August 2, 2006

I am humidified

The last three days have zipped by in a blur. Too much travel; too much load-in; too much unfamiliar hotel food. I ended up crashing yesterday at a little before 9 p.m. and didn't get up until after 8 this morning. Then it was off to a production meeting, then to the airport....

Let me back up. Got to Nashville, finally. Didn't get up and run Monday morning, using it as a rest day. Load in went for about 12 hours. (It is somewhat cool to see this large set I've been designing for four months finally become reality; but still, corporate shows are soulless.)

I did get up at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning in order to go run. I decided to step outside - the REAL outside - for my run, instead of the available treadmills. (Gaylord Opryland is a large and amazing hotel - you can go outside to go to the convention center and not be outside, but rather in one of three giant atriums, complete with millions of plants of a stunning variety, a river, waterfalls, and islands.) So I got out before the sun came up and it was:



Yes, 76 degrees, 87% humidity. It was like walking into the proverbial sponge. Nevertheless, I managed to snap out a quick 5K before I absolutely had to be back for a shower, therapy, and resumption of load-in. I felt I kept up a good pace and wish I could confirm that, but, unfortunately....

MY NIKE THINK BROKE! I don't think it's anything I did, but rather the airport's x-ray machines. Or something. All I know is, my bag was searched by the TSA on the way to Nashville, and it was a royal mess. And now my iPod can't find the Nike accelerometer on my shoe. :( Guess I'll be headed back to the store to see if they'll replace it.

Didn't run this morning, obviously. Hell, after two solid days of being on my feet, I could barely get out of bed this morning, much less contemplate running. I can't believe how much my legs hurt, from the toes to the knees. And it's not like I was one of the crew running around with screwguns and heavy scenery - I'm the designer: it was my job to walk around knowingly and keep an eye on things. Literally. If something came up that needed tweaking, I was to direct that tweaking. There's lots of on-site tweaking, and some of it was quite creative and really energized the crew. Well...I'm glad I'm done. Can't wait to see the pics of the show.

And tomorrow, I get to tech a show I've only seen one stumbling run-through, in a space I've never been in, with a light plot I didn't design, with a magic sheet I don't even have right now. Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

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