Cruising The Seven Seas: I Am A Monster

I Am A Monster

28^th February 2012

For hitting our photo sales target on the previous cruise by a large percentage Dave, our Business Manager bought us a case of Monster. For those of you who don’t know what Monster is, it’s an energy drink that’s more “potent” than Red Bull.

Carolee drank a can of it the previous week and was smudging in the Statue studio, while Aniko took the photos. Their target was around 480. The pair, smashed it with over 700 pictures! Carolee put it all down to verbal diarrhoea and too much energy bought on by a single can of Monster.

Dave thought it’d be a great idea if we all had half or a full can of Monster, to see if it would enhance our performance. Fair enough. Dave has now become our energy drink pimp!

Feeling tired, I decided to take a can of Monster, drain it into my flask and leave it behind my studio backdrop in case I got thirsty. I’d only drank half a can before the first session started and I hardly ever drink energy drinks. Needless to say, it started kicking in pretty quickly.

Bobbing around, legs constantly moving, tapping my hands on the extension poles, I couldn’t keep still and a few people caught on. Jelise, Chip n Dale’s greeter asked if I was okay, I told her I’d had half a can of Monster and couldn’t keep still. Laughing, she told me how she almost got addicted to energy drinks. First Red Bull, then she moved on to Monster and finally 5-Hour, before having to chuck it in and stay away from energy drinks all together. That's not an easy task, especially on cruise ships as you're always on the go. After the energy drinks Jelise reckoned I’d probably feel overly tired which will make me want another Monster to perk myself up again. Oh shit…!

My Magical Family appeared in line waiting for Stitch. Both the boys had pirate swords (Pirate Night). Borrowing a sword, I had a couple of sword fights with them while my studio was quite. People couldn’t help but have a giggle when the youngest “slit” my chest open and I dropped to the floor, dying and no too quietly. Their Mom asked me where I got the energy from to work so many hours, go out in ports and still have some left to play sword fights. It’s all in the Monster! Her advice: try Monster and Vodka… I’m going to pass on that one!

In Ressi I charged through my sections, finding it hard to keep still while waiting for the families to get together for a group shot. Dancing through the tables, cheesy grin and bouncing around, telling people “move in, move in, get together and give me a smile” the guests were loving it. They almost became overly energetic too.

During the second session of Ressi, in Lumiere’s with Kate and Aniko, a loud blast of music came from the speakers playing “A Pirate’s Life for Me”, the waiters came out with Pirates of the Caribbean flags, waving them from side to side. All the other waiters and servers from the dining room were dancing together, moving towards a limbo pole, two people were holding up. Soon even the guests were up dancing around the dining room and doing the limbo. It was quite a sight to see! I was giggling like a schoolgirl and pulling some ridiculous dance moves. Both Aniko and Kate recommended not drinking Monster again! I don’t blame them, it's a good recommendation!

Four of us broke down as quickly as we could, while the others were condensing the photos in Shutters, we were finished in no time. Rushing to the lab, we dropped our cards and cameras off. Back upstairs in Shutters there were still a load of photos to display. Inna the new hire, was taking her time. Grabbing a stack from her pile, and smacking them up on the display panels as quickly as I could. I’m one of the fastest displayers in the team and when on Monster, I’m faster than Speedy Gonzalez on speed!

After grabbing some pizza in the mess, I was back in my cabin, lying in bed, legs twitching. Cookie came in, so I sat up speaking to her for a while. She asked me what I’d taken. It was 1am and I’m usually asleep at that time. I told her. She couldn’t stop laughing saying I look like I’m on drugs – thanks Cookie! Cookie kept laughing doing impressions of my “deer to headlights” eyes. By the time I managed to drop off it was about 2am, maybe a little later and I had to be up at 07.30. No doubt I’ll be wishing I had a Monster!

One thing is for sure though… I won’t be drinking Monster again, even if the Monster pimp does supply us with more freebies!