Finished the song

Within an hour I wrote a new song called “The Other Side.” I went and played my shows for the night, and at one point mentioned the song, and writing it, and someone asked me to play it. So, I did, and it was receipted very well.
After the gigs, I hung out with Milan for a bit, since he leaves Wednesday, and we get a replacement piano player. We talked about recording, Macs, Music, school and other stuff.
Afterwards, I went back to my room, and went to bed.

The haircut came out good. A lot of people said I looked a lot younger.. which is good. I’m tired of people thinking I’m 30.

I woke up this morning at about 10, and I began recording my song. I got some cool ideas down. I managed to eat lunch, and do my laundry, but I got the song down about 60%. There’s a little bit more I want to do with it. I’ll try to do what I can tonight. Tomorrow, I play 12:30 to 5, so it will be full week since I’ve stepped foot on land. Which is fine.. I’m getting used to being on the ship, where it doesn’t bother me so much. I have a lot of work to do on my new music, and my website.
I have a killer headache tonight, which keeps coming back, and the crowd has been pretty cool. I managed to bump into Jeff, the piano player, and he wants me to run him through the process of what I do when I write songs. He says he has no problem writing music, it’s just the lyrics. I told him it takes a lot of practice, but we could go over it otherwise. Probably on our first sea day. Well, now I gotta go run and finish up my gig. Got two more hours to go, and then my room to finish up my song.

After the gig, I went to my room and I finished my song for the most part. I might go back and fix little things as I learn how to do them in logic. But.. it’s 3 am.. time to sleep!!

Songs, coffee, website back up, and more songs.

Two nights ago, I went through my gigs. It was a rather quiet night. After I finished up, I visited Yulia, (because she was on the way to my room). I went to my room, and paid to get my website up. I’m going to work hard on it to get it up to date, and maybe offer some songwriting services for bands, artists, producers, and possibly gifts.

I went to bed, but tossed and turned and had a lot of weird stuff on my mind. From people at school, to people I just met; what I’ll be doing after school and other things like that. I finally fell asleep after about an hour.

Yesterday morning, I woke up, and got started on writing the dd 31 song. After about an hour, I finished writing it. I went up and called my dad, and texted a few friends, then went downstairs and started tracking my song. After a few hours, I took a break from it, and showered up, and talked with some friends on facebook. Then I went back to working on the song, and finished it, then I got dressed in my suit, not my tux this time. Got up to go play.

When I got to my stage, a photographer was set up to take pictures at it. And he was going to be there until the end of the night. So I searched out someone with the approval to tell me what to do. I bumped into Marc, and I let him know the situation. He said he’d let Chris know, and so I went and dropped my stuff off in my room and went to eat dinner. I met a new girl named Anna from Belarus. I hadn’t seen her before, and the reason being because she joined the ship two day ago. So we chatted a bit, and I ate my sandwich. Eventually Peter showed up in a hurry. He asked if I could play in the Deco instead (because he knows how much I hate that particular room) which was fine. In the end, he’s the boss, and I’d do it anyway. But I agreed. So I only had to play 3 hours today. I listened to George Carlin, and wrote the blog as I wait to go to my gig at 7:30.

The deco wasn’t too bad. Greg and Jill hung out which made the transition easy. I went to see Eric, the piano player with Greg and Jill. Chatted with Eric a bit, and went back to finish out the night. Got to play over an hour of original music for a couple. Then, I got a mocha, got my computer, and continued work on my website. I got paid for the third song, so I’m all caught up. I went back to my room afterwards, and watched some of king kong. I fell asleep, and woke up at 10, showered, and continued more work on the website. I called in an appointment for a haircut, and now I’m about to write a new song for myself. So... here I go!

www.derekdaisey.com

Moving Along

After the gig that night, I met up with Colleen and went to see the comedian, who was pretty funny. Then she went to bed, and I went back to my room and played games! THEN, I went to sleep. I woke up at 12:30.... Pretty late... but there wasn't much to do because we weren't docked at Juneau until 2. So, I ate lunch, signed up for skydiving, then played more games. At 2:30, I checked my phone messages and saw that Nick had called three times. So, I caught up with him, and found out what's going on in his life. Lots of stuff. He's moving out of NC. But, due to the circumstances I won't say where he's going. But he's doing good, which was nice to hear.

Then Colleen and I went to see The Final Destination... which was the same premise of a movie as the first two.. They relied heavily on computer effects which kinda becomes fake for me. Afterwards, she went off with her friends, and I came back and called Felicia from school, and talked for a long while. Then, I got a banana split from the coffee shop, and chatted with Yulia for a bit. Then I decided to be productive, so I went back to my room and tracked and recorded the acoustic song in 3 hours. Most of the time was just me fooling around trying to get cool acoustic riffs going.

Afterwards, I did some research on band logos, because I really need to get one, and get my website back up. So, I emailed a site that specializes in both website design and logo creation. Then I headed off to bed.

This morning I woke myself up at 10, and took a shower, went to eat lunch. Colleen and a co-worker walked in and asked me to sit with them. Looking out the window the glacier in Glacier bay was right beside the ship. Absolutely beautiful. SO I ran up to take some pictures. Afterwards, came down to my room to check to see if I got paid for the song, and I found I pronounced a couple cities names wrong. So I rerecorded those, and sent them off. Got a reply from the website about the logos, and said they could do it by the 14th, which I gave them the thumbs up, and now I'm going to start writing the next song. I play 5-6, 7:15 to 8:15 and 9:30- 11:30. So.. here I go!

Off to a good start

Well after I blogged, I found the muse in me to writer another of the three songs. It turned out really cool. I went to bed, and woke up, and immediately got started on recording the Christian School song. I got to test out my speakers,my new mic, my porta-booth, and logic. After about 5 hours, I got it tracked and mixed, and just sent it off. A lot of it sounds great on my speakers. I was told they translate well to other speakers, so hopefully that's true! I got to play a spotted schedule tonight, which leaves me being done at 11:30. Not too bad. And tomorrow's my day off.. a day early! We'll be in Juneau, so I'll check my internet stuff, do my usual runs and then record the next song I wrote.

I might try to write the other one tonight, just to have in case I want to record back to back. The 1st one I'm doing will be pretty simple on the account it will just be acoustic. The other one will probably be a band song, which takes longer,obviously. Well I'm gonna go string up my guitar! Write soon!

4 days apart!

Wow! It’s been quite a few days since I’ve updated! The last few days have been pretty crazy. To finish up what went down on Saturday, I ended up riding to Walmart alone, due to not finding Gabe. I ended up getting a temporary replacement speakers until I could get my monitor traded. I also got a bunch of 5 dollar movies.
When I got back to the ship, I showed Colleen, who was at Guest services, and she liked a couple of the movies. She said there was a party that night for the crew and her friends were making her go, and in turn she was making me go. I went back to my room and started working on a new song. Has a cool rock feel to it. After fooling with it for a few hours, I had dinner, and just watched movies, until Colleen called and said she didn’t want to go to the party and asked if I wanted t do a movie night. So she came over and we watched “The Dark Knight”.
Afterwards, we put “Big Daddy” in but she fell asleep, and suddenly woke up, so she left, and I finished the movie and fell asleep.

On Sunday, it was Skagway, so I didn’t get off the boat. I really didn’t do too much. Practiced some new songs, and had my meals. Did laundry.. Did my gig... It was pretty bland for a day.

Monday, it was Ketchikan, and I had gotten a couple song orders, and I saw the price of the ps3 went down, so I picked one of those up and the batman game with Colleen (Who managed to catch me as I was leaving the ship.)
When I got back to my room, I set everything up, and got playing. She called me about 30 minutes into it, and said the cleaning steward wanted to clean her room, so she asked if she could come over and watch. So, she did, and napped through out some of it. Then she ran off the work. I didn’t have to work until 9:30. So I just played games. I was pretty unproductive.
I did my gig, which I had some good people hanging out. I finished at 12:40, which was cool, and I got to go to bed .

Yesterday, it was a sea day. I made myself get up at 9, so I could continue the Batman saga! I went to lunch at 11:30, and sat with Glenn and Aaron, another instrumentalist. I then found out the clocks went forward an hour.. so it was really 12:30... Woops. So I continued playing games for a bit after, then set up my guitar, to go play in the Atrium at 5. I played all soft old songs. It got a lot of old people hanging out at the bar.
I saw Greg and Jill, the Australian couple so I ran and talked with them for a bit, and then I went to eat dinner, played my game! AND then went to my gig, and played 9-1. My last night in the Shanghai bar, because the new piano player was boarding today. His name is Eric from what I saw on the Caper. After the gig, I went to the Crew bar to say goodbye to leighton who was signing off. James let me know I would be playing the artist lounge for the next two weeks. Lame... I saw Colleen with her friends, so I just waved, and hung out with the guys.
Afterwards, I went to get a little bite to eat, and a production singer sat with me (forgot to ask for his name). He mentioned that some of the production people were curious if I’d be a production singer. I said if I didn’t get a pay decrease, and had all the same benefits I’d be open, but with the casino job coming up, I’m not going to have time to do it.
When I got to my room, I checked my internet, and saw I had another song order. And a lot of emails from confused friends why I haven’t been on to talk. Colleen called and asked why I didn’t come over and talk.. I just figured she was having a “girls night”. After that, I went to sleep!

I woke up at 10, quickly got dressed. Packed my busted speaker, and went up to leave. I had to wait with Gabe, because we had items we were going to return. After waiting a bit, MSA walked us into the terminal. We were quickly allowed to leave, since we had receipts. We walked to Tom Lee Music, and split up. I went upstairs, and explained the situation, and they swapped it out for me. I picked up a condensor mic, and a porta-booth kind of thing, where it deadens the sound around the mic, so I get a more crisp sound, and it gives more more room control in the computer. I picked up Apple Snow-Leopard, and rode a taxi back to the ship. It was worth it.
Came back to my room, reorganized my room so I could fit the speakers, TV, ps3, and other various items on my desk, I set up the porta-booth, and tested everything out and it sounds great! Tomorrow, I’ll get to tackle a song order, and try to finish it. I play in the artist lounge from 5:30 to 6:30, and then 7:30-10. Least I finish up at a decent hour. We start the Glacier Bay run this week, which means We start, and end in Vancouver, but we still see Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. All in a different order. Juneau is first... Not sure if my day off changes or not... But I assume it will since Saturday is now a sea day.
Two weeks until Hawaii!!! I’m going skydiving!! Okie, gotta get to work!

I went and played. It’s a nice little place. I liked it more than I thought. Greg and Jill watched me, so I played all originals. Then went to dinner, then went back, and had a lot of people there so I rocked out and had a great time. People were dancing, singing along, and all that great stuff. When I finished, I checked out the new piano guy. Real good piano player. He looks to be between 22-28.. I’ll have to ask.
I got a milkshake and talked with Iulyia, who served me the drink. Then I came back to my room. And here I am writing a song for a christian school. One of the three song orders. I’m one line from being done writing it, and I’ll spend tomorrow recording it. Good night though... I was done at 10.. great stuff!

Recovery from "Whitter's Revenge"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEASICKNESS SUCKS!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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