1/1/15
Aboard M/V Corinthian,
Anchored, Arthur Harbour
It is almost cliché to talk about “New Year, new me.” Well, that is not my intention. No, for it me it will be “New Year, back to
the old me.” I do not like the person I
have been over the past six months. For
a variety of reasons and in many different ways, I have become a person who has
no longer been true to himself, and it is a bad habit that I intend to leave
behind in 2014. When L---’s
grandmother called me very strange (or maybe weird) this morning, it was a term
that I embraced. I’m not sure if she meant
it as an insult or if she was just being herself and calling it like she saw
it. I am who I am, and I am weird and
strange and different from most people.
I have different values and tastes and behavior than most other
people. I am okay with all of that. However, I am not okay with hiding my true
self from anyone. I am not okay with
pretending to be someone I am not.
The person who I was in June 2014 was my pinnacle of self. It was a person of whom I am immensely proud. It was what I considered to be my ideal self,
someone who was always and completely true to himself. It is to that pinnacle that I will
return. The people in my life who do not
like my true self are welcome to leave my life, and the new people whom I meet
who do not like my true self are not forced to enter my life. That is the main principle by which I have
lived most of my life, yet I seem to have forgotten it over the past six months. Today, I have been that person, and I am very proud of myself.
Now I will attempt to recall the festivities
of last night as best as I am able. It
is kind of like The Hangover, where the photos taken help fill in the gaps of
the memory, but I think I remember the basic outline of what happened. After I closed and published, it was past 11
PM local time, so I got ready and headed to the club. Everyone was there. Over the next five hours, I proceeded to get
utterly and royally toasted. I use the term “last night”
loosely, since it never got dark out.
Sunset was at 11:59 PM, sunrise at 2:43 AM, and the sun never dipped
more than 3 or 4 degrees below the horizon, meaning it was bright as day
outside the entire time. This is the
only place in the world you can have a New Year’s celebration in daylight. It is something truly incredible.
As midnight approached, I got further into my
cups, and I was past caring about the consequences of anything. I could be my true self without caring whom I
offended or pissed off, without caring who didn’t like my true self. We kept alternating between inside and
outside to moderate our body temperatures, it being too warm inside and too
cold outside. It was then time for the
countdown, and John Frick handed out lyrics to Auld Lang Syne.
Once we said, “Happy New Year!” there was
much confusion, but it was midnight, and I did the same thing I do every New
Year’s at midnight. I raised my glass
and starting singing in my deepest voice, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?” Taking my lead, the rest of the ship joined me,
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne?” John Frick then cut us off, and he cued the
music, to which we all sung along.
There
were no fireworks as there were in Quebec and Vienna, but the beautiful,
daylit, natural backdrop was more amazing than any fireworks could possibly
be. I will be in Hong Kong and Sydney
for the next two New Year’s, and I know how spectacular their fireworks will
be, but it will pale in comparison to the view from Port Lockroy. Danny and Davey headed out with me to the
deck to take an epic Happy New Year picture. It is my New Year’s
tradition to say “Happy New Year!” with a very particular tone and accenting to
every stranger I see on my way back to my hotel room or bed. However, there was one problem. There were no strangers to be found. Everyone on the boat knew my name, and I knew
all of their names. Even some of the
crew could be counted in my new friends.
At some point, I lost my shoes, and I knew that I was utterly and
royally toasted. I was no longer
pretending to be normal. This was the
true me, the person who gets drunk on New Year’s, and guess what, my new friends
are still friends with me, the bonds of friendship cemented possibly even
deeper. As midnight in Times Square
approached, we went to the bridge, and I stumbled in. I said that I was going to get a bottle of
sparkling wine from my room. Davey and I
had planned to crack open the sparkling wine at 2 AM and share my Davidoff Year
of the Sheep on the 6th Deck.
I said that I was going to get the sparkling wine, and L--- tried to
stop me, saying that I was drunk enough already and that I needed water, not
more wine. I ignored her and said that I
would be up on the 6th Deck.
From the way they said, “Okay,” I did not expect to see them again. That was okay. No amount of enjoyment value was going to
take away from my fulfillment value of drinking Argentinian sparkling wine, in
Antarctic waters, in broad daylight, smoking my Davidoff, as the ball dropped
in Times Square. I took my first
unofficial U of 2015 off the port side, and I soon heard the crashing of doors,
something I did not expect to hear. It
was L--- and Davey, and they had found my shoes. L--- was basically there to make sure I was
okay. Aww, it meant that she cared.
She said goodnight, and Davey and I hung out
together for the next two hours, becoming new best friends. We told each other pretty much our entire
life stories, holding back no details.
It turned out that we are extremely similar in many ways. He
said that he will be moving to New York soon, and we were both very pleased
with the idea of being able to continue our friendship after the trip. Once the cigar was done, we headed down to
the lounge to warm up a little bit, and that was when one of the crew joined
us. I forgot his name [Wayan], but we were glad
to have him join us in the celebrations.
We then lit up a Cohiba and went out to the smoking deck. We were starting to get a little cold,
sitting and standing in place, but it was our feet that were getting the brunt
of it, and I had a brilliant idea. The
boot locker was right next to the smoking area, so I suggested we change into
our boots. The crew member helped us
with the boots, and they worked like a charm.
Beth came down at some point to make sure that we (well, Davey) were
okay, since he hadn’t come to the cabin yet. It was 4 AM at this point.
Once again, I forgot
my shoes, but the crew member, whose name still escapes even though he just
walked over to give me a very friendly greeting, made sure that my shoes and I
made it safely back to my cabin. I think
I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. My battery is almost dead, my cigar is almost
done, and everyone is coming back from the afternoon’s excursion, so I will
close for now and save the adventures of the past eight hours and this
morning’s epic excursion for this evening’s entry. While we were on the 6th Deck, I
said to Davey that we would each have about 50 more New Year’s, and we could
say with absolute certainty that we would never have a more amazing one in our
entire lives than this one. He could not
disagree.
At sea, M/V Corinthian,
Lemaire Channel
Alright, so I woke up just before 8:30 AM, which was when breakfast
was over, with the worst hangover of my life.
It was #Epic. I raced down to the
cafeteria, where they had just closed the doors, but I opened them, took a
plate, and brought it back up to my room.
The last Zodiac to Palmer Station was at 10:30 AM, so I went back to
sleep, woke up around 10 AM, scarfed down my food, threw my waterproof pants
and parka right on over my pajamas, and headed to the lounge.
When I got there L--- once more teased me
for not having packed waterproof pants, saying that I really lucked out that they
had extra gear for me. I explained that
it was my plan to just go ashore on the continent, take a picture, and go back,
so waterproof gear was not much of a consideration for me. That was when L---’s grandmother called me
very strange. She asked if I had a
girlfriend. I said that I did. She asked if my girlfriend also
uses chopsticks. I said that she didn’t,
and she is not particularly pleased when I use them. L--- then asked if the checklist travel was
how I usually travel. I said that it
was. She asked if I was enjoying this
trip. Of course I was. She asked if I would consider travelling like
this again. Absolutely not. She could not make sense of that apparent
contradiction, but it should be obvious to my reader.
Anyway, Palmer Station is an American
research station, but, more importantly, it had a gift shop and a cafeteria. This would be the closest I would get to an
Official meal in Antarctica, and it would be my best chance for an Official
U. That was all I cared about, not the
scientific research, not the scenery, not the penguins. Even only wearing two layers, I was quite
warm as we walked around outside the station, so I took off my parka. I was walking around Antarctica, outside, in
a t-shirt. We went to the gift shop, and
I got a bunch of souvenirs for myself and a t-shirt for Aliyah with my favorite
Lord of the Rings quote, a quote that I use to tease her whenever we wander
around aimlessly: “Not all who wander are lost.”
Beth then pointed out that they had
Nalgenes. Of course I had already seen
the Nalgenes, but, when she mentioned it, something clicked in my head. Yes, my mother had already purchased a new
Nalgene identical to Mark 2, but shouldn’t each bottle look different? With the Iron Movie, Mark 2 looked very
similar to Mark 1, but Mark 3 looked entirely different. I wanted my Mark 2 water bottle to look
similar to my Mark 1 water bottle so that I could pretend it was the same one,
but I was not doing that with Mark 3. If
I got the water bottle here, it would always remind me of this trip, and it was
the only way that I could sip it in all continents, which I will do by the end
of next year with Mark 3. It also would
allow me to have water bottle for Uruguay.
In addition to the water bottle, I made another practical purchase:
sweatpants.
Afterwards, we headed to the
cafeteria, where they served brownies and coffee. It was a stretch to call that an Official
meal, but no more of a stretch that it was to claim my cigarillo, coffee, and
cookie in the Golan Heights as allowing me to check off Syria. I took my Official U, and we headed
back. I had a Partagas, and it was soon
time for lunch, and I once again sat with Beth's family. The fried calamari was the best part, but
Beth did not like it, so she offered it to me, which I picked off her plate with my chopsticks. Andy found it much
more amusing than she did. I also had my
much needed coffee. After lunch, I took
a nap, opting out of the Zodiac tour.
After
my nap, I went to the smoking area, lit up an Oliva, the number on ranked cigar
of 2014, and a cigar well-deserving of that ranking, and wrote my entry. I closed as people started to get back, and I
then mingled for the next hour or so. I
took another nap, and my plan was to write this entry with a cigar before
dinner. While that was what happened in
the end, it is quite ironic that it did happen.
I lit up my OpusX and turned on my computer. The battery was almost dead. I once again forgot to plug the cord into the
wall when I plugged the cord into the computer.
Okay, I would charge it for thirty minutes and then upload my photos
before the briefing. I could then do the
entry after dinner.
However, we were
making our way to the Lemaire channel, one of the most scenic views possible
from water, and we got there right before the briefing was scheduled to
begin. The briefing was postponed until
after dinner so that we could enjoy the view.
Excellent. I had already uploaded
my photos, so I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close since my
cigar is almost done, the battery is almost dead, and it is almost dinner time.
At sea, M/V Corinthian,
Butler Passage
Over the past 27 years, I have lived a very privileged existence in
many ways, and while most of it has been supplied by money, good dinner company
is something that cannot be purchased with dollars or euros or pesos. It is remarkable to think that this trip I
have had three of most enjoyable dinners of my life. I'm not talking about the food. I’m talking about the company. While tonight’s dinner converation was
nowhere near as fulfilling as the intellectual debates of our first dinner on
the ship, nor was it as enjoyable as the dinner with Beth’s family last night,
it is a very close third. However, I can
say with absolute certainty that it trumps my New Year’s breakfast in Quebec and
my dinner in Ephesus last year, the times I smoke my 2012 Christmas Pipe on my
two previous New Year’s trips, as I am doing now.
I went to assume my usual seat at the foot of
their corner table when Beth’s father very politely told me that they only had
enough seats for the family tonight. What would do I do? True to my vow, I did exactly what my old
self would have done and something that would test who my true friends were and
who was merely tolerating my presence. I
found an empty table of eight, and I took the seat against the wall. Who would join me? Well, as the time went by, none of my new friends
were coming down, and I was getting hungry.
I did not want to eat too much bread, and they would not serve me until
I had a full table. Would my new friends
come join me, or would they sit elsewhere, leaving me to be joined by a group
of strangers? When Vanessa came down and
gave me a cheerful smile from across the room, I thought she was going to join
me, but then I saw her sit down with her parents. I then did exactly what my old self would
have done. I went up to my room, got my
Locke book and a highlighter and went back to my seat. Hmm, I then wavered. Vanessa or Locke?
Grabbing my wine glass, I chose the
former. I asked if I could join their
table. Vanessa gladly invited me to sit
down, and her parents greeted me warmly.
They knew who I was, of course. I
had become a minor celebrity in their circle.
They relished the chance to share a meal with the mysterious man who
spent his time on the continent sitting in a secluded clove, writing on his
computer, oblivious to the penguins walking by him. Vanessa seemed almost embarrassed that she
knew me best of the group. Her parents
formally introduced themselves to me, and I took an instant liking to her
father, Phil, and he was very happy to finally meet me. Somewhat embarrassed, I asked her parents
their names. After they provided them,
Vanessa coyly said that I already knew her name, of course. After Nancy Baxter, she was the first name I
learned from the group.
The group asked what I did, and I
told them that I was an engineer aspiring to be a writer. They said that this trip was sure to give me
plenty of good material.
Misunderstanding, I told them that I had written 600 words just about
dinner last night. Phil asked if they
were going to make it into my book. I
assured them that they would. We shared
all sorts of funny and interesting stories throughout the meal, but the
funniest one was about the trip to Poland.
Vanessa and Phil had planned a surprise trip to take Wanda (Vanessa’s
mother) to Poland, her home country, a month ago.
They told her they were going to New York,
figuring the weather would be about the same.
Once they flew into New York, they told her they were continuing on to
Poland. Rather than being ecstatic, she
flipped out and started screaming. For
starters, it was much colder in Krakow than Manhattan. Additionally, Wanda said that people dress up
nicely when they go out for dinner, and she didn’t have any nice clothes. Vanessa said that they considered themselves
very lucky to be let into to all of the restaurants dressed the way they
were. All of her friends were texting
her asking her to send pictures of how excited her mom was. Instead, Wanda just ignored them until it was
time for the flight. It was a great
story, and they knew how to tell it. I
told Vanessa about the surprise trip I had planned with my girlfriend for the
weekend after Valentine’s Day, saying that she just knew to have her passport
ready and pack for warm weather. Vanessa
much approved of that idea.
When we were
done with dinner, Phil asked me if they had provided any good material, and I
assured him that they had. We had the
briefing for tomorrow, and, afterwards, I went up to the club to see if my
friends were up there and what activities they had planned for the
evening. We were going to play charades
again, but I wanted to write this entry first, which meant I needed to go to
the bridge to find out where we were.
Actually, according to the information I got, we should be leaving the
Butler Passage right about now, so I will wrap up. After I went to the bridge, I
went back to the club and told me friends what I learned and said that I’d see
them down in the lounge in about an hour.
I got myself ready for pipe and entry and walked back through the
lounge, where Vanessa was sitting with her parents. They smiled/waved/greeted me in some manner,
the details of which escape me. I
pointed to my laptop and smiled back at them, the meaning of which was
clear. I lit up my 2012 Christmas Pipe
and proceeded to write this entry. As I
was writing, I saw the same two staff members from yesterday walking laps
around the deck, this time in the opposite direction. It is very interesting hearing every fourth
minute of a conversation. Having seen me
writing on my computer two nights in a row now, they asked if I was writing a
book. I said that it was something like
that. They finished their laps and said
that they’d see me here tomorrow. I’m
sure they will. On that note, I will now
close so that I can publish this entry and find my friends and see what the
rest of this night has in store.
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