Changes

I woke up this morning and brought my book outside to try to finish it. I was interrupted by four blasts of the ship's foghorn. Everybody around me was startled by it, and we all looked around as if there would be any clues as to what should we do. But we couldn't see anything out of the ordinary going on so we all went back to our business. I like reading outside towards the front of the ship, because it's usually pretty empty as I think it takes passengers a while to discover it. Last Saturday I was there when all of the sudden I realized the people in the hot tub were talking about a conversation they had had with me, Beth and Randall the night before. Their retelling was filled with inaccuracies and misquotes, but their attitude was cheerful so I didn't feel like I should reveal my presence and correct them. Anyway, any awkwardness was avoided since it began raining soon after and I discreetly went back inside, feeling a lot like Harriet the Spy.

Today I went inside early because I wanted to watch the Fashion Show. Paul and Sue were inside watching it, and I was able to catch the very end with them. The models are all from the dance company and they showcase the various Tommy Bahama products that can be bought at the ship's store, or Galleria. Sue has grand designs of her and I taking over the commentator position for one week, and we both agreed that we'd give up the $25 Galleria gift certificate that comes with the job just for the chance.

The family sitting next to us tonight at dinner gave their kids free reign and displayed some of the laxest parenting I've seen on the ship tonight. I'm going to give the mother a pass because she was dealing with her seven month old daughter (whose ears were pierced, so I'm not giving her that much of a pass) and non-English speaking parents. The four year-old son kicked things off by clinking his butter knife repeatedly against his water glass, as if to request that a non-existent bride and groom kiss. His father told him repeatedly to put his knife down, but didn't seem all that phased when his son ignored his request and kept on clinking for the next two minutes. Later, when the boy and his younger brother began acting up, the father switched to threatening them that he would cancel their Shirley Temple drink orders, but neither took him all that seriously and kept up their racket and they were enjoying their drinks a few minutes later. After they had eaten a few bites, both boys left the table and parked themselves (quietly, to give them some credit) in front of a big window that looked out over the ocean. This placed them right at the feet of a couple enjoying a quiet meal and three elderly women. The father looked over and cheerfully said through a mouth filled with food, “We don't know who they are! They've been following us around ever since we got on!” One of the elderly women looked up and gave him a look that I would characterizes as “sternly disapproving,” but he just repeated himself, as if they hadn't understood his joke. When we were leaving I overheard him telling the waitress that they hadn't really enjoyed their meal, not because the food was bad but because they “had all ordered the wrong thing.”

Sue, Randall, Jason, Beth and I then went to the Song and Dance extravaganza, which we were all looking forward to because the principal singer is on vacation this week so the secondary singer was taking over her parts (Paul somehow escaped the hysteria surrounding this casting change and went back to his room to play video games). Since we're now somewhat of an expert on the Monday night show, we were able to knowledgeably compare and contrast the two singers, agreeing that the understudy had done an excellent job.

After the show I went back to my room and finished up “Empire Falls,” the book I have been reading (this might be a good time for me to tell my roommate Martin I borrowed his copy of “Empire Falls” last month. Martin, I hope that's okay and I will get it back to you somehow, some way). While I liked it a lot more than the woman sitting next to me on the plane last week (“I had to read it for my book group last year. I finished it and said, “So what?”), I think the superficial nature of my life on the ship right now made me want a more definitive and happier ending for the book. But maybe it was good for me to read it on a cruise, since the river and water play such important roles in the story. I brought about twenty books with me, thinking that four months on a boat would be the perfect time for me to read all of the books that I have ever put off reading. But given the slow rate that I finished “Empire Falls,” I think I was overly ambitious in my packing. I'll have to figure out what to knock off next tomorrow, because now I've gotten mildly obsessive about shipping the books I will eventually read back to my parents (or my roommates, if the case may be) so that I can leave room in my suitcase for all of the coconut monkeys I will eventually buy.