Three words- Counter weight system!

First off, happy New Years and a belated happy holiday season. I didn't really have anything worth writing about, beyond a sentence or two on Facebook. Before break, I was offered a job through the Division of Performing Arts at U of I. I work on the electrics crew doing generally the same stuff I was caught doing in the auditorium at VHS; but now I get paid (by the book) to do it. The only downside was that I had to cut my break two weeks short to come back to Iowa City and work 40 hours a week before classes started, but if I enjoyed doing it at Valley, then I didn't think I would mind doing it here. Also, there really isn't much left for me in Des Moines. My life has shifted to Iowa City, and I think that this is where I'm going to be this summer as well.

It's now been a week since I started the job, and I absolutely love it. My boss is like a way younger (but nearly as sarcastic) Mr. Borstad who swears just as much. I'm the youngest one on the crew, but that doesn't bother me. Everyone just seems to click and works well, as well as goofing around once and a while. Everyone just looks like a techie, acts like a techie, talks like a techie, etc, it's awesome! I don't work nights or weekends, unless I'm doing board op for one of the shows. Not only do I work in the theatre department, but I also work in the dance studio, and the occasional operas. Unfortuneatley, due to a large amount of water this summer, Voxman and Hancher are still inoperable, so the operas have been moved about througout the rest of campus or downtown Iowa City.

I still can't believe that I have this job, and probably won't believe it until I get my first pay check. I've got a job doing something that I love and am good at. I get paid to be techie and show up in grungy jeans and a sweatshirt. No one cares what you look like, there is no dress code, or formalities; just show up and do the work, and don't be a jerk about it. I can pick when I work and for how long I work as well.

I loved what I did at Valley, even though I would bitch about it a lot, I really enjoyed it. The concerts, plays, meetings, or whatever else needed technical assistance really fascinated me. The auditorium at Valley will always have a place in my heart, I know every knook and cranny of the place and didn't mind spending hour after hour there doing stuff. Now I'm here and I've got a whole new place to fall in love with. I've gone from one theatre to four theatres, Space Place- dance theatre in North Hall, Mabie theatre, Thayer theatre, and Theatre "B"- all in the Theatre Building. Each theatre is completely different in set up, and each has it's own system of complex cats and grid systems. I now have four booths to call home and chill out in. Also, these performing arts divisions have money. That means no more "A" frame ladders, we now have Genies for each space. No more "just grab what lights we do have", now it's "put the 50 extra lights up in the gallery", or "get 15 36 degree Source 4's and 23 26 degree Strands". We've got lights that cost 10 grand and gobos and gels like you wouldn't believe. Every show has a lighting designer, which means every show has a lighting plot which has to be put together in a specific order. We've got Master Electricians and a crew of 10+ people, not 3. I've got a black box theatre, 2 thrust stages- with one of them being a beautiful main stage with a huge show (4x the size of Valley's), and a proscenium stage with a beautiful dancer's floor. There's prop storage like you wouldn't believe, and it's all organized! The two things that I like most about this job, is A) we don't have to scramble for lights, headsets, boxes, or cabels and B) the counter weight system in Mabie with a 52' fly space. I've never worked with a fly space or a counter weight system. No more having to spend twenty minutes cranking down the electrics and 40 to crank it back up. No more having to get the entire BD and BDT together just to hoist the scrim back up to the batons. It takes one person, just one person. No more fraying ropes and impossibly heavy curtains. It's incredible!

I really do love my job and I'm so fortunate that I found it so soon. No more kitchens for me or depressing off campus jobs. I do what I love and what I'm good at. It's incredible.

~Until Then

PS- Who's going to be at Parent's Night on Friday?

One week down and what a week it was.

Okay so technically I still have one more class to go before I can officially call it a week, but I've got another 2 hours of a total of 6 hours in between the two classes I have today. So I'm going to write this. It's been a blast. I don't think I'll have any hard classes this semester, which is awesome. I don't have any math, science, lecture, or discussions classes this semester. Two of my classes (which both just happen to be theatre classes) are hands on, so it give me a break from German and Rhetoric.
I auditioned for the fall shows last night. They group all of the auditions into one setting so all the directors are there and can pick and fight over who they want in their casts. Now, as most of you know, when ever I've auditioned in the past, it's with 1-3 people watching me, and they are about 100 feet away. Well since our lovely theatre building is still under flood repair, they've moved it to a classroom. I walk into the class room, not only am I 8 feet from the nearest director, but there are about 30 of them watching me. I get to choose my monologues for the first time, and you have to fill 3 minutes preferably with two contrasting monologues. I guess nerves helped, because when I was practicing, I was at three minutes or over. But with the adrenalin, I managed to spit out both in three minutes while still maintaining a good pace. I had them laughing with the comedic monologue, so I left the room on a great adrenaline confidence high. Now I just have to wait a week for the cast lists to go up.
It weird having all this ample time in between classes, instead of just 5 minutes. Normally I go back to my dorm and do homework so I can have evenings free. I also managed to land a job today. I work the the Hillcrest market place (cafeteria) and it's during the morning and/or afternoons so it won't ever conflict with theatre rehearsal, which is awesome. My schedule this semester is super bad ass. I think I can do this whole college thing after all.
Oh I guess my teachers are all right. My German teacher is really young and from England, so she has a crazy strange accent. She speaks only in German unless we don't know the word, so that really helps. She like a mix between Hansen and a small psychotic dog. My Acting teacher is a lesbian first off. That's like the 4th thing she told us in that class. She's very strict, but in a good way. She knows what she's talking about and is willing to help you, but only if you're wiling to work. But the class is only for theatre majors so that will really help. My theatre design class is taught by a temp unfortunately. I have a feeling this class will be a fluff class. But she seems nice, and has let us out super early so far this week. My rhetoric teacher is a grad student and has no clue as to why he's in the class. He's really quiet, and the class will probably walk all over him. Also it's taught in the basement of a majorly flood damaged but repaired building so it reeks of stagnant flood residue.
For those of you who care, Fall Nite is Sept. 18. I'm going back, but it'll be a one day round trip, so I won't have time to do much after the show. Hope to see you there.
~Until Then