Hubris, indeed

It is probably not at all surprising that the majority of my stories from Jococruise Crazy 2 begin with "I was a little tipsy when..." For the purposes of this blog post, they will also end with "That is why I love Paul F. Tompkins forever."

[This photo from Paul F. Tompkins' set from Simalot's photostream]

I was a little tipsy when I saw Paul F. Tompkins signing the back of a badge on the very first night of the cruise. I charged up to him, told him I loved the Tompkast (it's my favorite) and was so glad he was able to come on the cruise.

Despite Jonathan Coulton's excellent advice that you should always begin your conversation with celebrities by introducing yourself, I never remember to do this. I suppose it's a bit rude, but in my mind my name is so irrelevant to the conversation that it never occurs to me. When I finished gushing to Paul F. Tompkins, he asked me my name and shook my hand. Of all the performers on the cruise for the last two years, he is the only one to volunteer either of these things. That is why I love Paul F. Tompkins forever.

[Kill 'em with kindness indeed! Video from Cernoise's video stream]

I was a little tipsy again when I saw Paul F. Tompkins at the formal night. He was in a tuxedo and I was carrying an unopened bottle of wine in one hand and my beer in the other. My default move when I see a performer but have nothing to say is to give a polite smile and wave.

Don't do a polite wave when you have two hands full of alcohol. I choose to wave with the hand holding the wine bottle. The wine bottle chose death over dishonor and dropped to the floor.

In case you're wondering about the thickness of the carpets on HAL cruise lines, I can tell you they're not thick enough to keep a wine bottle dropped from 4 feet from shattering.

God love him, when I threw a bottle of wine at the impeccably dressed Paul F. Tompkins the first words out of his mouth were "Oh my gosh are you OK?"

That is why I love Paul F. Tompkins forever.

And you should too.

Blogs away

[This photo from Joseph.Boss' Photostream is irrelevant to the rest of the post, but I love it.]

Here's a quick post on some of the cool things other people are posting about the cruise, in case you missed it.

"Met all kinds of people and we… we mucked everyone. Sluice box muckin’, that is."

Taylor and I are lucky enough to live in the same city as Natalie, who used her talent for photography AND drawing on the boat:

http://www.thefuzzyslug.com/2012/02/in-which-i-was-on-a-boat-mostly/

"I feel that it makes me classy, and you guys are plebs"

On our quest to meet seamonkeys before we even landed in Florida, Taylor and I bumped into Brian, Bill, and John in the Atlanta airport. Turns out they have a regular podcast reviewing exotic sodas, and this episode (and the next yet-to-be-released episode) feature a few of the performers (small hint, it's the performer who is obligated, by law, to appear on every podcast recorded). Check it out:

http://andbetter.org/?p=211

"Please check back often as I have many many favorites."

Atom Moore took some of the most beautiful photos on the last cruise and was christened King of the Beardalos and official photographer for this cruise. He has some astonishing photos already and is steadily filling his Flickr page. Keep an eye on his website for more.

http://atommoore.com/?p=561

"Yeah, it totally doesn't suck"

And finally, Wil Wheaton has gone a bit bananas with updates. Blog posts since the cruise ended. Here's the first:

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2012/02/the-boat-is-still-moving-even-though-i-am-not-on-it-but-there-was-music-when-i-was-on-the-boat.html

Now leaving cruising altitude

I have to admit I'm having some trouble mustering the same level of enthusiasm for JCCC2 as I did post JCCC1. I know a lot of people feel like this:

[Video from Blue of Hello the Future, who never forgets to be awesome.]

But to be honest, I was ready to go home after this cruise. I was TIRED.

I realized the day after I landed back in PDX that this wasn't really the second Joco cruise. For me, this was the end of the first Joco cruise.

Because I felt so empowered by the first cruise--like it had changed everything. I could make new friends and do creative projects and rub elbows with my heroes.

But this cruise was exhausting. I met so many people. I saw so much creativity. I finally got to babble to Paul F. Tompkins. And then I came home.

And you know what I miss most? The friends I made that first trip. And I missed my friends from home too.

There are a lot of people compiling pictures, video, and memories of their own, so I want to point out the places I'll be lurking for more detailed posts:

The Flickr Group

The AV club compilation of videos

The Jonathan Coulton Forums

But now, for a little while at least, I'm going to have some little days.

[Video from Scott Barkan (aka guitarist for Marian Call). He played a set on the cruise, and this song really stuck with me. Buy his album if you'd like.]

Nostalgia in brief: Day 5

One year ago today...

We explored Grand Cayman, legally smoked Cuban cigars, and invaded the Northern Lights disco.

And we all found out about John Roderick. At the show I shouted out that "Honest" was my favorite Long Winters song. It's not my favorite anymore.

Here's a fun moment from that night. Taylor swears that if you listen EXTREMELY closely, you can hear our friend Annie shout out "What the f*ck" right after the line "Work it like a new boy should."

Or maybe it's just my imagination.

Nostalgia in brief: Day 4

One year ago today...

Most of us discovered how much we hate Jamaica.

These three items, thrust upon us as we left the incredibly pushy waterfall tour, serve as living reminders of how bad a time we had.

Although I've heard some people enjoyed a bit of the local flora.

Nostalgia in brief: Day 3

One year ago today...

Tracy became Famous Tracy and John Hodgman challenged her to a high-seas duel by Scrabble, which he won.

How many of us have taken up Scrabble as a hobby since that night? Bingo!

Nostalgia in brief: Day 2

One year ago today...

We got bored after an hour on the beautiful Caribbean beach but had a ball all afternoon indoors playing games with more new friends (and yummy free cookies).

That night we had a new Monarch of the Seas, and we all celebrated with mustaches.

Do you still have yours? I foolishly folded mine in half and lost it.

Nostalgia in brief: Day 1

One year ago today...

I worked up the nerve to ask two strangers to play a game of Fluxx before we got on a cruise ship. Six hours later we were all getting WAY too drunk off of mojitos and champagne in the crow's nest. This is the most drunk I've been in years, to the point where it was difficult to connect fork to food at dinner.

Who knew making friends was so easy?

Counting down to JCCC2? Check out this site. See you soon!