Kota Kinabalu today

Saturday April 10 2010


Since we gave back an hour last night, the sun comes up earlier and it was peeking through long before we figured out what was going on. Ed was staying in so I didn’t stir much until he indicated he was going to get up. It was about 7:30 am (the new time) and I found a gorgeous, sunny day on the ocean when I opened the drapes.
When I left the room, Edison, our room steward, told me that our Malaysian immigration forms were not among those he was given to distribute this morning. So I first went down to the purser’s desk wishing Nikolas good morning along the way, and let them know. Then by the jewelry on display today; Ed had mentioned looking at it and I kind’ve gazed as I whizzed by since it wasn’t all out at that time.
The Cabaret Lounge is a great hot spot and it is quiet early before a talk so it was a good location to get things done quickly. I got some emails from some folks I haven’t heard from in a long while including a photo of Queen Elizabeth and myself from the Doo Dah parade several years ago. We looked so young sitting on that curb and I recall how warm it was.
Port Talk: Muara Brunei
To find tomorrow’s port and this one, find Indonesia, then find Borneo nearby, and look at the top NE part of that island. There will be no bargains at this stop. The Sultan of Brunei is arguably the richest man in the world all due to oil. We have signed up for an all day tour with some conflict because of the cost but we couldn’t do it any cheaper on our own.
Optimize your photos; Use Effects, Filters, and Gradients
I was the only student but there was a lady “auditing” it so the time went very rapidly and Tim had time to show us a few extras. It is astonishing what one can do with this software once you learn how to achieve outcomes. We worked with over and underexposed photos and used a histogram to make changes. Also learned how to straighten up a photo and how to reduce the distortion due to perspective. Overall, well worth the time.
In the afternoon I took the second class and though I had heard of some of the things you can do, and have done some of them in Picasa in a crude sort of way, this was fantastic as Photoshop is so powerful. Being able to blur all but a selected item in a photo was the most exciting thing we learned. There were only two of us for class. I love these small classes.
Trivia
I ran quickly over to find that there were still 2 questions left in trivia so I sat aside and stayed mum. I could have helped them get one answer had I been there but in the end, another team took home the prize piece of green paper.
This afternoon’s session was tense because of the one fellow who is so intense and won’t let things go even when the group wants to move on. We were no threat to the winning team and some of the questions we just threw our hands up and put down a guess. An example is: in the British version of Monopoly, what is the name of the pub. None of us knew and I was sitting coming up with names to see if any rang a bell with anyone in the group. I put down “cock and bull” and we all had a good laugh. When we got the other team’s paper to grade, that’s what they had put down too! We were both wrong of course.
Mealtime
There’s a sweet little lady that I see around the ship whom one would think is not quite all with it. Don’t be fooled; she’s pretty sharp under that deceiving exterior. I see her taking beginner computer classes and she was enthralled as Ed dazzled her at the luncheon table with all the possibilities.
At supper we talk about the art they auction on the ship. Surely they must make a lot of money on it because they put so much money into it. Also bingo whose jackpot is increasing every day. And Warrick told some funny stories about his days as a journalist and editor.
Brunei:personal story
A fellow passenger lived in Brunei for 21 years and she offered to talk about it for the ship. She’s a well meaning tiny little lady in her 70s who is very spry and active. She almost “interviews” everyone she meets including holding up the immigration line in Nagasaki while she asked the Japanese officer all about himself. As one of our tablemates put it: she certainly isn’t a professional speaker and she rambled around but there was some interesting stuff she shared though she could have done it in about half the time. Still it is a nice change and adds to the curiosity factory about Brunei.
Ports of Call
This was the big production show tonite and as usual, the dancers and singers were terrific. Ed and I have seen the show presented before but it is always different because of the different sets, costumes, people, and occasionally, changes in the songs or choreography chosen. At one point, JJ came out dressed like a “bloke” who seemed lost from the outback. He had an all khaki shorts outfit on with those outback hats that are supposed to have corks all around the rim. As you move your head, it keeps the flies away. But instead of corks, his hat had oddities like the floats hold up fishing lines, and empty boxes from small items and then he talked like a not-very-smart but ever so friendly Aussie. It was a hilarious addition to the show.
Brunei immigration
We did finally get our forms and the directions were fairly easy to follow but there was one oddity. There was a question asking what your last country was. It will be Malaysia for Brunei but the ship’s instructions said “Australia”. And it didn’t want you to fill in the information about your home address. It is a unique situation to be in a country for less than a day and to have as your residence or hotel, the name of the ship. And btw: drugs in Brunei are an immediate death penalty. No screwing around down here. And no alcohol in that country either.