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U-571, Me Jane |
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Before she even clocked in this morning, the Crazy Dog Lady announced to all of us that it is her cat Sofia’s birthday today. (Yes, the CDL also moonlights as a Crazy Cat Lady.) Here’s a direct quote: “This morning I told Sofia we were having a BIRTHDAY and PRESENTS and her ears just pricked right up!” I can only imagine what the cat will be thinking when presented with her annual wrapped gifts, party hat and birthday cake. The Crazy Pet Lady has proudly stated, on more than one occasion, that her pets get birthday parties including all of the above. The woman actually buys kids books (with pictures) and then reads them to her animals at night. “Oh, the kids are looking forward to the party tonight… and I have a new story for them that I checked out of the library as a treat!” Sick and wrong, people. Sick and wrong.
This weekend, I met up with Katie in Valencia for lunch and to check out travel books at Borders. Valencia is a city halfway between both our houses, containing Six Flags Magic Mountain and lots of strip malls. We exchanged cruise documentation (she had the cruise half, I had the airline half) and talked about what shore excursions (which cost extra) we should sign up for. We also tried to find information on internet cafes—we will most likely be stopping at one in Monte Carlo, one in Barcelona, and one somewhere in Greece, at the very least. That is at least three updates to the notify list. Woo! I also want to send postcards to those of you who want them. As long as I don’t get 100 requests for postcards, I should be able to send them out, no problem. So send me your snail mail address and I will add your name to Tim’s palm pilot and send you a postcard from somewhere. Let me know if you have a preference for where you’d like the card from. (Tangent on this tangent: Tim said he’d lend me his palm pilot. I’m going to buy one of those $30 fold up keypads and type a travelogue into the palm pilot, then upload it when I get home.) Some exciting news about the cruise is that we already got a category upgrade. We now have a room with an unobstructed view, facing the coastline. If the ship is not too full, we may be able to get another upgrade, into a mini-suite with a private veranda (remember the one in Titanic?) and a jacuzzi tub. I am not holding my breath for that kind of luck, though. I’ve only ever been on one cruise, a small three-day jaunt to Ensenada, Mexico aboard a small Carnival ship. Apparently this ship (the Royal Princess, christened by Princess Di) is so big that it has a library on board, and a movie theater showing different first-run movies every day. I hope they show Gladiator… mmm, Russell Crowe. But the point is, this is a far more luxurious ship than the last one I was on. The last cruise was a $300 cruise. This one is worth at least $6,000. My expectations are still at the $300 level, so I have a feeling I’ll be blown away by the reality of it. I am obviously extremely excited about this vacation. On this trip, we will see two out of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Temple of Zeus in Olympia and (as far as I can recall) the Temple of Apollo in Ephesus. We also get to see the Rock of Gibraltar (hopefully we’ll pass it during daylight hours) and about seventy bazillion other cool things. I’m a little wistful that Matt can’t come on the trip—I know he would love to see it all, too, and the cruise would be really romantic with him. But there will be other trips, undoubtedly there will be. Here’s something that’s also rather sucky. There’s a museum in Barcelona called the Musee Picasso. I was so excited when I heard about it, because Picasso is my absolute favorite artist and the museum houses something like 6,000 of his works. However, we’re in Barcelona on a Monday, and the museum is closed that day. Say it with me now: Bitter, party of one. As for the shore excursions, we are still deciding on them. We need to find some information on how easy it is to get from the port to the city. If it’s doable, we’re going to try and do as much as possible on our own. It’s cheaper and it’s more personalized that way. But despite looking through a half dozen travel books, we didn’t find information on all the ports. For instance, we need to get from Katakolon (sp?) to our actual destination which, as it turns out, is Olympia! We also need to get from the Santorini port to the archeological site on the other side of the island. If the buses run infrequently (or if there are none) we would need to get on the cruise tour. Other cities, like Athens and Monte Carlo, are easy because we dock at the port of the city itself. The most we’d need to do is grab a bus or a cab and be on our way, and I think we can handle that. I AM a little worried about missing the boat (which is a risk if you’re not on a tour) but I’m trying not to dwell on that. I talked Katie out of the Rome guided tours for two reasons—one tour does not include the Forum (which is the one thing she most wants to see) and the other one does not include the Sistine Chapel (which is something I refuse to miss). So we’re going to do the tour that takes us in for 90 minutes and drops us off in the middle of Rome, and then do our own thing. I hope we get to work in the catacombs, or the chapel decorated with the corpses of 9000 monks. I love morbid stuff like that. There’s also a fountain in Rome called the Trevi Fountain, and you’re supposed to throw a coin in it (backwards over your shoulder) to ensure that someday you’ll come back to Rome. Before I left for home, I threw a penny over my shoulder into the fountain in front of Borders. “I’ll be back, Valencia!” I promised. Katie thought this was pretty funny, but I’m sure I amuse nobody as much as I amuse myself.
I went and saw U-571 with Tim this weekend. While we were in Barnes and Noble, waiting for the movie to start, I made the mistake of saying that the Mediterranean, “Doesn’t have any waves. You know, because it’s a sea.” Tim was all over me for my alleged “seas don’t have waves” stance. Okay, admittedly, I did SAY that seas don’t have waves, but I later discovered that is not what I meant. TIM
ME
TIM
ME
TIM can’t even reply at this point; he is laughing too hard. ME
RANDOM MAN
ME
TIM
ME
TIM
ME
TIM
U-571 was excellent. I was on the fence about this one but read good reviews and heard good word of mouth, so we decided to give it a shot. Especially since the last movie Tim and I saw was Return to Me, a movie firmly planted in the “chick flick” category. This one had war and torpedoes and stuff, and I owed him one. Perfect. Interestingly, Tim has a friend from way back in the day who actually has served for six years on a nuclear submarine. I never met him because he only comes into port rarely. Tim was telling me all the interesting stuff they do, like the wargames they play, etc. Apparently his friend hates serving on a submarine, but submariners get the highest pay of anyone in the Navy, which is why he has done it for so long. In some of their simulations, they are completely submerged for up to two months solid. I think I would go crazy. U-571 gives a really good picture of life on a wartime submarine. It’s basically just your standard war movie, but the pacing is perfect and the tension of the situation builds to crescendo after crescendo. I was riveted to the screen for the entire running time—I don’t know how long it was, but it felt brisk to me. The characters are mildly interesting, although Memphis Belle does a much better job with the same structure. In that movie, you get to know and care about most of the characters before the mission gets underway. In this one, the vast majority of the crewmen are not introduced at all and therefore are little more than ciphers. On the other hand, Matthew Mc-howeveryouspellit for once does not annoy me, and gives a solid performance. And not to give anything away, but the German guy is quite interesting to me. What he does is downright heroic, or would be, if he wasn’t “the bad guy.” Also on the negative side, one of the most important CGI shots in the film is abominably bad. And finally, the “America good, Hitler bad” music is a little overwrought at times. Other than that, this film is recommended. Grade: B+
My boyfriend is not very happy with me. I made a mistake this weekend by going to the movie with Tim, on the assumption that my plans with Matt had been canceled. Matt didn’t hold it against me for long, but I feel I’ve been treading on such thin ice lately that every mistake is compounded. I’ve been writing a “my relationship is confusing me” entry in my head. Matt’s currently in a stage of evolution that’s leaving me a bit out in the cold. In theory he is growing, and changing, and learning to put his feelings first. These are all good things and I support them. In actual practice, I’ve been in the dark for a couple of weeks, and our relationship has been strained. I’ll write
about all of this tomorrow, and I promise to make more sense then.
Now, it’s time to leave this cess pit I call “work” and cross another day
off my countdown list.
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What
I'm Reading:
The Perfect Storm. Matthew worked on the movie.  orange bangJournal Quote of the Day: “The Vermont decision is not the same thing as marriage, quite true. But I do think it's something.Random Tidbit: Eep! Work Days Left: 64Days Left Including Weekends and Cruises: 105 |
