Holiday Info (finally) ~ Enrollment

Ok, let's get the ball rolling again - since Gavin & Kate fell off the face of the Earth (together?).  Oh well, I guess they just like to slack off when I'm not around to keep them in line.  Anyway, enough of that.

About the holiday now... yea about that...  I kinda forgot to upload all the photos to my computer and stuff...  so all your gonna get today words.  Many many words.

Ok.  Lemme enter a Buddha-like state and achieve Nirvana within a Zen-like memory to take me back...

We woke up pretty late actually, since we were setting off at 2.  Which was awesome.  Since all the holidays before have included 'waking-up-bloody-earlier-the-first-day' formula as standard.  We set off.  Nothing went wrong, nothing to note about.  Then we got there.  Oh boy, here's where the waiting starts.

We actually arrived a whole hour before everyone else (since we were going in a 20-strong troupe).  So for an hour we sat on relatively hard seats twiddling our thumbs... well, others were.  I was playing my DS.

And we also came across a interesting find...

We came across a larger than normal box of tic tacs.  Actually, all the boxes in the vending machine were large.  It was at least 2 times larger than a normal box of tic tacs.  Obviously, I needed one.  I'm sure we took a picture but I can't find it.  And I'm also sure we got rid of the box (albeit accidentally) aboard the ship.  Sorry again, no pictures.

The ship was meh.  It wasn't as good as the Mediterranean cruise we went on last year.  But it was alright.

The first night was relatively normal.  But somehow we ended up playing Uno in the cabin.  I have no idea how we got to that stage; somehow just happened to buy a deck of Uno cards and we ended up playing till 3.  Not to mention, the deck of Uno cards cost £4.99!  Sheesh, talk about pricey.

Anyway, we decked in Amsterdam the following morning.  And, rather reluctantly, I was woken up at 6 AM!  OMFG!  As you can tell by bolded statement I was not very happy.  But I was forced to get up so we could go eat breakfast (which was free btw, so was dinner).  Damn you person who invented the early breakfast.  But it was a buffet restaurant which made things all better.

We actually landed in Rotterdam (with it's big Europort and stuff) so we had to take a (double-decker) coach/bus thing to Amsterdam.  And that took 2 HOURS.  Yes, two frickin hours.  Last time I checked Holland wasn't that big, maybe the driver was slow or something.  Because it did take 2 hours.  Damn you time!  You travel way to slow sometimes - and, not to mention, way to fast sometimes.

In Amsterdam we found out that everything costs ALOT more than it would in the UK.  Great.  After aimlessly walking around for about 10/20 minutes we finally found our guides who will be taking us around Amsterdam.  Turns out that we walked the long way round to the place and they were looking down the short route.  We browsed round for a bit and then went for lunch.  On this thing...

Frickin sweet...

Oh and did I mention we were eating for FREE.  And that we were getting EXTRA LARGE PORTIONS.

We got the special treatment because it turns out that one of our guides was the owner.  Sweet.  After gorging ourselves on giant plates of meat and a various assortment of food - we decided to check out the bar.  We came across a fairly friendly barman.  Who taught us some Dutch.  Apparently Hello is: Haden.  Or something, I wasn't seriously listening.

Then we went to walk in CHINATOWN.  We went all the way to Holland, only to walk through CHINATOWN.  Yes, the Chinatown that could probably be found in London, or maybe even Manchester & Birmingham (and they'd be in English too).  The idea sounded crazy to me.  But they took no heed, and seeing as I had no f***ing idea where I was at the time, I had to follow.  In the first shop we came across LARGE vegetable.  There were a few watermelon (a box full) that were larger than my head.  And a marrow at the window proved to be two/three times lager than my head.

After wandering pell-mell we wandered into the Red-Light District.  Now, if any of you have not been in one or haven't had any experience with this than here's the Wiki article: Red Light District.

Here's the first sentence:

A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution and other businesses in the sex industry flourish.

Pretty much sums it right up.  You've also got to keep in mind that our troupe contained small children.  Youch.  Must of scared than for life.  And we didn't know we wandered into it, since we were ahead of the main group.  We was just walking along a normal street than we came face-to-face (not literally) with this:

Obviously, it was daytime then.  But you get the picture.

I'm not saying it was bad for me - well, actually it was.  Because of one crucial factor:  They all looked beastly.  And I mean fat and stuff.  Damn.

I think there was only one reasonably looking one there.

We also came across a SM shop, which we dare not venture into in case we got pulled into a horrible SM bondage session.  I shivered at the thought.  I physically shivered.

We finally walked out of the district (after seeing quite a lot of T&A) and our crazy journey through a place called Amsterdam was coming to a close.

We then split from the main group and proceeded to look around.  And oh yea, in pretty much every shop there was at least one thing reminiscent of a rather private part of the male's anatomy.  This was in the red light district and outside the district.  I guess Dutch people are more open to the idea of sex.  We also came across many shops that sold what they marketed as: 'Crack' and 'Pot'  they also came in candy form for little children.

...

Yea.  That was totally true.  In one case I saw a small kid pick one up walk over to the counter and buy it.  And he got away scot-free.  It was probably fake but you'd think that they wouldn't market it so openly, and also having it in so many shops!

There was really only one thing that catched my eye on our little escapade through the capital of Holland.  Swords.  We entered a shop that sold chess boards & pieces and various assortment of novelty things.  Boring.  Then I happened to come across a wall full of swords.  They were behind glass so I couldn't physically touch one.  I could buy one of them and I was so tempted.  Tempted to the point that not being able to get onto the ship wasn't a problem to me.  I'd swim across the English channel with my trusty sword if that was the only way back home.  There were also shruikens and ninja blade things and everything.  I gawked for some time.  Until I was dragged away with protests at me to stop me buying it.  It was only until that my cousin said her dad (my dad's oldest brother; he's a Kung Fu Master) had many swords.  And that she considered getting rid of some...

That was the one-two sucker punch.  She didn't say she'd give me one, just that she thought of getting rid of some.  Dammit.

We got back onto the ship (after another two-hour ride).  And after sleeping on the coach again.

Back on the ship I fell onto my bed and fell asleep.  My feet were hurting like crazy.  Just put it this way:  A portal to hell opened up (in Amsterdam or wherever) and I managed to stick my feet into it - and they were obviously singed and horrendously burnt by the fiery depths of hell and stuff.  Now take out the equation that hell fire can't be put out and all the burning and stuff.  And you have the pain I endured while I lay there totally exhausted from our trip.

Oddly enough we didn't play Uno all night long and just went to sleep.  Sounds sane for once.

But the night before we left I decided to check out the sun deck - it was night by then.  Oh yea.  It was kinda blustery that night and nearing bone-chillingly cold, due to the wind.  Er... I went in shorts and a T-shirt.

We got back and things were good.  We got back to the terminal (that contained the large tic tac boxes) and parted ways with the rest of our little troupe.  We trudged on home.

The end.

Oh and I also got a cold from going out on the sun deck at night, in not-warm-enough clothing.

Too bad the holiday was short.  I could've done with a longer one.  But here I am.  Carrying on with the monotonous drone of everyday life.  Occasionally breaking that monotony with blogging...

---

Today I had enrollment day for college.  As did many people.

I saw a lot of familiar faces there which I will not attempt to name all of them...

Ok, maybe I will.

Nope, only joking.

I entered the theatre (the room was called that, I wasn't, I repeat, wasn't, attending a school of drama and dancing) and I saw Lewis, Kris and company.  Filling out there pre-enrollment forms.  Noobs.  Lewis didn't even have a pen.

Having already filled mine before I went on holiday I laughed in there faces (after talking to them obviously) and made my way to a table with a vacancy.  The woman went over some stuff and sent me to the sports hall.  But before going, I saw a very unexpected person.  Chun.  That was his name.  He already went to university and got his degree.  Yet now... he was enrolling for college.

Maybe time travels backwards for him.  I remember thinking.  After numerous mental arguments again I decided it was not the case.

I'm not sure what he was doing, but it was definitely enrolling for some course.

But anyway, I entered the sports hall.  And it was brimming with people.  Older people giving advice to younger people.  Younger people not giving a s*** at what they're actually saying but pretend to listen anyway.

I made my way to the appropriate tables.  And before long I found myself sat at a table listening to a woman drone on... and on... and on... and on... and on...

You get the idea.  What seemed like eternity for me spent in hell, seemed to be haven for her.  She enjoyed torturing me, I guess.  Mentally, I mean.  Before you get any ideas.

When she finished, I nodded - in a feeble attempt to show I was listening.  And she asked: 'Would you like me to repeat all that?'

In that instance I almost nodded again to show I was listening.  But some intellectual gears clicked, after gathering dust during the holidays, and I kindly replied 'No... thanks.'  And moved my way swiftly to the next table.

At that point I saw Kate standing beside the door.  Doing one of her poses again - even though no one was taking a picture this time.  I gave a quick "hello" gesture - that I'm unsure that she even saw and I was on my way.

The next table had two people on.  It lead to more talking.  And more talking.  But eventually all the necessary paperwork was done and I headed to the final table.  The dude there was Indian.  And I couldn't understand him.  Not that I didn't know English.  And not that he didn't no English.  It was just that he spoke really quietly and the hall was bustling with noise.  I had to get him to repeat numerous things so I could actually hear him.

Additionally, after glancing (and mentally drooling over) my grades he tried to convert me to doing Science.  Yep, he was a Science teacher all right.

Eventually he told me some stuff, which I forgot now.  All I know is that I got back on the 7th for Introductory day for first-years.  I'm sort of dreading that due to the fact that it shortens my holiday to an extent.  And 10th is the official day that college starts.  Apparently I'm getting my timetable on the 7th and stuff.  But I'm sure he said: '...hopefully you'll have your timetable by the end of the introductory day...'  HOPEFULLY?!  What's that suppose to me.  It's like saying to someone who needs a heart transplant: 'Hey, you're going to die tomorrow.  Hopefully we'll have a spare heart by then.'

Anyway, I got home and fell asleep (again) because I was so rudely woken up this morning for a dentist appointment.

---

Woah, today's post is pretty long.  But I still have the story to do.  And like Gavin said before it'd be good to get some feedback on this.  Seriously.  Although I recall the last time I asked for comments.  Didn't work.

I hate you.

Feedback on that.

Oh and Gavin.  Loved the space invaders reference.  LOL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the radar blipped like crazy (at least I think it was the radar, it basically was but it was holographic showing a 3D plane of the area) showing an uncountable amount of red dots.  I tightened my grip on the turret controls.

I felt a single bead of sweat flow slowly down from my forehead, to my left temple.  To my left cheek.  To my chin.  Then fell off.  I made no attempt in wiping it off since I had to start blasting when I have a visual.  And according to Bob, the f***ers in the fleet have some pretty bad-ass, fast ships.  This isn't going to turn out well.

I ran through the scenario in my head and our ship happened to be destroyed everytime.  That's not good.

I shouted down the radio piece to Bob: 'Hey!  Don't you have like a masking device or hyperdrive or something.  Something that'll get us out of this situation.'

From the speaker I got this response: 'Sorry mate.  We don't.  We're currently traveling as fast as we possibly can.  If we weren't they'd have catched up yonks ago.  But they will catch-up, that's guaranteed.'

Well those were reassuring words.

I was about to respond back to the message but I noticed something in the distance.  It was undoubtedly a Strogl ship.  It looked smaller than the ships that dropped off the Strogl that we saw not long ago.  Probably a fighter class ship.

I only managed to utter the following words before I started firing.  'They're coming.'

I immediately pressed the button that said: 'LONG-RANGE'

The main gun in front of me molded into a gun with a longer barrel and two more larger, shorter barrels appeared to the side.

I zoom wheel also appeared on the control panel.  I zoomed as close as I could.  It zoomed a helluva lot.  The screen indicated it was a '100x' zoom, and that wasn't the closest zoom it had.  But it was enough.

I could see the ship clearly now, and many others.  The smaller, faster, fighter-type class of ships seemed to have strafed ahead.  Leaving the main fleet of ships behind.  If we manage to take out most (maybe all) of the fighters than the fleet will be crippled.  We'll be able to get away since the main ships will probably be slower.

I aimed for the closest one and fired.  It hit it dead on and with awesome effects.  The long barrel served as a sniper rifle.  And the other two were homing missiles.  They barreled ahead and took out two more ships.  About two seconds after I took my shot Gavin & Gimely also did the same thing.  I could see the wave of 50 odd ships spread out into a looser formation.  Making them harder to hit.  Some also activated what looked like green shields, but in doing so their speed dropped. Due to that, the group split.  Leaving about 30 carrying on at the same pace.  And 20 going a bit slower with the shields.

That was risky for them.  But I guess it follows the: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" rule.  It meant that we had less to deal with at one time, but it also meant that the second group would be harder to take out.  Due to their shields.

In the next few instances the three of us managed to take out about 6 more ships together.  They had grown wearing of our shots and flew in a way that almost looked like they were out of control, they also released some sort of reflective material to divert the missiles away from them.

Their relentless pace continued.  When they were near enough to get a shot fired they did.  They all took about one shot - I think one or two hit but were quickly repaired by the on-ship nano system.  Then they split and came around in a pincer movement.  545 declared: 'Evasive action executed.'  And the ship immediately did a 180 and came the other way.  It caught the ships off-guard but they were able to catch back up.

'Bob!  Not this way.  We'll collide into the wave of ships that have shields up!  And eventually the main fleet.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There it is.

And remember.  Feedback, please.