The Celtic Thunder Cruise 2013 - Day 7

(No pictures for this one. Sorry!

November 7^th, 2013
Home

Well, I’m back.

Today has been stressful, and not without its problems, but it has also been wonderful, in a bittersweet sort of way.

I was awakened by Mom. I was very tired, so I mostly just wanted to go back to bed. But then, almost as if she wanted to catch my attention (and she probably did), she said, “I saw the dancers out on deck when I went to get something to drink.”

Yeah, I sat up attentively then. :P Sneaky Mom. She immediately told me not to go pester them, and then started telling me the plans for the day—when we had to leave, how big of a breakfast we should eat, etc.

I told her I was going to go out on deck and get some hot chocolate one last time before helping her finish packing. She told me again not to pester the dancers, and I rolled my eyes, telling her I wasn’t planning on it.

When I walked out into the hall, I happened to glance over my shoulder just in time to see one of the dancers enter a room at the end of the hall. I think that it was their room; that was interesting to find out.

Anyway, I went and got my hot chocolate, sipping it while I walked back across the deck towards my room. The dancers were gone, but I didn’t really mind—I promise, the reason I had gone out really was to get the hot chocolate! :P

Later on, after packing up for the final time (and me eating a breakfast consisting of leftover croissants from previous breakfasts), I followed my brother and mom out to the deck so that they could get breakfast.

I wasn’t hungry, and my brother was in a very grouchy mood. So I told Mom that I was going to wander around the deck so I could get away from him. She again told me to stop looking for the dancers. I had to tell her I wasn’t. :P

I re-tied my shoelaces, and then remembered something I wanted to do—say goodbye to Soulman. I went over to Mom and told her I wanted to go to the casino again to make sure I hadn’t left anything there last night. Somehow, I just figured she wouldn’t let me go if I told her I wanted to say goodbye to him. XP I do plan on telling her why I really went down there; though, in my defense, I did want to make sure I hadn’t left anything too.

I made my way down, figuring I would have to write a note and give it to someone else; after all, I had only seen Soulman around in the evenings, and it was morning now.

To my surprise, though, he was around—but he was sitting down talking to someone on the phone. I furtively walked past, and after a few minutes of searching for paper, just walked up to one of the employees and asked if they knew where I could find some paper to write a note with.

She couldn’t find any, but after much searching, she finally found someone who could give me some spare paper, and then gave me a pen. I thanked them both, and then went to scrawl out the note.

It was a short note, basically just thanking him for being so friendly and for the fun time at the karaoke sessions. I also said again that he had a very good voice. XD Then I went to find him, intending to just hand him the note and then run back up to my room.

But by that time, he was off the phone. I handed it to him with a shy smile, explaining that I had just planned on leaving it for him, because he was busy and I didn’t want to waste his time. I stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to finish reading it.

Then he looked up with a smile and said, “Aw... thank you.” I smiled back, and said ‘you’re welcome’.

A second later, he placed the paper down and offered a hug. I was all too happy to oblige and hugged him back. Then he said, “I’m going to miss you.”

I was absolutely stunned in a touched sort of way, and thanked him, saying I would miss him too. He told me to take care of myself; I told him to do the same. Then I waved one last time and ran for my room.

Mom had a bone to pick with me when I got back. :P I had taken too long, and she was angry that I had almost made us late. I didn’t say anything; I just listened, hoping she would stop soon. And she did.

Anyway, then we got ready to go. After about a half-hour, we were disembarking the ship. The security guard checking our passes on the way out was none other than Sassy. It was nice to see him again before leaving, even though I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye.

I wanted to take the stairs, because I hate both elevators and escalators... but the woman working there told me I was not allowed to take the stairs. I opted for the elevator, and stood to wait in line for it to come back.

When my turn came, I was stuck in a tight fit with two men, two women, and lots of luggage. Finally, I got down and ran to catch up with Mom. We made our way through the large building, outside, and to the place where the shuttle was waiting to pick us and other passengers up.

We had to wait in the shuttle for almost a half-hour; there were more passengers slowwwwly making their way towards us.

That was when Mom realized that we had more than likely forgotten my hat. She didn’t remember packing it, and the last I had seen of it, it was hanging on a hook by the bathroom door in our stateroom on the ship.

So we argued in quiet voices about that for a while. She accused me of forgetting it because I was going ‘crazy over boys’, which wasn’t true in the slightest—I forgot it because she had told me so many times in the beginning of the trip to stop wearing the hat, I had put it on my bed and forgotten about it by accident.

She finally dropped the subject, and I turned my MP3 player on so I could sit there and enter my dreamworld; and basically just ignore the chattering people slowly filling the bus up.

Finally, we left. We drove for about another half-hour before reaching the airport terminal where we needed to get off. Mom hurried in; she wanted to call Dad before he went to work, because she had attempted to get us an earlier flight back, and if she still had those earlier flights, he would need to know the change.

When we entered the airport, we were told by the man at the check-in desk that we had to pay $50 apiece to switch planes—whereas the woman on the phone that Mom had talked to had said it was free. Mom refused, and so we had to sit in the airport and wait for five hours for our plane.

There was, thankfully, free WiFi, which is where I spent most of my time. I figured out how to rotate videos, and did so to the video my mom took of me dancing. She had wanted to get a full view, so she had tilted the camera sideways. :P Luckily, I could rotate it so only the first few seconds were upside down.

Our plane arrived at about 1:30pm, and we boarded. Then... not much happened. I watched videos on my laptop for a bit, then listened to music on my MP3 player until we reached Atlanta. XD It was only a two-hour flight.

Then we were stuck in Atlanta for nearly three hours waiting for our next flight. :P I tried to charge my laptop, but since it’s old, sometimes it doesn’t work—and it just had to do it this time. The plug will be plugged in, but it won’t charge. As a matter of fact, it’s doing it again now...

Anyway, I sat next to this woman and worked on a journal entry or skimmed through videos I had filmed on the trip until Mom told us it was time to get up and walk around before we had to sit in a plane for four hours (that’s what she thought though; we ended up flying for over six hours).

When we finally got to our aisle on the plane, I realized something very scary—my seat was apart from hers, and, as it turns out, Larry’s as well. My seat was 24B; on the left side of a man who had already sat down.

Mom argued with me for a few minutes, trying to tell me I was wrong before looking at the tickets herself and realizing I was right. She said, “Wait, so... that’s 24B?” She looked at the seat next to the guy.

The man spoke up and said that it was. Mom looked at me and asked where I was going to put my luggage (I had one lunch bag and one larger case). I said I had thought I was going to put it under my seat (that’s what she had told me to do earlier).

At the same time as she told me it didn’t look like it would fit, the man spoke up and said, “Mm... I don’t think it’s gonna fit, sweetheart.”

The knot of nerves in my stomach untangled a bit as the pet name ‘sweetheart’ reminded me of a few friends of mine and calmed me down. Mom helped me get my laptop out of the bag, and then the man stood up and let me pass him to sit down in the seat beside him.

I glanced at the seat near the window, the last seat in our three-seat aisle. I got a little anxious, worrying about whose seat it might end up being.

A few minutes later, a man with short red hair, younger than the one already next to me, stopped and told us that the seat on my left side was his.

The nerves came back as I stood up along with Jeff (I found out that was the first man’s name) to let Micah (the new guy) come through and sit in his seat. Jeff was very nice and helped put Micah’s luggage up in the overhead compartment before sitting down again.

At first, I sat very stiffly with my laptop in my lap, trying not to jostle either of them. I have a tendency to fidget or accidentally lose balance and knock into people. As a result of staying stock-still and tense, my muscles started to ache. :P

But then I figured I should try to strike up conversation—after all, I’d be sitting here for hours and I couldn’t just stare straight ahead as still as possible. I glanced to my right and noticed that Jeff was reading something on his Kindle; it was a Bible. Then he switched books to one that sounded, from what I could see of it, like a how-to book on writing.

So I gathered up my courage and asked, “So, are you a writer?” He looked quizzically at me, and I nodded at the book open on his Kindle screen.

He realized what I meant and said that he wasn’t, not really, though he liked to write. We talked about writing for a while, and favorite writers; he showed me on his computer a Kindle book that he had self-published. I told him about the books I have on Amazon, and he later on used the internet to check Of Whispers and Wanderings out.

We talked about homeschooling for a while, and what I was doing in school. He told me about a website—www.visionforum.com. He showed that to me later on as well.

I found out that he is married and has two daughters, the youngest being fifteen. We then talked about churches for a while; sometime after this, we fell silent and he started to read.

I didn’t want to waste battery on my MP3 player (it hadn’t charged completely, and I had no idea how much battery it had left), and my laptop only had about ten minutes worth of power left, so I just sort of sat there and drifted off into my dreamworld.

After a while, I turned my MP3 player on and listened to music. I kept drifting into that weird world between worlds, where you’re not awake but you’re not quite asleep yet either. At some point, Jeff and I had to get up to let Micah out to go get something.

I was half-asleep when Micah returned, and so he had to tap me on the arm to rouse me. I apologized about twice, and hurried to get out of the way so that he could squeeze through the very narrow aisle and into his seat.

We returned to our places yet again, and I continued listening to music. At some point, Jeff said something to me. I had to pause my MP3 player and ask him to repeat himself. I don’t think he ever did; he just said, “Oh, sorry. What are you listening to?” I said I wasn’t really listening to anything important, I was just half-asleep.

He showed me the visionforum.com website, showing me a few of the products they sell (they’re basically a Christian version of Amazon) before going back to reading his emails. I went back to staring into space, dozing off and waking up again.

At some point... I fell asleep again. I woke up a little while later and realized I was very close to Jeff’s shoulder, almost like I had been about to fall asleep on top of him. :P I apologized and said something like, “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t fall asleep on top of you earlier and make you mess up what you were working on.” (He was doing some work on his laptop.) He smiled and said I hadn’t.

Later on, I fell asleep once again. And when I woke up, my head was resting on Micah’s shoulder.

I sat bolt upright, feeling my face go warm. I was about to apologize, before I realized he seemed to be asleep. I didn’t want to wake him, so decided to wait until later to apologize.

I got on my laptop for the seven minutes I could before it died. :P I watched one video, and wrote about three sentences of a journal entry. Then I had to shut it off. I sat there for a while longer, staring into space and listening to music.

Then I leaned forward and rested my head on the back of my mom’s seat (she was sitting in front of me) in an attempt to get more comfortable. I failed, and when I sat back again, Jeff asked, “You alright?” I smiled a bit and said I was fine; just very tired.

He told me I could move my seat back, but I shook my head, saying my brother was behind me and he would get annoyed if I did that, because he has long legs that would get cramped if I put the seat back. Jeff joked, “Well, it’s just your brother.” I giggled, but didn’t put the seat back.

Mom reached back and gave me a chocolate chip granola bar, since I was hungry. She had asked me if I wanted one, and I said yes, telling her I didn’t feel so good and it might make me feel better (my stomach was all achey, and my eyelids were heavy because I was so tired).

The stewardess came by a bit later and asked us three (Jeff, Micah, and I) if we wanted water. Just me and Micah said yes, and she gave us small plastic cups of ice water.

Jeff asked if he could borrow mine, adding quickly, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to drink it.” I laughed and said he could; I had already noticed the case for his contact lenses out on the fold-out table, and assumed he needed a bit of water to clean the lenses. Sure enough, he carefully poured a tiny amount of water into the plastic case, and handed the cup back to me, saying ‘thanks’. I said ‘you’re welcome’.

By this time, we were about four hours into the flight, with two hours more to go. I listened to more music again, drifting off every so often before being woken up.

I fell asleep yet again... and woke up at some point. I was still half-asleep, and had forgotten where I was. I knew I was asleep on someone’s shoulder, but I was still in my dreamworld and since falling asleep on people’s shoulders is a common occurance in my dreamworld, I thought nothing of it. I vaguely remember feeling the person whose shoulder I was resting on shift, murmur something, and then chuckle quietly. My guess is that Jeff woke up (he had fallen asleep, I think), noticed I was there, and then laughed a bit. :P

I drifted off again a few minutes later, completely oblivious. The next thing I know, someone has their arm around my shoulder and is shaking me awake, saying quietly, “Come on, time to wake up.” (See, the plane was beginning to descend; that doesn’t mean landing though, it still didn’t land for another good hour. :P)

I blinked drowsily, sat up... and realized I was in a plane, and had just been sleeping with my head resting on Jeff’s shoulder. I mentally facepalmed and apologized, mortified. He smiled and said it was perfectly fine.

For the remainder of the flight, I managed to stay awake, although I was yawning quite a lot. Micah was awake now and watching out the window.

Mom came down the small corridor that ran through the center of all the aisles. She was walking around; if she sits still for too long, her legs go numb and she has to move around. She asked me if I wanted something else to eat, and I shook my head, blinking. She asked if I was okay, and I nodded, mumbling, “Just tired.”

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. Right before we landed, I retrieved a napkin the stewardess had given me, and asked Mom for a pen. She took one from her purse and handed it back to me.

When I finally got up the courage to talk, I did—I asked Jeff if he could give me the URL to his blog so I could look it up. Just then, the plane landed and it got loud, so I couldn’t hear him. I handed him the napkin and the pen, asking him if he could please write it. He kindly obliged, also giving me the URL to his daughter’s blog.

Then the plane stopped. We had to wait a little longer before unbuckling our seatbelts, so Jeff took the time to go to his daughter’s blog and show it to me. It’s an art blog; she is a very talented artist.

He put it away and started packing his stuff up. Then he stood in the aisle to help nearby people retrieve their bags.

I glanced over at Micah, smiled a bit, and offered my hand, saying it had been nice to meet him. He smiled back, shook my hand, and said it had been nice to meet me too. I apologized for falling asleep on his shoulder earlier, and he laughed quietly and said it hadn’t been a problem.

Me being me, having spent six hours next to these two guys on a small plane... had made me get a little bit attached already. :P Not in a strange way; anyone who knows me well knows I start liking people very easily, and if I’m with someone for six hours straight, even if I just met them... I begin to feel like I’ve known them for much longer, and consider them friends.

So that was tough. :P I wanted to hug Micah, but I didn’t know how he would react. Since Jeff has two daughters, I figured his reaction would probably not be too extreme. So, just before he left the plane, I gave him a hug and said it had been nice meeting him. He set one of his bags down so he could return my hug, saying, “Aww, thanks. It was nice meeting you too. And hey—I’m gonna buy your book.”

I giggled, smiled, thanked him, and waved as he left the plane. Then I retrieved my luggage, and followed Mom and Larry outside.

I have never been so happy to feel the cold Washington air. Yes, I had fun, but, as a song that Colm Keegan likes to sing goes... “I’ve had my run/Baby, I’m done/I gotta go home.”

I was happy to be back home. As we made our way through the terminals towards the exit, we passed by Jeff. I didn’t say anything; he had places to be, and so did I. My mom, brother, and I ran outside, searched frantically for our car, and spotted it.

As I climbed in and settled down with my Matthew West CD, Into The Light, I felt... strange. Like, yes, it had come full circle... but something was missing. (And no, I don’t mean my hat, though yes, that is missing as well. :P)

I was doing the same exact thing I had a week ago—sitting in a car while my dad drives us through the dark, listening to the same songs, wearing the same things... and yet...

(Added note: If you don’t want to hear a lot of ramblings about my thoughts and emotions, I suggest you stop reading here. :P)

Well, when I left home, I was terrified. At the hotel, panicking and crying, I was certain that I was going to have a positively horrible time and regretted ever having planned this trip. Several of you had to witness my self-dislike episodes at that time, while I talked to you through free WiFi.

But as I rode in the car towards home, I realized I wouldn’t change anything that happened for the world.

Despite my worries, despite my fears, my homesickness, my doubtfulness... I had a lot of fun. I made unlikely friends with people of all sorts. And I learned things I didn’t know before.

First, I’m going to list all of the people I met, and all the countries and states they’re from. The ones I consider myself friends with will be in italics. Ready? Here we go.

Olaotse – South Africa
Cindy – South Africa
Cara – United Kingdom
Adriana – Mexico
Ciaran – Ireland
Keith – Ireland
Colm K. – Ireland
Samuel – Jamaica
Sakda – Thailand
Ryan – Ireland
George – Scotland
Aoife – Ireland
Tadhg – Ireland
Colm P. – Ireland
Conal – Philadelphia, U.S.A.
James – Ireland
Áine – Ireland
Rachel – Ireland
Soulman – Philippines
Kris – California, U.S.A.
Lauren – Washington, U.S.A.
Hayley-Jo – Ireland
Belinda – Ireland
Sammi – Philadelphia, U.S.A.
Damian – Colorado, U.S.A.
Jeff – Washington, U.S.A.

And those are only the ones whose names I knew—there was another man from Ireland, whom I considered a friend by the end of the cruise, but didn’t catch his name. There was a woman from Maine, who wasn’t quite a friend but whom I talked to for quite a while. There was the waitress, Ida, from the dining room—I never found out where she lived, but considered her a friend. There was another waiter whose name and homeplace I never caught but considered a friend...

Then there was Micah, who I don’t quite consider a friend, but I did meet him—as far as I know, he lives in Washington as well. There was also Kyle, the sweet boy with Down Syndrome, whom I also consider a friend, even though I don’t know where he lives.

Do you see what I mean? I met people from all walks of life, and my mom talked to people from Australia and Canada too. I forged friendships that lasted too short a time for my liking, but that I will always remember.

I did things on this trip I never thought I would ever do.

Think about it. I danced not once but twice with a guy from across the ocean. I actively approached people and struck up conversations with them. Some things were as simple as being even more polite than usual, and striking up conversations with employees rather than avoiding them, head down, as I usually do in stores; trying to be as friendly to the ship’s employees as possible, and helping them out as much as I could. Other things were as complicated as singing karaoke. I sang karaoke—me, the kid who hates her own voice!

I flew across the United States, boarded a moving ship for the first time in my life, visited islands that are technically part of other countries, talked to someone only to find out they homeschooled their girls and was a Christian who liked to write... things I’ve never done before.

I learned things too.

I learned to take chances, that the benefits will most likely be better than whatever problems arise—if I had stayed my shy self, I would have missed out on autographs, friendships, dancing, videos, photographs...

I learned that people aren’t always what they seem. Quiet people or solemn people might end up being the friendliest (as was the case with Jeff), and friendly people might end up being a little less than how you imagined them (as was the case with Sammi).

I learned that it’s very hard to sing and dance. XD

But I also learned that dancing is easier when your partner is extremely talented at it. *grins*

I learned that not everyone is going to make fun of me if I fail at things I try—no one laughed or teased when I danced, or when I sang karaoke. They may have realized I wasn’t any good, but they didn’t mind, because we were all having fun.

I learned that I can withstand exhaustion easier than I thought. You’re looking at someone who probably got about seven hours of sleep total during the first four days of the trip, and only about five hours a night after that. XD

I also learned that it is quite possible to love many people, and be homesick for more than one place at once.

I’m also learning that it is quite possible to be happy and sad at the same time—particularly when you’re happy to be back with your family again, but also sad because you’re missing people you might never see again.

All in all... it was a wonderful trip, and I’m glad to be home, but I also miss the friends I made.

My emotions are still all in knots, but I know I’ll figure out in the end. For now, I have to get back into the rhythm of typical life; schoolwork, chores, normalcy, and all.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip, and seeing the photos and videos. :) Leave comments and tell me what you think, or ask questions; I’d love to chat!

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

The Celtic Thunder Cruise 2013 - Day 6

November 6^th, 2013

At Sea

Today has been stressful but so. much. fun.

We didn’t do much during the day but eat, watch TV, and wander around. The fun really started at around 2pm.

I went to one of the lounges to watch the musicians do a show. I opted out when I saw George Donaldson out in the hall; I went to talk to him instead. We chatted for a few minutes, and then he had to go. We were going the same way for a while, until two women stopped him. Then I lost sight of him.

Eventually, I went back out onto the Lido Deck. There was Irish dancing going on with the dance team. I watched that, and when Colm Keegan, one of the singers, got up on stage... well, a lightbulb went off and I told Mom I was going to go and stand close to the stage so I could possibly stop him when he left and ask (in a polite, respectful way; not throwing myself at him like everyone else, :P) for a picture.

I got tired of holding my laptop along with the camera though, so I decided to drop it off back at the room. On my way there, who should I see standing by the door of the lobby but Ryan.

I waved and said ‘hi’, and he said ‘hi’ back. I asked him timidly if he would mind taking a photo with me, and he said that was fine.

Looking around, I spotted a young guy standing a few feet away and asked him if he could take a photo of me and Ryan. He agreed—but couldn’t figure out how to use the camera. He had it on videorecording. I showed him how to change it, and then he took a picture.

I was delighted; Ryan had given me a one-arm hug, and I’d gotten a photo with him. I thanked both of them, and practically skipped away to the room. I went in, put my laptop down, and excitedly showed my mom the photo. (Her only response was to bemoan what a bad picture it was and complain about the cameraman’s skills. *rolls eyes*)

Me and Ryan Kelly. ^_^

Then I trotted back out onto the deck to take up my position next to the stage, so that when Colm left, I could ask him for a photograph.

Ryan was up on stage dancing when I went back, along with Belinda Murphy, another dancer, and two lucky women who had been chosen to dance with Ryan and Colm. I watched, and got a few minutes of video of Ryan dancing with none other than Colm. XD

Then Colm and Ryan left the stage. I had been prepared, and was standing next to the steps they had to use to get down. I asked Colm if he would mind taking a photo with me, and he was very sweet and said he didn’t mind. I handed the camera off to someone... and they still couldn’t figure out how to use it and stop videorecording.

I fixed it, apologizing several times to Colm, who shrugged it off with a smile. Then I got my photo, thanked him and the photographer, and left. And then a bunch of people who had been on their way over swamped him and Ryan. More of those women who have lots of money and have met all the singers before. :P

Me and Colm Keegan. :D

I stood closer to the main part of the deck, where Ciaran (the handsomest dancer, I must say. *pokes Everly and giggles* ;) ) and a few other dancers were dancing in the crowd of people. I danced for a little while. Another woman took my hand and had me be her partner for a while (it’s not weird; there’s a shortage of men on the ship, so sometimes girls have to dance with each other. :P).

I spotted Damian (remember the cute little boy from earlier?) dancing. I was going to go ask him to dance with me, but several girls had already asked him to be their partners, so I didn’t. He’s a very popular little guy, I have to say. XD

In a lull, I leaned over and asked my partner if Ciaran would mind if I asked him to dance with me. I was kind of joking, even though secretly I’d like to dance with him (mostly because no one has ever danced with me before, besides my mom and brother when I was about five) but she said, “Oh, not at all!”

I stopped short, and then giggled with an, “Oh, goodness, but I’m shy...”

To my chagrinne, she called out, “Ciaran!” He looked over, and she gestured at me, saying, “Dance with her!”

Ciaran gave me this grin and beckoned me over. I hesitated, then laughed sheepishly and tentatively walked over, apologizing to him for some random reason. He sensed my nervousness, I think, and gave me a huge hug.

There was single dancing for a few minutes... and then you had to dance with a partner.

I think I stopped breathing for a second when Ciaran took my arm and started dancing with me (as I followed the steps as best I could); I stopped breathing because he suddenly spinned me extremely fast, and it was a bit of a surprise to suddenly be moving that fast. XD

Then it was single dancing. Another partner dance came up, and he again spinned me around so fast my feet nearly left the ground. I was laughing now, and when he stopped, I stumbled dizzily. He quickly put an arm around my shoulder, steadying me. Then he carefully wrapped his arm around my waist and dipped me back, which made me even dizzier but very happy. XD

I asked someone if they would film me dancing with him, but she didn’t know how to use my camera either. :P I explained to Ciaran what I was doing; he had come over to ask me if I was alright. I think he was afraid he had spinned me a little too quickly.

He understood and attempted to hold the camera, hold it out, and film while he danced with me. He spun me around, occasionally shouting in an exaggerated voice, “Yay!” Then he stopped, steadied me, and said, “A kiss for the pretty little lady.” Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I think my face went bright red, and I giggled. He gave me a big hug again, and handed the camera back. I thanked him, and walked off.

There was more dancing, and it went on for a while. I had a lot of fun; even when one of the female professional dancers grabbed my hand and pulled me into the ring of dancers. I felt my face go hot and protested, “Oh, goodness. I don’t know how to dance!”

She said, “Oh, sure you do!” and proceeded to do the Irish version of a polka, I think, with me. I was embarrassed, but happy.

Shortly after, the Ceilidh dance was over. I returned to my room, passing Mom on the way. I spoke a mile a minute, telling her about the video—but when I tried to show it to her, I found that Ciaran must have shut the camera off very early on, by accident. There was only two seconds, not enough to even show the dance.

I was very upset. But he and the other dancers will be around again at two events tonight. I hope to ask him to dance with me again at the karaoke (or ask him at the quiz before, if I can dance with him at the karaoke); he’s sweet enough, I’m sure if I explain that the video was cut off early, and I want to show the video to my family, he’ll understand. It won’t take longer than ten seconds or so to do a quick waltz.

Besides, I think I have a bit of an advantage in that I’m younger than about 95% of the people on the ship, as well as far more modest and respectful. Rather than demand they do something like take pictures, like everyone else here, I actually ask, “May I please [such and such]”, or “Could you please [such and such]. And he might also realize that the reason I don’t have the video was because he couldn’t use the camera too well.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with that. I’m very happy; I have pictures with all but two of the Celtic Thunder lads, pictures of me with a few other people, I danced with someone for the first time in my life, and I got a bunch of hugs and a kiss on the cheek—and might again tonight.

I’m also stressed out though. :P My brother has gotten worse and worse on this trip—impolite, withdrawn, snappish.

And he’s also acting very suspicious with this new friend of his, the girl who calls herself Sprite (yes, like the soda).

He keeps asking to go find her, but when Mom tells him to go say hi when she sees her, he refuses. Then, this afternoon after I came back from the dance, he said he wanted to go wander around the ship.

When Mom asked him ‘why’, he refused to give a straight answer. She asked where he would be, and he avoided the question, several times. Finally, Mom said, “You’re going to go look for Sprite, aren’t you?”

He finally admitted that he was. Mom told him to go and just stay in sight on the Lido Deck. He flopped over and grunted, “Forget it.”

They kept at that for a while, and when she asked why he refused to go when she was with him or when she knew where he was, he said, “I just want to be...” and trailed off.

She demanded, “Alone with her?” He stuttered, and then fell silent. I buried my face in my hands. He finally caught his bearings and protested, but it was unconvincing. I shook my head.

So now we’re both paranoid about him. :P

But anyway. In about ten minutes, I’m going down to the lounge where some of the dancers will be doing a quiz show. I’m hoping to catch Ciaran and ask if he could re-film that dance with me, at the karaoke. If he’s not there, I’ll ask one of the others to please ask him if he would. If I don’t catch him, I’m going to show up at the karaoke anyway and try to find him there. I’m keeping my expectations and hopes as low as possible so I don’t get discouraged and disappointed.

Well, this is actually being typed on the 7^th, since I ran out of time to type last night. But I can remember the happenstances of yesterday well enough.

I did go to the quiz show, as a matter of fact. It was a lot of fun; I wasn’t on a team this time. I was just sitting by myself, since the main reason I was there was to talk to Ciaran afterwards. It was still fun though to listen to the questions being asked and the lads and lasses play around. There was a lot of Dublin-accent-and-slang imitations going on. A few videos shall be here shortly. *grins*

I knew the answer to one of the questions that most other people didn’t know—that ‘dulaman’ means ‘seaweed’ in Gaelic. *grins* My Irish translating comes in handy. I also knew the answer to some of the more ‘complicated’ questions, judging by how few people answered them correctly. Not that that’s anything for me to be proud of, because I didn’t know the answers to most of the ‘easy’ questions. XD

A few minutes before the game ended, I walked up to Belinda Murphy—the teacher and dance choreographer, which makes her Ciaran’s and the others’ boss—and asked her if she minded me standing next to her, because I wanted to talk to Ciaran. She said it was fine, so I sat down next to her.

After the game ended, a group of people walked up to the miniature stage and asked for pictures, signatures, etc. I waited patiently for them to finish, though I was getting a bit anxious—dinner was going to start very soon.

I timidly walked up to the stage when most of the people had dispersed. I ran into Sammi; I tried to tell her in excitement about how I had gotten pictures with Colm, Ryan, and Keith. She didn’t even respond; she heard me though, because she started bragging about all the pictures and signatures she had gotten last night. :P She’s very competetive and a bit of a braggart, sadly.

She got her signatures from the dancers, and then left. I waited until people stopped approaching Ciaran, and I hesitated before walking up to him.

I think he greeted me with something like, “Oh, it’s the lovely dancer! How are you? Having fun?”

I said ‘yes’, chatting with him for a few minutes before saying, “I hate to harass you again, but when you were filming earlier, the video didn’t work, and I was wondering if you would mind dancing with me again just for a few seconds later, so that my mom could film it.” Yes, I really did use that sort of run-on sentence. :P

He was very friendly and said ‘of course’, and I asked if tonight at the karaoke would work. He agreed to that, and told me to be all set up by the time he got there. I said ‘okay’, and then hurried away to my room to get ready for dinner.

While we ate dinner, since it was the last night of the cruise, Mom talked about what she had learned. Basically, she has learned that she should never, ever leave home, and that if you don’t have money to go on tours at port, don’t go at all. My brother learned... something silly, like ‘don’t go on ships’ or something.

As for what I learned, well... that shall be saved for my final blog post on the adventure. ;) Wait patiently, lads and lasses.

When we left the dining room, I quickly shook one of our waiter’s hands. He was a very sweet guy, but I can’t remember his name—it was long, and he was from somewhere like the Philippines. He gave me a smile, thanked me, and let me follow my mom, who was rapidly exiting the room.

After dinner, Mom had to go call Guest Services. Earlier, she had seen an email from our airline, but had been unable to read it before the WiFi died. As a result, she was going to talk to Guest Services and ask them for their help.

I wandered over to one of the entrances to the Caribbean Lounge, which was a short distance away from Guest Services. While I stood there, I watched Celtic Thunder perform their show. I didn’t really need to watch it; they were going to do a second, identical show later on for people in my seatings (my family and I were Red Seatings; half the ship is assigned Red, and the ther half is assigned Blue). But I didn’t have anything else better to do but wait nervously for the karaoke to start.

Eventually, I left and went to sit at the bar a few feet away from Mom—no, not because I wanted a drink. It gave me a good view of the pianist and drummer playing behind the bar. :P

Finally, Mom got off the phone. It was 6:50pm. I told her I needed to run up to the room and grab my camera and one of my three program books—I was going to get the dancers’ signatures when they showed up for karaoke.

So we ran up the stairs to our room (yes, we’re crazy and take the stairs rather than use the elevators). I grabbed my camera, put its battery back in, and looked for a program I hadn’t highlighted events in. I found it and took it too. Then I realized I couldn’t find a pen. I rummaged through drawers, unable to find it. Eventually, Mom discovered it on the floor next to my bed. *facepalm*

By this time, it was 6:57pm. I told Mom I was going to run down to the casino (where the karaoke show was) and try to get a good spot, and that I would wait there for her and Larry. She agreed, and I made my way down three or four flights of stairs.

No one was at the karaoke stage when I showed up, so I stood there awkwardly. Soulman—the really sweet Filipino man in charge of the karaoke nights—approached me and asked if I was going to sing something. I shook my head with an awkward smile and told him I was no good. He kept trying to convince me, finally walking a few feet away after saying, “Well, just think about it.”

Still no one showed up, besides one or two people who sat down next to the stage rather than stand. I believe Soulman came up to me one last time and asked if I had decided to sing something yet. I shook my head, and he told me, “Aww, come on, what songs would you like to sing?”

I said that two songs I liked a lot were Katie and The Rocky Road to Dublin, both by Celtic Thunder. He said apologetically that he didn’t have those songs in his CD case at the time. A few seconds later, he told me that if I chose a song he knew, he would come and sing along with me. I smiled and shrugged in a ‘maybe’ gesture.

A song he liked came onto the speakers by the karaoke stage. So he jogged over, hopped up onto the stage, took a microphone, and began to sing along.

Let me tell you, he had an amazing voice, no joke. I greatly enjoyed hearing him sing. I just stood there with this huge grin on my face, and when he caught sight of that, he smiled a big and bright smile back at me.

A few more people gathered around by this point, but the Gaelic Rhythm dancers still hadn’t arrived. Soulman stopped singing at the end of the song, and came down to take slips of paper from people who wanted to perform in the karaoke. I walked up to him when he finished with that and told him he had done a really good job. He thanked me, smiling.

More people gathered, just as another young woman got on stage and started to sing. Mom came up to me, and for a little while, tried to talk me into singing again. I kept protesting, coming up with excuses like ‘I’m waiting for the dancers’ and ‘Maybe I’ll do it if Ciaran gets here’.

I said that last one because Ciaran is very, very good at convincing people to dance or sing, and I knew he would try to convince me. :P

Austin, a young man who was at the last karaoke session (and who also has an amazing voice), overheard us and said, “They’ll end the karaoke at 8pm, whether the dancers show up or not.”

I frowned, but cleared it after a few seconds and thanked him for the information. Mom continued trying to talk me into it, saying that if I did Matchmaker, Matchmaker from the Fiddler on the Roof movie, she would sing it with me. I was leaning more towards Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Relient K’s Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been.

I finally, after much more convincing from Mom, told her I would do the Relient K song, scrawled it out on the slip of paper Soulman had eagerly presented me with (writing things in the wrong spaces and thus causing much crossing out and mess-making of the paper), and handed it to him, admitting, “I’m scared to death.”

He smiled encouragingly and told me I would be fine, and that I would have fun. He went to put my slip of paper with the others he had collected.

Just as another gorup of singers got onto the stage, Gaelic Rhythm finally showed up. I spotted them and grinned.

I walked up to someone and tapped them on the shoulder, only to find that it was one of the Irish performers I had talked to during the last karaoke session—the one who looked so similar to Ciaran, I got them confused. :P Luckily, I just said ‘hello’ and chatted for a bit, rather than ask him if he was still going to dance with me; because, obviously, he would not have understood what I was talking about. Fortunately, before I asked him about the dance, he left to go sign some autographs.

Luckily, the actual dancers gathered around the stage. I watched them for a while, as Ciaran got on the stage and sang along with the family singing currently.

When they stopped, and someone else got on the stage (that ‘someone else’ being Austin), I finally decided that Ciaran was busy. Instead, I asked Alan, one of the other very sweet dancers, if he would ask Ciaran (when Ciaran was available) for me whether he still was able to dance.

To my complete shock, rather than waiting, Alan just walked up to Ciaran (who was standing at the edge of the stage), tapped him on the shoulder, and whispered something in his ear. Ciaran glanced over, saw me, smiled, handed his microphone to Hayley-Jo (one of the other dancers), and walked over to me.

He took my hand, and I nodded towards Mom so that he knew who would be filming. I expected him to lead me to the back of the room, where the crowd was much thinner (it had gotten quite thick in front of the stage by this point), dance with me for a few seconds, and then go back to what he was doing.

Much to my embarrassed surprise, he instead led me out to the empty-ish space in front of the stage; in very clear view of both Austin, who was singing, and the crowd standing a few feet away.

I couldn’t very well refuse now that he had done that, so all I could do was let him hold my hand and start dancing with him. I still didn’t have all the moves memorised, so I just followed his movements as best I could.

I felt very awkward, but was having a wonderful time. I won’t explain exactly how the dance went, because... I have a video, which I will show right... now. (I would have embedded it, but it wasn't working. :P)

My dance with Ciaran Keating of Gaelic Rhythm.

After the song ended, he gave me a hug and kissed my cheek again (you may be able to see that, in the video, though not too clearly) before escorting me out of the crowd and to the back where I had been before.

In the excitement of the moment, I hadn’t been paying attention to Hayley-Jo, who had just announced the next singer. Suddenly, Mom poked my shoulder and said, “Teddy, it’s your turn!”

My eyes probably widened an insane amount, and I spun around to look towards the stage and towards where Ciaran and Soulman were watching me expectantly. I stared, and finally Ciaran came forward, murmuring, “Do you want me to announce you?”

I nodded dumbly, unable to even think  about what to say, because I was so scared. He escorted me to the stage and helped me up onto it, and then introduced me (Hayley-Jo had only called out my name, not introduced me).

The music started playing before I even knew what was happening. To my horror, it wasn’t the Relient K song I had heard so many times... and thus, I failed miserably, even worse than I would have if it had been the right song. :P But I tried and didn’t die, so I did fairly okay in that regard.

I have a video, but I'm afraid to show it. One person already teased me to death about it, and it wasn't my brother. XP If you really want to see it, let me know in the comments.

My hand holding the microphone was shaking uncontrollably, and according to something Mom said later, Ciaran most likely noticed it. He stayed by my side the entire time; as emotional support, I guess. He goofed around a bit, urged the crowd to clap... 

(And yes, right after he finishes an odd, little dance and puts his arm around my shoulder, he does indeed give me another kiss on the cheek. He seemed very perceptive, and appeared to realize [like several of my friends know] that hugs help me to calm down, and physical touch is my love language, which means hugs and hand-holding and such makes me feel much more relaxed and safer.)

After that, I got off the stage. Soulman was right there to congratulate me and take my hand to help me off the stage. Mom said it was time to go and get ready to watch our seatings’ Celtic Thunder show, but I told her to wait just a few minutes longer while I got the dancers’ signatures.

I took my program and pen, and then approached Alan and handed him the book, asking if he would mind signing the page at the back (which is notebook paper, basically). He was happy to, asked my name, and then wrote a note addressed specifically to me.

After that, I went up to Hayley-Jo and got her signature. Then I got Aoife’s. It went on like that until all I needed was Ciaran’s (and one other guy’s, but I don’t think he was present).

I waited until the end of the song, and until he had time, and then shyly went up and tapped him on the shoulder. It was loud, so I just showed him the program and the paper with his fellow dancers’ signatures on it, and gave him a questioning glance.

He nodded and scrawled out a quick message. I took the moment to talk to him one last time, since I knew I wouldn’t see him again. I told him something like, “Thank you for dancing with me. You really made this cruise the best time of my life; you’re the one person who has been friendly to me the whole time during this trip, and the one person I really felt like I had made friends with. So... thank you.” And I meant it.

He smiled, seeming touched, and said, “Aww... thank you.” He gave me a hug, and I said quietly into his shoulder, “I’m going to miss you.” I meant that too.

I don’t think Ciaran knew what to say to that, so he just said ‘thank you’ again. I shook his hand, and he held it for a few seconds longer than a normal handshake, telling me to take care. I told him to do the same, and then ran to catch up with my mom and brother.

We made our way to the Caribbean Lounge to watch the Celtic Thunder show. I spent a good few minutes looking at the signatures the dancers had made, and looking forward to seeing how much of the dancing my mom had gotten on film.

While I waited for the show to start, I glanced over to see the women next to me looking at a flyer of sorts. I saw the words ‘Celtic Thunder Cruise II’, and asked them what it was.

As it turns out, a cruise is planned for next year. No, I don’t plan on going. :P My mom would never let me get away with it. Besides, after how homesick I was this time... I dunno if it would be a good idea until I know how to get off on my own without having panic attacks every few minutes. *rolls eyes*

Anyway, after about a half-hour, the show started. It was amazing. They played all of their best songs—meaning, the ones that are liked the most. I was proud of the fact that I knew the lyrics to all but two or so of the songs, and could sing along quite easily.

At the end, Mom went up to the room. Me and Larry stayed to listen to the Celtic Thunder band talk and thank the audience for things, and Sharon Browne talk about the next cruise and introduce every performer who had performed on the ship this week—Gaelic Rhythm, Goitse, Michael Londra... lots of people.

(The Celtic Thunder singers had been wearing captain-style hats at the end of the show, and had thrown them out into the crowd. Sadly, I didn’t catch one, but that was okay.)

Then everyone bowed, the chorus of Ireland’s Call played again, and then all of them left the stage. Me and Larry made our way back to our room, where we cleaned up and got ready for bed. I typed a bit before going to sleep.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 7

The Celtic Thunder Cruise 2013 - Day 5

November 5^th, 2013

Grand Caymans (At Port)

Today was amazing—up until the late afternoon. Then it got better again.

I took a lot of pictures of the sunrise! Here those are.

The sunrise as viewed from the back of the ship, I believe.

The water with the sun making it all blindingly bright.

Wasn't the sunrise gorgeous?!

I don't know if you can see it, but that's a rainbow! :D

This is the sunrise picture I'm most proud of. ^_^

I woke up and, as per usual, spent most of the morning eating breakfast and watching TV. I was looking forward to another day of wandering the ship looking for singers, dancers, musicians... I also was looking forward to talking to Sammi again.

Not much happened until we left the ship to go to port; there were no events going on since most people were leaving for port. We waited until everyone else had left so that we could leave without being jostled by crowds. When we left the ship, we had to board a smaller boat that the crew called a ‘tender’.

There isn’t much to say about the Grand Caymans; I took pictures, but the town was pretty boring, and the pictures weren't any good, so I'm not going to show them. XD About 50% of all the stores were diamond or jewelry stores. We weren’t even approached by any interesting characters. We ended up going back to the tenders after about an hour.

Then we had to sit and wait for enough passengers to return so that the tender could go back to the ship. To my happiness, Goitse was sitting in front, and I could see them. I wished I could go talk to them, but I respected their privacy and stayed where I was. I just sat there and watched Tadhg smile. XD It wasn't creepy; I was just shocked that he could be so happy when it was so hot and humid. o_O

Eventually, we got back to the ship. I went up to the front so I could be prepared to leave the tender boat. I was acutely aware that Goitse was right behind me, and struggled not to look over my shoulder and say hello.

Then, a few minutes later, I was back on the ship and heading for our room. We cleaned ourselves up, and then headed out onto the Lido Deck to watch Goitse play their music. I found Sammi, and we chatted. She asked me if I would later photograph her and the Goitse band, and I said I would.

This is a life preserver I took a picture of; it was hanging on the wall next to one of the pools.

Lo and behold, a bit later, she spotted George Donaldson, the only Scottish singer in Celtic Thunder. She asked if he would be weirded out if she went and said ‘hello’, since she knew him so well (she does know him fairly well), and I said he probably wouldn’t. I asked if she would mind me tagging along and getting a photo, and she said ‘not at all’.

We made our way up to that section of the deck, and stood there, waiting for other women to stop talking to him. Sammi said hello to him, and they chatted for a few minutes. When they stopped, I tentatively moved forward and asked if he would mind taking a picture with me. He said he didn’t mind, and I gave Sammi the camera.

George is 42, and a very fatherly guy to most people. I was apparently no exception—he put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a very tight side-hug. It was tight enough that I had to rest my head on his shoulder so it wasn’t quite as awkward. Sammi snapped the picture, and I thanked George before leaving with Sammi again.

Me and George Donaldson! ^_^

(Side-note, but the hug wasn’t inappropriate at all. :P One thing I’ve noticed about the Irish and Scottish guys is that they tend to hug people a lot, no matter who they are, and usually pretty tight. It doesn’t mean there’s anything creepy going on, and it didn’t now.)

I showed Mom the picture, and then went back to listening to Goitse. After they finished, Sammi gave me her camera and headed up the stairs to get her picture taken. I followed, and snapped photos of her and each of the musicians individually.

Colm Phelan had mentioned his full name before the show. So after I took the picture of him and Sammi, I just had to do it. I asked, “Your last name means ‘wolf’ in Gaelic, doesn’t it?”

He gave me an honest-to-goodness grin and exclaimed, “Very good! It does indeed! How do you know that?”

I shrugged in a shy way and explained that I study both names and Gaelic. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “So what does my first name mean?”

I had looked it up before, but I didn’t remember what it had meant. He gave me a hint by pretending to fly like a bird. I ran off a list of guesses—eagle, hawk, falcon, etc.—but none were right. He said something I couldn’t understand, and didn’t understand when he repeated it.

Then he told me, “Bird of love. The dove; ‘dove’.”

It all came back to me and I nodded, grinning. “That’s it!”

After that, I headed back to the room to get ready for Keith Harkin’s solo show. Last minute, I decided to go up to the top of the ship to see what happened with George Donaldson’s mini-golf tournament—I was planning on just staying there until 3pm, when I would head down to Keith’s show.

Here be the mini-golf course.

Sadly, George didn’t appear until after I left. I chatted to someone for a few minutes; just a random woman whose shirt looked very nice—as it turns out, she had made it herself.

I gave up on waiting for George and headed for the stairs. As I did so, I spotted one of the employees who worked on the ship. His nickname, which had been given to him on the previous cruise ship he had worked one, was Sassy. His real name—or, at least, the name he was using for this cruise—was Kevin, but since I already know a Kevin in person, the name Sassy stuck and was easier for me to remember. That’s what I continue to call him.

I had wanted to take a photo with him for a day or two now, but hadn’t seen him until now. I hesitated, and then headed down the stairs for the Lido Deck.

Halfway there, I changed my mind and ran back up the steps, telling Larry I was going to get a picture taken with Sassy and that I would meet him and Mom back at the room. I walked onto the mini-golf course.

Sammi, who was up there by this point, asked me if I had changed my mind about Keith’s show and was going to stay. I told her I wasn’t, that I was just going to take a photo with Sassy. She readily held out her hand, and I gave her the camera.

I waited for Sassy to get off of his phone, and then went up and said, “Excuse me.” He looked down at me and gave me a bright grin, asking, “Yes?”

I said something like, “Some people call you Sassy, right?” I wanted to make totally certain he was the guy I was looking for, even though his unique voice told me that.

He explained that that had been a nickname of his on a previous cruise. Sammi piped up, “Meaning, ‘don’t call him that anymore’.”

I laughed, and then explained, “Well, I was wondering if I could take a picture with you?”

He looked surprised for a split second, then pleased, and then said, “Of course. I’m not Celtic Thunder, but I can try.”

Sammi cut in again as I stood next to Sassy; she said, “You’re not, but she loves you anyway!”

Sassy put his arm around my shoulder, and a few seconds later, Sammi snapped the photo. I thanked Sassy, then Sammi, and then headed downstairs to go to Keith’s solo show. 

Me and Sassy. XD

When I reached where it was, I found that it was a big theatre. The reason I had wanted to go was because I wanted the chance to take a picture with him. When I found out it was in a huge theatre, I was a tad disappointed but listened to the music anyway.

I know it's a horrible picture, but this is Keith in his solo show. :D

Then someone behind me mentioned that Ryan Kelly, one of the other singers, was doing a pub quiz in one of the lounges—a much smaller space. I asked Mom if we could just opt out and go there instead; I could listen to Keith’s music any time, and always could pay for concerts later on in life. How many chances did I get to listen to Ryan host a quiz, or chances to take photographs with a singer in a smaller room (meaning less crowding than a theatre)?

She said she would check on Larry (who had decided to go back to the golf tournament) to make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble, and then if I wanted to, when she came back, we could go to the quiz.

When she returned, I was waiting for her by the door. We headed to the Ionian Lounge to watch Ryan’s quiz. I had to walk up to the ship employee at the front of the room to ask him if there was a group that still needed another team member. He turned to his microphone and asked if any teams needed another member. Someone raised their hand, and I made my way through the small crowd of people towards them.

The quiz was fun. Ryan had fifty questions, and he sat on a chair at the front of the room by the microphone. He asked each question, and as I found out, the goal was to write your team’s answers down silently—not shout them out. *goes crimson* In my defense, lots of others were doing that too, not just me.

This is Ryan Kelly, reading out one of the questions.

Ryan smiling. ^_^

So that’s what we did. At the end, after the winning team (not mine) received their prizes, I started for the front of the room to timidly ask Ryan if he would mind getting a picture with me before he left.

That’s when the fun started. *sarcasm* :P

All of these elderly women (though some were in their forties), who had lots of money and—as many bragged—had seen Celtic Thunder in concerts more than five times, and had lots of pictures of themselves with the band members, started shoving their way past me to get to Ryan.

I’m not used to this sort of thing, so I was quite confused, and my polite side kept wanting to shut me up and let everyone swarm past. I tried my best to get through. Poor Ryan’s bodyguard/agent eventually had to usher him out.

I left the room to go with Mom back up to the room. I was now feeling rather snappish—I was tired, stressed, and annoyed.

See, as I later explained to Mom... I have a bit of a problem when it comes to elderly, privileged people. :P I don’t hate anyone, certainly not. But when elderly people who have tons of money to spare and have already used it to receive all sorts of crazy things act like each opportunity—no matter how many times they’ve taken the same opportunity—is brand new.

In other words, I can’t stand it when they use their money to meet celebrities, and then have the audacity to shove past other people who can’t go to concerts that often to do the same thing they’ve done dozens of times. :P

I know, I’m dumb. But hey, I have my pet peeves, same as anyone else. Mine are just... a lot more stupid than other people’s.

Anyway, after my mom found out why I was snapping at her and Larry, she stopped getting upset with me. We spent the rest of the day wandering around, as far as I remember. Then, after dinner, we made our way to the Caribbean Lounge to watch Celtic Thunder Feud—the ship’s version of the popular game show, Family Feud.

The Celtic Thunder Feud screen.

The entire Celtic Thunder group - Keith Harkin, Emmet Cahill, Ryan Kelly, Colm Keegan, Neil Byrne, and George Donaldson.

Keith giving the audience a silly look.

The Celtic Thunder lads waiting for the other team to answer.

It was hilarious, though some of the questions ended up as typical boy humour. :P Hey, what can you expect from six men who travel with each other several months nonstop out of the year in a tour bus doing concerts, huh? Especially when 90% of the crew is also men.

Anyway. XD I got some of the game on video, and I will go through the videos and attempt to figure out which ones are appropriate. Then I’ll upload those to YouTube along with all my other videos.

After that, we went back to our room. I ‘had school’ to do... really, I just wanted to talk to one of my best friends.

The problem? I only had fifteen minutes left. I rushed through the assignments I had to do, simultaneously chatting with my good friend. But then Mom wanted me to get off and save more than five minutes so she could check the email before we disembarked the ship.

I was waiting for my friend to say goodbye, but Mom was in the background snapping at me. I finally had  to shut down the internet... leaving only four minutes to use to check the email.

She realized I had been chatting to someone, and I got a much-deserved yelling-at. :P I can be a fool sometimes, and I know it. After that was over, we decided to go wander the deck. At... I think 10pm... the Celtic Thunder musicians (not to be confused with the actual singers) would be in the Thunder Pub, and I wanted to go to see if I could possibly get my picture taken with them as well.

An adorable folded-towel-elephant that Samuel, our steward, made for us while we were at dinner.

The Celtic Thunder screen out on the Lido Deck.

Me being a moron and taking random selfies. :P

My brother avoiding the camera, as usual, only this time it was Sherlock Holmes style.

Some yummylicious-looking chocolate rum fudge I wanted to buy but knew I couldn't. XD

We sat out on the Lido Deck for a while, and then made our way to the Thunder Pub. The musicians weren’t there yet—but a lot of people were. There were no nearby seats left, so I stood and leaned against the wall, fiddling with my camera.

Shortly after, one of the employees approached me with a chair and set it down, saying, “Here you are, ma’am.”

I felt all warm and fuzzy inside, thanked him, and sat down. Then I went back to fiddling with my camera.

My hand, along with my brand-new bracelet. It says 'Theodora'.

The pretty shamrock pattern on the carpet. XD

The musicians arrived and started tuning their instruments. Then Mom came up to me and sat down in another chair that the employee had provided.

A few minutes later, she nodded to a point across the room and whispered, “Isn’t that one of the singers?”

I strained to see through the dimly-lit atmosphere, and was shocked to see none other than Keith Harkin standing across the room. I think I may have placed my hand over my mouth and murmured, “Oh my gosh, I cannot believe this.”

She urged me to go up to him quickly and ask for a picture before everyone noticed and mobbed him. I hesitated, reluctant, but got up my courage and walked up to him. I tapped him on the shoulder, and when he looked at me, asked him if he would mind taking a photo with me. He said, “Of course not!”

I pointed across the room to where Mom had the camera ready, and then stood next to Keith. He put an arm on my shoulder, and Mom snapped a photo. Keith said, “There ya go.” I thanked him and went back over to Mom.

Me and Keith Harkin! :D

Unfortunately, people then started approaching Keith. :P He wasn’t mobbed, but one person after another kept coming up to him. Eventually, he hid behind one of the columns in the bar so that people walking past in the hallway wouldn’t notice him (they kept noticing him from out there).

Then he inconspicuously sat down at the piano bar where the musicians were playing. Everyone was so focused on the musicians, they didn’t even notice that one of the singers had sat down across or beside them.

I filmed a bit of the musicians’ show, and then Mom said that we should go. I had already gotten the one photo Sammi had told me I would never get—one with Keith—and that should be good enough. (Yes... Mom is very competitive. :P) I rather wanted to stay up later and wait for the musicians to finish, but I didn’t dare argue. I followed her back to the room, where I immediately uploaded the videos and photos to my laptop and typed in this journal until bedtime.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 6
Day 7