Seeing if this works

So I got the BlogPress app for my iPhone. I'm flat on my back in my cabin after last night's two shows and then staying up til four a.m. with Tallis and Marina over making smoothies watching several episodes of ANGEL. It's a Panama Canal day so there's no real reason to get out of bed, but eventually I'll find one. Basically I'm just seeing if this works... Writing because I haven't in a while... And so on.
Things have been decent out here, though this is quite a dull run. I call it the third world poverty tour. Not a lot of great ports, a lot of locals hassling you to buy cheap souvenirs, and a stunning lack of lush tropical beauty. Still, it beats... many other things.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of a really bad day. ...Yeah. I'll leave it at that.
Here are some recent and semi-recent pictures, again to see if this works.











-- Post From My iPhone

(Okay... Just noticed that did NOT work because I had my permissions set wrong. This was sent to post at 5:20pm on November 23... but was only saved as a draft, apparently. )

Randomalia

I keep forgetting to write, and without reliable and constant internet access it's difficult. So in place of a real entry, I will relate a story or two about how surreal my life seems lately.

The other day, I was with a couple of friends checking email. I was showing Tallis how to use the wifi on her laptop with the access spot we found. She got up and left, and the other friend I was with was sitting there unshaven and tousled, having just travelled for the better part of 48 hours. He was telling me about a great hotel the company had put him up in the night before last, and how it'd be a "great place to get laid," and that he wished his girlfriend had been there. It was funny, funnier than that sounds, trust me. Anyway, I'm writing an email and I realize that I'm sitting there with Adrian Zmed, and that if you'd told me a year ago I'd be casually hearing stories like that from the guy who was "gonna sco-o-ore tonight" in GREASE 2 and rode shotgun to Bill Shatner in TJ HOOKER in a smelly internet place... well, I'd have never imagined the circumstances that would lead to such a thing.

Things are good, honestly, quite good, but I could use some inspiration. The guitar is coming along, and the shows are good. I'm just missing the spark I once had; I know where it went and what doused it - that's not hard to guess -but I don't know how or if it will come back.

I'm trying though.

What a mess

Here I am, flaunting my passenger status as I sit in the oh-so-stinky crew mess where the elite certainly do not meet or eat.

This is not a real post, a full post, a true post, it's just a post to let you know one is coming, in a week or less, so keep checking. I have had complaints.

So, yeah. Just had to replace some people... that'll be for the best, I think, in the long run.

More to come, with lots o' photos... or you can just befriend me on facebook and see them NOW....

Hmm.

The interweb seems to have swallowed my last post whole. Funny that it was about how little time I have to go online or blog.

Anyway, it also said the Adrian Zmed show is up and he's a good guy (I think, so far...)

Things are decent, though today a very good and true blue friend left for home in the UK. Kelly, we will miss you!

Getting Halloween stuff today.

Pics to come... at some point. Don't have many yet, haven't had time.

Zmeddy

we rehearse and rehearse...

Rehearsals continue. Brain currently full, needs time to absorb.
The new team is great.
Joe, Gemma, and Lynn from the Golden are rehearsing in the studios as well for their new contract.

Need coffee.

In which your blogger finally endorses a candidate and say inflammatory things

It's time.

Yes, I am aware how many legitimate news outlets and also FOX News have speculated as to when I would FINALLY come forward and endorse a candidate for the upcoming presidential "election."

Well, in most presidential contests since my voting life began, it's been a choice of the lesser of two evils without a lot of difference. Of course, when Bush ran for a second term, that was different - many, many people were idiots and did not vote because - I actually heard this - "it's not like anyone is going to vote for Bush again, so I think we're safe..."

Um... yeah. You need to VOTE, dumbasses.

This time it seems even more clear. Everyday people are, for the first time in my life, getting excited about a candidate. OBAMA!

Anyway, even my dyed in the wool usually Republican parentals and I see eye to eye this time. It seems like another no brainer, but let's not anyone be idiots this time and see it as a gimme. honestly, I've yet to hear any convincing arguments for his opponent. The primary reason people seem to have for voting for him is that they are Republican. That is not a reason. His opponent's campaign, to me, it so far not about why you ought to vote for McCain but what terrible fears you should have about an America under Obama. I would not, to put in perspective, eat at McDonald's because they'd run ads telling me that my children's children would suffer if I ate at Wendy's.

There are more differences between Obama and McCain than between McDonald's and Wendy's, by the way. That's a new idea as well, having the candidates be different enought to matter.

I used to like McCain, but he has so thoroughly changed his public persona in hopes of securing the far right that he's lost touch with the great masses I think. That said, even if he were the McCain I once said I might one day vote for, there's little hope I'd vote for him when faced with someone like Obama.

If you're middle of the road or respond only to the reactionary media, I encourage you to go out and find some of the full Obama speeches - his speech on race in America from March or his speech on classism from sometime shortly after - and listen to the man. Watch him as he speaks. Don't listen to the soundbites. Give both men your due consideration - not the media's coverage of them, but the truth of what's out there. Not what sensationalism has uncovered about McCain's alien baby or Obama's hillbilly brother, but the real stuff that matters.

Give it thought, and THEN vote for Obama.

heh.

Anyway, I am back in LA... Missing all the great people back in Kansas and elsewhere, but readying to begin another (shorter) adventure.

Nostalgia is a seductive liar, revisited

Part one had an actual entry attached to it.

Here in part two, I find myself having just happened across that entry again after checking my tracker to see who read what. Somehow reading it now, almost a year later, I find the title ironic. Given all the happenings between then and now, I could stand to remember that observation in a way entirely more substantial than I meant it then.

I was deeply amused when I discovered how many friends had "fan pages" up on facebook, so following their lead, you can now find me there as well. I'll do something more with the page there soon, but for now click on through and there it is... join me, and together we can rule the galaxy.

This has all happened before, and will happen again...

I haven't had a lot to say lately. The vacation has been good, and has slipped through my fingers like so much poorly made Jell-O. It won't be too terribly long before I head back to LA to being rehearsals anew, this time getting ready for the big Adrian Zmed extravaganza, amongst other things. "Zmed" is apparently not in my blogging software's list of recognized words.

Since last we left our hero, there has been... a trip to Vegas! The possibility of a couple of new projects on the horizon! Reconnection with old friends, and meeting some great new people.

I've been spending a lot of time with my friend Nick, lately, who is in town living with his fiancee Tara in a ...famous sitcom star's home. I am doing them all a favor by not mentioning names specifically. Not being one to drink to excess too often, still wound up with the Best Drunk Story Ever involving waking up and not being able to find my pants in said famous person's home. Nothing untoward happened - it's just exactly what I said, and I wish I could be more specific, but I don't want to post it here. You can ask me personally and I'll tell you.

I went to Vegas shortly after my birthday, met my good friend Matt out there. We hadn't seen one another in something like four years, so we spent a good deal of time catching up while we caroused through Vegas. I wound up ahead some small amount, like $150, Matt did not do so well. We did the Star Trek Experience for the better part of one day, paying homage to the franchise as the attraction is about to close or possibly just be moved.

I'm in talks right now to return home to do Hamlet mid-next year, after my next contract. It'd be my second time in the role and a nice change from the lack of substance in my work lately. The role would be bundled with Billy in CAROUSEL, I'd be directed by my mentor from college, my family would be able to see it all... It'd be a nice change to do something more for the heart instead of the wallet.

My birthday was a blast, an evening of Japanese barbecue, Laser Tag, scotch, and Harry's Uptown.

Did the Cosmosphere and Space Center a week ago, seeing all the cool Apollo 13 stuff and whatnot while enjoying astronaut ice cream and such...

the only real reason I'm posting right now is because I realized I haven't in a while - two weeks, since my birthday... I'll close with a couple of random pictures, which you'll already have seen if you're on facebook. tired. bed now.


It was ridiculously hot and a long walk to this sign, where we has to wait behind a thousand people who were there for some high school basketball thing. Isn't it JULY? High school basketball in July? We were primarily bitter because we'd walked and everyone else had driven and stopped along the side of the road.

I've had a lot of free time ... so photoshop happens, and what's more interesting than Vegas is Cthulhu giving Vegas what it deserves.
And a dramatic retouching of an already staged photograph which I call "The Creation of ROCK"
Michael and Dustin, guy I just met and oldest friend in the world, photoshopped at the Cosmosphere. Apparently reality isn't enough for me, I have to photoshop it to be more interesting. This was a planned shot, I told them we'd add the props and fire later... dear lord I am becoming George Lucas....

Bespectacled and nerdy with a photon torpedo at the Star Trek Experience. That one isn't photoshopped, I really am that big a geek.

Emergence Day

Today's the day.

This morning I was taken out to a nice lunch and to a movie by the man who is certainly one of my... if not my primary mentor, a professor from college days. Later I'm being taken out to a Japanese steakhouse, and then... I think... maybe... Laser Quest. Yup.

As to the "thing I was working on..." well, some friends and I started an internet rumor, just to see how far it would go. Sophomoric amusement, one of the basic parts of a happy life.

by the way

I won't say what, but I'm doing a little something in honor of my birthday and I want to say right now, without saying what it is, that IIIIII started it. I'll say what it is later.

some have gone and some remain

So in two days it will be my birthday. Sadly, there's not a lot of shopping time left for you, but my Amazon wishlist is linked there to the right -------->

I'll be 34. That's phenomenal, because I don't FEEL that way at all. I keep hearing people say things in the media lately like "30 is the new 20..." but God knows I do NOT want to be 20 again, or 24 for that matter. There is truth to that trite saying, though, because it's not what it used to be. It's funny, talking about it with most of my friends, all being of similar age - none of us LOOK like we remember people looking in their mid-thirties, when we were growing up. They looked... well, not youthful at all. I didn't quite realize that it might be the company you keep until I went to my class reunion in June of 2007. There were definitely some people there who looked... less youthful, to put it kindly.

On or around any big holiday or important date I tend to at some point backtrack in my mind to remember all the events previous. I assume it's fairly typical on a birthday to do a bit of a self-inventory. I thought I'd indulge myself and do that here because... well, because it's my blog.

2008 - Will be going to lunch then seeing the X-files movie with Phil Speary, then in the evening I'll probably head down to Final Fridays here in Wichita. I don't know. Nothing very specific planned for this one.

2007 - Benbrook, Texas, got surprised with tickets to a play at StageWest in Fort Worth.

2006 - St. Petersburg, Russia - some friends and I conned our way into getting the Presidential Suite at the Petro Palace hotel overlooking St. Issac's Square and we all went out to The Metro. About seven people wound up using the hotel room to crash after that night. Someone slept in the tub, someone on the couch, someone on the balcony, floor, etc.

2005 - St. Petersburg, Russia - we hired the Italian restaurant La Strada to have an adult version of their "kid's birthday" package thrown.

2004 - Naples, FL - BEST BIRTHDAY EVER. Was abducted and taken to a park where the whole company of the theatre I was working at had set up this big "Logan's Run" themed birthday party... because I was turning 30. It was amazing. Then dinner at Buca di Beppo's.

2003 - New Hope, PA - I was on hiatus between two runs of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and not many people were around, I think I went to see TERMINATOR 3 with Brian Kelly?

2002 - Richmond, VA - a nice birthday party with friends

2001 - Richmond VA. 2ND BEST BIRTHDAY EVER. I was doing "The Tempest" and was asked to pick some stuff up on the way home. When I got home, there was a huge... I kid you not, a Christopher Walken themed birthday party. The cake was done up in this black and white photo of him, and it turned everyone's mouths black. To begin with.

2000 - Pismo Beach, CA - The whole company at TGAM and I went to the Avila Beach hot springs and hired their biggest tub. Then, if I remember right, though this could've been an different night, I was taken to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert by several of the guys.

1999 - Bryant, IN - did shows, had a party backstage. They had a Star Wars cake made for me - it was the year Episode I came out and... blech...

1998 - SAUGATUCK, MI - Out to dinner with the cast at the Red Barn.

1997 - Sauguatuck, MI - Was taken out for a really nice evening by some people from the South Pacific cast.

1996 - Hazelhurst, WI - ick... was at a horrible run down old summer theatre, the producer traditionally bought a cake whenever anyone had a birthday. I shared the same birthday with the girl playing opposite me in Brigadoon, so we also shared a cake. What a horrid summer.

1995 - Abilene, KS - doing my first "real" job in the theatre working for Great Plains Theatre Festival. There was a cast handover I think so i wound up spending my 21st birthday at Applebee's with the stage manager, the later trying to find any bar or liquor store that was open. No lock. Stole a bottle of wine from the fridge at the theatre and we sat outside and drank it.

1994 - Wichita, KS ...I think I went to Chili's and saw THE MASK.

1993 - Manhattan, KS - Went to a park and had a picnic

1992 - Winfield, KS - had just graduated high school, was working at my first "away from home" theatre job making so little money you wouldn't believe it. Got taken out to McDonald's by a couple of other really poor actors.

1991 - Burns to Wichita KS - Piled several people into my giant stationwagon of a first car and drove in to Wichita. Saw Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Got chased out of a Pizza Hut because my friend Tony wouldn't stop annoying the waitresses.

1990 - A few friends and I rented movies then slept outside.

1989 - My brother Jack piled several of my friends and I into his work van and took us to the Northrock theatre to see BATMAN.

That's as far as I go... except I do remember having a birthday party at my grandmother's in Wichita and being given a bunch of Spider-man stuff, including (I can see it very clearly) a Mego Spider-Man doll. Oh, to have that doll now...

Thinking about all those great times going all the way back to when I was a pup, I'm kind of overcome with gratitude. I have been so undeservedly lucky in my life, and I feel it's only recently I've actively worked to be the kind of person who is honestly worthy of all the good things and good people who've been in my life. For all the extensive amounts of crap I've been through in the last few years, well, somehow I am still just amazed at how lucky I am to have been blessed with so many great times with so many great people. To all my friends and family, old and new, you have my thanks and my love.

I am SO drunk right now.

Kidding.

I just remembered that a friend of mine has a quote on facebook that says "gratitude will change your life" and I think I just realized what that means.

I should accompany this post with some embarrassing very early photo of myself, but I have few to no photos pre-2005 thanks to the hard drive crash of that year.

Cookie Monster Forever

Send the kids out of the room.

Actually, you know, you should probably send the kids to boarding school. Or put them up for adoption. You know you've been thinking about it. Then watch and laugh...

heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee

The title of this post is not a Joker laugh, but rather referring to the irrational glee a group of thirty-somethings present around me... okay, damn it, Michael is 27... anyway, the irrational glee we are all feeling right now at the prospect of our midnight tickets to see The Dark Knight tonight.

I have some friends who are in one way or another involved in the industry enough to have already seen the film for one reason or another, and all I've seen and heard has been seriously ridiculous in its praise.

"At this point," I said earlier today to a friend who's seen the film TWICE already, (and children turn off your monitors) "I have had my expectations raised to the point that I expect to walk into the cinema, be given a bag of a free, non-addictive cocaine/ecstacy mixture, a hand job, and the everlasting love and devotion of a Breakfast at Tiffany's era Audrey Hepburn. That is how high my expectations are."

"Okay then," he said into the phone, matter of factly. "You should be fine."

...so that's, you know, coming along.

Like any competent crack dealer, I must clue you into my latest addiction. EVERYONE MUST GO TO:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Seriously. There are a hundred thousand half-assed, semi-clever internet original series out there, hell even I'm working on one of my own. Pretty much all of the dreck out there has been leading to Joss Whedon's little bundle of joy up above. you have to catch each episode as it's available over the next few days, one at a time, don't miss one, or buy all three on itunes. Or both.

Go!

Let's go out to the lobby

So I am pretty well caught up on my current release movies, with a few exceptions.

I remember when I used to see EVERYTHING. I still do, just not as quickly.

I know I'm caught up because I was asked to go out to a movie tonight and it took a while to figure out something I hadn't seen, and I'm left with THE HAPPENING.

I look at this movie like you might think of visiting a relative or friend who used to be great and funny but has declined due to some unfortunate circumstance into a condition you cannot blame them for but makes you dread the visit as not to be reminded of the reality of constant entropy in life. You want them to be what they were, not what they are. That to me is M. Night Shyamalan's directing career. UNBREAKABLE is very high on my long long list of beloved films; SIXTH SENSE of course is on that list as well. Anything else he's done? Um... SIGNS was okay, maybe. LADY IN THE WATER? Now there's this film, which I have heard literally nothing other than absolute hatred for from anyone I know who's seen it. Hell, LOVE GURU got better buzz than this. No, I haven't seen that, either, and you can apply the analogy above to Mike Myers' career as well. Party time, excellent.

Vacation has been lovely, if uneventful. My friend Matt and I are going to Vegas at the end of the month after a spur of the moment idea in a phone conversation last week. I bought my birthday present, something I truly don't need, which will be delivered Wednesday to great fanfare. My scores for the Adrian Zmed show and the other stuff arrived FedEx last week, and are now hanging over my head.

Saw a very impressive production of MOON OVER BUFFALO here on Saturday and a decent attempt at BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO last night. Dear God the book to that show is horrible... at dinner with the cast after we were discussing how to improve it. My only suggestion is that everyone be more effeminate and German. It won't improve the script, but it'll make me laugh inappropriately.

I was sitting with a couple of friends from NY and around who happen to be in town right now while watching the show, and we realized we were not dressed like anyone else there. We are all - even those of us originally from KS - now from Someplace Else(TM).


I am in talks right now to do something(s) I coul dget very excited about. Nothing groundbreaking but creatively inspiring, which I could use right now. There's not a lot out there that flips my switch creatively lately, but...

Well, I'll let you in on a little bit of each thing... One, my longtime dream of starting my own company is starting to coalesce into potential reality. Two, unrelated, I may have the chance to come back here to reunite with my mentor for a once in a lifetime role... that I've actually already done once, so maybe it'll be twice in a lifetime.

Okay. Signing off, and remember I told you to check out www.drhorrible.com in the next few days.

BTW Some of you may be interested in a movie I ran across. A few years back I noticed Pittsburg CLO was doing Music Man with, of all people, Jeff Goldblum. Also Ed Begley Jr and Illeana Douglas were in the cast. Strange, I thought, how'd they swing that? Turns out they were doing the show to be part of a film, a sort of mockumentary, called "Pittsburg." Check it out.

An aside:
Last Thursday my aunt Pat had some kind of stroke or something, she was very very incoherent and had a number of other things wrong with her by the time my parents got her to the hospital. She's magically more coherent now, but... well, she thought she was in Kentucky when I saw her Friday, today she's fine as ever. The mysteries of the brain elude me. I'm just glad that she is fine and that this post doesn't have to be about losing her. Shutting up now. Will probably delete most of this post once it's up.... and.... I did.

You'll notice this post has been truncated, and while I pretty well stand by what I said this is not the proper forum. Actually, it is, but in deference to it not being worth dealing with, I removed it. I meant to do it sooner, but I entirely forgot I posted it. None of what was said here was meant to be offensive to anyone in any way, nor do I feel it really was. Simply my point of view, because sometimes even family can make you sad. Anyway, the post is gone now. It's not worth dealing with on this site, because let's be honest, it's not funny, it doesn't relate to travel or work, and pretty much none of you know any of who or what I was talking about anyway.

Does this help make it better? Helped me.

Statistical anomaly

Ah, vacation.

The temps are 90 to 100 degrees every day, I have little to do, and tonight will probably go out with Nick, Tara, Dustin, and who knows who else to sing some karaoke.

Last night, due to my slight jetlag, I couldn't get to sleep til quite late.

So I was puttering around on my website which is clearly in need of a bit of updating. I have to get to that ASAP. I was looking at my usage stats and learned some interesting things. I was already basically aware of them, but thought it was interesting to see them put into perspective.

I have had 19,352 individual page views on my website since the revamp last year. Break that down into individual hits and obviously that's lower.

The most hits from any one place? Well, I was not surprised by this. I can pretty much tell who these are...

In a close race were:
Benbrook, Texas
Akron, Ohio
Bismarck, North Dakota
and
LA area, CA and New York City.

They all had between 420-490 hits each and that gave them a high number of page views. Also up there were Lancaster PA and Philadelphia, and I don't know who that is. LA and New York were a combination of several people I'm sure, and the remaining hits were a few requests here and there. It seems that putting Mallorie Fletcher on a couple of videos on the site here ate a lot of bandwidth - her hometown of Columbia, MO is responsible for 4 percent of my total bandwidth usage for the year! They loved those videos, I guess. Only Benbrook drew more bandwidth, significantly more actually.

Just reading my blog and such, or even looking at videos there that are embedded offsite won't eat much bandwidth - the highest numbers of hits aren't necessarily the biggest users of data.

Having not looked at this info for some time, it's a cool snapshot of who looks when and what they look at exactly. I'm not revamping the site again anytime soon, probably, but if I did I'd certainly take a look at this data when I did.

Basically, I learned my site is doing its job. I've gotten, apparently, a lot of good hits from potential employers, which is in essence supposedly why this site exists. Friends read it, I know, because I read theirs as well... but it's good to know that for sure. Also, there are a number of hits that raise an eyebrow and make me go... hmmm...

Then there are few random hits from Tehran and such places that make me hope someone hasn't put a jihad on me. I can imagine who that might be, and they're high on the frequent visitor list...

Not you, John. Or Summerset Drive. Probably not Dustin. Or maybe it is John... or Dustin...

I'm surrounded by assassins.

I feel the wind, I breathe again

I am so tired.

I am off the boat, ladies and gentlemen.

The last several days on the boat are a bit of a blur, I must admit. I slept just shy of eight hours total, mostly in spurts of thirty minutes here or there, between Thursday morning when I woke up until Saturday night when I crashed on Dusty's couch in Kansas. There was much celebrating, many sad goodbyes, and... yeah.


Saturday night Nick picked me up at the airport and dropped me at Dusty's. Yesterday morning at 10:30am he picked me up for a ginormous movie marathon day, five movies, with the first three at Northrock. Then we broke for dinner and he took me to pick up my car before we headed to pick up the rest of the crew who'd be joining us for the drive in double feature that would end the day.

Now it's Monday morning, and I am beat. I'm about to head to my little house in Burns to unpack a bit and see what state it's all in.

Anyway I've got a lot to write about all this but for now, instead of bothering to post these pics here, check out some recent photos at these links:

Album one

and

Album two

oh, and having nothing to do with me but just discovered by me and possibly interesting to some of you:

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog by Joss Whedon

A Look Back In Outrage

Here's a secret little project I was asked to do for a going away party we're having in a week. A WEEK! Since I doubt anyone from my current cast is going to look at my website in the next week, I'm going to post this for everyone else here and now.

A Sea Day

Work in progress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZ9XEqC5kE#

This is a rough draft of my work in progress video essay of the doldrums of a sea day. It's not finished, but here's the first outline of what will eventually be less dull than a sea day while still depicting the purposelessness of such a day.

Parental Advisory

I am exhaustipated.

It seemed like a dream that would never come true, being able to bring my parents out on this itinerary and on their first "real" vacation EVER. I worked it out, though, and pressured them into doing it, and I cannot believe what a great week it was. I am too tired to write anything more right now, but... four weeks from today I'll be on vacation and have no idea what I'll be doing beyond that.

My parents are amazing, everyone agrees. I am so lucky and I hope they know I feel that way. they do so much for so many and while it was a big deal working all this out it was a very small token of how grateful I am for them. Now I have to spend no more money for the rest of this contract.

Pics to come...

North To Alaska

Since last we left our heroes, the Golden Princess has at last left Mexico and cruised north to begin the Alaskan season. It's been a great few weeks, rehearsing and opening WORDS AND MUSIC then finally hitting several great new ports and having an amazing time both on and off the ship.

After our last LA stop, we hit San Diego and went to the San Diego Zoo, then Catalina. In San Francisco a few of us got up early to watch the sail in before a good many of us went to Alcatraz. Then dinner in Chinatown and a boozy sailaway in the sunset. Next was beautiful Victoria and our only stop in Vancouver, and finally we began our "real" itinerary in Seattle. We hit Juneau yesterday and Skagway today, and by the time I finally get to post this we'll have cruised through Tracy Arm and to Ketchikan before returning to Victoria and Seattle.

Right now I am ridiculously tired from a long day (and night) yesterday and two shows today. Our night off in Juneau at The Viking was... long, but at least I was able to get back to the ship under my own power. I only mention this because someone else also got back to the ship under my power, having to essentially be carried. I won't name names, I just wanted to embarrass the person in question ... not humiliate them. Photos!

Frickin' Pandas! I have videos of our PANDA WATCH that are not as funny now as they seemed they would be.

Some of the Zoobills...

I believe I referred to these animals at "stupid conceited flamingos" for some reason while were were observing them and their horrible smell.

All of us but Ang (behind my camera taking the photo) who got up to watch the chilly sail in under the Golden Gate.

The bridge...

Trying out a cell toilet in Alcatraz. My favorite observation of the day during our trip through Alcatraz was Ang: "At least they all had their own cabin."

Speaking of Ang, that's her in jail.

Leslie and I went up to sailaway after we all got back, everyone else was going to nap after our long day. I figured I'd be upstairs for maybe 20 minutes and then get some sleep myself. We grabbed a couple of strong drinks from a top deck bar and waited for the ship to move. It didn't, so we got more drinks. Still didn't move, so we got another round, called and got Ang to join us. By this time it was nearly two hours after we were supposed to have sailed and we were fairly drunk.

Sunset was great, we sailed out, and then head to the wardroom for some reason to play drunken Scrabble, which did not last long.

Skipping ahead a few days to atop Mount Roberts in Juneau. This is what happens when you show and Australian snow for the first time. That's Josie getting some airtime there.

"Trail closed" and "avalanche danger" signs were everywhere as we trudged and slipped our way around up on the mountain. Next a series of photos from our first night out at The Viking.

Leslie mit telefon.

Daniel and Emma, Aussie bonding.

Angela resting on a couch in the smoking room. I am convinced she was not asleep as she appears far too aware there is a photo being taken of her.

Alyssa playing pool. I have a better picture of this but it's a late and I am lazy.

Josie and stripper pole.

Don and stripper pole.

An unrelated pic from a crewbar party a few weeks back - the Mexican crew threw a "Mascara" party, this is me and Danny posing during the not-very-exciting-as-it-should-have-been party. More photos are on my facebook album, if you can get to that.

April, come she will

For the past week, we have happily been in the midst or rehearsing our new show. I say happily because it's something to do while our Mexican ports have become progressively more ridiculous in terms of heat and not being able to hold our attention. Some time ago it became more about passing time until our relocation cruise to Alaska than it was about experiencing the joys of the Mexican Riviera. Seriously, though, if you do know of anything of cultural significance or interest unique to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, or Cabo San Lucas, write soon to share it because we've none of us experienced it.

Our new show is a Broadway revue titled "WORDS AND MUSIC." Another reason I say we are rehearsing happily is because this cast is, even months into the contract, just great to be around. In our normal routine of not doing much of anything our busy onboard lives, sometimes we rarely see one another... so it is nice to be doing more of what we actually "do" and spending time together doing it. Joe Sackenheim and I, for example, make stupid absurdist remarks and giggle inappropriately. While the true work is being done, we manage to blow simple lines about the important work of Leonard Bernstein because we've been making jokes about how to truly convey every aspect of the word "intimacy" in our "intimate cabaret setting."

This "intimate setting" is a very large theatre with several hundred seats and a dress circle, by the way.

Next week we open the show and also will celebrate Leslie Turner's birthday. Leslie is one of our guest entertainers, and she is one of those people with her own catchphrase... one that is quite often appropriate on ship, "This is an outrage."

I realized today that the end of April has been a significant time in my life for years now, quite randomly it seems. A year ago I stepped off the Voyager from the world cruise on April 30. Two years ago, I began on April 28 what will likely remain in many ways the worst, most calculatedly humiliating ten days of my life - long story. Three years ago I got onto a ship for the first time on the first of May, so that doesn't really count... there are many other things that circle around this time of year for me, and I wonder if it's something astrological or absolutely random that it's been so eventful. Just blathering at this point.

Oh yeah - big news... this summer, I am discussing producing a musical during my time between contracts. I'll be putting the show up with my good friend Nick Marchello and his fiancee Tara, who are currently staying in Wichita, Kansas. We'll put the show up for two weeks in July/August, and it will likely be a small show called "MUSICAL THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS."

Once details are ironed out, I'll post more here.

like sands through the hourglass

I keep having these conversations lately.

Conversations that make me think about how the past two+ years have just slipped through my fingers like sand. It's not that I regret that or anything, time sometimes flies. It feels sort of like, as I wrote once before in other terms, that if the past two and a half years were a conversation I were having, my mind kind of wandered while the other person was talking and I'm now at the point where I come back into it having heard a key word or something, I turn to the person speaking with a furrowed brow and say "wait wait wait... WHAT?"

Does that make sense?

I have other news as well... this summer I may be producing my first full-on musical, and I'm very excited at the prospect.

woot!

(insert photo here)

I wanted to comment on an email I got yesterday, which echoes something a number of people have asked in recent months: why aren't I posting more pictures lately? Why aren't I blogging more regularly?

Short answer: it'd be repetitious. I hardly think more pictures of the same people in the same ship's wardroom/crew bar or same ports doing the same things are needed, and unless there's some exciting themed party or something (there may be one or two soon) I hardly even take my camera out of its case. I have been, however, using my video camera a lot in hopes of posting a series of videos about cruise life. Eventually that will be up. The answer is the same for the blog - it's a routine that encompasses 24 hours of your day, and it's fine, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we cannot WAIT for Alaska. So for those of you with well-kept blogs, I bow unequal to your majesty.

And I will not apologize again for being a poor correspondent. Someone recently wrote and said I apologize for that too much, so as I told him, I am sorry if I apologize too much.

I am working hard to make sure my parents finally make good on their stated intention to ocme on a cruise. It would involve so many "never have evers" for them to come out for Alaska it would be just brilliant if I can make it happen.

In other news, yesterday I watched as the world media was gripped when some random 13 YEAR OLD KID accused NASA of fudging figures in its calculations about Apophis, a so-called "doomsday asteroid." NASA had some time ago said the asteroid was not a significant risk; the kid said NASA hadn't figured in... blah blah blah. Anyway, what does it MATTER what the kid said? The media, so desperate to cause fear for whatever reason with their ratings driven "What three items in the room with you right now could be silently killing you at this very moment? Find out after this!" and "New terror threat imagined by Hollywood: Could it happen in YOUR home?" style "journalism" that they grabbed hold of a piece of garbage spouted by some GERMAN SCHOOLKID and spread across every media outlet for 36 hours. It wasn't long before NASA shuts them down with the obvious point that "Excuse me, we are NASA; this kid probably just watched Das Deep Impact and fell asleep after one too many Der Mountain Dews."

On the other hand, what possible good would it do us as a general populace to know about an impending world-ending asteroid disaster*? I could definitely see the logic in telling the public there were no danger. Let the people who actually might make some difference work on a solution, don't let the great unwashed know they might meet an impending firey end. they couldn't likely do anything to change it, and likely all most of them WOULD do is break windows, flip cars, and steal TV sets.

*Two asterisk points for this one: 1) I just remembered I watch the news when they discovered this asteroid in 1998, I think. Then, they announced it as a "probable HIT." Two or three days later they came back and said "oops, no, forgot to carry the one!"
2) "Asteroid Disaster" sounds to me like both a delicious ice cream sundae and a waterpark ride.

...

Sad news. I just learned from home that the guy who accompanied most of my high school vocal groups, who was two years behind me in school and later went to (one of) the same colleges I did, has passed away from complications related to AIDS. I don't know if I ever even saw him after high school, but he was a really nice guy. I remember a long evening in 1992 on show choir tour (yes, lord help me, I was in a show choir) when my friends and I spent hours hounding him around a Holiday Inn "Holidome" with those spring-activated guns that shoot little yellow pellets. It was sort of like The Most Dangerous Game, except not very dangerous. He was such a nice guy, and my prayers are with his family and friends. I'm sure he'll be missed.

I'm not going to put his name here for the sake of his family's privacy. If you are reading this, know who I may be talking about, and haven't heard, feel free to contact me and I can give you what very little info I have.

A Plague On Both Your Houses

Ever since I joined this ship on December 12, people have been ill. Not vomitously disgustingly nauseous, as in the dreaded shipboard Norwalk virus, but just.... sick.

I tend to have my illness, be it cold, flu, or whatever, on an annual basis. About once a year, I'll be under the weather for a few days and then back to normal.

Not so much here. For the third time since I joined this ship, I have caught a mutation of the same frickin' malady that has pestered in this petri dish for God knows how long... and let me tell, you, the third time is the charm.

It has aimed for my throat before, but like a poor marksman it KEPT... MISSING... the TARGET. This time, it got me. Whammy. The other night in the midst of performing CINEMATASTIC! I was riding a bike around the stage whilst singing a ditty and repeatedly found myself losing track of where I was, physically. I nearly rode off stage left... then into the audience toward stage right. These errors were not so much that and audience member would notice, there was no need for abrupt correction, but in my head it was as though I was watching myself and trying to maneuver my body via a sluggish remote control. This, achiness, and then my throat was just plain finished. By the end of the second show I had nothing left - CINEMATASTIC is the most vocally demanding show for me, with big giant money notes that are higher than I even COULD sing not so many years ago, and if it weren't for soul-crushing alterations that I made and the efforts of a talented sound tech (Mark Taleski!) I would have been even more humiliated than I was. I was feverish, somewhat nauseous, and generally not much fun.

I went to the shipboard doc yesterday morning, which I tend to avoid like the plague. I figured "Since I HAVE the plague, I may as well see (one of) the doctor(s)." I had already told our line captain there was danger of me being "signed off" for the next day, which would entail rehearsals and stuff for the cast and a lot of big headaches for everyone. I did my best to avoid being signed off, and instead I got a pile of medications, which is unusual on ship. Usually, they give you a lozenge called "Strepsils" for everything ranging from a cold to a broken arm to feminine disorders. Not for a singer on a show day! No, it's an armload of pharmaceuticals ranging from plain old Sudafed to dispersible gargling aspirin to a range of anti-inflammatories and painkillers. I spent the day in my cabin, not speaking, also not studying the new show as I should have been. I'm downing hot throat-remedy tea by the gallon, with all the accompanying extras that are rumored or have worked in the past as remedies. Around 5pm I try to see what will come forth from my voice, and it's not sufficient to bring on the show. I know it's not. So I have one shot - literally - Glenfiddich. I had been recently given a nice bottle of the single malt scotch by our other male singer as a thank you for a favor, and I thought maybe a nice belt of that would turn the sounds of mucus to the sound of music. It worked! Like magic!

Fifteen minutes later, though, i was back where I started. Another sip of scotch - back on my game! I poured a healthy measure of the cherished, for special occasions only beverage into my "I Wish I Were Dead" coffee mug, because I'm just that classy. I took it to the show along with me, and told the line captain the scoop - I'm not going to get trashed, I said, but I am using this to get through the shows. I hope you'll be okay with this, because... well, it's what we've got to work with. Horribly unprofessional, perhaps, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I called the sound booth - because for this show we're in a different theatre - and let our PM there, Andy Anderson, know that I could use his help. We are very lucky to have two excellent sound guys here, and Andy made last night a VERY easy sing for me. Both shows. So last night, I made it through the shows thanks to single-malt scotch and Andy Anderson.

Rollin'

Oh yeah... I have about ten minutes of good video from my Sweeney Todd concert last year, just click here.

By the way, if you had a strange phone call today it was probably set up by me. I didn't do it on April Fool's Day, because you'd be expecting it. I did my April Fooling today.

Every time I look at me I don't understand

I wrote this over a week ago but it has been trapped in my old laptop as I transferred programs. Totally without connection to this wordy and meandering post, I just ran across this on which clicking you make for fun time amusement purposes. After you read that, enjoy a moment of inspiration, ask yourself "what would Jesus drink?*" and resume regular programming.

*Answer: single malt scotch, preferably Talisker or Macallan. Don't say wine, because a) that's trite and B) that carries a lot of bad memories for him. He'll forgive you, but he isn't as mild mannered as he used to be. After a few whiskys he might punch you in the mouth and THEN forgive you.

________________________________________________

This is a post of some substance, in relative terms.

There was a point in early 2006 when despite my foolish and misguided efforts to try to set things as I knew they should be, metaphorically speaking I lost control of the car.*

"No brakes," I screamed at first. I flailed for whatever I thought would save me, and as panicked drivers do I made some bad mistakes and skidded on the ice.

People were hurt, it was my fault, I didn't want to and yet I didn't know how to stop it. (That's all been covered before time and again, and I won't take you all to Dullsville by recounting again here my regrets. I've made my apologies and offered my amends long ago. Stupid selfish mistakes, and so on...)

I was flung around the car, terrified and bloodied, and...

Well, if it were a scene from a movie the car would hit something and there'd be a crash, then the ambulance would come and the scene would be over.

I have realized recently that for the better part of my life since then I have been riding in that out of control car. For a while I was that flailing driver, but well... if you're someplace long enough you try to make it work for yourself. Even a careening, out of control car. The world zipped by outside and I sort of adjusted to that... I learned to watch what was going on out the windows, not having any brakes but being able to avoid oncoming traffic and pedestrians. Miraculously, as the speeding sedan of my life went brakeless downhill, there was no slow-motion launch off a cliff. The car kept going, for weeks and months...

Some time ago, I think, the car somehow rolled to a stop. I got out, dusted myself off, tended my bruises... I look back at the ground I covered and it all went so fast. In trying to survive it all, I avoided much. At lot of choices I made I only made because I was stuck in that car. I learned a lot and grew a lot, pulled into myself a great deal, I traveled around the world, and now...

um...

Now what?

Armed with another small triangle in life's Triforce of Wisdom(tm) I find myself at age 33 with a wealth of experiences from the past few years, and I think a much better man than I was before. To what end? I have, but am not crippled by or afraid of the fact that I have regret. I understand its purpose and its place and its lessons. I see how fortunate and blessed I have been to have done all I've done, my whole life.

None of those things really work on a resume, though. (Smiley face with ironic eyebrow raise)

I'm now at the side of the road, looking out at some great vista and wondering how the hell I survived all that and what an idiot I am for getting myself into it in the first place. Realizing only now all the times that I might've jumped from the car safely or brought the car to a stop earlier. I didn't though, for whatever reasons. Since the initial... er... skid, I guess... no one further has been injured and somehow I survived. Now, all I can do is shake my head and try to figure out where the hell I ended up after this stupid ride... and what to do next.

If this were a story I was writing, I would be hit by someone else's metaphorical car and knocked off the metaphorical cliff at this point. (knock metaphorical wood)

It feels like a good place to be, if uneventful. I am going to do my very best to make sure I don't get into an uncontrolled slide ever again.

There is no conclusion to this, but I know everyone has these little realizations here and again. Does this make sense to anyone out there? Are you bored and will never read this blog again? This doesn't have to make sense to anyone else, but... well, it's a decent place to be. I think.

A bit dull, though, after the prolonged 1980s action movie sequence.

*It should be noted I had not been a very good driver for a while leading up to this, either. Still metaphorically.

Great Muppety Odin!

Today, again weary of the ship's vast array of restaurants and dining opportunities, I had lunch in Puerto V at this wonderful authentic native place called "Chili's" because it was next to the Starbuck's I checked my email at.

Mexican Chili's kicks US Chili's ass, hands down.

With seemingly every entree they serve one of those corn-on-the-cob-on-a-stick things, and they are SO DAMNED GOOD.

I discovered that it is difficult, one must be very careful, in order to maintain one's dignity while eating corn on the cob while sporting a beard.

Corn on the cob: 1, Beardy: 0.

Touche, corncob.

Just watched THERE WILL BE BLOOD... friggin' AMAZING performance by Daniel Day Lewis.

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP!

What's goin' on

Happy Easter... belated by the time I reach Puerto Vallarta (translation: "Pudding Door") and post this. Here onboard, I had a sumptuous, extravagant Easter dinner of orange spice herb tea and honey. Later I will celebrate with red wine, because that's what I was convinced to give up for Lent this year. In the past, I have tended to give up "giving up things for Lent," but this year I thought I was convinced to give it a shot. Shortly after I made this agreement, I realized I had just opened a nice bottle of red and had one glass from it. That bottle has been sitting here on my desk, staring at me, pleading with me, as it surely turns too vinegar.

I haven't written anything of any substance or length here in a while. Why? No reason. It's not like I don't spend huge amounts of time online at various Mexican beachfront wifi hotspots... whole port days on Skype, etcetera. You could argue that while I have written at length here before I have never actually written anything of actual substance, and to that I'd argue "shut up."

I have written down a number of things that would merit blogitude... just never took the time to actually type anything about them. So now, as I sit here on my bed staring out my window while watching a strange little film called "Rocket Science," I will blog a bit...

On my notepad, my topic ideas from different moments of lost inspiration read as follows:

"blog:

Photos

100 days

Rocky Horror party

changes in life

rock band

andy's iphones

foreigners who cannot get in line"

Now, I think I recently posted some photos. In case I did not, here's a photo or two.

That's from the "Desert Rose steakhouse" onboard. Friday night. Leslie (singer, standing... er, leaning) had her mom, aunt, and grandmother on for a week. Notice that glass of red wine in front of me? It wasn't until hours later that I realized that I had inadvertently broken my Lenten wino fast when I was asked to split a bottle of Chianti Classico. I'm not that concerned, I'm certain that indiscretion is low on the list of things I've done which I may go to hell for. I think my facial hair might actually be higher on the list. Pictured there are (l to r) me, Emma Randall, and Leslie Turner, singers; Gemma Beet, Angela Feehan, and Josie Torrisi, dancers. Missing is Emma's boyfriend Mark who was supposed to be the other guy on this night out, but was called away after we were seated for a production emergency.

That, according to someone, is "art." I can't define art, but I can certainly point to things that I know would cause nightmares should they be placed in my home. There. Photos fulfilled. Next...

- As I write this, I am just past 100 days onboard. That day passed without incident. I was not asked to make a speech commemorating the landmark. There was no plaque, no certificate, I didn't even smoke a cigar. I had a glass of Scotch, last night, but that had nothing to do with the 100 days. On the actual day... what'd I do... I had breakfast at Senor Sweet's in Cabo San Lucas with the former bassist from Loverboy. Then I Skyped, as is my usual on port days lately.

-The Rocky Horror Party was setup with a lot of work by a couple of the dancers with minor help from me. It had been approved and scheduled for some time, rescheduled twice so more people could come, and I have no photos of it because it never happened. It was cancelled the day before it was to finally happen because someone in senior management finally actually saw the THIRTY YEAR OLD FILM and decided it was inappropriate and should not be a crew (or wardroom) party theme, and got the captain to agree and call it off. If you've never worked on a ship, you'll know that compared to a lot of party ideas ("pimps and hos," anyone?) ROCKY HORROR is a touch of class. No blog there because... it never happened. Not a lot has, lately.

-Changes in life... what did I mean by that? No idea.

-Rock Band - didn't I already blog on that? It's only the best. thing. ever. We haven't played it in far too long... I think, as a group, we were honestly waiting for... some person(s) we didn't actually want to disinvite to leave to ship. Now that they're gone, I'm sure my cabin will be hopping late into the night again soon.

-Iphones... I know I already blogged about how much I love my new unlocked iphone. It does EVerything. Before the show I was just tuning my guitar using the guitar tuner I have on it. Everything. Oh yeah, I'm teaching myself the guitar. Finally. Not like I don't have the time... Man o man, is there time to kill out here. It's a sweet gig, there's nothing BUT time... hence this windy entry.

- Interesting bit of xenotrivia... the inability of what seems to be anyone who isn't either from the US, Britain, or Canada to understand the concept of a queue. A line. The crowd waiting to get a drink at the crew bar often resembles video of an aid truck trying to disperse sacks of grain in Sudan. It's as though every time these people get in line for anything they are actually waiting to fight to get desperately needed medical supplies and there aren't enough to go around.

-Unrelated to anything I thought of posting before and added now as I sit ready to post this in a Mexican Starbucks... I am now in the minor leagues of the big boy poker tournament that is the stock market. In fact, right now as we speak I am enjoying the roller coaster ride of the volatile market, watching the (relatively) small amount of money I've got spread around going up... and going down. I could get into this.

I feel very out of touch, I have not been a good correspondent with some of you... feel free to flog me verbally and write again, I promise I'm not purposefully ignoring any of you. What I could really use are some book/movie recommendations. Okay... almost showtime... gotta run to put my dance belt and jockeys back on for this number:

I leave you with... the Incredible Hulk.

-

they've given you a number, they've taken away your name

Today is one of those days when I feel like a CIA agent.

I wandered through the back streets here in Mazatlan, broken down and destitute mostly, third world. I was finding my way by the landmark of these church spires I couldn't always see. Sitting outside here at this cafe on the edge of a park near the church, I half expect my "contact" to sit next to me and slip me the microfilm under a newspaper...

I guess you'd have to see this area to know what I mean, but if I ever make a spy movie, this is a location.

Ode to a Sea Day

Oh Sea Day, you are boring
There is nothing left to do
I've read everything on this ship
Watched every "Law and Order," too.

I've played my games, I've written songs
I've laundered every sock
I've come to the conclusion
That sea days can suck ...a lot.

You wander 'round the ship to find
Americans are fat
You tried to defend your countrymen,
But Jesus, LOOK at that.

You can't get past them though they're slow
They fill the promenade
These Lovecraftian behemoths
Gasping Cthulian Elder Gods

Now we're here upon spring break
When college twits roam free
They drink and puke and scream and shout
They don't care where they pee

They all paid to be here
With us it's quite reversed
So in the grander scheme of things
They've got it so much worse

Very soon we'll get to port
And run away and hide
In some unknown place where passengers
Would never go inside

It's not so bad, it's even fun
But with all your recreation
There comes a time when we deserve
Vacation from your vacation

...written as I sit here, in Long Beach outside a coffee bar

Mexico

...and I'm still going back and forth between Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo, and LA every week.

Yeah.

Whee.

The extent of most conversations I am around has to do with "how much did I drink last night"

Send help.

UPDATED: I was told this entry sounded "really sad but true" by someone who knows. It isn't sad, I'm not melancholy, not at all, it's just really not a stimulating environment out here right now, just very stagnant. That's not a negative statement, just an accurate observation. All is well in Donland, I'm just having to work harder to find things to pass the time... without sinking into the mire.

I love my iphone, by the way. Buy one, have it unlocked, you will not regret.

Gadgetrous Pompousity

It took a while, and I held out with all the power I had, but as I was continually convinced of what amazing lifesavers they can be and just how damned cool they are by everyone one this damnable ship who has one, increasing by about 20 a week, I finally broke down and got an iphone.

It is the best and greatest thing since God created astronaut ice cream.

Especially if you have a friend who, as a hobby, unlocks them. Just sayin'.

I haven't been writing much lately because not a whole lot has gone on in the last week or so that's blogworthy.

I finally saw I AM LEGEND and was interested that I didn't think it was a bad movie though it has essentially less in common with the book that it's based on than West Side Story has with Romeo and Juliet. The ending of the book - one of my favorite endings of any book, stylistically - is TOTALLY muted and TOTALLY ruined with this Hollywood B.S.

Read the book. Read everything by Richard Matheson. He wrote everything from SOMEWHERE IN TIME to NIGHTMARE AT 20000 FEET to DUEL to WHAT DREAMS MAY COME to I AM LEGEND to... well, look into it.

I agree with myself

There's a lot going on, yet somehow nothing at the same time. Depends on what you're talking about, really... things are very good in most respects because things are very good in some respects.

Ship life can be very, very dull and it is engineered to do little to challenge or inspire you  when you're on a run like this. Somehow though, you find some inspiration... then, as I am now, you find yourself twiddling your thumbs in the doldrums again. I'm talking in circles. I'll stop, and instead offer amusing photos. Whoopee!

 

Doing what you do when you're traveling in the Mystery Machine.

In the USA you will never find an unattended bigtop in some back street, which of course you would have to sneak into and swing on things. This, thankfully for that reason, is not the USA.

Results of shipboard doldrums example #311: climbing to the highest accessible point on the ship to attempt to fly your parasailing Mexican Ninja Turtle doll.

The Jurassic Park River Adventure is awesome... the first time.

After the first couple of rides in a row, the excitement wears thin.

Right now I'm sitting in Puerto Vallarta debating an unlocked iphone I'm being offered by one of our tech guys, and I'm almost convinced. Hmm. They are, offically, the most awesomest toys in the history of ever.

Rediscovering the mystery of skyp as we speak...

And how are YOU?

Stay Golden

I am putting this idea down here in case anyone else tries to jump on it before I make my fortune with it.

I envision a cartoon along the lines of the Super Globetrotters which I would call THE GOLDEN GIRLS ACTION SQUAD in which the Golden Girls would travel in their action van and fight evil and terrorism and aliens and all manner of badness throughout the world. This is but the beginning of the idea, and more will come. Suggestions are welcome. Anyone know an animator?

Also requisite is an action punk rendition of the theme to the Golden Girls, if not a totally new theme.

and I never knew how the fire could be burning on the edge of the icefield

Photos to come once I get wifi intraweb in PV.

Things are good, even promising, in the life of this intrepid adventurer... really good for the first time in probably years.

I have some catching up to do with a lot of you who have called and left messages on the Saturdays in LA recently. I will get back to you. It's been busy.

but seriously, how are YOU?

You can't take the sky from me, since I found serenity...

Not much to say, just felt I should say something...

I did not watch the Super Bowl. I thought it a foregone conclusion and was having more fun going around the ship from lounge to party and back again with a new friend. We were pretending to celebrate the game but really just beating people and things with these inflatable "Princess Cruises" bat-things. It's amazing what people will let you get away with when they think you're into what they're doing.

Preparing for the upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show party our department is hosting.

Writing a good deal on my musical that's still remarkably unfinished after over a year on paper. Most of the songs are "done" but almost none of the book.

Other than that, ROCK BAND is the best money I ever spent, hour for hour, on shipboard fun. I bought it a week ago last Saturday and everyt ime we've played it, my room has been full until the ridiculously wee hours of the morning. I think I may actually be able to sing some of these things from memory now. Our band's official name? The Golden Princess entertainment department's band is named... "Golden Showers." I think shirts are coming.

Nothin's gonna change my world

Looks like I missed the "500th post" milestone a few posts back. In celebration, I'd like you to stop what you're doing and go make yourself a drink.

Okay, you can come back now. 

HEY!

Damn... you can't read this now, you're in the other room making a drink. I'll wait.

Fine. I'll go on. I have photos to add to this soon. Many photos. Whilst I realized recently that most of my last few weeks have been what I'd call deadly dull and in a rut of throwing darts and drinking Jack and Coke in the wardroom until ridiculous hours of the morning watching the same people get the same drunk, there have been a few bright spots and amazingly immature evenings culled from the doldrums of pointless space-filling. I have had the good fortune to meet and work with some really great people here, two of them being our sound guy Steve Jones and our lighting guy Chad Singleton. Between the three of us, before Steve left last Saturday, we managed to pull fun from the jaws of shipbound boredom in some of the most ridiculous ways I've ever participated in. It began to get out of hand one night when there was a large group of us in the crew bar. I just wasn't "feeling it" and was about to leave, so Steve turns to me and says "If I go get my balloon rockets will you stay for a while longer?"

How can you say no to that? Steve had been given a number of small, random children's toys for Christmas. We fired off balloon rockets around the crew bar to the "delight" of many others, I'm sure. The next night... or some night soon thereafter... we were responsible for creating what I'm fairly certain is the first successful officer's wardroom human pyramid in history. That night also saw the invention of "Can You Catch Me," the game of seeing who is capable of remaining upright when another random person runs and attempts to leap into their arms. My alternate name for this game is "Who Wants To Be Medically Disembarked?"

Things began to get a little out of hand the night that Steve and I created "Booze Rocket," in which you take one of those kids' plastic water rocket toys - the kind you fill half with water and then pump up, launching probably thirty feet into the air - and instead filling it with beer. Turns out we learned a few important lessons:

1) Beer is carbonated and at least doubles the pressure inside the plastic rocket
2) Said higher pressure will cause said rocket to slam very loudly and very hard into whatever it is pointed at, perhaps even leaving a mark on things you didn't think it were possible to mark.
3) The beer will leave the rocket in a burst of spray you will not be prepared to deal with.

Booze Rocket should only be played outdoors, this is my feeling.

My personal favorite evening was the Indian Independence Day they held, which Chad and I were discussing early in the evening that night. We decided we should show our support by dressing as cowboys, which we did, later taking over half the dance floor with impromptu line-dancing to Bollywood hits. Many photos of this to come.

I would speak here of Penguin Night, and perhaps I will later, but Penguin Night is a dark and secret society held on nights before turnaround which is dedicated to... aha... you almost had me. More to come on that.

Last night I had another one of those surreal ship moments which later you put into context and realize exactly how strange this life is. Last night a former Beach Boy offered to teach me how to play guitar, practically insisting that he do so. Who am I to turn down that kind of offer?

Also last night, I managed to destroy the lyrics to a familiar and popular song I've known all my life in an actual performance, before an audience. Somehow, fewer people than should've actually noticed, because I just kept singing.... something.

In other news, a ship is still a really bad place to attempt to have any faith in human nature.

Anyway, long entry... to be edited later.

Contemplating a penguin

It's been some time since I've had time or energy to write anything here. I have nothing pithy to say today, we have been installing the new cast here for what seems like ages and are nearly done. Things seem good, for the moment.

I randomly heard the following lyrics for the first time in a long while yesterday and I think it's because I needed to. It is very much where I am, if you know the song it's from.

Look at what you want,
Not at where you are,
Not at what you'll be.

Notice every tree.
Understand the light.
Concentrate on now.