A lazy day

Chinese New Year: I wore a Chinese jacket and they have a celebration planned. The Matre De of the d Chinese coolie with diamond studded sandals on and dark nylons. Later he appeared in his usual uniform.

WHAT I LEARNED SO FAR TODAY

TMI: it takes me at least 30 min and more to take all my sprays, inhalers, cough medicine, etc. to clear out my lungs and UR tract in order to be human around people. Still coughing attacks are brought on by breads and cold drinks. Sigh…

DOWNLOADING: Do not try to download a magazine and the audio. I ate up 3-45 min this morning trying to download the Economist. So I’ll still with what I already have downloaded and wait until we are near free WiFi when on shore in some civilized area which won’t happen for at least week.

TV feeds internationally: are more measured than those feeds domestically. It’s all relative of course but it is interesting to see that there is less and some visible attempts to be more balanced.

OPINIONS: it is important to withhold impressions of people until you have a number of opportunities to get to know them. I am reminded of this over and over.

AGE Groups: We have such a spread of ages on this cruise, more than in the past I think. The diversity, in whatever category you might choose, is more than in the past.

I try to learn the names of each person I meet including (and especially) staff. A very tall young man in photography from eastern Europe has a very difficult (for me) name to pronounce. So yesterday I finally got it right. The big grin on his face was worth it. The name is Urush; that’s phonetic as I can’t see his name tag. It is pronounced like Ur (as in your) roosh.

Laundry: at this point, we are getting it back within a day. Nice.

GLAD we took: all of our prn meds as they have all come in handy. They were among the bulkiest things we carried but at this rate, most will be consumed by the end of the cruise.

Perfume: Don’t let the lady spray you, especially on clothing, or you will be terribly sick of the fragrance pretty quickly. And nothing short taking it off and laundering it will make even  a part of it go away.

Our own celebrity: there is a man who always dresses in light colored suits (baby blue, yellow, cream), wears a white fedora, and a pink lei. The other day I told him he looked like Truman Capote. I’m not sure if ge took offense or not but he clearly wants to be remembered and noticed as he dresses this way every day.

Hula dancing: is held just before trivia in the morning so I am learning some of the moves and their meanings. The teacher is delightful and speaks loudly enough she is easily heard. But it seems so incongruous when she laughs as it is more like a guffaw. She’s doing a great job with a group that includes men, women, and all age groups.

Harmony group: the director of this group we have seen on other cruises’ and he is VERY good he takes these disparate people and they perform a beautiful selection of songs periodically. Quite amazing.

Pets: the farmer to the day said her kids made a pet out of a calf on the farm. They raise Charlais a quite beautiful animal. But one of the calves grew to be over a 1000 pounds and still thought it was a pet so the kids had to be careful when it brushed up against them.

Observing men entering the lounge for trivia: it is as if they have a string tied to their umbilicus and are being pulled ahead with it.

Kiss the fish: found my photo. Man that fish was ugly.

Well duh!: Ed and I have long tried to figure out how to have one part of the cabin cooler than the other. So tonight I was storing some stuff in an obscure part of the cabin and lo and behold there is a second temperature control. Who knew?

I’m including a formal portrait here so you can see how spiffy Ed looks in his La Cosa Nostra tux ensemble.