Day 517 - At Sea

Hmpf. Tonight I’m a little bit grumpy. The day didn’t start off that way. In fact, it started off kind of bizarre. I woke up at 0705 to the sound of Rihanna coming from the other room. Whoops. Forgot to double check my iPod before I went to bed. The only days Jaco gets to sleep in are sea days. Sorry hun. I turned it off & went back to bed.

I then proceeded to have really strange dreams. In fact, they were so strange, I thought, ‘This is ridiculous, I might as well wake up!’ So I did. I tended to my sprouts & crackers, made a shake & then some wheatgrass juice.

Jaco came in from his morning clinic & we watched a little bit of You Again on tv until it cut off half way through. He then returned to the clinic & I went up on deck to catch a little sun & read. I’m in the middle of The Caged Virgin by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the secrecy behind Islam – with particular regard to women. Yikes.

I read for an hour or so & then headed to the Shorex desk to ‘do my shift’ – ha ha. They haven’t had any folding for me to do the past two days, so I’ve just sat & listened & gabbed with the guys. They are an entertaining bunch!

Tonight was Jaco’s wave at the Captain’s speech, so I dolled up & went out to take a photo of Jaco looking dashing & dapper. We visited with a few of the crew after it was over & not long after, Jaco was ready to get out of his suit & myself out of my heels.

I was going to make spring rolls tonight, but didn’t want to make them too early & have them sit out while we were at the wave. When we returned, I quickly started to get them ready. I knew Jaco would be hungry (as he eats NOTHING all day), so I didn’t want him to eat nut bars, apples & oranges – I thought some change would do him good. I’m learning the hard way that ‘change’ & ‘man’ do not go in the same sentence. Ever.

After we shredded cabbage, carrots, cucumber, mint, basil & cilantro, washed lettuce & I made a dipping sauce, I put it all out for him to enjoy & he ate one little roll. Are you kidding me? This coming from the guy who can gorge himself on 6-8 oranges a night! I was highly offended. He barely ate any of the fettuccini alfredo from last night & he still hasn’t drank one protein shake, even though we’ve had it for 4 days now! As if this wasn’t enough to discourage me from making healthy food for the both of us, the blue-green algae I thawed the other day & measured off the week’s worth of doses… it leaked ALL over the bottom of the fridge! I hauled it frozen all the way to the ship, I finally start taking the expensive stuff, only to have it wasted on the bottom of the fridge! ARGH x 100!!! Clearly today was not my day.

On a good note – I’m going on tour tomorrow. I’ll be seeing the salt flats in Bonaire. I spoke with Cesar, my friend from the shops, & he says it’s a great tour with many photo ops. Yay.

xxxxMaria

 Captain Martin Stenzel

 Introducing the Senior Officers

 What a handsome Man!

 :o)

What an introduction! Spot the Champagne Waterfall?

Day 391 - Prayers & An All Nighter

So after a lengthy hiatus, I'm attempting to catch up after sleeping for only 1 hour. I have heartburn, I'm too hot & I was woken up by Mom's screaming tea kettle, which screamed for 9 minutes straight. I guess that's better than the 1/2 hour from a while back, but the whistle was greatly enhanced this morning.

Traveling back in time, well, it won't take long to catch up. I couldn't sleep, didn't sleep, slept, slept more, couldn't sleep, didn't sleep & history repeats itself. Not sure what's up, but I'm pretty fed up with it.

Mom drove me into town tonight for groceries & then we went to prayers. I had a melt down in Safeway. I think my current situation is getting to me. I can't handle much, so it appears. I went through the self checkout, as all the other (2) lines were busy with full carts. It took forever & because I used my own bags, it kept saying, 'Unauthorized item in the bagging area'. And then I had to wait. And wait. It wouldn't scan. Same message again & again. Mom got fed up & went to the car with the groceries while I was trying to pay. I hit 'Debit Card' & it did nothing. I swiped my card. Nothing. This process was as long & drawn out as it could have possible been for 2 bags of groceries. To top it off, there were 3 clerks standing around chatting. Finally I snapped. I had been muttering under my breath for most of the experience. I said loudly, 'Would someone please tell me why I can't swipe my card? All I want to do is pay for the groceries & get some food in my belly!' The clerk just stares at me & then says, 'Where are your groceries? What are you paying for?' I told her Mom had already taken them to the car. She tells me she needs to see what I'm paying for. I told her it was on the screen, can't she just swipe my card for the $88.11 it says I need to pay!?!? Still staring at me, her colleague, also staring, says, 'That will mess up our system.' To which I said,  'Well, that lousy scanner messed up my night.' They swiped my card & I left. Argh.

Thank goodness we were headed to prayers next! I needed some prayers for patience & stress relief. We had some great discussions, as always! Mom drove home on the icy roads & I slowly came to the realization that I wasn't going to be going very far in the next few months. Sigh.

Of course, I couldn't sleep when we got home, so I stayed up. In fact, spilling onto Friday...

Meet Beyoncé