JCCC3 – the “monkeys who are just going to show up and see what happens” thread
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Fact: You will miss something. It is a given. You will be playing a game, having an AMAZING time trouncing your opponents and you will miss that impromptu thing that happened on the pool deck that was planned the night before and was put on the board (they look like this) that morning and you haven’t gotten around to looking at it yet.
This happens. This does not make you a loser. If you feel like a loser, well, then, we can’t help you. 🙂 But that’s how things go. You can’t write a schedule for everything that is going to happen. Some of it won’t be planned until Feb 12th while we’re on board. Did you know that net access is insanely expensive? Yeah. That.All you can do is make a decision to X or Z and go with it. I missed things last time because I chose to be a helper monkey and I totally dig on helping people. Though, there always seemed to be something just as cool an hour later. You can be sure of that.I guess what I’m saying is that you can’t plan your whole week. You’ll go bonkers or run out of energy and there’s no room for serendipitous discovery, like the time I played Dixit in the game room and found that I love the game. I couldn’t have planned that.Yes, but there’s twitarr, and there are all sorts of things that are being planned in advance. Why wouldn’t we try and organize that? I understand it’s not how you seem to like to do things, but some of us tend to the more compulsive side.
Most people on the trip it feels like will be traveling in groups of 2 or more, and that makes it daunting for the people traveling on our lonesome. We’re not sure whether those people running off to do something fun, is it just for their friends (which is fine) or would they mind a straggler (which is great)? It’s hard to ask those people as the single, and having been part of the group before, it’s awkward and hard to say no, even when you maybe really did want it to be something more quiet.
Cruise ships are huge. If I wanted to make sure I work out every day, yeah, I can do it by myself. But it might be fun to know that if I wake up 1 hour earlier, I can do it as a group with other sea monkeys. That’s what this is about. I’ve been at large scale events before when I was with friends and it’s really hard to communicate and coordinate, and this is huge and a lot of people who won’t actually know each other.
This isn’t about having a set schedule for people to check off, it’s about people knowing where to look, knowing what is out there, having options to set things up ahead of time if they want. Serendipitous discovery is great. But it sucks to be wandering around, feeling like you know no one, everyone seems to know what is going on besides you. It’s not about missing stuff because you’re doing other things and having fun. It’s about trying to prevent people from feeling left out and retreating to their rooms because they are not sure how to get involved.
All I’m planning is the excursions because last year I waited too long and ended up on standby, biting my nails and hoping not to be left out when my husband tried scuba diving. I’m signing up now so I can avoid that stress this time around! Everything else, though, I’m going to take as it comes. I’ll wander through the game room to check the boards in the morning and then see where I might want to be later. I’ve got some clothes, and nobody is going to care one whit whether my shoes don’t quite match my dress or if I wear the same thing twice. Doing my best to be more Zen this time so I can better enjoy the company of wonderful people.
Where to look, having options, on the boat? Master command, aka 24-hour game room, aka sea monkey central. Everything is posted there. And, it is nearly always occupied with Sea Monkeys. That room has everything!
Yay for Zen, @Antijen!
I think the Speed Meetings should help folks find others with similar interests and facilitate some spontaneous coordinating… hmm, that sounds kind of strange…
Might be worth keeping in mind that the people who post on the forums and FB are a small fraction of the ones going — maybe 10%? 20% at most? They are, for sure, the vast majority of the _organizers_ of things (I think),
but lots and lots goes on even outside of what you might read about online.I find the dynamic quite interesting. On the one hand it is easy to be lost in the hoard of SeaMonkeys many of whom will be doing all sorts of impromptu things of which you’ll learn nothing — perhaps not even after the fact. On the other hand, though sometimes shy themselves, and thus not taking the initiative to engage with others, it is one of the most friendly groups I’ve ever experienced.The official entertainment and meals take up an extensive amount of time. The unofficial, but still organized activities take up more than the rest (there are often multiple things occurring simultaneously, and the unofficial and off-the-kuff events, well, are pretty much only findable by happenstance. I got lucky a time or two, but I know tons occurred that I wasn’t around for.This is a firehose!Sometimes memorable things happen when you’re just looking around — last year I saw flying fish for the first time, jumping out of the ship’s bow wave and gliding for a few seconds. Cool!
I’m a highly reluctant vacation planner, and a hyperactive toddler when it comes to lining up for things, and I approve this message.
I think the main point is, if you’re the kind of person who loves to plan your vacation down to quantum levels, there is so much to do you can plan everything, and if you’re the kind of person who hates planning your vacation day, there is so much to do you can plan nothing.Well said @mikesphar !
“I think the main point is, if you’re the kind of person who loves to plan your vacation down to quantum levels, there is so much to do you can plan everything, and if you’re the kind of person who hates planning your vacation day, there is so much to do you can plan nothing.”
LIKEHmmm. If you planned your vacation down to the quantum level, everything would be possible and you wouldn’t know what would happen until you observed it and collapsed the wave function. 😉
@BrettGlass YES this is why I like planning. Everything is possible! 😉
If you’ve got 13 minutes to spare, here are some of my happiest unplanned memories from the first cruise. 🙂 #VerandahConcert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8QkngNz5FA
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