No subject! :-)

Hi everyone

Hope you're all doing good. I'm not bad. Since my last post I've pretty much just been working. About a month ago I moved in with Mark Nugent. He's a guy I've known since I started in the Casino Industry and is a very good friend of mine.

He offered me his other bedroom in his flat near the city centre and I couldn't really say no. It's an excellent location, 5 minute walk from Deansgate in Manchester and a 15 minute walk from work!

I've also recently been promoted at work to Inspector! This is really great news and a next step in my Casino career that I'm looking forward to experiencing.

I never thought I'd ever say it but I do miss my times on the Ship. As bad as it seemed sometimes, it had it's great times that I miss. I also miss a lot of the friends I made there too.

On the subject of ship friends, Facebook is GREAT! I've signed up there and already been in touch with shipmates, old school and college friends and mates from work! I don't use it as much as I could, but I do find it very useful!

I've been doing West Coast Swing with 8beatfusion as much as possible. Have been enjoying that, though I'd like to do a heck of a lot more and more often.

Anyways, not much more to report really. Will post again as soon as I have something to write about :-)

Random sexual acts in the Oaks

Hey everyone

I haven't blogged for 3 months, damn! Oh well, work's okay though a little on the quiet side, which ultimately means it's a little boring at the moment.

Oh well, it's still great being around great friends.

In the time since I last posted, Brandy came to visit England! She was over for the Ballroom Champs in Blackpool primarily, but came to visit sunny Stockport. Had a great time in Blackpool for a couple of days, went to the Pleasure Beach and went to see the final of the Championships... awesome! Also had some great nights out drinking in Manchester, with the comedy club, and also Blackpool fun too!

Anyways.... I wanted to share with you some Sexual Acts created at the Oaks one night. The way you do this is you take a piece of paper and write ANY word at the top. You then fold the edge of the paper down so the next person can't see, and then ask them to write a word below the fold. The paper is then folded down again and passed to the next person. You do this an even number of times and then unfold the paper and read down, grouping the words in to groups of two. The group of us created:

Mitten Wheelbarrow - This is where a girl does a handstand, the guy takes her legs over his shoulders and sticks his face between her legs. She then walks forwards on her hands and the guy follows behind

Stick Period
Camper Earmuffs
Roman Filthy-Yoghurt
Porridge Twats
Fat-Flange Bucket
Trenchfoot Sloppy-Kebab
Bugerlugs Pilfer

If anyone has any suggestions to what these could be, then please email me or comment them here.

Oh on another note, I won 550 quid the other week a poker tournament in Stretford Rileys! Only bought in for a tenner too and beat 44 people!

That is all..!

Long time no blog... too long! Sorry!

Hiya everyone

Well I was going to ramble on about the last ports of my contract, but it would take too long and I've got lots more that's happened since I've been home... so here's a quick review of the last parts of my contract.

Everywhere was great, especially Rome! Malaga was a sad goodbye to my great friends, Jie, April and Nikki... it was really sad leaving everyone behind on the ship!

Check out my photos to see the great times that were had!

Since being back, I called up Gareth at Whitworth Street to see if I could come in for an interview and was basically given my job back on the phone! So I started on Monday 23rd April! It was great to be back "home" where the Roulette games were nice and busy.

Whitworth Street is back to the 6pm open/6am close, so that means four 10 hour shifts a week and 3 days off a week! YAY!

As planned, I was going to go and stay with Brandy. Brandy is a very close friend of mine from the ship and a member of the cast... so a passionate dancer!

As we were both scheduled to leave the ship on the 30th April, I asked her if she wanted to go to the Easterns Dance event in Washington DC on 10th-14th May. She invited me to stay with her and her family in Pittsburgh for a week before the event.

My flight over was great, and the drive back to Brandy's house was only about 30 minutes. Brandy and her family live in a beautiful self-built home in the COUNTRY country outside Pittsburgh city. Her mum welcomed me into the home. Her dad was away on a fishing trip with guy friends/family. Her mum had a wonderful meal lined up for me, her and Brandy... all home cooked and tasted great!

The week before the Easterns consisted of lots of fun stuff. We visited her grandma, who Brandy loves very much and is very close to. I also saw the "track" where all her family lived when she was just a kid. Brandy had such a great country childlife, I wish I had the same when I was a kid.

We also had breakfast at her aunts one of the mornings, who happens to be their neighbour. GREAT PANCAKES!!! Me and Brandy also built a couple of bonfires two of the nights.. simple stuff but we had great fun doing it!

Brandy took me to the local dance/music club called the Rhythm House. We went on the Cinco De Mayo night and they had a live latin band. So we had quite a few drinks and enjoyed dancing together there. I met a few of her dance friends from the local area there.

On the Sunday, Brandy's mum invited all her side of the family over to see Brandy's souvenirs, photos, etc, from the ship. That was nice, we had some good food and I was made to feel very welcome with the whole family.

On the Wednesday, me and Brandy went to Pittsburgh for the day. We ended up being invited on to a guy's boat. The guy was called Jim and he was a cabin crew for US Airways! We stayed with him on his boat for about 3 hours. His friend also joined us. We went for lunch at a riverside restaurant he recommended. After leaving him, we went to see a stand up comedy gig at the Funny Bone comedy club in Pittsburgh. There were only 10 people there unfortunately, but we had a great time. After the gig, we went and drank some beers with the comedians... all guys around our age, so we had a great time laughing and chatting about stuff. They were mainly asking me about English words for stuff... Rude stuff of course :-)

After the bar we were at, we went to the country nightclub called Saddle Ridge. We danced a lot and had a great time. Brandy had a go on the buckin bull... haha! So funny! Then it was on to Permanti Brothers for a great sandwich there. One they're famous for, with coleslaw and fries stuffed into a steak burger. Full of fat I'm sure :-)

Then on the Thursday, we had to drive to Virginia for the Easterns event! The drive down was great.. fantastic weather and lots of random funny stuff. We laughed so much! Brandy ended up transforming from feeling shitty and hungover to fresh-as-a-daisy by the end of the drive.

Hotel room was AMAZING! We realised that booking for the event, our room price was HEAVILY discounted. The room should have been about $300 per night, but was $90 thanks to the event.

Thursday night was the pre-event party. We went down to the ballroom and Brandy took her first WCS workshop. We learnt a nice little routine and some technical stuff. Then it was on to meet and greet friends from the past I'd not seen for a long time!

We pretty much had an early night. We laid in bed watching Prison Break, which I got Brandy addicted to!

The whole weekend was a blast! Took some brilliant workshops in WCS! Really feel like I learned a lot from the Pros. John Lindo, Rob Royston, Mary Ann Nunez to name but a few! Brandy also took her first ever line dance classes, and she loves that too as well as the WCS!

The Ballroom Proam for the first time was great to see, as were the country couples competitions and the cabaret show on Saturday night! Also had some fun social dancing with Brandy.

On the Sunday afternoon, we finished our last workshop about 2pm and decided to head into Washington DC to do some sightseeing. GREAT IDEA! We took the Metro train (rather than driving) and the day ticket was $6.50. Took the Metro EVERYWHERE around the city.

First visited Arlington Cemetery and took a bus tour. Saw the Kennedy graves, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard. The tomb has been guarded 24 hours a day, every day since 1934!!! WOW!! And every hour they change the guard in a ceremony that lasts quite a while, without fail... even in the middle of the night. It's in honour for 3 graves where the bodies inside were never identified.

After that, we went to the Pentagon and managed to snap a few photos before realising when we got back to the Metro station that we shouldn't have been taking any photos. It was eerily quiet there, even though it was Sunday and kinda expected to be. It's only really an office building when you think about it :-)

Then the Metro to the Capitol and Washington Monument. Got some AWESOME pictures, as the sun was setting around the time we were there!

We then got the Metro to the White House and took one photo as we were too far away to get a decent on because it was dark!

We eventually got back to the Hotel about 11:30pm or so. What a great idea for an afternoon! Nowhere was too crowded and it was a nice relaxed day. Much better than going there before leaving for home on the Monday.

Monday consisted of leaving to arrive home around 3pm or so. We just lazed around that night and watched Prison Break. Had a great meal before I started to pack.

On the Tuesday, me and Brandy went to have lunch with Grandma English before Brandy drove me to the airport.

I was sad to leave Brandy as she's become a really great and close friend. Seems I always say goodbye to my closest friends. She's coming to England though in about a week for a Ballroom Championship she's been invited to go to with Ron and Barbara, the dance instructors from the ship, so we'll probably hang out then! Need to take her to Blackpool Pleasure Beach!

Anyways, back to work at WWST for the first night after holiday was good!

Will blog again soon with something Random!

Liam xxx

Turkey, and goodbye Ahmet...

Hey everyone

Had a great day in Turkey today. The port was Kusadasi and this is near to the ancient Roman city of Ephesus.

Today was also a day where Ahmet had to leave the ship due to a medical emergency. I wish him all the best in the future, wherever he decides to go and whatever he decides to do.

Ahmet arranged for a driver to take us to Ephesus and drive us back to the ship. Had an amazing day, this place is truly beautiful... I'd recommend anyone to visit here. It's very peaceful and you can just imagine what it was like 2000 years ago when it was inhabited. We also visited the Virgin Mary's last known home in Turkey. It made it special as it was Easter Sunday today. I actually didn't know this until the morning when someone told me that it was Easter! Sometimes being on the ship keeps you out of touch with certain things.

Took lots of photos in Ephesus and then after we came back for a Turkish feast with Ahmet to wish him well. About 8-10 of us... had a great day!

Now I'm sitting in the Internet Centre in the port. Writing some postcards and using the internet.

Back home in 10 days! Can't wait to go home, ready to get off this ship and back to reality!

Blog soon!

Wow, Egypt was amazing!

Hey everyone

Since my last post, I've done one of my lifelong ambitions, and that was to go to Egypt to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx!

I was In Port Manning in Oman, so never got off the ship. I also couldn't be bothered to get off the ship in Sharm-el-Sheikh because we only have like 5 hours there so I figured it wasn't worth it. Plus I had to work from 2pm when we sailed! The Suez Canal was really interesting to see! It's a canal without locks and just connects the two water masses together. It's a long transition too and takes a while to get from one side to the other.

We arrived in Alexandria at approximately 5:30am and our crew tour to Cairo/Giza was to leave at 6am and come back about 10 hours later! However, due to getting the passengers off first, we didn't leave until about 6:30am. There were 2 buses that were crammed full of crew going on the tour. The journey there was to take about 2 to 3 hours, and for the first 30 minutes we were under police escort! The driver said it was because we were VIPs, but I think it was to protect us from all the crazy Egyptian drivers! They say if you can drive in Egypt, you can drive anywhere in the world! :-)

So during the journey, the tour guide told us of the very long history of Egypt and the Dynasties in which the Pyramids were said to be built, etc. This was interesting, and the guide was very knowledgeable. When we arrived in Cairo, everyone was excited to see the first glimpses of the Pyramids, and I'll never forget the first sight through the window. It didn't take long to get there as the Pyramids are located VERY close to the city itself.

Anyway, so when we arrived in the bus park the guide gave us a quick rundown on a little more history. Mike, one of the musicians, VERY rudely expressed his disinterest in what the guide had to say and said he'd like to get off. Everyone was pissed off with him and told the guide to carry on. Anyway, we had about 30 minutes to explore the Great Pyramid, which is about 145 metres tall and the one that you usually see in Photos, with the limestone cap is not actually the Great Pyramid. This was something I didn't know, but it's actually 20 metres shorter than the Great one. It just looks bigger as it's built on higher ground.

Not more than 10 minutes after being out of the bus, we were whisked away by this Egyptian guy who said he'd take photos of us. I wished I'd been wiser to the whole thing because this was the beginning of the Camel Scam. He took us to his son that had their camel, and the 4 of us were quickly "thrown" on top of their camels. He then took us a ways away from the Pyramid, all of us a little concerned about this but our security guard was with us and said it was okay. Then we had our photos taken with our own cameras and then the next part was the amount of
money they were asking for. They singled us all out and separated us to ask for money. Me and Nikki got stung out of $40 each, Jie $20 and April $15. They basically were very forceful with it all, and probably wouldn't have let us down if we didn't give them anything. The only thing that pissed me off about the whole thing was that our security guard must have known what was going to happen, but just let it happen. They must make more than I do a day if they do that to so many unsuspecting tourists who don't know any better. So after that, and me telling the guy he wasn't getting anymore and demanding my camera back, we walked around the Pyramid, taking loads of photos and then returned to the bus.

Then we were driven to the 2nd pyramid, where we were told we'd have the opportunity to go down inside the pyramid. This was an amazing experience... VERY hot and VERY cramped. The passageway that took us down seemed to be quite long, and you literally had to bend way down, with your knees almost touching your chest in order to get through. It was also very narrow and barely allowed people going down and coming back out to pass each other. After getting to the bottom, there was a standing-height chamber before another passageway leading up to a chamber where a sarcophogus was positioned. During the trip up this passageway, it got to a point that was very dark. Nikki was ahead of me and she stopped, but because I couldn't see that she'd stopped, I carried on walking and then ended up with my nose up the crack of her arse. She of course felt this, and we both started laughing hysterically. I then called down to April and Jie to tell them and they laughed too. One moment I will never forget :-) After a few moments staring in awe at the chamber, which was located deep inside the pyramid, we made our way back before taking a few more photos and heading back to the bus!

The bus was then to take us down to the Temple and Sphinx at the bottom of an incline away from the Pyramids. The Temple and Sphinx are beautifully built, and it's hard to think that these were built so perfectly about 4000 years ago! One funny thing that I'll never forget was when me and Nikki were trying to take a photo of her "kissing the Sphinx". Directly in front of us, a group of Egyptian college students (about 15-20 of them) could see me trying to get Nikki to move ever so slightly to get a good shot, the whole time trying to "kiss" the Sphinx. They were all laughing and pointing and then Nikki and I noticed them and that made her laugh too... So getting the shot seemed even harder.

After about 30 minutes taking photos and generally absorbing where it was I was standing, we were back on the bus for a very short trip to a shop that sold jewellery, namely custom made "kartouches", which are traditional but ancient pieces of jewellery. I somehow think the driver/tour company had some kind of deal going where they brought people to this shop. There were a few other shops but we didn't really have time to go into any of them. I quickly grabbed a KFC meal from the local Sphinx View KFC shop :)

After whisking back into the bus again, the guide took us to a fast food restaurant in the street where they sold various traditional hot snacks. I had a chicken Shwerama, which was really tasty! In fact I wished I had got a large one as the regular one wasn't big enough! :) All very
cheap too though, and what was quite funny was the fact the guy making it kept asking for tips.

And that was the end of the tour. The tour guide told us we would make our way back to the highway towards Alexandria. Everyone thanked him for his excellent guidance, and I remember falling asleep for the journey back as I'd been up since 5am.

When I got back to the ship, I only had time for about 90 minutes sleep before work started.

What an amazing day's experience in Egypt! This was one place I'd always dreamed of going and hope to come back to one day to spend more time exploring here. I was kinda disappointed that I never had the chance to go to any shops to buy souvenirs, as it was a rushed day, but
maybe next time.

We've spent the last two days in Israeli ports, but I've not been bothered about getting off to explore those places. I wished I had but it seemed to see anything of interest you had to be booked on the crew tour to Jerusalem/Bethlehem, and I wasn't. The 2nd port I was In Port
Manning. Now it's on to Turkey, Greece, Rome, Monaco to name but a few, and in about 10 days I'll be signing off the ship in Malaga on the 17th! Can't wait to get off the ship and get back home.

Blog again soon!