World Cruise - Day 71 - Mar 23 - At Sea

I have to start getting up earlier.  I’m pretty sure this would have been a good sunrise, had I been outside when the sun crested the horizon, but I was there about 15 minutes late:

And yes, I broke the rule of third on that pic.  It’s just that the other pics I took (which followed the rule of thirds) weren’t as nice as this one.

The sea is very calm this morning and it’s very balmy, even at 7a.  The forecast says 80 degrees, but it feels warmer, especially being so humid.  Tomorrow’s forecast is for a high of 93, so we’re pretty much into the hot, humid portion of the trip.  And it lasts for the next month, when we pass through the Suez Canal and it finally cools off again.  So we spent the last week in cooler temps, now we’re getting ready for the baking, soaking temps for the next month.

In the Princess Patter today from the Navigator: “An old sailors tale tells of the time when the superstition of setting sail on a Friday reached such troubling proportions that the British Royal Navy decided to end the superstition once and for all.  They laid the keel of a new ship on a Friday, launched her on a Friday and named her HMS Friday.  She was placed under the command of one Captain Friday, and put to see on her first voyage on a Friday.  This action worked well, and had only one small drawback…neither ship nor crew were ever heard from again.”

Trivia was tough this morning, we got 12 out of 20, winning team got 15.  The ones we missed:  What civil rights leader was near death after being stabbed with a 7-inch letter opener in Harlem in 1958?  Martin Luther King (we said Malcolm X).  What color is in the central band on the German flag?  Red (we said yellow).  What John Water’s movie was made into a musical in 2002 and into a movie in 2007?  Hairspray (we said Chicago).  What are you unable to do if you have anosmia?  Smell (we said breathe through the nose).  What US president had the first broadcast of the inaugural address live on the Internet?  Bill Clinton (we said George W. Bush).  What teaching method involves, among other things, using a large table for 12 or fewer students and a teacher discussing problems together?  Harkness (we said Socratic).  Alan Robert’s special super glue was used to join what?  Wounds (we said tiles to the space shuttle).  What do the cities of St. Petersburg, Turin and Rangoon all have in common?  They are all former capitals (we said they have all had their name changed).  Other interesting questions:  In what country is Sol beer brewed?  Mexico.  When Lisa Hullaby married King Hussein of Jordan, who did she become?  Queen Noor.  What happened to Craig Baggio 285 times in his 20 year Major League Baseball career?  Hit by pitch.

We were talking at lunch about nicknames that are being given onboard.  These are typically nicknames that people give to others when they don’t know their name, but know them by a nickname that they give to them.  One of our friends was referred to as “our little bronze marshmallow friend” in the pool yesterday.  Other nicknames we have heard include:  Lumpy, Salad Lady (that’s Krissie, BTW), Cargo Pants, Bathrobe Man/Bathrobe Lady (collectively referred to as “The Bathrobe People”), Budweiser Girl, Big Hat Lady, The Babe, Vest Man, Wig Lady, Brown Rice Lady, Fast Walker Lady (that’s Krissie again), Monkey Man, Stretch, The Snake, Tickles, Tickler (yes, they know each other), The Young Stud, Sit Down, Crazy Lady, Blondie, The Guy With The Really Pretty Wife (that’s me—seriously, it is, someone just told me today), Butterfly Dancers, Trivia Wiz (that’s Bill on our trivia team), Lone Star, Twinkle Toes, Last Horse Running, The Energizer Bunny (I like that one, since that’s our nickname for our daughter, Rebekah), Backpack Man, Droopy Drawers Man.  No names to connect the dots here on the blog, but I think most people onboard can decipher several (if not most) of these nicknames.

We won at afternoon trivia with 13 out of 20, then, in a rare event, won a two stage tiebreaker over five other teams.  The first tiebreaker question:  According to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, what is the answer to the ultimate question of life?  42 (I knew the answer and got really excited that we might actually win, but two other teams knew it as well—as a side note, in the book, they finally figured out the answer, but they forgot the question).  In TV ratings, what is the rating for parental discretion strongly advised?  TV-14 (Dan got this one).  Here are the questions we missed:  What lung disease infects one new person every second and kills more than 1.4 million people per year?  Tuberculosis (we said asthma).  What is a well trained horse expected to do when given the command “G”?  Turn right (we said turn left).  What do alectrymancers study to predict the future: birds, clouds or traffic jams?  Birds (we said traffic jams).  What singer/actress graced the cover of People Magazine 22 times by 2002?  Cher (we said Madonna).  What type of ancient vessel was a trireme?  War ship (we said boat).  What is the 2^nd most common word in written English?  Of (we said a).  What did the Barbie doll get in 2000 that she did not have before?  A navel (we said earrings).  Other interesting questions river rises in the Tibetan highlands?  Yangtze River.  What name does the Web firm Google call its employees?  Googlers.  Which has more genes:  human, gerbil or rice plant?  Rice plant.  What color hair will earn an Australian the nickname of blueie?  Red.  What is the total point value of all 5 pins in 5 pin bowling?  15.  What Homer Simpson word made it into Oxford Dictionary in 2002?  Doh.  What group smacked down World Wrestling Federation for legal rights to the acronym WWF?  World Wildlife Fund.  What melody was penned in 1893 by sisters Patty and Mildred Hillinsky in Kentucky?  Happy Birthday To You.  In a standard deck of playing cards, what is the queen holding in her hand?  Flowers.

Dan gave us a copy of the CD from his Mom, Maria Royce Hesse, entitled Souvenir, which she recorded on harp in 1999.  It has 11 tracks and is wonderful to listen to while we are getting ready for dinner.

The performer this evening was Mariusz, who played classical music on an electric cello:

After the evening performance, everyone went up on deck 9 (pool deck) for an Asian Fusion Champagne Waterfall Celebration, which is basically an excuse for anyone who bought any Asian clothes to wear them, drink some champagne and eat more food.  Pic of Krissie with Chelsea and Collette:

Brett and Carlos did the champagne waterfall first pours:

They did a great buffet of food (eating again?) and ice sculptures:

Turkey display with fruits and cheeses:

Another display, another ice sculpture, another buffet, another excuse to eat more food:

Tomorrow is Vietnam.  We arrive at the port in Phu My at about 7a.  We get an extra hour of sleep tonight, since we turn back the clocks one hour.