7 more days and it is the 90 day mark. a time when i will start talking with the head office about my next cruise. yep, i'm game for another contract.
over all, it's pretty great.
yesterday was odd, though. i'm recovering from a sinus infection. yesterday was a day of intense coughing and other forms of phlegm management. that wore me out physically, on top of clocking about 12 hours yesterday (gettin them hours!). when i hit the hay at midnight, i fully expected to be asleep before the lights were off, but i couldn't fall asleep.
and this is a perk of ship life: i rolled down to the bar, hung out with friends (dethroning the current foosball champions with the help of martin, the guitarist, against mike and chris - chris is my former partner in foosball victory, so that victory was even more sweet). then sat outside with mike and his guitar until 3:30 am.
we made up a song about our new friend, percival the bird, who was hanging out on the forward mast, "scoot scootin" on his perch and sometimes gliding with us. he was the size of a small dog.
and then i started reading "moby dick" now that i've finished learning about the origins of the universe (which was awesome).
i am enthralled with the writing already. huzzah melville! that kept me going until 4:30am.
i haven't figured out why i was so restless last night.
perhaps it was the funk i was in most of the evening. it wasn't until chilling out with mike that i finally hit reset.
4 hours later, back to work!
my big project right now is replacing the cat's paw on the soles of the new casts' new shoes. they came with some slippery crap. nothing like the smell of contact cement at 9am.
love and late nights,
jme
24 September 2010
17 September 2010
Day 75
We're getting called out for not working enough hours. The boss says we need to be racking up 50-60 hours a week. I've usually been somewhere near 35. The Audio/Visual guys, who have recently merged into our Entertainment department, are getting over 70 hours a week, which is inversely not good. We're not supposed to go over 70, but we keep getting told we need to work hard like them. The structure with the merge is messed up with no model. Lots of drama.
Well, good thing the work is picking up in my area - we have a new cast learning the show, so there is more to do in prepping the stage for their rehearsals; also, my roommate is leaving and has no replacement. She's a tech as well and decided this job wasn't for her. Because she worked in another area of the boat and they were already planning to drop this position, the rest of us are going to have to cover her tasks.
I went to Belize City for the first time, yesterday. I have no pictures to show for it and am pretty glad I didn't bring my camera. I'd love to take pictures, but the economy is so poor that displaying something like that, I'd be nervous for my safety.
A large group of us went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The menu options were chicken, chicken, or pork... I ended up having sides -> rice, beans, tomato slices, and fried plantains. It was excellent and worth the hour plus wait.
Also, the beer is tasty!
A table of seven meals and 2 dozen beers was $67. We gave the cook/owner $112.
Next week I will have my cabin to myself. I may get a new roommate the following week when the new sax player arrives. Looking forward to a change of pace. Also, I tend to hang out with the musos anyway.
Working on learning some Italian and how to play the guitar.
Haven't done much of either recently, though.
A big debate Chris and I have had recently was on attractiveness. He believes that women are attractive when they look like real people - no make-up, that if they're tired, they should look it. He says that make-up and all the stuff we put on is false-advertising. That if you don't wear it when you're at home alone, then why would you when you're out?
The idea is that we change ourselves to suit other people. That we betray ourselves by altering our appearances in order to please others, in order to attract others. And that we're not the same people at home as the faces we put on.
I love some of the sentiment behind it - that we don't need to be wrapped up in these superficial things (a lot of which are quite consumerist) and that it's okay to look like a human.
But I think primping is fine. I don't think everything that people do to themselves is attractive, but I don't take issue with a daily look that is moderately made-up and a special time look that is done for fun.
I agree that we don't NEED to do these things and that nobody should feel that they can't go out without being themselves. And I also agree that there is a fine line between getting all made up because you like it and doing it because you think others like it.
A common friend, Martin, came up to me in the middle of this very discussion, unaware of what we were talking about and told me that he thought my eyes looked good with the mascara I was wearing, and that I should wear it more often.
Chris's hackles got up because he interpreted it as I should never not wear mascara. I took it as a compliment.
But I see Chris's point - that even so small of a thing tries to influence our choices in how we present ourselves.
My interpretation of Chris's moral of the story is "if you don't like me as I am, fuck off."
And of course I agree with that. And unless you go to extremes to avoid any semblance of "fashion", it's hard to draw the line between what you do for your own expression and what you put on for the sake of others.
Discuss.
Well, good thing the work is picking up in my area - we have a new cast learning the show, so there is more to do in prepping the stage for their rehearsals; also, my roommate is leaving and has no replacement. She's a tech as well and decided this job wasn't for her. Because she worked in another area of the boat and they were already planning to drop this position, the rest of us are going to have to cover her tasks.
I went to Belize City for the first time, yesterday. I have no pictures to show for it and am pretty glad I didn't bring my camera. I'd love to take pictures, but the economy is so poor that displaying something like that, I'd be nervous for my safety.
A large group of us went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The menu options were chicken, chicken, or pork... I ended up having sides -> rice, beans, tomato slices, and fried plantains. It was excellent and worth the hour plus wait.
Also, the beer is tasty!
A table of seven meals and 2 dozen beers was $67. We gave the cook/owner $112.
Next week I will have my cabin to myself. I may get a new roommate the following week when the new sax player arrives. Looking forward to a change of pace. Also, I tend to hang out with the musos anyway.
Working on learning some Italian and how to play the guitar.
Haven't done much of either recently, though.
A big debate Chris and I have had recently was on attractiveness. He believes that women are attractive when they look like real people - no make-up, that if they're tired, they should look it. He says that make-up and all the stuff we put on is false-advertising. That if you don't wear it when you're at home alone, then why would you when you're out?
The idea is that we change ourselves to suit other people. That we betray ourselves by altering our appearances in order to please others, in order to attract others. And that we're not the same people at home as the faces we put on.
I love some of the sentiment behind it - that we don't need to be wrapped up in these superficial things (a lot of which are quite consumerist) and that it's okay to look like a human.
But I think primping is fine. I don't think everything that people do to themselves is attractive, but I don't take issue with a daily look that is moderately made-up and a special time look that is done for fun.
I agree that we don't NEED to do these things and that nobody should feel that they can't go out without being themselves. And I also agree that there is a fine line between getting all made up because you like it and doing it because you think others like it.
A common friend, Martin, came up to me in the middle of this very discussion, unaware of what we were talking about and told me that he thought my eyes looked good with the mascara I was wearing, and that I should wear it more often.
Chris's hackles got up because he interpreted it as I should never not wear mascara. I took it as a compliment.
But I see Chris's point - that even so small of a thing tries to influence our choices in how we present ourselves.
My interpretation of Chris's moral of the story is "if you don't like me as I am, fuck off."
And of course I agree with that. And unless you go to extremes to avoid any semblance of "fashion", it's hard to draw the line between what you do for your own expression and what you put on for the sake of others.
Discuss.
10 September 2010
day 69
quick blast before my computer battery dies
long time, no internet. sorry guys.
all is well.
i now have a new cell phone charger and so will be regularly using my phone on sundays... and having it on to receive calls! woohoo! you can reach me sundays until 3:30pm est.
in my time away from the internet, i've learned to solder. so that took all of 5 minutes. been good and busy though.
lots of personal growth. LOTS of great philosophical discussions had with friends. i hope to fill you in on some of them in the near future.
it'll be trickier to get off the boat as much over the next four weeks. we're in the process of a cast change - so there are rehearsals during the day when i would be getting off. i don't always have to be there, but definitely do as they get more and more into using the set/tech elements.
love and kisses,
jamie
long time, no internet. sorry guys.
all is well.
i now have a new cell phone charger and so will be regularly using my phone on sundays... and having it on to receive calls! woohoo! you can reach me sundays until 3:30pm est.
in my time away from the internet, i've learned to solder. so that took all of 5 minutes. been good and busy though.
lots of personal growth. LOTS of great philosophical discussions had with friends. i hope to fill you in on some of them in the near future.
it'll be trickier to get off the boat as much over the next four weeks. we're in the process of a cast change - so there are rehearsals during the day when i would be getting off. i don't always have to be there, but definitely do as they get more and more into using the set/tech elements.
love and kisses,
jamie
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