So today was another long day - in at 8am, out at 9pm. But it was a lot easier than yesterday. No outdoor work - we stayed strictly inside the Robinson Theater. The warm outdoor air was actually welcoming after the hard work inside. Even with the AC running, it wasn't chilly - just a comfortable working temperature. I kind of missed the sun, though.
Anyway, we got right to work where we left off, labeling cables and circuiting the units. It was pretty dull. I had to keep asking a lot of questions about the system and had to redo a few labels because I misunderstood what the M.E. wanted. I am perfectly capable of doing the work, but when his system is so different from what I'm used to, it's hard to switch over. I feel like he might label me slightly incompetent as he keeps correcting me. But I always get it right in the end. Maybe it's just me being paranoid because I don't do it right the first time, but I don't know. I still have a lot of things to learn. Even when it's just the proper way to do something that I've been half-assing since I got in to theatre.
After the cabling, the boys wen up and started throwing weights so we could take the batons up to the right trim height. I started labeling multi-cable with Katie so we could power the electrics as they went. It was pretty easy going work. Eventually, Sean and I went up to the catwalks and ran some multi from the circuits there to the floor level where it could be used to power electrics without raceways. I've never worked with multi, really. It was cool. The breakouts come from the multi which is plugged in at floor level, and then the breakouts are run with extension across the baton so the units can be powered, rather than having a box and running extension or having the actual raceway. Anyway, Sean would often go to run a piece of cable, or we would discuss how to do a certain piece of the work, and we would talk it out and do it the way I thought would be most efficient, and then the ME would come over and fix it to the way Sean had been wanting to do it. It was a joke at first and then it got frustrating. I wanted to make the right decisions the first time. And I kept feeling like that was another reason for the team to get frustrated with incompetency, although it wasn't really a big deal in the end. One we had to run a lot of connector cables, and I asked the TD to send some up, and I just assumed they were the proper gage because he was the TD and I thought he'd know. And we ran all this cable and when the Jarrod checked it, I had to go back and re run some of it because it wasn't the right gage. It was mostly Sean and my fault for not checking, but we didn't even think the guy in charge would have handed us the wrong stuff. But he's not the lighting guy. He knows all the big stuff, Jarrod knows all the specific lighting stuff. We got the work done and made the cables look pretty and everything got done. If we ever have to do any of it in the future, I'll be ready.
After that work, I went up to the apron bar (which was a lot lower than the one at SVSU, thank god) and started to run cable there. It was also frustrating then when I needed things to be reexplained to me, and I could just come down or have someone come up and show me what was going on. I had to find the lights that were already up there, move and space them properly, figure out where the breakouts were so we could have circuits for the units, and then run cable when things were out of reach. It wasn't honestly as bad as it sounded, but it took me a while because I'm short and a little out of reach of the apron pipe in most cases. I had forgotten a flashlight and a drop line and tie line at first, only going up with my wrench like I would at SVSU. We don't usually run cable in the air - our apron pipe is so high it's sort of an "it is what it is" basis, unless Tom wants to go change it. Once I got the tools up that I needed, it worked out decently. I got the cable tied up, though some of it isn't in a proper clover-hitch. But I think it's okay. The ME seemed pretty understanding that the apron pipe wasn't really worker friendly.
So anyway. It was a long day. Not as hard as yesterday. I don't feel as starved or dehydrated. But it was frustrating because there is so much that I have to learn about real world theatre, and I am working with so many people who already know a lot of that stuff. They've worked on Broadway or in real theatres or have theatre degrees and lists of experience. It's crazy. It's great to be able to work with them and make the connections, but it's intimidating, and it really makes you realize where you're at in your line of work.
I have a long way to go.
Lets hope the next 4 weeks are a good jump-start to where I need to be.
But. I'm peacin' for the night. Off to the porch to hang with the housemates until bedtime.
Back tomorrow at 8am. Supposedly we might get out early. Here's hoping.
Anyway, we got right to work where we left off, labeling cables and circuiting the units. It was pretty dull. I had to keep asking a lot of questions about the system and had to redo a few labels because I misunderstood what the M.E. wanted. I am perfectly capable of doing the work, but when his system is so different from what I'm used to, it's hard to switch over. I feel like he might label me slightly incompetent as he keeps correcting me. But I always get it right in the end. Maybe it's just me being paranoid because I don't do it right the first time, but I don't know. I still have a lot of things to learn. Even when it's just the proper way to do something that I've been half-assing since I got in to theatre.
After the cabling, the boys wen up and started throwing weights so we could take the batons up to the right trim height. I started labeling multi-cable with Katie so we could power the electrics as they went. It was pretty easy going work. Eventually, Sean and I went up to the catwalks and ran some multi from the circuits there to the floor level where it could be used to power electrics without raceways. I've never worked with multi, really. It was cool. The breakouts come from the multi which is plugged in at floor level, and then the breakouts are run with extension across the baton so the units can be powered, rather than having a box and running extension or having the actual raceway. Anyway, Sean would often go to run a piece of cable, or we would discuss how to do a certain piece of the work, and we would talk it out and do it the way I thought would be most efficient, and then the ME would come over and fix it to the way Sean had been wanting to do it. It was a joke at first and then it got frustrating. I wanted to make the right decisions the first time. And I kept feeling like that was another reason for the team to get frustrated with incompetency, although it wasn't really a big deal in the end. One we had to run a lot of connector cables, and I asked the TD to send some up, and I just assumed they were the proper gage because he was the TD and I thought he'd know. And we ran all this cable and when the Jarrod checked it, I had to go back and re run some of it because it wasn't the right gage. It was mostly Sean and my fault for not checking, but we didn't even think the guy in charge would have handed us the wrong stuff. But he's not the lighting guy. He knows all the big stuff, Jarrod knows all the specific lighting stuff. We got the work done and made the cables look pretty and everything got done. If we ever have to do any of it in the future, I'll be ready.
After that work, I went up to the apron bar (which was a lot lower than the one at SVSU, thank god) and started to run cable there. It was also frustrating then when I needed things to be reexplained to me, and I could just come down or have someone come up and show me what was going on. I had to find the lights that were already up there, move and space them properly, figure out where the breakouts were so we could have circuits for the units, and then run cable when things were out of reach. It wasn't honestly as bad as it sounded, but it took me a while because I'm short and a little out of reach of the apron pipe in most cases. I had forgotten a flashlight and a drop line and tie line at first, only going up with my wrench like I would at SVSU. We don't usually run cable in the air - our apron pipe is so high it's sort of an "it is what it is" basis, unless Tom wants to go change it. Once I got the tools up that I needed, it worked out decently. I got the cable tied up, though some of it isn't in a proper clover-hitch. But I think it's okay. The ME seemed pretty understanding that the apron pipe wasn't really worker friendly.
So anyway. It was a long day. Not as hard as yesterday. I don't feel as starved or dehydrated. But it was frustrating because there is so much that I have to learn about real world theatre, and I am working with so many people who already know a lot of that stuff. They've worked on Broadway or in real theatres or have theatre degrees and lists of experience. It's crazy. It's great to be able to work with them and make the connections, but it's intimidating, and it really makes you realize where you're at in your line of work.
I have a long way to go.
Lets hope the next 4 weeks are a good jump-start to where I need to be.
But. I'm peacin' for the night. Off to the porch to hang with the housemates until bedtime.
Back tomorrow at 8am. Supposedly we might get out early. Here's hoping.
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