I've gotten much worse at writing relevant titles since an hour ago. Oh well, circle of life.*
Previously, on Battlestar Galactica my blog:
Holland America goes to this private island in the Bahamas that is everything you'd expect from a private beach in the Caribbean, if you were expecting a beautiful white crescent beach with a giant pirate ship on it, and inside the pirate ship is a bar.
We spent the day playing Frisbee and Ball on the beach, with occasional breaks to visit the pirate ship.
"This is the best in the world," I said to Ryan while we were swimming in the ocean. In February.
"Yeah, it totally doesn't suck," he said.
And now, the exciting conclusion to that day…
We swam back to shore and traded the Frisbee for Ball. Ball is what we call this sort of smooshy ball Anne and I bought when we were in Hawaii last year. It's slightly bigger than the palm of your hand, waterproof, and skips off the water when you throw it. I don't know why it's as much fun to play with it as it is, but holy crap Ball is probably the best thing you can do on the beach that doesn't risk getting sand into your neither regions.
After hours of Frisbee and Ball (where we were joined by, at one point, seven or so Seamonkeys), it was time to get back on the boat and set sail for Aruba. We bid the beautiful beach a fond farewell, and rode a tender back to the ship. Which I prefer to call a boat, because it really annoys people who fancy themselves nauticalists, which is a word I just made up to annoy them further.
When we got back on the boat, we cleaned ourselves up and headed into the main theater, to enjoy the Paul and Storm musical programme, featuring the musical music of popular musicians Paul and Storm.
They performed their newest songs, which as it turns out are pleas to creators of popular culture named George.
BEHOLD THIS VIDEO THAT IS NOT FROM THE CRUISE BECAUSE NOBODY HAS UPLOADED ANY YET, BUT FEATURES A SONG CALLED THANKSGIVING THAT YOU WILL ENJOY!
(Fun fact: the Han Solo ice cube tray Storm talked about was bought for me, and given to me as a gift. It's currently filled with frozen water in my freezer.)
AND ALSO ENJOY THIS ONE BECAUSE I COMMAND IT!
Ahhh. Wasn't that nice? Some of the great works from canon were performed. Panties were thrown. Then, it was time for a song about pirates! Featuring the additional vocals of me! And a lot of cover band jokes! ARRRR!
WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO SEE IT HERE? SORRY IT CAN'T HAPPEN COME ON NERDS GET ON THIS SHIT ALREADY IT'S BEEN TWO DAYS MY GOD AHHH.
Okay, after Paul and Storm and a little bit of me, there was a brief intermission, and then we had our first actual rock performance by an authentic rock and roll musician: Chris Collingwood, who some of you may know as the guy from Fountains of Wayne, performed a set for all of us. He was super nervous about not being relevant to our interests (I know, right? I don't know why he thought that, but there you go) but he was amazing. And then Paul and Storm got to sing Stacy's Mom with him, which was pretty freaking awesome.
BEHOLD THE VIDEO FOR THAT SONG!
Neat!
All kidding and excessive use of all caps aside, Chris was just amazing. He was kind to me and my family, his set was beautiful and fun to listen to, and if I hadn't already been a huge fan of his band (because I was introduced to Fountains of Wayne by John Kovalic, by the way, which is interesting and name-droppy) I would have become a fan for life.
He closed his set with Hey Julie, which is my favourite** Fountains of Wayne song.
"Anyone who wants to sing backup with me can come up on stage right now," he said.
This wave of increduility washed over the audience. "Really?" A girl near us said.
A few people — about a dozen, I guess — found their courage and made their way to the stage, where they sang with him.
The wonderful thing about this, that made me smile so much my face was in danger of splitting apart like I was in some kind of Japanese horror movie, was seeing the girl who'd said "Really?" who was probably around my sons' age, singing and dancing and being the physical embodiment of pure joy. It was obvious that she loved this song, knew all the words, and loved getting to sing it on stage with the guy who wrote it. Maybe I'm just a little too sentimental, but seeing how joyful she was made me #FuriouslyHappy, and even more grateful to be part of the cruise than I already was.
I mean, think about this for a moment: where else could you see a real rock and roll musician perform music you love and then invite you onstage to sing with him?
It turns out that this was just the beginning of the awesome things that were going to happen in this theater, and on this boat, for the next seven days and six romantic nights.
More later…
*If you're looking for footnotes to make sense, you've come to the wrong place, Chachi.
**That's for you, Canadians. I love you.
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Collingwood killed it! XD
One comment? WTF is wrong with you people? This is WIL WHEATON. ON A NERD BOAT! This is where you all say “Gee, That sounds FUCKING AWESOME! I wish I’d been there!”
At which point I can say “I was, and it *WAS* FUCKING AWESOME!” and the best part was where Wil Weaton signed something I made and he thought it was awesome and it was like a giant boat filled with pure awesome and it couldn’t have been better. Really. *whew!*
I have the Han Solo ice cube tray too, it was sent to me as a wedding gift. Fun fact, it makes great chocolate bars too. I did find that, when making ice cubes, if you don’t use distilled water in it they come out a little funky-colored and kind of hard to make out. Though that could just be my water ….
You're far too kind to me.
And thanks for commenting. Speaking as a writer, it's discouraging to get minimal or no interaction from anyone most of the time.
I was sad I couldn’t afford to go on the cruise…but the fact that you used my video of “Thanksgiving” in this blog post made my day.
To everybody who watches it, I apologize for my annoying laugh. 😛
Gee, That sounds FUCKING AWESOME! I wish I’d been there!
Canadians love you back, Wil! 🙂
You were so great when I finally had a chance to talk to you on the nerd boat that I’m *almost* sorry I helped your boy rationalize the drinking of your scotch on karaoke night.
These tales of the high seas are making my Tuesday so much more fun (doing work I haven’t done for over 10 yrs). AND yes I agree WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE GREAT VIDEOS?!???!!? Oh well I guess I DO need to get SOME work done. So thanks for not posting them (yet)
The videos are starting to make their way to youtube. Most of them are tagged JCCC2 and they are awesome! I know we all want more, but let’s be patient with our fellow seamonkeys; many of us had long, arduous trips home.
One of my few regrets of the performances was that Wil didn’t critical hit his roll so we could hear BOTH stories!
That said, the one we got was very heartwarming and clearly written with a lot of love. One of the highlight performances of the trip, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing, Mr. Wheaton!
I was also, and concur that it was Sluice-Box-Mucking awesome! My favorite Wil-related-parts were when my daughter had a big conversation with Wil about dodgeball being banned in her school, and when Wil sat to my right in the JoCoCruiseCrazy poker tournament. The fact that I won after a series of crazy river cards didn’t hurt things either 🙂
Oh, I know. I was being mock-serious for comic effect.
I do not have the videos you are looking for (sad arrr), but I do have this one! 😀
NERD BOAT was simply awesome all the way around! I’d never even given consideration to doing something like that before, and I’m grateful my friends prodded me into giving it a try.
As an aside, the only bad part was being “starstruck” which is something that rarely occurs (and when it does, I sound dumber and more forced than I already sound in person)…and I’m sure I could have been seen as a dick because of it 🙁
Needless to say, if you’re reading this and have not partaken in JCCC or JCCC2, you should seriously consider signing up for JCCC3.
Me too – as I do need to get some work done ;o)
Ball sounds awesome, but you’d have to pry me away from Log first.
Also, as a Brit, I also appreciated the correct spelling of favourite. Thanks.
Ironically, “ball” totally sounds like the kind of activity that would get sand in your nether-regions.
Something I was too shy and nervous to tell you on the cruise:
I cry every freaking time you talk about your kids. We don’t have kids yet, but when I do I hope they turn out as awesome as yours have.
Oh, and I completely understand your frustration with Scrabble. I play like you, and everyone else I know plays like Anne.
I want an Alien for Christmas
Bring me an Alien this year
I want a little green guy about three feet high
with 17 eyes and he knows how to fly …
Oops, sorry about that. I’m just jealous.
Sounds like you had a great time, Wil. I especially loved the clip from Paul & Storm. (I concur mightily).
Glad to have you back.
It’s funny that you talk about being so happy because of your empathy for this girl who was joyful at being able to sing with her idol.
That’s a huge part of what this cruise is about for me. I am a *huge* fan of the talent, don’t get me wrong, but what I love most is making friends with these great random people along for the ride who are delirious with joy at being able to connect with their heroes. It makes every bit of difference to me that the performers, most especially you and Paul and Storm, are gracious and cool enough and extroverted enough to mingle with the hoi-polloi.
I appreciate that it must be tough to be constantly scrutinized. I could not handle it, myself. So on behalf of the people whose lives you touched, thank you for being who you are. And I thank you personally for working so hard to increase the glee-levels on the boat, for I feed off of other people’s happiness, and so this was an incredible all-around experience.
Your description of the #FuriouslyHappy FOW girl really touched me, because moments of joy like that are indescribably precious and can carry you through other, less joyful times. Then, I got kind of sad, because your description of why she had the chance to experience such a perfect moment made it clear that it was predicated on her or her family having enough money to go on this cruise. What if your readers and JoCo’s fans pulled together some donations to support a trip for a couple of people on the next cruise, sort of a #FuriouslyHappy Geek Summer Camp scholarship, maybe for folks stuck in less joyful times? I’d kick in a few bucks, even though I couldn’t afford to go myself.
“Hey, Julie” is my favo(u)rite Fountains of Wayne song too.
I blame Zach Braff for that.
Your story reminded me of this with Paul Simon:
Speaks volumes when a musician is cool with this sort of thing. After all, if a musician plays alone in the woods, is he really making music?
Sounds like much fun was had by all, and I am sad that I could not be there this year.
Also, it is a boat. All ships are boats. Anyone who says otherwise is being pretentious, pedantic, and pwrong.
I knew Wil was being mock-serious, but I didn’t catch the bonus irony you were doling out, Plain ol T. Sorry about that. My brain isn’t up to full working order after my own long and arduous travels!
OK, OK. I get it. Your live rocks, and my sucks, that is driven home with vivid clarity!
All kidding aside, sounds like a great time, might have to look at this in the future, assuming cruise ships don’t keep stalling.
**That’s for you, Canadians. I love you.
Canada loves you too (and yes I am authorized to speak for us all in this regard)! See you in a couple months in Calgary!