Autumn Calling..

I've been in New York City now for just over a week. I've been working to get my life into a little 5'x5' garage unit over by the La Guardia Airport. Yes I travel so much it's time to take the burden off my friends and move into my own place at Public Storage. It will be a weight off my shoulder I'm sure. Also just trying to wrap up business here, see friends, and make use of my now active gym membership. The week was a little lax just catching a drink or dinner here. The weekend was my busiest yet. It started off with my good friend Thomas out here in Forest Hills. We just had drinks at his place catching up on good times, politics, and laughter. As well as making fun of why Halloween 3 makes no sense and has no connection to ANY of the other Halloween movies. What a load of garbage that was, but good times for poking fun at. Reminiscent of an old college favorite called Mystery Science Theatre 2000 where this man and his robot would host. A movie would come on and at the bottom of the screen you'd see their silhouettes and hear their voices as they slammed the movie being projected. It was kind of funny most of the time, but that's what we were doing to Halloween 3. Just tearing it apart and then laughing heartily to Joan Rivers' comedy show. She's hi-larious by the way. On Saturday I spent the day to myself before meeting my good friend Brooke for a grueling Yoga class. Ashtanga to be exact. Whoa. Talk about strength and flexibility. I soon learned that I had none despite all the trips to the gym, lol. We came back to have a good ole singing session, briefly, before I ran off to a party in the city. It was a fun social party where I met old friends and made some new ones. People came in and out in costume from other parties since it's so close to Halloween (although we were told not to wear one). We partied until the wee hours despite the fact we agreed to be up to meet some people for a day of apple and pumpkin picking on Long Island the next morning, but alas it was hour back night. Woo hoo!! I STILL went to bed around 3:00am AFTER the time change. Whoa. That's 'cause the damn trains were local that late at night. Yuck. So the next day was an eventful day of fresh air and happiness. Although it wasn't so happy for one of my friends who stayed out later than I did at the party. He made his efforts though and I HAVE to commend him for that one since I know how that feels. He couldn't hold his hangover at one point and relieved himself out of the side of the car while we all heard his pain. He left the car unbeknownst to our driver who pulled away. Two of us thought she was just getting away from the sound and giving him space. Then she pulls out into the street and begins driving away. The two of us were confused. She gathered herself and remarked "apple picking?" We commented on how we just couldn't leave our friend behind no matter how sick they were. She was suddenly struck with surprise at the thought he was not in the car. She didn't know he stepped out. It was a hilarious moment for us. Guess you had to be there. It was a brisk and sunny day in the orchards and patches though. We got 2 full pecks of apples and 2 good-sized pumpkins. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin delectables. Yum. No these are not for carving, but for cooking. I also had a great pumpkin soup out there and while on our non-hay hayride we came up with a couple haiku's for the day, as I will recite them now:

I see dead pumpkins
Sprouting O'ER the grassy knoll
Too bad they're all dead

Hayride together
Bumpy roads along the patch
Cool Breeze billowing

The day was so much fun and at points I just burst out into laughter simply because. It was just the right kind of people. We all need laughter not only for a good workout, but to keep us sane even in the most difficult times. I think the highlight of the day had to be the orgasmic corn that we had before heading out on the non-hay hayride. It was so sweet and delicious and the butter was just oozing off the husk. YUM!! I crashed on the drive back before we ended our journey with a lovely stop to the Baja Fresh. Just a little taste of California here in ole New York.

The New Phenom..

Ten years ago I signed up for my first AOL account. In college I always had the benefits of a campus wide ethernet. It was the high speed messaging of the time on my lovely 386 PC (some of you even ask "What was that?"). Oh how the times have changed. It was AOL IM for a while. My mom soon got on. My dad was on yahoo and then the other family members. I was soon connecting with cousins, grandmas, aunts, uncles and friends all over the country. This kept up for a while before Friendster came up some time ago. It was "hip" to be "invited" to be on the site. You couldn't just GET on, but you had to be "invited." It was all over the radio. Soon it was a phenom. Anyone who was anyone had a Friendster page. Then a new generation of similar pages started sprouting up for different groups. Hybrids. Spawn. Newer and promising to be better. The Friendsters defected to their perspective groups and soon the Friendster clan was a dying breed. They've gotten "hip" to the newer pages, but it's still not the same. Then, a new baby came to being. MYSPACE!!!! It seemed like it came out of no where. I was hanging out with friends one day and they were all talking about how they "found" each other on myspace. I watched a movie and it was quoted in the scene. Myspace. Myspace. Myspace. Soon, I was drawn in. My 19 year old friend at the time inspired me to go on. I started a page while out to sea, but because of the huge graphics involved I couldn't check it too often because of the speed of the internet available. Soon, I had a plethera of messages asking about pictures and friend requests. "Hold On!!" I shout at my computer. I just got started. Yikes! So I add a few pictures and tell a few more friends. Now some friends communicate through Myspace and they're better at replying there than on regular e-mail. Could e-mail be the new "snail mail?" AOL has downgraded to be "free" to compete with other sites like Yahoo and Hotmail. The only way you pay for AOL is if you use their host connection. If you have your own (which is most likely with all the wireless hook-ups floating around in the air) then it's free! Wow. I think the post office should follow suit. I mean, who sends a letter anymore? Now it's just a comment on Myspace.com. Incidentally, you can check out my growing baby page at www.myspace.com/chrissersworld. However I will stay true to blogspot and post my thoughts, inspirations, and adventures here. See you in cyber space.

Rockin' Roller Coast...

Yesterday was a lovely day with my mom and brother. We went to a local watering hole called Cedar Point. It's been around for a good 130 years now. It started out as a resort village and grew into the "roller coaster capital of the world." Owned by Cedar Fair, LLP it holds some awesome thrill machines totaling 14 monster track courses and 1 more on its way for 2007 as well as 1 kiddy coaster. It's been rated the number one spot as best theme park for 9 years in a row. The price isn't so bad either. It's cheaper than Disney and I believe any Six Flags park and packs more punch. Check it out at www.cedarpoint.com. It was an exhaustingly fun day as we walked all around the huge peninsula putting our bodies through extreme conditions. The only ride I refused to ride was the Mean Streak. It's the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster so far. However, because it's wood, it has a rough and jarring ride. So much so that the last time I rode it, I had aches the rest of the day after the painful ride. They had to add air brakes on the first drop to keep it from reaching top speed. I believe that if it ever reached top speed that some of the riders would have serious injuries on some of those drops and turns. Wood expands and contracts more in the weather conditions here in Ohio and with that the track changes over time. So with that turns become less smooth and even some stretches of straight track become bumpy. The Blue Streak, which we rode in the beginning of the day as a warm up, only goes about 35mph and it still hurts. I believe the Mean Streak can get up to over 60mph and can give you quite a ride. No thanks. Even the little Mine Ride and the large racing Gemini have rough rides with their steel tube tracks and wooden frames. The only ones that are fairly smooth are the all steel ones. I couldn't believe how smooth the Dragster coaster was. It reaches a speed of 120mph to shoot straight up its 420ft climb to go over and come straight down on a twisting track. The launch was the most shocking and fun part. Some ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) members told us that the best thing that could happen is a roll back. It's when the train doesn't quite make it over the top and rolls backwards to the station. In this case, they just slow it down and re-start it. I'm glad it didn't happen to me. The thought of going backwards from 420ft in an unexpected situation is kind of scary. They said it happened several times over the summer though. I didn't see it happen all day. The other extreme rides were the Millennium Force and the Magnum XL 2000. The Millennium Force has a power packed 300ft drop after you climb up on the newest form of lift chains that they use in elevators. The ole Magnum, which was built while I was in high school, has the old style chain that takes you up the 200ft first hill. It was the first hyper coaster of its kind and ACE has deemed the sight a historical landmark. It still gives a great ride despite these coasters reaching higher heights and faster rides. We also took in the loopy ones on the Raptor, Mantis, and the Wicked Twister as well as the calmer (well after such intensity) ones such as the Iron Dragon (first hanging coaster), Wildcat, and Disaster Transport. The 3 of us also powered up on the Power Tower on both sides where you can shoot up 350ft and bounce or shoot down from 350ft. It's very exciting that my mom can still partake in these fabulous thrill rides with no complications. She's in her 50s and can still take the heat. Youth has blessed this family. My brother is a thrill seeker and jumps out of planes. He's now a certified skydiver so some of these machines don't provide much thrill for him. However he was still taken by surprise on the Top Speed Dragster coaster and he still enjoyed all the thrills the park had to offer. We all had a blast and it's good to revisit a place that was so much a part of my childhood and good memories.

Two to Tango..

So I've been home now for 3 days and my mom treated me to an evening of ballroom dancing. A month ago my mom proposed that when I came home we go take this ballroom class. It would be the Latin dances in the fall. I said "why not?" It'd be fun. I never learned any ballroom Latin dances so I figured since we were both dancers (my mom was a ballerina a long time ago) it'd be fun and easy. So the day comes, yesterday, and we're almost ready to go. I spent the whole day organizing and she took the day off work to do the same. I was in my jeans and T-shirt ready to go. I figured it was just a ballroom class so I didn't need to bring out the sweats and dance gear I wear when I go to classes in NYC. She said "No!" I guess that's not what you wear to class there. She said people get into full gear for these events and even don tuxes. Well, I just dressed as I would for any Lido meal on the ships. Khakis, a nice shirt, and nice shoes. We were off. She pulled into the parking lot of a country club out here. She was worried we'd be late, but she had her clock set 10 minutes fast, so we were fine. Ever since being home, I've been a little lax about time especially since my long flight from Venice. Anyway, I start to seethe clientele I expected, and it was definitely people who would sail with Holland America; our older generation. That's okay. We get in and sure enough some folks were decked out although there weren't any tuxes that night. It was a lot of her skating pals since roller dancing has its roots in ballroom. The class began and the makings of a mocumentary (a la Mighty Wind, Pet Show, or Guffman) started streaming through my brain. The instructors weren't very enthusiastic and the lady instructor was chewing gum and had a condescending air about her. One lady asked a question and she was completely ignored. Also after learning a bit of the evening's dance, the tango, she flat out told people they might not be ready for the "advanced" step and she seemed a little agitated by it. Anyway, could be my nature of over reading someone. So the class began and it was tango. What a dance to do with your mom. The CLOSE dance of love. I had a blast though. I'd never done tango before and we were both worried about getting all the steps in on the right beats. We tackled the "advanced" step even though the lady said that if we didn't have any tango experience we shouldn't try it. Pshaw on her! We did it anyway. I think we looked rather good out there. Sure we weren't doing fancy turns or anything. It was challenging enough with the weird rhythm of the tango and dodging the couples out there that weren't watching their traffic patterns to attempt some things. It was a crowded evening for sure. In ballroom dancing there are some large sweeping movements and the key is to lead and follow. I tried my best to keep us from running into others. It was like the dodgems at an amusement park. I took the advice from my Aussie ballroom friends to not watch my feet during the dance. I spent a lot of it watching where I was going. After class they had an open dance. We sat for most of it since there were a lot of dances we didn't know. We did do the tango at least 3 times and we partook in the waltz, Viennese waltz, cha-cha (attempted), and also the line dance "Electric Slide." My mom's a great partner to have. She did really well and I'm glad I went. I'm looking forward to next week. It's a tango review.

Home safe home

It was a long and stressful past 3 days. I went off in Corfu, Greece for a bit to do some last minute European shopping. It was a quick day since our cruise director and hotel manager surprised us with a Pinnacle Grill reservation on them. That's a $20 value and we'd ALL get to go, which never happens. It was our farewell dinner and it was tasty as always as I left the dining room stuffed. By this time I'd already started packing and had my closets and drawers strewn everywhere in my room. A hoard of information was flying through the hallways about weight restrictions, carrying restrictions (as far as liquids and gels), and how disembarkation would run and would it go smoothly. Excitement was in the air since everyone was READY to go home after such an exhausting contract. The next day we were in Dubrovnik and I was looking forward to going into port and seeing some of this beautiful place since I didn't get to see much of it in my one and only time there. Well, it turns out that our rotting ship, the Rotterdam, had 2 tender boat failures and only 2 were left to carry 1,800 passengers to and from port. All aboard was at 2pm and by the time the window would've come around for crew, it was 1pm (which is when we were supposed to be ON the last tender FROM port). Needless to say there was no crew shore leave and they gave some excuse that the authorities were being racist and only letting certain nationalities into their country. This couldn't have been true since there was a myriad of cultures on board as far as guests were concerned. So I missed the port. Boo. That was the day before Venice and the last minute packing began. Stresses were high trying to get weights down and bags packed before they had to be at security at 8pm. Once the bags were gone, we were in the halls celebrating and burning off energy so we could get sleep and be ready for the extremely long day the next day. The next day came and we were all up bright and early to check things off the list that needed to get done with the various departments before leaving the ship. We got off the ship late of course. One of cast had to get a noon flight and we were pushing it already. We finally walked off the gangway around 9:45am and then it was the hunt for our luggage. This was also delayed. Thanks to our lovely ship and their unorganized way of doing things. We finally got our luggage around 10:15am and we were on the road to the airport. A bus went ahead with some of our cast. We all pretty much scattered and never really got to say goodbye as a group or even say goodbye at all. I had the fortunate luck to be on all flights with my friend Nicole who also lives in Ohio and was flying to Cleveland. Five of us traveled together to Paris on the first leg before scattering our separate ways. I finally touched down in Cleveland about 11pm tired and spent. Whew. Travel does really take the most out of you. I'm home now with one adventure done and another one coming up right around the corner. More places to go and even more travel involved. I wonder what will be in store next.

Exploring New Territory..

Constanta, Istanbul, Kusadasi, and now Rhodes. Tomorrow is Egypt. The days are going by one by one. The only new port I haven't seen on this contract was today in Rhodes, Greece. It was my favorite 6 years ago and it was just confirmed today as my favorite again. I guess I have many favorites on this itinerary, but this one makes the top five. It's just a cute little port with so much history and art inside. You walk into town on the outside of this brick wall and then you enter through one of its many entrances. The streets are lined with stones and everything inside those walls have character right down to the arts and crafts sold in the stores. Even the cafes have character. It's just a day of pure enjoyment as the town takes you right back to the medieval days of castles and knights. Linens are a big sale item here along with a Greek liquor called Ouzo. I guess its licorice liquor. There's plenty of spinach pie, crepes, and olives to go around. It was a short day though since we left for Cairo at 1pm today. Boo. This is one port that needs to have a longer port time. I know Egypt is the highlight of this cruise, but then we should skimp on one of those Black Sea ports that we spend too much time in. Kusadasi and Istanbul were also delightful ports to visit. In Istanbul I went off with one of my friends and we saw the Blue Mosque in old Istanbul. In the earlier part of the contract we'd always take a cab to Taksim Square to take in the marvelous hip shopping available there. This time I went and saw a place where the Turks take worship. Of course you had to take off your shoes and make sure you were covered. Unlike Western religions there were no pews, just open space where people just knelt and prayed while service was happening. Over the loud speakers outside we heard an eerie call and response between 2 mosques of sung prayer. We took in the Grand Bazaar and looked at all the leather goods and rugs. Turkish rugs a HUGE there as well as leather. I didn't do much buying since I was informed a lot of the same things would be better priced in Kusadasi. The next day we were there and I did a lot of shopping in the bazaar area. I came back on board for a little sun nap and then ventured off on my own to see some local sights. Afterward I met up with a few people and took in a nice dinner in port since we were there so late. It was a nice couple of days. Tomorrow is Alexandria, Egypt. I've seen the glory of the pyramids and had a day in Alexandria so there's no need to venture out this late in the contract and with 4 days before I leave this ship. The sister ship and my future home, the Prinsendam, will be in port with us so we're going to venture over and check it out. Also, it should be nice and hot and sunny, so some definite rays are in the mix for tomorrow. Constanta was still unimpressive. We had a show once again that day so it left the tour possibility out of the question. I took out a bike and toured the countryside a little. I guess I couldn't go as far as I needed. I could do without this port again. Only 4 more days now and 2 more fabulous ports coming up before landing in Venice, Italy. I'm sad I don't get to spend more time in Venice, but I shall see Venice again.