Hello world. Are you there? It's me, Fricki.
Oh do I have a lot to catch you up on. Just so you are not worried, I am not up past my bedtime nursing poor choices and alcohol.. I will explain in just a bit why I am still up.
A few weeks ago, I celebrated Thanksgiving with the cast and crew. This was my first holiday *actually* away from my family, which was very weird. It was not a day/event that I was actually looking forward to. Ever since I was a wee little one (well, since I was born) I have spent every major holiday/birthday with my family, so to spend one away from them was a big deal for me. Luckily, the producers of the show (even though they are British) decided to throw us a US Thanksgiving dinner. This was a really touching gesture on their part, and was a great way to get the majority of our cast/crew together. The party was at the Hotel Hanford, and they actually were not planning on having a dinner until we made our plans, and to that, I am very thankful! The spread of food was actually really nice and included every Thanksgiving staple. After dinner, my table started up a game of Charades, which then (obviously) the rest of the room copied and started to join in. Being my usual self, I always guessed "The Lion King" or "Back to the Future" because those are always winners. The rest of dinner went very well, and we finally meandered back to the housing and went to bed to get ready for shows the next day. I did manage to sneak in a call to my family, which of course, I timed to occur after everyone in Seattle had imbibed a small bit, and broken up into their secondary dinners (My family can be a little skitzo). It was different to be on the end of the phone on a family day.
The show itself has been going very uneventful. I still was doing quite a bit of climbing and lamp swapping in the top of the tent, which always keeps my job interesting and fun. As you read in my last post, I hurt myself on Halloween jumping into the Wendy house... unfortunately, my knee had been bothering me all monday and towards the end of November, I injured my knee again (Mind you - I was waiting for approval from the insurance company for an MRI to see what I had hurt in my knee) tightening the harness on John before the flight to neverland (I was kneeling on the stage, and I went to lean forward and twist to cinch down the harness, something in my knee popped, and next thing I knew I was rolling on the stage in tears from the pain). That was not very fun, and the company sent me to the ER the next day (I was too stubborn to go that night.. much for the same reasons why even if I hurt myself, I would continue to work for the remainder of the show) and finally I was able to get an MRI. After spending all afternoon in the ER, my doctor came in and told me that I had a torn ACL! That was definitely a step up from the original diagnosis of a torn meniscus. At that point, I was pulled off work for the night for some additional recovery time, and I was ordered to get a brace to continue work.
This is one of those points where my path could have gone two different ways - one where I have to cab everywhere to get stuff done and get frustrated, or the one where it seems everyone turns around and tries to help. Luckily, my story is the latter. Kathleen, who is our kick-ass office/company assistant (Not sure on her exact title, but she is awesome and also hands out paychecks... so high on my list of cool people, plus she has wicked good style), offered to take me to the doctor to get fitted for my brace. So the next morning we went to the doctor and I received my Forest Gump leg brace. The brace was designed to make it very difficult to twist my knee and to prevent full/hyper extension. I was permitted at this point to return to work as long as I was wearing the brace.. so I went to work that night (Wednesday...the show runs tues-sundays) wearing the brace and on a modified track (A track is essentially my cue sheet for the show - a list of what I do when).
For the next week, I was actually quite successful at getting through work. Obviously, I was pulled off all climbing, but it would be hard to ascend a wire ladder with a giant brace attached to my left leg. A week after getting the brace, we were heading into another week of shows. On the first show of the week, I was running substage to one of my cues, and as I rounded a corner, both myself and another actor heard something in my leg 'pop' and I screamed out in pain. I managed to hurl myself all the way substage to continue the show, mind you I had tears slowly coming out as I walked on my knee and it was in intense pain. This was about 10 minutes before the end of the show. As I kept going on with my cues, I had almost everyone stop me to see if I was doing ok, which I honestly told all of them no, I wasn't ok, but that I would make it through the end of the show. This was mainly because the end of our show is very complicated, and I knew that if I stood out at the point, it would really make everyone else's life difficult and hectic, and I knew I could make it through another few minutes. After the show, I made it backstage, leaned against one of the kingpoles, and finally broke down crying. The pain at the point was almost unbearable, and I knew that I was fucked.
The next day, I was scheduled for an appointment with Dr Marans, my orthopedic surgeon, and Mariners PT, for physical therapy. At that appointment, Dr Marans pulled me off work completely and asked for approval for surgery. Getting told that you have no options except surgery is very... annoying. I am someone who is always active, running around, climbing, and in general acting like a young guy. I knew at this point that my knee was in really bad shape, and could only just mentally prepare for the long road ahead of ACL replacement surgery. My recovery time was pegged at 2-6 months.
At that point, I started coordinated my surgery/recovery. The following week I already had a trip to Seattle planned, so I was able to schedule my surgery for 2 weeks after the date of the last injury (and less than a week before christmas!). My mom surprised me by flying down to be with me during the surgery (which was a huge help) and she coordinated the first couple days of my recovery, and offered her house for the majority of my rehab (in Seattle... so she could ensure that I was not messing around on my knee and making anything worse). Our original plan was to get cut up on monday, then fly out late thursday night to Seattle so I could spend Christmas with the family in Seattle. Unfortunately, the Dr recommending on monday morning that I wait at least a week to fly, so my mom changed the flights (which ended up being a good thing, since my knee was even more damaged than originally thought) for me to fly back on monday, but still left her leaving on thursday...once again, I was destined to spend another holiday without my family! Luckily, one of my best friends, Jason, heard wind of me spending the thursday-monday in a hotel, alone, with a bottle of vicodin, over christmas, and swooped in to my rescue. He and his husband changed their plans so they could pick me up in Costa Mesa, and brought me along to their family Christmas. So I finally had a plan - get cut up on monday, recover with my mom at her friend Lisa's house (which was perfect - they were a soccer family so they knew all about ACL injuries), then crash at a hotel for a night while waiting for Jason, then transferring to his family for Christmas, do all my follow up appointments with doctors a week after surgery, then finally return home.
Next up, I had my surgery!
After my surgery, my doctor came in to tell me exactly what was wrong with my knee. Assuming I remember correctly (morphine distorts memory ability), I had a completely torn ACL, a partial tear in the PCL, and a couple meniscal tears. To put it bluntly, my knee was fucked. So the doctor replaced my ACL, trimmed up the tear on the PCL, and shaved down the meniscus. Waking up from the surgery was one of the most painful moments in my life (Rightly so - they had drilled through a bone in my leg and a bone in my thigh, plus roto-rootered the inside of my knee) as I came out of anesthesia screaming, but was not allowed to go on morphine until they were sure that I was cleared off the anesthesia. Luckily, that only lasted about 30 minutes, and I was finally given a generous dose of morphine, but still... waking up screaming in pain is not something I wish upon anyone. The decision was made then to keep me overnight at the hospital, since the surgery was a tad more excessive that we had planned, and the amount of pain I was in.
That night I spent in the hospital, kept company by a random guy who lost his appendix (well, it was actually taken out) at 2 or 3am. Monday night was where I started my new habbit - waking up between 4 and 5 when my painkillers wear out, only to take a couple more and lay in bed, awake, until they kick in. Surprisingly enough, this is not my favorite game (And gives you a good reason as to why I am up right now!). The first couple days of recovery went very well at Lisa's house. Lisa is the rallymaster for the Iron Butt Rally (my mom/step dad rode in it the last couple times) and she also had a daughter in soccer, so this was not her first time around the ACL rodeo. Lisa and my mom did an amazing job of making me feel comfortable and well fed. After a couple days with Lisa, I returned to Costa Mesa for a night before Jason picked me up to take me to christmas. I was invited to a christmas in San Diego, but I had to back out of that one after trying to go for a car ride, and realizing that nothing is easy when you have knee surgery, and car rides in particular are incredibly painful.
I was able to spend christmas eve/day with Jason, his husband, Jason's mom, and her sister. This was actually quite a lovely way to spend the holidays. Over christmas day, I skyped with my family in snoqualmie while my Step Dad opened his gift, then facetime'd with Adam/Todd who where visiting family in Charlotte (or some other random city), and Brandon (who just got an iPhone 4). After christmas dinner (and some fresh baked cinnamon rolls), Jason, his hubby, and I, returned to the hotel for some super awesome physical therapy. One thing I didn't mention before - I get to spend 6 hours a day strapped into a continuous motion machine (that cycles my knee from extension/bend over and over in a slow, controlled manner), and the majority of the day attached to a cold therapy machine (That is a pad strapped to my knee that cycles freezing water through it... like an ice pack on steroids).
So that brings me to here... awake at 6am, stuck to a machine that is plugged into the wall, waiting for my vicodin to kick in.
On that note, things are getting fuzzy. I am going to go try to catch another hour of sleep. Have a good one!
26.12.10
28.11.10
Limpin' in a Winter Wonderland
Holy smokes... Time seems to fly when you are in Costa Mesa. I swear it feels like just yesterday I was talking about finishing up the load in for the show. *checks calendar* ummm.. yah.. apparently it is almost the end of November!
There is quite a bit to catch up on.. and honestly, I have to re-read my last entry to see where we left off!
OOhh.. So lets start from the beginning. At the end of October, obviously, there was Halloween! I had some awesome plans to go with Ian (one of the lost boys) up to West Hollywood and enjoy the big party. Unfortunately, a couple days prior to Halloween, I had a fall at work :( I was going to jump up through a trap door in the stage to move a piece of scenery upstage and, unfortunately, it didn't work out so well. I normally wait for all of the actors to come through the trap first, then jump up on a landing 'pad' (really a wood box with some industrial grade carpet taped on top) then use that to get up to stage height. As Peter Pan exited, he was off balance, and we collided mid-air. Sadly, I came down with my full weight on my knee. I was luckily able to make it up onto the stage (barely) and move the house upstage. When I went to jump off the stage though, I went to put weight on it (it had already been one of my most painful experiences ever to move that upstage bit after falling...even more then when I broke my wrist or anything else I have done snowboarding) and the knee gave out, which ended with me falling off the end of the stage. I bet you didn't know my middle name was graceful. I was able to crawl back towards the landing pad that originally caused all the problems, and promptly called on headset for an ice pack and someone to cover my next cues. I sat out the next 30ish minutes of the show, and the bits I did do were very... hobbily. Back to the original story though - so I was planning on going to WeHo, but this sidelined me quite a bit (as I was planning on taking the motorcycle up to WeHo and didn't trust the knee to make the shifts on the bike) and I had to pass on that adventure.
Instead I went out with some other people, including our puppeteer (8' werewolf), our tinkerbell (fallen angel), one of the pirates (Box of kittens), some of the wardrobe peeps (a cherry sunday and some other fun things). My costume was a rush purchase between shows... not sure if you have seen the lady gaga video where she wears the blue lightening bolt shaped swimsuit...but yah... that was me! Highly inappropriate and totally hot mess. We went to a failure of a club in the OC (I have decided that they don't like random club nights) but ended the night on a high note at a gay bar in Huntington Beach. By the end of the night, there was a lot less clothing on a lot of people, and one of the dressers was hiding in the free kittens box.
Besides the Halloween fun that night, we also found time to go to Knotts Scary Farm/Fright Fest which was a resounding success. As you all know, I am easily frightened. Unfortunately, so is Ian (who came with), but Tiger Lily and Slightly weren't quite as much. I would say that night was great fun... being chased around haunted mazes by random people and screaming like little girls! My favorite part of the night was when we were going through the 'London Terror' maze, which, oddly enough, was set in London. One of the actresses jumped out at Lee (who plays Slightly) and said something to him... not only did he not get scared... he proceeded to inform the actress she needed dialect work on her accent.
The next couple weeks were a blur of rehearsals and shows. There have been the odd night of going out in West Hollywood with some of the cast/crew, and some nights of going out here in Costa Mesa. Unfortunately, most nights in Costa Mesa end up with 1 too many rounds of shots being taken (usually my fault).
I was very surprised to see that South Coast Plaza mall was already throwing up Christmas decorations on November 1.. but all of the retail stores also switched to holiday music....weeeeee.... not.
One day (about 2 weeks ago) I did take the brave step of actually going for a ride on the motorcycle (along with my trusty bottle of ibprofen). I wrangled Jeremy (our Master Electrician) and Dana P (Technical Supervisor... who also came from the Seattle Rep!) into joining me on a jaunt up the mountains. We took a great ride up 18 to Big Bear Lake (along Rim of the World Highway) then back down 38. The cruise up was breathtaking. Nice, big, sweeping turns mixed in with some tight switchbacks, ending up on a ridge that overlooks the valley. Way different than what you would find in Seattle! At one point, we stopped for gas, and my buell wouldn't start. It took a local to hand over a wrench for us to figure out the battery connections were loose. A quick turn of the nut and we were back on the road. We stopped for about an hour at the base of Big Bear for some lunch (at a cute little diner) then hit the road for the return. Sadly, by that time that we left lunch, we hadn't anticipated the sun going down. While the Valley and Costa Mesa had been lovely in the morning, riding return from Big Bear (where there was snow), in the shade, was not the most pleasant. I think Dana suffered the most, as he had no gloves, skidlid (just a top helmet) and glasses... When we finally had a chance to stop at the bottom of the mountain, we all agreed we didn't want to repeat the last bit without more clothing!
That about gets me caught up to a couple weeks ago... I am going to turn out the light now tho and get to bed. Before I do though, we are heading to Atlanta next, but will be in Chicago all summer...which means I will get to see Chicago Pride! (after backing out last year).
Ok world... have a good night.. remember to brush your teeth and look both ways before crossing the road!
There is quite a bit to catch up on.. and honestly, I have to re-read my last entry to see where we left off!
OOhh.. So lets start from the beginning. At the end of October, obviously, there was Halloween! I had some awesome plans to go with Ian (one of the lost boys) up to West Hollywood and enjoy the big party. Unfortunately, a couple days prior to Halloween, I had a fall at work :( I was going to jump up through a trap door in the stage to move a piece of scenery upstage and, unfortunately, it didn't work out so well. I normally wait for all of the actors to come through the trap first, then jump up on a landing 'pad' (really a wood box with some industrial grade carpet taped on top) then use that to get up to stage height. As Peter Pan exited, he was off balance, and we collided mid-air. Sadly, I came down with my full weight on my knee. I was luckily able to make it up onto the stage (barely) and move the house upstage. When I went to jump off the stage though, I went to put weight on it (it had already been one of my most painful experiences ever to move that upstage bit after falling...even more then when I broke my wrist or anything else I have done snowboarding) and the knee gave out, which ended with me falling off the end of the stage. I bet you didn't know my middle name was graceful. I was able to crawl back towards the landing pad that originally caused all the problems, and promptly called on headset for an ice pack and someone to cover my next cues. I sat out the next 30ish minutes of the show, and the bits I did do were very... hobbily. Back to the original story though - so I was planning on going to WeHo, but this sidelined me quite a bit (as I was planning on taking the motorcycle up to WeHo and didn't trust the knee to make the shifts on the bike) and I had to pass on that adventure.
Instead I went out with some other people, including our puppeteer (8' werewolf), our tinkerbell (fallen angel), one of the pirates (Box of kittens), some of the wardrobe peeps (a cherry sunday and some other fun things). My costume was a rush purchase between shows... not sure if you have seen the lady gaga video where she wears the blue lightening bolt shaped swimsuit...but yah... that was me! Highly inappropriate and totally hot mess. We went to a failure of a club in the OC (I have decided that they don't like random club nights) but ended the night on a high note at a gay bar in Huntington Beach. By the end of the night, there was a lot less clothing on a lot of people, and one of the dressers was hiding in the free kittens box.
Besides the Halloween fun that night, we also found time to go to Knotts Scary Farm/Fright Fest which was a resounding success. As you all know, I am easily frightened. Unfortunately, so is Ian (who came with), but Tiger Lily and Slightly weren't quite as much. I would say that night was great fun... being chased around haunted mazes by random people and screaming like little girls! My favorite part of the night was when we were going through the 'London Terror' maze, which, oddly enough, was set in London. One of the actresses jumped out at Lee (who plays Slightly) and said something to him... not only did he not get scared... he proceeded to inform the actress she needed dialect work on her accent.
The next couple weeks were a blur of rehearsals and shows. There have been the odd night of going out in West Hollywood with some of the cast/crew, and some nights of going out here in Costa Mesa. Unfortunately, most nights in Costa Mesa end up with 1 too many rounds of shots being taken (usually my fault).
I was very surprised to see that South Coast Plaza mall was already throwing up Christmas decorations on November 1.. but all of the retail stores also switched to holiday music....weeeeee.... not.
One day (about 2 weeks ago) I did take the brave step of actually going for a ride on the motorcycle (along with my trusty bottle of ibprofen). I wrangled Jeremy (our Master Electrician) and Dana P (Technical Supervisor... who also came from the Seattle Rep!) into joining me on a jaunt up the mountains. We took a great ride up 18 to Big Bear Lake (along Rim of the World Highway) then back down 38. The cruise up was breathtaking. Nice, big, sweeping turns mixed in with some tight switchbacks, ending up on a ridge that overlooks the valley. Way different than what you would find in Seattle! At one point, we stopped for gas, and my buell wouldn't start. It took a local to hand over a wrench for us to figure out the battery connections were loose. A quick turn of the nut and we were back on the road. We stopped for about an hour at the base of Big Bear for some lunch (at a cute little diner) then hit the road for the return. Sadly, by that time that we left lunch, we hadn't anticipated the sun going down. While the Valley and Costa Mesa had been lovely in the morning, riding return from Big Bear (where there was snow), in the shade, was not the most pleasant. I think Dana suffered the most, as he had no gloves, skidlid (just a top helmet) and glasses... When we finally had a chance to stop at the bottom of the mountain, we all agreed we didn't want to repeat the last bit without more clothing!
That about gets me caught up to a couple weeks ago... I am going to turn out the light now tho and get to bed. Before I do though, we are heading to Atlanta next, but will be in Chicago all summer...which means I will get to see Chicago Pride! (after backing out last year).
Ok world... have a good night.. remember to brush your teeth and look both ways before crossing the road!
24.10.10
I'm in neverland...where are you?
Hello!
Sorry again for the big delays in posting to this blog.. its a lot harder to sit down and write than I thought it would be. Man... people with real jobs that sit behind desks must get bored quickly! I think Emily (the ASM for the show) put it best the other day when she asked if my life was just a big adventure. I would like to think so!
(Fast forward 2 days)
So I was originally writing this post on my laptop backstage during a break I have in the second act.. but right after I got that first paragraph out, we had to hold the show. The actress playing Wendy had collapsed substage and we started to rush around to get her to safety. Luckily, she was ok, but was taken away to just be 100% sure that nothing else was wrong. Since we lost our normal Wendy, we got to have her understudy swap places (Mind you, this is just after act two had started). After about a 20 minute hold to clear the previous Wendy from substage and get the new one up to speed, the understudy went on and rocked the show. That was her first performance as Wendy, onstage, with an audience. She went on to perform the saturday matinee, then the original Wendy came back for the evening performance. Such crazy things can happen!
This wasn't the only show hold we have had in the time that we have been here in the OC.. we had to hold a week and a half ago when one of the be traps (we use to send mermaids up through the floor or to receive John/Michael thru the beds when they get to Neverland) broke. Luckily this was right before the final couple of scenes and we were able to put a makeshift leg under the trap that held it open. Whether the actors actually believed us when we told them it was safe to walk on is another story.
There really isn't too much to write about the show now that it has opened.. no super long crazy days of load in (but I am getting really excited about load out - all the cabling on the ground is buried under mud right now). The biggest news to come out of the tent was the fact that it rained here (*@%* you mother nature) and kinda sorta flooded our backstage/substage areas (again... making that two times so far since we have been here). Other than that, things have been fairly normal. As I mentioned in previous posts, I ended up being the truss monkey here.. so as I am writing this posting, I am warily eyeing a harness to put on and go up to the cupola to replace some lamps. If it isn't too awkward, at some point I will try to get a picture of me in the harness... it is very.... 'enhancing'... yah.. thats it.
Last monday I got a chance to go up to Hollywood for the filming of Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was an awesome experience. I was backstage with the audio team the entire time, and got to meet the lighting heads/grips and see how a TV show worked (behind the scenes). I am going back up next monday (day after halloween) to do the same thing again, and to see Good Charlotte perform.
Lately I have been trying to get up and out of the house more often, but the weather has been holding me back. Today is the first day I swore at myself for not wearing sunglasses on the bike in to work in a couple weeks. Besides going to LA for the JKL show, I made it to Disneyland a couple weeks ago, and 'attempted' surfing with one of the pirates and tinkerbell. Many of my days have been spent wandering around downtown Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Long Beach, or the South Coast Plaza Mall (amazing!). Just two days ago I finally made it to the Irvine Spectrum Center.. which is a huge outdoor mall. For those of you from Seattle.. think Redmond Town Center, but waaaaay bigger and waaaaaay cooler. I mean, where else does a shopping mall have an ice skating rink and a ferris wheel? Maybe in Las Vegas... (which I hope to make a weekend trip to shortly).
I have sucessfully made a couple of friends here in Costa Mesa... it is difficult to do a lot of friending/dating since the hours I work are the ones that most normal people are not working. Plus, when you go on a date with someone and lead in with "Well, I am only here till Jan 2" things don't typically work out so well. Such is life. I did have an unexpected visitor from Seattle come by on his way back from Palm Springs which was definitely a highlight... hopefully we will be able to make it to the LA Auto Show together after Thanksgiving (which would be amazing). I had another, slightly expected, but none the less amazing, visit from one of my best friends, Jason. He was in town visiting some friends, and I was lucky enough to snag an hour for coffee (and a good picture to send to one of my other best friends, Adam). Unfortunately the visit was only for an hour, and I had to bow out of the trip we had planned to hawaii for next week due to logistics. Instead I am going to hopefully be making a trip up to Seattle sometime in December. No holding of breaths tho.. I may just do a weekend in Vegas! ;)
Alright, it is getting close to 10am. I should probably run to the bathroom and go wrestle with this harness. Some days I miss the ability to toss a ladder up, run to the top, and swap out a bulb. Oh well. :)
**Edit**
I didn't have time to read through for spelling, but I will try to do so later today!
Sorry again for the big delays in posting to this blog.. its a lot harder to sit down and write than I thought it would be. Man... people with real jobs that sit behind desks must get bored quickly! I think Emily (the ASM for the show) put it best the other day when she asked if my life was just a big adventure. I would like to think so!
(Fast forward 2 days)
So I was originally writing this post on my laptop backstage during a break I have in the second act.. but right after I got that first paragraph out, we had to hold the show. The actress playing Wendy had collapsed substage and we started to rush around to get her to safety. Luckily, she was ok, but was taken away to just be 100% sure that nothing else was wrong. Since we lost our normal Wendy, we got to have her understudy swap places (Mind you, this is just after act two had started). After about a 20 minute hold to clear the previous Wendy from substage and get the new one up to speed, the understudy went on and rocked the show. That was her first performance as Wendy, onstage, with an audience. She went on to perform the saturday matinee, then the original Wendy came back for the evening performance. Such crazy things can happen!
This wasn't the only show hold we have had in the time that we have been here in the OC.. we had to hold a week and a half ago when one of the be traps (we use to send mermaids up through the floor or to receive John/Michael thru the beds when they get to Neverland) broke. Luckily this was right before the final couple of scenes and we were able to put a makeshift leg under the trap that held it open. Whether the actors actually believed us when we told them it was safe to walk on is another story.
There really isn't too much to write about the show now that it has opened.. no super long crazy days of load in (but I am getting really excited about load out - all the cabling on the ground is buried under mud right now). The biggest news to come out of the tent was the fact that it rained here (*@%* you mother nature) and kinda sorta flooded our backstage/substage areas (again... making that two times so far since we have been here). Other than that, things have been fairly normal. As I mentioned in previous posts, I ended up being the truss monkey here.. so as I am writing this posting, I am warily eyeing a harness to put on and go up to the cupola to replace some lamps. If it isn't too awkward, at some point I will try to get a picture of me in the harness... it is very.... 'enhancing'... yah.. thats it.
Last monday I got a chance to go up to Hollywood for the filming of Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was an awesome experience. I was backstage with the audio team the entire time, and got to meet the lighting heads/grips and see how a TV show worked (behind the scenes). I am going back up next monday (day after halloween) to do the same thing again, and to see Good Charlotte perform.
Lately I have been trying to get up and out of the house more often, but the weather has been holding me back. Today is the first day I swore at myself for not wearing sunglasses on the bike in to work in a couple weeks. Besides going to LA for the JKL show, I made it to Disneyland a couple weeks ago, and 'attempted' surfing with one of the pirates and tinkerbell. Many of my days have been spent wandering around downtown Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Long Beach, or the South Coast Plaza Mall (amazing!). Just two days ago I finally made it to the Irvine Spectrum Center.. which is a huge outdoor mall. For those of you from Seattle.. think Redmond Town Center, but waaaaay bigger and waaaaaay cooler. I mean, where else does a shopping mall have an ice skating rink and a ferris wheel? Maybe in Las Vegas... (which I hope to make a weekend trip to shortly).
I have sucessfully made a couple of friends here in Costa Mesa... it is difficult to do a lot of friending/dating since the hours I work are the ones that most normal people are not working. Plus, when you go on a date with someone and lead in with "Well, I am only here till Jan 2" things don't typically work out so well. Such is life. I did have an unexpected visitor from Seattle come by on his way back from Palm Springs which was definitely a highlight... hopefully we will be able to make it to the LA Auto Show together after Thanksgiving (which would be amazing). I had another, slightly expected, but none the less amazing, visit from one of my best friends, Jason. He was in town visiting some friends, and I was lucky enough to snag an hour for coffee (and a good picture to send to one of my other best friends, Adam). Unfortunately the visit was only for an hour, and I had to bow out of the trip we had planned to hawaii for next week due to logistics. Instead I am going to hopefully be making a trip up to Seattle sometime in December. No holding of breaths tho.. I may just do a weekend in Vegas! ;)
Alright, it is getting close to 10am. I should probably run to the bathroom and go wrestle with this harness. Some days I miss the ability to toss a ladder up, run to the top, and swap out a bulb. Oh well. :)
**Edit**
I didn't have time to read through for spelling, but I will try to do so later today!
11.10.10
I can't believe I am getting paid for this
Ahhh.. today is a day off. We have finally settled into our show schedule.. Two weeks ago we did our tech for the show and then last tuesday we opened for previews, with the press opening the following Sunday. This last week was just a normal show schedule (ish... minus the flooding and repairs). Today I am getting some laundry done and then hittin the road to Disneyland for the afternoon!
The last couple weeks have really been amazing to see the difference that this particular show is versus a normal road house tour. Now that everything has been built, the electrics are working and we are running the show, it will just be routine maintance from here on. Granted, that routine part may include dropping lights down from the Cupola to repair... it still is nothing compared to what load-in was.
I have finally settled in with befriending the cast.. (I think.. I know some of them read this, so we shall see what happens once I post) It has been totally awesome to do a show at night, then go back, drink a bottle of wine (shared amongst people...) and go hot tubbing. Best way to end a show ever! During the days I have been going around to different areas; Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Long Beach (see a theme here?). I am trying to learn to surf, but have only been out once to do so... and we can just leave it at that...
The show itself has been running well. We have only had one show stop (which was when a trap broke and we had to prop it shut for the last couple scenes). We did have a bit of a curve ball last week when (don't ask me why) it started to rain here in the OC. Apparently it does that here once and a while. The only problem with the rain is...well.. we built the tent on a big grassy field. An uneven one at that. So we walked in around noon for what was supposed to be a work call to fix some parts on the set, but turned into a mud bath as we pulled up substage decking to be able to pump out the water. Wet grass that has been heated up due to the projectors really is.. something.
This was just a quick update... letting you know I am still alive. I am off to finish laundry, then going to head to Disneyland for the rest of the day. Life out in the OC can be so rough.
The last couple weeks have really been amazing to see the difference that this particular show is versus a normal road house tour. Now that everything has been built, the electrics are working and we are running the show, it will just be routine maintance from here on. Granted, that routine part may include dropping lights down from the Cupola to repair... it still is nothing compared to what load-in was.
I have finally settled in with befriending the cast.. (I think.. I know some of them read this, so we shall see what happens once I post) It has been totally awesome to do a show at night, then go back, drink a bottle of wine (shared amongst people...) and go hot tubbing. Best way to end a show ever! During the days I have been going around to different areas; Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Long Beach (see a theme here?). I am trying to learn to surf, but have only been out once to do so... and we can just leave it at that...
The show itself has been running well. We have only had one show stop (which was when a trap broke and we had to prop it shut for the last couple scenes). We did have a bit of a curve ball last week when (don't ask me why) it started to rain here in the OC. Apparently it does that here once and a while. The only problem with the rain is...well.. we built the tent on a big grassy field. An uneven one at that. So we walked in around noon for what was supposed to be a work call to fix some parts on the set, but turned into a mud bath as we pulled up substage decking to be able to pump out the water. Wet grass that has been heated up due to the projectors really is.. something.
This was just a quick update... letting you know I am still alive. I am off to finish laundry, then going to head to Disneyland for the rest of the day. Life out in the OC can be so rough.
29.9.10
There is more to flying than just happy thoughts!
So last night was our first preview. Which means today it is currently 11:30am, and I have not left my bed. I confess, the first hour of my morning bedtime routine was taken up by watching Glee. Yes, I am that gay.
So anyway.. lets see.. last time I wrote I think we were just getting ready to tech the show. Normally I have a very love/hate relationship with technical rehearsals. Mainly because either A) the director changes their mind multiple times (usually after you finished writing a complicated cue which makes said cue redundant) or B) people do stupid things because they aren't thinking fast enough for something to happen. Luckily, this show has already been running for quite some time, and the entire cast knows what is coming up, so really it was just getting the deck crew into comfort with the show. Saturday and sunday were a blur of the show, and nothing too spectacular happened. Suffice it to say, the crew rocked the shit out of that show, and we made do with 2 days of technical rehearsals (to get the deck crew up to speed with the show) before we entered our first preview.
Which was last night! Yesterday ended up being quite a long day, with crew call at 8am, and I believe we ended up at the bar around 9pm. The preview went very well, as far as I could tell. The most enjoyable part of the entire show for me is when I am 'flying' John to Neverland (It really isn't that 'magical' ... its a little box with a joystick. HA Take that, Disney!) and the entire audience erupted in applause only a couple seconds into the flight. That was the highlight.
For this week, it is now a lighter work load... so I have to be in at 3:30 today to get the stage ready, then tomorrow (Barring any unforeseen things coming up tonight) will be another later call.. unfortunately, since I have been designated as the resident monkey, friday morning I will be going up to the high part of the tent around 8am to do some recircuiting work. That was partly my decision to stay out of the air towards the afternoon when it gets too hot. Plus I would then be able to lay in the sun for the afternoon and shower before preview :)
Speaking of the sun and afternoon, we actually had a day off! Surprising, I know. Monday was our day off this week, and I ended up spending it with some of the cast (who I am making a concerted effort to get to know.. I love them!) at the beach. We woke up and drove to some random part of Newport Beach. The temperature onsite reached 117 (I believe) but we were nice and relaxed out by the ocean. It was absolutely wonderful to run out into the water when you got too hot, not to mention watching all the little surfers...yummy.
After the beach, we went back to one of the apartment complexes that cast/crew are living in (we are a tad spread out) and we had a BBQ/pool party, which ended up with all of us drinking on the patio.
Now I am off to jump in the shower, swing by starbucks and head in to work. I have to say, I enjoy life in SoCal.
So anyway.. lets see.. last time I wrote I think we were just getting ready to tech the show. Normally I have a very love/hate relationship with technical rehearsals. Mainly because either A) the director changes their mind multiple times (usually after you finished writing a complicated cue which makes said cue redundant) or B) people do stupid things because they aren't thinking fast enough for something to happen. Luckily, this show has already been running for quite some time, and the entire cast knows what is coming up, so really it was just getting the deck crew into comfort with the show. Saturday and sunday were a blur of the show, and nothing too spectacular happened. Suffice it to say, the crew rocked the shit out of that show, and we made do with 2 days of technical rehearsals (to get the deck crew up to speed with the show) before we entered our first preview.
Which was last night! Yesterday ended up being quite a long day, with crew call at 8am, and I believe we ended up at the bar around 9pm. The preview went very well, as far as I could tell. The most enjoyable part of the entire show for me is when I am 'flying' John to Neverland (It really isn't that 'magical' ... its a little box with a joystick. HA Take that, Disney!) and the entire audience erupted in applause only a couple seconds into the flight. That was the highlight.
For this week, it is now a lighter work load... so I have to be in at 3:30 today to get the stage ready, then tomorrow (Barring any unforeseen things coming up tonight) will be another later call.. unfortunately, since I have been designated as the resident monkey, friday morning I will be going up to the high part of the tent around 8am to do some recircuiting work. That was partly my decision to stay out of the air towards the afternoon when it gets too hot. Plus I would then be able to lay in the sun for the afternoon and shower before preview :)
Speaking of the sun and afternoon, we actually had a day off! Surprising, I know. Monday was our day off this week, and I ended up spending it with some of the cast (who I am making a concerted effort to get to know.. I love them!) at the beach. We woke up and drove to some random part of Newport Beach. The temperature onsite reached 117 (I believe) but we were nice and relaxed out by the ocean. It was absolutely wonderful to run out into the water when you got too hot, not to mention watching all the little surfers...yummy.
After the beach, we went back to one of the apartment complexes that cast/crew are living in (we are a tad spread out) and we had a BBQ/pool party, which ended up with all of us drinking on the patio.
Now I am off to jump in the shower, swing by starbucks and head in to work. I have to say, I enjoy life in SoCal.
24.9.10
Days off are soo stressful...
Ahhh.... I am basking in the euphoric glow of knowing I am about to enter tech.. (please note the sarcasm dripping off that last statement). We finally got the stage done! It took about a week and a half (the first 2 days were just hanging lights and prep work). It took quite a bit of crew (shout out to the Local IATSE crew for their help!) and a lot of helping hands, but we have finally arrived. Tomorrow morning I get flown up top to the tent to troubleshoot a few lights, then we have actors onstage at noon! (lets be honest here, they are actors, that really means sometime after 1pm. So that is what I have to look forward to.
Now, looking back on the last week... lets see what I did... let me count the bruises! After we finished unloading all the trucks, it was about a 4 day process to actually assemble the stage. It is this massive steel/ply structure complete with automation, traps, projectors, stairs, and about a million places that you can slam your head into. I have the bumps to prove that last one. While getting the stage into the tent (I would normally say getting it set in the theatre, but lets be real, I am placing deck pieces on a grass field) it was always interesting to watch group think try to get awkward bits in place (precision placement mind you...except when we drilled new holes) whilst hoisting 75-350 kg above head. After a couple days of that, we were finally ready to focus on lighting! *little happy dance*
/*little happy dance*
So, normally while I run a focus, or am working on a plot, I have a fairly good understanding of what focus will entail. Typically, I am a fast guy when it comes to running my focus, or commanding (sorry, being a team leader) a crew. This was a whole different beast. For starters.. the first 'grid' was the high truss section of the tent. This is the highest part we hung a light on/around/in. To get to 90% of the lights in this section, one had to climb a rope ladder to the aerial platform (who's actual height is up for debate, depending on who you ask on the production team, how many beers he/she has had, and how feisty he/she is feeling). From the aerial platform, you secure yourself to the cupola truss (lower...where 65% of our lights are hung) then monkey up the sections of bracing that are holding up the high truss (think a ladder that got drunk, its rungs don't quite line up and it is kind of shifting to one side). From the top of that, you lean out to reach and focus a light. Very easy work. (not) But tons of fun (yes). The best part was watching our sweat drip down and onto the stage. Did you know that a tent lined with black fabric gets REALLY HOT? ya, I do now. At least I don't have to start up Jenny Craig again. From there, we then went around the lower truss (a little easier to do, kind of like herding a group of old cats is easier that herding kittens) and knocked those out. All told, to focus the stage oriented lights took about 6.5 hours with two people in the air and two people on the ground. My favorite moments usually involved me hanging about halfway out of the truss with my legs wrapped around some inner support, trying to get the barrel of a S4 19* to properly adjust.
From the truss parts, we went on to focus all of the lights around the tent. AKA - the side tent (makes sense eh?). Now, apparently you cannot hang a hot light right next to a delicate tent covering (someone said bad things happen) so the LD decided to hang lights on specially fabricated 'goal posts' *insert gay/sports joke here* pointed straight up, into mirrors, that then direct the light onstage. What an amazing concept! In practice, it is amazingly... interesting... to get those lights to focus. Just when the mirror is right, you notice the beam is off the mirror, so you move the light, then the mirror isn't in focus. Much less entertaining than watching a dog chase it's own tail, but a similar practice. Of course, once all the lights were focused, we started troubleshooting the scrollers on each light, and in getting all of them working, successfully knocked about 50% of the units out of focus. Team Peter FTW!
The last things I was working on during wednesday/thursday were troubleshooting the movers (moving/intelligent lights) on the cupola (bad lamps, broken motors, wasn't eating it's veggies, that sort of thing). It is here, that I would like to note, as cool and versitle as the VL1000 is.. they were not designed with 'ease of use' in mind. For example, to change a lamp, on the Source4 Ellipsoidal/Mac 700, and some other big names, they use thumb screws that reach a limit, then allow the back of the light to come off (so you don't lose nuts and washers...). The VL1000? Not so much. 3 little tiny thumb screws, each holding in a washer. Totally awesome when you drop one off the top deck of the stage and it falls in the brown grass. Did I mention the nut was smaller than a penny and a similar brassy color? Rock on VARILITE.
That brings us up to thursday night, which was the night we (as in the amazingly fabulous tech crew) got to meet some of the cast. They pretty much rock. I found the one gay guy in the cast that showed up at the bar, and well, we then proceeded to find the one gay bar in Costa Mesa. I know, I am amazing, you can thank me later.
I am going to wrap up this post. I am sure I will think of some creative thing to cap off last week with, but in all honesty, spending my day off at the beach was very tiring. I have to get ready for tech tomorrow (including spending the 8am-11am stretch in my personal sauna...aka the cupola). I have some other fun stories (getting flown to the aerial platform, playing swinging bags with sandbacks and the flight tracks, and how I get to play in a bathtub with boys) that will have to wait until tomorrow. Or something. I doubt I will update again until my next day off.. so hang tight, I promise it will be within the next month. Hopefully. :)
In case any of this post may give the idea that I am not happy here, I need to clarify, I am having the time of my life. I love the people I work with, I love the cast, and honestly, I started theatre work so I could be underworked and overpaid.
WTF. I meant underpaid and overworked. But hot damn, I love my job.
PS - If you haven't seen it already, and are still in the Seattle area, go check out Cider House Rule, Pt 2 (and if you missed pt 1, it starts up again next week!) at Book-it Rep! They have been kicking ass and taking names (but not last names, that is just rude).
Till next time.. have a good night ya'll.
Now, looking back on the last week... lets see what I did... let me count the bruises! After we finished unloading all the trucks, it was about a 4 day process to actually assemble the stage. It is this massive steel/ply structure complete with automation, traps, projectors, stairs, and about a million places that you can slam your head into. I have the bumps to prove that last one. While getting the stage into the tent (I would normally say getting it set in the theatre, but lets be real, I am placing deck pieces on a grass field) it was always interesting to watch group think try to get awkward bits in place (precision placement mind you...except when we drilled new holes) whilst hoisting 75-350 kg above head. After a couple days of that, we were finally ready to focus on lighting! *little happy dance*
/*little happy dance*
So, normally while I run a focus, or am working on a plot, I have a fairly good understanding of what focus will entail. Typically, I am a fast guy when it comes to running my focus, or commanding (sorry, being a team leader) a crew. This was a whole different beast. For starters.. the first 'grid' was the high truss section of the tent. This is the highest part we hung a light on/around/in. To get to 90% of the lights in this section, one had to climb a rope ladder to the aerial platform (who's actual height is up for debate, depending on who you ask on the production team, how many beers he/she has had, and how feisty he/she is feeling). From the aerial platform, you secure yourself to the cupola truss (lower...where 65% of our lights are hung) then monkey up the sections of bracing that are holding up the high truss (think a ladder that got drunk, its rungs don't quite line up and it is kind of shifting to one side). From the top of that, you lean out to reach and focus a light. Very easy work. (not) But tons of fun (yes). The best part was watching our sweat drip down and onto the stage. Did you know that a tent lined with black fabric gets REALLY HOT? ya, I do now. At least I don't have to start up Jenny Craig again. From there, we then went around the lower truss (a little easier to do, kind of like herding a group of old cats is easier that herding kittens) and knocked those out. All told, to focus the stage oriented lights took about 6.5 hours with two people in the air and two people on the ground. My favorite moments usually involved me hanging about halfway out of the truss with my legs wrapped around some inner support, trying to get the barrel of a S4 19* to properly adjust.
From the truss parts, we went on to focus all of the lights around the tent. AKA - the side tent (makes sense eh?). Now, apparently you cannot hang a hot light right next to a delicate tent covering (someone said bad things happen) so the LD decided to hang lights on specially fabricated 'goal posts' *insert gay/sports joke here* pointed straight up, into mirrors, that then direct the light onstage. What an amazing concept! In practice, it is amazingly... interesting... to get those lights to focus. Just when the mirror is right, you notice the beam is off the mirror, so you move the light, then the mirror isn't in focus. Much less entertaining than watching a dog chase it's own tail, but a similar practice. Of course, once all the lights were focused, we started troubleshooting the scrollers on each light, and in getting all of them working, successfully knocked about 50% of the units out of focus. Team Peter FTW!
The last things I was working on during wednesday/thursday were troubleshooting the movers (moving/intelligent lights) on the cupola (bad lamps, broken motors, wasn't eating it's veggies, that sort of thing). It is here, that I would like to note, as cool and versitle as the VL1000 is.. they were not designed with 'ease of use' in mind. For example, to change a lamp, on the Source4 Ellipsoidal/Mac 700, and some other big names, they use thumb screws that reach a limit, then allow the back of the light to come off (so you don't lose nuts and washers...). The VL1000? Not so much. 3 little tiny thumb screws, each holding in a washer. Totally awesome when you drop one off the top deck of the stage and it falls in the brown grass. Did I mention the nut was smaller than a penny and a similar brassy color? Rock on VARILITE.
That brings us up to thursday night, which was the night we (as in the amazingly fabulous tech crew) got to meet some of the cast. They pretty much rock. I found the one gay guy in the cast that showed up at the bar, and well, we then proceeded to find the one gay bar in Costa Mesa. I know, I am amazing, you can thank me later.
I am going to wrap up this post. I am sure I will think of some creative thing to cap off last week with, but in all honesty, spending my day off at the beach was very tiring. I have to get ready for tech tomorrow (including spending the 8am-11am stretch in my personal sauna...aka the cupola). I have some other fun stories (getting flown to the aerial platform, playing swinging bags with sandbacks and the flight tracks, and how I get to play in a bathtub with boys) that will have to wait until tomorrow. Or something. I doubt I will update again until my next day off.. so hang tight, I promise it will be within the next month. Hopefully. :)
In case any of this post may give the idea that I am not happy here, I need to clarify, I am having the time of my life. I love the people I work with, I love the cast, and honestly, I started theatre work so I could be underworked and overpaid.
WTF. I meant underpaid and overworked. But hot damn, I love my job.
PS - If you haven't seen it already, and are still in the Seattle area, go check out Cider House Rule, Pt 2 (and if you missed pt 1, it starts up again next week!) at Book-it Rep! They have been kicking ass and taking names (but not last names, that is just rude).
Till next time.. have a good night ya'll.
16.9.10
99 semi trucks to unload...99 semi trucks...
I want to start off with a short apology... I haven't been able to update this in the last couple days to a very large extent. We have been loading in the show.. which.. to say is massive.. is an understatement. We have to fit 1350 seats in a round tent, with no internal supports. The entire stage supports somewhere north of 10 traps, of which 4 are automated (Including a 10' diameter center disk that flips over), 5 flying rigs, and a two level upstage area. Oh.. and the entire stage is set about 6' off the ground.
Sooo, while I could be writing long, amazing stories every night, I really just want to sleep. Or shower, then sleep. Or have a glass of wine, a box of white cheddar cheez its, and sleep (Don't judge, you are just jealous!). Our current tally is about 27 semi trucks for the show, plus we bought another couple today. I can officially say that we now rival Lady Gaga's tour. Only ours was never meant to tour! We found out they decided to bring it stateside after how it did in London... so that is where I end up.. rebuilding a set that was never designed to travel, in a field, under a tent.
If you get some spare time, come on down and help! ;)
I will try to update soon. There is talk that we won't have Sunday off so we can get everything done...if we do get it off, rumor says Disneyland. Or sleep.
I miss all of you out in Seattle dearly.
PS - If you get a chance, there is a really amazing show (Cider House Rules, pt 2) opening at Book-it on Saturday night. You definitely should check it out. Truly amazing theatre.
Sooo, while I could be writing long, amazing stories every night, I really just want to sleep. Or shower, then sleep. Or have a glass of wine, a box of white cheddar cheez its, and sleep (Don't judge, you are just jealous!). Our current tally is about 27 semi trucks for the show, plus we bought another couple today. I can officially say that we now rival Lady Gaga's tour. Only ours was never meant to tour! We found out they decided to bring it stateside after how it did in London... so that is where I end up.. rebuilding a set that was never designed to travel, in a field, under a tent.
If you get some spare time, come on down and help! ;)
I will try to update soon. There is talk that we won't have Sunday off so we can get everything done...if we do get it off, rumor says Disneyland. Or sleep.
I miss all of you out in Seattle dearly.
PS - If you get a chance, there is a really amazing show (Cider House Rules, pt 2) opening at Book-it on Saturday night. You definitely should check it out. Truly amazing theatre.
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