The past week or so since I wrote my last post has really been a lot of fun. I’ve spent a lot of time with the guys in the band and with my other friends on board. I am really comfortable with everyone now, and with myself, so I’m able to be more relaxed and just enjoy being around them. I recently found out that Hayden (tenor sax) is a Christian, which has been a huge blessing. We’ve had some great conversations and we really get along well, so in a lot of ways he has filled the hole that Marie left. We usually end up spending a lot of our off time together. Yesterday we kept each other company during almost 6 hours of using the free internet in Istanbul (I had a lot of catching up to do!), and then we managed to get into the dining room since pretty much all the guests were off the ship and didn’t turn up for their dinner seating. Ben came along with us for that, and the three of us enjoyed another amazing dining room dinner. I’d like to do that just one more time next cruise, hopefully with the whole band, to celebrate the end of my contract.
Tonight we are playing another guest entertainer’s show – his name is Ralph Heid, and he plays xylophone. Bit of a novelty show, you might say. Honestly, the show isn’t designed very well, but he can sure move his hands fast. He is very technically proficient, I suppose - as he can hit a lot of notes with accuracy. But having a percussionist brother makes me a little skeptical of him...he plays from the wrong side of the instrument (on the low end, with the keys stacked away from him, lower to higher – instead of on the side of the instrument), plays with what looks like wooden spoons wrapped in masking tape, and his xylophone itself doesn’t look normal to me. Tyler, I wish you were here so I could hear your evaluation of this guy. :)
Lisa is making a really great roommate. She and I are both pretty clean (stop laughing, I really am!) and conscientious of each other. I like living with her, and it has been fun getting to know her better. Her English is really improving a lot. We have a couple of inside jokes now. Last night while she was out I cleaned out one of the storage areas in our room, and to my surprise found some Christmas lights! Who knows how long they’d been buried back there. I got excited and put them up in our room, along with 5 fake candles that I also dug up. I left Lisa a note that said “Surprise!” and told her where I found them, and then just left everything on to surprise her when she came back. I heard her come in and laugh when she saw them. She loves them as much as I do. I figure that the rule for Christmas decorations going up hasn’t been broken – I waited until November started and Halloween was over. :) Plus, I’ll be gone long before Christmas, so this way I can enjoy the lights while I’m still here. They are exactly the same small colored bulbs we always use at home on our tree, so they give me lots of warm fuzzies. :)
Mont Blanc
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Istanbul/Naples ;-)
(I'm in Istanbul right now - and I'm so sorry for the gap between posts - my internet has been down and the ship's Data Systems Manager has been fixing my computer. But it is now fixed, so I can stop going crazy. What follows is a post I wrote on October 26th, in Naples, and was unable to send until now. I will write another post very soon!)
Tomorrow I start my second to last cruise! Its coming down to it, now….Today we are in Naples and its rainy again. I would like to go out, but I’m not sure if I can talk any of the guys into going out….I think they are all lazy today. That’s alright, I really should practice, anyway.
Last night we played a really cool show. The entertainer was Scott Record, and he does singing comedic impressions. He is really amazing – he has dozens of different voices and can imitate anyone’s singing style. Apparently he’s really famous as well – he’s going to appear on David Letterman in a few weeks. The show had the band laughing so hard we were in tears the entire time. One of the most interesting things he does is an impression of Frank Sinatra singing New York New York, but as it would sound on a skipping, warped record. It was amazing! And of course, the chart for the band is interesting, to say the least, with lots of offbeats and strange time signatures. Scott makes all the skipping sounds with his voice, and whoever put this chart together is pretty much a genius. Another of his songs is a 60’s medley – with about 40 different songs and therefore voices that he imitates. He presents it like one of those TV commercials advertising a set of 4 C.D.’s for $19.95 – if you know what I’m talking about. It only has about 4 measures of each song, which makes it another really crazy one for us to play. Anyway, we had a really good time.
I’m a bit tired from last night, because not only did we do the show twice, as usual, but we also played our short end-of-the-cruise ceremony in the dining room for both seatings, as well as played two 45 minute jazz sets for the Captain’s Farewell Toast before both of the shows. So we were running around like crazy people all night, from one thing right to the next, and then doing it all over again. It was a bit hectic.
The second English church meeting went really really well. Unfortunately we didn’t have as big a turnout as I would have hoped, but it still went well. I had a late night rehearsal with my new friend Earl, who plays guitar. He brought me a keyboard, and we put together 5 worship songs for the meeting. All of my Spanish church friends were shocked by the fact that I could play keyboard. They are still talking about it all the time. ☺ I wasn’t that great – its been months since I’ve played, but it still felt really good to be able to contribute my music skill to the church and give something back to the Lord in that way. And it was so neat to sing the songs that I grew up with again – I’ve missed worshiping in that way. I loved hearing everyone sing those songs so loudly and with so much passion and energy. Praise the Lord – He is so good.
Tonight my friend Mark Donoghue is back for another show – his second this cruise. I’m excited to hear some of the other songs he has in his repertoire. Its always fun to work with him, and it will be a good way to end the cruise.
Tomorrow I start my second to last cruise! Its coming down to it, now….Today we are in Naples and its rainy again. I would like to go out, but I’m not sure if I can talk any of the guys into going out….I think they are all lazy today. That’s alright, I really should practice, anyway.
Last night we played a really cool show. The entertainer was Scott Record, and he does singing comedic impressions. He is really amazing – he has dozens of different voices and can imitate anyone’s singing style. Apparently he’s really famous as well – he’s going to appear on David Letterman in a few weeks. The show had the band laughing so hard we were in tears the entire time. One of the most interesting things he does is an impression of Frank Sinatra singing New York New York, but as it would sound on a skipping, warped record. It was amazing! And of course, the chart for the band is interesting, to say the least, with lots of offbeats and strange time signatures. Scott makes all the skipping sounds with his voice, and whoever put this chart together is pretty much a genius. Another of his songs is a 60’s medley – with about 40 different songs and therefore voices that he imitates. He presents it like one of those TV commercials advertising a set of 4 C.D.’s for $19.95 – if you know what I’m talking about. It only has about 4 measures of each song, which makes it another really crazy one for us to play. Anyway, we had a really good time.
I’m a bit tired from last night, because not only did we do the show twice, as usual, but we also played our short end-of-the-cruise ceremony in the dining room for both seatings, as well as played two 45 minute jazz sets for the Captain’s Farewell Toast before both of the shows. So we were running around like crazy people all night, from one thing right to the next, and then doing it all over again. It was a bit hectic.
The second English church meeting went really really well. Unfortunately we didn’t have as big a turnout as I would have hoped, but it still went well. I had a late night rehearsal with my new friend Earl, who plays guitar. He brought me a keyboard, and we put together 5 worship songs for the meeting. All of my Spanish church friends were shocked by the fact that I could play keyboard. They are still talking about it all the time. ☺ I wasn’t that great – its been months since I’ve played, but it still felt really good to be able to contribute my music skill to the church and give something back to the Lord in that way. And it was so neat to sing the songs that I grew up with again – I’ve missed worshiping in that way. I loved hearing everyone sing those songs so loudly and with so much passion and energy. Praise the Lord – He is so good.
Tonight my friend Mark Donoghue is back for another show – his second this cruise. I’m excited to hear some of the other songs he has in his repertoire. Its always fun to work with him, and it will be a good way to end the cruise.
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