7.31.2007
not much goin on
not much to report on. the other day the ship was really rocky, we went through a storm. i was literally leaving my bed being thrown around. i'm not kidding. the elevators were rattling up against the shaft wall, people were falling everywhere, it was a hot mess. waves were crashing up on the 8th deck........so we decided to watch the movie Posiedon, where the cruise ship sinks, and then napped all day. they cancelled the dancers from the show for the first show(i worded that so poorly) and then 3o minutes before the second show they tell us we have to dance. NOT HAPPY. the waters calmed but still our tech and rehearsals were cancelled for the day so we had no practice. but i had a good show. the end
7.28.2007
yesterday in Flam....bet you never heard of Flam before
July 27th, 2007
I got off the ship today cause I wanted to climb a waterfall. And that’s what I did. Couple thousand feet up, that’s where I was headed. Me scott lucy jeff and shaunacy set out in Flam, Norway at 1:30pm. Walked down a street, found a trail, and started the climb. All I’m gonna say is I didn’t bring my hiking boots. That shit is slippery. It had just rained and the mist from the waterfall made everything wet…..clearly. but yeah, we zigzagged up the mountain with no ropes or nothing. Just the natural way, like the Indians and goats do. I sweated a whole lot and my heart was pounding…but not nearly as hard as my calves were. Oh yeah. Got to the waterfall around 3:30. This waterfall was amazing though and the water was pristine, and maybe 40 degrees. Mmmmmm. Anyways, we got to almost the top and turned around and came back down. I lead the way and slipped the whole way down. My shoes were like ice and I basically grinded my way down the hill. For those who don’t get it, grinding is what skaters do on hand rails and stuff when they slide down it. I only pulled a Beyonce once and had to put my hands down. You get 200 pounds going down hill it gets hard to stop it.
Got back and me jeff and shauncy wanted to play in the water. we go to the little river opening in the bay and skipped rocks for an hour. You forget how fun it is to just sit on a shore and skip rocks. I wanna go back to south Texas or Colorado and do it again. I forget I like the outdoors so much. Then we went back to the ship and now I’m watching blood diamond…the most gun-packed movie ever.
p.s. it was bout 55-60 degrees outside, overcast and a light spitting rain the entire day. It was perfect. A great day for my first and last time to Flam.
Hopefully there will be pictures above to illustrate my journey. Lets hope.
I got off the ship today cause I wanted to climb a waterfall. And that’s what I did. Couple thousand feet up, that’s where I was headed. Me scott lucy jeff and shaunacy set out in Flam, Norway at 1:30pm. Walked down a street, found a trail, and started the climb. All I’m gonna say is I didn’t bring my hiking boots. That shit is slippery. It had just rained and the mist from the waterfall made everything wet…..clearly. but yeah, we zigzagged up the mountain with no ropes or nothing. Just the natural way, like the Indians and goats do. I sweated a whole lot and my heart was pounding…but not nearly as hard as my calves were. Oh yeah. Got to the waterfall around 3:30. This waterfall was amazing though and the water was pristine, and maybe 40 degrees. Mmmmmm. Anyways, we got to almost the top and turned around and came back down. I lead the way and slipped the whole way down. My shoes were like ice and I basically grinded my way down the hill. For those who don’t get it, grinding is what skaters do on hand rails and stuff when they slide down it. I only pulled a Beyonce once and had to put my hands down. You get 200 pounds going down hill it gets hard to stop it.
Got back and me jeff and shauncy wanted to play in the water. we go to the little river opening in the bay and skipped rocks for an hour. You forget how fun it is to just sit on a shore and skip rocks. I wanna go back to south Texas or Colorado and do it again. I forget I like the outdoors so much. Then we went back to the ship and now I’m watching blood diamond…the most gun-packed movie ever.
p.s. it was bout 55-60 degrees outside, overcast and a light spitting rain the entire day. It was perfect. A great day for my first and last time to Flam.
Hopefully there will be pictures above to illustrate my journey. Lets hope.
7.25.2007
hello again
only 4 days left of these bloody dutch charters. in the last two cruises slash eight days i've:
gotten my teeth whitened
worked out a lot
drank lots of coca cola light (its better than diet)
gone to rotterdam 3 times
been irritated a few times and owned it
eaten a lot of things i shouldn't...but i worked out so its ok
talked to matt a lot
called my family
sent a package home
did some laundry
taught a dance class
pretty exciting huh. thats all. we get a new cast member in 12 days. that should be fun. rumor has it she's a partier, immoral, and has a belly. can't wait. i'm not gonna pre-judge cause i'll do enough of that when she gets here. haha. just kidding. a little. can't wait though, for real
gotten my teeth whitened
worked out a lot
drank lots of coca cola light (its better than diet)
gone to rotterdam 3 times
been irritated a few times and owned it
eaten a lot of things i shouldn't...but i worked out so its ok
talked to matt a lot
called my family
sent a package home
did some laundry
taught a dance class
pretty exciting huh. thats all. we get a new cast member in 12 days. that should be fun. rumor has it she's a partier, immoral, and has a belly. can't wait. i'm not gonna pre-judge cause i'll do enough of that when she gets here. haha. just kidding. a little. can't wait though, for real
7.20.2007
prolly gonna take a break
so the last few days have been spent doing a show, rehearsing, and working out a lot. thats how the next 2 cruises will be so unless something amazing happens i prolly won't be posting till the end of july.....the 30th. but here's what happened yesterday
p.s. the old dutch people take pictures of everything. us in the gym, the floor, the fruit on the buffet line. they are wierd and the worst audience ever. they show no sign of approval, just when something goes wrong. so basically they were dead quiet during out shows. awesome.
Yesterday we got bitched out by this guy who works for Holland American he’s basically here to tell us what we’re doing wrong and how we can strive for excellence and get customers to keep booking cruises. His name is Fekko Ebbons. He’s this bitter old gay man who spent 2 hours yelling and talking down to us and treating us like trash. I hate him and instead of working to be better the staff and crew have basically revolted against him. Half the guys want to quit. they say he used to be a hotel manager for the line and would ALLEGEDLY line up the Indonesians, pick the ones he wanted and make them go up to his room. SICK. People are sick. But yeah, after his stay here on the Rotterdam, one of the best ships in the fleet, he emailed back to corporate telling them to remove all pockets from crew uniforms so nobody could put their hands in their pockets and THEN told us Holland America will only be hiring non-smokers from Indonesia. If you smoke you won’t be hired. But its only gonna be from Indonesia right now. They’re still working on the Filipinos and stuff. THEN he said that for the workers that are already hired they will be giving them pills from America that stop the cravings to smoke. They will be forced to take these pills. THAT IS FUCKING WRONG. I’m SORRY. THIS ISN”T the book 1984 or somewhere in Russia. I was floored. And now I hate him even more. So does everybody else. So much so that they secretly video taped him and are sending the tapes to corporate so they can see what a bastard he was to us. That’s all.
p.s. the old dutch people take pictures of everything. us in the gym, the floor, the fruit on the buffet line. they are wierd and the worst audience ever. they show no sign of approval, just when something goes wrong. so basically they were dead quiet during out shows. awesome.
Yesterday we got bitched out by this guy who works for Holland American he’s basically here to tell us what we’re doing wrong and how we can strive for excellence and get customers to keep booking cruises. His name is Fekko Ebbons. He’s this bitter old gay man who spent 2 hours yelling and talking down to us and treating us like trash. I hate him and instead of working to be better the staff and crew have basically revolted against him. Half the guys want to quit. they say he used to be a hotel manager for the line and would ALLEGEDLY line up the Indonesians, pick the ones he wanted and make them go up to his room. SICK. People are sick. But yeah, after his stay here on the Rotterdam, one of the best ships in the fleet, he emailed back to corporate telling them to remove all pockets from crew uniforms so nobody could put their hands in their pockets and THEN told us Holland America will only be hiring non-smokers from Indonesia. If you smoke you won’t be hired. But its only gonna be from Indonesia right now. They’re still working on the Filipinos and stuff. THEN he said that for the workers that are already hired they will be giving them pills from America that stop the cravings to smoke. They will be forced to take these pills. THAT IS FUCKING WRONG. I’m SORRY. THIS ISN”T the book 1984 or somewhere in Russia. I was floored. And now I hate him even more. So does everybody else. So much so that they secretly video taped him and are sending the tapes to corporate so they can see what a bastard he was to us. That’s all.
7.17.2007
Day 5 of Rotterdam Day 1 of the 4day cruises
i got nothing for the day. nothing. got a facial for free. that was cool.
the next 3 cruises will be 4 days each. we got Rotterdam, sea day, Vik/Flam Norway, sea day, Rotterdam. we'll do that 3 times. the passangers are all dutch people who have worked for the company before. the tv is in dutch, the overhead announcements are in dutch, and the food nameplates in the buffet line are in dutch. awesome
the next 3 cruises will be 4 days each. we got Rotterdam, sea day, Vik/Flam Norway, sea day, Rotterdam. we'll do that 3 times. the passangers are all dutch people who have worked for the company before. the tv is in dutch, the overhead announcements are in dutch, and the food nameplates in the buffet line are in dutch. awesome
7.16.2007
Friggin Rain
Day 4
We’re eating breakfast in the Lido on the ship, we see some lighting, we hear some thunder, the lightning gets closer, closer, then its above us. We look out the window, the sky is black and a white wall of water is coming towards us erasing the buildings in its path. Before we know it the ship is being pounded with rain and wind. We are unable to see out the window and we just hear thunder louder and louder. Then, about 5 minutes later, the rain is gone.
So we jump on a train to Amsterdam cause we just didn’t get enough the first time. Me, Natalie, Stacy, and Jeff. First thing we do when we get there is go to the wax museum. Madam tousouss or whatever its called. Its pretty cool. The first part was a tour through Hollands past. Thrilling. Then it was a pirates of the carribean section, except the wax figures were REAL PEOPLE. It was a friggin haunted house y’all. I was not ready. Anyways, then we walked through the rest of the museum and I took my pics with some celebs. It was cool. Found out I’m perfectly proportional according to DaVinci’s drawing thing. The name of that man/drawing escapes me right now. Starts with a V I know. Oh well
Then we went shopping around, didn’t really buy anything.
We found this sweet thrift store called Episode. Turns out all the cool people in Amsterdam shop there. I bought some purple puma soccer shorts…emphasis on shorts. And I got a leather tie. I now have 4. I rule. Those purchases cost me 6 bucks.
Then we walked back towards Dam Square, found a gay section and jeff and I went into a sex shop. Lots of interesting things but no purchases.
Then we ate at a really cool Mexican café, I had a margarita, we payed 50 euros in coins (the coins only go up to 2 euros, we ran.
We’re walking back, I go into the sex shop to buy a video but stacy yells in “JEB WE HAVE TO GO NOW, THE SKY IS ABOUT TO DROP”. The guy goes “YOU NEED TO GO NOW, UNLESS YOU’RE BUYING SOMETHING THEN YOU CAN STAY”. Jeff and I run out of the store and the sky is black and green. We run back to the station, slash nitty ran, and then we got soaked. The sky opened and god was pissed. The station was 20 minute walk and we got soaked.
Then we got on a train, laughed the whole way back. Now I’m here. The end of my Rotterdam days.
We’re eating breakfast in the Lido on the ship, we see some lighting, we hear some thunder, the lightning gets closer, closer, then its above us. We look out the window, the sky is black and a white wall of water is coming towards us erasing the buildings in its path. Before we know it the ship is being pounded with rain and wind. We are unable to see out the window and we just hear thunder louder and louder. Then, about 5 minutes later, the rain is gone.
So we jump on a train to Amsterdam cause we just didn’t get enough the first time. Me, Natalie, Stacy, and Jeff. First thing we do when we get there is go to the wax museum. Madam tousouss or whatever its called. Its pretty cool. The first part was a tour through Hollands past. Thrilling. Then it was a pirates of the carribean section, except the wax figures were REAL PEOPLE. It was a friggin haunted house y’all. I was not ready. Anyways, then we walked through the rest of the museum and I took my pics with some celebs. It was cool. Found out I’m perfectly proportional according to DaVinci’s drawing thing. The name of that man/drawing escapes me right now. Starts with a V I know. Oh well
Then we went shopping around, didn’t really buy anything.
We found this sweet thrift store called Episode. Turns out all the cool people in Amsterdam shop there. I bought some purple puma soccer shorts…emphasis on shorts. And I got a leather tie. I now have 4. I rule. Those purchases cost me 6 bucks.
Then we walked back towards Dam Square, found a gay section and jeff and I went into a sex shop. Lots of interesting things but no purchases.
Then we ate at a really cool Mexican café, I had a margarita, we payed 50 euros in coins (the coins only go up to 2 euros, we ran.
We’re walking back, I go into the sex shop to buy a video but stacy yells in “JEB WE HAVE TO GO NOW, THE SKY IS ABOUT TO DROP”. The guy goes “YOU NEED TO GO NOW, UNLESS YOU’RE BUYING SOMETHING THEN YOU CAN STAY”. Jeff and I run out of the store and the sky is black and green. We run back to the station, slash nitty ran, and then we got soaked. The sky opened and god was pissed. The station was 20 minute walk and we got soaked.
Then we got on a train, laughed the whole way back. Now I’m here. The end of my Rotterdam days.
7.15.2007
magic M&M
Day 3: IPM
so i had ipm today, in port manning, had to stay on the ship. i went to the gym, got my hair cut real short, then traded ipm late at night to go watch Pirates of the Carribean 3. haha. lame. the movie was good and i still enjoy rotterdam. i had something deep to talk about but i've forgotten. thats a shame cause i'm pretty sure it was a good one.....OH WAIT, i just remembered, get this!!!
so i'm eating peanut M&M's at the movie and i drop one. i freak out cause i was wearing white pants and i didn't want it to stain them. i can't find it so i move on with life. i finish watching the movie, walk the 30 minutes back home jumping and dancing and being stupid taking pictures with naked statues...you know the usual. got back to the ship, go to the PO for a red bull sit down on the couches and something fell down my shirt onto my left nipple. i instantly thought i had got it pierced again, i reach down and pull out a YELLOW M&M. what the hell. how did that small piece of candy stay in my shirt that whole time nestled in the button collar of my polo. life's little mysteries eh?
so i had ipm today, in port manning, had to stay on the ship. i went to the gym, got my hair cut real short, then traded ipm late at night to go watch Pirates of the Carribean 3. haha. lame. the movie was good and i still enjoy rotterdam. i had something deep to talk about but i've forgotten. thats a shame cause i'm pretty sure it was a good one.....OH WAIT, i just remembered, get this!!!
so i'm eating peanut M&M's at the movie and i drop one. i freak out cause i was wearing white pants and i didn't want it to stain them. i can't find it so i move on with life. i finish watching the movie, walk the 30 minutes back home jumping and dancing and being stupid taking pictures with naked statues...you know the usual. got back to the ship, go to the PO for a red bull sit down on the couches and something fell down my shirt onto my left nipple. i instantly thought i had got it pierced again, i reach down and pull out a YELLOW M&M. what the hell. how did that small piece of candy stay in my shirt that whole time nestled in the button collar of my polo. life's little mysteries eh?
7.14.2007
stayed local today...got a $20 jump drive dad, 2GB
Day 2: Rotterdam
Walked around a while, did some light shopping. Went to watch the new harry potter movie in a movie house (bioscoop as they say here) that was the size of the titanic. I have never been in a room this big. Over 900 seats, a screen the size of the front of the building, and little whitish/blue lights in an all black ceiling. Very modern, very sleek, and assigned seats. It was crazy. And the cup holders were on the floor on the back of the seat infront of us. I just can’t describe this theatre. It was massive and so…I mean I got dizzy just looking up. And the 5:00 show was sold out. Plus the movie was absolutely brilliant. I’m going to start reading the books. I’m obsessed. Matt, I took more pictures and I found a bar called Bootleg and our house in Rotterdam.
That’s all. IPM tomorrow so maybe I’ll sleep in and go to the gym.
Walked around a while, did some light shopping. Went to watch the new harry potter movie in a movie house (bioscoop as they say here) that was the size of the titanic. I have never been in a room this big. Over 900 seats, a screen the size of the front of the building, and little whitish/blue lights in an all black ceiling. Very modern, very sleek, and assigned seats. It was crazy. And the cup holders were on the floor on the back of the seat infront of us. I just can’t describe this theatre. It was massive and so…I mean I got dizzy just looking up. And the 5:00 show was sold out. Plus the movie was absolutely brilliant. I’m going to start reading the books. I’m obsessed. Matt, I took more pictures and I found a bar called Bootleg and our house in Rotterdam.
That’s all. IPM tomorrow so maybe I’ll sleep in and go to the gym.
7.13.2007
Friday the 13th...Tattoos, Titties, and Trains
Day 1:
We are docked in Rotterdam, Holland. About 1 hour from Amsterdam.
So we(me, jeff, Natalie, stacy, kim and mashawn) all got ready and waited till mashawn’s friends, Rotty and Micah, met us at a local café in Rotterdam. We jump on a tram that takes us to the train station and jump on a train to AMSTERDAM. An hour later we arrive and search out the tattoo parlor. We walk by Dam Square, the palace and so many other places. We find the tattoo parlor, which is going through a renovation so its really crowded and stressful. Mashawn and Natalie book an appointment but I decided not too cause I was too stressed out.
We walk around a little and then decide to go to Anne Franks house. OH MY GOD. It was so strange to be looking at the clocktower she heard out of her window, the streets where she saw the germans herding the jews, THE BOOKSHELF THAT SWUNG OUT TO REVEAL THE SECRET PASSAGE. It was so surreal. We walked all through the tiny annex where she lived for two years hiding from the Nazi’s. to my surprise each room was empty. For some reason I thought there would still be furniture. But alas, they still had her portraits and pictures she glued to the wall and the sinks and stuff they cooked with. It was crazy, I cannot put those feelings into words. It wasn’t as bad as the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC but it was close…similar to how it feels to go to the JFK museum in dallas. You know something bad went on there and you can feel it.
We left there and went back to the tattoo parlor. OH, and I bought some leather ties on the way, I now have 3. I can’t wait to wear them. All the rage in LA. Just kidding. We go to get mash’s and nat’s tattoo and then kim and I decide to get ours. Mashawn got the symbol for courage on his left wrist, Natalie got a hotpink star with a musical note overtop on her right foot, kim got an artistic rendering of a dancer in the shape of a K on her right lower back/butt, and I got a Tibetan mantra that means peace of mind body and speech down the side of my left torso. Just the outline of the symbols so its not too heavy. Hope you like it. They told me that’s the most painful place to get a tattoo but I swear to god the one on my heel nearly killed me. It was a crazy experience though, I’m glad it happened with people I liked.
OH, just remembered…so we’re at the train station getting ready to go to Amsterdam and I find out that in Dutch, Kip means chicken. That means if I lived in Holland my dogs name would be chicken, how embarrassing.
So, we’re all inked up and now we’re hungry. We go to this Thai restaurant and I have the most amazing chicken pad thai I’ve ever had. Sooooooooo good, and cheap. After that we want to go to see the famed redlight district. I had heard stories but I definitely wasn’t ready. Hookers standing in windows in bikinis or whatever just waiting for men to walk in their door and have sex. Found out they don’t like their pictures taken, half of them used to be men, and they charge about 50euros for a “suck and fuck” as they put it. Not bad for 15 minutes. Ha. But yeah, they had sex shops, sex theatres where they had sex on stage (I heard from a friend that one of the shows, the guy couldn’t get hard…guess it’s a hard job having sex all day), and the smell of weed was everywhere. The good stuff, not the stuff that smells like asshole but the sweet sticky icky stuff. And I don’t even like weed. Then we wanted to go home, so we did. We got on the train and ride it. We come to a stop, not ours, and then the train starts going back in the way we came. What the hell. Just before this happened we got kicked out of our seats upstairs on the train cause that was for first class passengers, of which there were none. So we had to move, the started going back in the direction of Amsterdam, then got a noise violation, then made it back to Rotterdam. Turns out that’s just how the train went. We walked back, took some pictures and now I’m typing this.
I’ll say this about Amsterdam. Its busy, bustling, very free and the people do whatever they want, and the buildings are gorgeous, nothing modern all oldworld like its always been. Its clean and respectful but its so liberal and you just feel so comfortable. Everybody seems comfortable with sex, drugs, whatever lifestyle you choose to live and they’re happy. It was also surreal to see these places that you know from war documentaries. Like seeing the palace that I’ve seen nazi jeeps driving infront of during history class. Its just crazy, and the main reason I took this contract. Anyways, we’re going back tomorrow to see the shops and prolly go out in the gayborhood. After all, it is Amsterdam, Venice of the North, Gay Capitol of the world…I think. But no worries, I’m not going crazy, I’m saving that for October 12th. J
We are docked in Rotterdam, Holland. About 1 hour from Amsterdam.
So we(me, jeff, Natalie, stacy, kim and mashawn) all got ready and waited till mashawn’s friends, Rotty and Micah, met us at a local café in Rotterdam. We jump on a tram that takes us to the train station and jump on a train to AMSTERDAM. An hour later we arrive and search out the tattoo parlor. We walk by Dam Square, the palace and so many other places. We find the tattoo parlor, which is going through a renovation so its really crowded and stressful. Mashawn and Natalie book an appointment but I decided not too cause I was too stressed out.
We walk around a little and then decide to go to Anne Franks house. OH MY GOD. It was so strange to be looking at the clocktower she heard out of her window, the streets where she saw the germans herding the jews, THE BOOKSHELF THAT SWUNG OUT TO REVEAL THE SECRET PASSAGE. It was so surreal. We walked all through the tiny annex where she lived for two years hiding from the Nazi’s. to my surprise each room was empty. For some reason I thought there would still be furniture. But alas, they still had her portraits and pictures she glued to the wall and the sinks and stuff they cooked with. It was crazy, I cannot put those feelings into words. It wasn’t as bad as the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC but it was close…similar to how it feels to go to the JFK museum in dallas. You know something bad went on there and you can feel it.
We left there and went back to the tattoo parlor. OH, and I bought some leather ties on the way, I now have 3. I can’t wait to wear them. All the rage in LA. Just kidding. We go to get mash’s and nat’s tattoo and then kim and I decide to get ours. Mashawn got the symbol for courage on his left wrist, Natalie got a hotpink star with a musical note overtop on her right foot, kim got an artistic rendering of a dancer in the shape of a K on her right lower back/butt, and I got a Tibetan mantra that means peace of mind body and speech down the side of my left torso. Just the outline of the symbols so its not too heavy. Hope you like it. They told me that’s the most painful place to get a tattoo but I swear to god the one on my heel nearly killed me. It was a crazy experience though, I’m glad it happened with people I liked.
OH, just remembered…so we’re at the train station getting ready to go to Amsterdam and I find out that in Dutch, Kip means chicken. That means if I lived in Holland my dogs name would be chicken, how embarrassing.
So, we’re all inked up and now we’re hungry. We go to this Thai restaurant and I have the most amazing chicken pad thai I’ve ever had. Sooooooooo good, and cheap. After that we want to go to see the famed redlight district. I had heard stories but I definitely wasn’t ready. Hookers standing in windows in bikinis or whatever just waiting for men to walk in their door and have sex. Found out they don’t like their pictures taken, half of them used to be men, and they charge about 50euros for a “suck and fuck” as they put it. Not bad for 15 minutes. Ha. But yeah, they had sex shops, sex theatres where they had sex on stage (I heard from a friend that one of the shows, the guy couldn’t get hard…guess it’s a hard job having sex all day), and the smell of weed was everywhere. The good stuff, not the stuff that smells like asshole but the sweet sticky icky stuff. And I don’t even like weed. Then we wanted to go home, so we did. We got on the train and ride it. We come to a stop, not ours, and then the train starts going back in the way we came. What the hell. Just before this happened we got kicked out of our seats upstairs on the train cause that was for first class passengers, of which there were none. So we had to move, the started going back in the direction of Amsterdam, then got a noise violation, then made it back to Rotterdam. Turns out that’s just how the train went. We walked back, took some pictures and now I’m typing this.
I’ll say this about Amsterdam. Its busy, bustling, very free and the people do whatever they want, and the buildings are gorgeous, nothing modern all oldworld like its always been. Its clean and respectful but its so liberal and you just feel so comfortable. Everybody seems comfortable with sex, drugs, whatever lifestyle you choose to live and they’re happy. It was also surreal to see these places that you know from war documentaries. Like seeing the palace that I’ve seen nazi jeeps driving infront of during history class. Its just crazy, and the main reason I took this contract. Anyways, we’re going back tomorrow to see the shops and prolly go out in the gayborhood. After all, it is Amsterdam, Venice of the North, Gay Capitol of the world…I think. But no worries, I’m not going crazy, I’m saving that for October 12th. J
7.12.2007
amsterdam
spending the next 5 days in amsterdam. i doubt anything crazy will happen but i plan on seeing a lot of things. talk to you later
7.11.2007
yesterday was a sea day and today i had IPM in Hamburg, Germany. i hear its really cool out there but its cold and rainy so i'm glad i had to stay on the ship.
life has been pretty normal lately, sometimes it helps to just take a step back and look over yourself. thats all i'm gonna say about that. no need to get deep. i was introduced to a song today that has great lyrics and is sung by a great voice. his name is Michael Longoria and the song is called "Stay". matt introduced me to it and its only on myspace as far as i can tell. here's a sampling. its crazy how a song can say what you can't seem to formulate. don't worry matt, i'm not steeling your song, just thankful you told me about it and wanting to share it as well. it might get a little personal so you can stop reading if you're uncomfortable. thats all. no lesson of the day today
life has been pretty normal lately, sometimes it helps to just take a step back and look over yourself. thats all i'm gonna say about that. no need to get deep. i was introduced to a song today that has great lyrics and is sung by a great voice. his name is Michael Longoria and the song is called "Stay". matt introduced me to it and its only on myspace as far as i can tell. here's a sampling. its crazy how a song can say what you can't seem to formulate. don't worry matt, i'm not steeling your song, just thankful you told me about it and wanting to share it as well. it might get a little personal so you can stop reading if you're uncomfortable. thats all. no lesson of the day today
Oh, I wanna wake to find I'm freezing, as the blankets cover you.I wanna
fake like I am sleeping, till you find that it's not true.I wanna be awakened
early not having had enough rest.'Cause the feeling of waking next to you is the
best,That I want to stay, stay, stay, stay....Oh, baby you can run your fingers
through my hair, I won't fight.Funny, suddenly I don't care, if you mess with it
all night.In an instant my life changes simply having you around.So lost I was
without you on this day I am found.
7.09.2007
enough of that deep crap
so today was spent in Oslo just walkin around. good time, nothing fancy. saw some big licorice sticks and tons of pretty people. thats all
lesson of the day: country style fried chicken served on a ship bbq does not taste like country style fried chicken....i'd say maybe a little shake 'n bake and a little stovers stuffing mix? maybe?
lesson of the day: country style fried chicken served on a ship bbq does not taste like country style fried chicken....i'd say maybe a little shake 'n bake and a little stovers stuffing mix? maybe?
7.08.2007
some conclusions
I’ve clumped the last two day together for good reason. Basically I’m being passed around the pinnacle grill. Haha. Like a cheap asian hooker. Not really but its kinda funny these past two days.
Day one was in germany. I went out to lunch with Ferdinand and Ricardo. My boys. Jeff came too. We walked around the sea side town, watched some beach handball, saw a nudist 60 year old man in the ocean, saw a lighthouse, at some lunch, and talked for hours. I learned some dutch, talked about politics, and asked about their girlfriends. It was really fun. They went back to the ship and jeff and I stayed out for a little longer. We got a nutella creppe and came back to the ship. A little later me Natalie, stacy, peter, and jeff came back to that bar we went last time to watch Kristin play his songs. Had a good time. I walked around a bit before with peter and we saw a double rainbow crossing behind a church steeple. I took a picture under it posed like I was praying. I’m pretty funny. Came back to the ship, had a bratwurst on the walk back and then all met up in the P.O. a little later. That’s the petit officer’s bar for all you non ship linguists.
Day two. Get a call from George and Stefan to go to lunch today in Sweden. So we meet up and walk around in the rain, eat a pasta buffet (it was amazing), had some cappuccinos, and talked more politics and learned more dutch. Haha these pinnacle boys. Anyways, came back to the ship and now I’m typing this out. Learned some more trashy things about people on the ship. I’m glad I only crush on people cause after hearing who dated the last cast and who goes to bathhouses and saunas in ports, if I didn’t crush and actually acted, I’d be tragic like everybody else. They ship life is its own special things and I’ll testify to that. You get to see so many amazing things and have life changing experiences but at the end of the day you’re stuck with the same group of people the entire time and the easy ones just get recycled over and over again. I would have loved to have met somebody to take my mind off things but then I realized I don’t need somebody to do that and I’m thankful my few days of depression were just that, few. This contract has presented many challenging things and each victory over said challenges has made me stronger. Of course I hope I’m not doing things for the wrong reason but I have faith that I am not. I hope I haven’t been played this entire contract and the people I’ve met and the people in my life are being true and honest and not secretive or manipulative. I can only hope I’m presenting myself in the same fashion those close to me are.
Lesson of the day: eventually people come around and straight boys can make the best temporary boyfriends.
Day one was in germany. I went out to lunch with Ferdinand and Ricardo. My boys. Jeff came too. We walked around the sea side town, watched some beach handball, saw a nudist 60 year old man in the ocean, saw a lighthouse, at some lunch, and talked for hours. I learned some dutch, talked about politics, and asked about their girlfriends. It was really fun. They went back to the ship and jeff and I stayed out for a little longer. We got a nutella creppe and came back to the ship. A little later me Natalie, stacy, peter, and jeff came back to that bar we went last time to watch Kristin play his songs. Had a good time. I walked around a bit before with peter and we saw a double rainbow crossing behind a church steeple. I took a picture under it posed like I was praying. I’m pretty funny. Came back to the ship, had a bratwurst on the walk back and then all met up in the P.O. a little later. That’s the petit officer’s bar for all you non ship linguists.
Day two. Get a call from George and Stefan to go to lunch today in Sweden. So we meet up and walk around in the rain, eat a pasta buffet (it was amazing), had some cappuccinos, and talked more politics and learned more dutch. Haha these pinnacle boys. Anyways, came back to the ship and now I’m typing this out. Learned some more trashy things about people on the ship. I’m glad I only crush on people cause after hearing who dated the last cast and who goes to bathhouses and saunas in ports, if I didn’t crush and actually acted, I’d be tragic like everybody else. They ship life is its own special things and I’ll testify to that. You get to see so many amazing things and have life changing experiences but at the end of the day you’re stuck with the same group of people the entire time and the easy ones just get recycled over and over again. I would have loved to have met somebody to take my mind off things but then I realized I don’t need somebody to do that and I’m thankful my few days of depression were just that, few. This contract has presented many challenging things and each victory over said challenges has made me stronger. Of course I hope I’m not doing things for the wrong reason but I have faith that I am not. I hope I haven’t been played this entire contract and the people I’ve met and the people in my life are being true and honest and not secretive or manipulative. I can only hope I’m presenting myself in the same fashion those close to me are.
Lesson of the day: eventually people come around and straight boys can make the best temporary boyfriends.
7.06.2007
blahbity blah
We left Copenhagen today. I shed a tear. Other than that a whole lot of nothing has gone on. The cast has this entire cruise off because the ship has been chartered out to a Jazz Charter. All we have to do is work doors for the shows and that’s its. This music is insane. The ship is alive all hours of the day with a different band playing every few minutes somewhere on the ship. They have big jazz names too so its not like a rinky dink charter. I haven’t heard of any of them but I hear they are the top of the top. Marcus miller, herbie hancock, some woman named DeDe. Yeah, I’m not much help on that but its amazing. The ship is 50%african American and 50%caucasian. The vibe is so cool and relaxed and everybody is just having fun. I’m in heaven cause I’m surrounded by cool black women.
Lets see, our new event manager is a scum bag. He is rude, socially awkward, and sexually harasses me. This is the guy that hooks up with somebody every few weeks, usually of the cast. I haven’t said one word to him and he is always staring at me, touching me, or making some sexual joke. I’m about one joke away from reporting him, I’m not even kidding. Today he said my shirt was unbuttoned too much and although he enjoyed the show I was giving and liked talking about my chest I needed to button it one more button. Said that if I can’t button my shirts I should buy one that fits. DEAD TO ME!!!!! And he expects to get with me after that? Think again friend. And he looks like a fucking bird with jacked up hair, chicken legs, and a gut. Fix yourself before you try to get cute with me.(tried to channel my sister on that one)
Um what else, I have definitely realized the moment I step off the ship I come to life again. I don’t have any distractions here on the ship so all I do is think. Its really not healthy. I’ve had some scary decisions pop in and out of my head that I don’t know are valid because all I do is sit and brood. Does that make sense? But yeah, its definitely hard to clear your head and not get consumed with yourself being inside a giant metal vessel. Any connection to the outside world is welcome but that’s very rare. Anyways, I don’t want to spend any money but I can’t stay on the ship and in order to get off the ship I’ll have to spend money, be it on a taxi or lunch or a new shirt. Whatever. I’m going to lunch tomorrow with Ferd and Ric in Germany. Then going to see a band play later that night. Guess I’m spending money. Anything to find a moment of joy.
Lesson of the Day: working out only makes you look fierce and looking fierce only gets you more attention and more attention only makes you a slave to your fans. Chain me up.
Lesson #2 of the Day: lesson #1 is only for the sick and masochistic. True happiness comes from inside and can only be promoted through heavy drinking. Right dad? :)
Lets see, our new event manager is a scum bag. He is rude, socially awkward, and sexually harasses me. This is the guy that hooks up with somebody every few weeks, usually of the cast. I haven’t said one word to him and he is always staring at me, touching me, or making some sexual joke. I’m about one joke away from reporting him, I’m not even kidding. Today he said my shirt was unbuttoned too much and although he enjoyed the show I was giving and liked talking about my chest I needed to button it one more button. Said that if I can’t button my shirts I should buy one that fits. DEAD TO ME!!!!! And he expects to get with me after that? Think again friend. And he looks like a fucking bird with jacked up hair, chicken legs, and a gut. Fix yourself before you try to get cute with me.(tried to channel my sister on that one)
Um what else, I have definitely realized the moment I step off the ship I come to life again. I don’t have any distractions here on the ship so all I do is think. Its really not healthy. I’ve had some scary decisions pop in and out of my head that I don’t know are valid because all I do is sit and brood. Does that make sense? But yeah, its definitely hard to clear your head and not get consumed with yourself being inside a giant metal vessel. Any connection to the outside world is welcome but that’s very rare. Anyways, I don’t want to spend any money but I can’t stay on the ship and in order to get off the ship I’ll have to spend money, be it on a taxi or lunch or a new shirt. Whatever. I’m going to lunch tomorrow with Ferd and Ric in Germany. Then going to see a band play later that night. Guess I’m spending money. Anything to find a moment of joy.
Lesson of the Day: working out only makes you look fierce and looking fierce only gets you more attention and more attention only makes you a slave to your fans. Chain me up.
Lesson #2 of the Day: lesson #1 is only for the sick and masochistic. True happiness comes from inside and can only be promoted through heavy drinking. Right dad? :)
7.05.2007
night out in copenhagen
Let me try to recap my night out in copenhagen before I forget. SO….15 of us head out to go party in the city. Me, shaunacy kim and Janelle, all the pinnacle boys (Ferdinand, Ricardo(my straight boyfriend), George and Stephan) the cruise director and a few assistant cruise directors, and scott all go to the train station to go to a bar called Rust. Copenhagen is 4 stops away from the ship and we got off on the second stop to go to this bar. We walked for 45 minutes to get to this bar…that was closed. We turn around and walk back to the train station, go past the train station to another section of town END UP IN THE PART OF TOWN I WAS IN ALL AFTERNOON. I have officially walked Copenahagen. A little over an hour has passed and people are getting hungry and pissy. We find an irish pub, casuse every city has one, and we go there and get tanked as fast as possible. I was drinking Danish beer which is HEAVENLY, and I hate beer. I’ll remember the name later I’m sure. But yeah, we hung out there for a few hours, watch a gay guitar band cover all the great hits of the 90’s, and by gay I mean they were all homos, I swear. We left that place in search for another bar. It’s a little after 2 and we’re still thirsty. We find a bar called rosies and I’m in heaven. It’s a mixed bar with gays and straights and sweet music from 1998. they played who let the dogs out, getting jiggy with it, disco inferno, and some sweet dance music. I found the man of my dreams but I think he was looking at kim. Or me cause we made eye contact the whole night. And right as I was about to go talk to him my group left. I’m talking he was perfect. About my age or younger, brown hair, nice arms, great lips, smile, good style, blue eyes, probably playes sports and got straight A’s in school, comfortable with himself, good skin, cute hairstyle. The most attractive male I’ve see since my cruise began. Dang, please excuse the excessive details, the taxi ride home was ROUGH and that with the beer made for a great buzz. But yeah, now its 4 oclock and I’m typing this. Also, the taxi was a Mercedes. I told you I love Denmark. Matt, we’re coming here later, maybe after school or inbetween jobs. Its too open and amazing to miss out. I mean, if you want to and stuff.
Lesson of the day: I still have IT, Copenhagen is my favorite city in the world(and I can honestly say that), and I had this pita gyro type thing that started with an F that was amazing, and most importantly…you can have fun at pubs so long as you’re drunk. God bless the Danes.
Lesson of the day: I still have IT, Copenhagen is my favorite city in the world(and I can honestly say that), and I had this pita gyro type thing that started with an F that was amazing, and most importantly…you can have fun at pubs so long as you’re drunk. God bless the Danes.
f-ing hell i'm wet
all i'm gonna say is, you know when you talk to someone and the next day you think "wow, if i didn't say anything i prolly never would have heard from them?" yeah, so thats that.
we are in my favorite country Denmark today. Copenhagen to be more precise. i friggin love this place. its about 55 degrees, windy, and rainy and we spent 6 hours walking around and getting wet. i'm def. planning a vacation here later in life, its just too amazing to not see again. we have an overnight here so we were all talkin about going to a gay club and having a blast. but since the other gays are afraid of water i don't think they're gonna make it out tonight. if me and the straights can't get together then i'll prolly just stay in and sleep or do my nails or something.
i've had an amazing day but i'm still in a weird funk. not as bad as the other days but there's still something lingering. maybe i'm just making stuff up and if thats the case then i need to stop. but i just don't feel like its that difficult to communicate to those you care about. whatever, i'm being really passive agressive and its annoying me.
lesson of the day: a 20 dollar chinese buffet doesn't mean its gonna be good. i mean we didn't even get a fortune cookie
we are in my favorite country Denmark today. Copenhagen to be more precise. i friggin love this place. its about 55 degrees, windy, and rainy and we spent 6 hours walking around and getting wet. i'm def. planning a vacation here later in life, its just too amazing to not see again. we have an overnight here so we were all talkin about going to a gay club and having a blast. but since the other gays are afraid of water i don't think they're gonna make it out tonight. if me and the straights can't get together then i'll prolly just stay in and sleep or do my nails or something.
i've had an amazing day but i'm still in a weird funk. not as bad as the other days but there's still something lingering. maybe i'm just making stuff up and if thats the case then i need to stop. but i just don't feel like its that difficult to communicate to those you care about. whatever, i'm being really passive agressive and its annoying me.
lesson of the day: a 20 dollar chinese buffet doesn't mean its gonna be good. i mean we didn't even get a fortune cookie
7.03.2007
better now
i took a nap, got over my funk, talked to some good people, had a blast doing the shows, had a nice drink and had a good conversation with peter and ferdinand. i'm ok again. tomorrow is our first day of the next 13 days off. OH YEAH. love you
bummed out....a slightly different entry
So there’s lots of stupid things running around inside my head right now. Why do I feel alone, why am I not desired, why am I so bummed out right now. Like I said, stupid things. We had rehearsal at midnight tonight and it ran till 1:30. there was a big party in the P.O. for Canada/American independence day. It closed at 2. we get there are 1:30 and its all food. I’m not eating late at night so that bummed me out. Then I see people hooking up and hitting it off all around. That bummed me out. I see the new hot guy on board getting in good with one of the guys in my cast. That bummed me out and I’m not even looking for that. I see the other boy in my cast 2 boyfriends and that just irritated me, but still, bummed out. I leave the party with my sprite and go search B deck for the two guys I can always talk to and shoot the shit with, Ricardo and Ferdinand. They are asleep. That bummed me out. I go back to my room and check my email just to see if I got any cute emails or anything. Nothing. Bummed out. So I decide to go out to Deck 3 aft to my spot and watch the sunrise over the calm waters and try to clear my head and get over myself. Its fuscia, pink, orange, teal, navy. Its stunning. Not so bummed anymore. Then I see a bottle of champagne, a towel, and some fruit. A couple is back there celebrating something, probably their love for eachother. BUMMED OUT. I can’t even do that. So that lead me to my computer.
What started out as a diary of my travels might just become the only place I have to release my thoughts. I realize that it’s a very public venue but I’ll be damned if I just want somebody to listen and not talk back. You know what I mean. I called matt today and he sounded good, had some issues with the apartment but sounded good. I just called to say hi. He’s having a party tonight so I prolly won’t call so I don’t interrupt. Maybe I will. Who knows. Why am I even thinking that much about it. For some time I’ve been having these weird feelings of jealousy and hate towards people who have somebody. Somebody to hold and talk to and listen to and walk around and look at the sunrise with. There’s nothing I can do to change my current situation other than get fired so this is something I have to accept. Its just lately, in the last week or so a lot of things have kinda started building up and happening that have caused me to search deep into my sometimes shallow mind and question myself. Am I attractive. Am I approachable. Am I worth the effort. Am I too gay. Am I not gay enough. Like I said earlier…STUPID ASS QUESTIONS.
I don’t know where I want to take this so I’m gonna stop. Abrupt I know but you’ll get over it. This entry is kinda random but its been consuming my mind lately. I’ve been in a funk for a few days, being sick didn’t help, and I can’t seem to find a way out of it. The thing that usually cheers me up can’t right now and the other thing I’m not able to do because, well, where am I gonna take a dance class on this damn retirement home ship. The end. Whatever.
p.s. dad we were in helsinki today. but we didn't have enough time to see it so everybody just wanted to go shopping. it was cool though.
What started out as a diary of my travels might just become the only place I have to release my thoughts. I realize that it’s a very public venue but I’ll be damned if I just want somebody to listen and not talk back. You know what I mean. I called matt today and he sounded good, had some issues with the apartment but sounded good. I just called to say hi. He’s having a party tonight so I prolly won’t call so I don’t interrupt. Maybe I will. Who knows. Why am I even thinking that much about it. For some time I’ve been having these weird feelings of jealousy and hate towards people who have somebody. Somebody to hold and talk to and listen to and walk around and look at the sunrise with. There’s nothing I can do to change my current situation other than get fired so this is something I have to accept. Its just lately, in the last week or so a lot of things have kinda started building up and happening that have caused me to search deep into my sometimes shallow mind and question myself. Am I attractive. Am I approachable. Am I worth the effort. Am I too gay. Am I not gay enough. Like I said earlier…STUPID ASS QUESTIONS.
I don’t know where I want to take this so I’m gonna stop. Abrupt I know but you’ll get over it. This entry is kinda random but its been consuming my mind lately. I’ve been in a funk for a few days, being sick didn’t help, and I can’t seem to find a way out of it. The thing that usually cheers me up can’t right now and the other thing I’m not able to do because, well, where am I gonna take a dance class on this damn retirement home ship. The end. Whatever.
p.s. dad we were in helsinki today. but we didn't have enough time to see it so everybody just wanted to go shopping. it was cool though.
7.01.2007
ricky
first off let me say, i'm gonna need a revival of all the 80's hair bands. the music was just too good. guns n roses...come back.
ok so it was a day off, i slept, got some medicine, and worked out. we went to the pinnacle grill to say goodbye to jen and it was friggin amazing. 7 courses of perfection. i've never had such good food. and my straight boyfriend ricardo served us the whole time. it was amazing. then we watched this guest entertainer who is a piano virtuoso. whatever that means. he was good. now i'm just waiting till ricardo, george, and ferdinand get off work from the pinnacle so i can go flirt with them. haha. its what i do here to pass the time. they all call me good looking. i'm their favorite.....and rumor has it ricardo might like boys. uh oh. whatever, its all fun and games.
this is the worst blog entry ever.
lesson of the day: my medication made my poop look like kibbles and bits. like the dog food. what the hell. tiny little squares. that is weird right?
ok so it was a day off, i slept, got some medicine, and worked out. we went to the pinnacle grill to say goodbye to jen and it was friggin amazing. 7 courses of perfection. i've never had such good food. and my straight boyfriend ricardo served us the whole time. it was amazing. then we watched this guest entertainer who is a piano virtuoso. whatever that means. he was good. now i'm just waiting till ricardo, george, and ferdinand get off work from the pinnacle so i can go flirt with them. haha. its what i do here to pass the time. they all call me good looking. i'm their favorite.....and rumor has it ricardo might like boys. uh oh. whatever, its all fun and games.
this is the worst blog entry ever.
lesson of the day: my medication made my poop look like kibbles and bits. like the dog food. what the hell. tiny little squares. that is weird right?
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