The next night, Sherman told me he wanted my address so he could send me some jewelry. Ummm… no. Night three he gave me a CD a producer recorded of him. Then, in the airport on my way home I looked at the CD for the first time and lo and behold... a love note and his phone number inside. Good grief.
I like being a celebrity on the ship. People (both passengers and crew) stop me at least twice a day to ask about my next song, when I’ll sing next, or tell me how stupid the other contestants are. It’s hysterical. Danel feels like a celebrity too, because she’s with me all the time. I was in the lunch buffet line and got stopped by a young guy named Adam who told me I’m his favorite and he can’t wait til I perform again… to which joy whispered in my ear when he walked away “omigosh, you found the first attractive guy on the ship!” He later introduced me to his whole family… ha.
Another night I was in a picture line and a guy and his wife -both from Carson City- stopped and told me they couldn’t believe I didn’t get picked for the first heat (they have karaoke contests a couple nights of this week) and went on and on about how much talent they think I have. He even pulled out his video camera and showed me that he had videotaped me. He likes to videotape karaoke so he can post the bad ones online but his wife says mine will NOT be posted with the bad ones. Haha… good to know.
The best story by far has to be my “Drunk Bodyguard” one though. We were coming out of Club Fusion after Karaoke one night and a group of half drunken people were walking behind us. We turned around to glance at their antics and as soon as they recognized me, one guy yelled “You got ROBBED GIRL! Robbed! Seriously, how’d that guy win? You kidding me?” and then just as soon, his buddy splits off from the rest and starts trying to open an exit door as his wife and friends yell at him through drunken slurs to stop or they’d get arrested.
I warned his wife that he’d go overboard if he went outside, but she promptly yelled at him to do exactly that. He must be a bit too flirtatious with the female persuasion when drunk, because I think she would’ve PUSHED him overboard if she’d had the chance. Now, the guy who yelled I’d been robbed before, being the most vocal of the drunks, struck up a conversation and after a comment from me about how he was the only fan onboard who could be my bodyguard, posed for a “celebrity vs. paparazzi” picture. I'm "scared" of the paparrazi in this picture...
Danel was in fits of laughter by the time they all walked away. She’s decided hanging out with a celebrity is about as much fun as she can handle.
Then came the reeeeeally fun part. The audience voted for me to be a part of the "Princess Popstar Karaoke Finals". Oh man, I was so excited!
I sang "Any Man of Mine" by Shania Twain, and it was so much fun. Did a lil dancin and the whole place was packed with people. We had to go downstairs and then come running up a circular staircase after a camera caught us waving to the audience and when we were done performing, a guest judge panel of three of the ship's mucky mucks all gave us feedback. It was more for fun than anything else, and everyone got a kick out of it!
Afterwards the crowd's votes were tallied and a new friend of mine named Lee won for his performance of "My Girl". I've learned that knowing your audience (which included 80% gray haired men and women) is an important as the performance itself. Danel introduced me to a lady from Reno who was just adorable, and she let me know she'd voted for me.
We were each given a bottle of champagne, some little gifts from the ship, and a medal. All my fan club found me that night and also said goodbye since the karaoke nights were over and they probably wouldn't find me again. It was such a great end to the karoke adventures.
I loved being a celebrity...
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