It has been a challenging week, but then the end of the school year is always a bit overwhelming. To add to the pressure this year, we are moving. When the Dean asked when we would be vacating our apartment on campus, I responded “Two hours after graduation.” And I have stuck to that answer, although, secretly, I am hoping that we will be out even sooner..
The picture posted is a shot taken about 2 years ago. This is the kitchen in the house that we are about to occupy. Of course, we have done a considerable amount of work since this picture, but it isn’t finished… and I am not quite sure when it will be – but it is cozy and comfortable, and we can’t wait to call it home.
However, even the house has taken a back seat in my mind this week.. because this is the week of the school’s dance production. For the third year I have been tapped to call the show from the booth. My comfort zone is in the shop.. building sets, painting.. all pre-production kinds of things.. when the curtain goes up on the first night, I am typically done. Sure, I chip in and run the box office, but the pressure is off. The dance show is the exception…
The dance instructor at our school is a friend, and she is a bundle of energy.. working late into the night, hemming costumes and tweaking the show, even on the night before opening. And, with all that she has on her mind, she still takes time to bake cookies to bring in for the crew on the second night of the production.
On Friday evening, one of the dancers hurt her ankle. She could not complete the show, and she was a no go for last night’s performance as well. Our instructor worked with dancers yesterday afternoon to fill the gaps. And still, with all of the last minute changes, she showed up in the booth last night with a tray of cookies for the crew and a box of brownies for me.. What a thoughtful human being as well as a wonderful colleague..
The first act went off without a hitch – I was even able to fix a minor issue that we had experienced the night before with one of the songs.. The second act was a different story.. We had made the decision to run the music from a cd player through our system… In fact, it was a last minute thought to transfer the music to my computer and that was only so that I could burn a cd at a later date! The first number of the second act went fine.. the second number skipped.. i did not catch the first skip, as I was concentrating on looking ahead for the next cue, but there was no missing the second skip.. or the third one.. or the huge one that followed that! The dancers looked to us in the booth.. the teacher came running into the booth, along with her husband, and we stopped the song..
I must admit that it took a couple of seconds for the gravity of the situation to sink in. I thought that we would back up and start over.. but what if it skipped again.. which it most certainly would! ” why are we playing the whole show from the cd?” she said.. ” because we had an issue getting both channels to play from our computer” I replied.. “well, we need to switch back to the computer.. where is your computer?” she asked. my heart sank.. “at home” … ” I will be right back” and with that i sprinted out the door and across the street.. so thankful that i was still living on campus!! Within minutes i was back in the booth. we plugged the computer into the board.. hit play and pushed the slider for the volume.. nothing.. this was the second time that my gut started to churn.. I looked at her husband, who just happens to be a sound guy.. and asked him to look over the connections with me.. everything was in place.. and then, all of a sudden, there was sound.. we could finish the show, using the tracks from my computer.. I would like to say that it was smooth sailing from that point on, but that is not quite the case.. a few mis cues and one instance where my finger was hovering over the mouse, and I ended up stopping the song, but i quickly recovered.
The dancers showed a lot of poise considering the situation. and our instructor? well, she walked off and calmed down.. and then thanked me afterward.. I was quiet for a second or two. and then I asked ” do i get to keep the cookies?” she smiled and gave me a hug… They were great! jt
lifeat6mph 