Here is a mega update including FIVE different blog posts, in chronological order. Enjoy!

March 24th

Here's an update on what the last few ports have been like.

Agadir is a great port with beautiful beaches. It seems to be more or less a tourist beach resort town, and the beaches are amazing. There is a boardwalk full of restaurants and such right on the beach, and me and a few others from the ship stopped there for some coffee and free wifi, before walking along the beach. All in all Agadir reminded me of a more European flavoured version of a Carribean island. Except in Africa. All in all a great port, if not particularly exciting on a cultural level.

The City of Las Palmas on the island of Grand Canary is another great port. It is a huge city - I think 350,000 people or so, making it the biggest European city outside of Europe. It is quite a thing to see a full size city like that on such a seemingly small island in the middle of nowhere ( well, really not that far off the coast of Africa I guess). As a rule I dislike any port which where their only significant Industry is tourism, since they're usually devoid of any culture, and Las Palmas is clearly not one such of these. While it does have spectacular beaches and shops to offer tourists, it clearly has a thriving downtown core which supports multiple industries.

Today we were in Funchal, on the Island of Madeira - A Portugese colony. Funchal, along with Valetta, are probably the two most picturesque towns that I have seen in the Mediterranean so far. Funchal is a beautiful old medieval looking city situated in a valley overflowing with lush greenery. I went on a tour today which took us on a cable car up the mountain, presenting many breathtaking views of the city below, and it was incredible to behold. 

The tour itself was a very good one. Before the cable car, we were taken to a wine store to sample some famous Madeiran wine, which was excellent though not entirely to my taste. Still, nothing starts of a good tour like free wine. 

Next the cable car took us up a good portion of the mountain, where we then walked a ways to meet up with our transportation to take us down: toboggans. I've never been on a toboggan that slides on pavement, and it was a pretty cool way to descend the mountain, being pushed and guided by Portugese men clad in white, wearing straw hats. Upon descending the mountain, the bus took us back up and much further, to virtually the very top of the mountain. The view, as much of it as we could make out through all of the fog, was spectacular. We were then taken down to the ship, which was an uneventful trip but full of many more spectacular views. 

Tomorrow is a sea day, and then we are on to our last port of this cruise, the last port that I will get to see in the Mediterranean that I have not yet already seen - Malaga.

March 26th

I went on a tour yesterday in Malaga, which was generally excellent, if somewhat predictable - the more tours I go on, the more they seem to be the same sorts of things. However, there were a few things that stood out in Malaga to make it more unique.

The first stop was a Castle at the top of a hill called Gebralfaro (Gebral means "mountain", like in "Gebralta"), which provided an excellent view of the entire city. From that view we were able to see the stadium where they hold bull fights, a good view where the locals can go watch if they don't want to pay the exorbitant price at the stadium (something like 70 euros). 

We walked through the town a little bit as he showed us the older parts of town with narrow streets, stopping to show us a 250 year-old fig tree, a recently excavated Roman Amphitheatre, and the cathedral. The Cathedral in Malaga was magnificent, a huge building built between the 16th and 18th century. The paintings and sculptures inside were awesome, portraying such biblical episodes as the angel Gabriel coming to Mary, the supper where Jesus' feet are washed and dried by a woman's tears and hair, the beheading of St. Paul, and various others. The massive organ they had in the church was beautiful. I am not much of a museum person, but as far as old churches and cathedrals go, I am always amazed and this was no exception.

At the end of the tour I intended to go out into the city again as it was only 1pm, but I ended up napping for a good four hours after which there was no time. In the evening we played a relatively traditional big band set, featuring lots of Glenn Miller tunes (String of Pearls, 

The audiences on this ship, as compared to the dawn, are much more appreciate of big band music, and the dance floor was completely packed to every tune we played, making it much more enjoyable.

Today was a sea day. At four o'clock in the afternoon we played a set of the music of Burt Bacharach, transcribed by our sax player AJ. I enjoyed playing set, and I think the audience appreciated it too even if they were quiet because the music is calm and relatively non-energetic. I, being used to playing shows without much audience applause, was not perturbed by it, but the others in the band were - this ship tends to spoil musicians in that respect, as every other show we do is extremely well received, though in no small part because the musicians in the band and the bandmaster are very talented, and the arrangements are all very good. 

March 28th

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I rented out a bike, and went out into Barcelona around 10:30. My main mission for the day was to see as many Gaudi pieces as I could. First of all I biked to the La Padrera, which was a residence built by Gaudi for some wealthy Barcelonans in the early 20th century. The outside of it is curved giving the impression of waves, with some black metalic curved parts that look like spider webs. Inside everything was decorated in his signature style, conveying a flowing, organic quality that mimics nature while remaining highly functional. The roof-top was the most impressive, with statues rising like pyramids and waves, sometimes vaguely humanoid, connected by bridges that leads around two massive courtyards which you can look all the way down into. The rooftop also gives a fantastic view of the surrounding streets of Barcelona.

Next I biked to the Sacrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece, a grand cathedral that is the most recognizable icon of Barcelona, and is absolutely breathtaking. In typical Gaudi style, the cathedral is build around towers which try to replicate a forest, and it was engineered in such a sound way as to not need the support of extra buttresses, as are often required for such buildings 0One of many examples demonstrating Gaudi's talent for imaginatively combining aesthetics with function. 

After the Sacrada Familia I biked all the way to the far north of Barcelona to Park Guell, a park designed by Gaudi on a giant hill overlooking the rest of the city. It was designed to replicate the English Garden City, and as such the english word "Park" is used in the name. It is filled with all sorts of buildings (reminiscent of gingerbread houses), bridges, columns, walls and paths all designed to mimic and be a natural extension of the surrounding nature. It provides some spectacular views of the city, and also has several squares that are hotspots for vendours, artists and musicians. I saw a great latin band playing cuban music;  I was particularly impressed with the sound of the washtub bass. 

Afterwards, I slowly made my way back to the ship, choosing a different main street from the one on which I had come down. This proved to be a good choice, as block after block was filled with amazing statues, a gate and then eventually a large park and the Barcelona Zoo (which I didn't enter). In the spirit of trying to see absolutely everything in one day, I decided to find the beach and see it just so I had been there at least once. On the way I found another great latin band, this time with a real upright bass. The beach itself was stunning, and I may try and spend more time there on my next (and last) visit to Barcelona. 

All in all, an amazing day. To top it off, it was the orchestra's night off so I proceeded back to the ship, after a quick wifi stop, to go and relax for the night. 

Today was a sea day, and being the first sea day of the cruise, started like they always do, with a polka set outside of the garden cafe, and then two shows of Shout. Yurie, a sax player I worked with on the dawn, has now joined the orchestra on the Jade, replacing AJ. it is always nice to have another familiar face from the Dawn on this ship.

Tomorrow we are in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, and I am all signed up to go on an all day tour into the eternal city. It will be my first and last trip there while on this ship.

March 30st

Yesterday was I went to Rome.

I was on a passenger tour, and we left the ship bright and early at 7:45 or so, getting into Rome around 9:30. 

Our first and longest stop was in the Vatican. On arriving to the Vatican State which is surrounded by a great wall, we saw blocks of people lined up to get in - considered to be quite a small line for here and expected to get much longer come summer. Luckily, being part of a tour with a reservation, we were able to skip the line and go straight into the Vatican museum.

The museum was overwhelming in every way - size, amount and quality of art, quantity of tourists.  The main hallway went on for blocks, and every ceiling and wall was covered in stunning tapestries and mosaics. In addition there were scores of sculptures all around. The amount of people was similarly overwhelming, and there was a constant jam of people moving at a relentless slow pace through the museum, leaving little choice but to follow the flow. That one hallway alone would have been enough material to look at for an entire day, but we probably were only in them for 40 minutes or so.

The museum led straight to the entrance of the Sistine Chapel. Before entering, our guide gave us a lengthy explanation of what we would see upon entering, as there is supposed to be little to no talking once you are inside. The side walls depict the lives of Moses and of Jesus respectively, while the main wall out of which you enter depicts the masterpiece painting of the Last Judgement, in which Michaelangelo put a cameo picture of himself as well as his friends and enemies, being cast into heaven or hell respectively.

The ceiling had pictures depicting the creation of the world, depicting the story of Adam and Eve, original sin, and the events that followed.

It was an amazing room and we were given only 15 minutes on our own to take it in. It was a smaller room than I had imagined, not in height but in depth and width, but it is a chapel so I guess that was to be expected.  That in no way diminished the experience however - words fail to properly describe it.

The Vatican seems to have all of the important parts adjacent to one another, and so the other side of the Sistene chapel led almost immediately to the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica. 

Outside the Basilica, in addition to the main entrance, there is another "Holy Door", which is walled off by bricks, and only on special religious occasions such as the year of Jubilee is the wall torn down and the door opened by the pope. it is then kept open for a year, and during that time people can enter through it, in the tradition of the year of Jubilee, and have their sins forgiven them.

St. Peter's Basilica is, on it's own, reason enough to visit Rome - to steal a quote used in wikipedia, "St Peter's Basilica is the reason why Rome is still the center of the civilized world. For religious, historical, and architectural reasons it by itself justifies a journey to Rome, and its interior offers a palimpsest of artistic styles at their best."

It is the largest church in the world I believe in every dimension. One feature in the church which I absolutely love is the placement of comparative markers of the size of other churches, measured from the far end, as if it's grandeur alone is not enough so they had to rub in just how much bigger they are than all other churches. Only in Rome, New York, and likely Toronto...

While photography, in particular flash photography, was strictly prohibited in the Sistine Chapel due to the damage of flashes to the paintings, there were no restrictions whatsoever inside St. Peters. This is because all of the pieces of art are mosaic, built into the plaster, and as such unaffected by the flash. Mosaics, sculptures, and decorations abound all throughout the mammoth structure. It is subdivided into smaller parts with various chapels, monuments and relics throughout. The centre piece of the church is a Baldachin, a kind of canopy, which covers the Pope's alter. Underneath this alter are stairs leading down to the traditional burial spot of St. Peter.

Nearby is a statue of St. Paul, and the foot of the statue has been worn after centuries of pilgrims coming to kiss his foot.

At the very back of the church is an elevated throne, 'The Chair of St. Peter', presumed to have been used by St. Peter himself, and symbolizing the apostolic succession from him down to the current day pope.

Another notable feature in the church is the preserved body of pope Innocent XI in a casket on display, covered in wax. 

The church is extremely overwhelming, and I very much hope to visit it again.

Outside the church is St. Peter's square, a huge outdoor space surrounding by the church, the pope's residence, and a few other buildings. In the centre of a square is an Obelisk called "The Witness", originally from Egypt, which was present at the location of St. Peter's martyrdom. The square is used by the pope to address the public and can hold some 500,000 people. 

After our visit to the Vatican, we were taken to a local restaurant and stuffed with pasta, salad, beef, wine and glorious cappuccino cake. From there we were driven to the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine for a chance for some photos, and then back to the ship.

That evening we had another dixieland set in the atrium that went extremely well.

March 31st

Yesterday was a sea day, which was pretty standard for the most part, except for the evening. We accompanied a guest entertainer named Nicola Loud, a virtuoso violinist. 

The show was amazing. it's easy to get used to some pretty cheesy if well presented acts on cruise ships, but to play with such an outstanding musician as Nicola was a breath of fresh air. The material we played was very familiar cruise ship standards like Sway, Over the Rainbow, Sweet Georgia Brown, and a few classical pieces, but the arrangements, energy, and the mastery that she displayed on the violin made all of the difference. Not only wasthe  music amazing, but she was very charming while talking to the audience, without speaking for too long - this is a sensitivity that many guest entertainers lack, and can make the difference between a good show and an excellent show.

 It was a privilege to be able to play with Nicola. So far each guest entertainer we've played with on the Jade has been better than the previous one. We are playing with an opera singer in the next few days, and I hope but sincerely doubt that she will be able to outdo Nicola.

March 16th

Today we were in Valletta, Malta. Architecturally speaking, it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. The cityscape creates a powerful impression through the uniformity of the it's lightly coloured stones, as well as the design itself, which gives the entire city the look of a fortress.  This is largely because this city was created by the knights Hospitaller, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, in the wake of a large Ottoman Invasion on the island, and as such there are bastions, palaces, and curtains abounding. 

The city is nicknamed "Superbissima" which means "most proud/Illustrious" in honour of it's beauty and splendour, and was described by Benjamin Disraeli (British Primer Minister) as a city that "equals in its noble architecture, if it does not excel, any capital in Europe" and as "a city of palaces built by gentlemen for gentlemen." The city is also recognized as a world heritage site.

I spent four hours today just walking through the city, and the deeper you go the more it sucks you in. I'm very glad I will get another change to visit it, and hopefully get myself on one of the passenger excursions, which would provide a free ticket into many historic buildings. 

Traveling to all of these countries in the Mediterranean has inspired me to read up more on the history of these places - it was so much easier not to care when I hadn't seen them, but now that I have I am actually quite intrigued. We'll see if this inspiration actually amounts to anything.

Because one of the guest singers who we were to support had to leave due to illness, a variety show was put together last night, in which the Jade Orchestra was featured for the first five songs. We opened with Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do", arranged by our sax player, which was probably one of the coolest arrangements i've yet played on a cruise ship. The other four tunes were supporting singers from the production cast. 

Tonight we have a couple of big band sets in the Spinnaker Lounge and that's it. Tomorrow is a sea day, and then after that I'm back to Barcelona, the end of my first cruise on this ship. Hard to believe it's only been one cruise, because it's been such a long one. So far I have been to five new countries, and all going well (ie no riots) I will see three more new countries this week. 

march 20th

I am now on my second of four cruises, and about a third of the way through my contract. Music continues to be good here - we played a blues night Thursday night, the last night of last cruise, and it was basically the exact same set as I had played on my first blues night on the dawn, as it was hosted by Dave Webb, the lounge pianist who started it up on the Dawn as well. It was a fun night, and I got some scotch and green beer during and afterwards to probably mark St. Patty's day.

Today, Sunday, we were in Cassablanca, which was not certain to happen; apparently the last time around the ship did not come to either Cassablanca or Agadir, the two Moroccan ports, due presumably to recent protests of some kind. 

The first thing I noticed about Cassablanca was that it is smelly. It is definitely not a clean city by any means, and the streets are littered with garbage in varying degrees. Even the pavement in the port area had an unpleasant smell.

I was only out in Cassablanca for a couple of hours, walking around with the guitarist, Steve, and most of our time was spent trying to find a free wifi spot. The city itself was pretty unimpressive looking, the only notable thing on the skyline being a distant mosque which I didn't have time to get to to see. The city reminded me a bit of some of the ports I visited in the Caribbean, which is to say hot and tropical, but uninspiring from a cultural or architectural point of view.

This isn't to say that there was nothing good about it. The people were interesting to see, with an interesting mixture of traditional and modern clothing. French-speaking though Morocco is, most of the locals who I heard speaking french were virtually impossible to understand, and so I decided against practicing my french on anyone. 

The feeling I got from Cassablanca was that it was one step more middle-eastern feeling than Turkey, but probably one step less than Egypt - a point that Steve confirmed, who had been to Egypt before. It definitely did not have the same feeling of inclusiveness that I found in Istanbul, but it still felt like it had some potential as a tourist destination - unrealized potential, but potential. I think the way to really enjoy Morocco would be to go on a tour, which I didn't get organized to do in time.

On to the one noteworthy event that happened. A shuttle bus ferried us from the ship to the downtown area, and the first thing we did after getting off was to continue a little bit further in the direction that the bus had been taking us. Up ahead we saw a huge crowd of people, and heard lots of noise. As we got close we saw that it was a marching protest, with thousands of people, banners written in standard and (presumably) arabic writing, and people shouting and singing/chanting something. Tourists and locals alike were taking lots photos, and the protestors seemed pretty much like any would be in North America - a wide variety of people who were non-agressive but purposeful in their protesting. 

One man however got really upset at me while I was filming a bit of it, and proceeded to say a bunch of stuff that I could not understand. I decided it would still be prudent to not try my now terrible french, and just play the clueless North American. As he kept at it, a few others came, asking me what he'd said to me, to which I replied I had no idea. I got the impression that  the others were trying to calm him down by saying that plenty of other people were taking photos, and so not to get upset about it. At any rate, at that point I quietly went away, and decided to avoid the rest of the protest.

I did get some good photos of the protest, and I even filmed a little bit of them singing/chanting. It's pretty amazing to see. This all sounds extremely irresponsible on my part, but it really was not as bad as it probably sounds, and the protest was very peaceful and seemed pretty good-natured. Of course it's possible that I'll turn on the news tomorrow and see that it turned out to be a revolutionary event that turned violent and that that guy was the leader, and now carries a banner with my face on it with a slash through it, but I doubt it.

Tomorrow we are in Agadir, which I've heard good things about.

here's my back-log of blogs I never get around to posting. I will try to post something with more thought put into it at some point, but this will have to do for now.

March 7th

Apparently they've found my bass, and are sending it to meet up with the ship in Athens. This is excellent news, and now I have nothing left really to worry about.

Today I had early familiarization training, which I had to do because despite having been on the Dawn, the Jade is not technically a 'sister ship', meaning that the layout is ever-so-slightly different. It was no big deal though, since all of the other training I did on the Dawn does apply here and so I shouldn't have to do any more for the duration of my stay.

At noon I had my first gig with the Jade Orchestra, as they are known here. We played on a part of the ship that doesn't exist on the dawn - an outdoor patio extension of the deck 12 buffet, at the very back of the ship. The gig was billed "Beer Fest with the Jade Oompa band", which is exactly what it was - two sets of non-stop Polka music. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a very well received gig by everyone. The other members of the band seem to really enjoy themselves, which I take as a good omen. I mean what's not to love about playing Polka on a sunny outdoor patio in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea?

Actually, I was hardly in the correct mindset to fully appreciate the music, since I was nervous with it being my first gig with the band, and having to sight-read a lot of new charts. Being told that your predecessor was a killer bass player who's a former student of John Pattitucci's is never good for the ego when going into a new gig. 

There were some hiccups but I came through the other side of the gig more or less in one piece. At any right it was a good crash-course in Polka music, and I feel like I have a bit more of a feel for the stylistic idiosyncrasies.

There are some extremely good musicians in this band, which I could already tell based on relatively simple music - I can tell that this band will really shine when we play the jazz sets. That the standard of musicianship is high will hopefully push my own musicianship to a higher level by the end of the contract.

March 8th

In Civitavechia today. Only two hours to spare off the ship before I have to head back and work on music for the first production show, "Showdown". Last night I went over the music with the bandmaster, Alan, and it looks like it'll be a really fun but really challenging show, at least for the first few weeks until I really know how it goes. Since the show is completely live, it's going to take a lot of attention to get through since it is an extremely fast-paced show, and the bass is featured quite prominently since it is mostly Motown music. 

March 10th

So much stuff to learn and see every day, so little time...

Tuesday night, after Showdown rehearsal, we had a Dixieland set. Everybody in the band was telling me how amazing this set is, and I had to see it to believe it, but it really was an amazing show. Passengers really like Dixieland apparently, and combined with the fact that the band's horn section is really quite amazing made for a very high-energy, well-executed show. 

Yesterday we were at sea, and that night we did Showdown. It was a terrific show, and I felt really good about my part. It wasn't just my first time performing it, but also the first time for the entire production cast, who arrived on the ship the same day as me. they did extremely well, and are overall a talented group of singers with good intonation. They are also easy-going and good-natured, and so I look forward to working with them more. 

Today we were in Athens. I went on an excursion that drove us around various parts of the city, and then took us to the Acropolis. I didn't really know what to expect when going to see it, and so I was quite blown away by the spectacle of the temple, and the commanding view that it provided of the entire city of Athens. It was cool to see the nearby hill where the apostle Paul preached the gospel to the locals, in the face of this magnificent monument to the Greek gods. 

As a city, Athens is extremely densely populated, and traffic is lethal. Apparently half of the Greek population lives within the city, which is extremely believable once you are in it. 

The Architecture was distinct - with flat-roofed, short, marble structures packed extremely densely together, giving the city an overwhelming urban look. The spaces between the buildings seem to disappear once they are just a few blocks away  and there is little greenery to speak of. We passed at one point what was apparently the only park in the city of Athens, which to me is incomprehensible. Amazing city, but I would not want to live there.  

March 13th

Last night we played Shout, the second of the two production shows that the band is involved in. It went very well, and while the music (british 60s pop) isn't quite as interesting as in Showdown, It is a fast-paced show with a lot of cues and transitions to keep it interesting.

On friday we arrived at our first port in Turkey, Izmir. I only spent a couple hours out in the city as we had to be back in time for a rehearsal and then some big band jazz sets, but I still got a bit of a feel for it. It has a nice major pedestrian walk-way surrounded by shops and restaurants, and there were a lot of people out and about on the streets. 

Yesterday and today we have been in Istanbul, which has been amazing. Last night me and a few others went out to Taksim Square, the local night-life hub, went to a Hookah Bar and another couple places for a beer and then doners. I could not get over the quantity of people out, the buildings, and the ways that the streets curved into the most bizarre and unlikely ways - it felt very cinematic, and I am at a a loss for words to properly describe it. We got back to the ship around 3:30 and I went straight to bed.

Four hours later I got up and went into town as an escort on a passenger tour to see some of the main tourist attractions of Istanbul - The Blue Mosque, the Agia Maria, the underground cisterns, the spice market. 

The blue Mosque was spectacular in itself, but the Agia Maria really captivated my interest. Having been built 1500 years ago over the span of only five years (after having built and burned down twice), it was the largest cathedral in the world for about a thousand years. It was a Roman Catholic church during this time, until it was taken over by the Ottoman Turks who turned it into a mosque. What is interesting about it is how the Turks' policy on Christian decorations was ambiguous, so that while they covered up the faces of the cherubims on the ceiling, they left untouched all of the many paintings of Jesus Christ being worshipped. 

After going to the spice market, I went back to the ship to catch up on some much needed sleep, before heading out and grabbing some free internet at a nearby Hookah bar.

I promise to write a real blog which doesn't end abruptly one of these days...

It's been an eventful but ultimately good last few days, with moments of stress and excitement intertwining unexpectedly.

In the last week I managed to both lose my passport and chip my tooth, racking up unnecessary bills. The tooth I got fixed extremely quickly if rather expensively, and for an express fee I also managed to get my new passport the day I was leaving Vancouver. Of course, as fate has a twisted sense of humour, I immediately found my old passport upon getting home from getting the new one. I was less than enthusiastic.

My nine hour flight to London was quite enjoyable, and I spent it watching The King's Speech (great movie) and The Black Swan (good, but super creepy if you're in a daze, over the middle of the atlantic ocean, in the dead of night, and everyone around you is asleep...) as well as a few TV shows. My second flight, to Barcelona, was pleasantly short, and I had good conversation with the two people next to me. There was a spectacular view of the snow capped Pyrenees mountains,North of Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona 7:30pm local time, or 10:30am Vancouver time, which I've decided not to contemplate, with the hope of tricking my body clock into overlooking the anomaly of dealing with effectively 24 straight hours of daylight.

Then my bass decided not show up at the airport - leading to a good hour and a half of waiting and filing the lost luggage report. This was somewhat disturbing as my bass literally is my livelihood on the ship, without which I would be expendable. I decided not to worry about it, and got the shuttle to my hotel, which was a Best Western. It was a nice hotel, and after showering, getting my free meal, and meeting some others who would be on the ship I was feeling pretty good about things again. My bass situation was effectively taken care of with the new knowledge (given to me by the guitarist who I'd just met) that the previous bass player was going to leave his bass on the ship while he was away, so I could use that while waiting for my own bass to turn up.

This morning was asuper early start, though technically by Vancouver time I got up at 8:30 at night, which I guess isn't that bad. We were on the ship before 8 in the morning o'clock local time, and I settled in really quickly, met lots of people, filled out the paperwork, and have now wandered into Barcelona, which is spectacular. 

I feel guilty in saying that of all of the amazing looking cafes on picturesque patios I am at a Macdonalds, ONLY because it was the one place I could tell without a doubt had free wifi. Lame, but practical.

That's all for now. This is just the beginning.

I continue to have lots of free time while I'm in Vancouver, and I've spent a lot of that time reading and assessing my life. I came across a quote in a book which basically states "If you had all of the time and all of the money in the world, what would you do?" Since reading that, I have spent a lot of time trying to figure this out.

 I find that I have subconsciously told myself that whatever it is must be limited to music, but I think it would be beneficial for me to convince myself that that is not true, and that really anything is a possibility. I know for sure that part of what I want will include music because music performance is definitely one of the most exhilarating experiences for me. There is even a good chance that all I do will be music - but giving myself the flexibility of knowing that what I end up doing could be other things too is somewhat liberating. A new question that I found in the book "The Four Hour Work Week" which I think is one degree easier to deal with than " What would you do?" is "What excites you?" 

I know that travel definitely excites me, as does meeting new people. Music excites me as well. Ideas excite me. I continue to toy with the idea of being a high school teacher, but I'm not entirely sure if that's what I want to be doing. I feel like it's something that I wouldn't mind doing, but the thought of it doesn't particularly excite me. Still, volunteering at a school would be a great thing for me to do so as to get a feel for whether I like it or not.

Backtracking to my thoughts about being back on land instead of on the ship. Life is good here, and I've been able to reconnect with a lot of people. One thing that I haven't mentioned which I've  been realizing is the difference between socializing on land and socializing on a ship. It took me a week or so to remember how to do here it properly, because I find that being on a ship makes you perceive people in a different kind of way.  I enjoy the richness of relationships and people back home a lot, because any one single relationship on the ship is rarely quite as deep because you never spend a lot of time with just one other person on the ship. I think you assign more value to time spent with friends on land, simply because it's so much harder to come by. On the ship, you can hardly escape people, so every moment spent with other people becomes devalued due to it's excess, like everything in life. 

Two more days until I am off again, this time to the Mediterranean. I really feel connected again in Vancouver, which is nice because I guess in the back of my mind I was kind of afraid that I would lose contact with people I had spent time with before, but in fact I've had a lot of people contact me who I did not expect to hear from at all, which has been a very pleasant surprise. I feel a little bit guilty leaving again so soon, but it's much better this way rather than getting myself too re-established on land, which would then make it that much harder to pick up and leave again. Better to do my travels and adventuring all at once, I think, in one big chunk, and then somewhere down the road put down roots again and build and rebuild relationships that I will not be disconnecting myself from all of the time.