Tex-Mex

Alex from Ecstasy

Howdy, ya'll!
Greetings from the best state of 'em all - the Lone Star Texas, home of liberty, opportunity, and rich farmers, who buy photos with closed eyes in them. Carnival Ecstasy, the new home of Janint and myself, is one of the money-making ships of the Carnival fleet. Not the least because of the nature of our guests here. They are very pleasant, good-natured country folk, who don't get photographed much. They also have plentiful cash in their pockets, so they buy A LOT of pictures, giving us bi-weekly bonuses ))

The first few days on board felt very strange for us. The ship had just returned from dry dock, and most of the crew were new here. No one knew anyone, people in the hallways looked alienated, and crew bar dynamics were subdued. Janint was kind of depressed, actually. The atmosphere is a bit warmer now, as photo team members got a sense of each other's personalities and settled into a routine. Galveston-Progresso-Cozumel. Galveston-Cozumel-Progresso. Galveston-Cozumel-Galveston. 5-5-4. 5-5-4. You know what you are supposed to do, you do it with speed and quality, and then enjoy your free time.

I have to agree with Jimmy, though. I was pretty surprised with the quality of photograghs of many *senior members of the photo team. They make a lot of very obvious mistakes. Bad lighting, shadows on faces, ugly group shots. And the only reason they can shoot the dining room in 10 minutes is because they rush through it without asking anybody, skipping whole tables!!! Take that, Farai!

I miss you, people. We sure had some fun moments together. Stay in touch, and special spasibo to Jimmy for providing the means for it.

Peace & Love
Alex