I’ve had quite an eventful last few days, and haven’t had much time to update, so I thought I would take this day to do so.
The day after the Volcanic Sunrise, I really just took it easy on the ship, got some sleep, watched some movies, and did my gig. Rick, a person who was there 9 out of the 12 nights, and is from Australia, hung out and I let him know the whole run of what I went through. He’s a real nice guy. He told me his sister was a musician and recently won a 50k dollar contest on Sellaband.com.
After the gig, two guys who were probably just a few years older than me told me my music was great and I was the best musician on the ship. They were both from Canada, but they were out to see me every night I played, so it was cool to meet them. After that meeting, I went to bed and took it easy.
The following day was Kona, and I didn’t feel like taking the lifeboat to land, so I just called some friends and family from the ship. It was during this time I found out from my dad that my song “Words You Bleed” was played on a Allentown, PA radio, and Josie was in Marshalls. Pretty exciting stuff. I had my regular meals and talked with Glen about all the stuff we’d gone through and talked about skydiving. At that point we both weren’t really nervous about it. We still had two days...
Earlier in the week, Pat was telling me about his new vocal harmonizer which adds two harmonies to your voice when you sing. It sounds really good, and I thought it would be a good addition to my set, and add another layer to what I’m doing and make it interesting.
I played my gig, and talked with Rick and showed my pictures of the sunset on my computer to everyone that was around. I got some real gorgeous pictures.
I checked my account to see if I was paid, but for some reason my account was 200 dollars shorter than it normally is after payday. I was a bit concerned.
Afterwards, I went to bed.
Saturday was Nawilliwilli, and I managed to get off the ship by 9:30. It was beautifully sunny. I stood around for a bit searching the iphone for a local music store that might have the harmonizer. After about 25 minutes I found one, and I walked over to the taxi line, and got a taxi, which drove me the 20 minutes too and from there. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive. Mountains were amazing, the beaches were luscious, and the weather stood beautifully strong.
We got to the Bounty music store, and I picked up the harmonizer, and we drove back. I had him drop me off at an internet cafe. I hooked up there and downloaded the string program I bought a month ago... and couldn’t get the internet speed to download it in time.. This time, it flew, and I got it in under an hour. I also got the update for my iphone. I uploaded almost 700 pictures to facebook and checked my regular stuff.
Afterwards, I went to a little hut next door and got a tuna melts (I haven’t had tuna once since I’ve been working for Carnival,) so it was really good.
After that, I took the free trolley back to the ship, and I ran to my room to set up the pedal and try it out. I spent about three hours figuring out which settings worked for which songs. But it definitely got me excited about playing that night. I went to dinner, and saw Peter. I asked him about the pay decrease, and he said he didn’t know anything about it and said I should ask the paymaster in the morning. I left and got ready, and went to my gig a half hour early to rearrange and set up everything on stage. The Casino was the busiest it had ever been during this particular cruise.
The harmonizer definitely added another dimension to everything, and made people turn their heads. Everyone that I noticed through out the cruise watching at some point was there and watching. So that was a really cool thing. I put out a tip jar, and made 40 bucks. I hadn’t had a tip jar out at all during this cruise, so this Cruise and everyone from here on out, I will put one. I’m also going to get some CDs to sell on here.
During my break I went and talked with James and Val at Val’s desk. I tried to figure out when we were supposed to leave which both of us didn’t know. So I waited until I found Glen to find out.
After the show, I went back to my room and couldn’t fall asleep until 3 am.
I woke up to a phone call and it was Val letting me know to meet outside the port at 10:20. I checked the time, and it said 9:30.. I wanted to wake up at 8... but my alarm on my phone was on silent even though it went off. I got ready, showered quickly and ran to go outside with the group.
A lot of dancers and some musicians were there. Casino people came out too, and there was a group of about 30. Glen and I rode in the back of the shuttles that picked us up. We got to see a lot of Honolulu as we drove. It also is a gorgeous place. When we reached the skydiving place, it looked like your typical Hawaiian looking place, and there were a lot of Bikers there for some reason.
We got out and went inside, to see contracts to sign. The contracts stated that this is a voluntary, and you can die, or the plane can crash, or someone can pack the parachutes wrong, or your instructor could die of a heart attack, and we accept those risks and can’t sue the company. Seemed reasonable to me. If I died, I don’t get any of that money, so why would I care to sue them?
Glen put a lot of our stuff in a rickity locker.. brownish yellow looking. Rusty looking. We waited until our names were called and we got dressed up in harnesses. My dvd guy walked around and introduced himself and he recorded a bit of stuff going on around before we left. His name was Jeff. I met the person I’d be jumping with. His name was Brendan. He went through the explanation of what I had to do when I jumped. I had to crouch down, put my head back and hold onto my harness. And release when he told me so.
Around that time, I saw parachutes falling from the sky. First to land was Jeff. Me and a few ran over to ask how it was and he said it was incredible. An unforgettable experience. Everybody landed safely. Which meant the odds were against us! For every person who survived that was one less person in the odds of surviving! I wasn’t really worried about that though.
Val gave me here picture camera to record her landing. Unfortunately after she left, they called for me to leave, so I gave her camera to a casino girl, and ran off. I boarded the relatively small plane, and sat on the bench with my legs separated. Glen was at the front of the line. As the plane took off, it was really amazing, and yet a little scary, because the door we jump out of was slightly open. And I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if someone slipped and fell out. Seemed easy enough.
As we got higher, we could see the edge of the coast and the bright blue water. Such a beautiful sight. It took about 10 minutes to get to the altitude where we were jumping. Glen was first to go. I could tell he was a bit nervous. His instructor locked him in and the door went completely open. Glen’s photographer got out and stood against the side of the plane. Glen pulled himself up to the bar. His instructor told him twice to let go and to hold his straps. He did. And in a matter of two seconds they leaped from the plane. At that particular moment, I was thinking... I’m insane... Another person went up to the side and jumped in a matter of seconds. Then it was my turn. My photographer got out first and my instructor and I edged our way to the door. He pulled my head back a little, and told me to look at the camera and smile, and then we leaped.
The free fall sensation was there for about a second, and then there was no queasiness. My arms came up and my face seemed to morph little by little with the wind. When my mouth was open wind, just went in and filled it up like a parachute. So I tried to close it as ofter as I could. My photographer was right in front of me falling with us, keep his head looking at me (since his camera was on his helmet). Everything was just so clear and beautiful. Clouds were creeping up closer and closer and in an instant, we slow down, my photographer keeps falling fast, my crouch hurts, and my ears go into a clogged feeling. And painful. All I could hear was the wind blowing beside us. It was very peaceful. My crouch was definitely in pain. Brendan told me to give him a second and he’d try to make it like a seat for me. He had me put my feet on his feet and pick myself up. He loosened my harness, and just like that, everything felt better. Except for my ears. He told me to plug my nose and push gently. My ears opened right up and felt a lot better. He let me hold onto the turning mechanism and turn the parachute a bit. We went into crazy turns. Like an insane roller coaster. He told me about the mountains as were were passing by them. I could see the airport we took off from, and were heading in that direction. He took control of the turning after a bit, and maneuvered us down towards the land. Everybody looked like ants that were getting larger by the second. For that last 10 seconds of the fall, I kind felt like I was flying, or knew what it would be like to have the ability to fly and see what they see when they do so. We landed easy, and I detached from the chute.
I saw Glen and he said he loved it a lot. He said if we had a paycheck before we left Hawaii he would have done it again. It truly was an amazing time. Eye opening for sure. But I credit that to the forceful winds.
I walked for a bit and waited for the DVD to be finished. I watched it, and video just doesn’t do the jump justice. You don’t know what it’s like until you do it.
We got back in the shuttles after a bit and rode back. Glen wanted to get his laptop and go get something to eat, so we went back to the ship for about 5 minutes to get our stuff and we walked into the city. We walked for about 2 miles before coming up on a Starbucks. He and I were pretty tired. For some reason, skydiving wears you out. I got a vanilla latte, iced. He got a coffee. They had the Beatles Remastered Abby Road there, so I got it, since Alan, my producer said it was an absolute must.
We walked looking for a Walmart, and after about another half hour, and help from my iphone we found it. I got a couple more Beatles remastered albums, and Glen got a shaving kit. When we left we walked another mile before stumbling on a Japanese restaurant. We went in and got our food. I got fried oysters, rice, salad, and soup. He got Teriyaki Chicken. I loved the oysters. Haven’t had any since late May.
Afterwards, we made our way back to the ship because it was starting to get dark. Glen told me lots of stories of his life when he was a bit younger. He’s definitely had a lot happen in it. Cool to learn about it.
When we got back, I put my card in port manning, and took it easy. I worked on remixing my song “Ricochet” and am deciding if I want to rewrite the lyrics and melody, and make it a stronger song. I really love the music. And I don’t want it to go to waste. It sounds a lot better now that I’ve mixed it on these speakers. I cleaned up all the low end problems.
I also fooled around with my logo and worked on that until 3 am.
I woke up at 8:30 yesterday and got ready and met Eric and 9. He, Claire, Thomas and I were going to go to Pearl Harbor. Eric and I met outside of the gangway and walked outside. We figured they’d be a few minutes so we decided to look for breakfast. After about a half hour, we found a Mcdonalds. As Eric began to eat, we got a phone call saying Thomas was ready to pick us up. So, we got a couple Egg Mcmuffins, and scarfed them down pretty quick. When Thomas and Claire arrived, they decided they were hungry too so they came in and got something.
Afterwards we headed towards Pearl Harbor. Took us about a half hour due to misplacement of signs and such. When we parked, were were met by a security officer who said the USS Arizona were out of tickets for the day. That kind of blew because we were all looking forward to that the most. But they had tickets for other things, so we all got tickets for USS Missouri and The Pacific Aviation Museum. At the ticket place, there were lots of unused Missiles, and torpedoes set up on display. There were also a bunch of plaques that were there as memorials for sunken ships and submarines. Lots of sad stories. The USS Bowin was beside the ticket place and it looked pretty cool. We didn’t really want to go on it.
We rode a shuttle to the USS Missouri. The ship was being restored on some parts, but we got to go through most of it. It was crazy seeing some of the rooms people lived in. The chief engineer’s room was about that size of my room... and I’m a SOLOIST! I have no real responsibilities. Regardless... We saw lots of pictures, newspapers, and all that about the war, and what the ship went through. It was very interesting. Took us about 3 hours to go through it at a fast pace.
We made our way to the shuttle to take us to the Aviation center. When we got there, we caught a movie that explained the Pearl Harbor attack. The first explosion took place 200 yards from where we sat. Pretty nuts.
The museum was a hangar, and had lots of real planes from that era of time (WW2). We only spent about a half hour in there, but there wasn’t too much to see.
As we rode out with the shuttle, we passed a couple hangars with broken glass. The driver said that was caused from the explosion from the USS Arizona. There was another ship we passed that was submerged underwater. It was the USS Utah. It has 53 bodies still stuck within the ship.
When we got back to the car, we decided we wanted to get some food so we went to find chinatown. After about 35 minutes we found it, and searched for parking. We came into a china restaurant, which was very white and very plain.. Not Americanized like your typical all you eat buffet kind of places. We sat down at the table and let the women know we’d be on two separate checks. But weirdly enough, we had two different waitresses. Who spoke very little English. Thomas and I ordered Seafood on Fried Noodles, and egg drop soup. I ordered in addition fried oysters. My waitress brought out Egg Drop soup... which was a HUGE bowl that could easily feed 4 people. Thomas and I assumed they just put both our orders in one bowl. So we ate that up.. and we realized they were going to bring us another one. He told them we didn’t want two, and the waitresses kind of got pissy about it. Luckily I had gotten my food before that event so I didn’t have to worry about poison or anything.
Eric and I got our food about 15 minutes before Thomas and Claire did. It was really good though. It tasted like the legit stuff.. Not americanized. The fried oysters were AMAZING! They were soooo meaty too. I kind of wished I just got two orders of those. That would have filled me up easy.
Thomas and Claire got their food. The broccoli stems they gave her weren’t easily cuttable so she asked for a knife... which they didn’t have.. So they brought her out some heavy duty scissors. Classic. I think that made my day.
The food was reasonably priced, and the waitresses didn’t seem angry by the end (they probably did something to the other’s food and felt justified.)
Thomas and Claire dropped Eric and I at the ship, and we walked looking for a tip jar for me. Everything in the area was handcrafted and about 1000% more expensive than I wanted to spend for something I wanted to collect tips in. We got some ice cream thought. Shared some stories of stuff that’s happened in our lives.
We got back to the ship and started messing with more demos. I got online and got tabs to a few more songs to add to my setlist this time around. Glen called and asked if I wanted to go to a club in town with him, Gabe and a few girls. He said he’d call me a little later when we were going. I decided to take a nap while I waited. I passed right out. At some point, I know I woke up and was coughing pretty hard, and I was worried I was getting a chest cold. I fell back asleep, and I didn’t wake up until 10:30 this morning. I saw that he called, but I guess I didn’t hear it. I don’t have a cough this morning and I feel better, so that’s a bonus.
I did get up and get some lunch, and now I’m just taking it easy today. I’m worn out from the last couple days. I play tonight and tomorrow, and then I have off again on Thursday. Blows... because I have port manning all day. But I will have gotten 4 days off against 5 days of work.. so 4 days off in 9 days. Pretty cool if you ask me. I also found out this is the only ship in the Carnival Fleet that comes to Hawaii... for only 4 weeks a year no less... So I found I’ve been very fortunate to come here.
I’ve also been here for over 2 months. My thoughts after two months are still about the same, I love the job, just miss my friends. But time it flying real fast here. I can see where life would become a blur after awhile. But still a great job. I find myself looking around and laughing... because I’m in Hawaii... a place I never thought I would visit without thousands of dollars. I’m very fortunate. Anyways, I’m out!
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