The Winds of Change for the Windward Islands

And so one day, Coleman, the budding young art auctioneer internationale, sat down in his tiny sized office. More of a closet really, but for his purposes, it was all he needed on the ship. He got an email entitled 'Thank You' from his fleet manager back on the homeland. This email contained the "as you probably know" line preceeding an unexpected shock. He no longer would have a fleet manager as the said individual will be pursuing a different opportunity, effective immeadiately. He is gone. The "as you probably know" was also used this week when Coleman got a phone call to his cabin ("the red cave") on embark morning telling him that a new associate had arrived, and was waiting... In fact, Coleman had no idea... Also, his regional sales trainer has been changed to the top auctioneer in the company, "as you probably know." No, no he didn't.


















But of course things will change. Everything in fact. Everything will change. It flipped my numbers to be sure, and got me out of a damn sales funk, but all is chaos. A good natured chaos, but chaos none the less. Sometimes, thats the best medicine. Shawn is a good ol southern boy from Virginia. He is older than me. His energy is very different from mine and will undoubtedly be useful in appealing to a different culture of individual. He had never been on a ship before and so was daunted by the prospect of living on the Summit. I think he will give it a fair shot, and he should...things could go well if he plays his card right.















Things are pretty good in the old social group. We went horseback riding in Antigua, and it proved to be a pretty exciting experience, despite the fact that I got a wicked sun burn on my knees, and I find horse people unnerving. My lucky Chinease ship of good fortune burnt out, which is ok. I'm not entirely sure it was bringing me the good luck I needed. So I turn on my bedside lamp at night and put a red polo over it, casting the room in deep red shadow. I then turn on Monica's sound machine to whatever I please to help my red cave really sink in. If I'm in a good mood I go with the rain or the ocean or the rainforest, if I'm in a bad mood I turn up the volume all the way and listen to a heartbeat. It frightening... I've also put up a work of art on my wall entitled "Silent Hillside." Its a landscape by Itzak Tarkay that I first saw a year ago on the Mariner of the Seas...and my world is almost complete.














My buddies and I thought of a great sketch comedy character named "Smegma Boy." Conceived from dick cheese, Smegma Boy has the appearance of Mask, reaks of unknown bodiuly substances, vommits a cruel bile constantly, and has no sense of social grace. He likes bursts in on a conversation, comments on how his clothes and culture is so much cooler than everyone elses, takes a handful of someone esle chips without asking, and then vommits, and just wipes it anywhere to the shock and horror of everyone else. "Well I'll catch you assholes later, hahaha." Alternatively, I am getting pretty awesome at fooseball. Not so hot a offense, but my defensive skills are ranked among the best of the crew, and my golaie shot is killer. I'm a leading challenger, which is great considereing the fact that I always sucked big time at soccer. I sued to hit the ball with my hand. Not in fooseball friends, I am a real winner. I've also added "Bal'ma," my Wii character of choice, to the crew Wii. She frightens the world, but makes me happy. And shes a great bowler too.















We got a new port and shopping guide named "Evan from Heaven." ?!?!


Something pretty awesome happened at my last auction. I usually do this master's wall set up thing where I present a wall worth a ridiculous amount of money like 314 thousand dollars and offer it at 222 thousand. It's not so bad considering you're getting a sweet Rembrandt, Picasso, Dali, Chagall, Miro, and Peter Max. Then later in the auction I present a wall by the same artists around 23 thousand. Well, I had somebody collect the first half now, and will get in touch with me when he wants the second half. The great thing was that I didn't know he was going to collect it until after he saw the presentation. He just saw the auciton and was like, yeah, lets do this. Thats kind of cool for me as usually I go into an auciton with a pretty good idea of who is going to collect the big boys. So, this is a step up for me, popping it off of the block and definitely a step up for the guy who got his Picasso, Chagall, and Miro.















I run this silly spa auction where I auction off some the spa treatmeants for my lady friends up there. "I got a hot stones massage a year ago and I'm still having good dreams about it!" Spa girls always seem to gush around me, because I give them such girly attention. they like me, not necessarily in THAT way, but they're always like HiiiIiii. One of the girls told me that this last week a guest came up to her asking about me when I was in the gym. Yeah that's Coleman, the art auctioneer, she said. "Well he's really sweaty." And she just kind of didnt know what to say, and just awkwardly stared, and this guest continued..."He's all hot and sweaty...and built." She just laughed and said that was the end of the conversation. And thats exactly how I want my relationship with the spa to proceed.















We've been hitting the beaches we like for these last couple of runs down here in the Caribbean. The boat yard in Barbados, The Nest in Antigua, The Honky Tonk in St. Marteen, and The Pier in St. Thomas. It sounds like a bizarre code. HONKY TONK, ST. MARTEEN! Theres alot I felt I wanted to do on these islands, alot I hadn't planned on, and alot of sleep that was just too enjoyable to ignore. Am I content with my second go around in the Caribbean? Absolutely. Am I ready to move on? Absolutley. Do I believe that if I don't update my blog that I'll have poor sucess with sales? Absolutely.















Thanks for reading, and of course...more waterfalls!!!!