2 Happy Thursday.
3 Always my fave day of the five-day.
4 Fridays are okay but suffer from the stress of not knowing which of the eight-thousand things you were going to get done on the weekend you are going to get done
5 Don't lie.
6 I know one thing.
7 I'll be back at my computer, and know who'll care?
8 Yup.
9 Ah, it's a livin'.
10 At least I get my computer back today.
11 Good ol' geeks.
12 Moving on, Part 1: I worked the Annual EVHS Chamber Ensemble and Wind Ensemble Fall Concert last night.
13 I did me some lights.
14 I got scared early.
15 Remember when I told you that Heidi messes with electrical? I turned on the power; the lightboard lit up, and then crashed.
16 Just like the computer.
17 That NEVER happens.
18 Did. I have a confession to make. I am in the booth right now and that just happened. It's ten minutes before the performance.
19 Am I worried?
20
21 Note: This portion of today's DN is actually LIVE, people. Live last night, if that makes sense. I had my laptop and graded papers pre-show, then moved to the ETC control panel for the lights. Got it? Back to the booth. This next stuff is right before the show. Here we go:
22 Whew. Thank goodness. My laptop battery is dying. I can turn off this laptop now. No more grading of papers tonight. I can check the lightboard once more.
23 Earlier tonight I turned the power on the ETC lighting board.
24 The stage lit up immediately. It hit full and every light on stage powered like a super nova.
25 And then everything blacked out, first the stage area, then the cyc.
26 It was quite freaky.
27 I thought it was a power surge, but why would one area black out and not another?
28 It's been too long. I pulled down the master switch, shut the power off, then turned it back on.
29 I then brought the master up slowly, and lo! The lights worked! Looked pretty too, although I had nothing to do with that. Wish me luck. <laptop turned off, concert begins. awesome concert as always; lights behaved, music was off the hook.>
30 Whew. A standing ovation for the wind ensemble and percussion.
31 I envisioned earlier the entire performance blacking out. Early October is seldom a good time for electrical with me. This is a matter of history. I worried about the ultimate "Heidi trip," the blacking out of the entire concert. Didn't happen. That's why the whew in item 30.
32 Moving on, Part 2: The trips keep happening. I had reason to be worried.
33 Yesterday morning I awakened early so that I could roll over to Fed Ex and run off 200 copies of my now famous ghost assignment. I got there early and ran the 200.
34 For the record, the copy machine registered 200. The copy meter, which counts the copies AND the money owed registered 214. I didn't squawk.
35 I went to the receipt machine. I put in my card and pushed the button "get receipt."
36 No such luck. It didn't pop out a receipt. Usually does. I was going to make a ruckus but was now going to barely get to school on time. I still needed to punch holes in all the copies. No hole punch at Fed Ex.
37 Got to school, punched holes and went over the assignment with two classes.
38 By my fourth I was running low, even though I had used fewer than 100 sheets.
39 I made 200 deliberately so that wouldn't happen.
40 Evidently I set a pile of around 100 sheets somewhere. I tried making some on-the-spot and failed in one class but succeeded in another.
41 That first class never got the sheets. I had to shout the lesson plans to them. It worked, in an odd way.
42 I actually laughed, because stuff like that happens to thousands of people.
43 I got through the rest of the day using shuck-and-dive.
44 Moving on, Part the Thoid: I wanted to give feedback about the concert but sleepiness overcame me last night.
45 Our Chamber Ensemble performed Mozart, Hadyn, Faure, Shubert, and Ginastera.
46 Beyond beautiful. Pure heaven. Faure's Pavane caught me off guard.
47 Some readers will get this but most won't. There was a time when Pavane was the last thing on television before the National Anthem. This pre-dated cable, but then so do I.
48 Network television would sleep for the night. All channels would shut down like a bar. Faure's Pavane was the last call, and then they would throw an American flag out there and play the National Anthem.
49 My Mom and I used to stay up 'til all hours talking and bonding back in those awesome days, and often Pavane would signal that we'd better knock off for the night.
50 She used to look at the televsion and get sad. She said she couldn't listen to that song, that it made her really sad.
51 I never asked why.
52 It didn't matter. When our Chamber Ensemble played it, I stopped. I looked over the lightboard at the glow. I thought of Mom. I missed her, and I missed our midnight talks. I'd never heard that piece played so elegantly.
53 I missed her last night.
54 Lots.
55 Moving on, Part Four: Our Wind Ensemble ended the evening with a frolicsome piece called Children's March: Over the Hills and Far Away, a piece about children playing all day.
56 This moved into an upbeat ending called El Camino Real: A Latin Fantasy, a piece that brought the audience to its feet. Thundering standing ovation. Utterly amazing evening.
57 And my lights all worked.
58 Moving on, Part Five: Looking forward to tonight's A's/Tigers game. Verlander could be got. Love the choice of Gray. Good luck to all my A's peeps!!! Let's go A's!!!
58 Have an awesome day.
59 See you again.
60 Peace.
~H~
No comments:
Post a Comment