Saturday, February 24 2007
Saturday, February 24 2007
Grand Princess
Galveston, Texas
7:09
The ship has docked. The first of the express walk-off passengers are departing. I am doing the non-express, so they have my suitcase and theoretically I'll be disembarking around 7:45.
The social / cocktail thing was OK. Open bar, though they were pushing nasty "rum punch" at first. Had one of those, a black Russian, and a too-sweet mojito. Stood and talked for the most part. A number of passengers came by and looked to see what all the noise (talking) was about – it was at the bar outside in the back of the boat. Weather by this time was overcast-ish and not warm.
Napped after that, then packed. Went to get some tequila at the duty-free, as I'd missed my chance for that in Cozumel. All they had was Cuervo and Patron, damn, can get that in Seattle. So, didn't get any. Went to dinner. A couple things I noticed on the way there were transformed by the powers of ego and imagination as having something to do with me, the coin-toss landing on "positive" this time, so I immediately felt good for likely no real reason. That feeling lasted through dinner for the most part.
After dinner, went to the Pop Star (karaoke contest) finals. Was in the Vista Lounge this time. Quite a few from our group were there to root for the two that made it to the finals. The lineup:
1. Joe – Neil Diamond song. good, sounded a lot like him. Boring though.
2. ? from Kansas – sang Bobby McGee, decent singer, but not really too exciting.
3. April – Ice Ice Baby this time, complete w/ a costume (sweats and a tank top, shades). Threw in some freestyle at the end. Before she went up, M tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's your girlfriend!". She was pretty good, though it wasn't as fun as her first one. Think she was self-conscious this time.
4. Jen – "Just Get Here". VERY nervous. But she did really well considering, you could see the nervousness on her face, but couldn't hear it in her voice. The backstage-cam hostess got her confused with Dana, it was pretty funny.
5. Dana – some country song. Had on heels, jeans, and a cowboy had. She can sing. Apparently sang backup for Streisand once. Had the stage presence and all that. Too good for an amateur competition, really!
6. ? from Boston – sang "O! Pretty Woman" again. Pretty well, sounded like Roy. So-so stage presence though.
Voting time. The four/five of us decided on Dana (I would have voted for April but there was no way I could convince the group to vote for her). While the votes were counted, they showed some crew karaoke candids / bloopers on the screen. Was actually funny. The audience had been so-so this time, it was not as easy to really cheer for people. Anyway, April won. She was surprised. Think our group split the votes between Jen and Dana. I expected Dana to win. Though, on the backstage cam, she said (about Streisand), "She's not the bitch everyone thinks she is!" which was apparently pretty shocking in this family-type crowd. April got to do an encore, so it was Bust a Move this time. Even more self-conscious this time.
After that, hung out a bit w/ folks, talked to Jen, who was still red-faced and flustered. Then I came up to my room and debated what to do next.
Decided to go up to the nightclub. Got and 1800 + G&T. Was finishing the latter when I saw April and her two friends walk in and go to the bar. Anyway, as I saw them leave the bar, went there and got another shot and G&T. When I came back, she was sitting at the barstools behind the dance floor. As I approached, she turned and gave a very cheerful "Hi Taylor!". Talked a little, congratulated her, etc. She didn't think she would win, "no singing talent". I said if she didn't have talent, she wouldn't have won. Sat for a bit, awkwardly. Noticed her drink was empty – "What are you drinking?" "Nothing! ha!" as she held up the glass. "Can I buy you another one?". Said she was waiting for her friend to come back (curly brunette one), if she didn't they were going to leave. If she came back and they were going to stay, I could buy her another. Saw her friend come up the walkway, she came up and the 3 talked for a bit. Last call for room-charges was announced, it was 12:30 maybe? April turned and asked, "What are you drinking?" "Gin and tonic". "Hey, that's what she's drinking!" (points to curly-haired friend). "This is a vodka tonic" "Would you like another one?" She smiled and nodded. Went to the bar and got one of each, brought them back. A bit later, a song came on (heard it before, but don't know what it is), she said, "we like this one" and they got up to dance. I watched for a bit, then went out myself. Noticed L and a friend were out there too.
Danced for a while. The music was OK to good. Had a lot of fun dancing. Haven't danced much in the past few years. The 3 of them went down to the bar. I sat out for a few songs, went out and danced some more. Floor mostly empty, people I knew were all gone. Was about 1:45 by this time. April and her friend (straight-haired brunette; they had a picture taken together on the first formal night, it was up in the gallery) were at the bar talking to a short-haired blonde woman. Hmm. Getting the feeling that I'm not her type. Anyway, figured that was that, so came back to my room. Still very drunk. Flopped face down on the bed, for 20 minutes or so. Went to bed. Woke up what seemed like immediately afterwards – alarm clock said 5:52. Got up with the alarm at 6:00. Got breakfast, came back, finished packing, wrote this.
It's 8:05 now. They've just finished calling for express walk-off passengers, so it shouldn't be too much longer.
14:37 CST
ATA flight 6042
Just NW of Dallas, Texas
Long, long disembarkation / bus process. They called our disembark code (purple) at 8:15. Went down to deck 5 and lined up. At which point we didn't move until 9:30. A back-up in customs apparently. Stood around, trying not to fall asleep. No hangover, but very tired. Plaza area was filled w/ folks from our group. (the drink cart is here now, more later . . . ok, just got a ginger ale, which sloshed on my pants as I took it from the stewardess) Finally got off the boat, then stood in line for 5 minutes in the terminal. Got our bags, stood in line for customs. My line went fast – no questions, just straight through. Others not so lucky – they're training new agents apparently.
Moved my toiletries from the backpack to the suitcase, then got on the bus. Four buses for the charter, there was some chaos w/ seating, families trying to sit together etc and the bus people not being any good at all at dealing with such things. Completely full bus, smelled like ammonia, tiny seats. Boring drive to the airport. The buses stacked up near the plane, then sat for 30 minutes. TSA wanted to spot-check all passengers. So they had to set up some tables outside (it was windy and raining off and on), then each busload went through two lines, having their luggage hand-searched and their persons checked w/ the wands. Gave up my bottle of water. That took I don't know how long, seemed like forever.
On the plane – picked a seat at random, then realized people were going back to their same seats from the flight down. So, back to 40D. Oh – the sign outside the airport had said "Threat level Orange, expect delays" or something like that. Don't know what that was all about. Anyway, bumpy first few minutes. Rain and wind in Houston. Dust storm at Dallas – got some good pictures of that from above.
15:37 PST
Beginning to descend into Seattle. Overcast and cold there, of course. Hope my ride doesn't have to wait around since 3, but I don't know if he'll be able to find out about the status anywhere. By the time I knew we'd be late, the cabin door was shut.
Still not quite sunk in that the vacation is over. Wonder how / what will be different on Monday.
Grand Princess
Galveston, Texas
7:09
The ship has docked. The first of the express walk-off passengers are departing. I am doing the non-express, so they have my suitcase and theoretically I'll be disembarking around 7:45.
The social / cocktail thing was OK. Open bar, though they were pushing nasty "rum punch" at first. Had one of those, a black Russian, and a too-sweet mojito. Stood and talked for the most part. A number of passengers came by and looked to see what all the noise (talking) was about – it was at the bar outside in the back of the boat. Weather by this time was overcast-ish and not warm.
Napped after that, then packed. Went to get some tequila at the duty-free, as I'd missed my chance for that in Cozumel. All they had was Cuervo and Patron, damn, can get that in Seattle. So, didn't get any. Went to dinner. A couple things I noticed on the way there were transformed by the powers of ego and imagination as having something to do with me, the coin-toss landing on "positive" this time, so I immediately felt good for likely no real reason. That feeling lasted through dinner for the most part.
After dinner, went to the Pop Star (karaoke contest) finals. Was in the Vista Lounge this time. Quite a few from our group were there to root for the two that made it to the finals. The lineup:
1. Joe – Neil Diamond song. good, sounded a lot like him. Boring though.
2. ? from Kansas – sang Bobby McGee, decent singer, but not really too exciting.
3. April – Ice Ice Baby this time, complete w/ a costume (sweats and a tank top, shades). Threw in some freestyle at the end. Before she went up, M tapped me on the shoulder and said, "It's your girlfriend!". She was pretty good, though it wasn't as fun as her first one. Think she was self-conscious this time.
4. Jen – "Just Get Here". VERY nervous. But she did really well considering, you could see the nervousness on her face, but couldn't hear it in her voice. The backstage-cam hostess got her confused with Dana, it was pretty funny.
5. Dana – some country song. Had on heels, jeans, and a cowboy had. She can sing. Apparently sang backup for Streisand once. Had the stage presence and all that. Too good for an amateur competition, really!
6. ? from Boston – sang "O! Pretty Woman" again. Pretty well, sounded like Roy. So-so stage presence though.
Voting time. The four/five of us decided on Dana (I would have voted for April but there was no way I could convince the group to vote for her). While the votes were counted, they showed some crew karaoke candids / bloopers on the screen. Was actually funny. The audience had been so-so this time, it was not as easy to really cheer for people. Anyway, April won. She was surprised. Think our group split the votes between Jen and Dana. I expected Dana to win. Though, on the backstage cam, she said (about Streisand), "She's not the bitch everyone thinks she is!" which was apparently pretty shocking in this family-type crowd. April got to do an encore, so it was Bust a Move this time. Even more self-conscious this time.
After that, hung out a bit w/ folks, talked to Jen, who was still red-faced and flustered. Then I came up to my room and debated what to do next.
Decided to go up to the nightclub. Got and 1800 + G&T. Was finishing the latter when I saw April and her two friends walk in and go to the bar. Anyway, as I saw them leave the bar, went there and got another shot and G&T. When I came back, she was sitting at the barstools behind the dance floor. As I approached, she turned and gave a very cheerful "Hi Taylor!". Talked a little, congratulated her, etc. She didn't think she would win, "no singing talent". I said if she didn't have talent, she wouldn't have won. Sat for a bit, awkwardly. Noticed her drink was empty – "What are you drinking?" "Nothing! ha!" as she held up the glass. "Can I buy you another one?". Said she was waiting for her friend to come back (curly brunette one), if she didn't they were going to leave. If she came back and they were going to stay, I could buy her another. Saw her friend come up the walkway, she came up and the 3 talked for a bit. Last call for room-charges was announced, it was 12:30 maybe? April turned and asked, "What are you drinking?" "Gin and tonic". "Hey, that's what she's drinking!" (points to curly-haired friend). "This is a vodka tonic" "Would you like another one?" She smiled and nodded. Went to the bar and got one of each, brought them back. A bit later, a song came on (heard it before, but don't know what it is), she said, "we like this one" and they got up to dance. I watched for a bit, then went out myself. Noticed L and a friend were out there too.
Danced for a while. The music was OK to good. Had a lot of fun dancing. Haven't danced much in the past few years. The 3 of them went down to the bar. I sat out for a few songs, went out and danced some more. Floor mostly empty, people I knew were all gone. Was about 1:45 by this time. April and her friend (straight-haired brunette; they had a picture taken together on the first formal night, it was up in the gallery) were at the bar talking to a short-haired blonde woman. Hmm. Getting the feeling that I'm not her type. Anyway, figured that was that, so came back to my room. Still very drunk. Flopped face down on the bed, for 20 minutes or so. Went to bed. Woke up what seemed like immediately afterwards – alarm clock said 5:52. Got up with the alarm at 6:00. Got breakfast, came back, finished packing, wrote this.
It's 8:05 now. They've just finished calling for express walk-off passengers, so it shouldn't be too much longer.
14:37 CST
ATA flight 6042
Just NW of Dallas, Texas
Long, long disembarkation / bus process. They called our disembark code (purple) at 8:15. Went down to deck 5 and lined up. At which point we didn't move until 9:30. A back-up in customs apparently. Stood around, trying not to fall asleep. No hangover, but very tired. Plaza area was filled w/ folks from our group. (the drink cart is here now, more later . . . ok, just got a ginger ale, which sloshed on my pants as I took it from the stewardess) Finally got off the boat, then stood in line for 5 minutes in the terminal. Got our bags, stood in line for customs. My line went fast – no questions, just straight through. Others not so lucky – they're training new agents apparently.
Moved my toiletries from the backpack to the suitcase, then got on the bus. Four buses for the charter, there was some chaos w/ seating, families trying to sit together etc and the bus people not being any good at all at dealing with such things. Completely full bus, smelled like ammonia, tiny seats. Boring drive to the airport. The buses stacked up near the plane, then sat for 30 minutes. TSA wanted to spot-check all passengers. So they had to set up some tables outside (it was windy and raining off and on), then each busload went through two lines, having their luggage hand-searched and their persons checked w/ the wands. Gave up my bottle of water. That took I don't know how long, seemed like forever.
On the plane – picked a seat at random, then realized people were going back to their same seats from the flight down. So, back to 40D. Oh – the sign outside the airport had said "Threat level Orange, expect delays" or something like that. Don't know what that was all about. Anyway, bumpy first few minutes. Rain and wind in Houston. Dust storm at Dallas – got some good pictures of that from above.
15:37 PST
Beginning to descend into Seattle. Overcast and cold there, of course. Hope my ride doesn't have to wait around since 3, but I don't know if he'll be able to find out about the status anywhere. By the time I knew we'd be late, the cabin door was shut.
Still not quite sunk in that the vacation is over. Wonder how / what will be different on Monday.
posted by taylorsherman at 1:41 PM
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