Today we spent doing things I kind of didn’t want to do. First we did a little bus tour around Seattle, which wasn’t awful but it wasn’t a lot of fun for me either. I don’t know, maybe I was just in a weird mood. I even skipped the walk down to the locks…I just stayed at the top of the hill and played with my Sidekick.

After that, and lunch, we went to the waterfront and boarded a ferry to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. I honestly was not impressed. My opinion was probably colored by the fact that the main dish was salmon, and I basically had a couple of veggies and a piece of bread for dinner. But honestly…the whole thing was just really hokey. It was a little Native American performance with dancing - I think I might have fallen asleep though. I am pretty sure I did on the ferry ride back at least!

Getting off the ship in Seattle was reasonably painless. In fact, they were early, and we weren’t finished eating breakfast but they were trying to hustle us off the ship! We basically just walked right off - with one more trip past the hand sanitizers, I’m not sure why they care if you’re leaving! - and headed straight into the terminal. The customs officer didn’t even glance at my passport, and we went to collect our luggage and catch a cab to the hotel.

I really loved our hotel as soon as I saw it, it was called the Moore Hotel. Unfortunately we there much too early to check in - we got there around 10:00 and check-in was firm at 3:00! So my mom went to walk around, I went geocaching, and A just stayed in the hotel lobby to read. When I was done geocaching, I went back to the hotel and found A there, and we went to Pike’s Place Market to get something to eat. I had really fabulous Thai food at a little hole in the wall called Jasmine Thai - it was so great!

We went back to the hotel and found that our room was ready. We had been told that it was just an L-shaped room with no divisions, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was in fact a door. We’d already been promised to be moved to a different room (also with two separate rooms) for the next two nights that was cheaper, so we stuck with that plan even though the room we were in turned out to be fine.

I am back at the Seattle airport, behind security; my flight leaves in about two and a half hours. I have spotted several RSVP passengers; a few have Oosterdam tags on their carry-ons, a few have the ugly olive messenger bags we were all given (I have mine too), and a few - well, let’s just say the gaydar meter is off the scale. I am waiting another few minutes until the Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurant starts serving lunch, and then I will buy a vegetarian burrito to have for lunch on the plane. I already got a giant Diet Coke from Wendy’s because the tiny cup of coffee I had at breakfast (which was at 7am; it’s now 10am) was not enough. After I have acquired my burrito I will start making my way over to the south satellite terminal, which involves a short people mover ride.

Here I am aboard the Oosterdam. (It’s “oh” like “toast.”) It is far too late for me - 11:30pm, and I think I’m still jet-lagged. I think I will just tell everything in chronological order. Oh, except first I will mention that I forgot a timepiece other than my Sidekick, dammit. I suspect they have them in the shops so I will get one when they open in the morning.

So the morning did not go well when it started with the car being 30 minutes late and then getting us lost - what kind of professional driver doesn’t know which streets will be one-way? We finally made it to Port 30 (where the Diamond Princess was also docked) and fortunately managed to get priority boarding. We couldn’t access our rooms yet so we got drinks, I had a Long Island Iced Tea. We met a few of the deaf people, one of whom I recognized; I think I saw him around at the NTC a few months back. I went to inquire at the front desk about emergency pagers for the terps, while my two co-terps went to meet the stage manager. Their mission was successful; mine resulted in a promise of a voicemail. Eventually I did succeed in getting just one pager, so we are going to take turns with it. Unfortunately I had to put my name down for the $75 security deposit!

Our bags arrived in our room shortly before 5pm; mine were actually there before J’s. (She’s my roommate and the other female interpreter, the male terp is M.) I forgot to write about the muster drill, it was fine except that the crew kept insisting we were on the wrong side. We waved most of them off, but one tried to challenge me so I assured him we were in the right place; if I’d been more snarky I’d have added a “dammit bitch” on there. On the way back from the drill I tried to figure out where I knew another deaf person from; turns out I recognize him from the leather events I’ve interpreted in DC.

The bon voyage party was okay, I guess. The three of us were together and when the two of them lit up cigarettes I said I was going to get a soda. I waited until I figured they were done smoking, but when I went back they were gone. So I hung out alone for a bit, and I picked up an inflatable pink flamingo drink holder and a really awesome inflatable pink poodle! I made plans with a couple of deaf people to meet them at dinner and I went to get dressed nicely. J showed up when I was almost ready, so I waited while she got ready and we went together; I found the deaf people and we ate with them. My appetizer was off the main menu, it was a tiny fruit salad. I finally got a vegetarian menu brought to me and I ordered tofu stroganoff which turned out to be delightful! I had a vanilla ice cream cup for dessert with cut-up mango on it. Afterward I wandered back toward the main auditorium for the show. On the way I checked my Sidekick for the time and found two e-mails from my mom! I didn’t realize I had a signal at all. (Oh, I did get to talk to A - fortunately I had a signal when she called to return my voicemail! I wanted to talk to her forever, I miss her terribly.) I had time, so I answered my mom’s emails before going to the main auditorium.

I wanted to be first to interpret but the huge auditorium freaked me out and I did a rotten job! (It doesn’t help that the host talks incredibly fast.) Fortunately afterward I chatted with the two deaf women, one of whom was my ASL teacher at Gallaudet, and I’d met the other one once there too! They’re very cute together. We found a bar and lounge and got drinks; this time I had an apple martini. Afterward we came back to the room and I waited around while J got ready to go party. And now I’m ready for bed.

Quick note on William Rehnquist - it’s too bad he wasn’t the one who retired a few months back, because now they have to figure out someone else. Okay, bed now!

Even on the Sidekick, one is not safe from crashes! As I was typing a post, A called, and when I hung up the SK reset. I’m typing into an email now so it will at least sync with the server periodically.

I’m in Seattle! When I first typed this I was sitting in a mini-park between a tattoo parlor called Under the Needle and a music shop called Rock Memories. Now I’ve walked past the Space Needle and Seattle Center (where The Donnas are playing) and I’m perched on a ledge within sight of the restaurant where I’m meeting friends.

The flight from Minneapolis to Seattle was unremarkable; I ended up spending the $3 on a snack box because it was cheaper than buying snacks individually somewhere. The baggage carousel was broken so we had to wait a while for our luggage; I chatted with a deaf couple who told me it would be $30 for a cab to my hotel! (It ended up being $40, but I’m probably a big tipper. I forgot to get a receipt though, hopefully that’ll be okay.)

Things I have noticed here:

• When the deaf couple asked where I was from, it took me a moment after saying “Washington” to realize that I had to specify DC!
• I am not accustomed to seeing so many Washington state license plates; they turn up occasionally at home but mostly we have east coast state plates around.
• The mountains here sure are big! While we were at cruising altitude the mountains all looked like little puckers of land, but as we descended (at about 3000ft) they were huge! I see what A means now by “you people on the East Coast don’t know what mountains are really like.”
• I think there were other things I’d been saving up to tell about, but I’ve forgotten so they’ll have to wait till later.

I forgot to bring a little bottle with rum for making mixed drinks in the room, so I bought a 24oz bottle of Mike’s Hard Cranberry Lemonade at a 7-11. Hey, something’s better than nothing…the onboard drink prices are sky-high!

I think that’s it for now…I’m going to head closer to the restaurant to meet my friends.