What a day.
Sunburned and exhausted, we settled in for what was likely the most-anticipated show for both of us. Dave was excited to see nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot, and I was all ears to listen to Wil Wheaton read us some of his stuff. You may recall I was quite excited, and doublequite nervous, about the possibility of meeting Wil Wheaton on this cruise. More on that later.
Wil started the show, reading us excerpts from his books and blog posts, sharing a little bit of himself with an appreciative and responsive audience. I really enjoyed hearing him, especially because I’d read some of it before, and it was good to hear him tell the stories, with asides, footnotes, and emotion. I wish he’d had more time on stage!
MC Frontalot put on a wonderful show, too, but rap, whether of the nerdcore or mainstream variety, has never been my thing. They just go too fast and I miss half of the words and get frustrated, because I am lame. But you shouldn’t be like me – this guy is incredibly creative and talented, not to mention very funny in person, and you should at least give his music a listen to see if it’s your sort of thing. The audio of the cruise performances isn’t very good, so here’s a link to one of his songs, First World Problems, on Youtube instead.
And now comes the best part of the cruise, in my mind. Dave and I spent most of our evening with some wonderful people from Saskatoon, drinking far too many Red Stag Derbies in Ten-Forward. By Ten-Forward, I mean the Westerdam’s Crow’s Nest bar, located on Deck 10, at the front of the ship. Given its location, I don’t see how you could expect a ship full of nerds not to find a label-maker to change the name on the ship’s maps by all the elevator bays. Also, for reference, here is the Crow’s Nest bar, from Holland America’s webpage:
And, for comparison, Ten Forward, on the Enterprise:
It’s uncanny.
Anyway, after racing to the bar to stock up on Red Stag Derbies and strawberry daiquiris before the two-for-one special ended, we hung out in Ten-Forward and waited until karaoke time. Because yes, there were two karaoke nights to be enjoyed on this cruise!
The place was packed by the time we showed up, so we were stuck standing in the back near the bar, barely able to see the stage. We could hear just fine, though, and as it turns out we had a wonderful view of the Famous People hanging out and being silly at the bar. On this night, I was warned in the most serious of mock serious tones, never to get between a Wheaton and his scotch. On this night, I witnessed John Hodgman belting out Harvey Danger’s Flagpole Sitta. On this night I saw MC Frontalot and Wil Wheaton sing along to Hit Me Baby One More Time, along with full tipsy choreography. This was the night I decided I needed to be on JoCoCruiseCrazyIII.