{"id":161,"date":"2011-04-19T08:57:51","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T08:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2011-04-19T08:57:51","modified_gmt":"2011-04-19T08:57:51","slug":"the-path-i-follow-o4182011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=161","title":{"rendered":"The Path I Follow….(04\/18\/2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s strange to think that we\u2019re in the home stretch. So much has happened in what is comparatively a short period of time, I\u2019ve seen so much, lived so much, done so much. Changed so much. A different woman looks back at me from the mirror these days, and there are times when I\u2019m unsure whether or not I\u2019ve adjusted to her presence. \u00a0If I think too much about the steps that have been made, the events that have occurred, the things I\u2019ve done and the people I\u2019ve done them with, my head starts to spin and I\u2019m still moving too quickly to risk getting dizzy this late in the game.<\/p>\n

As usual, when a contract winds to a close, I\u2019m ready to go home. Unlike most of my co-workers, I\u2019m one of the few crewmembers who still has nearly a month left in her contract \u2013 a result of the off-set that was caused by my starting this contract later than the rest of them \u2013 but the World Cruise I\u2019ve been on for the last few months wraps up in only 9 days. I\u2019ve given no thought to what I might do when I get home, there\u2019s too much still going on ship-side to start thinking about that just at the moment.<\/p>\n

There are things to do at home of course, chief among which is filming the last introduction to my audition reel so that I can finally send it off to the company that casts the shipboard entertainment. They don\u2019t usually cast from video submissions, so I don\u2019t carry too much of a torch for success in that department, but I need to finish it \u2013 if only so that I can get to LA for a live audition with a clear conscious. But that\u2019s in the future. So many things are always in the future.<\/p>\n

Passengers have asked me in the last few days about how the turn-over will work when we reach the states. I always shake my head at the look of amazement on their faces when I tell them that the rundown of the \u201cday from hell\u201d (as we so lovingly call debark\/embark) goes something along the lines of: passengers off in the morning, \u201cA-team\u201d crew off after that, two or three hour gap for cleaning and prep-time, new crew on, new pax manifest loaded\u2026voyage 300 commences.<\/p>\n

On top of which there will be drills, and traffic director training, coast guard inspection and housekeeping inspection. By the time the grids go up on the library shelves on the afternoon of the 26th<\/sup>, there won\u2019t be a trace element of the previous voyage left – despite the fact that this voyage is the longest, and the most prestigious, that the line has to offer.<\/p>\n

There is no break in this life, there is no lay-over, as I\u2019ve said before, time on ships is liquid crystal, and we can\u2019t afford to let it slip away from us.<\/p>\n

The other things I have to think of when I get home? Laying aside funds to buy a proper Halloween costume that will be suitable for the Grand Voyage in September, something that\u2019s flirty but guest friendly. I\u2019m taking suggestions on that one. Cheshire Cat? Masquerade? Something that packs light and wears well, so hoop skirts are out. Doing 4 months worth of laundry before repacking everything for the restart in June. Deciding whether or not I really want highlights in my hair\u2026somewhere in there, I\u2019ll have time to Christmas shop, time to have coffee with friends I\u2019ve not seen in what feels like years, time to let the other people in my life adjust to the newest version of me\u2026<\/p>\n

Life goes on\u2026just that my life is a little different than some others. But how boring would life be if we were all the same?<\/p>\n

So it is that I sit here, finishing the last of the inventory that head office has requested from us, making the last phone calls and sending emails out to the network of contacts that drifts around the world like an ever-moving net on the ocean, watching the sun set over the oceans of Spain \u2013 and I find myself thinking, quite simply:<\/p>\n

What next?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s strange to think that we\u2019re in the home stretch. So much has happened in what is comparatively a short period of time, I\u2019ve seen so much, lived so much, done so much. Changed so much. A different woman looks … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-grand-world-voyage-2011"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-2B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}