At Work

I apologize for not writing for a few days but for a little while there all I did was go to work, eat, and sleep. Not really much time for blogging.

I started work on Wednesday at 10:30 with another tour of the BAC which showed it to be even more vast and labyrinthine than I thought. I have some areas down fairly well but others are still complete mysteries to me. After my tour, I was put to work sorting a large box of light gels into their proper numbered file in the filing cabinets. Typical intern work. I went out to lunch with my three co-workers, Rob, Maddy, and Steve but I must say I didn't contribute much to their tech savvy conversation. They can literally have a conversation about which number light gel is their favorite. It was really amusing actually. Then after lunch we had tea break. Tea breaks form a large portion of the day. There is always one before lunch and then one after lunch as well, often lasting about 30 minutes. I use this time to semi-nap or watch amusing British talk shows on the TV in the office.

I had to leave early to make it to class on time but I was still a few minutes late due to having to travel all the way from South London to North London. Not that it seemed to matter since the class was on the leisure activities of the British and the notes I could get off anyone. We then had a brief, non-marked quiz about what we had learned briefing week. Apparently none of us learned much because the best mark was 21/30 but I blame this on them asking questions about statistics and whatnot that of course never stay in anybody's mind. Like the percentage of the non-white population in the UK. Who seriously remembers that?

Thursday I didn't have to be at work until 2 so I went to the grocery. I, of course, left Palace Court later than I should have and was forced to shove all my groceries in a 39p reusable shopping bag and waddling down Queensway with the enormously heavy bag on my shoulder hurry back to get to work on time. The first thing I had to do was fear for my life. A window needed to be blacked out so I had to climb to the top, literally the very top, of a really tall ladder to get on my tiptoes to tape a piece of black tat to the top of the window. The ladder kept making ominous noises and I was sincerely terrified that I would fall. However, I survived to safety pin more black tat to the bottom of the fabric since it was not long enough to cover the whole window. Highly frustrating work since I had to make it look somewhat neat.

From there I went to a production meeting for the youth show I am going to be stage managing for. Hannah, the Melanie Buchanan of the operation, seemed nice if a little eccentric and the show is going to be pretty much the same. It is in a very rough stage right now but it has something to do with news and then there is a song and dance in there somewhere. The kids came in at 5 and were predictably teen (14-16) with girls wearing tights as pants and everyone being overly concerned with how cool they looked. I didn't really do much since they were still trying to shape their show rather than actually rehearsing it. I honestly have no idea how it is all going to go but hopefully better rather than not.

After work, a large group of us at Palace Court played Never Have I Ever to some hilarious results. My personal favorite was Lindsay constantly trying to get the sole male of the group, Phil, out by saying things like "Never have I ever had sex with a girl." and then staring at him blatantly. I stayed up later than I should have but it was definitely necessary for my mental well-being.

Friday was my first full 10-6 day of work. The morning mostly consisted of Steve taking down cables from the lobby and me coiling them up and taping them around so they would stay together. I did various other fetching and putting away jobs as well as it was the day for the tech crew to do a full sweep of the building and put away anything out of place. For my lunch break I got a burger and fries and peacefully read Sense and Sensibility in a local cafe for an hour. The food wasn't so good but the literature was excellent. After lunch, we all started tidying up the heavy store which is where the tech crew keeps all their heavy materials and equipment. I swear, I am going to be Sarah Connor in T2 by the end of this internship with all the heavy lifting and running around I have been doing. I got to put things together and take things apart as well, which was fun. Needless to say, I was ready to call it a day and go home to sooth my sore muscles.

That is my internship so far. I have to say it is not exactly what I expected. The BAC is in their summer student season now so tech isn't needed to work these shows because the universities have their own techs so a lot of the work is maintenance. The BAC also doesn't produce any shows of its own but rather is where companies come to put on their shows. I am still waiting to see exactly how I will find my place and what exactly I will be doing. I feel more comfortable there than at my interview but it is all still rather confusing and unfamiliar.

Alright, I am sick of blogging for now so expect an entry later about the Cotswolds. Two blogs in one day, I know, who knew such awesomeness could occur.