Cruising, part 7

I got back on the ship and practically floated up to the seventh deck. I promptly ordered a pina colada, a real one with rum this time. After doing the Jets chant from the ship's deck, I took a few minutes to unwind. I stood on the upper deck and snapped photos of the bright orange sunset, the white sailboats floating on the sparkling blue water, and the large crowd of people gathering on the pier. I headed back to my room and changed into a green Jets polo shirt. In the bar, I passed one young guy in a Patriots jersey. All I could do was laugh. We chatted for a minute and I tried to be respectful. My last words to him were "I hope we see you in the playoffs." I played trivia, but bombed it. I guess I should have known sake was made from rice, the pasta whose name means "little turnips" is ravioli, and tennis balls have no stiches.

 

Dinner was a little sad. Half our group didn't show up, so it felt a little empty. I enjoyed my arancini, tiger shrimp, and New York strip steak though. I tried a sugar free strawberries Romanoff...and I will never eat a sugar free dessert again.

 

From there, it was back to the large theater for one more show, called Boogie Wonderland. It was more dancing and 70s music, mostly R&B. A lot of Commodores, Abba, and Marvin Gaye. After that was over Carlos, the tour director, had a presentation to thank the entire cruise staff. He also did a countdown: the top ten questions asked on tour. There were such gems as "Is this island completely surrounded by water?" and "Does the ship generate its own electricity?"

 

There wasn't a whole lot going on for the final evening, so I headed next door into schooner to watch the Giants and Vikings Sunday night game. Never mind the Giants were already done because...you can't spell eliminated without E-L-I.

 

They also did Michael Jackson trivia in that bar, which I'm glad I didn't do. Of the 14 songs, I would have known maybe 5. As I listened to the song clips it struck me how creative and weird a lot of his music sounded! After that, I went back to the lobby area for the finale disco party. I watched above from the stairs but couldn't really dance with my injury. The male staff dressed like the Village People, which was pretty funny. After that was over, I decided I had enough and I just went into my room for the night and packed my bags. I could have gone to see the same comedian, but just didn't have interest.

 

None of my devices charged overnight. We had two outlets in the whole room and they were positioned right on top of each other, right above the light switch. So when I plugged my larger portable charger in, it would usually turn the lights on! It just shows how antiquated the ship is getting. Oh and when our bill arrived, we got a $35 mini bar charge. And we didn't use a single item! So now we have to work on getting that reversed.

 

Immigration went pretty smoothly. We caught a cab for $27 back to the airport. The Miami airport makes Chicago look easy. It's packed, the drop off area gets totally congested because people can park and wait. We made our first flight, though the plane was delayed an hour because we didn't have enough snack packs. No, seriously. Then, we had our three and a half hour flight to Chicago. And everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly. They announced our baggage claim, asked the flight attendants to prepare for landing, and all of that.

 

All the sudden, they stopped making announcements. A few minutes later, the pilot comes on and explains that the runways are iced in Chicago and they can't clear them. So they were going to put us in a holding pattern and if they couldn't get the runway clear, they would have to reroute us. So after about 30 minutes, we wound up getting rerouted to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

 

We landed in Minnesota and were told this would only take about 30 minutes it was a fuel and go. So they asked nobody to leave the plane because the terminal was not equipped to handle all the people that were on the airplane. We had about 170 passengers and there were 7 people in each row with two aisles. So this was a pretty large plane. Eventually some people did get off. And I noticed for a while that there wasn't any fuel going on the plane and that the people who had left including my mother, weren't coming back on. It turns out that they would not allow the passengers to reboard from the terminal.

 

Eventually they had two supervisors come on board and make sure everybody was sitting in the same spot where they had been And we wound up staying in Minneapolis for about 3 hours. There's a small window where we could get it to Chicago so we left. Now I knew the flight from Chicago to Minneapolis takes about an hour. But this flight was taking a little bit longer. However, we did land in Chicago. They announced afterwards that they nearly had to reroute us a second time, but this was going to be to St. Louis. But we had landed so we figured everything was good.

 

Then we sat on the runway, because there wasn't a gate that could handle our sized aircraft. That turned into two more hours of waiting. Finally we got a gate. Of course, we had to wait another 15 mins for the jet bridge to be driven to us. After getting our luggage and car, we got home about 11 pm, over eight hours later than expected.

 

We went from 85 degrees and sunny to 30 degrees, cloudy and windy. Nice to be home...I think.

Cruising, part 6

My ankle and foot are still in a lot of pain 24 hours later. And even though I wonder what's going on it is rather relaxing to not have social media access or the ability to follow news and sports scores.

 

After choosing salmon for dinner, we went to see a comedian, who was pretty good. Definitely from New York, he had a lot of energy. He did a lot of impressions. After a little while, we went to the Love and Marriage game show. There was a couple married two months, one married 12 years, and another married 36 years. The middle couple stole the show. She was a total alpha female, vivacious, perky, and outgoing. This guy was a total nerd, I'm sorry, but he was so awkward. One of the questions was the infamous "Where's the weirdest place you have ever made whoopee?" With his kids in the crowd, this guy, Eric, says, "Did we have to finish the act?"

 

Another great one was what things could you make bigger and smaller on your wife. Chris, the newlywed said he'd make his wife's blue eyes bigger and her problems smaller. Good answer, smooth talker. Steve, married 36 years and looking like Rex Ryan, said he'd make his wife's boobs bigger and ass smaller. No shame! And Eric...After about two minutes of hesitating said he'd make Tara's calf muscles bigger and breasts smaller. She just looked at him in disbelief like, "Who the hell did I marry?" This game show definitely produced the hardest laughs of the trip.

 

Then we went to the Spectrum lounge for the battle of the sexes. There were competitions like holding a keychain in your butt, walking a few steps, and doing it in a plastic cup. Then there was blowing up balloons and pooping it five different ways, such as back to back and laying down. Just total silliness. And yes, I would have gotten involved if I could have walked normally.

 

Right after that came the Quest game, which is definitely adult oriented. There were maybe 30 teams and teams had to answer these very unusual requests. It started with five cents in pennies, very tame. There was everything from a woman with a body piercing besides her face and ears, a man dancing in woman's shoes, a woman doing the worm, a lesson with an entire set of false teeth, a man and woman sharing pants, and a man with three bras on his head. The last one was taking three minutes to dress a man up as the best looking woman possible. So we had 35 guys in basic drag showing off their best moves. Insane.

 

I woke up on Sunday, still in some pain. I needed to limit time on my feet. So of course, that was the day we're going to Key West. And we're delayed an hour due to wind conditions, plus we all had to go through immigration before we even depart the boat.

 

We got off the ship around noon. As I walked onto the pier, I noticed a lot of palm trees, a lot of small, newer looking shops, and plenty of heat and blue sky. We had tickets for the conch train, which is a narrated street train tour of the island. It lasted about an hour and there were just three stops. I think the old town trolley would have been a better bet; that one had eleven stops. Plus, our driver was not exactly what I would call skilled. He spoke really fast and he admonished people over the loudspeaker when they were talking. He also said cell phones should only be used in case of emergencies. Not exactly a people person.

 

Key West itself felt a lot like a tropical version of a coastal New England town. Very little space, a lot of small houses crammed in, no parking to speak of. Oh yes, and plenty of disgusting patriots fans. More on that later. Unfortunately, there were also a lot of rainbow flags, which couldn't turn me off more.

 

After getting off the train, I went into cvs for a bottle of ibuprofen. I immediately took two and though the pain subsided a little bit, I can't say I was ever pain free. We walked down Duval St, which is the main drag in Key West, stopping at Carolines. The Key West lemonade was delicious, it had orange vodka, key lime vodka, pineapple juice, lemonade, and a splash of cranberry. And we split peel n eat shrimp and conch fritters. Really good food. That was where I encountered my first patriots fan, a pretty obnoxious arrogant jerk. That's pretty much 95% of that fanbase. I felt it getting heated so I just ignored him. He said to his wife I had to be a bears or rams fan...which would make no sense at all. Enough about him. Actually be was the second, the first was the bartender at the "World's Smallest Bar." I just walked by, shook my head at her, and shouted "Go Jets." I also saw the famous Sloppy Joe's bar, which was packed as well.

 

We went down Duval about eight blocks to Kermit's, which is known for their key lime pie. I tend to be a little skeptical of them, as they're usually too sweet or too tart. This one had a great balance of both and the Graham cracker crust was nicely spiced too. Definitely one of the two or three best key lime pies I've ever had.

 

We did done more waking and even found a sports bar with two Patriots flags hanging outside. I don't know, but apparently a lot of this douchebags from New England go to Key West!

Mom was getting a little overheated so we caught a conch train for the rest of our ride. Of course, it was the same driver. We passed the Ernest Hemingway house and the Southernmost point in the USA, both of which were absolutely packed. I would have liked to have taken some better pictures, but that just wasn't happening.

 

My foot started to bother me again, so though we headed to a few more shops, I just needed to sit and have a drink. Mom began walking towards the ship and I just wasn't ready to go back on. Neither was she. But I decided to walk to a bar and catch the end of the Jets Patriots game. There were eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Jets were up by seven points. I figured I'd try to catch the end. I limped over to Hogs Breath, a total dive with tons of license plates on the wall. Apparently mom used to go there with my prick of an ex-stepfather back in the day. I drank a local brew and saw New England tie the game, sending it to overtime. But despite the Jets offense betting unable to do anything in the fourth quarter, there was good news. Pittsburgh did somehow lose to a depleted Baltimore team, which put destiny right back in the hands of the Jets. So my heart was pounding by now, side I also knew I only had a half hour to get back to my ship. Then the ace of the patriots special teams, Matthew Slater, decided to kick the ball to the Jets to start overtime. The Jets promptly drove down the field, with long pass plays to Quincy Enunwa and the great Brandon Marshall. Then came the game winning touchdown, a six yard arching fade pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Eric Decker.

 

Suffice to say I had a few people staring at be when I let out a long primal scream. I did wait a moment, just to make sure there was no penalty flag. I walked out of the bar to the ship, barely feeling any pain in my foot! Shame I didn't have time to find that Patriots bat and stop in.

Cruising, part 5

So it is Saturday, in the latter part of the afternoon and the sun will be going down soon. I'm back on the public balcony, which is on my deck, overlooking the navy blue water. Far to my right is CoCo Kay, a private island for Royal Caribbean cruisers. That's where I spent most of my day today and it has been pretty memorable.

 

After loading up on eggs, bacon, fruit, and cornmeal biscuits in the Windjammer, we headed to the bottom of the boat to make our way to Coco Kay. We got there early around 8:30 and we had an hour wait before our snorkeling excursion in what is called Stingray city. We explored the small island and noticed the bright pops of color on every building. Showers, food stands, bathrooms, athletic facilities, plenty of lounge chairs, hammocks, jetskis, etc. I was especially happy to finally see some hammocks for the first time all trip. And I even saw an iguana and a few wild roosters too.

 

We went snorkeling with about 20 people. We gathered up in a speed boat and headed on a rocky journey about ten minutes off shore. We stopped near a fenced in area that was shaped like a triangle. There was just a tiny dock for us to get set up on. They gave us a mask and snorkel. The fenced in area was only around four feet deep. Within minutes, stingrays were all around us. I freaked out, I guess I watched the movie "Piranha" one too many times. I tried to stay calm but I just wasn't holding or feeding the guys. I did pet one and it felt like a wet mushroom.

 

There are actually 41 stingrays in the pool, one male and 40 female. Lucky guy, I guess! And the females grow as large as five feet in diameter. When one of them brushed up against my hip, yeah, I could have passed out. It wasn't what I expected, but it was cool to do one time.

 

We headed back to the island after 45 minutes and I laid in a lounge chair for a bit before the barbecue. And what a barbecue it was. Burgers, jerk chicken, ribs, hot dogs, Mac and cheese, Cole slaw, salads, beans and rice. It was loaded. And so was I after two plates.

 

I walked over to the activity area, where they have a big inflatable water slide and the beach soccer and volleyball courts. A few folks were kicking a ball around and I joined in. Now I haven't played soccer in maybe ten years. I have no fancy footwork skills, now or then.  But I can defend and, obviously, I don't play half ass.

 

Before long, we had ten players. We had people from the USA, Colombia, Mexico, Zimbabwe, and who knows where else. I played defense. I went against some good players and did well for a while until I started to get tired. Eventually we got to 8 on 8 on that little court.

 

There was a really cute Latin girl who I talked with a little during the game. I expected her to have an accent, but she didn't. She actually played division 1 soccer recently in California and she had some mad soccer skills. I even set her up for a goal, which was pretty cool. Sadly, I lost track of her shortly after the game.
 

After we were done, my left ankle was hurting and I had a little trouble walking. I blocked a lot of hard kicks and I had been kicked in the ankles a lot. I was just spent. I needed to take a shower, use the bathroom, grab a drink, jump in the ocean, and sleep all at once. Mom was already gone so I was on my own.
 

At one of the bars, I drank a Bahama Mama, with coconut rum and orange and pineapple juices. They gave me a cup of ice and I must have looked ridiculous trying to ice my ankles and feet. I went to the first aid station and they had no ice packs. I was just befuddled. Probably the only civilized first aid station without ice.

 

So I jumped in the water for a bit, before taking a quick outdoor shower. Then, I just left the island on the boat to head back to the ship. I struggled up the steps, but got to my room where I changed clothes, grabbed a Coke, and headed to the balcony to reflect and blog. And just two minutes ago, the sunset appeared to my right. It's hard to imagine life getting more relaxing and free that. The hard part though? Replicating a feeling like this in Chicago.

Cruising, part 4

Before we went to dinner, up my mother decided that it really did not make sense to keep our beverage package. We have to spend $42 day and we can only spend $8 per glass wine. Per person that takes about 6 or 7 drinks today to equate for the beverage package price. Thankfully, we were able to get them cancel. And I have to say it's giving me a sense of freedom, that I don't have to drink a certain amount of liquor each day.

 

Dinner was great again with our six friends. They have great life stories and enjoy a good laugh. Once we finished, we headed straight to A Chorus Line theater to watch a Broadway show of 60's and 70's rock n roll music. There was a lot of Bee Gees, Ray Charles, Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Tina Turner.

 

After that, I went right into Boleros, which is the Latin themed club. I listened to a band party dance music and classic rock and roll for a while. I drank probably about three glasses of cabernet. I even saw an attractive, tall brunette whom I had seen the previous night that appeared to be with her family. When they had left her alone the first night, I walked up to her, but she told me that she didn't speak English. Now I don't know if it was true or because she just wanted me to go away. I decided not to go up to her this time.

 

Then I headed straight to the pool area for the pool party. They encouraged people to wear white, so I had my white linen shirt on. The staff was leading all kind of dances on the edge of the pool. I was just hoping nobody would slip and fall in. We did a conga line and this girl was trying to hold on to me. But I felt her pulling on my shirt and I was just hoping she wouldn't stretch or even rip it! I danced for maybe an hour and had a great time. Once the floor became flooded with teenagers early 20-somethings, and they were just playing current dance mixes, that was my cue to leave.

Cruising, part 3

So I woke up around 7:15 on Christmas morning. We went to breakfast, had some granola, some eggs, and some inedible turkey sausage. Not incredible, it was inedible.

While we were eating, we docked in Nassau, in the Bahamas. We went to a Sunday morning non denominational service with Father Dennis. There were only eight people there total, including mom and I. Strangely there were maybe 300 people at midnight mass. We sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Silent Night." I requested the latter. It was very simple, but very nice and intimate. Certainly different than the 7,000 people at Willow Creek!

We got off the ship and started walking around a little bit. It's a very tightly crammed area and this island is all about tourism. All they're trained to do is sell you stuff and make money, because I guess that's how they keep surviving. A lot of people got off to go to Atlantis, which is a pretty famous water park. But the excursion from the boat to Atlantis cost $189 per person which seemed absolutely ridiculous.

We checked out a couple of tourist shops and a beach or two and I don't think it's a place I'd want to stay in the future. I did buy a beaded necklace in the Straw market. It was mostly white with trimmings of orange and royal blue. It just made me laugh, because it will go perfectly with my Mets stuff.

Apparently, there was a big parade going in that day because they had bleachers set up down the main streets. We went back to the ship and hung out by the pool for a couple of hours, getting lunch during that time. After tanning a while, I jumped into the water, and as I came up it was maybe the saltiest water I've ever tasted. Even saltier than the Atlantic Ocean! Safe to say, I did not go back under water.

I checked out the Compass deli, with no plans of eating. Little did I ever expect them to be carving roast beef for sandwiches. So yes, I had one, though I think the dark brown gravy they put on and I did not ask for hurt my stomach. So then I headed to the balcony and fell asleep. Then it was off to the gym for thirty minutes on the treadmill. I have no idea how far I ran because the treadmills track in kilometers, and not miles. I lifted a few weights and called it a workout. The water fountain barely got any water out, which was really frustrating. Why they can't install a jug, I have no idea. So sweating profusely, I power walked to the bar and began guzzling tap water. I probably went through six or seven glasses.

One thing I'm realizing is that as much as I'm trying to forget about the clock and about time, its very hard for me to just let go of thinking about the time. I tend to be pretty organized, and it's just difficult for me to get out of that Monday. I just like to plan stuff and I like to plan what events I am going to, even when I'm on a cruise.

Cruising, part 2

For dinner, we were assigned with three other groups of two. There were married couples from Raleigh and Philadelphia and two female friends from Denver. The company was enjoyable since one of the women was a former American Airlines employee and one of the couples lives in Raleigh, which we used to live in as well. I had a spinach salad, a mojo marinated pork chop with sweet potatoes, and for dessert, peach and blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream. The food was really good but I really enjoyed the conversation as well. We're going to be eating with these folks the next couple of dinners, so I'm happy that it worked out so well.

From there, we went into the central lobby area where a band was playing rhythm and blues music. Then, they had a little girl light up the Christmas tree in the lobby. It wasn't the biggest tree ever, but still nice to see all the lights come up at once.

Then they asked for contestants for a game called "Finish that lyric." I volunteered to go up hoping that there would be older music, and not current pop hits. There were nine other contestants besides me and I really wasn't feeling overly confident. But in the practice round, I got a Bee Gees song, so I knew I was in good shape. I survived the first round by answering an Elton John song, while six people got eliminated. Then I survived the second round as I got a Jimi Hendrix song right. They said it would be harder, but they gave me "excuse me while I kiss the sky," from Purple Haze. Only one of the most famous lyrics ever.

In the finals, there were just two players left: myself and a guy from Michigan. He got lyrics from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and couldn't get it right, so I was declared the winner. For fun, they gave me another song, a Temptations song that I knew a little, but I couldn't quite get. For my efforts, I got a keychain, a lanyard, and a big rectangular magnet. Truth be told, there are a lot of songs given that I would have missed. At the end of the day, I just got lucky.

I accepted a few congratulations, then just killed a little bit of time. I went to a Christmas concert, also in the lobby. It only lasted thirty minutes. I was really hoping for more. The band had a full horn section and the four singers were really talented too.

The staff decided to schedule an adult party at the same time and in the same room as the singles get together. It felt like a loud club with a lot of crazy laser lights and a lot of thumping music and an incredible amount of awkwardness. I had one non alcoholic tropical sunrise beverage, but after maybe 15 minutes, I was ready to go. I went back to the room and slept on the rock that was supposed to be my bed. As usual when I sleep on a new bed, I think it took two or three hours for me to fall asleep.

Cruising, part 1

So we woke up at 1:30 a.m. and were out of the house at 2:15. I was going off about 3 hours sleep, so suffice to say I was not feeling happy, alert, and alive immediately. We got to the parking facility around 3 and while it wasn't cold, the wind was just oppressively strong.

We got to the terminal just as security was opening up. Thankfully with mom's employee ID, we slipped the entire line. The odds of us making the five am flight to Miami were a little bit against us. Well, not only did we get on, but they upgraded us to first class seats. I know first class isn't what it was, but I like not having to share my arm rest. I sat next to a guy who was going to Quito, Ecuador, he must have been in his sixties. So I talked about my mission trip there about 11 years ago. He was a little slow, but he's a guy who lives to travel and that's pretty cool.

Without much to do in the Miami Airport, we just went straight to the port. I didn't realize that this place would actually be like an airport with the cell phone lot, terminals, and pick up etc. After paging through security and about three check in points, we got on the boat. The first thing we did was purchase a beverage package, since we were basically posted to do so. We went for the one with beer and cheap wine, but no hard liquor. More on that later.

But the Christmas decorations inside really stuck out. There was a reggae band playing Christmas songs. I must say "Joy to the World" sounds a lot different with a steel drum. I saw a really nicely crafted gingerbread house. And they were selling  drinks already, including a few inside pineapples and coconuts. For ten bucks, I passed. We went up to the eleventh deck and had a great buffet lunch. I had carved roast beef with horseradish, mashed potatoes, salad, poppyseed roll, and even a little paella. Really good food.

After walking around the ship and unpacking our bags, I took some time to chill outside by the pool and take pictures of downtown Miami. Actually, let me say a little more about the room. Our room was so ridiculously small, it seriously felt like our bathroom is smaller than it would be in an airplane. And there are two outlets total, one on top of another. The good thing is that it's on the seventh floor, which is where the Boleros bar, conference rooms, and the balcony of the main entertainment venue are as well. Also, we have a public deck to walk on; only two decks out of 12 have that. And being right in the middle of the ship, it doesn't vibrate like it would if if you're on the bottom. Plus, we also have a window even if we don't have balcony to you drink with us.

We left the port around 4:15 and the view leaving Miami was marvelous. I went down the pool side where some folks were dancing to the classic dance pop tracks. I joined in for one or two.

The gym is a mixed bag. They have about 8 treadmills and about 15 exercise bikes, but no ellipticals. Plus, one or two of the weight lifting machines are out of order right now.

For drinks, I've had a beer and a couple of virgin coladas. The cool thing though is my package allows me to drink a couple of different types of red wine. Time for dinner.

Resigned

Well, I am done. After eleven months, tonight was my final shift and I am no longer a regular employee at Gino's East. Feels pretty good. It was nice making some extra money, but it wasn't really enough and I'm glad to have my Saturday nights free again.

Severed

If I choose to be friends with someone, I expect them to be loyal. What that comes down to is I can't be the only one putting any effort in. If I'm the only one making a phone call, sending a text, arranging a time to get together, etc, then I can only assume the other person doesn't really care.

For two years, I thought JC was my friend. I asked him to do different things, including going to Milwaukee on my birthday this past year. He was a fellow Mets fan in Chicago. Sort of. Then I found out he rooted for the Mets and the cubs, which qualifies him as a fraud. Not a big deal, but it confirmed something that I had been noticing in him. He always seemed to be automatically agreeing with anything I would say. It was like taking to a puppet. I could say "hey, it's 90 degrees in December," and he would just nod and say "yeah" in an excited manner. Translation: he lacked a backbone.

Now I knew he was in a running group with a small group of mutual friends, including my ex. But last night, I found out they had gone off Facebook and had started dating. And to see her friends spew the garbage of "She deserved the best, she got the best." I don't know if I should laugh or be disgusted. A real friend would actually tell you that he wanted to date your ex. He wouldn't have you find out through a third party on Facebook. Barring an apology from him, it's safe to say there will never be a reconciliation between us.

Over/under: 3 months. I regret ever spending a nickel on that woman.

Song pick: "Asking Too Much of You" Marshall Tucker Band

Accelerate

Work has picked up tremendously this week. Out of the 50 or so institutions within the family that I work at, our specific school is the second worst with unpaid aid. What that comes down to is students not turning their required documents into our department.

We're getting to the end of the calendar year and we're trying to get as much of that aid to pay as we can. Unfortunately, a lot of these students don't seem to understand that they have a repsonsibility to not just go to class and and do well, but if they want their aid, we need certain documentation.

So what it comes down to is we have to go to their classes, drag them out of class, walk them to our office, give them the document, and watch them fill it out. Meanwhile they're not getting their aid.

It may be a lack of knowledge or a lack of caring. But it's tough when we have this sizable gap to cover and we have to rely on a group of people who aren't proving themselves to be reliable. We have two weeks left. I can't say we have a definitive goal besides doing the best we can.

Song pick: "Sometimes I Cry" Chris Stapleton