Dates and datelines

Monday, October 11, 2010, 4 AM  Pay no attention to blogger's date.

Time for…. Where in the world is ….

And what time is it?

Got up early this morning!  Yes, early means I awoke in the middle of the night, and had thoughts running through my head.  Thoughts that seem so brilliant that I have to share them with the world and if I don’t get up and sit in the bathroom (so I don’t disturb my roommate who is gently sawing wood) they will be lost forever.
Here it is early: 2:30 AM, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, pitch black, gently rocking back and forth, having sailed more than 6,000 Nautical Miles in 18 days.  “Somewhere” is a misnomer since GPS says we are heading SSW just along the International Dateline.  Most know-it-all geography buffs, me included, assume that until we cross that 180º meridian we are stuck lagging behind at the end of everyone’s day (throughout the entire world, in fact).  In fact, if you bring up a map of Fiji, or much of the South Pacific, which I did not until it was printed for passengers in general, you’ll see that we are ahead of everyone.  Suddenly!  Instead of saying we are 8 hours behind you, we now have made up the time, and are 16-18 hours ahead of you!  It’s Monday!  And we are still W of 180º.  Just when I thought I had it figured out.

We “lost” a day.  For many days we’ve been setting our clocks back an hour at bedtime, making 25 hour days, and here we are, taking those gained hours and pretending they are a whole day without the day.  Yesterday was Saturday, and today is… Monday, of course!
Have you looked at a map?  Can you see that the Dateline isn’t always on the 180º meridian?  That’s where we are.  It has wreaked havoc on most passengers:  Where did my day go?  Am I paying for a non-existent day on this ship?  If I keep going and don’t return via the dateline will I get younger?  It’s my birthday that’s missing! 

A few weeks ago I alluded to the fact that October 11 would disappear and my SIL would miss his birthday.  Somehow, calendars were adjusted (I’m sure it’s the Canadians’ fault) and we skipped October 10 instead.  Sometime in the night between October 9 and 10, we jumped a day to make it October 11!  Birthday party is all planned for later today.  Who’s attending?  All of Juju’s friends and their parents.  It’s called the exclusive club of “Fun Zone”, the play area onboard.  We’ve commandeered part of (one of) the dining room(s) for dinner, cake and balloons.  What do the Canadians have to do with it?  I suspect that the Canadians were the loudest to complain about missing the 11th.  It’s their Thanksgiving Day, and according to some, it’s downright unforgivable to skip it! Happy birthday, H!

Hey!  I’m not missing another Sunday at home!  Now if I could just figure out how to get paid for it…
ps:  I have a couple of blog entries that I attempted with videos.  No success.  Sorry for the lapse.