A Warm Welcoming

After having gone home to the sub-zero winter weather in Indiana, I’ve returned to the ship. My mother nearly lost her life due to pneumonia and sepsis infections, necessitating my return home for a three week period. At this point, her health remains stable but her complete recovery will take many months. The company offered me much support during this time and kept my position open while I left to be with family. In these situations, they allow the crew member to go home and then he or she decides whether a return to the ship remains feasible. After consulting with my family and the physicians overseeing my mother, we decided that I ought to return to work while reviewing her progress and recuperation rate in the days and weeks ahead. Before heading back to the ship, I attended my cousin’s wedding. His father(my uncle) passed away last year, so he knows very well how it feels to lose a parent. After standing in the long line to speak to the bride and groom, I’ll never forget the first thing he said once we reached the front. He smiled and shook his head saying, “Worrying and stressing about it won’t help anything. You just have to go with it, accept what will be, and do your best.” That really registered with me, and I admired him for saying this before all else on his wedding day. In recollecting the couple weeks preceding this, I felt frustrated watching my mother on life support because nothing I could say or do would really help. I resorted to playing classical music for her on my guitar for hours as she slept and occasionally woke up. Before my return to work, I recorded some music I had written. The melodic motif corresponded to the five pitches on her life support monitor. As it beeped, I composed harmony and a counter melody that accompanied this monitor sound. That’s about the extant of what I could do in this difficult situation. The drive to the airport left much to be desired. Freezing cold temperatures in nearly white out conditions made the 5:00 am drive wearisome. Even worse, Dana, the one driving my car home, had to make her way through this alone back to her apartment. Luckily, she’s okay and so am I relatively speaking. The flight to San Francisco went fairly quickly other than feeling hungry. United Airlines doesn’t offer food for many(or all) domestic flights. The connection to Tokyo went a little better, although I had a middle seat in both cases. The connection to Bangkok seemed better still. Once reaching Bangkok, I met my contact in the baggage claim area. He had been sent to pick me up and drive me to Pattaya, Thailand(about an hour away). Before meeting him, I had a small concern that this could be problematic. The computer file sent to me with his contact did not open up correctly on my lap top; therefore, there wouldn’t be an easy way to call him if I had a problem. Although my flight arrived a bit late, he remained there in the airport next to a sign with my name on it. After reaching Pattaya, we decided to stop and get some food. It might interest you to know that he spoke hardly any English. Despite this, we communicated without too much of a problem. Although nearly 2:00am, we stopped at a local market, much like Kroger, and ordered hot food at a counter with cooks making the food as you waited. We both ordered Indian food. Each meal cost about four dollars, so I opted to buy his just to show my appreciation for his choice to stop for food. After eating, we attempted to find my hotel. The first place we went ended up being the wrong hotel. Neither one of us knew the name for lack of computer files opening or just lack of preparation. He called someone on his cell, and then we found the real place. My “room” consisted of three rooms, like a suite, with a huge balcony. The balcony, bigger than most apartments at home, encircled half of this suite and overlooked the ocean outside. It looked spectacular. I opted to take a much needed shower and then proceeded to enjoy a hot bath in the hot tub. Rather than getting up and taking the shuttle (paid by the company) to take me to the ship, I opted to explore the area and arrange my own transportation later in the day. The company wants to error on the side of safety by scheduling an early shuttle service, but I’ve been around the cruise ship block a few times, and I know better. After enjoying my complimentary breakfast, I scheduled a Thai massage for myself around 12:30 pm. Then I walked outside to seek out a Buddhist Temple in the local area. After reaching the temple, I sat down and enjoyed listening to the chanting of the Buddhist monks and congregation. On my way back, I arranged a pickup time with a Taxi driver. The “taxi” consisted of an old car, and the driver was not much more than twenty. After getting back to my room(s), I received a message from the admin on the ship. He simply wanted to check in and make sure I would not miss the ship. I assured him that I’d be there right after my spa treatment. The authentic Thai massage was very relaxing. It’s based on the principles of Yoga stretching. The masseuse knew exactly how to stretch the muscles without causing any pain. The hour and a half went by very quickly. The drive into the port posed no problems, and without any issues, I embarked the Millennium Cruise Ship. The admin and others got a kick out of the fact that I missed the crew shuttle for a thai massage, but they didn’t blame me for wanting to enjoy these wonderful places for all they have to offer. The AV technicians and musicians in the orchestra nearly cheered when they saw me walking up the gangway, and everyone onboard seemed to know about mom being ill. Without delay, I easily fell back into the routine here. The day I arrived, we played a big band set upstairs. The bandmaster is a notorious guy named Brian. I knew of him long before I met him, and I met him long before I ever played with him. Two years ago in Helsinki, Finland, we both happened to be in a cafe at the same time. Anyway, he’s a great player and a good leader. The second night here, I played for a Australian violinist guest entertainer who played mostly rock. Because the sight reading was far from easy, the other players in the band received their charts days in advance of the gig. Because I had just signed on, I received my charts at rehearsal. The tunes included perfectly notated song from Led Zeppelin, the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” and others. The guitar arrangements often lacked repetition, so the mind could not simply memorize in the moment; we had to read constantly. The reading separates my position from other guitar jobs on the ship(which don’t require reading). It’s a sobering idea to acknowledge that nobody on this ship can do my job. A lot of stuff I have to play doesn’t constitute any difficulty for other guitarist to play in and of itself, but to read it from the paper and play it requires a skill that many guitarists simply don’t possess. In the realm of sightseeing, I made it back to Vung Tau, Vietnam to get a very close look at the famous statue of Jesus. It’s as big as a building with a staircase inside for bold tourists that which to climb to the top. I opted for this adventure. The view on the top of the statue can not be described in words. It overlooks the entire city as well as the ocean and countryside. The line inside and intense heat left much to be desired, but the cool breeze on top and view made it all worthwhile. After this, I ventured to an ecological park situation on yet another mountain top. I took a cable car up to this quirky place and enjoyed all the amenities free of charge (after paying $15 for the cable car). The place basically resembled a zoo/fair/park. Horses, goats, and ostriches roamed the area with little boats that you could board for a ride on the lake. A few restaurants offered a sit down experience while BBQ’s could be seen and smelled all over the place. I went straight to the huge statue of Buddha near the Cave(which could be explored). I enjoyed my time here and then made my way back to my Taxi driver. He didn’t speak English at all, but we communicated quite well together. Spoken words mean so little. Sometimes I wish everyone could be mute and fill those moments spent talking with actions aimed for something positive. At least that’s what I took from this experience.