9-26-07 At Sea, Seattle to San Francisco
4:14pm
Just got through a monster day of rehearsal. All day I’ve felt a little under the weather…not much appetite, a little tired and weak. Part of this may be because of the waves – we finally picked up the speed and I can definitely sit there and feel the world go in and out. It’s not making me nauseous per se, it’s more just making me feel a little out of it…almost like a light high. But the good news is that the show is set and I feel fine with it…I’ll feel a lot better once it’s over I think.
I also think it’s finally sinking in that I’m on this ship for awhile and I’m starting to miss people from home.
Call is in two hours…we have two shows tonight. I’m excited and ready to fly. Even though none of the electronic stuff is automatic by any means I’m totally comfortable with it if I’m constantly thinking and looking ahead to what’s next. Everything should be fine after that. Peace!
9-27-07 At Sea Seattle to San Francisco
3:04AM
We had our first two shows tonight. They were really incredible. We did really really well, I only had like two slipups the whole show and they were not bad noticeable things really…an early fadeout on a set change and jumping a piano cue a bit early but the actor didn’t go with it so I just repeated it when the time was right. I performed for, all told, approximately 1700 people tonight and there were literal roars of laughter and applause at times. It was great. Afterwards I had some shepards pie, potato skins, buffalo chicken and a burger at the grill (again…gotta love the free) and met up with everyone for some drinks. After that we went down to the crew bar and I just chatted with people the whole time. I met a guy from North Andover which was awesome – we’re definitely gonna chill. The thing is most of the crew on board are about my age, so when I’m in the bar it’s very easy to get along with them.
I did a really got job with the show, I am pretty sure. Like I did what was expected of me and the shows were solid. I’m very satisfied especially for these being my first shows ever running sound and piano for.
Tomorrow is San Francisco and hopefully Christopher. We actually sail in in 4 hours or so…some of the guys are getting up and taking pictures as we go in in the morning. I’m saying fuck that…I’ve helicopter-ridden through SF and don’t need to see in the daytime what I will easily see at night when we leave the same way we come in. Sleep is important..especially because I have to do crew immigration again (this is rare and will probably be the last time I do it while I’m on board) at 10:40 tomorrow morning.
Sleep now then…I will get a good 6.5 hours. Should be fine. Good night!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Three more posts...
I'm sure my bloggingness will die down in a bit but everything is so new and crazy and exciting I'm just gonna get it all out there if I can. Peace!
9-22-07 At Sea, Vancouver to Victoria
9:55 PM
(Note to Yappers:Umm it’s come to my attention that some of these posts may have parts that are inappropriate for the younger readers. I apologize. There’s gonna be some stuff here that’s older so if you don’t feel comfortable reading that you’re better off not reading the blog…I’m sure I will tell you all about it in person when I next see you. anyways. K? Cool. But as long as you/your parents are cool with this journal then I am too.)
Currently I am sitting in rehearsal. We are learning this amazingly funny “dance” called Chairs which is a choreographed number involving three people in office chairs twirling and thrusting and spinning about. Today was a the first full day on the ship. Woke up early to do some registration stuff, went to a rehearsal where we used my $15 casio keyboard I randomly brought with me cause we apparently don’t have access to a keyboard, then we went off to Vancouver. We ate at a restaurant with good food and really awkward, bad service. We walked around Gastown and noticed that we were in a very lovely tourist bubble in the midst of lots of gross badness. Some dude came up to me while Beth was getting money from the bank and started asking me for money…saying he couldn’t work for a week because his arm was all fucked up…and yeah it really was it looked eerily bloated like it had had some internal infection for a long while. I still said no…I refuse to let someone talk me into giving them money if I refuse them first.
Anyway we then went and bought a bottle of ice wine which apparently is one of the most complex tasting beverages around. We’ll celebrate with that the final night Mick and Beth are around. We also went to a little bar and Holly and I shared a beer sampler of a bunch of local beers. We made it back to the boat and I watched the sun set from the front of the boat as we went under the bridge in Vancouver and saw the ocean open up before us with misty mountains in the far distance. We literally sailed directly into the sunset and I felt I had finally arrived at my goal.
After that we went to the Tex Mex restaurant. We sat at a table by the window so we could look out and watch the water go by underneath us and the mountains in the distance. I had seared tuna for an appetizer and then this Il Pomo dish that was sortof like a Mexican pup u platter…they came out and cut all the vegetables off of this rack and everything. I also could have had dessert but we had to leave for rehearsal. And now it’s over so I gotta go. Peace!!
Oh..reitirate…my dinner was free ;).
9-23-07, At Sea Vancouver to Victoria
1:37 AM
I went to the crew bar for the first time tonight. It was really great, I made a few new friends, two girls who work as hostesses at the restaurants, Kati (pronounced kah-TEE) and some name that starts with E I think…they always wear nametags so when I see her I’ll remember. They took me to their room and showed me – it was a little bigger than my two-bedroom except that there were FIVE people sharing it. Technically I think there should have been six but their luggage was in the sixth bunk. Ridiculous. It totally makes me feel completely fine about sharing a room. When I told her I lived on deck 10 she just kinda stared at me for a second and her mouth opened a little, because crew live on decks 2-4 and it tends to be the higher the better…so 10 is just like off the charts. She showed me the way back to the bar, I went back and of course all the guys were like so how was your first time? etc., giving me some crap about where I’d been. Good thing nothing happened though because apparently it’s pretty serious if the girl is caught upstairs in “street clothes.” Anyway, it was nice.
9-24-07, At Sea Victoria to Seattle
6:10pm
Whew! Just finished a really intense rehearsal. It was 3 hours of ridiculous focus and attention. I ran electronics for the first time although I just used my iPod without the whole mixer setup which was more difficult and awkward. I did pretty well with the transitions, we only had to hold for me two or three times. I’m just so happy that I’m on my shit with this show and I feel confident and the rest of the cast feels confident in me. It’s really great.
Today we were at port in Victoria but we didn’t get off the boat…we just rehearsed. In the morning we worked on the scriptless (improv) show…ironed out what games we’re playing, who’s playing them and what order they’re in. At one point when it seemed there was no one to host a game, I offered to host cause it was one that didn’t need music, but immediately I could tell that that wasn’t really done cause that would look weird to the audience. I probably shouldn’t have offered and I hope the director/cast wasn’t annoyed by that…I just wanted to help and didn’t really think about it too hard. It was fine though.
Dinner in 45 minutes so I’m gonna go check my mail and wander about. Peace!
9-22-07 At Sea, Vancouver to Victoria
9:55 PM
(Note to Yappers:Umm it’s come to my attention that some of these posts may have parts that are inappropriate for the younger readers. I apologize. There’s gonna be some stuff here that’s older so if you don’t feel comfortable reading that you’re better off not reading the blog…I’m sure I will tell you all about it in person when I next see you. anyways. K? Cool. But as long as you/your parents are cool with this journal then I am too.)
Currently I am sitting in rehearsal. We are learning this amazingly funny “dance” called Chairs which is a choreographed number involving three people in office chairs twirling and thrusting and spinning about. Today was a the first full day on the ship. Woke up early to do some registration stuff, went to a rehearsal where we used my $15 casio keyboard I randomly brought with me cause we apparently don’t have access to a keyboard, then we went off to Vancouver. We ate at a restaurant with good food and really awkward, bad service. We walked around Gastown and noticed that we were in a very lovely tourist bubble in the midst of lots of gross badness. Some dude came up to me while Beth was getting money from the bank and started asking me for money…saying he couldn’t work for a week because his arm was all fucked up…and yeah it really was it looked eerily bloated like it had had some internal infection for a long while. I still said no…I refuse to let someone talk me into giving them money if I refuse them first.
Anyway we then went and bought a bottle of ice wine which apparently is one of the most complex tasting beverages around. We’ll celebrate with that the final night Mick and Beth are around. We also went to a little bar and Holly and I shared a beer sampler of a bunch of local beers. We made it back to the boat and I watched the sun set from the front of the boat as we went under the bridge in Vancouver and saw the ocean open up before us with misty mountains in the far distance. We literally sailed directly into the sunset and I felt I had finally arrived at my goal.
After that we went to the Tex Mex restaurant. We sat at a table by the window so we could look out and watch the water go by underneath us and the mountains in the distance. I had seared tuna for an appetizer and then this Il Pomo dish that was sortof like a Mexican pup u platter…they came out and cut all the vegetables off of this rack and everything. I also could have had dessert but we had to leave for rehearsal. And now it’s over so I gotta go. Peace!!
Oh..reitirate…my dinner was free ;).
9-23-07, At Sea Vancouver to Victoria
1:37 AM
I went to the crew bar for the first time tonight. It was really great, I made a few new friends, two girls who work as hostesses at the restaurants, Kati (pronounced kah-TEE) and some name that starts with E I think…they always wear nametags so when I see her I’ll remember. They took me to their room and showed me – it was a little bigger than my two-bedroom except that there were FIVE people sharing it. Technically I think there should have been six but their luggage was in the sixth bunk. Ridiculous. It totally makes me feel completely fine about sharing a room. When I told her I lived on deck 10 she just kinda stared at me for a second and her mouth opened a little, because crew live on decks 2-4 and it tends to be the higher the better…so 10 is just like off the charts. She showed me the way back to the bar, I went back and of course all the guys were like so how was your first time? etc., giving me some crap about where I’d been. Good thing nothing happened though because apparently it’s pretty serious if the girl is caught upstairs in “street clothes.” Anyway, it was nice.
9-24-07, At Sea Victoria to Seattle
6:10pm
Whew! Just finished a really intense rehearsal. It was 3 hours of ridiculous focus and attention. I ran electronics for the first time although I just used my iPod without the whole mixer setup which was more difficult and awkward. I did pretty well with the transitions, we only had to hold for me two or three times. I’m just so happy that I’m on my shit with this show and I feel confident and the rest of the cast feels confident in me. It’s really great.
Today we were at port in Victoria but we didn’t get off the boat…we just rehearsed. In the morning we worked on the scriptless (improv) show…ironed out what games we’re playing, who’s playing them and what order they’re in. At one point when it seemed there was no one to host a game, I offered to host cause it was one that didn’t need music, but immediately I could tell that that wasn’t really done cause that would look weird to the audience. I probably shouldn’t have offered and I hope the director/cast wasn’t annoyed by that…I just wanted to help and didn’t really think about it too hard. It was fine though.
Dinner in 45 minutes so I’m gonna go check my mail and wander about. Peace!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
"At Sea"
9/23/07
12:35am
At Sea, Seattle to Vancouver
This will be my blog which I will update as I am able so that any who desire can keep up to speed on what I’m doing while I’m at sea. (“At Sea” is still such a strange term..when I wrote down my location as “at sea” I had a momentary flash of…not fear but almost claustrophobia. I got over it quickly though.
There is so much to say. This place is amazing. On many occasions today and tonight I just looked around at the people I was with and the place we were all at and just wondered to myself how the hell I got so lucky. I am ecstatic, excited, a little nervous about kicking rehearsals into high gear, but overall just giddy at the thought of being on this ship. I think I will explain the following things:
-The ship itself: my room, ship layout, special attributes on board.
-My/Second City personnel’s privileges
-The people I’m working with and are on the boat with me
-The show itself
1. The ship.
The ship is large. It has 13 decks. The first four are crew decks and the rest are passenger decks. All four of SC’s rooms are on deck 10. Currently and for the next week or so I will be in my own room – a double bedroom all to myself. The roomis about the width of three twin-sized mattresses (two on each side and the space of one in between). There is a small tv, a mini-fridge, a closet, a bathroom with a shower, a few mirrors, a nightstand, and a pull-down bed on the wall for a third guest. It’s actually pretty spacious…I doubt I will feel cramped living with another person here.
There are 14 restaurants on board. The free ones are a grill, a buffet, 3 traditional restaurants that offer only a few selections on the menu but they switch every day, a texmex place, a café, an itallian place, and maybe another. There is a steakhouse with all you can eat for $20, all you can each sushi is $15, there’s a Teppanyaki room (where they guy comes to your table and like cuts shit up and cooks it right there for you) for some amount of money probably $20, and a French cuisine place for $15.
Here’s an example of my (free) dinner tonight: Caesar salad. Grilled Tillapia with a cream sauce. Roasted potatoes, cauliflower in a light cheese sauce, and some prime rib. For dessert I had chocolate cake, some of my friend’s berry crepe and a chocolate ice cream cone. One thing: soda, most juices and alcohol cost extra so I had water.
The theatre is humongous…it seats about 1100. It’s state of the art with lots of technical things I’m not myself yet aware of but there are balconies we can access from backstage and perform in, plush seats that are super comfy, a rotating les-miz stage (which I know in the past has been lampooned)..and prob a lot more. There is weird, mostly over-the-top and slightly cheesy artwork everywhere but sometimes it’s very nice. There’s a casino that I’m not allowed to gamble in that has a pretty good assortment of slots and tables. There is a library. At the top-front of the ship there’s a pool, two waterslides and probably about 7 small hot tubs scattered about. There is a workout facility and a spa that has another hot tub, a massage tub, pool, sauna and steam room. There is also a basketball/volleyball/soccer court and an outdoor jogging route on the top deck. There is a video game arcade that I haven’t checked out yet but I’m sure I will in a day or two. An internet café is right downstairs from me. There are 13 bars and/or lounges that I can go to for a drink or to catch some music. Basically it’s a floating palace and I feel much like a prince on board.
2. Privileges. I have free room service if I’m too lazy to walk 50 feet to the restaurants. Maids clean my room every day and second city refunds the tips I need to give for that. I mentioned it before but most restaurants are free. I am technically a crew member with guest privileges so I can use the crew only areas to get around which are often faster and more efficient. The workout facilities and spa area are free for me. I pay 1/4th the price of internet that regular passengers pay (however I still pay $6/hr. and it’s slow I’m told.) Most well drinks and common bottles of wine and beer are half off. Laundry is free. However apparently there is going to be a change very soon that will make me considered a passenger and not a crew member, so the crew only areas may become off-limits and it will be difficult to make friends with the crew. We are not sure about this yet so I’ll update but for now in the interim I pretty much get the best of both Crew/Passenger worlds.
3. People I'm with.
Literally almost everything people say is a bit…we love and support each other but mostly we just rag on each other and top each other. For me this mostly means I giggle a lot, fall for some of their jokes because I’m so gullible and every once in awhile pull out a good comeback/topper. These are the most hilarious people in the world and I have to struggle not to laugh constantly when I’m around them. It’s so refreshing to have a real posse like this…and they feel like equals which is really the best part. Even though my nicknames are “22” and “first job!!” I do feel like they respect me and think of me as an equal.
4. The show itself
My job on board is to perform a 50 minute sketch review twice per cruise, a 45 minute improv set twice per cruise, and help teach at least 2 improv workshops a cruise. For this I get paid very well (I won’t put it here but if you’re curious enough you can ask) and almost all of it goes straight to the savings…my monthly expenses are looking to be about $400, absolute total counting all booze I’ll buy during that time. But anyway. The show itself…I’m mostly a music director but I’m also a bit of a sound designer – I run a mixer during the sketch show with pre-recorded music on my iPod for scene changes and sound effects on their CD player as needed. Often it is hectic…playing piano while I’m fading out a piano cue or anything. But it’s great. The show is simple: there is only one song which itself is a gigantic bitch to learn cause it’s an improv song so words are confusing and it’s really also like 8 small songs in one…it’s called Dream Song 2. But yeah basically once I learned that the rest of the whole show seems smoothe sailing to me.
5. Immediate plans.
I’m super tired so I’m gonna sleep, but this is good for now I hope I get this onto the internet soon! I am going to Vancouver, then Port Victoria, then Seattle, San Francisco on the 27th and finally LA sailing south to Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Zihoantnegro and back which is the main trip I will be doing for at least 85% of the time.
I will talk to you in the future! Let me know how you guys are as things come up. But yes…know that I am ecstatic about my new job and I could see myself doing it for quite some time. Peace!!
12:35am
At Sea, Seattle to Vancouver
This will be my blog which I will update as I am able so that any who desire can keep up to speed on what I’m doing while I’m at sea. (“At Sea” is still such a strange term..when I wrote down my location as “at sea” I had a momentary flash of…not fear but almost claustrophobia. I got over it quickly though.
There is so much to say. This place is amazing. On many occasions today and tonight I just looked around at the people I was with and the place we were all at and just wondered to myself how the hell I got so lucky. I am ecstatic, excited, a little nervous about kicking rehearsals into high gear, but overall just giddy at the thought of being on this ship. I think I will explain the following things:
-The ship itself: my room, ship layout, special attributes on board.
-My/Second City personnel’s privileges
-The people I’m working with and are on the boat with me
-The show itself
1. The ship.
The ship is large. It has 13 decks. The first four are crew decks and the rest are passenger decks. All four of SC’s rooms are on deck 10. Currently and for the next week or so I will be in my own room – a double bedroom all to myself. The roomis about the width of three twin-sized mattresses (two on each side and the space of one in between). There is a small tv, a mini-fridge, a closet, a bathroom with a shower, a few mirrors, a nightstand, and a pull-down bed on the wall for a third guest. It’s actually pretty spacious…I doubt I will feel cramped living with another person here.
There are 14 restaurants on board. The free ones are a grill, a buffet, 3 traditional restaurants that offer only a few selections on the menu but they switch every day, a texmex place, a café, an itallian place, and maybe another. There is a steakhouse with all you can eat for $20, all you can each sushi is $15, there’s a Teppanyaki room (where they guy comes to your table and like cuts shit up and cooks it right there for you) for some amount of money probably $20, and a French cuisine place for $15.
Here’s an example of my (free) dinner tonight: Caesar salad. Grilled Tillapia with a cream sauce. Roasted potatoes, cauliflower in a light cheese sauce, and some prime rib. For dessert I had chocolate cake, some of my friend’s berry crepe and a chocolate ice cream cone. One thing: soda, most juices and alcohol cost extra so I had water.
The theatre is humongous…it seats about 1100. It’s state of the art with lots of technical things I’m not myself yet aware of but there are balconies we can access from backstage and perform in, plush seats that are super comfy, a rotating les-miz stage (which I know in the past has been lampooned)..and prob a lot more. There is weird, mostly over-the-top and slightly cheesy artwork everywhere but sometimes it’s very nice. There’s a casino that I’m not allowed to gamble in that has a pretty good assortment of slots and tables. There is a library. At the top-front of the ship there’s a pool, two waterslides and probably about 7 small hot tubs scattered about. There is a workout facility and a spa that has another hot tub, a massage tub, pool, sauna and steam room. There is also a basketball/volleyball/soccer court and an outdoor jogging route on the top deck. There is a video game arcade that I haven’t checked out yet but I’m sure I will in a day or two. An internet café is right downstairs from me. There are 13 bars and/or lounges that I can go to for a drink or to catch some music. Basically it’s a floating palace and I feel much like a prince on board.
2. Privileges. I have free room service if I’m too lazy to walk 50 feet to the restaurants. Maids clean my room every day and second city refunds the tips I need to give for that. I mentioned it before but most restaurants are free. I am technically a crew member with guest privileges so I can use the crew only areas to get around which are often faster and more efficient. The workout facilities and spa area are free for me. I pay 1/4th the price of internet that regular passengers pay (however I still pay $6/hr. and it’s slow I’m told.) Most well drinks and common bottles of wine and beer are half off. Laundry is free. However apparently there is going to be a change very soon that will make me considered a passenger and not a crew member, so the crew only areas may become off-limits and it will be difficult to make friends with the crew. We are not sure about this yet so I’ll update but for now in the interim I pretty much get the best of both Crew/Passenger worlds.
3. People I'm with.
Literally almost everything people say is a bit…we love and support each other but mostly we just rag on each other and top each other. For me this mostly means I giggle a lot, fall for some of their jokes because I’m so gullible and every once in awhile pull out a good comeback/topper. These are the most hilarious people in the world and I have to struggle not to laugh constantly when I’m around them. It’s so refreshing to have a real posse like this…and they feel like equals which is really the best part. Even though my nicknames are “22” and “first job!!” I do feel like they respect me and think of me as an equal.
4. The show itself
My job on board is to perform a 50 minute sketch review twice per cruise, a 45 minute improv set twice per cruise, and help teach at least 2 improv workshops a cruise. For this I get paid very well (I won’t put it here but if you’re curious enough you can ask) and almost all of it goes straight to the savings…my monthly expenses are looking to be about $400, absolute total counting all booze I’ll buy during that time. But anyway. The show itself…I’m mostly a music director but I’m also a bit of a sound designer – I run a mixer during the sketch show with pre-recorded music on my iPod for scene changes and sound effects on their CD player as needed. Often it is hectic…playing piano while I’m fading out a piano cue or anything. But it’s great. The show is simple: there is only one song which itself is a gigantic bitch to learn cause it’s an improv song so words are confusing and it’s really also like 8 small songs in one…it’s called Dream Song 2. But yeah basically once I learned that the rest of the whole show seems smoothe sailing to me.
5. Immediate plans.
I’m super tired so I’m gonna sleep, but this is good for now I hope I get this onto the internet soon! I am going to Vancouver, then Port Victoria, then Seattle, San Francisco on the 27th and finally LA sailing south to Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Zihoantnegro and back which is the main trip I will be doing for at least 85% of the time.
I will talk to you in the future! Let me know how you guys are as things come up. But yes…know that I am ecstatic about my new job and I could see myself doing it for quite some time. Peace!!
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