Recovery from "Whitter's Revenge"

Yesterday, James came over to check out my speaker to see if I really damaged it. It didn't seem damaged anywhere apparent, so he said it was either the switch, the transformer or some other part. Guess I'll just have to exchange it when I get to Vancouver. But he said that some of the crew are referring to the storm as "Whittier's Revenge" since it was our last day and all.

I did my 5-6 gig in the Atrium. The Sitka Capers from two days before were near the CTC training area, and unknowingly I went to the Deco to set up, only to be pointed out by Jim that I was in the wrong area. I also was under the impression I had to play 8-1. It turned out to be 9:30-1. The 5-6 gig went good. Most of the people said they were sea sick the day before.

Afterwards, I went to dinner, and chatted with Chris (bass player), Doug (casino guitarist), and Glenn (the drummer.) They all said they had never experienced that on a cruise ship before. Then we got to talking about Hawaii. Doug has been on the ship for 5 years, so he's been 5 times. He said it's gorgeous and one thing we have to do is ride the helicopter tour. He says it's worth every penny.

Glenn and I agreed to go skydiving together in Honolulu since it's our day off. Doug told me the casino gig is the best on the ship. Real easy hours and easy to do. He said I'd love it. I'm gonna jam a little with him one night before he leaves there, to get a feel for the place.

Afterwards I went to my room to just hang for a little bit. Colleen called me to check in on me to see if I was ok. She said I sounded pretty awful the day before. She didn't get sick.. Lucky... The majority of the ship definitely got sick.

Later on, I got to the piano bar and played for a room full of people for about an hour. Greg and Jill, the australians that had came to see me a couple nights before were there first, and hung out for a while. I played them a few songs I hadn't played out before. One being "Between the Silver" which they liked a lot. "Fall" and "Stay or Leave" were also well receipted.

But I played my night, and got back to my room to go to bed, for we had a coast guard drill this morning.

I woke up at 8, and checked my facebook stuff. I saw that Monica from the last cruise added me as a friend. At the bar our last night, she and I both said we weren't big on initiating conversation. So I took it upon myself to write her, and she wrote back and said she was very surprised I wrote.

I went to go get breakfast at 8:30... Unfortunately, they were closing by then, so I just got a can of sweet tea, and went back to my room and waited for the drill. At 10 o'clock the alarm was sounded and I ran up with my lifejacket, and stood with Gabe, James and some others. Coast guard people came up, asked a few people a few questions, and then they let us go. Pretty painless. I quickly ran to my room to gather my computer and phone, and ran out to the internet place. I ordered a chicken quesadilla, and am downloading an upgrade to my string program. I'll probably head up to walmart around 2ish. It's my day off, so I might as well take advantage of it!

SEASICKNESS SUCKS!

Two nights ago, I ended the night with my gig, and had a couple from Australia listening, and another couple from the US. They requested lots of songs I had which was a nice thing.mI always feel bad when I don’t know songs people request. I made 30 dollars in tips! When I got back to my room I found myself to be pretty hungry so I went to the crew mess. On the way there, I saw I was walking behind Colleen and her two coworkers. Colleen noticed me and asked if I was stalking her. I told her no, and kept walking. I was pretty tired at that point.

I got my cinnamon toast crunch and ate, and she and her coworkers sat with me, and they talked about lots of girl stuff I wasn’t paying attention too. After that, I went to bed for the night.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to the safety drill we had, so I went upstairs to my spot, and I had to open the door and hold it for people to come out. It was a gorgeous morning. Not a cloud in the sky, and snow on the mountains. It truly was a wonderful sight. Afterwards, I went to bed for another hour nap. When I woke up I noticed the boat was moving a little more than usual.

I went to get food for lunch, and came back to my room. I started to feel a little sea sick so I started chewing my ginger gum. Then I took Dramamine, and then put the ear liquid stuff behind my ears. It started to get worse, so I laid down for a bit. It got closer to the time when I was supposed to play, so I tried to call my boss. He didn’t answer. I called James, and he informed me Peter was on stage.

I laid down again quickly, because I was beginning to feel the puking sensation. My phone rang a few moments later. I figured it was the bar asking me where I was, but to my surprise it was Colleen. She asked how I was, and I let her know I was feeling sea sick. She said she figured since she hadn’t seen me all day. She gave me Chris’s number (cruise director) and he told me to go to the infirmary.

I was half dressed in my tux, because I wasn’t sure if they were going to make me work (I would have thrown up if I had had too.) The place was pretty busy, with seasickness people. The seas were the roughest they had ever been. Many times an hour, I could feel the boat come out of water like a jet-ski, sending everybody on the ship into a free fall, before crashing into the water, which sounded like a fist punching in the walls of the whole ship. It was absolutely awful.

They asked me what meds I took and all that and I informed them, and within 2 minutes, they had my pants dropped and gave me a shot in the butt-ox. They then sent me to get my ID, but before I could leave, the ship jumped water again, and my stomach started preparing for vomiting. The nurses told me to go to my room and lay down and bring the ID back later. I ran to my room, untied shoes, and half dressed tux and all, and landed in my bed. Passing out hard.

I woke up after a couple hours to bring my ID to the nurses. My stomach didn’t hurt as bad, but I was VERY tired. The nurse told me I couldn’t play that night because the medicine was going to keep me extremely drowsy for the following 12 hours. I went to my room and fell asleep again.

Many times through out the night, the boat jumped harder and harder into the water, making crashing noises, and throwing stuff around in my room. It was miserable. When I did manage to sleep peacefully I woke up at 11:50. I slept for 17 hours.

I showered and went to lunch. Peter was there, and I talked with him. Turns out everyone was seasick yesterday. Even people who claimed they never get sea sick. They told me passengers weren’t walking about late either, so there probably wouldn’t have been people at the show. So I felt better about that.

Right now I still feel tired from all that medicine that was injected in me. I’m gonna try to move around. Write soon!

ALSO I found out I don’t have to leave the ship for a week. Pat, the person I am filling in for will come back the 16th.

Sea Day, and Whittier

When I got to the Atrium yesterday, all my fans from the piano bar were there. So it was a good gig. I really enjoyed it. I love talking with passengers that come to listen, because it does turn into a kind of friendship. I ate dinner afterwards, and bumped into Colleen so I ate with her. Found out she was going to the bar in town where we (the musicians) will be playing.

On our way back to our rooms she said she got tickets to go on the Yukon Trail tour, and asked if i wanted to go. I said as long as it doesn’t interfere with the time I’m playing, that would be fun.

I went back upstairs and started restringing my guitar, when Monica, a passenger that’s been to see me almost every night with her dad, sat and talked with me for a bit. She was 24, and from Texas. She will finish her degree in Psychology in December. She worked and tried to get her degree at the same time so it took a little longer. The last couple nights she had requested songs I didn’t know, but I took time to learn two of her requests, which I played, and she liked.

After that gig, I went and set up in the piano bar where she came and the others from the other night. It was a great night of conversation and music. And I made 146 dollars in tips! Best night thus far. Unfortunately, this will be my last week in the piano bar. A new piano player is coming in on the 2nd, so I’ll be forced to the atrium or the Deco Lounge. After the piano bar, i talked with Carlos (a man who has worked for Carnival for 15 years and was on vacation) Monica, Billy (the drawer, artist) and Megan, and tried to talk them all into coming into town to hang with us and the musicians. Within seconds, Monica and Carlos agreed.

We all met at the gangway, and approached a red van that took us to the Bar. When we got there, there were maybe 10 people in there... That were locals. I was beginning to worry. Monica said she was having a good time, and Carlos bought us our beer. He’s a real cool guy. Too bad he doesn’t work on our ship. So we chatted about lots of stuff, when suddenly the musicians showed up. And two minutes later, half the staff was there! The place was SLAMMED. Within minutes i was pulled up to play with the band. I sang “All My Loving”. And jammed through lots of different tunes. It was a great time. Colleen indeed showed up with her friends.

My boss, Peter, who is a very soft spoken guy, definitely let loose and was crazy! It was a great time.

At one point I mentioned to the Cruise Director that I would be leaving for a week. He told me he’d find room for me to stay if that’s what their (corporate) concern was.

When it came to leave, Colleen, her friend, Monica and I went back to the ship. We all went our separate ways and I fell asleep.

This morning I woke up with a massive headache, but I checked my email to see something from Chuck. He said that he was trying to work out the details of keeping me on the ship for the week, UNLESS I wanted to get off, which was just as easy to arrange. I told him if Pat wanted to come on immediately, I could take the week off and see some friends, It might help me through the next 4 months.

Won the Goo Contest, and maybe getting a week off the ship?

Yesterday, I got to a great start, by sleeping in until 11:30! I felt great though. It really helps to sleep in, especially when I’m up so late playing. I went to lunch, went about my day as usual. I found out I won the Goo Goo Doll Contest. 2 years in a row! So, I get a 100 gift certificate to a music store, and a bunch of Goo Goo Dolls stuff. But the fact that the Goos liked it so much made me happy enough.

I made my rounds of phone calls to tell people, and texted a lot of friends. I restrung my guitar, and went and did my 5-6 gig in the Deco. The room is just.. too weird for me. There were more people in it this time, but only one older woman was clapping. So I played more for her than anyone. She gave me a 5 dollar tip, so that was nice. Afterwards, I went to dinner, and sat and talked with Glenn, the drummer of the showband. He and I haven’t had much of a chance to chat, but he’s 47, and he’s from NYC.

He considers himself the “Garbage Man” of Carnival, because he takes all the filler jobs on the ships. If someone gets sick, he fills in for a few weeks, and leaves. He says he’s been on 5 ships in the last two years. They call him a lot. We talked about Frank Sanatra and how he was involved with the Mob, and how Mayor Gulliani got rid of the mob in NYC. It was a very cool conversation. Peter, the boss, sat down. I was asking about his job as MD and stuff a little more. Turns out.. I make more then him, and he’s been doing cruise ships a long time. I was kind of surprised because the Musical Directors are responsible for everything. If something goes wrong, all eyes turn to them. So... with that knowledge, I decided if I stay with Carnival, I may just avoid doing that, and just stick to solo, because I get paid so well as it is.

After dinner, I bumped into Bryan in the hall way. He had a bunch of photos that were taken of crew members they were going to sell, and sure enough I found a bunch of me with my guitar. I might a couple because they looked pretty cool.

I ran up to my gig at 8 in the Shanghai bar, and I had a couple people off and on. One gentleman gave me ten dollars. I took a 45 minute break in there during the show that was taking place. Luckily I did, because not ONE person walked by the room, let alone into it! So Nunik and I talked a lot, and then Dana, one of the store girls came in aggravated at someone she worked with. So we made her feel better.

At 9:30, no one was still there, so I pulled out my fakebooks of top pop music, and fooled around with stuff. Nunik came up and sang along too, and then people came in. My same group from the last few nights. It was a fun time. Megan sang Free Fallin’ with me, and we all managed to finish up by 1.

I went back to my room and started watching a movie, and fell asleep just to wake up at 12:45. I checked my email, and Chuck had emailed me back about the Casino job on the ship. He said that he had me scheduled to come back on the ship to take Doug’s spot on the 16th. If he meant “come back on”, that means I’d have to leave. Which I assume is September 9th, because that’s what I was originally told. I was under the impression that they would just keep me on until the 16th, then move me to the casino. But, I guess... they’ll just go the more expensive route. If that’s the case, I asked if I could fly into Charlotte, so that I could see some of my friends at Catawba, so I’m waiting for an answer back from Chuck.

Now I’m going through some songs before I play tonight. 5-6, and 7:15 to 8:15 in the Atrium, and 9-1 in the piano bar.

The last couple days, and my 1st month review.

I finished up yesterday walking through the rain for another hour and a half looking for the hardware store. They ended up selling me the wrong fuses even though I brought the right specifications. I got to talk to Amanda as well. She sounded good.I think she still misses it though. I know I’ll miss her ‘cause she was my good buddy.
I messed around with music a bit, took a nap, and hung around until Colleen called at ten. She came over and we watched a disc of Family guy which ended up being a little over two hours. After she left, I wrote a song, and went to sleep. Not sure if the song is keepable yet.
I woke up at 9 this morning in anticipation for the boat drill we were supposed to have. Though there was one called for the fire team, none was called for the rest of us, leaving me and a bunch of my musician counterparts confused and worried we had missed it. Turns out it was cancelled for us. The Coast Guard is conducting a drill next saturday so we wanted to make sure we knew what we were supposed to do.
I got my laundry together, and went and did that. Took naps in between loads. Ate lunch (mm mmm, fried chicken) Then I learned some new songs for my list, and tried recording some ideas down. Then it came to doing my first gig in the Deco lounge, so as I got there, an Art Seminar was taking place near where I’d be playing and I was asked if I could wait 15 minutes. No problems there. I went and said hi to Colleen, and let her see me in my tux, since apparently she hasn’t seen me in it yet. I also chatted with Megan for a bit.
At 5:15 (15 minutes after I was supposed to start) I got going, to an audience of exactly two people... who weren’t watching me... but were yet, looking out the window. So, I played quiet songs. At 5:50, people showed up and sat down, just in time for me to finish. But after I was done, I stood and talked on the mic with everyone for about 20 minutes. It was fun stuff. A few people promised to come see me late on.
I went to dinner after that, and that was... ok... Sat with Chris, the bass player, Jeff and another dude I don’t really know. They all asked if I was coming to jam in Whiter on Tuesday night, since it’s our last night of going there. (Every Whiter, the musicians go and set up in this bar in town, and they jam all night, and all the crew come out and party. I’ve missed it the last two times because I didn’t know about it. Apparently it’s an all night thing. Starts at 2 AM, and ends around 6. Since it’s the last night, I said I’d go).
Went back to my room, and messed more with my song. Then left to go to my gig about a half hour early to get a coffee to wake me up. On my way out of my hall, I saw Colleen talking with a friend. To avoid being rude, I just said hey and kept walking. After I reached a flight of stairs, she called for me to wait up. We met up with a friend of hers and they went shopping in the gift store. Looking at jewelry and such. Colleen made a joke about me looking to buy her something. But.. I laughed that off. She’s crazy. I don’t buy jewelry. Hah.
Afterwards, she walked me to the Coffee shop, and we split ways and I got my mocha, and went and played my gig. The crowd was pretty good tonight, and I was feeling good about singing. I was well rested and very talkative, and had a lot of fun making jokes and stuff.
Now I’m here writing this out.
It also occurred to me that 2 days ago was a month since I started working here, and I thought I should give the overall impression and feel of it all!

My impressions so far are that the job is really great. I’m getting paid very well to do what I love, I love the people I work with, the audiences have been a lot of fun, the scenery is gorgeous, having my own room rocks, big paychecks, getting hit on by older women, and so on and so forth. Honestly, as from this stand point, the only part of the job I wish I had was access to my best friends back home. Friendships come and go on the cruise ship, and that makes it hard to hang out with people and such. Right now Colleen is the only friend I hang out with. I see Leighton from time to time, and I have what I call “passing friends,” as in people who know me and I know, and we say hi, eat lunch and go our own way. Internet is kind of expensive too. But as of now I love it, and I find myself to be very lucky being able to do this for a living. This is a great back up career choice.
Well, I’m beat. Time to catch some ZZZs. ‘til I write again!

Cool stuff!

Yesterday ended up being a pretty cool day! I woke up at 10 to find my power was fixed. I ventured out around the ship and saw Colleen for a second, and then went into town looking for a hardware store. There were none in the immediate area, so I decided to wait until Juneau to get the fuses. When I got back on the ship, I checked my email and found that I had a couple from my good friend Amanda. She mentioned that AG, the head of the site the goo goo dolls contest I'm in, was trying to get ahold of me. So I called her and caught up with her since we hadn't spoken on the phone in months.

Then I called Nick and got filled in on his business. He applied to be an audio architect at Muzak. I filled him in on my royalty business, and got him excited. Afterwards, I searched my spam folder and found the email from AG, so I emailed him back and a few moments later I received an email from him saying:

"They thought you did awesome, and declined even picking a second place "band". The goos enjoyed your version of cant let it go so much, that, because of you, they have decided to add it back into their setlist at some point for the upcoming tour. Pretty high compliment dude.

If you go to a show on the upcoming tour let me know, we'll put you on the meet and greet list.

Great job derek..hang in there man and never give up."

So that definitely got me excited and I called all my closest friends. Afterwards, I pretty much had a the typical gigs. Non-responsive crowd in the Atrium, and a nice little bunch in the piano bar. I went to bed soon after because I had to be up at 8 this morning to wear the Bear Mascot suit for 3 hours for 50 bucks. Though I was very animated, it was rainy and wet and it wasn't a very pleasant experience. Water got into my feet paws, and it began getting colder which made it more miserable and a lot of people didn't want to hug me because the costume fur was so wet.

The first hour was a little crappy because It was hot and I felt a little sick in the thing. After that it was pretty laid back.

Afterwards, I went to lunch with Bryan, Megan and their boss. Then I came into town looking for a hardware shop but still can't find it. I located it online, so now I'm about to head that way!

After I record for a bit, I'm supposed to have a movie night with Colleen. Watch some Family Guy, and the Dark Knight, since she hasn't seen it. I like breaking people of their Dark Knight virginity. I have taken 5 :)

Okie, I'm off!

Thursday, Aug 20th

I slept a good 10 hours last night. All the way to 12:20. But I gotta tell you I felt great! Unfortunately in the middle of the morning I heard a pop noise, and it appears the power on two of my outlets went out. I let my room steward know, and I went for a quick lunch. Then ran up to get a Caper upstairs from the atrium. I saw Peter, and he told me that the photography department wanted to use me at either 6:15 or 8:30 to be in the costumes. Apparently Danielle and I were the only ones to sign up. It’s 50 bucks though.. You can’t argue with money. I’ll have to do it on my normal day off in Juneau. That’s the only part that blows. But I should be done late morning, and get to do my normal business in town.

I went to the CTC training area and talked with Simon for about an hour. Just random stuff.. Nothing too job related. He’s a cool guy though.

Afterwards I went back to my room, and the power was still out. So I went up stairs to the stores to see if I could buy a converter for the UK plug in my room. I did, and it was still recieving power, amazingly! So I hooked up everything through it, and blew two fuses on the speakers... Because.. apparently, they use a different kind for 220v outlets. So... that really sucked as well. But I did tinker with Logic anyways and messed around with some guitar effects and experimented with it. It really is a great software. BFD2 Drum software is MILES ahead of the last one, and it sounds so much more professional sounding. All I need is a shipshape mic and I could do my albums on my own! (But I need years of sound training to learn how to mix and all that.)

Did my 5-6 gig in the Atrium. Midway I was asked to turn down (which for some reason just deflates my energy, and drive for playing.) So I did, and that’s what happened. I went to dinner, and had some steak, rice, and spinach with mushrooms. Peter came and sat with me and we talked about the place I’m playing. He thinks if I’m not filling the place up at 8, that I should use that hour some place else, which I agree. I found out he’s been working on cruiseships since ’92. He’s been with Carnival for 6 1/2 years, and a Musical director for 1 1/2. He plays saxophone. He just tries to stay on the ships, so no home life. He said he got an email about my CD, and Now I have to record a cover of Carnival’s “theme song” and do a commercial kind of deal, and send it in again. THEN I can order them, and get to selling.

After dinner, I headed back to my room and messed more with Logic, and BFD.. got lots of cool ideas down.. But probably nothing concrete.

Went to do my gig in the Shanghai bar, and a couple people showed up from last night, and then it was moderate for about an hour. Then it was about 8 people for the rest of the night. An officer and his friends (an officer of the ship) was down having drinks and listening. He told me he thought I was great and he loved when I played pink floyd the other night. So I played two for him, and he bought me a shot of something.. It sat on the piano for over an hour before I drank it... but it hurt when it went down, and I was definitely feeling it the rest of the gig.

I met a gentleman and his wife/girlfriend. I placed them in their 20’s. Turns out they were 50, and 40. I couldn’t believe it. The woman looked SO Young.. no wrinkles, very attractive. I was quite surprised. I met another gentleman who wants to play on cruise ships and do what I do, so I explained the whole process to him.

At the end of the night, I packed it up and headed to my room. Now that Amanda’s not here, I have no one to make me go to disco, so I probably will become less social in that department. Unless Colleen makes me go. But I didn’t see her today, so that won’t happen. Anyway, I’m going to bed!

2 days of craziness..

I’m installing some software right now, so I thought I would write my blog for yesterday and part of today while I’m waiting for it to finish.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from Amanda about going to lunch at 11:30. But I declined. I was far too tired. I got up closer to 1 PM. I restrung my guitar, and did my usual stuff.

I had to play in the atrium from 5-6. A lot of the people that had been watching me from the night before were there. It was fun. After I finished, I went to dinner with Amanda in the Crew mess. I had a cheeseburger and fries and she had her usual salad. Leighton was there too. So we chatted it up for awhile.

Afterwards, I went back to my room and burned a LOT of my albums, to give to those who tipped. When I went to set up, I chatted with Nunik for a bit about why she hasn’t dated in awhile. And then Rachel came by, and picked up an album and said goodbye. She had lots of packing to do and she needed a real night’s sleep. So she didn’t stick around A lot of people tipped and I managed to give out over 20 albums. The night gig was pretty quiet for a few hours. Then it picked up, but my lack of sleep caught up me and I just wasn’t feeling the energy. But it was my boss’s last night, as well as Roxanne’s last night... So after the gig, I went to the crew bar to find my Boss was already in bed, but Roxy was there with Colleen and the other girls from the front desk. I hung around for a little bit and chatted. Then headed to the disco because I promised a lot of the people that saw me I’d come out to see them.

It was pretty dead there, but there were all there. A couple people told me they had agents and such that they would give my album too. So, lots of networking! I spoke with some girl from Illinois for an hour or so. She was the girl dancing it up with Gabe the other night. She was a little aggravated that he didn’t come up to say goodbye, since they were kind of hanging out over her cruise. (The reason was that he kinda didn’t really like her,) but I played along and just pulled the ignorance card.

After that, I went to sleep.. Then I got a phone call at 7:30 am. I answered, and it was Amanda crying. She said she was fired and had to be off the boat by 9. I asked her what she did, and she said she didn’t know. She asked me to come say goodbye to her and that she’d call me. But by 9:10 I hadn’t gotten a call. So I went out looking for her, and couldn’t find her... So... I’ll be pretty sad if I didn’t get to give an official goodbye. Hopefully I’ll hear from her soon.

I went into town, and got Apple Logic to record some new music, and some monitors so I could mix my music on something real.. and not my laptop speakers. I also bought 2 weeks worth of strings (12 boxes). The speakers were pretty heavy. I had to walk them back 10 blocks back to the ship, which seemed pretty impossible. But half way there, one of the bar cleaners, who is indonesian saw me and helped me carry one back to the ship. He said he hears me every night and really likes my music and thinks I’m really good. I was most grateful.

I got back on the ship, and came and showed James and Colleen my stuff, since they were both at guest services. We chatted for a bit, and then I lugged my stuff down to my room, reorganized my desk so that my speakers would fit (I had to move the tv... I’ll probably let someone who doesn’t have one in their room use it.) And I’ve been installing Logic and BFD 2... as I take 10 minute naps here and there. But now I gotta shower, and get ready for boat drill. I play at 7:30 to 8:15 in the Atrium, and then 9-12 or 1. Hopefully 12. Tonight I’m going to sleep like a baby.

ALSO, earlier when I was checking the internet, I saw that the semifinalists were voted in by the judges. Out of all 5 groups, the Goo Goo Dolls picked me. They were allowed two votes, and they only picked me! So that was pretty awesome. I’m supposed to see the comments after the voting from the people is over. SOOO!! Yay. Ok, going to shower up!

Just got out of boat drill and our bi-weekly meeting. The boat drill was same as usual, but Bryan told me Amanda was fired because they didn’t like her attitude. Sad for sure... The staff meetings just have all the staff members in a room while our boss tells us what’s going on, and all that stuff. The big boss that was here with his family enjoyed their trip, so it was all good stuff. I talked with Danielle (one of the show girls) for a quick second. She told me she went to the beach today. This is out last cruise to Whittier. Afterwards, we’re go to the glacier bay for two cruises, and then Hawaii! Mark, the assistant cruise director read one comment card, and it was for me, and it read “Derek in the Shanghai Lounge went way above and beyond. He truly made my experience on the boat and in the bar something to remember. He learned 8 songs requested by me and 2 other guys on his off time. He is the coolest guy and I will miss his humor and his beat. Thank you Derek for making my trip awesome.” Everybody clapped for me, and Danielle added the “thanks for playing in the crew bar!” So, that was pretty awesome.

On my way back to my room, I was walking with Doug and Jim, the other two soloists, and they said jokingly “Man you really went far and above to write that stuff about yourself.” and “The must have been one wild night with that girl.” I think I know who wrote it. My guess is Rich. But it could have been either Rich, Neil or Dean. Sooo,we’ll see!

Then I went to dinner, and saw Colleen and her friend from guest services. Colleen and I are supposed to go to the supper club soon, but the last two times her friend couldn’t make it, so I said I’d take them both. Good for them because they can go together, and good for me because I look like a pimp. Haha. After dinner, I walked them to their hallway, and Colleen said depending on how she felt she might come out to see me. I begged.... I have no pride. She told me to keep my fingers crossed... So.. YEAH.

Afterwards, I continued installing my software, and got ready for my first gig of this cruise.

I played it and people seemed to like it. I was definitely feeling the tiredness. My voice needed a good break. After I finished, I bumped into Marina and talked with her for a bit, then ran and set up to play. It was quite dead. Met a guy named Bill, from Kentucky. He’s 27. Nice guy. Flirted with Nunik a lot.

Colleen came out to see me! During my break I went and talked with her for awhile. Then went back up when two older ladies came in. One of them was hitting on me.. I thinking she thought I was a lot older than what I am.. My new boss, Peter came to see me..but I had just finished. So I introduced myself.

Afterwards, I walked Colleen to her room, and I came to mess with my new software and play with it. Now I’m going to bed!!!

Monday, August 19

I woke up today at about 9:45 to go into town to Walmart. As I was leaving my room, I saw my room steward in a room cleaning... and I noticed in the window behind him.. the boat was still moving. He informed me we wouldn’t stop until 11 AM.

So I went back to bed because I needed the sleep. By 12, I woke up again, and went out into the sideways rain. It was freezing cold, and raining hard. I looked around town for the Walmart shuttle. Eventually I ran into Bryan and Megan. When the little shuttle came, it turned out all would fit but me... So I got out to get in the next one. Megan and Brian followed, and we managed to get on a non-squished shuttle.

The town is a lot larger than I thought, for the Walmart was a good ten minutes away and we passed LOTS of places.

Eventually we got there, and it was the standard Walmart. So I went in and got Madden ‘10 for my psp, Family Guy Volume 7, and a 5 dollar movie. I also had a sub at Subway. Eventually I bumped back into Bryan and Megan and we all left together. But the same problem arose when it came to coming on. There was a little room, that I thought I could squeeze into, but some weasel jumped in right in front of me, not giving me a chance. So I just got in the other one by myself. When I arrived back to port, Bryan was waiting for me. So that was cool.

I went back to my room and watched Family Guy, and tried my game out. Turned out I didn’t hae to work until 9:30, So I just hung low.

At 8ish, I was checking my email, and I got an Email from Pumpaudio.com stating they sent my check to my address but it was sent back. They mixed half of my college address and my home address together. So I emailed them and said I’d do direct deposit. I just assumed I probably made 50 bucks or something from song use. TURNS OUT... I made 902 dollars from my songs being used in TV, Website, and other miscellaneous things. “Tainted”, the one song I had no desire for on my album, made me 700 of that.. So.. it was exciting. I’m using that money to order the CDs I sell on the ship.

Gerhard knocked on my door and gave me a stand for the poster that would go in front of the Shanghai Bar. I retrieved my poster, and it was very cool looking. I’ll post it soon.

I got to playing at 9:30 and it was busy once again with everyone singing along. The majority of the music played was music from the last 20 years... I got to play some oldies towards the end, but it was all very fun. Amanda also got the job for CNN as a reporter. She starts in November! I had a couple shots of some very strong drink.. One was from the bartender.. and the Cruise Director came in and bought me one.. I couldn’t turn it down because.. we’ll... he’s the big boss.. So.. that burned.. I definitely don’t like that feeling.

Afterwards, Rachel was back, so we hung out and talked for a few hours. Clocks went forward an hour sometime through out the night, and I ended up going to bed at 6 am. Soo... Gross... I did manage to see the sunrise over the ocean.. It was very worth it.. SO beautiful... So.. I’m going to bed!

Best tip night so far!

Yesterday ended up being very uneventful. When I got back to my room from doing all the stuff in town, I went and laid down for a nap. Within a few minutes, someone knocked at my door, and it was the drummer of the showband asking if he could switch me in for Port Manning for a couple hours so he could go into town. I agreed, and went back to sleep. I got a phone call at 3, and it was Colleen. I informed her that I couldn’t get off the boat for the movie. I apologized and went back to sleep. At around 7ish, I went up and made a phone call and went back to my room, and watched movies. At about 11ish, I wrote a song which I hope to record in the coming days.
I went to bed, and slept until 9. I got up and watched another movie, showered, put laundry in the washer, and saw Amanda in there. So me and her went and got Leighton and went and ate lunch. After chatting and eating for about a half hour, we went back to the laundry and waited. At one point, Nunik came in (the bartender at the piano bar for the next week and a half.) We talked for a bit... Then I went back to my room and practiced some new songs like “On the Road Again,” “American Pie”, “Sitting at a bar”, and “Imagine.”
Got my clothes out of the dryer afterwards, put them away, and practiced more. Then watched “Click.” Afterwards, got dressed in my tux, and went and played a set in the atrium. It went by fairly quick and was a decent crowd. Dropped my stuff off at the piano bar and then went and ate some dinner. Decided to go back to the guest services desk and talk with Colleen and apologize for not going to the movie. She didn’t go, and said there’s always next time. Roxanne, another girl that I’ve seen before hanging with Colleen (she was also the girl to tell me to say hi to her in the crew party a few days ago,) is being moved to the Pride on Wednesday. Her and I haven’t had much of a conversation before but she said the next few days are going to be “party hard” days.
Amanda walked down and asked if I had dinner, and though I said I did, I went with her just to give her company. We talked and joked about lots of stuff. Leighton leaves in under two weeks, and I said “Are you trying to get me in the picture now so that when Leighton leaves, I just fill the void he’d be leaving and you have a replacement boyfriend?” She said yes jokingly...
After dinner, I went back to the room and took a nap. Got up and went to the piano bar, and started getting set up. Within a few minutes of nine, the bar was packed, and it became the busiest it has ever been with me in there. I made 96 dollars in tips. I spoke with a gentleman who said he was so impressed with my playing, especially the Piano Man on guitar. He told me he had a custom Les Paul from ’68, and that he might send it to me because he thinks I could make good use out of it. I hope that’s true!
Rachel, a passenger who worked for myspace, that had been to see me a couple times before was hanging around tonight. After my gig, her and I had a chat about lots of stuff. Her job, the lay off, her dad, boyfriend, my songwriting and such. Then we went and got pizza. I got Salmon pizza. Pretty damned good. And we went out on the back of the ship. It was FREEZING and raining. The boat was rocking a lot!
I told her I’d hang out tomorrow night after the gig if she wanted too. It has been a really great cruise this round. I was told again tonight I was hands down the best entertainer on the ship. So.. all good stuff. Tomorrow is Ketchikan. I think I’m going to see Walmart. It’s 3:34... gotta sleep!

Sitka and the Crew Party (cool movie title)

After 4 hours of sleep, my alarm woke me up at 8 am. Took the shower, and went to the safety class. It was pretty much what I’ve been learning all along. It was about 2 and a half hours. But it was pretty cool. Joanne and Simon taught it well and it was fun, so it wasn’t bad.

Afterwards, I went to my room, and gave Colleen a call about going to Sitka. When we got to the line to get on the lifeboat to ride to town, it was HUGE! And they were taking their sweet ass time letting us off. We sat in line for 20 minutes before they let anyone of the crew on there. Passengers had been allowed to get on since early that morning... Soo.. After 45 minutes of waiting, we finally managed to get on and ride to town.

We went to the electronic store to get Family Guy, Volume 7... But OF COURSE.. they didn’t have it.. Or Madden 10 for psp.. But I guess that’s expected in Alaska.. I’m sure they get stuff later than the other states.

We went to Subway again and got two philly cheese steaks this time, and um.. orange juice. Then we headed back to the ship, and we parted to take naps. I slept until 4:30, went and got a coffee to wake up, then went to play my 5-6 gig. It was busy.. took a few songs to really warm up.. Then I was feeling good.

When I finished up, I came back to watch “Me, Myself, and Irene.” I took another hour nap, and went to play at the piano bar, which only had a few people up until 11:20, then people showed up, but I had to break down at 11:30 , and run to the crew bar.

James had set up the speaker and stuff for me. The cruise director, Chris was there, as was a lot of the crew... Already drinking and ready to go. I got off to a great start with all the upbeat popular songs I knew. It was VERY hot. Two people got me two liter bottles of water. After a few songs, Chris (the bass player) came up and played with me, and then Gabe came in on the guitar. We jammed on many songs and it really was a great time. The most fun I’ve had performing yet. Gabe, Chris and I talked about possibly putting together a little band. I brought it up to Gerhard (though he’s leaving in a few days) but he thought it’d be a great idea to do an hour set a couple times a cruise. So I’ll talk to the guys and the new MD and see if we can pull that off.

AFTER all of that, I helped James broke down, and I went to my room and slept.

I woke up this morning at around 10:20... I did NOT want to wake up. I checked my account and my first paycheck was in. 1436 dollars. Slightly more than the 700 a day.

I grabbed a hot and a raincoat, and ran into town. I had Mcdonalds for lunch since I haven’t had it in over 3 and a half weeks. It was good.. but it wasn’t as great as everyone seemed to make it out to be.

I came to the internet cafe afterwards, and am just looking around online. I walked through the electronic store here.. Everything’s about 5% over what it is in the continental US. Lots of used PCs and Macs, video games, Bose speakers, car stereos and ipods. Nothing of value to me.

Got Gerhard’s email and number while I was sitting here and chatted with him, and that’s about it right now.

As of yesterday I was supposed to go see G.I Joe with Colleen.. but as of now I haven’t really talked with her about it, so I might just hang in my room tonight and some some good needed rest. I played until about 3 AM last night..

So.. until then!

Movies, BUSY night, with a little Disco

9:30... I woke up, and went out to do the boat drill. It sure was FREEZING... God... was it cold. Had to be in the lower 40s. But it went by real fast. Then I headed to my room, and got showered up and went to lunch. Afterwards, I went to my room, watched “Pleasantville’, worked on a experimental song.... then watched part of “Simon Birch.” Before I left to play my gig in the Atrium, I almost forgot to put on my TUX. So... I did that quickly, and went and played. It was a really good group watching today. One woman that saw me yesterday asked for “Grounded,” so I got to playing that. Warm reception. After I finished up, I went to dinner, and managed to catch a few minutes of the 4th quarter in the Steelers preseason game. They won 20-10! Cool stuff..

Finished up “Simon” and looked through some of my footage from the movie we never finished. Really funny stuff. Made me really miss all my friends from college, like Nick, Drew, Paul, Jake and Caibel. It’s a shame that the chances of getting us all together are real slim.

I went to my gig at the Shanghai bar... and as I was setting up, I realized my microphone was missing. I ran back to the atrium, and Jim had already set up his stuff, and he wasn’t around... I saw Colleen at the guest services desk, so I said my hellos to her. She told me she was working until 12:30 so I told her to come see me, and I’d play her the Killers song I learned for her. I ran back to my room and grabbed my spare mic, and went back to get started. I started playing around for a few minutes, and within a half hour, the whole bar was full of people singing along and having a great time. The gig flew so fast. Amanda came by, and I asked her if she could ask Jim if he had my mic. She asked if I wanted to go to Disco... I wasn’t really feeling it.. so I told her “We’ll see.”

At the end of the gig, I managed to pull in 49 dollars in tips, and have a lot of people tell me they’d be back tomorrow. Though at one point during the night my age came up, and I asked the crowd how old they thought I was. Someone told me 34... then someone else said 27. Pretty insulting for the 34.. But they all said my sound and the way I interacted didn’t seem like that of a 22 year old so they were all shocked. As I was breaking down, Amanda and Leighton came by and told me to meet them at the crew bar. So I broke down, and before I left, Colleen stopped in... but she was too late. She told me she was going to crew bar and that I should come along... And I did the whole “eh... I really don’t want to.” but she said “You’re coming! I’ll see you there” and she walked off. So I took my stuff to my room, got out of my tux, and into a dress shirt and tie, and went to the crew bar. I saw Amanda immediately and she instructed me to get a drink. So I got a corona. I went back and she was talking to someone else so I just drank my beer and looked at the tv. One of Colleen’s friends was sitting by Amanda, and she yelled my name and said “Colleen is over there! Go say hi to her!” I turned and saw her walking from the bar with two large water bottles. I said Hi, but she said she had to take those to her room, and she quickly walked off. So... alone... I went back to where Amanda was, and I saw that jim was sitting down. So I sat and had a talk with him about the job. He’s a real cool guy. He told me Doug is making 1000 a week, and he’s been at the company 5 years. And another friend of his makes 1200 a week, and he’s been 7. Pretty promising pay for the work that we do, if I had nothing else going on. Definitely something to keep in mind.

Colleen had come in by then and was sitting with a bunch of the guest services girl, and Simon. So I went over to say hello to Simon, and told him that I had a class tomorrow morning at 9. Turns out he’s teaching it. He said he would get it done as fast as possible so we could all go into town. Colleen mentioned she was going into town around twelve, and I asked if I could tag along. After a bit of talking, Simon said he was going to crash since he had to be up two hours before me. Soon after, Colleen said she was going to bed, so I walked her to her room, and told her I’d call her around 11:45 about going out.

Then I headed to disco because I told Amanda I would. When I got there, the place was dead... SO I turned around and went back to my room. Now the disco is on the complete opposite side of the ship. So It’s a good 7 minute walk. When I opened my door, my phone was ringing. I was sure it was Amanda calling to ask where I was and why the hell I wasn’t at the disco. But it was a softer voice, and it turned out to be Colleen. She asked if I wanted to go to Disco. I agreed, and she said she’d meet me there. So... I walked back, and there were a bit more people. I saw Debbie, and she said hi and introduced me to her roommate. Gabe was there, so I said my hellos to him. Two gentleman that had seen me play the last two nights came and complimented me on my set and asked if I was there to party. I saw some of Colleen’s friends and informed them she was on her way. They didn’t believe me.. But eventually she showed up. Me, Colleen and two of her friends went out on the dance floor and danced for awhile. Gabe was dancing dirty with this one girl. He had some moves on him. Colleen asked if I wanted to see a movie in Juneau with her on Saturday since she gets a day off.. her first in like two months. So, I said of course, and I asked if she wanted to go to supper club since going alone was kind of boring, and she said she would for sure.

After dancing the night away, we all went to our cabins, and here I am... ready to get 4 hours sleep... before this class, Sitka with Colleen, an early gig, a piano bar gig, and the crew bar gig... Then my day off on Saturday! So... here I go!

Wed. August 12th

Today, I slept in until 11 am. I didn’t set any alarms, so that I could get all the sleep my body wanted. Showered up, and went to lunch. They didn’t have much that I liked so I ordered a cheeseburger.

Afterwards I went up to get a Caper from the atrium, and I saw that Colleen was working. So I went over and said hello, and chatted for a few minutes, since we didn’t talk yesterday. I got her some goldfish from the bar, since she hadn’t eaten and wasn’t going to be able to until 5. As she got a customer, I backed off and saw an entertainment girl wearing a “just ask” shirt. These are the people that passengers ask questions when in doubt. So I took it upon myself to be a smartass and walked over to her and asked “How many fish are in the ocean?” She guessed a billion, but then I had to bring her my reasoning how that couldn’t be true, because there are 6 billion people on the planet.. and a lot of us eat fish... And a billion.. well.. I just think we’d eat through that in a day. I suggested she ups her guess to the trillions.

We started talking, and found out she’s from Idaho. Once again, I was a smart ass. I asked “where are you from?” and she said “Idaho.” I said “Ummm.. That’s neat but that doesn’t answer my question.” I think she rolled her eyes, and I said “Yeah.. I’m sure you’ve heard that a million times.” Her name is Jenn. She was valedictorian at her college of Boise State University... So I’m guessing she’s a brain. What she’s doing on a ship, I haven’t a clue. But we talked about the ship, her home, and her plans. I asked a lot more questions than she did. She probably wasn’t interested... and was bored with my info. So I left her alone after a bit. (Sometimes I can be a little forward with knowing people.. and it tends to bug smart people... From experience.)

I went back to my room, and practiced some music. I walked back to the atrium and saw a blonde spa girl sitting at a table. I went over and introduced myself since I was feeling social. Her name was Debbie. She was from England and she gave massages. We talked about her job, and I found out it’s all commission.... Which kind of sucks because this particular cruise isn’t the most popular of things to do on board... But she was real cool. She’ll be around for 2 and a half more months. I told her I’d come get a massage sometime.

Then made a couple phone calls to a couple friends. Jenn at some point sat down near me and made a phone call as well. I gave a little hello, but now I gotta play the whole “yeah I see ya, but I’m not going to start the convo,” attitude. If she wants to talk, then she will, and all my other accusations will be proven wrong!

I got playing at 5 in the Atrium, and had a.. quiet time. A lot of people around, not too many paying attention.. But then I managed to fill the bar up. Afterwards, I took my stuff to the piano bar, and saw that the jazz band was playing, so I watched them for the rest of their set.

Then went to dinner with them. Hung out at the mess for over an hour. Then went to my room, listened to music until 8:30, went to the shanghai bar, got set up. I saw Nunik there. We both predicted it would be a dead night, because.. well the first night is usually the worst. But within a couple hours it was really busy and I had a lot of traffic inside. I had a lot of fun.

Amanda got off work at 11, so she came by and requested song after song. She was very bossy, which made all the passengers again think we were dating. She even went and got dressed up real nice and came back. Today I found out she had an interview with CNN over the phone and passed the first interview. She has a follow up Friday.

I came back to my room and I think I’m going to go to sleep. Drill at 9:30 tomorrow... Gross...

Saying Goodbye

What a sad night this has become. My day started with a 5 minute drill... Afterwards, went to lunch and ate a cheeseburger with my boss. After that, I went to my room, and watched the movie “Live Free or Die Hard.” Really cool movie. I’ve seen it multiple times. Afterwards, I took a game up to Edwuardo at the Atrium. He just got a new PSP with no games.. so I thought I’d let him borrow one. I saw Colleen at the help desk. I waved, since she looked busy. Then I went to my room and napped until my gig at 5. I played in the deco lounge. It was a moderate crowd. They were quite but clapped after each song.
After that, I took my stuff to the piano bar, went to dinner, then went back to my room to burn some CDs to sell. Went up to the bar, and started fooling around with some songs while no one was in watching. At about 8:25, a woman came in and started listening. She asked for 90’s music for the most part. Then she went on to tell me that her and her husband were fighting and are probably going to divorce after this cruise. She said this was their last real try at making things right but it just didn’t work. Then he walked in the room.. talk about awkward.
She said she’d be back later, so I took my break until 9:30. Neil showed up around 10, and then I had a nice moderate crowd throughout the evening. Mel came by to buy a CD. I managed to sell 13 of them. I met a woman named Kelley, who was a very gorgeous woman, and singer. Turns out she was 43... I wouldn’t have guessed anything over 29. She sang along a lot, and was real cool. She performs for a living as well.
By the end of the night, it was Dean, Rich, Neil, and Hilary (the girl I thought was Neil’s girlfriend.) Hilary was goodbye to everyone, and gave us all a hug. The guys wanted me to go to disco with them, so I went to my room to drop off my stuff, and on my way there, they were all walking back. They said it was closed, so we all went up to the lido deck to talk and eat pizza. We had some great talks about girls, work, life and all that stuff. Then it came to the goodbyes. It was really weird, because I really felt like I got to know these guys well. Like enough to be friends I’d hang with on a daily basis. So it was sad to say goodbye. It was like highschool or college graduation. They all complimented me many times and said they would help promote me, and they know I’ll make it soon. Hopefully I’ll run into all of them sometime in the future. They made this cruise a blast.
Well, It’s late. I’m going to sleep IN tomorrow!! No alarm will wake me!

Fun stuff

This morning, I woke up at about 9 o’clock. Took a shower, shaved and all the stuff that comes with that. I figured I’d call Colleen after 10, incase she was sleeping in. So when I did call, she sounded like she just woke up, but she said she’d call and we’d meet at 11.

So, at 11 we met up and boarded the lifeboat that took us to shore. She’d never been in the town so I was her tour guide per say. We walked around and talked about lots of random stuff. Went into a electronic store. I found that the 7th season of Family Guy is out, which I was not aware of... Sooo.. Now I really want it. Found out she likes Family Guy a lot.. and CSI.

After that we looked around a diamond shop... Lots of things were 25% off.. but I had nothing to compare that too since they don’t show the prices. We walked a little further just to see some of the town, and then we came across a Subway!! So we went there. It was the craziest thing though. They make such a deal about the 5 dollar foot longs at home. Well... they had the same advertisement paper up.. except instead of the 5, it was the 7 dollar footlong... We decided to get two footlong subs and we’d just split them, so we could try them both out. I got philly cheese steak, and she got the tuscan chicken sub. They were both delicious, but the philly cheesesteak was definitely awesome. I had hollipinos put on it... Bad mistake... SOOO HOT. But we chatted about lots of stuff, and then we headed back to board the ship since she had to be at work by 2.

I walked her to room, and came to notice I locked myself out of my room (left my card key inside.) So I went up to guest services, and they told me to call room services. As I was walking back from there, I bumped into Colleen again, as she was on her way to work there. Explained the situation, then went down and called room services. They sent a person over, and I got in. I restrung my guitar, and just decided to take an hour and a half nap since I was supposed to play a private party at 5:15.

At 5, I walked to go get set up. In the middle of setting up, Gerhard came to me, and said I was double booked, but he wanted me to play in the Deco lounge instead. So I moved all my stuff over to the deco lounge to play in front of 2 people up until the last 2 songs.. Then I got the whole room filled.

Afterwards, I dropped the stuff off in the piano bar, and bumped into the jazz band. I ended up going to dinner with Jeff and Gabe. Gabe dissappeared after a few seconds, but I sat with Jeff, and then Milan joined us, as well as Megan. Apparently Megan missed work this morning, because she didn’t hear her three alarm clocks, the two phone calls or the two visits by security knocking. She partied kind of hard last night. She came to the realization that she has a problem. She could possibly be fired. Sad news.. Keeping my fingers crossed that that isn’t true.

After dinner, I worked on my poster for the piano bar with Gerhard. Then went, got set up, and played a long night. But I managed to fill the bar up tonight. It was a lot of fun. During my one and only break, and I went and visited Colleen at work. Just said hi.. haha.. Wasn’t much to it. Then talked with Milan about him getting a new mac.

So I played until 1 (totaling up the time I played, I managed 5 and a half hours, not including breaks. Made 32 dollars in tips. It was a good night. Neil was definitely hyping me up tonight. Gotta give him a lot of credit for helping me out. He said it’s a shame he’s leaving ‘cause we’d be good friends. He also said he’d hype me up to everyone at home.

After the gig, I’m just coming home to pass out. Got life raft drill tomorrow.. 10:15... oh joy.

Sun, August 9th

What a weird day!! I got up at about 10 this morning, and showered up in time for lunch. As I almost finished, Colleen came in, and sat with me and we ate. Last night, I did my whole “You jerk” spiel (which is when someone does something slightly un-nice, I say that, jokingly of course... but she isn’t used to that part of my personality yet.) She was like “You’re mean!” So, I told her I would buy her skittles if she’d forgive me (which is her favorite candy.) So when she was sitting with me, I asked if the town was large at all. She said it’s pretty small and not much to do, though some nice resturaunts. I asked if there were any convience stores where I could possibly get skittles. She went on about how I didn’t have to get her any, but I insisted.
After lunch, I walked her to work (which just so happened to be where the gangway entrance is) and I went out into the town. The town Skagway was about 1/4th a mile away from the ship. There was a train outside waiting to pick people up, I walked by a little river with fish trying to jump upstream, which I thought was pretty neat looking. When I managed to reach town.. it looked like an old western town.. Except in Alaska... But it followed the pattern of the other Alaskan towns... Lots of fur and diamond shops. So I walked and searched for skittles. The mountains surrounding the town were quite amazing looking. It was raining slightly.
After one walk around the town, I stopped at Starbucks and got a iced mocha. It tasted about the same as the coffee on the ship, and was 3X more expensive! (On the boat, we get a discount, so an iced mocha is like 2.20 dollars, and on land it was $6.75.)
I did another loop to make sure I didn’t miss any places.. WHICH I DID!
I saw a candy/ice cream/ treat shop. I thought to myself, YES... they MUST have skittles. So I walked over and took a small step inside and looked around. They had the jelly bean dispensers and all that, and I was about to look away until I saw that one of the dispensers said peanut M&Ms. If they had that, they MUST have SKITTLES! And sure enough... 2 dispensers over, I saw in lower case letters, skittles.
So, I just filled a little bag of skittles and bought them. I think I over estimated the amount of skittles that come in a normal bag.This was close to a two pound bag. Woops.. Kind of expensive...
I hurried back to the ship, so that I could practice all the new songs I added to my setlist. When I got on the ship, I saw that Colleen was at the main desk, and wasn’t on the phone or with passengers, so I walked over and dropped the bag on the counter, which made kind of a loud sound. She said “Wow.. Someone isn’t happy.” I denied any angry intentions and gave her her skittles, which she said made her day and should last her her whole contract.
I walked to my room and practiced... A lot... and managed to do laundry (took three tries with dryers before one actually did its job.) I got dressed in my tux, and went to go play in the deco lounge... But when I got there, there was a projection screen, and a man explaining what to look for in paintings and such. I sat down and expected him to be done at 5 (the time I started playing.) But.. he didn’t stop. He just kept going... So after another half hour, I just took my stuff to the piano bar, and found the assistant cruise director, and let him know the area was double booked and I wasn’t slacking on the job. He said no problems and that he would let my boss know.
I hung around the atrium and talked with friends for a bit, and then went down to the crew mess and ate some dinner. Steak and this spinach stuff with corn and cheese. SOOOO freaking good. My God.. I look forward to eating that again soon!
After dinner, I found myself to be pretty bored, so I just went and set up my computer and stuff in the piano bar, and practiced a little with the “Viva La Vida” track I made. I did that up until 8, and then a few people came in and I played ‘til 10:30ish without any breaks. “Viva La Vida” went over VERY well, and it got people very excited. I played lots of the new tunes I learned, and they were all recieved very well. Managed to meet a couple from Charlotte, NC and we got to talking about my college and radio and the town and stuff. Real nice folks. I played “VLV” three times by request, and “Hotel California” twice. Katrina, the bar waitress, asked for it. She’s from Russia. ALL the guys have a crush on her. She is very pretty. She’s almost 30, and she doesn’t look a day over 21. She has a very friendly way about her, but I think that sends the wrong messages to all the men, because they all tend to come to visit her... She thanked me a lot for playing the song for her and she kissed my cheek (which really isn’t a big deal, because a girl from Russia stayed with me at my home 5 years ago, and she kissed both my cheeks and thanked me and went on to tell me that that was just what they do.) All the passengers that saw went “OOooo” but it’s all just friends.
Katrina told me Agnes was looking forward to being the bar waitress next week. Agnes was working in the atrium when I first started and she loved my music. Apparently she told Katrina, she doesn’t care if she makes any money, she just wants to watch me play. Katrina thinks she likes me for more than my music. But who knows. Agnes is a cool friend. She just had her 25th birthday a few days ago. It’s cool to know I’ll get to work with her again. She’s a cool girl.
So I finished up my sets with a couple piano tunes, “A Long December” by the Counting Crows, and “Hallellujah” by Jeff Buckley. I packed up my stuff, talked with Rich, Neil and Dean for a bit. Katrina asked me to go to the crew bar and have a drink with her and Edwuardo. I agreed for one drink, so I ran to my room, got on some shorts, a polo shirt and my sneakers. I noticed I had a message on my phone, so I checked it, thinking it was probably my boss letting me know about the private party I was playing (he left me a note on my door.) It was actually Colleen, saying “I know you’re in the middle of your set, but I wanted to see if you wanted to come into town with me tomorrow around 11. Give me a call in the morning and let me know! Hope you had a great set tonight!”. After listening, I headed to the bar... Katrina and Edwuardo weren’t there yet, so I went and got a drink and talked with Gabe, Jeff and Megan. After hanging for 15 minutes, I kinda figured they weren’t coming, and Gabe invited me to come along to the crew mess to get a bite to eat. So we went on over, and I ate some salmon. While I was getting my food I saw Katrina there eating with Agnes. I waved and said my hellos and went to eating.
Talked with Gabe about recording, God, and women for a bit. After we finished up, I came to my room and here I am. Tomorrow, I guess I’ll be going into town with Colleen and playing 5:15 for a private party... So.. ‘til then!

Aug. 8th

Today, I woke up at 9:30... and I still felt like I needed more sleep. But I forced myself to get up and take a shower and go into town. I went straight to the internet cafe, which wasn’t open for another 20 minutes. So, I just walked around, and called Nick and checked in on him. Afterwards, I saw my boss outside the internet cafe, I let him know about the night before, and he told me to keep playing when a customer asks me to break.

I went inside, and checked all the internet stuff, and bought a bunch of new songs to learn for the new sets. 18 to be exact. I chatted with some friends, ate some enchaladas for lunch, and headed back to the boat. On my way, I was listening to music on my Ipod, and i got a hard hit to the arm, and i thought I had accidentally hit someone. Turned out to be Colleen. But by the time I realized she was too far away to say anything. Before I got to the boat, I called my dad and filled him in on stuff.

So, I got on the ship. and worked on getting a track together for “Viva la Vida.” Practiced through some of the new songs. Then took an hour nap, went and ate dinner. Went up stairs to the atrium to let Colleen know I didn’t see her when we were walking. Then invited her to go to something tonight. She said she’d be available around 10:30,. I talked with Milan, the piano player about recording and Mac Computers. He’s looking into getting one, and he asked me lots of questions..

Afterwards I went to my room and practiced more and more, until 10:30ish, and I called Colleen. Her, a couple of her co-workers and I went to the crew bar and we just sat and talked for awhile. They had a couple drinks. Colleen isn’t a big drinker, which is nice. Amanda showed up a little later with Brian. She said she tried calling me about going out. Gabe (the showband guitar player) came over and talked with me. He asked if I’d be up for doing a few songs together during one of my sets, which I agreed too. We all just hung around.

Then it got late, and we all walked back to our rooms. And now I have a bad headache and I’m going to sleep .

A TIRED day... but a GREAT NIGHT

SOOOOOOO tired today.. My God... I woke up at 5:45 AM to shower, and go to immigration. There was already a line of 40 people there. So, I was in line for about 45 minutes, and then I managed to get my stuff signed and stamped. As I was leaving, the line out grew the one I was in by 10 times... Trevor and I went and ate breakfast, since we were already up. I got scrambled eggs and bacon. It was pretty satisfying. Chris ended up sitting with us, and then Gabriel, the showband guitarist. I asked him if he had to do real sight reading for guitar. He said it was mostly just knowing the chords.

Afterwards I went to my room and slept until 10:40 AM. I got my raincoat on and went into Ketchikan for about 20 minutes. I mailed off my CD to corporate so that I can start selling them. Lots of people already have been asking for the burnt ones... So I don’t think I’m going to have a problem with selling professional made ones.

After that, I checked my texts and answered a few. There weren’t too many. Most people got the hint that I won’t be using my phone much while I’m gone. I went back on the ship, then went and ate lunch. I sat and talked with one of the security officers. His name was Mark. He was very friendly as well.

Then I went back into the Atrium bar and sat and waited for Amanda because we were supposed to go into town together. As I waited, I saw Dean and he came and sat and talked. Then me, Edwuardo (The Bar tender) and Dean met a man named Jesse, who helps build engines for the NASA shuttles. We talked for about an hour. He explained everything about them, and how powerful they are. He says they’re still using 60’s and 70’s technology. They haven’t varied too much from that. He also said that when they retire the space shuttles next year, we won’t have one for 4 more years. Due to poor management of money I suppose. Very informative fellow.

After that, I saw Amanda talking with her mom on the phone, and she apologized and said she was really drugged up from being sick and she couldn’t leave the ship. I went back to my room to restring my guitar, and took another hour long nap. It was unquenchable sleep. I just felt more and more tired.

At 4:40, I went and set up and performed at the Atrium. Another good little crowd. I had a lot of fun talking, but I was very aware my voice was suffering from the lack of sleep, for it was harder to hit my notes than usual, and I cracked a couple times, so I started dropping the keys to a lot of songs to offset myself.

After that set, I saw Colleen working at the guest services desk, so I went and had a 14 second conversation with her until a customer just kind of pushed by me and asked a question. But in the 14 seconds, Colleen said she was going to come and see me play tonight. After our talk, I went and ate a small dinner, then ran to the Deco lounge to play a 30 minute set. The deco lounge is a really small place near the dining area where chairs are all around you. In that half hour, every chair was full and I had everyone’s attention. I was having a great time. Then in the middle of a song, I heard someone whisper into my ear “take a 10 minute break.” I assumed it was a boss telling me, so afterwards, I told everyone that would finish up my set. But then I turned to see the person who told me to take a break, and it was just some passenger, who was about to start a birthday party in another room. That kind of pissed me off, because I only had 10 minutes left to play, and I do get paid to be here for a reason. SO I was just slightly aggravated about that.

I dumped my stuff off at the piano bar, and went and took another 15 minute nap. That didn’t seem to help much. I came back to the bar, and started setting up my stuff, and within a few minutes my crowd from the night before was back, with a set of some people that had seen me earlier. I was very tired by this point and really just didn’t have the energy. Colleen and a couple of her friends came to watch and requested songs. Neil, Dean, Rich, and Neil’s Girlfriend hung around all night. During my one break, Neil went through my setlist and picked all the songs he wanted to hear that night (which was fine by me.. At least I knew they’d be happy!) I sat and talked with Colleen and her friends. All real nice girls. They all work at guest services. I probably talked with them for about a half hour. Then I went back to playing, and from there on out it was a straight party. I loosened up a bit, and started having a lot of fun, making jokes, adding people’s names to songs. Megan came out and sang a few songs for me. Colleen’s friends had to go to work at some point but Colleen stayed the whole time with everybody. Neil told me that tonight was the best night so far on the cruise and they all look forward to me playing on Sunday (since tomorrow is my day off.)

So my crappy night ended up being a really great night. After I was done, Colleen waited around for me, and I told her I’d walk her to her room since she stayed out to watch me (though it is right on my way.) When we got there, I asked if she had scissors or something to cut my shoe laces with (my shoe laces are REALLY long... and I have to triple knot them to make them untrippable.) She just so happened to have a razor blade. So she met me in my room, and I showed her around (She said her room is different because the top bunk doesn’t push to the side.. It’s stationary.) She helped me measure the length of the shoe laces and get them cut right. She told me she had a really fun time and I told her she definitely needed to come out again soon. Then she said to enjoy my WHOLE day off (since she works 7 days a week.. only gets sections of days off.) I walked her back to her room, came back (which took a total of 12 seconds,) and here I am writing away. Now I’m going to sleep til about 9:30, shower up, and go into town and use free fast internet.

SOOO, ‘til next time!

Catching up! And a good night!

It’s been a busy couple days... But not really. Ha. Just trying to do what I can. Yesterday, I went out into Vancouver around 8 AM, to find that nothing of value opened until 10 AM. So.. I walked around and took many many pictures. A very beautiful town, it was. I managed to find the Apple Store, so I most certainly took a look around. Logic 9 came out, which is a very cool recording software. Unfortunately it’s a lot more expensive here than it is in the US. So, I passed.

Also in the Mall I visited, I tried some sushi (which was very delicious.) I also had a fruit smoothie. I then went to Staples and bought some burnable CDs, so that I could some of my album while I wait for approval from Carnival. I also noticed that most ATMs in Vancouver, don’t accept VISA. It was so backwards to me. But luckily most shops did accept it. So, I was safe.

After a few hours, I went back to the ship and prepared to play for my new audience. I started off with a bash, and played lots of upbeat good songs and got lots of onlookers immediately. Then I went to the piano bar, and it was kind of dead. A couple cool people hung around, but it was overall dead. But that’s normal for the first night.

So, after sleeping in late, and having lots of weird dreams that involved an old man psychic, I woke up, ate lunch, took lots of pictures out on the deck, in search for whales (of course they were jumping around when I didn’t have my camera. I ran to get it, and when I got back.. there was nothing..) Then I played in the Atrium, and after I played one original, I got requests for more. Then, I got some pictures taken of me in a tux for a poster, and then I went and played the Piano Bar. This time, I managed to fill it pretty well tonight. Sold two cds, and by the end of the night, everyone was singing along. Met a gymnist teacher named Neil (who swears he will fill the place up tomorrow for me,) and Australian named Mel (great funny guy,) and an 18 year old named Dean. Amanda came and asked if I wanted to go see the comedian with her tonight at 12 (assuming I got off then) and I agreed. But at 12, the place was really rocking, so I couldn’t leave. She was dressed up real nice. All the people at the bar were heckling me to go out with her and all that. Especially Mel. But I informed them many times she had a boyfriend.

Amanda came back around 12:50 and said the comedian sucked and asked me if I wanted to go to Disco. All the people at the bar started cheering for me, though I repeated once again, it wasn’t like that. We invited everyone out, and I ran back quick to get dressed into a dress shirt and tie. My boss had his door open, so I let him know how it went, and that I was going to go out and socialize (which he liked.) Gerhard has been really cool to me. He really encourages me to go out and meet people, and he and I have lots of cool conversations after the gigs. It’s really going to suck when he leaves. He’s a cool mentor.

So, I went to the crew bar, to not find Amanda there (where she told me to meet her.) I saw Chris, the bass player and he made me get a beer. Haha. Funny english guy. So I got one, and chatted with Megan, Jeffery (the showband piano player) and Melody (entertainment girl.) After a few jokes and laughs, Amanda showed and we made our way to the disco. She asked what all the cheering was about when she left the bar earlier, and I let her know. She thought it was funny.

We got to disco and it was DEAD. Like.. maybe 15 people there. She bought me a coke and rum, and we drank and talk for a bit, and waited for people to arrive. Not many arrived... then she got the sudden urge for pizza, so we ran to the pizza bar and got a slice each. Then ran back down. We bumped into a few of the passengers and made them come (Dean and Mel.) So they came in and I talked with them and Amanda, until Amanda got tired and left. So I talked with both of the guys for a bit, and explained my job to them. I turned around and noticed Colleen (a girl that works at guest services, that I had met a couple days before.. we also ran into each other the same time 3 nights in a row at her door.) coming up the stairs and I poked her and we got to talking. Found out she’s 27, and from Toronto. This was her second contract and she’ll be here until December. She likes her job, though it has it’s ups and downs. While she ran off to get a bottled water, Mel left, but I talked with Dean for a bit. He works for his dad’s auto mechanic shop. His dream is to start a underground record label and help the local bands he loves. So I gave him my advice on it all. He was a real cool kid.

Colleen came back, and she asked if I wanted to go to the lower level of the disco with her, so I did. When we got to the bottom, we pretty much demonstrated what bad dancers we are. Though she’s black, she admits she has no rhythm. As I am a white guy it’s already a given I can’t dance. We hung around and talked more, as we danced. The song “Womanizer” came on, and she asked me if I was a womanizer.. I told her no.. not by any means, but she didn’t seem convinced. She noticed me coming in with Amanda, but I once again made it clear we were friends. Another one of her friends came over and danced with us. Colleen left to do something real quick and she told me not to leave, so I hung with her friend. We ended up being the only 2 people besides the DJ left in the room. He called out “last song”, and Colleen came back, and we all walked out. Colleen lives 4 doors down from me, so I walked her to her room, and I came here to go to sleep, because.. well.. I have embarkation tomorrow.. well.. in 3 hours. So.... NIGHT...