Where I Work

I look up and see out of the corner of my eye (to the left) a grand piano, covered, sitting on a stage. My stage. My piano. For all intensive purposes. A 9' Steinway Concert D Grand Piano. Freshly tuned. Jealous? I have a colour monitor which is constantly on showing me what is going on on the stage. Behind me, I have wired up speakers. I can choose to have them on or off. They are off now. There is no one on stage. No one to listen to. I'm a part time voyeur. To the left of my computer monitor (I have, at present, a 19" flat screen) there is a page scotch taped to the wall which has my daughter's first full attempt at writing out the alphabet. It's very good. She ran out of room at the bottom so switched colours from orange to blue and wrote out 'w x y and z' at the top. My daughter is very smart. She doesn't suffer fools gently either. Above the alphabet is a poem from a friend...I thought she wrote it...that she didn't doesn't really matter since whenever I look at it, I think of her -- A Woman Should Have... and Every Woman Should Know... Directly in front of me I have a large cork board filled with thank you cards and clippings. Interesting clippings. To me, anyway. One is a news item talking about a 'lost' Amazon tribe that re-emerges from the jungle just in time to be ordered off the land. I also have a fire safety notice. I accidently set off a fire alarm in the theatre a couple months back and got my wrist slapped by the powers that be. They gave me a notice. I put the notice on my wall. Soon, it will be covered by other cards/papers/notices. Like vines covering cottage walls. I also have requisite pictures of kids and J. To my right is an ancient speaker. Ok, not ancient but, was new probably in the 1960's. I used to have my computer wired to it through the ancient amp that sits on top of it. Both sound like crap. I keep them because they are cool, the right height to act as additional file storage space and, I really couldn't be bothered with disposing of them. On top of the amp is an old heat shield from a follow spot. At the moment, it is storage for old show reports. One day, it, and it's partner that resides on another desk, will be transformed into herb boxes. I have a book shelf filled with old log books and industry mags as well as holding a magnetic tape eraser. It's cool so I keep it. I have a cabinet filled with old audio reels and albums. Ancient artifacts. Behind me to the right is a drafting table. It has shelves underneath that house rolls of old and current plots. More pieces of equipment replaced by my computer drafting program. Behind me is another desk. Also mine. On it sits a stuffed gorilla. I worked a show wherein the set designer asked if I would rig a monkey up out of sight lines. I did. In gratitude, I got the gorilla. On the walls, I have taped some show posters and cool industry articles. My actual work surface desk tends to fill quickly with industry mags, current and future show notes, gear gak and coffee cups. I try to keep a number of pens scattered around because I always find it difficult to find them when needed. Although I have a number of note pads on the go, more often then not, I end up writing important information on the back of scrap paper. I like my office. It's a hole. It's a dive. It's mine. For now. It's the type of office that, when I go, will be used by a person who will add to the decor but, will essentially leave it as it is. This office belongs to the theatre. I'm here cuz I fit.