Getting Comfortable...Sort of.

Today was a little better than yesterday. Still feeling like I have a long way to go, and that the people in charge wished I knew more, but it's working I guess. There were a lot of silly mistakes and misunderstandings of instructions even after they were explained and double checked. 

We started the day laying Marley floor for the dancers. That was kind of fun, actually. Everyone said Marley was a pain in the but and tedious, but I enjoyed it. You have to even out the floor first. If there are uneven sections, they get gaff taped over so the differences aren't as intense. Then, roll out one piece, tape down the end, and then tab the end on the opposite side of the stage. Then, when it's all positioned properly, you stamp it out in a straight line so you can flatten it. I guess big theaters have rollers (like mini steam-roller type things) that flatten it faster and easier, but I didn't mind the stamping. You have to do that same process for each strip of Marley. And sometimes, since the Marley was old and had been in storage, there were holes, rips or tears that we had to gaff tape over to smooth them out. Once the whole floor was laid, we went over it with Purple Power solution to get the grime and old gaff glue off of it. Some of it would come up if you went over it with new gaff (working it like a waxing strip), but not all of it. So that was a cool experience. I'd never done that before. 

Then, Sean and I went back to the whole cabling and label process. We ran cable for the side catwalks and then cross beams. It was cool - Jarrod sent us up with the plot and the instrument schedule and we had to find the lights that were in the right spot, run the cable, label it, and make it pretty. Sean was unsure of how to read the plot and confessed that he didn't like the paperwork and the technicalities of everything. I felt perfectly at home. We had a little bit of confusion because Jarrod forgot to tell us that all the house instruments were listed and we were only cabling the bolded ones, once we figured it out, we were on a roll. I think it took us longer than Jarrod wanted, and it was a bit a set back and point of frustration, but we got through it and everything was set up correctly. 

Once that was done, we moved on to the boom poles. There are 4 booms stage left and 4 stage right. We had to remove the C-clamps from all of the lights and then attached them to side arms on the booms. Chris is our Journeyman Carpenter, but he also knows rigging and electrician work and has done a bit of professional theatre work. So he knows what he's doing, for the most part. And sometimes he likes to rub it in our faces when we don't know exactly what we're doing. So we're trying to get the c-clamps off of these lights and I struggled a lot. I am weak to begin with, and my wrench is only a 4 or 6 inch instead of an 8 inch, so I don't have as much leverage. And when I say I can't move it, his answer is "you have to." Helpful. But eventually I got him to get the ones I couldn't and we got the lights on the booms and kept on our way getting things done. It was tough doing the lights on the top of the booms because it was awkward holding them in the air and tightening a c-clamp on a vertical pole and what not - but it got done, needless to say.

Then, the big test came. Jarrod and Andrew had a production meeting. So they were leaving Katie, Sean, Chris, and me a huge list of things to complete (more than we could have been able to do) to keep us busy while they're gone. Once they're out, Chris brings up the idea that it's a test to see that we're working hard and that we can handle ourselves and everything, and that they would come back and check all of our work. So we start busting our butts to crank everything out. We got it done for the most part. One boom downstage left didn't seem to have the right multi, but when Jarrod came back, he showed us where it would break off and plug in for the boom as part of a show rep. I remembered him telling me about it, but I'd forgotten and I felt bad because I hadn't written it down when we'd talked. But he said he didn't expect us to get as far as we did, so it wasn't too bad. Needless to say, we passed the test. Chris was good and organizing and directing us and planning out the tasks. Katie was good at helping and encouraging and everything. We got through it. Solid.

So we're working on running the now found cable to the downstage left boom, and at this point I was tired and everything, and frustrated with the minor tasks I'd been screwing up, and stressed/nervous because I didn't want to screw up again. And Jarrod told me to get a break-in for the multi which would have a male connector to the multi and female circuits. But somehow I got female and male mixed up in my head (stupid, right?) and had to re-do the whole thing. And you can tell when the people above you get frustrated at the stupid things your screw up. So that was annoying. But I wont make that mistake again any time soon, you can count on that. So I've been struggling a lot with little things like that, but I guess it's good to struggle with them now and get it out of my system, instead of screwing it up on a job where I am not an apprentice and expected to be learning. 

And I've been compiling a list of things that would be good to have if I want to work for real in a theatre. Or even just in my regular work at SVSU. Things that we tend to have on hand so I don't get my own, or that we get around not having, but really are necessities. 

Headlamp, instead of trying to hold a flashlight while focusing lights or doing other hands-on work. All the cool, important, experienced people have them. 

8-inch wrench. To get those lights that I am a little too weak to master. 

Good hammer. Mine is little compared to most peoples. And a little bent. 

Bungie coil thing for wrench or hammer. Most people have them for when they work in harnesses or in the lifts. they're helpful, unlike my tie-line on my wrench that is always too short and hangs funny and gets in the way. 

Carabiener clips. They are helpful for holding things. 

Tool belt or belt clips to hold things. I never have enough pockets to carry everything.
Real cargo shorts for women. I've been learning that my cargos have fake pockets when I really need them to be real. 

And I'm sure it will get longer as time goes on.