Thursday, December 31, 2009

New years

Well, tonight is new years eve. Unlike Christmas, I don't have anything fancy planned. I didn't even get off the ship today. We have a soundcheck, 2 shows, and then we're playing a formal big band dance tonight for midnight.

However, I am famous. Or, I will be. They had me record the bell chime sound for midnight on the ship. They'll play that over the ship-wide intercom. So...I'm famous.

Fortunately for me, we're still an hour ahead of NY. So, what the ship is doing is celebrating midnight and then at 12:45 moving the ship's clock back an hour and celebrating again!

I know I don't write a lot, but honestly, my days have been: wake up, work out, eat, lay out, study a bit, eat, play shows. Doesn't leave much to write about. I haven't really gotten off the ship much. I think next cruise I'll try to go to the beach in St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

happy 2010!!!

Fun facts from 2009: I spent almost 4 months of the year in total on a cruise ship - my complete earnings this year came from working as a musician - I visited about 10 different countries - I ate wings almost every wednesday apart from the time i was on a ship and i was working on my brief wing experiment - I became an in-state student in Ohio - I made Passover dinner without any help for the first time - I had my 10 year high school reunion (but didn't go) - I won my 2009 fantasy football championship -


What are your 2009 highlights?

Monday, December 28, 2009

Champion!

Champion!!!

I am pleased to announce that the Cincy Burninators are the 2009 Fantasy Football league Champions!!!!! I'd like to thank not Bridgett for her apathy, and Adrian Peterson.

Now, it is time to figure out how to spend my $240 in winnings. I am placing ideas into 2 main categories: a purchase, or an event. Quick thought: can you buy Bengals playoff tickets for $120 each? Prob not, right?

In terms of purchases, I was thinking things like satelite radio, a new car stereo, a painting? In terms of events, I was thinking maybe a plane ticket to somewhere fun or some sort of day trip. Maybe a weekend in Chicago or something like that.

For those who know me well, you know that I have a difficult time spending any sort of gift money. So, I need to make sure I come up with something or it will dissappear into the shallow recesses of my bank account.

Please leave thoughts!


WINNNNNAHHHHH!!!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

I'm not sure how you spent your Christmas Day.This is how I spent mine. After waking up and working out, I got off the ship with my roomate and his friends on the beautiful island of Grand Turk. For $7 each, we got into a minivan cab and took what should have been maybe a 10 minute ride. However, due to what I would later find out to be the "scenic route," it took about 20. It included a narration by the driver whom I wasn't 100% sure even knew we were there. I wondered out loud whether he narrated the trip even when passengers weren't in the car.

There were a surprising amount of horses and dogs wandering about the island. I'm not really sure why. It seems like an odd vacation spot for them. They probably would have asked directions to the beach, but they don't speak the language.

Once we arrived at the beach, we dropped our stuff off and went swimming. Unlike Barcelona, bathing suits were very much involved. The water was warm and salty. In fact, I was able to float on my back which I'm NEVER able to do. IThe beach floor was mostly sandy with big patches of seaweed which was kinda gross, but fine as long as you didn't, you know, step in it.

We eventually took a cab back to the area by the ship in which there were lots of shops. I scoped out some rum for bridgett's Christmas present and then got back on the ship. Just in time to...


Get showered and put on my tux. It was almost dinner time! With my tux on, I joined my roommate and his 3 friends to the ship's steak house. The table shared an appetizer of a pot of steamed muscles and my second course was the French Onion soup. Sadly, it was "fancy" French Onion soup which, unfortunately, translated into "gross." It was made with Jack Daniels in the broth, which would have been delicious except that the entire soup was vastly overpowered by the blue cheese used instead of mozzerella. Not only was the cheese too strong, but it didn't hold up to the broth and became mushy. The consistency of porridge or something. No good. But, not to fear. My main course came and the waiter brought me a SY strip steak cooked medium and 4 lobster tails (I ordered 2 but he took the liberty of putting in a 2nd order). Usual sides of mashed potatos, asparagus, and mushrooms were served family style. Dessert for me was a berry and apple cobbler served with vanilla ice cream. All in all, a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Unfortunately, I am an employee and did have to work after filling myself with wonderful food. We played 2 jazz combo sets in the lounge upstairs followed by a raucous British pub night thing during which I was kissed on the cheek by one of the girls on the cruise staff, kissed on the cheek by a middle aged drunk woman, and mounted by multiple guys on the cruise staff. Nobody told me I'd be judging which side of the room sang loudest, but it seems that representatives from both sides were quite adament about my choice.

All in all, a great day.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

An open letter to Mrs. Nancy Mamola

Dear Mrs. Mamola,

Thank you for so faithfully reading my blog. I have been distracted this week but I will make a point of writing more often. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday.

Warmest wishes,

Brian

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Fireplace channel, check. A Christmas Story on tv, check. Christmas trees, check. Christmas music, check. There's something different though...I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh yeah! It's the 80 degree weather, clear blue water, and beaches. Well, I haven't actually been to a beach yet...but they're there nonetheless.

Tonight I'm sure what the plans are. however, I'm very excited that tomorrow we're going out for fancy dinner! One of the advantages of knowing passengers on board is that as guests of the passengers, you can go eat places that you wouldn't otherwise. A wonderful example is that tomorrow on Christmas, I'm going to eat in the fancy $25 restaurant. Unless something else comes up, I'm planning on having lobster tails and NY Strip Steak. But, perhaps they'll have something special on the menu as well.

For those not familiar with cruise ship dining, certain restaurants require a cover charge. However, once you're there, you can order whatever you'd like from the menu. 2 types of steak, 3 appetizers, whatever. Thanks to a kind bandmaster, we'll have Christmas off, so I will be enjoying a nice long Christmas dinner.

I haven't had anything exciting to report because it's been a pretty hassle-free cruise so far. I met the accupuncturist on board. I talked with her about my mom and grandma and she thinks that accupuncture could be good for my mom's fibromayalga and even grandma's dizzyness. Unfortunately for dad, accupuncture can't cure funny-looking. But, I really think it could be worth a try for mom.

The company was very thoughtful and passed out free 1 hr phone cards for Christmas. It's little things like that that can make the difference with employees. So far i've just left a message on Sharon's voicemail, but I'd like to call her and my parents and Bridgett.

Assuming nothing gets messed up with the meal (there's a small chance that the restaurant manager will get finicky about us eating tomorrow. Even though there are rules allowing us to eat with guests, some managers like to give you a hard time about it), I'll report on what i ate tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas.

PS - after I typed this up, the crew were given their real Christmas presents. A 4Gb video mp3 player. Pretty fancy!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Average Day

Well, it's day 2 of the first cruise. Last night our schedule involved a very brief 5:00 rehearsal followed by an 8:30 and 10:30 show. The nice thing about the welcome aboard show is that there's a 20 minute block when the curtain closes and the comedian does his act. So, the band gets off the stage. With a Sunday night show, this meant we had a little time to walk up 2 decks to the crew bar and watch some Sunday Night Football.

Today I decided to make my day to get into some sort of a routine. So, I woke up at 8:30 (which was really 9:30 since there was an hour shift I had forgotten about) and went to the gym followed by breakfast. I don't have work tonight until 9:30 so it's been a relaxing day. I practiced a little. I'll proably practive some more later. Do some work, take a nap. Then a 9:30-10:15 and 10:30-11:15 jazz set. And that's my day.

Each time I get on a ship, the adjustment period gets smaller since I know pretty much what to expect. I haven't been off the ship anywhere fun yet (unless you count a Ft. Lauderdale grocery store) but I'll try to get off Wednesday. That's all from the Princess Cays island. Go Giants tonight!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Settling and Missing

There was a lot about today that was nice. My roomate isn't here yet, so i was able to come in and leisurely put away all my stuff, take the bottom bunk (sorry), and relax. I ran into the trombone player and cello player next door and chatted with them. After settling a bit, I made an attempt to orient myself about the ship. Having found the restaurant that was open to crew for the day (since we're in dry dock), I decided not to risk not finding it again. I had a lovely dinner of french onion soup, salad, lamb shanks, and fresh fruit for dinner. I was joined by an entire string quartet and the trombonist (who went to school with a friend of mine). Lovely.

After taking a tour of the ship with people that had been on it before, we ended up at the crew bar. I found myself missing people from my old ship. I know I'll meet the new band, but I really liked some of those people and thought I just might see them dancing at the CB if I wished it hard enough.

Speaking of missing..these trips are funny in a way. Even though I only see my parents and grandma and my fav once a year, I do tend to miss them a bit while I'm away.

travel

One thing I was looking forward to about this trip was that I didn't have to fly to Europe. Easy right? No time zone, short flights...

The trip started normally enough. My amazing, beautiful, wonderful girlfriend Sharon drove me to the airport at 5:30am. Flight to Atlanta was easy. We left Atlanta in rainy weather and not long after we heard the beverage offerings, the pilot came on the radio. "Unfotunately, the antifreeze system on the right wing has malfunctioned. We have a backup system that can get us back to Atlanta safely, but we can't continue to Freeport. So, we turned around.

Almost 2 hours later, we were on our way and had a very uneventful flight. ..Until after we landed. It was raining buckets and it was one of those airports in which you walk off the plane down stairs and eventually into the terminal. Walking through some rain. not a huge deal. Except for the massive, unavoidable puddle in between the plane and the gate. Shoes and socks, meet water. Soaked.

So, with 1 liter of genuine bahamas rain water in my socks, I went through customs. I'm happy to say that there weas a port agent out waiting for me as soon as I got through customs. The first time out of 3 that I didn't have to make multiple calls to be picked up at the airport.

Transportation to the ship. You know those movies set in Africa where a guy drives this hollowed out van through dirt roads? --Yeah. Except here the dirt roads were filled with giant puddles. i'd like to think differently, but I'm pretty sure with each puddle he drove through (read: waded) he thought "gee, I hope we make it through this one."

We made it fine. However, the ship is in "dry dock." When you're my dad and you have a ship not currently in the water, you put it in your backyard. When you're a cruise line, you put it in dry dock. However, the gangway (ramp to get up to the ship) for dry dock is nothing like a normal gangway. Remember "the eliminator" from the American Gladiators tv show? Like that, but with 2 rolling bags and a laptop bag. It's hard to describe the length and steep angle of the gangway without exagerating. But, let's say you had to see it to believe it.

I made it!

Monday, September 7, 2009

pictures

I've started putting pictures up. Sorry I've been so busy!

http://community.webshots.com/user/snoopmt1

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

last post

So, the problem with not spending money on ship internet is that I can't really post whenever I want. This is why a bunch of posts appear at once. Also, I'll have to write my last post from Gibralter.

Thanks to all who have read my blog this time around. I've really had a good time this cruise. My next plans to get on a ship are the 6 weeks I have free in December and early January. I've requested they put me on a ship that sails out of NY, but who knows. I've been told that it's fairly easy to get on a ship for the holidays since everyone wants to come home.

As I did last time, I'll be posting all of my pictures on webshots when I get home. So, I'll include the link once again when they're up.

If you're wondering, it all was as cool as I made it sound. Sometimes, cooler.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Internet

I'm sorry I haven't been posting as often as I'd like. I've actually been writing these entries fairly regularly. However, I was determined to only use 1 internet card. So, when that ran out, I've been left to wait for good internet ports. I'll get internet in Barcelona, on Wednesday in Gibralter, and then hopefully once more.

I can't believe I come home in a week. Starting to think about Wild Mike's next Wednesday. Also, can't believe that when I come back, there will be no Kevin and Emily, no Breighan, no Kim G, no Illana, no Brett. However, there will be 2 shows that need music directing. ...and probably much fewer European landmarks than I have here.

Adventures in Wine

On my last contract, my very favorite couple, Shane and Bridgett decided to wait until after I had been to Italy already for the last time to request that I buy them some Italian wine. Instead, I attempted to buy them some Spanish wine in Malaga. Since it was at the end of my contract, I didn't have any Euro on me, and the wonderful wine shop I found didn't take credit cards. So, I came home empty-handed (wine-wise)

Flash forward to now. Each time I've been to italy, I have not been anywhere near a wine shop. The one time I saw one in Rome, we were on a tour and I couldn't stop. Then we returned to Malaga. Cash in hand, I was very excited to find that wonderful old wine shop I had found on my last trip. Sadly, it seems that the wine shop no longer exists there. I can't be certain, but there was a brand new sex shop that definitely wasn't there last time and is right around where I remember the wine shop being. I decided that sexy Spanish massage oil was not the same as wine, so no gifts for Bridgett there (...hi Mrs. Mamola!)

Today I was in Nice and passed by a cute little wine shop on the way to the center of the city. I asked the shopkeeper "Parles vous Anglaise?" He replied "Only a little." I replied "Je parle un tres tres petite Francais." That ended the French-speaking part of our interaction. By "a little," he meant he could hold a simple conversation. By "tres petite" I meant that I could formulate enough French to explain, in French, that I wouldn't be speaking any more French to him.

After helping me pick out a local red wine, I pulled out the 100 Euro bill I had been given in the hotel in Lisbon. I had no credit card with me, so that was my only currency. He looked at the bill an unually long time, moving it back and forth and trying to catch it in the light. Dissatisfied, he showed it to his wife who seemed a little more approving of it. "I'm sorry, I can't take this, I'm just not sure about it. Do you have a credit card?" So, my malagan attempt at a wine purchase was foiled for lack of cash and now it seemed that my French attempt would be foiled by lack of credit card. But, unwilling to be put off (and failing at getting anyone else to make change), I went to the ATM and took out some smaller bills and bought some lovely local red wine from Nice for my favorite couple.

...complete with a story filled with sex shops and international intrigue in the form of suspicion of Euro counterfeiting.

My Sister's daughter is my Nice OR Yes we Cannes

Today I went on another pax tour to Nice in the French Riviera. It wasn't all that exciting except that we had about an hour free in a farmer's market in the center of town. For 1 Euro I purchased a wonderful baguette of crusty French bread. It was pretty amazing. Also, I found a wine shop to purchase some wine for Shane and Bridgett (see next post).

The better part of the day was when I got back, walking around Cannes. Although it was very hot, the air was amazing. It was somehow lighter and cleaner than other air. Hard to describe. Cannes is a great combination of old Hollywood, Miami nightlife and beach front, and French Riviera. I was sad we didn't have an overnight here because I imagine it becomes a wonderful party town at night with all the clubs along the beach. I visited the event center for the Cannes film festival, complete with red-carpetted stairs and hand prints in the cement with signatures such as Anthony Quinn, Mickey mouse, and David Lynch. For those that follow the show Entourage, I took some pictures of spots I remembered for the Season 4 finale in which the crew goes to Cannes.

All in all, it was a great day out. I would highly recommend Cannes for honeymooning since you could spend your days on the beach or visitng the French countryside of Nice, Monacao, or Monte Carlo (even a night in Monte Carlo would be fun) and then go out at night.

You down with P-O-P-E? Yeah you know me

Pax tours are a great thing. I haven't mentioned them before since I haven't had a chance to go on one. Yesterday we were in Italy and I signed up to escort a pax (passenger) tour to Rome and the Vatican. Since all tours are given through independent companies, the ship sends crew members along as representatives of the company to make sure everything goes smoothly. For the crew, we get to go on $300 passenger tours for free.

The tour first went to the Colloseum for some photos and the Trevi Fountain. I've been to both of those places recently so it didn't have the same impact as the first trip, but still fun.

After lunch, we headed to the Vatican. Because (ideally), there's no talking in the Sistine chapel, outside in the square are replications of the artwork so that the tour guides can explain it all before we go in. Although my guide was very informative, he wasn't very interesting. So, I found myself shutting off the little earpiece we heard our guide through and listening to some of the other tourguides talk about the art.

The Sistine chapel itself is down a series of stairs and hallways - each one filled with countless paintings and sculptures. Some of my favorites were in some special style of painting made to look like marble carving, but actually just painted on flat walls. I took pictures: it's pretty amazing.

When you finally enter the Sistine chapel itself, you're impressed by the simplicity with which they've preserved the room. Almost all of the lighting was through windows. It made you really think about the 8 years Michaelangelo spent on his back on the ceiling, ruining his eyes to complete this project. And there's the creation of man painted unassumingly above you. I'll admit, it was a little smaller than I had imagined.

After that, St. Peter's Basilica was quite impressive. The large Golden frame (I went off from the group a little, so I didn't actually learn what it really is), reminded me a lot of the giant black curtain in the Ministry of magic from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Before we got on the bus to head back, we stopped by the gift shop (whose motto is "Our prices Vat-i-can't be beat"). Outside the gift shop was a little cart with gelato and drinks and things like that and eventually we saw some monks walk up. I wondered if they get a discount.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Spa Day

Another discovery I made was that on certain nights, the spa closes for a couple of hours and is open for the crew to use for free. So, sunburn and all, I went with some of the band to the spa after our second show (I DO work here and there..).

WE went into the sauna first. This was not fun at first. The last thing my sunburn wanted was to be in an 8 billion degree room for a long period of time. But, after sweating for a while, it seemed to help. Following the sauna came the ice bath. Outside the sauna was a hottub filled with very cold water. I'm not sure how to describe it other than it was very cold. The combination of the sauna and the water turned out to be great though. I could barely feel my sunburn anymore.

The guys seemed to think this was exfoliating and good for a sunburn. Does anyone know if that's true or not? It did make it feel better ultimately.

And, even though I'm writing about sunning and spas, I do play shows every day. They're just, thankfully uneventful.

Sun

So, to start at the end, I have a sunburn. Two days ago, I was introduced to the sundeck. On deck 8 forward there's a little strip of deck with a tiny pool that some of the crew (I'm guessing the same crew that can eat in the buffet upstairs) can use to lay out or go for a quick swim.

Yesterday, we were in Malaga, Spain. I went to the beach with Nelshah (pictures to come). Trying to be smart, I put sunblock on all over. ...Then I went swimming.

So, now I have a sunburn on my arms and my shins. Except, for some reason, for a small oval on my shoulder. I didn't have anything on my to cause that, but there's a perfect oval of pale on my shoulder.

Room Service II

I ordered room service tonight because I worked straight from 5:30-9:30 and then worked out. Omlette with everything, turkey club, and fruit plate. I felt guilty when the guy came with the food since we're both crew but he's working and bringing me food and I'm...ordering room service.

On the plus side, the omlette was hot and delicious!

food

Since I know that many of you are interested (for some reason), I thought I'd let you know that I ordered room service last night for the first time. For the price of a $2 tip, I had a lovely turkey club and some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Room service was particularly useful since I've been working out regularly again and need to eat a little more often. The buffet upstairs, which I could normally get fruit and thing from around 10:30 or so, was closed in preparation for the "chocoholic buffet" they do once a cruise.

They create these amazing chocolate sculptures and then give everyone 20 minutes or so to photgraph them before they open the buffet. It's a well thought-out program.

Tonight is the last night of the cruise which is great because I will have learned just about all the music I need to for the next 2 weeks. It's mostly repeats. Ugh, I still have these damn cookies staring me in the face. I'm trying to go through them slowly...but they're sooo tasty.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Food

Since I know that many of you are interested (for some reason), I thought I'd let you know that I ordered room service last night for the first time. For the price of a $2 tip, I had a lovely turkey club and some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Room service was particularly useful since I've been working out regularly again and need to eat a little more often. The buffet upstairs, which I could normally get fruit and thing from around 10:30 or so, was closed in preparation for the "chocoholic buffet" they do once a cruise.

They create these amazing chocolate sculptures and then give everyone 20 minutes or so to photgraph them before they open the buffet. It's a well thought-out program.

Tonight is the last night of the cruise which is great because I will have learned just about all the music I need to for the next 2 weeks. It's mostly repeats. Ugh, I still have these damn cookies staring me in the face. I'm trying to go through them slowly...but they're sooo tasty.

Legs

So, normally at home I go for a 3-4 mile run at least once a week (Not doing too much cardio helps me keep some weight on). Since Cincinnati is the City of 7 Hills (and also the Queen City...Fav), there's always at least one or two steep hills to run up. Being on the ship, I havn't had that advantage and I can feel my leg muscles suffering. So, I've made a pact to only use stairs, particularly on the way up. This is great because I live on deck 4 and the buffet that I eat at is on deck 12. That's 8 solid flights twice a day to go eat.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

busy

Sorry it's been a couple days. The past two days have been some of my busiest since i've been on the ship. A combination of practicing, rehearsing, and performing has kept me at the keyboard for about 8-10 hrs each day for the past couple of days. The plus side is that performances have been well received. However, after that much playing, I can start to feel it in my wrists.

Today I went to Gibralter and walked around (took a picture of the rock of Gibralter). It was hot and touristy. Today the band has to take a promotional photo for the "white hot party" in white shirts. Rumor is that there will be some extra buttons unbuttoned on our shirts since it's supposed to be a sexy picture. They wanted to make sure to take the picture while I'm here since the guy I'm subbing for is fairly old and not so much with the young and sexy. I told them that anyone that says "quick, take the sexy picture before Brian leaves" is in a bad situation.

Tonight the showband is repeating the jazz jam that we did for the crew last week. This time we're doing it at one of the bars for the passengers. It remains to be seen if we can capture the atmosphere that we had with the crew for the passengers. Many of the band is skeptical about that. I'll let you know.

PS - we shot a promotional video for the band just now and ended it with a jump freeze! (my idea)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Duomo Origato, Mr. Roboto

Today I arranged to meet Kim G, a good friend of mine from Cincinnati, in Florence. The difficulty of getting to Florence, as with most famous landlocked European cities, is the various chains of transportation required. At this port (Livorno), you need a shuttle bus from the ship to the town (5E, though I got on before the ticket person was there, so I saved that), then you take a public bus from the town to the train station (1E), then you take an hour and 20 minute train ride into Florence.

I made it to the train exactly 1 minute before it departed at 9:11am, getting me into Florence at 10:50, an hour before I was to meet Kim. I figured I'd find our meeting sport and then walk around a bit. I had very DaVinci Code-like instructions about our meeting spot: We'll meet across from the golden doors of the Baptistry. She didn't say anything about a murderous albino or anything, but still kind of cool. I wandered about the streets of Florence around the Duomo for a while, stumbling across a duet of a guitar and clarinet. They provided a wonderful soundtrack for my walk through Florence. That is, until they started playing Girl From Ipanema. Not so Florence.

Kim spotted me very easily as soon as I walked into the Piazza, making my trip 2/2 in finding Cincinnati friends in strange cities with no trouble. Since it was Sunday, it was difficult to figure out when/if you could go inside. So. instead we walked to the Ponti Vecchio Bridge, took some pictures, and then enjoyed some pizza and wine. Two things there are an abundance of in Florence. After a very enjoyable lunch, I had a decision to make. There was a 2:30 and a 3:30 train back to Livorno. In theory, the 3:30 train would get back at 4:50, giving me over an hour to get from the station to the ship. But, if that train got cancelled, I would not only be late for the crew's on-board time, but could potentially miss the ship altogether. So, I made the responsible decision to get on the 2:30 train.

This was hard for multiple reasons. Mostly, because Kim is moving to Florida so this is the last time I'll see her for a while. Kim and I got some gelatto (my #1 goal while visiting Italy this time around), and I got on the train. It turns out I made the right decision. After taking the 2:30 train, I walked on the ship at 4:30. This means that if I took the 3:30 and all things went the same, I'd have gotten on the ship at 5:30. This means that if there was a half hour delay anywhere in the return trip I would have been late.

Sadly, I didn't get to see the state of David while I was there. If I go anywhere next time I'm at this port it'd be to Pisa (which is only a 20 minute train ride or so). Though, chances are I won't bother spending the 13E round-trip just to see the leaning tower of Pisa. We'll see how much money I've spent by then I guess.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Best Night Ever II

Well, I may have spoken too soon.

Tonight after my solo set, I set off down La Rambala in Barcelona to meet my friend Michelle from Cincinnati at our prearranged meeting spot. With her was her friend April. After we went to dinner, we ended up at an Absynth bar with some of the crew. The owner, a tall potato sack of a man, who obviously didn't believe in air conditioning even in 80 degree weather, would occasionally shout at the customers things like "don't move the fucking furniture" after I tried to push two small tables together. Since it was unbearably hot, Michelle, April and I decided to get a head start to the next spot.

As we had been instructed, we got in a cab and asked to be taken to Porto Olympico (of 1992 olympics fame). Porto Olympico is a marina at which there is a strip of about 12 clubs, each one with loud music, roomfulls of people dancing, and a guy outside trying to tempt you (and in some cases, physically DRAG you) into their club with an offer for a free drink, 2-for-1, etc. At the second or third place we went to, it was time for another drink and it was my time to buy a round. Based on what I paid for 3 drinks, I'm fairly certain that these drinks were made from a combination of gold and truffle oil strained through a diamond-encrusted mixer. Regardless, it was 2 am in the former Olympic village in Barcelona and I was out clubbing.

We finally reunited with my friends and Michelle and April, who had to catch a flight the next afternoon, decided to call it a night. After some more hanging out, it was about 4:30am and time to head to the beach. By 5, we were all skinny dipping in the amazingly clear, yet salty Mediterranean Sea. And there on the beach we stayed until sunrise at which time a perfect yellow sun appeared off in the horizon over the sea, with Barcelona to our backs, waking up to a new day.

I've been to the pyramids, and now I've been swimming in the mediterranean sea in Barcelona at sunrise.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

best night ever

I mentioned in an older post that the showband gave an impromptu concert at the crew bar last week. It went over o well that we were asked to come back again. Tonight we played 2 sets to a packed crew bar. While some sat and listened and clapped, others got up to dance to the old school jazz/funk tunes we selected such as Chameleon, an old high school jazz band number that everyone learns. As the night ended at 2 am, we received a standing ovation from the bar while the other musicians on the ship came up to shake our hands.

WHen I began my first contract in January, I met some musicians who were at the end of theirs. Tired after months on the ship, they groaned any time that had to play. These were musicians who had started to hate playing music. I was really worried that if I spent enough time on the ship, I, too, would begin to become jaded about playing. Nights like tonight are the exact opposite of that. Tonight, 7 guys who were hired to play shows got together and playing 2 shows already on their free time to play 2 hours of engaging, artful music.

Tonight is why you practice. Tonight is why you became a musician.

regularity

So, now that I have an ethernet cord for my room, I can actually get online each night. Sorry the blog has gotten off to a rumbling start. Though, I must say, the comments, apart from my dad, have gotten off to an even MORE rumbling start. As Shane and Bridgett would say, weak sauce.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Lost Opening

You know those episodes of Lost that start with someone making breakfast or going about their daily routine and then the camera pans out and you realize they're on the island somewhere or something? That was my morning today. I woke up in my new cabin, worked on my dissertation a bit, did some crunches, took a shower. ...and then the camera pans out and I'm on a giant ship in Europe.

I've already been better about doing work than I was last time. I just need to find a couple more hours in the day to work and I'll be golden!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

This could be the start of something...

First off, after the brief sickness my first night here, I've been fine. It must have been something bad I ate. No worries. I'm back to eating full normal meals and will probably start working out again monday.

Friday night I played for the first time on the ship. It was just a 45 min jazz set. Tonight was 2 shows with a violinist. Then tomorrow I take over the band officially. I have no major production shows until Tuesday so I have plenty of time to get settled. Tonight the showband wen to the crew bar and played a set. Apparantly it was the first time the band has ever played in the crew bar. We're hoping to make it a weekly thing. imagine the dirty dancing scene from Dirty Dancing...but with jaaaazzzzz.

Other than that, nothing exciting to report. I move to myu new room tomorrow which will be just aces!

Friday, July 24, 2009

First Day Back

So, I'm pleased to say that as soon as i walked on the ship, I more or less remembered where everything was. This was not the confusing, dizzying, and tiring experience my first day was last time. Especially since I had sucessfully Hoffmanned before I left, there was no jet lag to contend with.

Although I'm promised a single room in my contract, they've had to put in a room with a roomate until Sunday when I can go back into the bandmaster's room. A small inconvenience considering I'll have a nicer room than a majority of the cast and all of the other musicians.

Sadly, something I ate at dinner didn't sit well and I ended up throwing up last night for the first time in a long time. not fun. But, thankfully, I woke up in the morning feeling relatively fine. So, no virus or anything. I'm guessing bad shrimp in the seafood marinara. Not a fun way to spend the first night. Though, I'm very proud to say that I neither fell off the top bunk nor hit my head on the ceiling sitting up, my two biggest concerns upon bunking on the top bunk for the first time since sophomore year of college (freshman year i got the bottom bunk).

Ding ding ding went the Lisbon trolley

I have very much enjoyed my free 12 hours in Portugal. And by free, I mean both in terms of my time and my expenses. Being put up in a 100Euro/night hotel (and that's with a special rate for the line) and being able to expense lunch and dinner (and I'm thinking breakfast in the morning...the literature mentions continental buffet, but the word COMPLIMENTARY appears nowhere) is very fun. Lunch was fairly nondescript although I did get to play one of my least favorite games: "I wonder what I just ordered." To play it safe, I picked a complete meal that was on the menu. I didn't know what it all included, but I figured it would be fine. There was a choice of entree and the waiter said: "chicken?" and I said, "no, fish." Needless to say, I got chicken. It wasn't bad or anything, I just thought i had ordered fish. No big deal. The white rice was cooked with a little chicken fat I think and it was YUMMY.

For dinner, I was debating whether to be lazy and just find another place aronud the hotel or take the metro to the more touristy part of town. I was also reluctant because I know I'll be back to Lisbon twice on this trip and I'm pretty sure down by the port is where we'll get off the ship. But, I felt like I should take advantage of my free time (and meal) and take the metro. It turns out I made the right choice. First, the metro was really simple and clean. i was a fan. The old business district of Lisbon was really beautiful. It had an uncanny resemblance to Madrid complete with cobbled marble roads, a fountain by the port, a fountain square in the middle of the city, and a statue of a guy on a bull or horse or something. They also had a trolley system which made me think of my upcoming production of Meet Me in St. Louis. I imagined Judy Garland waving to me as she rode by on the Lisbon Trolley. I don't think the song would translate well to Portuguese anyway. Can someone look up what "ding" is in Portuguese? I ended up sitting in an outdoor cafe and ordering a wonderful steak and mashed potatos and a house beer called "spring" which lived up to its name. Originally, I wanted to get fish since it's a port city, but there's something about a free steak that's hard to resist. I even had them put the beer on a separate check to simply things when they expense the meal. They wouldn't care about the beer, they just wouldn't pay for it, so it's just easy to not have to itemize the check.

I'm back in the hotel watch euro-MTV (which actually plays music...crazy). It's just about 9 (or 2100hr). Hopefully with some reading, I can fall asleep for at least the majority of the night. I don't get picked up until 10:30am (or 1030hr) but I have a wakeup call at 8:30am (ok, I'm done with that joke). IF I actually need it, we're in business and I will have more-or-less successfully pre-jetlagged myself. At that point, I will copyright the technique and name it after myself.

"Are you excited about your trip in a couple of days?"
"Yeah, I'm setting my alarm for 4am tomorrow so I can Hoffman myself before my trip."
"That's a great plan! I Hoffmanned before my trip to Spain and it worked perfectly."

Obreganda! (the only Portuguese word I know..it means thank you_.

Back to the Future (Time Zonally Speaking)

I'm very happy to say that travel as relatively uneventful. My flight was delayed by over an hour and I was in danger of missing my connection from Newark to Lisbon. So, as a precaution, they reserved me seats on a flight to Paris and then to Lisbon. So, if I missed my connecting flight, I'd still get to Lisbon on time. Although I did need to run from gate to gate, I made it in time and there were no problems.

The flight itself was also uneventful. On this plane they had really cool individual touch screens for everyone. You could select at will any of 40 movies, 100 or so tv episodes, or 150 cd's. Sadly, I never got the cd's to work, depriving me of falling asleep to Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." Really, the big problem was that there was so much to watch, so little time (the flight was only 6 hours and change), and I really needed to spend most of those hourse sleeping to cash in on my pre-jetlag experiment.

As far as that goes, I did take a 45 min nap when I got to my hotel this morning, but other than that, I've been able (more or less) to stave off sleep. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be able to sleep much of the night tonight. It's kinda of funny that in the afternoon, I had to fight not to fall asleep, but now I'm worried about being able to get to sleep. Ugh, I forgot to mention the hour line getting through customs. Fortunately I had my own mix of michael Jackson's greatest hits to occupy me. Coincidentally, there was a PYT 2 people in front of me that I had to visually occupy me (if you don't know what that means, go listen to one of my new favorite Michael songs of the same name).

Monday, July 20, 2009

Portuguese time

Well, I'm headed back on the ship. In order to avoid the jetlag that caused me to be up for over 36 hours in a row last time, I've attempted to slowly shift my sleeping schedule back. The past two mornings I've woken up at around 4 am (9am Portugal time). The hope was that tonight I'd be sleepy around 9 and go to sleep. In reality, I had a lovely conversation with Breighan and then another short one with Amy, keeping me up til 11 (4 am Portugal time). So, the alarm is set for 3:30am. If I can successfully stay awake until I get on my 8pm flight from Newark to Lisbon, I will hopefully fall asleep on the plane, and wake up when the flight lands at 8am local time. Then, I play in Portugal for a day, go to sleep, and wake up! I'll let ya know.

I'm going to try and post as much as i can while I'm on the ship. There will obviously be a lot fewer new things than last time to talk about, but I'm sure something fun will happen. I'm really excited to hang out with Michelle in Barcelona next Thursday and hopefully Kim G in Florence.

Monday, March 9, 2009

pictures revised

So, the blog isn't really meant to handle so many pictures. Instead, i've begun to upload to webshots. Enjoy!

http://community.webshots.com/user/snoopmt1

Pictures

So, I'm back safe in Cincinnati where the internet is free and plentiful. I'm going to start posting pictures. There are way too many to really do captions for everything. Since I've been to some ports multiple times, some groups of pictures represent different days in the same place. Enjoy and ask any questions you may have!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

last night on ship

I had some things to blog about before I left. I visited Malaga for a third time and bought some really cool gifts for my sister. I overpayed for a simple lunch at a bar. Etc. But, 5 beers into my going away party of sorts with the band, I don't much have the patience for that. The crew bar was a big love fest tonight. Hugs and kisses all around. In addition to my parents, I now have multiple other places to stay in NY if I ever need. The funny thing about drinking is that you mean every word you say, but it's not necessarily what you would have said if you were sober.

Because I had shows tonight after my luggage had to be checked, I'll be carrying my black shoes around all tomorrow.

I've already been asked back to this ship over the summer. The band master is due for a vacation again and I'm the obvious choice for a replacement. I'm not sure yet if I'll come back to ships. The saying I've used most often on the ship (but not my favorite saying...Fav) is that some days you feel like you're stealing money and other days you feel like you earn every penny. On this ship, I had the pleasure of working with some of the best musicians and singers I have ever worked with. I also had to work with some of the most undertalented, over-obnoxious people I have ever had to deal with.

Overall, my cruise ship experience has been successful. It's been about 50% the paid vacation that my family and friends seemed to assume it would be, and 50% the hard work I was pretty sure it would be. The bottom line is that I've now visited Rome, Athens, Cairo, Canary Islands, Madeira, Malta, Casablanca, Barcelona, and Malaga while being paid and working with highly talented people. Oh, and drinking $1 beer nightly.

Stay tuned to my blog because when I get home and the internet is fast and free, I'll be posting all my pictures. Including me on a camel at the pyramids.

For those in Cincinnati, I'd like to get anyone interested together at Hofbrauhaus (in honor of all the beerfest sets I've played on board) this coming weekend (not sure Friday or Saturday yet).

Thank you so much for reading my blog and for some of you, posting responses. I look forward to real water, real air, and the two Lost episodes I have yet to see.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

cagney's

With my stay on the ship winding down, I'm taking the opportunity to do some goodbye things. Tonight I took a picture with my band, for example. I'll post it when I get home. Another thing I have yet to do is visit the steakhouse on board. Although there are some free places to eat for the passengers, most of the theme restaurants have cover charges. Our steak house has a $20 cover. The nice thing about cover charge is that once you're in, you can order (almost) anything off the menu all for the same price. 3 appetizers, 2 sides, a second entree, 2 desserts, all for the same cover.

Here was my $20 meal tonight: Ahi tuna caprezzi, caesar salad (the best I've ever had, with a little tobasco), rib eye steak, mashed potatos, onion rings, and for dessert, cheesecake and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Oh, and some tea afterwards. Even at TGI Fridays, that's not a $20 meal.

The only thing that ruined it only slightly was that I had to leave dinner in order to play a solo set in the atrium. I decided to do a set of Broadway favorites. I was sad my grandma wasn't there because I played one of her favorite songs, The Best of Times is Now. I don't mind playing, but it was sad to leave a wonderful meal to work. Oh well.

Today is Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday...fly on Sunday!

Since this has been a food post, I should follow up on an earlier post. After wondering about losing weight, I have sadly gained weight while I've been on the ship. I have been pretty lazy about working out and I certainly eat my share. Also, there's a soft serve ice cream machine in the staff mess. What's a guy to do?

Monday, March 2, 2009

5 more days

I come home in 5 days. I realized this morning that my flight gets into Atlanta at 4pm and doesn't leave for CVG until 9:30. That's no fun. Fortunately, I'm flying with two of my favorite people from the ship and they're currently trying to get us seats together. They're a lounge act. She's from Australia and he's from Texas. Great great people.

I started packing tonight which was very exciting! I can't wait to get back.

Friday, February 27, 2009

randomness

So, I received my flight info a couple of days ago. I have 8 days left on board! 7 weeks has gone by amazingly quickly. My posts haven't involved my work life since things have pretty much become routine.
I'm realizing now that the monday question day lasted...a single day. So, while I'm still blogging about this, I'll try to spend my next couple of days answering any remaining questions.

I went out to Malta the other day. I got to give my mom a call through Skype and also talk to my Fav on her way to work. I think she was a little jealous that she was driving to work while I was sipping wine overlooking the Mediterranean in Malta.
The new incoming cast came this week. This means that in addition to shows at night with the current cast, there are rehearsals during the day with the new cast. I'm not sure how much time I'll get off the boat this cruise which is sad.

I miss Cincinnati a lot. Once I get over my jet lag (6 hr difference), I think I'm going to get some Wild Mike's wings and maybe even some skyline Chili.

And, finally, my hero for the week is Kelly because she's going to pick me up from the airport! My hero for the month is of course, Brieghan, for driving my car while I'm gone.

And, post-finally, a room service update. Tonight I needed a snack to eat while cleaning my room. So, I ordered a turkey sandwich with chips and a fruit plate. It was rather good. You hear that, breighan? Turkey sandwich, chips, and fruit plate. I expect that to be on hand in case I call you for room service.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Cairo

The day started with one mission: see the pyamids.

Step 1: getting there.

We knew haggling was the name of the game. You walk off the ship and there is a parking lot filled with blue taxi cabs. The cabbies are standing in a big bunch chatting. We had decided ahead of time that we were aiming to pay $150 US roundtrip. Negotiatons started at $200. We started at about $120. The guitar player did most of the talking and we ended up at exaCtly $150.
If you've never driven in Egypt, now is not the time to start. Many of you will try to picture being in a cab in Manhatten. That is not a helpful image. There were traffic lights at intersections...sometimes. But it didn't matter. People ignored them anyway. There were lines on the road showing where lanes were, but it didn't matter because people didn't really stay within them anyway. At some intersections it wwas just a mass of cars trying to all go in contrasting directions as they could manage. Some cars coming across the intersection from the left ended up on the shoulder of the road facing us, trying to turn their trip straight across the intersection into a right turn from the wrong direction. Pedestrians were on their own to cross the street in between moving cars.
Once on the open highway, our driver's technique was as follows: drive fast in the left lane. If you're about to pass cars, honk and flash your lights in case they might decide to switch lanes. If there's someone in front of you, honk and flash your lights to get them to move over. Honking was more to anounce his presence than anything else. The driver, William, spoke English quite well. He was about 25-30 years old and had spent a year in the Egyptian army, which is mandatory if you're educated. If not, you are required to be in the army for 3 years. After 3 hours, we (somehow) arrived in Cairo.

Step 2: seeing the pyramids

Just as we were arriving, William informed us that he had a friend there that gave camel tours. For $40 (plus tip) we would be taken to see all the pyramids, a panoramic view of the entire area, and the sphynx. Another $12 bought us tickets inside a building right next to the Sphynx.
When you see pictures of the pyramids, it looks like there's desert for miles. In reality, there's a parking lot with shops and a sand-colored Hard Rock cafe right at the edge of the desert. We paid the guide ahead of time and before I knew it, I was on a camel with a white sheet covering my head from the sun. My two friends began the day on horses.
As we hit the sand, the tour guide reminded us that we were on the very edge of the Sahara Desert.
Although the tour took almost 2 hours, it's hard to describe it in detail. Keep in mind that for the majority of the trip, there was a 10 year old boy leading the camel on foot. At one point, we slowly rode up to the biggest of the three big pyramids. We dismounted our transportation and walked up to the pyramid. The 5,000 year old pyramid built by 100,000 slaves in 30 years. The guide had us climb up about 3 steps. At the base, steps are about chest high or so. After climbing 3 steps, the tour guide took pictures of us. I saw a loose piece of the pyramid that had fallen down and was sitting on the ledge. This soon became my souvenir for my dad. A small piece of a 5000 year old pyramid.


Top 3 surprising things about the pyramids that you doni't see in pictures:
1. Next to the 3 giant pyramids there are smaller pyramids about 1/3 the size.
2. There is a parking lot and Hard Rock Cafe no more than 200 yds from the pyramids.
3. The Sphynx is considerably smaller than you might think. It does not tower over the desert but is only maybe 1 or 2 stories high.

Step 3: Getting home

After 3 hours on the way up, William's driving had become uneventful. It was getting dark and we were tired. I slept a little of the way, but mostly watching the desert scenery (including Ali Baba's palace of "and the 40 thieves" fame.
We arrived back on the ship and I had an amzing hot shower. One of the top 5 best hot showers I've ever had, not that I can name the other 4.

So, in the span of 6 days, I saw the Collosseum in Rome, the Acropolis in Athens, and the pyramids in Cairo. The three of us, who had gone on all of these trips, agreed that this might be the most incredible week any of us will ever have. And my trip to the pyramids was the most amazing day I've ever had.

Cairo - the short version

For those that aren't interested in reading a whole blog about my trip to the pyramids, here is the Cliff's Notes version:

We hired a cab to drive us 3 hours from Alexandria to Cairo. Once there, we hired a guide and rode a camel and two horses into the sahara desert to see the pyramids. Apart from the amazing sights, we rode right up to a 5000 year old pyramid and climbed up 3 steps on it. A small piece that had broken off was on the ledge and I took it as a souvenir for my dad. it was possibly the most amazing thing I've ever done. And, with Rome, Athens, and Cairo in one week, possibly the most amazing week I will ever have.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

So, there you go

I was in Athens today. It was super cool.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

missing Zinzinnati

Missing Zinzinnati

So, with a high concentration of Germans on board, food and beverage decided to have a beerfest on board with our band playing polka/oom pah pah music. It made me miss Cincinnati a bit, reminding me of good nights at the Hofbrauhaus.

This brings up an interesting debate the musicians have been having. Let's say you're from Germany. You decide to fly to Barcelona so you can get on an American cruise line. Do you want the food/music/atmosphere to remind you of home or do you want to experience something different? You can go to a Biergarten and hear live polka music regularly at home. Is that what you want on the ship?

What about me? If I went on a cruise, would I want burgers, pizza, steak, and rock and jazz or do I want to eat and hear new things?

Hard to say. But I do know that when they have baby back ribs on board, it's not like home. I can't imagine what the schnitzel on board tastes like to the Germans.

1 - 2 -3, 2 - 2- 3, Oom Pah Pah, Ooh Pah Pah

class

Class

One of the best things about doing something completely out of your normal realm of comfort is that you learn a lot about things you never would have had the chance to before. For the past few weeks I've been making friends with a phillipino girl that works in the Cafe on deck 12.

A quick primer on the divisions on the ship. There are crew, staff, and officers. There are multiple things that distinguish the people that hold these positions. Most notable is working hours and living conditions. My position is somewhere between staff and officer. I'm basically an officer, but more by default of where I fall in the food chain (my boss is the cruise director and the people under me are staff). I have not only a private cabin, but one on deck 4, where many of the managers and department heads live. The only people who have nicer digs are the guest performers who have passenger cabins (and I'm sure the captain, etc).

There are no restrictions on where I'm allowed on the ship. If I want to go watch a show in the theatre (the one in which I perform), I can just go. If I want to go up to deck 13 and buy a drink, I'm more than welcome. If I want to go to the cafe on deck 12 for lunch, not a problem.

In terms of my working hours, in some ways I'm always working in that I'm on call any time anything comes up. However, apart from scheduled rehearsals and performances, I'm free to do the work when I want.

If I'm a waitress in the cafe, things are different. I live on deck 2 (no window) with 3 other people in bunk beds. My room is about the size of the officer cabins on deck 4, except with 4 people in it. I have to be at work as early as 8 am some days. Although I'm allowed several breaks throughout the day, I basically stay at work until 12:30am or so. They're careful to make sure I'm not working more than 11 hrs a day, but sometimes that's not possible. When I'm not at work, I can't go above deck 4. Thus, entertainment occurs in my room or the crew bar and meals occur in the crew mess exclusively.

In talking and flirting with this girl, I realize how different our lives are on the ship. I'll come for lunch and she's working. I'll come for dinner between shows and she's working. I'll stop by after work and she's working. If I were hitting on a girl that works in reception, I'd ask if she wanted to go to dinner or if I could buy her a drink in one of the passenger's bars. With this girl, there's the crew bar or...the hallway....I asked if she wanted to watch a movie, but the only place we could do so would be in my room to which she informed me she was a good girl. I assured her I didn't mean it like that, but still. When I told her where I lived, she used a Phillipino word that she told me meant "fancy." She also told me there'd be a lot of guys upset that I was talking to her.

I know this was a long way to go, but it really hit home tonight. We talked for about 20 minutes tonight after she got off work (she asked me to call after 1:30). I find myself embarrassed at how nice my cabin is and how little I work (even though I work very hard). It puts it in perspective that I get frustrated when a rehearsal comes up and I can't visit Rome. There are a thousand people on the ship that can't visit deck 7...which they don't have the time to do anyway.


PS - in Spain, Nestle, not Kellogs makes cheerios. And although they're clearly Honeynut Cheerios, the box just says cheerios. Same Bee on the front though. And the taste is roughly the same. Well, it's 2:30 am, I'm taking my spoiled ass to bed...with no free pizza!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A funny thing happened on the way FROM the FOrum

So, I finally got to Rome today! We had a safety drill this morning, so by the time we got into the city, it was almost 1. We had to be back on board by 6 which meant that we needed to take either the 3:45 or 4:09 train back.This gave us a little less than 3 hrs to see as much of Rome as possible. We decided to head to the Collosseum first and then see what we had time for from there.

The Collosseum was amazing. We talked about who or what might have walked exactly where we were. Lions, gladiators, Caeser maybe? We wanted to go in and walk around but there was a 40 minute line and time was scarce. We walked past and headed towards the Roman Forum. On the way we stopped at a little stand for something to eat.

Food. One of the things I was most excited about when I came here was to eat all sorts of native food. The problem is, when you're in touristy areas, what do you trust? The fanciness of a restaurant is not a good measure of food authenticity. The best seafood can be found in little shacks and the best barbeque is found in places that you're not sure you want to eat in. So, whether to order pizza in Rome from a cart becomes a tough decision. I think of Michael from the OFfice getting "a real NY slice" at Sbbarro in Times Square. My pizza was good nonetheless.

After food, we walked past the Forum and then went the the Fountain di Trevi. At this point I tried to get gelato but ended up being repeatedly cut in line by small Japanese women. I wanted to sick Sun on them.

So, we arrive back at the train station in plenty of time to catch the 3:45 train. On the departure board, next to our train, said "suppresso." We weren't sure what this meant so I pulled out the little Italian/English dictionary I inherited from my predecessor and looked it up. The definition I found was "abolish." This was not only not promising, but somewhat overdramatic. We learned that "suppresso" did indeed mean the train was cancelled. Not a problem. There's a 4:09 train that will get us in with a half hour to spare.

I fell asleep soon after the train left the station. When I woke up, we were stopped. Not at a station. Just stopped. It seems we had been that way for about 25 minutes. By the time we got back to the port, the train had been delayed about 45 minutes.

We were on board 30 minutes past when crew is supposed to be back. I'm not sure what happens now. There were a lot of crew and passengers late becuase of the train problems. It could be that nothing happens. We could get a slap on the wrist warning. Or...I don't know.

But I went to Rome for 2 and a half hours. And it was great!

Friday, February 13, 2009

free pizza and beer

So, last night they had a Valentine's Day party for the crew. The captain was nice enough to pay for drinks at the party, so I was able to have a few free Heinekens. So, when I came home at 1:30am and was hungry, I decided to test out this room service thing. So, I called 6500 and told them who I was and ordered a pepperoni pizza. Sure enough, 20 minutes later (better than Dominos) a FREE pepperoni pizza showed up at my door. I tipped the waiter a couple bucks and I had the perfect night cap to a night of drinking. I could get used to this if I'm not careful. When I get back to Cincinnati I might try to train Breighan to bring me free pizza late at night. "Breighan, yeah, it's Brian...I need a pizza. No, I'm not going to pay for it...and I'll need it 20 minutes. You're the best! Sorry to wake you"

Sunday, February 8, 2009

You Must Remember This...

Despite what you may think, the actual city of Casablanca is nothing like the movie. First of all, I was very surprised to learn that the whole place is in color. In general, the city is 30% run down buildings, 30% brand new hotels, 30% bazaars and marketplaces, and 10% beggars. The first place I decided to go was a bazaar. At the beginning of the bazaar, there was not the smoke and eyes hiding behind dark curtains that you may think of. Actually, it was closer to Walmart, but outside. Mostly name brand sneakers, purses, et cetera. Close to the entrance, I met a short Morroccan man wearing a grey suit who spoke very decent English. He introduced himself and took my friend and I through the bazaar to his shop. He had me sit down and began to show me different garments. I thought that some of them were nice so I decided to look for a night gown for my mom. I found a beautiful green gown with embroidery on the front. I only had a very small amount of cash on me, so when the trader asked for the equivalent of 45 Euro, I didn't have anything close. I told him I don't have anything close to that much. He said "forget 45." I told him, again, that I had nothing close to that. He came down to 25 (which I honestly didn't have with me). I broke it down for him. I said, I have 5 Euro and $8. He didn't believe me so I pulled out my wallet, took out the 5 Euro and $8 and showed him that the rest was empty. He agreed and I had made my first purchase ever from an Arab trader. My grandma always says that she's never met a car salesman that has made any money on any car he's ever sold. It's hard to tell if the $16 or so I paid was over paying or if I got a decent deal. I imagine, in bulk, the trader buys these for less than $16. But the same could be said about tv's at Best Buy. Regardless, I have a lovely gift for my mother from Casablanca.

Friday, February 6, 2009

I'll the rabbit and a beer

A couple of days ago, I visited the most beautiful city I've been to so far on this trip: Valetta, Malta. I can't wait to post some of the pictures I took. I needed a day off the ship, so I spent a couple of hours walking around. t was amazingly hilly. Sometimes, I'd see something interesting on the other side of the hill, but I had to decide whether it was worth walking all the way down and all the way up again.

As part of my quest to eat something everywhere I go (I think I forgot to mention that I had gyros and fries in Greece...i thought of Breighan), I found a place that served Maltese food. I had a great dish with potatos and rabbit cooked in some type of oil and garlic. It was amazingly tender and moist, like it had been marinating all day. Along with it I asked for a local beer and they served me an ale called "Cisk." It tasted like the Bud light of Malta. I was going to have another, darker beer, but I needed to walk home.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Long Week

Long week

Sorry I've been out of communication for a few days. I hope I didn't worry anyone. After I used my my 2nd $20 internet card, I'm trying to be a little less liberal with how I use it. The sad news is that I did not go to Athens OR Egypt. I had last minute things come upthat required me to cancel both trips. I was not happy about either of these things. Today I am in Valetta, Malta. I'm hoping to go ashore to get some free internet and see some of the city. Tonight is a repeat of last night's show which went pretty well and the crew show, which is light work for us.

Other than that, things are settling in ok. I've had my eyes opened as to how things work in this department. I'm a little dissapointed in all the behind-the-back talking that goes on in lieu of direct communication. But, my direct boss is really doing a great job which makes things a lot easier. Tomorrow's the last sea day for the cruise and then we start again in Barcelona. With 9 and 12 day cruises, the days of the week are less important than the port of the day, so 12 days start to feel like a week. I can't believe I've been away almost 3 weeks already. I come home a month from Sunday.

I miss everyone a lot. I'm not used to going this long without talking to my Fav or my parents. I did get to watch the Superbowl while docked on the coast of Africa...at 1 am. I only made it to the end of the half time show and then went to bed. I've also faithfully watched every episode of Lost. I'm very excited to go home and rewatch them without A. being in a random European cafe and B. without waiting 1 minute to buffer for every minute and a half of show I watch.

I love reading your comments, so keep them coming.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

compliment

I think one of the coolest things about being on the entertainment staff is that at night, when there's a comedy show or a band in the club on the top deck, most of the cast and the main theatre entertainers go hang out.

Tonight, I was talking to some of the singers and, as usual, offering to play an extra rehearsal on the side to help out a singer. One of the singers pulled me aside, took my hand, looked straight into my eyes, and told me that the show I played/conducted two nights ago was the best performance of that show she was ever involved in (and she's been here about 4 months with 2 other MD's). It really meant a lot to me to hear that since I'm working hard to stay ahead of the curve. I thought I'd share with all of you.

Sea-tigo and Stewards

I posted a while ago about how scary I find the sea at night. I just don't like going out at night. Now that I've gone outside during the day, I realize it's not the dark. Whenever I walk out on the deck while the ship is moving, even though I'm hugging the inside rail, I'm very nervous and almost (but not quite) dizzy with fear that I'll fall over. It's not the water so much as the vastness of the water. I worry that the wrong gust of wind or a slip will send me tumbling into the sea. I think it's what vertigo must feel like.

One of the surprises on this ship is that every crew member, from the cruise director down to the dish washer has room stewardss that come into rooms once a day, straighten up a little, vacuum, replace the towels, and make the bed. It may not be that interesting, but it's something I never expected. At this point, I have a little "no service needed" sign I put up about every other day. No need to have my bed made.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

So, there you go

So, I just found out that since it's a very quick train ride to Athens, I should get a chance to go on Thursday. I'm very excited. Now, since I'm from America, I don't have no honeys or jams. I'm just dry toast. But I imagine from what I've seen in the movies, this will all change in Greece.

Civitawhat?

So, we don't actually go to Rome on this cruise. We go to a port city called Civitavecchia. FROM Civitavecchia, you can take an hour train to Rome. Since I had a light day and am caught up on paperwork, I was hoping to go for most of the day. Unfortunately, I had to perform the weekly cabin inspection at 11, which means that if I took a train at 12 and got there around 1, it'd leave me about 4 hours in the city before I need to catch the train back. Also, it's raining and I'll be back here in 2 weeks, so I figure instead of spending money on a round trip train for a couple ohurs, I'll save it and spend a full day next time we're here. In the mean time, we'll be in Greece in 2 days and Alexandria, Egypt on Sunday. Crew can sign up to chapperone on passenger tours. Basically you get everyone on and off the bus and take notes on how the tour guide was, etc, and you can go for free. So, i've signed up to do a pyramid tour for free. I wno't find out til Saturday night which tour I'll get to so, but I signed up for 3 choices, so hopefully I'll get one of them. For those I've talked to before I came here, you know that Egypt was the place I'm most excited to visit.

I'm still in disbelief sometimes that I get to go to Egypt and Rome and Athens for free (actually, while getting paid), but days like yesterday remind me that I'm definitely earning it.

By the way, I accidentally logged off Skype (the password had been saved) and even though I reset the password so i know it's right, I can't log in anymore....I'm working on that.

First shows

So, yesterday was my first full day of performing. I had a rehearsal with the cast for one show and then a rehearsal with the pop opera singer for another. Then, after one rehearsal each, I performed each show.

The opera show (That's Amore, Le Donna e Mobile, etc) was fairly clean, but not as good as I would have liked. Now that I know the show well enough, I can work with the band a little. The problem on a cruise ship is that we won't revisit the show until next cruise. So, we won't look at it for another 2 weeks.

The second show, basically a revue of 60's British pop music, went much better than in rehearsal. Although there were a couple of missed cues, the music itself was very clean. Audiences normally don't pick up on slight hitches in plot like people who know the show do, and we got a standing ovation at the end, so I think that went over pretty well.

It was a stressful night, but now that it's done and I have 2 light days, I think things should be good.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

crewbar

To celebrate my first day and to hang out with the guys in the band, I told them after the show that the first round at the crew bar would be on me. I've never been there before and felt I earned it. I walk into the dark room with a a small dance floor, DJ lights and music playing, and bar tables for people to stand and sit at. The band is all around one table and I ask what everyone wants. I get to the bar and order 3 Heinekens, a corona, and glass of wine. I did a double take when the bartender handed me the credit card slip (credit card being my payroll account which they subtract from before they pay me) and the grand total came to $6.50! (American). I learned that at the crew bar, any beer is a buck and wine (fancy for even Mrs. mamola) is $2.50. So, here I am being a big shot buying a round and I only pay 6.50.

The problem with these prices is that one beer with the guys turned into 4, since everyone that came over bought a round. The last guy I even asked not to get me anything, but there I was with my 4th beer. So, needless to say, it's 2 am and my alarm clock will be set for...let's say 8:30. Guess I better take a nap before rehearsal tomorrow.

First day on the job

So, with the previous bandmaster off the ship, today was my first full day working. I had to be ready at 9:30 to escort the piano tuner to the first of threee pianos that needed to be tuned (reminding me that I still haven't had my pinao tuned back home). In the middle of that, I received several phone calls regarding the new trombone player who had to be put in a 4-person cabin since there were no 2-person cabins available. He was, understandably, upset.

The middle of my day was fairly open, including a failed attempt to return some electronics in Barcelona since the store was closed on Sundays (something I probably should have thought to find out).

The evening involved my first tech run and performance for the welcome aboard show, which features a snippet from each of the performers on ship. That went relatively smoothly, apart from one iffy start for one of the singers. All in all, it was a sucessful first day of the job.

The best part, probably, was my cabin move. After seeing that most crew live in 2 or 4 person cabins, I was happy to have my cabin which was the size of about half a dorm room to myself. Now that I've moved into the bandmaster's cabin, however, I'm living in a room about the size of a small hotel room. Minicouch including. Whereas before I couldn't open the bathroom door without hitting the desk, now I have 2 closets, a couch, and room to do situps and pushups without snaking my body around the desk. Oh! I almost forgot that I know have a window! Before, being without a window, the room was equally pitch black without lights on no matter what time of day it was. Now, I can wake up and see sunlight to know that it's morning and not the middle of the night. I'm movin on up, Jeffersons style.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Day 8: Lost and the takeover

Sorry for the long delay. Yesterday I went into Malaga in search of wifi in order to watch lost. The good news is that I found it, the bad is that I never really got it to work properly. It did work long enough for me to call my parents on SKype. Outside of that, I couldn't get pages to load. Very frustrating.

So, I'm stuck, at least this week, paying 10 cents a minute to watch in my cabin. So, I'm essentially renting Lost for $4 an episode. I don't mind too much since I don't really spend any other money here, and when you think of all the trips to wendys or chipotle that I would have spent $4 on at home, it's not a big deal.

By the time I sign online again, I'll have finished the second episode, so no more ban on mentioning lost to me.

As of noon today, I will be performing almost all the duties of my job. Thye current person leaves tomorrow morning. I'm pretty excited to finally start doing the job fully. It's been a litttle frustating just sitting and watching the past few days. But, tomorrow begins a new cruise. Sink or swim I suppose...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

my eyes

So, there have now been about 4 people in the span of 2 days (men and women) that have commented about how wonderful my eyes are. Some are from NY, so I can't chalk it up to being international. It just makes me realize how underappreciated my eyes go back home. This is crap and I demand it be fixed immediately upon my arrival back home.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Lost premieres tonight~!!!

I forgot to mention this the other post, but I've felt a bit like Ben from Lost the past couple of days. Different ports use different currency, so when I'm about to go out, I go into my lockbox where I have different currencies. Though, only one passport, sadly. Right now I just have dollars and euros, but soon I'll have a few other things I hope.

This is very important: I WILL NOT BE WATCHING LOST UNTIL FRIDAY!!! Don't you DARE write anything about the premiere. I'll let you know when I've seen it. Though, no full writeups.

(PS - for the best post-episode Lose discussion, I highly recommend visiting longlivelocke.blogspot.com)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Tuesday Answers

Shane asked about my daily schedule. Right now, I haven't fully taken over the job, but I've been shadowing the current band master fairly frequently. It seems that when I take over, I wake up, head into the office to work on the schedule for the next day. For the most part this has already been set. I know what production shows are going on (there are 2 evening slots) and what rehearsals are needed for them. Outside of that, it's a matter of scheduling the various individual acts in the little lounges around the ship. This, too, remains failry consistent day to day.

After I'm done in the office, I'm usually good until either 4:30 or 6:30, depending on whether there needs to be a full rehearsal of that night's show. Then, we do the shows. So, the busiest part of the day is from 6:30 on when I could be working each hour until about 10:30. Though, the shows are only an hour each, so after the 7:30 show, I have alittle break. The middle of the day is most open.

I've been going to the staff gym after the last show, after practicing a bit. This makes it harder to get up early since I could be in the gym until well after midnight.

I know my mom had a bunch of questions, but i don't really remember what they were...guess she'll have to wait until next monday ;c) ..or email me.

Oh, and my new weekly ritual is to call Bridgett and Shane on Skype! I haven't been able to get it to work from the ship calling phone numbers, but last night I connected to them using skype. I even got the video to send for a minute, so they could see my cabin.

As far as pictures, everything freezes due to bandwidth, so I might have to wait until I come home.

Day ?: Offshore Accounts

Today I got off the ship for the first time in a city called Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. It was about 22 C out which I believe felt around 65 or 70F. Right when I got off the ship there was a giant mall. I looked around for a minute, but was more interested in the beach that was also nearby.

On my way to the beach, I passed a lot of little shops and restaraunts, some in buldings, some on the sidewalk. There are two things there are an abundance of in Las Palmas: Chinese Buffets and Banks. I took a picture of the first chinese buffet I saw, I thinking it was a funny novelty, but then I saw about 3 more just in my walk towards the beach. Since this seemed to be a big tourist city, I imagine there are a lot of asian tourists as well. The nice thing about the restauraunts was that they had their menus posted outside in multiple languages.

Since it was a port day, I knew I could eat upstairs in the guest cafe cand have a nice selection of guest food (which I'm starting to realize is crew food, just a day earlier.) Since I could eat free on the ship, I decided to stop in a bakery and ask the woman behind the counter to pick something sweet out for me. She gave me a pastry that was cut into a long triangle, similar to a pizza slice. The pastry was on the top and bottom and sandwiched between was some sort of cream and lemon custard. I asked what it was called and I'm pretty sure she said "cunio" or "curio." Anyone with better access to google might help me out and post the answer.

As I said, the other thing in abundance was is Las Palmas was banks. I realized that when people say in movies (or I imagine in real life too) "he transferred the money to an offshore account in the canary islands" that THIS is where they meant! I didn't ask if any of the banks had a super saver account I could store my remaining 8 Euros in.

After I came back I practiced a bit and then we had rehearsal. We paused rehearsal for about 20 minutes to watch the Obama inaugeration and speech in the theatre on a drop down movie screen. Both the band and the cast stood and clapped often. Even the Brits amongst us recognized the importance of the moment.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Monday Questions

I've decided that perhaps the things that seem interesting for me to blog about aren't always the things you want to know. So, if there's actually anyone reading this (and one of those people better be Emily Burke for all the crap she gave me about not writing my old blog), I think on mondays i'm going to invite you all to ask questions that you want to know about and I'll answer them.
So, ask away!

PS - Go Cardinals C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L-S Cardinals!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

DAY 3: When the ship starts 'a rockin', don't fall off the balcony

Since this ship is basically like a floating building, it's very easy to forget you're on a ship. Crew stay indoors for the most part, and the ship doesn't often move very much.This was not the case today. On and off, the ship has been rocking a generous amount today. The first interesting thing about walking on a ship that's rocking is that gravity keeps shifting. Sometimes you're walking and the ship is tilting towards you, so gravity is heavy. The ship is literally pushing back up on you. The more interesting time to walk is when the ship is rolling the other way. it's dropping away from you as you walk. You can feel gravity let up a bit.

But none of that involves a balcony. I was upstairs practicing in the balcony today. I sit on a stool right next to the edge of the balcony. There is a piece of glass that extends up from the edge to keep things from falling over, but still. The ship began rocking and I became very aware that a few more degrees more, and I might tumble off my stool. This was very disconcerting. I'll get used to it, but still.

You might think that this has become the last place I want to be when the ship is rocking. It quickly became second on that list...when I went outside onto the deck. It's one thing to be in pitch black, but it's another when you look out, all you see is black, but you're aware there's a big ol' ocean out there...somewhere. I hugged the inside rail as if a winning lottery ticket was taped to the underside of it somewhere. Thus, I will never go outside at night again, ever...again. (ever).

Outside of that, today was the first day i've felt like a more or less normal person. I woke up, I ate breakfast, had rehearsal, practiced, etc.

I'm not sure if I'll stay up tonight to watch football, though I'm pretty sure it is on tv. Go...yeah, I don't care. I think i'm routing for a Steelers/Eagles Super Bowl, though, Eagles suck, so go Cardinals! Actually, I think the Cardinals would make a better game than the Eagles.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Day 2: Eating

When most people think about going on a cruise, one of the first things they think of is gaining weight. This may be the case for the passengers. There is a lot of food around. However, I can easily see losing a little weight on this cruise.

Before I continue, I can see bridgett and my mom getting anxious already. I will start by saying they serve 3 meals a day cafeteria style with plenty of options, very decent quality, and absolutely no limits on how much you can eat.

There are two things (probably for the eating better) that are different. First, meals are at set times. They start and stop. Now, between 6:30 and 8 at night, there is probably in actuality only a couple of hours here and there that aren't one meal time or the other. But once you've eaten lunch, you're likely not going to go back for more lunch. So, snacking in that fashion is out.

There are mini-fridges in the cabins. However, you are not allowed to keep anything remotely perishable in there (counting fruit, yogurt, etc). In other words, you can not keep anything in the fridge that fits the mantra mention above "Eat [real] food, not too much, mostly plants." Real food and/or plants are specifically forbidden.

So, like I said, I might actually lose a little weight. I visited the staff gym after the second show tonight. It made my think of the gym that Mr. T trains in in Rocky III (with considerably more Asians).

Tomorrow we stop at Casablanca. There will likely be a drill at 10 before we get into port. At 1:00 I need to be on the ship for a safety written test. Plus, so much practicing to catch up on. I think since we get back there 2x more while I'm here, I'm going to enjoy my first relatively free day since I've been here. I have more than enough practicing to do and laundry and such.

There are NFL playoffs tomorrow which I will likely miss. I might actually be free when they're on, thanks to the time difference, but I don't think I get that channel. I know they'll be showing the Obama innaugeration here. And then there's Lost. It'd be much cheaper for me to watch it on shore at an internet cafe somewhere, but I think I might feel guilty/silly being somewhere in Morocco and watching Lost in an internet cafe.

Friday, January 16, 2009

day 1, aka "24"

I've been up almost 24 hours straight now. I woke up 1 am local Barcelona time since I was still partially on US time. I've been on the ship since about 9 this morning. I've been through hours of safety training, a rehearsal, a performance (both of which I watched), had a glass of wine, and capped off the night with an hour and a half of practicing a score that I've never seen before, but will conduct in roughly a week.

My cabin is small. Very small. Half of a dorm room small. Can't open the bathroom door all the way due to the desk chair small. But, at least it's my own. Most crew have to share 2-4 in a room (I assume those rooms are slightly bigger than this one). This is temporary, however. I have yet to see the room I will be moving into when the current band master leaves, but I am told it is wonderful. I even have a port window.

The hardest and most frustrating thing right now is geting around. It's a big ship. Very big. I now have landmarks to look for (stair 40 on deck 4) but a landmark is only useful if you actually see it. Sometimes I am teased by very similar, but still very different landmarks. Like stair 41. Everyone is very helpful, but it's hard to ask for help sometimes because I'm not quite lost, I just don't know how to get where I'm headed.

I'm shooting to only be up 18 hrs or so tomorrow, not 24.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hola from Barcelona!

Well, I've been here about 18 hrs. I don't speak Spanish at all, but I've never felt more like I don't speak Spanish than today. In fact, even the small ammount of Spanish I attempted on the phone (por favor, habitacion de Kevin) was greeting with "yes sir, I'll connect your call."

As expected, my sleeping/eating schedule is pretty messed up at the moment. I arrived at 8 am local time having slept only here and there on the plane. I think my big mistake was that instead of taking a 1 hr nap this morning and waiting to sleep for real until tonight, I fell asleep for 3 hours. So, when I went to bed at 8 this evening thinking "great, I'll get a full night's sleep and be fresh to go tomorrow," I instead woke up at 1 am.

Skype is a wonderful thing. For only 2.95/mo I am able to call my parents, my grandparents, bridgett and breighan with unlimited minutes.

So, that's Barcelona. I went walking a bit but really didn't do any sight-seeing or anything. I'm just tried to rest up as much as possible since I think this next week will be one of my hardest ever.

A final thought: I recommend reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. It reminds you that the food industry is indeed an industry and that it is dangerous to think of food in terms of its nutrients. A product that contains a similar amount of protein, carbs, and types of fat as a real piece of food does not make it just as healthy (e.g. whole wheat white bread, low carb pasta, etc.) The book's mantra is: "eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

My last night in the States?

Ok, I'm taking a second shot at blogging. I have great intentions but who knows how it'll pan out. At the very least, I'll post a couple of pictures when I get there and let everyone know I'm settled and doing ok on the boat.

Also, I wanted to set up some sort of mass email, so this is probably easier for everyone involved.

To catch everyone up, this is my first time leaving the country (except to visit our northern neighbors) so even the idea of getting on a flight going farther than California is new. Christine left me a few Spanish phrases to help me get along while I'm in Barcelona, though she left out the 2 that I was really hoping to learn:

"I'm sorry, I only have a few dollars, I didn't realize a hooker would cost that much."

and

"Don't shoot, I voted for Barack Obama"

But, immersion is the best way to learn a language, so if I arrive in Spain before I have to get on the ship, I'm sure I'll pick it up.