This trip has been fun, but hasn't had as many photo moments as I had planned. I enjoy taking pictures of land and beautiful nature, but I have found that pictures of people are what I enjoy the most. 


People are so interesting, because they make different faces, move around, and are just ALIVE.  Nature is alive too, but you and I can probably take the same picture.  However, I might catch someone laughing, while you catch them smiling. I might zoom in on their face, while you catch their whole body. It's just…more interesting.


I am putting some photos in that I've taken so far.  These are unedited, although there are a few in my collection. I do plan to edit. However, I think there is something to be said for those photos that are great from the beginning, and need no editing. Thus, enjoy! :)

On a different note, I have noticed  that I tend to see pictures everywhere.  It's not as weird as it sounds. When I see someone smile or laugh and tilt their head, I think "click". I often find myself always wishing I had a camera attached to my head and could take a picture as quickly as I think.  I suppose photography is as close as I'll come to having a camera in my head. It's pretty fun to look back at a picture and think "I took that".  I've come a long way from the photographer I was in high school (with a film camera and early digital) to the one I am today. I know I'll become even better in the years to come.

Anyway, trip aside, I wanted to mention that I found a blog of a guy named James who used to work on the Pride of America ship. He worked on ships for 5 years total and now he has some job traveling.  That's pretty cool-I'm excited for my first chance on the ship! I noticed he mentioned what to pack, so I copied and pasted that into my little notes I've created by googling other crew members.  Everyone keeps mentioning, "Pack half of what you are planning!" I know that I better watch what I bring!  I was so worried about having things to do when I'm off-duty, but according to his blog, he likes to either nap (long days) or talk to people. I'm pretty sure (being a social butterfly) that I won't have to worry about finding something to do.  Of course, bringing my laptop along, I will always have something to do!

I'm starting to get a little nervous. I don't know what to expect! I'm currently working on finishing my website, so I can have people look at my work without having to e-mail it to them, and I know that I'm good. I'm great at taking pictures-it's something I love doing!  I'm just worried that I won't know how to do I their way-or that I'll do something wrong.  I know that I will be fine, but still, I'm a little nervous!  I'm going to be far away from friends and family (just like when I lived in Arizona-or in Florida actually) but it's not like I won't make new friends! 

Okay, this is starting to be a blog all about my worries. I better make this more cheerful!  I have a week and a half left, and I'll be in HAWAII! :)

I'm currently lounging in a hotel room, enjoying the free wireless. This morning, around 2 am (I never went to bed), my parents and I got in the car and headed for New York. I, of course, went to sleep. I sleep about half of the trip, making it a really easy car ride.  Why am I headed back to New York again? Well, not really New York city, just Albany, New York. We are only staying here tonight (after driving 14 hours, you want a rest) and then heading to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. It's going to be a vacation where I get to take lots of pictures, and enjoy the scenery.  By the end of this trip, I will have seen almost all 51 states, excluding Hawaii (which will be soon!), Alaska and a few other states.

Anyway, I have some news!  I found out that I will be leaving October 8th, which is exciting, and a little scary because I found out yesterday, we left today, and I won't be back till October 4th.  So I only have three (or less) days to pack, shop (I got a new packing list) see people, etc. I will be a very busy lady!

Ready for a fun story? Yesterday, I went out to Waukesha to close a bank account and I had a doctor's visit (I have had lots of those recently).  After that, I went shopping at Kohls because I have to get more business casual outfits.  My friend met me there, and he decided he wanted to help me shop.  His choice of outfits for me was…interesting.  He kept picking these not so cute outfits and I was just laughing at him. He insisted he was just trying to figure out my taste, so he could from there. I'm not so sure though. I think he was covering his tracks. ha ha

Then we went to the mall, where another male friend of mine met us there.  Together, the two guys proceeded to help me pick out clothes. So imagine me running around stores, with two guys following, grabbing clothes off the racks and saying, "This would look good" and then holding blue or purple shirts up to themselves to show it off. Several clerks raised their eyebrows.  It was so funny. One of the guys even said, "You don't think they think we are…?" and then he just started laughing.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. -Dr. Seuss

I've always been really good at buying stuff on E-bay, but I've never sold anything.  Well, as I've started packing up all the stuff in my room to put it in the attic, I've set aside some things to be sold.  These are stuff people told me probably wouldn't get me any money, but I thought I'd try it anyway.  I didn't do so well at first, (my first item sold for a .99, but it was worth much more! and I lost .25 with my second item because I didn't count on shipping being so high) but I just sold two more items, and finally, might make some money! Two other items have already been bid on, but don't end until tomorrow.  So it looks like my success with e-bay is finally starting, and now I'm on the hunt to see if I have anything else in my room to sell!

I may be off on my adventure sooner than I thought.  The Merchant's Mariner Credential that I have been waiting for arrived this weekend, and I e-mailed them I had received it this morning.  While it is not a bad thing that I have to leave early (I'm excited to be in Hawaii), I'm not sure that I'm ready yet. I have a list of things I wanted to get done before I left, and it's not completed yet!

I'm hoping that they won't be able to get me on the ship until October, which was my original departure date anyway.  I want to go the second week, as that would be perfect timing! (my parents planned a vacation with me, and I still want to go on it)

I've been looking up photos of my new home, and thought I would share them with you. Photos found on flickr and google, by looking up "Pride of America".  I did not, of course, take these photos, since I'm not on the ship yet!

Owner's room

Awesome swim area for families, singles, couples etc.

  Room with a balcony.  Looks nice, right?

This just looks so pretty!

    I heard these things are fun. I wonder if I can

        go on when guests aren't around?

Hello home!

       outdoor cafe for guests

    one of the US themed restaurants

     I showed this to my guy friend and he said,

    "I bet all the ladies will like that." lol

They put up a window that looks like a porthole.

 I enjoyed writing the other entry, and promised more if you wanted. Alisia, you are the reason I am going to do another blog entry about “little Kristine”. Thanks everyone for your fun comments!

Here is a very strange part of an entry from eighth grade Kristine…I think I was trying to be “poetic” but it just sounds really funny!

11/11/01

I wish I didn’t have to work on my homework; my very dull homework. But I must. I must do my homework. It crys out for me, it is hungry for me. I have so, so much homework. It likes me, my taste is good. My homework bites into me, taking my htoughts and them for it’s own use. I must go, my homework bites it’s next bite. (this was before all the vampire craziness-I can’t really tell you where I got the idea for this crazy analogy. I must, must ask: Is your homework biting you? Ha ha)

This entry is very interesting. I thought I would share. This was late in the year for eighth grade Kristine.

2/21/02

I found out today that my sub bus driver is also our librarian. I really think it’s weird, because the bus lady is mean, and our librarian (same person) is nice. It’s like there are two sides to her. (hmmm…maybe she is bi-polar? Or she feels bus drivers need to be mean? All those kids walking around when you are driving-just makes one want to scream, right? Or maybe it’s all the screaming, throwing, pushing, and kicking that happen on my bus. I know we had the “nightmare” route. Everyone dreaded riding the bus, because the older kids beat us up, and the younger kids wouldn’t stop talking. No, I wasn’t one of the younger kids!)

2/24/02

The funniest thing just happened at my friend Amanda’s house. We are sleeping over at her house and we put Kara’s pillow in the freezer! She can’t find it and no one is telling her what happened! Hee hee! (so I wasn’t always a goody-two-shoes. Ha ha)

On the next four pages, we did the longest Mash I have EVER seen. Do you remember that game? It was so much “hoping for a good life”. I always tried to put down “toilet cleaner”, “garbage man” and “clown” for people’s job choices. I thought I was so funny. I taught my kids in Florida how to do MASH, since they had never heard of it! They informed me that they taught everyone at school-that was one of the greatest things about teaching those kids-you could pass on skills we learned in school that “died” as the kids below us grew up. Sad. I think living in the 90’s was awesome, and it’s so sad that little kids now will never understand what a typewriter is, why we still have video tapes and cassette players, and what it was like to live without a cell phone, computer, and video games. There was such a thing as going outside and climbing trees, hanging upside down on the monkey bars, and running around on that spinning thing that got banned from playgrounds. I love my computers and technology (everyone knows this!) but I can still appreciate the childhood I had without them!

This is a little sad, but it has a great point at the end.

“I’ll never really be the person I long to be. I’ll always be…plain Kristine, a.k.a. “Kermet” or “shrimp”. Some people go through life always being “on top” and “popular”. Me? While I wish I was either, I am none.

Let me explain. My name is Kristine and I am 13. I am 4’7, which is short for someone in 8^th grade. At least, that is, at my school. People always make fun of me because of my looks, hair, size, and voice. Yes, my voice. Just because my voice is “different”, they make fun of me. Even my parents and brothers make fun of me. They may think they are kidding, it doesn’t make me feel good.

My one true friend is my dog Daisey Lou. She can’t make fun of me, and I know that she will always be a good friend. I love my dog, and think she is the best!

So you see, I will never be perfect or pretty. I will be me. You don’t have to be special to be yourself.” (I was the shortest one in my grade, so I always got picked on for that, and wearing glasses. Sometimes I wrote about all that, but I want this blog to be funny, not serious and sad. But I wanted you to see that I didn’t grow too much between eighth grade and now. Haha)

Here is a fun story from when I was little:

My house has three floors, and the basement was always the “scariest” to me. I would go downstairs during the day, but at nighttime, I was convinced that the monsters were going to come out and eat me! If my parents asked me to grab 

something from their room (originally, their bedroom was in the basement 

until my dad added on to the house), I would RACE down the stairs, grab whatever it was, and literally crawl up the stairs as fast as I could. Why did I crawl? I had some strange belief that I was faster if I was crawling…or maybe I just had tripped too many times before. Anyway, this went on for a long time…probably till I was seven or maybe even eight. My house can be really creepy at night, and especially when you don’t know someone is in the shadows. I think my brother learned of my fear, because one day I went downstairs in a hurry, to grab my mom’s watch on her nightstand. I was so freaked that I dropped the watch on the ground. I dug around in the dark trying to find it, and my brother took this opportunity to hid behind the door. I found the watch, turned around and raced to go back up the stairs. Nick jumped out at me and I yelled bloody murder. I flew up the stairs yelling that there was a monster in the house! I hadn’t realized it was Nick because it was still dark in the room, and my fear made me believe it was some scary man! Not to say my brother isn’t scary… My mom had to calm me down, and my brother was really proud of himself. One day, one day, I will get him back!