November 17, AT SEA and SICK

November 17th, 2005 7:00pm Azorez Islands
Here we are again setting sail to another destination. This time we have 3 days at sea before we hit our next destination. But before I start talking about what’s coming up next, I have to tell you about what happened today. When I woke up we had a dance party in the room. I was a little crazy some might say. When we looked out off the deck, we saw how gorgeous the island was. This town was a great town for me. Wanna know why? Lots of great shopping! The bad part about it, was about ten minutes into the shopping I got lost and separated from all my friends. So it was just me shopping today. Good alone time. The bad part about that, is I don’t have their good common sense to tell me when I’m spending too much on jewelry. At this shop they gave me a free key chain and a map of the island. I ended up buying a whole jewelry set of pearls. Pearl necklace with an invisible setting with about 40 pearls on it, a pearl ring with diamonds on the side, and dangly pearl earrings with 2 pearls on them. One of them has a little bit of pink in them, so I had to get them. After I shopped for about four hours I met up with Dave Arnott and his new girlfriend. They are so cute! They met one week before his first cruise on a blind date and hung out every night after that. With three days before his cruise on the Queen Mary he told her that he couldn’t see himself going on the cruises with out her. So to this point they have known each other for a total of one month and they are so perfect for each other. It is like a fairy tale story. They both think so as well. So it looks like we might have a new addition to our Alaska family. Speaking of the Alaska family… being on this cruise really makes me think that I should go up to Alaska for the summer then go on my mission. That way when I get back I can go straight beck up there so that I don’t have much down time after my mission. This idea is definitely being pushed by Ed and Dave. I was talking to Sarah and she said the night that I told Dave that I was not going to come back up, he said about three times that he was disappointed because they had big plans for me up there. Then later on I was talking to him and he hinted at me coming up early and helping before, basically offering me a full time position. And Ed keeps telling me that I need to talk to the church and see if they will let me split up my mission around the summers so that I can come up there and not miss any summers. I keep telling him that that is not how it works but he is convinced that I need to just ask and they will let me. What a silly man! Anyways…back to the cruise. I realized that on this cruise I have something that you all had before I was born. I have a Philipeano maid. He comes in everyday, twice a day. In the morning he cleans our room and makes our bed. In the afternoon he comes in again to clean our room and turn down our bad and he always leaves chocolates on our pillows. I think I want to take him home with me! I think he would come too. The other day he left a flower on my pillow. And two days ago I showed him my pictures of us with Fred and Ginger our donkeys and that night he had made a donkey out of our hand towels with a note saying, “I am a happy donkey. Goodnight ladies.” and left it on my bed. He told me later that it was Ginger my favorite donkey. I talk to him everyday and he is a very nice guy. But don’t worry family…I won’t really bring him home with me. Our new favorite thing is to sit by the pool and read. It is really fun! We have cute men that bring us our favorite drinks whenever we want. I don’t know if there could be anything more perfect for me! They played Miss Congeniality 2 and right after was Princess Pop star. I sang Route 66 and it was quite possibly the slowest version of that song I have ever heard. But I think that I still showed the audience my personality. When they called my name I ran up there screaming like I had just won on a game show. Then when I reached the stage I did a cartwheel. During the song I kept on making little jokes to the audience. When I was done Michael said that he felt like he was watching a Saturday Night Live skit. Needless to say, I had a good time being on stage again. We went outside to the big screen after and watched Monster in Law. It was funny during the movie because the boat started hitting the big waves of the Atlantic making the pool go CRAZY. It kept on splashing up against the side and getting up as high as the screen then it would come and splash us. It was so cold but the movie was good. After the movie we went back to our rooms to go to bed but the ship was going crazy. It became systematic when the ship would go down on a wave another huge wave would come and smash up against the ship. It sounded like we were under attack. Bombs going off about every 5 minutes. Sally and I were fighting so hard to not get sick. We both took two motion sickness pills to try and knock us out. We kept on talking to try to calm ourselves while we waited for them to kick in. this morning it is the same thing. It is 2:00pm on the 18th and I am chillin by the indoor pool watching it go crazy. It is like I have my own indoor raging ocean. They have to continuously mop around us. You would think by now that they would have emptied the pools. I think that they keep them filled because all the guests love watching it. We also have a ton of guests relaxing by it because of the soothing beach water sound it makes. And when they are around the pool they drink which brings in sales. Can’t get rid of that! Well….time for BINGO! Talk to you later!!