Welcome back. After what seems like another extremely long hiatus, I am able to post again. Early in my contract I would typically post on turnaround days in New Jersey, but I was shopping during my last turnaround day- yet another shore leave in the states shortened, but that’s another story. And I’ll have visitors for 2 of my 3 turnarounds in February, so don’t expect a lot of posts then. But today I’m back in San Juan.
This cruise is a little different. I typically go to San Juan first, but it’s the last port this week. I’m also usually there at night, but I’m here from 7 am until 12:30 this afternoon. Odd.
I’ve had some fun times since I last posted. I’ve been to the island of Dominica twice since I last wrote and I went tubing on the Layou River both times. It’s so much fun! The first time seemed like more fun because it was all new to me, but the second time was incredibly fun due to the people I was with. How do I describe tubing in Dominica…it’s like floating down a lazy river in the middle of the rain forest…with unexpected rapids and lots of rocks. You have to wear a life jacket and a helmet. On my first trip, someone got cut bad enough that they needed stitches, but I still think he had fun. I’m attempting to post pictures and a video from these trips on facebook.
We went to St. Maarten again this cruise. If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you know how I feel about St. Maarten. And this time, the wind in my hair and the bugs in my teeth can only mean one thing- it was scooter day. If you are an extremely avid follower of my travels you know that an annual scooter day is common for me. However I got a 4 wheeler this time as scooters still kinda freak me out. It was amazing. Parts of the island remind me of the hill country in Texas and there is a stretch of road that very much reminds me of the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It’s pretty incredible to be zipping along a stretch of road with your friends and come over the crest of a hill and see the most beautiful scenery you have ever had the privilege of seeing. However, over another crest was a herd of goats on the road. Thankfully we all avoided hitting them and kind of looked like modern cowboys on our mechanical horses. I’m certain that we were a sight to behold- 3 scooters, 2 atvs, and 6 riders in total flying through St. Maarten. Their speeds are in kilometers down there and I have know idea how to convert that (yeah valedictorian!), but I will say I got a little nervous when the limit went from 50 kph to 70 kph. I was even more nervous when it increased to 90. I managed to keep up though. My speedometer stopped working shortly into the trip and it kept blinking 188. The group of guys from the orchestra that I passed said that number sounded about right to them- I was going too fast to see them flash me apparently. I’m happy to say that everyone was safe all day. On the last scooter day that I’m aware of one of my friends let his wife drive and they had a wreck in which she got a substantial amount of road rash. Last summer the light tech wrecked her scooter and also had some massive road rash, but no blood. That light tech was cruising with us this week and I’m happy to report that she safely rode all day with us and she has some pretty sweet scars from this summer. At some point we all realize we have our jobs for the great stories we get out of them. We spent some time on the French side of the island. A side I have previously avoided due to the clothing optional beaches (I see more than I want to on our pool deck) but a side I will gladly return to due to their awesome restaurants. We had Dominos Pizza for lunch, but we saved room for an afternoon snack in a French café. I don’t remember what it was called, but I hope I can find it again. It was open air with couches and coffee tables and about 5 deli cases full of pastries and other foods.
Barbados was a beach day and I appear to have gotten a little too much sun. Why do people always ask, “Get a little sun today?” when you get burnt? And people you don’t really know that well feel that it is acceptable to say that. Unless I know the person really, really well I typically don’t say anything- most people are already self-conscious about it so why keep bringing it up. Is it socially acceptable to ask fat people if they got a little food today? It’s like when people are sick and you tell them they look awful…well aren’t you just the little encourager?
Yesterday was Antigua and I got off the ship for a little pizza before getting back on to shoot a music video. However due to widespread technical difficulties in multiple departments that didn’t happen, but I did get to watch a movie, so that is good.
I mentioned earlier the light tech that is cruising with us. She’s dating the Production Manager. Before this week, I never realized how much he works, but she’s left with a lot of free time to just sit alone in his cabin- think about it, it would be like going on a cruise alone, with no one you knew, and you have worked on ships for 8 years, so you’ve pretty much done everything that there is to do on here. Regardless, I’ve had the privilege of hanging out with her a substantial amount this week and it’s been fun to finally have someone I feel I can relate to better. I would guess that she is 5ish years older than me and much more mature than a lot of people I end up spending time with on here. So it’s been really great and I will be sad to see her go.
Crazy Story Ahead Warning:
During my first year on the road with SRT we had a lot of team members who were former interns at Lakewood church in Houston, TX. One of these guys told me I reminded him of a light tech he had worked with named Tobi. He asked the others from Lakewood about it and they all agreed. They said it was crazy how much I was like Tobi. This would come up periodically throughout our year on the road, but even when we were in Texas, I never got the chance to meet her. Well, Tobi signed on to my ship as I stage staff this week. Crazy, eh? When I first met her I was reminded of the guys always telling me about Lakewood Tobi, but I didn’t tell her the story because I thought there was no possible way it was her, I had just met her, and she would always remember me as the crazy Tobi story girl. Then we were at dinner the other day and I asked where she was from and when she said Houston I told her about having friends that worked at Lakewood and asked if she’d heard of it. She worked at Lakewood until she left to join ships.
Quote of the cruise:
Technically this didn’t happen this cruise, but I just found out about it. In one of your production shows one of our singers sings a song contain the line “Only you can set my soul on fire.” Several cruises ago she sang, “Only you can set myself on fire.” Apparently when the choreographers were onboard doing the install of the shows one of them sang it that way (English wasn’t his first language) and the singer told the story a few times. Not long after that she went out there and sang it the same way.
Another good quote:
One of the dancers was telling me how calm and peaceful he felt in my presence and I said that I feel that I must have a disarming personality, because it appears that people cannot get incredibly upset with me- I’m fine with that because I usually cry when I get yelled out. He replied, “You may want to learn to disable bombs because that skill would fit with your personality.” Fair enough.
Next cruise is a 9 day- the shortest since dry dock. We should also get another person for our department. I guess it’s time for me to start working again. I haven’t done much since dry dock…and it’s been great. I had a good friend transfer at the end of last cruise, more leaving at the end of this cruise, and many leaving at some point in February. That’s probably the strangest part about ship life. It’s not like college or even touring where you all have breaks together, you talk about visiting each other at some point, etc. Here, you all go home at different times, you never graduate. You may be here for 6 months or 10 years. You may go to another ship then eventually come back. You may work with the same people on a different ship. It’s not a bad life; it’s just unlike anything else I’ve experienced.
But you sure do get good stories out of this life…
