Alaskan Cruise’26 Day 4

    Day 4 

  Thanks to Wendi’s generous donation of 1/4 a trazodone, I was able to sleep in till nearly 7:00. It was glorious. 

  There were two things we wanted to check out before disembarking; both of which were in the ship’s Atrium. The first was a large, group version of Boggle. Due to my need to eat some sort of breakfast, we got there just as that game was wrapping up and the Ship Trivia Game was about to begin. 

   I really hated it. It was slowly paced; which is kryptonite to a 1.15xBrain like myself. What’s worse, Wendi and I didn’t do that well: 11 out of 20. 

  Not to toot my own horn but I expected to CRUSH the competition because I’m…well: ME. 

  No such luck. Divine Justice meets out a hard lesson. 

  The final twist of the knife was that everyone sitting around us was really old. No doubt this was the result of our having docked at Sitka 90 minutes previous. Least that’s my story.

  So we went into Sitka. Having given up on out-fabulous fashioning Mrs. Hardy (who is up to 15 wardrobe-related compliments), I decided play dirty and wore my USCG ball cap.

   The day garnered me no compliments, but  I was thanked for my service three separate times; which I’m ruling as equivalent. 

  There is a USCG base south of town and since most Sitka..ites(?)’spend at least a some time on the deadly cold North Pacific waters, I imagine Coasties are well regarded. Unlike cops and prostitutes, they ARE around when you really need them. 

  Plus, somebody’s got to fly all those procrastinating delinquent pregnant people to Juneau. 

  Much of our Sitka day was spent combing the beach for all those interesting Alaskan rocks. This was a high point for Wendi. Really one of her main reasons for wanting to come on this cruise.  

   After maybe two hours, we (she)  got the small shopping bag filled with  cool rocks. Nothing amazing but a solid 15 lbs. hanging on my shoulder.   

  We returned to the ship early as we wanted to beat the last minute rush as well as have time to pick up some gifts for our much appreciated cat sitters. Back to the ship. 

  NCL takes security pretty seriously.  They don’t care what you take OFF the ship but getting back on requires a security screening; which includes checking your ship ID card, photo ID and a metal detector. 

   You’re not allowed to bring on any food which could spoil, any undeclared booze, (which is declared once you pay an “uncorking fee”), or anything hazardous like explosives or weapons. 

   Also hazardous: 

Local. 

Effing. 

Rocks. 

   I shit you not. I was carrying 15 pounds of biohazard. Wendi was crushed. Okay, “disappointed” as I dumped all the contraband out. As I said earlier: the collection was interesting but not amazing. (It will get increasingly impressive in memory.) 

  Wendi, ever the law abiding citizen, told me later that if she to finds a cool rock in Skagway, Icy Strait Point, or Victoria, she would just put it into her pocket when returning to the ship. 

  And thus, a life of crime begins. 

  All through today’s trip, I kept sneaking quick looks at my phone to see if I had a strong enough signal to download new YouTube videos. 

  I am not proud of proud of this junkie-ish behavior. But it’s who I am. 

   Though we paid for (my) phone to have “high” speed internet, it only seems high speed when checking the NCL app. Any sort of streaming is blocked. Everything else is dogshit slow. So, when in port, I’ve turned off wi-fi in hopes of getting a clear enough signal strength. With only a couple brief glorious moments, I’ve been unsuccessful. 

  Stupid untouched natural beauty. 

  So, I’ve had to survive on whatever I’ve previously downloaded “Watch Later” YouTube videos.    

   Boy, Previous Me really wants me to practice a shit ton of songs for the ukulele. 

   So, I am now laboriously making my way through what I thought I would one future day be interested in. 

  (Minus 100 points for House Hardy! Flagrant verb tense abuse.) 

Imposed Digital Purging

When your circumstances force you to rely exclusively on your downloaded material. 

  So, yeah, slowly winnowing down my previously save material. Probably a good thing. 

   I’ve definitely dropped off on my consumption of national news. Absolutely a good thing. 

  Despite the crushing rock disappointment, a good day.