My Coffee Loves Me

I'm not saying there are some strange people on board.. after all...they could be reading this blog. So I'll be discrete describing a few strange encounters we had today. We're in what I refer to as a strange-on-strange situation. That's when you're already in an awkward circumstance, so awkward in fact that some people will try to make it less awkward and fail, making it 10x more awkward. Laughing at a funeral, kind of awkward. In this case, we're a bunch of world cruisers in the midst of a significantly long number of consecutive sea days due to the cancellation of Darwin, Australia. Some people are getting a bit stir crazy, so they're doing everything and anything to add something different to a good but repetitive routine. This particular blog entry could qualify as well. At least I admit it. I've given the "strangers" nicknames to protect the guilty.

The dancer - there's a guy about 70ish, black jeans, black tshirt, black hat and he dances....solo......freestyle....in the middle of the rotunda. There's some music 2 floors up, which wafts down to the 5th floor, where he combines yoga-esque and ballet-esque moves, creatively incorporating his cowboy hat to add drama perhaps. In his mind's eye, I'm sure he's envisioning Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain. He's that confident. However, we're seeing something similar to William Hung former singer who gained fame in 2004 as a result of his unsuccessful audition singing Ricky Martin's hit song "She Bangs" on the third season of the television series American Idol. What more can I say?

The bellow laugher (BL) - a 70-something stops by my table/office on the quiet side of the buffet to say he'd love to know what I'm working on but doesn't want to disturb me as he can see I'm working. I said thank you and went back to work. He returned about 15 min later, (for the record, I was still working), sat down, introduced himself and bellow laughed. It was a bit of a curve ball since people's names don't usually draw a laugh.....at least not from the name owner. Google or YouTube Carol Burnette's monologue on Teresa Renturia vs Leticia Trickleson. Now that was funny. His name was not. A bellow laugh is a short but loud laugh that some people use as a segue between thoughts. Or It's just how they end a sentence. I consider it a nervous tick, but I'm not sure the technical definition. I ignored the laugh as best I could and introduced myself. He said he had been in the navy since 18 (bellow laugh), then went back for his degree (bellow laugh), then became a professor (bellow laugh). All the time, I'm thinking how to be kind but still get back to work. I told him a bit about myself and my work/hobbies but never made it very far before he interjected something followed by a bellow laugh. It was definitely a different experience.

The Odd Couple - 2 doors down, we met an older couple (aren't they all?) who thought we'd be interesting to get to know, so we set a date for lunch. At lunch, she would tell a short version of a story. He would then tell a longer version of the same story and then under her breath, she'd say "Isn't that what I just said?". This happned with almost every story. It was comically uncomfortable. Note to self, don't do that to my lovely wife in 20 years.

What's the point? Well, it's interesting to see how different we are and can be in a similar situation. It reminds me of a somber but prolific quote by Viktor Frankl - "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".

Therefore, I will leave you with my happy thought for the day......my coffee loves me