(no subject)
Okay, so I started writing up my TRB recap. Just opened up MS Word and let the words flow. Then I realized that I should probably break it up into easy-to-digest pieces when I found that I hit 2 pages and only covered 2 days worth of trip. It's probably more detail that anyone here cares to read, but it's also for my memory to look back on.
Friday
I started off grumpy on Friday, which is really no way to start a vacation. But my entire day Thursday was so completely horrible that it was hard to actually focus on anything fun. First job was to haul down to the Fed Ex building to pick up the camera memory card I had ordered to take on the trip with me. It was supposed to be delivered by Thursday, but I got home and called Fed Ex 5 minutes too late to still get same-day pick up. I also missed my volleyball game on Thursday, which does not make me happy. Anyway, Fed Ex opened at 11am and I got there right at 11-to find the line already out the door!!! Long story short, I had a mini panic attack about getting home and catching my bus to the airport, but it all worked out well. Thank God I had packed the night before! My bus was on time, which ended up being about the only thing on time the whole day. I got to the airport and already at check in was told that my flight was delayed about an hour in order to fix some broken fog equipment. Seeing as it was quite foggy out, I was content to let them fix it before taking me anywhere. Another long story short, the repair took MUCH longer than they originally though, so after many confused, unhelpful announcements we boarded at about 6pm. My flight was originally scheduled for 1:50pm. Booyah. We didn’t actually take off until 7pm. 7!!! Thankfully, the person originally scheduled to pick me up from the airport was willing to leave the pre-party and drive an hour in an unfamiliar state in an unfamiliar vehicle to come get me. Nichole earned the gold star for that day! After getting a little lost in Galveston and having a man trying to sell me a wallet at the gas station, we made it to our hotel room at about midnight (?) and found that everyone else was making their way back from the pub crawl pre-party. I heard it sucked, so we weren’t missing much. I met the rest of my hotel roommies (Nichole + Raven and Julie) for the night and after staying up to chat a little (and me taking a shower), we finally crashed around 2 or 2:30am. That was probably the earliest I went to bed the whole trip. No lie.
Saturday
After a somewhat unsatisfying sleep, we all got up, packed up our stuff and headed to IHOP for some breakfast. Met up with some other people I didn’t know (Jason, Jenny, and Ann?) and groggily ate my Vive la French Toast. Back at the hotel, we tracked down our bags and ended up taking the shuttle to the port (Christy-we only did it to minimize the trips back and forth! I didn’t realize you still ended up missing so much of the pre-muster drill stuff. Sorry! Stupid trains!). Seeing the boat come into view was a pretty crazy experience. I’ve never been on a cruise and had never even seen a cruise ship in person before. We were on the Carnival Elation and it. is. HUGE!! The process of getting everyone off the bus and getting luggage all set was kinda rushed and half-assed, but the waiting in line to get checked in was the real killer. I was so excited to see this boat and it was so close! After getting my Sail and Sign card, or whatever it’s called, I ran through a bunch of other stops, one of which included having my picture taken. Very random so I was caught completely off-guard. The two people I had taken the shuttle with (Nichole and Raven) went in separately since one of them has cerebral palsy and requires a walker. So I wander onto the boat all by myself and found my way to my room. My two roommates (Amy and Matt-brother and sister tag team!) hadn’t arrived yet, so I started to make myself comfy and get a feel for the room. Matt and Amy got there pretty quickly though, so we all got acquainted, grabbed some stuff and headed out in search of food. Yet another long story short, we found the ‘cheeseburger line’ and I ended up meeting about a thousand other people. One of those thousand was ‘Nique, (full name: Marié Nicolé), who ended up being my partner in crime for most of the trip. We found her sitting alone with her left foot propped in a chair with ice on it. Turns out she sprained her ankle (a minor sprain) the night before during the pub crawl! I was immediately endeared to her and offered up what little advice I had on taking care of sprains. She’s an absolute sweetheart and a fucking cool person. After the muster drill (safety drill) where I inadvertently met 2 members of Five Star Iris (they just *look* like rock stars), I honestly don’t remember much. NO, not because I was drunk. It was all just so much to take in! I was kind of group hopping for the rest of the night between groups of people I had met that day. I found Scott Southern, Blue Merle’s tour manager/baby-sitter :-p at some point…or actually, he found me. Turns out he also knew two other people from the group I was currently hanging with! Small world. I also found Luke at some point earlier. Later on, after getting totally lost many times, I think this is the night I was waiting for ‘Nique to use the bathroom and Jason (Merle’s bass player) came up behind me. We chatted for a bit and somehow I lost Nique, so I went back with Jason to watch Marc Broussard’s set with him, Beau and Luke. Also with them was their friend Ramblin’ Tom, who I’ve heard soooo much about. I can’t quite explain his story, but just know it was a moment I’ll never forget. He’s a unique guy, but really nice and not at all what I was expecting. It's clear to me that his adventures had caused some tiny bits of irreparable damage to his brain cells. Anyway, I made it back to my room at some point and after a shower, crashed hard around 3am from pure exhaustion.
That will have to suffice for now. Eventually I'll get some pictures and maybe some video posted. I'm working on it!
In other news, I played volleyball tonight and we won! I 6-packed someone on my team (i.e. hit him in the face with the ball) totally by accident. But he didn't call for the ball! I feel bad, but he partially blames himself for my ankle injury last year, so now I told him we're even. :p
Friday
I started off grumpy on Friday, which is really no way to start a vacation. But my entire day Thursday was so completely horrible that it was hard to actually focus on anything fun. First job was to haul down to the Fed Ex building to pick up the camera memory card I had ordered to take on the trip with me. It was supposed to be delivered by Thursday, but I got home and called Fed Ex 5 minutes too late to still get same-day pick up. I also missed my volleyball game on Thursday, which does not make me happy. Anyway, Fed Ex opened at 11am and I got there right at 11-to find the line already out the door!!! Long story short, I had a mini panic attack about getting home and catching my bus to the airport, but it all worked out well. Thank God I had packed the night before! My bus was on time, which ended up being about the only thing on time the whole day. I got to the airport and already at check in was told that my flight was delayed about an hour in order to fix some broken fog equipment. Seeing as it was quite foggy out, I was content to let them fix it before taking me anywhere. Another long story short, the repair took MUCH longer than they originally though, so after many confused, unhelpful announcements we boarded at about 6pm. My flight was originally scheduled for 1:50pm. Booyah. We didn’t actually take off until 7pm. 7!!! Thankfully, the person originally scheduled to pick me up from the airport was willing to leave the pre-party and drive an hour in an unfamiliar state in an unfamiliar vehicle to come get me. Nichole earned the gold star for that day! After getting a little lost in Galveston and having a man trying to sell me a wallet at the gas station, we made it to our hotel room at about midnight (?) and found that everyone else was making their way back from the pub crawl pre-party. I heard it sucked, so we weren’t missing much. I met the rest of my hotel roommies (Nichole + Raven and Julie) for the night and after staying up to chat a little (and me taking a shower), we finally crashed around 2 or 2:30am. That was probably the earliest I went to bed the whole trip. No lie.
Saturday
After a somewhat unsatisfying sleep, we all got up, packed up our stuff and headed to IHOP for some breakfast. Met up with some other people I didn’t know (Jason, Jenny, and Ann?) and groggily ate my Vive la French Toast. Back at the hotel, we tracked down our bags and ended up taking the shuttle to the port (Christy-we only did it to minimize the trips back and forth! I didn’t realize you still ended up missing so much of the pre-muster drill stuff. Sorry! Stupid trains!). Seeing the boat come into view was a pretty crazy experience. I’ve never been on a cruise and had never even seen a cruise ship in person before. We were on the Carnival Elation and it. is. HUGE!! The process of getting everyone off the bus and getting luggage all set was kinda rushed and half-assed, but the waiting in line to get checked in was the real killer. I was so excited to see this boat and it was so close! After getting my Sail and Sign card, or whatever it’s called, I ran through a bunch of other stops, one of which included having my picture taken. Very random so I was caught completely off-guard. The two people I had taken the shuttle with (Nichole and Raven) went in separately since one of them has cerebral palsy and requires a walker. So I wander onto the boat all by myself and found my way to my room. My two roommates (Amy and Matt-brother and sister tag team!) hadn’t arrived yet, so I started to make myself comfy and get a feel for the room. Matt and Amy got there pretty quickly though, so we all got acquainted, grabbed some stuff and headed out in search of food. Yet another long story short, we found the ‘cheeseburger line’ and I ended up meeting about a thousand other people. One of those thousand was ‘Nique, (full name: Marié Nicolé), who ended up being my partner in crime for most of the trip. We found her sitting alone with her left foot propped in a chair with ice on it. Turns out she sprained her ankle (a minor sprain) the night before during the pub crawl! I was immediately endeared to her and offered up what little advice I had on taking care of sprains. She’s an absolute sweetheart and a fucking cool person. After the muster drill (safety drill) where I inadvertently met 2 members of Five Star Iris (they just *look* like rock stars), I honestly don’t remember much. NO, not because I was drunk. It was all just so much to take in! I was kind of group hopping for the rest of the night between groups of people I had met that day. I found Scott Southern, Blue Merle’s tour manager/baby-sitter :-p at some point…or actually, he found me. Turns out he also knew two other people from the group I was currently hanging with! Small world. I also found Luke at some point earlier. Later on, after getting totally lost many times, I think this is the night I was waiting for ‘Nique to use the bathroom and Jason (Merle’s bass player) came up behind me. We chatted for a bit and somehow I lost Nique, so I went back with Jason to watch Marc Broussard’s set with him, Beau and Luke. Also with them was their friend Ramblin’ Tom, who I’ve heard soooo much about. I can’t quite explain his story, but just know it was a moment I’ll never forget. He’s a unique guy, but really nice and not at all what I was expecting. It's clear to me that his adventures had caused some tiny bits of irreparable damage to his brain cells. Anyway, I made it back to my room at some point and after a shower, crashed hard around 3am from pure exhaustion.
That will have to suffice for now. Eventually I'll get some pictures and maybe some video posted. I'm working on it!
In other news, I played volleyball tonight and we won! I 6-packed someone on my team (i.e. hit him in the face with the ball) totally by accident. But he didn't call for the ball! I feel bad, but he partially blames himself for my ankle injury last year, so now I told him we're even. :p