paisleypiper's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- dreaming again on sunday night Mother and the Major returned from their Alaskan cruise. They took Grandma and her husband (CS) and joined mother�s brother, his wife and her parents. The cruise cost them one half of a new car � I need to buy a car, so I am looking at everything in those terms � and these are their comments:
◘ The big issue was how to handle taking pills with the time change. ◘ CS kept trying to give people half of a cookie from his shirt pocket. ◘ The cruise ship was a floating hotel and there was always food available. ◘ We had a balcony. You have to get a balcony when you go. ◘ Pack one-half of what we packed and pay, even though it costs, for the ship laundry service. ◘ People in Alaska are surprisingly attractive and articulate and are forced to piece together multiple jobs. ◘ You pay your dues and work your way up (the major makes this comment all the time, regarding many different things � this was about the crew and the entertainment). ◘ Everything was the crew�s pleasure. If you wanted an extra ice cube they thanked you for the opportunity to allow them to serve you. ◘ Whales have horrible breath. ◘ The security was incredible. Not that I am planning to take a cruise, but the assumption is made here that vacations are hereditary. You can only take vacations that your ancestors have taken. Not only that, but there is an underlying assumption that the moment I was born, all of my vacations were locked into place. They are doing their part by taking vacations, lecturing me about the aspects of their vacations, and then expecting that one of these days I will get my financial act together, get a �real job� and settle in and repeat one of their vacations. I feel like to have any sense of the place, I would have to go there because living vicariously through them is hard. One of these days, I will be able to have a full-body scan to know what sorts of illnesses I will get and what sorts of vacations I will take. I�d rather read tea leaves. My tea leaves tell me that as soon as Quinn and I get solvent (we are on our way), I get a car and get comfortable with the payments, and we scrape up the cash, we are headed to Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Prague and Paris. I think we will pass on the cruise and just go for one suitcase, a bunch of casual-yet-chic ensembles, sketchbooks and cameras and set our sights on adventure. I�ll spruce up my Russian and dust off my French�. Tallinn is sort of a roots thing, but it is supposed to be an incredible city� an old medieval city with lots of new, cool stuff happening. My great, great grandfather was Mayor of Tallinn. An end-of-the-weekend dream. 10:05 p.m. - 2002-07-28 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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