Ok, so I want to write this blog while fully in the emotional moment of my day just so you get the full context of the ups and downs on the first cruise of a contract…brace yourself…it could get ugly….well, just a little anyways!
Your first full day on board begins with training. Yep, even after a bunch of ship contracts, every single ship you sign on to drags you out of bed at stupid o clock in the morning after your insanely exhausting first day to go over stuff you have heard over and over and over again…and not only that you get to hear it from either (or both) a soft spoken Indian with bad English or an even softer spoken Italian with even worse English so not only are you tired, but annoyed that the repeated information can’t even be heard. So after about 2 hours, they released us back to our cabins where I thought maybe with any luck I could get a nap in….after all I didn’t “work” until 5. Lucky for me my stomach once again decided to remind that it definitely works even at a dysfunctional level, and kept me from getting any much needed rest before staring at millions of music notes for hours. So I took my time getting ready for my evening, had a Red Bull and felt loads better. There isn’t much a Red Bull can’t superficially cure at least for an hour or so. That one hour was definitely my allotment for the evening’s set.
Here’s the deal for anyone who ever considers a cruise or considers being anywhere at all where there is live entertainment……don’t be a self centered, uncultured, arrogant, ignorant moron. That’s the bottom line. Here’s the long definition…..
So we all know I’m tired and needless to say even with some good points this ship has thrown at me, I am a little on edge to say the least. The start of my 4 hour set was pretty good. I had a talk with the world’s most awful Yamaha and it agreed to play nice for me and take a little stress out of my evening. So far so good. First pre-dinner set in, not too many complaints. The noise level was minimal surprisingly, but the vibe still border lined on aloof stupidity at best. The thing I notice with guests on shorter cruises is (and this isn’t meant to sound offensive, but its’ going to come across that way) is that most of them have no sense of culture or class and are pretty well just there to get wasted. I was hoping this really wasn’t the case with these people….the next couple hours proved me wrong….why American tourists do you ALWAYS prove me wrong?!?!?!?!
I give it my all as a performer. I get highly irritated at myself if I do not play really well and play challenging, impressive arrangements that I am usually sure will garner some sort of response….I mean you would THINK that common sense would lead one to believe that when one performs someone will get the idea to applaud right???? Someone like myself usually does not study music for years and years to be ignored. So when the second pre-dinner crowd rolled in….all 200 or so of them…..I was hoping since it was a formal evening that maybe their classier sides would show up….wrong again. Trying to concentrate on really difficult music for a long period of time while still feeling slightly sick and very tired is hard enough as it is….add about 200 noisy, drunk, inconsiderate guests to the mix and you have a recipe for misery. I have taken great pains as an entertainer to add almost every sort of genre to my repertoire that I can so I can accommodate all tastes and tonight, there was no pleasing this group. Even my most flamboyant, ostentatious, and impressive pieces didn’t even get a blink from these people which left me flustered and not knowing how to react. It didn’t help that the added volume combined with my pounding on the piano to even hear myself was giving me a slight headache. The past couple days, it seems Mr Robin Gardner has unknowingly come to my rescue at every right moment and right at the moment the frustrated tears began to well up, he popped up to my stage and asked how it was all going. I sniffed a little and asked if he would walk away with me so I could compose myself. We did and he chatted with me long enough to take a little bit of stress off and I returned for the last few minutes only to be greeted by a few left over drunks being loud and obnoxious around the bar surrounding the stage. There was about 15 minutes left in my set and I left it. 4 hours and done. By the time I made it to the hallway backstage, the main production show had started. Normally, this is what Chris would be doing if he were with me right now. He would be on stage singing and dancing and I would probably either go catch a part of the show or go to our room and curl up in bed in front of the tv and wait for him to come “home”. This was a massively glaring reminder of the fact that this was not going to be the case for a while, with this class of ship and pretty well living backstage and hearing the show NOT including my boyfriend in it. I marched up to the open back stage door (subsequently maybe 10 feet from the door to my room) and slammed it….maybe too hard but no one noticed. Now I AM in my pajamas curled up…but unfortunately Chris is not coming “home” tonight. He’ll be popping on in a bit to Skype chat and that’s the best we can do for now. The moral of the story? If you are ever on a ship, chances are there are other people in my position. We’re out here trying our best to do what we love and chances are we’re away from someone we love at the same time and making other sacrifices large and small to be here. Cut us some slack. If we’re doing something that you can’t do or even more so, wouldn’t do….tell us in some way you appreciate it. It helps us through these moments of loneliness and gives it all some meaning when we’re having a tough time finding it on our own. And if you want to look at it selfishly….do it so I don’t have to hear as an American, from all my friends from different countries….what the hell is WRONG with your people???? It’s slightly embarrassing….especially on nights like tonight when I can’t help but agree. Here’s hoping for Canadian citizenship sooner than later……
No comments:
Post a Comment