Back in the saddle again... - April 19, 2006

Well, it'll take me a little while to get my sea legs back, that's for sure...

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I'm finally back on board, and while part of me feels like I never left, another part of me felt like an intruder from the moment I stepped on board.

I arrived in the Keys and got a taxi from the airport to my ship with an interesting character. (Aren't they all interesting in Key West?) He said that he spent half of the year in Thailand with his girlfriend, and the other half here in the Keys driving taxis. Fascinating life, I'm sure.

But I wasn't there to mingle with the locals, I was there to get on with my own interesting life.

I arrived at the pier and immediatly started to recognise people. A guy from the Crew Office actually picked up my cab when I got out and was the first to officially welcome me back. Then, I ran into a few crew members, some security guards, and Catherine, our Girl 1 singer, and Fransisco, our new Italian dancer who replaced Todrick.

This was all exhilirating and all, but the real excitement began when I ran into Judy, one of my closest friends on board. We tackled each other with our usual fervor, but she was in a hurry to catch a jet-skiing trip with her friends. (Ahhh, that's the life, huh?)

I signed on board and reclaimed my ID card and key, and began the process of moving back into my room. I had to check in with the medical staff, who all knew me by first name by now and were happy to see me, and met a new doctor from Columbia.

Now Levi would be mad and want to punch this guy's lights out if he knew how much this guy blatently hit on me, so I won't go into too much detail, but he did ask me point blank if I was married. ("No..." I replied, "but for all intents and purposes, and as far as you're concerned, I might as well be." I clarified for him...)

Anyway, after clearing the medical, I unpacked, with no sign of my new roomie, and changed to hit the town. (I must admit, I did look at her passport to see what she looked like. She's a pretty blonde from Utah, and that's about all I got out of that passport. Snoopy ol' me...) I saw Dee, my dance captain, and her fiance Miles, our vocal captain, as I unpacked, so I attacked them and she updated me on the shows and everything. She said that my track would change drastically, and my heart sank. I'm not sure if that means I've lost my duets, but she was hinting at something like that. Sad. But then she mentioned switching off, so I hope she at least lets us do that becuase I really loved my parts and had worked so hard on them all...

Anyway, I walked out of the ship to catch some dinner in Key West when I ran into more of my favorite people: Kristen and Gareth were just coming to the ship from shopping. It was another energetic reunion, with promises of meeting up later at a club.

I had dinner alone at the Hog's Breath Pub, a famous Keys establishment. It was pleasent enough, with live music to keep me company. Then I hit the local CVS to re-stock on essential ship-board supplies (like a pop-light for my dark upper bunk!) and headed home to change and hit the town with my friends.

I found them at a bar in the Keys called "Aqua." Appropriate, since we're always surrounded by water, I guess. There was a drag show going on, so that was funny. I got to see another one of my most favorite people there too- NATHAN! (Our boy 2 singer) He's my friend who makes me laugh the most, so that was nice to see him. We had a few drinks and headed home as to not miss the boat- literally!

Everyone went to the crew bar, but I was beat and I was starting to have a sore throat, so I headed in for the night.

Today we ran through some of Rock on Broadway and Dee put me into a few pieces, so I think I'll get to dance a little in tomorrows show! How exciting! Then Judy and Mike and I had our own little class in the gym to work out a little, so once again, I'm beat.

So, that's been my first 24 hours on the ship, pretty much minute by minute. Not the most hilarious blog ever, but I kinda feel out of practice. I didn't write nearly as much while I was in therapy.

I still kinda feel weird and awkward at times, like I"m not supposed to be here still, but it's fading. I mostly miss Levi and my family and friends. I'm trying to get a hold of Levi now, we're trying to work out a cheap way to chat on his phone, but Cingular is bound and determined to make us pay for every sentence of converstation we have together... grrr...

Oh well.

It's at least nice to be back and dancing again.