Sun, Dec 3 – Job Swap party

Last night was fun! Every once in a while, the cruise staff puts on a theme party after hours and below decks, just to keep things interesting. I’m not usually much of a party person, but this one was especially intriguing. Everyone was asked to come dressed in someone else’s uniform! It was hilarious! We had steiners tending bar, musicians dressed like officers, cast dressed as maintenance, and so on.

The hardest part of my idea was getting someone to wear my famous “blue handkerchief.”
Some of you will have heard me speak in loathing tones of the blue handkerchief. Much as the giant banana hat was the bane of my existence aboard the Fasc, the Veendam comes with its own bane, pictured at right. When I first came onboard, the music director gave it to me with a laugh. Days later, I discovered that all the boys have shirts in matching material. So every once in a while, I have to wear it just to fit in. Luckily, I’ve got a nice long white skirt that I wear with it and a pair of four-inch heels to make it somewhat attractive.
Anyhow, everyone’s aware of how much I despise wearing this blue handkerchief. So there was only one way I was going to this party, and that’s if I could get someone to wear the blue hankie.



This is my bass player, Tibor, and he’s leaving in a week, so he’s got nothing to lose. He agreed to wear the blue hankie, and the wheels in my head started spinning! Woohoo! As soon as work was over, he came over and we traded costumes. I even persuaded him to bobby pin my flowers in his hair! Then I slicked my hair back, got out the mascara and the eyeliner to make a goatee and eyebrows, and put on one single diamond stud in my left ear, and here’s how it turned out! We were a party hit!