It wasn’t until I was starting to tear down decorations that I really clued in that tonight’s Grand Carnival Ball was the last Grand Ball I’ll be attending for nearly a year.
You see, I’m not doing the Grand Asia this coming season, the cards are still face down on the table as to where I’m going next, but Head Office offered me a sabbatical from the Grand for one season as they are honestly concerned about my burning out (and rightfully so, I have been teetering dangerously close to the edge of the wall this season). At any rate, I’m glad I had this realization late, as having it at the beginning of the night would likely have tainted my evening with melancholy.
The ball was a HUGE success, everything you would expect a carnival to be; all crazy hats (you should have SEEN the cruise director’s!) and masks and glitter.
At one point, I kid you not, the dance hosts, myself and at least one cast member ended up on stage leading the rest of the room in the Macarena.
At the end of the night we were all going about the business of starting to tear down everything and someone stopped and looked around with a slightly baffled expression
I think this might be the WORST cleanup job for housekeeping ever
Yeah I know! We have glitter, balloons, feathers…they’re gonna kill us!
It looks like a gay chicken exploded in the middle of the room
Now there’s a mental image I imagine you don’t get very often.
Once the streamers were down and the gold shimmer cloth was pulled down from the edges of the stage, half the team went to the Officer’s Bar to celebrate a birthday, and the other half of us were equally grateful to head back to our cabins, kick off our shoes, let down our hair and slide into bed.
It will feel so strange, going a whole year without playing Cinderella…I still haven’t made up my mind how I feel about it yet. But I did have a conversation with the Hotel Manager this evening that raised my spirits about the whole thing:
I’ll be back sir, you can’t get rid of me that easily
And we’re not trying to. You’ll always belong here Shaughnessy.