Another season, and year, has come to a close for me with American Cruise Lines. I began performing for them as a walk on entertainer in 2010, when they added Chestertown to one of their itineraries. A few years later they dropped Chestertown, but retained me, allowing me to drive to meet the ships at other ports - usually Cambridge, MD. About the same time, the company began expanding itineraries to other parts of the country, beginning with Alaska; diverting resources, and travelers, away from the East Coast. Other expansions followed, continuing to shrink my schedule and opportunities here. But thankfully, and most importantly, I still got the calls. The tide turned a bit for me this past year with the addition of a(nother) new ship, the American Constitution, and a new Revolutionary War history themed itinerary (although this last cruise was Christmas themed). This ship presented a bit of a challenge at first, as it can carry near to twice the passenger load of most of the older ships (180 as opposed to 100), losing that smaller living room feeling in the performance space. And it has a dance floor, which I learned requires potential redirection to maintain the "concert" environment. But this last cruise presented a new issue, a non-functioning sustain pedal. As it turned out, I had spent time earlier that day pondering on the significance of a positive attitude. Conveniently, that was on my mind, and I kept it there. Or, more accurately, I kept my mind clear and free from conscious thought of my circumstance, except for how I would overcome it. The end result was actually more positive than had the circumstance been "normal". I got a chance to put in action what I already knew; that attitude will trump circumstances, in the rock-paper-scissors game of things. So, Happy New Year! And happy attitude.   :)