Quiet lives of desperation
I did the unthinkable and went on a cruise. The venue was forced by my austere budget constraints coupled with my desire to take a break and spend time with a friend. I think that all of my reservations about taking a cruise were confirmed and perhaps amplified, but like all things in life the experiences shared with a friend made all of them resonate with laughter and memories.
When I say cruise do you instantly conjure up an image of what the cruisers look like? I do, but actually there were Serbians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Indians, Philippinos, Turks, Nigerians, and I could continue but that is only the staff. I found out about the plentitude of Eastern Europeans when I decided to speak in Croatian to insulate our conversations. So gle ovo (meaning look at that!) was picked up by the first Serb and then I knew we better speak in whispers a la Louise from Louise Logs (one of many lol moments recalling Louise being an efficiency expert).
One thing I can tell you is that in a crowd of cruisers it is hard to remain anonymous. Not only do they get nicknames – the “thanks for dressing up” guy the comedian pointed out to the audience but you do too – “EXCUSE ME” chorus from those almost knocked down on the running track that spanned the top of the ship. We started with the mantra “do not make eye contact” and by the second day believed others were not wanting to make eye contact with us.
Ship? When I say ship, I use the term loosely, this was a monolith, a behemoth, a floating city or shopping mall depending on your state of mind, it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life and most like never want to again. It was a cruise ship.
Warning objects in rear appear smaller than they actually are:
