My last 3 days on the Carnival Spirit.

Well... it’s 4:09 am right now, on the day I leave as I write this and I have to catch up the last 4 days!
Manzanillo day, I woke up at 1:45 and went up to eat on lido. I worked on more 3d generated pictures and didn’t do a whole lot else until my gig. The first part of my gig was on lido for an hour. It was an OK crowd... but nothing to get me excited about. As I was leaving, a waiter offered me 30 dollars to copy all my tabs onto his external hard drive, which I agreed too. Really.. it’s just a matter of grabbing the files and moving them over. Took like 3 seconds, and it was an easy buck.
When I was at dinner, Noochie came over and talked with me for a little bit, and gave me her flash drive and she asked me for some of my pictures. So I spent the time in my room doing all that until I had to play at 9. The group of guys that were there the night before were waiting for me. So, I kicked it off with rock song after rock song, and kept it going until 12... and then it died. It was very busy though for most of it and the guys were very active.
After the gig, and I got some food in the staff mess and sat with Jess and Pat and talked about various things.. Came back to my room and was up for awhile before falling asleep.

Next day, I got up at around 12, and I just browsed the internet until I was hungry. Then I went up on lido for my last good meal, and chowed down. Came back to my room and watched some family guy, and packed a lot of my stuff. I managed to get a lot of it put away. But couldn’t really finish the process until the next day.
I had an orientation about signing off to go to, so I went to that at 3:30. They collected my VISA and gave me my medical papers back, and we went over the whole process. I would collect my last pay the next day, and I had to fill out a couple forms. As the meeting was over, I asked the MSA guys if they knew anything about my ticket. So I went to their office and they had one for me. Unfortunately it had me leaving at 10:40 at night and I wouldn’t arrive in Baltimore until 9:12 am the next day. I was willing to accept that, but then I looked at the luggage prices, and it would have cost me 340 dollars to get all my luggage home. So I went on Southwest.com and looked to see if I could find a better deal. Sure enough, I got a ticket and baggage cover for 260 dollars. And I get to fly out at 2.. and be at the airport by 11 pm.
I went to dinner and Marcus sat with me. He told me he loved the album, but really felt I should write more songs like Where to Begin. He loved that style.
I got to my gig at 8 pm, and played to a relatively quiet crowd. But by the end of my first break.. 9:30, it was slammed again and I sang straight til 12. It was hard to want to leave, because it was just such a good time. I got 100 dollars in tips, and it was just a rocking time. Eventually everyone just got up and quickly ran to the comedian at 12. So I finished up early and went down to the crew mess and got a quick bite to eat.
I came back to my room and put on Die Hard 2 and continued packing. Noochie called about picking up her flashdrive, so she came over and we talked for a few minutes, and then she left and I finished up the movie and fell asleep.

Today I got up at 11. I got online and checked all that stuff. Then I took a shower and got some lunch. I packed some more things like my razor. I called Felicia for a few minutes and then after that, did more internet stuff. Around 2, Jessica called and asked if I was ready to do my Contract Review. So I went over, and she told me I did an excellent job and I get a perfect score, and anytime I want to come out, ask for her and she’ll find a way for me to work for her.
At 4, I collected my last pay, which ended up being more than I anticipated by a couple hundred dollars. So that was nice. I donated some stuff to the CTC, and went to dinner. I sat with Peter and Randy and talked about my arrangements. Then I came back to my room and got ready to work.
I went up to restring my guitar at 7:30. I played 8-9 and took a break. At 9:30 I played for a small crowd until 10:30, then I took a break. I sat and talked with Casey for a bit. Apparently she has a thing for me. So.. At least I know I can make attractive 27 year olds like me.
At 11, I got up to play again, and it got slammed again and I played until 1:10, with encore after encore. I made another 140 dollars in tips. Many people came up to me and told me I was the best entertainment on the ship. Some people were surprised about how I could sing so hard for so long multiple days in a row. Towards the end of the night, Thom (keyboard player for high rise) and the guitar player came out and watched. He came up after the show and said he was so amazed at how I sang the rock songs like rock songs but with an acoustic guitar, and he gave me kudos.
I packed up everything, and sold my digitech harmonizer. I gave Lewis my laptop stand, since I wouldn’t need it for awhile. Lewis and Elizabeth wished me good luck. I broke down everything, and went down to drop the stuff off in my room. When I got to the door, there was a letter on the handle. It read:

“Hi Stu,

As Derek is signing off tomorrow I just wanted to say once again what a pleasure it has been having him as the entertainment in the casino for the past five months.

He has a huge selection of songs and tailors what he plays depending on the crowd in the casino, changing his playlist to suit the age of the guests at the bar or how busy the casino is. He has also been extremely cooperative with the casino department, which is so important on this class of ship where the singer is located inside the casino. His music is never too loud or invasive, which is often a problem with this set up.

I would appreciate if you would pass along my comments to his supervisor in the office so they know what a great job he has done and hopefully we will see him back out on another ship once he finishes college.

He will be greatly missed by all of us in the casino.

Best Regards,
Gareth
“

Gareth is the Casino Manager. So that was a pretty awesome email to receive. It’s being sent to corporate, and Jessica thought I should see it.
I went to the crew bar, and saw Claire. She told me she left me a message on my phone to come down and say goodbye to her. So I sat and talked with her until I felt I needed to say good bye to the rest of the dealers. So I went up and said goodbye to everyone. A few told me they would come down and buy my cd before I left.
I came downstairs and called Claire, and asked if she would mail the remainder of my CDs home, which she said she would.
I dropped them off in her room and said my goodbyes and came back to my room to get a phone call from those individuals of the casino, and they wanted 3 cds signed. So I opened up three and signed them, and they came buy and picked them up.
I took a shower then, and then packed up the rest of my junk, and here I am.. 4:47... One hour and 13 minutes, and the moving out process begins... Next time I update, I should be home. But I will say this.. it feels so surreal that I’m leaving. I’m really going to miss it out here. Miss my friends and the great times I’ve had. This place was my home for nearly 6 months.. and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. If I can’t get any band stuff going on land, I would easily come back out here because it really is a great job. I loved it and I’m going to miss it.

So... that’s it for the cruise adventures on the Carnival Spirit! I’ll do a follow up update, after I get a few days away from the ship. But I want this blog only to reflect my cruise ship experience.. So I won’t be updating much after the next couple entires.

Another busy night.

Well tonight was definitely slow starting. It seemed like a totally different cruise. Towards the end of my first set, Casie and Amy came and watched me play. On break I talked with Casie while Amy gambled in the casino. After about a half hour, I saw my Gyseppi (spelling is off terribly), and he gave me the other 400 dollars for the 12 string guitar. So now I’m all paid off. That money will be put into food lion gift cards for myself. That way I can’t spend it on stuff I don’t need, and I’ll have 3 months of food money. When I got up to play more, within 10 minutes my bar was slammed busy and everyone was singing along and screaming. I felt famous again! So I played 3 hours straight. Then I ended. It was rather funny, because I saw a guy hitting on Casie, and I didn’t know what she was like when she likes or dislikes someone, or shows interest in someone, but a guy sat beside her and ordered a drink, and tried some small talk to her. She answered... but then turned her back to him to limit the conversation. She’s very talkative to me.. So I guess she doesn’t dislike me.
After I finished, I went down to get some food and sat with Stu, and Pat. Randy joined, and the keyboardist from High Rise did. Then the rest of the band.. and our boss, Jess joined. I talked with the keyboardist about recording and school and such. He seemed very interested in all the stuff I had going.
On my way back to my room, I saw Pat talking with Jess, so I joined the little convo. Then talked with her about my plane ticket, in which there is no word yet when I’m leaving. But she said she’d let me know by Monday night, or ask them.
Now I’m in my room. Tired... worn out. Got work 4:45 and 9. I’m afraid a lot of the same people will be back, and I’ll be out of popular songs to listen too, since I played 80% of them last night. Oh well!

New Years!

New Years dinner was pretty freaking awesome, if I do say so myself. I got there at 5:55, which is usually the best time to show up, because they open at 6, but that way you beat the lines. And boy am I ever glad I did that on this day. They had shrimp, crab cakes, filet mignon, and some other wonderful delicious things.
Claire came and sat with me, and then we were visited by Sarah. Though at first I was a little bummed. A little less than an hour before that, I had gotten an email from my ex-girlfriend, Mary. It had been about 6 months since we talked and since our relationship kind of flurried out into nothing. She apologized and wished me well. I wrote her back a non-fighting email, and just left it at that. But honestly.. I’d prefer never to hear from her again. Leave that in the past.. Chances are I’ll never run into her again, unless for some reason I’m in Nashville and she happens to be at a show. But honestly, I think she’d avoid that, so I wouldn’t have any problems with that.
So dinner got my spirits high again, and before I left, I saw my boss, Jessica who said she had no word yet on when I’m flying out, and that I probably won’t know until Monday or Tuesday... which kind of blows, just because I’d like to let my dad know ahead of time. I asked her about dress code tonight, and of course no one told us earlier, but it was formal. So.. I had 20 minutes to shower and get dressed in my suit and be up on deck to string up my guitar.
Sure enough I was ready by then. I strung up my guitar. Casie, and Amy came by and watched a bit. The crowd was OK... but nothing ecstatic like I was told it would be. I played through until about 11:40. I then took a break and went into the atrium where it was slammed busy, and the jazz band was playing. Then I went up on lido. When I got up there, my God, it was slammed busy. The band High Rise was playing and everyone was dancing and going crazy. Casie and Amy saw me immediately and pulled me over to dance until count down. Amy was pretty drunk. She was dancing with a 11 year old... I’m sure he felt like a lucky son of a @#%#@$. She’s a real pretty girl. Anyways, Weasley (assistant Cruise Director) got on the mic and got everyone up and excited. It felt like I was Time Square or something. People were standing all over the place.
The countdown was loud as hell, and everyone gave each other kisses. After which, I had to run back down to the casino to play again.
When I got down there, all the casino dealers and workers were walking around giving each other hugs, and kisses. I shook hands, gave hugs, and gave cheek kisses to a bunch of them. Really just a great group.
I got up on stage ready to play for an audience of 0. So I played a song, and when nobody showed up, I broke down and packed up.
I then went back up on lido and ran into Tagger. He told me he listened to my CD and loved it, and said I inspired him to really take the guitar seriously and just do it.
I ran into Clair and Sara and they wanted me to come down to the crew party. So we did. I saw Sopemla, Noochie, Nina, and many others. I didn’t stick around too much. I was pretty tired. So I went to my room and went to bed.

The next day, I woke up at 1:34. I went and got some food up on lido, and decided to just get online for the day. So I talked with Felicia for the majority of it, as I downloaded an update to a program of mine. I did a lot of stuff like that for probably 6 hours. Then I went to dinner for a quick bowl of cereal and went back to my room and watched some of the Office, and packed some more stuff. I hit the sack around 2.
This morning I woke up at 11:30 to a phone call from Noochie. She apologized for not being able to hang out this week, which really at this point is fine.. I’m more focused on going home. So I told her no worries. I then got up and worked on some 3d photos of some scenery things. Did a little internet, and watched more of the office. I then went to dinner and talked with Sara for a bit until I went to take a shower. Now I’m anticipating work. 4 gigs left.. Less than 4 days left!!

3 Sea days with a Port Manning San Diego Day...

I know, it’s been awhile since the last update. But so little has happened that I can probably sum up the last 4 days in a page or two. The 3rd sea day was just a quiet day for me. I got up around 11, and watched movies, called my dad and apologized for not calling on Christmas for it was out of my power, and didn’t do much until the night. When I got to playing, it started off slow. Then it grew to be about 100 people at my bar screaming, dancing, singing along with me, girls screaming they loved me, and just having a great time. Unfortunately, because there were so many people from 10 o clock on, I didn’t stop to break, so I ended up playing 3 and a half hours straight.
I went to bed after so that I could rest my voice up. The next morning my voice was slightly sore, but not unusable, and it didn’t feel like I would have troubles that night. The day was quiet, and not much went on until the show. It never got as busy as the night before, but it was still active enough to keep me singing late. I went to bed soon after because the next day was San Diego day... even though I can’t get off, I can still make some phone calls.

So I woke up 8:45 and went up on deck two and called Nick, who got a promotion at work. So that’s great news. Then I called Dad, and talked to him for a bit. Christmas at home was good from what I hear. Everyone liked the calendars I had made from what I hear. I did a lot of browsing on the internet. I called Felicia and talked to her for a bit. In the middle of the conversation, I had remembered a song I had heard on CSI: NY when Train was performing on it, and the lead singer was a suspect. The song’s called “Hey, Soul Sister”. I had lunch with my boss, Jessica, Pat and Randy. Pat left soon after I got there, but then Jess, Randy and I had a big talk about working musicians on cruise ships and our reasons for wanting 4 hours over 5. So, Jessica said that we need to start clocking in every time we practice, look for music, setting up, boat drills and everything else. I suggested we get a sheet together for each person and write down exactly what we’re doing during those clock-ins so it doesn’t look like we’re just inflating hours. She said she had thought of that but was afraid we’d think it was too much. If the cause can possibly get us down to 4 hours again, then it’d be worth it. 4 hours is a lot more doable that 5.
Boat drill was the same ol’ routine, but it is my last drill which is very exciting! At our meeting, we had a powwow over things we liked and didn’t like on the ship. Then I went to my room and relaxed until I went to set up at 7. Within’ a few minutes my bar was busy and the casino was slammed. A couple girls sat in front of me and watched. Then a couple guys sat beside them. One of the guys yelled out I was really awesome. Then one of the girls told him to tell me I was cute too. Then I said over the mic.. it might be less gay if she just said it. That got the laughs going. I found out the girls’ names were Kasie (or Casie) and Amy. The guy that yelled out I was awesome was from Colorado. His name was Tag (short for Tagger.)
Amy bought a CD. She was pretty drunk. Kasie wasn’t as drunk as her by far. But I went and talked to them for a bit. They said they were going to the disco, after I finished, so I suggested that Amy “doesn’t fall down”. Then she turned around and said I was kind of a smart ass and she didn’t know if she liked that, and Casie said she really likes that. Then they left, and I went to eat in the staff mess and sat with Sopemla.
Afterwards, I went to my room to sleep!

The next day, I woke up at 1:40. I didn’t set any alarms so I could get exactly what sleep I needed, which was great because I didn’t feel tired at all, all day. I went up to eat on lido deck at 2. I got a phone card to exchange an order at Musiciansfriend. I had ordered a keyboard from them, but it wasn’t going to be in stock until after I went to college, so I called to exchange it for a bigger keyboard. The guy was real cool. He lowered the price by 10% and gave me free 2 day shipping. So that went well.
I must mention that I listened to “Hey, Soul Sister” 55 times since I’ve gotten it. I learned to play it yesterday. Took a couple hours to get down and comfortable with it (and for sure, I clocked in.) Apparently that song is on the radio or something, because a lot of people seem to know it.
I played that night for a bunch of people again, and Casie and Amy showed up about ten minutes before my break. On my way to talk to them, 4 people from San Diego asked me why I’m not playing in CA. They said I could easily sustain myself with gigs out here because I have so many songs and am such a good performer. I told them it’d have to be more of a guarantee of gigs, then just a few every once in awhile.
So I talked to the girls about last night. Amy didn’t seem to remember a lot of went down, which I predicted yesterday. I told her about the smart ass comment and the girls laughed. Casie went on to tell me she liked that because she always judges guys on how they react to Amy, and I guess I passed some sort of test? But regardless, I found out that Amy is an xray tech, and Casie waits tables... BUT she does have a couple degrees and a masters. She just can’t decide what she wants to do. Oh and the girls are 27, and 28.
I finished up around 12:15 last night. Which I needed to rest my voice because it was very sore. So I came back to my room and watched some family guy and was searching the internet. I did a Google search on myself to see if anything I didn’t know about had transpired with my music, and sure enough 24 pages in, I found a Yahoo question of someone asking what the music was on the Frank Frost Photography commercial. The lyrics are “You got your hair pulled back and a book in your hand.” Someone posted the answer “Where to Begin” by Derek Daisey. Which was neat all the same. THEN, I did more searching and apparently there were a few people looking for it. So I found the site for the company, and sure enough, my song was the main song playing on the site. So I thought that was interesting! And exciting. I also pray that I’m getting royalties on that song. It would be a nice surprise to get some come January from ASCAP and Pump Audio.
So I went to bed after... And I slept like crap. So bad, that I woke up at 9:30... and that’s really early. But I kept tossing and turning... So.. I decided to write this. So, now I’m caught up. 6 more days and I’m free! Looking forward to getting home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas

Christmas morning, I got up at about 9:20 to a phone call from Noochie. She asked me to meet her outside of the crew mess with her two friends at 10. So I got my batteries and put them in my camera and put on some sun screen and made my way to the waiting area. I was first in line to wait for a tender, but naturally no one is ever on time, so when the 10 people behind me showed up, I let them ahead to get on the tender.
As they left, Noochie showed up. Then we waited for her friends, who took another 15 minutes. Once they showed up, we took the tender into Ixtapa.
Once set foot on land, we got a taxi to a beautiful beach. Once we got there, we found a restaurant to eat at. We ordered some guacamole, fish, shrimp.
Then we rode on a sailboat for an hour around the water. It was absolutely gorgeous.
Afterwards, we came back to the ship, and I went to call my family for Christmas... And of course... of all the days, the phones were down... and won’t be fixed until at least the next day. So I got online and talked with Felicia.
I went to dinner soon after, which had a fancy set up, much like thanks giving. Though the food wasn’t as good, there was fried shrimp, and free wine, and soft drinks. As I was eating, Aaron came and sat with me. Then Kerry, then Clair, and then Rebecca (a singer from Raleigh, NC.) I’ve seen her a bit but never really talked to her. She was pretty cool. So I talked with everyone until about 7:30. Then I ran quickly to get strings and restring my guitar.
I played as many known songs as I could, but unfortunately.. no one sat at the bar. I know a lot of people were interested because I heard claps all over the casino and lots of the people giving me thumbs up. Just no straight bar sitters.
I finished up around 12 and decided to go to the christmas party. I wasn’t going too but since the phones weren’t working, I figured, I might as well get some good food. I was the second person to arrive. So I waited for some people. Eventually all the entertainment staff showed up and it ended up being a good time. I got some sushi and stuff. Very delicious. At one point during the night, Stu brought my CD with him, and he made the announcement that I had had one, and that it was awesome, and he played it. Lots of people were rather shocked. I guess not many people knew what I was capable of. So lots of people told me they wanted to buy it before I leave.
While I was sitting and talking with Sara and Claire, Claire told me Sara asked her secret santa to get her a Derek Daisey CD, which I thought was neat. The person got her a book... But still.
After the party, which I will admit was fun, and I’m glad I went, I came to my room and went to bed.

9 am, I woke up and went up to get a hair cut. Rebecca, another girl by the same name, was there waiting for me. She was in my SCC class. As she was cutting it, she was trying to get rid of all the blotched blonde in my hair. She asked if she could recolor it darker a little later in the day, so she cut it and got it really thin for me. I’m very pleased this time around. I got to play at 4:45 to 5:45... So, until then!!

Christmas Eve.. Alone..

Last night was better than the last couple days. People seemed to care I was there. And I got a bit of requests. I managed to do “Best of You” by the Foo Fighters... which was hard... and it hurt. I’ll probably play it one more time next week. Stu came by around 11 and watched and talked with some people. He talked about my album a lot hinting if they tipped 10 dollars, they could get one for free (at least he’s trying to help me out.)
After my gig, I went to get some yogurt, and I sat with Sopemla. She asked me about my siblings and what they’re doing for christmas. She told me about hers. Then she went to call them for Christmas. I went to my room and got ready to lay down and I got a phone call from Noochie. She asked how I was and wanted to know if I wanted to come along with her and a couple friends to Ixtapa. I said sure, since I hadn’t step foot there and most people tell me it’s the best of the three ports. So we talked about her job and mine and all that. She had a headache but she said she wish we talked more when class started versus the end of class. Which, we really didn’t start talking until the last week because that’s when I really started noticing her fall asleep in class. After we hung up, I watched the Bucketlist and went to bed.

Today, I got up at around 11. On my own. That’s pretty early for me. So I sat up and checked the internet stuff. Then I got dressed and ready and went out for lunch. I was pretty determined to not be hassled by taxi drivers so I walked intently through them ignoring most of them. A couple were quite abrasive. I just kept going. But the guy, Epi, who took me to the flea market a couple weeks ago caught up, and even though I said I knew where I was going, and I only had enough money for lunch, he walked along anyways... and sat at my table...and ordered a beer on my tab... And expected a tip for coming along. Which was kind of annoying because I made it relatively clear I didn’t need any help. I gotta say I’m quite happy I’m leaving Mexico... It’s just too abrasive for me.. And I don’t like the fact the most places don’t have set prices. Everything is designed to be haggled for... and I hate that crap.
So I came back to the ship, and and started playing Civilization 4.... and I pretty much played that, and went to a small dinner, and came back and played more and more and more... until 12 am. So roughly 8 hours of the game. It sucks you in like you wouldn’t believe. But after I beat my game, I won’t want to play it anymore.
I went to get some yogurt and came back to my room... And that’s about all that’s going on.Gotta wait on Noochie’s call tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s Christmas! So Merry Christmas! This will be my first away from my family.. but I guess I should get used to that. Especially if I’m going to be a rock star. ;-)

My Last San Diego Day... and two more sea days

San Diego day was about as eventful as last weeks. I got up early and got showered and dressed to go into town. I lifted my very heavy boxes and took them to the crew bar as I waited for the others that were leaving. After a few minutes, Glenn showed, a couple other guys, and Marcus. I gave Marcus a CD to listen to and show around to people in San Francisco. Never know when I need to find my way over there. He told us we didn’t have to wait in the crew bar, so he walked us up right outside the gate. He explained they really only have us go in the crew bar to get our passports. But American’s get to hold their passports, so there’s no point in waiting.
I balanced the boxes on top of a poll against the wall. I waited. Marcus offered to hold one of the boxes for me as we were getting off, so I handed it to him. Unfortunately they asked for people only shipping stuff to come forward first, so I had to take the very heavy box back. But I was first in line for xray, so I went by really fast, and found myself a taxi. As I was about to get in, I heard someone yell my name, and I saw Kelly with Leah as they were coming out of the terminal. I waved, and got in the car, and took the ride to the UPS store.
When I got in, I plopped the boxes on the counter, and they were weighed and re-taped a bit. But it only cost 95 dollars to ship everything. Significantly less than shipping the 491 dollars worth of stuff last week.
I got my phone out to call Nick, who didn’t answer, so I called my dad and talked to him for a bit about christmas. He received my guitars safe, and my other stuff, so that was good to hear. Unfortunately, the transmission in the explorer went out again (which proves Ford just sucks at making vehicles,) so that makes christmas a little tight. Not a lot of room to get the girls in the other truck and stuff. Hopefully they can get it fixed soon.
After I talked to him, Nick called back we talked. Talked about the band thing, and how him working at this store wasn’t really putting him up for manager and he was getting quite frustrated with them.
After that talk, I did my internet stuff at Starbucks, and updated a ton of things. I talked to Marina about what she was doing in Russia, and what I need to get going on my side o things. But with me going back to school, it’s hard to do a lot of the things I NEED to do. So my plan of action now is to just get a band together and try to play out, while getting an internet presence together. She suggests I go to NYC, which is a good idea, but with no money after college, that will be hard to do.
When I left Starbucks, I got a quick lunch, and saw a girl was playing guitar and piano outside in the mall. So I sat and watched her. She had a great voice and a cute look to her. So I went up and bought her CD, and gave her mine, and I talked to her mom for a bit. The girl’s name was Jessica Lerner. Jessica came over and talked to me, and signed her CD and asked if I’d sign mine, which I did. They asked what I was doing all the way out there, and I told them about the ship and stuff.. And college.
I wished her luck, and went to the music store to get guitar strings. Luke gave me a call back from when I called him earlier. We talked about the living situation. As far as he knew, we wouldn’t need couches, and all that. I would just need the bare necessities. We plan on making the third bedroom a studio. He’s got a girlfriend now, which is cool. He also said he likes to cook, so we’ll be definitely buying groceries for the house. I’d prefer to get a lot of good foods versus the fatty stuff. He said he’d take some pictures and give me everything I need to know in the coming days. I also talked to him about the project album, and doing the band thing with Nick and I. He said he was into the idea, so we’ll just need to get a drummer and a keyboardist and we should be good to go.
When I got to the music store, I bought 7 packs which gives me 12 boxes for the rest of my contract. As long as each box lasts a minimum of 2 nights, I’ll be fine and won’t have to buy anymore.
On my way back to the ship, I called Felicia and talked with her for an hour and a half or so combined. I got a phone call from Matt, a passenger from our first rivera cruise, who wanted to come pick up a couple CDs, so I met him outside the ship at around 3 and passed ‘em off. He’s the cop who used to be a drill sergeant and lost a lot of his voice.
I got on the ship and prepared for boat drill. We were given new vests to wear instead of the flaming gay green hats. Lots of kids running around, that’s for sure.
I had a meeting afterwards, which just went over the christmas stuff. Jessica passed us all a schedule. Something I hadn’t seen since my 2nd week on the ship. She’s really doing a good job as MD. She takes her job very seriously and really helps out.
I went up to the third floor, and browsed more internet stuff on my iphone. Then I called up Nick and had an idea for him and Katrina to move in the house with us, and then it could be like a band house, and we could work together most nights and stuff. Nick was very intrigued with the idea. He could easily transfer to Radio Shack, and right now Katrina doesn’t have a job. He called her to talk, but they’re going to have a more in depth conversation.
After the convo, I went and got some strings and restrung my guitar for the gig. I started playing for a few onlookers. But after the first set, I didn’t really have anyone the rest of the night and was very much dead.
I went to my room to see I had a message. It was from Jessica sending out a group message to all the musicians that we had cabin inspections in the morning. All my surge protector stuff was mailed home, so that was fine by me.


So I went to bed around 2 and woke up at 12. I went and got lunch, which ended up being Raisin Bran. It was good. Came back to my room and I started fooling with some song ideas, and clearing up my hard drive, and deleting unneeded stuff until cabin inspection which was a total of ten seconds. Since all my stuff was gone they didn’t have to look real hard for stuff. Then I got a set list together to send to Luke. Just an idea of some stuff. Maybe get some more input.
Had dinner, which was decent, and then got ready and dressed in my suit. Went up to play my gig. Though some people were watching, I got nearly 0 claps. It was quite dead. I was done by 12:30, and I went and ate with Randy in the crew mess. Pat joined, and soon after, Peter, the piano bar guy joined. We talked about the music business a bit. Randy suggested I went to NYC for the rock scene. Pat said Austin, Texas is great for original stuff and can really get stuff going with live. So... there’s some more ideas. From what I’m told, the new Hotel Director is kind of mean and picky. Our last one, Keith was a nice guy. I throughly enjoyed having him as a HD.
I came back to my room and watched some family guy until I fell asleep.

I woke up this afternoon at about 12:45 (but in all fairness, clocks went forward and hour.) I got online and checked some stuff. Amanda’s been entering me in a bunch of different things, from North by Northeast, songwriting competitions, and others.
I watched some more Family Guy until about 2 and then I went and ate on Lido Deck. The food was good. Enjoyed the Banana Creme pie. I came down and started work on another song. I have a horrible case of writers block write now. Nothing seems relevant to me, and nothing’s inspiring me so I’m stuck. I write 2 or 3 versus and then I don’t like where it’s going and get demotivated with it, and put it away. So.. that kinda sucks.
Anyways, tomorrow’s my day off. I intend to take full advantage of it. So.. until then!

5 month overview... oh and the my daily things..

(Finishing yesterday's post

Dinner was essentially a cheeseburger and fries for me. I came back to my room and got showered up and got in my suit and went to work. I played a lot of oldies early on, but it was rather dead. At about 11, I had a full bar for about a half hour, with people dancing and such. It was a good time. Then it died at around 12:15 and that was it. Kelly was going to sneak me some lobster.. but they didn’t have any today. We were supposed to hang out but they never came back after I was done.
Some drunk woman started hitting on me. She was 35 and married. Her husband was sick on the ship, so he was sleeping. She was absolutely drunk. She kept telling me how cute I was, and how my name tag didn’t mean anything to her.... Which I guess she was referring to doing something. I wouldn’t break the rules for a drunk woman. Nor a married woman... So, I told the bar tender to stop serving her drinks. She was beyond drunk, and I snuck out of there.
I went to the crew mess and sat with Pat and Randy and it turned out that woman was hitting on Pat earlier in the night. Someone should let her husband know...
After dinner, I came to my room and passed out.

I woke up at 12, and went to lunch which ended up being frosted flakes for me. On my way out, I saw Noochie. I didn’t see her last night at the crew mess, and I asked where she was. She said she was there, and she saw my suit and blue shirt... She told me she’s trying to get promoted to MSA, so she’s been taking a class. I told her we had to finish our movie soon, and then I went to the CTC office and browsed Wikipedia. I looked up Foo Fighters, Jewel, Glen Ballard, Alannis Morisette and others just to check out where they got started and stuff. Glenn saw me and came in and talked for a bit.
Then I got online, and Felicia was on, so I tried to talk to her through the glichy internet. I’ll get to see her in 25 days! She’s going on tour with the singers from the 7th to the 14th.. So, she won’t be back until the second day of classes... or third day..
Looking forward to getting home! 17 more days!

I hadn’t done my 4th month review of the job.. and since we’re coming on the 5th month, I’ll just do my summary thus far. Well, it is still a great job, to do what I like to do, and have little responsibilities outside of what I do. I do understand what the last casino soloist, Doug meant. He told me he was too a point where he really didn’t care about the people he was playing for anymore. He just wanted to do his job and go home. Over the last month, I almost look forward to not having people, because I can relax a little bit. But when I do have a lot of people, I also swing into that state of mind and thoroughly enjoy having people. I might just be checked out because it’s so close to Christmas. I could do this job again for sure with no problems, but I do want to try to get everything going on land. Get a band and just start playing out. Another reason I feel I’m kinda checked out is, that I can’t call home every time I’m in any port. I have to wait until San Diego. In Alaska, I could call more days than not, and Hawaii, I could call every day. That seclusion can take its toll and make ya feel a little alienated. So I think, if I’m to get on another ship, I’ll shoot for an itenerary where there are more days in the US. I was told about the Paradise and how it does 4 day booze cruises in America.. So, that might be something to shoot for if I were to come back.
Anyways, I gotta go to the MSA and get a shipping piece of paper for my boxes. Tomorrow is San Diego day, which will be the last day I get to enjoy it. The following week, I have Port Manning. So I’ll be making phone calls off the ship. Luckily, I have my iphone to browse the internet for free*. So... until next time!

*I pay a monthly payment... so it’s not free in the least.

An Orignal Hour of Derek Daisey?

Yesterday was... eh. I woke up at 10 for the little boat drill thing. The 4th week in a row, which kinda sucks. I went to my room afterward and worked more on the cartoon. Around 2, I decided I needed to go out and get a big cardboard box for my speakers and recording equipment. So I got off the ship. As I was leaving, I saw Glenn coming back. So I told him what I was doing and he said I should just pick some up at garbage at the ship.
So I got back on the ship and went to the garbage room and picked up a couple smaller boxes... I took them back to my room and combined them to make a larger box, and started packaging the speakers, my portabooth thing, microphones, and a couple more movies.
I didn’t have any tape, so I had to put the box down on the floor so the bottom wouldn’t fall out. I got ready and went up to play for Lido Deck. It was fairly dead and unresponsive. I went down to eat some dinner, and sat with the comedian for the day, Marcus Raymond. He’s a nice guy. He told me he really enjoyed my songs earlier, and told me he was from San Francisco. He told me if I ever come out there to get in touch with him, and he’ll introduce me to some people. So that was cool.
I went and saw his show, and it was real funny. Prop comedy. But he did a good job with it. Stu saw me in the audience (in the back) and he came over and told me he loved my album, especially “Words You Bleed.”
As I was leaving I saw my bartender, Elizabeth serving drinks, and I went over and said hi, and she told me she heard some of my songs from a woman that bought my CD (the woman who worked for Bon Jovi’s guitar player). She told me I was unbelievable and never gives compliments unless they’re deserving, and we ended up talking about what I’m planning on doing.
Afterwards, I went back to my room for a few minutes. Then headed back up to my 9 o clock gig and played for about an hour and a half for Kelly, Leah, Jason and some others. Then I took my break. When I came back, it was DEAD... I fooled with the guitar for 45 minutes... No one was really paying attention, so I took another break.. and waited for 40 minutes for people to show... But no one did, so I left early. As I was waiting though, I talked with Elizabeth a bit. She’s almost 34, and has quite a mouth on her (cuss word wise..) But real nice, none the less.
I went to the crew mess, and got some yams... I think... and sat with Sopemla. Noochie came over and said hi. She was having a bad day she said.. Not sure why. But afterwards, I went back to my room and started looking at my SNES games on my backup hard drive. A knock came at the door.. I was in my underwear... but afraid the person would leave quickly, I grabbed my shorts and ran to the door and opened it half way. It was Noochie. Unfortunately I had the pants in the hand the door was open over, so she saw them. She told me to put my pants on. So I did and let her in. We ended up watching half of “Yes Man,” and she was suddenly tired, and got up and left. So I went back to the game thing, until I was tired, and I went to bed.

I woke up this morning at 11:50. I went to eat lunch. Stu was there, and he came and sat with me. He told me he had an idea of giving me like an original’s hour in the piano bar, where I do all of my songs and it’s promoted in the capper. I agreed to it, but I only have 2 cruises left. A shame we didn’t think of it earlier.
I came back to my room and saw my room steward, and I asked if I could borrow some tape to tape my package. He gave me duct tape. So I went to town wrapping this stuff up. I probably used half the tape given to me. Because it take a lot of tape to tape two boxes together and shut.
Afterwards I went to put money on my sail and sign card so I could get some coffee. Apparently I owed 1.70 and the only way to unlock my card was if I put 30 dollars on it plus pay 1.70... So... I just paid the 1.70, and I won’t be getting anymore snack foods.
As I came back to my room, I realized I didn’t have my room card, so I called room service. I waited nearly 20 minutes... and they still hadn’t come. My room steward saw me and let me in. 10 minutes later, room service showed up, slightly annoyed I was already in my room.
I just listened to music and have been anticipating dinner. I only had yogurt for lunch... so I’m STARVING!!!!!!

Massages and Paradise

Today, I got up at 8:30. My body was very confused why I was doing such a thing, but I forced myself too, and I got my sunscreen on, and set my phone clock to the right time. I made my way outside, and met up with Kelly and Leah. Jason had to hang with his family for awhile. So we all got a little van that took us to the Paradise Beach. We got a table with chairs for 6 bucks. Immediately, I ordered a coke and guacamole.
One of the thousand people that was trying to sell us stuff sold me some cool sunglasses. I ate up the guacamole. Then I ordered some lobster and steak, which was pretty delicious.
Then I got a massage from a girl that came by. She was 22.. that’s about all I learned. But she did the whole body for me. I laid down on a lawn chair and she went about it for about 40 minutes.
Afterwards, I got some oysters and eventually got more guacamole. Jason and his family showed up a little later and they hung out with us at the beach until about 2. Then Kelly, Leah and I took a taxi back to the ship. I separated from them, and went back to my room and wrote a song for a customer.
After I recorded it, I took a nap for about an hour, and then went and got dinner. Then I started work on another song order, and finished that up by about 12. Now I’m going to do a template order real quick and go to bed. I have some stupid boat drill tomorrow...

Late nights, cartoons, Bon Jovi assistants...

1 am, December 16th

Today, after writing the blog, I went to lido deck and got some japanese food. Then got some banana creme pie. Afterwards, I spent more time on recording my voice parts for the cartoon, and put together a couple scenes. I went to eat dinner, which was steak and fried cheese. I was feeling kind of sick so I didn’t eat too much. Came back to my room and took a shower and went to work.
As I played, a lady called me over and told me used to be the personal assistant of the guitar player for Bon Jovi. She said she scouts for musicians for some of her friends that are in record labels and stuff. She bought an album and said she would send my stuff to her people.
After playing, went to eat pizza with Kelly, Leah, and Jason. Afterwards, came back to my room to go to sleep!


December 17th
Today, I woke up at 12, and found that my financial aid should cover all my schooling, and I should be set on that front. I went up and got lunch on Lido with Glenn and we talked about the things he could be doing, and things I'd be doing. Then I went to my room to work on my cartoon until 6. I had dinner and then came back to my room and took a shower. Then I went up to meet the friends for sushi at 7. Except they didn't show up. So.. a little annoyed, I went and restrung my guitar.
Before the start of my second set, Kelly came with Jason and she apologized saying she got so drunk in Ixtapa that she was just too sick to come, and she was going back to sleep. But we made plans to meet as a group tomorrow at 9 in Acapulco.
I got a terrible migraine, but I played through. Stu came by and watched me play and brought some people.
After my set, I went over and talked with him about the commercial thing on my album. He said he figured I didn't have it, and he didn't want to say anything unless corporate really forced.. Which since they were... He apologized for the whole mess.. and then bought a cd. Ha.
He told me if I EVER want to come back, to email him and he'll get me on his ship. He said it would be a sad day when I left. So, that was real cool of him. I asked him if he'd be willing to fill out an internship paper for me, if my school allowed it, and he said he would write me anything I needed for that.
After the gig, I went down to the crew mess and saw Noochie. There was no good food so she made me some thai food. Very spicy, but very good. Then she told me the song I wrote for her always makes her smile and puts her in a good mood. Which was nice to hear. She said she'd be coming to NC in April, so I said she'd definitely have to keep in touch.
Now I'm in my room!! Getting up in 6 hours!

4 days passed... still going!

Ugh, I’ve been getting behind on updating this thing. Not because I don’t care. Just lack of time. I’m working on a couple little projects, and I devote a lot of my free time to them. OK! So, a bit has come to play since I last updated in Manzinillo.
The third sea day, I woke up late like I have been lately, and tried writing lyrics to the rock song. I really fought hard to do that and get it done. I finished a set, but just wasn’t happy with it, so I put it aside, and decided to start packing my ps3, movies, cds, and miscellaneous things. So I got the Beatles Rockband Box, and pulled it out and started packing. Didn’t take too long. Got everything packed in there and put away.
After I finished that, I called Rosetta Stone about getting a refund. Luckily it was a no hassle kind of phone call, and they just gave me an address to send it to, and that was about it.
I found out I was “reentered” into Catawba, and Financial Aid would send me a packet early next week.
I called Felicia, and talked to her with the rest of the phone card. Afterwards, I went to dinner, and played a rather quiet night, and finished up a little after 12. I saw Glenn walking around all dressed up. Apparently he was meeting up with someone who ended up not coming cuz her kid was sick, so he and I talked and went to the crew mess until bed. Then we went our separate ways.

Last sea day, I woke up late, and managed to find my room steward, and asked for some tape, which he supplied and I taped up my box and such. I continued to look over my rock song.. Just hitting blanks left and right. No real subject to talk about. I did a lot of loungin’ around until dinner. When I was there, I was eating with Chris and asked him about the process of shipping a big box. He said I needed to fill out a form i got from MSA (Which closed for the day) and go through customs. Also.. we’d be in town sunday, I felt there was almost no hope to send the box home. Next week is my last chance to do so because the following week.. my last week.. I have port manning.
So slightly defeated I started walking back towards my room, but as I walked by CTC, I saw one of the head MSA people. So I asked him what I could do. He questioned how I would mail something home on a sunday, but he told me to just come in the morning and he’ll get me a form.
I went back to my room and got online to see if there were any places in the immediate area that might be open. I saw there was a UPS Store three blocks away. So I check online, and sure enough they were open 9-3 on sundays.
So I showered and got ready for my last night of playing. The crowd was really still until about 12, when people decided to show up because I was the last real performer working. It was fun. I sold 3 CDs, and I sat with a group that had been to see me times before. They all said I was the best on the ship by far, and I deserve to be in a better place. They were all real nice. One guy gave me a $15 giftcard to starbucks, which for those that have been reading, I go there once a week, so that should take care of the rest of my purchases there.
After all that, I went back to my room to sleep for the busy morning.

San Diego Day! I woke up at 8 and got dressed, and walked around impatiently until 8:30. The guy was there, and he printed off my form and told me to bring my stuff to the crew bar. When I got there, there were a bunch of people signing off. Chris and his girlfriend, Gabe, Sasima, Marina (the first girl I met on the ship) and a few others. We were supposed to be there at 9, but of course 9 means 9:25 on the ship. No one seems to have any time discipline. The handle to my box broke, so I had to put my es-335 on top of it and pick the box up from the floor horizontally. And it was heavy. When I got off the ship, I put it on the ground and just slid it to the xrays. Everything went through quick and painless, and I managed to find a taxi. The guy took me 3 blocks to the store, and dropped me off (like most taxis do.) As I was walking towards the door, I heard a voice hassling me about buying the Beatles rockband. I just thought it was some homeless guy who wanted money (which really wouldn’t be hard to believe, if you look around town. It was Glenn though. He helped me get into the place and told me another idea he had for our cartoon.
So, I filled out the paper work and got everything weighed and shipped, and I was reminded why I never want to pay to package something at a UPS Store. It cost me 491 dollars to mail 2 guitars, a box of stuff, and Rosetta Stone. The guitars cost 200 each to package and ship. I’m debating taking my Les Paul Robot on the plane with me, because even overages would only be 125 to get it on the plane. I’d save 75 bucks just like that. The guy told me it wouldn’t cost less than 200 to ship it... So... what’s the point.
Afterwards, I called Nick and we talked about the band thing, life and all that. He’s doing well. He really wants to be promoted to manager by January. Hopefully he achieves that.
Went to Starbucks, and got online and did my updating and all that. Nick called back and I got lunch and finished up that convo. Afterwards, I called my Dad, and told him what to be expecting in the mail. He told me Jenn and Him would drive down with me and bring some furniture so I wouldn’t have to go out and buy any for Christmas, which would be just fine for me. Giving me a bed and a couple couches and a futon would save me close to a thousand bucks.
Afterwards, I called Felicia and we talked for a good hour or so. I got on the ship to drop some stuff off. As I was coming down my hall, I saw Peter talking with a red head woman. Her name is Jessica, and she is my new MD. She seemed nice enough.
After boat drill and the meeting, I came upstairs to do more iphone internet before it’s out of use for another 8 days. Glenn walked by with his drums to set up. He told me this real nasty Music Director that everyone hates finally quit, in necessity because he probably would have been fired. My boss Jessica became MD just so she didn’t have to work for this man again. So at least I’m safe of that, in case I ever come back.
Went to my room and got dressed up and went to dinner. Sat and ate with Glenn. As I was leaving, bumped into Jessica, and she asked if the food was any good. So I told her the truth, and she didn’t seem surprised.
I started playing for a small but interested crowd. Eventually my return friend, Kelly showed up with her friend, Lea. They watched for a bit and went to dinner. They came back after my break and requested a few songs off the album. When they left for the show, the audience all quietly said she liked me a lot. To which I replied, nothing was going to happen. I don’t want to lose my job. And other things are developing on land, and I’d rather not complicate that.
It was DEAD by 12, so I broke down and went to my room and started messing with some lyric ideas. Eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, I was woken up by 10 announcements.. first quiet, then very loud in repeat every five minutes. Guest Services kept paging someone who apparently was missing. Turns out the guy was passed out in a girls room. He didn’t hear any of the announcements. A lot of crew and I would have liked to have dumped him overboard...
I started working on my cartoon. Went to lunch and talked with Randy about computers. Then went back to the cartoon, watching Seinfeld until 6ish, then went to dinner. Glenn and I started eating, then Jessica and Peter joined us. Jess has sort of a New Jersian accent, but she’s from Rhode Island. I kinda made the little nudge that her and I are from the 2 smallest states in the country. She has to play finger bass on the keyboard for the band since there is no bass player on the ship.. or guitar player... for the big band. She’s a trombone player for her main instrument.
After dinner, got dressed up in the suit and went played my set. There was a good hour where my bar was full, and people were diggin’ the music. Sold a CD to these brothers, Jason and Cody. Kelly and Lea watched as well. We ended up all chatting and going up for pizza and talking about various young adult things until 4:30 am (with the clock 1 hour forward change.)
I came back to my room and passed out.

This morning, I woke up at 12, and started writing this. I got a knock at the door at about 1:35, and it was Peter. He asked if he could talk to me for a second. He told me that word came in from the office in Miami that people without approved CDs,(CD’s without a commercial) must seize to sell CDs. He asked if I had my papers, and I told him no, and he said I had to stop. But then he asked had I tried, which I told him, I mailed in my CD, to get approved and was told I’d be given a commercial, but never got one and after awhile, it proved to be unprofitable to go make CDs that late in my contract, so I just started selling these. He said they really dropped the ball on the and he’d go see what he can do. But honestly... this late in the contract.. it’s what ever.. I’ll stop putting it out, but if people tip me high enough, I’ll give them one. So then I’m never really selling them. It’s like a gift.

Anyways... I’m going to go eat on Lido deck.

27 days to go

Today was ok. I was woken up for the punishment boat drill since so many people missed the last one. I hadn’t slept very much, so I had a headache and felt sick. After the drill, I went to my room, and just went back to sleep until 3:30. Then I got up and took a shower, and went and got set up on Lido deck for my “sail-away concert.” Randy, one of the other soloists, came over and we talked for a few minutes just about the gig itself, and then Cha-Cha showed up to help for soundcheck.
As she was setting up, I learned that she was signing off in 10 days. Since she’s pregnant she’s only allowed to work until then. Which kinda blows, because she, like the rest of my friends will be leaving and I’ll really have no one left, except the occasional conversation with Sopemla (Cafe’ barista), Noochie, Katerina and Claire. All my guy friends will be gone. Most of these girls I see in passing. So it’s going to be a lonely 27 days.
So I did my show to a pretty awesome receptive crowd. My voice was feeling great, and I was hitting everything with ease. I can only hope that my voice stays this way. I’m not sure why it’s doing so well. I switched teas that I’ve been drinking, and since then things have been getting better. But we’ll see.
After the show, I ate dinner with Glenn and Chris (whose leaving for another ship to be Music Director. Lucky for him, his girlfriend gets to go along too, and since he has the big bed room, she gets to live with him, no questions asked.) Glenn told me some more ideas he had about getting off the ship. He has a lot of options in the air, but he doesn’t really have a clue which one’s actually going to work for him,
After dinner, I came to my room and watched Beavis and Butthead, while I worked on the cartoon a bit.
Then I went upstairs to get set up in the casino. It was a very quiet crowd all night. During breaks I played darts with other casino dealers... Lost two very close games. But I’m holding my own for playing only a second time.
During the gig, I saw Iryna, who seemed very cold and didn’t want to talk to me in the least. So I came up behind her and told her goodbye, and then she very defensively said why should she say bye when I haven’t said hello when I passed her or made any attempts to talk to her. Which was true. But only because I thought she was mad at me from the other day when I asked her if she was in a bad mood and she snapped at me. When people snap, I give up trying to be nice for a few days. But to be fair, she never said hello or anything to me when I passed either, so I feel this is mutually our faults. But regardless, I said “I’m Sorry, and Hello”. She said “it’s too late for hello” and walked away. The bartender Solvia was listening, and he said she’s been in a bad mood tonight. I really hate drama. This will be the first I’ve experienced it out here. But she transfers to another ship in two days to be with her boyfriend, so it won’t really weigh on me much longer.
Now I’m in my room. Gonna check tomorrows capper to see when I’m playing!

Under a month left to go!

The last couple of days have been somewhat uneventful. This cruise has a few people that care about the music I play but most of them are gone by 12:30. The last sea day before Acapulco, I had strange dreams and ended up sleeping away most of the day. I played my music, and messed with my loop pedal a lot. There were a lot of dead spots through out the performance, so I decided to stop singing to save my voice. I can’t get in trouble for it or anything. All the other guys do that. They just have full on tracks. The night ended at 12:45, and I went down to my room and got to sleep because I had a radio interview in the morning. Though I did check my facebook and found my dearest friend, Marina was denied a visa to come stateside for a year...

The alarm goes off at 8:30, and I just start watching The Office while I wait for my phone call. At around 9:45 I was concerned because there was no call, so I got online, and sure enough three emails from Amanda were waiting for me about how they couldn’t get through and they needed me to call them. So I did, but unfortunately the signal was so bad, that we had to postpone it until the next day. So, I hung out for awhile, and eventually called Felicia and talked with her for a bit.
After the conversation, I went out to Acapulco for some food. Got a couple gifts along the way. Went to a flea market where they give you free coke,beer, water, and other drinks. This guy Epi, showed me around.
After getting what I got, I went to the restaurant I ate at when I had lunch with Eric, Thomas and Claire last. I got some guacamole dip and some steak tacos. Very delicious.
Then I came back to the ship and got online and talked with a few friends for awhile.
Once I got off the internet, I decided to be productive, so I picked up the elctric guitar and started fooling around, coming up with a pretty neat guitar riff. 5 hours later, i had the whole song tracked minus words. I was very pleased with it. Couldn’t write lyrics so I went to bed since I had an interview the next morning... again.

I woke up at 8:30 and listened to the song again and started writing lyrics. I checked the internet several times to make sure there were no problems. Turns out it would be too expensive for them to call me, so I called them. The interview went over well, and it should be played soon. We talked about my album, crusin’, and other various things.
Then I continued working on the song.. until I was getting used to everything, so I turned it off and played some Sims 3 until a knock came at my door. It was Glenn ready to track his voice parts for our cartoon, so we did that. Went over well.
Then I ordered personal desk calendars for my family with some of my pictures in them.
During one of my breaks at my gig, I played darts with someone for the first time in my life, and I started off terribly. But sure enough it was neck and neck at the end, and I hit a bullseye and won!
After the gig, which was awesome, until after my last break. No one was there... I made 55 bucks in tips though. Neat stuff. I went to the crew party upstairs and talked with some friends like my boss Peter, Aaron, Noochie, Natalia, and Carrie.
Now I’m here! In my room! Watching the office!

A call from an old friend

San Diego day was a good day. I got up around 8 to see if I could get off earlier than 9, which I could.. but not quite as early as 8. As I waited, I got a phone call from Nick. We hadn’t talked since before black friday, so he had a lot to fill me in on.
Afterwards, I went to Starbucks and caught up with Amanda about the radio interview, got the rest of the office season. After a bit of that, I went up and got some lunch (sushi) and called my dad.
Afterwards, I went to Sam Goody, and called Felicia while I browsed the good prices. I managed to get The Beavis and Butthead collection for free for getting the Office season two. I also got the Kings of Leon album.
As I went to the music store to get some strings, I got a phone call from my old high school friend, Jimmie Allen. He called to ask to see if I wanted to fill his opening slot on his radio tour. Unfortunately I’m on the ship so I had to decline. But as we talked, he filled me in on what’s going on in his life, and he invited me to his place in Nashville to meet some of the people he knows. He’s also a songwriter. He just released his new single on the radio which just cracked the top 200 on the radio.
After I got off the phone, went back to the ship, and did the boat drill, watched some B & BH and got ready for the show.
When I got up to the casino, it was EMPTY.. I was quite confused. But found it was because someone got really sick and the ship had to turn around and drop someone off back at San Diego. So people didn’t really start showing up until 9:30ish.
After a quiet night, I went to my room and went to sleep.

THE PHONE RINGS, and I jump up scared I over slept or something terrible happened. As I answer the phone, I hear a girl’s voice and it was Noochie. She was just calling to say goodnight. She appologised for waking me up, but it was nice of her all the same. I went back to sleep and I was out.

I woke up at 11, and decided I needed to really work on the next song order, so I got working on it, wrote and recorded it. Afterwards, I went and got dinner, then came back to my room to shower. Afterwards, I went up and played my set. Not too many people, so I did a lot of loop pedaling.
Once the gig was over, I came back to the room to watch Beavis and Butthead Do America. And then sleep.

Not much going on.

The last few days have been rather dull. The gigs have been rather dead, though I have managed to meet a few cool fans. A couple days ago, I ended up playing probably over an hour of my music straight. I gave a lot of my new stuff a chance, and wanted to test out the songs. I tested out stuff I hadn’t played in a few months, to stuff I’ve never tried live. I played “Fall”, “Fly Away Girl”, “Save My Life” “Day-Dreaming”, “Scissors and Razors”, “Unforgotten Memory”, “Film” “Ivy Tree” “Words of Love” and “Grounded”. I also managed to throw in a song I wrote when I was 15 called ‘Fell For Her Whisper’ just to demonstrate where the songwriting has come from.
The ladies listening really couldn’t wait to get their hands on the next CD. They came back the next night asking for some of the same songs which is cool. “Fly Away Girl” and “Grounded” were requested a bit, for their feel-goodness...
But aside from that, the last couple days consisted of writing a song for a customer, and getting two more orders I gotta work on. Last night after I got done playing, Noochie came over to hang for a bit. Put on “10 things I hate about you” and talked about lots of stuff about her. She lived in North Carolina for 2 years in Chappel hill as a nanny, and went to college on the side. She’s traveled a lot over the world. I asked her what she wanted to be, in which she had no idea. She pretty much said nothing. I just conveyed she hasn’t found what she’s passionate for yet.
After she left, I watched some of “Pay It Forward” and went to sleep. Now I’m gonna start working another order. Got a massive headache... San Diego Day tomorrow! And an apparent radio interview early next week!

Acapulco day!

This morning, I got up around 10ish, and did a couple template order recordings, and then took a shower, and watched “Foo Fighters Live”. At about 12:10, Cha-Cha called me and told me to meet her in the I-95.
We met up with a couple other techies, Wes and Brad. We got off the ship together. I went to get money out of the ATM, but of course there was a problem, and the working ATM was out of money. So.. Cha-Cha lent me some money for the day.
We caught a taxi which was a VW Beetle. This car, I wanted VERY badly as a middle schooler. And riding in it made me want it just to have it. Ran real smooth, and it was small.. But you have a better feel for how it can move. The taxi guy tried to get 15 dollars out of us, but Cha-Cha stuck to her guns and said she wouldn’t pay more than 10, which he agreed too. So we were taken to Paradise, a club/outside restaurant.
We got a table out on the beach for 6 bucks with an umbrella. So we sat down, and just like any other place in Mexico, we were approached hundreds of times by people trying to sell necklaces, cigarettes, gum, kids belly dancing and singing, rings, masks, ice cream, massages, bracelets, jet-ski riding, bung-jee jumping salesman, and a lot more. We rarely went 5 minutes without having to say no to someone.
Two ladies came over to our table and offered me and Cha-Cha a massage. We both said no at first, but then they said the first 2 minutes are free, so they gave us a back massage, which was truly amazing, since I haven’t had one since I last had a girlfriend (and because I’m cheap.) After she gave it, I needed more, so I got a 30 minute massage for 15 bucks. So as I ate chips with guacamole, I was getting a back, arm, neck, and head massage, which was just so great. Cha-Cha told the lady to come back in an hour and she’d have one.
After my lady finished, we ordered food. I got orange juice, and a romanian mixture of seafood which included octopus, shrimp and scallops. Then Jon, me and Cha-Cha just hung out and talked, while Wes went over to hang out with some of the dancers. This was most of the entertainers’ night off so a lot of them were on the beach getting drunk. At some point some guy came over and asked for our names to write down. So Cha-Cha made up names for us. Wes was “Sloth”, She was Sarah, Brad was “Steve” and I was “Frank.” Turns out the guy painted shells with our names in it. Looked neat.
As I was talking to Cha-Cha, the massager came back and offered to let her lay omn her stomach in which she said she couldn’t. So, smartass wise, I asked if she was pregnant, in which she said yes. I first thought she was joking.. Turns out she wasn’t. She was pregnant. So we talked about all that. She’ll have her baby in May.
So we hung and talked through out the day. The sun seemed to just stay in front of us all day. Being that close to the equator makes sense for that reason.
Brad told me a bit about what he’s done in the past, which included running lights for Leigh Anne Rhymes, Brian Johnson, and WWE.
At the end of the day, we caught a taxi who also quoted us 15 dollars, and Cha-Cha talked him down to 10. That guy drove crazy fast, maneuvering through the roads. No cops pulled him over... It was insane...
We got back to the ship, and then I got ready to go to supper club. Dinner was pretty delicious. I got Surf and turf which was plenty for me.
Afterwards, we made our way down to the crew bar which was relatively empty. But after about an hour, karaoke was set up and it was packed full of terrible singers. I talked with Glenn, Aaron, Irynia (bar waitress in the casino this week), Katerina and her boyfriend Manuel. After I heard the terrible singing for a few minutes and got burned out and went back to my room, and here I am! So, I’ll work on some music things until I get tired and do more tomorrow.

Black Friday and practicing..

San Diego day started off with SCC class.. or rather, the test. Marco told us to be there at 9 sharp. So I got there at 8:45 because I’m punctual like that. 9 o’clock comes around, and it’s a ton of people who are leaving the ship that show up. Class doesn’t start until 10ish because the instructor didn’t get on the ship until roughly. Which really sucks because that’s another hour we have to stay on the ship. My one day off a week is San Diego and I like to enjoy it.
The instructor comes in, and tells us we’re taking a written test, and then some f us randomly will be asked questions, and then we’d demonstrate an evacuation drill.
He gave us the tests, and it was actually the exact same test we had for the practice test.. Just in a different order. So I breezed through it. He asked 6 people random questions, that were actually pretty tough. Luckily I wasn’t called on. We then made our way up to 3rd deck, and did the demonstration. He picked four people to be the evacuators, and the rest of us were “passengers.” So it went over well. Then he asked a couple people some questions about the liferafts. But we didn’t finish ‘til 11:30 am, and with it being Black Friday, I had to make my way out there!
So I grabbed my computer and phones and got going. Called Nick, but he was working I imagined.. Then called my Dad, and filled him in on stuff. Went up and got my usual sushi, and teriyaki chicken. Then went down to Starbucks, got a carmel latte and worked on some internet stuff.
Afterwards, I went into Sam Goody to see if they had any good deals. They had a lot of good movies for 4 dollars, so I got “Evan Almighty”, “Man of the Year”, “Something’s gotta give” “Borat” “Watchmen Motion Comic”, “Foo Fighters Live,” “Kings of Leon Live”, “Pay it Forward” and “Once.” Also got a guitar techniques book. Really wanting to teach myself to do leads better.
Talked with Felicia on the way back to the ship. Then got on the ship, dropped my stuff off, went to boat drill. Afterwards, we had a quick meeting. I got a positive comment card that Stu read aloud which was cool. Then I went back to my room and put on Evan Almighty. I practiced some scales. Over and over and over again. Then got cleaned up and played.
I had a few people that were very interested in what I’m doing, but overall it was a very dead night. I went to my room and finished Evan Almighty and continued practicing. Then I went to sleep to have a pretty bad nightmare. The ship sank in it so fast, I didn’t have time to help anybody, and I was nearly sucked under water. It was really intense and insane.
I woke up the next morning at 12. I put on the Watchmen Comic, and practiced a ton until Gabe came over and we went over some guitar stuff. Then Dinner, and then had work. Work was dead again, and I finished early. I went back to my room and watched more of the Watchmen, and practiced more.. Then fell asleep after taking my pain meds. That knocked my out until 2 pm today. I got up and did some laundry, and finished Watchmen. Then I put on Man of the Year, and kept practicing guitar. Cleaned my room at some point.
Then went to work, and it again was very VERY dead. I feel like it’s Alaska all over again. Now I’m in my room watching Kings of Leon live. So far, they are really REALLY awesome live. I’m very impressed. Tomorrow, I’m going to the beach with some friends in Acupulco, and then going to see “2010” and THEN have that thanksgiving dinner with all my friends up in the supper club! So it will be a good day tomorrow! I’m excited. Got two template orders and an original song order to write. So, I’ll get to it!

Scc training... Back spasms, and "To The Echo"

Wow... 7 days have passed pretty quick. And surprisingly there’s not a lot to talk about. The first three days were very good gigs. Except that my voice was terribly squeaky. I met a couple couples. One of which had been to a lot of concerts, and they loved all the 90’s stuff I did. We talked about a lot of career stuff, and all that. On the 2nd sea day, Another couple came to see me play, but at that point my voice was gone, so I just did instrumentals. I ended up talking to them for a bit. They were scientists for pharmaceuticals. They lived in San Diego. They were really cool.
Acapulco day, I got up pretty late for I had class at 2 for SCC. That day we were going to inflate a life raft in the pool. I got to lido deck about a half hour early, and got a cheeseburger, then saw Nina and the other spa girls so went over and chatted with them. Marco, the instructor showed up with the safety officer, and after a few moments of standing around, we all took off our shirts and put on our lifejackets. Every commented on how white I was. Lots of comments like “get a tan” were heard.
We got in the shallow part of the pool and Marco instructed what would be done. He asked me to help another person lift the life raft shell and put it in the deep end of the pool. As I lifted, I felt my lower back muscle strain. Luckily it was only a second I had the thing, before it was dropped in the pool. Marco called Noochie over to pull the painter line, which inflates the life raft. She tugged it hard, and the shells popped off and the life raft inflated. It was a lot smaller than I pictured. Noochie nudged my shoulder and pointed at the max capacity saying 12 persons. The ship has 35 person life rafts... being why it was a lot smaller.
We all got in the water, and marco capsized the life raft, and he called on me to right it. In the instructions, it tells you to stand on the CO2 tank and use your weight to flip it over. But because the life raft was so small, that wasn’t the case. I tried anyways, and the CO2 tank almost broke off... So... I just backed up, and three other guys just pulled some cables over. Then they got in and had to practice pulling people in. I was # 2 in line. As they pulled me, one got my arm, and the other grabbed my lifejacket... which was really choking me. So I just got myself in.. I sat in the back and we went through all the discussions of the life raft.
We got a group picture, and then said our goodbyes.
Before I left, I asked Aaron about the supper club, and if we were still going. Apparently, the Supper Club won’t open if they only have reservations for crew members... So I didn’t get to have that meal. As the day went on, my back started to hurt horribly. Sitting in the chair was painful, laying down in one position was comfortable, but everything else hurt. I had no desire to want to go to the bathroom. I tried to get up and walk, but the pain almost made me pass out. So I just went to sleep.
The next morning, I got up early and went to the infirmary. Turns out I got back spasms.. The doctor signed me off, gave me IBUPROFEN and tylenol. I went to my room and really just laid down all day. Got up to eat and suffered the walk. Towards the end of the day I started feeling a bit better. I went to sleep pretty late, since I kept taking naps all day.
The next day, I got up and went again, and found the pain was worse than the day before, so the doctor signed me off again. Which meant I couldn’t drive the lifeboat... which blows because that was the whole reason I signed up for the class. So I stayed in my room all day... But instead of feeling useless, I picked up my guitar and wrote a new song called “To the Echo (Here I Am)”. Then I took it easy.
The next day, I went again to the doctor, and I was signed off again. I didn’t want to miss another SCC class since I only had two classes left, so I went. It was a mere review. At some point I was having a conversation with Noochie, and I was joking about writing songs for girls, but a lot of them don’t like it, and she said she did, and asked me to write her a song. So I took her up on her dare.
I went to lunch and met up with Glenn to discuss our show. He wants to shorten it to a few minutes just to see if we can do it. If people like it, we’ll make more.
I went back to my room, and pulled out the ES-335 and started hacking away at Noochie’s song. Within a half hour, I had written it, and then I went and demoed it which took about three hours. Once I was satisfied, I started a new project in logic, and started on “To The Echo”. The song was originally a driving electric guitar song, but I experimented with electric pianos, and various effects, and came up with a cool idea. So, that became my mission and I recorded and mixed it until it was done. At about midnight, I took a muscle relaxer.. but got hungry so I went to get a quick bite to eat. Noochie was working behind the buffet. I told her her song was done, and she wanted to hear it, but I said I’d show her in the morning.
I went back to my room, and the medicine kicked in and I got very tired and dizzy. So I went to bed. At some point in the middle of the night, I remember being confused and I threw my shirt across the room in a fit of anger... But I don’t know why..

I woke up at 7:30 and got dressed and went to the doctor. She gave me the option to take the day off but in doing so, I wouldn’t be able to get off in San Diego. So I said I was ready to go back to work. I wasn’t 100% if that was true, but I didn’t want to be stuck.
I went to my last day of class, and of course the first person there was Noochie, waiting for her song. So I gave her the CD, and moments later class started. We went over our practice test. I got an 87%. Afterwards, we were given a break, so I took Noochie back to my room to show her her song on my speakers. Before I started it, the phone rang, and it was Stu checkin in on me. He told me I wasn’t in the Capper because they weren’t sure if I was playing. He told me not to worry about taking it easy, or not play as long.
So I showed Noochie her song and she laughed a lot and really enjoyed it. Then we went back to class.
After class, I went to my room and then lunch. Came back to room and checked my email to find I had two template orders, so I did those up real quick and sent them in for a quick 80 bucks. Afterwards, I watched some of The Office until dinner, which I went too. And it was a thanksgiving feast! Turkey, Lamb chops, shrimp, salmon, beef, desserts of all sorts. So I ate a bunch of good food.
Afterwards, I got my computer, and went to get set up in the Casino. A lot of people seemed excited I was back. My large crowd came back to listen to me, and I ended up playing most of the night, with one break in the middle. A lot of people told me they missed me a lot because I was the only one who doesn’t play Country on the account the most of the soloists do country. So, I had a great time, made some good tips and sold some CDs. I had a great time, and my back didn’t give me any problems.
Now I’m in my room, getting ready to sleep, and then have my SCC test tomorrow... then SAN DIEGO!!!!! I can’t wait! Black Friday.. which means nothing to me... because I have everything I could want. So.. yep! And on another note, I was talking to Kelly, the girl from the last cruise on Facebook, and it turns out she got another cruise to come back out on the spirit during Christmas. She asked if would be weird, because she didn’t want to look like a stalker. I told her she has to worry about that social host more than me.. Sooo.. yeah.

Last day of an awesome cruise

The last day of the cruise started off with me being 20 minutes late for class, which ultimately started at that moment, so everything was fine. My alarm turned off instead of snoozing... After class, I slept from 11- nearly 3. I was very tired. Afterwards, I played games until it was time to get ready for work.
I went to play at 8 and it was pretty dead until about 9:30 then from there on it picked up and was busy and fun until 1 am where I finished with the week favorite “Wonderwall.”
I gave out business cards to everyone, and thanked them all. Kelly and I hung out for a bit and I showed her my two gibson guitars which she fell in love with. She told me one of the social hosts was extremely flirty with her, but beyond just talk. He was very forward with wanting to bring her below decks, or meet her outside to get together, which she said no to both. At one point as she was getting on an elevator he went out of his way to jump on, put his arm around her chest the other hand on her butt... Which is EXTREME sexual harassment. She didn’t know what to do. I suggested she told someone, because if he’s doing that in his 1st two weeks on the ship, he will do it more, and make that many more people uncomfortable.
I made up some funny songs and all that, and she said she liked me a lot more than him because I was easy to talk too and was in no way pushy about getting together.. Which really wasn’t the goal. Just being cool and friendly.
Afterwards, I walked her to her hallway, she hugged me goodbye and I went to bed.
My alarm went off at 9 AM, where I got up quickly and went for a walk, calling Nick. Then went to Starbucks and did the online thing. Continued downloading the office episodes I bought last week. Then I got situated with the site Sellaband.com which gives regular people a chance to donate money to a band to record an album, and they get royalties, a CD and perks in return.
After that, I went and got some Japanese food which was delicious. Text talked with my friend Monica in Texas. She’s busy doing her little projects. For those who don’t remember, she was the girl who went to the Whittier bar with me before Whittier's revenge.
Then went to Sam Goody and got John Mayer’s new cd, Foo Fighters concert DVD, and Star Trek on blu ray. Then I went to the music store to get 5 packs of strings, and a new capo, since mine has been buzzing strings.
Called and talked with Felicia for a bit, and my dad. Had kind of a bathroom problem from something I ate.
Watched the new episodes of The Office I got, listened to some of John Mayer’s new album, which sounded cool. Then I fooled around on my guitar until boat drill. There were a LOT of kids running around. SOOO many...
After drill, we had a quick meeting, then I went to my room to practice some new songs until dinner. I went and ate and got ready for work, and went and played. The crowd was pretty laid back, but it is only the first night. A lot of teenagers on the ship too.
I got out around 12, and came back to the room and now I’m debating sleep. Got class tomorrow, and work at 7:30 tomorrow night!