we board the Love Boat

Day Two -- up early (no time zone change so YAY) and down for breakfast, last minute re-organise of bags etc, then a taxi ride to the Cruise Terminal.
Our driver did not believe in leisurely tourist drives. We rocketed through the streets and I barely had time to gasp as we whizzed past the Raffles Hotel.

Yes, THE Raffles Hotel.

I so wanted to go in for morning tea, but we didn't have time.

Even the streetlights looked exotic.

Council workers are the same all over the world, apparently.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel. 

Three towers topped with a replica ship that is actually mostly an infinity edge pool. 

Impressive in it's ugliness.

We hit the ramp leading up into the Cruise Terminal at a rate of knots, and I thought the driver was actually going to do a James Bond type stunt straight onto the ship. But no. He screeched to a stop and practically threw us out before roaring off in a cloud of dust.

Luckily, from that point, the (friendly and efficient, though not in a screaming rush) cruise staff took over.

The process of getting your Sea Pass and booking organised is amazingly easy if you get there really, really early, and have your paperwork in order

and we were told that we could board almost right away. We had all booked suites, which gave us Priority Boarding, and that helped.

We had some photos taken in front of a picture of the ship, which it seems is something of a must. I didn't want to, the camera really hates me, but never let it be said that I don't do what I'm told! So here I am, the fattie with the two gorgeous sisters.

the one my husband took...

and the 'official' one.

We're all wearing our husbands' watches, which at this point were all in good working order.

A short walk along the walkway brought us to the floating land mass that is Mariner of the Seas.

She's big.

At this point, I was clutching my husband's hand and hopping up and down, making little EEEEE noises. It was pretty exciting. EVERYONE was so friendly and polite, welcoming us with Madams and Sirs.

But nothing could have prepared us for the Grand Promenade.

Or the Dining Rooms

How's THAT for fancy eats?? There are actually three dining rooms, and ours was the very top one.

You can nearly see our table on the very top left corner right next to the chandelier, in that rounded sticky-outy bit. We had a great view of everything.

Dig that chandelier! and the staircase! and the dancing couple!

The dining rooms have musical names (like Rhapsody in Blue, and The Sound of Music) and they have a male and female dance costume at each entrance. This is one of the gorgeous frocks.

(thanks Ker for the photo)

We could hardly wait till dinner-time!

There's a theatre on-board

as well as an ice-skating rink (which I neglected to photograph), 

a Gothic-themed nightclub

and a casino

with a trippy see-through floor.

plus a library (yes. of course I visited it) and a gym (I'm sure you're shocked to discover I didn't even go inside) and a coffee shop and a video arcade that would delight the heart of any kid.

***

But there were drinks to be had and bars to explore. We found some family and settled into the Windjammer,  where Jimmy got his own seat and clearly had a few ales judging by the leery grin on his face.

The view was a bit of alright....

as was the view from the ladies loo (yes, the loos were behind doors!)

We moved out into the main pool area 

so Jimmy could get a tan

(Yes, that is me, after a few mojitos)

(thanks Ker for THAT photo too!)

There was no shortage of places to sit with a drink or a book or group of friends. My favourite was Ellingtons, right up the top of the ship, with 180 degree views and no kids....

and mojitos

and double Scotches

resulting in some pretty relaxed passengers.

Hilariously, our waiter was KETUT. He told us that he was pretty confused at all the Australians who greeted him like a long-lost brother, until he heard about the ad. 

He was (IS) a gorgeous young man, with a crazy giggle and a really sweet personality. His future at home was not filled with the prospect of riches; this was his first contract on a ship, and we all wish him the very best. (Ketut, by the way, means 4th son.)

(thanks, Sissy, for the photo)

At this point, we STILL hadn't seen our rooms. The luggage is all collected for you, and delivered, so you can't access your room till whatever-time-they-say -- which is a bargain considering you don't have to drag suitcases all over the place.

So we went to take a look at where we'd be sleeping for the next 5 nights.

Bit nice?

This was a Grand Suite, so a bit larger than many other rooms.
The bed was SUPER comfy, in fact the whole room was comfy with plenty of cupboard space. For some reason, one of our wardrobes had about a dozen life-jackets stacked in it, so the family decided that if we started to sink, everyone was coming to our room.

We had a nice balcony, with a lounger and two chairs

The balcony was pretty well protected from the wind, though we really didn't have any to speak of.

And we didn't get a lot of cigarette smoke drifting over from other cabins, which I had heard we might.

***

Then it was time to get back to the real business of the day -- relaxing and waiting for Sail Away.

You can see the water is disturbed, as the ship swings away from the dock. But we had to WATCH to make sure it was happening, because you couldn't feel it! Talk about a smooth operation.

There was only ONE Titanic moment, and it was a good one!

The ship got more and more magical as the lights came on

and we got more and more 'relaxed'.

Time to dress and dine! the food was amazing. Each day, a menu was left in our room so we could spend the whole day thinking about what we might order, and almost every time, there was a battle of choices.
I did notice there were a lot of seafood and mushroom dishes, neither of which I like, but there was always a choice that included neither.
The portions were generous, but not huge, and the bread rolls were plentiful and far too yummy. And there was REAL butter, no margarine.
Our serving and bar staff at table were all delightful people, always ready with a joke and nothing was too much trouble for them.
And no dishes afterward!! talk about the perfect meal(s).

We had thought we would do a show after dinner, but we enjoyed the meal so much we sat till late, and our KL shore excursion required us to be up and breakfasting early, so we toddled off to bed and had a very solid night's sleep.

Tomorrow -- the Big Trip into KL!

a holiday story. In several parts.

Several months ago, my sisters decided to take a cruise and asked us to join them.

A CRUISE????? are you KIDDING???????????

We said yes.

Now I know some of you are thinking, OMG I DON'T WANT TO READ A HOLIDAY STORY! It's BORING or I'm JEALOUS (or both) and I understand. BUT -- for those who wish to know where we went and what we did, and hear how I nearly lost my kidneys but failed to get my hands on Jimmy Choo, read on.

(I'm writing in days, so I can keep it all straight. Hence, there'll be a few posts)

(and a lot of photos)

DAY ONE

We got up at 3 am, and drove up to Perth to the airport. This was sorta fun and exciting for a time, then I wanted more sleep. Too bad for me.

You can tell I was tired and excited by the blurry photo. Looked fine to my weary eyes.

Sunrise!! haven't seen one of them for a LONG time.

Then, of course, we found ourselves driving INTO the sun (nice)

and I MAY have nearly wet myself when we got to the airport.

(I said, NEARLY)

WHAAAAT??? doesn't EVERYONE take their Pilly on holidays?

Bags secured (no Corby moments for us)

and we settled ourselves in for the 5 hour flight to Singapore.

Pretty exciting for me -- my first trip overseas, our first trip with no kids.... I was like a puppy with two shoes to chew.

I watched Captain Phillips on the way over. Heading for a cruise ship. Yuh - huh. Began thinking about pirates and hoping they would like the casino too much to worry about my little gold bangles.


We hit Singapore early, and made it through Customs and Immigration very quickly and with no dramas.
(My sisters, the previous day, got the snarkiest officials ever. One sneered at Sissy's 'brand-new passport' and one was rude to Ker, and then offered her husband candy!!)

We were ushered out of the airport by tiny little old men and women wearing brown jackets and white gloves. They-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed point the way and hustle you along if you're not quick enough, and they also wave mysterious and instantly obeyed commands at taxis so that no-one is waiting for more than a few seconds. I resolved to smuggle a few home to Perth airport but my bag was too securely wrapped.

Our taxi was clean and smelled of nothing, and the fare was amazingly cheap compared to Australia. the driver barely spoke English so we resorted to OOH-ing and AHHH-ing out the window.

Here is some of what we OOH-ed and AHHH-ed at:

 This is something like the London Eye, a great big Ferris Wheel that you can see probably the whole of Asia from. I wanted to go in it but we didn't have time (a phrase you will hear a lot of!)

And this building is a magnificent creation, very art deco and fully swish.


At the hotel, I had this delightful package waiting for me:

                     (that is my sister, Ker) (I unaccountably failed to get a photo of her husband)

We caught up over drinks and dinner, joined at some point by Sissy and her husband, who had had the adventure of a lifetime.
After taking what turned out to be a ONE WAY ONLY tri-shaw ride by a skinny little man who clearly felt it was going to be too much effort to pedal two well-fed Australians back to their hotel, they were taken on a 'shopping trip' by their taxi driver -- which involved skulking down alleyways while gates clanged shut behind them.
They emerged with some nice gold jewellery, and two prizes -- a watch for Him, and a Jimmy Choo bag for Her.
The watch was something of a surprise for all involved. BIL stops all watches after a day or two. Even my sister has stopped wearing hers, because he stops it as well. They're not broken -- if he goes away, the watch will start working again -- they just won't go while he's around. Weird, huh?
And Jimmy immediately became the star of the trip. You'll see.

We were knackered by now. Fabio wandered away and managed to find some milk for morning coffees.

And we hit the sack. I don't even remember falling asleep.

new

A new year.

January always brings such hopes, doesn't it?

We promise ourselves new beginnings, new projects, new plans, and some of those we even manage to keep for a while.

I've given up on new years' resolutions. I don't think one ever made it to February.

There are lots of things I would like to achieve this year -- losing some weight (working on it), learning to use my camera, getting back to budgeting sensibly, and teaching the kids to cook.

But I'm not resolving to do any of them, because that's a recipe for disaster for me.

Instead, I'll simply say these are some of the things I would like to do, and we'll see how I go.

What about you? are you brave enough to make resolutions? or are there just some things you'd like to try?

U is for United

Today's insightful wisdom is brought to you by one of my favourite philosophers, the Legendary John Cougar Mellencamp, who famously said:

Everybody has got the choice between hotdogs and hamburgers.
Everyone of us has got to choose
Between right and wrong
And giving up
Or holding on.

*****

While some people I know are mystified that I would plaster my life on Facebook, telling the world all my secrets, I find it works as therapy.
When I say, "I'm having a bad day." or "I feel like a failure." my Facebook friends will fill up a page with love and support. Some might see that as a cry for attention.... well, yes, it is.

My friends are all genuine people. There is no teen angst going on here, no showing-off or trying to get some boy to show an interest.
When I cry for help, it's because I need it.
Even when I can't say what the problem is, my friends rally round. They lift my heart when it feels to heavy for me to lift myself.

They say delicious things, they remind me that all is not lost, they make me laugh, and sometimes cry a little.

And they do it with the written word. They take the time to type out a response, and if you think that's easy, you don't have predictive text on your phone.

There is great power in the written word. Seeing something in black and white is concrete. Comfort expressed on paper (or a screen) lasts a very long time.

*****

Sometime in life we all need a friend to help us. We can't always do it ourselves.

Maybe we need someone to help us hold on, or to catch us when we fall.

Or maybe you will get the chance to BE that friend.

Never ever underestimate the worth of a kind word or gesture when someone you know is in trouble.

T is for THANKFUL

There's a character in a book (one of the Otherland books by Tad Williams) where a guy has a music chip in his head so he can listen to music all day long presumably without damaging his eardrums.

I would so do that if I could. (this guy turns out to be a pyschopathic killer but I'm pretty sure the music is incidental - however, best look into that further before surgery)

I feel like there should be a soundtrack to my life.
I have songs for everything -- not just wedding and funeral songs, everyone has those, right? but songs for parties and songs for driving and songs for cleaning and songs for sad.
I have the song picked out for my husband in case he carks it. (please God, not this century).

I have ringtones for people on my phone (Fabio's is the Superman theme song) and songs for people on Facebook (in my head, since Facebook has so far failed spectacularly to arrange ringtones).

So you get that music means something to me, it's not just background noise but rather, I connect with it in my spirit. It calms me down or lifts me up, just like it probably does for you, too.

This morning, one of my Facebook friends asked for good news, cos she wasn't seeing any on the tv or in the papers, so people have been telling little snippets of things that make you smile. It's really lovely.
Many of those things are tiny, maybe easy to skip over if you're in a bad mood or busy. But the truth is, there's usually good news around us all day, every day -- it's just that we don't see it.
I am trying (with varying degrees of success) to see the good instead of the gloomy, and it helps a bit with those depressed days I have during my cycle.

For me, one of the surest ways to start looking for the little things is to play THIS SONG while I'm driving. I sing at the top of my lungs and I look around me and I see.

Today, I saw a mum and a dad walking the kids to school, holding hands and talking and laughing. How good is that?

 I saw kids running into the schoolyard greeting friends they haven't seen for two weeks.

 I saw builders working on two houses that we've been driving past twice a day since the lots were empty. The roof is going on both houses and I smiled to myself, thinking how excited the owners must be feeling now.

 I saw people checking the new plants by the side of the highway, out in the sunshine amongst the bees (and mosquitoes), instead of cooped up in an office somewhere.

 I saw magpies and cute little songbirds hopping around looking for breakfast.

 I saw people walking their dogs and a guy mowing his lawn.

 None of this is earth-shattering stuff. It's just people (and birds) going about their daily business, small doings in a big world.

But to me, it's also a beautiful world.





PS listen to the song.

s is for sneering

What is it with sneery people, anyway? what the fuck is wrong with them?

Let me tell you a little story. It's kind of pathetic. Brace yourself.

One time, we had to go to Kalgoorlie for some reason, and Fabio had to go do some boring Man Shit, so I asked him to drop me and the kids at Harvey Norman. (Kalgoorlie is not filled with cheap,  family friendly activities).

So we wandered around looking at furniture I couldn't buy, and enjoying the pretty doona covers and bedroom settings, as you do when you live in the middle of Fuck-All in a hideous little house -- and we happened across a particularly loud red and blue doona cover.

Small child asked, "Do you like that one, Mum?"
"Ugh, no," I said. "That's terrible."

Behind me, Sneery SmartArse was out shopping with his friends, obviously a couple, although he was on his own, for reasons which will become obvious at any moment.

"OOOH!: he said, loudly, adopting a Dickhead-pretending-to-be-gay voice, "That's TERRIBLE! OOOOH and THAT'S TERRIBLE!! and so is that! and THAT!! AND THAT!!!!"

Why?

Because he was (is) a Sneery Person.

That one brief moment crushed me then, and still does whenever I think of it.

I grew up with these idiots and I allowed them to make me feel inferior. I second-guessed myself and I stopped doing things I loved because they weren't 'cool'.

Now I wonder what the hell I let them do that to me for?
Because they're idiots. They do not deserve that much space in my head.

Now, I have to say, people still sneer at me today. They might pretend they don't, but I know. I am not as stupid, or as deaf, as they might hope.

And I am trying not to care, because I like me a whole lot better than I like them.

I will not let them win.

r is for re-boot

My husband just bought me a new laptop; the old one was dying and refused to start without some help in the mornings (much like myself).

My old lappie was about 6 -- and ran on Vista -- meaning that I've not only had to contend with swapping all my stuff over from Old Faithful to New Unknown, I've also had to battle a new OS -- the dreaded Windows 8.

Add in that we bought a new printer, too -- one that prints WIRELESSLY -- and you'll see that I have had my head turned inside out with all the New Learnings and Figuring Outs.

For a while, each new task meant that I had to work out a bunch of other things as well, and it took me so long just to do each small thing (like, to add desktop shortcuts to my favourite websites took about 2 hours. Not. Even. Kidding.)

However, I'm on the downhill slope now YAY

and I'm not completely driven mad.