I have no considered opinon about Oprah Winfrey

"Christmas a humbug, uncle? You don't mean that, I'm sure!"

I have never been more the reluctant Scrooge than I am this year. If things continue as they have the last long while, I will be the picture of that old miser by the time I'm 60. What sucks is, I LOVE Christmas. I am just not in a merry vein this year, as many of you will understand. (If you don't understand, well, it's all a bit dull and personal and bleah.) I wasn't too full of yuletide cheer last year, either.

On top of everything, most of the gifts I ordered didn't ship in time because I bought a coffee in Mexico and that somehow flagged my bank account at exactly the wrong time. I have bought expensive items from questionable vendors in countries you've never heard of and never had my account shut off for security reasons... but one Mexican Starbucks frappuccino and slam go the doors...

I am in all the shows now! I have officially been crowbarred into all three shows, though I still feel I don't really know what I'm doing. The other night several of us went out to a couple of places onboard to celebrate, starting in a quiet bar and moving to the "Skywalker" disco which has nothing to do with Star Wars whatsoever. At around 3a.m. some of us adjourned to my cabin to order room service, of which somehow I got none. It was around four when I realized I was sitting on in my room with a Canadian, a South African, and (oddly enough) a fellow expatriate Kansan and listening to a heated debate about Oprah Winfrey. The Canadian videographer (fiancee to the other Kansan, who is another guest entertainer) was staunchly against Oprah's power, whilst the South African cruise staff guy actually went so far as to say that he thinks Oprah is more worthy of sainthood than Mother Theresa. "By far."

I had not had NEARLY enough to drink to contribute to this conversation, though I did treat myself to a VERY expensive glass of Scotch to salute my mad placement into the shows. Next week my "actual" cast will arrive and begin their install process.

The current group on here right now is really just the single most positive group I've ever dealt with. So positive in fact that it makes you suspicious... ;)