(no subject)
See pictures in this linky thing: http://picasaweb.google.com/dnicholas.sharp?pli=1
The Cruise:
June 10th
Today we went to Nassau, Bahamas. It wasn’t really all that neat. Oh, yeah I’ve decided to write my emails, blogs what have you in word format then copy pasta into, whatever. So anyway the Bahamas, not very interesting. It reminded me of the market in Charleston, only dirty and not very interesting. Maybe the actual island(s) themselves are interesting and wonderful, but the touristy parts blow dog ass. The economy is terrible so it’s like New York City when you get out of the Admin building to gain access to the city. I was hustled to buy a bracelet to help school children (bullshit) then I was offered drugs. I told the guy no, he was still pushing (I have no idea why you’d hustle drugs, but this guy was) So I told him I could be Interpol and he left me alone. The city itself was honestly like any other city in the world. It had people and buildings, and flotsam and jetsam. I think what differentiates each city or country or what have you from each other is the people, and the culture. Much to my dismay we as tourists won’t ever really get to see the culture. We won’t eat the same foods, or talk the same dialect. We’re in port for a few hours then we’re off. It’s disappointing, but its just one of those things. You might as well get used to it, because it won’t change. It took me several years to really “get” the culture of the northeast, and specifically Philly. To understand why they did what they did, and to see what they do when an “outsider” isn’t around. Something I still have yet to achieve in South Carolina. I wonder if I’ll always be a Yankee. Some of my cousins who were born in Charleston but talk like a Yankee are considered to be outsiders. It’s a very closed society. Anyway Nassau is a shit hole. Its architecture is interesting and that’s about all I saw of the real island(s).
I boarded the ship at about noon, ate some lunch (I’ll write more about the food later) and then fell asleep by the pool. I got a little burned but no big deal, I heal. Afterwards I came back to the cabin grabbed the camera then I went to take some pictures of us leaving port. I met this guy, Joey from Brooklyn. Nice fella, used to be a professional body builder, about 5’6 won some contests and all that. Now he is an engineer for Intel. Except he as personality. He was telling me how he’s always getting into trouble. He ‘s pretty senior person, so he can’t get into too much trouble, but his personality doesn’t mesh well with engineers. He has a sense of humor, and some social skills. Nice guy, he said I had balls for not taking Jessica with me. Personally I’d rather have Jessica here. I might actually enjoy myself. Whatever I do I keep thinking how much Jessica, would like this or what to do this. I miss her a lot.
That night we had cocktails with the captain. I of course got tanked in about 30 minutes. I drank an obscene about of martini’s (they were free what was I to do?) then we ate dinner. I had a shrimp appetizer, with ceaser salad, and lobster tails. The lobster tails were tough, and stringy, but who am I complain? Let me say something about the food, they have a lot of it. Our bus driver to the ship (named, Bong. No I am not kidding) told us to take the stairs and we’d be okay. I always take the stairs, and I seem to be doing fine. Anyway they have lots of food and for the most part it is fucking awesome. Some of the stuff is tough or a little over ripe, but it’s free and good. I have to make sure I don’t over eat. For breakfast I have ate half a slice of grapefruit, a slice of cantaloupe, an omelet with mushrooms and tomatoes (I can see Jess’s face right now, she doesn’t like mushrooms or tomatoes) and a piece of Rye toast. It’s a good healthy breakfast. After dinner I got some bad news. As it turns out my sail and sign card, which is the card I use to buy things on board, the account was deactivated because I didn’t have any finds in my checking account. But I checked with information and it should be charged to my account at the end of my account. Weird. So I am going to have to wait until we get to St. Thomas or the ships ATM is back and running. So I got pissed, I was going to go out with everyone but I decided to stay in my room and read. I didn’t want to go out being in such a bad mood. I was worried I’d make everyone have a bad night. I’m reading a book on Catholicism it’s a study guide and I must admit its damn good. I’m learning a lot. I want to understand what I’m getting into when I convert. I’m kind of excited to convert. It’ll be a big step. Anyway it was a bad night. I slept and talked to Stu about it in the morning. There isn’t really anything I can do right now, so I have to sit tight. The worst part is that I have no Internet access, so I can’t email Jess. So at this point she doesn’t know any of this. I’ll bet she’s a bit worried. Well I would be. I hope she’s doing well.
Today we’re traveling to St. Thomas, so today is a “fun day at sea” which quickly turned into a “fun day while Nick gets burned” you know either way. I’m hoping I can peel fast so that I can get to tannin’. I haven’t done much today. I went to the pool read a bunch then sports trivial later, and then some more reading or something. I’d like to use my parents Internet access thing so I can email Jess but we’ll see if ‘m able. I’m not sure what’s going on tonight. Yeah it wasn’t a hellva lotta fun. Although I watched Geoff win like 700 at the roulette wheel. That was pretty cool. He got totally shit-faced. The most I’ve seen anyone get yet. But Steven and well everyone has said they wish to get that shit faced on Thursday. I went to bed pretty late, but woke up early today.
We set port at St. Thomas this morning. Shannon, Penny, and I walked around for a bit. So far, it’s all been the same. Nothing interesting. We had to go into immigration despite being a US citizen. St. Thomas is a US island, bought from the English in 1912. Stu and Nancy took a tour of the Island, and learned quite a bit about the history. In 95 a hurricane leveled the island, and everything had to be rebuilt. They don’t have any freshwater; they had something like 3 million iguanas, and 45,000 people. The busy season is November to May where they get something in the area of 30,000-40,000 people a day. The soil is rocky (they don’t have any farms) and they don’t actually produce anything. It’s really just a big rock with some trees, and stuff. People really shouldn’t live here. Tomorrow is St. Maarten. I think we’re going to do some beach stuff tomorrow. It’ll be awesome, that is if we can go to the beach.
Well, best laid plans. The ribs, and rum tour that we were going to go on was full so Stu, Mom and I went on a St Maarten/St. Martin tour. We went all the way around the island. St. Maarten is a Dutch/French island, with 16 sq. miles being Dutch, and 20 being French. The Capital of the Dutch side is where we ported, Petersburg, and the capital of the French side is Marigot. One thing I’ve noticed is that the economy of the islands isn’t all that good. I got some good shots of the residential areas. The crime rate is extremely low though. It’s at about 3%-4%. They don’t actually have anything on the island, like St. Thomas. It’s a lot like St. Thomas in a lot of ways. No fresh water, no industry. The only reason it was colonized was salt ponds. They would dry out the water, and make salt which a few centuries ago was kinda expensive.
I actually wrote more, but it didn’t save so…yeah. Anyway leaving the boat blew ass. If I would do it over again, I would have taken our luggage instead of checking it and just wondered off the boat my own damn self. Also custom and boarder computers suck ass. And the cruise didn’t have any real way of dealing with the problem. They kicked most of the people out of their staterooms. I refused to go, and told our room steward Johnson (our bus driver’s name? Bong, anyway) got all flustered. I just told him if there was a problem with me leaving he shouldn’t bother getting upset and just call his manager. Which he did (to his credit he calmed down and just let it go. I wasn’t about to get pissy with him. He’s just doin’ his job) and his manager (I forgot his name) and I discussed the matter and I was allowed to stay. After two hours I left the room. Then I went to the casino in the fifth floor and waited for another 2 hours. Then once we got off, the gridlock was so bad we had to wait for an hour before we left the port. All to go about a mile and half away. I could have ran it in less than 10 minutes. Crazy. Anyway we stayed in Brunswick Ga. That night, which I fucking hated. Not only do I dislike anywhere near Savannah, but it was another night away from Jessica. I admit I was being a huge pain in the ass. The next day I was home and it was wonderful. Being home is the best part. To hell with everything else.
Other stuff:
Jessica and i are doing well, we've talked about marrage, and children and all that. It comes down to me not having money. I need money to buy the rings. Getting married is expensive. School is going well, I need to make good grades though. Not that i haven't been lately, but before I got sick I was unfocused at best so I was pretty apathetic about life in general. Now that I have some focus and set goals i am much more able to do better. I've been exercising more seriously lately which if you've seen me work out I am no slouch. My body is responding well so I'm going to keep up the pace. I need a new job though. But all is well.
The Cruise:
June 10th
Today we went to Nassau, Bahamas. It wasn’t really all that neat. Oh, yeah I’ve decided to write my emails, blogs what have you in word format then copy pasta into, whatever. So anyway the Bahamas, not very interesting. It reminded me of the market in Charleston, only dirty and not very interesting. Maybe the actual island(s) themselves are interesting and wonderful, but the touristy parts blow dog ass. The economy is terrible so it’s like New York City when you get out of the Admin building to gain access to the city. I was hustled to buy a bracelet to help school children (bullshit) then I was offered drugs. I told the guy no, he was still pushing (I have no idea why you’d hustle drugs, but this guy was) So I told him I could be Interpol and he left me alone. The city itself was honestly like any other city in the world. It had people and buildings, and flotsam and jetsam. I think what differentiates each city or country or what have you from each other is the people, and the culture. Much to my dismay we as tourists won’t ever really get to see the culture. We won’t eat the same foods, or talk the same dialect. We’re in port for a few hours then we’re off. It’s disappointing, but its just one of those things. You might as well get used to it, because it won’t change. It took me several years to really “get” the culture of the northeast, and specifically Philly. To understand why they did what they did, and to see what they do when an “outsider” isn’t around. Something I still have yet to achieve in South Carolina. I wonder if I’ll always be a Yankee. Some of my cousins who were born in Charleston but talk like a Yankee are considered to be outsiders. It’s a very closed society. Anyway Nassau is a shit hole. Its architecture is interesting and that’s about all I saw of the real island(s).
I boarded the ship at about noon, ate some lunch (I’ll write more about the food later) and then fell asleep by the pool. I got a little burned but no big deal, I heal. Afterwards I came back to the cabin grabbed the camera then I went to take some pictures of us leaving port. I met this guy, Joey from Brooklyn. Nice fella, used to be a professional body builder, about 5’6 won some contests and all that. Now he is an engineer for Intel. Except he as personality. He was telling me how he’s always getting into trouble. He ‘s pretty senior person, so he can’t get into too much trouble, but his personality doesn’t mesh well with engineers. He has a sense of humor, and some social skills. Nice guy, he said I had balls for not taking Jessica with me. Personally I’d rather have Jessica here. I might actually enjoy myself. Whatever I do I keep thinking how much Jessica, would like this or what to do this. I miss her a lot.
That night we had cocktails with the captain. I of course got tanked in about 30 minutes. I drank an obscene about of martini’s (they were free what was I to do?) then we ate dinner. I had a shrimp appetizer, with ceaser salad, and lobster tails. The lobster tails were tough, and stringy, but who am I complain? Let me say something about the food, they have a lot of it. Our bus driver to the ship (named, Bong. No I am not kidding) told us to take the stairs and we’d be okay. I always take the stairs, and I seem to be doing fine. Anyway they have lots of food and for the most part it is fucking awesome. Some of the stuff is tough or a little over ripe, but it’s free and good. I have to make sure I don’t over eat. For breakfast I have ate half a slice of grapefruit, a slice of cantaloupe, an omelet with mushrooms and tomatoes (I can see Jess’s face right now, she doesn’t like mushrooms or tomatoes) and a piece of Rye toast. It’s a good healthy breakfast. After dinner I got some bad news. As it turns out my sail and sign card, which is the card I use to buy things on board, the account was deactivated because I didn’t have any finds in my checking account. But I checked with information and it should be charged to my account at the end of my account. Weird. So I am going to have to wait until we get to St. Thomas or the ships ATM is back and running. So I got pissed, I was going to go out with everyone but I decided to stay in my room and read. I didn’t want to go out being in such a bad mood. I was worried I’d make everyone have a bad night. I’m reading a book on Catholicism it’s a study guide and I must admit its damn good. I’m learning a lot. I want to understand what I’m getting into when I convert. I’m kind of excited to convert. It’ll be a big step. Anyway it was a bad night. I slept and talked to Stu about it in the morning. There isn’t really anything I can do right now, so I have to sit tight. The worst part is that I have no Internet access, so I can’t email Jess. So at this point she doesn’t know any of this. I’ll bet she’s a bit worried. Well I would be. I hope she’s doing well.
Today we’re traveling to St. Thomas, so today is a “fun day at sea” which quickly turned into a “fun day while Nick gets burned” you know either way. I’m hoping I can peel fast so that I can get to tannin’. I haven’t done much today. I went to the pool read a bunch then sports trivial later, and then some more reading or something. I’d like to use my parents Internet access thing so I can email Jess but we’ll see if ‘m able. I’m not sure what’s going on tonight. Yeah it wasn’t a hellva lotta fun. Although I watched Geoff win like 700 at the roulette wheel. That was pretty cool. He got totally shit-faced. The most I’ve seen anyone get yet. But Steven and well everyone has said they wish to get that shit faced on Thursday. I went to bed pretty late, but woke up early today.
We set port at St. Thomas this morning. Shannon, Penny, and I walked around for a bit. So far, it’s all been the same. Nothing interesting. We had to go into immigration despite being a US citizen. St. Thomas is a US island, bought from the English in 1912. Stu and Nancy took a tour of the Island, and learned quite a bit about the history. In 95 a hurricane leveled the island, and everything had to be rebuilt. They don’t have any freshwater; they had something like 3 million iguanas, and 45,000 people. The busy season is November to May where they get something in the area of 30,000-40,000 people a day. The soil is rocky (they don’t have any farms) and they don’t actually produce anything. It’s really just a big rock with some trees, and stuff. People really shouldn’t live here. Tomorrow is St. Maarten. I think we’re going to do some beach stuff tomorrow. It’ll be awesome, that is if we can go to the beach.
Well, best laid plans. The ribs, and rum tour that we were going to go on was full so Stu, Mom and I went on a St Maarten/St. Martin tour. We went all the way around the island. St. Maarten is a Dutch/French island, with 16 sq. miles being Dutch, and 20 being French. The Capital of the Dutch side is where we ported, Petersburg, and the capital of the French side is Marigot. One thing I’ve noticed is that the economy of the islands isn’t all that good. I got some good shots of the residential areas. The crime rate is extremely low though. It’s at about 3%-4%. They don’t actually have anything on the island, like St. Thomas. It’s a lot like St. Thomas in a lot of ways. No fresh water, no industry. The only reason it was colonized was salt ponds. They would dry out the water, and make salt which a few centuries ago was kinda expensive.
I actually wrote more, but it didn’t save so…yeah. Anyway leaving the boat blew ass. If I would do it over again, I would have taken our luggage instead of checking it and just wondered off the boat my own damn self. Also custom and boarder computers suck ass. And the cruise didn’t have any real way of dealing with the problem. They kicked most of the people out of their staterooms. I refused to go, and told our room steward Johnson (our bus driver’s name? Bong, anyway) got all flustered. I just told him if there was a problem with me leaving he shouldn’t bother getting upset and just call his manager. Which he did (to his credit he calmed down and just let it go. I wasn’t about to get pissy with him. He’s just doin’ his job) and his manager (I forgot his name) and I discussed the matter and I was allowed to stay. After two hours I left the room. Then I went to the casino in the fifth floor and waited for another 2 hours. Then once we got off, the gridlock was so bad we had to wait for an hour before we left the port. All to go about a mile and half away. I could have ran it in less than 10 minutes. Crazy. Anyway we stayed in Brunswick Ga. That night, which I fucking hated. Not only do I dislike anywhere near Savannah, but it was another night away from Jessica. I admit I was being a huge pain in the ass. The next day I was home and it was wonderful. Being home is the best part. To hell with everything else.
Other stuff:
Jessica and i are doing well, we've talked about marrage, and children and all that. It comes down to me not having money. I need money to buy the rings. Getting married is expensive. School is going well, I need to make good grades though. Not that i haven't been lately, but before I got sick I was unfocused at best so I was pretty apathetic about life in general. Now that I have some focus and set goals i am much more able to do better. I've been exercising more seriously lately which if you've seen me work out I am no slouch. My body is responding well so I'm going to keep up the pace. I need a new job though. But all is well.