In this corner, weighing in at 190 lb., the Canadian! In this corner, weighing in at 27 lb., the Turkey! Two shall enter the kitchen. Only one shall leave! Come witness American Thanksgiving

Today is my traditional turkey day. American Thanksgiving. Blah blah blah. Invite people over. Blah blah blah. Prove I can cook a turkey.
I’ve never invited this many people over, which has required a bigger turkey than I’m used to. More pressure too. It doesn’t help that I’m operating on about four hours of sleep.
So far, in the battle against the turkey, we’ve won a round each. The turkey got the first win by causing me to cut myself. Thankfully no blood got on any food. But I won second round by actually getting the turkey in the oven. There are still a few rounds to go.

On the fifth of November I went scuba diving. This was altogether the best diving experience I’ve ever had. Mostly I’ve been unimpressed with Jamaica diving; the seas aren’t vibrantly blue and there aren’t that many fish. I always compare it to my dives in the crystal waters of the Turks and Caicos which were teeming with interesting fish.
But this part of Jamaica has its own charms.
The weather wasn’t that great to start. I did meet a cute girl from our group who claimed she also had trouble equalizing. I thought she would be a good dive buddy since we could both go down slowly. On the first dive though, she had nothing but trouble; her two regulators both broke down on her while on the surface. She decided she didn’t want to go diving after that. Surprisingly, I had no trouble going down. Apparently it just takes one day of deep diving to get my ears trained to handle equalization. (Although, when I equalize on land, I find the sound of air hissing out my ear somewhat disconcerting.)
Anyway, I went down to a sunken ship. It was made of metal, and could have been there for ten years or fifty. I didn’t know. It wasn’t that interesting though; I had seen it before. We continued along, going to 72 ft deep. Then, out of the mists (or the aquatic equivalent), there was an entire plane. I had heard about this wreck, but I didn’t expect to see it. Off to the right there was another one, missing its back half. I swam up to the cockpit of the second one and looked in through the window. The controls had been taken over my coral.
Then I did something extremely stupid/dangerous/exciting. I swam around to the door and then into the plane. I promptly swam out the back, so I was only inside for about ten feet. So cool!
That was why this was the best dive I’ve ever had.
The second dive that morning was shallower, going to only 35 feet. This time a new tank and regulator were found for my dive buddy and she was able to go down as well. She had an underwater camera that took pictures. Hopefully I’ll be able to get copies from her. This dive wasn’t that exciting as we just looked at coral. The highlight was when the dive master found a slow, almost round, fish tooling around the bottom. He picked it up and showed it off.
As it sat in his hands, fins flapping, you could almost hear it saying, “Guys! This isn’t funny anymore.”
Ah, anthropomorphized fish.

I am back home. In the past few days I decided to stop trying to update the journal. I previously did it at night but I needed the sleep. Instead I’ll just try and write down memories as I recall them. Less pressure.
In summary: fantastic trip! I think this was the best one I’ve ever had.
But I need to go to bed now. Conveniently, I’m leaving my luggage outside in the cold overnight so that any parasites that decided to stowaway in them will seriously rethink their plan. This is not an excuse to avoid unpacking. Honest!

The excursion yesterday was fantastic. It was described as a tubing safari, and that is essentially true. I had been put under the impression that it was going to involve a lot of rapids but I was mistaken. It was a calm river going through the jungle. What really made it good was being with friends. There were a few bumpy parts where there were rapids. At the big one I got flipped out of my inner tube.
Halfway through the float, we got out and had a nice jerk chicken lunch before continuing on. They had three dog, and we learned something about dogs here that is different from what we’re used to. First, they are far more lethargic, barely moving in a heat. Secondly, they are tougher digestively; they survive on chicken bones.
After the tubing, there was a pool party. I had to leave early for a fashion show rehearsal. We had the actual show this evening. It was a goth fashion show, so the girl running it put some makeup around my eyes. She did not tell me how to remove it. Soap and water helps, but doesn’t completely handle it.

Yeah, sleep would be good. I’m obviously not getting enough. I’m having a good time, but the lack of sleep can leave me moody. I got up too early, and lost all interest in doing anything. I’ve been having trouble with the locks on my room door, so I took a nap by the pool. In the shade; it is far too hot in the sun.

This is a fashion show, not a snuff film

I am going to be on stage on Wednesday. There is a fashion show that needs a few men. There has been some plotting about making it more extreme. There were initial hesitations but I am game.
The bodypainter was also doing a seminar on a new “paint” called liquid latex. Pretty cool. Basically paint that can be peeled off after it dries.
I’m now at the bar, relaxing and updating my journal, while a band plays Michael Jackson’s greatest hits on steel drums. It is interesting to try and recognize the song when it is being played so differently.