They Have Thought of It All
I would like to comment on a couple of things I have seen on T.V. recently. First of all, I watched a program last night on this cruise ship named "The World." This actually isn't a cruise ship, it has 165 condominiums on board and travels all the time. People buy these condominiums and live there. They cruise around the world in their traveling "gated community."
To buy one of these things you have to be a "pena-millionaire." This means you have to have at least five million dollars. The CEO of "The World" assured the television community that most owners had more than five million dollars. The show featured one couple from California who were in their fifties and had made their money in real estate. The designers of the ship had picked four interior designers from all over the world to decorate the condominiums. Each buyer gets to pick which designer they would like to have. It was all very interesting. In fact I was sitting in my bed, and I said to myself, out loud, "I don't think I can ever use the term 'what will they think of next' anymore. They have thought of it all."
This show made me reflect back on my only cruise experience. If I had not been with some great friends, it would have been the worst experience of my life. The ship was old, and dirty, and crowded, really crowded. Right after we boarded, we got on our bathing suites and headed to the pool. The boat wasn't scheduled to leave for another 5 or 6 hours. However, when we arrived at the pool they were playing a CD by the Gin Blossoms. I am sure they are a wonderful band, but not my genre. By hour three the CD was still playing, it had been on repeat the entire time. I don't even think the Gin Blossoms would like to listen to their album on repeat for this long.
So, I say to the waiter, "Jim Bob we need some beach music, lets change the CD." Jim Bob went and checked it all out. He came back and said "Kaytee, the door to the music room is locked from the inside out, they can't figure out how to open the door." By hour four I told Jim Bob "BREAK DOWN THE DOOR, TAKE OUT THAT CD, BREAK IT AND THROW IT OVERBOARD." He kind of steered clear of us after that. Finally, by hour five they changed the CD.
Before we even left shore, the bathroom by the pool was out of order (very disgustingly out of order) and it was never back in order, for a week. Where we ate lunch smelled dirty to me. It was one of those smells that was dirty mop water and food all in one. I can't eat when it smells dirty. When I don't eat, I get cranky. I was cranky. Oh, and it is very crowded. I don't like sitting five inches from some woman telling the details of so and sos divorce and what not. If you don't get my point by now, it was miserable. So, last night all I could think was, "if my grandparents (who aren't millionaires, but this is an example) were to decide to move on this cruise ship "the world", and they wanted me to come visit, I am not sure I would be able to go." My cruise ship experience has wounded me.
Plus the other thing that got me was the fact that these people can just go to sleep and wake up in a new place. This sounds wonderful. But think about what they are missing out on, the traveling. I know that many of you do not like airports and packing and lots of people. But I have had some really fun times and wonderful experiences in the traveling. You can really bond with people this way. You can also discover people's true selves by traveling with them. Seriously, there are some people that I will never travel with again. Its a good test. I am not married, but I if I ever get close to marriage, I will insist upon going on a trip together. You can learn soo much about a person.
The other thing that has been hard for me to wrap my mind around is this commercial for this permanent water bottle for plants. Actually it is this decorative thing, I think they call it the oasis or something? It has blue or red glass with a round thing at the top and a really long tube that you insert in the plant. Have you seen this? You fill it up with water and then it continuously waters your plants so that you don't have too. (If you know the actual name, please let me know.)
What is the point of having a plant? For me having a plant is to have to take care of something else, to cultivate my ability to commit. I have a plant in order to HAVE to give it water and attention. If I had this little water bottle, I would never pay any attention to my plant. Having to take care of my plant made me have the confidence to get a kitten. Without that step in my committal growth, I don't think I would have gotten this kitten.
Imagine if every relationship you are in, had a simple little oasis water bottle that you could insert and walk away for a while. I am not going to lie, this is kind of attractive to me in some situations. It would make life easy in really hard times. You could just say "oh I can't deal with it, here is my stand in." But how would you ever really live if you didn't experience the good times and the bad times. Now, I am not advocating immersing yourself in every bad situation in your life, you must protect yourself. But you can't skip the hard step or the hard times, they will come back to haunt you.
I know all of you are thinking, its just a water bottle, and its just there to help you take care of your plants. But for all of us commitment phobics, who need plants to help us learn. This is a really bad thing for our development. Don't take the easy way out folks. I am telling you, they have thought of it all, but the joy of life is in the living.
To buy one of these things you have to be a "pena-millionaire." This means you have to have at least five million dollars. The CEO of "The World" assured the television community that most owners had more than five million dollars. The show featured one couple from California who were in their fifties and had made their money in real estate. The designers of the ship had picked four interior designers from all over the world to decorate the condominiums. Each buyer gets to pick which designer they would like to have. It was all very interesting. In fact I was sitting in my bed, and I said to myself, out loud, "I don't think I can ever use the term 'what will they think of next' anymore. They have thought of it all."
This show made me reflect back on my only cruise experience. If I had not been with some great friends, it would have been the worst experience of my life. The ship was old, and dirty, and crowded, really crowded. Right after we boarded, we got on our bathing suites and headed to the pool. The boat wasn't scheduled to leave for another 5 or 6 hours. However, when we arrived at the pool they were playing a CD by the Gin Blossoms. I am sure they are a wonderful band, but not my genre. By hour three the CD was still playing, it had been on repeat the entire time. I don't even think the Gin Blossoms would like to listen to their album on repeat for this long.
So, I say to the waiter, "Jim Bob we need some beach music, lets change the CD." Jim Bob went and checked it all out. He came back and said "Kaytee, the door to the music room is locked from the inside out, they can't figure out how to open the door." By hour four I told Jim Bob "BREAK DOWN THE DOOR, TAKE OUT THAT CD, BREAK IT AND THROW IT OVERBOARD." He kind of steered clear of us after that. Finally, by hour five they changed the CD.
Before we even left shore, the bathroom by the pool was out of order (very disgustingly out of order) and it was never back in order, for a week. Where we ate lunch smelled dirty to me. It was one of those smells that was dirty mop water and food all in one. I can't eat when it smells dirty. When I don't eat, I get cranky. I was cranky. Oh, and it is very crowded. I don't like sitting five inches from some woman telling the details of so and sos divorce and what not. If you don't get my point by now, it was miserable. So, last night all I could think was, "if my grandparents (who aren't millionaires, but this is an example) were to decide to move on this cruise ship "the world", and they wanted me to come visit, I am not sure I would be able to go." My cruise ship experience has wounded me.
Plus the other thing that got me was the fact that these people can just go to sleep and wake up in a new place. This sounds wonderful. But think about what they are missing out on, the traveling. I know that many of you do not like airports and packing and lots of people. But I have had some really fun times and wonderful experiences in the traveling. You can really bond with people this way. You can also discover people's true selves by traveling with them. Seriously, there are some people that I will never travel with again. Its a good test. I am not married, but I if I ever get close to marriage, I will insist upon going on a trip together. You can learn soo much about a person.
The other thing that has been hard for me to wrap my mind around is this commercial for this permanent water bottle for plants. Actually it is this decorative thing, I think they call it the oasis or something? It has blue or red glass with a round thing at the top and a really long tube that you insert in the plant. Have you seen this? You fill it up with water and then it continuously waters your plants so that you don't have too. (If you know the actual name, please let me know.)
What is the point of having a plant? For me having a plant is to have to take care of something else, to cultivate my ability to commit. I have a plant in order to HAVE to give it water and attention. If I had this little water bottle, I would never pay any attention to my plant. Having to take care of my plant made me have the confidence to get a kitten. Without that step in my committal growth, I don't think I would have gotten this kitten.
Imagine if every relationship you are in, had a simple little oasis water bottle that you could insert and walk away for a while. I am not going to lie, this is kind of attractive to me in some situations. It would make life easy in really hard times. You could just say "oh I can't deal with it, here is my stand in." But how would you ever really live if you didn't experience the good times and the bad times. Now, I am not advocating immersing yourself in every bad situation in your life, you must protect yourself. But you can't skip the hard step or the hard times, they will come back to haunt you.
I know all of you are thinking, its just a water bottle, and its just there to help you take care of your plants. But for all of us commitment phobics, who need plants to help us learn. This is a really bad thing for our development. Don't take the easy way out folks. I am telling you, they have thought of it all, but the joy of life is in the living.
Comments
For the record, it was the Goo Goo Dolls. You know, "Why don't you slide..."
They played at the Counting Crows concert last year and it still made me cringe to hear.