Another couple days have gone by, and since I’m contained to my room for 24 hours (ate some bad food in Mexico, and they want to make sure I don’t have something contagious,) I have time to get caught up!
So, the 28th, or Wednesday, was a pretty laid back day. It started off with class at 9 AM, which really didn’t start to nearly 9:30 because no one seems to understand that the quicker we get started, the quicker we can leave. I got showered and ready for it, but I was definitely feeling tired. The class went over more stuff that most of us should know off hand. It went by pretty painlessly.
I went lunch afterwards, and ended up only having some soup to eat. I drank some tea, and talked with Anton (One of the casino managers) Ruxandra (Dealer) and a couple other guys from there. Afterwards, I went to my room, and laid down and ended up falling asleep for a couple hours. In middle of some of the strangest dreams I’ve had in awhile, a loud knock came at the door, which sent my flying out of my bed in panic to go open the door. It was some orange shirt guys. I thought it was security doing cabin inspections again, (which didn’t make sense, because we just had them last week,) but it turned out they were having a lot of problems with some piping of hot and cold water, which I knew because all of last week, every time I went to take a shower it was FREAKING FREEZING... But some people have it completely opposite.. like scolding hot...
They told me I could go back to sleep while they worked on it. They were in there for about a half hour. Then they left, and I slept more. I woke up at 5, and went to the bathroom to see I had a completely new set up of how to turn on my water. Made a lot more sense to me than the last system.
I went to dinner, and then practiced more spanish until I had to go to work upstairs. I ran up and did my set until 12:30, where I then had to go to rehearse with the Christian band I agreed to help. Afterwards, Eric wanted to get some food, but we realized it was too late for the mess, so we went up to the pizza shop on lido deck. When we got there, Eric thought he saw the guy who threatened him, so he told me to keep walking. I was about to be mad because I walked all that way for nothing, but we passed the back door of the pizzeria, and we leaned in and told them our situation and asked if they could make us a mushroom with goat cheese pizza. They said come back in ten minutes, and they’ll have it for us. So we went outside and sat at the fantail bar and chatted for the 10 minutes.
We then went back to get our pizza, and at first Eric didn’t seem too keen on eating it (which would-a been fine because I wanted all to myself!) but after he took a bite, he agreed it was delicious. So we finished our pizza as we talked about random things, and then I was feeling hungry again, so we checked to see if the coast was clear in front of the pizzeria, which it was, and we got another slice each of pepperoni pizza.
We sat near security just in case, and talked for more. I told him about my stalker experiences, and some of my background which I credit for giving me the ability to write the way I do. He grew up a lot different from me. His parents rarely drank, and he didn’t have cable, was always a good kid. Until he came out to ships. Ha, but regardless, he didn’t have the experiences I’ve had.
Afterwards, I brought him back to my room and showed him a couple Weird Al Songs he hadn’t heard of. He loved them, of course, and then he left, and I went to bed.
The 29th, I woke up at 8:45, and threw a shirt and hat on and went to class. Same deal as the day before.. We waited nearly a half hour to start, but LUCKILY it’s a busy port day, so class only lasted ‘till 10. At 10:30, I went to rehearsal with the band and we practiced for about 40 minutes, before being interrupted by some higher up people, who said they needed the room for immigration. So we left, and I went to my room and got my rain coat, ID and wallet, and met up with Eric, Claire and Thomas to go out for lunch in Acapulco.
As we made our way of the ship, I understood exactly what Eric meant... We were bombarded by taxi drivers, Tour Guides, and children asking us if we wanted to go to the market, go see the cliff divers, if we wanted gum, do we need a taxi and other questions. But the thing was, we were asked about 15 THOUSAND TIMES! Some of these people were determined.. They would get up next to you and walk for a minute and just keep asking, which really got irritating. I understand it’s their job, but when you see 80 other people doing the same thing... Saying the same thing.... and getting refused, DON’T ASK!
So we walked a different direction from what the other passengers were going. Though it was a cloudy day, it was hot as hell, and I was really wishing I didn’t have my raincoat.
As we walked, we stopped across the street from three restaurants. We stood in place debating what we wanted, until a man named Miguel stepped over and told us the best restaurant in town was the little shack between the two larger restaurants. He walked us over there and got us set up with a table. We found out he’s a tour guide but he doesn’t get money from us.. We came to the conclusion he gets a percentage of sales from the people he recommends there. Which was fine by us.
The restaurant was pretty dirty.. But most of the town had that feel. But from looking around, they did make good food. So I ordered a pineapple juice drink. Everybody got their stuff. I was really trying my spanish out. Rosetta Stone has been a great review for me, because I could say a lot more today than I could in all the years of taking it.
I ordered 3 steak tacos, with some black-beans (which I don’t eat) and a Tamale. Eventually I got a banana milkshake too.. Which was GOD DELICIOUS! All the food was very good, and very filling. I must say I was impressed. But through out the meal, people from OUTSIDE, would come to our table and ask us if we wanted to by necklaces, gum, candy, hammocks, and then go all over again. The sad part was seeing the children do it. Because it was Thursday... why the hell weren’t they in school? We said no a lot.. We tried to discuss how Americans would act in America if people did that. I think they would freak out...
Thomas told us of stories of his run ins with the law, which was all a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eric told his... Claire and I didn’t really have any.
We paid our bill which ended up not being more than 36 dollars for all of us. We then just went for a walk. We walked through out the towns and saw the dirty shops.. Most of which were just open front buildings, with cardboard as a water-mat. Claire and Thomas wanted burnable DVDs, so we set out. We passed many stores. One had action figures, and I saw BATMAN... God... I wanted him... but my friends kept walking, and I didn’t want to get left behind. So I just ran on. We passed another store and a pretty mexican woman said “Hola” and I said it back, and we continued walking until she said “I love you.” Then I stopped and turned around. She smiled at me, and I said “Gracias” and kept walking.. I didn’t know how to react to that.
We into one store which was a like a mexican version of a small business Staples. They had everything.. but Burnable DVDs. The main store guy kept telling us to buy paper.. pens, pencils, and more. I think that was the only English he knew.
We walked a little further down and finally found a shop with some. Thomas and Claire got them, and we continued walking... Then it got to a point where were lost, and we just started making turns in hopes of finding the ship. We passed a dog that was lying on the side walk.. He looked dead... then he moved.. that freaked us out. I think more because we came to terms with his death as were about to pass him, but then his movement changed all that.
We walked by a prostitute house, which had 8 girls standing outside in slutty clothes. A few of them were actually pretty. I’m sure they were more expensive. It was kind of funny to us though. The town just grew dirtier and dirtier the more we went in. I mentioned to Eric, this is probably what America will turn into in 40 years when we’re not a super power anymore (God, I hope that isn’t the case.)
Eventually we found the ship, and we boarded. We went our separate ways for an hour, because had a rehearsal then. I just went to my room and practiced more spanish. Then I headed up and jammed out with the band. Then I went to dinner, and sat with Aaron and watched some of The Office on TV. Then went and recorded some of my new song. Then passed out until 11. I started to have some bad cramps in my stomach area. Diarrhea cramps....
I went to the Christian show and played. It was rather funny because the water tight doors were closed, forcing people that wanted to go to the crew bard to cut through the Versatile lounge where we were playing. So we had a good amount of people see us.
When we were done, we sang Mar, the bass player, happy birthday, then we went to the crew mess to get a bite to eat.
I got Frosted Flakes. Afterwards, I went to my room to try to sleep, which didn’t happen until 4 am.
My alarm went off several times, and I managed to get up for 8:52. I ran down to my class, tired as can be. Untalkative. Initially. Ruxandra said she didn’t like me in the mornings because I didn’t talk to her much. The class went on for an hour, and then we went up on deck to see the difference between the Tender boats and the Lifeboats. Tenders had navigation equipment on them, and radar... Makes me wonder why they don’t just put that on ALL life boats... but that’s just me.
Zophia and I talked in the back since we couldn’t really hear the instructor. I asked her how her bar was going (piano bar) she says that she hasn’t really cared, because she works so late and has to be up so early. She’ll get a new piano bar guy in a couple weeks though.
Afterwards, I came back to my room and definitely had diarrhea, (sorry to those who don’t care to know.) After that episode I laid down and fell asleep for 4 hours... Then I got up and had another episode. At that point I felt it was necessary for me to go to the infirmary to get something for my stomach.. I didn’t want to be playing tonight and had bathroom breaks every 30 minutes.
When I got there, they gave me a GI form... It’s a stomach virus that gives you diarrhea and vomiting spells for a couple days, and is highly contagious. The form required me to fill in what I ate, and drank and where for the last 4 days. I honestly think it was just the food in Acapulco. So the doctor gave me some pills, and told me I was to stay in my room until 5 pm tomorrow. He told me to call room service for food.
So, I went back to my room and took my pills, and again had another terrible episode. So it’s probably for the best I went. I don’t typically go to the infirmary unless it’s a real problem.. But I could have something, and I don’t want to be THAT GUY who gave the whole ship it.
Since I hadn’t eaten all day, I called room service. Turns out the GI menu is pretty limited. They sent over 4 pieces of toast, two bananas and two cups of apple juice. I ate the two pieces of toast, and then got an idea, and cut up the bananas and put it on the other two slices of toast like a sandwich and had a banana sandwich.
It was good enough for what it had to be. Now I’m just in my room... I can’t work tonight, so I guess I’ll just watch a movie, or work on music or something. Until tomorrow!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Days of hoping and a new class
Went a couple days with out writing, but not due to laziness, I assure you. Sunday was quite a rough day because the night before I couldn’t sleep well at all. It was a slow day, but I went to the Supper club with Eric, and got some good food. My last night of playing went over well. Sold a couple CDs, so I was happy. I really couldn’t wait to finish and go to bed, because the next day would be the day I’d get my robot guitar.
Due to troubles of sleeping, I asked Val if she would give me a couple Tylenol PMs so I could fall asleep. Which she did. I managed to fall asleep around 2 am, but man was I mad I was getting up at 8:30. My body wanted to sleep for many more hours, but stubbornly I denied it.
I got up and did my usual throw a shirt on, put on my hat, and go to the gangway, where there was a line. So I got in line and waited. Cleo got behind me and we talked a little. Then a hostess from the Supper Club started talking to us.
Eventually I managed to get out. First thing I did was call the guy with the guitar. He let me know that his guitar tech, Derick would drop off the guitar around noon. Since I was out and about early, I decided to find the closest music store so I could get some strap locks and straps for the new guitars. I found Center City Music, which unfortunately was closed until 11 am. But fortunately it was only two blocks further than the mall.
So I walked back to the mall. I bumped into the security guard, Mark from the ship. I made a little “Hey, you do security for the mall too?!” joke. I got a white mocha iced coffee from starbucks and saw a Rossetta Stone booth. So I went and checked that out, since I was curious about it. The guy was real cool and showed me the demo of it, and went on to say Spanish has 5 levels in the box, versus most of the other languages which only have 3 (though they were planning to expand soon.) They had a little payment plan where I could pay it off over time, and the spanish level would get me to almost language fluency, unlike the other languages where you can do enough basic conversational levels. So, I got that.
Afterwards, I went back to the music store. Turns out it was a big Gibson dealer, so they had lots of Gibsons all around the place. I saw the Es-335 I had bought, and God was it beautiful. Looking forward to getting mine next week. Saw the ES-137... another guitar I have a fetish for. And they were all reasonably priced. Almost to the point where maybe I should have just waited to come to town to get the ES-335 (But I didn’t this store was here at the time... soo..)
I got my straps and strap locks, and headed back towards the ship. I bumped into Eric on the way there and we talked for a bit, and then I walked to outside of the ship, and waited for the call from Derrick. He called and we set up a place to meet, and he drove up in a black jeep wrangler. He pulled out the guitar and showed it too me, and went on about what a great guitar it was. It truly was gorgeous. I was very much satisfied.
I took it back to the ship, where I tried the “robot” capabilities. It worked great. Then I tried Rosetta Stone out. It was a great review for my spanish. I was really kicking it’s ass.
I had boat drill, and then I went to get showered and ready for my job.. which was at 5:30-6:30, and 7:30 - 10:30.
During my 6:30- 7:30 break, I ate dinner, and stopped by the CTC to talk with Simon. Told him about Rosetta, and then ran to get my guitar to show him. He nearly crapped himself by how amazed he was. His favorite color is purple, so the guitar was that much more appealing to him. I met his corporate boss who was on the ship this week looking over some stuff. Real pretty lady, and real funny. Can’t remember her name though..
Went and finished my set, and went back to my room to learn more spanish. Peter knocked on my door to let me know I had my training class starting the next day at 9 am in the crew bar. Then I went to rehearsal (I agreed to play acoustic guitar for this christian concert a few of the phillipino band members.)
That all went well. Eric was supposed to practice with us, but some drunk guy hassled him while he was working and threatened to stab him and punch him and the guy pushed him while he was playing. So he was pretty angry about all that.
We all went to the crew mess and talked about it and ate our food. Then I went back to my room and went to sleep.
GOT UP AT 8:45... which sucked sooo bad, but I went to the class. Aaron was there, and we talked for a bit, until most of the other people came. A couple were missing, so we had to wait for them. 50 MINUTES... And it was Sasima that was holding us up. I was a little aggravated. We went over some basic safety stuff and introduced ourselves.
Afterwards, I went to lunch. Sat with Ruxandra and Virginia (dealers at the casino) and talked for a bit, then went to my room, worked on more spanish, and complete and passed the first Unit! So hell yeah!
Then I started working on a new song. Getting new guitars always brings new songs out of me. I tracked some of it, and then I showered up and got ready for Formal night and playing in the casino from 5-6,7-8, 9:30-12:30. The reason being for the earlier hours because there’s a cruise critic on the ship, and we needed to fill some dead spots with nothing going on,
I played my stuff. Met some cool people, sold a CD, and now I’m in my room debating sleep, because I got class at 9 tomorrow. Getting up at 8 to shower. I’m going to get my sleeping schedule back to normal. I work at 8 tomorrow (YES!) so, should be a good day!
Due to troubles of sleeping, I asked Val if she would give me a couple Tylenol PMs so I could fall asleep. Which she did. I managed to fall asleep around 2 am, but man was I mad I was getting up at 8:30. My body wanted to sleep for many more hours, but stubbornly I denied it.
I got up and did my usual throw a shirt on, put on my hat, and go to the gangway, where there was a line. So I got in line and waited. Cleo got behind me and we talked a little. Then a hostess from the Supper Club started talking to us.
Eventually I managed to get out. First thing I did was call the guy with the guitar. He let me know that his guitar tech, Derick would drop off the guitar around noon. Since I was out and about early, I decided to find the closest music store so I could get some strap locks and straps for the new guitars. I found Center City Music, which unfortunately was closed until 11 am. But fortunately it was only two blocks further than the mall.
So I walked back to the mall. I bumped into the security guard, Mark from the ship. I made a little “Hey, you do security for the mall too?!” joke. I got a white mocha iced coffee from starbucks and saw a Rossetta Stone booth. So I went and checked that out, since I was curious about it. The guy was real cool and showed me the demo of it, and went on to say Spanish has 5 levels in the box, versus most of the other languages which only have 3 (though they were planning to expand soon.) They had a little payment plan where I could pay it off over time, and the spanish level would get me to almost language fluency, unlike the other languages where you can do enough basic conversational levels. So, I got that.
Afterwards, I went back to the music store. Turns out it was a big Gibson dealer, so they had lots of Gibsons all around the place. I saw the Es-335 I had bought, and God was it beautiful. Looking forward to getting mine next week. Saw the ES-137... another guitar I have a fetish for. And they were all reasonably priced. Almost to the point where maybe I should have just waited to come to town to get the ES-335 (But I didn’t this store was here at the time... soo..)
I got my straps and strap locks, and headed back towards the ship. I bumped into Eric on the way there and we talked for a bit, and then I walked to outside of the ship, and waited for the call from Derrick. He called and we set up a place to meet, and he drove up in a black jeep wrangler. He pulled out the guitar and showed it too me, and went on about what a great guitar it was. It truly was gorgeous. I was very much satisfied.
I took it back to the ship, where I tried the “robot” capabilities. It worked great. Then I tried Rosetta Stone out. It was a great review for my spanish. I was really kicking it’s ass.
I had boat drill, and then I went to get showered and ready for my job.. which was at 5:30-6:30, and 7:30 - 10:30.
During my 6:30- 7:30 break, I ate dinner, and stopped by the CTC to talk with Simon. Told him about Rosetta, and then ran to get my guitar to show him. He nearly crapped himself by how amazed he was. His favorite color is purple, so the guitar was that much more appealing to him. I met his corporate boss who was on the ship this week looking over some stuff. Real pretty lady, and real funny. Can’t remember her name though..
Went and finished my set, and went back to my room to learn more spanish. Peter knocked on my door to let me know I had my training class starting the next day at 9 am in the crew bar. Then I went to rehearsal (I agreed to play acoustic guitar for this christian concert a few of the phillipino band members.)
That all went well. Eric was supposed to practice with us, but some drunk guy hassled him while he was working and threatened to stab him and punch him and the guy pushed him while he was playing. So he was pretty angry about all that.
We all went to the crew mess and talked about it and ate our food. Then I went back to my room and went to sleep.
GOT UP AT 8:45... which sucked sooo bad, but I went to the class. Aaron was there, and we talked for a bit, until most of the other people came. A couple were missing, so we had to wait for them. 50 MINUTES... And it was Sasima that was holding us up. I was a little aggravated. We went over some basic safety stuff and introduced ourselves.
Afterwards, I went to lunch. Sat with Ruxandra and Virginia (dealers at the casino) and talked for a bit, then went to my room, worked on more spanish, and complete and passed the first Unit! So hell yeah!
Then I started working on a new song. Getting new guitars always brings new songs out of me. I tracked some of it, and then I showered up and got ready for Formal night and playing in the casino from 5-6,7-8, 9:30-12:30. The reason being for the earlier hours because there’s a cruise critic on the ship, and we needed to fill some dead spots with nothing going on,
I played my stuff. Met some cool people, sold a CD, and now I’m in my room debating sleep, because I got class at 9 tomorrow. Getting up at 8 to shower. I’m going to get my sleeping schedule back to normal. I work at 8 tomorrow (YES!) so, should be a good day!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Employee of The Month Dinner
As I watched the Watchmen, I got a phone call in the middle. I quickly got up to answer. It was Stu. He asked if he woke me, which he hadn’t, and I replied no. He then told me to remember the dinner tonight with the captain. He told me to make sure I’m dressed up nice, no elbows on the table, and to finish my vegetables (a little joke.) I told him no worries, and I went back to watching my movie.
When the movie finished, I went to take a shower. Then I played some spore. At around 7 I got dressed into my suit, and hung out at the CTC as I waited for us to leave (Simon, one of the CTC people.) He took me up to the bar outside the empire room. The deco lounge. Jim was playing guitar and singing some Bob Dylan. He had a nice little group of older people watching. He leaves in a couple cruises sadly enough, but I watched him play away. The Hotel Director was there, whose name is Keith. He’s a nice guy from what I’ve gathered meeting him in the past.
Soon, the Captain, the chief engineer, and head navigator arrived. Keith asked if I wanted a drink and to order it since it was free. So I ordered a virgin Bloody Mary. Very delicious! No need for alcohol! Keith asked how it was playing on Lido and I told him about my little experience with the interruptions. He said he had a meeting with Peter and Stu about not having people play during that time up there since it’s dead, and the possibilities of those interruptions.
We then made our way into the Empire dining room. I saw Svetlana and waved, as we, the group, walked down to our table on the floor below us. I was always under the impression that the food in the dining room wouldn’t be that delicious but that myth was definitely proven wrong. As we all sat, we were handed a menu. My eyes were set on fried oysters, shrimp cocktail, Steak and what ever dessert. Keith and I had the most dialogue. He’s originally from New Mexico, but lives in Hawaii now. I filled him in on my college, and music and all that good stuff. He told me he had a relative that was a disk jockey for radio in Arizona, and he would send my CD on over. So that’s cool!
The dinner was very delicious. I told everyone about my guitar purchases and such. The Captain said he had a friend who collected guitars. Had 13 gibsons, and fenders and other big names.
As we were finishing up our meal, over the intercom they asked everyone to congratulate the employee of the month for it’s because of their comment cards that we get voted to be it. Everyone clapped and all that stuff.
The waiter then came over and asked what I wanted for desert. I was stuck between this almond chocolate cake and this warm cake with ice cream. The waiter suggested the latter, but he brought out both. His suggestion was really REALLY good. I was so surprised.
By the end of the dinner, I shook hands with everyone and said my goodbyes, and headed down to the CTC, where I would hang before going to see the Big Easy show. An hour passed and I made my way down there and sat in the top row. Very good looking show until the middle where there was a technical difficulty and they had to stop the show. Due to lack of sleep I decided to leave, and try to get to bed around 12... Maybe it will put my sleeping pattern back in order!
I’ve been on the ship for 3 months and two days, and like the months before, I still love the job VERY much. The homesickness feeling has definitely died a lot in the last three weeks. Now I’m just falling into my patterns out here. It’s a great job and I’m really glad I was able to get set up in this! Hawaii was so worth it, and I loved Alaska, and now I’m in a country where I can use the 4 semesters of Spanish I had. Such a great job. Well, I’m off to bed!
When the movie finished, I went to take a shower. Then I played some spore. At around 7 I got dressed into my suit, and hung out at the CTC as I waited for us to leave (Simon, one of the CTC people.) He took me up to the bar outside the empire room. The deco lounge. Jim was playing guitar and singing some Bob Dylan. He had a nice little group of older people watching. He leaves in a couple cruises sadly enough, but I watched him play away. The Hotel Director was there, whose name is Keith. He’s a nice guy from what I’ve gathered meeting him in the past.
Soon, the Captain, the chief engineer, and head navigator arrived. Keith asked if I wanted a drink and to order it since it was free. So I ordered a virgin Bloody Mary. Very delicious! No need for alcohol! Keith asked how it was playing on Lido and I told him about my little experience with the interruptions. He said he had a meeting with Peter and Stu about not having people play during that time up there since it’s dead, and the possibilities of those interruptions.
We then made our way into the Empire dining room. I saw Svetlana and waved, as we, the group, walked down to our table on the floor below us. I was always under the impression that the food in the dining room wouldn’t be that delicious but that myth was definitely proven wrong. As we all sat, we were handed a menu. My eyes were set on fried oysters, shrimp cocktail, Steak and what ever dessert. Keith and I had the most dialogue. He’s originally from New Mexico, but lives in Hawaii now. I filled him in on my college, and music and all that good stuff. He told me he had a relative that was a disk jockey for radio in Arizona, and he would send my CD on over. So that’s cool!
The dinner was very delicious. I told everyone about my guitar purchases and such. The Captain said he had a friend who collected guitars. Had 13 gibsons, and fenders and other big names.
As we were finishing up our meal, over the intercom they asked everyone to congratulate the employee of the month for it’s because of their comment cards that we get voted to be it. Everyone clapped and all that stuff.
The waiter then came over and asked what I wanted for desert. I was stuck between this almond chocolate cake and this warm cake with ice cream. The waiter suggested the latter, but he brought out both. His suggestion was really REALLY good. I was so surprised.
By the end of the dinner, I shook hands with everyone and said my goodbyes, and headed down to the CTC, where I would hang before going to see the Big Easy show. An hour passed and I made my way down there and sat in the top row. Very good looking show until the middle where there was a technical difficulty and they had to stop the show. Due to lack of sleep I decided to leave, and try to get to bed around 12... Maybe it will put my sleeping pattern back in order!
I’ve been on the ship for 3 months and two days, and like the months before, I still love the job VERY much. The homesickness feeling has definitely died a lot in the last three weeks. Now I’m just falling into my patterns out here. It’s a great job and I’m really glad I was able to get set up in this! Hawaii was so worth it, and I loved Alaska, and now I’m in a country where I can use the 4 semesters of Spanish I had. Such a great job. Well, I’m off to bed!
Insomnia
Well sleeping was a pretty hard thing to do last night. Because I didn’t fall asleep until 10 this morning. I watched The Longest Yard, and browsed the internet, looking through craigslist and San Diego for some cool guitars. Wanted to see if there were any deals. I did come across a robot Les Paul guitar. It was purple, but it was less than 1300 dollars. Only used 10 times and not at shows. Considering the guitar is a limited collectors item, and brand new would typically start at 2400 dollars, it was very much a steal so I contacted the seller. I had some money saved from my songwriting funds, and another Gibson guitar wouldn’t hurt to have. Aside from the fact that it’s one of the 5 guitars every guitarist should have, now I’ll have 3/5 (My Strat, Les Paul, and Es-335).
The guitar is called a robot guitar because it has mechanisms in the tuners, and some hardware built in, that lets it tune itself. I push a button and the winders wind the strings until it is in perfect tune. Not only can it do that, but you can program 6 other tunings into it and it will tune to it immediately. What’s different about this guitar from my variax (which changes tuning at the change of a switch) is that the variax uses some kind of synth technology to give it it’s tuning. Though it sounds great for live purposes, it isn’t very usable while recording in the studio. You also have to tune it by hand (not that that’s a problem.. just naming the differences.) On the Robot guitar, you simply push a button and it starts winding away. It strings itself, and if helps you fix intonation if it goes off. Minimizes the the trips to the music store to get that fixed. So, it seemed like a cool buy. The guitar is purple (not my favorite color in the world) but it is more limited than the blue ones, and that just gives me a reason to cover it up in stickers and make it look like a rock guitar.
After making the purchase, the guy told me he would drop it off (no shipping required) at the dock on Monday since he lived three blocks away. This was all done through paypal and ebay, and I have buyers protection, and he has a perfect rating, so it seemed safe enough.
After that, it was 7 am, so I made my way to breakfast. I figured the food would help make me tired. I have eggs, bacon and oatmeal. No one was in there but me and the waiters. I didn’t expect to see any of the entertainment people. Especially after the party last night.
I traveled back to my room and got online to tell a few friends from home. I called Nick and told him, and Felicia.. but the satellite cut out. I managed to get in a e-mail conversation with Nick’s real mom. She was really nice, and went on about how important I was to Nick. She asked if I wanted to come to the wedding, or if I could arrange it. Unfortunately it was so close and soon, I couldn’t make that happen on the ship in such short notice. But I’ll think of something to do!
I managed to fall asleep, but I was having dreams of the guitars and that woke me up in excitement. Now I fear I’ll never fall asleep. So I’m gonna put on The Watchmen and watch that until 5ish, where I’ll get cleaned up for my dinner tonight!
The guitar is called a robot guitar because it has mechanisms in the tuners, and some hardware built in, that lets it tune itself. I push a button and the winders wind the strings until it is in perfect tune. Not only can it do that, but you can program 6 other tunings into it and it will tune to it immediately. What’s different about this guitar from my variax (which changes tuning at the change of a switch) is that the variax uses some kind of synth technology to give it it’s tuning. Though it sounds great for live purposes, it isn’t very usable while recording in the studio. You also have to tune it by hand (not that that’s a problem.. just naming the differences.) On the Robot guitar, you simply push a button and it starts winding away. It strings itself, and if helps you fix intonation if it goes off. Minimizes the the trips to the music store to get that fixed. So, it seemed like a cool buy. The guitar is purple (not my favorite color in the world) but it is more limited than the blue ones, and that just gives me a reason to cover it up in stickers and make it look like a rock guitar.
After making the purchase, the guy told me he would drop it off (no shipping required) at the dock on Monday since he lived three blocks away. This was all done through paypal and ebay, and I have buyers protection, and he has a perfect rating, so it seemed safe enough.
After that, it was 7 am, so I made my way to breakfast. I figured the food would help make me tired. I have eggs, bacon and oatmeal. No one was in there but me and the waiters. I didn’t expect to see any of the entertainment people. Especially after the party last night.
I traveled back to my room and got online to tell a few friends from home. I called Nick and told him, and Felicia.. but the satellite cut out. I managed to get in a e-mail conversation with Nick’s real mom. She was really nice, and went on about how important I was to Nick. She asked if I wanted to come to the wedding, or if I could arrange it. Unfortunately it was so close and soon, I couldn’t make that happen on the ship in such short notice. But I’ll think of something to do!
I managed to fall asleep, but I was having dreams of the guitars and that woke me up in excitement. Now I fear I’ll never fall asleep. So I’m gonna put on The Watchmen and watch that until 5ish, where I’ll get cleaned up for my dinner tonight!
Early Morning, 1st day late, and outside crew party.
Today, I woke up at 8 am. Got online and checked some stuff. Marina was pretty upset so I talked her for a bit. I had a safety meeting at 9:30, which I went too. On the way up through the elevator, I saw and talked with Pat. Then Glenn, and Peter. The meeting was something I’ve been too probably once a month since I’ve been here. So, it was nothing new.
When I got back to my room, Eric called and said he heard I wanted to go into town. That wasn’t really the case. I don’t want to go into Mexico alone. He and I talked about his new job and the pros and cons. And then how fast life goes by.
After the conversation, I went to eat cereal in the staff mess. I quickly ate it up, and went back to my room to watch Bicentennial Man. After about 15 minutes, I just felt very tired, so I went to sleep.
I woke up at 5 pm. I pushed play on the movie and watched it for about 15 minutes. Then I got a phone call. It was Peter. He said I was supposed to be playing on Lido Deck right then. Very confused, I picked up the caper. It said “Derek in the Casino, 9- late.” I told him, and he said “Are you looking at the right caper?” I looked again, and sure enough at the top of the list, it said “Derek on Lido 5-6”. I freaked, and apologized. I quickly got dressed, and ran to the casino, and got my guitar and wires, and ran as quickly as I could to Lido Deck.
When I got there, a married couple asked why the music hadn’t started at 5. I apologized and let them know the deal, though they seemed a little irritated, they lightened up after I played a couple songs. Unfortunately, every single song, Guest Services interrupted my songs looking for passengers. When they come over the intercoms, it disconnects my mic and guitar. So every song for a half hour, they cut it. Then at 6, Stu came on the intercom. Then the captain, saying two people were late getting to the ship, and we were waiting just a little longer. Then I played a couple more songs, and broke the b string, but since I ran up in such a hurry I didn’t have any replacement strings, so I just played with out it.
At 6:30 I finished up, since I wanted to make sure I played my full hour. I dropped my stuff off in the Casino, and went to dinner. I ordered a cheeseburger, and got a glass of tea and sat down. Stu came over and sat with me. I told him about the situation but he told me not to worry. It was his fault for separating my times away from each other. He also said he knew I would intentionally miss a set, and we all make mistakes. He told me then he wanted to try to figure something out where he showcases musicians on the ship like me and Claire, and Eric by having us play with the spirit orchestra. I told him I’d be very open to that idea. He said let him know any crazy ideas I may have, because he’ll make anything realistic work.
Afterwards, I sat with Peter and Aaron and apologized to Peter again. He said he set up a meeting with me and the captain (joking of course, because tomorrow I have the Employee of the Month dinner.)
I came back to my room, to finish Bicentennial Man, shower and then prepare for my 9-1 set.
I went up to the stage around 8:20, and started restringing my guitar, and getting set up. My voice was doing great and hitting all the songs with ease. I’m still dropping a lot of songs at least a half a step. It’s really making it less of a struggle for me. I played and got a good group going. On a break, I talked with a group that had been to see me every night, and talked about the CD and where it’s going.
After the gig, I went up to lido deck to get some of that mushroom pizza I had the other night. But they were really busy and couldn’t make it for me. I saw a party going on on the back deck. Turns out it was a crew party. Everyone was outside, but it was more desirable than the disco, because of all the fresh air, and not 80% smoke. As I looked around for Eric, or someone I knew, I passed Colleen but she didn’t seem very interested in talking with me. Probably because I haven’t made an attempt to hang out and all. And I’ve kinda stood her up a couple disco nights.. But it’s whatever. Svetlana stopped me and told me she hasn’t seen me in awhile.
Her and I got to talking. She asked me why she never sees me in the crew bar. And I told her because I don’t feel like drinking and all that. Then she wanted to know when she could get a cd. She asked where I was from. As most girls from Russia, she had no idea where Delaware was or that it was a state. So I informed her it’s the first state and she better remember. She told me she wants me to go with the disco with her one night before she leaves (which is in three weeks sadly.) I told her what I wanted to do for halloween which involved shaving my beard. She told me she liked my beard and I should keep it. I told her, if I shaved it I’d look younger. I pulled out my laptop and showed her a picture with me without the beard. She said she liked it even more. So, I’m thinking of shaving... just to feel it out. If I don’t like it, or if people don’t like it, I’ll just grow it back in a week.
So after a few minutes of talking, her boyfriend came over and put his arm around her to show me she was his property kind of thing, which was whatever, and I went to my room afterwards, since there was no one there I knew or cared to talk too.
I gotta fall asleep soon, but I have the day off tomorrow, which is great. Got my special dinner tomorrow with the captain! 7:45. So here I go!
When I got back to my room, Eric called and said he heard I wanted to go into town. That wasn’t really the case. I don’t want to go into Mexico alone. He and I talked about his new job and the pros and cons. And then how fast life goes by.
After the conversation, I went to eat cereal in the staff mess. I quickly ate it up, and went back to my room to watch Bicentennial Man. After about 15 minutes, I just felt very tired, so I went to sleep.
I woke up at 5 pm. I pushed play on the movie and watched it for about 15 minutes. Then I got a phone call. It was Peter. He said I was supposed to be playing on Lido Deck right then. Very confused, I picked up the caper. It said “Derek in the Casino, 9- late.” I told him, and he said “Are you looking at the right caper?” I looked again, and sure enough at the top of the list, it said “Derek on Lido 5-6”. I freaked, and apologized. I quickly got dressed, and ran to the casino, and got my guitar and wires, and ran as quickly as I could to Lido Deck.
When I got there, a married couple asked why the music hadn’t started at 5. I apologized and let them know the deal, though they seemed a little irritated, they lightened up after I played a couple songs. Unfortunately, every single song, Guest Services interrupted my songs looking for passengers. When they come over the intercoms, it disconnects my mic and guitar. So every song for a half hour, they cut it. Then at 6, Stu came on the intercom. Then the captain, saying two people were late getting to the ship, and we were waiting just a little longer. Then I played a couple more songs, and broke the b string, but since I ran up in such a hurry I didn’t have any replacement strings, so I just played with out it.
At 6:30 I finished up, since I wanted to make sure I played my full hour. I dropped my stuff off in the Casino, and went to dinner. I ordered a cheeseburger, and got a glass of tea and sat down. Stu came over and sat with me. I told him about the situation but he told me not to worry. It was his fault for separating my times away from each other. He also said he knew I would intentionally miss a set, and we all make mistakes. He told me then he wanted to try to figure something out where he showcases musicians on the ship like me and Claire, and Eric by having us play with the spirit orchestra. I told him I’d be very open to that idea. He said let him know any crazy ideas I may have, because he’ll make anything realistic work.
Afterwards, I sat with Peter and Aaron and apologized to Peter again. He said he set up a meeting with me and the captain (joking of course, because tomorrow I have the Employee of the Month dinner.)
I came back to my room, to finish Bicentennial Man, shower and then prepare for my 9-1 set.
I went up to the stage around 8:20, and started restringing my guitar, and getting set up. My voice was doing great and hitting all the songs with ease. I’m still dropping a lot of songs at least a half a step. It’s really making it less of a struggle for me. I played and got a good group going. On a break, I talked with a group that had been to see me every night, and talked about the CD and where it’s going.
After the gig, I went up to lido deck to get some of that mushroom pizza I had the other night. But they were really busy and couldn’t make it for me. I saw a party going on on the back deck. Turns out it was a crew party. Everyone was outside, but it was more desirable than the disco, because of all the fresh air, and not 80% smoke. As I looked around for Eric, or someone I knew, I passed Colleen but she didn’t seem very interested in talking with me. Probably because I haven’t made an attempt to hang out and all. And I’ve kinda stood her up a couple disco nights.. But it’s whatever. Svetlana stopped me and told me she hasn’t seen me in awhile.
Her and I got to talking. She asked me why she never sees me in the crew bar. And I told her because I don’t feel like drinking and all that. Then she wanted to know when she could get a cd. She asked where I was from. As most girls from Russia, she had no idea where Delaware was or that it was a state. So I informed her it’s the first state and she better remember. She told me she wants me to go with the disco with her one night before she leaves (which is in three weeks sadly.) I told her what I wanted to do for halloween which involved shaving my beard. She told me she liked my beard and I should keep it. I told her, if I shaved it I’d look younger. I pulled out my laptop and showed her a picture with me without the beard. She said she liked it even more. So, I’m thinking of shaving... just to feel it out. If I don’t like it, or if people don’t like it, I’ll just grow it back in a week.
So after a few minutes of talking, her boyfriend came over and put his arm around her to show me she was his property kind of thing, which was whatever, and I went to my room afterwards, since there was no one there I knew or cared to talk too.
I gotta fall asleep soon, but I have the day off tomorrow, which is great. Got my special dinner tomorrow with the captain! 7:45. So here I go!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Back to work
I managed to drift off last night at 9:30... And woke up at 1. I listened to the song some more, and a completely different melody came about, and different ideas for lyrics. So I wrote down a few verses. After an hour or so, I wanted to lay down to sleep but unfortunately, I was too awake. As I was searching through my backup harddrive and found a bunch of itunes movies I didn’t know I had with me, I found Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So I put that on and watched that until 5 am. I really wanted to see it again since I’ve been to Hawaii. Watching it made me miss Hawaii a ton.
I managed to fall asleep around 5:30. I had a very bizarre dream. I was running with a couple people from some kind of bad organization. They were trying to kill us from what I gathered. We were caught, and they put machine stuff in us. When I awoke from the surgery, they asked me to walk to the side of the building (which we were probably 20 stories high) and jump. I was reluctant too, but they said the machines would save me. So I leaped and as I fell towards the ground, i became very nervous, but as I hit the ground, I bounced back up. I landed again, and over radio, the people told me I could jump high altitudes with just a little thinking. So I tried jumping and sure enough I jumped high into the air, and landed and did it again. Until I fell in between canyons in a mountain forest area. When I landed I was afraid there might be something I don’t want to face in there, so I tried to leap. But I didn’t jump high. I tried and tried. I heard one of the guys captured with me call out, and then I lifted into the air over the mountain back to the street to my counter part. Then I woke up.
It was 2:15. So I missed lunch. I got up and started working on the song again. I was really stumped on the chorus, until I realized I wrote something earlier yesterday that fit perfectly in the chorus spot. So most of the song is written. I fooled around with recording the vocals, but I’m not getting the right sound out of myself. So, after a bit I took a break.
I put on Pirates of the Caribbean. Showered up, went and got dinner, then came back to finish my movie. Peter called me asking me if I wanted to take a safety class that would show me how to drive the lifeboats. It’s a month long course, but if I came back to ships, it’d be a cool thing to know, so I said I’d do it. 10 minutes later he called letting me know that the captains dinner will be the next formal night (two days) at 7:45. So I get that night off. Which is pretty awesome.
I went to do my gig, and my voice seemed pretty normal. No squeaking, but I did start lowering the keys to a lot of the song, so I’m not over pushing myself. I’m becoming to notice that most people can’t tell the difference anyway. I don’t need to be able to prove I can hit these hard songs every night.
The night went over well. Wasn’t that crazy of a group. Pretty laid back.
At the end of the gig, I made my way to my room, and put on POTC : Dead Man’s Chest and watched it. Now it’s 3:57 and I have safety training tomorrow at 9:30. Best I go to sleep!
I managed to fall asleep around 5:30. I had a very bizarre dream. I was running with a couple people from some kind of bad organization. They were trying to kill us from what I gathered. We were caught, and they put machine stuff in us. When I awoke from the surgery, they asked me to walk to the side of the building (which we were probably 20 stories high) and jump. I was reluctant too, but they said the machines would save me. So I leaped and as I fell towards the ground, i became very nervous, but as I hit the ground, I bounced back up. I landed again, and over radio, the people told me I could jump high altitudes with just a little thinking. So I tried jumping and sure enough I jumped high into the air, and landed and did it again. Until I fell in between canyons in a mountain forest area. When I landed I was afraid there might be something I don’t want to face in there, so I tried to leap. But I didn’t jump high. I tried and tried. I heard one of the guys captured with me call out, and then I lifted into the air over the mountain back to the street to my counter part. Then I woke up.
It was 2:15. So I missed lunch. I got up and started working on the song again. I was really stumped on the chorus, until I realized I wrote something earlier yesterday that fit perfectly in the chorus spot. So most of the song is written. I fooled around with recording the vocals, but I’m not getting the right sound out of myself. So, after a bit I took a break.
I put on Pirates of the Caribbean. Showered up, went and got dinner, then came back to finish my movie. Peter called me asking me if I wanted to take a safety class that would show me how to drive the lifeboats. It’s a month long course, but if I came back to ships, it’d be a cool thing to know, so I said I’d do it. 10 minutes later he called letting me know that the captains dinner will be the next formal night (two days) at 7:45. So I get that night off. Which is pretty awesome.
I went to do my gig, and my voice seemed pretty normal. No squeaking, but I did start lowering the keys to a lot of the song, so I’m not over pushing myself. I’m becoming to notice that most people can’t tell the difference anyway. I don’t need to be able to prove I can hit these hard songs every night.
The night went over well. Wasn’t that crazy of a group. Pretty laid back.
At the end of the gig, I made my way to my room, and put on POTC : Dead Man’s Chest and watched it. Now it’s 3:57 and I have safety training tomorrow at 9:30. Best I go to sleep!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A much needed day off!
Today was definitely a day I needed. It was nice to not really have anything to do. I got up at 12:40, and got lunch, and then played Beatles Rockband. And beat it.
Eric came knocking on the door at 3 o clock, to give me his ID so I could get off, but he said lots of pimps were trying to hook him up with prostitutes, and children would run over tugging at him to give them money. So I decided to just stay put. We talked for a bit, and he told me a couple funny stories of his past. Let’s just say it involved a special cocktail. And no.. not drugged.
We both decided we wanted to eat up in the supper club, so we ran up to try to get a reservation. Unlike last time, they were pretty mean and pushy and told us they wouldn’t hold anything unless our boss emailed them. Unfortunately Peter was off the ship, so I guess that wasn’t happening.
After Eric left, I started working on a new song. It’s real digital like, kind of like “Day Dreaming” but it’s a lot more involved with digital instruments and it has a real cool feeling to it. Reminds me of something the killer would do, except a lot darker.
Went to take a break from it, and ate lunch in the staff mess. Food looked pretty gross but I gave the sweet and sour chicken a try, and I’m really glad I did. It was really good.
Afterwards, I came back to the room to continue working on the song. At some point my program was giving me problems, so I had to move some stuff around on the computer to get it back to normal.
I took a little break and checked my email and shipping status on the guitar. It said the expected delivery date was Tuesday... One day after I leave San Diego. So I emailed Don (sweetwater salesman) and asked if he could call them and see if they’ll expedite it. I don’t really want it to sit in a hot warehouse for 8 days, with the chance that someone could steal it. And the whole reason they held on the guitar an extra day was so it would arrive on Monday. So, I’m going to fight to get it here, so I can have it then. It’s not a matter of patience.. it’s a matter of the thing being safe.
Now I’m working on melody and lyrics for this song.I have two different directions I’m working on, but neither really intrigue me. So... this will take awhile!
I work tomorrow at 8, so I’ll taking it easy. Maybe working on this song. Try some guitar on it maybe.
Eric came knocking on the door at 3 o clock, to give me his ID so I could get off, but he said lots of pimps were trying to hook him up with prostitutes, and children would run over tugging at him to give them money. So I decided to just stay put. We talked for a bit, and he told me a couple funny stories of his past. Let’s just say it involved a special cocktail. And no.. not drugged.
We both decided we wanted to eat up in the supper club, so we ran up to try to get a reservation. Unlike last time, they were pretty mean and pushy and told us they wouldn’t hold anything unless our boss emailed them. Unfortunately Peter was off the ship, so I guess that wasn’t happening.
After Eric left, I started working on a new song. It’s real digital like, kind of like “Day Dreaming” but it’s a lot more involved with digital instruments and it has a real cool feeling to it. Reminds me of something the killer would do, except a lot darker.
Went to take a break from it, and ate lunch in the staff mess. Food looked pretty gross but I gave the sweet and sour chicken a try, and I’m really glad I did. It was really good.
Afterwards, I came back to the room to continue working on the song. At some point my program was giving me problems, so I had to move some stuff around on the computer to get it back to normal.
I took a little break and checked my email and shipping status on the guitar. It said the expected delivery date was Tuesday... One day after I leave San Diego. So I emailed Don (sweetwater salesman) and asked if he could call them and see if they’ll expedite it. I don’t really want it to sit in a hot warehouse for 8 days, with the chance that someone could steal it. And the whole reason they held on the guitar an extra day was so it would arrive on Monday. So, I’m going to fight to get it here, so I can have it then. It’s not a matter of patience.. it’s a matter of the thing being safe.
Now I’m working on melody and lyrics for this song.I have two different directions I’m working on, but neither really intrigue me. So... this will take awhile!
I work tomorrow at 8, so I’ll taking it easy. Maybe working on this song. Try some guitar on it maybe.
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