Oct 29, 2017

The sun came out this morning. I was sitting at the bow as it broke through, a cup of tea in hand. The air temp was inching up to 70 and no wind at all.

I met Jim later at the International Café for croissants and coffee. My wanderings had finally located some comfortable chairs in the, oh-duh, library. Almost all the other chairs in all the other bars and rooms are too short in the seat and/or they sloop to the front. I guess a million butts sitting on them has broken the stuffing down.

We attended the lecture on Cabo San Lucas, our first port of call. A geologist, sort of an Indiana Jones type, told us all the sites to see and how to spend a lot of money. Also, how to get sunburned, drunk, hassled and left behind. He was pretty entertaining, but it left both Jim and I with a “why bother” sort of feel about the place. We will probably go late and leave early, just so we can say we’ve been.

Had a late breakfast/early lunch on the Lido deck, listening to football on the big screen, then spent some time sunbathing. We went back to our room to lounge on the balcony and watch the water flow by. It is really blue today.

I joined a Flash Mob class and learned the moves to second the part, the “Celebrate” portion of the dance. There will be three pieces and we shall gather to flash mob dance on the last day at sea. There was a tiny white woman on my left and a tinier Asian woman on my right and they ran me into the ground, to the count of eight.

At 3, we attended the Maître D’ wine tasting seminar. Sat with some folks from Arizona who wanted to know all about the fires. They had friends in that area. The wines were quite good, paired with the canapes (champagne and cavier – who knew?) and the host was jolly. Told a joke about his grandfather, drinking too much on Halloween. His wife surprised him when he came home, jumping out of the closet wearing a devil custom. “You don’t scare me,” he said. “I married your sister.”

Afterwards, we listened to the Budapest classical trio again and had a few more cocktails. The bartender, Honey, let us know if we ordered Jack Daniels instead of Markers Mark, she could pour us doubles. It has to do with the cost, Jack being less expensive than Makers. Great, just what we need, doubles.

Had dinner at the Bordeaux again, gotta love passing the line up using the Club Card. Salmon and Caesar for me, pork chop and seafood cocktail for Jim.

We listened to some more music afterwards, B&B in hand but I for one was done-done-done. An early bed for me but Jim stayed up late, adding this narrative to the blog.

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Oct 28, 2017

A slow day for us. Foggy in the morning, turning to overcast. No wind to speak of, a little cool but comfortable. There were patches of blue late in the afternoon, still no wind, quite nice.

I had oatmeal and pineapple for breakfast, early, in the Horizon Food Court. The staff hovered, constantly asking if they could bring more coffee-juice-water-tea… I joined Jim later for cappuccino and scones later in the International Café.

Some wandering, and we ended up in the theatre for line dancing. Jim sat out but I paired up with a tiny older Chinese lady who giggled the whole time. The instructor played “his” song – “come on girls, let’s go!” Fun and sweaty, learning The Hustle.

We split up then; Jim to access the Internet Café, me to sit outside and read.

We then searched the boat for each other. I left a note in the room, said I’d give it one more search of the Lido deck and then was going to lunch. He found the note, went to the wrong deck but we found each other there. “Our eyes met across the room”.

Had lunch at the Horizon Café, typical steam table stuff. Had a medley of desserts – the jello was the best. They looked good, though.

Went back to the room for reading and naps.

Around 4 o’clock, we went downstairs to the Atrium bar to hear an excellent classical trio from Budapest and have a couple of drinks. Finished two crossword puzzles then watched the gatherings of “formal night” cruisers posing for their formal portraits. Lots for sparkly ladies and resigned men.  

Canapes in the room again! We lounged a bit, changed into our formal wear, which is black pants, and had dinner in the Horizon. Nothing particularly notable, although the pineapple flambé was “interesting”.

We moved on to the Princess Theatre for a performance of “What a night”, a mix of Cole Porter tunes – Thoroughly Modern Millie, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, Let’s Fall in Love, etc. It was well performed but dull. Maybe we’re too jaded? It lacked excitement somehow.

Both of us were worn out at that point so we called it an early night and went to bed. 

As always, stay TOONED.....

Oct 27, 2017

The wait is over! 

 We are here, on board, sun shining, barely a breeze (water coming out of my head), rum punch in hand. The bus ride was uneventful and swift. We walked off the bus about 1:15 PM and  crossed the street, then, through security, registration, up the ramp and in our room by 2 PM. GREAT way to travel.

(here's our room)

The Coral Princess seems smaller than our last ship but all the amenities are here. Our room is more comfortable, and the balcony is at an end so there’s only one wall and it is to our left, the front is to the right,so there’s a clear view all the way right up the bow to the corner of the bridge.

We wandered all the levels, finding our way about and then stood at the bow to watch as we passed under the Golden Gate (See ya in a month baby). It doesn’t seem so high, until you notice the little tiny birds (pelicans!) flying by underneath. The fog was hanging nicely off the coast, so it was almost, perfect sailing weather. Chatted with an older couple from Benicia. They’d tried to 'out local' us, they’ve been here for 20 years, so they would know. Then it was homecoming week and weren’t those fires awful.

We then snagged a cocktail (those rum punches are toooo sweet, all most makes up of them being free) and watched (the east bay legends...) “Rhapsody!!”. 

They looked like they should be playing reggae, but they belted out a wicked boot-scoot boogie, Y-M-C-A, and other assorted 1980 line dance favorites, (Jim was not too amused), It was hysterical.

While we aren’t the youngest people on board, we are by far younger than most. We sat at the Crooner’s Lounge ( Cool! The Rat Pack! wait where are the tunes?) and  watched the parade go by. There was an excellent trio playing classical tunes, (down stairs, and they were great!).

Our Club Class got us past the line at dinner and into a quiet corner of the dining room. We passed a waiter sauteing garlic for lamb chops that sold me (Jim had prime rib), there was also chilled melon, roasted potatoes, haddock and potato soup and asparagus, culminating with a cheese plate for me and "creme bro lay" for Jim. A very nice bottle of Wild Horse Pinot Noir rounded it all out and... damn! – bed time indeed.

It wasn’t all the booze, really.  We avoided the crowded elevators – all those stairs wore us out, really. 
We are on the 10th floor and the food and drinks are from the 5th to the 7th and the 12th to the 15th( there is no 13th of course) (Too early to use the elevators...but it won't last)

STAY TOONED...

I have a sticker up on my living room wall that simply says "If you're not outraged...You're not paying attention".  Sadly , the longer it stays there the more profound it seems to become.

We seem to be faced with the reality the the "American People", as a whole, are truly dumber than a bag of hammers. WE, the american people, have put into the position of power over us a group of folks that, it seems, have not the least concern for what happens to the majority of us. The idea of party over populous rules the day.

"Obama-Care", the death nail of all that we have striven to obtain, must be abolished!
Even if that means that we go back to when a lot of folks got their medical care in the emergency rooms instead of a Doctors office. Never mind that I have a hunk of bone disconnected from the other half, that poor person with a bad cough and fever must come first! After all "you're paying for it" . These folks that don't have the cash, or don't want to budget the cash, have just the same rite to the same healthcare as I do. As long as the ER doesn't find out that I have the $$ to cover the treatment I can get it for free too! I feel healthcare should be a 'perk' of living in the greatest nation in the world. Hell they have it in the poorest countries why shouldn't we have it here? OH Dang, I forgot...that's Socialism...and that is a bad thing.

Social Security!!! That bastion of free entitlements! This must be stopped!?
If the powers that be really want to do away with this freeloading drain on the economy, I want my money back! I have been paying into this 'socialist' program since I started working back in 1970. Granted it was not much, a dishwasher only made so much. But I was promised a return on my investment when I was old enough to retire that would see me through the rough times. The word is "It's going broke" 'we just can't seem to make ends meet'. 'Too many baby boomers are creating too much strain on the system'. Well that might have been the case if the powers that be, for many years, hadn't taken vast sums of money from the coffers. It seems that the social security bank account had a lot more money than it needed at the time and was ripe for some 'Peter pay Paul' financing. The answer is simple...remove the cap on the social security tax limit. I disagree that it means a tax increase, it is just a commonsense remedy to a limit that made no sense when it was written. Why limit the payment to your insurance when you have made "X" amount of money? Maybe we should not allow the people who make "X" amount of money in their retirement to collect any money at all!? No, that would be just as wrong.

I don't profess to have the answers. Maybe the 'Red Folks' have the right idea.
If you can't pay the freight you don't get the rewards. We should just kick them to the curb and wait for the people scoopers to come and take them away. We can worry about who will make our bread, pick our crops, clean our bedpans in the hospitals, deliver our morning papers, take our trash away every week, even gather our eggs for our breakfast. And don't worry about who will package our food and check us out at the grocery store or bag our groceries.

It will all be like magic! The money will all float to the top of the pyramid and the bottom, out of the grace of their hearts, will do all the toiling that is needed.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY? OR WHAT!

It's DEAD, Jim

"No one's noticed, but the band's all packed and gone..."

Well it's finally happened. The Boys have called it quits. The line goes "What a long strange trip it's been" I get that, but would amend it by adding "Man what a ride"

I've been following The Grateful Dead since roughly 1970, it was the summer between Jr High and High School. Workingman's Dead 1970. The first time I heard Uncle John's Band I felt a vibration, a calmness, a joy that I would embrace for the next 45 years. American Beauty came close on it's heals with Sugar Magnolia, By the time The Grateful Dead (aka Skull and Roses) came out I had my seat secured on the bus.

"There is nothing like a Grateful Dead Concert" that's what the bumper sticker says. Right as rain. There was always something other worldly happening at or around Dead Shows. They played The Great Pyramids and there was an eclipse of the moon. They were in the middle of playing "Fire on the Mountain" up in Eugene, Oregon when Mt St. Helens blew up. Playing "Dark Star" and a meteor streaked from one side of the horizon to the other. At the 'first' of the last shows with the boys closing out the first set with " Viola Lee Blues" there appeared over the stage a double rainbow.

Not strange by itself, but in California, in late June, during a 4 year drought I would classify it as a 'Dead Thing'. Hell, on our way over to the show we looked out the car window and in a clearing amongst the clouds there was a rainbow cloud, yup another 'Dead Thing'.

From the 'Twirlers' to the 'Air Garcias' to the wide eyed starers there was always 'things to see and people to do' at a Dead Show. Strangely, with all of the mind altering opportunities available to the attendees, you couldn't get a beer to save your life! Unless you had access to the 'Back Stage' area and lucky me I did for years. The Daughter learned how to pour a beer from a keg back stage at Shoreline Amphitheater, she was all of maybe 8 or 10. It was all good.

Now before anybody cries foul over me bringing my daughter to Dead shows at such an early age let me just say this...There is no crowd more loving and caring as you will find at a dead concert. Sure there were people with there heads resting on cloud-9 or further out there, but they were generally harmless to all but themselves. I recall a guy that would frequent the Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium very calm and rather proud. He would wander the mezzanine and hallways, back straight, head high groovin' to the tunes. We referred to him simply as 'The Naked Guy', the reason should be obvious. Yup, it's a 'Dead Thing'.

What was it about Dead shows that made me keep coming back night after night? Aside from the tunes there was a energy coming off that stage I could take home and use the next day. Five night runs were the norm in the Bay Area, be it Winterland or the Kaiser or the Coliseum, and we would hit them all. I wasn't rich but when the tickets are comped they come with backstage passes they are even harder to turn down. Even so, five nights in a row should have been a killer but instead I came out exhilarated every time.

Ah but the tunes, the music, the vibes. It was said the if you walked by Jerry and listened real hard you could hear the music coming out of his pores. (Words by Hunter, Tunes by Jerry. They made the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year.)

One night they opened with Sugar Magnolia and morphed into another song and went on to give one hell of a show and after the encore they finished Sugar Magnolia. In a way they only played one song that night, one really long song with a lot of verses. Melding and morphing was what the would try every night. Usually it worked, though sometimes, we just let it go.

The time has come I guess to not really let it go but to bring it closer. Break out the old tapes, the new DVDs, or maybe a guitar or a kazoo, and rejoice in what has been one long wonderful ride. For those poor souls who never got to see them live on stage, I am truly sorry. For the rest of us, well...It's a 'Dead Thing'

If we all had an Asterisk...

as·ter·isk - [as-tuh-risk] - noun

1. A small star like symbol (*), used in writing and printing as a reference mark or to indicate omission, doubtful matter, etc.

2. Linguistics: the figure of a star (*) used to mark utterance that would be considered ungrammatical or otherwise unacceptable by native speakers of a language as in * I enjoy to ski.

3. Historical Linguistics: the figure of a star (*) used to mark a hypothetical or reconstructed form that is not attested in a text or inscription.

4. Something in the shape of a star or asterisk verb (used with object)

5. To mark with an asterisk.  

 *I stole that from...http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/asterisk

I keep seeing this on TV and print ads, all kind of ads and promises everywhere; seems the one mandatory thing they have in common is - the asterisk.

I ask: why can't we all live by that rule? Imagine if we could say anything we wanted and all we had to do is carry around a little asterisk on a stick held over our heads?

"I will stand for all the hopes and dreams of the voters in my precinct"*

*Provided the vote falls on the Sunday of a month ending with 'M'.

Or,

"I promise to do all of my homework and get good grades"*

*On any course taught by immigrants from Guam 

Or, 

"I won't spit on your burger"*

*when you are watching

Or the ever popular asterisk before the claim -

*use only as directed.

*must be 18 years older to order

What if we put an asterisk (*) after "IRS" on our tax checks? On the back side, we could add, *Endorsing this check signifies your agreement to fight to the death against anything that might cause the harm or death of anything, plant or animal, in the future. 

*Please note: the reading of this small rant has a 17.5%  chance of the following side effects:

·          lower intestinal disorder

·          pain in the knuckles

·          pain in the ass

·          constant nagging in the ears

·          cat/dog hair in your soup

·          split ends

·          being called 'the Krazy Kat Lady" (HEY! It's only 7 cats and THEY ALL HAVE NAMES!)

Hey, it was just a thought, J