hi

dear friends,

sorry it's been a while since i've written. i'm actually not that sorry, but i figure it's the polite way to start this post. i'm currently sittin' at the 'city lights coffee shop' just off market street in charleston, sc as i write this. if you've been on facebook you may have noticed i'm out on the waters again. i joined the carnival 'victory' on may 5th and have been cruising to some pretty nice places including st. thomas, st. maarten, grand cayman, cozumel - mexico, ochos rios - jamaica, and my favorite so far, san juan - puerto rico. if you haven't seen the pictures yet, you should check them out, if not to see some cool pictures, to read the wonderful commentary below the pictures.

i've really been enjoying my time on board so far. the musical director is a nice guy and a pretty good musician (albeit not very motivated). the guys in the band have been awesome as well. the guitar player on board is from ashland, wi (not far from duluth) and as it turns out, him and i were actually at the third week of the shell lake jazz camp together during the summer of 2000. the bass player is from milwaukee too. go midwest!

the workload has been pretty great. we play about 3-4 times a week, which leaves a lot of time for me to practice, listen to music, watch movies, and sleep :-) yesterday was a relocation day, which means we traveled from miami to charleston without any passengers on board. it was basically an all day party. we ate, we drank, and we played guitar hero on the massive theatre screen up on lido deck. it was sweeeeeet. the night before i joined a poker tournament that the casino staff was having in which i essentially owned them all. i was the only non-casino person there and i guess the guy that invited me took some heat from his friends for letting me into the game. they were really terrible but when i got to heads up i just made a deal with the other player because i didn't feel like taking all their money and it was 6:45 in the morning. we'll be having another relocation day up to norfolk after this cruise, and i'm hoping it will be just as fun.

i've been trying to keep in touch with people as much as i can, although i could maybe do a better job... i got the full report on colin's trip to eau claire, which really made me wish i could have been there. i'm def gonna miss that place and all the people i met there. a big congrats goes out to all the people that graduated this year. my contract will end in less than two weeks on june 7th, then i'll be back in bloomington for two months to finish up some lessons and give a recital. after that i'll up in minnesota country for a little more than a week before leaving for another ship. hopefully i'll be able to make the rounds and visit some of you in that time. or maybe you'll roadtrip it down to bloomington and visit your favorite old trombone playing friends james and colin. you probably should.

anyways, from what i've seen so far, charleston is a really nice city so i think i'm gonna finish up here and roam around some more. if you happen to read this today, gimme a call and we'll chat. i'll be here till about 8:30 tonight and my phone is fully charged :-)

love,
james