Friday, October 5, 2007

Just Another Week

It is hard to believe that it has been five days since I wrote a blog entry. I was thinking today that this is because nothing special has happened. It has really just been a normal week. Well, I guess I will describe what normal has become.

It has been storming in the Caribbean this week. If you have looked at a weather map at all, you will have noticed a huge storm system just north of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic to you non-Caribbeaners). At night you can see the lightening, and today I could see it raining in the distance. I think our horizon is about 22 miles here. This has not affected us, except it has been overcast and cooler.

I finally got my snorkel equipment out of the box so I have been leaving work at 4:00 and going snorkeling off of our beach everyday. The storms have made the sea rough and I have seen waves for the first time since coming. I lay in the water and float on the waves. It is pretty cool. Today, I ventured about 100 yards off of our beach. It is still pretty scary to be in the water that far off of land. I am not used to it, but I am getting there.

A couple times this week I have gotten hungry for real food and have ventured down to the Sandbar to get dinner. At the beginning of the week I sat at the bar with Bart Johnson. He was here filming the movie that was being shot in Grand Turk last week. You may know him better as Coach Jack Bolton in the Disney movie High School Musical. To me, he is just my friend Bart.

My wife, Deneen,wanted me to get my picture taken with him and post it online. But when we were on the road in the 1980s Bryan and I always had a policy of "no pictures." Actors and actresses "are no different than you and me," Bryan used to say. "We all have our jobs to do." Anyway, I did not see him again to get a picture.

Bart was very cool. Way cooler than on High School Musical. I told him he looked much younger in person. I also told him I thought he looked much cooler. He told me something like I was the only 40 year old person he had ever met that had seen High School Musical. Shoot, we had a High School Musical II party at our house the night of the Disney premier.

It reminded me of the time that Bryan and I met Mike Tyson on Rodeo Drive. This should make Bryan laugh. Or when Jim Hughes and I ran into Joe Piscopo. He was way cooler in person that the characters he played. That should make Jim laugh. You can check out Bart's web site at http://www.bartjohnson.com/

It is way cooler to me that he dives and is a competitive free-style skier. Not to mention that he operates a bed and breakfast in a restored mill in Utah (Owning a historic mill is way cooler than being in movies in my book).

I also met a guy named Eric this week. He has been here diving. He is a software engineer from New York. I stopped by the Sandbar tonight for dinner to see him again and to see how his week has gone. An avid traveler, he has shed some insight on why people come to Grand Turk for vacation.

I also finally met Tawnya. She and her sister run the Sandbar and the Manta House Inn. They are Canadian. She has been traveling for the last two months and has just returned to Grand Turk.

This is a Friday. Tonight there are two different outdoor revivals going on. They are jamming. I can hear the music even now as I type. The island is alive and kickin this weekend. And this is a slow week. It is still hurricane season. The regulars are traveling out of the country, and the tourists have not started to arrive yet. Many of the restaurants are closed, there are no BBQs, and Mitch has not even been playing.

I guess that is why there has been nothing to write home about.

Anyway, life is hard here. Keep me in your prayers.

Neal

2 comments:

Blythe Ann said...

hey baby bro - Neal geek the PhD used way too many "way cooler"s in this blog - where you do you live - on paradise island? lollollol. it was great to meet Dr. Berman (?) yesterday. we also had dinner with your family last night - they are doing great! what I remember about Mike Tyson is how short he is!! love you I pray daily!

bryanhitch said...

By the way, I still think you could have taken him! Thanks for including me in your blog. Now try writing me an e-mail to respond to my questions. I was way cooler back in the 80's! Love ya bro!