Lieutenant's Log #13

 March 21, 2017

Lieutenant's Log #13

I've certainly spent a lot of time complaining about the internet here on the ship and it's absolutely the worst. You can't watch YouTube videos. You can't excess iTunes for downloads, etc. 

As I've learned from the experienced, we have to get off the ship and find a cafe in Kiel that has wifi. (We're in Kiel every other day.) Today I did just that. I found a cafe in the shopping center and downloaded a video converter from the Apple Store so I can upload videos to instagram, only to get to my room and discover that the app requires the internet to compress a file. So the app is useless on the ship. I'm using an iPad btw.

I've also wondered why we musicians have such lame rooms. The passenger cabins are quite nice. It turns out that this wasn't always the case.  The musicians and artists at one time were treated like regular passengers. However, it's the musicians themselves who are responsible for the downgrading of privileges and access. 

It reminds me of the days when I was playing the hotel / motel circuit.  There were designated "band rooms",  rooms with the banged up walls and other problems. For some reason, most bands lived up to their reputation of tearing things up. Not all hotels and motels had ransacked rooms for the band, but a lot of them did. Thanks a lot fellas.

Chatting with a fellow cruise ship musician veteran, he informed me that years ago, musicians slept in passenger cabins, among passengers, could drink alcohol, were allowed in the casino and disco room.  However, wee hour rowdy parties were just too much for most neighboring patrons. Alcohol induced brawls in the disco room was a cause for alarm. And regarding the internet, one talented musician/hacker, hacked into the ships main system, causing all kinds of problems. Changes were made and now it feels like we're all incarcerated because of some knuckle heads.    

As the fellow cruise ship musician veteran put it, "The ____'s fucked it up for everybody."  He attributed all the fiascos to a particular group. No, I won't name the group. Some of my best friends are _____'s.   

Speaking of groups,  the ship reminds me of what it must be like on the Starship Enterprise. Particularly in the mess.   The Norwegians, Germans, Africans, Bulgarians, Asians, Brazilians etc, generally sit among themselves. I'm sure it's not solely as it appears, that is, that no one mingles. However, it literally does look that way.  Getting back to the veteran's comment, it's awkward hearing pointed remarks targeted at a group.  The fact and or truth of the particular matter is beside the point. Some of us take offense. It's a knee jerk reaction.  I could only imagine the veteran saying to me:

Veteran: Do you know why the crime rate is so low in Denmark?

Me: No. Why?

Veteran: Because they don't have a lot of black people.

Me: ???????

Veteran: ..........

Me: Uhhhh...   So what do the hot dogs taste like in Denmark?

Speaking of Brats, I'm hungry.