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.