The Hawaii day was for the most part joyful and productive—visits went well, and most of what was supposed to happen by way of getting folks what they lacked and needed came off without a hitch. The sea was calm for a couple of days afterward, then one rough one yesterday, and calm again today. Yesterday the ship was joined, more or less, by half a dozen visitors, seabirds that flew alongside and above: by nightfall four were perched upon near the top of the radar equipment, and one was resting on deck. Boobies, these are called in the books—brown boobies mainly, we think, and perhaps one or two masked boobies. Their dives, in search of fish, are amazing, as are they flights. The voyage marine biologist gave a splendid presentation last night on what we can be watching for here in the massive Pacific, birds and marine mammals and so on. Much of it is invisible of course, as below the surface or, as in the case of much of plastic waste we're sailing through, too small to see, though, as she described, its consequences can be awful.
We crossed the International Date Line last night, moving thus directly from Friday to Sunday. Saturday never happened here. The faculty member whose birthday is on January 16 won't have it this year. I confess to being perplexed by the whole thing: for years I have taught students about the subjective nature of time, but I still feel tempted to raise an alarm, call a do-over, something. I awoke on Sunday morning to find that the Saturday NFL games had not yet begun.
A week out of Japan we are beginning our preparations: a session on anime in the big room tonight, announcements about filling out forms, etc. I will meet tonight with the students, faculty, and others who will contribute to the pre-port briefing for Japan. Once we arrive in Yokohama on the morning of January 24 we enter a dizzying rhythm, with several days in each of three ports separated only by two days of class each. Our pace across the Pacific feels leisurely today, with no sense that we will by a week from now be beginning a much more rapid pace.
