Day1: Saturday April 22, 2012
NINJA's 2Cents
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So there we were in the midst of all these people that I have to admit my wife new way more than I did. In fact besides one or 2 back and forth comments between me Mr SpotyKatz, Brasi and/or Dawn on facebook I’d only really talked to Markus in length. My wife was alive chatting here and there, I like when she is in this mode means she’s having a good time. I excused myself to get some food and on the way I stopped to say hi to Rob and Lisa (and inadvertently rub Lisa’s sunburn shoulder SORRY). I’d only really been to Sea Star once, back for our rehearsal dinner so I was excited to see the changes and have some of the buffet. Food was still very good. While I was waiting in the line for food I took some time to look around. They have done some great work since last I was there.
Ok so I’m going to FFW mainly because thats how the night felt like it went. The drummers and dancers were amazing. Rasta Stan sang at it was pretty cool. I have a video of it somewhere. And to make it even better Stan decided to call me Hootie which I thank him for because lately I’ve been getting Ceelo and I’m much rather get Hootie (though my wife would leave me if I started singing country). I use to get Hootie a lot years ago but since he decided to sing country no one knows him anymore. The Hootie thing would last the rest of the week. At some point Luciano came on and the crowd moved to be on the dance floor to at least be in front of the stage and close up to Luciano. As you can see I got some really good shots (Marley posted them) and a good shot of my wife meeting him.
At some point a few of us moved to the tables again and Markus and I started to talk more. Mostly geek speak (alot of 1’s and 0’s) but still great conversation. I like that he has a passion in almost everything he talks about, whether its life, or work or ESPECIALLY HIS WIFE. We were so engrossed in our conversation that at least I at some point forgot that one of the great Reggae singers was performing. I’d say we missed about 30 minutes of Luciano simply lost in conversation. I would say this is about the time that observer part of me left and never came back. About 15 minutes into our conversation I looked over and Clarity and Marley were looking and laughing at us. In a good way. Then at some point we realized Luciano was still on stage, probably back for his 8th encore. We got up one last time to enjoy Luciano and I think Markus needed a food refill. Finally he came off stage and we found ourself back at the table, Me Marley, Clarity, Hubby-man and Joe (always the fifth wheel). At some point everyone had retired or left and I remember Sandy being out there still ( I hadn't really gotten to know her yet, love this woman we share a bond you’ll learn of later). She had put good old (young) Booger to sleep a while ago due to his inebriation but like a “Shaun of the Dead” zombie he had returned. They eventually too retired and it was the five of us. Chris looked at us and made some comment about the bus and it would be the last one and I remarked “Thats Ok, we’re staying here so we are your problem now”. He gave a slight laugh (good man can’t sing his praises enough) and we began to realize how late it was. Clarity and Markus were heading to Mandeville and they needed to get EARLY, like 3 or 4 hours from that moment.
SIDE NOTE: I remember thinking when Clarity offered Guirigay and Sweetie Pie the room for the next night, “How sweet of them to even think of it”. I also remember thinking GG/SWP are pretty much out of it ( one probably due to tired the other well a bit of tired and booze), they will never remember to come up here or that the offer was made. I stand corrected they did.
We decided to move the meeting of the minds to our room real quick ( is say quick but yeah right) to have a cake vodka night cap. This coming on the heels of a rum shot. So lets clarify this, 2 of the 5 of us (and I am mistaken cuz Manda was traveling to Mandaville with C&M so there were six of us. Sorry about the fifth wheel comment Joe I rescind it) have to get up in less than 4 hours and we are going to have another drink to make sure they don't get up in the next 4 hours. Sounds like a plan. We were outside for awhile then thought we might be too loud so then inside, thats when the fan incident happened (I’ll speak of this in a minute), then outside again still talking like no one had to get to sleep. Finally greater minds prevailed and we said our adieus. It was weird we wouldn't see them again till Monday but all we had say would keep. The missus and I turned in, but I can’t remember if we “I love Lucy’d “ it and slept in the separate beds or the same one. I think the same (my memories of this trip are better than most but not as good as Marley’s). Then we blissfully slept and looked to tomorrow when we checked into our home.
Now I just want to say this about the fan incident. When I first came to JA with my lovely wife we stayed at Xtabi. The fans in there are 10 feet above you and far out of reach. They are also metal (or at least looked so) and can sub for a C130 propeller if you’re in a pinch. I even think if you put them on a C130 it would make the plane fly faster than a jet. So when we entered the bedroom after checking in my brain noted the Mach 5 fan and it close proximity to my head and arm reach. But I think I envisioned the metal bladed Xtabi super fast fan (I’m pretty sure this one isnt metal, Markus still has fingers so...). So with that in mind let me set the scene briefly. Marley and I were facing Clarity and Markus somewhere around the table we had the booze on and C&M (or Clubby-man - thats a work in progress other choices are Clarkus, Marity, Hubity-man or the German and his Heinz 57 wife) had their backs to the door. I was the closest to Markus as he reached up in the air and it went something like this “Ich denke, Ninja ist der beste Mensch, den ich je in meinem ganzen Leben erfüllt -WHACK SMACK” (the actual conversation was immediately erased from my memory at this point so I just adlib’d in german). Never in my life have I ever thought I would need to make a tourniquet, (not true I saw a guy fall off a ladder with a chainsaw in his hands - he’s fine) but I did believe that Markus was gonna pull back a numbed hand. So much so I refused to look at him for like 20 seconds. Still he was fine, in the sense that he had all 5 fingers still on that hand save maybe a little skin on at least 3 of them. We all (with the exception of the victim) believed he had at least broken, fractured or bruised the first finger that got hit (right on the knuckle, OUCH) even Joe and Manda wanted to put ice on it. Alas I say all this to say it was a small drop in the bucket incident that I think we made more than it was. I think he has all mobility in his fingers. Markus? And it wouldn't be the last minor injury that plagued (but didn't ruin) our trip. NEXT STOP CATCHA
