"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a
damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarly
pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every
funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand
of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from
deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking
people’s hats off–then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon
as I can." (Herman Melville, Moby Dick)
All that relaxation undone in a single hour.
Yes, I spent an hour trying to upload a post about everything I learned on the cruise. Erased in a single minute.
I hate technology. Back to the ship I go.
Second try:
- Don’t shift in your seat during an art auction. When the auctioneer has pounded his gavel and lifted it to you, you may discover that you’ve become the proud owner of a new piece of art. You think I’m kidding. Good thing I like the piece. In fact, we liked it so much that we bought two more that we like even better.
- A cruise ship is the most international place in the world. You will be served by every nation and every tongue.
- The gentle rocking of the ship cures insomnia.
- The odd mixture of people cures writer’s block.
- You can and will eat unceasingly. If not for the huge size of the boat, which required a lot of walking, and the excursions, I would now weigh approximately 478 lbs.
- It’s the most sociable place in the world. I have no less than 213 new bffs.
- Your feet can and will burn. Get that SPF 50 all the way down to your toes.
- Take bugspray. The Jamaican bug’ll get you. Seriously. I don’t know what those things are, but they’re itchy!
(Who is that random guy behind us?) - You won’t read as much as you think you will, partly due to the 3,289,492 (to be exact) activities on the ship, and partly due to the hypnosis of the ocean "blending cadence of waves and thoughts" as Melville puts it.
- The ocean is, in fact, that blue. It looks like gallons of azure dye were dumped into the water.
Searching for Moby Dick–ahoy, mateys!
My An Affair to Remember–isn’t he handsome?
Discovering the Black Pearl–arrgh!
Sail ho! Bear down on the chase, me hearties. No quarter when we gain on ‘er. (Translation: I see a ship! Get the ship we’re after, crew. No surrender will be accepted.)
