January/February/March 2007 Diary
Last weekend was a JUST ME weekend. No commitments, no schedules, just a lay back and let the days decide what I wanted to do. The weather was perfect for this, a non-typical warm California January.
I got a late start getting to the boat because I needed to finish painting a section of my house that I had prepared but couldn’t paint because of the high winds that had been blowing all week. I got to the boat in time to salute the Queen at the three o’clock horn.
I cooked a steak for dinner and then spent a couple hours trying to decide what to wear to the Observation Bar. Normally, winter weather dictates a suit or at least something with a jacket, but the unseasonable warmth led me to just wear slacks and a light blouse for the balmy evening. I brought a jacket with me for the late night trip back.
I’m constantly amazed at the convoluted thinking that the Queen Mary Security Staff comes up with regarding entrance into the parking lot. Sometimes they collect their $10 at the entrance, sometimes the ticket machine dispenses a parking ticket that they don’t collect at the exit after eleven o’clock, except sometime they do, and this Saturday night all the ticket machines were coned off, and you had to do a U turn and go through the bus and delivery gate where a security guard waved you through.
James King was performing his Elvis thing. Another thing that constantly amazes me is why some people never figure me out as a Transsexual, and other people have me clocked immediately. Apparently James is one of the few that had to be told by someone, because he is suddenly very aware of my situation and included a mention of wearing wigs in his rendition of “She’s a Lady” Saturday night.
The usual James King Groupies were there, except poor old Mary. She has been put on the not allowed list again, and no one at the Bar knows why. I took Mary’s usual seat at the table next to the dance floor, but I don’t think I will be doing that again, because it might give me the reputation as an old spinster lady.
There were a lot of drunks there Saturday night, and I had a hard time finding anyone that was sober enough to take some pictures of me. One of the James King followers and his wife was sitting next to me, and he was really drunk, but managed to get a couple of shots than I could use. He turned out to kind of nice and we danced a slow one without him falling down with me.
I had my two martinis and some coffee to get home on.
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Sunday was another nice warm day, and I just relaxed until about four o’clock, then went to the Observation Bar for Chris and Lisa. I haven’t seen them for quite a while.
I sat at the Bar because I didn’t get a chance to talk to Evon Saturday night, and I wanted to find out the latest scoop on what was happening with the Queen. No new news on the City Contract, and he doesn’t know why Mary was 86d.
I went back to the Boat after six. I changed into something warmer and went out for dinner.
There was an article in the local Long Beach papers recently about one of my old haunts; the Prospector. The article said that local musicians were performing on a voluntary bases. I used to go there about ten years ago until the owner said that I couldn’t use the ladies room anymore. The food used to be good, so I went there for dinner.
There wasn’t many people there, and no one that I recognized. There wasn’t anyone performing on the small stage that night. I went into the restaurant section and ordered a pot roast dinner. Their meals include a relish plate, soup, salad and desert for under ten dollars.
There was only one older waitress that has been there since I used to go there for the Sing Along Piano Bar. She said that the owner was still the same SOB that kicked me out. I made a point of using the Ladies Room before I left.
.I stayed on the Boat Sunday night and came home Monday.
January 13 - 31, 2007 Diary
I really got behind on my diary updates in January due to a number of health issues for both me and my Room Mate. More on that later.
Weekend of 01/13/07
Katt’s Birthday was the 12th, and I took her out for dinner and dancing Saturday night.
. We went to a restaurant in East Long Beach called the Tantalum. We had been there once before for a drink, and thought it was pretty nice. It’s in a Mall on PCH North of 2nd street.
The place was jammed full, and we didn’t have a reservation, There was an hour wait for a table, so we went into the bar to try to get a seat there for dinner. The bar was full also. We found a place off to the side to order a drink while Katt scouted the bar to find someone who looked like they might be leaving soon. She found a couple that said they would let us know when they were ready to leave so me could snag it. We finally got their seats at the bar for dinner.
The restaurant advertises “exotic water front dinning”. I had some kind of fish in a bed of something green and black. It is so dark in there that I really couldn’t see what I was eating. I guess it was suposed to be good, but I couldn’t finish it. In my opinion, the food and drinks are over priced ($11 Martini, $25 entres). It was obviously very popular, but I don’t know why.
We went to Busters after dinner. I had one martini then stayed with non-alcohol drinks so I could drive. We danced some, and Katt had some Stollies. I took her home about midnight.
I had forgotten to give Katt her birthday card and gift, so I called her Sunday Morning to see if I could bring it to her, but she was already walking to work, so I met her on her way and took her to the boat to give it to her, then drove her to the theater where she was working.
. I went home Sunday afternoon, because ML was having some serious throat problems. I took her to a physician Tuesday and she was diagnosed as having Bronchitis. We ended up going to her physician and three different ophthalmologists that week. Two ophthalmologists for ML and one for me (left eye cataract). .
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Weekend of 01/20/07. I was able to get to the boat Saturday afternoon because one of my daughters was going to spend the day with ML.
I went to the Observation Bar that night. The LA Lion Band were playing.
Leslie works in Hollywood, and she saw Eric, the LA Lion’s lead guitarist that was delivering something to her company. She asked him if he recognized her, and he said he remembered her, the guy dressed as a girl, and an “older women” at the Queen Mary on Halloween weekend. Leslie told him her name, Scott’s name and my name.
Eric came to my table at the first break, and I chided him for referring to me as the “older woman”. He said that he knows my name now so he won’t call me that again. He is very nice gentleman and is a very talented musician and singer.
. I had my usual two martinis and went home to the boat.
 Thats Eric in the left back ground |
I got to bed about one o’clock, but woke up about four with a terrible pain in my right eye. I thought I get an eye lash or something in it, so I went into the bathroom and put some eye lubricant in it to flush it out but that didn’t work. I put three vials of drops in with no result. I took some aspirin and went back to bed, but couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t able to see out of that eye. Everything was blurred.
I kept the eye lubricated and took extra strength Tylenol all Sunday morning. My right eye vision slowly got better, and I was seeing good enough to drive about three o’clock in the afternoon, so I went home. I called the ophthalmologist first thing Monday morning.
The ophthalmologist said that there was a cut in that eye’s cornea, but it looked like it was healing well. He prescribed an antibiotic to prevent infection. It got better daily, and my vision was almost normal by Friday. I am still taking the drops.
Weekend of 26 - 28
I was going to have a boat party on the 27th, so I was happy that we were going to have it in spite of my eye problem. I didn’t have my usual Holiday party in December, and wanted to have one as soon as possible.
I got to Long Beach Friday morning, and started cleaning the boat. I had lunch then went shopping for the party stuff that I hadn’t already brought. Scott and Leslie came to Long Beach Friday evening. They stay at a motel near the Marina, and came to the boat after checking in, but Leslie realized that she forgot to pack her makeup kit, and needed to go home for her special stuff.
I made myself some dinner, and relaxed for a while.
I drove to pick Scott and Leslie up when they got back, and we went to Busters.
We were lucky to get a table near the dance floor, and in view of the band. The Flier was as great as ever, and we danced. They played all of our favorites.
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I got up early Saturday morning to start cooking for the party. The party was going to start at noon. Leslie and Scott came to the boat about eleven to help me. I made two batches of “My World” Chili for lunch.
My neighbors, Rich and Leena arrived at noon, and were followed closely by Sherryl and Michael, and Karen and Claude.
We had drinks, snacks and chili for lunch. The plan was to take the boat out after lunch , and I don’t drink alcohol when I am going to captain the ship, so I just had Pepsi.
We took her out after lunch. The boat is running good. The problem I thought I had with the port engine temperature was cured by just cleaning all the DC power, ground, and instrument connections that were corroded. Both engines ran at 18 Knots (20 MPH) with no problem, and I was very happy considering we had a full crew on board.
We cruised the harbor and took pictures of some tall sailing ships, the Queen Mary, and some seals. Got back to the dock about four. Everyone said they enjoyed it in spite of a few light showers.
Leslie showed some pictures of her wedding to Mr. Scott Mayer, and some pictures from our last boat party. We had Hamburgers and Chili for dinner.
Everyone except The Mayers and left by seven o’clock. We were going to go to the Observation bar about nine, so they went to their motel to get ready, and I did the same on board.
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I picked Leslie and Scott up at their room about nine, and we drove to the Queen Mary. There was some kind of special event on the ship that was collecting parking fees, but they let me pass when I told the gate attendant that we were going to Sir Winstons.
The LA Lion Band was playing again. We got a table near the bandstand, and ordered our drinks. There was a new waitresses again that night, and I had to clew her in on how famous we were.:-)
We had a lot of fun listening to the band, dancing, and watching the crazy drunks. There was one stupid drunken kid (Ball cap sideways and a drink spilling over the dance floor) that started stripping on the dance floor. He had his shirt and under shirt off, and was working on dropping his pants when Evon took him off the dance floor and kicked him out. We thought that would be a good time for us to leave also, because there was too many young drunks around the room.
I took the Mayers to their room and went home to the boat.
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The Plan for Sunday was: Leslie and Scott would come to the boat for Breakfast, then we would go to the Blue Cafe that afternoon for the Mama’s Boys Blues Band.
I was up early and had breakfast before the ten o’clock QM Horn (I saluted with my usual bloody Mary). Leslie and Scott arrived in time to salute the Queen for the Noon Horn, and then had their brunch.
We got to the Blues Cafe after the Mama’s boys had started at one o’clock. They are playing inside these days. I liked it better when that played outdoors on the patio. The acoustics are too loud inside.
We had some drinks, some snacks, enjoyed the music, and danced for a couple of hours.
My friends had to leave to drive home to their Cactus Castle so they left. I I went back to the boat, cleaned the cabin, packed up and went to the Long Beach Cafe for dinner, then drove home.
February 08, 2007 Diary
I didn’t get to the boat until late in the afternoon Saturday. I am doing a lot of work to fix things around the house lately to get ready for out of town relatives and future in-laws that will be coming into town for my daughters wedding in May. I am amazed at how fast the time is flying. .
. I didn’t do much work on the boat. I did a little clean up, had dinner and sorted through my wardrobe trying to decide what to wear to the Observation bar that night. I have put on a few pounds, and am frustrated about how all my favorite dresses are too tight now. Even my favorite FMD has been hanging in the closet too long and doesn’t’ fit right on top. I finally decided on a two piece suit with a sweater.
I got to the Queen Mary about ten o’clock, and the OB was full. Even the James King regulars that usually get there early and get the prime tables were relegated to the cheap seats. I hung around the bar for a half hour until I scored a seat there.
There was a Hair Dressers Convention in town and they were their usual exuberant group. James King was having a ball dancing with them. The woman sitting next to me at the bar and her husband were also there for the convention. I was doing my usual solo dancing, and she told her husband to dance with me, so he did for a while.
There was also a very attractive guy that came into the bar from a wedding, and talked to me for a while, then went back to the wedding, and came back a couple more times.
I had an embarrassing thing happen when I was talking to him. I opened my purse to get a Kleenex and my KY tube fell out on the floor! I didn’t notice it until my hair dresser friend said “ was that a KY that just went flying past me?”. The guy picked it up for me and gave me a big smile. Unfortunately his wife came into the bar from the wedding party soon after that. :-(
I stayed at the BO until Elvis left the building.
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I got up early Sunday morning to take the boat to the pump out station. I opened the hatch to check the engines and found the bilge filled with water almost to the floor boards. Both the primary pump and the backup pumps float switches didn't work. I bypassed the main switch to get the. primary pump working to get the water out so I could see where the leak was. There wasn't any leaks! Then I figured that there must be a leak in one of the engine hoses, but I wasn't going to test that until I had the pumps working. I went to the marine store for new switches and a new and bigger primary pump. I replaced the switches, and installed the new pump. It took me all day to get that done, so I so I decided to wait until Monday to test the engines.
I went over to Katts place after dinner to help her pack to move. She is leaving town at the end of the week, and needed to move out of her apartment by Tuesday. She can’t take most of her stuff with her because she will be traveling a lot. I took some of her cast off’s. One of her other friends, John came to help her also. I was very tired so I went back to the boat about midnight.
I got up early Monday morning and started the engines to check for leaks.
Again, there was no leaks. I took the boat to the Pump Out Station, and then took her out for a high speed run. Everything worked, and there were no leaks. I still do not know where the hell all that water came from. One of my neighbors asked me if the water was sea or fresh water. I told him that I didn't taste it so I don't know. My fresh water system seems to be OK, and I don't think that it rained that much last week.
I hate it when I can't find a problem so I can fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I went back to Katts to see how she was doing with the packing. Her friend John had everything organized, but there was still a lot of things that she couldn’t put in storage or sell, and couldn’t take with her. I took a full size foam mattress that she was going to discard back to the boat. I plan to cut it to fit my bed and get rid of the foam mattress that I have had there for several years.
I went home Monday afternoon.
03/05/07 Diary
I haven’t had a good weekend on the Queen Mary for the past four weekends. I got sick on March tenth, the 17th was interesting but no fun, the entertainment on the 24th wasn’t worth the trouble of going there, and I was grounded last Saturday because I had cataract surgery on the 28th, and couldn’t drive with one eye at night.
I think that the problems at the QM are due to new management, and they are trying to fix things that aren’t broken.
Parking is becoming expensive and difficult. They are collecting the ten dollar parking fee at the entrance instead of at the exit, which used to allow those that left after 11 p.m. to get out free. I can get in free if I tell them I am going to the Sir Winston restaurant though. I got in free on the 24th, but couldn’t find a parking place even though there was a whole section that was empty. The dolt that was preventing people from using it told me that she was told to direct everyone to the other sections until they were full. I told her they might be full If she would consider that cars were cycling those sections without finding an empty space. She let me into her reserved section. The parking situation is not worth the hassle to go to mediocre entertainment at the QM anymore.
They are experimenting with the entertainment. They still have James King once a month, but they fired the LA Lion Band which was one of the few that played danceable music. There was a Scottish Bagpipe contest on the 17th and a very unprofessional trio on the 24th.
Most of the Observation Bar staff has changed. New waitresses are slow, and don’t recognize me as a regular (i.e. Celebrity). My friend Evon was missing on the 24th, and I was worried that he had been replaced, but Jun told me he was on vacation. I don’t blame him for getting out of there for a while.
The Queen Mary experience has not been a good lately, and I will need to find another hangout unless things change.
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03/05/07 Diary
I went to the Queen Mary last Saturday night for the St. Patrick celebration. I thought it would be a good crowd, and lots of fun, but the Observation Bar was a disappointment again.
I could hear music coming from the OB as I walked down the hall to the room, but all I found was a Disc Jockey in a Queen Mary tuxedo uniform. The new management has struck again!
There wasn’t many people there when I arrived at nine thirty, and many of them left when they saw that there wasn’t going to any live entertainment. It was the first time in the over fifteen years since I have been going there that there wasn’t live entertainment in the Observation Bar.
Evon was back from his vacation in Jamaica, and he was not pleased either. There were no stools at the bar, and no tables on the bar level. They were all on the upper level, with video games on them! Video games like in your down town sports bars!
There wasn’t anyone dancing to the Disco music either. I sat at one of the tables with a video near the dance floor to wait for the DJ to play something I could dance to, and a guy came over to me to talk to me. It turned out he was the owner of the DJ setup. He wanted to know if I was enjoying the music, and I told him that he hasn’t played any of my dance music. He asked what music I wanted and I told him “Mustang Sally’ would be a good start. He went to the DJ and told him that, but he said that that the disc had a scratch and he couldn’t play that, but he did get some music going that I could dance to, and I danced with the owner for a while.
The owner said that he had a contract to provide the DJ every other weekend there, and I asked him did James King have the other weekends, and he said “I don’t know. Is he a DJ?” CLUELESS!
I left before eleven o’clock, and went home to the boat.
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Evon had told me that Chris and Lisa were still playing on Sunday afternoons, so I went to see them. They had a better crowd for that afternoon that there was for St. Patrick the night before, and I told them that.
I had a good time and stayed until the six o’clock horn, then went to the Reef for dinner.
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I have been working to get the boat cleaned up because one of my sisters and her family are coming to stay on it for a few days at the end of the month. I have eliminated a lot of junk that has accumulated over the years. I packed up my winter stuff and took four large boxes of them home Monday.
03/05/07 Diary
I needed to be home to go to a dinner Saturday night, so I went to the boat Friday to install some new window blinds and clean the other blinds. It was a real job, but I finished in time to go to Busters Friday night for dinner and dancing.
I got a table close to the dance floor, had a martini and a small Shrimp dish for dinner.
The Flier band played Smooth, my favorite tune and I got on the dance floor. I gave my camera to a woman sitting at a table next to the dance floor, and asked if she could take a picture of me. She took a picture of me dancing with her daughter, and the daughter took a picture of me dancing with her mother. later, they invited me to dance with them every time there was a good fast tune.
I was having fun, but I was concerned about driving home with too much to drink, so I left after my third martini.
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I did some more clean up Saturday morning, then went home after lunch.
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