Entries this day: AM Captain_Costas_interview zzzz

AM

7:28am ADT Sunday 17 July 2005

Gorgeous beautiful weather outside. The Atlantic has been disappointingly smooth. Hopefully the Pacific will be rockin'.

Maryann says "HI Rob's diary!"

Today, Cheerful Dancing Fellows will have interviews with people, including Captain Costas!

I bruised the ball of my right foot pretty effectively last night by climbing over a rail in Sports Bar. I hit a table, all of which are well-secured so they won't tip in rocky weather, and I can still feel it today.

Wow! today is Captain Costa's birthday! 1946.

Captain Costas interview

1:44pm ADT Sunday 17 July 2005

Today we met the captain of the boat. Captain Costas (sp) from Greece. He has been Captain of this ship twice. This time since May 2005 (basically just for this voyage). He was first captain in 1966 - for a cargo ship for a year and then several years for tankers. Cargo ships, then tankers, then cruise ships.

Koji asked him what was his most important job, and he answered that there were many jobs on the ship and they are all interesting: chefs, house keeping, etc etc. Without one, none could work.

I invited Aki to ask him again, and he began to give the same answer. I interrupted: "as Captain, what is *your* most important job?"

"Oh! This is a different question. My most important job is parking the ship at each port. The second most important is moving the ship out of each port. On the open sea, it is no problem if we are one meter to the left or to the right. But when parking, this is a big problem. With wind, sea currents, waves.. all of these things make the job very tense. After we arrive, there is a very good feeling. So you can understand what I'm talking about, I will invite you to the bridge tomorrow when we enter New York port."

So you can understand what I'm talking about, I will invite you to the bridge tomorrow when we enter New York port.

"You will be my guests on the bridge."

Ho

Lee

Shit!

I wanted to bring the entire class, so I was like, "who exactly?"

"You three." (me, Aki, and Koji.)

So the rest of the class won't be able to come. I absolutely didn't want to take advantage of his invitation, nor want to flaunt it in front of the others, so we didn't say anything to the rest of the class. Koji likes to talk, though, so I imagine he will say something.

"You should bring your camera; you will be able to take some nice pictures."

1:44pm ADT Sunday 17 July 2005

Today we met the captain of the boat. Captain Costas (sp) from permalink

zzzz

12:09am ADT Monday 18 July 2005

Big fun tonight after Silent Football, which was the opposite of fun. I felt really sad that very few people came, specifically those people who had said, "I'll be there in five minutes." I dug my brain down into the reason and realized I just miss the shit out of YRUU Silent Football. It's not that I totally care if these guys stop what they're doing to come play; I just miss the zaniness (and zoominess) of YRUU. On the ship, none of the players are willing to strictly uphold the rules, and there's no way I can tell them that it's more fun if we are really strict.

ANYWAY, I got some quality time with Erik Leaver, our American Iraqi speaker. Talked to him in the hall and confirmed I can crash at his crib in DC around 25 September for marches on the capital. Miki showed up and mentioned she wanted pics of my hair, and I was like, "you better do it now; cause I'm cutting it off tonight or in the morning," so we got some great pictures (binary directions) and that started a chain of picture taking in Free Space and then a trip down to Erik's room (big and nice) and far far down to our rooms (small and cramped).

This is not Erik's room, but an example of the larger rooms the guests stayed in: