Repost w/Comments: National Book Festival

Once LJ fixes (or at least acks) the Email-overwrites-posts problems, I'll back-date this into place, but in the mean time:

On Fri, 10/8, I posted:

So, the Library Of Congress' National Book Festival is tomorrow. (See http://www.loc.gov/bookfest for more info.)

I'm going to try to ignore the co-host and just pay attention to the guest list, which includes:
Neil Gaiman
Neal Stephenson
E.L. Konigsburg
Lois McMaster Bujold
Patricia Wrede
David Macauly
and many others...

I think I'm going to try to make it there... I wonder if I can get to sleep early enough to get down there by 10am.

And coraline? I'll try to borrow a camera to fan-girl on your behalf.

:)
================
geekchick said:

I'm intending to be there, but I know I'm not going to make it for the 10
AM signing. Should be there for Neil Gaiman's 1 PM talk though.

To which I replied:

You have my cell number, right? (Nice Zen)(Boston local AC, of course.)
================
coraline said:

fangirl? i suppose "fanboy" doesn't have quite the same ring to it :)

have fun...
================
And magid said:

Subject: EL Konigsburg!

Gaiman's great, Bujold writes fun stuff, but EL Konigburg! Favorite kid
books, then and now.

Repost w/Comments: National Book Festival

Once LJ fixes (or at least acks) the Email-overwrites-posts problems, I'll back-date this into place, but in the mean time:

On Fri, 10/8, I posted:

So, the Library Of Congress' National Book Festival is tomorrow. (See http://www.loc.gov/bookfest for more info.)

I'm going to try to ignore the co-host and just pay attention to the guest list, which includes:
Neil Gaiman
Neal Stephenson
E.L. Konigsburg
Lois McMaster Bujold
Patricia Wrede
David Macauly
and many others...

I think I'm going to try to make it there... I wonder if I can get to sleep early enough to get down there by 10am.

And coraline? I'll try to borrow a camera to fan-girl on your behalf.

:)
================
geekchick said:

I'm intending to be there, but I know I'm not going to make it for the 10
AM signing. Should be there for Neil Gaiman's 1 PM talk though.

To which I replied:

You have my cell number, right? (Nice Zen)(Boston local AC, of course.)
================
coraline said:

fangirl? i suppose "fanboy" doesn't have quite the same ring to it :)

have fun...
================
And magid said:

Subject: EL Konigsburg!

Gaiman's great, Bujold writes fun stuff, but EL Konigburg! Favorite kid
books, then and now.

Repost with Comments: Harry Chapin was right...

On Sat, 10/9, I wrote:
"You can always count on the cheap seats."

2 100% shows today. at the end of the show, the most cleaning is down front, by the most expensive seats. The cheap seats? Mostly clean. Not too much left over crap. Much more pleasant to deal with.

On other fronts:

Had a really short chat with the (artistic director?) today. He sits in on the show pretty regularly - or at least down here - to keep an eye on what works, what doesn't, what needs help, etc. etc.

I mentioned that I thought that some work needed to be done to integrate Cerceau (Aerial Hoop) into the story line when it's substituting. He absolutely agreed. I mentioned I had ideas on what to do. He said to let him know what they were.

I'll have to write up the previous entries I've done on the subject in more coherent terms.

===================
galestorm said:

I think it's interesting about what you're writing here, as a perspective on theater that many people never get to see. Hope it's being good to you.

===================
tcb added:
cool!

Repost with Comments: Harry Chapin was right...

On Sat, 10/9, I wrote:
"You can always count on the cheap seats."

2 100% shows today. at the end of the show, the most cleaning is down front, by the most expensive seats. The cheap seats? Mostly clean. Not too much left over crap. Much more pleasant to deal with.

On other fronts:

Had a really short chat with the (artistic director?) today. He sits in on the show pretty regularly - or at least down here - to keep an eye on what works, what doesn't, what needs help, etc. etc.

I mentioned that I thought that some work needed to be done to integrate Cerceau (Aerial Hoop) into the story line when it's substituting. He absolutely agreed. I mentioned I had ideas on what to do. He said to let him know what they were.

I'll have to write up the previous entries I've done on the subject in more coherent terms.

===================
galestorm said:

I think it's interesting about what you're writing here, as a perspective on theater that many people never get to see. Hope it's being good to you.

===================
tcb added:
cool!

Repost With Comments: (What was the subject of this one?)

On 10/8, I wrote:
Picking up trash can be dangerous. I yoinked something in my back this afternoon... Luckily, it isn't disabling, but it certainly slowed me down a bunch and made me happy I'd chosen the slowest door in the tent... We had about 20 people come in for the 1st show and something like 50 for the 2nd.

I got tired of not having an exact number for the common question of "How many people does this tent hold", so I counted the seats in the tent tonight and last night. (Ok, I noted the last seat number in each row. My conclusion: The Grand Chapiteau holds between 2554 and 2598 seats, depending on the number of folding chairs in 103 and 104 AA and BB. Subtract 2 from the maximum for seats which are never actually put out. So, that's close enough to the published number of 2600 for me.

Last night, one of the Santos brothers (Icarian Games) fell before the act had even really started, lay there for a bit, and then did the act, even having an obviously hurt ankle. If one of my fellow ushers understood their father (also coach) during the act tonight - a version of the act that didn't actually have the Santos's in it, just the Bellos - whoever it was who was down had a small seizure of some sort. That he went on to do the act is even more amazing for that...

Last week I found out what happens if 2 acts are out in one night, and that's that the show gets shorter. In this case, it was Triple Trapeze and Nightmare that were out. Aerial Hoop filled for Trapeze and Act 2 was just shorter. I can't think of a better solution than that, though I might wish there was some way to keep even more acts on reserve.

Russian Swings had at least 4 misses last night - 2 catches and 2 swing-to-swing leaps. None were disruptive to the act.

Next week's schedule is out. I'm off both Mon and Tue again... and I think the week after that's the 2nd Double Dark - it'd better be, as it's the last week of the show here.

The CDS web-site lists the next city as starting on 11/4. That next city is Dalls. We've been told that it takes about 3 days to tear down, and about 7 to set up.

That leaves one day to get 50± trucks from Washington, DC to Dallas, TX. Mapquest says that's about a 1330mi trip. Under perfect circumstances, that's 24 hours of 55mph driving. I suppose it's doable, but really, that seems pretty unlikely to me.

I think there were a bunch of other things I was going to mention. I don't remember what they were at the moment.
==============

cthulhia said:
Subject: are you going?

to dallas?

==============
To which candle_light replied:

You beat me to the question.
==============
And I replied to both of them:

No. I'm going to return home and try to find a 'real' job.

If I'm still unemployed around March, though, I'll consider the idea of goign to Pittsburgh for a while.
==============
scliff said:

I suspect it's an overlapped process: tear down enough to load trucks with the stuff that's needed first for set-up, and start driving those to the next stand.

Repost With Comments: (What was the subject of this one?)

On 10/8, I wrote:
Picking up trash can be dangerous. I yoinked something in my back this afternoon... Luckily, it isn't disabling, but it certainly slowed me down a bunch and made me happy I'd chosen the slowest door in the tent... We had about 20 people come in for the 1st show and something like 50 for the 2nd.

I got tired of not having an exact number for the common question of "How many people does this tent hold", so I counted the seats in the tent tonight and last night. (Ok, I noted the last seat number in each row. My conclusion: The Grand Chapiteau holds between 2554 and 2598 seats, depending on the number of folding chairs in 103 and 104 AA and BB. Subtract 2 from the maximum for seats which are never actually put out. So, that's close enough to the published number of 2600 for me.

Last night, one of the Santos brothers (Icarian Games) fell before the act had even really started, lay there for a bit, and then did the act, even having an obviously hurt ankle. If one of my fellow ushers understood their father (also coach) during the act tonight - a version of the act that didn't actually have the Santos's in it, just the Bellos - whoever it was who was down had a small seizure of some sort. That he went on to do the act is even more amazing for that...

Last week I found out what happens if 2 acts are out in one night, and that's that the show gets shorter. In this case, it was Triple Trapeze and Nightmare that were out. Aerial Hoop filled for Trapeze and Act 2 was just shorter. I can't think of a better solution than that, though I might wish there was some way to keep even more acts on reserve.

Russian Swings had at least 4 misses last night - 2 catches and 2 swing-to-swing leaps. None were disruptive to the act.

Next week's schedule is out. I'm off both Mon and Tue again... and I think the week after that's the 2nd Double Dark - it'd better be, as it's the last week of the show here.

The CDS web-site lists the next city as starting on 11/4. That next city is Dalls. We've been told that it takes about 3 days to tear down, and about 7 to set up.

That leaves one day to get 50± trucks from Washington, DC to Dallas, TX. Mapquest says that's about a 1330mi trip. Under perfect circumstances, that's 24 hours of 55mph driving. I suppose it's doable, but really, that seems pretty unlikely to me.

I think there were a bunch of other things I was going to mention. I don't remember what they were at the moment.
==============

cthulhia said:
Subject: are you going?

to dallas?

==============
To which candle_light replied:

You beat me to the question.
==============
And I replied to both of them:

No. I'm going to return home and try to find a 'real' job.

If I'm still unemployed around March, though, I'll consider the idea of goign to Pittsburgh for a while.
==============
scliff said:

I suspect it's an overlapped process: tear down enough to load trucks with the stuff that's needed first for set-up, and start driving those to the next stand.

Repost with Comments: Late night get-togthers?

(I think this is the last one.)

On 10/7, I wrote:
So, /mostly/ the getting together with folks before work isn't working so much... at least not on 2 show days (2:45 call times).

So, are people at all interested in any sort of post work get-togethers? I get out of there about 11pm. (I've got this Sunday and next Friday covered.)

==============
Some anonymous coward replied with political spam, to which I replied:

Subject: Re: MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Bite me, pigfucker.

I don't care how good a cause it is. This is Spam. As well, my userinfo actually says where I'm from.

==============
To which whitebird replied:

Huh. That's the first time I've seen something like that.

How weird and pathetic.

==============
much_ado said:

you need to let me know what you want to do with monday, darlin' - M's offering a traditional thanksgiving dinner (since monday's our thanksgiving) or bein' nekkid on a table somewhere with sushi :)

(i wasn't asking too many questions at that point... *weg*).

we're holding monday for you, but an idea or a plan or even a time & place (if not M&Q's) would be nice...
===============
I replied:

Read your hotmail mail.

===============
vvalkyri said:

Let me know if you want to do lunchish.
===============
akrissy said:

Don't know what your Saturday schedule is like, but there is the Library of Congress Bookfest at the Mall on Saturday only. http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/ (though I'm not sure if I will get there and if I do it will be early morning only)

Repost with Comments: Late night get-togthers?

(I think this is the last one.)

On 10/7, I wrote:
So, /mostly/ the getting together with folks before work isn't working so much... at least not on 2 show days (2:45 call times).

So, are people at all interested in any sort of post work get-togethers? I get out of there about 11pm. (I've got this Sunday and next Friday covered.)

==============
Some anonymous coward replied with political spam, to which I replied:

Subject: Re: MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Bite me, pigfucker.

I don't care how good a cause it is. This is Spam. As well, my userinfo actually says where I'm from.

==============
To which whitebird replied:

Huh. That's the first time I've seen something like that.

How weird and pathetic.

==============
much_ado said:

you need to let me know what you want to do with monday, darlin' - M's offering a traditional thanksgiving dinner (since monday's our thanksgiving) or bein' nekkid on a table somewhere with sushi :)

(i wasn't asking too many questions at that point... *weg*).

we're holding monday for you, but an idea or a plan or even a time & place (if not M&Q's) would be nice...
===============
I replied:

Read your hotmail mail.

===============
vvalkyri said:

Let me know if you want to do lunchish.
===============
akrissy said:

Don't know what your Saturday schedule is like, but there is the Library of Congress Bookfest at the Mall on Saturday only. http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/ (though I'm not sure if I will get there and if I do it will be early morning only)

NEW Content: 2 Free Cirque Tix available.

So, it seems that Thu., 10/14, is "Cirquador Appreciation Day" - which reduces to: They're offering us all 2 free tickets to the 4 p.m. matinee.

I, of course, can't make it... or I'll already be there. Your choice on how to interpret it.

My gracious hosts are unable to use the tickets, as are my local family members.

So I now open it up to you, my reading public.

I've been (and remain) somewhat conflicted on how to figure out who'll get these, but I'm not going to do 1st-come, as I'm posting this both here and on That List.

I'm not taking money for these, and I'll probably turn down sexual favors, though maybe not, depending on what you're offering. ;) People who couldn't afford to see the show otherwise have a bit of an advantage.

If you only want one, let me know that, too. You're not out of the running. If you want more than the 2, or aren't the winner, the normal 2-for-1 deal is still active, too.

I have to have the name of the person who's going to will-call by 6 p.m. on Weds. As I'm not actually due on site til 6:45, I'm going to spending an extra 50m there just for (you).

The winner will be notified by Weds, 4:45 p.m., when I'll be leaving for site to put the name in.

Arguably, I'd prefer replies via email, but I'll deal with LJ comments, too.

NEW Content: 2 Free Cirque Tix available.

So, it seems that Thu., 10/14, is "Cirquador Appreciation Day" - which reduces to: They're offering us all 2 free tickets to the 4 p.m. matinee.

I, of course, can't make it... or I'll already be there. Your choice on how to interpret it.

My gracious hosts are unable to use the tickets, as are my local family members.

So I now open it up to you, my reading public.

I've been (and remain) somewhat conflicted on how to figure out who'll get these, but I'm not going to do 1st-come, as I'm posting this both here and on That List.

I'm not taking money for these, and I'll probably turn down sexual favors, though maybe not, depending on what you're offering. ;) People who couldn't afford to see the show otherwise have a bit of an advantage.

If you only want one, let me know that, too. You're not out of the running. If you want more than the 2, or aren't the winner, the normal 2-for-1 deal is still active, too.

I have to have the name of the person who's going to will-call by 6 p.m. on Weds. As I'm not actually due on site til 6:45, I'm going to spending an extra 50m there just for (you).

The winner will be notified by Weds, 4:45 p.m., when I'll be leaving for site to put the name in.

Arguably, I'd prefer replies via email, but I'll deal with LJ comments, too.

The mixed blessings of technology...

So, those posts-by-email I made earlier today... They were announcing that I'd ended up with no real plans for the day, and did anyone want to do anything and later that I was going to dinner, and did anyone want to join me or suggest something else?

I got no replies to either of them. I spent the day in a moderately bad mood - despite enjoying what I was doing in the mean time. I was feeling lonely and un-liked.

It actually improved my mood - while simultaneously pissing me off - to find out that it wasn't (necessarily) that no one liked me, but that they hadn't seen my posts, as they were dated a couple of days in the past.

Now, this of course leaves the question: What if the posts HAD been time-stamped correctly?

The mixed blessings of technology...

So, those posts-by-email I made earlier today... They were announcing that I'd ended up with no real plans for the day, and did anyone want to do anything and later that I was going to dinner, and did anyone want to join me or suggest something else?

I got no replies to either of them. I spent the day in a moderately bad mood - despite enjoying what I was doing in the mean time. I was feeling lonely and un-liked.

It actually improved my mood - while simultaneously pissing me off - to find out that it wasn't (necessarily) that no one liked me, but that they hadn't seen my posts, as they were dated a couple of days in the past.

Now, this of course leaves the question: What if the posts HAD been time-stamped correctly?