This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

Tuesday 1/30/18 8:30am Gulf of Mexico, Carnival Triumph, Promenade (near the coffee bar). I left the Booze Bar on Bourbon Street, buzzed, with bourbon drink in hand. I walked the street for only a short time when someone hollered at me about my shoes. Before I could realize what was happening, this dude started cleaning my shoes and telling me some stupid tale about shoes and kept saying “ten and ten.” I went to give him a dollar and he started to get aggressive, asking me for “ten and ten.” I pointed out his gold teeth and explained that I couldn’t afford gold teeth so maybe he should give me “ten and ten.” He walked away. Shortly after that, my friends texted me and invited me back to the hotel so that we could walk to dinner together. I was preoccupied with “ten and ten” guy and wasn’t really too excited about Bourbon Street anymore, so I told my friend’s that I’d be right there.

(Continued from Part 2) We woke up at 6:00am on Sunday. I rolled out of bed at 6:20, climbed into some clothing, and followed my friends downstairs in somewhat of a haze to the hotel restaurant for the breakfast buffet at 6:30. The buffet consisted of the usual: eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and orange juice – actual real orange juice made from oranges, which I was happy about.

Sunday 1/28/18 3pm The Booze Bar, Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana I am sipping an ultra sweet Manhattan at the Booze bar on Bourbon Street. It is delicious. 80s music is playing at a mild level, but the sounds of a busy Bourbon Street are directly behind me. The bar is right on the sidewalk with large double doors that are open letting a cool breeze into the bar. The street itself feels warm, however, probably from all the people. It is crowded as people walk the sidewalks and street and gather to listen to street musicians. There is a group of young kids banging on buckets with drum sticks and I can hear a tuba from a somewhere further down the street.

NOLA & Mexico Cruise Adventure Saturday 1/27/18 7am The Local, Albany Airport, Albany, New York I tried to go to sleep at 7:30pm last night, because I needed to get up at 4am for an 8:20am flight out of Albany. I did not fall asleep until close to 9pm and I woke up at midnight completely unable to get back to sleep no matter what I tried. At 1am, I picked up my phone and entertained myself with an endless queue of Fail Army videos until 2am, at which point I stopped fighting the inevitable and got up.  I am now sitting at The Local at the Albany Airport eating eggs, tater tots, and sausage for breakfast. I wanted to get a pina colada (because I am on my way south for vacation and nothing says vacation to me more than a pina colada), but the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol until 8am. My friends and I had joked about drinking tropical drinks in Albany in the middle of winter prior to our flight. It was a great photo op that was missed due to the 8am alcohol thing....

(*WARNING* Explicit Language) Counting Crows are calling their 25 th anniversary tour, Twenty Five Years and Counting. I wasn’t going to go because there weren’t any dates near upstate NY and concerts these days are expensive before adding traveling and hotels to the mix. But, I had taken some days off from work for some plans that ultimately fell through and decided to take a look at the tour schedule on somewhat of a whim. There were two dates that would have fit into my schedule and I checked out ticketmaster to see what seats were still available only days before the show. There was a lonely 6 th row seat at Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, which was enticing, so I started to plan out an adventure. On Friday, August 17, 2018 (it’s always apropos to see Counting Crows in August, isn’t it?), I packed up my car with blankets, a pillow, snacks, water, and a change of clothes. I plugged Mansfield into the GPS, dialed up Counting Crows on Spotify, and started my car… t...

2/7/7 11:55am America Social Pub, Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, Florida My moleskine notebook is almost full. I have a couple sheets of paper folded up in case I need a back up.

2/6/17 2:20pm  The Taco Spot, Hollywood Beach, Florida

2/5/7 1:25pm  The Taco Spot, Hollywood Beach, Florida I found no party last night, but wandered the length of the boardwalk to the south (about a mile and a half). Maybe tonight, I’ll go north. I went to bed around midnight and woke up at 9:30 this morning. I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, put on my swimming trunks and headed to the beach. I stopped off to buy a cheap beach mat on the way.

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...

Conor Oberst is my favorite songwriter. He sings about mental illness and melancholy, heartbreak and self help. His lyrics are clever and poetic, and they hit me hard in the place where my heart is supposed to be. I saw him play with Dawes -- who are another favorite of mine -- a few years ago at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY. A good friend had actually won tickets and gave them to me and another friend. It was a great concert, but Conor Oberst has written his best stuff since then and I got to hear it live on July 22, 2017 at Upstate Concert Hall.

September 7, 2016 9:00pm Daytona Beach Resort, Daytona Beach, Fl I had a tough time waking up this morning for no known reason whatsoever and my stomach felt sort of off. All this vacation food has caught up with me, I think.

September 5, 2016 9:30pm Daytona Beach Resort, Daytona Beach, Florida I spent most of today laying by the pool or floating in the pool. I attempted some boogie boarding; the waves were much more intense than yesterday, but I literally couldn't catch a break... seriously, literally. Anyways, the ocean wiped me out... wipe out? Never mind.

9/3/16 7:50am Plane, somewhere over the east coast. I woke up so early this morning that it should really be referred to as "last night..." I woke up "last night" at an ungodly hour to catch my flight to Florida. I had prepared myself for the early morning two days in advance by forcing myself to wake up earlier and earlier each day so that I would be so insanely exhausted Friday evening that I would fall asleep early enough to get enough sleep before the flight.  Since I normally go to bed at 12:30am and wake around 9:30am, going to bed early enough to get 7 hours of sleep before waking up at 3am is not an easy feat. I packed my suitcase the night before. Lots of plaid, of course. (Somehow, I managed to fit all of my things into that tiny suitcase...) And I set my alarm three times (just to be safe). Surprisingly, I actually woke up before the alarm. I did some last minute packing, put my bags in the car, and drove to my ...