Cruise Control: Leaving Miami & Returning (May 23 &30, 2010)

NOTE: THERE ARE 7 DIFFERENT BATCHES OF PHOTOS OF MY CRUISE POSTED. THIS IS BATCH #1.

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Batch 2- Miami, from the Ship

Cruise Control: My Cruise Ship (May 23- 30, 2010)

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Photo Batch Number 1: The Ship

The Book of Days VII: Cruising: Looking at Pros & Cons

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In May, I took my first cruise. The plan was to be aboard for 7 nights, going to ports in the Western Caribbean. It was an experience that fell somewhere between uncomfortable and unpleasant. For various reasons. Thinking about cruising—the experience has made me examine what I expected, wanted, and what I got. Here are some pros and cons from my point of view.

Pros:
The balcony room was a nice, smart choice. The balcony was great. Made me feel like I was in the lap of luxury. Until I went inside to the room. The room could have been a bit LARGER.
Even that wasn’t so bad, but my room’s location was VERY BAD.

Cons:
If your room is located or positioned right over the dance club, you won’t get much rest. I didn’t because, of course, the d.j. had the bass up as high as it could go and it reverberated through the ceiling and into my room every night from 11 pm to 3 am. Even the television set couldn’t distract me from the steady, monotonous BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the bass. It wasn’t soothing, believe me. Nor was it a rhythmic delight. It was just plain horrible. I got an average of 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night. Which is just not enough for me. Especially when I went on the cruise expecting to get some rest in luxurious (NOT!) surroundings.

Pros:
I love the ocean and it’s wonderful just to be able to gaze at it morning, noon, and night. It’s peaceful; it’s beautiful. But…

Cons:
You’re stuck on the ocean. Can’t go anywhere until the boat docks. Well, obviously, you might say. And so what? If you don’t like to feel confined, limited in moving around… if the option to get up and go here and there as you can on dry land is important to you, you better think again before you book passage.

Yes, there are tours, but you have to go and come back at certain times. Shore visits range from 4 hours to 6 hours. We missed the tour we booked because I got sick (but more on that later). You’d be wise to book a tour for certain shore destinations because it’s likely that the places you visit are not American cities where you might drift around safely. The inhabitants and where they live probably will not look like Beverly Hills or the residents of New York’s Central Park West. One place where I disembarked showed me its real face of poverty when I wandered beyond the touristy marketplace. The streets, if you can call them that, and people were so poor that it was scary and depressing.

Yes, there are activities. They keep you busy. But I didn’t really pay attention to the kinds of activities that were offered until I got onboard. Most of the people were there to party. That’s what they were there for. The emphasis seems to be on sound like you’ll have lots to do and they range from…
--- eating and eating and eating from morning to night
--- gambling at the casino whenever you like or playing bingo before the nighttime shows
--- drinking at the pool, in the pool, around the pool, in the lounges, in the halls, in your room—wherever you like morning, noon and night
--- going to the spa for massages or going to exercise on your own or to join fitness classes
--- lounging in one of the 2 Jacuzzis and/or standing in one of the 2 pools (swimming is out because people stand in it and talk)
--- shopping at the three ship stores
--- nighttime partying at the piano bar, karaoke lounge, dance club, or casino
--- going to the nightly comedy or musical shows or to a movie at poolside

If you’re not planning to party the whole time, you might want to rethink the whole idea. From what I could see, that’s what most people were there for.

Pros:
Cruising is a way to go places without having to worry about hotel rooms, food and local transportation. The cruise line will get you where you’re going. Excursions are planned for you. With one room, you don’t have to pack and unpack continuously. On board, no worries about finding a place to eat. Food is plentiful.

Cons:
Expect to shell out for the tour excursions. They ain’t cheap. I didn’t properly budget for them, thinking I could probably pick up a tour on my own once I disembarked. Cozumel was the only place where I saw enterprising cabbies waiting to take you various places at a price under the tours offered by the ship. Didn’t see anyone at Belize or Grand Cayman. Don’t know about Roatan Island. I was sick.

Which brings me to shipboard sickness. On the second day aboard, I came down with a gastrointestinal illness. The symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, headache, weakness. I had’em all. At first, I thought it was seasickness. It wasn’t, I found out when I went to Medical where they quarantined me for 24 hours, gave me a shot in the behind, and a few pills to get rid of the diarrhea. Medical called it a stomach virus. There’s a more accurate, scientific name for it, I found out later, and it is not uncommon to come down with it onboard ship. Evidently when you’re in a “closed environment” like a ship, it’s easier for the virus to travel from person to person, via hands, water, food, etc. Although I saw many “Clean Your Hands” dispensers onboard, people don’t always do that. Also found out that this particular cruise line is notorious for being getting sick on it. Would that I had known!!! Anyway, there are some things you can do, I learned later on the internet, to possibly prevent catching this cruise-virus. Once I went to Medical and got the medication, it exited my body in twenty four hours. Problem was that my companion came down with it after me. Companion didn’t want to be confined by Medical, so companion toughed it out.

The Bottom Line:
Decide if you really want a cruise. Why are you going? What’s the advantage to you? Is your cruise line the best one for you? What about its reputation? (Ours didn’t have a good reputation with past cruisers I found out AFTER the cruise was over. I kept hearing bad things from people’s conversations, from folks on the street, from the internet.) Where is your room located? (Look up a deck plan for your ship via the ship’s website or thru the internet.) What kind of activities are offered onboard? Will you do shore tour excursions? If so, make sure you’ve allowed enough money for it. What can you do to try not to get sick? (Research the names of over-the-counter medications you can bring and take to keep the nasty virus away.)

Last, know this: The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Mine did.

Music1: Lena Horne & Black Female Voices of Jazz

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Another who reigned in the Black pantheon of jazz is gone from us to make music in another sphere. Lena Horne (1917-2010) died Sunday, May 9, 2010. Her death startled me because I thought of her as eternal. I guess because she’s been around all of my life. Somehow, I didn’t think she’d ever leave us.

Voices. Lena’s was one of a kind. She was one of a kind—beautiful, elegant, unforgettable. She was one of those who led the way for her vocal Black female descendants, for other great Black jazz songstresses to carry on the heart sound of jazz—that very special kind of music invented by Black folks.

I’ll miss Lena Horne’s presence, her voice in the world, just as I miss the heavenly voices of other Black female jazz singers, now gone, that I grew up listening to. They gave me, gave all of us, such enchantment when they opened their mouths and sang songs their way.

Nobody, least of all me, will ever forget the inventive scatting of Ella Fitzgerald, the melodic range of Sarah Vaughan, the bluesy-gospel inflections of Dinah Washington, the behind-the-beat phrasing of Carmen McRae, the raw and rough-edged intensity of Nina Simone. No one will forget Lena Horne’s sultry voice that compelled you to listen closely to what she was saying/singing.

All of them gone, but I take heart that Lena’s legacy lives today in these Black women of song: Nancy Wilson, Della Reece, Roberta Flack, Patti Austin, Betty Carter, Oleta Adams, Toni Braxton, Cassandra Wilson, Queen Latifah, Dianne Reeves, Natalie Cole, Regina Bell, Shirley Horn, and Lizz Wright.

The Black musicians and singers of jazz have given us beautiful sounds. And we thank them for it.

L.A. Observations 6: Me, The Dog Lover

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Dogs are, according to Wikipedia, domesticated forms of the wolf. Did you know that they inherited complex behaviors and social hierarchy from their wolf ancestors? And they communicate non-verbally. Did you know that? Like wolves, dogs are pack animals exhibiting a complex set of behaviors related to determining where a dog is positioned within their social hierarchy. Socially, they’re as sophisticated as people are.

I confess: I’m a dog lover. Growing up on Dandridge Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee, I had, at one time, 5 dogs and 3 cats. I still have pictures of my dogs and I’ve framed them and put them on one of my walls along with other friends and family.

I live on a street where there are a lot of dogs. For instance, my new neighbors across from me live with Ama and Blue, two Great Danes. Blue is white and Ama is black. They’re puppies—very beautiful, big, big puppies—with very loud barks and mournful howls. Then to my left and one house down, there’s another new neighbor who walks her five white Shih tzus everyday. There’s adorable. And in her same triplex, there’s a man who walks his black and brown miniature Doberman every day. I’d never seen a “miniature” Doberman before.

Most days, I walk my next door neighbor’s dogs. The neighborhood knows me because I do. When I walk, I wave to whoever is sitting out or ambling about. As for the dogs, I fell in love with them and since I walk anyway, I asked if I could walk them. My neighbor was more than happy to have me do it. I nicknamed her dogs The Honeys: Boo (whose name is Guy) and Poo (whose name is Sybil). They’re both found dogs—black with white markings though they’re not related. He looks like he’s mostly Labrador Retriever and she’s in the Terrier family, part Whippet, which is a Greyhound breed. When they’re at home, they look out the window to keep the neighborhood “secure.” If somebody strange stops too near my apartment, they do the crazy sounding “Some stranger is out here that we don’t know” bark. That tells me to go see who or what is lurking outside.

I love my Honeys. Such interesting personalities. In the pictures above, Boo is the one with the blue toy in his mouth and Poo is stretched out on my red rug.

Poo is a firebrand—independent, fierce-hearted, and stubborn. When she was young, just a little cutie pie, she could run like the wind. The first time I saw her do it was at our walking/hiking park between La Cienega and La Brea. I let her loose on a huge green hollow—Janice’s Green Valley, it’s called—to run off leash. And run she did. She astonished me. I’d never seen anything like it. It was like watching a racehorse; her feet hardly touched the ground, all four legs pumping, then leaping to stretch straight out; she went airborne with her legs pumping, leaping, and stretching as if she was being held up by invisible wind currents. I’ll never forget the sight of her… exploding with joy just to be running free like the wind. I thought I’d never get her back, she’d run so far, so fast, but she came when I called her. Turned right away and came back, she ran straight at me as I knelt on the grass with my arms out, and leaped up into my chest.

Now, Boo was a different story. He looks scary to some, but he’s a gentle, playful rascal. When I first began walking Boo, several years ago, he slipped out of his chain. To be truthful, I didn’t put it on correctly. It took him a few seconds to realize he was free as a bird… and then he flew with me chasing behind him yelling for him to Stop! And screaming at him to: Come back here, Boo! He had me chasing him for 45 minutes as he explored new streets and other people’s back yards. One guy saw Boo dash into his back yard which was full of bushes and hiding places. We tried to lure him out, to trap him, to trick him. Nothing worked. Boo finally took off and the guy hollered “Good luck!” as I ran behind, looking like a crazy woman. Finally, having had his jolly fun for the day Boo decided to let me catch him. I bitched at him all the way home. As we trudged back, me fussing, he looked up at me with those big eyes as if to say: Don’t be mad. I’m did what comes naturally.

Yes, The Honeys are a pair. Both of them are very territorial. They didn’t like it when a pair of Chihuahuas, Mimi and Joy, came to live upstairs, over their heads. Although there’s a big back yard, large enough for all four of them. Boo and Poo wouldn’t hear of it. They threw a hissy fit, so now the Chihuahuas get walked twice a day, instead of coming out into the back yard. The white one is aggressive, if you can picture a frail-looking dog bow-wowing in a tiny voice as being aggressive. She tries to be the tough one; I’ll give her that. By contrast, her tan companion is very shy. She keeps creeping up to me as if she’s going to let me pet her this time. Then she chickens out and runs.

I see a lot of cats roaming around and scooting out of sight if there are dogs about, but the only neighbor that has a cat is David. Her name is Blue, too. She’s white with blue eyes. He puts her on a leash and lets her preen and sun herself outside in the yeard as if she’s the queen of hearts. I think she’s the queen of his heart.

I like pets. I wish I could have a pet but my apartment doesn’t allow them. It distresses me to no end when people don’t take care of theirs, or worse let them loose to live or die on the streets. My minister once pointed out that “dog” spelled backwards became the word, “god.” He said dogs love us unconditionally (no matter what we do to them), just as God does, and that they deserved to be loved back the same way.

I couldn’t agree more.

The Book of Days VI: Reality Checks

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Reality checks are my touchstones for living each moment despite the chattering, tricky monkeys in my head.

1. Be yourself whoever you are… and the hell with it.

2. Social Security benefits will never give me/you/anybody enough money to live on. And The Powers That Be make damn sure it stays that way.

3. Everything that I think is NOT true. Let’s put it another way: Because I think it, doesn’t make it truth. My head often tells me lies.

4. Today: The good news is … I feel my feelings. Today: The bad news is… I feel my feelings. Ride with it. Hi-oh, Silver and Away!!!

5. Being kind and considerate helps to relieve some of the unnecessary suffering we put ourselves and everybody else through.

6. Time and friends are as precious as pearls.

7. Having true faith requires me to take the risk of stepping over the edge, so I can take wing and…fly.

8. You can’t outrun uncertainty, change and choices.

9. You are your greatest teacher.

10. Live in this moment. The next one ain’t guaranteed.

Adventures of a Maverick Author 5: Tribute

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Tribute to My MSMC Spring 2010 Literature 16 Class

4/30/10. Today was the last meeting for my Mount Saint Mary's College Literature class. The theme for the class was one I chose and have taught before. It's name reflects that theme: “Out of the Closet:” The Literature of African American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Authors. It's been an honor and an exciting adventure to teach this subject.It feels as if we had only just begun this journey and I am sorry to see all thirty of the ladies in my class go. They were exceptionally bright and open-minded... willing and ready to read about a new genre and to learn from what they read. They told me that they’ve learned a lot.

So have I... from them.

They have given me courage. To teach. Most of all, to keep writing. Sometimes, most of the time, really, it’s just hard to sit at a computer and put words that make sense on the blank page. Knowing that my words, my experience is of value—motivates others to keep trudging, plowing through in sunshine and in storm—well, this keeps me going at it. Especially on the days when I’m in front of the computer and it all seems way too much because I’m defocused, scattered, exhausted, and afraid that nothing coherent or interesting will ever again make it out of my head and onto paper. That’s when I’ll think of you, ladies.

You have taught me that people are more and better than what they know themselves to be. That they are willing to reach out, ready to empathize—ready and willing to feel what others feel.

You have taught me that people stretch and grow. That they will go through a mysterious door into unfamiliar, even frightening, territory. That they will step through and beyond the door of limitations, beyond taboo stereotyping into a place of enlightenment and freedom.

You have freed me to be who I am even more. To stand straight and tall. To love fully. To live from the center of the page, so to speak, all the way over to the edge of the margins. To trust in myself… in all of who and what I am.
For all of this and more, I acknowledge and thank you. I wish you well on your journey …
Anita Aguilar
Bianca Aldama
Krystal Aquino
Denise Carrera
Elizabeth Chavez
Michellin Dela Rosa
Laura Delgadillo
Denise Garcia
Katherine Garcia
Jasmine Gutierrez
April Hernandez
Jerquisha Jones
Angela Larios
Ariana Lopez
Magdalena Lopez
Vanessa Mateos
Lucia Vasquez
Yesenia Mendoza
Juana Molina
Alma Rosales
Denise Santiago
Viviana Santillan
Amelia Sili
Celeste Soto
Karina Morales
Rauna Landing
Joanna Valenzuela