Inversely Proportional

It's got to stay funny or it's kind of heartbreaking. Every small misstep and every functional hiccup must find its place in the mosaic of ridiculum that is being built around us all the time. I have to call my work a day or two ahead of time to get the latest changes in the schedule and ask permission to go to sleep. A show delivers late and the shockwave ripples through the schedule and simultaneously damages my paycheck and my ability to spend time with Margaret. Somehow. The only way to fight back against this kind of accidental tyranny is to laugh it off; the client wants to send us a TV show one act at a time, maybe get us the last 2 acts at 4am?

Um, OK. In this particular instance, I'm already in overtime and I'm going to hit double time at 3am, so bring it on.



This blog is a funny medium. Trying to stay on top of a daily (or at least regular) record of events is necessarily a difficult balance, because when all the really interesting stuff is happening, it means that I don't have time to write about it. And on the days that I have some downtime, I feel unproductive and think there's nothing interesting to write about. Right now it happens that I am stranded at work, waiting for the last 4 acts of this terrible show so I can edit it and go to bed. But this production company has such a terrible track record of getting us material on time that I'm sure I'll have enough time to get some writing done.

So anyway, lately, it's been incredibly busy. Between work, derby projects, and writing music, I haven't really had any time to myself at all. I took inventory and realized that I have had time for exactly 4 hours of passive media consumption (read: 2 movies) in the last 2 months. And that's how I like it. Busy > Bored. I've stayed above 35 hours at work, edited together new highlight videos for the Derby Dolls (i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOzz3zrcSXg, cut together a number of skateout songs for the teams and wrote some sneaky music for a client request that turned out rather well (I'll send you a copy if you ask for it).

(By the way, the table that I refinished looks great, with the exception of a few spots that I'm trying not to let bother me until the next time I refinish it again.)

Right now the Derby work in progress is getting the new PA system up and running. We have been renting a stacked sound system for the bout each month and in an effort to improve coverage and reduce monthly costs, Vince and I recommended that the league buy speakers to hang from the ceiling all around the track, which we are powering with some amplifiers that Vince had lying around. In order to find the best approach for hanging the speakers, we consulted with speaker manufacturers, rigging hardware manufacturers, riggers, rigging companies, and finally got the assistance of a couple of very nice union grips, available mostly because of the writers' strike. Speakers are now hung, and I ordered speaker cable and built junction boxes this week and Vince hung most of the cable last night (I hate heights and I hate scissor lifts). We're going to scrape by and have the system finished tomorrow, one day before the game on Saturday. Whew!

As usual, my work schedule promises to conflict directly and exactly with my extracurricular activities, so at the moment it's in question whether I will have to work Saturday, or whether I will be able to actually go to the bout and enjoy the fruits of my own labor.

So I'm staying very busy and meeting a lot of project goals that I have set for myself. The only thing I don't like about being this busy is that it keeps me from attaining certain other goals, broader goals, like meeting people and making friends, and going to the farmers' market each week. Oh, and writing this thing.

Oh yeah, another thing: there may be something special brewing, for which I may be going Back East for a couple of days in late April. A chance to exchange some stories in person with some of you EST folks.