Friday, March 10, 2023

February 15, 2023 – At Sea – Mostly Cloudy – 79F

It’s truly a beautiful day at sea – warm – no wind – reduced humidity.  The water is blue, and the waves are small. The sky could be bluer, but I'll take what I can get. I was up early enough (no big surprise there) to catch the sunrise in the porthole cam.  The ship's position is shown below.

I had the usual pancake combo today and got a bonus because there was sour cream on the buffet (for the huevos rancheros - gracias Mexico).  The breakfast was good, and the Windows Café was practically empty – I ate inside because it was wet on the veranda. 

I am not speaking until 2 PM today so the morning is wide open.  I ordered an iced decaf mocha from my new favorite barista, and Ellen and I spent the morning in the Living Room.  I am making slow progress on my new Robert Crais book.  This book is word dense so it will take me a little longer to finish – it’s an interesting book because it deals with the Japanese Mafia – the Yakusa – and how they operate in Los Angeles.  The book is again set in the 1980s, so Elvis Cole always has to be aware of where pay phones are and at one point, used the “Yellow Pages” to find the address of a night club. How nostalgic.

The ship is having its “Onward Brunch” this morning so at mid-morning, we went to the Discoveries Restaurant for the Brunch.  I had lox and cream cheese on an English Muffin – a one off thing due to the lack of bagels – which was not all that great.  I should have asked someone for a bagel.  I only had half the muffin and instead substituted that All American favorite – a roll with butter dipped in coffee.  I also had a sugar donut to round out a nutrition-free meal. The Restaurant was not crowded, and we did get a great seat by the window on the Port side.  

Entertainment was provided by members of the Onward Orchestra.  The Brunch will satisfy the lunch requirement today.

My second talk, “The CSI Phenomenon: Forensics on Television”, was scheduled for 2 PM.  I wasn’t sure how this would go or how many people would actually come to this kind of a talk.  I counted people before I started and by the time I started there were between 150 and 170 people in the Theater (only an estimate as it is difficult to get an accurate count).

Notice that I am standing right at the edge of the dance floor.  I do like to get close to the audience but no too COVID-close.  

This session turned out to be more interactive than most – someone brought up “The Kardashians” and that changed the direction of things for a while.  The audience continued to be engaged and contributed to the flow of the talk.  All in all, the session went well – I spoke to a few guests following the talk and the feedback was positive.  I had fun during this talk.  The talk ran 48 minutes despite the tangents.  One passenger gave me a book recommendation – “Fair Warning” by Michael Connelly – I put it on hold online.

After changing clothes, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the shady side of Deck 5 – it was absolutely wonderful out there – most of the clouds cleared and the temperature was perfect and no wind or humidity.  I just watched the water go by with the help of a Strawberry Daiquiri (Ellen had a chocolate Banana Daiquiri). 

Tonight is “German Night”, which translates into English as “there is nothing to eat on the buffet”.  We moved to The Patio, where I had the Vegetarian Lasagna.  I’ve had it before, and it was totally different tonight – I scraped off the top layer of puffy cheese and just ate the veggies underneath.  Ellen shared some Salmon with me.  We had strudel for dessert.

We went to the theater to get good seats for Martin’s headliner show but that was futile since the Orchestra was finishing up their dance show.  

The headliner tonight was supposed to be Fred Klett, comedian.  But Fred was MIA in Salaverry and no one could locate him (Martin did say he was OK) so the schedule was modified. Another comedian will join the ship later in the cruise. 

Roy is out of isolation and he and Martin came over and the four of chatted before Martin’s show.  I gave them a status update on how my sessions were going.

Martin put on a great show at 9:30 PM – 

I was especially pleased when he did “Stars” from Les Misérables.  

It’s a tough song to sing and he did a great job on it.  The show ran just about 40 minutes. 

We headed to the room and got to bed about an hour later than normal. 

Seas are smooth.




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