Are you......a Ginger??

Yes everyone that is a real question I got asked the other night in the club. This big Omani guy asked me that. I was kind of shocked, I mean I've never been asked that before. For those who don't know "ginger" is kind of like a demeaning word for a redhead. Well I answered "yeah I'm like half a ginger," then he said "well what's the other half?" I said, "non-ginger." He just laughed and then continued to explain that he'd never met a real life ginger before. It was so weird, that's definitely something I'll probably always remember. So there's another event to add to the list of memories.
Besides that excitement everything else is going smoothly. Last week the club was kind of slow, but we did have a pretty good Thursday night. Friday was also really crowded but it was full of drunk British Navy guys and they hardly paid attention to us so it wasn't really the good kind of crowded. This week we were supposed to be having a Beach Party at the club on Wednesday but the Sultan of Oman just decided that Tuesday night and Wednesday are going to be a national holiday so they moved the party to next week. But the good news is that we get Tuesday night off, but they might make us work Saturday to make up for it so it's not really that great. But we'll see what happens.
Now I just want to take the time to talk about something funny I've noticed since being here. I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not but here it is. So in the gym here they have trainers that you can work with just like most gyms but these guys seriously have no clue what they are doing. I watched one of the trainers teaching this lady how to use one of the machines and he was having her sit down on it backwards. I wanted to go over and help but I think it would have embarrassed him. This particular trainer even has his own show on TV. They play it on the TVs at the gym sometimes and the show is a joke. He's speaking Arabic so I can't really understand what he's saying, but the moves he does are ridiculous. Andrea, our keyboard player, was talking to the guy one day and asked him how he learned how to train people, guess what his answer was? He said, "my friend showed me a website that teaches you what to do." Really? A Website. Wow. It's definitely not like the US where you have to have a certification, which is kind of scary because then anyone can become a trainer and could seriously injure somebody. I feel like I should hold a masterclass or something and just teach these guys a few things before I leave! Well I think that's about it, I hope you all have a great Monday. This is the Ginger, signing out.

Air Air Air

You may notice the color of my words goes along with the theme of this post. I would just like to announce that I have air conditioning! Yes it's true, I got a brand new air conditioner in my room, it's like a dream! My room has never felt this good even before when they had "fixed" my old air conditioner. This is seriously going to make life so much better and now I'll be able to sleep good at night too!! I'm so happy!! This will definitely make time fly a little faster!
In other news the shows have been kinda slow the last couple nights, like unusually slow. I don't know what's happening but I hope it picks up for the weekend! Nadia is still doing great and the crowd loves her!
It's still getting hotter each day and more humid. The air is so wet that you literally feel like you got out of the shower and put your clothes on your wet body. It feels really gross! But it's probably only going to get worse so I'm dealing with it. I think that's about all I have to report on. I hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Busy Days

This past week was pretty busy with having Nadia come in and everything. Although it was busy it did make it go by quite fast. The shows were pretty great the rest of the week especially Thursday night, it was packed as usual and so much fun! We rehearsed on Tuesday and Thursday with Nadia and she knows so many of our songs now that it's like Trina is here. I don't even have to do any extra singing, it's awesome! Things have been going so much better lately. I mean the whole show feels new again and there is no drama right now so I'm loving it!
Georges only stayed for two nights and then left, he was even happy the whole time. When he was here he talked to me about some future opportunities like some short gigs, like 5 days at a time, so we'll see what happens with that.
Other than that it's the same here. Still really hot, oh but they did bring my new air conditioner today. But that's all they did, brought it in a big box and left it in the front room. They're supposed to come install it tomorrow now so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We shall see what happens.
And last but not least I just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my dad and to all the dad's out there. I wish I could be up at Flaming Gorge with you guys to celebrate! I hope everyone gets to spend some time with their families for the holiday. By the time you all read this it will probably Monday so I hope everyone has a great start to their week!

A Fresh New Feeling

Well last night was our first night with the new girl, Nadia, in the shows and it was awesome! She only did about 9 or 10 songs the whole night but it was still a help, and she is seriously talented. She has the coolest sounding voice, kind of like a mix of Macy Gray and Fergie, and she knows how to work the stage. It seriously made the show feel new again and made it so fun! I'm really glad she's here and she's also really nice!
Guess who else showed up with her though? Georges. Yeah, we all were kinda surprised when we walked into rehearsal and he was there too. But luckily he's in a good mood right now so everything was positive. Plus he's leaving Thursday morning so it's just a quick stop on his way to Abu Dhabi. I guess they have a new gig starting there and he has to go finish negotiating the contract. Another reason I am so glad I am leaving, I would hate to have to go to Abu Dhabi, I've heard that it's worse than Oman!
Anyway tomorrow we are having a meeting/lunch with Georges at 1:30 so that should be fun. I'm actually not stressed or anything about it because I'm leaving after here so he's not going to say anything bad to me!
Hmmm....what else? We had rehearsal today for like 4 hours and then we have it again tomorrow for another 4 hours so that's kind of exhausting but I'm still happy about it just having Nadia here. Oh another good thing is I'm getting a new air conditioner on Thursday! Earlier than expected! Woohoo!! They came today to check if it's still broken(yeah kinda dumb) and then they said "oh yeah we have a new unit ordered and coming for the master bedroom" and I said "uh no, that's for my bedroom." Then he thinks for a minute and goes "oh yes, sorry sir, so sorry, your bedroom." So luckily they mentioned it so I could correct them, I would have been so mad if they had replaced Trina's and mine was still broke! But anyway I am quite happy about that and excited for the weekend shows!

Changes

Well today is the day, our new girl Nadia is arriving this evening! She gets in around 9:30 and gets to stay in the hotel for the first couple nights until Trina is gone. We are rehearsing with her tomorrow and Wednesday for 4 hours each day, that's gonna be some long days but I am just excited! Who knows yet if this will be a good change or not but I am just so bored of the same old stuff that any change will be OK with me! Nadia is supposed to start doing the shows with us Wednesday night, but of course Trina booked her ticket a day earlier than she was supposed to so now either Nadia has to start Tuesday night or we'll just do one night with just me singing, we shall see.
Besides that everything is just normal. The weather has been SO humid for the last few days. Today it's actually a little cooler than it has been, I mean to say the word "cooler" probably isn't right because it's still freaking hot, but it's a little less than it has been. My air conditioner is still broke of course, but at least I'm getting closer to getting a new one!
The shows have been alright, nothing too exciting, we did have a bigger than usual crowd on Friday so that was nice. And then the day off was good, I went and wired some money home, did some grocery shopping and then just chilled the rest of the day, that makes for one relaxing day!
Just in case you haven't noticed, the countdown clock says 47!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! Well that's about it for now, I hope everyone has a great start to their week!

The Scoop

It's been a couple of days since my last post and with everything going on of course I have more information now! So we just found out yesterday that we are getting a replacement for when Trina leaves. Her name is Nadia and she's from Canada. I guess she used to be in one of the other bands but now is just on call for emergency situations like ours, so I am quite happy about that news. Anyway she will be flying in on Wednesday to start doing shows with us. I'm really excited to have somebody new in here and from what I've heard she's really nice and really talented, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that both of those statements are true.
Also yesterday Georges called everyone and told them that they have to start in Thailand earlier than he had told them before. So originally they were going to start like the second week of September, but now they have to start the third week of August so that cuts all of their vacation time by more than half! This is just another check on the list for reasons that I am so glad I am not staying any longer. I would have been so upset to find out that I was only getting like 2 weeks to go home for a visit, that's not long at all, but luckily I don't have to deal with that issue.
In other news they told me that I will get a new air conditioner in my room in two weeks, yeah two weeks, so that means I get to deal with the fun heat until around June 22nd. Yay for that. But I'll make it work. They did at least fix the one in the living room so I can go sleep in there for awhile which is better than nothing!
Last night the shows were pretty awesome, we had a huge crowd and people started dancing from the very first set and that never happens! So it was a great night! So much fun. Well Happy Friday everyone, I hope you all have a great weekend!

Something Fishy

I just have to have a moment to let some steam out. I'm getting really frustrated with this whole Trina situation. I don't even know if her sister is really even sick or not, there's been lots of little things said here and there that just don't add up so it's really weighing on my nerves. I don't want to get into all the details but basically I think she has a different reason that she's leaving but she just isn't saying it. But beyond that she also changes her mind daily about what she is going to do. First she said that she is leaving for a couple weeks and will come back to finish out the contract. Then a couple days later she decided that she doesn't want a time limit and will not be coming back and that's when Georges told her she wouldn't be able to go to Thailand with the band if she didn't come back here. She said she didn't care and that her family was more important. But then yesterday all of a sudden, now her job is more important so she said she's leaving and will be back in two weeks. But the lady that manages all our travel and Visa's and everything said that when she comes back she will be on a tourist Visa and it only lasts 27 days so she can only come back for the last 27 days, which means if she leaves on Saturday then she will be gone 3 weeks before coming back for the last 27 days. She also can't stop talking about how excited she is to go to Disneyworld while she's in Florida, now does that sound like someone who is grieving over a sister? I think not. So anyway to sum it up, I still have no idea what's going on, neither does anyone else because the plan changes daily. Alright now I feel better just letting that out.
Besides that the shows have been pretty normal, not too many people, last night was especially slow, but we're getting through it. Also my air conditioner is broken again, and now the ones in the kitchen and the living room have stopped working too so I literally have no where in the house to go get cool. They came to fix it today and all he said was, "it died." So I said well we better get a new one in here then, but he hardly spoke any English so he just kept saying, "yeah, it died, it died." I took a deep breath and just said OK, and now I'll have to tell JD and have him deal with it because I don't know what to do, but I know I can't live 2 more months in this heat like this! Well I think that's about all I have to report on, sorry it's kind of negative today, but hopefully things will look up, only 52 more days!!

Goodbye Trina

Whelp, it's official, Trina got her US Visa today and said she'll be leaving at the end of the week. I have mixed feelings about it all. Firstly, I will miss having her around especially on stage because we make it fun up there together. Secondly, there will be a little less drama without her. Thirdly, I'm nervous about doing the whole show by myself, especially since we will now be a dude only band and pretty much the whole audience is guys so I think we might lose some of our crowd. But fourth, it might make the time go by faster just having to switch things up a little. So yep, those are all my feelings about the situation. I will report more on that once it happens and things get going.
Besides that things are just going on as usual. The shows were pretty good last night, we had a big group in the club that got up and danced most of the night so it made it more fun for us. Hmmmm...what else? I'm thinking but nothing is coming to mind ha ha.
I was shocked when I got on here and my countdown calendar said 54 days! That was a nice little surprise, I mean I'm pretty aware of the time usually but 54 just seems like such a small
number and seeing it in plain sight was just beautiful. Well I think that's about it for now, Happy Monday!!

New Month

Well it's a new month already! I can't believe it's June! Like I've said before time seems to be going so slowly each day but then when I look back I can't believe how fast it's gone. That's so weird, now only 58 days left! Ah I love that number, just seems so little and manageable!
Things have been going good, just the usual, except the shows have been really uneventful the last few nights but eh, it happens.
I do have a little news though, I guess Trina's sister is in the hospital and is really sick and the doctor's said she only has a few weeks to about 3 months to live. So Trina is trying to decide if she should go visit her now or just wait til we are done here. If she leaves then Georges doesn't think she will be able to get back into Oman because it was already so hard for us to get in. And she needs the money for her kids and stuff so it would be really hard for her to be out of a job for a bit. Plus her sister is in Florida so Trina has to get a US Visa to get in and she's having a really hard time with that too. So basically she's having lots of issues right now and we'll just have to wait and see what happens and what she decides to do.
I think that is about all the excitement I have for today!