Day 5, and I found the internet room!!!

I am drunk....well sort of. This is the end of day 4 totally at sea and before I go to bed I will try to recap the past few days. I will write in point form because the internet sucks when you are in the middle of the ocean lol...

Saturday Day 1:
- Arrived at the dock in Melbourne to embark the Pacific Sky @ 7am. I seemed to have a TINY bit more luggage than most people....jeez.
- Met my employees: my boss Joel (crazy aussie surfer type) great guy, Will (my roomate) from England...thick accent but awesome bloke, Anna (representing the Hungarians lol) I work with her the most she is awesome, Alison (south african I think) I dont know her much but she is pretty neat too, Szymon (shammon...lol ya...like how Michael Jackson says it) represents Poland..he is cool but hard to understand sometimes, and finally Ben (there always has to be a Ben...life just wouldn't seem right without one!)
- Joel shows me my room....bunk beds, a shoebox that passes for a closet (trust me its small), and a bathroom (3'x5' tops)...yippie...
- 2pm we set sail. 2:15pm I am nausius. 3pm I vomit. 4pm I work in the gallery selling prints. 5pm I vomit. 5:15pm I go to the medical centre and get a shot of "phenegran" in the ass. I pass out and sleep til morning.

Sunday (day 2):
- I wake up groggy but ok. I go to work and skip breakfast.
- "Formal Night"...Mike wears a Tux and takes "Sears" type portraits of everyone. It was fun, had softboxes and backdrops...and hot Aussie women....
- Got to bed @ 11pm

Monday (day 3):
- Feeling fantastic!
- work the gallery (basically in a store selling the prints that are displayed....prints are of passengers)
- I have heard 6 times on this cruise so far that I have an Irish accent....that makes me laugh. hard. (by the way I am typing this now on wednesday, and the talley is now up to 8. serious.)
- As everyone heads to the bars at night, I head to the passengers library and read "Tuesdays with Morris"....not a party pooper, I just didnt feel like partying....and you are right, Jenny, this book is amazing!

Tuesday (day 4):
- hit snooze button on alarm like 40 times and still made it to work on time (thats the wonderful part of living at work lol)
- worked at gallery, then decided to go up to the 11th floor and head to the gym....its iron pumping time! Then I went out to the deck and sunbathed for an hour or so with the passengers. Its amazing how you can look on any side of the ship and see nothing but ocean. I love how blue it is....(for crayon references, look up Ultramarine Blue...thats the color)
- bought an internet card and a phone card....scratched the back of the phone card to get my PIN number....and the number came off with it....!##%^@!!! not happy....they are fixing it now though so i will call people soon.
- it was Pajama night on the ship....(a note to the guys: 1500 passengers...approx. 700 are Aussie women ages 20-35.....now....picture them drunk in lingerie......and i get to photograph them!! envy me... envy me i say!!)
- I head to the Starlight Bar on 9th floor and its basically a giant rave....loud rave/house/trance/top40-remix hits....and everyone is a fool....it was so fun...and I drank...(by the way.....drinks are $1.00AUS for crew....I drank my fill for under 10 bucks)
- OLD PEOPLE were raving....I mean 70 year old guys were dressed in womens undergarments and dancing around with 20 year old women....I was so happy for them lol
- went to bed @ 2am, wrote all this stuff in my journal so i could type it later today.

We are heading into Ouvea tomorrow (Thursday, Australian time. I am a day ahead.) I will be spending 5 hours walking around sandy beaches and taking pics.... I dont know how I will be able to show you guys photos, but I will try... Talk to you all soon! please email me @ ike1@hotmail.com because I dont know how to check my other account yet ok? ciao!

Update to previous post...

This will be quick, my laptop is almost dead (no way of charging it until i get to the ship tomorrow). I wandered around taking pictures today, and had a total blast. Then I came back to the room, slept til 8:45pm, got a phone call saying I will be picked up at 6am tomorrow. I laughed. They were serious. i stopped laughing. Then I went to the restaurant and had supper (tortelini with red pepper sauce...damn that was good). Then I walked around the city for a while again. Tons of people out, its Friday night, so everyone is partying it up. Streets are
like Stephen Ave in Calgary, but add about 300 more people to it lol. Now I am back writing this, and then I will have a bath maybe and then hit the hay. I will keep everyone posted as to what is happening later on ok!? Goodnight people!

Melbourne, Australia!!

Hello world, I'm in Australia! Right now I am sitting in the hotel restaurant on the 2nd floor, drinking lemon water and looking at the busy street below. I am sitting here wearing shorts, flipflops (yes its january 27th and I am wearing flipflops) and I am waiting for my "Chicken Skewers in Peanut sauce over steamed ice with a mixed leaf salad". The street looks very busy with people running about, and everyone looks like a tourist haha. Oh, my food is here now. WOW, that IS peanutty, AND those leaves really ARE mixed! Damn that tastes good! Ok, so to fill you in on "how the trip was"-Left vancouver @ 5pm Wed (jan 25th)- Arrived in LA @ 7:40pm, proceeded direrctly to the new gate.- Saw a woman running around looking lost and frantic, and this other woman came up to her and said "excuse me, was that Ludacris that you were with earlier?". she replied with a "yes". Now I can see why she was frantic. If you were
'rolling' with one of the most famous rappers around and you LOST him? ya, panic. - Got through customs and had 3 hours to kill so I thought I would sit down and have a pint of the good stuff :)- the guy that I sat next to was Nathan. Nathan from Halifax, and going to
Melbourne on the same plane as I am to meet friends. Nathan has been sitting here
6 or 7 hours. Nathan is drunk. Nathan insisted on buying his new friend Michael
drinks.
Michael is drunk.
- Finally it was time to go to the gate, and after a few short....rather LONG minutes we were on the plane. - I sat between 2 guys, one of which looked like a criminal, and the other I found out later LOVES to cuddle strangers while he sleeps..- Many movie choices up in the plane, but I ended up switching between "wallace and grommit" and "the exorcism of emily rose" endlessly playing for about 6 of the 14 hours aboard the plane. The rest of the time consisted of eating,
sleeping, and "wow this guy likes to cuddle".
- Finally arrived in Melbourne @ 935am Friday, went through MORE customs (in 35C
heat by the way). No sign of Nathan. Nathan is probably still sleeping on the
plane. Poor Nathan.
(I have to pause the story for a second...a cop HERSE just drove by...is that what police cars look like here?..anyways, on with the story) Finally got my Luggage and this next part made me smile: There actually was a man waiting there for me, Holding up a sign with my name on it...well kinda. The sign seriously said "Mitchell Wachenann". We stared in silence at each other for a while, then I showed him my passport.
his reply: "Close enough...ok we're off then"and away we went.
This guy (already forget his name) was like a walking encyclopedia!!! Every block we drove past had a story! About 15 minutes later we arrived at the "Mecure Welcome Hotel". I said goodbye
to him and went to my room (816...great view...of a back alley). Took a few pictures of the amazing view and hopped online to email the family telling them I am alive and well. - Had a shower, shaved, called front desk to see what is included in my room (the cruise line paid for the room, had to see what else they paid for!). Turns out I have a $20 credit for lunch and a $30 credit for supper, which is why I am here...its lunch time (actually its almost bedtime now....I wrote this all during the day but only now am I typing it into my computer heehee). Now its back to the room, drop off the journal, grab the camera, and wander around aimlessly through the streets of Melbourne taking pictures. After that,back to the room to nap.

Aussie-bound!

Hey all, just filling everyone in quickly, and then I will write something meaningful later tonight. Tomorrow (Wednesday Jan 25th) I will be leaving Vancouver airport @ 5pm PST and arriving in Los Angeles @ 8pm PST. There, I will wander around until I find the appropriate gate for my next flight (and longest I have ever taken to date). At 11:15pm PST I will hop onto a big birdie and fly on its back for 15h10m and safely (knock on wood) arrive in Melbourne, Australia. With the time zone changes and what not, I will arrive @ 9:25am local time. I will then meet strangers (with a "Mr. Wachniak" sign no doubt lol) that will take me to my hotel. I am sure I will NEED to sleep the entire day away, but by a show of hands, who thinks I will barely make it to my room before I am running around the city taking pictures? :)

The next day (Saturday) I will be picked up early in the am and taken to my cruise ship "The Pacific Sky" and I will start my training and blah blah blah (ha ha)....

more later!

Fat baby face!!!

Ok so I looked through the family photos today...and I came across this....
The photo was very faded and discolored so I decided to snap a photo of it and do my best to restore it in photoshop for my mom (before shot on the left, after shot on the right). I think I did a pretty good job, it only took me a few minutes. Man oh man, would I make a sexy fat guy, eh?! Look at me! I think while I am gone for the next 6 months I am going to adhere to a strict diet of donuts and twinkies, and maybe when I get back and women see what I have transformed into....hee hee.

The story parallels that of a caterpillar. Nothing wrong with him at all, but just knows he can be better so he shells himself up inside a cocoon and the transformation begins. Time passes (in this case 4-6 months) and alas, as he is ready to return to civilization, the cocoon breaks apart and out emerges the most breathtaking, most beautiful butterfly anyone has ever seen!

Actually, this story more resembles that fat blob of a caterpillar on bug's life, but hey! Everyone loved him too lol.

The afterbath :)

So I'm out of the bath now....and no, nothing cool was thought. In fact, all I remember thinking was:

"Why the hell am I playing with toys in the tub?"

The good guys won by the way....they always do. I was never really a troubled child. Good always overcame the bad when it came to toys. Sometimes it was a tie, but the bad never won. Not that I remember. Maybe its surpressed, who knows? Oh well, I guess thats something I can discuss with my therapist when I am 50.

I giggled til the cops came...

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would post a link for all comedy-fans out there. I have been meaning to try out a few new podcasts for a while now, but as usual I forget or get distracted and go onto something else. I can usually blame the distraction on something shiny or springy. Anyways, I found a podcast called "Keith and the Girl", and I must say I have never laughed so hard by myself since.....well since I found that third nipple on my shoulderblade. These guys basically talk about whats in the news, and who's hot vs. who's not...a typical newscast. Having said that.....a word of advice: Kids should not be in the listening vicinity. When you download each 1-hour episode, you get this nice little "explicit" logo that pops up to warn you of what lurks ahead. What it should say is: "if dirty language was medicine, we could heal the world in a single episode".

The link to get the episodes and find out more is: http://www.keithandthegirl.com

There, now that I have shared with you guys, I feel better. I am going to have a bath, and maybe think of something else to write. Maybe something cool, but probably not.

Thanks for everything, Calgary

I just wanted to say Goodbye for now to all friends and foes in Calgary. 6 months may not seem like a long time to be gone, but it is the longest I have ever been away from home at one time plus I get very nostalgic, so I am really overdoing this.

I would really like to keep in contact with you all, so please drop a line to me now and then @ ike1@hotmail.com and I will try to do the same ok?

Be safe, be strong, and be free.

cheers,

Michael

'Deciphering Me' at a later date

As I wheel around the bend into the final stretch of my last days in Calgary (at least for a while), my mind seems to have lost grip of all day-to-day "mind-banter"....and all that is left for the moment are remnants of random song quotes... over and over as I walk through my day, songs pop into my head for no reason apparent to me...I thought I would write some down, to share, but more importantly to decipher myself at a later date. The world is nothing without at least an attempt at inner-analysis:

"I need a photo-opportunity I want a shot at redemption Don't want to end up a cartoon In a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon

"Janie sings on the corner, what keeps her from dying? Let 'em say what they want, but she won't stop tryin', oh you know. She might stumble, if they push her around. She might fall, but she'll never lie down ... it's not so bad.." - Great Big Sea

"Driftwood floats, after years of erosion. Incoming tide touches roots to expose them, Quicksand steals my shoe, Clouds bring the f-stop blues" - Jack Johnson

"There are nine million bicycles in Beijing. That's a fact. It's a thing we can't deny, Like the fact that I will love you till I die" - Katie Melua

"Smiled and said 'yes I think we've met before'. In that instant it started to pour, Captured a taxi despite all the rain We drove in silence across pont champlain And all of the time you thought I was sad I was trying to remember your name..." - Stars

"I'm a coward I'm neurotic I'm just tired of living in here I'm depressive I'm obsessive I'm just tired of living in fear " - Holly McNarland

"If you don’t need it every day But sometimes don’t you just crave To disappear within your mind You never know what you might find So come and spend some time with me And we will spend it all at sea" - Jamie Cullum

Another year over, and a new one just begun...

A bunch of random thoughts in lieu of another year gone by. It doesn't have to make sense. At least not now...

Its funny how much one changes, when nothing seems to have changed at all. The second bottle of champagne that I kept unopened in my fridge for 5 months before finally letting go of the past. The "Employment", the "I hate my job", the "Unemployment" stages, never seemed to be getting me anywhere. The friends I thought I would lose, the friends I thought I would never lose, and the friends that were right under my nose the entire time, not going anywhere. Never.

The hard parts are there to just make sure you're ready. Its all one big test. Preparation.

"Are you finally ready? Its hard out there, man. Here, take this. If you ever need anything, don't worry. We'll know. We always do. The signs are always out there, some just need the right light to see them. Are you sure you can paddle on your own? We'll be here if you need us. We're not going anywhere. Be strong. Try not to let the fire burn out. If it does though, don't worry. Its not your eyes that should be guiding you anyways. It your heart. When they are ready to show up, they will. And they will know. They will know everything you did. They will know everything about everything. And they will know that you are still here. Like I said about the hard parts, all they do is make sure you're ready."

The Force is strong in him. I can feel it....

I haven't had much time to write anything for a few days, but this story cannot go unnoticed.

As a child I have always taken the idea of Psychic capabilities very seriously. I remember thinking that I could talk to people with my mind, or predict the future, or anything else that a true JEDI would be capable of. Hell, I still do. Very much in fact. Its a frequent thought in my mind, and the scary thing is...I have a very high percentage of intuition. Small things though, like knowing the time before looking at a clock, or waking up right before my alarm goes off because I hated the sound of it. Its not something I consider a rarity, I think everyone has something like that. I guess its just a matter of how you can tune into it, and the world is getting louder and louder every day.

I flew back to Calgary today after a nice 4 week Christmas visit with my mom and sister. I left my car in White Rock because I will only be staying here a week and then its back to BC to start training for the new job (yay me!). Because of this, I now have to travel around by these two things I think are called "feet". This could not have come at a better time, I think I gained about 10lbs of turkey around my midsection and I really do not wear it well.

Anyways, my Jedi story...

Since I have been gone for 4 weeks, I took all my perishable food with me to BC and therefore my cupboards are bare, so I ran down to 7-11 to grab a quick bite to eat (Everything was closed already, I will hit up Safeway tomorrow LOL). On my way back I remembered that I brought home "Lost: Season 1 DVD" and I have the last half to watch (best damn show out there at this moment by the way. After a few more minutes of walking I came up to the Blockbuster Video and thought to myself "maybe you should go in just to see what is there"....."what the hell Mike, you just said that you wanted to watch Lost, don't waste your money"....."ya but just go in...you might find something of interest, Mike...trust me" (Inner Monologue....ain't it a bitch?). I remember thinking something very important was in the store and I had to go in....so I did.

As I walked in, there were a lot of people in line, and as I kept walking to the New Release area I noticed something.... two women were ripping open the factory sealed "For Sale" DVD's and stuffing them in their jackets. I played like I didn't notice and grabbed the first movie I saw and walked up to the front. I looked back cautiously to see if they were staring at me, and naturally they were. As I continued to wait, they continued to stuff movies in every pocket they could. Finally, when it was my turn at the counter I said to the teller "Excuse me, do you have a pen and paper? I am not sure if this is the movie I want, so I am just going to use my cell phone and call my friend." I pretended to call someone (and actually faked a conversation too I might add... look for me in next year's Golden Globe nominees), and as I did I wrote the following on the piece of paper:

"There are two women stealing at the back of your store wearing (blah blah blah). Here is my membership card if you need to contact me about this later. I will be back tomorrow to pick it up. thank you."

I handed it to the woman at the counter and walked out (without the movie....I am reporting thieves, not becoming one LOL).

I will update this when I go back tomorrow to get my membership card.

" just go in, Mike...you might find something of interest...trust me"

(insert Jedi song here)

Christmas A Day Early...

Due to the fact that my mom is a nurse in the ER, and was kind enough to work for another person on Christmas Day, we are bumping the festivities at our house one day earlier. We really don't mind, Christmas is about being together, and so what if its on a different day? It also made me feel good that my mom did that, because I bet that normally it would be very hard to switch shifts with someone on Christmas Day.

So tonight, December 23rd, is TECHNICALLY "Christmas Eve". I am just about to have an afternoon nap, and mom is cleaning up. Then, when I wake up, I have some last minute wrapping to do (as I always do). My sister and Sean and Kaia (niece) should be here in around 4 hours, and thats when the par-tay starts. It just never really seems like a 100% Christmas unless there is a child bouncing off the walls. I am sure that for most of the night I will be running around the coffeetable with eggnogg in hand, chasing a 29-pound three year old, and an 80-pound two and a half year old (the last one is my Doberman, if you were wondering).

When the night winds down, we will all say our goodnights, and get settled for bed. Mom, on the other hand, has one last important task before she goes to sleep. Santa. He still doesn't know about our change in nights (or "eves" as it were). So, I imagine a few phone calls will be made (Reception at The North Pole, Vancouver Air Traffic Control, etc.), and then finally she can head off to bed.

When we wake up in the morning.......there will be coffee, juice, slippers, music (ain't no Christmas like a Bony M Christmas!), lights, love, warmth, laughter, oh ya........and chaos.

You havent' seen me open my presents :)

I'm Sai-ling A-wayyyyy...

I got the job! I am an official Photographer on a cruise ship! I am going to be paid money to travel to exotic locations all around the world, doing what I love to do! Talk about a great Christmas Miracle, eh? I really thought I would get the job, I just ....didn't really think I would actually GET the job! (if that makes any sense...maybe I am just rambling)

Now I have to get all the necessary info back to "my people" down in Los Angeles, and then they will notify me of when and where I will be going. I gave my availability as Jan 15th, and I have to come back to Calgary for a week or so at the end of December to grab some documents, but I could very well be on the other side of the planet by this time next month! (hell, as long as its somewhere warmer I am happy) I really hope to see as many people as I can while I am in Calgary before I have to come back to Vancouver for departure. Please email me ike1@hotmail.com if you are free before and after New Year's ok?

"Good things take time. Great things happen all at once."

Someone buy me a lottery ticket ;)

Snippet #1 of my X-men 3 Experience...

I just spent 25 of the past 36 hours on the set of X-men 3. Due to a confidentiality agreement that I signed, I can't tell you anything about the movie, but what I CAN tell you about are my personal experiences that I had while waiting in the "Extras Holding Tent".

I arrived on the set Friday night at around 6:30pm. After I signed in, I had a chance to look around at all the people. There were about 150 Extras (the politically correct term so as not to offend anyone is "Background Performer"), and they were split off into two groups: Soldiers and Mutants. Yours Truly was not only a Soldier, but (and this is the honest truth, you can even ask anyone) I was the sexiest soldier in the tent. Seriously! In fact, when you see the movie, and you see a sexy soldier run past the screen, thats me. Promise. Anyways, after I got suited up, stared at myself in the mirror for 5 minutes (thinking to myself that I would gladly give up every one of my childhood Halloween's dressed as vampires, rockstars, and ghouls for just ONE dressed in this get up), I found an empty chair and sat down. And stared. At everyone.

After about 4 or 5 hours of staring, I decided to go for some fresh air.

Now, as some of you may or may not know, winters in Vancouver and surrounding area have a very deep, different kind of cold. If the temperture is -4C (and it was), it will feel like -40C (and it did). Call me wimpy, but I stand by my statement. I was born in Winnipeg. I know what cold is.

So, after about 30 seconds of fresh air, I went back inside.

More Staring.

As luck would have it, I managed to nod off for a few minutes.

Have you ever woke up from a deep sleep and not known where you were or what was going on? You know, when you go for an afternoon nap and wake up at around 8pm, thinking its 8am and that you are late for school or work? Or how about when the phone rings, and you have no idea what that noise is, where its coming from, or what the hell you can do to stop it? Now, picture me waking up, noticing I am in a soldier uniform, then seeing 150 soldiers talking and running around in this HUGE tent, and to top it off, throw in a few fireball explosions outside only a few hundred feet away. You see, apparantly while I was sleeping, they had picked a small handful of soldiers to go to set so they could film a few scenes (hence the fireballs).

I thought I was actually a soldier, actually in the army, and actually under attack.

I jumped to my feet, almost scaring nearby soldiers into seizures, and almost knocking a full board of scrabble to the floor.

To back up for a second: On my way driving to the set earlier that night, I imagined things to go a little differently. I thought I might steal an innocent glance or sweet smile from Halle Barry, or maybe get a "G'day" from Hugh Jackman. I pictured the weather to be slightly ABOVE freezing, with zero waiting time and immediate calls to run to set to start shooting scenes. Ah, Ignorance is bliss.

Ok. Back to the present. Now I have four or five complete strangers staring at me like....well.... like I just jumped to my feet and almost scared them into seizures. Now What? All I could do was took a deep breath, glanced around at everyone, and calmly and carefully said the first and only sentence that came to mind:

"Would anyone like anything from the Snackbar while I am up?"

My seat was taken when I returned. Its probably for the best, though. They were beginning to weird me out, and I was just about to go out for some more fresh air.

It was a Full Moon last night...

and my sister and I had our little "Moon Meditation". Every full moon (or NEW moon), we will get together on the phone and talk about what we want to see happening in our lives in the near future, and then take a few moments to sit and just imagine as if it were already happening. This time however, since I am in White Rock (where my mom and my sister live), we had a chance to talk about it in person. I imagined the following: I have been waiting for a callback from the Cruise Line position as a Photographer (yes, touring around the world on a cruise ship, as a photographer, getting paid UBER amounts of money), so I thought it would be great to get a phone call today (Friday) saying I got the job, and then I would work for six months touring the world, building up an amazing portfolio of my own, saving TONS of money, and then when I got back, I would use that money to work towards an acting career in Vancouver.

Sounds easy right?

So today, I wake up. Coffee is made, and a photography magazine awaits (I went to London Drugs last night and found a $20 bill in the parking lot, so I treated myself to the December edition of Outdoor Photographer, and a tin of Tiger Balm. Bad Back.) So I open the magazine, and the phone rings. "Hmm.." I say to myself. "I thought I predicted the Cruise Line call would be around 2:45pm today...and its only 11am." It was a talent agency here in Vancouver that I applied for a few days ago. Apparently I am working on X-Men 3 tonight and tomorrow as a Soldier. Holy $#%!

I guess the Moon got the order of my meditation wrong.

Meh. =)

First Introduction...

The first introduction that I shall have the honor of doing on this blog (other than my own of course) is my partner in crime, Adobe. Adobe is a 2 1/2 year old purebred Doberman.

The scarf was my niece's idea. Not mine. Or Adobe's for that matter, although in my opinion, she seemed to like it.

"I am ready for my close-up, Mr. Deville!"

It begins...

So....I have been wanting to create a blog for quite some time now, but was too afraid that I would have nothing to say. Not that I see myself as an uninteresting or unintelligent individual, I just didn't think that what I had to say was of any interest to anyone else. Finally today, as I sat there on a patio chair (very uncomfortable might I add, and not suitable for an office chair), in my pajamas, empty coffee mug in hand (A purple Eeyore mug. Thank you Disney Store. Thank you.), sitting in front of my laptop (as opposed to beside or ON my laptop).......it occurred to me: Who the @#$! cares if anyone reads my blog? By definition, BLOG (noun) means: "an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page". PERSONAL! It does not say "for everyone to see and be a part of"...though it would be nice if I had a few blog followers. We could decorate this little place with little thoughts and ponderings together. Who knows how often I will publish my "personal chronological log of thoughts" anyways. Hell, they might not even be chronological thoughts at all! What if I have random thoughts of my childhood that I would like to share? I can do whatever I want in here, so long as it is with reason. That is my one rule. Everything in here has to be written with reason, whatever that may mean. It is after all, my blog. It all begins.....right as soon as I press this publish button, and post my first lil' snippet o' thought.....with reason.