August section

From email dated: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 13:11:46 -0800 (PST)

subject: Long Version of Debbie's catchup!

. August 31, 2004

Okay, so this is the letter that I owe everybody. I bargained with Ross, who wondered why he hadn't received a 60 page email from me lately, and yet has never written a letter to me, I passed the message that if I got a letter from him, then I'd work my butt off and get one of my emails to everyone. So here it is. Though Ross has not written back!

Let's see. I want to write a long letter, but I've promised everyone that I would try and keep the letters to the audience at large, shorter. ShortER being the key word. I'm going to write a long letter with everything first, and then I am going to cut. and cut and cut.

First of all, movements. I am currently on the Crystal Serenity, the third, and newest ship in the fleet. We are travelling the Mediterranean right now, Italy (gelato!), French Riviera (yachts), and next cruise I think ends in Istanbul (Shopping :)). The official schedule isn't out yet, but I am supposed to be here until the end of October. I get off the ship in Barcelona, and a couple of days later I'll pick up the Crystal Harmony in Florida. The Harmony will do the Carribbean and Panama Canal, and I'll stay there until either March or April. By then the Harmony will have reached Asia, so I'll probably spend the bulk of my vacation in China. I'll probably stop off in California before I return to the Harmony again, because I have asked to do the Alaska season out of San Francisco. That's my schedule until next summer. :)

Speaking of Alaska, I want to schedule a big gathering of my family and friends sometime on the Harmony for next summer. It's currently being planned for August 10-22. It'll be a twelve day cruise, from San Francisco to San Francisco. I'll make more thoughts when I find out when -my- dates are.

To discuss, 1. a "group" leader. 2. prices. 2a. 6-month discount. 2b. children under 12. 2c. refund discounts closer to the dates. 3. All the same cruises, except for entertainment.

(Note from November... actually all of those questions have been answered. I may send out more details later on.)

So, my excuses for not writing: 1. Laziness. 2. Pile Up Yahoo computer Game. 3. Heavenly sword and dragon saber saga. 4.

Also in regards to letter writing, I'm trying to reply to everybody's email, without doing the "erase the whole slate" option, where I tell everyone that if I haven't written then I give up and don't expect anything. :) Ideally, I'll clean the slate by actually -replying- to everyone. But then, the tricky thing is: I don't want to -send- out the replies that I have already written. I am sitting on about twenty emails, ready to go for maybe a month now, however, I am not sending them until I have finished all of my replies. Because if I sent them, and those people responded, I'll probably respond to them rather than finish the other replies. Out of sight out of mind.

So what, if anything, can I tell you that is new and interesting in my life? I'm ensconced in ship life, I've actually stayed on the ship most days. I'm attempting to accomplish things, read Good books, I was doing some Tai Chi, and I went to the gym three times this contract. I am also trying to organize my photos from the Road Trip. That's a project-- I've picked out the best 50 photos or so-- (I only took 3,500 photos in two months)

Travelling through Monaco and Portofino reminds me about the yacht that I'm dreaming about. My high school reunion has been scheduled for October 7th, or 9th, whichever one is the Saturday, I assume, but I won't be making it unfortunately.