Too alter or not to alter (not altar...)

I don't know whether to put this in my Relationship blog or this, my regular, every day (ish) life and such blog. I guess if I actually do it, I might put it in the other blog. I am seriously considering lopping off all of my hair and shaving my "beard." I put beard in quotation marks because it isn't a long beard - it is mostly just the result of not enjoying shaving while using an electric trimmer to keep it very short. Any thoughts?

Saturday was quite a day at the Smith. I was there around 17 hours all together. We had a fairly major rock show that was pretty well attended. Load-in started at 8 in the morning, though the organizer and I both got there at 7:30 am. I am not a morning person, but I ended up waking up at around 6 after not sleeping for more than an hour or so in a row that night. Sigh. But I dug my bushy tail and bright eyes out of my dresser and slapped them on before heading downtown.

The crew who were doing sound and light and the driver of the tractor trailer truck for the band were already there and waiting before I got there! What time did they all get up? I got there so early for two reasons. One so that I could meet with the rep from HWS and two so that I could clear the stage of the movie set-up. I don't feel comfortable letting anyone else do it just yet. They don't seem to take the care with the speakers that I think needs to happen. Anyway, got it done just as the people from Atomic (the sound and light company) came in the doors.

Soon afterwards, my staff and the helpers from HWS arrived. I did a decent job facilitating and doing the things that I felt most comfortable doing - like climbing up to the catwalk to load weights, help the lighting person to understand how things were circuited etc. We had lots of hands so the work went quickly. My people were awesome! And the kids really pitched in and did whatever they could. I tried to help find them, the kids from HWS, stuff to do that didn't require much experience. They were all quick learners and eager to help. Yay!

By the time the band's equipment arrived, we were ready for them. Nice people as well. One of the things I love about this job is that I get to work with a lot of different people. We got cracking unloading their stuff and setting it up for sound check. In one of my wanders, I smelled cooking/burning insulation in one of the dressing rooms. Not a smell I ever want to smell. I thought it might just be something little that would burn a bit and then dissipate. It didn't. Over the rest of the afternoon, I kept trying to find the source of the smell. I eventually did. When I located it, I called the electrician. Luckily, he answered and said he would be right in. Turns out we had a situation, which we handled and which will get repaired on Monday. We did have a work around, me on a breaker switch, so the show could go on. Meant a little more running for me, but I am glad that I was able to do it. I didn't want anyone else in the main electrical room flipping fairly substantial breakers!

But I jumped over a bit. It was kinda slow for a couple of hours. We were supposed to do a sound check, but one of the band members was feeling under the weather so they cancelled it. Our next flurry of activity was when the band from Hobart came and set up and did their sound check. Which is when I headed home to feed mom some dinner.

I cooked mom a package of Bertolli's italian dinner which I doctored up with more chicken, more vegetables, more Parmesan and some more spices. I hope mom liked it! Sadly, I didn't stay around either at lunch or at dinner for very long. Sigh. I did put on one of the new DVDs that I got for her - one of the six musicals that came in a package - Saturday night's was South Pacific. And last night I out on The King and I for her.

The shows went smoothly. I had a good time chatting with various people and running around. I really, really prefer to be working crowded events than to being at crowded events as part of the crowd. Met two nice women, but if anything romantic should come of either encounter I would be really, really surprised.

Eventually, the show was over, with no major hiccoughs on the technical end. Load-out was easy and quick. The theatre (stage and auditorium) were both emptied and what remained, well, just say I decided to put off "restore" until Monday. They both could do with a bath, but a lick and a promise will have to suffice.

I finally got home around 1:45 in the morning. Long day. Exaustimacated in fact!

My relationship blog has been percolating along for a week. I think today's post (from yesterday) might be interesting to the general public. The weekly recap might be as well...