This is the (an) Epilogue to a 16 part review.
If you have not read the story, this post will probably not be of any interest
to you. Even if you have read it and therefore know me and my wife Kris pretty
well, it still may not be of any interest. Proceed at your own risk....
epilogue (epilog)
Syllables: ep-i-logue (ep-i-log)
Part of Speech: noun
Pronunciation: eh pE lag, eh pE lawg
Etymology: Middle English epiloge, from Middle French epilogue, from Latin epilogus, from Greek epilogos (Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?), from epilegein to say in addition, from epi- + legein to say -- 15th century
Definition 1. a short concluding section to a literary work, often summarizing what later becomes of the characters. Syn. conclusion
Definition 2. a short speech delivered to the audience at the end of a play by one of the cast.
Related Words end , appendix , annex , affix , addendum
Both of the definitions emphasize 'short'. I neglected to look up that word.
There is also a finality implied in the definition, but I don't believe in
that either.
Hello
My name is Mr. X - Chesterh to my friends.
I am a Cruise-aholic.
For the personality prone to addiction, one often leads to another. In my
case I have also become addicted to writing about my experiences, reading
reactions to my writing and fantasizing about
cruising all over again.
I recently began a self-help program. Hours on the web produced nothing of
value. I have never been so thwarted in my efforts to harvest information
from the Internet. Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Google, Alta Vista - nada. The Yellow
pages do not contain any listings for doctors treating any of my new afflictions.
Even a thread on this board for a group called
Openly Addicted To Cruising (OATC) offers little hope. The only avenue seems
to be to give in.
My addictions prevented my family from having a square meal for weeks. Since
I do the shopping, we ran out of things like toilet paper and milk. I totally
missed the month of August. When someone told me it was Labor Day weekend,
I was bewildered.
I drive 50 miles up and down Interstate 93 every weekday. Other drivers do
normal things like applying makeup, shaving, reading the paper, and using
the GPS or the laptop. I drive along composing language in my head and dreaming
about another cruise. Sometimes I forget the Boston driving protocol and leave
slightly more than a half-carlength between my car and the one ahead. Someone
immediately fills it with a whole car, intentions unannounced. This always
prompts the driver behind me to try to regain the lost position at any cost.
I'm a danger to others out there.
As part of my self-help program, I am weaning myself of my addictions by writing
a little follow-on. It is an epilogue to our cruise story, but at the same
time it is a prologue to the next trip. I cannot avoid it.
Where Did We Leave Off?
Ah yes. The seas increased in intensity, and then we fell fast asleep. The
phone rang harshly at about 6:30. Ryan was in the lobby of the hotel accompanied
by his younger brother Wells, who came along for the ride. Amazingly, they
had remembered to arrange for pet care back home.
We went to Philadelphia for dinner at the restaurant where Ryan works (Palette,
637 N. Third @Fairmount, Philadelphia - do drop in). We got piles of food
including a soup sampler, which is something I have suggested to Celebrity
for the dining room. Neither Kris nor I were particularly hungry, so the boys
ate very well. We gave them each their tee shirts and Rasta hats, and told
some stories. Ryan plans to leave his Cheeseburger in Paradise shirt in the
wrapper as a keepsake.
Wells stayed in town with his brother, and we picked him up the next morning
(Tuesday, 7/30/2002) for the ride home. We made record time. New Hampshire
had completely dried out while we were gone. Everything was brown and crunchy,
but the pets were alive. The deck plants were not.
Newspapers were piled sky high. I subscribe to 4, but only 3 come on Sunday
-- good thing because I could never use all those coupons.
We quickly unpacked. My suit and jackets went back into the closet where they'll
likely sit untouched for a long time. The Galaxy coffee mugs and souvenir
drink glasses went into the dishwasher. The dog tried on his hat, but made
it clear that he'd rather have gotten a shirt.
I checked for overdue bills, and found none. Upstairs, my computer whirred
to life. After deleting the 200 or so junk emails, I was left with nothing
of substance. The CruiseCritic bookmark was still there, and I clicked it
to see if anyone from our trip had posted anything. Nothing. I thought "Well,
someone needs to say something", so I opened up an empty file in Dreamweaver
(a web page creation program), and started typing.
I didn't know where I was going, but I knew where I had been. One of the things
that I had found lacking on any of the boards was a good description of the
Sky Suites. I set out to correct the situation.
After a couple of hours, I tired of the activity and went to read some newspapers.
Nothing much had happened locally while we were gone. The school additions
were on schedule and construction was underway for the new Home Depot. Overwhelmed
by all of this information, I soon forgot about my partially completed 'review'
and got back into the rhythm of everyday life.
On Wednesday I went back to work. I was soon reminded of why I never take
more than a few days off at a time. It took all day just to answer the phone
messages and email. Thankfully, there had been no major crisis.
When I finally got home and finished with dinner, I spent a few more uninspired
hours at the computer working on Installment I. I stopped and devoted some
time to reading our journal and all of the shipboard literature to refresh
my memory. On Thursday I gave it another try, and the words flowed. I knew
that people on the boards like detail, so I just walked through the room in
my mind and wrote down what I saw. I posted just before midnight, and then
worked 'til 3 AM on the second part.
When I got home the next day, I was surprised to find that a number of people
had left encouraging comments. "Huh," I thought. "I guess I'll keep going."
I figured I'd do one more installment about the ship, and then a final one
on the excursions.
Reader comments dropped off quickly. Part 2 received 3, and Part 3 got none.
The readership numbers dropped by half. I wondered whether I should continue,
but the whole tux and Captain's dinner story begged to be told. I stuck with
it. Obviously I couldn't finish in three parts, but I still could not envision
what lay ahead.
So began a routine which ran nonstop until 9 installments were written and
posted. I was sleeping 2-3 hours a night. What really kept me going was the
reader response, which suddenly picked up again after part 4. I could not
believe what seemed to be happening. People were waiting up at night for a
new installment, couples were reading it to each other, threads were initiated
to inquire about the next episode. People from other boards started to show
up. I started to get email from people who for whatever reason preferred not
to post. Dozens of them, with messages like these:
- I normally don't send emails to perfect strangers,
however, I am making an exception tonight. Your review of your Galaxy experience
is astounding. I have never read a review anywhere that even comes close
to the excellence of your review. I have cruised with Celebrity 37 times.....
- ...Thank you. I was a creative writing teacher
in another lifetime and would have proud to have you as a student. Don't
let this gift go, please. Pursue it for all it's worth.
- We wanted to thank you for your wonderful review,
we have read it together, we are first time cruisers, and go on the Star
in 3 weeks time. We are flying from Australia, then cruising Mexico for
our 30th anniversary...Glad you still have the "sparkle" going on, we have,
even after 30 years.
- Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. My husband and I leave on Sept 20th, our first cruise. I am a planner, have been online for months reading everything I can. I found your review last night, read the whole thing, and today am reading it again.
Between the emails and the posted responses, I became supercharged. I wrote
for at least six hours every night, twelve or more each day on the weekends.
Kris must have wondered about my sanity, but she didn't complain.
The weeks occupied by the project were miserably hot. My computer is wedged
into the corner of a small spare bedroom upstairs. There is no air-conditioner.
Kris was running back and forth to her parent's camp in Maine every few days.
Some of you are aware of the situation with Kris's father -- he suffers from
Alzheimer's disease. It was so hot at the camp that Dave was becoming even
more disoriented. We set out one night to buy an air-conditioner so that Kris
could take it up on her next trip, and I thought I'd get one for the room
where I was spending all of my time. We were laughed out of every store in
the area. My jungle training came in handy for the duration.
One regret is that I did not have the pictures when I started writing. Only
later would I learn that so many of the images in my head were in fact recorded
by the camera. I took a few days to scan dozens of them. It was at this time
that I got the video tapes out. There had been additional questions about
Lamanai and the New River Safari, so I took the time to put together a video
clip.
Once I posted the pictures and video in Chapter 10, the pace slowed a bit--at
least it did on your side of things. Scanning the pictures and making the
other video clips at least tripled the time it took to produce each part.
By the time I reached the end, I was totally exhausted. I started the last
part on a Thursday night. By Saturday morning it was coming along, but I still
didn't know how to wrap it up. I got to work early, by 7 a.m. I had been taking
my time, but suddenly I wanted to be finished. Once I got going I resolved
not to stop until I hit the button to post the final installment.
At 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, after more than 20 hours of writing and video editing,
I caught myself just before my head hit the keyboard. I was beyond hungry,
and my eyes were refusing to stay open. I got up and went to the sink to splash
cold water on my face.
After putting some drops in my drooping eyes, I looked in the mirror to dig
the "sleepies" out of them. That's when I saw it. The X. How had I failed
to put it all together before this? I'll never know the answer to that question,
but at least I knew exactly how to wrap up the story. It took another two
hours to finish, and I hit the post button at 5:34 a.m. It felt great.
Kris was in Maine and Wells, our 16 year-old son, would be asleep for many
hours to come. The sun was just coming up. It had been raining on Saturday,
and steam rose from every surface as the sun cleared the horizon. I decided
to make a trip to Dunkin' Donuts for a treat.
Upon returning I gathered up the three Sunday newspapers and headed to the
porch to relax. I hadn't actually read a whole Sunday paper in more than a
month, and the prospect contributed to my feeling of total relaxation. Just
me, The Globe, The Times, The Eagle Trib, some coffee and a couple of honey-
dipped donuts, sunshine, and my easy chair. Nothing more to write.
I could see the future clearly. I would finish the papers by about 10 a.m.,
and then go up to my air-conditioned bedroom and sleep the day away. Except
for the parade of mammals who insisted on coming in, eating, going out, coming
back in, seeking affection, and going back out again--one at a time--all was
peaceful. Sometime after 9:00 I started to fade, and my chair felt so good
I didn't bother with the bed. Only my arm had actually fallen asleep when
the phone rang.
It was not Raj.
To be continued...
From the Mr. X Files:
Below is a picture of my 2 cars. The white one was originally purchased by
Kris's father in celebration of his mid-life crisis, and I am preserving it
for posterity. The red one is my daily driver. It is somewhat rare. Does anyone
see the "X connection" (you need to know your cars).
Next: Settling In
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