Around the World in 128 days -Tokyo Tomorrow - Today Another Sea Day

 

Travel Day 55 - February 27, 2024 - 7,139 Steps

Pretty sky this morning to the northwest.

It's taken a while with my change in breakfast to 3 scoops on baked beans placed over scrambled eggs. we reached the point this morning that when I walked up she I didn't even have to say anything, she just dished it up. I don't know if that is good because she remembers without me asking or bad because I am so predictable.

Not just rough, little wild out there this morning.

Sometimes my photos of Kim doing her morning Coffee with Kimberly interviews are blurry and sometimes they are really sharp.

The ship's First Officer, who was her guest, was a very personable chap.

A tale of what occurred shortly after his promotion.

Presentation on the China Excursions in couple of weeks. It sounded like we are on the two best excursion in Beijing. Linda did a good job picking them.

A word of warning about the Forbidden City for those with mobility issues.

Between the temperature and the wind, the wind chill is 38°, no wonder it feels so cold outside.

My "prize" for finishing in last place in the Creative Writing class contest in the "Feelings'" category, continuing that streak I also finished tied for last in the other category which to write a "Humorous" story. The winners were picked by the class members. Actually, I was a big winner because Linda was VERY excited about my chocolate prize. Sometimes you can win while losing.

My two entries are below for anyone who likes reading bad writing.

Feelings

We were crossing the Amazon bar today and I was so excited to finally see the River I had long dreamed about. But our writing class was scheduled during that time. I felt so frustrated and torn. So why choose to attend class instead of experiencing the joy of watching and photographing the crossing? And that evening when I saw photos others had posted of the crossing I felt so jealous.

When we visited that small island with all the happy smiling locals living their simple life, why was I thinking whether we would be able to take the Guam excursion we were waited listed on instead of sharing their joy of Life.

As I tossed my hand line into the brown waters of the Amazon fishing for those razor sharp toothed flesh eaters, I thought about how we all have our place in the cycle of life. Just why was I feeling so frustrated with my life and why wasn’t I enjoying the Amazon more?

The answer came as we crossed back over the bar while I once again sat in class missing that awesome sight. In the words of a famous singer-songwriter “It was my own Damn fault.”

Humor 

(A parody of a scientific article, trying for something you might read in the Onion.)

Another banana series article, this one concerning the Bananus Flatulii, a mutation of the common wild banana. When banana plantations popped up in tropical regions the range of the traditional wild banana was suddenly reduced to such a small area, it was facing the prospect of extinction. We think of evolution taking thousands to millions of years, but in extreme cases nature can evolve in mere decades.

The Bananus Flatulii is a case in point. With it’s natural habitat shrinking ever smaller by the year as the more developed world’s ravenous appetite for bananas strained even the largest plantation’s ability to meet demand, the Bananus Flatulii reacted in a most curious way. In its native habitat the common way the plant spread was by way of simian behavior. That is, monkeys ate the fruit and when moving throughout their natural range, defecated both spreading and fertilizing the seeds at the same time. Faced with extinction, the Bananus Flatulii developed the tasteless and odorless chemical isoputridene. When gut bacteria attack isoputridene the stench of the resulting defecant was so overwhelming the monkeys had to travel far away from the troop to defecate, broadening the wild banana’s range and ensuring its survival.