12/29/14
At Sea, M/V Corinthian,
Drake Passage
The Drake Passage, it is a place of legends, a name that evokes
stories of horror, and today was the roughest sailing day of my life. The crew kept telling us how lucky we were to
have such a mild crossing of the Drake Passage.
When I woke up this morning, I did not know who would be leaving Cabin
341. Would it be the new persona I had
created for myself yesterday, or would I return to my old self and relegate
myself to Locke and cigars?
It was a
mixture of both. I woke up and got ready
for breakfast. I put on shorts and a
t-shirt. Hmm, what shirt did I have that
would be the least frequently visited location among this well-travelled
group? Ah, Guatemala. I headed down to breakfast and sat down next
to, I think, John. It was someone from
the dinner table last night. The
breakfast was not excellent, but it was good enough. After my main course, I saw Sam come down,
and she went to join Danny and his new friend, Kathy. Since John(?) was about to leave, I took my
coffee and sat down with the people my age.
The waiter then brought me my chopsticks, which I had left at my old
seat.
After breakfast, we all went up to
the 5th Deck to do some wildlife watching. Well, in my shorts and t-shirt, even with my
overcoat, I was freezing, but there was a problem. The only longs I packed were my suit pants
and my pajama bottoms. I was not going
to wear the suit all trip, and I was not about to spend the entire trip in my
pajamas, either. Aha! I had a solution. I would use the pajama bottoms as leggings
underneath my shorts. It worked, but it
looked ridiculous. I asked Sam what she
thought of the look, and she said that I should do whatever I needed to do to
keep warm. I liked her attitude.
I soon got bored of the socializing and
excused myself to go downstairs. I lit
up my Cohiba and started on my Locke.
Hmm, this would be no good. I was
freezing, well, my legs were. I decided
I wear my parka and use my overcoat as a blanket. It worked perfectly. After my cigar, I went back inside, maybe
rested for a bit, and then I think I went back out for a Fuente as I got
started on my writing. I started out
just analysis of Locke’s Essay,
comparing and contrasting his ideas to those of his predecessors and
successors.
It was then time for
lunch. I sat down with John and Kathy,
whom I then realized were father and daughter, and we were joined by the
Colorado College group, which included Nancy Baxter (who of course did not
remember me), L---, and L---’s grandmother (the other Nancy). It was a veritable feast for lunch, and the
conversation was good, though nowhere near as good as the one from dinner last
night. The other Nancy asked
me where I was raised upon production of my chopsticks. When I said Manhattan, she asked if I was
raised in Chinatown. The food was not
enough for me and too much for her, so she offered me some of her turkey. I impressed the group cutting the turkey
while holding it with my chopsticks.
After lunch, I lied back down and then had my Ashton VSG as I continued
my writing. My desire for socializing
was expended at that point, the social experiment all but over. I just wanted to smoke and write and message
my friends back home, the same four people I text every day. Actually, well, technically they were not
back home, one in Israel for two weeks, another lives in Florida, another in
New Jersey, and the other was upstate for the weekend. I continued to work on my writing as I
answered the responses.
Afterwards, I
went upstairs for some coffee, and some of my new friends were up there, so I
mingled a bit before heading back down to lie down again. At around 6 PM, I went out for a RP Royale,
another one of the top ten cigars of the year.
This one was not worthy of the rating, and I will ditch it as soon as I
am done with this entry. My plan was to
write my entry, change, and go down for dinner.
Well, two problems. First, my
computer was not charged. I had plugged
the cord into the laptop, but the cord was not plugged into the wall. Okay, I would charge it for 30 minutes while
I read another chapter of Locke and then write my entry for 30 minutes.
As I was about ready to go back for the
computer, I was told there was a mandatory briefing. Ugh, I hate that kind of stuff. It got to be 7:15 PM, which meant I would be
late for dinner if I finished my cigar and wrote my entry. Once they started showing pictures of whales
from this morning, I just walked up and left, got my computer, headed to the
smoking area, relit my cigar, and wrote this entry, which I will close so that
I can get ready for dinner. When I next
write, we will have Officially crossed the Antarctic Convergence, and we will
be in Antarctic waters.
It is 1:30 in the morning, and it is as bright is day outside. Sunrise is in two hours. I will find no sleep tonight.
How can my first nights in Mont Tremblant or Vienna compare to the
magical night I just experienced? No,
this smoking of the 2008 Christmas Pipe beats all others, and I don’t even care
that I just lost my memory card. Well, I do care, but it pales in comparison to
the wonder of the night. When I went
down for dinner, I tried to find my new friends, but the few that were there
were all sitting at occupied tables.
What would I do? Well, I made
more new friends.
After dinner, I had my
Avo, and while I was smoking it, watching the sun set, I realized that I did
not like this new person I was becoming.
It was not me. No, I would go
back to my old self, and I swore then and there that I would never be anyone I
was not. John came down, and we chatted
a little. I actually liked him, so I
didn’t mind chatting with him. After
the cigar, I went to the lobby to get better WiFi, and my plan was to go back to
my room, rub out my tobacco, smoke my Christmas Pipe, finish this entry, and be
asleep by midnight.
That was almost four
hours ago. Danny said that they were
playing charades and invited me to join them.
All my new friends were there, Sam, Davie, Elizabeth, Kathy, and some
new faces. I literally had my Marius
Moment. Do I stay or do I go? Do I socialize or stick to my plan? I chose the former, and we had a great time. It was an epic three-hour session of
charades, and apparently I was really good at it, everyone calling me the
MVP. I made new friends with Luke and
Frances, and, when it was time for the tie breaker, one last epic clue, our
team went outside.
It was past 1 AM, and
it was not yet dusk. We agreed on The Origin of Species, and we won in the end. We all said our good nights, and I went back
to my room, knowing I would have to stay up until sunrise. Unfortunately, sunrise will denote a new day,
so I will not be able to include that in today’s entry.
I got my tobacco ready and headed
outside. I lit up my pipe and proceeded
to write this entry. I was going to send
the picture of the twilight, but the memory card was not in the tablet. I checked the camera. It was missing. Wonderful.
It was only like two photos that were not posted to Facebook, but the
camera can only take 12 photos without the card. I frantically searched for the card, but it
was nowhere to be found. I’m not too
worry. I’m sure someone on board can
lend me a memory card. Otherwise, I can
make do with 12 photos per landing or just take smaller photos. After I gave up my search, I continued to
write this entry.
The events of this
evening marked a change in me. All I
wanted to do tonight was smoke my pipe and go to bed. I was ready to end my social experiment, but
why did I go join my new friends? It was a
now or never moment. If I didn’t join
them now, I would not be doing any more socializing the entire trip. I stayed because I was having fun, but why
did I go in the first place? I do not
entirely know. I think I went because I
knew I might regret more not going than I could ever regret delaying my pipe. After the first round, I bowed out. I brought my coats back to my room, and took
a U, planning to have my pipe right then.
While I was in the Uer, I decided that I would go back, and everyone was
glad to see me. We kept playing for
another two hours, and it was fun, very fun.
I will stay up to the sunset, just like I did at MathCamp so many
nights, because that is what this experience most reminds me of. This is MathCamp in the Antarctic without the
math. On that note, I will close so that
I can look for my card again and publish.
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