We Learn to Vote with Our Feet
In the morning, we walked up the stairs to the Crows Nest, essentially the indoor observation deck. We got coffee cups, a half-hour of peace, and made plans to take binocular lessons after my morning workout. Well, I didn't make the plans. But I didn't plan on taking a cruise, either, and it was turning out fine.
The Koningsdam fitness rooms were better than I felt I deserved. The rowing machines weren't very adjustable but I adjusted. The ellipticals were smooth. The treadmills were, well, completely full. Twenty of them, and every tread had feet on it. Ugh. So I had to go back to more ellipticals and then to stationary bikes.
Afterward, I joined the binocular lessons, which were mostly about types of wildlife and how to identify them. This was detailed enough to be useful. I'd recommended it.
Next, Diane wanted to attend a seminar on whales in the main auditorium. We got great seats. But then it began. The script was so bad, it made me squirm. I focused on tolerating it for Diane's sake but she was so irritated by me squirming and looking for ways to cope with the embarrassing script that I knew I wasn't at my best.
The presentation had some good material, too. I hadn’t heard before about humpback whales coordinating their feeding. That was new to me and new to Alaska, in fact. The coordination had been recently introduced to the area by whales migrating in from elsewhere. The NPR footage of interviews with scientists about it was great. When we returned to the ship presentation portion, though, the awfulness returned. It was so bad I had to contemplate *why* it was.
What makes a presentation bad enough that I need to close my eyes and meditate? In time, I realized the script violated a basic writing guideline. The rule is:
Don't tell the audience how to feel
It's the base-level advice for getting readers or listeners on your side. Don't berate them. They will be inclined against you in response. But the ship's presentation script repeatedly hammered on how we, the audience, should feel. Fortunately, Diane grabbed my hand and stormed out with me.
"Sorry," I murmured.
"Don't be." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. The description was so much better than this!"
As it turned out, my wife expected the presentation to be as useful as the one on binoculars. Well, it was a lesson learned for us but not about whales. What we found out is we're old enough now to not be shy about leaving a lecture hall. We can vote with our feet.
In the afternoon, we played trivia games. They were a bit like pub trivia but simplified, only fifteen questions. It's hard to score less than ten points, even for me. We would have won the evening trivia game, in fact, if our team had trusted me for the bonus question, which was “When did Dunkin’ Donuts become Dunkin?” I guessed 2018, which the host said was right. But that's not how teams work and we didn't get the three-point bonus while missing the outright win by only a point.
A good tip for trivia players is not to stand up, gesture at everyone, and shout, "I told you so!" That applies to a lot of teamwork during the rest of life, too.
Recap:
Our first full day at sea? Pretty nice.
The cruise ship furnishings? As good as the highest end of the most expensive cities in the world.
Were we getting good value? We will never be able to eat or drink enough to justify our meal plans. And that's fine.
Fifteen drinks per day? No thanks, I'd rather live.
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