Kristin Reporting!
March 2nd:
Well, ladies and gentleman, we’ve crossed the equator yet again. We have returned to the northern hemisphere (and, theoretically, we have returned to winter!). So, today we had the opportunity to watch the Queen Elizabeth (Cunard) version of the "Crossing the Equator" ceremony. It was interesting to be able to compare their ceremony to the one we saw on the Pacific Princess.
Overall, the Pacific Princess ceremony wins the “Best Crossing the Equator Ceremony” award! There were a lot of similarities between the two ceremonies, but the main differences were: 1) today’s Cunard event allowed more guests to be covered in food which is great for those participating but increases the boredom of the spectators as the process drags on; 2) the Princess Cruise event had more of a story and was a legitimately funny show– so it was hands down more fun and more entertaining.
[Davin Interjection: The Pacific Princess’s event also had a bit more risque commentary, so maybe it was too low brow for Cunard?]
Next, D had the excellent idea to take advantage of the pancake station (today's special lunch buffet food station– it changes daily) to have breakfast for lunch! These pancakes were more like American pancakes (thicker) than the crepe style pancakes that are served every day at the breakfast buffet. The recipe isn't quite right, but it's probably the closest I've ever tasted to our homemade batter so it was quite an enjoyable meal. We will save our remaining syrup to take advantage of this station again in the future. I have no idea how long it will be before it comes around again.
D and I are watching/listening to MSNBC's coverage of Super Tuesday when 11 different states are holding their Presidential Primary Elections. It's pretty interesting! Trump is kicking ass, because the other guys are splitting the vote. To stop him, either Cruz or Rubio need to drop out but they are neck and neck and refuse to do it! It's sort of hilarious. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton is currently running away with the Democratic nomination.
I’ve been working on our family and company accounts and need to go online to gather information or to put through payments. Before I connect, I make a list of what I need to do. Once I’m online, I must work on all items on the list simultaneously because of the delay for any one website to load. I’ll have 5-6 (or more!) different website tabs loading at the same time, then I click down the line of tabs entering passwords (etc.), and continue the task process on any pages that have successfully loaded, and skip the ones that aren’t ready to continue. It would be quite confusing if it weren’t for my pre-made handy-dandy list which keeps me on track. To me, going online is like playing a computer game. I have to accomplish all of my goals online in as few minutes as possible to preserve my total remaining minutes! (As ‘Gold’ members, we get two hours of free internet time per cruise ‘leg’. We try not to have to buy more, but if I do need to buy more, I try to do that on the couple days per cruise when they offer a “10 percent bonus” to the internet time purchased.) Let's see how quickly I got through my 'Online' list from today: 30 minutes gone– ouch!
March 3rd:
Today I did very little but watch the news and learn fascinating things about the Republican Presidential Primary! MSNBC is so interesting!
I can't believe what is happening with Donald Trump. It is an outrage that people are publicly supporting him when he is promoting hatred– stating he will ban Muslim immigration, screaming "Out! Out! Out!" at a black woman who was at his rally as his hordes of supporters push and shove her violently out the door, and he seriously wants to build a wall along Mexico like the Great Wall of China to keep illegal immigrants out. He has been publicly endorsed by the leader of the KKK and white supremacist groups! The Republican party is scrambling to stop him from winning the nomination because he’s crossed a line which, in any decent modern society, cannot be crossed.
March 4th:
Today I woke up after having another great dream idea. I want to develop it into a single book. I didn't bother to write the story out like other dreams I've had because I'd like to make it into a book someday.
I skipped choir today for two reasons. First, I developed a sore throat last night... I am taking zinc lozenges. I don't think it would be wise to go sing. Second, today at 1:30pm one of the craft classes that I've been waiting for was finally happening!
I went to the 1:30pm class to make a travel water color set. This is a really cool paint palette that packs flat but has 55 colors to use! The colors when concentrated in the pack are very dark, so you can't get a true sense of the color variety that is in the set from the picture. We started with two sheets of water color paper, glued them together, had to design the size (height and width) we needed, fold it, trim it, organize the 55 chips which were just given to us loose in a big jumble, decide what order we would glue them in, glue them down (I decided to make sure I could write their unique names down too), tape in the plastic sheet that will keep the wet colors from touching each other or the paper binding, use decorative tape to make it look nice, and finally glue in the magnet closure.
The class had the option to make a 15 color book for $8.00 or the 55 color book for $24.00. Only 4 of us did the large book. The other three ladies took about the same amount of time as I did. The whole project took me 2.5 hours!
I also bought two 'Aqua Brushes' for $8.00 each. A fine one, and a thick one. It’s like a pen but you fill the end with water and then you can water color with no need of a cup to dip your brush in. It is self rinsing too-- you squeeze it to let out clean water and wipe it with a napkin.
It's a very awesome kit.
I'll try it out in early April-- I have to catch up on the blog, then learn Japanese, then tour one week in Japan. So, realistically I won't have free time to play with paint until we get back on board on March 24th. (Note from the future: As I edit this entry on April 11, 2016, I can note that I STILL don’t have time! Ahhhhh! This blog which is totally amazing and awesome has consumed my entire life! But, I have used the water color kit to add color to an ink painting I did, and to paint two birthday cards for Davin.)
After dinner, we did the gym and jacuzzi.
We’ve also made friends with two Australians, Nikola and Andrew, who sit next to us at dinner. They invited us to go dancing at 9:15pm. D said, “No”, but I said that I'd bring my bear to take pictures with them! So, enjoy the attached pics. Andy says that Erich needs a red beard! He hopes I will sew him one by the time they come to visit us in San Diego. He says Scott sounds like a real cool dude. He has an classic Mustang imported from Michigan, so he is excited that Scott is into cars and offroading. I'm happy I could make some friends on this trip. We are welcome to visit them when I get Scott to Australia someday.
Time for one Babylon 5 and then bed!
March 5th:
I had a GREAT day today!
First I'm so thrilled by the lockets that I got to make for myself and Scott! I particularly love Scott’s. I made them at the 10AM craft class. Again, I was the last one to leave! I take my crafting seriously!
I did not expect them to provide the charms to put inside. The teacher is quite clever and the charms are actually charm bracelet charms, not charms made for this kind of necklace. So, sometimes the charms are too big. For example, there was a classic car that I would have liked to try in Scott’s, but it was too big. I think it could have been modified by trimming a bit of the engine and trunk off-- keeping it balanced overall-- but the tools we had were not adequate. I pocketed the charm though for future potential modification.
The funny thing was that the charm selection was particularly geared towards MEN! I assume this is because this was not the first time this class was held, and all of the feminine charms have been picked out each time, but the masculine charms remained behind. Available for selection were: Hammer, Hand Miter Saw, Dykes/Pliers, Classic Car (I got the last one), Skull, Scimitar, Dagger, Axe, Pistol (think Western). The second largest theme of charms were Native American: Kokopelli, Arrow Head, Indian Head with Feathered Headdress. (There was also a toothbrush of all things!)
OH! I forgot the BEST part! Each necklace cost $16.00 instead of the ridiculous price Scott and I were considering paying from a magazine last fall, and I think what I came up with is more personal than the options they had anyway. The tools are particularly suited to myself and Scott!
After locket making, I fit in lunch, then ran to choir only to find out there WASN'T choir today. I read the daily program wrong (or rather didn't read it at all???). But then it was only a few minutes til the start of the behind the scenes tour.
The tour was GREAT! We saw so much that we will be posting a separate blog post just to talk about the Behind the Scenes Ship Tour! Check it out!
No video or photos were allowed on the behind the scenes ship tour, but our souvenirs were: 1) a picture of all of us on stage in the theater; 2) a Cunard branded kitchen apron; and 3) a pin that says "Behind the Scene's Tour" over images of the Cunard Ships. We also had our picture taken with the Captain while sitting in the Captain's chair wearing a Captain's hat. Those pictures are presumably available for purchase in the Photo Shop. We haven't seen ours yet. We will go check them out tomorrow or the next day. (We later checked them out and decided they weren’t good enough to pay $25.00 each!)
Overall a wonderful, wonderful tour, and I'm glad it was because it cost $120 per person!
We are going to try to get on the Queen Mary 2 Behind the Scenes tour as well so that we can compare any differences.
It would have been nice to see the Crew Mess Hall, and a Crew Cabin, but no such luck.
At dinner, our Aussie friends told me that they had spent time today on a mission to get Erich a beard. Of all things! I was so happy that they did such a nice thing for me! They found a woman on board this morning who knits every day in a coffee lounge and she is willing to do it for free because she thinks it’s just wonderful that I'm carrying this bear around the world. Apparently, I am supposed to watch her do it so I can tell her how big to make the beard! I think this is such a wonderful idea, so we are going to try to meet this woman the day after tomorrow– since tomorrow is a Port Day.
We did gym as usual and then had a pizza for a snack. Dinner was actually wonderful today– Tuna Sashimi and Chicken Curry (Indian style). But it was a bit lighter than usual so we were both needing a bit more calories– hence the pizza.
Tomorrow we will be going snorkeling in the Philippines! It should be fun!
[Davin Interjection: I just wanted to mention that our workout schedule is to alternate every other sea day between weight lifting, and cardio on the virtual reality exercise bike. The VR exercise bikes are called “Trixter”. They have a video game built in, where you have to outrun AI racers, and where the difficulty varies depending on whether you are going up or down hill.
Believe it or not, the game makes this exercise a heck of a lot more fun! Back on the Pacific Princess, I was using the normal exercise bike and just pedaling away, and while I always managed to force my way through it, it was just grueling. Having an actual goal (ex: get to the top of this hill; don’t let those guys pass me!), and a terrain that varies improves the experience a lot. I don’t even mind doing the exercise bike now, even though it can still be grueling. Technically the bike also allows you to steer it, but that sucks (too clunky and unresponsive), so I just set the steering to automatic and use it as an exercise bike.
Not too many people use these VR exercise bikes either (probably most don’t realize you can set the steering to automatic). There’s someone named DC305 who is the only person to make it to the end of the game (at least since it was last reset). I suspect he was either on a world cruise or on the crew, because it takes a long time to get through all the stages (based on his times, I suspect the crew since most world cruisers are 75+).
Anyway, he is in pretty damn good shape, because a lot of his times are like 30 seconds better than mine! I’ll keep working at it though! I’ve managed to beat him a few times!
As for weight lifting, it’s actually somewhat problematic for me because it badly exacerbates my dizziness problems. After completing 5 overhead press reps and 5 squats, I feel almost on the border of losing consciousness. I just work through it though, after all, it’s not like I have any other choice.
That being said, considering most people don’t even exercise when there’s nothing wrong with them, I think it’s testament to my incredible stubbornness that I refuse to give up even in the face of my problems!]
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