Cruise!

For Christmas vacation, my family and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas.

It started out pretty rough. About half an hour before we were supposed to leave to catch our flight, the airlines called to tell us that the flight was canceled. Luckily, there was another one leaving at Reagan at the same time.

We met my sister in Newark, but again, luck was on our side. The train to the airport and baggage lines delayed her a bit, but the flight was also delayed so everything worked out.
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The cruise itself was pretty awesome. The rooms were bigger than we expected and the ship was basically a giant, moving city. They had all sorts of activities, like ping-pong, shuffleboard, air hocket, foosball, basketball, a casino (I won 2nd in the poker tournament!), a gym, parties/shows in the evening, live music throughout the ship, etc.

The best part was probably the food. They had both formal sit-down and buffet restaurants. Since it's a pre-paid amount for the entire cruise, we didn't have to worry about paying at each meal. We definitely took advantage of this and ate several times a day. It was kind of a weird feeling not having to pay a bill at each meal and just leaving after we were done.

They also had nightly shows, including a comedian, a Broadway-esque revue, and the sort of show one might find in an amusement park. Other than the comedian, the show weren't all that great, but they were a nice way to end the days.

We were supposed to visit 2 islands, but the weather prevented us from visiting the second one (which was owned by the cruise company!). I would say that Nassau isn't even worth one full day, but we were stuck there for 2...

On the way back, we had a day in Miami. We were all pretty exhausted since we left early that morning and had walked around all day at the Vizcaya house. We all napped for a couple of hours and then headed to South Beach for dinner.

I've only been to Miami twice and both times we went to South Beach after sunset.
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I'm definitely a convert when it comes to cruise ships. I expected tiny rooms, a bunch of old people, and to be bored for much of it. None of that was true. Although it seems like we didn't do a whole lot, I was never bored. It was relaxing and yet there were still enough activities to keep the days interesting.

I'd go again.

NYC!

I went to NYC this weekend for my sister's birthday dinner, and I had a great time.

It might seem like an odd reason to go all the way up there, but there were a lot of other people going that I hadn't seen in awhile, and I didn't have any other plans in town, so I went.

The bus ride itself was uneventful, although I will say that having electrical outlets at each seat and a driver that speaks English are both major pluses. They also took out rows of seats, so there was a lot of leg room. Highly recommended - (http://www.boltbus.com)

I had to switch trains when I got into the city, and as luck would have it, my train was closed for maintenance. There was another (hot) girl who also needed to take the same train, and I think she may have motioned towards me while we were leaving the station. I'm not sure though, because that would be really weird since we had literally just met and there was no reason for it.

I was actually surprised by the number of people that came up to me while I was waiting for the bus in DC to ask me questions about another bus. There were lots of other people waiting and I've never thought of myself as looking all that approachable.
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The dinner party on Saturday was pretty fun. My sister's two friends from Austin who are now also in New York were both there and it was fun to catch up with them. One of her high school friends was there too and it was amusing to hear what he's doing now. We went to a cool bar afterwards (she had reserved a minibar which had empty bottles along all the walls as the decor - my new iphone wallpaper!).

It's always interesting to meet "significant others" to see what characteristics people you know look for in their mates, and of course, to do your own analysis of whether the looks/personalities match up the way you would want.

I didn't have much time today, but I hung out with my cousin for most of it. We played a little bit of DDR at his place (he's going to a DDR-inspired off-off-Broadway play tonight), then brunch and then Grand Central (where they had a big Christmas fair). I had an enlightening conversation with him over brunch, and saw a side of him that I hadn't seen before.
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All in all, a really fun weekend and hopefully some good pics to come...

Britney's back!

In case you missed it, Britney released her latest CD - Circus - this week.

As with all her CDs, it took me a few listens to really like it. All in all, I think it's more rounded than Blackout and displays her talents better.

I find it highly amusing that she can spell out a curse word in one song, but then two songs later, the actual word is bleeped out. But maybe that's just on the basic CD?

Here's the video for the title track:

Circus

Hard to say the girl's not in shape:

Brit's Bod is Back