Glowsticks, a fellow Canuck, an Irishman, and a Drum

You know those moments in life that are so amazing and surreal that you are in complete disbelief even as its happening? Therefore, you can almost be nostalgic about it while its still going on? Last night I had one of those moments.

I was finishing up some developing in the lab by myself around 1:30am or so (casually, on my own time, its really not like work at all...lots of music playing), and after I was done, I thought I would jump down to the crew bar to see who was there. I knew I didnt want to drink anything but I thought I'd take a looksee before bed. Just a few people, Aden (a cocky Irish man, who really is an amazingly nice man at heart), Amber (new giftshop girl from canada...amazing gal, free spirit...vancouver lol), Ben (One of the head guys from the bridge..29 scottish, great funny guy), and myself (hi.). We got to talking about tons of things, but nothing fantastic. After 30 min or so Aden suggests to go to deck 6 aft and play the drums. I stared at him blankly, but then we all followed. We arrive in the back of deck 6: wide open balcony at the very back of the ship, roughly 20 feet above water....noisy, cold, slight wind, but a 'crew only' area and there is a picnic bench for sitting. Aden has a drum case and when he opens it up I am brought quick memories of Great Big Sea concerts in Canada. its a Barron (sp?). An Irish drum that you hold sideways in one hand and twiddle a little stick on it to get those celtic jig type sounds. (The only person I know that plays it is Shawn McHahn from Great Big Sea...sounds amazing). Then he plays us a tune, and as he does Amber starts a little groove to it on her own (like i said, free spirit). I made a comment to her earlier about dancing like a Rave girl, and so when she came up to the dck 6 with us she must have stopped off at her room and got these two glow balls on chains that you swing around your body like firesticks....my guess was right....Rave Girl. She smiled. Canadians are always right. Unless they are wrong. Then, they might as well be called "Americans". Anyways, she starts to pull them out and swing them around to the beat. So there we are, three guys drinkin beer, one with a Barron hammering out a very earthly beat, and watching this girl paint these movements in the air as if she were creating life itself. She summed up the moment shortly after by saying "when you dance to a drum in moments like these, its Intoxicating". Then ben grabbed the sticks, and I grabbed the barron. We looked like two retards in the middle of a mating ritual. After about 30 min or so of playing around, Aden said "In the 5 years I have been on this ship, no one has EVER come as close to playing the Barron as well as you do, Michael. Good on ya. You make me proud."

By 4:30 am i was in bed, drunk with pride, freedom, and intoxicated by the moment. As I fell asleep I moved up and down with the ship, and remembered how we talked about how certain beats can be summed up as Earthly, and how they make you feel part of the Earth. Then I thought about how the entire ship and everyone on it, is moving the same with me right now. Then I though of how the ocean was dancing with us as well, followed by the rest of the world. Soon, I drifted off to dreams of home and old friends whom I have lost contact thru the years. We are still moving as one.