Susie's Meanderings

Back in Seattle

Will it never cease raining? I had one of those drives yesterday up from Portland (where I had an excellent lunch with KB ) where you can never see more than 10 feet in front of you due to the road spray, and everyone around is going 70 and weaving in and out of traffic. Now I'm sitting quietly in my sister's basement, flanked on either side by a parrot (who does a very credible imitation of the kids yelling at each other) and a cockatiel who is desperate for attention. In the afternoon you can add my nephew, either beating me with his Lincoln logs, or demonstrating how his Bionicles look in every possible permutation of their beings. "See , here he is with his gold mask". It's all vastly entertaining, and I'm pretty sure I've read an entire library of children's books in the last 3 days, but I won't say I'm not looking forward to the myriad of coffee dates I have lined up this afternoon (Yay, Michelle and Katie!).

Running on Bald Hill

3 miles. 27 mins 55 secs. Wahoo! (Not a land speed record, I know, but fast for me.)

Thanks KB!

Once again thanks to the web wizardry of KB, my site is free of comment spam. Yay. And, if you will look over to the right, there is now a category index, also due to some IM hand holding on KB's part. Now I just have to start working on content. And just so you all know how rusty I've gotten, it took me five minutes to remember how to make a hyperlink.

Returning to my Childhood

The latest project my father has devised for my entertainment is taking his entire collection of vinyl analog music and transferring it to digital on my capacious hard drive. I have to admit, this is something I've been biding my time waiting to do until I could either get my computer to my parents house (done) or convince my father to upgrade from his 4 year old Windows ME machine (no hope). So anyway, we spent the weekend finding the appropriate wiring ( a ten minute trip to Radio Shack), and digging through the old vinyl records. I'm ashamed to say, I've almost forgotten how a record player works. It feels so foreign, holding this huge clunky disk, cleaning it off, cleaning off the needle, and then actually having to wait for the whole lp to play while it records. And this was the real surprise - having to turn the record over halfway through the album. I'd actually forgotten we ever did that. It all seems like a very cumbersome practice. On the other hand, we've dug out records that haven't been played in 30 years, and I found a whole stack of 45's from my childhood (45's!) . It makes me wonder what the equivalent for kids today will be. Will they sort through their old MP3 players, deleting files and laughing when they run across a song they haven't thought of in 15 years?

Don't tempt the sun gods

Today, when we returned from our 3 mile bird walk in the pouring rain, my mother said "If it clears up this afternoon, maybe we can go for a run." Confident in the rain, I said, "Mom, if it clears up this afternoon, I WILL go running." This was followed by one of the most impressive downpours I've ever seen in Oregon, rain mixed with hail and crazy wind, black skies and not a trace of sun. I became complacent, but clearly the skies were just emptying themselves in response to my challenge, because the afternoon developed clear, beautiful and sunny, and I had my first run since I've gotten off the ship. I must say, it's very strange running in a place where the ground isn't heaving underneath my feet, and when I got to the hill at the end, I kept waiting for it to make it's inevitable downturn, and deep in my psyche was the thought, "this is a huge wave, when are we going to stop climbing it?". Then, just as I walked the last 100 yards to my home, the skies opened up and it began raining again.

Brownian Motion

Take 50 kids under age 10, strap blades to their feet, and roll them out onto freshly zambonied ice, add a couple pre-teen semi-professional ice skaters practicing their triple lutzes, and you have a rough idea of my afternoon ice skating with my niece. Keeping in mind, I haven't done this in a few years. Still, it was fun, followed by a collapse on the couch with her two younger sisters, where the one tried to count all the different positions in which she could fall asleep on me. This is the same girl, who, when asked what she did in kindergarten, said with a world weary sigh ... "Work, all we do is work".

2 most surreal comments of the evening:
From the 5 year old as she dug through her miso soup "Where's the seaweed, that's the best part"
and from her older sister "What happened to the fish eggs I ordered? I didn't get any."
Being home, though cold and rainy, definitely has its moments.

Family Boot Camp

No danger of me getting fat and lazy here at home. The first day back, my mother tried to entice me out the door for a run (no dice, I was still far too sore from my climb, no to mention my shoes were still caked in mud), the following day an intense yoga class with lots of standing poses, which caught in all the remaining muscles which weren't already sore. (yes, I know I mentioned it yesterday too) Today was family swim at 4:30, Mom, Dad and I down at the lap pool. I did my 10 laps of crawl, 5 of something slower, and Dad helpfully pointed out that with just 3 more laps I would have swum half a mile, so back into the fray with me. This morning my mother demanded my shoes so she could knock the mud off them. So much for that excuse, as soon as they're dry, it's back to running for me.

Lazy Days..

As though my days weren't already lazy... today I was up at 7:00 for no good reason except that I could smell coffee brewing. Had real scrambled eggs for breakfast, then puttered at doing laundry. At 11:00, Mom dragged me out the door for a grueling yoga class (she's threatening running tomorrow), and the afternoon was frittered away in lunch and unpacking. The highlight of my day was buying compressed air for my computer, which has gathered an obscenely thick layer of dust in my absence. It's so strange, going from a place where you're in constant contact with hundreds of people, to suddenly seeing precisely two people that you know every day. It's nice, having a little peace and quiet, but I'm feeling a rather profound sense of disconnect. On the other hand, my website is about to get some much needed attention.

Crawling Up the Mountain

Here's a little photo journal of the hike (climb?) we did in Bora Bora. I'm pretty sure the pictures say it all. Suffice it to say I crawled up most of the way on my hands and knees, and slid down most of the way back. Still sore and scratched up, but it was well worth it in the end.....

Return to Winter

Well, home again after 17 hours in planes and airports. I must say it was very difficult to leave behind a land of constant sunshine (when it's not raining) to return to the cold. When we landed in Eugene there was the most glorious sunset above the clouds, and as we descended it got darker and darker, until everything was in shades of dark grey and green. I really just wanted to turn around and hop the next plane for Tahiti. Having said that, it's a glorious sunny day today (Mom says it the first since November) and I slept like a baby in my big soft bed that doesn't have a split down the middle. I have to post some pictures (and an account) of this climb we did in Bora Bora on my last week. I hate to get out of sequence, but I was so busy packing the last few days there was simply no opportunity to post. Anyway, I'm back in the NW, planning to be up in Seattle in the next couple weeks or so, so if anyone wants to get together for lunch, email me.

Last Cruise??

On my last visit to Huahine, it was pouring rain, so Emma and I managed to convince someone to give us an Engine room tour. It was Fantastic, capped off by climbing ladders from the bottom of the ship up to stand amongst the smokestacks and peer down at the pool far below. I know the engineers in my family are green with envy, and cursing the wasted opportunity for me to ask lots of interesting technical questions. I promise to tell you all everything I remember when I get home. Now I've been told I must write an article for the " cruise news" due this evening. I'm at a complete loss, though I suppose I could take any one of my blog entries and hand it in.
If all goes as planned, I should be coming home soon. Warm up the weather for me.

Raining

4 months in Tahiti, and I still don't know the currency. Yesterday I had to stand in the internet cafe like a little child with my hand full of coins while the nice lady counted out what I needed. It's sheer laziness on my part, the big money is heavy, the little money is light and feels like play money, and it's all mixed up in my purse with New Zealand and American currency, so usually I just pay with bills.
So it looks like chances are good I might actually be going home at the end of this cruise. Having seen all the snowy pictures on everyone else's blog, I'm not sure I'm in any hurry to get there, but then, it is pouring torrential rain here, mixed with 90% humidity, so perhaps I'm ready for sweaters and fleece again.

Feeding the Sharks

Yesterday I made a heroic effort and dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 for the sole purpose of going ashore for an entire day with Emma (my new partner in crime). We got dockskide, and were attracted by a tour that promised shark feeding, ray feeding and snorkeling. We hopped in the boat (with some Russians, who yesterday on the ship discovered that I could say "Good Evenng and Goodbye" in Russian, and immediately they began chatting to me in Russian, at which I was hard pressed to say "I only don't speak not little Russian" and our conversation reduced to friendly smiles and gestures). The shark feeding turned out to take place about 200 yards off shore of my favorite beach in Moorea, and we got to the place and they told us all to hop in. There was a pretty fierce current, and Emma swallowed half the sea trying to get over to the feeding, so being the good friend I am, I got back in the boat with her and watched the shark frenzy from the warm dry safety of the boat. The Ray feeding was much more satisfactory, with huge stingrays racing towards us, only to turn away and brush us with their soft underbellys as the swung by in search of fish. The afternoon ended on the beach with fantastic snorkeling and aggressive triggerfish chasing us away from the coral. Back in Papeete today, beginning what I think is my last cruise.

Sun sun sun

Well, for once I find myself with leisure and a free computer, and nothing to say. I have to move to a new cabin this cruise, which I suppose will be good for me, because I'm going home at the end of next cruise, and I can view this as an exercise in pre-packing. It's hard to imagine there was a time in my life where I had to pack my suitcases every two days. It took me at least two cruises before I could relax enough to believe I wouldn't have to mound all of my stuff into bags and move on to the next hotel. Now I'm well settled in - pictures on the wall, Christmas lights on the mirror, flowers in the window. Oh well, I'll think about it when I get back from the beach tomorrow.

Takes a licking...

The other day I was doing a huge mound of laundry (which means I didn't check my pockets very carefully before I threw it in the wash) and when I went to take everything out of the dryer, imagine my horror when I discovered my 256mb flash drive sitting perky and clean in the lint trap. Keep in mind that every document I need, all my PowerPoint shows, useful bits and pieces, are on this little drive, and while I have it moderately backed up, it had been a few weeks since I'd thought about it. On a whim, because it really didn't look too destroyed, I plugged it into my computer, and lo and behold, it worked like a charm, not a single file lost after 30 minutes in the washing machine (cold wash) and 30 minutes in the dryer ( permanent press, medium heat). Will miracles never cease?

Lord of the Flies?

Back in Rarotonga today, and it's a gloriously sunny day (which is refreshing after two days of steady rain). I'm back in the internet center run by feral children. There's a big sign that says "No children under 15 ever" , but the person behind the counter can't be over 12. Everyone seems very subdued today, it's positively peaceful in here, and the luxury of an hour of uninterrupted internet time is undeniable.
Kris Bell, I've been trying to post every day, but for the last three days most of the crew internet computers have been broken, so I'm lucky to even check my email these days.
So New Year's on board was lots of fun, as one might expect. The party started in the medical center at 6:30, continued on through dinner, moved up to the nightclub, and ended in several bottles of Moet. I have no idea what time I left , but I was in pretty good shape for New Year's day, all things considered. At the very least, it's not snowing here in Rarotonga.