happy anniversary to us! and a happy easter, passover, spring or whatever else you may celebrate as well! i simply had to include a super freaky, donnie darko-ish picture of the rather ominous looking easter display w/creepy easter bunny mannequin we saw recently – it was on our last stop at the cruise terminal in funchal (frankenberry), madiera, portugal
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| what in the... |
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| AHHHH! AHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! |
to make you feel better after that, i will post another nino picture of gimli with his nose prominently featured... note that it is shaped like a little pink heart, which i hope comforts you after the previous photos...
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| awwww! |
bob and i enjoyed our anniversary and tried to have some quality time today in addition to the hassle of my preparing to leave and him preparing to move to a new cabin… we still had fun! we were too tired by the end of the night to enjoy the champagne bob chilled, so we will have it tomorrow… tonight was the final formal night of the cruise, so they bumped up mainstage showtimes to 6:30 and 8 instead of 8 and 10 so they could have the giant black and gold ball at 10 in the large showroom… i still had a really busy night and stayed about full ‘til 10:30 then it tapered off slowly… my 7 and 9 o’clock hours were packed… my theme tonight was “farewell songs and singalongs,” so we covered everything from “i’ll be seeing you” to “sweet caroline” and it was a lot of fun. i’ve gathered quite a lot of new friends’ names on my mailing list, and i know many folks i will run into again on other cruises down the line.
though i am feeling tired, and the hour back time changes for several days in a row have sort of kicked my butt for a week now, i am experiencing that lovely, game-faced second wind in those critical evening hours that gets me through the gig times… bob’s encouragement also helps a lot… i am grateful for this psychic muscle that has developed - it’s something in you that knows you have to be on when you are on and then it’s ok to stop when you get back to your room and feel the weight of so many nights in a row almost having wiped you out… the weight seems exponentially bigger every evening, and before work each night, when i am feeling a bit chi-depleted even before i start, i’m like, “holy crap, can i really do it again, or will they be able to tell that i am starting to feel like i am running on fumes?” i need to really make it through this night and tomorrow night, and then i can go home and quietly collapse for a few days and revel in my babies, anonymity, normalcy, quiet and a little solitude… i will be feeling a bit like wonder woman after this marathon run of nightly shows – for me this has been a herculean thing that i do liken to being in a marathon… it is not effortless, you can’t coast, you want to give up in moments, but it makes you feel like you can do whatever you put your mind to when you’ve finished well…
i also like this type of work because it has a definite start and an end… some jobs are continual layers of never ending stuff, but this has an actual time frame, and you just have to put your head down and plow with some vigor each day. really, we are selling a product, and the product is not only ourselves, but the entire grand voyage experience, and we all give our part to that and hopefully give these folks their money’s worth… the mission is about creating once in a lifetime experiences, so i always want to be the piano bar they loved the most from any of the many trips they do as a bunch of veteran cruisers and savvy travelers… i feel good about this run especially since the length had me nervous at the top – i had done a 70 day as the longest single cruise with same folks, and 110 scared me a bit! 70 days this fall on the grand asian voyage will seem like a cakewalk after this! and on the few 2 week alaska cruises i do, i hope to fairly run some rings around the typical short run players’ dynamics… more tomorrow… ciao, me
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