You might be A Cruiser if ...

With impending birthday celebrations afoot and a weekend to kill, We and The Gang booked ourselves on a bonafide oceanic cruise out of Galveston. An affordable lark to get our feet wet and see what we're missing with the Cruising Lifestyle. 
  
Now this wasn't the fancy-pants river boat where we luxxed together that summer.  Blissful nights cutting through the gentle sway of the Danube and discovering new, old history spots every day. No. This is a weekend getaway for the masses; a sprawling hallways, massive-scale, line up and keep moving, hotel on waves.  We're not in Bavaria anymore, folks. 

After a fun and silly weekend on board, my takeaway is that if you love river cruising, you may not like ocean cruising. And based on feedback from my cruise review on ShipMate -- if you love ocean cruising, you probably won't love river cruising. In that vein and with deference to Jeff Foxworthy, I've compiled a list that may help you decide if the Cruising Lifestyle is for you.  

You may be A Cruiser if :

--  you've ever worn sweatpants to a funeral because they were your good ones.

--  you've ever celebrated a milestone at Golden Corral. 

--  you never look at yourself from the rear.

-- you're obsessed with looking at yourself from the rear.

-- you see a hot tub full of random people and think, "that looks fun." 

-- If claustrophobia makes you horny. 

-- If QVC is your favorite way to shop

-- your fashion motto is, "if it zips, it fits." 

-- Bingo sounds like a wild night out

-- If you've ever longed for less tranquility while lounging at the pool

-- if your spirit animal is Cattle ... 

            You May Be a Cruiser 


 ...Any leisure time spent with friends is time well spent and our cruise was a resounding success in that we had a fantastic weekend and put lots of currency in the memory banks. But i think our next excursion will be on land.  Love to Cruisers everywhere <3 font="" nbsp="">

Let Them live their Best Life, Mom

I am a critic. I pick everything apart. I notice things. I can find the little bit of bad in all things, even the goodest of things.  No one and nothing gets five stars in my life, because five stars is perfect and as i'm quick to point out : there is no perfect in this world. 

People watching (eye rolling, get-a-load-of=thatisms, etc.) is a long honored family past time of my formative years.  it's not classy and sometimes unkind, but it's what we do. we point out quirks, but just to ourselves.This family tradition stops with my fifteen year old daughter.  Facial tattoos, purposely vague gender appearance, extravagant body hair or just plain weirdness is to be embraced. Anything and everything is acceptable, and she encourages me to go with the flow, let them live their best life, mom. in other words : stay out of it. 

It's a simple point she brings up and stirs up questions about how I see my own life and am I living my best life, as these weridos and wackjobs seem to be. 

So what if they really are living their their own best life.  What if the ultimate dream of this person is to hang out in a lawn chair on his driveway with his smoker in the front yard.  And who am i to eye roll that ?  

It's true. how would I or do i know what someone else's Best Life looks like?  Hell, i don't even know what my best life looks like -- and i spend a lot of time thinking about it. i certainly have no idea what someone else's best life looks like. Yet, i still pick at it. needlessly, automatically;  and it picks at me . 

It's frequent that I'm described as negative.  Truth be told, when people meet me for the first time, response is typically not all together positive .Feedback from my first impression includes words like egotistical, selfish, judgmental and cold. however, there are also words peppered in there like powerful, intelligent, funny and strong. I also hear cynical a lot, which i consider a compliment. 

 

Now that sounds pretty negative, right ?  Even reading it, it has a negative connotation and uses a lot of negative words. But i see myself as a born critic, these comments just come into my head. I overthink it. It feels natural. 

Food, movies and vacations are dissected and critiqued with the utmost sharpness. notice i didn't say "Judged,"  but critiqued.  And there's the rub.

  

Is Criticism is by it's nature negative judgement? let's go to the tape: 

crit·i·cism

ˈkridəˌsizəm/

noun

noun: criticism; plural noun: criticisms

1. 1.

   the expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or mistakes.

   "he received a lot of criticism"

   synonyms:

   censure, condemnation, denunciation, disapproval, disparagement,  opprobrium, fault-finding, attack, broadside, stricture, recrimination; More

2. 2.

   the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work.

   "alternative methods of criticism supported by well-developed literary theories"

   synonyms:

   evaluation, assessment, appraisal, analysis, judgment; More

   • the scholarly investigation of literary or historical texts to determine their origin or intended form.

Okay, so obviously you can see the problem here.  One definition of is clearly negative -- even synonymous with "attack," "broadside," and "disapproval."   That's negative. That's pessimism, ugliness, pettiness. That's the critic i don't want to be. 

But definition 2 (also a noun)  is more on along my track of thinking (i hope). This definition takes into account both sides, "the merits and faults,"  and is synonymous with analysis, evaluation, appraisal.  That's the critic i want to be, or do I?  "Judgement" is synonymous with both definitions of Criticism, so if there's any equal sign to be fairly assessed, it's between those two words. 

Criticism = Judgement

Is judgement negative ? My daughter would say mine is.