116 Umak, Kuril Islands, Russia
122 Diana working the fashion show.
Sept 30 - At Sea. For those of you who’ve seen this acronym before please excuse a little digression. I’m reinstituting the “BNOTD” (Bad News of the Day) protocol because today we got the first installment of BNOTD. Those of you who are dedicated Weather Channel watchers already know that a typhoon, Jelawat, has been heading north towards Japan. Unfortunately it is due to arrive in Kushiro at the same time that we are. It’s expected to create dangerous conditions for being in port so we are not stopping tomorrow and will have another day at sea instead, our ninth in a row. It will not, however, be a 25-hour day.
The seas are calm and the weather is warming so we are in good shape on the ship. Hakodate is in the southwestern part of Hokkaido so we will sail between the 2 of the Kuril Islands (Russia) into the Sea of Okhorsk and then through the La Perouse Strait into the Sea of Japan. This will put the Kurils and Hokkaido between us and the typhoon probably saving us from a bumpy day tomorrow, we’ll see. It’s too bad that we won’t be stopping in Kushiro. It’s the least touristy city we’ll be seeing in Japan and I was looking forward to using my restaurant Japanese on the locals to see how many I could get to laugh.
The entertainer tonight, Dale Kristien, is billed as the ‘star’ of the Phantom of the Opera so I’m going to see Men in Black III. As I said, I’m not much of a fan of Andy Webber mainly because his stuff is done to death on the ships. I am a little concerned because most movie franchises are about done by the time they make III. Beverly Hills Cop III and Lethal Weapon III, for example. However there are notable exceptions to that rule, Star Wars and Harry Potter come to mind, as well as ‘The Girl’ trilogy (Dragon Tattoo, Fire and Hornet’s Nest, all good. Actually great for the most part.) I don’t really have high expectations for MIB III but it should be entertaining.
Diana was a model in the ship’s shop fashion show this afternoon. The fitted her up with about $50,000 worth of diamonds. It was fun and the guests enjoyed it, I think mainly for the free Champagne.
European Union Note: I don’t give a rat’s patootie about the EU’s rule on product appellations, but ok to use Champagne in this case because the stuff was actually produced in the proper region of France. The first time I encountered this issue was in Spain. A Spanish vintner was explaining why in Spain the bubbly is called Cava. The French filed a complaint with the EU because Spain was calling their sparkling wine champagne. Of course the EU court being about as misguided and harebrained as our Supreme Court often is, ruled in France’s favor and the Spanish had to find a new name for the product. Since the wine is stored in caves as it’s maturing they registered the name ‘Cava’, which is cave in Spanish. I wonder what the Polynesians are going to call the fermented ceremonial drink they refer to as Kava. Maybe the C to K will be enough or maybe, in a fit of good judgment, the Polynesians will tell the EU to talk to someone who cares about their rulings.
For some reason I’m very hungry this afternoon and looking forward to dinner.
MIB III was entertaining. Not bad for the third installment of an aging franchise.
Well it had to happen, a night without turning the clocks back an hour. I’m not sure I can survive a 24-hour day. How will I fit everything in?
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