We've Seen The World...Kind Of

Kristen and I are back from our cruise and there is so much to talk about... First things first... For those who are wondering if The Streak is alive after my first dip into the Cruise Industry, and the possibilities of sea sickness, the results are in and The Streak persevered. Last month, The Streak had it's Sweet Sixteen party. There was a cake involved. But it wasn't one of those Sweet Sixteen parties you see on MTV where the Dad throws a $500,000 party for his daughter and all of her friends, and P Diddy shows up and presents her with a Lamborghini, blah blah blah. No this was a modest party. A self reflective, look in the mirror, "Brian, good job, you haven't yacked in 16 years...how about we go another 16?" Head nod, exit bathroom, and we move forward. The Cruise didn't get me down. And for the foreseeable future, the skies look clear, and it looks like we will have a smooth ride. And, if we back up a little further, I'd like to take a minute to talk about something on the way down to the port. I was driving and my buddy Wiedy was texting me. Since I don't text and drive, Kristen took the digits and started pounding away. Yet, she didn't say it was her. Here is what transpired... Allegdly Me, Really Kristen: "So, what's the prom situation at the Ebersol House...do you know?" (something I would never ask, but since she's a girl, girls have to exhume feelings out of EVERYTHING!!!) Wiedy: "Jake The Mistake" Me (again NOT ME!!): "NO!!!!!! Oh gosh...bad news!!!" (who talks like this?) I could go on and on, but let's just say the words "bummer", "awww" and "Yay!!!" were used. This should be a crime. It's identity theft. Spousal textal identify theft. When your spouse takes your phone, texts your buddies as yourself, because you are pre-occupied like driving, eating, or in the shower, and doesn't tell them. It's s-t-i-t. This should not be allowed. Us, men need to take a stand and say no more. What's next? They take the remote away from us to watch... Oh, this gets me going to a whole different level. If we go back even further, I'm going to discuss what a typical Monday night is at the Bachman household. Do you know Kristen has the tv viewership habits of a 15 year old girl? Monday night is littered with "Make it or Break it" (an ABC Family show about teenage girls vying for a spot on the Olympic gymnastics team, Kristen has been watching the show the entire time, SOMEHOW the show is in it's third season, she gets so EXCITED every time they renew), followed by "Gossip Girl" (I don't even know how to describe this show other than to say it's just for teenage girls, and some guy who talks in a whisper and girls think it's sexy), followed by "Smash" (a show about young 20 something girls going for the lead in a Broadway show, yet one girl is sleeping with the director and she's a hoebag, and it looks like she's regretting it, and I really need to re-evaulate my life at this point). I had the unfortunate incident of watching these shows with her one Monday. That will be the last Monday. When she started her third show, I said, "Enough, I'm going to bed. I can't take this anymore." Did nothing to her. She kept watching. I don't know if she's regressing, but if she is, then I get to watch WWE again. I went when I was little. I should get that back. And watch three hours of it. In the TV Room. Every Monday! YEAH! (Don't think that's going to happen) Back to the cruise, my first cruise. We were gone seven days. And here's a recap... There is a lot of food on a cruise ship. I mean a LOT! Countless, anytime you want it, hamburgers and french fries, alcoholic drinks, ice cream, pizza. And that's just the stuff on the side. The main stuff is the buffets all the time. We were eating at 11pm. Why??? Because you could!!! Of course, the waist line suffered for me. But, when will I get a chance to eat that much? I ate probably a dozen slices of pizza, hamburg, couple pounds of fries, only a couple scoops of ice cream, roast beef, rice, Caesar salad, soup, crackers, paella, vegetables, bread, fried peanut butter sandwiches, fried zucchini, and about forty other dishes. I'm not kidding. There wasn't a time I wasn't hungry. I was either full or half full. When my tank went half, I loaded up again. Wanted to make sure my engine kept running. My brother would have loved it. He is competing with my buddy Tim as the "Guy Who Could Eat Anything If It Was Put In Front Of Him, It Wasn't Nailed Down, And It Didn't Include Dairy" (for my dairy allergic friend Tim). If you put Cornish Hen in front of either of these guys, they would eat a pound of it, before they even asked what it was. They would say, "Hey, it looks like Chicken, let's go!!!" It's how they roll. Moving on from the food, we stopped in the Bahamas, then down to St. Maarten for a trip on a Nude-y Beach, then to St. Thomas for some snorkeling, followed up with a stop on Turks and Caicos, and then, oh yeah, I mentioned a Nude-y Beach. Yep, never thought I would do it, but I didn't know anyone. Why not? When in Rome? No, that doesn't mean eat pizza Kevin, settle down, it means you strip down when they strip down. It felt liberating. No worries about "Oh my God, what will that person think of me?", because we were some of the youngest people on the nude beach. Why? Old people like to lose their clothes in public. Seventy five percent of the people were AARP card members, but they didn't have a place to hold their cards. Apparently, all those years working in an office, suited up, resulted in them spending their vacations at a nude resort. The weirdest experience??? Waiting in line with a bunch of old, nude people, them telling each other how great it feels to be nude, how weird it is to see each other in clothes at dinner time, and when they hug each other, nude. I definitely would not go that far. And, we brought home a souvenir...Kristen buying a tank top that says, "Happiness in life is no tan lines." It's her favorite shirt now. All in all, a great cruise. We're happy to be back with our puppies. We missed them tremendously. And we're happy to be back to wearing clothes full time. At least one of us is.