Adventures of a Midwestern Girl (and Her Hillbilly Hermit Tennessean) in Sunny, Sunny California

WildCare held its annual Nature Lovers Ball fundraiser last weekend. Steve and I get to go mainly because Steve is WildCare's tech guru; he makes their multimedia presentations go off without a hitch. I get to go because:

a) In the past, I have helped set up equipment and manned the video camera
b) I'm cute and charming and like to flirt with the rich old dudes
c) I'm Steve's wife; they need him, so they get me

This year's event was quite lovely; Steve thinks it looks like Hogwarts.

The ladies in attendance weren't half bad either.

Last weekend was also closing weekend of the Stapleton Theatre Company's production of Brigadoon. As he has for the past few years, Steve did the lighting design for the show with me as his hapless assistant.

I cut and sort color gels, help Steve move the ladder(s), and struggle with the Kraken. My mighty nemesis is the cluster-f of cables that patch dimmers to circuits. They are dirty and tangled and frequently broken. During load-in this time, the dimmer closet actually tried to take me out! There are 2 dilapidated sliding doors into the closet. As I was trying to sort out the cables, one of the doors fell off in my hands. Later, while I was actually switching the cables around, the second door almost fell on my head. This prompted a small tantrum on my part as I cursed the old building with its crappy equipment and I kicked the fallen door a few times. Hearing my tirade, Steve came back and was able to fix the door. I just hope my outburst wasn't so loud everyone else could hear it, too.

My other task, as mentioned above, is helping move the ladders. I try to ignore the decrepit state of the building, beams and all, as Steve climbs up the ladders and swings around monkey-like hanging lights. There are always a few new actors with the company at every show that gasp upon seeing Steve up there for the first time. I don't particularly appreciate these gasps. Here is the Monkey King at work during strike after the final show.