A Hot Time in Chile..

Happy Birthday to me. Whoa! 34! It has been a lovely journey down the Chilean coastline to the southernmost city of the world. We left Valparaiso, Chile last week. That was an amazing day. We got off the ship and it took quite a while to get into town. We docked right in the city and had to take a shuttle about 15 minutes out of the way to pass the security checkpoint. No problemo. We hopped on a train and took it 3 stops right to the heart of the city. We walked around the city for a bit stopping at the seaman center to get a nice cup of coffee and some good internet. After which we walked to a tram that took us up the side of the mountain to a lookout point. It was made out of wood and reminded me of those old elevators where you close the cage door. It was rackety and I was a bit nervous that it was going to make it up the steep incline. We got out and walked around up there for a bit soaking in the city views. We decided to grab a bite to eat and stopped at this café that was overlooking the mountainside. It had a nice patio with some spectacular views. The menu didn't look so bad for a fancy place. White table clothes, beautiful view, and classy settings. They started us off with some pate and toast and brought warm fresh bread shortly after. I got the filet mignon with scalloped potatoes and a mushroom sauce. It was a meal to die for. The steak was so juicy and tender it could be cut with a butter knife. The potatoes were delectable. All of it less than $15!! That would be a meal to pay $30 at least in NYC. At least!! We wrapped it up and hiked back to the city to walk around a bit before getting back on board. We sailed out of Valparaiso and headed down to Puerto Montt. It was definitely colder there than the other South American ports we've been to. You could tell we were getting closer to Antarctica and penguin country. The town was very reminiscent of Ketchikan, Alaska. The fishy smell in the air and the various wooden shacks and stores lining the harbor. Also a small city on the whole. We just walked around that day soaking in the atmosphere of the place. We walked down to the fishing village where you could buy your assortment of fresh fish and cheese. Let me tell you the smell was absolutely stifling. Fresh fish AND fresh cheese. Whoa! It was off to Puerto Chacabuco next. This port was definitely a place where I believe only the Prinsendam could go. We traveled into a channel that took us into the nooks and crannies of the coast of Chile. The weather still colder yet. This one reminded me of Sitka, Alaska. We took a tender boat to get into town and it was farmland for miles. One hotel graced the peaks of the plateau just above the docks. Supermarkets no bigger than a house were located throughout the neighborhood. Tours in the past 2 ports were the way to go and we didn't plan for it. It was a simple day of soaking in the mountainside and taking a simple stroll in the brisk air. We sailed out of the channel and down to see our first glacier. It was a marvel although we had to hightail it to our next port of Punta Arenas due to an unexpected heart attack by one of our passengers in the gym. We arrived early the next day (a planned sea day). By early I do mean 7pm since we weren't even supposed to get there until 12 hours later because of the scenic cruising to some more glaciers planned. As crew, we took advantage of the situation and went out for the evening and an evening it was. We went to a local pub in the college town. I just expected the same people in a bar where beer was the predominant drink of choice and smoke filling the air. Instead I strolled into a lively place filled with salsa music around 11pm and the party was just starting. Couples were burning up the floor with hot moves when I walked in and there was a whole menu of cocktails. Woo hoo!! I grabbed some dance partners and partook in the salsa dancing myself. It was a blast. The place got packed. It was amazing fun. The next day we just strolled around town. We got a late start since it was a late night. I could've taken a penguin excursion, but really couldn't because technically I had IPM duty. IPM is loose here if you're careful. You just don't want to get caught if you break it. So the two of us just decided to do our own thing and go out later. We sailed out of there that evening having dinner in the Pinnacle restaurant on board for one of our birthday girls. I was STUFFED. Whoa!

Today, on my birthday, I had an amazing day in port. It was Ushuaia, Argentina and the southernmost city in the world. In fact we docked next to a ship called "The World" as well as the National Geographic ship and a few others. We took a cab up the Darwin Mountains to the Glacial Mountain Center where we got on a ski lift to take us up higher. We hiked to amazing heights seeing fantastic sights and getting whiffs of the brisk fresh air. It was a cold one today. Roughly 30 degrees I'd say without winds. I was in a T-shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, and a winter coat for my hike today as well as a scarf. We got to the snowy peaks before we had to turn around and come down. We overlooked the city and it was so breathtaking. I was absolutely tired after hiking so hard, but it was sooo worth it. Now I'm about ready to start the other party. The cast is giving me a martini crawl. We're going from bar to bar on board and celebrating with a martini in each one. Woo hoo! It's supposed to be a rough one tonight as we approach Cape Horn. I'll already be stumbling.

Chillin' in Chile...

We left Peru a few days ago and are now headed toward Antarctica for our trip around Cape Horn, which I hear is actually quite rough. As I sit here in my cabin in a daze after the last few days' events the ship is starting to toss in these rougher waters already. Whoa. I haven't seen much of Chile. Today was my first full day in Coquimbo. Our firs Chilean port was Arica, which I didn't see at all since rehearsal for our Broadway show took most of our day away. I did get out for a bit in Antofagasta. There wasn't much to see since we had limited time and I couldn't do a tour. It was a beach day and boy was the sun hot. We walked to a nice local beach and sun bathed. Between my skin and my hair, I'm starting to look like a strawberry blonde surfer. I've been trying this new look with my hair of lightening it and the added sun just makes it look lighter as well as my darkening skin. The next day we were at sea and I had the best 2 shows I've ever performed on a cruise ship. It was our LIVE Broadway debut and it just felt so good to do a show where we were free to lead a song where we wanted to take it. The band had a great time, we had a great time, and the audience loved it too. I had great moments singing my favorite piece in the show by Billy Joel (New York State of Mind). The message of the song not only gives me great motivation, but the Manhattan Transfer style backup vocals give it that jazzy blues feeling I love singing along with. I take moments at the beginning and end that just ease out of me unlike any show I've done for this company so far. My other comedic moment I just have a ball with and get great pleasure that as a singer/dancer in this company I have 2 meaty and leading man material solos to perform. The night was young as we ended our show and we took the party up to the Crow's Nest where our Cruise Director got us a few rounds. We then took the party downstairs to the crew bar and socialized the evening away into the morning hours. This afternoon I was off in the lovely little town of Coquimbo where there were bright beautiful skies and a warm breeze coming over the mountaintops. We had some local faire at a grill type restaurant and then headed upward to the top of the hill to see the countryside. Later on the locals told us that the residential area we climbed to was home to some thugs known for their skill of assaulting and robbing tourists. Nice. Well, at least we didn't know and we traveled in a nice big herd. The scenery was amazing. For the rest of he day we just chilled in the strong breeze at a local café where one of the residents joined us for some lovely lazy day conversation. We lose our production team tomorrow in Valparaiso as well as our fun loving magician we all befriended since he got on board in Peru. We all hate to see them go so we'll be partying up tonight after his show is finished. So far so good. One show to go before we take our 40-hour flight to Sydney. Yikes!!!

Peruvian Nights...

So my Peruvian experience was mostly at night. I got off for a moment in Salaverry, Peru. This is where about 200 passengers disembarked for their $2,000 excursion to Manchu Pichu. Upon pulling in it strangely resembled the port of Alexandria, Egypt. Sand everywhere, dry, windy, and unfinished stacked brick block homes. In fact there were some temples far out that resembled some temples you find in Egypt. We just took the 45-minute shuttle into town and strolled around the city. We saw some sights and went back to town. We had rehearsal later, so we were pretty exhausted from it all. The next day was Lima, Peru.

Remember the crazy St. Pete overnights I wrote about earlier? I had one in Lima yesterday. It was crazy. The port is JUST like Russia. Crap and far away from everything. You take a cab out past the gates, but good luck getting one to take you all the way to the ship. We got a new magician on board all of 21. He's just a baby guest entertainer. He's a real cool guy. So cute. We started out with a group of 3 cabs and we lost one in the process. We didn't know where they went so we had some drinks in this resort town around a bunch of hotels and a mall. Then we cabbed it over to this Irish pub. Yes, an Irish pub in Lima, Peru. The lost cab was there and the rest of the ship staff that went out that night. The place was packed and HOT!! Stifling. There was a smokin' band playing some good tunes and the vibe was carefree. The local bartender had a perfect USA accent. It was great. A local suggested we go to a disco, which ended up splitting the group in three directions. Cabs took people elsewhere, a group walked, and another group got left behind and walked to another place. I was in the walking group that didn't get left behind with some cast, our Production Asst, and the baby guest entertainer magician. We ended up at this hole in the wall bar with a DJ they claimed to be a disco. The front was a little shack with a patio and it looked like a café. Then you go through this door into the "disco." The magician was itching to get out since the place went dead around 3:30am. We found a San Diegan visiting that had connections to another disco so he could get us in for free. This was a REAL disco (and a Ho Bar). Prostitutes everywhere. It was hilarious. Eight of us stayed including our P.A. and the magician and we danced through until 6am. It was fabulous. I must've gotten propositioned at least 4 times. I was dying. Just laughing inside. I was dancing the night away with one of our photographers who knew how to Lindy Hop, so we salsa danced. She was a great partner. Good resistance and knew how to follow. She used her knowledge of Lindy Hop to do all the tricks and turns of salsa and I pretty much just improved it all. It reminded me of the days at the local Eagles club in Ohio when my mom and Aunt Mary would teach me how to Lindy Hop. It was fun and I was drunk. Lol. We took a cab back and boarded the ship in a walk of shame as the sun rose upon the next day. I haven't gotten off to see much since we don't have much time with rehearsals and all, but I'm partying. Today was another day in Lima, but I really didn't get going until 2pm. I guess we had to be back by 4pm to turn in our Peruvian Visa so we'd leave port on time. We found this out AFTER getting on the shuttle into town. So we spent 10 minutes in town, took a few pictures, and came back to the ship. Ahh. Good times.

Sensory Overload..

As we sail down the western coast of South America into Peru I take today as a day of complete relaxation. Our first since we've been on board. Yesterday's rehearsal was a rape of the senses for our Broadway show. From the beginning we were told this would be a show we would lay into and have fun. We could use the microphones and the live quality of the show to take control, pace ourselves, and listen to each other on the tight harmonies. Yesterday was none of that. I now have a new respect for lead vocalists in a band and I now understand why they have to wear earpieces to hear themselves in those tight environments. I've sung with live bands before. They were just so far back or so far away that the monitors for the singers overpowered their sound and we could hear ourselves. Yesterday they were closer than I was ever used to. They were literally in our comfort space, but that's the whole point of the show. The director wanted everyone working together as a team and be close together like a group. It wasn't supposed to be like a normal show where the band is tucked far away and just the performers are out front. This poses a new problem though where the sound just overwhelmed us. Our vocal coach was telling us how in the studio we came at her with a wall of sound and intruded her comfort zone. We had to act more like musicians and listen to each other instead of singing at her. I felt karma came back and slapped us yesterday. The band played and it was this wall of sound coming at us from behind. We suddenly felt all alone as an ensemble. None of us singers could hear each other let alone ourselves. We lost control of our songs and our show. Some moments that were supposed to be free were run by the band. The band is supposed to follow, but the show is so new and so different than what they're used to with us that they just ran the show. My ears were ringing at the end of it. Even our production team said it was too much. We will finesse this show until we find a good group mix on stage. It's just that now with the band being so close, I realize that when you have the chance to listen and blend in a performance situation, take advantage of it and tune in. Listen to each other. It really works.

After such an over stimulating rehearsal of my favorite show (it will always be my favorite because of the content and the fact that it IS live) we strolled into the town of Manta. It was definitely a contrast to the day. A cab took us to the city beach. It was the only close place we could go with our 2 hours of land time. Quito renowned for it's Andes mountain peaks was 600 miles away and the Galapagos Islands were 900 miles away from shore. Clearly Ecuador isn't a place for a day trip unless you're flying somewhere else from this port town. Nevertheless we still had a fabulous time. We sat down at a local place called Surfista on the beach to eat. The music was pumping and a large group of people either family or friends were celebrating across the way from us. The people seemed so friendly and carefree. They were just getting up and dancing in the middle of the restaurant. I now know where my friend Brooke was coming from when she just wanted to get up in a restaurant in NYC and dance. These people just did and they were enjoying life. We strolled on the beach as the sun set and it was scenery to take in and absorb. As we walked back to the ship the local birds were gathering on the wires. Pelicans were flying everywhere. A warm wind was blowing through the humid sky. It's summer here. I skipped right over winter and spring as we crossed the equator. I still haven't seen the water swirl the other way. I guess I'll have to go to a land bathroom and test out that theory on the next crossing in Australia. Tomorrow is Peru. Today is total relaxation. Sun sun and more sun. Ahhh. This is what I signed up for.

All Hail King Neptune...

Today is the day we crossed the equator and with crossing the equator comes a ceremony. A tribute to King Neptune and his Mermaid Queen. This ceremony is the foulest and most disgusting of ceremonies ever, but fun if you're not the dreaded Pollywog. Pollywogs are anyone who hasn't crossed the equator before. This would be me and 3 others in our cast. One guy in our cast even skipped out of it on other ceremonial crossings; so he's due to serve as a Pollywog. Two of them didn't participate, which is fine, but we should've been representing our cast well and the 3 of us served with pride and we STILL smell from it all. Our other 2 cast members were other roles. One was a nurse and one was a pirate. First we all met up in the Crow's Nest Bar up on deck 12. The others tied all of us Pollywogs together with rope and led us to the Lido Pool on Deck 11. We were marched in and escorted by the pirates. The judge (our Cruise Director) was leading the ceremony and pronouncing all of the Pollywog crimes. We were all penned up in a wood fashioned jail cell in a section of the pool while all the pirates tormented us with buckets of water. King Neptune and his Mermaid Queen made their entrance and sat in their thrones. The judge presented all the Pollywogs and their crimes to the royalty as we all knelt before them while our crimes were read. As cast I guess our crime was that we're too cute, we could sing AND dance, and that we had bodies that no one on the ship could ever achieve. That was a laugh. The Mermaid Queen being jealous of her husband's attraction to the girls sent us to kiss the fish and be at the whim of the doctors and nurses. We were escorted over to this HUGE fish sprawled out on a table and forced to kiss it by the pirates. We were then led to the operating table where the doctors and nurses smeared all kinds of disgusting concoctions all over us. I was close to vomiting as eggs were smashed on my head, bean soup was poured all over me, some anchovy mixture was smeared on me and whipped cream. The smell was incredibly disgusting. We were chosen to "live" which is not a good thing because we had to sit poolside with this foul mixture of cold ingredients all over us. Some were fortunate enough to get dunked for the sharks, which meant they were IN the pool and getting rinsed. The ceremony went on and the food was starting to dry. Before I let anything get too dry, I chased one of our girls posing as a pirate and gave her a BIG hug with all my slimy goodness. Ha ha!! Revenge!! It was THE most disgusting hazing event (well since I was never part of a fraternity so the only hazing event) I've ever been through. I heard that navies get ultimately worse so I'm thankful to have participated in a mild one. I'll have my certificate of crossing the equator now and on the next one I can torment the Pollywogs as a pirate or doctor. I took a shower afterwards to get all the nasty smells off me. I washed my hair twice and scrubbed down and there's STILL a faint smell of the mixture. Yuck!!! It was fun though and with some other postings I'll get some pictures up soon. We actually cross the equator around midnight tonight. I can't wait to see the water swirl the other direction.

We're on our way to Ecuador now. Galapagos central. The Islands are too far away from port to see, but maybe another time. I was out in Amador, Panama for a bit, but we didn't have much time to see anything but a mall. That's just how it goes on these changeover cruises. Peru and Antarctica are just around the corner though. I would like to see Machu Pichu, but I don't know if that will happen. I'll wait and find out.

One Order of Innocence Please...

One lovely thing about being on a cruise line is that you can chose to eliminate the horrible stories that the news broadcasts out of your life and be clueless for a while. Occasionally I'll slip on the TV and the CNN station will be on. Just yesterday I noticed that NYC was in a stir and still is over a fuel smell. I guess all the atmospheric detectors didn't read that the air was contaminated with ethanol or any burnable substance it just smelled like it. Evidently they put smelly chemicals in these gasses so that our senses can pick up that there is a leak that can be dangerous. This same chemical was wafting through the air in Manhattan. Subways were closed, people were strolling around in confusion, and some got sick. How does such a chemical get released into the air to affect the whole city? Wow. Another thing I read from our NY Times summary was that geologists are predicting the global future for the next billion or so years and that the landmasses will all change and converge into new continents. The Mediterranean Sea will become the Mediterranean Mountain Range. Africa will fuse with Europe, San Francisco will disappear, the east coast will disintegrate, etc, etc, on and on. Billions of years from now. I sure hope I will not live THAT long, so why do I need to know? If I wanted to get information like that, I guess I'd pick up a Scientific American, Discovery, or other related media, but when you see a title that says "Long-Term Forecast Says There Will Be Fewer Continents" in the NY Times, my curiosity peaks a little considering the global damage we're doing as human beings right now. I was sad to have wasted my time on an article that was telling me that billions of years from now these things would happen. In the same respect a little relieved. I already believe because of our warming state that the coastal US and some coastal areas lying below sea level in the Mediterranean and other places will go under water in my lifetime. That's kind of disturbing, but to think about billions of years away. Whew. Then there are the normal traumas that concern me like bird flu in Indonesia and killings in India. I think after my walkabout on the ship today, I'll just remain clueless for a while. We have one show under our belt and it went, for the most part, well. I walked around the ship today as we were leaving Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and loved the classiness and quaintness about it. There are a few nooks and crannies that provide lovely atmosphere and hideaways from the crowds. The Lido restaurant where we eat has an outside terrace that's covered and gives a French café sort of feel. It's so nice. The people have been so welcoming and receptive so far. It's been a nice balance to the strict coldness we received on the Rotterdam. I didn't go ashore today. It was my duty to stay on board "in port manning." We rehearsed our Broadway show today and it was so relieving to FINALLY sing through a show with freedom. There's no canned music. No track leading us along. I was overzealous and excited. I wanted things to go so well. We would finally be leading the band. I can't wait to perform that show. We're now sailing to the San Blas Islands in Panama. I was there in 2000. It's a TINY place off the coast of Panama. All the locals line up to get the tourists to buy their wares and take their photos as they sit outside their huts. Mind you, these huts are deceiving from the outside. If you take a peak inside one, you'll notice that they are fully equipped with TV, cable, phone, fridge, and all. They BANK on these tourists and the cover of this book looks ragged and poor. Yet the inside pages are filled with luxuries. I don't think many of the locals stay here for many overnights. Their job is to put on a performance for us, which I find amusing. Especially the hut marked "Hard Rock Café" that was painted on by some local artist instead of the commercial billboard most of us are familiar with. After we leave this isle, we're off through the canal, which will be my 4th full transit through. My oh my I've been in this industry a while.

Tortuga/Turtle..

Today we were in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island. As with all turnovers, it was a lovely sight to see from the ship. Well, actually I did go out for an hour. It was Sunday, so everything was pretty much closed except for the tourist locales. This would've been a fabulous day to hang out at the beach sipping rum punch and enjoying the sun. There are after all 7 miles of beach to enjoy here. I got out and tasted some rum cake, bought a bottle of Tortuga vanilla rum and headed back to the ship for rehearsal. This is what it will be like for a while. Rehearsal comes first. The water here is so gorgeous. First of all you can see down pretty far since it isn't so polluted. It was so clear I couldn't believe it. When you get out deep it takes on a hue of blue that was so refreshing an amazing to see. The Caribbean may be just a beach place and a few pirate stories, but the water and beaches are a great escape. I hope there are beaches like this in Sydney 'cause I'm feeling a little deprived and teased now. We cross the equator soon and I was informed of the ceremony already. I'm a little concerned. It involves cloths I should wear and be ready to throw away, food poured all over us, and kissing a big dead fish. Ewww!! I guess it's the standard for all Polywogs (those who are assigned this part in the ceremony since they've never actually crossed the equator before). I'll probably do this ceremony twice, but only once as a Polywog (thank God). Bye bye Grand Cayman for now, Puerto Limon Costa Rica is next. I have in port manning (that oh so lovely duty), but I may be able to scurry off for a bit. Rumor has it, it's not as enforced on this ship. Woo hoo!!

Boarding the Tiny Traveler

Day one of the world adventure. We left Los Angeles on January 4 and traveled across the country to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We stayed a night at the luxurious Embassy Suites Hotel on the 17th Street Causeway. I spent many a day here in 2000 making phone calls to get away from the massive influx of crew that would come in off the ships to the call center while I was in port every other day on my first cruise gig. We had our last land supper at the Outback Steakhouse. It was a nice indulgence where I got a lobster tail with my dinner. Afterward we carted over to the hotel to enjoy the complimentary bar drinks at happy hour. It was quite the scene too. There was a guy strumming Caribbean music on his electric guitar and at one point two trashy girls each dropped a penny in his tip jar. This of course in the biz is extremely rude and demeaning. He made a comment, which turned into a huge stink with these trashy people. The mothers got involved and at one point where screaming at the guy trying to make her point over his guitar playing. We all couldn't believe what we were seeing and how embarrassing for them it was. The sad part was they weren't embarrassed. The rest of the evening we just took it easy and absorbed in the great space we were supplied with for the evening. Space that we were denied all crammed up in a 2-bedroom apartment for 7 people for 2 months. Also, it was a nice, clean environment with fresh towels. Oh paradise for a night. Today we were up early for too much hubbub. It was definitely a "hurry up and wait" kind of day. The shuttle came late and then the cruise was overbooked so our choreographers and costumers couldn't get on for a while for lack of cabin space. So a whole day of scurrying around without an ounce of rehearsal. Well, until 9pm that is. That's when the evening of blocking begins. There was a bit of turmoil when we got here. One of our girls is still homeless because of a Seattle mix-up where the inventory list of blocked cabins for crew was lost and the company sold discounted cabins (the blocked ones) and now we have 10 displaced staff. One of girls is displaced. She isn't happy of course and this affair is unacceptable. I hope someone paid for this mistake because it's a pretty big one that inconvenienced a lot of people. Our cabin steward was busy with carting luggage all day so our cabins were in disarray until late in the evening when we could finally move in. These cabins are THE tiniest cabins I've EVER been in on a ship. Just think of a walk-in closet in the literal sense and that's what we have. No joke. The bathroom is as big as a regular household bath and shower. Again no joke. Take your shows/bath and section off a diagonal strip at the end; place the toilet next to that and the sink at the opposing end. That's our bathroom enclosed by 4 walls. The width of the room is the size of a bed (my height) and the length is the size of 1.5 of me. Not kidding!!! Small beans. We still have to deal with a girl being homeless. I hope things look up soon. We're on our way through the Caribbean and into South America to Antarctica on this cruise. I can't wait to see the sights.

A New Month and A New Year

2007. Wow. A year sure goes fast. 2006 was an eventful and hard year and I hope 2007 will be an adventurous and prosperous year. It's already starting off well. I'll be traveling the world and my best friend is starting a new life with her husband.

If I'm ever in the Southern California area, I always try and make a trip to San Diego. When I lived there it was a solid 2 years of good times and good people. I'll always have fond memories of those years. This recent trip was a very special one though. I came down last Thursday to start the big party. The wedding of my friends Marianne and Eric. They had a festive Luau rehearsal dinner at Eric's parents house. Over 60 family members and friends from out of town showed up to celebrate and get to know each other before the ceremony on Friday. Before the Luau I did have some time with Marianne just to visit, so that was nice. His mom decorated the place fabulously and yet there was a hint of the holidays still in the mix. There was food galore and a very strong concoction of Mai Tais stirred up by one of Eric's uncles. His mom also makes delicious Sangria so we had that as well. It was a good night of reacquainting myself with friends and meeting all the family members. I had the distinguished honor of walking her down the aisle the next day. They had relatives in from South America and all over the United States. This family knew how to throw a whopping party. The next day was the special one. The big day. I got up early to do some last minute things, but realized I didn't have much time. The events started at 11am with Eric and I driving to pick up the best man, my other San Diego friend Michael (who know lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and newborn baby). We were off to Eric's parents house to change into our gear for the ceremony and festivities. Once in our tuxes, we carted the 4 of us in the wedding party down to the naval base on Coronado Island to get the day started. We ran a little late and the girls were right behind us (which we didn't know). They stopped a good distance away so that Marianne and Eric didn't see each other. Once we were there we started putting on the finishing touches for the reception and coordinating with the planner on how the day would go. The photographer snatched us away for pictures and then I was pulled into the bridal chamber for some more photos with Marianne. She was gorgeous. She had her hair all done up with flowers. All the girls looked fabulous in their dresses. Marianne and Eric did well at picking out the outfits for the day's celebration. After some pictures we were now ready for the ceremony. I walked her down the aisle and it was the strangest feeling. Her mom was right on the other side. Everyone was watching and I just hoped I wouldn't trip down the aisle and pull the bride with me. I stood up at the altar with all the other witnesses on the girl's side. Eric's best friend was on his side and she was in a nice gown as well slightly different from the other girls. The sun was at our backs. It was an outdoor wedding and the weather couldn't be better. The beach was churning in the background. The family and friends were all blinded by the sunlight, but it felt good for us, lol. It was so touching to see the both of them so happy and enjoying the day. Once the ceremony was over we were then in a shuffle to get all the pictures in we could before the sun went down. Then the reception festivities began. Michael, the best man, sang for their first dance. The best man and maid of honor gave speeches as well as the parents. Then it was my turn. I knew when Marianne bestowed this honor upon me I should say something at her wedding and knew I couldn't without warbling and speaking on tangents making no sense or even reciting from something I wrote and stumbling. So I wrote a song. I put it all on CD and sang it to them. It must have been good, because the whole room was touched and began to tear up in happiness. I'd love to post it here in singing form, but I'll just post it now in poetic form. I call it "The Ballet of Life":

The doors have opened
Everybody strolls in for the show.
The buzz is in the air.
Excitement in every row.
'Cause it's a story about life
And love from the heart.
There are two friends of mine
Perfect to play these parts.

The curtain rises
And there's a girl dancing on the stage.
There's passion in her soul.
You see it light up in her face.
She has grace and beauty
Giving all she has to give.
Without her even knowing
Someone found a new reason to live.

She'll take two steps
And he'll lift her to the sky.
They'll dance together in harmony
Supporting each other's lives.
Isn't it beautiful
When two souls meet eye to eye?
And together they'll dance
The ballet of life.

He makes his entrance
A comical fellow is he.
He's got her in his sights.
Each step taken carefully.
As he takes her hand
And leads her across the floor.
With each step they take
They open up brand new doors.

She'll take two steps
And he'll lift her to the sky.
They'll dance together in harmony
Supporting each other's lives.
Isn't it beautiful
When two souls meet eye to eye?
And together they'll dance
The ballet of life

As the story races by
They learn about each other's lives
And every step is give and take
With trust and love
Joy and pain
As they take their leap of faith.

She'll take two steps
And he'll lift her to the sky.
They'll dance together in harmony
Enriching each other's lives.
And now they dance together
United as husband and wife.
And together they'll dance
They'll joyously dance
Yes they will dance
The ballet of life.

After all the toasting, we were all invited to eat the fabulous meal that was prepared. The whole evening was a good night of celebration and dancing. It couldn't have gone better.

The next day I enjoyed breakfast with my new married friends and was off to rehearsal. I missed two days especially for the wedding. It was a little nerve wrecking catching up, but it was okay. The office seems to like what I'm doing and that's good. I came down to ole San Diego again for New Year's Eve to celebrate with the friends in town and my two best friends. We all rang in the New Year at Eric's house and that was delightful. It's 2007 now. I only hope the year goes well for everyone. It's starting off good so far. Let's see where this one takes us all.