The Severed Cortex

I slept like crap last night. Actually that's a literal statement because I have some severe gastro-intestinal distress. Anytime you wake up in the middle of the night and have to drop a deuce it's never a good sign. I'm guessing it was due to all the butter from the burre blanc sauce last night, but I guess it could also be from yesterday's alcohol intake. I didn't drink a ton of liquor yesterday, but I did drink more than I normally would in a day. I also think it's due to the rocking of the boat too. I'm not seasick by any stretch of the imagination, but this thing does move around quite a bit. The seas are around four to five feet and apparently that's enough to make a ship of this size rock and roll.

Nancy starts her day with yoga while I stay back in the room to write. As if by pure luck, she comes back just as I'm finishing. I put on some clothes and we head to the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast. Mom and Dad are already there and we grab a seat next to them. The boat has a hell of a rock to it when you're up here on deck 11 and it's funny to watch everyone walk around like they're drunk. After breakfast we head back to the room to clean up. While Nancy showers I transcribe my travel journal into electronic format for posting to the blog site. I'm not going to actually post any travel stuff until I get back. It would be too easy for someone to figure out I'm gone and where I live. It's probably an over precaution on my part since no one but a few friends read the blog, but I'm uncomfortable with posting on the internet saying I'm not home.

After cleaning up I head down to the lounge chairs on deck 4 to finish up the last of my book on Curt Flood. It's very windy, but relaxing and reading while listening to Clifford Brown on my iPod is very nice. The Flood book is very good. I learned a ton about what really happened in the fight for free agency although it was a little boring during the courtroom parts. After finishing the book I wandered around the ship, eventually coming back to the room. I laid down on the bed for what I thought would be a couple of minutes, but I fell asleep. It's just as well because I needed a nap from last night's crappy sleep. Nancy came back later and had a nap with me too. Pleasant.

Of course it was mid-afternoon when we got up. We wandered around the ship some more but we've started to get a little bored with the on board activities. We watch a little of the Florida-Oregon game and by the time the game is over it's time to get ready for dinner. Tonight is formal night and mom wants us all to have our picture taken together. We all look very nice.

Dinner was again very good, but not as good as the previous night. I had:
Escargot swimming in garlic butter sauce
Caesar salad
Beef Filet with mashed potatoes in a green peppercorn sauce
Double strawberry cheesecake
Coffee
A just OK glass of Pinot Noir

After dinner Nancy and I had a flight of wine in the wine bar, then we headed up to the Cosmopolitan Club on deck 14 for another drink and to enjoy the view. The lounge band had mediocre players and a terrible Norwegian singer who butchered George Benson's Masquerade and Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly. We head back to the room after the first set so that we can ... well you know.