Employee of The Month

It has been quite an uneventful last few days since the skydiving stuff. Our last day of Honolulu, I stayed on board and just worked on learning songs, and catching up on sleep. We had boat drill at about 5 o’clock and it was very warm. Nice weather. A lot of people were already out on the deck waiting 20 minutes before the drill was to begin. Usually there will be a small group but over half the people that were supposed to be there, were there. I played my gig, and was trying out the harmonizer more. It sounded great, and I love having it in my act. Definitely fills up the dead spots, and gives the songs with harmonies a kick.
The following day was Nawiliwili. I got up around 10, and went to the internet cafe, and uploaded my skydiving video and more pictures I had taken of Pearl Harbor. i was there for a couple hours just doing little things I needed to do.
I took the trolley back to the ship, and got on a shuttle to go to Kmart. I went inside, and got a box of cheese-its, and had some little ceaser’s pizza. Amanda and I were texting back and forth and I told her about Words You Bleed and Josie being on the radio, and Marshalls. She said she she had down time, she wanted to help me get together a “blitz” kind of push for Words You Bleed and get it on the radio in more places.
As we were texting back and forth, I searched online for a Gamestop, to get a cheap game. It said it was 2 miles south. So, I started walking near the highway in that direction texting back and forth with Amanda. We decided on singles, she got me websites for radio stations, and all that. She said she’d burn some CDs for the press kits, and I’d get Nick to write a new bio, and we would start preparing to get all my friends and family and fans to help push this. After about a 2 mile walk I realized.. there wasn’t a gamestop in sight... No where NEAR me. So, I turned around and walked back to miles to find the gamestop was actually right around the corner from K-mart in a shopping center. A little aggravating, but got exercise, so I guess I can’t complain.
I made my way back to the ship, and called Nick and let him know his task, and I started on mine. After a few moments, there was a knock at my door, and I went to answer, and it was my boss Peter. He told me I got employee of the month. I get a bonus 100 dollar check, a nice dinner with the captain (with that night off) and my picture out where everyone can see. I also have to go to a few end of cruise shows and stand on stage when they explain how comment cards can get us this privilege and stuff. Very exciting none the least. I’ve only been here a little over two months, so I felt very accomplished.
I played my show that night and it went over well, and I met two ladies who are now known as Cruise Mom Chris, and Aunt Bev. They were both really nice and we talked for a few hours. Cruise Mom Chris (CMC) does a lot of traveling. She had been on the spirit 4 times. She asked me where Doug was, and I told her he had just gotten off 2 cruises ago. Aunt Bev, well this was her first cruise. She has done the whole waitress, bartending kind of lifestyle. 135 jobs. Pretty crazy!
They both insisted in buying me a drink, but I didn’t want anything, so CMC said she would try to find me some good fried chicken out in Hawaii.

The following day was my day off and it was in Maui. Unfortunately I had port manning so I just stayed in, ate my bland meals, surfed the internet on my phone, and just hung around. The following day, I also stayed on the ship, and just prepared to play.
I played and I was starting to see people coming back to see me personally which was nice. I played for a while, taking my breaks and spoke with CMC and Aunt Bev. CMC said she couldn’t find any fried chicken but asked what other things I liked, so I went down my list. I went to bed soon after.

The next day was Hilo. I got off at about 11, and went to Walmart, and got a bunch of movies for the 5 sea days. Most of them were bargain deals. Then I went to the mall, which had Ihop, and I ate there. Kamille was on aim on the iphone, so I spoke with her for a little bit. After I finished my meal, Thomas and Claire had arrived and asked if I wanted to sit with them. I did so, and we talked about various things. Claire has never been to an Ihop (she’s from England, so makes sense). She told me she’s been doing ships a long time and not once had she seen another musician get employee of the month. That made it seem even more cool I suppose.
I walked around Borders, but couldn’t find any books I wanted to read. I came back to the ship and bumped into Eric. He asked if it was freezing in the ship, in which I replied it was cold... but not 30 degrees. He said he thought he might be coming down with something.
I went to my room, and put in Cast Away, and watched that. An hour later, Eric called and he said he’d been throwing up and such. I told him to go to the infirmary. Better he takes the night off than risk getting everyone sick. Especially before 5 sea days.
At dinner, I saw Peter and mentioned Eric being sick, but he didn’t know anything about it.
Worked more on emailing radio stations, and emailed my lawyer about the push.
Two songs into my gig, Peter came and asked me to go play the Piano Bar at 9:30. So I broke down at 9 and moved over. There was a good crowd there, and the bartender was a real sweet girl. I got to play a lot of my songs, which was nice, because everyone was really into them. “Words You Bleed” and “How I Roll” got receipted well from the younger crowd. “Grounded”, “Fixated” and “Where to Begin” were really enjoyed by the more moderate aged.
I played tons of 90s too and ended the night around 12:30. I went to my room,and watched some of Saving Private Ryan. Fell asleep not too long later.

Yesterday, I woke up at 10, called Nick, and talked to him about the bio. He said he talked with Mike, and he was all for the radio push. He gave Nick some tips for the presskits, and he said I need to be pushing this cd hard on the ship, so of course, next week I’ll be getting some CDs from my producers to sell out here. I emailed a bunch more people, texted some friends, talked to Felicia on the phone, and other stuff.
I started finishing up SPR and Trevor called me about meeting him at the Pharaoh's Palace for the Blues Brother’s show, and recording it. I brought my interface, but Trevor didn’t have a program on his computer to record to, I was rendered useless. Peter was there, and he told me I could collect my 100 dollar bonus in the morning at 10 am at the pay master.
After that, I went to dinner, had a cheeseburger and fries. Peter called and asked if I could play in the piano bar again, He said Eric should be fine the next day. So I got my stuff and went back over and set up early. For the first two hours, I had gay couples just shmoozing around. When they went to dinner, I had one more little burst of people, then the place was empty for an hour and a half. So I broke down at 11:45. No one else came. I went down to my room, and started watching Family guy and fell asleep.

This morning I woke up feeling a little sick. I got dressed, and collected my money. Came back, and took some sea sickness pills. I felt better within the hour. I went to lunch, and just had rice krispies and tea. My voice is kind of raw today. Hurts a little. Not liking it too much. I watched Wizard of Oz on blu ray. Though it looks great, it doesn’t fill up the whole screen which was a little disappointing. I tried to compose a little, but nothing really flowed out of me, and now I’m debating a nap before dinner, and I have to play at 8! So, that’s it for now! Internet black out for a couple days, then I’ll be back to work on radio stations.