PART 4 - THE STORM BLOWS THROUGH

Monday the 7th…
Who said we had a day off?? There was no “day” in my day. I slept through most of it only to begin the whole cycle again today. Who invented this thing called 530 am?? Marquis de Sade? Musta been… only he could come up with this form of torture. I set 3 alarms to get me up. THREE! One wakes me at ::::shuddering::: 5:30... Then next at 5:45 and the last at 6:35 letting me know I have missed the “early” train and I had better get my derriere in gear or I will miss the 6:51 also. Then I will be forced to take the 7:00 which means I will have to change in Jamacia - ruining the nap I could be taking on the express to Penn. I hate that thought. All sleep at this point is crucial to my charming personality and sense of humor - both of which seem to get less charming and less humorous with lack of sleep.

Tuesday - we have been looking for 2 boxes of costumes that were supposedly shipped last Thursday here to the Garden from Montreal. We have been searching the WHOLE place for these boxes for 5 days. Everyone from Production Mgmt down has been informed they were “in the building” but no one has located them yet. They are some spare things but only about $30,000 worth of spare things. How do I explain to the Cirque people that the costumes are “on vacation” without a chaperone? ::::sounding like the Aflack duck here -à:::::::ACK, ACK, ACKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!! Lol. Ok so I can only laugh at it now because guess what I found this afternoon hiding in plain sight in a place that no one walks through but me obviously. Two boxes of costumes that will now, somewhat make me able to sleep. While the were extra stock - from that stock I was supposed to fit 4 new people - and there are no other costumes like them back in Montreal… and they are pretty crucial in the story line … soooo you can understand my teeny tiny bit of anxiety when we couldn’t find them. I immediately called my left and right hands ( go back and read the last chapter of this blog) to tell them our cargo was found. In less than a blink of an eye they both fly into the theatre. Left hand says right hand is sooo happy that she was going to , and I quote you on this “ kiss the person that found them - with tongue!” my response is “ best offer I’ve had in weeks!“ which sends us into fits of laughter. I can now go back into the theatre for rehearsal . It is a bad move to put people who are severely sleep deprived into a dark theatre.

Wed, Thur ...my day starts by laying on the power track ( a fancy name for the trampoline) and sewing velcro strips on it by passing a needle through it down to a guy laying under it who then passes it back to me from underneath. How bad can your day be when it starts lying down?

Friday and Saturday - more long days in paradise and people are getting testy from lack of sleep. I sit, like a mushroom, in the dark cool theatre, finally eating dinner from 2 nights ago. I cant remember the last time I sat and ate without interruption. It is slow going and much of the “hurry up and wait syndrome.” Running back and forth between the theatre and the wardrobe room checking costumes onstage and costumes being repaired/altered/purchased. I think I walk between 7 and 10 miles a day. I need to get a pedometer to check the reality of that….my knee, however , think it is a million miles. It is far from happy, my knee I mean. I start the day with three flights of stairs going up to the train platform, three more sets get me from the train up to street level. Once inside MSG its 3 more flights up to the wardrobe room or “Big Igloo” as Billy has affectionately named it. I am the “Ice Queen my assistant is the “Ice Princess the Cirque coordinator is “Snowball.” .Dressers have given themselves names like Snowflake, Puddles and Heat Miser and Zamboni. When we have to use the walkies..they call each other by the code names…when others break into our channel and hear the conversations they think we have really lost it. It is nothing new…we are just loosing our last grasp on sanity.
I have been asked if I can have payroll in by tonight, Saturday. Yeah, RIGGGGGGHHHHTTTT! It is now 7 pm and we leave at 10. I try to sit at my niche and concentrate on just payroll. The Ice Princess takes my notes and goes through them asking appropriate people which tasks have been completed/are in the middle of/havent been started so we can cross stuff off the 3 - 4 pages of notes I have daily. I cant help but respond when there is something someone cant answer but that keeps me from payroll… which is rather confusing with varying rates of pay, different hours, schedules and holiday pay thrown in. I move to the empty green room. As soon as I sit down Martin comes in and sits down to chat. OYI! Lol… politely I answer his questions while trying to continue. He leaves after a few minutes and the next person pops in and OF COURSE they want to talk to me about something! Here is not working out either. :::HUGE SIGH::::: Ok back to the Big Igloo. I tried again ..they have dismissed the cast except for a few….I told my staff that they could clean up their rooms and leave by 9 instead of 10. This will give me peace and quiet and I can work on payroll. Its just me and the laundry guy. No more noise overload for me - blissful peace. I sit and go through payroll again as I think it should be done. I have to redo the ones I have already done because I estimated our time out as 10 pm….now I have to readjust them for 9 and I have another laundry guy in for the morning and me on 7th day. I am sure there will be some mistake….but I have 2 other sets of hands it will go through to check it before it gets to the people that actually cut the checks.
I am done …catching the 1140 pm home. Already I am thinking about having to catch the 730 am back in because the trains only run hourly on the weekends. My mind hurts!
Sunday. Back in at 9. Laundry boy reading while clothes spin and whirl in dryers and washers. I try to clean off the bomb blast that is my desk and catch up on paperwork.
By noon laundry is done and I am completing a few more things. At 1230 I think I can make the 1240 home if I run. Not a great feat its just down 6 flights of stairs, sort of. So I throw my computer into its case grab my coat and head out the door. As the door locks behind me I notice my keys and ID arent around my neck and I remember I dropped them on the desk when I came in. So much for catching the early train. I have to wait for security to come let me in to get my keys!!!! I reallllllllly need sleep. I have worked 74 hours this week plus 15ish hours of train travel back and forth. Somewhere in those days I slept a bit. I am going to put Vaseline on my abused fingers and cover them in bandaids. Time for sleep….NOW!!!! Coma time!!! Night!