Last New Roommate

I guess he was just jetlagged on day one. He walked into the room around 12:30am and started singing "Pussy pussy pussy marijuana pussy" before he went into the bathroom to vomit and shit in the shower. Then he coerced me into getting out of bed to go back out to the bar to drink. I just want to sleep my nights away so I can sign off already.
Why does every click of my mouse send this computer reeling into boughts of hourglassed confusion? And why I am I charged per minute to stare at a "application not responding" notice? Time for bed.

Crossing Complete.

Singapore is big and modern and impressive and apparently super rich. Everybody be drivin' their mazeratis on the lefty wearin' versace.
No but really, I went to a mall that had a river in it with gondola boats you could be paddled around in as you took in the lavish, modern fountains and up scale shopping scene. It was right across the street from a skyscraper hotel that appeared to have a cruise ship resting on top of it. The hotel also had a ferrari or lambourghini that its guests were free to take out for a spin.
However, I didn't really feel like emptying my bank account on a new pair of porsche shoes, so we asked a cafe employee to tell us where we might go to get something a little more authentic and local. He told us to go to Orchard st., which unfortunately turned out to just be the outdoor version of the mall. At least there were some small cafes that were cheap and delicious mixed in with the armani and rolex stores. I ate something called haru goreng or something which turned out to be tofu, cucumbers and sprouts in a spicy sweet sauce. Tasty cakes to the max. After that we got ice cream at a little vendor which was selling literal ice cream sandwiches, a slice of bread folded around scoops of ice cream. I got the corn flavor which turned out to be fantastic.
On the way back to the ship I asked our taxi driver where he would suggest we go on the next visit to really get to see the authentic Singapore. He was very helpful and told us to just take the subway train system to basically anywhere besides where we were today and even wrote down a few of his favorite stops. I'm definitely going to try one of them next time we're here which will be in three days.
Today's work load was pathetic. We had a rehearsal to play the welcome aboard song and one song (the Peter Gunn Theme) for a headlining act. Then, we did the passenger drill, which went smoother than ever because now 95% of the passengers are asian and great at following directions even though they don't all speak english very well. My muster station teammate even told me how to say "have fun!" in chinese, so for the next cruise I'll try it out. It sounded like wanda kai tshin, so help me remember that. Now, I am just coming from the first welcome aboard concert, where we learned that we wouldn't need to do the Peter Gunn Theme after all. The concert started at 9:00pm and we were in our cabins by 9:05pm. The second showing is at 10:45 so I have plenty of time to write this before the next, equally strenuous, 3 minutes of work. How will I ever survive?
I have a new roommate today because Collin is off to start his next contract on the Jewel, which is based in England. His name is Roscoe and he's from LA. I guess I only have 7 days with him, so it doesn't matter if I like him or not, be he seems cool enough anyway.
Tomorrow we'll be back at Port Kelang, Malaysia where the nearest thing to do is an hour away by taxi. Something tells me I'll just be eating the delicious, cheap, fried rice in the food court outside the port.

The Middle East, India, Etc...

Woah, I guess I haven't done one of these in a while. Chances are good that some stuff has happened since my last post. Let's see...
A stage staff member got fired for going into a guest's room (he knew the guest from home and nothing sexual happened.) Hooray!
We did some pirate safety training, but unfortunately never had to put any of it into action :(
In the last 2 weeks I've been at sea for all but 4 of the days.
The pyramids were amazing. Even though it was incredibly hot, even though the locals were the most pushy and rude I've seen yet, and even though there was a 3 hour bus ride to get there, it was still one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Them things are old!!
Jordan was a total unknown before I got there. The deserts between the port and the ancient ruined city of Petra had a mystical, magical presence to them. It was humbling to see the nomads in the desert doing exactly what they and their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years. Petra itself was absurd. I'm not even bothering to upload any pictures now because the internet is so bad, but I'll get 'em up ASAP when I get back to Ithaca.
Goa, India was perhaps the saddest port I've visited so far. The poverty there was awful. Many people were sleeping on the sidewalks or approaching us to beg for money. They followed us for blocks to try to get us to buy their cheap souvenirs or take a ride in their taxi, no matter what we told them. There were stray dogs and cats everywhere and dead rats and birds littered the streets. The heat was incredible. We stopped at a small cafe and ordered some drinks and food. My falooda was creepy in texture and appearance, but it basically tasted like ice cream, which is mostly what it was. Our whole bill between the four of us was only $10.
Today we're in Cochin, India but because HR failed to get us our seaman's books (kinda like a seaman's passport) in time even though they had months to do it, we can't get off the ship. Instead we're doing the production show Rhythm and Rhyme 3 times, tech run and 2 performance show times. Only half of the new cast made it to the ship on time due to more clerical errors (big surprise.) This means that half of the old cast had to stay on the ship longer and some of them had to learn additional parts to compensate. The poor dance captain has to lip sync one of the singer's parts for the show. It looks terrible no matter how good a job he does. I hear we're doing the other production show on the first day the second half of the new cast is showing up. That means that morning is going to be bonkers with tech runs and rehearsal and its still likely to be a train wreck disaster.

Alright alright alright 13 days to go. Next stop is Malaysia, then I dunno Thailand or something and then we reach our next home port of Singapore. From there I will have two three day cruises and then home I go. I can't even tell you how much pizza and ice cream I'm going to eat. Gary better look out because he's going o be pet until he can't stand it anymore.