Hooray for shows opening this weekend, which means that anything that isn't a massive horrible mess is no longer our problem. So La Traviata opens tomorrow, and La Cenerentola opens on Sunday. I'm going to both of those with Morgan and a few others, then to the Opera hosted opening night parties afterward. This past week has been pretty uneventful, not much work to be done. Mainly cleaning and organizing so things will be set up nicely for the next group. I took photos of La Cenerentola the night that I went to dress rehearsal, but I'm not going to post them until the show opens, so I can't get in trouble for exposing things early. But I will say that it's a really really fun show, light and silly, the costumes and set are fantastic looking.
Wednesday through the end of the week we came in late, mainly because on Tuesday night about half the opera went into New Hartford to see Harry Potter 6. Morgan and I didn't, but we did go Thursday night to see it. It was super exciting to see Tom Riddle in the jacket that I got to work on the tiniest bit in London. Monday was a normal day and Tuesday we got out early. Though next week goes back to normal hours, as the over hire show is starting up. They hired a group to stay an extra 3 weeks beyond contract to build new pieces for chorus of a show that we're renting out but have a larger chorus. I'll probably end up working on it by value of just being around.
Morgan heads to NJ on Monday to visit for a while before she drives back here on Friday (a week from today) and we head back, hopefully arriving on Sunday night. Though I don't think I'll be back home-home until Monday. Just too long of a drive/ride. I'm looking forward to getting home though, as much fun as this summer has been.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Canada, land of round bacon.
Last week wasn't bad, actually it was a pretty good week. Work has been winding down for the most part, as the shows start to open next Saturday. Photo dress for one of the shows is actually tonight, though not mine. Thursday night Morgan and I were sociable and went to Karaoke night at the PI. That was actually more fun than I was expecting it to be. We hadn't gone previously because of working late nights those days. Friday was payday and at lunch Liz, Shannon, Morgan and I went out on the lake with Liz's Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul. They gave us a tour of the lake, but I couldn't hear much over the engines, so I can't remember much. It was kinda rushed though, since we only had 45 min out on the boat. It was nice, makes me wanna go and spend a day on Daddy's. :D After work we went to the Otsego for fancy drinks too. After Morgan, Eric, Liz, Sidney (Liz's roommate), Sidney's friend Karl and I went to get pizza at the new pizza place in town. Pizza was enjoyable, we spend a good deal of time after on Liz's porch talking. Morgan and Eric went to a party at Jon's but I stayed in as...
WE WENT TO CANADA THE NEXT DAY, and I drove most of the morning shift. We actually went to the Canada side of Niagara Falls. It's about a 4 hour drive each way, but we managed to make a day trip out of it by starting early and coming home late. It was just the two of us, but it was quite fun. We didn't do any of the pay things, but the views were gorgeous. I got lots of photos. The drive over was really really stormy, but it was beautiful weather at the falls. Morgan and I both had our cameras out, and would hide them when the mist kicked up. Part of why we didn't do any of the pay to do things, they took you into the wet, which would have been bad for cameras. The drive back the weather threatened the whole way, but no rain. We got back late and crashed.
Today was half the beverage trail again and then the Eat and Greet at work. We got to meet all the singers and some of the local people who support the Opera. It was pretty good times. Now I'm going to be a lazy bum in my room.
WE WENT TO CANADA THE NEXT DAY, and I drove most of the morning shift. We actually went to the Canada side of Niagara Falls. It's about a 4 hour drive each way, but we managed to make a day trip out of it by starting early and coming home late. It was just the two of us, but it was quite fun. We didn't do any of the pay things, but the views were gorgeous. I got lots of photos. The drive over was really really stormy, but it was beautiful weather at the falls. Morgan and I both had our cameras out, and would hide them when the mist kicked up. Part of why we didn't do any of the pay to do things, they took you into the wet, which would have been bad for cameras. The drive back the weather threatened the whole way, but no rain. We got back late and crashed.
Today was half the beverage trail again and then the Eat and Greet at work. We got to meet all the singers and some of the local people who support the Opera. It was pretty good times. Now I'm going to be a lazy bum in my room.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
stupid sprained wrist.
Friday I couldn't go to work. Saturday was the Fourth. Sunday I got back to work (yay!) but I was sent home yesterday with an achey wrist and am useless again today. This wrist thing is pissing me off, but I know if I rush it that it isn't going to get any better. Still I don't like being idle.
The Fourth was fun though. On Friday night Morgan, Maura and I tried to get down to Cooperstown to see the fireworks to which we were late. We climbed up onto a little stone wall and watched them over the trees. Then on to a gathering at Jon's which was a fun little party. Saturday Morgan and I slept until the last minute then rolled out of bed and walked into Springfeild Center, which is a mile or so down the road. There would have been no where to park. We watched the parade that went on and had floats from the surrounding villages (not towns, those are bigger) with a number of little kid marching bands and fire departments. Standing with a few other Opera people we managed to find a section of road sans millions of kids, so we ended up with an inordinate amount of parade candy. My favorite float was of course the Opera float. We had silly signs and people in stock costumes and a trailer full of corn stocks from an older production. See the theme for the parade was Red, White, Blue and Green. So most all the floats were related to recycling. The boy scouts were pretty cute, with their painted boxes and recycling slogans on their heads as they tried to ride their bikes. After possibly the cutest tiniest donkey passed us the parade was over and it was time to go partake in church-lady pie. Seriously fantastic pie. I had blackberry, but there were probably 15 types of fruit pie there. And everyone knows how much I love pie. When we'd taken in all the pie and locals we could handle Morgan and I walked back home. There we proceeded to be lazy lazy bums until dinner and fireworks. These fireworks where at the other lake, not the one we work nearest, in Richfeild Springs. The park we were at called itself a beach... but that's not true, lakes don't have beaches. The fireworks where pretty fun, but mostly because most houses around the lake were all shooting off fireworks. A number of homes had red lights in their back yards, part of the "friendship circle". Anywhere there was a red light you were welcome to sit in their yard and watch the fireworks. Granted you could only see this from the lake, but oh well. I thought that was pretty cool. There were city sponsored fireworks that were a shade fancier than the personal ones. It was fun watching the sparks fly up from all over. It was also the coldest Fourth of July I have ever experienced. It was in the low 50's or high 40's that evening. If you don't believe me, go check tonight's low on the weather channel's site. I'm serious. Freakishly cold.
The only good thing about my sick leave is that I've got all photos I've take recently labeled, captioned and uploaded. So enjoy them. :3
The Fourth was fun though. On Friday night Morgan, Maura and I tried to get down to Cooperstown to see the fireworks to which we were late. We climbed up onto a little stone wall and watched them over the trees. Then on to a gathering at Jon's which was a fun little party. Saturday Morgan and I slept until the last minute then rolled out of bed and walked into Springfeild Center, which is a mile or so down the road. There would have been no where to park. We watched the parade that went on and had floats from the surrounding villages (not towns, those are bigger) with a number of little kid marching bands and fire departments. Standing with a few other Opera people we managed to find a section of road sans millions of kids, so we ended up with an inordinate amount of parade candy. My favorite float was of course the Opera float. We had silly signs and people in stock costumes and a trailer full of corn stocks from an older production. See the theme for the parade was Red, White, Blue and Green. So most all the floats were related to recycling. The boy scouts were pretty cute, with their painted boxes and recycling slogans on their heads as they tried to ride their bikes. After possibly the cutest tiniest donkey passed us the parade was over and it was time to go partake in church-lady pie. Seriously fantastic pie. I had blackberry, but there were probably 15 types of fruit pie there. And everyone knows how much I love pie. When we'd taken in all the pie and locals we could handle Morgan and I walked back home. There we proceeded to be lazy lazy bums until dinner and fireworks. These fireworks where at the other lake, not the one we work nearest, in Richfeild Springs. The park we were at called itself a beach... but that's not true, lakes don't have beaches. The fireworks where pretty fun, but mostly because most houses around the lake were all shooting off fireworks. A number of homes had red lights in their back yards, part of the "friendship circle". Anywhere there was a red light you were welcome to sit in their yard and watch the fireworks. Granted you could only see this from the lake, but oh well. I thought that was pretty cool. There were city sponsored fireworks that were a shade fancier than the personal ones. It was fun watching the sparks fly up from all over. It was also the coldest Fourth of July I have ever experienced. It was in the low 50's or high 40's that evening. If you don't believe me, go check tonight's low on the weather channel's site. I'm serious. Freakishly cold.
The only good thing about my sick leave is that I've got all photos I've take recently labeled, captioned and uploaded. So enjoy them. :3
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Well this was fun.
So, I had an exciting day yesterday. We were rushed most of the day to get things done as our first dress was at 7 last night, and we had to have everything stage ready in the wardrobe house by 5:30. I’d gone to drop off the last faux fur stole and was headed back when I slipped on the stairs and fell down a few of them. I landed hurting my wrist and generally shocking myself. I walked back to the shop and told Julia the floor manager who got Deb the shop manager who got Safety John. I told them what had happened and John and Deb insisted I go to the ER, or rather the Emergency Care place. Safety John took me, as that’s his job and workman’s comp is going to cover all of this. I got x-rays done and was told I didn’t break my wrist or even fracture it, just a sprain. They braced me up and sent me home. I tried to go to work today, but I can’t yet hold anything long enough to be of use, so I was sent home by Julia and Deb. So today I lucked out that there is a Burn Notice marathon on (hell yes!) and it’s raining out (boo).
The past few days at work have been a bit crazy with all the dress rehearsals and such starting. Our show is in good shape, but I feel bad dropping them down a set of hands, but Barb (my draper) feels bad as she’s convinced it was her fault as she’d sent me over to the Wardrobe house. It’s not tough, just a bit of bad luck. And, well, at least I’m good for the next two years.
Check out my photos from Utica too. They are posted. :3
The past few days at work have been a bit crazy with all the dress rehearsals and such starting. Our show is in good shape, but I feel bad dropping them down a set of hands, but Barb (my draper) feels bad as she’s convinced it was her fault as she’d sent me over to the Wardrobe house. It’s not tough, just a bit of bad luck. And, well, at least I’m good for the next two years.
Check out my photos from Utica too. They are posted. :3
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Loooooong Week.
This has been a crazy busy week. With first dress ( and therefore completed costumes due) for the first of the three shows due next Sunday we're all in a bit of paniced rush mode. My show isn't up for first dress until a week from Wednesday, but still crazy, as most of the pieces are bias cut 30's dresses with lots of fiddly bits on them. The shop had it's first 12 hour day this past Thursday, which wasn't bad except for the fact that it was terribly horribly long. And wet. It rained that whole day so we couldn't even eat outside. Really I haven't been up to much more than going to work and coming home to read and sleep. Friday night a few of us costume shop girls decided to have a hair dying/ pizza eating/ beer drinking/ movie watching night. Morgan, Shannon, Alana and I all went over to Liz's house in town and did just that. It was a good night, fun to bond with the new girls I'm working with. Last night was dinner in Oneonta and a run to the nearest Walmart for things you can't get at the grocery store with Shannon and Liz. But not the same Liz that I went out with today.
Today was the Cooperstown Beverage tour that we started at 11 this morning, of which there are photos of up. I promise you can see them. It's four stops. Maura, Morgan, Liz, Holly, Alana and I all went in Morgan's van for the expedition. The Bear Pond Winery was the farthest from us, so our first stop. They only have local wines, though not all they sell are just theirs. I only tried theirs in the tasting though, and it was alot of fun. We stayed their for lunch and then headed out to the Cooperstown Brewery. Two wrong turns later, we found it. They people there were suuuuuuper nice. I think it helped that the tour guide/Brewmaster's assistant/bottle line mechanic was about our age leading a tour of 6 good looking ladies. It was a pretty small place, apparently they brew two beers a week and once a year they make root beer. From there we headed to the Ommegang brewery, which was faaaaaancy compaired to Cooperstown. Not as small town friendly, but I was more fond of the beer. Granted, I'd had some of it before. This one little brewery ships out across the nation, but it IS three times the size of Cooperstown. The tour started a mintue right before we got there, so we joined it. It was super high tech. The tour had a bunch of people in it, so it was harder to get the tastings done. Then on to the last place from there, which was Fly Creek Cider Mill. It was SO COOL! It was a big two story building that was full of all sorts of apple things. Apple pie, apple butter, apple friters, apple cider (hard and not), apple wine, apple cheese, apple EVERYTHING. As this was our last stop this is where we got our Beverage Trail glasses, which you get for getting stamps at all the places on a little brochsure thing. With this done we headed back to get Liz home for softball practice and did boring grocery errands. Tomorrow starts another long hectic, but happily, work filled week.
I should be able to post photos of the things I've been working on later next week, but no promises. We've got two more 12 hour days next week, tuesday and thursday. Yay. But we'll get it all done. Happy Fathers day to those of you who are fathers. Congrats agan James on passing then FE. :D G'night to everyone else.
Today was the Cooperstown Beverage tour that we started at 11 this morning, of which there are photos of up. I promise you can see them. It's four stops. Maura, Morgan, Liz, Holly, Alana and I all went in Morgan's van for the expedition. The Bear Pond Winery was the farthest from us, so our first stop. They only have local wines, though not all they sell are just theirs. I only tried theirs in the tasting though, and it was alot of fun. We stayed their for lunch and then headed out to the Cooperstown Brewery. Two wrong turns later, we found it. They people there were suuuuuuper nice. I think it helped that the tour guide/Brewmaster's assistant/bottle line mechanic was about our age leading a tour of 6 good looking ladies. It was a pretty small place, apparently they brew two beers a week and once a year they make root beer. From there we headed to the Ommegang brewery, which was faaaaaancy compaired to Cooperstown. Not as small town friendly, but I was more fond of the beer. Granted, I'd had some of it before. This one little brewery ships out across the nation, but it IS three times the size of Cooperstown. The tour started a mintue right before we got there, so we joined it. It was super high tech. The tour had a bunch of people in it, so it was harder to get the tastings done. Then on to the last place from there, which was Fly Creek Cider Mill. It was SO COOL! It was a big two story building that was full of all sorts of apple things. Apple pie, apple butter, apple friters, apple cider (hard and not), apple wine, apple cheese, apple EVERYTHING. As this was our last stop this is where we got our Beverage Trail glasses, which you get for getting stamps at all the places on a little brochsure thing. With this done we headed back to get Liz home for softball practice and did boring grocery errands. Tomorrow starts another long hectic, but happily, work filled week.
I should be able to post photos of the things I've been working on later next week, but no promises. We've got two more 12 hour days next week, tuesday and thursday. Yay. But we'll get it all done. Happy Fathers day to those of you who are fathers. Congrats agan James on passing then FE. :D G'night to everyone else.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Midweek
Tonight's a quiet night, as half of Summer Camp Opera is off at the local bar/Chinese food restaurant for karaoke night. I'm a bit under the weather, so I'm not up for hearing people scream the lyrics of old bad songs in the tiny bar. Though it was quite fun on Tuesday night when we went after work. Good Chinese food too.
There isn't much work to be done at the moment, we're mostly doing house keeping stuff. Organizing, restock, etc. Not the most interesting, but that's fine. Tuesday was our first real day of work, and we got to go early as it was Ice Cream Social day! That's right! the Costume shop held an Ice Cream social for the whole Opera. Even had lactose free ice cream for the lactarded and all fruit popsicles for the Vegans. It was pretty fun. After wards we all went home for a breif second then out to the bar/chinese food. We stayed out for a while, though when we got there it was just the costume shop girls and Safety John. By 9 half the Opera had taken over the tiny tiny bar. We almost got lost getting home, but got back fine. Though just after we got home, the girl we were trying to follow stopped back by and got Morgan out of the room while I was checking my email. Neither of us had our keys. Ooh super fun lock outs. Thankfully our RA guy was still up and let us in no problem.
Wednesday didn't have to be into the costume shop until 2 pm, but had fire estinguisher training and terribly over acted videos about back health and slip protection. Morgan, another girl Holly and I went in to Cooperstown to wonder around a bit. The photos are still on my camera from that, but the photos from before are now all online (they were before, but a bit of a mix up happened.) We went home after that for naps and lunch then headed in to work. It was mostly spent cataloging stock. Nothing terribly exciting. Morgan went to watch the Opera softball game, but I stayed in having a headache. The Opera plays in a company league against the local companies like the hospital, sports store, etc. Apparently we're attrocious, but the crowd it always pretty rowdy.
Today was the first real full day of work, as there had been fittings done yesterday. Those didn't take most of the morning, so I was sent out to the warehouse to do more organizing. We came back for lunch and I stayed behind to clean up the wardrobe house instead of going out there again. Again not exciting, but fine. Now it's after dinner and I'm gunna curl up with a book and be a sicky.
There isn't much work to be done at the moment, we're mostly doing house keeping stuff. Organizing, restock, etc. Not the most interesting, but that's fine. Tuesday was our first real day of work, and we got to go early as it was Ice Cream Social day! That's right! the Costume shop held an Ice Cream social for the whole Opera. Even had lactose free ice cream for the lactarded and all fruit popsicles for the Vegans. It was pretty fun. After wards we all went home for a breif second then out to the bar/chinese food. We stayed out for a while, though when we got there it was just the costume shop girls and Safety John. By 9 half the Opera had taken over the tiny tiny bar. We almost got lost getting home, but got back fine. Though just after we got home, the girl we were trying to follow stopped back by and got Morgan out of the room while I was checking my email. Neither of us had our keys. Ooh super fun lock outs. Thankfully our RA guy was still up and let us in no problem.
Wednesday didn't have to be into the costume shop until 2 pm, but had fire estinguisher training and terribly over acted videos about back health and slip protection. Morgan, another girl Holly and I went in to Cooperstown to wonder around a bit. The photos are still on my camera from that, but the photos from before are now all online (they were before, but a bit of a mix up happened.) We went home after that for naps and lunch then headed in to work. It was mostly spent cataloging stock. Nothing terribly exciting. Morgan went to watch the Opera softball game, but I stayed in having a headache. The Opera plays in a company league against the local companies like the hospital, sports store, etc. Apparently we're attrocious, but the crowd it always pretty rowdy.
Today was the first real full day of work, as there had been fittings done yesterday. Those didn't take most of the morning, so I was sent out to the warehouse to do more organizing. We came back for lunch and I stayed behind to clean up the wardrobe house instead of going out there again. Again not exciting, but fine. Now it's after dinner and I'm gunna curl up with a book and be a sicky.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Last Day of Work
Yesterday was my last day of working at the Costume Shop. This makes me very sad. I even cried a little on the way home. It was a really slow week, not much to do really. I spent the work day taking my tiger mask off the mannequin head and plastering it to make it super strong. Now of course it doesn't fit your head, but Adrian said it wasn't a big deal. It really will be an easy fix. I am damn proud of that tiger mask, even if it is a bit cutesy for a soccer mascot called "The Terror!" Then after lunch it turned into play time because there is literally nothing to be done. We got a package containing fabric and a photo of Lyonell Richie from his music video All Night Long. So in order to see the photo better Ginny, Anna and I looked up the video. We died laughing at how totally, painfully '80s it was. Then I taught Ginny something very deadly to all of those whose computers she gets a hold of. How to change auto-correct options in all Microsoft programs. We spent nearly an hour playing around with that. Changing words like and to auto correct to arse, or but to buttikins. Then Adrian brought cake and bubbly wine. It was really nice of them, and kind of strange too, because the night before I was telling Cassie how I'd be happy with just having cake with all of them before I left. So we had cake, told silly stories and drank the bubbly wine. They gave me books as a going away present too, both of which are amazingly awesome. One was Fasion from 1800 to 1940 which is a book of fashion plates, and the second was a book of designs by a turn of the century Russian designer, Bakst. They are both beautiful books, I love them so! I'm going to miss that place so much. They've made me promise to come and visit if I get the RA job here next summer, which I would have done regardless. I cried a little on my way home to Waterloo.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Glasgow: One week later.
So enough dilly-dallying around! Time for some serious posting!
Let's start at the beginning: Thursday Oct 18
Trip to the airport started us off at a bright and early (only not so) 6:30 in the morning to get on the Tube to get on an overground train to get the bus to get us to the airport by 9 am. It was fairly uneventful getting there and even on to the plane, though I did meet almost everyone Cassie works with in that span of check in and boarding which made it kind of confusing when trying to figure out who people were later. The flight was amazingly short and smooth, I barely had time to realize we were in the air and freak out. We got to walk around Glasgow a bit once we got there because our hotel rooms weren't going to be ready for a few hours. They held our bags for us though, which was nice. Downtown was just a few blocks from our Hotel so we all headed out to get something to eat. After trying several places to seat 18 people we end up splitting up, Cassie, Aoibhean (Ee-Bv-an), Erika, Michelle and I ended up eating at a Spanish "Tapas" restaurant that was pretty tasty. Note: Tapas just means little appetizer sized dinner things that you are supposed to order like 3 of each I have Cassie begging me to make a Tortilla now because I got her to try one there. After lunch Cassie and I meandered around downtown Glasgow for a few hours before going back to the hotel for a quick rest before trekking out to find the Pizza Express. Which we walked 3 sides of a square to find. We were late, but we found it, enjoyed our pizza and most of us went home. It really wasn't that eventful, the next day though, that was crazy. Friday started my first, most people's second, Model Comp event. We got up early, had a hotel breakfast and all packed into the coach (bus). The mall we get too is really really nice, big open area with a glass roof and the goodie bag pallets are right next to the elevator. This is very important, as we discovered the boxes used to ship the goodie bags were not strong enough most times to actually hold what was packed in them, so they would crush or tear if you looked at them wrong. This naturally made it very difficult to carry. So Cassie and I found ways to worm out of it. We had to make Jeff's scripts and go sandwich shopping for the crew. By sandwich shopping I mean going into Marks & Spenser (think a step above JC Penny's but with a food store) and get 30 pre-made sandwiches of all varieties and bring them back along with at least 12 2-liter bottles of water. Pre-made sandwiches here are delicious, even if you have to HUNT for one that does not have mayo or a soft cheese on it. During this and most of our time working we were followed by the most incompetent and rude person in the group, who shall remain nameless. She made Cassie and I both feel very angry and unappreciated throughout the trip even when we had done twice the work she had. On more than one occasion she was snappy for no reason other than she was hung over and over bearing. I threatened to Cassie to stop working if her attitude didn't change, that's how bad she was. Thankfully we weren't the only ones who had problems with her and everyone in charge knew that. But back to Glasgow. I really felt bad for some of the girls who walked through the line, they seemed so hopeful to get scouted, but there was no way in hell that they would be models. This is coming from someone who will also never be a model, not even a plus sized one. I had to herd a number of girls past their tall chosen friend to stand beyond to wait for her when they would all pool up behind her waiting for their scouting. It literally left me feeling like the I'd just told them that Santa was dead or something like that. Not that too many girls in Glasgow got scouted. It was a rough town, which typically means rough looking people. Some of the girls were pushing baby carriages and you know that the baby inside was their's. This was a competition for 13-17 year old girls. A number had tattoos and badly done piercings, or where just plain missing teeth. Really some of them would have been quite pretty if they just took a squeegee to their face and got off the 2 inches of makeup they were wearing badly. Cassie stopped two girls who looked 14 easily with their height, clothes and makeup. They were 11. It made me want to dry inside, as there is no way I'm letting any 11 year old I ever have try to grow up that fast. I really like my mom's rule of one type of make up at a time starting at 13. Start with eye shadow, at fourteen get blush, and so on until you know... 16 when you start going to high school dances and really it's not crazy to wear. I'm not saying that you're a bad parent if you let your little girl wear makeup, just don't make her grow up too fast, you'll miss her. Anyways, there weren't many girls coming through and we ended up staying an hour after we were supposed to close, sending many a 8 year old through with a suspicious glance and a goodie bag, we finally closed up with an extra 100 or so goodie bags still in boxes behind us. We loaded everything back onto the bus and headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. At this point Cassie and I got gussied up like no other to go out with everyone after more Pizza Express. We found the second Pizza Express much easier with 7 goodie bags in hand for our servers, managers and whom ever when we got there as we had a group of 26 people to seat and feed. Every one there was happy to have really started the tour and Cassie and I made friends with Xavier, one of the makeup artist. He and I ended up splitting 2 and a half bottles of wine before we left, making the evening quite entertaining. Dinner took a while because of the size of our group but it was all good fun. We left dinner to proceed to a beautiful Victorian building with a really cool little bar inside. Soho Bar, I think it was called. They played great music and I learned something important. American's dance like hookers. Feet planted, butt shaking. English? Think 1980's swinging arms and touch-steps. It's pretty difficult to try and change your style of dancing after 5 or so glasses of wine at dinner but Cassie and I managed it by the end of the evening. Everyone had a lot of fun, especially as we practically ran the bar. I didn't drink any at the bar because I didn't bring any cash with me, but it was kind of nice to sober up a bit before attempting to get home. When we all did decide to leave we tried to get a taxi for the 6 of us that were all going together. Cassie called a cab over and it's sat 5. So what does she do? She shoves us all in a taxi and walks off by herself! She literally shoved me in the taxi and shut the door, then made sure the taxi left before I could turn around and get out. I didn't want her walking home alone, but it ended up working out as she escorting two of our tiny female models home a block from where she shoved us in a taxi. I ended up waiting for her in the lobby of the hotel until she got home. But she got home safe and sound. We left for Sheffeild the next morning.
Let's start at the beginning: Thursday Oct 18
Trip to the airport started us off at a bright and early (only not so) 6:30 in the morning to get on the Tube to get on an overground train to get the bus to get us to the airport by 9 am. It was fairly uneventful getting there and even on to the plane, though I did meet almost everyone Cassie works with in that span of check in and boarding which made it kind of confusing when trying to figure out who people were later. The flight was amazingly short and smooth, I barely had time to realize we were in the air and freak out. We got to walk around Glasgow a bit once we got there because our hotel rooms weren't going to be ready for a few hours. They held our bags for us though, which was nice. Downtown was just a few blocks from our Hotel so we all headed out to get something to eat. After trying several places to seat 18 people we end up splitting up, Cassie, Aoibhean (Ee-Bv-an), Erika, Michelle and I ended up eating at a Spanish "Tapas" restaurant that was pretty tasty. Note: Tapas just means little appetizer sized dinner things that you are supposed to order like 3 of each I have Cassie begging me to make a Tortilla now because I got her to try one there. After lunch Cassie and I meandered around downtown Glasgow for a few hours before going back to the hotel for a quick rest before trekking out to find the Pizza Express. Which we walked 3 sides of a square to find. We were late, but we found it, enjoyed our pizza and most of us went home. It really wasn't that eventful, the next day though, that was crazy. Friday started my first, most people's second, Model Comp event. We got up early, had a hotel breakfast and all packed into the coach (bus). The mall we get too is really really nice, big open area with a glass roof and the goodie bag pallets are right next to the elevator. This is very important, as we discovered the boxes used to ship the goodie bags were not strong enough most times to actually hold what was packed in them, so they would crush or tear if you looked at them wrong. This naturally made it very difficult to carry. So Cassie and I found ways to worm out of it. We had to make Jeff's scripts and go sandwich shopping for the crew. By sandwich shopping I mean going into Marks & Spenser (think a step above JC Penny's but with a food store) and get 30 pre-made sandwiches of all varieties and bring them back along with at least 12 2-liter bottles of water. Pre-made sandwiches here are delicious, even if you have to HUNT for one that does not have mayo or a soft cheese on it. During this and most of our time working we were followed by the most incompetent and rude person in the group, who shall remain nameless. She made Cassie and I both feel very angry and unappreciated throughout the trip even when we had done twice the work she had. On more than one occasion she was snappy for no reason other than she was hung over and over bearing. I threatened to Cassie to stop working if her attitude didn't change, that's how bad she was. Thankfully we weren't the only ones who had problems with her and everyone in charge knew that. But back to Glasgow. I really felt bad for some of the girls who walked through the line, they seemed so hopeful to get scouted, but there was no way in hell that they would be models. This is coming from someone who will also never be a model, not even a plus sized one. I had to herd a number of girls past their tall chosen friend to stand beyond to wait for her when they would all pool up behind her waiting for their scouting. It literally left me feeling like the I'd just told them that Santa was dead or something like that. Not that too many girls in Glasgow got scouted. It was a rough town, which typically means rough looking people. Some of the girls were pushing baby carriages and you know that the baby inside was their's. This was a competition for 13-17 year old girls. A number had tattoos and badly done piercings, or where just plain missing teeth. Really some of them would have been quite pretty if they just took a squeegee to their face and got off the 2 inches of makeup they were wearing badly. Cassie stopped two girls who looked 14 easily with their height, clothes and makeup. They were 11. It made me want to dry inside, as there is no way I'm letting any 11 year old I ever have try to grow up that fast. I really like my mom's rule of one type of make up at a time starting at 13. Start with eye shadow, at fourteen get blush, and so on until you know... 16 when you start going to high school dances and really it's not crazy to wear. I'm not saying that you're a bad parent if you let your little girl wear makeup, just don't make her grow up too fast, you'll miss her. Anyways, there weren't many girls coming through and we ended up staying an hour after we were supposed to close, sending many a 8 year old through with a suspicious glance and a goodie bag, we finally closed up with an extra 100 or so goodie bags still in boxes behind us. We loaded everything back onto the bus and headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. At this point Cassie and I got gussied up like no other to go out with everyone after more Pizza Express. We found the second Pizza Express much easier with 7 goodie bags in hand for our servers, managers and whom ever when we got there as we had a group of 26 people to seat and feed. Every one there was happy to have really started the tour and Cassie and I made friends with Xavier, one of the makeup artist. He and I ended up splitting 2 and a half bottles of wine before we left, making the evening quite entertaining. Dinner took a while because of the size of our group but it was all good fun. We left dinner to proceed to a beautiful Victorian building with a really cool little bar inside. Soho Bar, I think it was called. They played great music and I learned something important. American's dance like hookers. Feet planted, butt shaking. English? Think 1980's swinging arms and touch-steps. It's pretty difficult to try and change your style of dancing after 5 or so glasses of wine at dinner but Cassie and I managed it by the end of the evening. Everyone had a lot of fun, especially as we practically ran the bar. I didn't drink any at the bar because I didn't bring any cash with me, but it was kind of nice to sober up a bit before attempting to get home. When we all did decide to leave we tried to get a taxi for the 6 of us that were all going together. Cassie called a cab over and it's sat 5. So what does she do? She shoves us all in a taxi and walks off by herself! She literally shoved me in the taxi and shut the door, then made sure the taxi left before I could turn around and get out. I didn't want her walking home alone, but it ended up working out as she escorting two of our tiny female models home a block from where she shoved us in a taxi. I ended up waiting for her in the lobby of the hotel until she got home. But she got home safe and sound. We left for Sheffeild the next morning.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Ten Day Break! Exciting!
Tomorrow begins my ten day break. Really that's a day early, but I'm spending it with Cassie working a Modeling Competition all over England. Actually our first stop is in Glasgow, then to Sheffield followed by Manchester and then Norwich before a day off home in London. After that there are two smaller day trip things to cities I can't remember.
*** Because I will be traveling I will have very limited use of a computer, as such I won't be on AIM or Skype from here until Wednesday. I will try to check my email every or every other day. ***
Work was very, very , very slow this week. Adrian is in Holland and no one knows when he'll be back. Without him there isn't much work to be done. Though yesterday I spend the day turning a manikin into a dress form. That was actually a lot of fun and it involved power tools. I felt very proud when I was done. Chris is going to hopefully show me how to cover it in linen when I get back from break. Monday I spent in Shepard's Bush with Ginny looking for fabrics for a mermaid costume they are working on. She told me that it seemed like I was the one who had lived in London for 20 years, not her as she was very confused by the tubes we had to take to get out there. She hadn't ever been out to the shops there. It was actually kinda cool, because for once the shop keepers weren't all snooty. They generally are because they think I'm so little fashion student looking for free samples, when really I'm a work-study kid looking for free samples. I ended up staying up way WAY past my bed time last night as I had a paper due this morning. And I'm a terrible terrible procrastinator. But it got done and now I'm off to bed so that I can be well rested for tomorrow's journey. Which starts at 6:20 tomorrow morning. Gag me.
*** Because I will be traveling I will have very limited use of a computer, as such I won't be on AIM or Skype from here until Wednesday. I will try to check my email every or every other day. ***
Work was very, very , very slow this week. Adrian is in Holland and no one knows when he'll be back. Without him there isn't much work to be done. Though yesterday I spend the day turning a manikin into a dress form. That was actually a lot of fun and it involved power tools. I felt very proud when I was done. Chris is going to hopefully show me how to cover it in linen when I get back from break. Monday I spent in Shepard's Bush with Ginny looking for fabrics for a mermaid costume they are working on. She told me that it seemed like I was the one who had lived in London for 20 years, not her as she was very confused by the tubes we had to take to get out there. She hadn't ever been out to the shops there. It was actually kinda cool, because for once the shop keepers weren't all snooty. They generally are because they think I'm so little fashion student looking for free samples, when really I'm a work-study kid looking for free samples. I ended up staying up way WAY past my bed time last night as I had a paper due this morning. And I'm a terrible terrible procrastinator. But it got done and now I'm off to bed so that I can be well rested for tomorrow's journey. Which starts at 6:20 tomorrow morning. Gag me.
Friday, October 12, 2007
CRAZY Friday
Woah man! I showed up at work at 9 this morning, after leaving everyone still working at 7 last night, and everyone was there like they had never left. I was working non-stop (except for my 20 minute lunch) from the moment I got there until 5. Hand sewing, pinning, moving things, packing, counting, and other such jobs. It was a mad rush to get two shows out of the shop today, one had to be done by 3 as Boss had a plane to Holland and it had to go with him. The second was at 5, and it was the last of that show and I was in charge of finishing it up. 30 men's coronation robes, 8 Dukes, 10 Viscounts and 12 lower....guys.... I don't remember the name. All of them had to be assembled and finished. That was my job, the finishing. Finishing is trimming all the seams, tacking down the edges, and generally making sure everything looks nice and professional. In this case I had to fluff seams in fur (yes, more effing fur) and tack down the collar of the fur half of the robe over the stitching for the ties so they didn't look machine made. Time consuming and not very exciting. And dangerous to finger tips. I had to clean one of the robes today because I stuck my finger and didn't realize it was bleeding until the blood was on the robe. Thankfully the fur was fake and plastic is easy to clean. Still annoying though, especially as I proceeded to do the same thing minus the getting it on the robe 4 more times. Over all it was interesting to meet the new people they brought in just for the day and see every single person in the place on a sewing machine or at a cutting table working. Even Ginny who I had no idea even knew how to work a machine. Not that I didn't think she was capable, I'd just only ever really seen her walk through and work on her computer. It was really kinda cool. Once 5 hit though, everything stopped. Well, everything was done. Today was the first day in weeks where we reached a stopping point before dark. Which! comes at 6... in the span of 5 minutes. There is no transition, it's like someone flips a switch! It freaks me out! and this just started happening this week. Last week the sun would go down during my tube ride home, so it seemed like it would take longer.... I guess. I dunno, it just didn't bother me. I'm not sure why this does really. Anyways, I've no food in the fridge. So forage for food I must. Off!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Happy 4 Years to Greg and Me
Quote of the Day: "Well it's good for a woman to have a soft job like Theatre, you know, not a real job like men are supposed to have."
Gee Thanks. Make me feel good about myself. Ass.
I heard that from one of the fabric store owners that I visited today. I'm the company go-fer at the moment, but it's good because I'm learning London better. It's actually kinda cool to walk around with a big roll of fabric and a bag of notions feeling all important. Though they do seem to enjoy sending me out for the fabric that *no one* in London has. EVER.
************
ok, typing over. i just burnt the back of my hand on the oven door. I'm gunna go nurse that.
Gee Thanks. Make me feel good about myself. Ass.
I heard that from one of the fabric store owners that I visited today. I'm the company go-fer at the moment, but it's good because I'm learning London better. It's actually kinda cool to walk around with a big roll of fabric and a bag of notions feeling all important. Though they do seem to enjoy sending me out for the fabric that *no one* in London has. EVER.
************
ok, typing over. i just burnt the back of my hand on the oven door. I'm gunna go nurse that.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Dublin tomorrow!
Last Call for addresses if you want a Dublin Post Card! Leave it in a comment if you don't think I have it and I'll do my best (as I will only be checking my email before work in the morning), I have to moderate the comments so I'll make sure the whole of the interwebs does not have it.
Work today was uneventful except that I was one of the first there in the morning and the last to leave. Which means I'm cool to leave early tomorrow afternoon so I can catch my flight! yay!
I still haven't found my computer cord, but I will have it by Sunday night. Come Hell or high water! I will also be on Skype and AIM at 5 pm EST for those who where wondering.
More stories to come at the end of the weekend.
Work today was uneventful except that I was one of the first there in the morning and the last to leave. Which means I'm cool to leave early tomorrow afternoon so I can catch my flight! yay!
I still haven't found my computer cord, but I will have it by Sunday night. Come Hell or high water! I will also be on Skype and AIM at 5 pm EST for those who where wondering.
More stories to come at the end of the weekend.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
And I Get Credit for This:
9 hours worth of credit to be exact. This is the form I have to fill out, or something minutely different each week.
WEEK 3
DATE Sept 17- Sept 21 HOURS WORKED 31 1/2
Work responsibilities- what did you do this week?
I cut rabbit fur. I cut rabbit fur into capes and little diamonds to make ermine tails for coronation robes. I cleaned fur off of things. I hate fur. I did learn how to use an industrial sewing machine on Monday.
Are you beginning to achieve a better understanding of the mission as well as goals and objectives of your company/organization? Do you have an initial sense of how your company/organization fits within the broader niche of similar concerns?
We’re a costume shop. Our goals are to make costumes and make them well enough for more people to hire us.
Have you received any specific types of training and how does that relate to your work responsibilities? If not, is there additional training that you’d like to receive that would assist you in performing your job?
I’ve been taught how to read the industrial patterns, how to cut the leather on the back of fur without cutting too much of the fur off. Mainly I’ve learned how to deal with new fabrics. I’d like to work with the props master to learn how to make some of the things, like wigs and whatnot as it is not something I would likely learn to do in classes.
By contrast, do you find yourself providing informal training to some of your colleagues, particularly in computer or web- based technology?
We have one computer in our office and Ginny is the only one who uses it. The closest I got to informing my colleges on anything was telling them the name for a quilting needle. They just called it a half circle needle, as that is its shape.
What cultural and linguistic differences are you beginning to hear or observe? Be specific and compare with US culture and spoken English.
Trousers are pants, pants are underpants. Zippers are zips and scissors are snips. I’m comparatively more chatty then the others, but they are more than happy to talk with me. Theatre and the artistic communities seem very similar in both cultures. People seem a lot more open with curse words than we are in the States.
Name 2-3 new skills you have developed and how they might help you in the future?
I can now cut out patterns, guestimate yardage and use an industrial sewing machine. The first and last are really the most important, as those are the ones that will get me jobs but the second will help me keep them.
What previous skills or knowledge, either classroom or previous job-based, have you begun to apply in your internship?
Sewing is not too much different on a domestic machine from an industrial machine, and knowing how to hand sew has kept me busy the past few weeks.
After three weeks, to what extent are your ‘levels of responsibility’ expectations beginning to be met? Are there steps you can take to achieve gradual levels of responsibility?
I am gradually being given more and more responsibility, and hopefully by the end of next week I will be using a sewing machine for something other than just learning. I understand the hesitation, as there isn’t always a lot of time to fix something that I might mess up. I don’t mind what I am doing now as far as my responsibility but I will not turn down a little more.
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Anyways, after that bit of boring. My work week was filled with fur, nothing too different from day to day. There is more in store next week as well. 37 coronation robes to be made, but I'm not sure if that's just the mens or both men and womens. God, I hope it's both.
Friday night Flatmate K grabbed me on the way into the building and dragged me out to Islington to watch the France Vs Ireland rugby match. Real men play rugby. It's an amazingly fun game to watch, even if it is on TV. France beat the pants off Ireland, 25 to 3. The rules of the game still escape me exactly, as they seem to be somewhere between soccer and football. We also tried some awesome beer, Blanc, which was a white beer. Very tasty without tasting like beer. Kinda weird, and pretty expensive, but I hope it was just the pub we were at. I went home early, as I'd be standing all day at work.
Saturday I went out to Portobello Road Market. It's awesome, packed like crazy though. Anything you could ever want to buy was there. Some of the best street food I've ever seen and some of the most interesting antiques. I can't wait to go again when I remember to bring money with me. The produce there was some of the most wonderfully fragrant and the other things around where at stalls where you could haggle easily enough if you needed to. But I'll deffinately not bring my backpack again. I'm pretty sure someone tried to go through it while it was on my back and not in front of me. They didn't get anything, which is good, because it was all inside my sweater inside my bag. It was a beautiful day to top it off. So nice and cool and sunny. I didn't end up taking any photos because I didn't have anyone to watch my back and it was so terribly packed that you wouldn't have seen much. When I came home I was supposed to go back out to a bar near here with some friends but ended up stepping on a tiny sliver of glass from something we broke earlier in the week. We thought we'd gotten it all up. But apparently not. I attempted to get it out with tweezers then flush it out. I ended up having to walk to the store to get Peroxide thinking that it would be able to bubble it out. I thought I had, but when I woke up this morning I had to have C get it out for me.
Amazing Dr C got it out with very little pain or annoyance. She'll be an awesome mom. Today a small group of us went down to Camden Town to do a little shopping. I ended up getting a cute top and C got one too. There are a billion cool stalls there, but most didn't allow photos, and those that did didn't have anything interesting. It was also very very very crowded. Hello Kitty stuff all over! It was all so cute! I could spend hours walking around there. Even though I have. I didn't see half the market I don't think. I really want to go back to both of the markets I went to today. The weather this weekend couldn't have been better.
Next weekend is Dublin and Inverness! Yay exciting! I can't wait. :) If you want a postcard make sure to email me or comment if you don't have my email and I'll send it to you!
WEEK 3
DATE Sept 17- Sept 21 HOURS WORKED 31 1/2
Work responsibilities- what did you do this week?
I cut rabbit fur. I cut rabbit fur into capes and little diamonds to make ermine tails for coronation robes. I cleaned fur off of things. I hate fur. I did learn how to use an industrial sewing machine on Monday.
Are you beginning to achieve a better understanding of the mission as well as goals and objectives of your company/organization? Do you have an initial sense of how your company/organization fits within the broader niche of similar concerns?
We’re a costume shop. Our goals are to make costumes and make them well enough for more people to hire us.
Have you received any specific types of training and how does that relate to your work responsibilities? If not, is there additional training that you’d like to receive that would assist you in performing your job?
I’ve been taught how to read the industrial patterns, how to cut the leather on the back of fur without cutting too much of the fur off. Mainly I’ve learned how to deal with new fabrics. I’d like to work with the props master to learn how to make some of the things, like wigs and whatnot as it is not something I would likely learn to do in classes.
By contrast, do you find yourself providing informal training to some of your colleagues, particularly in computer or web- based technology?
We have one computer in our office and Ginny is the only one who uses it. The closest I got to informing my colleges on anything was telling them the name for a quilting needle. They just called it a half circle needle, as that is its shape.
What cultural and linguistic differences are you beginning to hear or observe? Be specific and compare with US culture and spoken English.
Trousers are pants, pants are underpants. Zippers are zips and scissors are snips. I’m comparatively more chatty then the others, but they are more than happy to talk with me. Theatre and the artistic communities seem very similar in both cultures. People seem a lot more open with curse words than we are in the States.
Name 2-3 new skills you have developed and how they might help you in the future?
I can now cut out patterns, guestimate yardage and use an industrial sewing machine. The first and last are really the most important, as those are the ones that will get me jobs but the second will help me keep them.
What previous skills or knowledge, either classroom or previous job-based, have you begun to apply in your internship?
Sewing is not too much different on a domestic machine from an industrial machine, and knowing how to hand sew has kept me busy the past few weeks.
After three weeks, to what extent are your ‘levels of responsibility’ expectations beginning to be met? Are there steps you can take to achieve gradual levels of responsibility?
I am gradually being given more and more responsibility, and hopefully by the end of next week I will be using a sewing machine for something other than just learning. I understand the hesitation, as there isn’t always a lot of time to fix something that I might mess up. I don’t mind what I am doing now as far as my responsibility but I will not turn down a little more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways, after that bit of boring. My work week was filled with fur, nothing too different from day to day. There is more in store next week as well. 37 coronation robes to be made, but I'm not sure if that's just the mens or both men and womens. God, I hope it's both.
Friday night Flatmate K grabbed me on the way into the building and dragged me out to Islington to watch the France Vs Ireland rugby match. Real men play rugby. It's an amazingly fun game to watch, even if it is on TV. France beat the pants off Ireland, 25 to 3. The rules of the game still escape me exactly, as they seem to be somewhere between soccer and football. We also tried some awesome beer, Blanc, which was a white beer. Very tasty without tasting like beer. Kinda weird, and pretty expensive, but I hope it was just the pub we were at. I went home early, as I'd be standing all day at work.
Saturday I went out to Portobello Road Market. It's awesome, packed like crazy though. Anything you could ever want to buy was there. Some of the best street food I've ever seen and some of the most interesting antiques. I can't wait to go again when I remember to bring money with me. The produce there was some of the most wonderfully fragrant and the other things around where at stalls where you could haggle easily enough if you needed to. But I'll deffinately not bring my backpack again. I'm pretty sure someone tried to go through it while it was on my back and not in front of me. They didn't get anything, which is good, because it was all inside my sweater inside my bag. It was a beautiful day to top it off. So nice and cool and sunny. I didn't end up taking any photos because I didn't have anyone to watch my back and it was so terribly packed that you wouldn't have seen much. When I came home I was supposed to go back out to a bar near here with some friends but ended up stepping on a tiny sliver of glass from something we broke earlier in the week. We thought we'd gotten it all up. But apparently not. I attempted to get it out with tweezers then flush it out. I ended up having to walk to the store to get Peroxide thinking that it would be able to bubble it out. I thought I had, but when I woke up this morning I had to have C get it out for me.
Amazing Dr C got it out with very little pain or annoyance. She'll be an awesome mom. Today a small group of us went down to Camden Town to do a little shopping. I ended up getting a cute top and C got one too. There are a billion cool stalls there, but most didn't allow photos, and those that did didn't have anything interesting. It was also very very very crowded. Hello Kitty stuff all over! It was all so cute! I could spend hours walking around there. Even though I have. I didn't see half the market I don't think. I really want to go back to both of the markets I went to today. The weather this weekend couldn't have been better.
Next weekend is Dublin and Inverness! Yay exciting! I can't wait. :) If you want a postcard make sure to email me or comment if you don't have my email and I'll send it to you!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I Hate Fur.
The past two days have been wholly opposite. Yesterday I did absolutely nothing productive for the company, though had a very interesting day and today I did nothing interesting, but very productive for the company.
Monday I finally was able to get onto one of the industrial machines because it was me, my supervisor Lady and the Turk( mind the Turk not the Kurd). I made a bag actually yesterday. It's covered in crazy stitching that you can actually track my progress on the machine on. The industrial machines are still scary though, as they are very very fast and powerful. It really doesn't help that everyone tells me to mind that I don't stitch my fingers to it. The bag is pretty fun, covered in moderately straight lines, zigzags and sin waves. Yeah, I'm a dork. I put an A on it too, with the reverse pedal. For those of you who know or even care, you lift the foot with a pressure petal that you push with your knee, and you wind the next bobbin while you sew. There is no way to turn off the needle movement to make the bobbin. It was very strange. The slowest constant setting on there is the fastest I've ever seen any domestic machine do. The Turk showed me all the really interesting different machines they have in the back, like two button holers, one to make normal rectangular button holes and one to make "key hole" or the rounded button holes. And even a button sewer!! HOW AWESOME! NO MORE HAND SEWN BUTTONS!!! MOM WE NEEDS IT! (only not really.) Plus the three 4 string sergers they have in the back too. The pattern maker and Fashionista man Skinny came in to work really late in the afternoon and I did a little bit of cutting for him and a jacket and skirt he was making for a fairly famous person's entourange girl. It is covered in sparkles and really pretty. I got to see pictures of the Turk's granddaughters who are adorable. He's very proud of them. I like him a lot, as he tends to take care of me by helping me more than any of the others really seem to have time to do, even though they will when I need them too without letting it be a problem for them. Then I wondered down to the National Theatre to see Chatroom/Citizenship. Both where really good one act plays written for 14-18 year olds to do in High and Middle Schools. I enjoyed them. Came home and went to bed.
Today though, I cut out "ermine" tails from black rabbit's skin. I hate fur. It is the devil. It gets everywhere. I had to wear a woodworker's mask today to keep from stuffing my nose full of loose fur. Skinny said I looked like a cat the way I kept pawing at my nose. I felt like one , and by the end of the day looked like I'd shaved one. COVERED in fur. White fur, because I had to cut a caplet out of the white that the "ermine" tails were going to be attached to. We couldn't even turn the fan on in the shop because the fur fluff would have gone everywhere. Ugh, I am still finding it in places, like my socks. The only excitement there was to be had today was a mouse. That came from no where. I tried to pick the thing up and take it outside and it bit me! It didn't break the skin, but it took a mighty tumble down the pattern card stock and straight to the ground. I was apparently very brave trying to take it outside. We think it ate some poison because of how confused it was. Boss tried to get it outside humanely too, as it survived the fall, but it ran into a corner we can't get too right now. Which means it's going to stick to high heaven in a few days if it did eat poison. Skinny complemented me on my vocabulary today, as I was able to use the word 'colloquialism' in a sentence to explain how English works to the Turk and the Kurd.Until that point I didn't realize it was a word people don't use very often. Flatmate E has just informed me that WE have a mouse in our kitchen. Exciting. As long as it doesn't get into my cornflakes we're peachy. I'll probably end up going to tell the front office tomorrow. Tonight though was bowling! Amazing bowling! Flatmate C made a strike from rolling the ball between my legs! It was CRAZY! This place was really really cool, great music, a lot of fun without being as noisy as normal bowling alleys. There were only 4 open lanes in there actually and a really cool bar in the back. I actually didn't do too terrible and had only one frame where I missed on both balls. We've got some great photos that I am going to have to pilfer off Facebook when the others post them. I forgot my camera in the room, so I wasn't able to take any. And Babe, if you are able to come over, we are so going bowling. I promise.
Monday I finally was able to get onto one of the industrial machines because it was me, my supervisor Lady and the Turk( mind the Turk not the Kurd). I made a bag actually yesterday. It's covered in crazy stitching that you can actually track my progress on the machine on. The industrial machines are still scary though, as they are very very fast and powerful. It really doesn't help that everyone tells me to mind that I don't stitch my fingers to it. The bag is pretty fun, covered in moderately straight lines, zigzags and sin waves. Yeah, I'm a dork. I put an A on it too, with the reverse pedal. For those of you who know or even care, you lift the foot with a pressure petal that you push with your knee, and you wind the next bobbin while you sew. There is no way to turn off the needle movement to make the bobbin. It was very strange. The slowest constant setting on there is the fastest I've ever seen any domestic machine do. The Turk showed me all the really interesting different machines they have in the back, like two button holers, one to make normal rectangular button holes and one to make "key hole" or the rounded button holes. And even a button sewer!! HOW AWESOME! NO MORE HAND SEWN BUTTONS!!! MOM WE NEEDS IT! (only not really.) Plus the three 4 string sergers they have in the back too. The pattern maker and Fashionista man Skinny came in to work really late in the afternoon and I did a little bit of cutting for him and a jacket and skirt he was making for a fairly famous person's entourange girl. It is covered in sparkles and really pretty. I got to see pictures of the Turk's granddaughters who are adorable. He's very proud of them. I like him a lot, as he tends to take care of me by helping me more than any of the others really seem to have time to do, even though they will when I need them too without letting it be a problem for them. Then I wondered down to the National Theatre to see Chatroom/Citizenship. Both where really good one act plays written for 14-18 year olds to do in High and Middle Schools. I enjoyed them. Came home and went to bed.
Today though, I cut out "ermine" tails from black rabbit's skin. I hate fur. It is the devil. It gets everywhere. I had to wear a woodworker's mask today to keep from stuffing my nose full of loose fur. Skinny said I looked like a cat the way I kept pawing at my nose. I felt like one , and by the end of the day looked like I'd shaved one. COVERED in fur. White fur, because I had to cut a caplet out of the white that the "ermine" tails were going to be attached to. We couldn't even turn the fan on in the shop because the fur fluff would have gone everywhere. Ugh, I am still finding it in places, like my socks. The only excitement there was to be had today was a mouse. That came from no where. I tried to pick the thing up and take it outside and it bit me! It didn't break the skin, but it took a mighty tumble down the pattern card stock and straight to the ground. I was apparently very brave trying to take it outside. We think it ate some poison because of how confused it was. Boss tried to get it outside humanely too, as it survived the fall, but it ran into a corner we can't get too right now. Which means it's going to stick to high heaven in a few days if it did eat poison. Skinny complemented me on my vocabulary today, as I was able to use the word 'colloquialism' in a sentence to explain how English works to the Turk and the Kurd.Until that point I didn't realize it was a word people don't use very often. Flatmate E has just informed me that WE have a mouse in our kitchen. Exciting. As long as it doesn't get into my cornflakes we're peachy. I'll probably end up going to tell the front office tomorrow. Tonight though was bowling! Amazing bowling! Flatmate C made a strike from rolling the ball between my legs! It was CRAZY! This place was really really cool, great music, a lot of fun without being as noisy as normal bowling alleys. There were only 4 open lanes in there actually and a really cool bar in the back. I actually didn't do too terrible and had only one frame where I missed on both balls. We've got some great photos that I am going to have to pilfer off Facebook when the others post them. I forgot my camera in the room, so I wasn't able to take any. And Babe, if you are able to come over, we are so going bowling. I promise.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Work
So Hurrah for the Tubes being up and running again today. It was my first full day of work today, working from 9 to 6. I spent most of the day tracing and cutting patterns for a new TV series. Everyone there is really really nice, and they are really patient with me. I love them. The fact that the head boss guy has my same name causes a few confusions. I've got them to call me a nickname instead to keep the confusion to a minimum. One guy calls me America. Seriously. I think it's pretty funny, he's enamored with the States apparently. I was attempting to explain where I was from to him, but I didn't have a map so it was hard. He was going on for a half hour about how BIG the US was. He didn't believe me that it takes more than a day to drive cross country. Everyone at work tends to treat me like a little sister. They've been keeping me busy too, little stuff mainly but I don't mind. The big industrial machines kinda scare me. I'll learn to use them next week.
But nothing too exciting has really happened around here. I've been to a few pubs, stayed in a few nights. We all plan on doing a bunch of touristy stuff this weekend like touring Buckingham Palace and maybe the London Eye. I really want to do that, so I hope we can.
But nothing too exciting has really happened around here. I've been to a few pubs, stayed in a few nights. We all plan on doing a bunch of touristy stuff this weekend like touring Buckingham Palace and maybe the London Eye. I really want to do that, so I hope we can.
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