The Land of Enchantment

Finally Alaska has come to an end, and the effervescent, distant horizon looms towards. I'm almost late for my ship, so I don't have many pics to post here. I'm sorry. If you want to see what has happened check out my pics on facebook. I also apologize for grammatical erros.

And whats in the story of your life? For me, the Rhapsody has become a very routine life for the wanderer. And so when you ask me to tell its story, its still a story of work, the sea, isolation and of course the expansive mountains that loom over all of our horizons. As beautiful as the land is here, it is intensely intimidating. Most of the time we are the only sign of humanity in this place, and like an intruder in an ancient tomb, I feel the anxiety of breaking Alaska’s tranquility. I have enjoyed my summer here, but am anticipating a change of itinerary.

Someone told me to update this thing, and so I am here again. I’ve been feeling strange about it, not exactly angry, but sort of frustrated. Like you’re angry at yourself after being lost in the woods for a while, or gotten your car sucked in the sand. Work has been a mixed bag. I have my head well above the water, which is better than most of the others can say.

Everyone said I wouldn't last, no one knew who I really was...

My free time has been spent reading, exercising, watching films and of course revisiting Fischer and Sons. It is time spent in isolation with an occasional bout of loneliness. That is the life of the wanderer, my friends and I enjoy it for the most part. There are usually two reliable party nights on the ship, but with this captain, now we have to be careful. This ship has lost the most crew than any other in the fleet. Port days will sometimes feel banal. There’s only so many times you can walk around Juneau before you’ve done it all before. This world of mine is definitely screaming for a change. Even having my parents and Monica come visit was a welcome change of pace, but still just a variation of the same recipe. It was nice to share my world with them, and I know they enjoyed it, because as ridiculous as I sometimes feel, I enjoy it too. So, here is where I share some of those variations, occasional thoughts, and of course…the insufferable vapours.

Like they always say: “birds of a feather flock to Heather.”

I was taking a load of laundry down to the Tween Deck, which is of course the deck between 1 and 0, on the night before turnaround. One of my friends from youth staff asked me causally what was going on. “Oh, just incinerating small children.”

“Oh yeah? Why’d you wait until the last night of the cruise?”

I thought that was funny.

One day I was enjoying a lunch from my favorite fishstand in Victoria, Red Fish Blue Fish. They cook only ocean friendly, wild caught sea food. It is the cleanest sea food I’ve ever had, and I will always remember it fondly. I was with Jana and my superior officer, Julie, We were chatting about the weather, how nice it was and looking up to some menacing clouds in the distance I asked Julie, “Those clouds, are they coming or going?”

“Looks like they’re just passing by.”

I thought that was a lovely way to put it.

To tell you about Victoria. I really didn’t think much about it my first time there. It was rainy and cold so I just walked around the port, got some strange Canadian food (awful Nanaimo bars) at the nearest café and got right back on the ship. It turns out to be an OK place to walk around. It’s the capitol of British Columbia and sits at the far south end of Vancouver Island. You can almost see Seattle from the shore. But most importantly it reminds me of the real world, not the fake life at sea. Its an actual town with a mall, and business centers, and not just a tourist destination. I have my favorite little seafood stand, and theres some nice shopping, and lots of room to just walk around. Its still Canada, but it has a very British feel to it. Very colorful place with shaggy Canadians walking around in their silly hats. Jana likes to take me to Lulu Lemon and I like to get t-shirts custom made with flying saucers and “the land of enchantment” printed on them. That store is called Utopia. They also have putein, which I have never tried, because it is French fries, cheese, and beef gravy. Theres also the Butchart Gardens as well as a vineyard where you get a free bottle if you can choose 3 out of their 4 wines at the taster (the correct answers were Pinot Noir, Cabernet, and Gehurtztraminer so I chose the Sauvignon Blanc as my prize, because honestly if you cant tell a Gehurtztraminer when you taste it you shouldn’t be drinking wine at all). There’s also an old Victorian castle that sits at the top of the hill, historically, and it reminds me of the house of evil For me, Victoria puts the international in International Fine Art Auctioneer. And that is my life.

We had a very special VIP cruise that came on the Rhapsody. I didn’t have a whole lot to do with it, I sort of stepped aside, but I was invited to watch, and learn, which I did. They had the head gallery director aboard, along with some other company reps with a VIP auctioneer and a couple of artists. The clients themselves were unassuming. A judge with long fingernails, a psychoanalyst, some older couples, some dudes, a family from here. People you wouldn’t expect to be buying tons of art. But they do. I had a mildly successful week, but it was nice to see how other people do it. Seeing how the big boys roll, and to be honest, it wasn’t that alien to me. I don’t see why I can’t handle that myself. The art they brought was AMAZING. Unique Dali’s, lifetime Rembrandts, Picasso experiments, stuff you don’t see even in a museum. To think people have the opportunity to collect this stuff is incredible. It solidified my faith in what I do for a living. I have no problem being in art. In fact, I’m pretty sure I want to be in art, someway or another, for the rest of my life. Whether painting, ceramics, film, or food. This is a new part of being for me.

For some reason, it reminds me of when I worked at Ko Fusion. I always felt so fancy working there, and I took it as a great pleasure. I did enjoy my time there, I learned aot, but I liked the role I played. I like the finer things, I understand them, but most importantly I celebrate them. I enjoy what I work with. Isn’t that good enough? But then there was that time, and I’ll never forget it, of the crazy woman who screamed at her expired meter. She had just gotten a ticket, she had long, blond dirty hair, and was pulling on a young black boy. She ran up to the meter maid to collect the ticket, and look perplexed, then screamed suddenly ‘TEN DOLLARS!?!?! WHUUUUYYYYYYY?!?! WHY WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?! WAHHHH UgHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!” She just kept screaming. Wailing. The police guy just kind of walked away confused and the child started crying. She got in her car, and I’ll never forget the image of her car pulling away, turning through the parking lot very quickly with her still wailing uncontrollably with the child in the back crying. Its transfixed in my mind forever. And I don’t know what it means.

I almost lost my ship. They were going to transfer me with one days notice. Incredible. This has been the most challenging season to date, anyone can tell you that, and of course Alaska has been the most challenging territory as well. If I have my head above the water, I’m doing better than most. I like to think my head is well above the water. I used to play water polo after all. Anyway, they did a whole fleetwide movement. 7 ships. I was able to hold onto the Rhapsody because my family was coming and Monica. I like to think it was little bit more than that as well. I like to think I do a very decent job. I represent well. As a work ethic, I always get along with my fellow co workers. On the ship, I am part of the crew. Its who I connect with. And as part of the crew I like to pretend I live on a spaceship. This is important to me. Ince that time though, I’ve been so stressed. That call could come any day, Coleman, go back to the Caribbean. That wouldn’t even be so bad, its just that I’m looking forward to Australia. Now, however, no matter what, I am leaving Alaska. The season is over and I head out somewhere new, no matter where, no matter what. For me, this is reinvigorating. A new future, a new world to see. What could be more exciting?

And So I had Mom, Dad, and Monica come cruise with me. What a surreal experience. This life at sea has been such a separate, personal experience. It was very exciting to be able to share that with the people you care about, but it also felt sort of exposing. This whole experience was a secret. Only the things I talk about are what anyone knows. Now my parents have seen firsthand, what my day to day is like. Monica knows what I do for fun, curling up with room service, drinking at the bar, wandering the halls, checking out the sights, avoiding the captain, meeting my fellow crew, Jana, Julie, and my auctionsns! I’m glad that they have this picture though. They got one week of seeing what it is I actually do. It’s a busier life that you’d think. I’m glad that they can tell people now, from what they’ve seen of me. They have a story to tell of life on the ships. And maybe people will realize there is no need for worry. I have it under control. I’ve got a grip.

Some fun things I saw with Mom and Dad:

auction

the windiest cruise we’ve had with a cancelled Skagway

Bubble feeding whales= amazing

Auction and the misty fjords of Hubbard glacier

Ketchikan and the slowest restaurant ever

Alexandrite

Salmon spawn

Auction

The spooky castle in Victoria

Some fun things I saw with Monica:

Return to ships!

Monica falling constantly on the hike with Jacob and Rebecca

Under the Glacier

Blacking out with food all over us

Room service

Hot people in Victoria

Becoming the Sailor for the In the Navy and YMCA in the cruise’s 70’s party

Crab pull

Salmon spawn

No man’s land train ride

Poker face

Check out my face book pics as I don’t have time to post them here, just yet.

And then there are the other bits that fall between. Cliff jumping in the Alaskan mountains one warm July day, going swimming with a champagne picnic, my special spot on the lower lake, wine and dine, meeting clients and entertaining them all week only to have a new batch every Friday, like Groundhog Day, pretending to launch missiles every time I do a ship board announcement, staring into the ocean every day, being lost in the fog, hot tubbing in Alaska, salmon spawning, dog sledding, glacier hiking, mountains looming, clouds billowing, snow melting, room service, gym, crew parties, being paid to dance while women scream at me, saying goodbye to the Mendenhall one last time with wolf hats, enjoying the fresh caught King Crab from Nome at Tracy’s Crab Shack (my favorite crab place in the whole world), glacial caves that glow from the inside out, and of course the ABBA. I will miss my memories of Alaska, but I look forward to the new ones to make. I’m so excited to move on.

I had found a nice record store in Seattle next to the Fed Ex where I mail my papers every week. My official business papers as it were, and by now Jude knows me by name. So at the record store I met a nice lady, were very similar in tastes. Although she likes Star Trek and I’m more Doctor Who, we both love ABBA. She got me turned on to their re mastered albums, the original albums. What a treat to behold. To think these were created so long ago, and even the couple of stinkers on the album are at least bearable, but the rest are simply amazing. My favorite, Voulez Vouz. I have it on vinyl and it brings home fond memories of Wisconsin, but hearing it again, all at once is almost too much to bear. A flood of memories to say the least. How exciting is it that Bjorn Again, the popular Australian ABBA cover band will be joining our ship, my life come Sydney morning. I await destiny in the land down under. First Hawaii, then Tahiti, and finally Australia...with a bit of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand peppered between. Who would have thought of a life like this?

“Can you hear the drums, Fernando? I remember long ago another starry night like this…They were closer now, Fernando. Every hour, every minute seemed to last eternally…There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando.

Though we never thought that we could lose, there’s no regret. If I had to do the same again, I would, my friend, Fernando. If I had to do the same again, I would, my friend, Fernando.”