Eastern Caribbean Cruise - Sea Day (01/31/25)

 

We finally got moving time to go to the main dining room for breakfast.  This is often a miracle, given how RQS likes to sleep late (and I have little reason to interrupt this).  However, we will need to get up very early for us when Sunday comes, as we will need to be out of the cabin before 7:30 am.

But first....

Sea days on a cruise can be very relaxing.  However, on this ship, there are absolutely no places where one can relax in a place designed to be quiet at all times outside of one's cabin.  The design of this ship almost forces one to spend money, as there is no library or card room in which to escape the racket in the common areas.  For example, we got out of a show around 10:15 pm, and the ship was holding a loud dance party in the atrium/galleria - a place in which we'd need to walk through on our way back to our cabin.   

Today, we got up early enough to get breakfast in the main dining room.  Unfortunately, so did so many other people.  To make it worse, the 8 am crowd didn't make it on line until 9 am, as many forgot to set their clocks backward the night before.  So, we ended up being part of an overflow crowd which was treated to far from spectacular service for breakfast.  RQS complained (not at me, but venting with me) that they didn't pay much attention to her multiple requests for water until I raised the issue.  In short, it was another one of those "Ignore the woman, Pay attention to the man" moments that most women find bothersome.  At least, we were able to avoid the buffet for another day.

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Dinner tonight would be another chance to get dressed up for dinner.  I will make sure that RQS and I get to a couple of photo stations before entering the dining room.  This way, we would be able to get at least one nice picture of the two of us to frame. And this we did, getting several sets of pictures from different photographers.  To make things better, we met our friends from the first 2 nights; dinners, and exchanged phone numbers.  So we'll be able to meet up with them the next time we're near DC.

Boxing Day - Game night with RQS

 

It was the day after Christmas. And all through the house, every creature was stirring. Yes, even my mouse. (Computer mouse, that is.)  After a busy Christmas day, the last thing we wanted to do was get moving early in the day.

I got out of bed around 9:30 am, and started feeling a little nauseous. By the time 10 am came along, I was ready to throw up, and made my way to the sink to do just that.  As much as this sounds like I was getting sick, I feel that I was reacting to a surplus of sugar in my system from the cookies I ate late the night before.  No matter what the cause was, I avoided eating anything until 2 pm.  And then, I only ate some dry toast to deal with the lack of food in my stomach.

Around 4:00, we started to nuke some food in the microwave.  I heated up a frozen meal without problems.  But when RQS started to heat up her food, the microwave made some weird noises and shut off.  She then ended up warming up her food on the stove.  Something had to be wrong with the circuitry in the microwave, as it would keep beeping if we closed the door.  So we left the door open, and made it a point to buy a new microwave before the day was out.

At 5 pm, we left for the appliance store to get a new microwave.  We got there a little after 6 pm, and were ignored for more than 15 minutes until I got the sales manager himself to ring up the sale.  At least, we got a staff member to haul the new microwave to the car - it's nice to play the "little old lady" card.  They wouldn't have helped a man bring the microwave unit to his car....

We stopped for a fast food dinner, and then went to game night.  It was nice to have RQS with me while we played our game.  Although I had played the game once before, I let the host explain the game to RQS. But she wasn't getting the hang of the game due to its  operational complexity.  Yet, we both had fun, and look forward to the next game night.

Drag Queen Bingo!

 

It's been a long time since I've been to a meetup with this group, so I decided to attend a gathering at a bar where Drag Queen Bingo was going on.  I guess I'm confident enough in my presentation that I wouldn't been seen as anything but a lady (albeit transgender) when in the presence of a man exaggerating feminine mannerisms and styles.

Drag is an art.  And, as such, should be protected by the US Constitution.  Unfortunately, anything that is "Gender Variant" is being attacked in GOP states.  Attacking transgenders is easy for them to consider, as many of us simply wish to be left alone to live our lives and do not yet have the critical mass of defenders to repel these attacks.

Many transgender children are at risk because of laws being passed in the GOP states.  Their religious leaders are preaching messages of hatred, giving their parishioners permission to unleash their hatred at these defenseless children.  Many parents are both taking these children to other states for gender related treatment, and are moving their families so that their children will not become victims of the cultural war.

As much as I would have liked to visit my cisgender female friends from Texas in their home town, I could not assume I could safely take the risk.  Texas has passed a law requiring that people wear "gender appropriate" clothing - and as a pre-op/non-op transgender person, I could get into serious trouble.  So, we're meeting up in Chicago instead.

But back to Drag Queen Bingo....

In a way, it takes balls for a man to go on stage and present as a female.  The art of drag has been with us for ages, and is quite entertaining because it pokes fun at gender roles.  It subverts those roles while allowing us to examine what is real, and what is not.  As such, it is fun to watch when it is done well.  

In the long term, I will try to defend those drag queens - especially when they are reading stories to children at the local library.  Children are not afraid or offended of what drag queens are.  Why should the rest of us be so?