Naps and Flooded Bathrooms: Ship Life!

Do you ever find in life to have your heart exceptionally set on something, but no matter how much you crave the thing, you're unable to obtain it because exterior circumstance keeps keeping you away?

All i wanted today on the ship was sleep. I was off to Catalina on the first shore boat in the morning in order to get work done on the internet, have breakfast and come back to the ship at an hour that would allow me a decent amount of rest before my 5 hour set tonight.

Upon reaching my hallway I was walking rather fast, eager to do nothing but nestle my face deep into my pillow and wrap myself in my warm, plush throw blanket and fade far into the remains of the day (or at least until 5:00pm), but i was stopped dead in my tracks.  Behind me, I heard my name being frantically shouted and i turned to see my 6'5" jamaican room steward Gregory running after me, flailing his arms.

His news for me was that my bathroom (along with two units adjacent) had flooded. In a room that doesn't exceed 11ft by 11ft (including the bathroom), a flooding due to backed up drain cavities of ship water and whatever other smut you can imagine is far from desirable…and even farther from equating to a nice, comfy, quiet, non-stinky sleeping arrangement.

So i am out of my room, out of sleep and out of a place to get ready for my gig tonight. Luckily I'm only one day deep w/o shower, because one of those babies is (obviously) out of the question.

My friends Emily and Joe came to Long Beach on Monday after a Joe had undergone a 30 hour drive from Minnesota, returning to San Diego at 4:00am…he came to see me at 8:00am that day. His favorite phrase for the day was "you can sleep when you're dead." 

Maybe I should subscribe to that.

But i don't know. I do so love my sleep. I love being awake and alive when i play music. And i've also noticed (particularly recently) that i get awfully emotional when i don't get enough sleep. The most ridiculous things get me upset - even downright sad.
And for what?
The answer is nothing. The answer is that i need my sleep.
And i think that ship life makes more sleep even more necessary…

I mean here I am, surrounded constantly by vacationing people; people consistently in the best of moods, having the times of their lives, living it up for three or four days on a cruise ship wanting nothing but smiles, laughter, happiness, good music and good times. And rightfully so. However that being said, it really doesn't allow me any time to complain, bicker, moan, vent, stress about loneliness, whine about my lack of a love life,  or any of the such actions that become much more easy for me when I'm lacking sleep.

Point of the story: Sleep is crucial to a happy, healthy existence both as a functioning member of a society (ship-side or otherwise) and as a musician.

So take a look. if you are ever feeling irritable, more sad then usual, edgy, short-fused or grumpy, maybe all you need to get back on track is some solid nap time.

So that's that, and i'll talk to you soon, hopefully with some great new songs to share :)

-Allegrasings