[113] Screed City

[113]

03/09/2022 Wednesday. Kitchen Microwave. Beaver Haus. Lower Granville, Vermont.

I did it! I did a great job! I mean, I guess. I suppose I did a passable job and nobody got injured or killed. I mean, Allan hurt his wrist and maybe got sick, but I am not so sure either of those things had anything to do with me. I mean, his hurt wrist was his own doing for certain. The sickness, I mean, you throw a bunch of covid hoaxers in a room and anything is possible.

Today went as well as expected. Well, actually, quite worse. The grinding went fine. The cleaning of the loading bridge went fine. Checking out of the hotel went fine. Even loading the van went fine. What didn't go fine was when I was up on the loading bridge finishing that work a group of AOW toughs came poking around the movie screen that needs to be hung. All I could do was watch as they tore the box open like fools and then proceeded to have some in-depth discussion about the thing. By the time I got down to them they were gone. All that was left was a piece of carboard folded in half and positioned like a sandwich board that said "Don't put stuff on top. Box open." In pen. Whatever that is supposed to mean. I mean, I know what it means, I just don't see their sign doing any work keeping people from using the box as a table. But maybe boobs have a special language that other boobs can understand?

This action by them led to the steel guy, Angelo, to come and talk to me about using the scissors lift again. But now he had more information. They are going to weld some five inch angle to the back of the proscenium. In three spots. To reinforce the wall so they can hang the movie screen on the audience side of the proscenium. Which. My god. I don't even know what to say about that. I wracked my head for quite some time about how to deal with this information. I mean, very first of all that number one line set, the one that caused us, meaning BMI, me, Scott, the Big Boss so much fucking grief and now they are just going to put five inches of steel directly in front of it? I don't even know. I just don't. And as this was happening the electric guy came around asking me about how it is they are going to hang the electric raceways to the truss batons. How they operate, how they move, what is all this weight stuff and what not? At this point I walked outside and called the Big Boss. He told me to try and coordinate with AOW about the electric shit and see what help I could provide the steel guys with the screen. I mean, okay.

I spent a bunch of time thinking about how to prevent the steel guys from absolutely destroying the traveler track that we installed that is now in their way. The options being:

Tie it back somehow.

Take it down.

Move it on the I beam.

Move it to a moving truss.

Raise it.

All five ideas both horrible and stupid. The last thing I want to do is tie it back. I mean, I have no idea what kind of mayhem is about to unfold when we are not there and the line sets are operational. I just don't know. And having any of them connected to something like the dead hung traveler is just asking for something fucked up to happen. So I ignored that stupid idea.

I was not going to take it down. I had two boobs. The electric motor hoists are at the shop. I could have connected it to the second line set but that is what we have the truss for the first line set hanging on and it seemed like a really dumb idea to hang the traveler to the bottom of the temporary truss. I mean, I guess I could have used the next line set, but then when I got it to the deck, then what? The thing is 42 feet long. Now I am going to take it apart too? Then what? Store it at the back of the stage to get destroyed in some other unknown manner? No thanks. I disregarded that stupid idea.

I could have easily moved it about two feet upstage. I mean, easy is a relative term. It would have sucked, but I could have done it. But that wouldn't have prevented the thing from getting in the way still. I mean, where it is now, they will have to deal with it. If it is just barely in their way they can ignore it. Which seems worse somehow. So I decided against that kind of stupid idea.

I thought about just moving it to the third line set. But, once again, I only had the two boobs working with me. And there was no way in hell that was going to happen with them "Helping." I mean, it would have meant, I mean, I don't even know. I don't want to think about it. I mean, it would have been dangerous as fuck and somebody would have gotten hurt. And that person would probably would have been me. So I said a hearty hell no to that stupid idea.

The last thing I thought about was lifting the thing about four feet higher than where it lives now. This was the best idea. Albeit and idiotic one too. I mean, I could have made some stingers. Hung them from the existing beam clamps and had Sally and Billy pull the thing up to me and reconnected it. I mean, in theory this was an okay idea. In practice it was a shit load of work and then in about two months when we go back, I mean, then what? The floor will be finished which will mean that we need to bring scaffold because I doubt they will let us use a scissors lift on the brand new floor. And sure, I could probably get the traveler back down, but then the stingers would just live there forever? Forever stingers? Or what? I stand on top of a latter on top of the scaffold? I mean, sure, this is shit we do all the time, but I don't care. I was not going to fuck my future life up for something that should have been done weeks? months? before. I mean, of all the days in all the time between now and the end of December today is the day this comes up? I mean, I don't know what I mean, I mean, I did the only thing I could do, I asked Angelo to put welding blankets over the traveler when they were working on their thing and to please be careful.

I mean, once again this would have not been an issue if I had one, if not two people that knew the work and could help me. Instead I just had Billy with his too much knowledge about steel work giving me all sorts of useless advice that I already knew. Like "You know they are just going to get in there and fuck shit up, right?" And "They are going to hammer drill and weld, that thing could easily get destroyed." And "Maybe we could just tie it out of the way, they need to get in there with the scissor lift." And "They are going to hang some pretty big pieces of metal, you know that, right?" All this while Sally is complaining up a storm about how nobody is helping her with the zip ties and how she is working so hard and we are just standing around. I mean, I almost told her to go sit in the corner and just relax for a few minutes. Like a child. Like a kindergartener. I mean, of all the times in all the time she has been working for me, this was the time she decided to get some work done? I mean, usually she would just go to the bathroom and smoke cigarettes. I mean, it was really very annoying.

I mean, after I decided to just give up and hope for the best there was nothing else to do about it. I mean, I connected the four wire rope lines coming down for the first line set, the one that is attached to the four inch arbor, I connected them to some one foot pieces of Unistrut so I could pull them up to the loft blocks. That way when we go to hang the truss the wire rope won't get stuck at the loft blocks. I went up to the loading bridge and coiled the cable back. Taped the coils. Used a hank of rope and tied all four of them to an I beam. I mean, I should make some notes about this. As a heads up to whoever it is that is going to install the thing. I mean, it will most likely be me doing it, but in case it is Scott or Jayboo I don't want to create too much confusion. I mean, Scott would figure it out, Jayboo too, but it would take him a little while. And it is not confusing it is just odd.

This all happened before lunch. When we took lunch I went outside to go to the deli to get something to eat and was assaulted by a full-on snow storm. I mean, whatever. I mean, as I was walking out the door Sally said "Get the van and back it up to the door when you are done with lunch." I said "Yeah, we'll see." I mean, how annoying is that? Get the van and back it up to the door when you are done with lunch. Um, fuck you? I mean, Tim Murphy strikes again. How about instead of telling me to get the van you ask for the keys so you can go get the van when you are done with lunch? I mean, it will be quite some time before we are loading out, but if that is your priority, I mean "Just paint it black! C'mon! Let's goooooo!" I mean, sure Sally, let me change the entire nature of what we are doing so you feel better about getting out of work early. I mean, my god. Three times she loaded all the shit into the job boxes. Three times. I had to unload them three times to get shit. And it didn't phase her. She just did it again. And poorly might I add. I mean, just throwing all the shit back in. No stacking. No order. Just as much shit as could fit by throwing it in. And when she ran out of room she just threw the shit in the other box. It was frustrating as hell. I mean, I deserve it. The amount of times I have pulled shit like that is un-countable, but still. This was top notch. Combine that with the bucket full of water yesterday. I mean, either Sally had some "Event" that has rendered her a little dim in the wit area, or all that grinding and moving of those stage weights just made her dumb. I mean, I don't know what is in the heart of Billy, I mean, I really think he might be a full-on White Supremist with some very scary ideas in his head, I mean, I noticed he had a WWJD sticker on his hard hat today. I mean, not that that makes him a super-racist, but it doesn't help, I mean, even though I don't know who he is and he makes me nervous, we did have a moment when I said "Remember when Sally sent that bucket filled with an inch of water up on the line yesterday?" He just shook his head. Then he said "Yeah, I remember."

I mean, after that I said "I hate to say it, but that shit was hilarious." I don't think he thought it was as funny as I did. But I digress.

So Sally can suck it with her Tim Murphy attitude. The blizzard was blizzarding. My lunch was tasty but kind of confusing. I bought a Philly Cheese Steak. Pre-made. I mean, it was tasty but pretty skimpy and too expensive for what it was. I ate some chips and some sort of blueberry thing that was called a Jumbo Donnette. I mean, it was basically a big donut. Glazed. With blueberries. I mean, I should have bought a few of them. They are good. I mean, I don't usually eat that sort of thing, but maybe I will in the future. Especially if I stick to this super hungry until lunch diet. I mean, I got my beach body going. Very few Ticklers since last Friday. One tasty microwave burrito at night. I mean, now that I am back in Vermont I can make better burritos, but for now...

After lunch some things happened. I mean, the Unistrut things. All the line sets got leveled and zip tied. All the stuff got put away. Four a fourth time. I had to double check Sally's handy-work. I mean, I still needed my tools. Scott's rigging incidentals. Which were in one of the boxes. His laser beam was in the trunk of that loud-ass Junior Mint. The paperwork. I mean, I am sure I forgot something of mine, I guess, or whatever. I mean, Sally won. She wore me down. I mean, these boobs. Not a single second of peace. I mean, twice I found myself leisurely just looking at blooper prints or organizing the work box when they were at lunch. I mean, I do enjoy some things tidy. Even if it isn't in all aspects of my life, but I mean, my god these boobs, they are just relentless. And to have it as a luxury to have just a few minutes to yourself to get organized without someone saying "Oh, did you make a decision finally, John-Joe, Joe-John?" Or "You know what I think we should do?" And then "Oh, okay, whatever you want to do." I mean, it is absurd, truly absurd. I mean, people are people. They engage how they engage. But for the love of Christ, leave me alone for two fucking seconds! They are children. Kindergarteners.

I mean, it is crazy that I find myself fighting for just a moment of serenity with these boobs. I mean, why the hell anyone ever wants to be in charge of shit, I just don't know. I mean, I thought that Angelo kind of had some sort of Zen thing going the way he works around the boobs that he has working with him, but then when I was trying to discuss the angle iron he was going to install he showed me his true boob cards. I mean, he is no better than them, he is just used to standing around and doing nothing until something is ready to happen. Then his boob-nature comes out in full-force. I mean, the second he got the marching orders to lay out the steel work he immediately ignored me like I was just some asshole trying to keep him down. Standing in the way of progress. Which in his world meant that I was something stupid and he was something smart. I mean, I think he might try and follow my direction on how to protect the traveler track, but something tells me that the second it becomes annoying in any sort of way he will do what he needs to do to get his job done. And that is too bad. But, I mean, there is nothing I can do about it now. I mean, if there was anything I could have really done about it in the first place.

I don't know. At some point there was nothing else to do. We needed to get the trash to the dumpster and load the van with the work boxes. I went out and got the van. Still snowing like crazy. I drove slowly on the street back to the job site. Some guy behind me followed me as I drove down the parking lane. I don't know why. He was obviously confused. I had to put the emergency blinkers on for him to understand that I was not driving on the road. I mean, it was very odd. Like, really very odd. Did he think I was some sort of pilot car? There was exactly zero reason for him to follow me. I was going like five miles an hour. In the parking lane. I mean, sure it was snowing pretty bad, but he must have been going like 30 mph and then slowed down for some reason and then pulled in behind me. I mean, I thought maybe he was just trying to park. That maybe he was a construction goon like me, but no. He was not. When he realized I was not driving on the road, after I put the blinkers on, he sped off into the distance. I mean, maybe he was smoking the Mary Jane? I mean, I will say, the Albany drivers are actually quite awful. They speed like dicks down all the side roads. I think part of is that that some of the bigger roads are 40 mph. So there is some sort of sense of urgency when it comes to the side roads. Like people feel like they are being confined. And maybe that is all it is. But the way they drive is not very safe. I mean, keep that in mind the next time you are in Albany. Most of the traffic is feeling very impatient. Look both ways. When walking. Also, push the button on the street corner when you are walking. Otherwise you will never know when it is safe to cross. I mean, it is a car city. Or, I guess, town. The place is basically just a giant racist sub-burb.

Anyway. The car went around. I tried to back the van up to the stage door. Because the van was empty and there was a blizzard I couldn't get up the incline. I tried many different times. From many different angles. I got nothing. Eventually I gave up. I left the van half-way up the incline and went inside the back of the van. I did some measuring and some figuring. Then I went inside and did the same. I mean, Sally and Billy were ready to take the trash to the dumpster but I stopped them. We could put the job boxes in the van first and then take the trash to the dumpster. It would all fit. I mean, for the first time in three weeks I wished that there was an extra boob on hand. Sally was worthless. I mean, unless complaints somehow made it easier to put heavy work boxes in the back of a van. I mean, twice somebody that just happened to be walking by helped me and Billy push those fucking things in there. I mean, slipping and sliding on the snow and the mud. I mean, it sucked. The first box was easy. It fit pretty good. Even though Billy was certain it would go. The second box was harder. But it fit perfect. The third one nearly did us in. It was both the heaviest and it had dumb wheels. So in order to get it to fit Billy had to pry it in with a piece of two by four. I mean, we really did cram it all in there. I mean, we got it in. I secured it. Had the boobs throw the trash in while I filled out paper work. I mean, there was also some other stuff but it doesn't matter. I mean, a roll of cable and a roll of op line. But we got it in. The trash got in. The paper work got done. I loaded my tools and Scott's rigging incidentals into the side of the van and had one last look around the job site and said a fond "Fuck you, very much." Then we got in the van. Drove around the school. Went to the dumpster. It was a clusterfuck as the bridesmaids say. We ended putting the carboard in the school's recycling. Left the trashcan in the back of the van. I mean, there is plenty of scrap shit there for Jimmy. I guess. I mean, I don't know how the shop works. Hopefully I didn't do something too dickish by leaving a full trash can in the back of the van. But whatever. The Big Boss was supposed to clear it out yesterday and he didn't. I mean, I know how this shit snowballs, but sometimes after a three week shit fest you just don't care anymore. If they want to talk about that would be fine with me, but as things stand now, I mean, I am not so much passing the buck as the bridesmaids say, I am taking the buck that was given to me and looking at it and then wondering why the fuck I am holding a buck and then just leaving it in the van for the next time I need to use the van. I guess.

Anyway. I drove the boobs back to the job site. Parked the van. Got out. Said goodbye. Went into the disgusting honey buckets and took a leak. Drove over to the AOW field office. Went inside. Nobody was there. Turned around. Got back in the van and drove the back roads to the shop. I mean, it took an hour and a half. Both because I was on the back roads but also because of the snow storm. When I got there I checked Junior Mint's tires. No flats. I started him up. Loud as fuck. Loaded my shit into the car. Brushed the snow off. I don't know, two inches? Parked the van. Went inside. Talked to Debbie for a few minutes about the job and the hotel. I think she wants to bone me. I mean, either that or she is incredibly bored. I mean, who the hell wants to talk about this shit? Maybe it is both. Or maybe it is neither. But I did get the impression she wants to bone me. Which is whatever, I just need to make sure and avoid her at the Christmas party this year. She seems like a drunk groper.

I mean, at that is that. The drive back to Vermont was easy. Slow, but easy. I had some things to listen to that gave me hope for the future. When I got back to Beaver Haus there was only two goats in the hutch. The two cute ones. I wonder what happened to the other three. I guess they got loose or something? I hope they are doing alright out there. Eating Sumac trees in god's pasture. I mean, the plants are thriving. The homemade Ticklers are fantastic. The mail is ready to open. I mean, I guess I will eat a microwave burrito and go to sleep. Tomorrow I will chop some logs and take a crash course on how to boil syrup. I mean, I wish Professor Curly was here. And G. But they have other things to do, I suppose. I mean, I guess I will get some sleep tonight and have an easy morning. Feeling good about myself because I did a good job. No! I did a great job!