Entries this day: AAM_Natalie_rescues_Francois AM_Confliction About_Le_Havre Canada_Day! Deciding Kuni burning_batteries loud zzzz_the_pub zzzzz

AAM Natalie rescues Francois

8:16am CEST Friday 01 July 2005

(Thursday 29 September 2005: this story is based on reality.)

During the past few days (feels like a week, in life onboard) Natalie has been carrying Francois around; I left him in Windjammer after some lecture. She scooped him up for me and has been denying that she has him, though we both know I know she does have him. (Dave told me at some point.)

This morning, just before the port, I was like, "Hey Natalie, I will give you *anything* you want if you can help me find Francois."

She was like, "anything?" with a flirty look.

"Anything that takes less than 1 hour."

"Oh, I can think of a lot of things to do in an hour!" she said with a laugh. "Now let me look for Francois, I think I saw him somewhere around here...." as she rummaged through her bag. "ah! Here he is! I wonder how he got *in* there???"

"Thank you so much for rescuing him."

"You're welcome, darl, but you need to be more careful with him; I've heard rumors..."

"Really??" I nearly beam with delight. Francois is becoming famous.

AM Confliction

9:29am CEST Friday 01 July 2005

I'm conflicted about what I wanna do today, except for tonight, I'm going to throw away my contacts because I'm putting in one day disposable lenses. I hope to upload journal entries today. Runes suggested that I do my own thing today after doing a bit of research. I packed my crap to do an overnight somewhere. I packed my Handspring Visor and collapseable keyboard.

When Shawn saw it, he goes, "fuckin' sugoi," which is pretty cool considering Shawn does not speak Japanese. He goes, "that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life," and then went back to reading.

The only detail is delete key doesn't work. Shawn goes, "that's a good thing though, think about it: you don't look back. Always forward."

About Le Havre

3:59pm JST Sunday 24 April 2005

(written before Pb.)

Port Autonome du Havre official site.

(This could be interesting: click on Harbour operation, then Movements of the day. I don't know under what name the boat will be sailing, but "PB" seems like a good guess.)

According to the site: In 1517, French King Francois 1 wanted to build Le Havre as an international trade and defense port. It prospered until the French Revolution, but then came back again bigger and better. After the first world war and several decades of lobbying, on 1 January 1925 Le Havre was granted the status of a port authority, which seems to basically mean incorporating it so they can make money on docking fees and make improvements on the port.

I don't see a lot of interesting things to do right around the port area.

Canada Day!

10:43am CEST Friday 01 July 2005

It's Canada Day! I'm walking with Kris and Kim, who know the US national anthem, and plan to teach me the Canadian anthem. There is a painted path from the port to the exit so we can get to the town center. There are no big buildings here; some old ones with coats of paint covering layers of rust.

Deciding

11:50am

Grrr. I'm just chasing these girls, man. Fuck. Kris and Kim,.. ugh... why why why???

(They're so tall and so beautiful.)

12:06pm

Hanging out with Kris in a Greek cafe across from the train station in LeHavre, France. I got a kebab and she got a sandwich.

I'm in a much better mood hanging out with Kris than I was a while ago. I flipped a coin in the train station about 4 or 5 times in a row to see if I should hang out with anyone. Each time it was like "no no no no" and then when I asked should I do my own thing? it was like, "yes."

Kuni

2:37pm

We have scooped up Kuni in our travels and are walking to the ferry station to meet Anika and Fas, two of Kris' friends from her days teaching English down on some islands in south south Japan.

8:45pm

We are in Le Fun Time, and I am totally trying to chew on Kris, and I am totally horny and she is saying "peer pressure is the way to go," (you should have a drink). I let Kuni pour wine into my mouth with her mouth, and she was like "kiss me" and I was like, "no" and then she was like "kiss me, please," and I was like "okay."

In this moment, though, I am having fun.

burning batteries

9:06pm

The weirdest thing just happened! I felt something *hot* in my pocket - my wallet chain had shorted out the AA batteries I had in my pocket!! Totally burning hot. Wow!

loud

11:30pm

I'm outside Fas and Anika's hotel, cause we got caught when we were trying to sneak in. The guy was like, "you will be too loud!" but he was louder than we were. But percentage wise, he is probably right. Groups like us would be louder.

zzzz the pub

1:19am

We are in The Pub, and I'm glad I came. They were talking about going dancing and I was like, "no way; I cannot go dancing." Kris held my hand / dragged me out here, which certainly helped me want to come. Her hand was really warm cause she had on a jacket. I sang "I wanna hold your haaand; I wanna hold your hand."

zzzzz

2:32am CEST Saturday 02 July 2005

Have just returned from Le Havre today, hanging out with Kris and David primarily, with broad overview plans to meet two of Kris' friends (Fas and Anika from Pakistan by blood but England by nature), who took a ferry over here. We were joined by Kuni before we met Kris' friends, and then while walking around the city, Ai and Emi joined our ranks.

During the day we had a basic plan of eating food and wandering around the city. Dave added to his own agenda buy purchasing a long stem rose with the intention of giving it to a semi-random passerby. We ate at a dessert cafe outside this shopping mall where passerbys were gently scrutinized for their worthiness of receiving the rose. Allison and a new Pb staff member name Maiko found us (actually Allison saw me on my way to the loo) and we chatted for about a minute at our table. They left and we purchased cheese and bread and beverages at a super market in the mall.

The supermarket is like any that I've seen in Texas, but it was inside a shopping mall. We spent quite a few minutes in the cheese section, where a patient woman served us samples of various soft cheeses (Kris and I found them less than delightful: I didn't like the texture, and she suggested (and I agreed) they tasted like broccoli.) I focused on a hard orange cheese, the wheel for which looked basically like a smooth pumpkin. The woman behind the counter cut it with some difficulty, though I imagine her double handled knife is quite sharp.

We sifted through the checkout lines back into the mall and reconvened at the dessert cafe where we had chat-n-chewed before.

Dave, still with his rose, led the pack up the Funicular to what would be a lovely view of the city save for all the fences around peoples' houses, so we couldn't see so well. Scoped out some areas to sit and chow, and ended up walking down the steps and eating under the towering oak trees in front of a church that Dave guessed was 400 years old. (I wish I had gotten the name of the church, but for those who know (or have a detailed map of) Le Havre, it's right near the bottom of the Grand Escalier (sp) the tall steps that lead down the hill the Funicular climbs.)

We went to Le Fun Time, a bar we selected soley by its name and played billiards and chatted upstairs. Kuni tried to get me to drink alcohol, but I basically refused. A man named Edward approached us to see if we were up for a game of billiard. He was maybe a meter tall, but still able to play billiards as well as I. Sometimes his friends would mock-treat him like a little kid, mussing up his hair, etc.

There was a tall man named Philip (fee LEEP) who taught Emi how to hit the cue ball with some semblance of forward motion. (She was horrible at first, but by the end could occassionally make oblique angle shots 3/4ths the length of the table.)

- - - -

Today I got more confirmation that I seem willing to give up on something I want rather than ask people for it. For example getting a ride back to the ship. Kris was willing to flag down a car and ask. I was like, "let's just walk." David tried for quite a few minutes to get us into a club we wanted to check out. I was like, "fuckit; let's just go." We ended up not being able to get in, but he made a valiant effort, and learned where a different club could be found.