Is that really something you should tell someone? Even if you think it? Well....I heard it every day when I was doing Forever Plaid. I haven't heard it in like 6 years though. Then....out of nowhere. BAM! During the degreet after our Broadway show last night this woman came up and said "You look just like Gomer Pyle". I wanted to punch her in the face, but I thought it would be better to keep my job, so I just gave her a dirty look and wished evil things on her. Gomer Pyle indeed.
Okay...maybe just a little.
You know that feeling you get when you're late for a flight and you're running to catch it? Well....that's what I felt today as Gary (the other singer) and I were running to catch the boat before it left Melbourne. We had spent the day at an animal sanctuary with Gary's friend Ben seeing interesting things like koala bears and kangaroos and emus and dingos.
It was fun. But because the Australian Open was going on today, the traffic was crazy. So...I had visions of throwing my bag to Gary as I make a last ditch effort to leap off the pier to get on the ship as it sailed away. Alas...we were late for our all aboard, but the ship hadn't left yet. So we made it. Yea! Missing the ship is no fun. You are required to find your own way to the next port that the ship stops in at which point you are promptly fired and sent home. Wah wah. Anyway....back on board safe and sound.
It has just occured to me that I haven't blogged in a really long time!
A few days after Christmas, we had a crew Christmas dinner where there were foods from all different places made. That was fun. The Brits in the cast gave us all Christmas Crackers which had little paper crowns in them.
Apparently it's all the rage in England and they get them every Christmas. Who knew?
New Year's on board was fun. This is a picture of my buds in the cast.
That's me, Jimmy, Gary, Anne-Marie and Vicki...or as I like to call us....the "Cool Kids". We did our shows and then we all got dressed up and went upstairs and had lots of really really REALLY shitty champagne (with the misnomer of "Celebrity's Finest") and ate very small food.
After all the festivities Gary and I went on a hunt to find food, so we raided all the kitchens and ended up stealing some baguettes from the bakery which turned out to be quite useful in our reenactment of a Star Wars light sabre fight and as band leader batons in our staging of Seventy Six Trombones that we performed on our way back to our cabins. Did I mention we had some champagne?
We also came across a huge bucket of chicken fat. I'm not sure why.
The night ended as most of my nights do here on the Mercury with a bottle of water and a little box of Fruit Loops. Since I've been weening myself off the Ambien, I didn't sleep a wink that night. And around 5:30am I realized that I had never watched the sunrise on the ship. Everyone has always said how cool it is, but as we all know, I'm not much of a morning person. Anyway...I went up and took some great photos and made a little movie. Have a look.
Since New Years, things have been a little rocky....both literally and figuratively. Heading westward from Auckland, New Zealand back to Australia, the seas have been VERY rocky. We ended up canceling our show the other night and then had to make it up last night. This cruise the audiences have been pretty lame and don't seem to like the shows very much. Oh well. I'll give them the same 70% I give every audience. :) There's been some illness in the cast, so we've been making contingency plans and that sort of thing. Good times.
New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL.
Everything is so lush and green and there are sheep EVERYWHERE. Yet...for some reason I haven't taken a picture of any. The architecture is really great, too. There is lots of intricate ironwork and some really cool masonry.
I could definitely live down here. That is...if a can of Coke didn't cost $3.00. No lie. Last week in Napier we went mini-golfing. Mini-golf in NZ is much prettier than the Putt-Putt back in Omaha.
In Tasmania, I saw a guy passed out at a coffee shop at like 10 in the morning with a half eaten cookie in his mouth and the chewed up portion on his shirt just outside his mouth. I hate it when I fall asleep mid cookie. Anyway....I thought it seemed like a Kodak moment.
That's about it for now. I've been putting together some band charts to do a set with the "Celebrity Orchestra" in the next few weeks. That should be fun.
We're on our way to Sydney now and will have three days there this Saturday through Monday. I'm hoping to see the stage version of Billy Elliott this weekend and I think on Monday a bunch of us are going to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It's supposed to be amazing. I, personally, think it seems a little pricey, but I guess I probably won' t be back here any time soon, so I might as well do it while I have the chance. I'm sure I'll include some pictures of that adventure. And next time we're in Melbourne, I think we're going to go see the musical stage version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I imagine a gay time will be had by all.
Hope everyone back home is well and enjoying the snow. I'm sunburned. :)
