Day Three & Four
So this is a sort of middle of the day entry. It's around 5:10pm in Aruba (which is where I am, not Antigua, by the way, heh), and I have to be at dinner in 50 minutes, so I don't have long to write about a bunch of stuff. Also, This wireless internet costs $0.50 per minute.
So first of all, day three. One thing I forgot to mention about these boats is the alcohol. There's lots and lots and lots of it. You can get it pretty much anywhere, and go anywhere you want with it. It's nuts. I mentioned before that there were a lot of bars on board - if I were to try and count, I'd say . . . at least 5 or 6 bars, plus all the restaurants and shows serve alcohol, and the Casino of course will give it to you for free if you're gambling. I could get used to all of this, for real.
So, anyhow, yesterday I was a bit blurry when I got up because I took a pill to get to sleep. So I was groggy, and the boat was moving around quite a bit because we were right out in the middle of the ocean. It's so strange to look out and see nothing but water in every direction, as far as you can see. You can actually see the curve of the earth as you look at the horizon. It's very cool. But i felt a little quesy, and actually my mom was feeling a little sick too, so we both used some of that Motion Eaze stuff. It worked really well. It's just herbal, and whether it's psychosomatic or not, I don't care, cuz it makes me not feel sick.
Anyhow, so we ate upstairs in the big buffet restaurant for lunch (because we all know I wasn't awake for breakfast), and then my mom, dad, and I went downstairs to the casino for a slot tournament. Now, a the them "tournament" in reference to slot machines is quite deceiving because these stupid machines require absolutely no talent. It should more properly be called "a bunch of people sign up to punch the button on the machine as many times as possible in five minutes and hope they happen to be the one on the machine that's willing to hit some big numbers" Contest. Basically they turn a key in the side of the machine, and it makes the machine timed, and you just punch the button as fast as you can (which is really kinda silly, since the reels don't spin any faster, but I guess it's to make sure they're spinning as fast as you can make them go), and at the end of five minutes they write down the scores for each person. There were six rounds of players in the first tier of the tournament, and then the top ten scores moved on to the next, etc. None of us made it past the first round, but I came kinda close.
Then, my mom and I went to go play Bingo. That was awful. I don't know if it was because there were too many players, or what, but people got Bingo really quickly, so we didn't even come close to winning at all. I got on once in six games. Plus, mom was super annoyed by the caller. I think she was just in a bad mood because she had been losing at the casino.
We were going to go to a murder mystery dinner that evening, but it was booked. Dad put us on a waiting list, and we got all the way there, and then my mom decided that she didn't want to have to talk to other people. She's even more socially awkward then I am, heh. So we ended up going down to the normal dining room, which was nice, because it was one of two formal nights in the dining room, and we were already all dressed up. We all looked really nice, but we didn't have a picture taken, which makes me sad. Anyhow, we weren't too disappointed about the murder mystery thing. It made me feel a little nervous too, to be honest, and something tells me it would have been just a bit cheesy. And dinner in the main dining room was great.
After dinner there was a Name That Tune game in one of the bars, and the theme was Movie Themes. Naturally we had to go. Dad, Julie and I did really well, and it was a lot of fun. We didn't win, but I'm pretty sure one of the teams cheated. By the way, for future reference, the beginning of the theme song to E.T. is really hard to recognize, Eye of the Tiger is from Rocky 3, and who the hell even saw Stayin' Alive?
Next I went off to the Casino. There is very little to say about an entire night wasted in a casino except that it officially cured me of my desire to go back. I love money, and I hate giving it to something that will give me nothing to show for it. It isn't worth it. Haha, saying I love money sounds awful, but oh well. I like having it. I like spending it on things I like. You get what I mean. My father on the other hand has plenty to show for his time spend in the casino yesterday. He won FOUR jackpots during the night. FOUR! I really thought they were going to ask him to leave, because they'd think he was cheating. I mean, I'm think he won around $8,000 total last night. Pretty astonishing. It was great fun to watch it happen though, of course.
But I'm not going back to the casino.
I wasn't up too late in the room, because I knew that I had to get up pretty early today. I mean 10:30am, but that's plenty early for me. We hit our first port of call today, you see. Aruba. Unfortunately, as mom and Julie discovered earlier in the morning, all of the guided tours and activities were booked up for the day. So we were left to our own devices on the Island. What can I saw about Aruba? I didn't see much of it. We were mainly in the little shopping port, which is very tourist trap-ey. I got a couple of things, and my dad bought a pocket watch, but things weren't particularly cheap, so it was just kinda like shopping anywhere else, except that it was hot. So hot. We're only about 15 degrees north of the equator here. I've never felt sun like this. So Julie and I did the logical thing: we went to the beach.
That was, of course gorgeous. The water is turquoise, and the beaches are white sand. It wasn't very crowded, and it just felt so nice to lay there. But still, hot. I'm sure I got a little color. I hope that I don't end up burnt. It takes forever for me to show any color that I get, so I won't know until later tonight how things turned out. I think I remember heard that the sun closer to the equator burns you faster, but I'm not sure if that's true.
Anyhow, so dinner is in 15 minutes, and then I'll probably read for the rest of the evening, I'm guessing. Ha, I'm sure you care. Tomorrow Julie, Dad, and I are going to go snorkeling near a ship wreck, so that should be awesome. Also, mom and I are going to go on a Segway tour in the morning, haha. I've never ridden one, so that should be amusing. Oh! And I almost forgot. I think I'm going to get a massage tonight. My back and shoulders are KILLING me from carring bags around and walking a lot, and also from sitting on that stool in the casino last night. Blah. So, ok, that's all for now. I miss you all, and I'll see you soon.
So first of all, day three. One thing I forgot to mention about these boats is the alcohol. There's lots and lots and lots of it. You can get it pretty much anywhere, and go anywhere you want with it. It's nuts. I mentioned before that there were a lot of bars on board - if I were to try and count, I'd say . . . at least 5 or 6 bars, plus all the restaurants and shows serve alcohol, and the Casino of course will give it to you for free if you're gambling. I could get used to all of this, for real.
So, anyhow, yesterday I was a bit blurry when I got up because I took a pill to get to sleep. So I was groggy, and the boat was moving around quite a bit because we were right out in the middle of the ocean. It's so strange to look out and see nothing but water in every direction, as far as you can see. You can actually see the curve of the earth as you look at the horizon. It's very cool. But i felt a little quesy, and actually my mom was feeling a little sick too, so we both used some of that Motion Eaze stuff. It worked really well. It's just herbal, and whether it's psychosomatic or not, I don't care, cuz it makes me not feel sick.
Anyhow, so we ate upstairs in the big buffet restaurant for lunch (because we all know I wasn't awake for breakfast), and then my mom, dad, and I went downstairs to the casino for a slot tournament. Now, a the them "tournament" in reference to slot machines is quite deceiving because these stupid machines require absolutely no talent. It should more properly be called "a bunch of people sign up to punch the button on the machine as many times as possible in five minutes and hope they happen to be the one on the machine that's willing to hit some big numbers" Contest. Basically they turn a key in the side of the machine, and it makes the machine timed, and you just punch the button as fast as you can (which is really kinda silly, since the reels don't spin any faster, but I guess it's to make sure they're spinning as fast as you can make them go), and at the end of five minutes they write down the scores for each person. There were six rounds of players in the first tier of the tournament, and then the top ten scores moved on to the next, etc. None of us made it past the first round, but I came kinda close.
Then, my mom and I went to go play Bingo. That was awful. I don't know if it was because there were too many players, or what, but people got Bingo really quickly, so we didn't even come close to winning at all. I got on once in six games. Plus, mom was super annoyed by the caller. I think she was just in a bad mood because she had been losing at the casino.
We were going to go to a murder mystery dinner that evening, but it was booked. Dad put us on a waiting list, and we got all the way there, and then my mom decided that she didn't want to have to talk to other people. She's even more socially awkward then I am, heh. So we ended up going down to the normal dining room, which was nice, because it was one of two formal nights in the dining room, and we were already all dressed up. We all looked really nice, but we didn't have a picture taken, which makes me sad. Anyhow, we weren't too disappointed about the murder mystery thing. It made me feel a little nervous too, to be honest, and something tells me it would have been just a bit cheesy. And dinner in the main dining room was great.
After dinner there was a Name That Tune game in one of the bars, and the theme was Movie Themes. Naturally we had to go. Dad, Julie and I did really well, and it was a lot of fun. We didn't win, but I'm pretty sure one of the teams cheated. By the way, for future reference, the beginning of the theme song to E.T. is really hard to recognize, Eye of the Tiger is from Rocky 3, and who the hell even saw Stayin' Alive?
Next I went off to the Casino. There is very little to say about an entire night wasted in a casino except that it officially cured me of my desire to go back. I love money, and I hate giving it to something that will give me nothing to show for it. It isn't worth it. Haha, saying I love money sounds awful, but oh well. I like having it. I like spending it on things I like. You get what I mean. My father on the other hand has plenty to show for his time spend in the casino yesterday. He won FOUR jackpots during the night. FOUR! I really thought they were going to ask him to leave, because they'd think he was cheating. I mean, I'm think he won around $8,000 total last night. Pretty astonishing. It was great fun to watch it happen though, of course.
But I'm not going back to the casino.
I wasn't up too late in the room, because I knew that I had to get up pretty early today. I mean 10:30am, but that's plenty early for me. We hit our first port of call today, you see. Aruba. Unfortunately, as mom and Julie discovered earlier in the morning, all of the guided tours and activities were booked up for the day. So we were left to our own devices on the Island. What can I saw about Aruba? I didn't see much of it. We were mainly in the little shopping port, which is very tourist trap-ey. I got a couple of things, and my dad bought a pocket watch, but things weren't particularly cheap, so it was just kinda like shopping anywhere else, except that it was hot. So hot. We're only about 15 degrees north of the equator here. I've never felt sun like this. So Julie and I did the logical thing: we went to the beach.
That was, of course gorgeous. The water is turquoise, and the beaches are white sand. It wasn't very crowded, and it just felt so nice to lay there. But still, hot. I'm sure I got a little color. I hope that I don't end up burnt. It takes forever for me to show any color that I get, so I won't know until later tonight how things turned out. I think I remember heard that the sun closer to the equator burns you faster, but I'm not sure if that's true.
Anyhow, so dinner is in 15 minutes, and then I'll probably read for the rest of the evening, I'm guessing. Ha, I'm sure you care. Tomorrow Julie, Dad, and I are going to go snorkeling near a ship wreck, so that should be awesome. Also, mom and I are going to go on a Segway tour in the morning, haha. I've never ridden one, so that should be amusing. Oh! And I almost forgot. I think I'm going to get a massage tonight. My back and shoulders are KILLING me from carring bags around and walking a lot, and also from sitting on that stool in the casino last night. Blah. So, ok, that's all for now. I miss you all, and I'll see you soon.