The Queen Mary & Jennifer Lawrence (unrelated topics)

Hi! I'm back! With pictures and stories! But I'll do one at a time.

I am obsessed with the Queen Mary. It's an obsession that I carried over from my early childhood obsession with the Titanic. I think the primary reason I loved that movie (or the eyes-covered during certain parts version that I saw) was the elegance of it all. Rose had the prettiest clothes, the dining room was so fancy... it's an obsession that started early and hasn't yet ended. I LOVE pretty things.

Anyway, when I was about eight, we went to Long Beach for a feis (an Irish dance competition). It has been known as the "messy feis" ever since because the feis was held on a tennis court so our beautiful white socks got filthy. Everything got filthy, actually. There was dirt everywhere. But that's beside the point. The real point is that when we were there, I got to go on the Queen Mary, which is docked in Long Beach. I had the time of my life. It was just like the Titanic, but a little bit smaller and not at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. As I walked along the promenade, I kept thinking about all of the people like Rose who used to walk on that same floor. It gave me goosebumps.

Not quite Rose, but Fred Astaire is pretty exciting in his own right.

This past Friday, I got to relive that adventure. A few things had changed. First, there was an egregiously high price of admission, unlike fourteen years ago when you could just walk on and explore. Second, it was much more like a museum than before. They had tours (for an additional fee), exhibits (for an additional fee), and very expensive stores. What hadn't changed was that you could still pretty much go wherever you wanted to go.

And it was amazing. I was like a kid in a candy store. I was so, so, sooooo excited.

Probably as close to royalty as I'll ever get.

During my adventures, I observed that they didn't have enough lifeboats for all of the passengers. I guess that's a lesson that the Titanic failed to teach...? (Nevermind that they're docked. They should have lifeboats for everyone. It's a rule that has been engrained in me by watching Jack die.)

Even though there weren't enough lifeboats, I was still thrilled that I got to touch one. Like, super thrilled. My enthusiasm knows no bounds.

Anyway, that was day one of our adventure. If I feel like it/remember, I'll tell you about the other days later.

P.S. - I want to take this moment to congratulate Jennifer Lawrence on her Oscar win last night. I also want to thank her for falling over. It made me love her even more. She's a real human being. Watching the below video, I realized that not only is she my age, but she is JUST LIKE ME. She has an Oscar, which I do not, but we could be the same person. It's ridiculous. And I love her. (That sounds terribly narcissistic, but it's not. Really. I don't love her because she's like me. I just love her. And it cracks me up that she's just like me. I think we could be friends.)

"What do you mean what happened?... I tried to walk up stairs in this dress, that's what happened." BAHAHAHA!