http://www.shipsanddip.com/
This is a regular cruise I've been wanting to go on for a few years. It's hosted by the Barenaked Ladies, and features Great Big Sea and a bunch of other cool bands. Last year, one of the Ladies' lead singers left the band, and there was no cruise. I figured that was it; an opportunity blown. But it's back, I'm coming back, and I AM going.
Trouble is, unlike trundling about Newfoundland or jetting off to Cambodia, you can't just go. You have to buy a whole cabin on the cruise ship. So if none of your friends are interested/available, you're SOL. Which I will NOT let happen.
So, if you know a person or two, trustworthy and not TOO unpleasant, who might like to take a short cruise (just long enough to enjoy; not long enough to get sick of it) with some awesome bands, please please please send them my way.
Ports of call this year are Costa Maya and Belize, another reason I'm hellbent on making it happen this year. The last time, they went to the cruise company's private island--super lame, and something I don't want to take a chance on again.
So, again, seriously...your cousin, your grandma, your neighbor's daughter's boyfriend's Roman History professor...I don't really care. I want to set sail with 'em.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The State of Things
My last weekend in Seoul is ending. It's been another in a long string of Silent Sundays--days when I talk to no one but for a couple of "kamsamnida"s to store clerks. I'm not sorry it's the last.
I've been packing and prepping for about 2 weeks now, but nothing felt particularly different. Personal effects have been disappearing from my apartment and desk at school, my wardrobe has been shrinking, and I've said good bye to a couple friends, all without having any real sense of impending change. This morning, though, I took all the postcards down from my door, and now the place feels officially barren.
5 more days in Seoul. I literally can't believe it.
Not that my apartment is empty, not by any stretch. I've mailed several boxes home, and my suitcases are all bulging, but somehow the effect is to make the room ridiculously cluttered. Where did it all come from??? And, of course, I've been out buying more. If I bring back nothing from Hong Kong, that'll be ideal. I can't really think of anything it's famous for, so hopefully that means I won't feel compelled to have some tangible representation.
Perhaps, too, the busy-ness is keeping me from fully appreciating that the end is near. I've been trolling university websites since May, looking for jobs I might start when I get back. There's been no response from any of them, and I'd just resigned myself to waiting 'til I'm home to look in earnest when THE job, the one I've been using as an example of my perfect situation, was posted: International Student Counselor at the UofR. I plied my connections, got my cover letter done, tweaked my resume...but they have one of those websites where you have to fill in all the information like a Burger King application, so that still awaits. Plus, Nazareth and Keuka have openings for admissions counselors, and that's not to mention the lesson plans I still have to make for my last week of camp, the emails I owe people, the confirmations for my trip next week (and for my flight home, now that I think of it), boxes to mail, cleaning, Gulliver's Travels to finish (what a slog!), my phone to cancel... And oh yeah, I need to set up voice mail on my home phone in case anyone should actually call about aforementioned jobs. It's gonna be a busy week! So, yeah, I'm blogging.
I turned on the air conditioner in my apartment Friday night. It was the first time, with the exception of once when my friends were over. Apparently, 7 weeks is my limit for 86 degrees and 96% humidity. I've never found the idea of living in the tropics particularly appealing, but now I know I couldn't. I love hot weather, but I love variety just as much. Needing a jacket at night sometimes is kind of nice. Trouble is, now I'm getting addicted to being dry, and even more so to the quiet. Ideologically, I think it's better if we do without A/C where possible (as my own quick addiction demonstrates), but emotionally, my biggest beef with air conditioners is being cut off from the world outside. I love the moving air, the sound of the trees, the hum of life going on on the street. I love that sometimes it's sticky and sometimes it's chilly and sometimes the rain mists in. In Seoul, though, I don't love the construction, the shouting, the hacking, the horns, the motorcycles, the clanging metal posts, the truck PAs, and so on. Having had one quiet night, I find myself rationalizing another and another, despite temperatures having dropped a couple of degrees to within tolerable. I knew this might happen. But with only 5 days left, who cares? Now if the person in the parking lot outside would just realize that if the car hasn't started after 15 minutes of cranking, it's not going to...
I do have my notes from Japan, and I do intend to post a bit about it. I have a post about Asian vs. Western education that's been kicking around in my head for a while, too. Watch this space. Nothing may in fact happen, but you never know.
I've been packing and prepping for about 2 weeks now, but nothing felt particularly different. Personal effects have been disappearing from my apartment and desk at school, my wardrobe has been shrinking, and I've said good bye to a couple friends, all without having any real sense of impending change. This morning, though, I took all the postcards down from my door, and now the place feels officially barren.
5 more days in Seoul. I literally can't believe it.
Not that my apartment is empty, not by any stretch. I've mailed several boxes home, and my suitcases are all bulging, but somehow the effect is to make the room ridiculously cluttered. Where did it all come from??? And, of course, I've been out buying more. If I bring back nothing from Hong Kong, that'll be ideal. I can't really think of anything it's famous for, so hopefully that means I won't feel compelled to have some tangible representation.
Perhaps, too, the busy-ness is keeping me from fully appreciating that the end is near. I've been trolling university websites since May, looking for jobs I might start when I get back. There's been no response from any of them, and I'd just resigned myself to waiting 'til I'm home to look in earnest when THE job, the one I've been using as an example of my perfect situation, was posted: International Student Counselor at the UofR. I plied my connections, got my cover letter done, tweaked my resume...but they have one of those websites where you have to fill in all the information like a Burger King application, so that still awaits. Plus, Nazareth and Keuka have openings for admissions counselors, and that's not to mention the lesson plans I still have to make for my last week of camp, the emails I owe people, the confirmations for my trip next week (and for my flight home, now that I think of it), boxes to mail, cleaning, Gulliver's Travels to finish (what a slog!), my phone to cancel... And oh yeah, I need to set up voice mail on my home phone in case anyone should actually call about aforementioned jobs. It's gonna be a busy week! So, yeah, I'm blogging.
I turned on the air conditioner in my apartment Friday night. It was the first time, with the exception of once when my friends were over. Apparently, 7 weeks is my limit for 86 degrees and 96% humidity. I've never found the idea of living in the tropics particularly appealing, but now I know I couldn't. I love hot weather, but I love variety just as much. Needing a jacket at night sometimes is kind of nice. Trouble is, now I'm getting addicted to being dry, and even more so to the quiet. Ideologically, I think it's better if we do without A/C where possible (as my own quick addiction demonstrates), but emotionally, my biggest beef with air conditioners is being cut off from the world outside. I love the moving air, the sound of the trees, the hum of life going on on the street. I love that sometimes it's sticky and sometimes it's chilly and sometimes the rain mists in. In Seoul, though, I don't love the construction, the shouting, the hacking, the horns, the motorcycles, the clanging metal posts, the truck PAs, and so on. Having had one quiet night, I find myself rationalizing another and another, despite temperatures having dropped a couple of degrees to within tolerable. I knew this might happen. But with only 5 days left, who cares? Now if the person in the parking lot outside would just realize that if the car hasn't started after 15 minutes of cranking, it's not going to...
I do have my notes from Japan, and I do intend to post a bit about it. I have a post about Asian vs. Western education that's been kicking around in my head for a while, too. Watch this space. Nothing may in fact happen, but you never know.
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