First Dispatch

I am on day 4 of my new job working on a big boat. Some things I have learned so far:

-It is important to record memories of this experience, hence the blog and the digital camera I bought a few days ago
-It is fun to take pictures, like of the airport driver who Zsa Zsa Gabored my last name into "Dahlink"
-Security does not like it when you take pictures of them when you are entering the ship
-It takes me a while to remember how to delete pictures from my digital camera, especially when Security is angrily hovering over me
-Security is surprisingly indifferent to people petting the drug dog right before he is supposed to sniff their luggage
-Filet Mignon is just as delicious the third night as it is the first

So far, most of my time has been spent either rehearsing the show or acclimating myself to the boat. I have gone to the ship's gym a few times, and have been touched by their lax enforcement of their "no sandals on the treadmill" policy for some of the older passengers. Other than that, I haven't taken advantage of the pool, good weather, or hot tubs (which are usually staked out by a gaggle of eight year-olds from sunrise to sunset).

The food has been pretty amazing, and I have had plenty of fish, lobster, and the aforementioned filet mignon. Most of our daytime meals are eaten at the buffet, which has a pretty good selection, but should be noted for its soundtrack. They play a continuous stream of songs more commonly associated with weddings or ice-dancing finals. Today during lunch I heard Roxette, Bryan Adams, and Air Supply. It is a bizarre experience to eat mahi mahi while staring out a vast expanse of sea and listening to “All Out of Love.”

We have our first show tonight, so we have rehearsal pretty much all day today. Tomorrow we arrive at the private island, which will also mark the first time I will have gotten off the boat since we arrived.