Thoughts from a Nautical Blonde

• There are some ways in which going on vacation by yourself is a wonderful, relaxing experience. It's nice just to do whatever you want without taking another into consideration. It also can have moments of terrible loneliness. It's hard to have lots of things to do and see and no one to do or see them with. Experiences are so much better when shared.
• They should have certain times for adults traveling to Orlando on an airplane that are kid-free
• Is it wrong to laugh when a kid who's been banging her tray table (which is attached to the back of your seat) an entire flight gets scared going through clouds? ;)
• The words "Man overboard" can drop your stomach and make you wanna cry. (Luckily, after lots of searching and getting to re-live our Muster Drill...it seemed a life buoy was just thrown overboard...presumably by kids playing.)
• My spirit seems to just soar through my body with the sand-sea-sunshine combination. I really need to move to the beach. Soon.
• Being a girl sucks sometimes.
• I really love music. At one point, lying on a deck chair, soaking in the sun and listening to my iPod, I couldn't help but bounce around/wiggle in tune a little.
• Dueling pianos! I took one lesson...I can play a "C" scale. Those guys were running there fingers all over the keys like raindrops in a puddle. No crossover of the fingers concentration...no mouthing the notes as they played them...no lack of nimble fingers...just beautiful!
• If you're gonna take a cruise, it doesn't really matter what ports you hit, you're really only there long enough to buy something that says "Bahamas (or whatever)" on it. (And with the wedding being that day, not even that long!) The real fun is the stuff you can do on the ship itself.
• A stingray is very soft, like velvet. Not slimy, like I thought they'd be.
• Just because the water is aqua, Caribbean water, doesn't mean it's warm!
• You miss SOOOO much in the "real world" when you're on vacation! (Did you guys know they elected a new Pope? ;) )
• It's nice to know when you're 29 and thinking, "I can't believe that H.S. girl's mother is just letting her daughter and friends dress like that and sitting there allowing this stuff (which was the 40-something dueling piano guy talking about the daughter and her friends)!", there's a 31-year old sitting next to you thinking the same thing. (he also said if he had one more drink he was gonna go ask her what she was thinking! :) )
• Kindness of strangers and meeting new people.
• Winning money at a casino is great! (Even if it is only $6)
• Craps is a VERY tough game to understand. I took a lesson during casino lessons hour. The guys was explaining the board...things like the come bar and the don't come bar, on and off disc, the numbers better, the field section and I wanted to ask "why is it called a come bar?". I was the only girl at the table, and didn't want to seem like a "girl", so I didn't ask.
• I hate people. Why must they complain? We sat with an old couple one morning for breakfast - they didn't like the food portions (too big), the weather didn't look good for today (it was 7am and a bit overcast) and this was the 3rd time they'd taken that exact cruise! We had a guy complaining at our Muster station (the place they corral you to try and account for everyone on the ship) because they made him put out his cigarette, seeing as how we were 50 people crammed in a little space, it was an emeregency drill AND the non-smoking side of the ship! Must everything be so negative?
• I can't imagine ever just walking away from my friends. Maybe it's because I'm loyal to a fault. Maybe it's because if I withhold stuff (any kind of stuff from trivial to a little too personal) I feel like I'm lying and deceiving. Maybe it's just because I'd feel a huge void inside if they weren't around. Whatever the reason, walking away, getting married and having a child without them knowing or without a good or logical reason just makes me so angry! (I agree with you Kare, that maybe it's better, but OMG!)
• Pets are wonderful loving things. I missed my "little" (he's a bit overweight), orange, fuzzy, "adopted" (he's mom's) sleeping buddy!
• I really like clothes. Own WAY too many of them!
• Knowing my boss missed me. I ran into him at our away LAX game today. He was SO tired! Said he was SO glad to see me. Happy Monday to me! :)
• I look SO much better with a tan! :) :) :)
• I love being tan! (could I rub it in any more? ;) )

I hope you guys are doing well. I feel so out of the loop with what's going on with you all. (Kare, you applied for a PhD program?) Give me a brief update of ya'll! (Oh yeah, lots of southerners on the cruise. Somehow, when I get shy (yes, me!) or am feeling out of place my voice is tinged all over with southern dilect.) Miss ya'll!