Tomorrow is my last day of work, and Monday morning I get up early and head back to Iowa for another year of le schooling. I suppose, then, it is time for a final post. I'm going to look at the various elements of this summer and give my final impressions of them, in no particular order.
The people: This one's easy. By far the hardest part of leaving will be leaving the friends I've made behind. That's only cheesy because it's true. A couple have already left. The techs became my family this summer. I even got to know some of the performers, and believe it or not, they're good people too. There were plenty of days when none of us felt like cleaning up confetti, so we threw it at each other and cleaned it up anyway. Nobody enjoyed sitting in the heat, swatting mosquitos before parade, but it was always easier if you chatted with someone. All we've been talking about these last few weeks is how close it is to over, where we're going back to school or whatever, but in the end it's hard to leave. I'll miss you guys... but I'll be back to visit for Fright Fest!
The backstage job: Okay, let's face it. By my calculations, we did about 9 weeks of shows, seven days a week, with four shows a day, minus five three show days this week. That works out to about 250 shows. Assuming I worked 2/3 of them, that means I worked around 160 shows. Guess how many it took before I was comfortable with my job? Before I was competent? Before I was bored? I learned some good fly rail techniques, but after the first week of running shows, they really didn't change much. I picked up a lot of good things during setup, and throughout the run, too, especially about intelligent lights. A couple days during downtime I browsed the owner manual for our MAC 250s. I got to see the insides of a MAC and a Cyber. I learned to hate Cybers and color scrollers. And also confetti. On a broader scale, I learned some things about self-driven work. I learned about figuring things out on my own, or trusting my own ideas of how to get things done. Several times I was told to do something, but not how to do it, or I noticed something myself that had to be done, and instead of running to my supervisor to ask how, my fellow employees and I took care of it.
I still think ShowStoppin' is a pretty cool show. A live band would be more awesomer though.
The parade: The parade was fascinating in a sense of how it was regarded by those involved in it. During the middle of the run it was a constant morale killer, and understandably so. It was hot. Mosquitos were horrible. The performers had physically stressful duties. And if it rained and the parade was cancelled, we got off early. But toward the end of the season, it seemed to me that people started to hate the parade less, if not even like it. Parade would seem to be better than running ShowStoppin' again. Maybe we got used to the heat. Maybe the performers were developing stronger calves. Maybe we started using bug spray. Maybe we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe we noticed how much the little kids watching us go by absolutely loved it.
Nah.
But for some reason, in the last couple weeks, we've once again been dancing backstage to the preshow, shouting "KEY CHANGE!" in the middle of "If I Wanted to Change the World," and actually telling each other to "have a good parade." I like it.
The living situation: Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Living in one room with someone else for three months turned out to be fine for me, but that might have been partly due to the knowledge that it wasn't indefinite. I like my privacy sometimes, from anyone, really. Price-wise, it again wasn't bad, but not great. In the end I was charged just over $100 a week. Add on groceries and we're looking at about half my paycheck. The good news? It was really close to the park, and I got maid service, and I always felt safe.
The internship as a whole: Good. For an ISU Theatre student, we're talking an out-of-state internship that pays and lasts the whole summer. There's good potential for repeat, too. The experience is definitely a lot different than what we get at ISU, and a good experience overall. You get entrance to the park for free. You get to hang out in the Chicago area and ride trains downtown and see good shows. If you manage to live with a friend/family member for the summer, you'll make a fair chunk of money. Otherwise you should be able to easily break even. You'll meet people. And you'll put smiles on a lot of people's faces. And you'll be ready to take classes again.
Plus blue polos are sexy.
Have a Six Flags Day!
Yay! Come back soon now, y'hear?
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