Imagine...with my own eyes.

Well... we got to New York just fine, no problems (other than my problem sleeping, which seems to be fading).

I had a day off today, and Chris Jenny and I went hellbound all over manhatten....

we saw:

1) world trade center site... its jaw droppingly big, and empty... it just makes you feel so small, especially when you see the surrounding buildings and how big they are and then look at the photos posted everywhere of the twin towers, and how they stand 4 to 5 times larger, if not more. i saw the cross (the 2 welded i-beams with the names of all who perished)...i cant express the feeling that gave me, but what really hit home were the painted signs along the fence that said "post no bills" in white... all over these signs were little messages written in memorial... and one particular message along the "N" in "NO" was this:

"I miss you Dad"

tears rolled. I think it was the DAD part.... DADDY is something you usually see when it comes to situations like this, and its a little child... but DAD. I got this sensation of a full grown man writing about his father, maybe an office worker or something... i dont know, i am probably not making much sense but it really pinned the emotion for me. quite an experience to see it with my own eyes.

2: central park: oh my god i can die now. today i actually walked through "Strawberry Fields" (beatles lovers) and saw the 'Imagine' John Lennon memorial with my own eyes. After that we walked to the giant fountain (the most recent thing i can think of is in the movie 'the producers' where matthew broderick and nathan lane have the singalong in front of a big fountain... well i have seen it, with my own eyes). then we got caught in a terrential rain shower and NO cover.... after about 2 minutes of being raped by raindrops we finally said Fuck It and danced around... of course, 2 minutes later we grabbed a carriage (not horse drawn) and went back to the subway.

3: Times Square: i have seen this a few times before now (with my own eyes), but it always pleases me. so much aggressive advertising, so little money to give a shit. c'est la vie!

and now, back on the ship... we already have passengers on board, and instead of our typical 9 day cruise, we are on a 7 day 'recovery' cruise: sea day, seaday, grand turk, seaday, bermuda, seaday, seaday.

rivotting, isnt it? :

2800 passengers, 1200 crew, terrential rain...

but the statue of liberty is, at this very moment, giving a wave to me through the starboard side window (or LISTING side, as i like to call it)....

ok, its work time... i have filled you in enough. anti-climactic i know, but hey... i did a lot today. brain doesnt have to work 24/7.... if it did, there would be no time to imagine, would there?

-M-

...Ghost Ship...

hello all. just a recap finally as to what happened a few days ago. it is now 430pm july 20th and we have now been ok'd by US coast guard to hobble up to new york. we are actually JUST leaving right now, and there are some seriously 'different' vibrations to the ship as we are going, of course i am making small jokes with the shoppie Kim on the computer next to me, but we both kinda have this look in our eyes.... we do now have Crisis councellors on board for the crew as of today, and yours truly is making his way down after this. everytime i close my eyes at night, i get phantom 'listing' or 'leaning' and my heart starts to pound. we were told the night of the incident that if we listed 5-10 degrees more, we would have capsized.... this is NOT a fact, but its not something you need to hear.

there are only crew members on this ship... what was once a floating majestic hotel of close to 5000 aboard, is now a hobbling, ghost town of 1200. it is in fact a ghost ship.

on the bright side, all 8 crew members who were treated ashore have now joined the ship and are doing well. all passengers treated ashore (i dont know the numbers, but its 100-200) have all been let go from the hospital except for 2, but we have confirmation that neither one of them are in critical condition. You have no idea how bad this was, but NOBODY has any idea how bad it could have been either.... everyone is ok.

I have decided that I am not going home. I am, however making a request to transfer to the Star Princess (Grit's ship) tonight. I figure that leaving one ship that almost tipped over, and joining another ship that had 4 decks burnt to a crisp only 4 months ago... makes sense eh? Grit and I have been speaking about this and she said that she has been talking with the photomanager since the 'incident' here on the crown... the manager said that he was putting in a request for me. lets hope he sticks with it.

i have 2 internet cards now, and 1 phone card so i can contact everyone soon... that was the only thing holding me up before, crew office was closed (no internet cards) and phone cards were sold out..

see you all in the next cartoon! (not leaning to one side)

-m-

Damage Everywhere PLEASE READ ME

ok people, this is a serious post. I am 100% ok, I just want to tell everyone that. The Crown Princess today, at approximately 4pm just coming out of Port Canaveral Florida leaned about 15 degrees to one side and shit hit the fan. The clinic looks like a war infirmery, literally millions of dollars in damage has occured.... floods from busted pipes, marble tables smashed in millions of pieces, people were thrown around, pools on deck 15 emptied onto the surrounding deck... this is serious shit. our whole team is ok, adn there are smiles now finally... everyone is still in shock though... we are back in port canaveral and i think we will be wet docked here for a few days... i will be in touch with everyone soon, i am ok.... it was the freakiest thing that has ever happened to me.....i saw people flying past me and things smashing and screaming everywhere... i dont think we will be sent home, but literally 30% of the ship or more is a complete write off...

the spa.... oh Thank Christ Grit wasn't here with me for that.... people were smashing up along windows and massage beds were flying everywhere...

a $50,000 grand piano in the Princess Theatre literally went THROUGH a wall....

and on top of that... its Formal Night.

I hate Formal Nights...

all is well with me once again everyone... stick by the phones tonight, i have stories :)

and a SHITLOAD of pictures...

-M-

Sweepin', Cool Bob, Margaritaville, and everything else in between...

Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Day off. Chillin' out at an outdoor internet cafe with a Red Stripe Lager. Clouds in the sky. Very Humid. Margaritaville meal still sittin uneasy-like in my stomache. Out of breathe from chasing after some customers to return a bag they left on the table next to me. Smiling at the sight of homeless people cleaning the streets with brooms and picking up garbage, while asking for money, rather than sittin 'round expecting change to fall from the sky. Probably the only way to keep the streets clean, the rest of the world should do the same. Everything in their path that they find while cleaning is theirs. Finders Keepers. Sippin' the lager again. Cringing at passengers that just do not know when to stop eating. All you can eat buffet on ship, and then 'lets go ashore and have a quick bite'. More Lager. Thinkin about 'Cool Bob' and all the other locals askin' me and Chris if we want 'smoke'. Jamaica. ya man. but no man. Thinkin about the crew disco last night. "White Night" sponsered by the Pursers Department. Wear only white. Photogs in Togas. Mike in White Pirate Pants and bedsheet around his neck like an aviator scarf, hair Ace Ventura'd and sunnies. We won. Go Team. Scotiabank next to me. Odd to see in jamaica. Rastafarian on other side. Thats better. Thinkin about what cool thing to buy here.

Should go now, runnin out of things to say lol. When I weed through the 300+ photos takin from the disco last night, I will throw a couple on. Theres a video round here somewhere too .... should be interesting :)

Tomorrow is Grand Cayman, then Seaday, then Port Canaveral FLorida, then seaday... and THEN (pray to the universe) I get a chance to FiNALLY take on New York...bloody hell.

Calgarians who went to Our Lady Peace at the Stampede (Ben you MUST have)...fill me in... everyone here are not fans... but i will throw in a little "4am" when we jam in the crewbar... they dont seem to mind too much, but its usually just a solo-effort :)

p.s. Blood on the moon the other day, hope everyone is doin good.

Namaste

-M-

July 6th, in San Juan, Random Photos thus far...

This is the crew bar. This is my birthday. This is my Birthday Cake hat.

The Crown Princess in Grand Turk... so majestic.

This is the Piazza in the Crown Princess. I still rub my eyes everytime I pass it to make sure I am really seeing what I am seeing. The entire ship looks like this. Its quite humbling.

This is the gang. I can name all of them, but really...all they are is strangers to anyone who sees this lol so hey... friends and family, this is my team... my team, these are my friends and family. There. You all know one another.

Martha Stewart at the Christening of the Crown Princess. She dropped the bottle, it broke. Its a good thing. :P

100 People: Deep Blog Entry in Progress...

This entire entry probably won't come out the way I originally planned it to... I have been toying with this entry in my mind since April on the Pacific Sky when I was in SouthEast Asia. I thought about it during one of my meditation moments (dont picture me droning hums sitting cross-legged with incense burning. My meditation moments are usually any moments where I get a chance to breathe during the day). You will really have to go with me on this one, as it may not really make any sense, but in any case its something worth trying whenever you have a spare moment or two:

Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Sit somewhere that you won't be bothered, much like that of a meditation area. Take a few minutes to breathe, maybe toss on a tune or two, and begin to write down the names of 100 people you know. Randomly, just quick people off the top of your head, list 100 people you have known during your entire life. Friends, enemies, lovers, employers, friends of friends, mailmen, teachers, it doesnt matter. If you have met them and know them well enough, throw them onto the list. Everyone technically knows thousands of people in their lifetimes so it really isnt that hard when you think of it, you just have to be without prejudice (if a name comes up, throw it on regardless of why)....

now, take a look at it.

Repeat this somewhere down the road, be it a week, a month, a year, or even just a different state of mind....

Did new people get onto the 2nd list? Why?
Did people from the 1st list get removed? Why?

It sounds kinda lame maybe at first, but really... as random as your list may be, there are reasons as to why everyone is on there... and the same person that added people onto the first list, has forgotten them on the second... Oh sure, when you get to 75 people I am sure there actually is a fight as to think of who goes on the list... but what if someone in the top half of the first list didnt even make it to the top OR bottom of the 2nd?

Try it twice in one week.... notice the changes if any... now imagine 2 lists one year apart. Two years apart. Ten Years apart. I bet over 60% of the list will remain the same forever, while the other 40% is fizzled away with people that are in our lives one day, and out of our minds the next.

....

I brought this up now because I have noticed something. A photographer here quit 2 days ago, one more is leaving in 6 days, one more is leaving to another ship probably in 6 days as well... we're dropping like flies, all for unrelated reasons mind you... People come and go in our lives, its a fact of life. I have met so many new friends at this job. We have laughed, cried, shared so many of our intimate and darkest secrets. But time goes on. Friends do drift further away, maybe not all the way, but sometimes it does happen. Its nice when we get the ones that stay in the top half. Likewise, the ones that leave the list have at one point touched our hearts in some way... but... (and this is going even deeper now).... would the list be any different than it is now if we didnt ever know them? Even though they are now no longer on it?

****

Anyways, that was my deep topic for the day. Nothing really ship related, but I am well, happy, and content otherwise. Things are good here :)

See you all in the next cartoon!

-M-