Burn after reading. No seriously.

Day 1

It looked like rain today so I departed from Starbucks a little early. And then I learned that there was better internet at Subway.

I said this in twitter before and I'll say it again. The grass (internet) is always greener (faster) on the other side (of the mall).

Day 2

Two words. Sea day.

Day 3

Once again I've proven the theory that the internet is always better on the other side of the mall. I just hung out in the terminal in Barbados today. I was lucky enough to find a spot with free power and free internet. Slow, but free and I could sit there all day without being bothered.

See the one thing awesome about doing the ENTIRE caribbean run, meaning when I get back on the ship after my vacation I'll still be here, is that I feel no urgency to explore every island. Unlike the North American run I did before this, that was only 3 times at each spot. I'm going to be on these islands for the next 4 months or more.

No hurry. Everything's going to stay the same. The beaches aren't going away.

Day 4

Finally got to see St Lucia in the middle of a hectic day. It's again one of those fantastic non touristy pretentious places like Bridgetown. It's a town where life just happens.

People at local pubs watching cricket and football, tables outside clacking with the sound of a good game of dominoes (I don't know how the game works but it's not the game you know where you stack em and then push em down. That's just stupid), local vendors selling fruits and junk, small stores selling some local food (which I have to get at some point because I walked through a street with food stalls on both sides and my goodness did it smell amazing) and generally non tourists just bustling about. Life happens. And I like that because it gives me a chance to feel like I'm a part of the culture, not surrounded by stores trying to sell me duty free items.

I wish we had more time here but this is the one port that we play afternoon sets, morning rehearsals and night shows. Sad.

Day 5

The island we're visiting today is Antigua.

Well, the island everybody is visiting. I decided to stay on the ship today. Not because I had no time to get off, nor because I was bored of Antigua.

Sheer laziness.

I decided to sleep in. And then spend the afternoon playing video games on my computer before going to rehearsal.

It was a good day.

Day 6

Today was yet another fantastic day. Rehearsal was late in the afternoon, almost when the ship starts to leave the island. Which meant I got the same amount of time off the ship as a guest. Sure I don't spend it off the ship the entire time but knowing that I just had the time was enough to make it a good day.

Internet, mojitos, delicious shrimp. All in one day. 

Day 7

Tomorrow 3 members of the band are leaving. 

The upshot is I get a roomie. And I get the bottom bunk now. Which means I can sit up in bed. Oh that's right, I haven't yet shown you the space I live in. Don't worry, you'll see it eventually. But man the top bunk is so low I can't even sit up in bed. The problem is with two people in the room there isn't anywhere else to sit up. So I half sit. But now I get the bottom bunk which means sit uppableness is going to happen.

Also today is the first time I've ever ever had a guest buy us drinks. There were some guests who were hanging out with us at the martini bar after the show and they decided to be wonderful people and buy us all drinks. Absolutely fantastic.

I only dreamed it would happen, but it actually did. How cool is that? Anyway, see you in San Juan tomorrow, and I'll meet my new roomie.

There's also a chance I might not have a roomie. But let's not get our hopes up.

Day 8

Just saw the Christmas trees going up as I left the boat this morning. Pictures are in order I believe. Let the yuletide begin.

Thoughts from the week?

 These past 5 weeks have been pretty darn awesome. We had a stand in Bandmaster with us who is both a gentleman and an extremely professional boss. Not to say that our last one was horrible, but he was new to the gig of bandmaster so sometimes he did run around like a headless chicken. But these past 5 weeks have been a breath of fresh air, working with someone who knows the whole deal and knows how to get stuff done properly. I do hope I see that guy again someday and work with him at some point.

It's a short post this week, but I guess it's been rather uneventful. Maybe the new band members will shake things up a little.