It was Omar's birthday today. His 23rd birthday. Sometimes I feel as if I'm sharing my cabin with one of my kids. And often I have to stop myself from treating him like one.

But he needs looking after.

I already mentioned that Omar has a tendency to lateness, like Memo. He's also a bit vacant, or forgetful at times, causing me to worry about him a little. The result is that I find myself reminding him of things the way I do with my own kids – something that drives my kids crazy.

But without me to remind him he might miss a show, or worse, miss the boat – literally.

The other day we had just finished the first show of the evening, and I returned to my cabin as usual, to kill time before the second show. I noticed it took Omar a while to get back, but I didn't think much of it. But back in the cabin he started taking off his tuxedo.

“What are you doing, Omar?”

“Oh, I don't know yet – maybe I go to the disco. See if I find a new girlfriend.”

“No, I mean now. Why are you getting undressed?”

“Well, I don' want to go to disco wearing a tuxedo.”

“But you have to play the second show first.”

“Oh! Tha's right. We have another show to do, don' we? Oh, man!”

Then, as starting time approached I asked him if he needed to get back a little early to set up again. He had torn down all his gear after the first show, thinking it was over (that's why it took him so long to get back to the cabin after the first show).

“Oh man! Thanks. I forgot all about that!”

This is only one example of the kind of thing that happens regularly with Omar. Soon I found myself reminding him of even little, unimportant things to save him some inconvenience or perhaps embarrassment.

As we're about to leave the ship for shore leave it might go something like this:

“Omar, do you have your ID cards with you? They'll stop you at the gangway if you don't have them. They won't let you go ashore.”

“Oh! Thanks man! I forgot.”

“How about that shopping list you made last night? Don't you want that too?”

“Yes, I do! Thanks. What would I do without you? Hey! How would you like to be my mother on the ship?”

“No thanks, Omar.”

Lately I've stopped reminding him of things so much. I don't want to be his mother. The result is that he often has to make three or four trips between our cabin and the stage before the show starts.

In the pit I'll hear, “Oh man! I forgot my music!” And then he runs off to get his music. I don't even look. He returns and organizes his music.

Then the sound tech will ask us to check the click in our headphones. “Oh, man! I forgot my headphones. I'll be right back.” I still don't turn to look or acknowledge it in any way.

Then, as lights go down and the count-in is about to start, “Oh shit! I forgot to turn on my amplifier!”. Unfortunately, the amplifier is difficult to access, being behind his music stand and under the runway the cast uses to cross over the orchestra. Down goes the music stand, again, as the orchestra stage rises.

*

Our newest drummer arrived today. He's very young-looking. But he's from New York, and he's been to Berkeley in Boston, and he's not a new hire, so he should be all right.

He's so young looking though that when I first ran into him in one of the gangways (halls) in our part of the ship, I thought he was one of the little a......s , er, kids, we've had on the ship lately, up to no good wandering around the crew areas. If we encounter a cone in a crew area we're supposed to do something about it, so I approached him.

“Can I help you?”

“No, it's OK. Just checking things out.”

Now, you have to understand that he was out of uniform, he didn't have his ID cards yet, or his ID badge, and he looked about 16, so I can hardly be blamed for mistaking him for a little f...er.

“Well, this is a crew area, and guests aren't permitted in crew areas. Come with me, please,” and I gestured for him to follow me.

“Oh, I'm not a guest, I'm the new drummer. I just got in, and I'm looking for, ah, Simon, the musical director.”

Oops.

More about our newest addition in a few days, after I develop some initial impressions about him.



Omar, center-right, nearest to camera (next to me)