so, i am back at work again! the good news is, my son’s dad is doing great, my son is doing great, so great to spend extra time with him! sadly i couldn’t return to the ship i was on with bob, however… but at least my boss found a gig for me so i could get some work in, so for that and my family’s health and well-being, i am grateful! instead of asia and australia, i have reframed my picture, and will be doing caribbean and panama canal cuising for 6 weeks out of ft. lauderdale… a few highlights from the way to florida… i was fortunate enough to get a direct flight to miami on a red-eye, however, there was an obnoxious child screaming and having tantrums the entire way – no, i am not being a big meanie, it wasn’t the plugged- up-ear-thing, it was a spoiled-kid-playing-her-dad-like-a-fiddle-thing and being loud and objectionable (what a scream!) to absolutely everything while her moron dad tried to placate and reason with her – i was like, “who’s in charge here?” man, when she is a teenager, she will be running the show…. that 2-4 yr old stage is like the first adolescence, and if you can’t get a kid to have an indoor and an outdoor voice and some respect for others (at least the parent, right?!) at that age, you are gonna be pretty much screwed for the entire journey… it took everything i had to bite my tongue and not say anything on my way out… prob’ly a good thing - that family’s clearly already got it hard enough…
i did finally smile when i was in the shuttle on the way to the hotel, tho, and here’s why: my driver’s idea of how to whistle along to a song on the radio was to pick one pitch and then repeat it rhythmically along with the song whether the pitch actually matched or not… my fave was “don’t go breakin my heart” by elton john and kiki dee… i recommend you try this technique in your car next time you hear a song you know, and i think you will find it amusing… i gave him a nice tip…
when i got to the hotel, which was thoroughly adequate, the weather was like stepping into a steam room after my beautiful, gloomy seattle
i had a ride to take me to the ship at 7 am, so i was up for the free deluxe continental breakfast and in the lobby by 7… there were several crew members there going to two of our ships… miami to ft. lauderdale is about a 40 minute ride, so i snoozed on the way, peering our intermittently to look at the scenery, the palm trees, marshy areas, the miami skyline in the distance… very pretty. embarking is always the same scene – you scan your luggage at security, fill out a form stating whether you have had any funky illnesses or flu like symptoms prior to boarding, turn in your passport, seaman’s book (yes, i am a dutch sailor, officially!) and employment letter, then you awkwardly lug all your stuff up the crew gangway which will inevitably always have stairs (glad i packed light – meaning one enormous bag and two small instead of two enormous and two small), making rolling luggage useless… whew! then you all go to the crew mess for an orientation and safety meeting… you get your safety assignment (i am a traffic director – this means in an emergency i tell people where find the lifeboat deck from my post at a passenger stairwell), listen to company policies and sign off, and if you are new (i am not) tour the vessel... you get your room key, and you can then settle in.
i was so excited to find that i had some pretty swanky digs by crew standards… they have re-done the berthing assignments fleet-wide, and i am now in a guest entertainer cabin on upper decks as opposed to living below decks in crew quarters. i am psyched to have windows, and even a full bath… super swell! my cabin stewards (yes, two!) are awesome and whipped my place into ship shape so i could unpack and settle in… i really wish i had cabin stewards at home!
saw a few familiar faces of crew i have worked with on other ships, and am glad to know some folks out here… it becomes like a large artificially extended family of sorts, all sharing some common stuff… my first night was great! i found that the crappy electric piano in a shell that was here two years ago, has been replaced by a fairly decent real grand with adequate sound reinforcement and monitoring and everything… sweet! for those of you who followed my world voyage, you may remember i was getting the crap scared out of me by people coming up from behind grabbing me or clapping me on the shoulder while i was playing, eliciting more than one small coronary… well, on the larger ships, the piano is surrounded with (hooray!) an actual WALL behind me (i swear, i almost kissed it!), and a bar surrounding the piano with bar stools all around – the player’s area can be accessed by a lift-up ‘gate’ in the countertop by the wall, so there is a psychic moat of sorts all around my area, so no more jumping out of my skin on the gig! yay!!!!!!
last night’s theme was “getting to know you,” which is just me asking people their names, where they are from, what kind of music they like, and going around the room to take requests… i throw in the occasional sing along or clap along type of number, and the crowd, for a first night, was quite lucid and ready to party! i didn’t end til after 1, so we did a great night in the bar… i have an awesome bar staff, and we are going to rock it out this cruise and have some fun! i have to get a memory card and some batteries for my camera or get a new camera as this one has been really acting up (won’t turn on half the time, especially if there is a good shot!)… we are at sea and it’s grey, so there’s a visual for you! more soon! cheers!
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