Marley and Ninja: Having Their Cake And Drinking It Too! Trip Report - April 2012

[ralonzo29]

Day2: Sunday April 23, 2012
NINJA's 2Cents
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You ever have that moment where you are slowly coming out of sleep and as you do you begin to realize something's wrong. Not wrong as in bad just hinky if you will. Something sounds out of place, smells out of place or simply feels out of place.

I hadn’t quite got my bearings before I got my eyes open but then it all came flooding to me. 1. We are in Negril. 2. We are at Sea Star Inn. C. Markus almost lost a finger(s) last night. D. ****e, did Markus and Clarity get up. V. (sub-section 1) we kept them up way too late V. (sub-section 2) is it gonna hurt when I actually move. Surprisingly I would come to find that no It didnt hurt when I moved and yes they did get on their way (but I wouldn't know the latter till much later). As we rose from our slumber Marley and I began to formulate a plan of attack for the morning. I stepped outside while she got ready. I had decided that if anything I would do yoga in the mornings to get some exercise in this week and to help my back issues. Lets just note that only happened about 3 days. But a point made by Clarity the beds at SSI are very very comfortable. SO with that, my back wasnt in dire straits as of yet, but yoga would still limit the massive weight gain that the next week would impose on me. I found that it was SOOOOOOO bright outside. A thing that was good and bad. Good because it let me really enjoy the beauty of it all and bad because my eyes hadnt adjusted yet. Finishing up the downward dogs, the pigeons and my personal favorites the warriors I ran inside and got ready so we could get what ever breakfast was left. Marley informed me that she had no idea whether Markus and Clarity had made it up for their ride to Mandeville but that she had some frantic messages from Patty about the situation. My brain went into slight crisis mode, but being that I didnt see them frantically running out of their room now I actual simmered myself down. What could I really do about it now it was almost 11 I think and really I was limited in how I could help them besides to wake them up and confirm to them they missed their family ride. And who wants to be THAT GUY, thanks for not only waking me but stating the obvious. After having breakfast Shauna went into the get ready and pack up what had been unpacked we were moving to Catcha AKA Home and couldn't wait. I as Shauna expressed was trying to solve Tizzy’s problem. She had lost her iPhone and (just incase no one knows this) there is an app that allows one iOS device to locate another. In other words I could use our iPad to locate her iPhone. One thing you have to know about me is I’m and out of the box thinker, which I think makes me a great or at least a good problem solver. But once I’ve got the a friend's problem on my radar I’m like a Top Gun pilot. I’m not done till I have tone and the problem is solved. I also live by a simple philosophy on doing things “Work smarter not harder” ( I learned that from Scrooge McDuck). So as I proceeded to try and locate the iPhone with no success I was interrupted by a Jamaican gentleman who was trying to sell a laptop to someone and figured i looked like someone who might be able to tell him if the laptop was viable and working. Feeling like I was kind of stuck at least acting like I was helping I looked at his computer found online a fair offering price and then sent him on his way trying as fast as I could to get back to the room before he asked again for some help. I saw this possible becoming a drawn out thing and well Home called.

Note: I want to say one thing to the naysayers you know who you are. Being that she found her phone in the end, I would have found if I had kept at it but, I do want to thank you for distracting me enough or I would have obsessed about it. I get that way with problems.

We packed up and headed out to check out. We ran into Pooper (Sandie) and Booger, the latters recollection of the previous night was as tattered as a piece of Swiss cheese. It seems he didn't quite remember the raising of the dead and coming back out. They headed before us to Catcha and we said we’d see them in a bit. After checking out we headed to the short trip down the lane to our home away from reality. It being the weekend we didnt see Louis who I was eager to say hi to. He was the security guard who always looked after us when we stayed last year. Forgetting it was Sunday I thought at first maybe he wasnt working there anymore, but the slight fog in my head cleared and I realized why he wasnt there.

I’m going to shorten the entrance part of Catcha because well Marley spoke to it. I will say this the greetings we received upon seeing Andrea and then Ardia and Carol was like seeing old friends who were happy to see us. We took in the return as we waited for our room to be ready. I got a drink for the Missus and put the idea of eating something in her head.

We spent the couple of hours we had at Catcha getting to know Pooper and Booger more. Then we were joined by Sweetness and I had a chance to met her too.

I will say this then turn this trip report back over to my better half.

Luckily for Booger I didnt/dont interact too much on the board so he didnt seem any younger nor older than he was at that moment. I found him to be alot like me, out to have good time and full of nothing but sarcasm. As I would learn as the week went on he has a good heart, a quick wit and a pension for good drink and good friends. However as Marley pointed it out he makes it incredibly hard to show your gratitude for his friendship, but he doesnt know me very well and I WILL TREAT HIM NEXT TIME. I like people who want to have fun and be fun even in the serious moments. I have found one thing to be true there isn't anything a little laughter can’t alleviate if only for a moment. Booger seems like the kinda guy that could make me laugh even if I had taken a religious vow to always be serious.

If Booger is the caring comic his wife Pooper well she the energetic carer as we would find out later that day. She’s the MOM if you know what I mean. I came to learn there isnt any animal she wouldnt try and save. You’d know this if you’d ever heard the Bear story. She says funny ****e with out even trying too and provided a definite ab workout for my wife every time we were together.

Sweetness reminds me of alot of my Burning man friends (if you dont know what burning man is look it up). Almost every response she gives is full of love and well meaning and she truly wants Jah to bless you. When she says things of a spiritual nature you really feel the love she means towards you. I’ll admit in life I tend to sometimes roll my eyes at people who need to punctuate almost every statement with something religious or spiritual (mostly religious) but when Sweetness says it you know she means it matter of factly and regardless if you are a bad person, a good person or you were just snide or annoying to her. I love that, cuz I need more people like that around me it can only make me more tolerant of annoying people. Thanks Sweetness LOVE YOU.

I also briefly met Jon but we got to talk more the next day so I will converse on that then. And now we return you to our regularly scheduled Marley post

[wpyogi]

Ninja's a yogi, too? How did I miss this???!!!!!

[ralonzo29]

Ninja's a yogi, too? How did I miss this???!!!!!

I dont know if I'd call myself a yogi but do to an unfortunate spinal disc issue at L4 and L5 I've taken up yoga to keep me nicely stretched and injury free. It also keep me flexible for my Ninja-ing

[booger]

I dont know if I'd call myself a yogi but do to an unfortunate spinal disc issue at L4 and L5 I've taken up yoga to keep me nicely stretched and injury free. It also keep me flexible for my Ninja-ing

Wpyogi, You can pay for your trip treating Rahoooooool and me.

[wpyogi]

Wpyogi, You can pay for your trip treating Rahoooooool and me.

Booger, you are on!!! Daily classes cliff side at Catcha...

Marley, thanks girl. Really enjoying the play by play

[wpyogi]

I dont know if I'd call myself a yogi but do to an unfortunate spinal disc issue at L4 and L5 I've taken up yoga to keep me nicely stretched and injury free. It also keep me flexible for my Ninja-ing

Yes, you have seen the light...yoga makes everything better...maaaadddddd ninja skills included.

[Clarity]

Marley informed me that she had no idea whether Markus and Clarity had made it up for their ride to Mandeville but that she had some frantic messages from Patty about the situation. My brain went into slight crisis mode, but being that I didnt see them frantically running out of their room now I actual simmered myself down. What could I really do about it now it was almost 11 I think and really I was limited in how I could help them besides to wake them up and confirm to them they missed their family ride. And who wants to be THAT GUY, thanks for not only waking me but stating the obvious.

LOL!!! I'm reading this post out loud to Markus right now and the two of us are cracking up!!

Love your description of booger as the "caring comic" and you're so right about Sweetness. She is all love.

Truly Loving this TR and seeing both perspectives!

We're looking forward to the next installment from Marley!

[marley9808]

Wow....that is an even better description of Sweetness than the one I did.....and you nailed it...so very true...Heck, they don't call that beautful lady with a smile that shines like the sun, Sweetnes...for nothing!

Ok....Now I can get on with my report....I will start writing it now LOL....stay tuned

[marley9808]

Ok, so now that the drama was over it was time to return to the party, and that we did. This time we headed down to the beach where a lot of folks had now gathered. There was a full blown beach party happening. Tizzy and Jon, Booger and Sandie, Sweetie Pie and Guirigay, Brasi, Muzikdoc, Patty and Andy had walked down by now and they were there, and someone else was with them! The infamous Bella Bea!!!!!!! I smiled immediately when I saw her, how can you not? She smiled and came over and gave me a hug, oh my goodness I just love her. I had never met her before but felt (like I have said this already about so many others) like I knew her. She was just as bubbly and fun and pretty as she is in all of the stories and photos….but what I had never imagined or even considered before was her voice! She spoke to me and had that amazing accent; I can still hear her talking if I try hard enough…and it just adds to her personality. She just kept saying “I am from Puerto Rico……I’m Puerto Rican” and I just laughed and laughed. This was the best beach party I have ever been to….and I have lived at the beach pretty much my whole life! We laughed and danced and drank and partied and everyone had so much fun. Soon I looked over to another familiar face, my friend Chicken! He was there to pick us up and take us to the comedy show, it was time to go…and we were having so much fun we probably could have stayed there with the rest of the group partying but we also were all really excited to see the comedy show……such a tough life when you have too many fun things to choose from, right?

So we herded the turtles and slowly made our way out to the bus to head back up to the cliffs. I think the show was to start at 7:30 and it was being held at Moondance Cliffs. I looked at my watch and at this point I knew we would not be on time….but it’s Jamaica…time doesn’t matter, right? I was having fun and so was everyone else and that’s all that counts. Then someone mentions something about barrel chicken. And with that, I knew our comedy plans were over LOL….because the whole gang pretty much agreed and chimed in..Yes! Food! Chicken! I could eat! Sounds good! Yes, let’s stop! I laughed and thought it did sound like something we should do. I felt bad though because the comedy show was Sweetness’ original plan for the evening and I knew she had already called ahead and asked to reserve tickets for the event, so I thought, we can’t just not go. Hmmmmm what to do? Well, what if we just get some chicken to go and eat it on the ride up the cliffs, that would work, right? Everyone agreed and I looked at Sweetness with the “Is this ok?” question in my eyes and she smiled. So we stopped….at Eddies, of course! And soon after our hunger pains were killed…..and so was any notion of attending that comedy show, unfortunately. But not one of us complained…not even Sweetness!

I had some of the most fun that night at Eddies. I think it was this night alone that truly solidified the friendship and bond and overall love that began to grow amongst this group of great people. As we sat at those tables waiting for our chicken, we talked and laughed and learned a lot about each other. It was Guirigay and Sweetie Pie, Sweetness, Ninja and me, Booger and Sandie (Pooper), and Jon and Tizzy. I learned that Sandie “Poops good” but her brother is not as blessed in the pooping department LMAO…I also learned that she “Never goes on the internet” but she only mentioned that once or twice LOL. As she and Booger put on our very own comedy show, I laughed til it hurt. And then Sandie (Now forever and always referred to as Pooper…because she poops good, and she is proud of that) bonded on a much deeper level with Ninja. She found out that they both shared a common love of something….PEANUT BUTTER…..for the rest of the evening we heard her ode to her love of the great substance and she and Ninja discussed the heavenly food at great length! LMAO.

Our chicken was finally ready and almost as fast as it was set down in front of us all, it was finished. That was probably the only 2 minutes of silence throughout the whole evening. And it was good….it is always good, Eddie’s chicken rocks! Chicken (our friend) was of course still there hanging with us and laughing at us all laughing, he enjoyed the fish because he is vegetarian. I on the other hand don’t eat fish, but he assured us all that it was good. We laughed and drank some more and just had a really great time. It was probably around 10pm or so and Booger suggested since we clearly have missed the comedy show that we just take our party on the road and make our own pub crawl. He suggests the next stop should be LTU and we can get some pumpkin soup. So we head over there (of course as already mentioned, we stopped briefly at Catcha to drop Sweetness off and Guirigay and Sweetie Pie decided they would be calling it a night at that point as well so they got off to head back to their room at Seastar for the evening)….but much to our surprise, LTU was dead, and pretty much closed. We sat at the cliff side for a moment just looking out at the water and chatting but we decided we were not going to get much here since it was closing so on to the next stop. However, while in the bus we all just sort of decided instead to head back to Catcha and have our own party, maybe hit up the Jacuzzi and just chill, so we did. Chicken dropped us off and we headed to our rooms to freshen up…of course I made the classic mistake of sitting down on the bed for a minute….and that was all she wrote for us, that is where or night ends.

Stay tuned…tomorrow: Brasi’s Bellyflop Challenge!!

[marley9808]

Day Two, cont.

We arrived and the whole group got off the bus and started heading through the property towards the beach. The party was already started and well underway so most of the group made a beeline through to the bar. This was my first time at Seasplash so I took a more leisurely walk through the property which was a beautiful little tropical oasis with what appeared to be very nice rooms, that then opened up into a wooden deck and bridge with fountains and koi ponds…it was beautiful. This is a really nice place!

(I have to add this part here….unfortunately I have no pictures to share from the rest of this –Day 2- because the only camera we took with us on this day was my camera, Raul has the fancy cannon and I just carry the Olympus tough waterproof camera, and since that camera was lost at the Boardie Bash, so were all of the pictures that were on it….we were too busy all week to ever download them so all of those pictures are lost forever….so sad about that! And this night was on that camera….sorry, but I know the others have pictures from this webcast and also the events and stops that follow so hopefully they will post those)

The first person I saw was Rob and then Lisa…he had the camera set up and the webcast was in full swing. Raul and I walked up to the bar (of course) and I immediately saw a familiar face…but someone I had yet to meet, though I had been dying to, officially. It was BRASI!!!!!!! Brasi had already been in town and most everyone else had met him, but he had headed to the country on Saturday and so I had yet to meet him as he was not at the Seastar party like most everyone else was and so I yelled out “BRASI” and gave him a big hug. I had talked to him many times through emails and pms, etc. before this trip so I was so happy to finally see him in person. We chatted for a bit and ordered our drinks. I took a seat at first with Sweetness because I wanted to catch the live band. I am very familiar with Benjy Myaz and I wanted to catch his set, amazing performer! But as I quickly learned would be the case this week….there are just SO many people in town and it is impossible to sit in one place with one person for more than probably 15 minutes….there is just so much to see and do and so many to talk to, it is amazing! So I look around and I realize I see a couple of familiar faces and even some unfamiliar. To my immediate right was Indy Bob and Cindy, they were chilling with Spottycatz and I waved and smiled. I saw Rasta Stan and Betty. I saw Muzikdoc, and then who I later found out was drummerboy13, I even saw Boombastic who at that point I had not officially met but only recognized from photos. As I was looking around I saw so many familiar and recognizable folks….however there was ONE person who I did not see…….NINJA! My husband!

Where was he? I asked Sweetness, she didn’t see him either. We had walked in together he hit the bar and got us 2 drinks and that was the last I had seen of him. Now I will admit that I am a severe worrier, I try to control it, but I cannot. So I thought about it for a second. Let’s look at the facts: 1) There are tons of people here, everyone is mingling and chatting and getting to know each other better, it is a bar, people are having fun 2) Ninja LOVES to talk…he also loves to drink 3)There were a lot of folks who had gone down on the beach, he could be down there(even though I was sure he had not passed me and gone that way) 4) Ninja does have a habit of quickly disappearing where I cannot easily find or spot him but he NEVER goes somewhere too long without telling me, if he knows he will be gone for some time he just says “Hey, I am going here, be back soon!” 5) Sometimes when he disappears without telling me it is because he is doing something to surprise me….awwww, yes I know, I have the sweetest husband around!

SO I quickly calmed my nerves and figured wherever he was he wouldn’t be there for too long, afterall he would need a refill soon….like I did! A little while later Sandie joined us. She said to me “Have you seen Booger? I can’t find him” And of course I said “No, I haven’t seen him but if he is missing too, then he must be wherever Ninja is, because I can’t seem to find him either!” So now I felt a little better. I am not sure why I felt relieved that Booger was missing as well, but I did. I guess I figured they were probably somewhere together and that they were ok and would be back soon, because of course Booger would need another beer soon too. LOL Well about 15 minutes later Booger comes up to us at the table and kisses Sandie on the cheek. She says “Where were you?” and he says “I took a walk on the beach with Jon and Tizzy” I said “Where is Raul?” He says “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him, why?” OH NO! Now I am worried. We told Booger that Ninja was missing and since Sandie couldn’t find him we thought they must have been together. But they weren’t. So where was Ninja? Booger said he hadn’t seen him since we got here. NOW I was worried! It had been probably a good 45 minutes. So I got up and asked around…no one had seen him. Lisa answered that he had told her to watch his drink I think, but that was however long ago. Ok, so now, yes, I was officially worried. I guess earlier I was trying not to let my worrier tendencies get to me, but now as I was going through all of the facts and ideas….none of them added up to why he would be gone this long without telling me. And no one had seen him. So Sandie and Booger took one look at me and must have sensed my worry. Sandie offered to go up towards the front of the property and look for him while Booger went down towards the beach. Sandie and I reached the front desk and asked if they had seen anyone fitting the description walk by towards the street. The receptionist said no, but they both at the front desk could sense the worry so asked us what happened. We explained the situation and one of them got on the phone to security. Yes, it was now a full blown Ninja man-hunt! There were descriptions given, places to check. “Get Boombastic on the line” one said. Sandie grabbed my hand and comforted me, “Shauna, it is going to be ok, we will find him, don’t worry” “I won’t leave you” “We will find him” The mother was out and she was taking care of me, and the situation. I was trying to remain calm and not worry. It wasn’t like I thought he had gotten abducted by aliens or kidnapped to be sold into the sex trade or something LMAO….but I know that right before we left Catcha he had been laying down like he wasn’t feeling good and he had been really quiet the whole ride down to the webcast which is unlike him, so I was worried that maybe he was not feeling well…and maybe he had wandered off somewhere to sit down or something…what if he was somewhere and needed medical attention or something…that was honestly the bulk of my worry. So while all of this is going through my head I hear Booger say “Hey, look who I found?” and I turned around to see my smiling husband, flashing that smile that makes it impossible to be upset with him. But of course I was not upset, I was relieved! “Where were you?!?!?!?!?!?!” I said in that Do-you-know-how-worried-I-was tone. He looks at me and hands me a bag. I say again “Where were you?” and he shakes the bag at me as if it is his answer. I took one look inside that bag and just shook my head with a smile. What else could I do? See # 5 above.

Earlier back at Catcha before we left I told him that we should have walked over to the store to grab some rum cream because I would NEED it in the morning with my coffee and I knew we would probably be out partying with this bunch all night and not have the opportunity to pick some up. Well, my hubby, the sweet guy he is, always thinking of me, he decided right when we got to Seasplash that he would take it upon himself to walk to a store and get me some. He was not sure really where a store was in proximity to where we are but he figured one couldn’t be far so off he went. I will let him explain in his version of this event why he was gone so long, but once he was back and I knew he was ok, all was forgiven. Plus now I had rum cream, but I did make him promise not to wander off like that again for so long without telling SOMEONE…so that I would not have to worry about him like that again! LOL