I have a show tonight. Two shows, in fact. They should be pretty good, as it is the first time I’ve performed on a large stage on a cruise ship since May. However, last night I drank too much and I’m a bit hung over.
Here’s a photo of two lizards fighting. Yes, more lizard photos, but I found this subject endlessly entertaining in Aruba.
Also, I’m not sure yesterday’s photo worked at all. It didn’t show up in my google reader anyway. Here it is again:
Last night I stayed up way too late, mainly because it was the first time in 20 days that I’ve had free and fast internet connection in bed. I uploaded the photos from yesterday, including the one above. Those dogs were just so cute!
After breakfast Paul and I got a lift to the ship from the hotel. After the king-sized bed, large bathroom, and balcony of the hotel, my inside (no window) cabin with a single bed is a bit of a step down. The light in the bathroom takes 40 seconds to turn on and my knees don’t fit under the desk. Thankfully I’m only on board the Maasdam for three nights.
The official checkout time at the hotel was noon, and I’d purposely not done so before leaving. I left the ship again at 1130, in time to return to the hotel before midday, and jumped on the shuttle boat out to the private island again. My key card didn’t actually work in the little box thing, but the pilot didn’t notice.
On the island I mostly sat under a palm tree, listened to music, read, then swam for a while, then repeated the list over. I also took some fun photos of more lizards, all of whom were far, far more active in the hot sun than they had been the previous evening.
Back on the ship I discovered a friend was on board, so chatted with him over dinner. Many, many, many people talk to me about wanting to be a guest entertainer (of course, my job is one of the best ever), and lots ask for my advice about all kind of things. Not many people, it seems, have what it takes. They have skills, sure, but so often they seem too comfortable in their current position. They won’t put in the work to break through and become both a good singer/musician AND a good performer. No matter how well you can play a piano/guitar/etc, if you don’t have a show, you’ve got nothing.
Anyway, John is doing all he can to get the performering skills to go with his musical skills. It’s good to see someone actually listen to my advice, even though he is going about it in a different way than I imagined. I may go into more detail about this on my blog in the future, as I have a lot to write about.
Today I left the Prinsendam in Aruba. Normally at the end of a contract I go direct to the airport and fly home. But tomorrow I’m joining another ship here in Aruba, so have to stay overnight.
Normally when I stay overnight for work I stay in a pretty average hotel. Not to shabby, but nothing amazing. But this hotel is a cut above the usual. When I checked in I was told “Here’s your keycard. You’ll nee that if you want to take the shuttle-boat to the private island.”
A hotel with a private island? This is a new experience for me. Instead of joining some other guest entertainers in the hotel bar I decided to take that trip to the private island. The speed boat comes right into the hotel lobby via an underground water inlet from the habour.
The island wasn’t particularly exciting, but I guess that’s the point. I could relax and swim and just hang out without having to worry about anyone swiping my camera or phone. I took photos of flamingos to go with my earlier photos of lizards and dogs. I also spent a while setting up my zoom lens to get a perfect shot of my juggling while sitting on a hammock in front of the sunset.
And, by the time I got back to the hotel lobby, the other guest entertainers were still sitting at the bar, so I joined them for a chat and drink. I did other things today, but I don’t need to write about them now.
Last night I performed two shows, as normal. The first was my favorite show in a long time. The audience was in a great mood, and every seat was full. I had lots of heckles and comments shouted at me, and that always makes for a more interesting show. A full-audience standing ovation also makes me very happy, even if I hint at the end of my show that I expect one. Of course, if I didn’t expect one from that audience I wouldn’t mention it.
The second show had only half the audience by numbers, but the energy was still very high. Due to incompetent volunteer I fell off my rolla bolla in the finale, which sort of caught me out. Thankfully the audience went with my recovery, and there followed my second standing ovation.
Today is day 19 onboard the Prinsendam. This is the longest single contract I’ve ever done. I bought a bottle of wine back in Portugal, and it has been sitting in my fridge for over two weeks. Last night I took it to the officers bar and shared it with some musicians. Or that was the plan. In the end I drank most of it myself, and woke up this morning with a bit of a hangover.
Normally a hangover wouldn’t be a problem, but this morning I had to do an informal coffee chat with the cruise director, where I get to talk about my story and show and juggling, then take questions from the gathered cruise guests. Funnily enough this draws just as many people as one of my shows, and the theater was full again.
