HAPPY BIRTHDAY STU!!

Happy Birthday Stu!!!

The title of the blog entry says it all but either way: HAPPY BIRTHDAY STU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up this morning talking to myself! I’d been having the most random dream possible. I was on the ship, running after my brother. People kept stopping me to ask questions while I was desperately trying to tell them I had to go. Getting woken up by talking to yourself is strange enough but I was completely lost and confused… It took a couple of minutes to click where I was. The men in white jackets will soon be coming to take me away, locking the door and throw away the key!

Getting dressed and heading up to the gallery I had to meet Luci and Reuben to get some presents. My crew card is the only one working. Everyone else has had theirs blocked due to lack of funds. Mine, however, no matter how much in the red I am, has never been blocked. I saw Stu in the gallery but he was helping a guest so I didn’t want to interrupt to wish him a happy birthday. 

Heading upstairs Reuben pointed out a Puma jacket he wanted. Talking to Luci she didn’t think getting Stu the shield was a good idea.  Giving Stu a call she told him to get his backside up to the Royal Promenade. In the end he chose a pair of sunglasses. It seemed a bit of a cold, thoughtless present.

Luci also wanted to call Jeni up to the shop to get her something. We’d already decided to get Jeni a scrapbook and fill it with photos. Luci thought the idea was “a shit”, too heavy and big to take home. She also asked if I’d spoken to Jeni about what to get her and if she wanted the scrapbook. What ever happened to surprises? Anyway, getting bit irritated and just left it up to Luci, she can do what she wants with the presents… I was just there to pay for it all.

Back in the gallery I started my first stint. It’s formal night so it was going to be a long one. Plus tonight we’re doing a team photo for Jeni and Reuben. Rather than take it on LSP it was suggested we use Fede’s centrum studio.

Set up was a complete nightmare. We took so long to set up the studios, I think there were about 9 in total. Someone was supposed to sort out the studio signs and only did half so at the last minute a couple of us had to run around finishing up the job. 

Running down to the lab we gathered our camera equipment and pentabs before heading upstairs. 

The ice staking show was on while we were taking the bags through Studio B. Stu and I stood watching for about 30 minutes before I had to head back to the cabin and get changed into my tuxedo. What we saw of the ice show was absolutely amazing!! I’d love to see the show in full rather than snippets here and there. It’s like watching the trailer of the shows.

Once changed into my tux I was back in the gallery for an hour. At 17.00 we had the usual meeting before the studios opened. Overall the night went relatively fast.

Normally Stu is the last to finish shooting but tonight he was so tired he closed his studio almost on time. Breaking down as quickly as possible, we wanted to get our team photo before going out to celebrate. Just as we were putting the studio bags into the store room David looked up to Deck 4 and saw that Fede’s centrum studio had been broken down. Fabio had broken down the studio… we didn’t have a studio for the group shot. 

Rather than setting up to break down we simply grabbed one of the cameras, put Fede’s flash on and rested the camera onto of a bench from LSP. Getting a group shot was funny, we took quite a lot to say the least!! 

After we had an all girl’s photo, then the guys had their turn. Next we put Reuben in the middle and all the girls surrounding him. As it was Stu’s birthday, we did the same. To make the photo unique from Reuben’s, all the girls hid their bodies behind Stu, only revealing their face of upper part of the body. There wasn’t that much space and being the smallest I kneeled in between Stu’s legs. The photo was excellent!!

Spa were hosting a themed party out on Back Deck – Black, White, Short and Tight. Typical Spa! Luci and I didn’t have anything black and white. None of my clothes were short or particularly tight so I had to settle for jeans and a navy top.

Newman had arranged to get a cake for Stu saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHREK”. We were all rushing around the find Stu. In the end we found him at the bar. We managed to get a confused Stuart to sit down. I covered his eyes so he couldn’t see Newman getting the cake out the bag and box. 

Unfortunately we didn’t have any candles which, obviously, was a bit of a shame. Either way, the chocolate cake looked fantastic! Stu’s face was a classic when he opened his eyes and everyone started singing happy birthday.

The rest of the night we just spent sitting around, having a few drinks and laughs, chatting etc. Stu by the end of the night was completely smashed and by the time he reached the cabin at 5am, had to be up and out on the gangway at 8am for another private tour. That should be a sight to see…

Top left to right: Sanela, Reuben, CJ
Bottom left to right: David, Regina, Lou (moi) and Stu

Happy Birthday Shrek!

Zoran & Raissa

Stu and his Dirty Martinis

Hernan & Eve

Typical Stu!

Celebrating Stu's 22nd Birthday

Zoran

Newman

Top left to right: Reuben (India), Newman (Brazil), Luciana (Brazil), Zoran (Croatia), Hernan (Argentina)
Middle left to right: Sanela (Serbia), Jeni (Chile), Sandra (Colombia), CJ (South Africa), Eve (New Zealand)
Bottom left to right: David (South Africa), Regina (Brazil), Stu (South Africa)