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.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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!
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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