May 13, 2002
Moving and Everything After
I blinked, let the sunlight filter and focus into my eyes and saw a weekend pass by in a flash.
Saturday
Woke up after a long night of hanging out with friends. The alarm had been set for 7:00AM - I was pumped; I was going to get to Miguel early and get one of the singles! Finally got up around 9AM. Packed the last of my stuff up: the room was full of brown garbage bags, and random boxes from what I could find in the hallways. Stole a cart to make the move out BEARABLE.
Three car trips to the townhouse later...
All of my stuff is in. I got a single on the second floor: nice view. I spend a few hours unpacking, then running to straighten up my old room. We order Chinese that first night, and begin to realize how cool living in Miguel for the summer is: We're the only ones here, with no SDRs (those people behind the turnstiles) and very little supervision: we are the supervisors. Then the responsibility kicks in, that yes, we are the supervisors around, the damn summer RA's.
Sunday
I woke up to the sounds of "Pomp and Circumstance" booming from across the street. It was about 10:15am; the procession had started at 10AM. I walk over, and hang out and listen to the sounds of my friends and acquantainces graduating. The highlight of the ceremony was the beachball being passed by the crowd, and the La Salle "Security" officer who confiscated it when it went off too far to the side (to the sound of booing from the graduates...) During some of the speeches I climbed to the third floor of Wister and took some pictures. The picture to the left is one of those pictures, after editing in Photoshop.
The major high point of the day was standing where the procession exited the stadium and seeing the graduates walk past, and saying hello, and congratulations. Bittersweet: I know I'll see most of these people again, but when...? Good luck guys and girls.
Sunday night was uneventful. Went to Wawa for dinner (yay Hoagies!) and just hung out with people. Bonded with the people here - a very good thing.
Monday
I woke up at 6:30AM. AARGH. The Pennsylvania Ballet, through an outreach program, was renting the theater for some shows this week, and I was being paid to do some lighting for them. I tried without success to get in on Sunday night to hang and focus some stuff. Since this was a paying gig, I sacrifices sleep and sanity and went in at 7am to do the work I should have done the night before. It went amazingly smooth: hung an awesome light-plot for them, and had the strips gel'ed in 4 different colors (ugly amber, pink, purple and blue) by about 10am - the time everything started happening. Around 10, we hung backdrops for a while...these huge cloth monsters rented from somewhere in New York. I left for a while at 11:30 - had a lunch to go to.
The Day One hosts, along with all of the other summer staff went to lunch in Chestnut Hill. The Dean, Assistant Dean, and other people were there as well. The guy Day One Hosts are extremely quiet and reserved, while the females are incredibly outgoing and loud. It provides an interesting group when we're fully together. The food was great, the company compelling, and no one wanted lunch to end.
Got back to the theater at around 2:30. Solved the audio problem. We got the cable we needed. I'm in my element again: technical director, the guy you go to when you need something done. I love it. The kids rehearsed until 5PM. The program rented what I can best call "overkill" in a sound system: a 24-channel Mackie board, with 17 Shure Wireless UHF Microphones jacked in - each actor has their own wireless mic. Amazing; the Masque couldn't afford such luxuries, and the theater's acoustics don't really warrant the overkill in my opinion...but then again, its cool having an audio board again, and it adds lots of shiny things and blinking lights to the theater, so its good.
Finally got done writing cues for the day at 6:30. Got soaked in the worst downpour I've ever seen at La Salle, but by the time I got back to my room it had cleared. Cooked for the first time tonight - spaghetti. Yum.
After that, I just kind of hung out: the RD's came over with a few other people to watch Road Rules/Real World Challenge. I have to be back at the theater at 7:30am tomorrow. Not fun...but the pay is pretty decent. I kinda want to do this for a career if I can make it pay - direct facilities at some performing arts center somewhere, be the "go-to" guy for the technical stuff.
Epilogue
I'm exhausted now. I can't believe how much has happened to me all weekend. I want to pinch myself and wake up sometimes: this all seems so surreal, the job, the townhouse, the people, La Salle without students.
I hope I don't wake up for a while.
Posted by Matthew at May 13, 2002 11:26 PM