I should be....

Hello lovely Friday!

I'm off today, and am off until Dec 26.

I have a lot of things I should be doing today....I should be running errands, I should be packing, I should be writing, I should be purging, I should be baking, I should be calling and catching up, I should be not doing what I'm doing...which is watching old episodes of the Office online, casually re-arranging my desk into a more pleasing configuration and doing tiny loads of laundry--all in my pjs.

Well....happy holidays everyone--I'm heading back to ohio tomorrow to spend it with my family.

Becky

Oh Sniffers

He's a delight.
We took a stroll down Astor Street, which traverses it's way through the Gold Coast on the near-north side of Chicago. We walked by the Cardinal's mansion...past the James Charnley house (A Frank Lloyd Wright at 1365 North Astor Street) and then south on State, cutting over on Oak and then south on Michigan Avenue.

I couldn't resist taking pictures--Chicago was out in all it's Holiday Glory.

Our destination: River East to watch "No Country for Old Men".

We also picked up a Strawberry-Rhubarb tart at a little bakery on Oak Street for a gazillion bucks. In the movie, we had to wait until there was some killing to mask the unwrapping of the cellophane around the tart---it was really loud. Luckily, there was plenty of killing, so we didn't have to wait long.

Coming out of the theatre, here's what we saw---lit up like a movie set, for your perusal, the beautiful skyline of Chicago.

Enjoy.

Poor Homer

Last night I was in a really great mood because I have today off. I watched a few episodes of the office after class, I did some laundry and organized bills....blah blah blah. These little tasks never fail to make me happy--I'm one of those who likes to have a list and then check things off. If I do something that's not on the list, I'll write that down and check it off, too. (Which I just did with blogging, btw).

Anywho, I went to bed a bit late, and must have disturbed my precious sleep patterns and had strange dreams. I woke up, and walked out of my room and Homer was up working on his freelance assignment in our dining room, on his laptop.

I walked in and asked him where the other girl with dark hair was--and he said "Becky, you're sleepwalking." This, at the time, seemed a bit snappy to me, and I said back "No I'm NOT! " and felt indignant, as though Homer just didn't UNDERSTAND me.

I went back to bed and realized he was right.

Sorry Homer...I'm a bit of a grump when you tell me that I'm sleepwalking, even when you're correct.

Now, off to make coffee and enjoy my day off--I have lots on my to-do list!

Becky

You can't stop the Beat

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a bang-up family Thanksgiving here at Eldridge headquarters. I haven't been home in Ohio for the turkey in 5 years or so---and it was delightful. I really caught the Turkey spirit--and it was just a ton of fun. My sister Beth picked me up from the airport with her 2 daughters and then we headed back to her place to visit with her 2 sons before they left to go hunting. Then, hung out on Wednesday--got a walk in at the park across from her house, before the weather dropped--and then over to my Mom and Dad's. My brother Paul came by with his little ladies, and we all hung out. My other sister Kitty came with her little gentleman, and then I stayed the night at her place--had a few cocktails and hung out with Kit and her husband Brian.

I was promised some Macy's thanksgiving day parade viewing--which didn't really happen. But, kit's three little boys entertained me by playing classic Ohio State Marching Band songs and dancing to Hang on Sloopy. Those three are like little puppies--they just roll around and wrestle and are generally adorable.

I walked back to Mom's and she was already ready to go for our 1pm dinner (Convenient, huh?). We didn't actually eat until 2:30 I'd guess--Kit and family ran out of hot water so they were late in coming. Aunt Jan and Uncle Lee came, and Paul and Amy and the ladies and our special guest star, Uncle Richard, all the way from Toledo. Dad went and got him--and I just get a kick out of him.

Among the many highlights--the delicious food (Turkey, Seven-layer salad, beets, carrots and brussel sprouts, corn casserole, real mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin and apple pie for dessert), Uncle Lee's homemade wine and coffee always brewing.

My final sibling, Mark and his family came by--and they are always a delight to see, too.

Such a great thanksgiving--and a big shoutout to Kitty for reminding me always what a great holiday Thanksgiving is.

Today, woke up late (we skipped shopping) and hung out with Mom and Dad and just finished watching Hairspray. That movie is so stinking good--I need to rent the original John Waters' one and compare.

In a few minutes, Beth comes to get me and we go to the see "Enchanted" with her girls, the other girls and hopefully the little gentlemen. Dad is going through his home improvement list and Mom is cleaning and finishing up the Apple Pie.

I definitely have the Thanksgiving spirit!

Happy Turkey everyone!

This is a pic of Jayna--she can't get enough of the I-Photobooth!

Andy Out/Homer In

Andy's off to the high seas on the Norwegian Jewel--and left on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, the poor guy also left his cell phone---so that'll be sent to him asap.

And now--Homer's in! We had talked about this such a long time ago--and it's delightful so far.

I'm all packed and ready to go home to see the family in Ohio over Thanksgiving--I'm so excited to see them all. Those little munchkins amuse me to no end--so it's great to bask in their antics for a few days.

At the moment, I'm enjoying a nice little evening, on the couch, having made chili and done every piece of my laundry, moved Homer's boxxes in and so it's nice to just chill out.

I'm watching this movie that's all about the Kennedy woman--or at least Joan, Ethel and Jackie. Apparetnly, Ethel was outspoken and kind of trashy, Joan was a great campaigner when Teddy was paralyzed and Jackie was constantly elegant and a little snotty.

The Bobby is just not that cute...and the real Bobby was such the charming younger brother, so that's a bummer.

Oh! I've also started a new job at Essence magazine that's going swimmingly. I need to get my lazy butt out of bed a bit earlier and to work on time, but other then that, it's a lovely 3/days per week with a great staff.

What else...oh, I got a mani-pedi today and opted for a vamp-y kind of nail polish--it's Lincoln Park after-dark--and my nails looks like goth-talons. I think it was the wrong choice. The toenails look good though--a classic red.

OH no--Bobby was just killed on the tv....yikes. It just doesn't stop for those Kennedys.

THis is the end of this post.

Let's Go D-Day

Hello out there world. I'm about to throw to you a little precious piece of work that Amy and I have been toiling away at for many hours. Please be kind and guiding and good and in return, I'll be brave, collaborative and open to new ideas.

It's still scary to put stuff out there...

Feed the Beast

I'm taking a writing class and we're supposed to engage in a daily discipline of writing. Mine has been very poor/non-existent lately. I have faith in the the theory--and have seen it transform my writing. But, right now, I believe that I am "feeding the beast". I have busted out my old tank of a MANUAL camera (I just do not like digi-pics much right now) and have been taking pics around town, I'm reading my favorite books again and eating really good, sleeping a ton and just, in general, not doing much of anything.

Which is why this blog has been so empty of late-I just haven't felt like doing it.

So, I'm back, at least for now, old blog. It's getting colder and my desire to hole up is getting better.

And after a few months of a job-job, I'm shifting into a more flexible, less hours kind of situation.


I hope it allows me time to eat, do laundry, read, sleep AND write.

Excuses excuses.

Happy Halloween

Friday, September 28

I went to the Trader Joe’s with my roommate, Andy today. It was a fun day of errand-running, that ended in me dropping a substantial amount of cash. While at TJ’s, we were desperately looking for the Mango Lemonade, or Lemonade Crack. This stuff is the world’s best beverage—lovely on it’s own, it is a great mixer with any kind of liquor, and is served cold, no ice, at the Eninger-Eldridge houshold. But it was NOwhere to be found, as was the lack of the fave from 2 years ago---cookie crack, a thin, white-chocolate crisp cookie in a giant bin. Yes, I know it’s not chocolate, but it’s delicious and one of my few sweet treats in a heavily-focused savory treat diet. So, we bought strawberries and tiny tomatoes instead.

Summer in September

I really do believe that shifting my summer chronology has drastically improved my summer attitude. A few years ago, I decided that after years of rainy Memorial Days and crap-tastic weather in the beginning of June, that I was going to remove June entirely from any summer expectations, and give September a shot at being a summer month instead of June.

I know that the summer solstice is June 21 or thereabouts. But, my expectation of summer, for many years, was that the summer weather would fall in June/July/August.

Well, I've know completely bailed on you June--you are, in my mind now, month of June, late Spring. And that opens it up for you, lovely lovely September, a great opportunity to show your sunny way into my heart.

And this weekend was a summer weekend, indeed. In my ongoing quest to embrace Chicago, I took a paddle ride up the Chicago river, starting at Melrose almost all the way to Foster. And a group of friends went, too. Thank you all so much for coming, by the way--so fun. Anywho, we paddled past many duck families, a large flock of geese, a blue heron and a dead animal that was identified by others as either a racoon, a beaver or a rabbit--but was dead and floating in our river path. I was in a single kayak, and I simply refused to look at it so as not to besmirch the trance the Chicago River had cast on me.

Going under the Wilson bridge, I had stumbled into a Chicago movie scene location that if I had seen in the movie theatre I would have wished I could be in, but there I was, in it and watching two el trains fly by on the bridge above.

Stinky onion? Not Friday night.

Highly recommended---5 out of 5 paddles. And moving on forward, I decree September to be my new summer.

Quick hello to my brother Paul, (who I don't think has read this lately) but anyway, thanks for taking me kayaking all those times!
And tell Olivia to call me.

Faire, glorious Faire

What a lovely weekend you've served up, Chicago. First there was Friday, with a day off filled with roofdeck sunshine, stocking up at the grocery store and lovely hot dogs at Huey's. And not just dogs, but Chili Cheese dogs, with the onions, please.

Then, a stroll down to the Playground from Andersonville, filled with NPR nerd gossip and drunken cubs fans from the burbs. Show and drinks after, then late night viewing of Silence of the Lambs.

Saturday was coffee and buckwheat pancakes, a little bit of box moving next door as Lis and Jarrad arrived, laundry and even a little walk to get a cute outfit for dinner. Then, guac, hummus, cheese and beer-graitas on the deck with the sun setting behind us. Thai food at Thai Pastry and then back to the deck for the end of the evening.

Today was the renaissance faire, and it was like a movie set of what a renaissance faire should be---light filtering through the trees as we watched the jugglers and munched on cheese fritters. Sniffers drove the jeep, so summer sun just bled on us the whole way there and home. I even wore a gypsy skirt to try to fit in with the wenches and what-not. Lovely, lovely weekend and there's still one more day off.

Well-played, Chicago, well-played.

Behind the scenes these is a lot going on. I'm carefully crafting plans to enjoy the summer to the fullest, shifting towards a delightful fall and trying to follow good inspiration for future endeavors.

THis all sounds vague: but there's no real update or ironic observation right now to report.

Amy and I are totally cruising on the new play, work is busy but good, and I've been doing some improv, too.
I celebrated both Amy and Lis' birthday this week---it was really fun, including a long night of hanging out at two different beer gardens.

I ready Harry Potter in a day and really liked it. My friend Tim was planning to stretch it out to a chapter a day so it would last longer. I decided to just re-read it a bunch.

It's been hot.

I went to Lollapalooza and saw Modest Mouse, that crazy Amy Winehouse, Iggy Pop, and Pearl Jam. That's quite a festival, that Lolla--they run a super-tight ship.

Andy and I are back in purge mode and our office is almost complete. It's pretty sweet and much less trashy, now that we have matching Ikea birch furniture.

Oh! If you live in Chicago, I can't recommend enough the "Impress these Apes" show on Thursday nights at IO (Formerly Improv Olympic). It's a talent show, among many other things. It's so so great...go see it and see what you think.

Signing off, ironic comment,

Becky

Tan Camp

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I saw a bunch of old friends this week, and again and again, they commented on the tan. In fact, one friend even said “I keep looking over at you and thinking….is that really Becky?”

Another friend said I should keep wearing white to show the contrast and my old boss said I must have brought the sunshine home with me from the cruise.

I fear I’m getting a little tan-obsessed…but having a tan is almost like having a baby or a dog—it’s an icebreaker, especially when I’ve been pale for so long.

And since many of these people are also seeing my co-worker/longtime friend Lauri, who is 8 months pregnant, it’s nice to bring something to the conversation.

Crew to Crew

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I finally got to see Homer Monday night. I was in my work top and summer pj shorts, doing laundry when he and Andy burst into our front door, bristling with enthusiasm to go out. So, I put on some jeans, they changed from their show clothes and we headed out.

Only today, when he called to say hi did we remember that the first place we went after last seeing each other in Crew Bar on the Spirit was……Crew.

This Crew in Chicago is a gay sports bar, and the drinks cost a lot more then $1/bottle.

But when I’m there, I get to hang out with Andy, Cyndi, Paul and many more Chicago-based friends.

But man, I miss being able to walk down 7 flights of stairs to get to Crew Bar and not having to work in the morning.

Three times denied

Sunday, July 14, 2007
Rural Michigan--tan-ied
I headed up to Pinckney, Michigan, to get some face time with a friend’s new baby, hang out on her deck and play with her kids. Amy P and I headed out together and had a very relaxing time.

My friend, Jenn, has known me since high school. I was high on the many tan comments I had gotten since my return, and faithful readers will know that I’ve been working to keep the tan. Jenn, never once mentioned my tan, though she’s seen me pale every summer since the late 80s.

I finally asked her if she noticed my tan—and she said not so much. I then jerked down my t-shirt to wow her with my shoulder tan and she remained non-plussed. Amy even asked her privately, “You don’t think Becky is really tan?” Jenn denied me for a third time. She is my tanning Judas. Or is that Simon?

Back to life...back to reality

Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Back to work again.
After 5 months of not working in an office, I’m back to a desk job.

As desk jobs go, this is a really good one. The commute is easier then I remembered, I really dig my workmates and they were nice enough to take me back after the cruise.

But, my favorite thing is being downtown again in the summer. I’m right on the river, across from the Wrigley Building and next to the Tribune Tower.

It’s been lovely this week, and lovely to be back in the action.

Even if my tan is fading.

Friday, June 28, 2007
I’m home in good old Elyria, Ohio.

We went to Cedar Point, a lovely amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Once you enter the park, there are photographers waiting to take your picture to sell to you later. It felt like the cruise all over again.

I almost said “No thanks, I’m crew” as I walked by. At every gangway at every port on the ship, the photographers would await your exit and try to take your pic with a dolphin (for Dominican Republic) or a gnarly pirate (for all Virgin Islands) or a creepy faux-astronaut (for Port Caneveral). These costumed guys would man-handle you into the frame pretty quickly, so we’d scoot around them saying “Crew! Crew! No thank you, Crew!” to keep their mitts off of us.

My favorite ride at Cedar Point was the Millenium roller coaster. The first hill was tremendousouly steep and long.

Cedar Point is really great as far as theme parks go—it’s perched on a peninsula in Sandusky Bay, surrounded entirely by the blue waters of Lake Erie. When you ride a ride, you don’t see a highway and boring burbs and outlet malls, instead you see water and trees and a beach. I really love it there so much.

Here’s some rugrats who came along with me.

Ad it up

Saturday, June 22, 2007
Last night, I met out some old advertising friends for Happy Hour at Pontiac in Bucktown. A lot of musicians and artists live in Bucktown, and then a lot of yuppies who gravitate towards those areas, because it’s cool, hip and they like to be around artistic types.

The Pontiac has a big outdoor patio with great people watching. A middle-aged man with a scowl on his pucker and a parrot on his shoulder walked by on North Avenue. Another lady walked by with a young man—who was either her son or her young lover.

I had a great time re-connecting with some of the advertising folk. They work really long hours and remind me a lot of the crew on the ship---they are in this career, and don’t see another option that involves a bit more work/life balance. When I worked in advertising, I regularly worked 12 hour days, for multiple days in a row. That’s how it is for the crew on the ship, too. Even though they’re dressing up in their little 70s wigs and churning out theme parties, they are still working a ton of hours.

Consequently, in both industries, they embrace the idea of “Work hard, party hard.”

It’s also tough to grow older in both industries…it’s very rare to find someone over 50.

And they sure all like to drink.

I left after about 2 hours to ride my bike home. Sober.

Condo Clean -up Day

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
It’s been a busy week—I participated in a benefit with Gayco (in the most minor of ways—singing in the final number with a chorus of 20), had a few breakfast dates with friends and Andy and I had condo clean-up day.

We moved into our place in October, but with both of us soon departing for boats, we never completely settled into our place. Consequently, there are weird areas of storage with weird things in them---need plastic cutlery? Look in the picnic basket high above our refrigerator! Wondering where the toolbox is? Look under the leather ottoman in the dining room!

The day was a success—we got a lot done and also learned a bit about each other. As it turns out, Andy doesn’t like cherry cloth tablecloths on the dining room table or any items on the bathroom sink. I don’t like mannequins or life-sized stuffed dummies in our home, or cups with remnants of protein-powder shakes and oatmeal-encrusted bowls left next to the kitchen sink, unrinsed. But, we both love having balanced checking accounts and are giving away our extra computer monitors.

Any takers?

The Lakefront of Chicago is very nice

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I went walking on the Chicago lakeshore with fellow shipmate, Jeremy Sosenko.
Jeremy and I are both suffering from the boredom of post-ship life--neither of us are working, and are just...bored.

To alleviate the boredom, and save money, we went on a long-ass walk on the lakefront.

It was a stunning day with lots of sun.

Later, we went out for cheap beers with Amy P.

I am fake jogging in this picture. I don't run.

I need to get back to work.

Party like a Swede

Midsommar fest in my neighborhood, Andersonville.

http://www.starevents.com/mid_fest.html

Hello, that there is my first link in this blog. Please tell me how to make it prettier if you know how.

I’m a true Midwestern gal, because my instinct in starting this entry is to talk about how lovely the weather was. But dude, it was such great weather! It was like a freakin’ day in St. Thomas in February—blue skies, puffy clouds, sunshine and in the 80s.

Since I’ve come back from the cruise, I’ve been very protective of my base coat tan. I’ve never been much of a tanner—more of a burner. In fact, when people who know me see the tan—they are literally shocked and then amused at how bronze I am. It amuses me, too, and I’m trying to keep the tan rolling along. And on Saturday, at Midsommar fest, in a tank top and skirt, I got some more color. End of self-indulgent tanning paragraph.

Dori swung by and picked me up at my pad, then we met up with Margaret, John, Starks, Ross and the McGarry brothers. We ran into Colan, Sniffers, and several other lovely improv peeps.

Sniffers twirls with ROTC, an all-male Rifle twirling group. For some god-forsaken reason, I always miss their show by 5 minutes. I’ve tried to see them at Pride, or Market days, but I always get there just in time to see them packing up their big gay rifles and greet their adoring fans. Same thing happened on Saturday. Though for this one, I blame Sniffers who kept the show on the DL for some reason and didn’t tell me they were performing.

Later, we watched one of the Denny brothers perform greatest hits of Dave Matthews and then headed to Andersonville’s long-standing Simon’s for copious amounts of beverages.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=20536898


Thanks for Amy and Sean and Ross for assuring I got home safely and for letting me march and sing along the way.

Now the underdogs have overcome, hop hop. They got their funding and they had some fun.

Hello Chicago!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Out of the house for the first time since Saturday.

I finally did it. I left my house. Now, keep in mind, I LOVE my house—it’s airy, filled with sunlight and sits on a bustling corner where I keep watch on the neighborhood from my second floor office. So, by staying in my house, I’m not holed up away from humanity…plus, Andy’s around, too. But, it was time to venture out to see the world.

I met up with my friend Lis at Mystic Celt, a bar on Southport. We then went down to Lange’s, an old-man bar, down the street.

Lis has a new job, so she went home at a decent hour while I traversed the wilds of Cornelia to go meet up with Jeremy Sosenko, formally of the Spirit. We went to Twisted Spoke, a pseudo-biker bar in Wrigleyville.

We chatted about the boat, his trip with brother to Atlantic City and general impressions of our return home.

Jeremy kept saying “No one exists. No one knows so and so, or this person. They don’t exist in Chicago.”

It’s true—you just entirely leave the Spirit world behind (and by Spirit, I mean the ship, not celestial plain kind of stuff). I have pics of these people, but no ongoing encounters with any of them. It’s so strange….and so liberating.

A few of our mutual friends came up to the Spoke, and in what seemed a blink of the eye, I had spent $40 on cabs, beers and general revelry.

I do miss $1 beers and no cost for transportation and food.

I do not miss Raffles Buffet.

Home again home again diggity dog

Monday, June 4, 2007
Home again home again, diggity dog.

Back home. The last week on the boat was really fun—we had a rocking Stardust show, a good scriptless show and a really fun Karaoke party on Thursday night, and then a long, luxurious last night dinner at Cagney’s Steakhouse with the cast. Final event was a bizarre last night in crew bar and then departure for home.

I always knew that the cruise was like a machine---every week, the same parties, events and shows. But I didn’t realize how non-plussed the crew would be on our last morning. We, too, were like cogs in the machine. Upon reflection, of course it’s that way---and I did make some nice friends. But, there’s a certain amount of cynicism that has to exist. I’m sure you get used to saying goodbye if you are on the cruise for a while…but it’s still fresh and new to me so it pained me a bit.

But, thankfully, Jeremy’s brother, who I call brother, picked us up and took us to lunch in Queens and then LaGuardia. Once I was in the air, I shifted from feeling melancholy to enthusiasm for my home.

Arriving at my condo, I was just relieved and thankful. I walked around and touched everything and chatted a mile a minute with Andy and was just happy.

We met up with Heather and Judy and the baby, and had ice cream and a long walk through my beloved Andersonville. Beers on the roof deck, overlooking the skyline and early to bed.

Sunday morning, I woke up, had coffee in a souvenir mug and listened to NPR. I was so thrilled to be in my pad and listening to my beloved NPR. Oh, Bob Edwards! I am not immune to your charms.

Cyn and Andy had a bbq for me Sunday afternoon, and it was positively great. Just the right amount of friends to visit with and hang out and drink sangria, eat burgers and relax.

Today, unpacking and laundry and activity planning. And now, sitting on my couch, Andy’s gone and it’s my first moment alone since I’ve been back.

It’s good to be home.

Kennedy Space Center, exploding nuts and it’s all about thrust…

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

NASA was amazing! Amazing!
Jeremy and Dave are into space, so I could ask them questions about the stuff I should already know about, and they’d answer my questions without me feeling dumb.

My favorite part was the rocket garden. Just all these old rockets from the Gemini program, Apollo and other missions. Also, that the #2 section of the parking lot was named #2 for the Democratic Senator from the great state of Ohio, Mr. John Glenn.

At one point on the tour, we heard about the threat that exploding nuts pose in the space program.

We came back and tried to find an astronaut movie to watch, but the only thing in the crew dvd library was Starship Troopers and Armageddon. They also had Virgin Suicides and Jarhead, neither of which I’ve seen, but I opted not to check those out.

Just another day at the daily grind

Monday, May 14, 2007
Sea day oh Sea day.
Today represented a very typical sea day on the Spirit. I woke up at 11, worked out to Judging Amy (Amy is having trouble with her teen daughter Lauren, but her mom, Tyne Daly, provides wise council just in the nick of time to prevent Amy from making a big parenting mistake).

Then, I ate at the Bier Garten with Jeremy, and attended a lecture entitled “Mysteries of the Deep”. A professor debunked the myth of the Bermuda triangle and other legends of the deep. I like debunking, but I always have a compulsion to debunk their bedunking, just to keep it balanced. In this case, I questioned one of his slides that referred to “A Lake in Africa”. He couldn’t recall the name of the lake or the nation, but did say he had read it in National Geographic, turning to the audience of the Clipper conference room. Now, who’s the debunker and who debunked?

Next, I snuck into the boardroom, a fancy, seldom used conference room with wi-fi, and really comfy chairs. I stayed there writing until 5, when the Friends of Bill W came in for their meeting.

I wandered over to the main lobby, and caught the tail end of the taping of “Live at Five”, as I wrote the running order for our “Scriptless” or improv show on Thursday. Live at Five is the Cruise Director’s live tv show where they promote events and shops on board, give out NCL-themed merchandise as prizes and inject lots of cruise-style zaniness when possible.

Next, I chatted with a friend or 2, and then headed up to check in with Carly in our room. She wasn’t there, so I decided to go sit outside and read on deck 11. Jeremy joined me, and then we spotted a tiny boat off the port side. We watched it for a while, and then read some more. There was a really nice sunset, so we watched that for a while. Jeremy doesn’t like sunsets as much as I do, but will tolerate watching them.

Then, we decided to eat at Raffles, and ran into Carly and Brian. We all sat outside, watching the Cavs game (Cavs won!) I came back to the room to read some more, and catch up on the blog.

Tonight, we’ll go to crew bar around 11pm and hang out for a bit with our friends from the NCL production team, Crew Excursions and Cruise Staff.

Tomorrow, we are going to see the Kennedy Space Center.

This is a really great job.

Please proceed with less caution

Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Carly, Amy and I headed out to Virgin Gorda, a gorgeous gorgeous beach in the British Virgin Islands. We hung out at the first beach, and then hiked through some caves and coves to a second beach. We floated on our backs, soaked in the sun and just chilled out. Then we hiked back to the parking lot to catch “Speedy’s” shuttle to the ferry back to the main island where we port. There’s a lot of taking a bus to a boat to a bus down here in the Caribbean. And it’s always on open-air trucks and ferries with noxious fumes. If one was worried about safety standards, you could easily get freaked out. But, that stuff doesn’t bother me, so I’m usually just fine.

Brother

Monday, May 7, 2007
Jeremy’s brother Ben is also on board. At different points, we were calling him a cousin, and I thought his name was Sam for a bit. In the end, I just called him brother. He took to that and embraced it fully.

Today, Amy, Brother, Jeremy and I walked around Bermuda. It felt like one of those days when you are backpacking, and meet up with another set of travelers and just go out and about exploring. Part of you knows that the easy travel camaraderie is only for that day, and that you probably won’t keep in touch beyond this day. But, it’s fun while it lasts. Plus, we had bloody marys at noon, so that makes for a nice vacation day for both Amy and brother.

Dave, new guy, good guy

Sunday, May 6, 2007
Sea day! We had rehearsal for our new guy, Dave. And then I played Scrabble with Homer and Carly. Amy snacked nearby but didn’t join us in Scrabble.

We had our Stardust show with our new guy, Dave. He did really well.

That is all.

Amy Day

Saturday, May 5, 2007
Amy day!
Amy came on board today…and it’s been a rocking fun time. I walked her around and showed her the highlights, including the multiple bags of baked cheetos and yummy cans of pop I bought for us to snack on. Oh, and the pool, too.

Bye old D, Hi new D

Thursday, May 3, 2007
This cruise is always pretty tame. We go to Cape Canaveral and go to the mall and see a movie. Then we go to Nassau, and go to Starbucks. Then we have our show. Then we go to the private island and get tropical drinks and hang out. Don’t get me wrong; it’s nice, but just not as exciting as the other cruise.

It’s been a busy week—we are working in a new actor, so an extra rehearsal, plus, saying goodbye to Darryl and welcoming the new guy.

I’ve barely had time to nap!

Walmart and snacks

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Wal-Mart! The crew bus makes 3 stops in Cape Cocoa/Cocoa Beach: Wal-Mart, the mall and Cocoa Beach. Since my friend Amy is coming on board this week, I went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on Baked Cheetos, diet sodas and nuts.

Let me say this, I really hate shopping at Wal-Mart. I feel guilty for shopping there because, as a card-carrying Liberal, I know they discourage unions and women aren’t paid or promoted fairly and the introduction of a Wal-Mart into a community will often drive smaller local businesses out of business. But mainly, all the choices overwhelm me. I won’t even enter the place unless I have a list, because there is just too much G-D stuff there. So, it’s hard for me to shop there. But, it’s the only place the bus goes, so my choices are pretty limited. Do any of you know if the conditions are better at Target or Kmart? Do we hear more about Wal-Mart because they are so huge? I’ve tried to google this topic, but haven’t gotten very far or found any unbiased evidence.

Anyway, Amy and I both love snacks and crazy diet soda combos, ala, Diet Black Cherry Citrus Fresca, or Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, or Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi (so you can drink one late at night but not be over-caffeinated).

I barely made the bus—I had to run and wave my arms to stop it. I had purchased more then I could carry and struggled with my bags. Thankfully, a nice man helped me with the three 12 packs of soda I had so carefully selected. I’m a pretty practical person, except when it comes to estimating what I can carry by hand. I always always forgot that pop is heavy or that laundry detergent weighs a ton or that I can’t fit 10 pounds of chicken, 2 cartons of grapefruit juice and a bunch of bananas in my backpack to ride home on my bike.

Thank goodness for Carly and Darryl, who helped me carry it all up to my room.

Band Geek in NY

Sunday, April 29, 2007


NY day. I was walking on 53rd and 7th, when I heard a marching band! It was a group from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Arts. They sounded GREAT, and seemed to be part of a fair housing/stop the city from demolishing our building kind of rally. I was befuddled by the street protestors who held up signs on sticks with pics of what looked like modern art and photographs. The band seemed befuddled, but good-naturedly excited for the gig. There was one police officer on hand, and some barriers. The “protestors/picketers” were jamming to the band and seemed thrilled by the crowd they were attracting. But I really, even after concentrated effort, couldn’t figure out what was going on. I didn’t ask, because I’m a little shy about asking for directions or clarification from strangers.

But, I LOVED the band!

Private Party, private dancer

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Tonight was Dl’s birthday. He reserved the private Karaoke room for his party. We all went, and sang a bunch of silly and good songs. Homer and I did a duet to the B-52’s “Love Shack” that went over pretty well.

The karaoke rooms are tucked behind Shanghai bar, and the unconfirmed rumour is that they used to be “special” rooms for high rollers when our ship was a gambling ship.

I told Brian and Jeremy the rumour and they kind of looked down on the leather banquette with a face and lifted their hands like they were covered in goo, and said “Ewww”.

Secret Mission, mission successful.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Right before I left Chicago to come on the boat, my friend Sue and Paul told me about a secret place where no passengers go. Sue wrote out directions for me, and Carly, Darryl and Jeremy and I went today. Following Sue’s directions was like following a treasure map—and as each part worked out, I felt a personal sense of accomplishment, much like a pirate must feel as he makes his way to the “X” spot on his map.

The secret place lived up to the hype and more, but we’ve all been sworn to secrecy about this place.
It’s got a beach, free wireless, it’s an island and an amazing story about the couple who originally built on it in the 1930s.

That’s all I’ll say. You can’t get it out of me for all the rum in the world!

For sure

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Being on the boat is, to me, like being in high school. You go into the cafeteria (Which is Raffles for us), and see your friends there. You may or may not go sit at their table, depending on the evidence you gather. For instance, today I saw Brian with his computer opened, so I left him alone. Then, oh my god, while I was eating, Daniel the singer cam by to invite the SC cast to a Karaoke night on Thursday for his , gasp, 25th birthday. But then, I was getting ice cream after a delicious Ceaser salad, and Brian was also totally getting ice cream. So, we decided to, like, go outside, and ran into three of the dancers. Out on the terrace, Jeremy was there, too. It was totally fun.
TTFN
BFF
CUlater
LYLAS

Bermuda Triangle

Monday April 23, 2007

Our first visit to Bermuda, and it was LOVELY. We wondered about Hamilton, and found an amazing sloped garden with incredible impatiens. Then, a stop by the historical museum and the Hogpenny Pub for fish and chips. Cheerio chap!

The skunks smells his own stink first

Sunday, April 22, 2007
It’s a beautiful sea day today—the sun is shining, the ocean is sparkling and the seas are fairly calm.

In the internet café, which sits just outside of the Galaxy of the Stars, one of the prime dance/entertainment areas, I sat next to a middle-aged man. He was sitting at the monitor, while his wife hovered over him. It seemed he was having trouble logging into his email, and his wife kept telling him he needed to log in to the internet. They were bickering a bit, but he kept being distracted by the music from the Galaxy of the Stars.

He: “Where is that music coming from? This thing is so slow…it must need to connect to the satellite”

She: “You have to log in first.”

He: “I’m already logged in, it’s just not taking my password. Oh! Where is that music coming from? I really like this song. (The band is playing the perennial favorite, “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summers). I could really dance to this song.”

I logged out, but he continued to wrestle with the SLOW internet and be distracted by the music and it’s origin.

On the way back to my room, I smelled another giant fart. I keep running into fart clouds this cruise, and I keep thinking it’s me.

Crew Show

Saturday, April 21, 2007
We participated in the Crew Show. The Crew show is a talent show that is for the crew and stars the crew. We were the only theatrical material—the rest was rock, pop and love ballads. And a traditional candle dance from the Philipines that was my favorite.

Also, a pretty long Jesus rock number that was actually pretty good.

The show started around midnight, and the crew welfare team served beer and wine and a lot of crew members from the ship got to see us perform 10 minutes of material.

It was strange being backstage--it's always just us, and for the crew show, there were dozens of performers milling about in traditional costumes, Britney Spears costumes, Hip-hop costumes and many were practicing their dances in front of the mirrors.

I enjoyed the mixxing it up a bit---and a reminder of how lucky we are to have our job.

Afterwards, we ended up at Maharini’s, the nightclub in the back of the casino.

At the Crew show, I showed off my new haircut and highlights.

Phil Pil Fil

Friday, April 20, 2007.
A week of lasts.

Our Shore Excursions manager, Phil. He’s leaving NCL all together, and going to White Horse, Alaska to hang out and figure out his next job.
He’s been a great friend to all of us at Second City and we’ll miss him a ton.

We’ve attended a lot of goodbye gatherings and “lasts” in Phil’s honor since the new guys have come along. However, as they keep pointing out, every day is filled with Phil’s last something. Phil’s last night in crew bar. Phil’s last night at the Scriptless show. Phil’s last night at the Stardust. Phil’s last scrabble game. Phil’s last night on GSC, the private island. And, finally, the true last, Phil’s last day on GSC.

But, at last, Phil is really now gone. Phil loves puns, so here are a few to say goodbye (though I don’t think he reads this)
• We’ve had our “Phil”.
• We’re all “Phil”led up.
• He’s searching for Ful-“phil”-ment

Super Ray

Tuesday, April 17, 2007
I went to Cocoa Beach today and had a great time hanging with our Asst Cruise Director, Ray-Ray. The thing with the Cruise staff, is that they always have to be “on”. So, it’s always lovely when we get away from the passengers, and can just have a chat. We mostly soaked up the sun, with Ray-Ray keeping himself on a pretty strict flipping regiment, and me continuing to wear my sunglasses, resulting in a raccoon-look that is so big this spring.

Everyone on this cruise is feeling a lot better to be on solid land. Even the most seasoned cruising veterans were feeling the rockiness of the boat.

And, we’re all watching the sad news coming out of Virginia Tech. It’s just really really sad.

Nor'easter, not Easter

Monday, April 16, 2007
We’ve been hit by a big Nor’easter and the boat is definitely a rocking. We’re all bearing it pretty well, considering that it’s the longest we’ve been consistently rocky. I had a great time just wandering the boat—grabbing the railings, lifting my foot and having it land somewhere other then where I planned.

Our new cruise director is Darrin, and he seems…enthusiastic.

Rain rain rain

Sunday, April 15, 2007
Boy, today was a rainy one! I got off in NY and walked right into the middle of the big old rain storm. I found some protection under a bus shelter, but then had to run to the library to return DVDs. I took a cab there, and was still soaked. It was kind of fun, because it wasn’t that cold and I played a game wondering how wet I could get. I think I won, because I was pretty soaked.

I met up with my friend Abby for about half an hour, which was lovely, but too short. With our 2:30 back on board policy, our NY days are just long enough to get errands done, but too short for a real sit-down social visit.

I wanted a bath after coming home to my cabin. That's one thing I miss hard core---a bath.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
“All these kids on this boat are mainly douchebags.”
Jeremy Sosenko.

I hosted a spontaneous gathering around 11:30 pm on Saturday night. Homer had popped by to lay on my chair after a delicious and filling dinner at Cagney’s, our steakhouse on board. We took our friend Phil for dinner there. Phil is the Shore Excursions Manager on the Spirit, and our frequent Scrabble companion. He’s leaving this week to go back to the Yukon and figure out a new job. Anyway, we ate a ton, and were pretty stuffed. The kind of stuffed that the food is all the way up to your esophagus, like on Thanksgiving. The boys (as we’ve taken to call Jeremy and Brian) swung by after their dinner date at Windows. Then, Carly and Darryl popped up to sign Julie’s card so we all hung out.

The gathering was unplanned and we were all super-giggly. There’s a new energy afoot in this cast and its fun getting to know each other.

Then, Carly, Darryl, Homer and I headed down to Crew bar to say goodbye to our friend Meghan, the tattoo artist.

Full disclosure: These images are not from Saturday, but from earlier in the week. But, I wanted to include them.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Overheard in the Stairwell outside of Raffles—a teen boy and girl:

Boy: “You mean you don’t like crab legs?”

Girl: “I don’t know, I’ve never had them.”

Boy: “Wait, why are we on the 12th floor”

Girl: “I don’t know.”

Boy: “Well, I followed you!”

Girl: “No, I followed you. You ran ahead of me.”

Boy: “Well, that’s because you’re so f-ing slow.”

I bet that boy’s dad isn’t very nice to his mom.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Today, Homer, Brian, Jeremy and I went on the caves and mangroves tour in Samana, Dominican Republic. It was really amazing---with some of the pictographs in the caves dating back to the pre-Columbian era. There was much speculation among our party about exactly where and when Columbus first landed. It seems he was all over the Caribbean…everywhere we go on our exotic cruise, they are claiming Columbus as the one who came in, and killed the indigenous peoples within 50 years. What the h, Columbus?

Here’s a picture of new music director, seeking some knowledge from our tour guide about the local culture and history of DR. He also asked about a lot of the Dominican baseball players, too.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This week, we lost Jeff and Joe, and gained Brian and Jeremy. The new guys are totally showing me up. They are already taking time out of the day to write and workout and explore the boat. It’s good motivation to get some stuff done.

The first Stardust show went great—they were both fantastic and fun to work with, to boot.

We also heard that our castmate, Darryl, is being promoted to Toronto Mainstage. This is fantastic news—he is great on stage and great to work with—so I’m very excited for him.

Phil, our friendly Shore Excursions Manager, is leaving next week. I do a mean impersonation of Phil, so it’ll be sad that it won’t be relevant anymore.

Meghan, our airbrush tattoo artist is also leaving to go back to Canada.

Finally, our beloved cruise director, Julie, is leaving on Sunday. It’s a bummer for us, but a huge opportunity for her.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Homer and I went to mass this morning, for Easter. It was strange having mass in the Stardust, home to our mainstage show and many comedian/hypnotist/magic/dancer/singer acts. The venue puts a lot of pressure on the priest to do some tricks or fancy footwork. But, being Catholic, the deck is already stacked with in-service miracles, and on Easter, we’re celebrating the pretty biggest miracle of all in the Catholic world, so I think the attendees gave the priest some slack. He was old, and kind of preachy, which is unusual for a catholic priest. We had to sing a cappella, and, as it turns out, Catholics everywhere are pretty un-spirited singers.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

NY day. I met up with Homer and went to Office Depot to get more pictionary pads and we ran into Phil. We decided to grab pizza and found a place that was just around the corner. Phil decided to get a Blue Moon, and they served it in a 32 oz. fountain Coke to-go cup, with a straw and lid. We were running short on time, so Homer went to get our beloved Starbucks, while I went to Duane Reade to pick up Easter/spring candy treats for the cast and crew. Phil trotted along, with his beer in a to-go cup, and I had more then a few anxious moments, since he had an open container of BEER, in a drugstore on a Saturday in Times Square. He didn’t make it any easier when he told me he was really getting a buzz because he was drinking the beer through a straw. I tried to send him to meet Homer and help him with the coffees, but he didn’t follow my directive. Then, the security guard circled past us twice, and Phil knocked over a couple pre-made Easter baskets on the high shelf, so I made him leave. He claims he wasn’t loopy and that I’m over sensitive to perceived security threats but he was making me very nervous.

Friday, April 6, 2007

We had dinner at Shogun’s tonight with our departing cast, Jeff and Joe. The dinner was nice, but we were all a bit subdued. We went down to Crew bar for a cocktail, and then eventually, Blue Lagoon for a late night snack. It’s strange to see these guys go—but I think they were both, in their own ways, done with the Spirit.

Homer loves this nautical sweater and we love giving him sh@t for it.

Guest blogger, Lis Dunson

Friday, March 30, 2007

Guest Blogger: Lis Dunson:
Thanks to Becky’s generosity I am aboard the Spirit for an EXOTIC 8 day Caribbean cruise. I found out that my cruise is EXOTIC when I read it on a poster by the reception desk. Indeed I have had a lot of exotic adventures during my cruise. Some highlights:
1.) As the guest of a “Guest Entertainer” I was granted a pass enabling me to drink in the crew bar ($1 beers – woo-hoo!).
2.) On St. Thomas I saw an iguana in a palm tree.
3.) We played scrabble nearly every day.
4.) One night at Maharini’s Bar, the bar with beds everywhere, I hung out with the hypnotist that Becky mentioned in her last blog. We were interrupted by some MIT students who wanted him to hypnotize them, right there, in the bar. So, he went over and…seemingly, hypnotized them via a method that combined tapping their forehead repeatedly while having them switch their shoes around to be worn the opposite foot. To prove they were hypnotized he had them dirty dance with each other.
5.) One day I did not leave our room until 2pm.
I have loved my Becky va-ca. This is the 3rd time I’ve visited Becky in a beautiful vacation spot where she is being paid to perform. How does she do it? Talent, brains and boobz. Nuf said. -LD

A good year

Friday March 30, 2007
Lis is here! It’s been lovely. She got here at around 10:15 am on Saturday, and now it’s Friday and we’re sitting in my cabin, drinking coffee and watching the French movie with Russell Crowe.

Drag lite

Friday March 22, 2007

Sitting in the Café playing Scrabble..there was just a dolphin sighting off the starboard side.

I heard a group of friends in Raffles at breakfast.

Middle-aged Lady: “Did you party last night?”

A couple responds by smiling with interested looks on their face.

Middle-aged Lady, with great pride: “We did.”

They all giggle together, and then describe the “craziness” of the fairly tame drag show we have on board, a cabaret tribute. It really shocked them to see a man dressed as a woman.

They should come down to a pride parade or one of our plays—there’s drag busting out all over.

You can dance if you want to

Thursday, March 21, 2007
So, we went to Bambu last night and it was still that lovely snow day feeling. Like, can you believe that we’re getting away with this? I had a great time…hung with the cruise staff, shore ex, the tattoo artist Megan and some of the production team.

Highlight of the evening, for sure, was getting our music director, Joe to dance. I taught him all the old college standbys—shopping, starting the lawn mower, opening a window that’s stuck, the washing machinc on spin cycle.

Good times, for sure.
Today is super-rocky, and we saw some lovely puke on the way into our show…so that’s fun.

Rough first show, hoping for some magic in the second show.

Dustin, dancer, grandson

Wednesday March 21, 2007, part 1
I’m sitting in Starbucks with Carly, Darryl and Dustin. Dustin’s a 19-year old dancer with the NCL production company. All of the dancers and singers, save two, are leaving on Saturday. The replacement cast is here, and have been on the outskirts of our social circle, but I’ve been mostly ignoring them.

Dustin is my special friend….as predicted by my predecessor, Ali Davis.

He’s full of energy and super sassy and young and sweet. I like him a lot…he’s sort of an unlikely friend that I’ll miss.

He’s adopted Homer and I as his grandparents, which sounds a little bit like silly high school drama, but such is boat life. Grandma is happy to adopt him, I think Grandpa is a little more indifferent.

Snow Day in Nassau

Wednesday March 21, 2007..part 2
Oh my gosh! We just heard the most exciting news in Starbucks—the rumor was that the ship was going to overnight in Nassau! This is the first time we’ve veered from our itinerary, and it is very exciting. We all bustled back to the ship to find out it was true! While we anticipated that we would add a second show, we also anticipated that the passengers would be VERY angry. I hope for a full-scale riot on our hands. Even as much as I sympathize with upset passengers, and the extra burden on all of the cruise staff and shore excursions, and we have to add a second show, I still feel like it’s a snow day! We get to stay overnight! In the crappiest port in the Bahamas! Boarding, we saw a bunch of dancers who are just THRILLED! They can party it up at Senor Frogs! I’m really hoping that Carly, Darryl and Homer will want to go to Paradise Island for the afternoon. It’s lovely and fun for just a day.

This is the most exciting day ever!

I wish I would have showered earlier…

Insert requisite Steve Erwin joke

Wednesday, March 21, 2007, part 3
So, at first, old Homer didn’t want to go to Paradise Island. But, he acquiesced once he saw the water taxi was only $5 roundtrip. Homer loves a bargain, so we went! I am overusing exclamation points…but that’s how I feel. We just had a lovely, relaxing day walking to get ice cream, walking through the casino, lookin at the aquarium for a long time. We saw a huge ass sting ray and just basked in the sun’s lovely warmth. It was one of those unexpected moments, when I was looking up at the bridge suite between the two towers at Atlantis, and thought, that’s nice I wonder what the suite is like insde, oh my freaking goodness, it’s a Wednesday in March, and I am in the Bahamas…how lucky am I.

The ice cream was so good—melting down the sugar cone and licking it up as we walked by gigantic white yachts..named “Nice n Easy”, or some such nonsense.

Then, we took the water taxi back, and came onboard. All of the crew is abuzz about this place called the bamboo room to go late night. Ok—sounds good. Or maybe not? Whatever! It’s a snow day and we are not going to the private island.

At dinner, I sat with Homer, Jeff, Joe and we were all pretty giggly.

We had out show, and then went to Bambu.

Low Brow kind of gal

Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Today, I went to the Merritt Square Mall in Cape Canaveral mall and bought some major cruise wear. Cabana wear, admittedly, is not good for the mortgage, but I did it anyway.

On another note, I finished up Julia Child’s book, in which she, at one point, embraces the US mass grocery store. I loved already about how she loves France, but at the same time, doesn’t hate America. There’s no cynicism represented in her, and she is just a delight to read. I also recall how Ira Glass one time told me through the radio about a history professor who had died. They replayed a segment of him going to check out the authenticity of Medieval Times---I think they expected him to hate it—but he loved it! It was really refreshing to hear him exclaim about all of the turrets and symbols and flags and such.

In the movie, Music and Lyrics, they talk a little bit about that idea—high brow v low brow. And not embracing low brow culture for its’ kitschiness, but for what it is—lovely and wonderful in its’ own way. Drew Barrymore loves these 80s songs that Hugh Grant co-wrote, and encourages him to perform them because they are great and surprising and people love to hear them.

Freedom!

Friday, March 16, 2007
This week was pretty uneventful. Shows went well, and we just finished our first scriptless (improv) show.

We hear that our boat might be heading into a big storm and that NCL has advised the spirit to button down the hatches. For some reason, I’m excited about a storm. I think it’s just to break up the routine a bit.

Last night, the crew welfare had a “Freedom” party on the Bier Garten deck. Prior to the party, they had printed out all the letters of FREEDOM, and hid them under the tables and chairs. About halfway through the party, they had everyone look for the letters, and spell out FREEDOM with the printed out letters. But, they couldn’t find the R, so they were stuck with FEEDOM instead of FREEDOM. We all started yelling out “FEEDOM! FEEDOM!” But, it was pretty windy on the deck where we were, so we headed down to the Maharinis and hung out with the hypnotist who’s on board for a few weeks.

Also, the majority of the NCL production dancers and singers are leaving in about a week. So, they were taking pictures and hooking up like crazy. Freedom indeed.

I love the Library

Saturday, March 10, 2007
Today was NY day. I finally found the little NY public library right off the port, and got a temporary library card. I tried to flash my impressive 15-year old Chicago Public Library card in the hopes of inspiring much inner-city book loaning cooperation, but the librarian scoffed at it and said “That card is no good here.” NY is a tough town to crack with my Midwest folksiness, but I’ve got pluck aplenty and will keep on trying. Luckily, she allowed me to fill out an application for a temporary card. I put my address down as “Norwegian Spirit, 50th street and 12th Avenue”, which is where we usually dock. She didn’t even blink and I scooted away with three DVDs (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Brazil and Silkwood) and 5 books (The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain, A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, Anna Kaenina by Leo Tolstoy and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld). That will fill these long sea days with some classic tomes and films.

And the library has free and strong wireless!

A jaunt up 10th led me to the Lincoln Center and a Barnes and Nobles where I cover shopped but did not purchase. A stop by Starbucks, and then I was back on board.

The spring weather put a spring in my stride, so I decided to lurk on the edges of the sail away dance party at Tivoli pool. I was highly amused to see Ray-Ray Wright dance the Macarena with his fellow cruise staffers, including NCL Spirit’s #1 party boy, Jay Pepper and our cruise director Julie. This picture does not capture his reluctant enthusiasm, but it was quite a sight to see.

I also enjoyed going by lady liberty, as always, and tried to capture the competing upheld arms of our on-board buccaneer’s sword with the upheld torch of lady liberty.

St Patty’s day is this week, so I expect this to be a party crowd. Does anyone know on which day the parade in NY will be?

Pensions and lobster shack

Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Hello blog!

It’s me, your author. Yes, I’ve been ignoring you for this week and I apologize.
I don’t want to turn you into a blog about my minor miseries….but now I’m back and in effect.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad Eldridge popped by Port Canaveral for a visit and we had a ball. We went to visit our old vacation spot, “Outdoor Resorts, Melbourne Beach, Recreational Vehicle Resort.” I got such a kick out of seeing our favorite RV park, where we spent 3 spring breaks as kids. We drove through the resort (and I use that term loosely) and saw the pools, which look about the same as they did 25 years ago, the community center and the arcade. Then, we crossed the street to look at the beach with waves that get pulled us under and washed me ashore and finally saw the seven-eleven where we used to go for Slurpees and other beverages that would cool one down on a hot Florida day.

My dad wanted to go to the restaurant/bar at the Port Canaveral base, but I boycotted it. Instead, we headed to Cocoa Beach’s infamous Lobster Shack, and sat outside and watched some military maneuvers off-shore—something with a helicopter.

My dad stated, “I want to be somewhere, maybe outside, where we can sit and eat and watch the water.” The Lobster Shack was exactly what he described, plus they had a salad bar! Strangely, there was no lobster on the menu of the Lobster Shack, so I opted for rock shrimp, described in the menu as “The Poor Man’s Lobster.” It was quite tasty! My dad, who no longer orders a full meal, enjoyed the Rock Shrimp, too. His dining strategy is to eat a bite off of everyone’s plate. It actually works—the servings at American restaurants are always double what anyone actually eats, so he’ll just graze on the leftovers.

We had a great time comparing our lifestyles—they are retired and snow birding in Clearwater at a trailer park with their new Canadian friends, and I’m also snow birding in the Caribbean with my new Canadian friends on a cruise ship. They definitely drink more then me. We both do yoga and have little themed get-togethers at our friends’ trailers/cabins. We both play golf and we both go for walks and enjoy watching movies. We both eat early, taking advantage of the lighter crowds and early bird specials. We both worry about our family in the cold and are looking forward to visitors.

Teen angels

Saturday, March 3, 2007
(pic of teens)
Last week, the lines for the tender boat to NCL’s private island, the Great Stirrup Cay, were long. With a boat full of 600 kids and teens, there were a lot of passionate discussions about cutting in line and general injustice.

Teen 1:
“Everyone judges. Tell me on person who doesn’t judge. Don’t go in the middle, that’s cutting!”

Teen 2:
“I’m NOT a cutter! Never have been a cutter and I never will be a cutter! I’m not a cutter.”

In a second conversation I overheard, a 10-year old boy declaring “cheaters” to a group of passengers who exited the elevator doors and merged with the front of the line instead of going to the back. He said it, and then looked around like he had just dropped the f-bomb in the middles of a high mass, so I knew he was po-ed.

I had my eyes peeled for some teenage renegade justice emerging and taking over the ship.

Instead, they just congregated in the stairways and yelled and screamed and refused to move when you walked through their little groups.

This week, we do the kid cruise again…hopefully it’s less then 600 this time.

Party like it's 1994

Friday, March 2, 2007
On an ideal day, I get up, and workout to ER for an hour or so. It passes the workout time, and I get the bonus of seeing Chicago on tv. ER was one of my favorite tv shows--I used to watch it so faithfully when it premiered in 1994. It was the perfect show at the perfect time—Amy and I had just moved to Chicago, and it was on Thursdays, after Seinfeld and Friends. I remember the early days of friends, too. One time, they had George Clooney and Carter on Friends as two NY doctors that Rachel and Monica tried to date. Another time, all the Thursday night sitcoms set in NY had a cross-show black-out episode. That seemed CRAZY to me at the time—this idea of all shows sharing a thematic link, but doing their own twist on it. That’s the same fall that Pulp Fiction came out, and I remember people being very excited about that, too. Everyone always would talk about how long-form improv was influencing pop culture, and cite Pulp Fiction as the example. I don’t know if that’s true—but I did see the parallels in the styles, and it was really hip for everyone to try to do long-forms like Pulp Fiction, or that other movie that follows a dollar around. Also, swing music and rockabilly was back in style, and the Smashing Pumpkins were very popular, too. Billy Corgan bought a huge-hugeVictorian house on Bosworth or Greenview, west of Southport, in Wrigleyville. My cool friend Sara and I used to walk by and try to see glimpses of him in the window.

I was in love with my city, and in love with my life in the mid-90s. I was young, working in advertising, taking classes at Second City and eventually, IO and just happy to be where I was, and Clinton was the president, so that was GREAT.

Watching ER is a reminder of that time period so I try to get up in time to work out to it during the week.

Haircut

Thursday, March 1, 2007
I’m sitting in my room, happily watching ER and working on my taxes. I got my hair chopped today, and I love it.

We have our mainstage show tonight. I find myself really looking forward to the shows—they’ve been super fun and the audiences are really responsive. It’s a huge theatre and a huge thrill to me to do these shows. I haven’t said much about the show on this blog---but it really is the highlight of the week. This cast is chill, funny and easy to work with so it’s a pleasure.

GI Homer

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Poor Homer and Joe had GI trouble, and Homer was quarantined on St Thomas day and Joe stayed in, too. Carly, Darryl and I went to Bluebeards Beach Club. We had a boozy boozy day of volleyball in the pool, football on the beach and recreational drinking. About half of the NCL production cast was there, along with Meghan the airbrush tattooist, and Jayne and Christine from the crew staff. It was fantastic.

My boat is bigger then your boat

A lot of times in port, there will be more then one cruise ship. I always scan the "other" cruise boat, trying to figure out if it's better then mine. Where do the crew sleep? Where is their buffet? Do they have a comedy show? Their deck chairs are nicer!


I think the passengers do the same.

Which do you like better?

B

Can I get a whoop whoop?

Monday, February 26, 2007


I’m sitting again in the Conservatory, and the cruise staff is leading bingo behind me. The cruise staff works as entertainment directors for the cruise. Right now, Jay Pepper, is hosting bingo. Jay’s fascinating to me—he’s that guy at spring break in Daytona that was on the mic and led everyone in a topless volleyball game. Or, that guy at the Frat house who got everyone to play beer pong, and drew up a tournament schedule, but didn’t make it seem dorky. As he calls bingo, he regales the players with stories and tips for upcoming ports. Occasionally, he’ll do a check-in to raise the roof on the bingo players’ enthusiasm. As in…”How are we all doing out there?” or, “Let me hear you!”. This sort of crowd banter drives some people nuts---I’m somewhere in between. But I guess today I’m ready to get off the boat, because when he mentioned the Bluebeard Beach Club as a cool place to go, I hollered and whooped---“whoo-hooo! Yah! Bluebeard’s”. I was surprised by this, and immediately seized my whooping. But still, these antics can be catching on board the ship. Let’s get the party started, y’all…..St. Thomas tomorrow.

Everyone loves Chocolate

Friday, February 23, 2007

“We’re true chocolate lovers…we’re carrying the stroller down the stairs.”

A mom and her friends on the way to the Chocolate buffet.

Private Island, part 2

Thursday, February 22, 2007
Joe and I headed to the Great Stirrup Cay again today, to hike on the trails. We followed the outlines of a service road, and saw some abandoned buildings. I am fascinated with building like these---and wondered what they had started as and why they weren’t finished and who would start a project like that and never come back to finish.

We saw a lot of lizards along the way, and other passengers kept pointing them out to us “Did you see the lizards?” Yes, we would say. “There’s a big one coming up here.” Everyone was taking pictures, so I did, too. The lizard did not have much to say.

Private Island, do what you want to do

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Joe and I went to Great Stirrup Cay, the private island owned by Norwegian Cruise lines. It’s actually very cool—with a nice beach, lots of hammocks, a couple bars, lots of food options like burgers and pizza, a little shopping area, beach volleyball courts and a coral reef. It really looks and feels like a resort and we enjoyed watching the quarter moon’s light reflecting off the water. Joe said “I know a lot of people make fun of the private island, but I think it’s quite nice.” I agree.

Ghostrider BLEW

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Port Canaveral Mall! We all headed to the mall and saw “Ghostrider”. Port Canaveral days are very exciting and important to the crew, because there’s a mall, a Wal-Mart, a movie theatre and a crew-friendly bar that sells international calling cards and offers phones to use them. I liked it, because it had free internet and I watched the new episode of Lost online.

Ghostrider was lame. Totally lame. I used to think that for every 10 Nicholas Cage movies, 9 were bad, and 1 was good. Now, I can just acknowledge that he was really good in Moonstruck and Leaving Las Vegas, and the rest are crap. I think his famous uncle should sit him down over coffee and give him some career advice. No more action movies and no more toupees is where I would start if I was his uncle.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Another crew party! This one was on the ropes deck, where the deck crew works.
The ropes were huge and coiled around big barrels. The deck was decorated with nautical flags, and painted sheets that said things like “Welcome to the rope deck party”. They served roasted pig on a foil-covered tray, salad, fruit and Coronas. It was really fun—my favorite part was seeing the ropes up close.