you to the lady guest who asked me to get her a towel today by the pool. It is so good to be recognized as the captain of this vessel. (pause) Thank God I'm so humorous." He also told us we'd know when we were at the equator because there would be a sign and a line of blinking lights across the ocean. However, that night when we were eating dinner, we thought we'd hear the captain announce when our latitude was zero (other ships have parties, we didnt even get an announcement) but instead all of a sudden the ship tilted slightly one way and then the other and we made jokes about magnetic pull and the tide changing as we crossed hemispheres but actually outside the window we did see some blinking lights, four of them. We thought briefly that it might be a buoy to signify the equator but turned out to be a fishing boat that we nearly ran over, hence the boat veering to the side to avoid it.
Apparently I have a potential cruise partner (Naked/Stoecker) for a quick LA cruise, but doubt it has any room for us (actually I'm pretty sure it doesnt have any availability at all). The request has been submitted but I dont even know what day it is for. I booked a ticket to KC arriving APril 21st at 10 pm.
My goals for the last couple days on the ship are to record the accapella group singing the Chicken Song, eat more sushi, get room service once, and try more new kinds of sherbet from the ice cream guy.
Apparently I have a potential cruise partner (Naked/Stoecker) for a quick LA cruise, but doubt it has any room for us (actually I'm pretty sure it doesnt have any availability at all). The request has been submitted but I dont even know what day it is for. I booked a ticket to KC arriving APril 21st at 10 pm.
My goals for the last couple days on the ship are to record the accapella group singing the Chicken Song, eat more sushi, get room service once, and try more new kinds of sherbet from the ice cream guy.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Cruise, Day 7
Sweating my cleavage off in Ecuador. Buying souvenirs so hopefully someone wants them. Tomorrow we are at sea, then going through the panama canal, then maybe the next day we will be in Colombia I think. I am probably going to try out my new diving skills in Colombia if its cheap enough. Watched the KU game last night (was in the gym for over 2 hours trying to work myself hungry). They showed the games in the cinema and brought in nachos, chicken wings, etc. so inbetween workouts I recovered any calories that were lost. Did anyone besides me hear the announcers talk about people on cruise ships watching the broadcast? They listed four or five but not my ship. First they said ¨we know people are watching all over the world, so welcome wherever you are¨ and I said to the TV ¨I´m watching in the pacific ocean, just south of the equator!¨ and then he read my mind and mentioned cruise ships.
I just booked a ticket to New York for April 14 (will spend one night with ex-boss Heather in Miami along with Matt Parry) to visit David O, see some sights there that I haven´t yet, and then go over to Connecticut to visit Danae who just had surgery and will be in hospice care recovering for awhile. Might try to get to DC and visit Julie as well. Then I will most likely fly to KC on April 21 or 22, see the sights of Olathe East baseball and choirs, then fly to Fort lauderdale on April 29 to catch my april 30 flight to AK. I have a southwest credit to use so the three flights total will cost me $233. I always have commitment issues when I´m in an internet cafe and the pressure is on to get things done. Plus I am sweating in lots of places like my elbow cracks, my eyelid cracks, my knee cracks, my stomach cracks, and other cracks and I am hungry which makes me anxious being several blocks away from the free food supply.
On a sidenote, I suppose I am running from a sedentary, routine, permanent, boring lifestyle which would make me unhappy, discontent, fat, envious, bored, restless and mean. I figure my black sheep status is always in limbo, being neck and neck with my sister on issues like moving to Alaska, not being married, not wanting children, not having a career, not going to church, drinking alcohol, etc so I might as well partake in spastic and chronic travel without reason. (my other options are getting a tattoo (too much commitment), doing drugs (expensive), getting pregnant (results in a child), living with a boyfriend (wouldnt be opposed if they have the rent money) which brings me to the point in my run-on sentence, I´m thinking about voting for Barack and trying to convince my black sheep apprentice to do the same. Basically I´m curious and I think the country needs someone with new ideas who isn´t afraid to change things up. Feel free to start lecturing...now. I promise I´m listening. In other news, on the positive side, in my life I try to be nice to everyone I meet, I put a lot of effort into my friendships, I manage my finances better than most and I never dread going to work. And I think those things make my life pretty successful and justified even if a bit ridiculous at times and incomprehensible to some.
So, what else is new, you probably want a good story at least for reading all of that boring stuff. Well, today I met an older couple from Syracuse and we went to a nearby town to buy a Panama hat for the man and drove around in a cab to take a look at the town. They also tried calling home becuase their first grandchild was due 3 days ago. I translated for them, they paid for the cab and on the way there we saw some sort of accident with people standing around and a fire truck and I saw a man scooping up guts from the road. True story. He had gloves on and a bag and it looked like intestines or maybe brains.
I just booked a ticket to New York for April 14 (will spend one night with ex-boss Heather in Miami along with Matt Parry) to visit David O, see some sights there that I haven´t yet, and then go over to Connecticut to visit Danae who just had surgery and will be in hospice care recovering for awhile. Might try to get to DC and visit Julie as well. Then I will most likely fly to KC on April 21 or 22, see the sights of Olathe East baseball and choirs, then fly to Fort lauderdale on April 29 to catch my april 30 flight to AK. I have a southwest credit to use so the three flights total will cost me $233. I always have commitment issues when I´m in an internet cafe and the pressure is on to get things done. Plus I am sweating in lots of places like my elbow cracks, my eyelid cracks, my knee cracks, my stomach cracks, and other cracks and I am hungry which makes me anxious being several blocks away from the free food supply.
On a sidenote, I suppose I am running from a sedentary, routine, permanent, boring lifestyle which would make me unhappy, discontent, fat, envious, bored, restless and mean. I figure my black sheep status is always in limbo, being neck and neck with my sister on issues like moving to Alaska, not being married, not wanting children, not having a career, not going to church, drinking alcohol, etc so I might as well partake in spastic and chronic travel without reason. (my other options are getting a tattoo (too much commitment), doing drugs (expensive), getting pregnant (results in a child), living with a boyfriend (wouldnt be opposed if they have the rent money) which brings me to the point in my run-on sentence, I´m thinking about voting for Barack and trying to convince my black sheep apprentice to do the same. Basically I´m curious and I think the country needs someone with new ideas who isn´t afraid to change things up. Feel free to start lecturing...now. I promise I´m listening. In other news, on the positive side, in my life I try to be nice to everyone I meet, I put a lot of effort into my friendships, I manage my finances better than most and I never dread going to work. And I think those things make my life pretty successful and justified even if a bit ridiculous at times and incomprehensible to some.
So, what else is new, you probably want a good story at least for reading all of that boring stuff. Well, today I met an older couple from Syracuse and we went to a nearby town to buy a Panama hat for the man and drove around in a cab to take a look at the town. They also tried calling home becuase their first grandchild was due 3 days ago. I translated for them, they paid for the cab and on the way there we saw some sort of accident with people standing around and a fire truck and I saw a man scooping up guts from the road. True story. He had gloves on and a bag and it looked like intestines or maybe brains.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cruise, Day 5ish
In Lima, Peru, still alive. No longer on the involuntary Master Cleanse, systems have stabilized. DOing a lot of relaxing, no other young people on the ship. Been doing a lot of crosswords and reading Barack Obamas book. We are excited the ship will hopefully, satellite permitting, be broadcasting the Final 4 this weekend.
Decided to give up on studying for the CPA. 80 hours times 4 tests equals 320 hours i could spend learning something i enjoy, like maybe massage therapy or more spanish or even chess or how to change my oil, Im sure Id be pretty good at it if i practiced for 320 hours.
Internet is 65 cents a minute on the ship, 65 cents an hour on land so dont have time to write if-when i check it on the ship. we will be at sea tomorrow and in ecuador on sunday.
Does anyone want anything made from alpaca?
Decided to give up on studying for the CPA. 80 hours times 4 tests equals 320 hours i could spend learning something i enjoy, like maybe massage therapy or more spanish or even chess or how to change my oil, Im sure Id be pretty good at it if i practiced for 320 hours.
Internet is 65 cents a minute on the ship, 65 cents an hour on land so dont have time to write if-when i check it on the ship. we will be at sea tomorrow and in ecuador on sunday.
Does anyone want anything made from alpaca?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)