No-one will ever believe me again...

[Lindsey with an E]

Dude, this is so exciting! I'm thrilled for you! Congratulations!

[mpbrockman]

Typing from aboard the Gem. Just passing Atlantic City. NYC in the AM. Expensive internet time - even for those of us who work here.

Am I writing in very short sentences to save time? Yes.

First week down. All shows went well. I'm not sure I've ever been thrown into the company of 5 strangers plus, well, multiple directors over the last two weeks at Second City & on the boat plus our producer and have so many many different shows with so many different layers come together this effing fast. If y'all ever have a chance to do this, by all means - go for it! However, be prepared for a sh*t-ton of work (sh*t-ton being a favorite term among my castmates). I don't know why.

Our onboard director & producer leave us in the AM tomorrow in NYC. Then the 6 of us are on our own. We'll have a lot more free time since we'll go from rehearsing all day and doing shows at night (plus the murder mystery at lunch on Fridays) to a much lighter rehearsal schedule and only 3 big performance nights per week. Maybe I'll get a little downtime and be able to get off the boat. Yes, I've been to Canaveral, Grand Stirrup Cay and Nassau and been on the boat the whole time. Just looked at 'em off of Deck 7.

I've learned a helluva lot in the last two weeks and I'll get into that more on my blog; but one of the most rueful epiphanies I've had so far is that, as the MD, I'm the guy nobody notices until I screw up. So far, I haven't - but since so much of the revue/sketch stuff is archived/scripted material and I'm running a cue program on the computer (new for me) as well as playing piano - if I blow it, I can bring the show to a crashing halt in a second.

And after the show, I have to stand next to one of castmates to be recognized.

I'm OK with that. As long as I know I did the best job I was capable of and my castmates appreciate the work - I'm good with being background.

Signing off. Check www.perfectlyreasonabledreams.com or my page on FB for updates. Blog-wise, I'm still in Chicago. I promise to catch up. As hard as we've worked this week it really hasn't been different from being in Chicago, except the views are better and my living quarters have shrunk.

Miss y'all. Talk/type at you soon. -MPB