The most awesomest job in the world

OK, this guy has the best job perk I have ever read:

Surely the envy of any desk-bound office worker, Tommy Lynch has travelled over 27,000 miles this year, for his job testing holiday resort waterslides.

Mr Lynch, 29, works for holiday giant First Choice, checking the height, speed, water quantity and landing of the flumes, as well as all safety aspects.

He said: 'I do have the best job in the world. No-one believes me when I tell them what I do.

This guy flies all over the world and slides down waterslides for a living! I think the only guy that tops that is the guy who gets to body paint naked supermodels.

All I wanted to do was stay home this Christmas.

My wife has to work through most of the holidays as there is a show that opens the week of Christmas. So, I innocently suggested to my family relations that, since I live in Atlanta, my father and sister in Knoxville, and my mother and brother in Charlotte, that everyone could come to our house for Christmas dinner.

You'd have thought I'd invaded Poland.

Brother didn't want to spend the money on travel, then my mom had some other engagement and could we do it on the weekend, then ok brother and mom are going to carpool, but his ex-wife is supposed to have the kids that weekend, he'll have to swing something.

Then I get a phone call from my sister and she thinks that it will be awkward to have Mom and Dad in the same room, nevermind that they have been divorced for 15 years, and mom is calling her wondering if he's coming, but Dad has inventory at work that weekend, and O no I've gone cross-eyed.

I swear I'm the only stable person in my whole family.

Working as I do for churches, there is a very special feeling I get when I think about Christmas. And that feeling is trepidation. Allow me to 'splain.

The 2 biggest holidays in the church market is Christmas and Easter. Christians are big into birth and death. The in between parts, meh, not so much. Megachurches love to take advantage of these events and hold huge concerts or passion plays during these times.

Seems every year around this time, I get drafted into programming a lightshow for a Christmas concert or 2 (or 4!) This week it is a giant behemoth of a show, with 80 moving lights and a Vista T2 console, which I have never used before, and programs unlike anything I am used to. Not that that is a bad thing, as I am really impressed with the Wacom pen tablet GUI and the visual approach to programming, I just wish I had a better grasp of the interworkings of the programming commands. Of course, that is another blog post.

The trepidation comes from just knowing how these people operate normally and what they expect of you. Most of the time the stuff they expect you to do, they expect you to do it for free because they are a church and it's the "christian thing to do". I generally nip all that talk in the bud real quick and let them know that God works for free and I'm not God. However good this show is for my wallet, it is murder on my body, mind, and sleep schedule. Since Monday, I have put in 80+ hours with notes and the performance still to come on Sunday.

These people have a full 80 piece orchestra and 3 full choirs: children, youth and adult that number over 300 voices. They want all of them on stage, at the same time, and didn't think to rehearse or stage any of that until 2 days before the show. /fail

Anyway, here are some iPhone pics I snapped real quick:

I'm off to the Atlanta History Center to watch a film screening of The Dark Crystal. I'm so stoked.








11pm- Wow. That was amazing. There was a good bit more than just a movie screening. We had a Q and A with Dave Goelz, who has been controlling Gonzo since his creation, and Steve Whitmire, the man who plays Rizzo the Rat and who took over the role of Kermit the Frog after Jim Henson died.

During the Q and A, they each brought out their respective Muppets and answered questions both of themselves and the Muppets. For a moment, everyone in the room was 6 years old and watching Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. I remember thinking, "Man, I'm 30 feet from Gonzo and Kermit the frog!"

Steve told the story of how it felt to take over the puppetteering and voice of Kermit after Jim Henson died. He said they had "sent over one of the Kermits, and I opened the box and it still smelled like Jim." He said that he put him up on a shelf and couldn't go into the room for a month and only got down to work on it when a worried Brian Henson called asking to see some tape.

He says that when Jim was inducted into the television hall of fame, he was working with him on set and had a video camera focused on Jim as the two of them performed. He used that film to get the vocal sound right by studying Jim's facial expressions as he worked Kermit. He says to get into the character, Frank Oz told him "First you have to perfom Jim, and then you will perform Kermit as Jim." That's some big shoes to fill.

They were so comfortable together and with us, that the Q and A ran far longer than expected but eventually the screening started. The Dark Crystal is a fantastic film, absolutely one of my favorites. And after hearing the stories from the puppetteers, it seems even better. It blows my mind that it was made before CGI and that all of the movie was shot on a soundstage. All of those beautiful sets and stages and were created from the ground up.

The two performers actually stayed to watch the film and afterwards came back down for a second Q and A session. It was really a class act. They relayed stories of how uncomfortable it was to get into the skeksis costumes and what a team effort it was to bring those characters to life. It took 6 operators per Skeksis; one for the head and left arm, one for the right arm, and 4 under the stage operating the facial and eye movements.

It was a memorable night. I almost didn't go, but I am really glad I did.

I'm just getting my breath back after a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas for my 30th birthday. It was my wife's first trip to Vegas, so we toured the Strip and downtown and saw the shows and walked...and walked...and walked.

Seriously, I thought my legs were going to fall off. I was also there for a convention and covering the floor everyday was about 2 miles, plus we walked the entire Strip, not to mention going inside all of the casinos and shops. Caesars Palace alone took 2 hours to go through. My blisters have blisters.

But, overall it was a nice time. I got to see some good friends I haven't hung out with in years, and drink catch up with them. I lost every single time I sat down to play anything, but I'm not complaining. Plus, I think the city impressed the wife enough that this may become an annual occurrence. Any one else want in?

On the birthday front, I've made it to 30. Apparently I'm supposed to be an adult now and put away my childhood. So, for my birthday, I bought myself a gamepad and spent the weekend playing Super Nintendo roms. We'll see who calls the shots here, age.

Shop talk

Exhausted.

I and my coworker drove to South Carolina on Monday this week to work on what should be a simple system. One full size dimmer rack and small half rack, and rigging 14 Vari-Lites. The electricians were pulling out an old rack and installing the new one in its place. They were supposed to be ready for us on Tuesday.

On Tuesday we found out that they had not even begun to install the new rack. We concentrated on getting the moving lights up and tried to stay out of their way while making ourselves available for questions should they need anything. We never heard a single question from them.

By Thursday (the day we were supposed to leave) they had the fullsized rack "done" and started to install the half rack. Just before lunch, we checked in to see this:


For those of you who don't know, the fullsized rack is on the left, WITH THE HALF RACK MOUNTED TO IT!!!

After a lot of fingerpointing, they removed the offending piece and landed it correctly. We didn't get finished with the work we had to do after them and out of there until the end of the day on Friday. Then we got to drive 5 hours back home.

Maybe I should just get a paper route.


P.S. - Two things you should check out. Swaran clued me in to Nightmare Revisited a new release of the Nightmare Before Christmas sountrack by bands like Korn. The clips I heard are very cool.

Secondly, I saw a link on the webcomic Questionable Content about Tragedy, a heavy metal Bee Gees Cover band. It sounds cheesetastic.

Free lunch

This week I have been working in The Salvation Army's Kroc Center in downtown Atlanta. I am installing the dimming system and hanging a bunch of lights in the new chapel/auditorium.

Yesterday, I was going about my business when 3 or 4 volunteers came in with a table, a Gatorade cooler and some aluminum serving platters. Apparently on Wednesdays, the volunteers bring in lunch for the construction crews and feed them. A very nice gesture I thought. So, they start serving out hot dogs. the weenies are in the Gatorade cooler, and the trays are full of chili and cheese, and a lady at the end has a big bucket o cole slaw.

Out of nowhere, all of the contractors (like 40 guys) show up and queue up for lunch. I'm a little confused, but I get in at the end of the line, because hey, a free meal is a free meal, right? I am patiently waiting my turn in the line and I start looking at all of the guys around me. Mostly country, good ol boys and gritty, dirty, workmen wearing ratty tee shirts with their profession on them, real dirt under the fingernails kind of guys.

Suddenly it dawns on me that I am standing in a food line, run by the Salvation Army. I'm covered in drywall dust and sweat, and the people around me are in no better shape. I've never felt more homeless in my entire life.


As a side note, the dogs were quite good, but the chili made for a rather, um, musical afternoon. It was like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles there for a bit.

Epiphany

I saw a re-run of Top Gear on tv Sunday night where two of the hosts held a game of soccer with cars. It looked like such fun that I wanted to scale it down into something people could do without having to ruin their cars. I think the best way to go would be bumper cars, that way you'd get the fun of playing and smashing into one another. Sort of like Whirlyball but with a big soccer ball rather than the lacrosse scoops.

Hrm, there is a Whirlyball court near me...Time to round up some friends and buy a big beach ball.

And so it begins...

Why does a blog always sound like a good idea until you actually sit down to start one? All of a sudden, the realization that millions of people potentially, can read the words I write, puts a lot of pressure on me to perform.

Of course, millions is probably a bit strong for my ego; tens would be a better goal to shoot for. Anyway, this is my new home for all of the strange ideas and thoughts that I will never remember if I don't put them down to remind me.

A small introduction is in order. I live in Atlanta, GA. I have a wife and three cats, a newly refinanced home, a job that sounds much cooler than it actually is(Television and theatre lighting technician) and a desperately middle-class life. I am not yet thirty, but I can see it from here. The end of the month comes awfully fast.

So, welcome to everyone that makes their way here, or stumbles their way here and is wondering aloud where are the Raymond Feist references , I'll try not to disappoint.