This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

2/4/17 1:15pm Hard Rock Café bar, Hard Rock Café Hotel and Casino, Fort Lauderdale, Florida I woke up hard around 8am and slowly got myself up, brushed my teeth, dressed, and packed the last of my things in my man bag. Then, I did one last check of my state room before turning off the lights and closing the door for the final time.

2/3/17 6:40pm  Carnival Conquest, Aft Deck, Somewhere between the Caribbean ocean and Florida

2/2/17 9:45pm  Lido Deck, Carnival Conquest, Caribbean Ocean

2/1/17 11:58pm  Lido Deck, Carnival Conquest, Caribbean Ocean "Oh. I get it. The Mega Deck Party is not a Mega Party on the Deck. Rather it’s a party (a term, which is used quite loosely) on the deck, which is mega in size. In other words, the deck is mega. The party is... not. There are a few people here and there hanging out, but not much is going on…" I wrote this at 10:54pm. Just after taking this picture: It was six minutes before the Mega Deck Party was to begin. I walked to the Red Frog Rum Bar and ordered a pina colada. I put my man bag down. Then, the DJ started. The cruise director and a bunch of the cruise staff came out on the deck and within in minutes an actual mega party broke out!

2/1/17 10:05am Margaritaville, Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island There was a lot of loud thumping music last night when I returned to my stateroom. Sleep did not come easily, but it came. I awoke chilled and stuffed up. I took a shower, because that seemed to help my sinuses last time and it helped a lot this time as well. There were announcements from the cruise director, Eric, every twenty minutes or so about tenders and where to board them. You see, there is no pier at Grand Cayman and the ships just sort of float around off the coast while these small boats (tenders) bring people back and forth to the port. I dressed quickly, because I was excited about Grand Cayman, and went up to the Lido deck for breakfast, which was cheesy eggs again and two glasses of orange “juice” (in quotes because it’s more orange flavored juice than actual orange juice).

1/31/17 10:25am Aft Deck (inside), Carnival Conquest, Caribbean Ocean I woke up around 9am feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. The extra Allegra makes me feel like I’m in a jar of molasses or that I’m a bear that’s been tranq… uil… ized… I spent about a half an hour getting dressed before I went in search of more allergy meds that are not Allegra. They did not have anything in the Fun Shop, but they directed me to go to the Medical Center where they have various meds. I waited about five minutes while the male, Russian nurse explained the pain scale to someone who appeared to be Filipino. The Filipino man kept saying his pain was a 10 out of 10, despite not appearing to be in any pain at all. The nurse, in a Russian accent: “You are in the worst pain of your life? You don’t appear to be someone who is in the worst pain in their life. Do you understand ‘worst pain of your life?’”

1/30/17 12:30pm Key Lime Pie Company, Just off Duval St, Key West, Florida I slept fairly well despite loud thumping music coming from the lounge one floor below me. When booking this room, I was aware of the lounge and possible noise issue, but the lounge on my last cruise was lame and the parties died down by 10pm each night if they even lasted that long. On this ship, there are comedy shows in the lounge and for some reason they require thumping music. I awoke just before 8am and I turned over to go back to sleep. However, the cruise director came on the loud speaker and said that we have docked and are ready for Key West, which excited me. I laid in bed for about twenty minutes (I’m a  slow waker) and then started my morning routine. I put on long pants and a long sleeve shirt and packed shorts in my man bag. I wore sandals and went to the Lido Buffet for  breakfast. I ate on the enclosed aft deck (I think that’s what they are calling it...

1/28/17 3:15pm Albany International Airport, Albany, New York I am sitting in the Albany airport sipping a Jade Citrus Green Tea while watching a plane taxi down the runway and pull up to the terminal. I don’t think it’s my plane. It’s just under two hours until my flight so it’s likely not my plane. I am going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida (after a changing planes in Baltimore) for a Carnival Cruise to the Western Caribbean. I am very… hmmmm. Nothing. I am very nothing, I suppose. The excitement of an adventure is balanced out by the anxiety of any number of things that could go wrong. I am self soothing by breathing deeply, closing my eyes, and mentally walking myself through various scenarios where things go wrong and are easily fixed, despite the fact that they likely won’t go wrong to begin with. I’m doing this to calm myself. It’s working, but also subduing the positive excitement. Although writing about this in real-time is helping a little bit and I’m starting to smile (wi...

Alas, this is the final posting about the excellent cruise. I will have to take another vacation really soon. I enjoy journaling and putting the journal together with pictures in the blog format. Entry Date, Sunday 11/25. Day IX 9:30am I don’t have any cell service. It’s loud and crowded and confusing. People yell and the bus station workers try to help people by placing them in lines that don’t look like they go to anything. Most of the people who are leaning on their luggage or sitting on the floor appear to be youngish. College students, probably, who went home for Thanksgiving and are now awaiting their buses back to college. I was told to stand where I am currently standing, but what starts out as a line becomes more of a group of random people standing together near a wall. I want to get on a bus to Albany… I have a ticket for a 1:30 bus, but I was told that I can catch an earlier one by standing here. A young guy standing in front of me (assuming this is in fact a line) i...

I have fallen behind in blogging about the cruise again. There are about two posts, including this one, to go! I hope to have it done by the new year, so I can do a post about 2012 and looking forward to 2013. You know, the obligatory looking-back-and-forward type of thing. Anyways, here is the vacation journal:

I'm impressed that many friends, family, and coworkers have been reading my vacation adventures. It was nice to see such a huge jump in blog readership since writing about the cruise. Not sure where you all are coming from, but thanks! Entry Date, Friday 11/23. Day VI 12:30am. (NOTE: I probably should have included this entry with yesterdays since I wrote it at 12:30 in the morning. Last night. This morning. Same difference.) When I started writing about the trip, I had designated about a third of this notebook to the trip, thinking I wouldn't take up that much space. I ran out of the third and had to designate another portion. I have a writing problem... I'm now sitting in the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which is the only place to get food at 12:30 in the morning. The woman The freaking adorable woman who seated me is the same freaking adorable woman who has seated me here for dinners and lunches before. I think she works 24 hours a day... or she's a clone... I...

I've been a bad blogger. I was on a tear, writing out my journalings every night for about five straight nights. Then, I lost steam. Anyways, when we last left off, I was about halfway through the journal I kept while on my cruise to the Bahamas. Entry Date, Thursday 11/22. Day V. ( *Note: I did not write down a time in my journal. I also didn't write out a full entry. I just jotted down a list. ) After hanging out in the hot tub for quite a while, I went back to my room. I got dressed up and went in search of a turkey dinner. The main dining areas were full, but they were serving the same turkey meal in the Chinese Food restaurant, which was not serving Chinese Food tonight. I sat near a railing that overlooked Bar City. There was a pianist playing instrumentals of Italian songs. It was a nice atmosphere. The servings of turkey dinner were tiny... two small slices of white meat, two small slices of dark meat, a tiny scoop of stuffing and an even tinier scoop of mash...

Cruise: Part V. "Vee." Or Five. However you feel like pronouncing V. I left off with my wild night at Senior Frogs. From there, my pocket journal jumps ahead almost a full day (because I had a very busy day!). Entry Date, Thursday 11/22. Day V. 6:40am Ricardo is a drink server on the ship who keeps popping up. He's a very chill (not pushy) guy and says "Hey" instead of "Drink?" He strikes up conversations and knows my name. I blame him for being buzzed and a prune... 4 full hours in the hot tub. 4 mai tais. Happy Thanksgiving! I'm trying to decide if I should go eat and/or sleep. I really want to do both at the same time... I met loads of people in the hot tub today. Debbie works in a school. We chatted about the state of the education system and "kids these days." She has two kids who are on the cruise (supervised by her husband, currently; I asked). She tried to out "hot-tub" me and failed after 2 and a half hours. ...

Cruise: Part IV. I know many of you are on the edge of your seat to find out what happens next! Wait no longer. The adventure continues. (For those who are planning on staying up to see the Powerball drawing, hopefully, this helps pass the time) Entry Date, Wednesday 11/21. Day IV. 9:30am I woke up super early today (6:00am) to see the sun rise. Now, I don't know much about sunrises -- I'm never up before the sun and on the rare chance that I am "up" at that hour, I am definitely not awake enough to be aware of what the sun is doing. (There was another ship nearby. I wonder if they are taking pictures of my ship?)

There is an awesome moment that occurs from time to time and it's pretty much only men who get to have this awesome moment. Ties, when you buy them, are not tied; you have to tie them yourself. The awesome moment is when you tie a tie at the most perfect length on the first try. Entry Date, Tuesday 11/20. Day III. 12:30am Some may consider this time of the night to belong to the previous day... It's really a new day. Hmmmm... so. I just got back to the state room. Buzzed, I am. For sure. I ate dinner at Tsar's Palace. The food was meh... The cheesecake for dessert was so flavorless that I could only eat a few bites. I'm mostly disappointed in the cheesecake. I was dressed to the nines:

Entry Date, Monday 11/19. Day II. 8:20am Captains bah-log... The worst thing ever happened. I have an appointment today for an acupuncture consultation at 9:00am. I set my cell phone alarm for 8:00am last night and went to bed. It took sometime to fall asleep -- probably, partly due to the excitement of being on vacation and partly due to the shock of being on a ship in moving water. I was probably out around midnight or shortly after. My cell phone alarm woke me up at "8:00am" according to the phone. I did not feel right. It was like I got much less than 8 hours of sleep. Maybe 4? I snoozed a bunch of times, got up, dressed and put my watch on. I glanced at the watch: 3:50am. What? I double checked the time on the TV. My watch was correct. My cell phone had switched from EST to UTC. That bastard... I couldn't figure out how to change it back, so I did some fast math and set it for 1:00pm (which would actually be 8:00am) and went back to sleep. Last night was kinda f...

I disappeared from the internets and "real" life for 7 full days. It was the first time I had taken so much time off in a very long time (two years, I think) and it was very necessary. I took a cruise to the Bahamas out of New York City and I filled up an entire Moleskine pocket notebook with my adventures. Entry Date, Sunday 11/18. Day I. 9:30am. The sky is a pale blue through the wide shaded bus windows. The sun's light flickers from behind tall trees on top of rocky hills on the New York State Thruway. I am not the only plaid fan wearing a fedora on this Greyhound out of Albany and I smirk as I write this in my pocket journal, the letters appearing jittery from the jostling of the bouncing bus as it bounds toward New York City. I am due to arrive in about an hour (10:30am) though I now realize I don't have a city map and I can't recall where exactly this bus ends up. I put this thought aside; I'll figure it out when I get there. I woke up at 4:30am t...