Guidos and such

Not so much to report. As much as I feel like I am neglecting my sworn duty to produce these posts, I also think the fact that they are becoming less and less frequent is rather a good sign that I am beginning to catch my stride and fit in with my seasoned “shippies”. It’s a bizarre feeling to walk into such a tight knit group of people and be almost “close” with them after only a week. We hear the term “brotherhood” batted back and forth these days like old ping pong balls, but I think it’s fair to say that when you spend every waking (and some not so waking) hour with people, you really have no choice but to bond or be a loner. Thankfully, I have chosen the beforehand proposition. On a ship, people generally gravitate to each other much like freshmen do in high school. The so forths hang out with the so forths and the bingo bangos hang out with the bingo bangos. The difference is, while there is the department you work in, you also have the nationality aspect to sort out. Add regional affiliations (Yankees, Southerners, Russians, Ukrainians, West Bumfucks and East Bumfucks) and you have an extremely interesting dynamic going on. Again, think high school, only this time the jocks are Italians, and the Northern Italians are the baseball team and the Southern Italians are the Basketball team. There are almost 1500 crew members aboard, and maybe 100 of them are from English speaking countries. You want to talk about melting pot, and I’ll show you the bloody rainbow coalition. Incessant rambling aside, I have become pretty close with the guy I am replacing (which sucks because he’s gone in a week) and the trombone player in the show band. Both are from major northern working class cities and both of them hold union cards. Birds of a feather….. anyhow, I had a very long post planned updating everyone on the upcoming week and such, and a well thought out conclusion to the aforementioned rambling, but to tell you the truth, I am really tired. I’ll be sure to pick up where I left out tomorrow but for now, I just lack the ambition. To tell you the truth, I'm just trying to buy time until I can lull you back into happy readership with glossy images and more pictures of my tiny, tiny bathroom. Thanks for reading, and as always, keep it on the reel!

Seabag

st. Maarten

Not much time here, but I have some more pics of my journey. I don't want to stress this too much, but I really do enjoy your comments, and even though I have only been gone a couple of days, they do help me stay grounded. Please respond as often as you can, I think it would help me keep what sanity I have left...heh heh. Anyway, with that out of the way, I did not have the chance to get off the boat today, so I did do you the service of adding a "how does he live" section to my usual photos. Check out my luxurious accomodations and wish you had a bathroom with shower the size of your closet! Cheers guys, the boat is rocking back and forth pretty hard, and I probably should get ready to sleep anyway. The next two days are sea days, so expect a little more in depth posts, until then, go Sabres, LoCurto, Whyte, and Rivera.
Seabag








P.S.
Again, feel free to ask any questions, and I really look forward to your responses.

My Address

Hey,
Feel free to send me mail @

Michael “Mic” Murphy, #407850
Entertainment Department
M.S. Carnival Glory
P.O. Box 026059
Miami, FL 33102-6059 USA

Cash Donations Accepted!

Seabag

more pics

Howdy Buckaroos! I don’t have much to report today, another day of long dull training. I was fortunate enough to watch as we pulled into St.Thomas, and I was able to take a few snapshots throughout the day. It looks as if I may be able to get off in St.Maarten tomorrow, so if all goes well, I should have more pics for you. If nobody has any objections, I am going to try to stick to the picture format I made up yesterday. It should give you a general Idea, and if there are any pics I think are extraordinary, I’ll post it alone. Swell, so I’m off to the races…catch you on the flippity flop.

Ensign Manbag

Monday, the ninth of July, the year of our lord 2007…

Monday, the ninth of July, the year of our lord 2007…

Last night was a good time. I was able Watch the first run of our Sunday “Vegas style” show from the sound booth, and the second from the automation perch. It is your typical razzle dazzle glitz and glamour song and dance revue named “Living in America”. Plenty of patriotism, Neil Diamond, and good ol’ American cheese. The department does a very good job with cue sheets and of making sure you have a good working knowledge of the show before you start running it. I am very confident I won’t be killing any of our pretty young (and in most cases, foreign) dancers by dropping loads of metal and scenery onto their heads. The automation system seems very straight forward and I think by the end of the week I’ll be rockin’ it out. The late night comedian was simply awful, and we had to wait until 12:30 for him to finish his act. Went for and Had 2 beers (remember all good things come in two’s) with the company trombone player (Matty, Philly ) and the guy I am replacing (Norm, Detroit). After some crafty detective work I found out Norm is a fellow IATSE brother. It is always great to work with somebody with a card, so we raised a glass to the International, and that was that. I Had 1:30am chicken fingers in the crew mess and kicked myself for not bringing my anchor bar sauce. All in all it was a great day and it helped to quiet my very noisy mind.

Today: Started the day with a 7am shakedown. Two Indian (dot not feather) Security officers came in, made me draw the curtain around my bunk, and searched the room for contra-ban. It felt very much like an “MSNBC investigates: Inside Folsom Prison” moment. From what I understand, these are pretty rare, but there is a federal safety auditor aboard, so my floor got chosen. Roll of the dice, spin of the wheel, what can you do? Anyway, went back to bed for a couple more hours and got over it really quickly. When I woke up, I grabbed a cup of coffee and had a few smokes on the crew deck. I guess I should mention today is a “sea day” so no port of call, just deep blue water as far as the eye can see.

All new hires had Orientation/Training at 11 this morning . There were 8 of us, all wide eyed and still reeling from the last 48 hours. We finaly got the proper tour of the boat everybody kept promising, and I have to say she really is quite impressive. Everything is in top order, and polished to beyond gleaming. We also had to watch loads of training videos which were easily circa 1988, still on VHS if that tells you anything. They were absolutely awful, par for the course when dealing with corporate training. So that leaves me here, lying in my bunk, listening to music and quickly posting this. I have to load in the fly on “Motown” act in an hour, so I reckon I should quit jawing on and go have some chow.

As always, kind regards,

Seabag Manbag

P.S. Take a Gander at the pics, most of them are from crew deck looking at ocean. If you can make out any land, you are looking at the Bahamas. The pics of the ship are from Port Canaveral. Enjoy, and keep those comments coming! Sorry they are so crappy and small, the internet onboard is almost as slow as dialup so I am trying to save time. I’ll try and post prettier ones in port.

The Saga of the Sea

Well, Day two at sea… Sorry I didn’t post yesterday, but as days go, it was rather overwhelming. Met a girl from West Seneca on the airplane. She was pretty cool and a singer in the shows so I had somebody to latch on to who had at least a working knowledge of what in god’s name was going on. We pulled up to the port in the shuttle bus and I was absolutely blown away by the size of the ship. It is easily the size of a small coastal European country. After passing through security we were dragged around the boat, shown things I’ll never remember, and then left to our own devices in out “luxurious” cabins. I have temporary digs until I can join my department when the guy I replace leaves in two weeks. Until that day I am occupying the smallest size staff cabin with a Russian bartender. Yesterday was a 23 hour day of utter confusion, beffudlement, and sheer anxiety. Luckily, the entertainment staff seems top notch, and extremely friendly. My immediate co-workers consist of a girl from NYC, another from Wales (UK), a kid from Michigan, and another guy from California. The Theater is very small but extremely state of the art and visually stunning. I think the crew was relieved when I started to ask about the gear with some authority or at the very least some recognition. Anyway, if this seems a bit disjointed, bear with me….disjointed is a good way of describing my last few days on a whole. So we worked two shows, I was introduced to the dark hole I will be working in for the next 8 mos. The automation equipment is very cool, and I think it’s going to be relatively easy to wrap my head around…..Finished the night with a nightcap or two in the Crew Bar, which the natives have affectionately named “the church”. The theater staff took turns buying me Labatt (hot diggity dog, they do have Labatt), and after about 4 beers(for some reason everybody orders drinks by twos. “Good things come in two’s” as it was explained to me) I was ready for bed. Anyway, that was yesterday.

I woke up this morning at 10 and we were already at port. I’m confined to ship my first week, so I had to be content to bask on the Bahamas deckside. I have done absolutely nothing today, my shift starts at 4 and I pretty much have spent the day napping and smoking cigarettes on the crew deck. I watched as we pulled out from port. That was pretty bloody cool… the Bahamas look beautiful from sea. I forgot to bring my camera, so sorry about that. I’ll make sure I have it for St. Thomas. Anyway, I just found the internet café, my shift starts in an hour, and I have email and other things to check, so I will leave it at that. Again, sorry this post had absolutely no form and rambled on for days. Feel free to ask any specific questions, and I’ll TRY to update every couple of days.

Keep it on the reel, maties.

Last hours on land

SWEET MOTHER OF PEARL, I'M ABOUT TO SPEND 8 MOS ON A BLOODY BOAT!