I'm all "cruised" out

Just got back from the fun filled week of cruising. It was oodles of fun. My first time out of the states, and I went to 2 different countries! I'm so happy. I think there's alot to talk about so first things first.

Thing 1: Happy Birthday David, hope you have a great year, sorry it's late.

Thing 2: Happy Birthday Clare, I wish you're birthday wasn't so close to David's, it would mean 1 less "Happy belated birthday" but nevertheless. Happy Belated Birthday!! I'm sure this will be the year for you.

Thing 3: I cut my hair

Thing 4: The Cruise.

This is where I'm gonna talk about the cruise, I'll break it up into a day by day synopsis of what went down, starting of course with...

Day 1. SATURDAY. DEPARTURE. Drove down to La Porte, TX with Jeremy and Kevin to where the cruise was leaving. La Porte is, in the words of one of the ships comedians, "not exactly the part of Texas you want to see. Smokestacks belching out black clouds of pollution as far as the eye can see, lovely brown water, the entoxicating aroma of refined oil." Needless to say it wasn't the best place to launch a cruise ship from.
Once I got on board the first thing I noticed was the smell. For any of you who have ever spent a week at your grandparents you know this smell from a mile away. Yes, folks, this was the scent of senior citizens. An entire boat full of senior citizens. I had no intention of being rude, but I am a man of impulse, and so driven by impulse as I am, the moment my brain processed this information I blurted out loud enough for all my companions (and perhaps the rest of the room) to hear..."Wow! This place reeks of old people!"
I spent majority of what remained in my day exploring the ship, which wasn't as big as I had imagined. I was disappointed about a few things, the "Basketball court" for example, was single basketball hoop with a torn net. Also if you've ever played basketball on the roof of a cruise ship (at least 100 feet up) goin at 30-40 MPH, with a headwind of 60 MPH it can be extremly hard to get the ball to go into the basket.
For the most part however it was good, I ate at a fancy Italian resturant the first night with some friends. Normally the dress is semi-fomal, but since it was the first day they let us in even though we looked like bums. I still laugh that they let in a hippie kid with long blonde hair down to his butt, a volcom hat, board shorts, crocs on his feet, and a dingy old beige jacket. After that we went to a magic show. The magician pulled me up on stage to help him with one of his acts, which is a nice way of saying, he pulled me up on stage more or less to make a fool out of me. However, after that several people knew my name and were waving and saying hi to me.

I'll write more about it later. Otherwise this post will be too long. Stay tuned for "DAY 2: SUNDAY: AT SEA!"