Logic Gaming at FASCO rocks!

Was checking out some blogs via various routes and came across this game:


You HAVE to go check this out. It's a point and click style mystery - the idea is to get out of the room by finding objects and working out the clues. Amazing design with flash player and so addictive. WARNING: You will need a good 30mins to an hour spare. I played this room and then the Viridian room - next onto the Blue Chamber!
Load the English Version then click on the title screen to start the story.

The "URL" clue doesn't work - HINT: 1994

If you need a tip then just leave a comment on this post.

Week going well so far. All Christmas cards written, most foreign ones posted (held up most of the cue in the post office buying stamps for various countries!) and presents wrapped. Enjoying various Christmas "do's" this week - all church related - fabulous!

The Lurgy cometh

I have been ill for roughly the last 4 days. Caught the rather dislikeable sickness bug that is going around the wilds of Wythall and Hollywood at the moment, so spent most of Sunday in bed unable to move, eat or even drink water - which then leaves you with a stunning headache. I also developed backache not sure whether it was the bug or just me lying there but I have to say that I haven't felt quite so pathetic in a long time. I'm just waiting to get "The Cold" now....bring it on....

I'm enjoying this life of leisure so far. I went to see the new Harry Potter film with Mum, Vix and some of Mum's friends. It was good, although due to the length of the film vs the leangth of the book quite a lot of the non-essential plot gets missed out. Visually stunning, packed with action and I have to admit to shedding a few tears at the v. well handled ending. My favourite scene is in the Great Hall when Harry, Ron and Hermione are studying and asking about dates they are taking to the ball - Alan Rickman doesn't have a lot to do in this film - but this is truly his finest comic moment!!(although I'm going to have to chec in the book to see if that actually happens!)

I've been to see various folks, done some Christmas shopping, had a trip to IKEA with Jo and we moved my room about - no matter what you do to it it still reembles a box with a window!- started to organise a work placement/visit and got various bits of work for the next couple of months.

I have 3 Christmas "Do's" next week - 3! and they're all for Church related groups!!

[/fangirl]

What a fab weekend! I got to forget all the training that has been drummed into me (..must not ask for autograph..must not ask for autograph..) and be a gleeful fangirl (although not too much!) at the Memorabilia exibition.

I saw the Red Dwarf cast minus Craig Charles(family issues...) and got autographs. Chloe Annett was cool, I asked her to sign my DVD of 'Pasty Faces' and she got all excited about seeing a copy! It was an independent film based in Glasgow and Las Vegas - I was an extra in one of the Glasgow scenes. The main guy is in a chicken suit being beaten up against the window of a cafe - I'm in the window...pretending not to notice!!! Chloe was one of the main characters.

Tom Baker(his last appearance, apparently!) and some other Dr Who types were there.

Got to see my first ST:TNG cast member in the flesh. Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar) was there and did a Q&A session. She spoke about her experiences, the rest of the cast and her reasons for leaving and the process that it took. She mentioned Wil Wheaton and mentioned the fact that he kept having to disappear to his schoolroom to do classes during shooting!

As I'm not doing panto now I'm going to take the oportunity to go visiting over the next few weeks. Although not too much - I did spend rather a lot of money this weekend....best leave the amount out of this I think!

Geekily Happy!

Well, I have finished my long week of work at the theatre - ended up doing 2 extra days to help out LX and the new Sound guy and am now completely shattered - mainly because the usual 45min journey to Cov has been taking 1hour 15mins - which means leaving here at 7:45am and getting back at about 11:00pm everyday :(

Still, tomorrow a day of fangirl heaven arrives as I toddle off to the NEC for the Memorabilia Show, Full of Sci-Fi, Comic stuff... but mainly - a RD cast Reunion!!! Am going to attempt to be cool, and shall probably fail miserably! :)

Happy Birthday BMMOC - 25 this month!!

Ah yes it's that time again. Today I spent 8 hours doing panto fit-up at the Belgrade. Tomorrow Iam their from 9am-10pm and Wednesday the same. (so I guess I should get to bed soon!)

It's been good getting back into the swing of things. There were some new faces around which was cool, and we actually managed to get quite a lot done. I have been given the option of Sound Op-ing for the actual show.... This is a pretty big deal and a whole lot of responsibilty (not to mention concentration!)I would have to live mix the band and the cast (somewhere in the region of 10 radio mics!) although the main thing is the "muting" - essential timing required!! ;)

Theoretically this should be fine for me...But I'm still not really decided. I have experience mixing groups and music from the ship, this is pretty different but would also be a good challenge and experience for me..hmmmmmm.....

The reason I didn't work the whole 9am-10pm today is that I had to go to the Birmingham branch of the MMOC (Morris Minor Owners Club) meeting tonight as it is the 25th anniversary of the first meeting this month --pretty cool. Especially as after the 3rd meeting (there's one a month) my mums water's broke and away she went to the hospital to have me - so it's kind of a poignant I guess! :S

Crazy Lights

Check out this - it's Brilliant!!!

[Edit] Since posting this link I've had loads of hits to my webblog! If you want more info on it then check out this link, there's a bit of a discussion but somewhere in the posts it explains how its done..and NO it is NOT animation!

In the last couple of weeks a few new things have come into my life.....

Exhibit A)
I've finally started my Tap lessons! Huzzah! \||/ I'm really enjoying them and seem to be quite good at it! This is where I go for my lessons, lovely cafe aswell ;)

Exhibit B)
I won this lovely instrument on ebay, and then had a fun 4 1/2 hour drive (there and back) to Sussex to pick it up! It was worth it though, it sounds beautiful. Well... I haven't played since I left school so it's not that great but it's fun!

Exhibit C)

This is Steven Blakeley, he's playing the newest recruit to Ashfordly's police force in "Heartbeat" at the mo (click on photo for link). He was also the lead in the final play I DSM'd at Uni and toured to Poland! I know this is not new to most folk - but in my defence, I have been out of the country for 11 months!!! Well done to Steve :)

I'm off out with T tonight to see a gig tonight by some folks called "3 Men & Black "(plus friends!) sounds good!

I Hear Tapping but there's noone there.....

Unless its me practising in the kitchen (only joking mum!!! - the laminate floor is safe :S )

Yes I finally bit the proverbial bullet and had me a Tap Dancing Lesson. And do you know, I wasn't as completely useless as I thought I'd be! In fact the ladies kept asking if I'd done it before. There were 3 in the class (apparently this number and the faces vary week by week!) and the teacher was cool. My balance leaves something to be desired but I picked up the stuff quite quick - Yey a 17 year dream is realised!

T and I went to watch an Ice Hockey Game in Solihull on Sunday night. It was great once I got into it. Not much of an atmosphere there but the game was pretty exciting - I almost understood the rules by the end aswell!

I'm a little worried at my level of geek-ness right at this moment. I've ordered a T-Shirt from wilwheaton.net, My copy of RD VII arrived 2 days before the release date and I watched the whole thing twice (the second time with commentaries) before the day it was supposed to come out, and also there's a "Memorabilia" convention at the NEC at the end of November where the cast of said series will be reuniting - and I'm actually gutted by thought I may not be able to go!(Panto - yes that old chestnut is back!)

I'm a GEEK and, damn it, I'm PROUD!!!

Now going to soak my feet in the bath, as I'm not sure they enjoyed the Tap experience as much as I did!!!

Happy Birthday Blog

My Blog is 2 Years Old, Ah Bless!

That's an huge amount of time for me to keep a journal type thing! I look back at it sometimes to see where I was and what I was thinking. I've done a lot in those 2 years, and it gives me a chance to see what I've learned and how I've grown (or not - you decide!). I reckon everyone should have some form of journaling, it's amazing therapy and so much cheaper than a person ;)

"We're not in Kansas anymore.."

In fact, I'm not entirely sure where I am.

Of all the feelings/emotions that I have experienced when leaving somewhere/finishing a contrcat and coming home, this has to be the weirdest. I feel like I'm in a permament state of limbo. Everyday reality comes a little more closer (and that's no picnic believe me!)but I feel like I'm dreaming and that at any moment I could wkae up. This also comes with a feeling of invincibility, which is slightly odd to say the least.

However getting home went pretty smoothly. Sat next to Cath form reception on the bus to the airport, guided Sarah's trolley around the terminal, ran to get to the gate in time and then we got treated as V.I.P's when the steward on the plane knew we'd been working on the ship!

Jo & Vicky had made a banner for me and bought me a little pressie and on my phone was a message form the Belgrade offering me Follow Spot work this week - crazy! (Panto's looking good then ;))

The evening and following day were chilled with a girly night in and yesterday was spent washing my grime covered car, seeing Dad and helping my mum decorate a hall. Also I went to see Son and Clare, yeyeyeyeyey Sanity! Son is pregnant, wOOt! Although she can't open the fridge without feeling neauseous :(

Church this morning was FAB. Had some speakers in who'd done a session with some folks yesterday about taking risks and opening our hearts to God. Just what I needed to get back into things. Saw EVERYONE!!!! Sarah with her gorgeous engagement ring, Abi looking cute, and various members of the youth looking about 1ft taller :)

In my absence I seem to have been appointed assistant Youth worker!! So this evening we're taking them bowling, tomorrow I'm chaperoning an "Alternative Trick or Treat" and Adrian has asked me to help him start and after school club at my old Primary school....you know...I'm sure I was supposed to rest!!! Seriously though, I'm really looking forward to it, it's cool to be involved in church stuff and to be useful!

Hopefully Sarah (dancer) is coming over this week to start her show reel stuff. It'll be nice to have a slice of ship life for a bit:)

The Summer That Was.....

Well that´s it.

There are now only 6 of us left on the ship waiting to go home. Lauren and Gav M are staying overnight in a hotel for the Scotland flight tomorrow and me and Sarah are heading off at 4pm. Just popped into town for a couple of last minute things.

Had a hectic but good last week. Last nights show was great, a few tears shed on stage and a general feeling of a job well done. This week we´ve had to divert ports TWICE due to ill passengers and Spanish Fishermen blockading Barcelona, but the PAX were great about it. Despite the chaos it could so easily have beome this week has actually been quite relaxing :)

Interesting season, definitely learned about being more patient! Looking forward to next summer now, although, I´m so grateful for this rest!!!!

See you in Brum.......

1 week to go!!!!!

Only one week until I can ditch this life on the high (well, occasionally!)and get back to something resembling normality for a bit.

Everyone´s definitely in Countdown mode. Me and the boys are packing boxes, clearing up and generally organising like crazy. Felino has redeemed himself a bit from his behaviour after Dante left by working like a badger for last 3 days to clear and inventory the Can Can Booth.

I was being harassed by the ETO so badly earlier in the week that I was given a radio with a direct line to Rich! He literally started following me around because I wouldn´t give him the inventory back (this is after he stole out from a pile of paperwork on my desk and then gave it back after a heated discussion). We´ve been specifically told that I couldn´t sign it off, TPTB had to. But he couldn´t really understand what I was saying - including "Leave Me ALONE!!!!! or he was just being pig-headed (as well as frequently referring to me as ´the girl´ instead of ´technician´ or ´Stage Manager´) so in the end Rich managed to talk to him and attempted to explain the situation and explain that he was being rude. Haven´t seen him since so hopefully that´s the end of that.

Me & Fel (and various others) have been doing amusing (hopefully!) things in the booth this week during the last shows which have been making the team smile (and in some cases corpse completely!). These include: wearing brightly coloured wigs and holding up signs for D.I.S.C.O, writing messages on Big red hearts and hanging them in the booth, wearing various hats (depending on the show), joining in with the actions for Do-Re-Mi and generally trying to come up with more and more things to do! TPTB are on this week hough so we may have to calm down a bit :))))

Born and Bred Series 3 arrived this morning so Vicks is wanting a bit of a marathon! Also the DVD of one of my all time favourite films "The Parent Trap" - the original of course, arrived. It has loads of extra features so guess where I´ll be for the next few days!!!

Can´t wait to get home and see everyone, now about work for winter.......

Manicures and Tax Rebates

I had my first ever Manicure this week, I was stuck on duty yesterday (Barcelona day) so I thought I would treat myself. The amazing Geta did my nails, look, aren´t they pretty?!



Checked my account this week to see if I´d been paid and found a very nice amount back from the tax man!!! Yes those wonderful people at Seatax sorted everything out for me and now I get my hard earned cash back :))

Only 2 weeks to go!!! Everyone´s getting pretty excited now. This week we start the last run of shows (we do a 2 week itinerary) so we can pack stuf up as we go. Well, I say we, actually I mean the show team and their costmes. Me and the boys have to wait for the Production managers to come on in the last week - so our last week is going to be a riot :(

The weather this week has been much better, not blisteringly hot anymore, although there were a couple of days where sunbathing could have been an option!

I Really Should Know Better...

Are you one of those people who, when enjoying a trul pleasant day, always has a feeling of foreboding, purely because "..nothing goes this well without then going horribly wrong"?, No....Well, welcome to my life!

I have a really good day yesterday, one that made me remember why I enjoy working on Cruise Ships. It was Sunday, I had a duty at 9am and then nothing until 8pm because I was supposed to be going to Pisa. Due to the fact it was raining and some randoms from TUI turned up me and some others got unceremoniously chucked off our tour but in the end tyhat was great!

Me & Vicks had a loungy morning watching "Born and Bred", I had Hot Chocolate with Gareth in the OKL whilst heckling Gavin and 'New Boy' (Iain - our non-techie). Then we borrowed Cluedo and headed down the stairs where various waifs and strays from the Ents team joined us for a game. I left to teach kids juggling and when I came back they'd moved on to Girls vs Boys Pictionary. Needless to say we whooped them! Then someone had the ingenious idea of Bingo, so we all put something in for the prize and we borrowed the crew bingo machine. We had a strip of 6 tickets each and Gav called. You could have heard a pin drop!

The Show in the evening was hysterical. Factors included the appaling weather, everyone having had a very relaxing Sunday, the fact that it was impossible to walk in a straight line never mind dance or do acrobatics, certain persons changing the words to a song (which only has ONE word in it) and the on going game of "tig on stage!"

Should've known that today was gonna bite me really.

Got up early for crew drill - cancelled
Doing Staging - Car Wash rollers need mending - glue gun sticks too big
try to cut them - slice through tumb nail and index finger on left hand.

Can't fix the star cloth, which is beginning to really annoy me

Rehearsal goes OK, except the MAC's are being a pain.

One won't turn off, try everything, including switching off and on (fast becoming the solution to everything!) and then the board crashes.

Q's work but the Technobeams and MAC's have to be controlled manually and fired up manually. Spend 2 hours trying to fix the problem. Phone Rich, then Martin who rings Compulite. Compulite say to 'Cold Start' It. The One thing Dante specifically told me NOT to do was to cold start the desk as it would wipe all the text from the Qlists and who knows what else. So I decide to save that option until after the show and Deck party.

During the show the board crashes when I press the 'back' button. The spot boys do a sterling job whilst I reboot it and pray!

Show finishes, Deck party is inside because of the weather, which is cool as it works well in here. However avbout 1/3 of the way through something (I give up by now!) triggers the House Tabs relay and down they come. Everyone else found it funny, I just felt like crying!!!

So since that has finished I have been sat in the little booth with my Twix and OJ (supplied by Danny!)trying to salvage the shows and my sanity. I held my breath and did a cold start (not that that's simple either!) and lo and behold it wiped the text, the subs everything.

So finally at 4:30am after routing through the saved files on the desk and the disk I found the 'Autosave' file where someone had very thoughtfully locked all the files from May. So now I have the complete collection of show cues (if not entirely uptodate!) Hurrah - and it's only 6am!! Now all I have to do is find soemthing to do until 9am whern I have to get up and put the BGM on !!!c :((((

There was one bit of good (sort of) news today. Due to the rioting in Corsica (Scary!) we will be in Beautiful (but boring!) Olbia tomorrow and so will....... The Spirit!! Yey I get to see folks :)

Screaming Turtles need Singing Lessons

Yeah, weird title I know, but when trying to think of things to type they kind of came up together!

SCREAMING: 2 weeks ago most of the Ents Department went to Porta Vantura and had a fabulous day screaming (well the singers were being slightly more restrained (I say SLIGHTLY!) and getting soaked on some cool rides. Laren and Louise got drenched by the Capoirea boys (Andre & Gilberto) ON THE FLUME, Alice (ACD) and Geta (from the Salon) went on their first ever rollercoasters and most of scared the bejeezus out of ourselves by going on the tower drop type thing - It drags you up aout 300ft and then drops you, nuff said!

TURTLE: Well only one, but we were doing lifeboat drill last week and I saw a turtke off the side of the ship, it must have been massive and it was all by itself...ahhh.

SINGING LESSON: Well, not really, but Richard (CD) sat down at the piano with me ´cos I aked if he would give me a lesson/some help. Mostly I just wanted to see if I could still sing, seen as it´s been about 7 years (WTH??!!!) since I sang properly. (I was Liesl in the Sound Of Music for Alcester Operatics)
It was cool. Didn´t really sing a whole lot, but he worked out what my range was (2 1/2 Octaves if I actually warmed up!) and where the breaks were in my voice and what key I should sing in. Turns out I´m almost the same has him only an Octave higher and I´m a Contralto (It means I can sing Soprano but am much happier singing alto ..I think!) which was good to know as usually I was put in whatever section needed volume so I never actually found out what I was!
I was asking about the singer´s ranges and Lauren (so talented it would make you ill!) has a range of...3 and 1/2 Octaves - that´s like Julie Andrews standard - scary!

So, only 4 weeks to go before I can stop setiing the Alarm clock, stop changing the language I speak to people in shops with everyday, eat real chips, drink water out of the tap, and do all those other things that you miss when you´re away from home for ages!

Things on board are more settled now, Fel has almost stopped making a nuisance of himself; there´s a few bits of equipment that, quite frankly, would be better off in the Sea and folks are getting a bit tetchy due to the fact that it´s nearly time to go home but all in all, not bad!

Oh, and yesterday I climbed to the top of the Sagardia Familia in Barcelona - amazing!!!

"..So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish.."

We have a new batch of movies (Films, I´m English, come on brain sort it out..) and at the moment the one that contains the above quote is my favourite. Think I might go and buy the CD!

Well, no entry last week because, quite frankly, I´ve been too busy and my head is spinning trying to remember all the things I´m supposed to do!
We were supposed to get a new technician this week. The it turned into one of those is he/isn´t he situations which resulted in Richard (CD) frantically tring to find a tranquliser/ some syanide and me and the boys not really caring anymore! So we are still three and things are just about fine.

Noone is officially Stage Manager. I´m doing all the paperwork and the lights for the shows but I can´t be SM because if we get a new tech then he´ll be doing lights so I won´t be on the shows (although I fell it has more to do with keeping Felino happy) and Fel can´t be because, well, he barely does the work he´s supposed to so getting him to do more is just an impossibility. He has spent the time since Dante left trying in everyway possible to take advantage of the fact that noones officially in charge and trying to get out of as many duties as possible.
Also he keeps suggesting changes that would "make all our lives easier". However me and Sebi are hardened to his tactics and now everytime that phrase leaves his mouth we try and figure out why his suggestion would be advantageous to him (usually meaning less work) and what we´d have to do to cover him. So basically he´s not getting away with as much as he could with Dante and it´s p*****g him off. Me and Sebi however...well....couldn´t care less!

Apart from that I´m enjoying the new level of responsibilty, the fact I´m involved in the shows and that I get to do sound for the group Cabaret´s and that Sebi is getting a chance to do loads of new stuff!

In the last 2 weeks I´ve been to Rome (although I´m going back for a closer look!) and wandered around Cadiz. I went on a tour to the Alhambra Palace (thought to be the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon) and it was gorgeous (although getting up for 7am was NOT!).

Also we went to Gibraltar this week. It was their National Day so everything was shut, but man, do these people know how to do a national day. And they were all fighting to stay British - Governments take note. Here is a picture of people united - I would like to give it the title "Spot the Tourist"

DJBex has hung up her headphones

No, No, I haven´t quit.

Dante had to go home this week because his wife is ill and his family need him so I have sort of been promoted to Stage Manager. I say sort of because TPTB won´t say on way or the other who is now Stage Manager (and don´t think that Felino isn´t taking advantage of that!) but I am doing all of Dante´s work. So the role of 4 tech´s is split into 3, but we´ve pretty much sorted it so that the daily duties are fair.

It means that I am now doing the lighting for the shows etc in the CCL, the sound for the group Cabaret´s in the OKL and stuff on the pool deck for deck party´s. But I am no longer DJing. Instead Sebi is now the only DJ and me and Felino are sharing all the morning duties. It´s going to be a shaky couple of weeks but we´ll get there.

I need to rant now.

Richard (CD), Alice (ACD) and I went with Dante to the taxi to see him off and the Port Agent in Barcelona was such an A**H***. He was really racist towards Dante, I wanted to thump him. He assumed that Richard was going and that Dante was his porter. When he eventually understood that (it is beyond me why they employ port agents who can´t speak more than one language!)he was generally rude and derogatory towards Dante, the nicest, calmest guy on the planet, who just took it. This treatment is just because Dante is Filipino.

Now I´m sorry but Dante probably has more brains and compassion in his little finger than this arrogant g*t has in his body. Dante can speak at least 3 languges, he´s in a management position, he´d probably have to work twice as hard as the g*t to earn the same money so deserves some damn RESPECT...OK.

It baffles me how countries can be admitted into the EU when they have such a disdain for an entire nation (Greece as a particular example, if most of this officers on this ship are anything to go by) because of their own superiority complex.

These guys work damn hard, and they enjoy it. That gives NOBODY the right to treat them like a lesser species. They should in fact be thankful for them and treat them with respect as they work twice as hard as the b******s who treat them so appalingly.

There was a similar incident on the Spirit with the Captain and the Sound Tech, Anthony and the Capatin weasled out of it. Me and the team were fuming, he didn´t even apologise. I´ve also had comments from Greek officer´s etc because they think it´s wrong that an English person should be working for as Filipino boss. Well excuse me for not being racist and realising that he´s actaully far more qualified!

So I wanted to ask if when you read this you could pray/send mojo for:
Dante and his family (wife and 3 small kids)
and the team on here to stay calm and sorted
and me to have patience with everything!

Su Doku

Yes, I realise I am behind the entire human race on the isle of Britain, but last night I did my first Su Doku puzzle (and then another 5 whilst DJing, but whose counting!)

I love logic puzzles, when my mum used to buy me the puzzle compendium (my sisters got cool magazines, I asked for a puzzle compendium - sums me up really!) they were the first puzzle´s I would turn to. Richard (CD) has given me a book of them, so this week instead of scaring the heck out the Vicks by reading 4 James Patterson books in 5 days, I´m going to work my way through these puzzles! Check Out Sudoku.com.

I am typing freely as my right hand is now free of the cast, there´s a lovely coloured bruise all along the bone and it feels stiff and tingly, but all in all it is much better. The swelling went down after about a week and the last couple of days I was able to do a lot more things without it hurting (putting my hair in a ponytail being one of them!) So now I can finally write those Pompeii postcards (we´re back there again this week but don´t think I´ll brave it!)

We´ve had some real...hmmm...how can I put this without being rude...."characters" on the ship this week. Mostly of the teenage variety. I´m not sure where their parents were but I´m pretty sure if they ever found out what their little "darlings" were up to they´d never let them out of their sights again! Still only 1 or 2 weeks left of the sumer holiday and they can go back to asserting their independence and power complexes at school.

Books: Have read James Patterson - Cradle and All & Violets are Blue (see side bar under Reding:)). Both excellent books, although the ´Winged Children´ books are tighter these two are still fast paced and full of tension, although I did figure out who "Mastermind" was at the beginning of ´Violets are Blue´, but then I can usually guess the twist in anything!

Oh and my Dad pointed out that I never mentioned what happened to young Daniel´s arm. Well, nothing really ...... it got a bit scratched ........ (hastily adds) but my actions did have the desired effect and he never got near my bag!

Left Handed Blog

My right hand and forearm are currently half ensconsed in fibreglass and bandaged up. So it is taking me twice as long to do modt things and my left suddenly feels like it´s been sent to labour camp.

The point by point reason being this:

On phone in Naples (in one of those 1/2 phone booths)

Danny (ents Host) walks past and decides it would be fun to test my reactions if someone were to try and steal my bag.

My reactions (after 5 years and 5 belts of Jujitsu) are better than he expected and I react to the arm intruding the booth by slamming myself into it and the corner if the booth.

Unfortunately the side of my hand gets trapped right on the edge of the booth.

It hurts

I ring my mum but have to say goodbye du to heat

And hand now quietly throbbing.

Walk back to ship, buy "Calippo" Ice Lolly to put on throbbing hand

It goes numb

Showing Vicks Pompeii photo´s

It´s now stinging intesley so Gavin rings Doctor.

Then follows an X-ray onboard, A trip to the Naples hospital (weird), A trip to Olbia´s hospital (damn scary), and then finally a trip to the military hospital in Toulon (lovely!). All to be told that I have severely bruised bone (my whole hand is swollen) and a possible fracture of a tiny bone in my wrist. S I have to keep this on until next Thursday and see how it goes. It´s more to stop me hurting it than anything else!

It does however men that most of the Ents team has either opened something for me, cut my food up or done my hair for me!

Bizzare Happening of The Week: Having a conversation in German with a Morrocan taxi driver in Barcelona

This week I have finished reading:

And it is a good finisher to the series. Not particularly exciting, but well written, strong characterisation. I particularly liked the last scene with Picard an Crusher, really good understanding of the characters and their history! and also the explanation for Wesley being in Starfleet Uniform at the wedding in ´Nemesis´ Whilst getting the link for this I have seen this new book,

Can´t wait!

At the minute I´m reading "When The Wind Blows" (see Side Bar). I´ve never read any James Patterson before but will definitely be devouring some more soon. (especially as Vicks retrieved most of them from the library for me!) The action moves at an incredible pace, no wasted words and twists aplenty. It leaves you reeling and almost short of breath to read.

It´s raining men!

Well, not exactly but it rained! The first time I´ve seen rain in almost 3 months - very funky. We were in Mahon, Menorca. Not sure the passengers were that impresseed but we were v. excited!

Have watched all my Bewitched DVD´s, "marvelous". Am all twitched out (until the next series comes out ;))

I am hopefully going to Pompeii on Sunday. I can´t wait to go and see this place that you here about all the time. I can´t rally imagine what it will look like but by all accounts it is fascinating so look out for some pic´s etc next week.

Question: Why do PAX think that by insulting you/degrading your DJing ability/choice of music that you will play the song/music they like? Somebody explain the logic of that to me please!

On a plus point my rock sets that I throw in whilst DJing are going down a storm!

Been pretty homesick for the last 2 weeks. I´ve never really bee homesick before so it´s a strange experience! It´s not so much wanting to go home as just wanting to see people and check they´re still there! I´d love to go out for the day with my sister´s, sit in the garden with my mum, chat to my Dad at the pub and go round to my friend´s houses for a cup of tea and possibly a trip to Tesco´s! I´d also love to go to church, although I have just downloaded "The Word For Today" so at least that´s some help with reading my Bible everday!

The Half Blood Prince

And I think we all know what I´m talking about. As mentioned in the last post I have the new Harry Potter book. (Eventually, after it was mistaken for an engine part and taken to Engineering - tell me - what engine parts do they get form amazon.co.uk?!)



It took me 2 days to read and I was gripped the whole time, although I don´t recommend reading the last bit in the dark - I was DJing and got very paranoid and jumpy!

Justr to say it is excellñently written (better than the last one) and the ending will probably have you in tears!

Floor Filler´s are us!

This week on the ship we´ve had a film crew, they´re shooting video and stills for various adverts etc, which really heped me out when Djing. Because the camera´s were there evryone was on the dance floor solidly for about 2 hours - Fabulous!

Lots of teenagers on this week, they seme to hunt in packs. Also a few of them have not yet grasped the concept that chairs are for sittinog on. Not Standing on, climbing over the back of or indeed walking along the back of. So it was my duty to remind them of this.

"It´s my duty,
It´s my duty as an absolute b*****d"
(RD series 3 : Timeslides)

I´ve made a couple of music purchases to add to my growing collection:

Bought these mainly due to requests for things that I used to pay on the Spirit or for things that have recently come out and I´ve never heard them!!

These lat 2 weeks have been a bit of a reading marathon. If you look down the side bar to "Reading :)" then you will see 2 books that I read last week. Both fascinating in there own way if difficult toread. "Sickened" takes some getting into but is wirth it if you stick with it. It is written by a woman who suffered Munchausen By Proxy as a child and only discovered this whilst at University and is still coming to terms with it.
"one Child" is a brilliantly written insight into the the world of a teacher (Torey) who deals with kids (and adults) with beahavioural problems. She writes here of her experiences with one child in particular (sheila). This book takes you through many emotions I cried, smiled., ans was appaled at some of the occurences but it is absolutely gripping. I would recommend this book to anoyone thinking of going into teaching as this woman is amazing at understanding the way kids think and act. But overall a fantastic book about life, it´s baseness and the wonderful things that can happen when we show people we care.

This week I´ve had a complete change of pace and read the next 2 bboks in the ST:TNG series I´m reading at the moment - "A Time to......"

A Time to Kill
and
A Time to Heal

These are real action books but with some great character work. Because David Mack introduces new characters aswell as using the new additions to the crew used in previous books you are not always sure who´s going to make it through the battles, whereas you know that the main charcaters will as these are prequels to "Star Trek:Nemesis". It took me about 3 days to get through the first one (in between duties etc.) But I finished it whilst on the beach yeaterday afternoon, and started the second one, which I finished reading at about 3am this morning whilst DJing! I could not put it down. The speed at which the action travels, the uncertatinty of who was going to make it and the seemilng hopeless situation towards the very end of the book kept me so involved it was amazing!

Have ordered the final part, so have this week to get through Harry Potter before it arrives!

We are now officially half way through our contract wOOt! Am going to go on some tours, especially want to visit Pompeii. This week is Gibraltar week, Safeway here we come!!

"Maaaarvellous"

I´ve just pre-ordered ´Bewitched´ Series 1 - YEEYEY wOOt!

Back Pain and SIght Seeing

I had my second massage aboard the ship (well, ever actually!) this 2 days ago and this morning was the first the first time I could lean against something without my shoulder´s screaming for mercy. Apparently my back musculature is first degree screwed so I spent 30minutes trying to relax whilst switching between screwing my face up and calm due to that glorious ´nice´ pain you get when the right bit is being manipulated. My lower back has been really hurting for the last 6 weeks, mostly due to all the lifting and standing up for so long when Djing, on drill or any other job I have on here!

So away she pummeled, prodded and squidged and I have to admit that inside it felt better (although apparently it needs a lot of work!) but my back hurt to touch for the next 2 days.

I have started a real effort at sight seeing, finally, I mean geez I´ve only been on here what, 3 months! So in Tarragonna last week I visited the Roman Circus (lots of tunnels, pretty cool.




















And yesterday in Barcelona I braved the Metro and visited the Sagardia Familia (I´ve probably spelt that completely wrong!) Gaudi´s amazing Temple/Cathedral. Wow, what a feat of engineering and artistic skill. Just the vision itself to create such a thing shows the man was a genius. It was all brought down to earth however when I found out how he died. He was hit by a tram, for some reason I find this really strange. An amazing man like that hit by a tram, bizzare.

Should get the new Harry Potter book today. Hopefully it will get to the port Agent before we leave. There´s quite a few of us waiting for it!

Christmas in Summer!

I Got lots of Joy in the post this morning! I was DJíng last night ´til 4am and got woken by roommate pottering about at about 9am. Was just dropping off again in the middle of a bizarre dream when I hear Alice´s (ACD) voice proclaiming "Santa´s Been".

I thought it was one of those dreams where you dream it´s Christmas, open all your presents and then are sadly disappointed when you awake. But no, Santa had actually been to the Destiny, well the Port Agent anyway! I got My Sparkly new juggling Balls and Clubs from ´Butterfinger´s´ very nice folks who supply juggling/clowning stuff to just about anywhere!

In one box from Amazon (in Germany - very strange!) I got "The Incredibles" 2-disc special edition. I saw it for the first time on the ship (it´s one of the films we show in the cabins) and love it. It´s funny and clever and has some great little touches. Personally I would like a rintone of the quote form Frozones wife:

"Greater Good?

I am am your Wife,

I am the greatest good you´ll ever have!"

I tickled me for ages! Also in that box I got "I can speak Spanish". I though I should learn as I´ve been in Spanish speaking countries since Decamber and most of the locals think I am Spanish so we´ll see how that progresses!

In the other box from Amazon I got series 1&2 of Frasier. So I can now donate my videos of those series to either Lil´Sis Jo or Lara (her housemate), as when I stayed there, whilst working on the panto, they watched all of my Frasier avidly! Also I got series 1 of "The Vicar of Dibley" as it´s only 5 poinds on Amazon right now, it makes me laugh and feel all fuzzy, and Vicks likes it!

So a fun morning. Although after opening it all I did go back to sleep until 1pm, as I´m DJing again tonight!

Haven´t posted for a bit. not much has been happening ship side. Routine is kicking in a little which is good, never thought I needed it but when you haven´t had one for 3 months you miss it! Having a few problems regarding sleep and roommate (going out, coming in, using hair dryer) but at least she´s talking to me again and TPTB are aware of the situation. I think if I work for this PEEL again I´m going to ask that I have to have my own cabin. It´s not fair on either party as when I caome from DJing I need to chill and usually I can´t because she´s asleep (although frequently she´s out now so that´s actually OK. But then she comes back at 8am and wakes me up!)
Sebi (other DJ) is having a similar problem so hopefully they will see the problem´s of a DJ sharing.

This weék´s itinerary that we´ve just done is my favourite. It includes 2 of my favourite (and the most picturesque) places - Villefranche and Mahon (Menorca).

Vilefranche is the playground of the rich, although you see all walks of relaxed life there. After getting off the tender boat I pottered along the front, shaded by the tiered, terraced fishing houses but still appreciating then blazing sunshine, the cool breeze and the crystal wasters. Out in the bay people were lounging on big yachts, speed boats and small fishing boats, whilst several old men were sttod on the rocks in front to the path casting lines into the water. A small boy, lythe, suntanned with curly blode hair hurried past with bare feet, a bucket and a net to climb over the rocks and show his grandad the small crabs he had caught. I sat in a cafe, it´s interior spilled onto the pavement, but still had an intimate feel it was called "Le Pomme Verde (te?)" and whilst chatting to the young guy who worked there I enjoyed an ice-cold coke and a Nuttela crepe. The last time I had a Nutella crepe was at my Frech exchange partner´s house when I was about 14! It looks like a film set and has such a relaxed feel. It´s definitely up there with Madeira!

DJing has been going OK. "Heartbeat" could hire me as a DJ. The other night I played ´Sweet Child O´Mine´ and it FILLED the dance floor. after I carried on with rock and for about 40minutes was playing 60´s and 70´s classics to a packed floor! Then went onto some Motown. It´s funny because every night is different. Last night I didn´t play any rock at all!

It has been even hotter this week. I´m nt sure if you´ve seen in the news but many places in Italy and Spain are having heat waves. We were near Rome the other day and it was up near 40´C - nuts! I got burned at the beach in Mahon yesterday - yes, the first time I have managed to get to the beach so far! - only where I´d missed the suncream though! Also there was jellyfish in the water so we daren´t go in!

Anyway, must head back to do the shorex presentation, we got to Barcelona this week - yeyeyeyey! Hard Rock Cafe here I come!

Overdrafts, Birthdays and Bewitched

Couldn´t decide what to call this post I have so many random things to be excited about - not least the perfect beach like weather outside. Some of the team are off to the water park but I´ve got lots of ´poddling´ about to. I picked that word up from one of the books I´m reading at the mo (see side bar - blatantly not LOTR though!).

I´ve just ordered a surprise for me mum (she is the gramd age of 50 today, scary!) and I just know she is going to have the coolest evening! :)

Oh My Stars, I am sooo excited because ´Bewitched´ is coming out soon (both the film and the DVD´s!) people who know from Uni will understand this twitching in the cosmic coninuum, I do happen to have a small obsession with this TV programme and I can´t wait to have nice slim DVD´s instead of the hoards (and there are hoards - ask Tim and Penny who helped me move them!) of videos, also I can have them on the ship with me :)))))

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT FOLLOWING: For the first time in 5 years..... I´m out of my Overdraft, wOOt! \||/ yeah!!! much joyousness!! Not until next pay day will I be well and truly in the safe zone but how kewl is THAT!

I´ve been trying to put some photo´s of the new ship and peeps up in the side bar but the computers in here are a bit naff and the right ahnd mouse button doesn´t do what it´s supposed to! Still if you fancy a peek then follow the link in the sdie bar to my msn community and then to the "Cruise" album. They´re at the end (pgs 6&7) ´cos I didn´t have the forthought to create a new one until today :)

Ship wise everythings a little more settled, still tired but nowhere near as bad as I was. Duties and that are getting a bit more organised and still finding pieces of equipment that we didn´t know exsisted! Have DJ´s 3 nights this week! Went pretty well, one night in particular the floor was full for most of it. Stil finding it a bit tricky using CD´s not the computer but hey, at least I´m building up quite a collection :) Speaking of which I must go an order some more tewns,

Ciao for now.

Am still here...wherever that is!

Distinct lack of posts since my last one. I must apologise but this has been one of the craziest 4 weeks I have ever known.

The ship is up and running now. Had a very shaky first week, especially as we got the passengers who weren´t interested in having a nice time but were looking for things to be wrong/go wrong and make big deals out of nothing!

Now however we have the nice passengers and the weather to go with it - this last week has been absolutely stunning - shame I´ve been woking like a badger and not had much chance to enjoy it!

My average day starts at 9:30 am (background music change) and finishes at 1:30am (taking the band off) so am very tired.(enough to be slurring when I talk and for folks back home to notice when I talk to them!) But Dante has a cunning plan so hopefully We´ll all get a more balanced day now!

The team are getting on well although everyone is feeling the starin at the minute but all seems cool and the crew party the other night was great!

"Tell The World To Go Away" (Disc 5 trk7)

An Appropriate quote form sorting the Kareoke Discs today where me and Vicks probvably got the closest to hysteria we´ve ever been!

Got a meeting in about 10 minutes so this will be a listed update.

Got to ship in Greece fine (Although Munich Airport is like being in some 50´s movie set in the future)

45 minute taxi journey was interesting, slept most of way.

Spent 3 HOURS in the port terminal waiting for all my papers etc to be sorted by the port agent.

Am Sharing a cabin onboard with Vicks. She´s the female Entshost. It was her Birthday the day after I arrived. Cabin is OK, got a port hole which is funky ...ahhh daylight!

Been working every hour I´m awake since I got onboard which seems like an eternity ago, and am now in a permament state of 1/2 consiousness, but still smiling!

On the fist day with passengers 2 memebers of our team...how shall I put this... disembarked for various resons (the first one without telling anyone he was going) and the passengers this week are determined to find every possible thing wrong that they can!

On the other hand the team are great we´re all feeling the tiredness but we´re just keeping going and trying to cheer folks up! Gotta go, credit is going to run out.

Off Again!

Am about to leave for the airport - yes it is 4:15am!

Am joining the 'Destiny' in Athens at about 4pm, nice long day then. This week has been crazy, certainly don't feel like I've had arest, although they say a change is as good as a rest and I've certainly had that!

Been fantastic to catch up with my friends back here but missing the guys on the Spirit like mad! They've had a pretty pants week aswell :S

See you on the other side:)

Back Home

Well here I am. It's 4am and I'm sitting in the back room of my house. Bizarre!

Not half as bizarre as the last 2 weeks activities however. I haven't posted recently because everything started to go a bit pear-shaped as of last Friday afternoon (when I'd usually post) so I've spent the last week doing loads of extra work so that lots of people can cover my job for me!

Basically the new DJ didn't turn up last Friday. I waited on the gangplank for an hour and then had to go because my Mum was arriving, and by the time we set sail that night he still wasn't there and nobody had any clue why. By Monday we knew the office had been in touch and that he just hadn't caught the plane because of "Problems". The mind boggles. We were trying to come with reasons all week, the main one being that he bottled it.

However we were then told that he was to come out on Thursday. That would have given me one day handover period. Not really enough but what can you do. At this point I asked Richard to tell the office that I would stay longer if needed (even the whole week and go straight to "The Destiny" from there) but we heard nothing back. Then we got told that the new DJ wasn't coming until NEXT Friday and I HAD to leave the ship today.

So basically I've spent the whole week writing a help booklet for the Ents Hosts/other technicians/new DJ and trying to make sure that various people know how to do various bits of my job. Not fun, especially when I really wanted to relax a bit my last week AND my Mum was onboard! Still as long as it helps them get through this week and is of help to Chris then I feel I have done my job properly!

So there is no DJ on the ship this week, and even some of the show team are going to have to DJ....hmmmmmmm.

Oh and also Christophe (new SM) who only arrived 2 weeks ago, is leaving on Sunday and Anthony (sound tech) is coming back from "The Celebration" due to some problems with his visa! So the tech dep. Is going to be rather interesting :)

However I have had a wonderful last few days. I went quad biking in Morocco - How Much FUN!!! Came back looking like some kind of sand monster and with the taste of Morocco (literally!) in my mouth, but what an amazing afternoon. It did mean I missed my last Line Dancing session though, which sucks slightly.

The team bought me a necklace (a turquoise/silver cross) and Lea and Kim made me a card in Kidzone which everyone signed. It's so cool and it's definitely going up on the wall of my next cabin :) I much prefer things that people make, no matter what it looks like!

Journey home was eventful. Got in the taxi early so didn't get to say goodbye to everyone:( On the same flight as my Mum but it was delayed for 2 1/2 hours. The weather was awful. Ian (friend of Sheila's - Mum's mate) came and picked us up from the airport so U traveled home in the back of a mini-van!

But here I am drinking Hot Chocolate with REAL milk and missing the team, I kept looking at the time and working out what everyone would be doing! Right now they'll all be in bed (Lifeboat drill tomorrow) so that is where I shall go. Night.

Quarantine...

...is where I have been for the last day and a half. Boredom has never seemed so bad than when you´re confined to your cabin and noone can come to see you! I´ve basically been sick for the last 2 days and the doctor wasn´t sure if it was a bug or something I ate (I´d go for the latter option!) so I was confined to my cabin. However there´s no-one to cover my duty this evening and I feel much better so I´ve been allowed out - yey!

I saw dolphins this week. Not just the air from their blowholes but actual dolphins playing around to bow of the ship. They love it when the sea is calm (ish!) and the ship makes a wake for them to jump in - soo cool. Nearly everyone else on the team has seen them and I finally saw 5 this week :)))

Amy´s family (about 10 of them!) have been on this week which has been fab. Also the receptionist from my doctors was on, it´s always good to see people from home.

Easter was odd. The weather was stunning but the sea had big swell so most poeple only came out by the afternoon! Lorna, JP and I did a short service in the morning which made it feel slightly more Easter-y and the kids had an Easter Egg hunt which was great fun! Bizarre at the lack of chocolate - never mind, hopefully I´ll have some when I get home :)

Only 2 weeks left now. Finished the handbook for the next guy this morning so can now relax and enjoy my last week of normal duties before next week when I´ll be showing Chris the ropes.

My car failed its M.O.T (what a surprise - it´s NEVER passed on first time :) ) but the work will be done on it for when I get home so all´s good!

Happy Easter!

A bit premature being Good Friday but most of my suday will be spent at sea. However Lorna and I will be doing the service on board which is cool - if a tad nerve-wracking. We´re having an Easter Egg hunt for the kids which should be a riot as there´s about 80 of them on this week! I´m getting up on stage for the Welcome Show tonight for the first time aswell:)

Had a gorgeous week weather wise. We went out for team meal on Wednesday in Agadir and had a lovely time. We did however get rather sunburned and I still have the red arms to prove it! It was fab I had some Moroccan meatball thing followed by a crepe with strawberyy ice-cream and the entertainment included a random singing guy and a tiny tortoise that was found in a bush by the patron ´Madame Mimi´! I´ll put some pics up when I get chance.

Only got 3 weeks left on board, eeek. Trying to organise stuff for my week at home aswell as planning for going on the other ship. I met my Cruise Director this week as he cam on board to see how things work and he seems like a cool guy. He´s a Trekkie and likes Red Dwarf - Fantastic!

"Fine"

This seems to be the phrase of the ship at the moment. If you ask someone how they are, they are going to reply ´"Fine" even though they blatantly have a cold, are tired, in pain or some other way indisposed! That word has never bugged me so much in my life. I guess it´s just irritating because I actually meant it when I said "How are You?" and that reply is sooo annoying!

Sorry....vent over.

I am "Fine" at the mo, except for the muscle pain which has taken up residence in the top of my left leg, making it nearly impossible to walk DOWN stairs. Walking up, no probs - going down, agony (?!). Still after 3 days it´s now got to the level of ´I know it´s there but I can ignore it´ so I shall go on being fine until it actually disappears and then I shall be "Fantastic!". As long as I can get some sleep in between so i don´t fell quite as bleugh and unsociable as I do right now!

I met my Cruise Director on "The Destiny" today. His name´s Rob and, get this, he´s American! and watches Star Trek!!!! So now 3 members of my family are working for American bosses - freaky.

Only 4 weeks left before I disembark. Seems odd to think I´ll be leaving, am actually trying not to think about it too much because hopefully it won´t hit home until I´m safely ensconssed on ´Destiny´ and surrounded by a new lot of folks. I am gonna miss these guys though. Even though I move around a lot doing different work and contracts I hope I never get to the point where I´m blasee about saying goodbye and end up not getting to know people just so it´s easier. I think that would be a very lonely way to be.

I got an Easter card off my Mum yeasterday. Bob hand delivered it to me (literally I was lying on my bed reading and he gave it to me!) I read it and then for some inexplicable reason burst into tears! I think it was more the religous side to the card rather than being homesick. I´m not homesick but I really miss going to church and being able to discuss my spiritual well being with my mates. I have tried to be diligent with reading my Bible but as usual have failed miserably. It´s not like I´m slipping or anything, I just feel the need for some fellowship now and then and on here it´s next to impossible. Still me and Lorna are going to watch´"The Passion of Christ" on Friday so that might help, well if it has the same effect on me as last time I´ll be sobbing through most of it but we´ll see!

Lloyd has had to go home for a week for medical reasons. The poor guy just seems to have had one thing after another and it is easier to send him home to sort it out so he´s off today. Any spare Prayers/Thoughts or mojo in his direction would be much appreciated.

I´m now on a mission to see if I can find/create some hot cross buns - any ideas for finding these things in the Canary Islands much appreciated!

Comings and Goings

Lack of a post last week I realised. Which is probably gonna make this one long!

Can I just say that I am sat in the ´Ciber-Scout´Cafe in Santa Cruz and next tome is sitting a guy with the worst BO known to man so I´m attempting to be as quick as possible!

I got my guitar last week. It´s so nice to have an insrument to play and the quality of sound is amazing! My fingers are in a small amount of pain from practising so much but that´ll get less if I play alot :)

On Gran Canaria day this week Me and Dom went shopping. I wanted to get a suit so that I can wear some of the vest tops I´ve got in the evenings (it makes sense to me...OK!). I asked Dom if she´d come with me as I´m hopeless at picking out clothes and her fashion sense is just so flippin´ cool :)

I went for a suit and somehow came back with 2 Outfits (no suit though!), a pair of shoes and a lighter wallet, although I don´t want to scare anyone so I won´t say how much lighter (my mum reads this you know!). The crowning moment for me was the boys reactions, they were so sweet! Even if I can´t walk more than about 5m in the shoes at one go!?

I haven´t worn the other outfit yet. I did wear the top lat night when I went for a meal in ´Sirocco´s´though.

Sirocco´s is the A la Carte restaurant onboard - v.nice :) Ron was on again this week (a regular cruiser who always brings presents for the Ents team and we treat him like royalty! :) )and he took several of us to the restaurant throughout the week. So last night´s meal went something like this:

Escargot with a sizzling butter + Garlic sauce

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Parma Ham and Mozzerella Salad

Lemon Sorbet in Champagne

Lobster Tail with Garlic butter sauce and Fresh Vegetables

Crepe Suzette

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries and Coffee

Sooo gorgeous - Who knew Snails could be that nice :)

Ron´s back on in 4 weeks - my last week and the week my Mum and her friend are on.

Speaking of last week´s (see what I did there!)Anthony left today. He was the Sound technician. He´s gong home for a bit and then going on the Celebration as Tech, that´s the ship that David (who left last week) is going to be Cruise Director on and Bob (who´s here at the moment as David´s replacement) is going to be Assistant Cruise Director on - confused? It gets better!

Felino, Anthony´s replacement is going to the Destiny in 3 weeks, I´m leaving in 4 weeks and Dante is now also moving to the Destiny (presumably before me or at the same time) so the Spirit´s tech team is going to be rather interesting for the next 2 months :) think the person replacing me on here is Simon. So I´ve asked one of the show team (Kim) to learn all the costume changes for ´Hobson´s Choice´ so that he doesn´t have to do them if he doesn´t want to.

I´ve managed to programme that b****y lighting Desk in HS - Hurrah, hang out the flags!!! it only took me 4 weeks but I finally sussed out the chromadome chases etc and now the ´R´n´B´Cabaret has it´s own states :)))))

I´m sorry....what?!

That may possibly be you response after reading this - it was certainly mine when the situation arose 3 days ago.

I am not staying on the Spirit until June 17th.

I am now leaving on the second week of April, going home for a holiday (ha!) for a week and then being flown to ´The Destiny´ to work for the summer sailing round the Med.

Crazy how things can change in a week huh?

The Destiny looks like this:

It is bigger than the Spirit but only has the same amount of passengers. It is the new addition to the Thomson fleet and I will basically doing the same job I do now aboard there only with more Stage Management duties and I´ll be sharing the DJing and Tech stuff with someone else.

It was such a tough decision to make but I was really flattered to be offered it and it sounds like it´ll suit me down to the ground.

The down sides are that I´m going to have to leave this team, who I get on with really well, and start getting to know a whole new set all over. I know I do this all the time when I move jobs and contracts at home but for some reason this time it´s different. Still I might get to see them, as the Destiny follow´s the Spirit´s path around the the Med, so hopefully I´ll get to say hello!
Also I only get one week at home to sort my whole life out until November which is going to be a bit of a tall order (as it is probably going to involve moving all my stuff from Leeds back to Birmingham!!). Also I won´t get to do the Big Event in Birmingham and I won´t see my family and friends much :(

Still I would have been a fool if I´d have said no and I spent 2 days agonising over it so now I feel that I have made the right decision by Sense if not by Sensibility!

Fizzy Cravings

In the team meeting yesterday Richard (Cruise Director)informed us that we are half way through our Canary Islands tour - another 8 weeks of this and then we´re off to the Med. He then went through all the ports we will be visiting there and it sounds amazing! Barcelona, Rome, Ibiza, Villefranche and all sorts of other places (most of which I haven´t heard of!) but we get more time to explore when we´re there so it should be cool :)

I´ve had a fun morning with the guys from the ´Freedom Band´ in a music shop. I´ve reserved an electro acoustic nylon stringed guitar, and it´s pretty sweet. It has a thinner body which makes it easier (and sooo much more comfortable) for me to play and it has a great sound. I can´t buy it ´til I get paid next but I can´t wait!

Not that I´ve had a lot of time this week. We had LOADS of kids on (of all ages!) so kids zone needed help with some extra activities inc. Family Bingo and a Junior Talent Show. So much work for 20 minutes - the kids had a blast though so it was all worth it :)

I sang on Karaoke last night. I was the first time anyone on here has heard me sing and I was really nervous! Fortunately there was only the 2 guys doing Karaoke who were in there from the team so it wasn´t too bad. I sang ´Don´t Know Why´ by Norah Jones and I think it went pretty well ;) I think the glass of red wine that David (Ass. Cruis Dir.) bought for me probably helped, although I was still shaking!!

We have appraisals this week, eeek!?!

I´ve given up fizzy drinks for Lent. When I was a kid we were only allowed fizzy drinks on a weekend (in fact I think that still applies at home - mum?) so this should not be a problem. However having worked in bars and having been on this ship for the last 2 months where the drink flows freely (well...almost!) I think I might have gone a little carbonated crazy. Right now I would love nothing more than a long cold glass of coke! I feel like I´m turning into an orange juice I´ve drunk so much of the stuff - I can´t find orange squash anywhere....*sniff*

Anyhoo, must head back and clean some mics, check they´re working, and see if the lighting board is going to co-operate with the manual :)

Mended Footsies

It´s been a year since my Operation. Wow, where did that year go? I still remember vividly having to phone the hospital on the Thursday afternoon to see if they had a bed for me. I was so nervous, my hand was shaking as I lifted the receiver! But the whole thing went pretty well.

It really has made such a huge difference. I spent about 7 years of my life with severe pain in my big toe joint after every day spent on my feet, I was frequently in tears because it hurt so much. My steel toe caps that I had to wear for work/Uni made me cringe everytime I put my feet in then because I knew the pain I was going to be in after a few hours. But now all that is gone and replaced with a ´normal´ ball of the foot pain from wearing the strappy shoes I have to wear onboard that is perfectly dealable with!

I can however predict when it´s going to rain and occasionally my right toe gives me a bit of pain but on the whole the change is amazing!

This week has been good. We had some 2-weekers on from Glasgow who were up in HS every night so we spent time chatting about the happenings in that fair city, apparently ´The Shack´and ´Trash´(the club underneath it) burnt down, scary!

My aim this week is to get to grips with the Lighting Desk upstairs, apparently it was programmed somewhere back in the mists of time and noone knows whats connected to what so there is my challenge!

I was on line dancing with Dom twice this week and I´m down for it again tommorow! You never know I might have actually remembered the dances this time! It´s fun to do some other stuff aswell :)

No...I am NOT Spanish!!!

A guy came up to the DJ booth the other night and told me that he had hesitated in coming over because he didn´t expect me to be English (he was Welsh - not sure if that makes a difference!) he thought I was Spanish. Now as anyone who reads my blog who who has known me for any length of time will know, this is a common occurence. But 3 yes, 3 times in one night.

In this post I listed the nationalities people have thought I am. I can now add Malaysian to that list and the top 2 are New Zealand (Kiwi) and Spanish.

I´ve had a flippin´rotten cold all week and am now left with a cough that sounds like a smoke 40-a-day and hurts! My other wisdom tooth is also threatening to do what the first one did (come out too far) and Dental isn´t covered on my medical - owwww :(

I got Oscar´s (The passenger´s are asked to nominate 3 member´s of staff who have made their holiday special - it means more to the crew as they get rewards!- we just get a warm *fuzzy* feeling) this week and a very cool comment off some passengers so I feel last week went well!

Have been guitar hunting today but nothing has really grabbed me, still we shall persevere!

Daily Routine

Had a good week this week, not much went wrong ang I´ve started sorting some stuff out in HS so it´s easier to use and find things!

Dom´s parents were on this week which was nice. It makes such a difference having people´s friends/parents on. Can´t explain why but it does! We´ve got quite a few coming on over the next few months. Today one of the guys from the office is on checking on us. He´s on for 3 days it was supposed to be a week but we´re getting excellent scores for the entertainment product so they´re not that woried about us.

I´ve realised that I havent really explained what I do all day. It changes everyday but as a general idea:

2pm - Check on Sound System for Quiz

4:30/5pm - Change Background Music (& lights/gobo´s - for theme nights)

7pm - Quiz in HS

9:45pm - Quiz in HS

11:30pm - Quiz/Cabaret in HS

12:00 - DJ ´til 3am-ish

3am - Close Disco, Tidy areas (change music/Lights/Gobo´s - on theme nght)

ON DUTY - 4pm-8pm (Have to be on Ship)

I DJ 4 nights a week, usaully the first 3 and the last 1. Sometimes I haev to do stuff for the main show. On the day at sea I do a backstage tour and then SM "Hobson´Choice" at 1pm. Ohter morning´s I have to put a film on at 10am and if football is being shown in HS I have to set that up.

So there you go. My day in a nutshell. Tomorrow is hard because I have to be up at 9 for a lifeboat drill. I then go back to bed or go and lie on the beach (we´re usually in Gran Canaria) I think the bed option will win tomorrow!

All Change

Been an interesting week.

For the past 2 days I feel like I´ve been in an Agatha Christie novel but can´t go into details for now.

Had a spectacularly bad evening on Tuesday (Technical screw-ups etc) but the next day it was all sorted so am fine with it now. Actually starting to feel like myself instead of whoever I have been for the last 5 weeks! Getting to know people and starting to feel like I fit in so all is going well.

I found out yesterday that the company want to extend all of our contracts until June 17th. This would be amazing as we are sailing around the Med by then (that was news to me too!)but it would mean missing my Mum´s important birthday (!?) so dunno yet......

Today is a busy day for the team.
It´s Dominique´s Birthday
It´s Anthony´s Birthday
Daniella left this morning
Hannah officially starts back today (she broke her ribs during the rehearsal period and Daniella stepped in)

Had a bit of a rough day at sea (Tuesday), a storm was brewing and it was touch and go whether to leave, we definitely made the right decision to go though. The Storm changed direction and headd straight for where we sailed from!

Back in Santa Cruz

well here we are bcak at the beginning!
Here as promised is a photo of my Birthday pressies:

Isn´t the dog cute! I´ve put a fair few more photo´s up on my group so if you follow the "Snap´s, Photo´s and Pic´s" link in the sidebar you can peruse at you leisure.

Had a pretty good week. Am definitely settling down now. The Kareoke machine decided to have a ´moment´last night and I remained calm so I feel I have made some progress ;)

We were docked in Morrocco at some point this week (days have ceased to exist!) and I had an allergic reaction to the water in my shower! I think there must have been to much chlorine in it or soemthing (we take on water from whatever port we´re at) and I got out of the shower to find that my legs and forearms looked like a particularly vicious ant had been very hungry! So I had a slight panic (as it continued to get worse!) and then had to get a form to see the doctor.

Not sure where this doctor is from but he´s obviously not seen many allergic reacitons as he told me to go away and come back at 5pm (crew hours). Now I´m a rational person and I understand that there are crew hours, but when someone is standing in front of you blatantly having a reaction to something you DON´t tell them to come back in 7 hours!!!!! Anyway I stood my ground and he gave me some Clarityn and some gel to take the lumps down. The redness went by the next day so it wasn´t too bad.

Must go and get supplies for the week - Cola and Sweets!

Rollercoaster

Well, today I do have better news!

Yesterday started out horribly (see post below) but the guys on the ship made it into one of the best Birthday´s I´ve ever had!

Dom and Frank took me out for Sangria and a massive ice-cream.

The Band and all the passengers in High Spirits sang to me when I went up in the evening.

The Executive (Head) Chef (who I collect the cake off for the play) made proper pancakes especially for me.

Laura (Kids Rep) made sure I had company most of the day!

Lorna bought me a massive bottle of Bailey´s, a PEZ dispenser and a Kinder Egg.

Reilly bought me "a watch with number´s on it"(I must have said that I needed one about 7 times last week)which has a big disc with a smiley face on it for a second hand!

Dom bought me a nice box of choclates (Lindt, mmmm) and a cool vest top that says "Miss DJ" in sequins (I´ll have a photo up later). She said she wanted it for herself so it was really nice that she got it for me!

The rest of the guys knew about my presents going missing and I thought I knew what they would be. So they went and bought me the ´Travis - Singles´Album. How amazing are they! I also got a musical card off them, hehe!

Dante and Anthony (SM and Sound Tech) bought me a cuddly dog (that has very soft ears *grin*) which I have named Danton. I am also learning Phillipino from them, another language under my belt!

Passengers bought me drinks, the band bought me drink, Lisa and Laura bought me Champagne and Leah and Kim (effectively my neighbours - dancers on the show team) bought me a Bailey´s.

Then this morning one of the regular passengers (he comes on about every 9 weeks and the Ents team sort of adopt him!)Ron, had the most amazing bouquet of flowers delivered for me!

Then I DJ´d until 4:15 this morning. When I decided I´d had enough because I had a lifeboat drill at 9:30am this morning. Me and Dom got slightly reprimanded for laughing - Saftey (Nikos, v. military guy) gave us a stern word. Ah well, he did say our lines were perfect though!

Happy Birthday?

It´s my Birthday today.

Someone between here and England decided to open the Jiffy Bag that my Mum sent me.

And has stolen my presents out of it.

I got my bank statements, my birthday card and some Christmas Cards but that´s it.

Apparently all we can do is report it.

Everyone here has been really great about it.

Maybe next time I´ll have some good news.

Funchal, Madeira

Well hello from what I have just discovered to be...Portugal.

I found out this wonderful piece of information because the phonecard I bought in Tenerife (Spain) yesterday, wouldn´t work here - ah, the joys of cruising!

I have to go and be ´the computer´for a gameshow in an hour and then we have 2 Cabaret acts, Dominique (Dom) and Frank and then those two, plus Amy and Richard (Cruise Director) for the 'Rhythmn and Blues´ one. Then I have the night off. Me having the night off consists of finishing at midnight - basically I get about 3 hours extra in bed!

Last week was a bit hit and miss. It started off shakey and then got progressively worse as the week went on (to the point of me breaking down in tears during one of the cabaret acts because a microphone failed!), everything I touched seemed to break or go wrong, I was PMS-y, I wasn´t at home for Christmas Day (actually it was more Christmas Eve I missed. Me, Jo and Vix sleep in Vix´s room and I read ´Mr Christmas´- with voices, that would be less disturbing if we weren´t 23,22 and 19!) and I still didn´t really know anyone that well. Also we had a certain passenger on who managed to start 3 fights during the week in "High Spirits"(HS) and there would have been another one if I hadn´t rushed out of the DJ booth to explain to his mate what he was doing!

All in all it was a bad situation. On the plus side I feel much better now. This week I´ve actually found time to relax and not felt like I was under scrutiny so much. Also I've had the time to sit and chat with some folks so am feeling a lot more positive. The thing that made it worse was that I´m not usually like that. I usually settle in to places really quickly and don´t really get homesick, so I was getting mad at myself for feeling like that! I´m going to blame it on the hormones!

New Year´s Eve was fab. There was a massive Deck Party (I was in HS DJing though!) on the Lido Deck and we released balloons and fired the confetti cannon and all the ships in the harbour(Santa Cruz) blew their horns. What made it better was that all the passengers from the other ships were watching our party, hehehe! Only the best at Thomson.

Tommorow is our day at sea, last day at sea we had a force 7 storm, now that was fun. The first time in my life I´ve had to gaffa tape a teaset to the table so it wouldn´t slide off!

STRANGEST MOMENT THIS WEEK: Changing gobo´s (small metal discs with patterns in them that go in front of a lamp to make an effect) at 3 in the morning.....Wearing a ball gown and high heel´s.