It’s Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas

I think the rule should be if you’re wearing shorts, you shouldn’t hear Christmas music. I realize that would deny much of the world their most festive and important religious holiday, but bah, humbug!

So in terms of my TV watching, I finished the first season of NYPD Blue. Pretty strong right out of the gate, and you gotta love Sipowicz! (Short sleeves and a tie…classic!) It sort of just ended, no comprehensive season arc, which I suppose fits in with their mandate but feels odd for DVD watching.

I’m currently making my way through Buffy, Season 6. The consensus is that it’s the worst season of the show, which I can’t really argue with, and in fact, the reason I’m watching it now is I held off on buying it until I knew I was going to be on the ship and reasoned I would have hours to fill. That said, there was one episode where, even though I knew how it ended, I was hoping that somehow, it would end differently this time. Which is cool. And there’s an episode with an alternate reality (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here, but anyone who wants to know can ask) that is really compelling and bold. So goodness there.

In reading news, I’m nearing the end of Please Kill Me. A pretty good read, though I could stand to know more about the music, and of course, I’ve never quite been able to come to grips with the punk movement’s casual use of swastikas, so that’s caused the occasional empathy interruption. But I guess maybe that’s the point.

This week’s excitement on the ship was a GI scare. (Gastrointestinal, not a soldier.) So for most of the week, we couldn’t touch the tongs at the buffet and had to be served. It was a smidge frustrating, both in terms of class consciousness (this is how kings would eat!) and smaller heaps of food (how can I ask for a third scoop of ravioli without looking like a glutton?) But hey, any change in routine is cause for celebration. Plus, it was during this time that I stumbled upon the papadam station, which may be the death of me, but since that’s the way I want to go, no complaints here.

This cruise was my most rock star so far. Lots of people coming up to me in the hallways, taking pictures, etc. Very bizarre. I had a very fun moment in an elevator packed with seniors. I walk in, and one of them goes “Oh my, it’s Dan from Second City.” (Sidenote: that’s what’s really odd to me. I expected to be occasionally recognized, but I’m constantly surprised by how many people remember my name.) So there’s a small buzz, and then one of them says “Do you know where we’re going now?” I make the logical guess and say “Our show?” She replies “No, chocolate buffet. But then we’ll stop by.” Alright, so we’re a very particular kind of rock star. I’m thinking Lawrence Welk.

The shows went fine. I played this game Love Letters for the first time, which went pretty well. I haven’t seen in it in Toronto or Vancouver, as far as I can remember. I’ll have to introduce it, it’s pretty fun, and it’s a rare treat to find a new game at this point.

I realize as I write this that I haven’t been talking much about off-ship activities, but mostly, they’ve been of the not-too-fun-to-describe-though-reasonably-fun-to-live variety of mostly hanging out at the beach and swimming. But excursions are on the horizon, so those should be compelling. Read on, you readers!

Alright, so this is my favorite moment of the week that was: I’m having drinks with a dancer from France (a Francer, if you will…it’s a relevant detail), and we’re talking about the pros and cons of possibly extending our contracts. So that’s the topic, we’re going back and forth, there’s a pause in the conversation, and suddenly, she says “I miss cocaine.” I nod, with an awestruck expression on my face, and say “Alright.” Five seconds pass, and I realize what she actually said was “I miss cooking.”

Gold.

A bientot, tout le monde!

2 Responses to “It’s Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas”

  1. Dave says:

    Nice and settle in, eh Dan?

    Have you checked out the crew DVD rentals? My first two casts usually put in 1-2 shifts a week of signing out DVDs to crew. There had to be at least 1000 titles, including series, and that was by July 2008.

    Oh, and Love Letters has been played here…just not much.

    Dave

  2. Dan Hershfield says:

    Yeah, we’re in negotiations. So far, I’m trying to justify the ridiculous number of DVDs I brought by watching my own, but yes, Jewelbusters will be raided. Though we thought they had The Wire, and they don’t. Yet.

    Merry Xmas!

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