Tired and Sick

(This was started on August 12)
Yeah, it was bound to happen. 3 weeks of 10-12 hour days with lots of
show watching, little sleep, and not much in the way of healthy food
(more on that later)... Finally caught up with me yesterday, on my
first day off since I started. Still went and saw shows, and went out
drinking with a comedian I've gotten to know and some people he knows
and didn't get enough sleep again... D'oh!

I actually managed to get a fair amount of sleep while I was working
night shift (5pm-3am+), usually crashing from 5 or 6 until 1 or 2ish.
I don't like night shift very much though, even if it does get me more
sleep.

(It is continued on August 21)
I'm better now, although I've got some sniffles again. Should go away
after sleeping.

I go back on night shift tomorrow, and I'm kind of looking forward to
it, if only for having virtually the entire day tomorrow awake and
free to enjoy the sunshine and see plays that are at times when I'm
usually working or asleep. There are a ton of new shows in -1 too,
and I'm looking forward to sitting in on the new ones at night. Even
so though, transitioning from one to the other is like giving yourself
jet lag over a 7-hour time difference every three days while
continuing to work 10+ hour days. It's pretty crazy. Technicaly
Friday is my day off, but in the 25 hours between when I stopped
working (4am Friday) and started again (5am Saturday) I was actually
awake for perhaps 10 or 11 hours, a few of which were Friday morning,
so it was more like 8 hours awake on my actual day off, and I still
felt knackered.

It's all these new shows that have been doing it. Yesterday we had 6
new shows open out of a lineup of 10 daily performances, plus
occasional special house shows at 1:30am. I'm going to start work
tomorrow and not really know any of the shows. But now they'll be at
normal hours. The hardest thing about these has been getting the tech
rehearsals done. Since there are shows going on literally from
10am-1am (or, often enough, 2:30 or 3 in -1), pretty much the only
period in which to do tech rehearsals is in that period from 3:30 to
9:30. And a technician has to be at the techs (although sometimes we
can be covered by deputy technical managers or the technical manager
himself). Week 2 (last week, counting the weekend) was just awful.
In the 10 days from August 11th to the 20th we had 11 scheduled tech
rehearsals, on 7 days. One of those days was Fringe Sunday, when most
shows don't run and instead go to the Meadows to perform for the
masses of people that collect there. I work during the day on
Sundays, so didn't see it. Anyway, a couple of those rehearsals were
cancelled or missed, others had to add or make up time, I'm not sure
what all happened now, but I know I had to be in very early for at
least a couple of techs (although I dreamt through my alarm clock and
was 2 hours late for one), stay quite late for the whole time I was on
night shift because there was always a special show at 1:30, and once
stayed even later for a tech after that.

Part of the reason for all those rehearsals was that those 6 new shows
we just added replaced 5 shows, all of which were in only for the 2nd
week, which meant we'd had to tech them the week before, which
explains the 10 days of near-continuous tech rehearsals. Another show
started it's run halfway through last week, replacing a show that had
been there since the beginning, and which hasn't helped matters any.
Add onto that the fact that every single one of those new shows last
week had a relatively massive set or other equipment, and we had some
serious issues. The back corridor was full of instruments, spilling
into a little closet with a sink and a defunct service elevator. We
had to fill up the stage left stairway, draped off already, but then
with drum kit stands, a garbage can, props box, etc., etc., all
blocked in with a big, upturned sofa. The galleries above the stage
left and right sides were as full as they could be, with one company's
stuff getting boxed into a corner, until we sorted it out. The
downstage right wing has always had stuff in it, for the Train, the
Korean company (who, incidentally, have become much easier to work
with, mostly just communication issues at the beginning; they've
invited me over for dinner a couple times now, and they're a lot of
fun to hang out with), but last week the DSL wing, where we keep the
amps and other sound equipment, got filled with the welded steel set
of Tommy. They were also a bit difficult; their tech guy was quite
nice, but his wife, the director, was something of a screaming
banshee. She spent virtually the entire tech rehearsal (a cue to cue,
mostly) yelling at the actors about their posture, their projection,
anything. Of course it didn't really help that her cast, though
fairly energetic and rather earnest, was just not quite up to the task
of singing in a musical. She once ran upstairs shouting that the
power had gone out when all that had happened was that the switch for
one plug that she'd been using had accidentally been turned off.
Rumor has it that she was blacklisted from C venues two years ago and
came back this year under a different name. Anyway... another
company, a play (not musical this time) adaptation of Frankenstein
showed up with another ginormous set, leaving a big rolling table with
stuff piled on top of it in the stage right wing for the week. For
the Train we had to move it across stage every day so they could get
their set out and have someplace to be when they weren't onstage. I
am so glad we are past last week, hope this hasn't been too much of a
rant. Mostly I just want to try to express how crazy things were.
Much nicer now, the new sets aren't half as voluminous, once the new
shows are settled it should be smooth sailing to the end of the run.

I said I'd talk about food, so I will: way too much mayonnaise.
Sandwiches, salads, just about everything comes with mayonnaise unless
you look or ask carefully. The obvious exception would be fish and
chips, which they serve with salt and sauce (vinegary brown sauce,
delicious). However it's surprisingly expensive. The other night,
actually on the 11th, just before I started writing this, I found
myself out late and in a fish and chips shop. A look at the menu
revealed that haggis (turned out to be deep fried) was more than a
dollar cheaper, and, not having yet tried that traditional dish, I
did. Quite good actually, albeit with a slight, indescribably strange
flavor. Thinking back to China, it may be the flavor of intestines.
Mmm.... It was good enough that I got the same again the other night,
although both times I woke up the next morning not at all hungry and
feeling rather as though I'd swallowed a bowling ball. Have gotten to
do some cooking for myself though, which is fun, although creates more
dishes than anyone wants to do. Had a nice productive vacuuming and
mopping session with Adriana last night though, which was nice. The
floors are clean! I'm going to be so upset if there are many dishes
sitting in the sink when I get home... Speaking of which, it's late
and I want to get up early tomorrow and watch a lot of daytime shows
before I revert to nocturnalism. Good night.