Well the last 6 days of Africa have been quite crazy. Of course the first day back on the ship everyone just slept, then we dragged ourselves to class followed by some more of doing nothing. This routine has pretty much been the norm after the particularly arduous ports of call.
The second day really got things cranking. The running of the SOS Auction made for a fun filled day…, well for me anyway. As a member of the committee I was required to work it all day. Not that I minded, it went very smoothly. First there was the silent auction and raffles in the Timitz from 11am – 7pm. We raised over $4000 in the raffle alone. Selling raffle tickets, lots of raffle tickets was not a problem, they sold like hotcakes.
8:00pm - this is when the FUN really begins... the LIVE AUCTION! You know this is my bag, my stomping ground, a place were a person (me) could be on an extreme high from the adrenaline rush…sheer unadulterated craziness, the thrill of the hunt. Thanks Mom....
I made a Power Point presentation that had photos and descriptions of all the Live Items. This was shown in the Student Union during the live portion of the auction. The first half was a little boring for me because the items that I wanted were in the middle to latter end of the event.
There were items such as:
A bottle of Pepto signed by Dr. Mort
Raising the Ship's flag in Ft. Lauderdale
A weeks stay at a family farm of a Faculty member
Hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley
Paintings by the children on the ship
Private movie/snacks for you and your friends in the Student Union
A week stay in Germany
Round trip ticket on Delta for standby to anywhere in the world
Dinner for four with Don Gogniat
Mountain cottage - week stay
Pie-ing the Admin Team
Beach house for a weekend
Bubble bath in the Dean's office bathroom (hahaha)
Direct admission to the Amazing Race (but you need to be 21).
Then we got to the “Big Ticket Items”. My first win was in the silent auction, I won “choose the dinner menu for the night” which I and the rest of the ship are really pumped up about! Lots of feedback on this one. Then in the raffle I won a season’s pass to Six Flags, which should work out well this summer! Then..., drum roll please... for the live auction …first I won the “~Voice~ on the ship's PA that clears the passengers to depart when in Ft. Lauderdale", which I am extremely pumped about! Then while they were auctioning "a seat at the Captains table for the Alumni Ball", I spontaneously decided to join in on the bidding… well my bid ignited a war and I just couldn’t back it down (haha). So being the bully that I am, I proceeded to crush that poor young lady. Then it was on to the really big item that my mother has for months been bugging me to get, "The Ships Nautical Map ~ signed by the Captain". So instead of stealing it like she suggested (LOL) I formulated a plan with Ethan's help to procure it legally. Naturally there was a ton of people who wanted it. But for once listening to my old friend panned out. Simply put, I was to let everyone else duke it out and then jump in at the end and take the prize. Well after much spirited bidding by a half a dozen of my peers, the Auctioneer called $650 going once, $650 going twice…, I stood up and calmly placed my bid….$675. I just stood there with my arms folded and my hugely intimidating stare (LOL). Neither of the two dudes who were still in the bidding were up to the challenge (wimps). ~ So, I won it !!! ~ It was a great night…a lot of fun and we raised a ton of money, all for the benefit of the future SASers.
Lately our days have been jam packed with projects and papers that caught most of us trying like hell to finish up. On April 17th we had a “Bro Dinner”, just a little celebration to compliment Eli and my-self's status as roommates for the past three months.. It was pretty much an excuse for all our "Brothers" to have a “special occasion dinner” together. The food and company was great, just goes to show that SAS can make great food when they want to. We even had an ice cream cake(LOL), and a fun night was had by all.
Today is Brazil Day(4/20), a no class day. Where they have seminars on Brazil all day. Gives us time to work on those darn projects that are coming due in our classes. We had our last Muster Drill at 9am this morning. A little sad... but yes, Brazil is almost here. Which in our minds signals the beginning of the end. Beau’s birthday falls on the first day of Brazil. So all of the us are going out for dinner that night. We haven't settled on a particular restaurant yet but I'm sure it will be a Brazilian Steak House.
And then in the morning I am off to the gi-normous Amazon River! It’s sad that it is our last port, but we are not done yet! It's not over till the ___ Lady sings. This is going to be a fun port! But then again show me a port that wasn't!
Nicholas Alan Tomkins
Semester at Sea
Spring 2010
1/17/2010 - 5/5/2010
Check out our current position or other info about my voyage: http://www.semesteratsea.org/
Email me at: Nicholas.a.tomkins@gmail.com
Check out my Photos as well: http://picasaweb.google.com/home
No comments:
Post a Comment