I'm just a little disappointed in myself. I want everyone to tell me how they are doing, how life has been treating them, if their day has been well... but secretly I don't want anyone to tell me any of this unless the answer is wonderful, perfect, and well. I don't have the energy any more to hear about how bad someone's day was... to give insight into questions or concerns... to be someone else's shoulder to lean on...
And I see this change in myself and I absolutely hate it.
I don't know if I have ever been this exhausted.
Now my replacement is onboard... she is very diligent and cool - Amy's her name. We've started sharing the work load which is a huge relief to me.
Tonight is cheese roll night in the main dining room - Kirsty's fiance (assistant matrie'd is going to bring us some to my cabin :)
I'm going to BED!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Blackout Tests... the bane of my existance...
Well well well...
The new favorite hobby for the officers is to do blackout tests. Very legitimate tests to make sure that all of the proper emergency systems kick on in case of power failure onboard. I approve of making sure this goes smoothly. I value my safety and sleep better knowing that this stuff works. However, EVERY time we do a blackout test my rigging system has a new unpredictable failure. When encoders need to be reset I have to reprogram each production show that uses that encoder every time it is used... times 3 production shows... it eats up my spare time very very very quickly.
So consider the fact that we have done 4 blackout tests in the last 2 weeks, you might understand that I am beyond frustrated with this process.
The last blackout test was yesterday morning at 9:30am - they gave us a whopping 2 hours notice. To prepare for the blackout test we shut down the sound system, the lighting system, and, of course, the rigging system.
Blackout test came & went.
At 4pm I went to the rigging booth and powered back on the rigging system.
At 4:20pm I get a call from the aerialists rehearsing on stage that the stage has filled with smoke and it smells like fire.
At 4:20:30sec I am in the rigging booth which is full of smoke but nothing appears to be on fire.
At 4:21 I call the bridge and report the fire stating deck 6 because the smoke was coming from ABOVE the rigging booth.
...
No one contacted me for over 30 minutes. Eventually I went up to deck 6 to see what was going on...
...
Rigging power supplies had fried.
Pictures below.
My life sucks.
The new favorite hobby for the officers is to do blackout tests. Very legitimate tests to make sure that all of the proper emergency systems kick on in case of power failure onboard. I approve of making sure this goes smoothly. I value my safety and sleep better knowing that this stuff works. However, EVERY time we do a blackout test my rigging system has a new unpredictable failure. When encoders need to be reset I have to reprogram each production show that uses that encoder every time it is used... times 3 production shows... it eats up my spare time very very very quickly.
So consider the fact that we have done 4 blackout tests in the last 2 weeks, you might understand that I am beyond frustrated with this process.
The last blackout test was yesterday morning at 9:30am - they gave us a whopping 2 hours notice. To prepare for the blackout test we shut down the sound system, the lighting system, and, of course, the rigging system.
Blackout test came & went.
At 4pm I went to the rigging booth and powered back on the rigging system.
At 4:20pm I get a call from the aerialists rehearsing on stage that the stage has filled with smoke and it smells like fire.
At 4:20:30sec I am in the rigging booth which is full of smoke but nothing appears to be on fire.
At 4:21 I call the bridge and report the fire stating deck 6 because the smoke was coming from ABOVE the rigging booth.
...
No one contacted me for over 30 minutes. Eventually I went up to deck 6 to see what was going on...
...
Rigging power supplies had fried.
Pictures below.
My life sucks.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
My last 30 hours summed up in 2 emails...
Email #1:
Dear Supervisor
MADELINE REGAN / crew 542316 / Entertainment / production manager / Cabin 2315
was seen in the infirmary today and found to be suffering from symptoms of a potentially infectious illness. This crew member is now in isolation and must remain confined to his/her cabin to prevent spread of the disease. Please excuse from duties.
Room service: Please provide meals as per protocol for gastro-intestinal illness.
Housekeeping: Please assist with sanitation of the cabin.
Off work: Fri, Feb-3 at 15:04
Review: Sat, Feb-4 at 13:50
Regards
elarda grobler
Email #2:
Dear Supervisor
MADELINE REGAN / crew 542316 / Entertainment / production manager / Cabin 2315
was seen in the infirmary today and found to be fit for duties and may return to work.
Off work: Fri, Feb-3 at 15:04
Back to work: Sat, Feb-4 at 17:32
Number of days lost due to illness: 1.1
Regards
Andreia Dragan
Dear Supervisor
MADELINE REGAN / crew 542316 / Entertainment / production manager / Cabin 2315
was seen in the infirmary today and found to be suffering from symptoms of a potentially infectious illness. This crew member is now in isolation and must remain confined to his/her cabin to prevent spread of the disease. Please excuse from duties.
Room service: Please provide meals as per protocol for gastro-intestinal illness.
Housekeeping: Please assist with sanitation of the cabin.
Off work: Fri, Feb-3 at 15:04
Review: Sat, Feb-4 at 13:50
Regards
elarda grobler
Email #2:
Dear Supervisor
MADELINE REGAN / crew 542316 / Entertainment / production manager / Cabin 2315
was seen in the infirmary today and found to be fit for duties and may return to work.
Off work: Fri, Feb-3 at 15:04
Back to work: Sat, Feb-4 at 17:32
Number of days lost due to illness: 1.1
Regards
Andreia Dragan
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sometimes Ships Suck
Our crew mail crate did not arrive on the 14th, so we will be getting 1 months worth of mail on the 28th... hopefully. It's just depressing knowing that I have mail from home that is not getting to me right now. :(
Things are going well. In 2 days I will officially have been onboard for 6 moths. It's been a long time to go without a day off.
But last night I fell asleep at 11pm and woke up at 10am this morning feeling like a million dollars. I - was - tired.
I'm really excited to help plan my mom's upcoming birthday party - born in 1956, turning 56, celebrating on 5/6... it's going to be awesome. And it's going to give me a good reason to use some of the things I was hoarding up on for my upcoming wedding. Which makes me feel better about things, somehow.
Another day, another dollar.
Things are going well. In 2 days I will officially have been onboard for 6 moths. It's been a long time to go without a day off.
But last night I fell asleep at 11pm and woke up at 10am this morning feeling like a million dollars. I - was - tired.
I'm really excited to help plan my mom's upcoming birthday party - born in 1956, turning 56, celebrating on 5/6... it's going to be awesome. And it's going to give me a good reason to use some of the things I was hoarding up on for my upcoming wedding. Which makes me feel better about things, somehow.
Another day, another dollar.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO
Well, happy new year everyone. I hope the holidays treated you well.
My life has turned a little upside down lately and I'm kind of in a haze. All of which is the result of my own actions and decisions.
ANYWAY...
On the 1st - I was ASLEEP from thoroughly enjoying a very successful New Years Eve event I was in charge of. I was jerked awake by the announcement BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO over the emergency PA system.
For those of you too lazy to look back through my old posts and find out what that means... or to take the 10 seconds to google. BRAVO means fire. A publicly announced BRAVO means really big fire. Hung over (perhaps still half-drunk) me, laid in bed, eyes closed praying that the fire was neither in my corridor nor in any entertainment area so I could stay in bed. (Yes a normal person would be very very worried). I hear Deck 9 aft location announced and could not be happier.
I did not find out until later that the fire was MASSIVE and that both deck 8 and deck 9 guest staterooms had to be evacuated. The underside of one of the Jacuzzis on deck 10 had caught fire, causing the entire pool system to catch fire. There was burning plastic everywhere and both decks were full of fumes and gas. It was actually a huge deal and 2 crew members got injured fighting the fire.
Luckily, I was able to sleep like a princess since it was a "safe" distance away... How safe can any distance be when you are still trapped on a ship?
The onboard marketing manager, Natasha, was one of the officers evacuating the staterooms. One guest turned to her and noted, "I cannot possibly go in a lifeboat because I have not had breakfast yet." That is the crew quote of the month. Awesome. Idiot.
Long story short, the guests will not stop bitching about how "inconvenient" the fire was. The two guests corridors still reek. And they have been working on repairing our still-not-functioning-even-though-its-one-week-later jacuzzi system.
And that's the story I have to share for now!
My life has turned a little upside down lately and I'm kind of in a haze. All of which is the result of my own actions and decisions.
ANYWAY...
On the 1st - I was ASLEEP from thoroughly enjoying a very successful New Years Eve event I was in charge of. I was jerked awake by the announcement BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO over the emergency PA system.
For those of you too lazy to look back through my old posts and find out what that means... or to take the 10 seconds to google. BRAVO means fire. A publicly announced BRAVO means really big fire. Hung over (perhaps still half-drunk) me, laid in bed, eyes closed praying that the fire was neither in my corridor nor in any entertainment area so I could stay in bed. (Yes a normal person would be very very worried). I hear Deck 9 aft location announced and could not be happier.
I did not find out until later that the fire was MASSIVE and that both deck 8 and deck 9 guest staterooms had to be evacuated. The underside of one of the Jacuzzis on deck 10 had caught fire, causing the entire pool system to catch fire. There was burning plastic everywhere and both decks were full of fumes and gas. It was actually a huge deal and 2 crew members got injured fighting the fire.
Luckily, I was able to sleep like a princess since it was a "safe" distance away... How safe can any distance be when you are still trapped on a ship?
The onboard marketing manager, Natasha, was one of the officers evacuating the staterooms. One guest turned to her and noted, "I cannot possibly go in a lifeboat because I have not had breakfast yet." That is the crew quote of the month. Awesome. Idiot.
Long story short, the guests will not stop bitching about how "inconvenient" the fire was. The two guests corridors still reek. And they have been working on repairing our still-not-functioning-even-though-its-one-week-later jacuzzi system.
And that's the story I have to share for now!
Friday, November 25, 2011
The crossing...
Well, this is it folks. Today we sailed from Tenerife, Canary Islands and in 1 week I will be back in the states. Seven days without seeing land. Seven days of moderate to rocky seas. But best of all, in seven days I can use my cell phone again.
Let's hope I'm still sane :D
Let's hope I'm still sane :D
Saturday, November 19, 2011
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