Mirrors and reflections

I have just noted while cleaning/detailing the power room in the aft garage with all the mirrors I can see 36 different sides of myself......well I am not on a day to day rolling as Katie the stewardess I am covering for is being delayed by the Europe freeze with the planes being grounded at Heathrow Airport in London. The captain and purser were rather impress with me will to give up my Xmas plans in Miami and offer to work Xmas day! It is a good feeling when you know people can rely on you.

The recruitment agencies have also thanked me for the great communication. So who know's as far I can tell I will work till 26th St Barts.....wonder what the universe has for me store next. Well honestly I deserve a little break, so will go on the hunt for those palm trees and sex on the beach!

Stepping Stones

30 October 2010 Saturday
Gosh it has been a busy few days. Well I have an offer of a lifetime to work as a relief temp stew on this yacht as my first boat...........390ft for 4-6 weeks to get the boat ready for the owners return.

I was first offered this position on Wednesday when I got back from a 12 hour day of day work. Due to it being a temp position which mean I have to take myself out of Fort Lauderdale when the next 2 weeks are supposed to be the “recruiting time” I did not jump at it. I then fired off a email to all the recruitment agencies the next day after I thought long and hard about it while attending a training session for Dockside Corporate Services who were asked by Show Management who set up and organize the FLBS to have greeters for the show. By the time Friday came around and I had spoken to a few people and got a yes go for it for 99% of the agents I said yes, after all what have I got to loose and it is experience is what I am missing right now.

Ok going back to this morning I was in bed by 9pm with a very sore throat a little run down from all the work and not property diet and taking care of myself. I joined Kiri my flat mate for a bike ride to the farmers market where we sampled “natural coffee” and all I wanted to do was find something to sooth my very sore throat. We were then distracted to sample pickled garlic, well it was not long before before Kiri and I decided to do a 50/50 on the garlic but I was standing there eating whole pieces of garlic like biscuits the pickled effect was helping my throat and garlic is good for you. By this stage almost 6 weeks of living in Florida the mosquito's have a blood bank of O Positive from me so I finally invested in some Citronella oil and got some pure shea butter which also comes in handy for all sorts..........now I was on a health me up mission! Well I had made arrangements with Paulette and Richard to go to the boat show and had a free car park pass and tickets for them so I needed to be home as Richard confirmed by text that they would pick me up from Ding Dong Motel at noon.........now I live at Blue Bell Apartments but he could not understand my ascent so it is a little joke now.
So parked up hoped on the free shuttle ..............to the boat show.

Richard wanted to see the Hinckley yachts so we did .......

Moving into action by losing a year

Well it all started with a conversion about me telling Lee what I had been up to in terms of my research into the Yacht industry. Somehow on my last contract at sea due to having my 33rd birthday on board I was walking around thinking I was 32 and therefore going to do another contract on cruise ships. As you get closer to 35 you are not looked at to favorably for the yacht industry so I thought I better get a move on and Lee also started asking me some interesting questions. I then decided to move the plan forward to dive into the final stages of getting onto a yacht. So the U.S visa has been applied for, CV is done, research, budget, accommodation and study options are all sorted. What do I find in the loft as I am getting my last minute papers in order.......Spanish for your trip which I bought years ago - by no coincident!

Needing help!

Gosh finally I have been drawn to write again! Funny just writing that it made me think of Anna and Nick 2 authors I met during my time working at sea, actually there is a 3rd Ian Cooper that they have all been an inspiration to me. The only way I got the courage to start again was through the use of pictures so I dug out all the old photos and as we speak I am scanning between writing!

I did a strange thing but BBC my whole address book with a request for help saying........

Hi,

This is a strange request however if you know me I am strange!! Some of you might you even have met me in personal but am sure have some sort of "judgement" and some of you I might have not been in touch with for years!

1. I am looking for a just one line from you saying what I mean to you as a friend, college, person, relative (if any or all apply)
2. would you might me ever mentioning your name in a public interview? (just yes or no)

I look forward to your feedback and am very grateful! I promise you will see why but right now it is suspense!

So I guess I know where this is going? Memory lane and it will be interesting to see what the responses are!

Ok today I have been glued to the PC getting stuck in! Scanning, scanning, and scanning I have created folders of 3 generations and in each created sub-folders with names and in those each have a childhood, career and relationships folder now organising that is going to be interesting.

I get bored very quickly so I needed a distraction to the shop and I needed to get rid of the huge camera bag my Mom has bought for me when I got my new Sony so we bought it for £20 I sold it back to them for £10. Ok the scanning is done now and dinner is ready! Now I need to put this together piece by piece in some sort of order!

Reflecting

Intention and guidance is strange I have been slightly frustrated with the idea of wanting to write & beating myself up for not doing so! Well meeting Anna on the cruise I know I created & her book to assist me with this then the thought, from the inspiration from a book on life coaching got me to google my name in the blog section and came across a passenger who wrote about me in his blog got me to think about my blog again and got me started.

I am on leave after my first contract at Sea on Arcadia what an amazing experience and fast track experience, unless you experience this yourself you will NEVER understand what it is like to join, absorb, adapt, learn, retain, take on & just change your whole world in a matter of 3 days when you have a hand over then you are on your way running your business and having the freedom to make choices the way you see fit!

Now just recently been to a party where everyone wants to know everything about sea life...............well it is really so difficult to express and try and explain it but I suppose if I do write this in detail no one will ever know then will they? One of things I missed the most was not having a nice hot bath to soak in and read, so guess what I just finished doing ..... just that but this was not normal bath, as I was running my hands through the water getting the temperature just under boiling I was trying to remember where I had seen my flying pillow, you know those you blow up I located it in one of my many pieces of luggage and took out the centre waterproof bit blew it up then dropped it to float while I prepared some all bran's flakes and healthy seeds. Yes I know it is strange but I had breakfast in the bath, then read a little and then did was you suppose to in the bath!

Strangely I am somehow different on holiday? Normally I rush around trying to see the whole world and pack as much in as possible and by the end need another holiday just recover however let me tell you when you work on a ship, well for me anyway it was 23 or 25/7 with timezones! When you worked you worked and when that was done well socialising till you dropped! Sleep was a rare commodity so I am really just chilling........ my mobile phone battery died yesterday and it does not phase me at all! How many people can say that?

Ok but the Internet makes up for that as this is another luxury which is SLOW and expensive on board! Read about me

http://www.mycruiseblog.co.uk/blog/_archives/2009/8/11/4285307.html

I am now following my dream to a photographer, wildlife and animals is my thing so.....been buried in books and learning and reading and oh course taking lots of photos! Ok about sea life well firstly I took 10GB of pictures in 4 months and it took me a whole day to go through 15 434 pictures and delete what was rubbish and uploaded what I thought were good ones to my Flickr page

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kar893/

So that will give you a flavour of my travels but it is like moving planets and learning a new language! The best thing is people make decisions the worse thing is you just do not stop! Maritime law and fleet regulations, drills, safety, and acrinims OMG............planning is a always, very short cycle which is great when you have a one week cruise you just start and you are planning the next one. It is also getting to know where to find all the information of this huge ships computer system. You have to think like a passenger as there is so much to choose from from during your cruise your marketing has to be spot on amongst the more experienced but it was not long before I got my head around what to do when and where! The most frustrating part was not having my OWN room to teach in which meant I had to carry 15 laptops and all the other bits like CD's and paper work to go with it, eventually I had a box and just put it all in there! My disaster was my laptop fell and now am laptopless............so if anyone outhere is will to donate any loose change please do, cheque, bank deposits is all welcome as my next mission is to invest in a MAC so the massage bed is going for sale to start my fund and by the year I will have the Mac of my dreams........watch this space!