Serving our country with distinction..

Day Nine: a Day at Sea.  And our first clogged toilet. (I'm willing to bet the problem didn't start in a neighboring stateroom) I did my pool exercises and said a prayer..that Bubonic Plague is not contagious. Trivia with Sally and Badger from the UK was kind of fun, but "Watson" himself might not know how many times the word "blood" is mentioned in "MacBeth"(42) or the exact height of the original Barbie. (11 and a half inches) I earned our team some points with my anagramming skills(anyone want to take a stab at "moon starer?") and I knew the sinking time of the Titanic because I've watched that movie about as often as I've registered a complaint in this travel journal, which means obviously more than once. I meet Jennifer and Tara from North Carolina. They are into leather. Tara talked a Turk(ooh!  tongue twister but it ends here) into selling her a leather jacket and even with custom tailoring she spent $110 euros. Jennifer talked about someone she knew from a bar that bought a wife from Malta or something like that. I probably have talked to all the 2,500 persons on this ship, or will  have talked with them by the time you read this CNN headline: "A mysterious case of an unidentifiable disease that manifests itself as bulbous bubbles on major limbs has baffled local medical experts, resulting in a quarantine for the entire crew and passengers  aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance".: So then this happens:  Jim attends a lecture about what to expect in Malta and I seek sun. A nice old lady in a motorized vehicle  parks next to me, poolside.  Her name, of course, is Betty, and she is from Illinois. I ask her how she's enjoying the trip and she looks at me like I'm a rabid pit bull. She asks if I've been paying attention to what's happening onboard.  (She is asking the wrong person) She asked if I felt the ship "turn around" in Italy. No, I had not but I mistake churches for casinos. OK..this part is NOT funny.. Betty's 66 year old daughter had a heart attack on board and was sent to some remote hospital in Italy(her 61 year old sister accompanied her) and there has been no communication with the staff that only speak Italian..  Betty mentioned something about a stent. Friends are helping Betty as is the wonderful staff on this ship. I shook her hand and told her I admired her bravery, and don't hesitate to ask me for help next time she runs into me with anything. (Because I'm sure she'd like some photos of my eyeball) OK..that's enough sadness..Betty and her girls will be fine, I think.  We run into honeymooning husbands Michael and Ebony and as soon as I found out they were honeymooners from Kentucky I broke the ice with a "f*ck that Kim Davis!" line.  They are apparently celebs here having stolen the show at the Newlywed-type game we missed the other night but caught later on TV.  They were talking about how much they loved Santorini(everyone did) when a woman with a thick accent butts right into us, mid-conversation and says:  "We took that donkey and thought the last tender was at six, not four, so we made everyone late."  She then walks away. as though she had merely asked us to direct her to the bar. Oh, before I forget, does anyone know what "spermology" is? It's a good "trivia" question but that's your only hint.  We then go to lunch and we're seated with..Betty, poor thing.  Her daughter's a cardiac patient in Italy and then she gets stuck with me again.  So we sit at the far end of the table.  With Jeremy and Ashley from Sacramento. Jermey has tattoos.  Many many tattoos.  I'm talking to Jim as an aside, saying that Jennifer and Tara said they liked their third deck stateroom because there is less seasickness, and Jeremy politely corrects me.  He says:  "I am an ex Marine and the truth is, it's the higher decks that cause nausea."  Jim asks where he has served and it was in Iraq, the Battle of Fallujah, , where he came face to face with a Suicide Bomber in 2004 but he didn't want to discuss his disability because life goes on.  I couldn't see the disability and I know he and Ashley walked about eight times as much as we did.  And then,,I don't know what got into me and Jim was afraid I was going to ask an ex-Marine who is now a COP the same thing you're all afraid I'd ask, but ask I did:  "So what do you think of the election?"  What do YOU think he thought??  Jim made me swear to be nice in this part of the blog because this man got injured protecting  us and our country, so I'll be nice. Jermey says:  "I don't care who wins as long as it's not (expletive deleted) Hillary."  Jim is begging me(with his eyes) to nip this in the bud so I did..I let him talk about Benghazi and "how Trump will run the country like he runs his businesses" and I just nodded and ate my teriyaki chicken.  I have no business baiting anyone, yet alone California cops who are ex-Marines with many many tattoos..