Just for reference purposes, this is Friday April 16th. I had to look that one up to find out what the actual date was. I struggled to wake up for 0800 Marine Biology. Nic knocked on my door while I was getting ready. I debated sleeping in, but realized I wanted to hand in some stuff to Abel and just be done with them. We went up to grab breakfast before class. We ended up spending a little longer at breakfast than we’d intended. Too much to talk about. Dramafest on the ship is more intense than ever before. Literally it’s like a tv show. I kind of can’t wait to hear what happens next. Mainly because it barely involves me. Well, I guess it does kind of involve me. But only because I got sucked into it by default. Not my fault.
0930 Global Studies. More useless things. I can’t remember what useless things we learned today. Hmmm, that’s a good sign. Haha.
After class Nic and I went up to the 7th deck to get sandwiches. On the way up we walked through Tymitz Square to see that the silent auction was going on for the Shipboard Sail. We scoped out the items and what was being raffled off. It went til 1900, so we figured we’d go back later. She got her double veggie burger and I got my chicken sandwich. Delicious as always. Then we went to the 7th deck port side and laid out to tan a little. We’re determined to come back tan. So far I’ll only be moderately tan. Don’t judge me. I just don’t have much patience for laying out in the sun tanning.
It was so windy and it was a struggle to lay there on towels with all our stuff blowing across the deck. Sam came out to join us and laughed at the situation. It was pretty pathetic. She went somewhere else. We were the only people out there. There weren’t too many people tanning on the back of the 7th deck so we moved back there. We were even able to get lounge chairs. Sweet deal. We laid out and talked until almost 1400 when she had Global Studies. There are a bunch of girls who lie out there everyday and some of them have legitimately changed races. One of the girls looks like she’s Irish, but has spent so much time in the sun; she has completely freckled over and now looks dark brown. She’s somewhat unpleasant to look at. Skin cancer can kill you in your mid 20’s. I’ve read about it in Cosmo.
On our way back down we stopped by the silent auction and made some bids and bought raffle tickets. Some of the raffle items were awesome like a huge bag of Hershey kisses, a large plate of French fries by the crew (I miss French fries more than life itself), a sweet backpack with patches from all the different countries, 100 free minutes of internet, DVDs from the voyage made by students and one of the professional videographers on the ship, being the first person off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, being the last person off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale (don’t worry Mom and Dad I didn’t put a ticket in for that, I knew you’d kill me if I did that and won), a trip around Ft. Lauderdale with Saahil, free chicken sandwiches and smoothies, and all sorts of other stuff like that. The items were really funny. The silent auction items were even better. One of the girls on the ship who everyone knows and loves auctioned off an hour of hanging out with her everyday until we get home. Haha. Some of the boys offered surprise serenades. There were massages, artwork from different countries, artwork by students and teachers and Life Long Learners, knitted hats (knitting is a big thing on the ship---especially with the boys, it’s cute), pictures from the voyage, more DVDs of students work from the Digital Story Telling class, a chance to steer the ship, a chance to design the menu for a meal, jewelry, chocolate, and all sorts of other stuff.
I went back to my room and entertained myself for awhile until people appeared at my door. We had a meeting for our Global Studies project at 1530 when everyone was done with class. We divided up who would work on each country and decided when to meet next to trade helpful pictures. We all ended up hanging out the in the Internet Café aka the hallway outside of our cabins. A bunch of other people joined us. I helped Chelsea with her Marine Biology homework and messed around until dinnertime.
We got dinner as a family again up on the 5th deck. After dinner we went to the silent auction to check on our bids. Becca had been checking on hers all day. She was bidding on steering the ship! She was the highest bidder for most of the day. I think only one other person put down a higher bid. She didn’t stand for that. So we spent the last half hour waiting around making sure we’d get our items. I was bidding on a few pieces of artwork that one of the Life Long Learners had done. Some were paintings and some were collages; and they were from the different countries we’ve been to. They’re awesome. And I was bidding on a beaded bracelet from Ghana. All the beads were handmade from one of the villages. I’ve been collecting jewelry from the different countries. This would add to it. The only place I don’t’ have anything from is Mauritius. Diving always takes precedents over anything else, including shopping.
So when 1900 came around, Becca had secured her spot steering the ship. It only ended up costing her $300. I thought it would go for way more. I had seen how much people were bidding on ridiculous things. It further showed just how much money people actually have on this ship. It’s obscene. I got my artwork and bracelet. The artwork was $35 and the bracelet was $12. I felt like it was a steal compared to how much some people spent. Then again, it’s not their money; it’s their parent’s!
Becca wanted to run around the ship and tell everyone that she would be steering the ship. She was so excited. I can’t believe she won it. That’s so awesome. Oh, I think I forgot to mention the significance of the auction. This was the start of the Shipboard Sail. This is where they raise money for the future SASers: for activities and events and scholarships. They’re trying to raise a lot of money and get everyone to participate. Some people really took this to heart and spent absurd amounts of money. They would officially announce the winnings later at the live auction at 2000.
We ran around the ship and told everyone and hung out until the live auction. Becca had donated a tour of San Diego with a meal at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, so she got to get prime seating. Nic and I went up with Brandon and sat up front on the floor.
Eric and Matt were MCing or auctioneering or whatever it’s called. They’re so entertaining to listen to. The live auction was amazing. The items themselves were funny, and on top of that people spent even more money. They announced who won what in the silent auction and did all the drawings for the raffles. I didn’t win anything in the raffles, but that’s ok.
Dr. Mort signed two bottles of Pepto and auctioned them off. This is somewhat an inside joke of the ship. He tells us to take it everywhere. Pepto should probably sponsor SAS. He promotes it at every Pre-Port and it’s in a lot of the Dean’s Memos and stuff like that. He told a funny story about the bottle and how they were like his children going off into the world. They each went for $42! A little ridiculous. It was teachers who bought them. We tried to bid as a group on a few different things, but the bids were quickly out of our price ranges. We wanted to have dinner with Don Gogniat, our Global Studies teacher, and the biggest hippie ever, down in DC. But it went for over $600. The official map posted in Tymitz Square, signed by the Captain went for $650. The kid who won it has a crazy amount of money. His mom wanted him to bid on this and told him his max bid could be $1500! He dropped $300 to create the menu for dinner one night. He also won announcing that the ship is cleared when we get to Ft. Lauderdale. This was like $300 something. He also won dinner with the Captain at the Alumni Ball for $600 or $700. It’s for him and 8 other people. That’s so cool. He only spent a quarter of what he was planning on spending.
One of the families on the ship is from Germany. They decided to auction off a week-long stay at their house with tours and hiking. I was thinking this wouldn’t sell. Who would buy this without the airfare? One of the Life Long Learners works for Delta, she paired up with a teacher and they bought it for $1050. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE!
I think Saahil won raising the flag of the ship when we get to Ft. Lauderdale. They also auctioned off pieing different deans in the faces. Cindy, the bitch dean, the one who has screwed everyone over, went for $200. One of the girls she really screwed upped the bid from $50 to $200 just to show her anger. Haha. Dean White’s wife bid on pieing him. Crabtree and White didn’t go for too much. They’re really cool and no one dislikes them. Plus we were all a little afraid of getting on their bad side.
There was a hot air balloon ride in Napa that went for $800 something. The signed Desperate Housewives script went for $600 or $700.
I’m a little embarrassed to write this. But one of the last items was a night out in Miami with some of the UM girls. I was not a part of this. Three of them offered to show you “the real Miami, drinks included, plus our friends are hot.” Seriously? Whoring yourselves out for charity? A lot of people had trickled out at this point and it only went for $120. JD won it. No surprise. He has so much money. He also won dinner for 4 with Don. Victor debated bidding for it, but I told him he could visit me and my friends for free.
I can’t wait to hear how much money they raised with all of this. It has to be a fairly large number. They said Fall 2009 raised $43,000! Ridiculousness. I have a feeling we won’t raise that much.
By the time it all ended it was after 2300. Becca and I hung out in the Piano Lounge for awhile before heading off to bed.
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