A Poem in Progress

I like to write poetry from time to time. Whenever the spirit moves me, or I find a Muse to enspire me.

I found just such a muse on my last Atlantis Cruise but am having trouble getting past the first stanza, which I present for your enjoyment.

If I'm ever able to finish the poem, I will let you know. Till then -

I welcome the song of you,

I rejoice in the sight of you,

Most welcome I find the gift of you,

Oh sweet child of Scorpio.

My Atlantis Vacation - 2009

Or,

The Good, The Bad, & the F'Ugly

I got back last night from my most recent Atlantis Events cruise to the Mexican Riviera, and it was, to say the least a unique and wonderful experience. Parts of it were good, parts of it were bad, and parts of it were (you guessed it) F'UGLY.

Lets start with the good. The ship this year was the Mariner of the Seas, one of the largest ships in the Royal Caribbean International cruise line's entire fleet. This year, the embarkation went like a dream, though I did end up getting to the pier in San Pedro way to early.

Anyway, once I got on the ship, I found out that we couldn't go to our rooms just yet because they were all being cleaned and made ready for us after the previous cruise customers had left that day, so we were invited to go to one of the ships restaurants and/or buffets. Now, some might tell you that the food in the Windjammer Cafe' wasn't that great, but don't listen to them, listen to me. I thought it was very good food. The variety was astounding, was artistically presented and displayed, and the taste (of those things I ate) was such that I wished I could just keep eating forever.

Once we could go to our rooms, I went down to my cabin on deck 2 (one floor above the waterline, ha ha) to freshen up and change into more vacation appropriate clothing. My luggage hadn't arrived yet, but I had a pair of my shorts in my carry-on bag, along with a comfortable and colorful t-shirt. After changing, I went up to the pool deck to get a drink and start mingling with the other passengers that were on board.

Oh, there were so many wonderful people I met that night, both on the main pool deck, and later that night at the singles cocktail mixer at a venue referred to as the Lotus Lounge (very gorgeous, Chinese decor), including the former mayor of Tempe, Arizona, Mr. Neil Giuliano (who is even better looking in person than he is on TV).

The entertainment on the ship was also incredible. The production shows put on by the Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers (sorry, I couldn't find a link on Wikipedia) were fantastic, and never let any setback stop them from giving us a fantastic show. I mention this because during one performance, one of the male singers fell from a piece of the stage set, but just got right back up and kept on singing and dancing. He later poked fun at his pratfall by pretending to be extra careful coming down some stairs during the same show, grabbing the handrail with both hands and making a funny face toward the audience.

I would also like to say I cannot say anything to wonderful about the comedians that performed on board during the cruise. Louie Anderson, Jim David, and Shawn Pelofsky were my favorites. I was even honored to share lunch with Ms. Pelofsky one afternoon while we were docked in Puerto Vallarta.

I also met many wonderful men on this cruise, one of whom I think is very special. We didn't meet as often as I would have liked, it's a huge ship after all with over 3,500 passengers on board, but I was happy every time I saw him. I was even lucky enough to meet him in the terminal at LAX. We were able to talk for awhile before he had to board his plane, and before he left we gave each other a tight, tight hug. It was a little painful for me because of a mild sunburn I picked up in Cabo San Lucas, but, boys and girls, it was oh so worth it. We exchanged cards and I'm hoping I can see him again one day. Who knows what might happen.

Now the bad. In Puerto Vallarta, I took a hiking tour up the Sierra Madre Mountains through the jungle canopy. At first everything was going great, but then a light drizzle started to fall. To begin, it was no big deal. Like I said, the drizzle was light and we were largely sheltered by the trees and were by and large dry enough, but then the rain started to get heavier, and the tree cover started getting lighter. I had placed my camera in one of my cargo shorts pockets to keep it dry, but I realized I was getting soaked through to the skin, so I gave it to our tour guide to keep in his waterproof bag for safekeeping. I was too late making the transfer though, and my camera was totally ruined, which is also why I have no pictures from my vacation to share with you. I'm going to see if I can find a camera repair shop, but I think I may just have to buy a new camera.

And now, the F'UGLY. I can give it to you in two words, Hurricane Rick (is their a gayer name for a hurricane?). It totally changed our itinerary. Instead of going to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta (in that order), we spent the first two days at sea going around the hurricane and made Puerto Vallart our first port of call. Then, we had to stay an extra day in PV because Mazatlan was closed to ship traffic due to the rough weather. Fortunately, it cleared up by the time we made it to Cabo, and this year my shore excursion didn't get canceled due to lack of participation (though I think it might be because the people who went just wanted off the ship at that point). The weather was so violent, and the seas so rough at one point, I came up with what I thought was a funny joke. "How do you tell who's drunk and who's sober on board? The drunks are the only people who can walk in a straight line."

In spite of Rick though, I still had a great time and have already pre-booked my cruise to the Mexican Riviera for 2010. Some of my friends will undoubtedly say to me (as they have said in the past) "Why do you do the same thing every year? Doesn't it get boring going to the same places all the time?" Well, I came up with the perfect metaphor to answer them:

"My cruise to the Mexican Riviera is like a snow globe. The little house inside is always the same, but every time you shake it up, the little snowflakes fall in a different pattern."

So the answer is no, I don't get bored during my vacation.

PS: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the new people I met on this cruise who exchanged cards with me. I have added you to my friends category in my e-mail address book.

PPS: Only 356 days till my next cruise!

Relax & Breath Already

The world in not, and I repeat NOT, going to end in 2012.


I could go into great detail as to why it won't, but they say it better in this article I read in Yahoo News.

What I want to talk about is a theory I have as to WHY everyone thinks (or should I say WANTS) the world to end.

I think the biggest reason is that a lot of self-described "righteous" people, want to be able, as they ascend towards Heaven and Eternity with God, to wag their collective fingers back down at those of us left behind and say, in a sarcastic taunting voice "You should have listened to Us and Jesus. Now it's to late and we're going to Heaven while you go to Hell."

Well, boys and girls, people have been predicting the end of the world nearly since the beginning of the world and have been looking for any system, sign, or portent that would point to the date of Armageddon.

For Example;

• The Jupiter Effect - Based on a 1974 bestselling book by John Gribbin, people believed that an alignment of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto would create monster earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault and elsewhere, and that this catastrophe would occur on March 10th, 1982 and the world would come to an end. They didn't take into consideration that the gravitational force of this event would be no greater than in the year 1128 AD (or CE if you want to be politically correct), and the world didn't end then either.
• 666 - Today, most Biblical scholars believe that this so called "Mark of the Beast" was actually a numerological code for the Emperor Nero. So everyone waiting for a baby to be born with this number under his hair, either go see a different movie, or hop in a time machine and go back to the year 68 AD.
• 1998 - Believed by many to be the year the Anti-Christ was born because 1998 is 666 (see above) times 3, a sort of unholy trinity.
• 2000 - Millennium madness. Everyone thought the world would end, Jesus would return, and the righteous would ascend, or at the very least the world's computers would crash or become self-aware and launch all the nuclear bombs. 9 years later and we're still here. They also thought the same thing in the year 1000 AD, and 1,009 years later . . . .

Well, let me make a prediction. The world will end one day. It will happen in approximately 5 billion years from now as the sun runs out of it's supply of hydrogen and begins to expand. Now, since it is highly unlikely that any one reading this will still be alive in the year 5,000,002,009 AD, give the whole doom and gloom, end of the world death wish scenario a rest.

None of this is to say that I still won't go see the movie 2012, but I'm not going to go and say the world will end that year. Some will, but not me, and the people who do probably wouldn't go in the water in a swimming pool after Jaws came out, or went back to the Catholic Church after they saw The Exorcist, or went to the Devil's Tower after they saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These are just movies people. You shouldn't use them to predict the future or control your behavior.

Astrological Compatability

I don't want to jinx anything, "For ye Gods of Fate . . ." and yada, yada, yada, seem to just love to get my hopes up only to crush them under Their collective thumbs, but I sort of met someone, and I'm happy :)

I met this very cute man (I won't be giving names till he says I may) on an introduction sight recommended to me by my friend and co-actor in the SCT musicals of "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Producers", www.singlesnet.com.

So far, we've only exchanged e-mails, instant-message contact information, and phone calls, but I am hopeful something may develop. But even if it doesn't, as a wise man once said, "No man is so rich he can turn down making a friend". Well, the actual quote was "No man is so rich he can afford to lose a friend", but hey, it's my blog, and I'll paraphrase if I want to.

Anyway, of all the things we've learned about each other, the only one I feel comfortable sharing (I don't want him to think our entire romance{if any actually develops}) is the fact that I'm a Gemini and he's a Capricorn, and according to one web-site I consulted about astrological compatibility, we would be "Opposites that attract". Of course, without a comparison of both our natal charts (which I'm able to do myself if I can get his date, time, and place of birth), this is nothing more than quasi-encouraging, and what the site actually said was barely a 4 word blurb about a Gemini/Capricorn relationship, so I take it with a grain of salt.

I would also like to calculate our Asian zodiac charts, but aside from knowing I'm year of the Ram, which sounds so much more butch than Year of the Goat (though I'm as horny as both{evil grin}), and he is Year of the Dog, I would need to know his month and date of birth.

I could be getting ahead of myself with all of this. It has happened before. But I will never give up hope.

That Last 25% . . . .

My grandmother, Irene, was a woman of great wisdom, and she said something to me once, when I was a little child, that I have remembered ever since.

I don't remember what had made me so upset, and why she told me what she did, but it stayed with me a lot longer than the problem she helped me through.

Now, I'm going to share some more of Her Wisdom with you;

"The World is broken up into four different types of people.

25% that will like you for the right reasons,

25% that will like you for the wrong reasons,

25% that won't like you for the wrong reasons,

and 25% that won't like you for the right reasons."

She went on to say, and this was the core of her lesson;

"It's only that last 25% that anyone should ever be concerned about."

It's not been easy, but ever since that day, I have tried to live my life by the wisdom of those words.

Dinner For Two (#1)

Let me start out by saying, an oven pre-set to 400*F is your best friend when it comes to preparing this delightful, romantic, dinner for two.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast

with

Roasted Green Beans & Eggplant

• 8 oz green beans, stem ends removed
• 4 teaspoons plus two (or more) cups extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 boneless, skinliss chicken breast halves
• 6 thinly sliced strips of prosciutto
• 1 eggplant, pealed and sliced about 1/2" thick
• 2 cups (more or less) of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• Lemon wedges for serving

1. Heat your oven to 400*F
2. In a large bowl, toss green beans with 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper
3. Place the greenbeans on a large cookie sheet, pushed to one side
4. Pour the two cups of olive oil in the bowl
5. In a seperate bowl, place the two cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
6. Spear one slice at a time of your sliced eggplant on a fork and dip in the olive oil, then place the slice in the bowl of Italian seasoned bread crumbs turning it over so both sides are coated. Shake off the excess and place on the cookie sheet with the greenbeans.
7. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and wrap each in the three slices of the prosciutto.
8. Place the chicken, seam side down on the cookie sheet with the greenbeans and eggplant and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
9. Cook at 400*F till chicken is opaque throughout (about 15 to 20 minutes)

Serve this delicious meal with lemon wedges.

The proscuitto helps keep the chicken juicy without adding much fat, and the squeez of lemon juice adds a bright twist and is a lot healthier that a heavy sauce.

Counting Down the Days

Only 16 days left till my next cruise vacation!

For the last couple of days, ever since I received my itinerary for the cruise from Atlantis Events & Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, I've been planning what activities I'm going to do, seeing what performers will be on board, and deciding what shore excursions I'm going to take.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I found out Alec Mapa & Shann Carr would not be among the featured comedians this year. They are both SOOOOO funny, but it is probably because they are both SOOOOO funny that they are also probably incredibly busy and could not find time this year. Oh well (loud, sad sigh).

I have also just finished booking my shore excursions for this trip. I went through the brochure and picked a primary and two alternates for each city we will be stopping in.

In Cabo San Lucas, I hope to go on a guided walking tour of the city. I tried going on it last year but it had been canceled for lack of participation. In Mazatlan I will be taking a walking tour of "Historic Old Mazatlan". Some of the friends I made on my last cruise took this trip last year and say it's worth it if only for the stop at this old style Mexican bakery. Now in Puerto Vallarta I'm not going on a walking tour, I'm going of a hiking exploration of the Sierra Madres.

I am so looking forward to all of my shore excursions, but just in case, I've got my list of two alternate excursions for each city (as I mentioned earlier) just in case any of my primaries get canceled (which happened at all of the cities we stopped at last year except Mazatlan), and I am to much of a chicken-shit to risk not getting back to the ship in time before it sails. If I miss the boat because of the tour guide, the tour company has to pay for me to get to the next stop. If I miss the boat because I f**ked up, I have to pay to get to my next stop.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. I'm going to a friends home tonight for dinner, and tomorrow I'm off to my annual pilgrimage to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. I'll have pictures of my Faire experience soon.

Till later, don't worry, I'll keep you informed.

OH! By the way, a special "Romantic Dinner For Two" will be featured on my upcoming instalment of "The Recipe of the Month" this Sunday.