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!

I had such a great time making fun of my younger self that I have decided to devote another blog entry to it. This one is going to be a riot, I can promise you that. Because…*drum roll please* I discovered my diary entries, old notes, and funny love letters…from when I was really little (and older). Some of them are super lame, we will just skip those, and some are personal (no way am I sharing those) but some are just funny!

Monday, 9/11/99

Poison Ivy! Help! My eyes are red and people are looking at me. I hope that it goes away very fast because it looks so bad I could just die. I don't know what to do. I think that I look like a car just ran over me. I guess that all I have to say.

(if a car ran over me, I think I would look a lot worse than just having red all over my face. But I really did hate that poison oak, which I mention is what it is in the next entry. I also say that I had to stay home from school. Then I argue with myself over whether it's better to be well or get away from homework for a bit)

Monday, 11:59 pm (Apparently I wanted to point out that it was almost midnight and I was still up)

Dear Diary, (yes, I wrote to a "diary"; all the cool kids were doing it!)

I feel funny. You see, we went and got me ready at school. I'm going to be a 7th grader. Not that sounds and feels funny. I don't feel right. I've always been a sixth grader, it seems. Now I'm a seventh grader. Does that sound funny or am I going mental?

(Dear 6th/7th grade self; Yes, you are gong "mental". You do realize that you weren't always in 'sixth' grade, right? You went through 6 other grades before that, since we include Pre-school)

A week later…this is my favorite entry so far!

Later

Eek! I think I just got away from Nick. I snuck up to his room to spy on him and see if he was doing anything and I heard him singing and he was looking at a picture. Does he have a girlfriend? Will my brother be up at night calling girls and then come down in the morning wearing boxers and sing a love song? Will he leave at night and pick up girls? I wonder if he's even old enough to date? This is so weird. What was that picture of?

(hee hee! I was such an annoying little sister-I always wanted to be Harriet the Spy. I watched that movie a little too much. But my house always had secret passageways which really helped with the whole spying thing. :) And I have a feeling I must have just seen some kind of movie where the brother walked around in his boxers…because my brother never did this, but that was the first thing I was worried about! It's sad I never mention who the picture was…and singing? My brother doesn't sing…)

I promised you all funny love notes, so here is one. I received this note in my locker Freshman year of high school. At that point in time, I was partially interested in a certain boy at the school. So when I received this note, I immediately thought it had to be from him. HA! Turns out my "friends" thought it would be a funny joke to ask a guy they knew to write me the note and stick it in my locker. Now it makes for a funny story! (the guy wasn't the best writer, so I'm adding in his actual mistakes)

"Dear, Kristine

All these feelings have been building up. I Just needed to tell you. I think we have been friends for awhile. the first time I saw you. I swear, I fell in love. You have no idea how often I've been thinking of you. I think we should do something together once. I don't care if you don't want to be my Glf. I Just want to be with you. I love how your hair is so colorful! You may not think so, but I think you are so beactiful. Since I feel so uncomfortable about this letter, I cannot tell you my name. But I will give you clues it is me throughout the day, during school.

Love,

X"

("Your hair is so colorful" Gag! I thought it was "so cute" because I desperately thought it was that one guy. Then I got smart *thank heavens* and figured it had to be a joke. So I spent the rest of the day guessing who the prankster was. They ended up telling me, laughing and everything. I was so mad. Now I am just really happy that I can write better than the guy who wrote this letter)

As some of you probably know, I'm not really the best at come-backs. I kind of just take the insult and let it roll off me, or come up with some stupid comment back that just makes everyone else laugh. During my Freshmen year of college, I found that people were pretty mean, almost worse than middle school (and middle school was pure torture), so I printed off a bunch of "comebacks" and highlighted my favorites. I was convinced that I could memorize them and then spout them off at the right moment. Instead, I either messed them up, so they just sounded highly amusing, or I waited until long after the insult had been said, because I finally remembered it, and then everyone just stared at me. "You couldn't think of that earlier, Kristine?" Ha! Well, here are my favorites from the list…

"Lets play house. You be the door and I'll slam you."

"We know that you would go to the end of the world for us. But would you stay there?"

"There are several people in this world that I find obnoxious and you are all of them."

"You're a good example of why some animals eat their young."

"You sound like you are in a good mood. Who did you bug today?"

"People clap when they see you-their hands over their eyes or ears."

"Keep talking. I always yawn when I'm interested."

"You've got the perfect weapon against muggers-your face."

"Anybody who told you to be yourself simply couldn't have given you worse advice…"

"Does your head float because of its emptiness?"

"All day I thought of you…I was at the zoo."

"Brains aren't everything. In fact, in your case, they're nothing."

"I never forget a face. But in your case, I'll make an exception."

Hmm, well that's all for now. Hee hee. I think I'll add some more in the next posting if you guys like them. :)

I've noticed that by the time you are 23, more than 3/4's of your friends are either in a serious relationship, have kids, are engaged, married, or married with kids. And then there are the 1/4 who are like you-single (or maybe casually dating), exploring the world, and clearly not willing to settle down yet. Since I have yet to have that-"can't eat, can't sleep, can't breathe" relationship, I often wonder if I am "behind" in my life. I've had several conversations in the past couple weeks with people who remind me that I really should be looking for someone in the near future, but never to put a "time-limit" on yourself either.

As I posted on my Facebook today, "People keep saying that love is in every corner……gosh! maybe i’m moving in circles." It just seems strange to me that so many people have to comment on my lack of a relationship. It really wouldn't bother me so much-if they stopped commenting! For example, my grandma called me a couple days ago. She says that she's really excited I am going on a cruise ship, that I'm so lucky and blessed and it's going to provide me great memories for the future, blah blah. (okay, it was really nice to hear but for the sake of the story, I don't need to type everything she said) Then I comment that I stumbled across a future co-worker's blog. (I was googling for what to bring on a cruise ship) "He has some really great pictures of the ship," I said. "Oh, I am so happy to hear you say 'he'. Is he cute? Think you'll like him?" Really, Grandma? She is always on the case about boys, her and my mother.

So anyway, the purpose of this update was because I came across something interesting today while "cleaning" my room. (I'm really getting rid of stuff, and "destroying" my room since it's all being put into boxes for storage) When my friends and I were in middle school, we had a teacher who asked us to design a board game much like the game of life. We were to put where we planned to be for "The Next 15 or More Years of My Life". The funny thing is that I really haven't followed much of that plan. Let's see…

"Start"

"Pass eighth grade and go to high school" *completed! ha ha*

"Pass my freshman year with good grades too" *completed, honor roll*

"Pass tenth grade" *really, these "plans" where easy, ha ha

"Begin applying for scholarships and pass my Junior year *FAIL! I did pass my Junior year, stop gasping, I just didn't apply for scholarships…I didn't really qualify for many

"Began applying at colleges and checking them out" *Well, I did this backwards. I should have put my "plan" up on my wall! Instead, I applied to 9 colleges, got into all of them, and then decided maybe I should visit a few in person instead of looking at them online…Fail!

"Big Moment! Important event: Graduate from High School." (I guess I assumed I passed Senior year to graduate High School. ha ha I was a smart kid!)

"Get accepted to a college" (9 colleges is pretty good, right?)

"Go to college for four years and work at a bookstore in free time." *FAIL! I did go to college for four years, and I even held 4 jobs at once, but none of them included working in a bookstore… (Timber-lee, computer lab, Resident Assistant, Sports Information Photographer, Royal Purple Photographer, Registrar's Office, internship, etc. Hmmm…I think I did pretty good anyway!)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Graduate from college!" (This is really funny. I spelled "collage" so I got points taken off. ha ha, I spelled High School right, but failed college apparently)

"Work at a bookstore and write books in free time." (I was really into this idea of working at a bookstore. I never even considered that in high school or college. I did work at a library this past year, does that count?)

"Meet someone and begin to date him." (I've dated some people, but I don't think they are this "someone" due to the next thing on the list. Also, this is the first time I mention dating someone, so I guess my 8th grade self decided I'd fall in love with the first person I dated. ha ha! What a joke!)

"He proposes and I accept." (did he see this and know that was the next step for him to take? lol)

"Begin to plan for wedding, set a date, decide where to live, etc…" (well…yeah, not there yet, that's for sure)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Get Married" (aw, this is cute, I made a little "Just Married" sign under it.)

"Continue to write books, while husband works." (apparently my husband is the "big bread winner" as my writing books doesn't make money? Well, don't worry, this is probably not going to happen, although I would still like to write a book one day…)

"Find out that I'm "pageant". Continue to write books." (another spelling error; well that's to be expected, I am one of the worst spellers; I wonder if I was writing this books while my belly is huge)

"Pick a room to put baby in. Paint it and buy all the stuff we'll need." (little 8th grade self, very smart idea…)

"Have a baby shower." (am I throwing this or is someone else? It'd probably be more fun is someone threw it for me…)

"Think of names for the baby." (I was really into the name "Dawn" when I was kid. I'm sure this was at the top of my list.)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Baby is born!" (I never mention if it's a girl or a boy. Sad.)

"Pick a name for the baby." (I thought we did this earlier? Maybe we didn't know the sex of the baby, so we picked it after it was born.)

"Take care of baby. Write books at night." (I'm still into writing those books. How many have I written at this point? Do I just write them or do they actually get published?)

"Baby's First Birthday" (why isn't this a "Big Moment!"?)

"Big Moment! Book is Published and Sells." (well, that answers several questions. My book is more important than baby, sorry baby, and apparently none of the other books were published or sold. Sad.)

"Find out that I'm 'pageant' again." (really couldn't spell that word! ha ha. And apparently, I was really busy! Geez, two kids so quickly after each other?)

"Began to plan to take care of new baby. Watch other child." (wow, that's harsh. I'm so excited about the new baby, that's it now the "other child")

"Another book is published." (is this an old one or one I was at some point working on?)

"Think of names for new baby." (I guess naming this child was really on my mind)

"Big Moment! Important Event! Baby is Born!" (now I have two kids…and after that, I stopped writing about my life. So if that was 15 years from when I finished eighth grade, I would be…28!)

So I guess that means that I am a little "ahead" of my 8th grade self's mind…and a little behind. I have dated more than my eighth grade self planned…but I'm not married as soon as my 8th grade self imagined. (apparently, that should have come right after college ended…well, technically, I did graduate only a year ago…) It's just really funny to see what we think is going to happen when we are young…and what really happens.

I hope you enjoyed reading what I think are funny comments about my silly 8th grade self. As for my earlier thoughts on dating life, well, it's more funny than anything else. My little 8th grade self was very into being married and that I should be married soon after finishing college. However, now that I've grown up, that just isn't the biggest goal right now. While most of the people in my age range are following my 8th grade plans, I've learned that I need to do some more exploring before I settle down. I want to travel! I want to see more things, meet new and interesting people! There is so much more to life than just getting married! Not that there is anything wrong with that, but sometimes it bothers me that people like to mention how I'm not married, all the time.

They often say to me: "Don't worry there are lots of fish in the sea" as though I'm upset about it. I often haven't even mentioned it at all! I have to remember that they feel sorry for me. However, they don't really need to because I am going to sea, and I'm sure there will be lots of men there. And not having a boyfriend, I can flirt with whoever I want, and it's going to be awesome! :)