The Toll. Part 2

Medfield
in:6am
out:5:30pm.

I am moments away from getting MORE than 8 hours of sleep since the movie started. Amazing. We beat the clock for the first time in a while, and its felt like months. Me and 4 other members of the rigging crew were "absorbed" into the shooting crew and our main task was babysitting this enormous tent made of truss to control the lighting for these 3 stained glass windows on the 2nd floor. It was 30ft x 60ft x 30ft. It was sick. Anyway, All we had to do was hang out up there. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Wow. I fell asleep mid-blog. That was Thursday. It is now Saturday night. Its 9pm. I got off work at 8pm. Came in at 8am. I worked 6 straight days this week. I think I'm well over 70 hours for said week. My girlfriend is running out of patience with the life and may dump me before the close of the weekend.

When I told her that half of our promised weekend would be screwed because I had to work on Saturday. She was upset.
When I told her that our Sunday would be compromised because I had be at work at 4am Monday. She was speechless.

After a couple of reasonable days, today was a return to the bullshit. We have been working the last 2 days on a dock in East Boston. Which I think is kinda wicked pissa (please excuse the local dialect). I primarily think this because of season 2 of The Wire. My favorite show, which coincidentally aired it's final episode this past weekend. There's really nothing I can add to all the talk about what a rich, provocative, well executed television program The Wire has been except that there has never been a program the has come even close to accurately portraying the African American Urban experience as well as David Simon's crown jewel of outstanding television programs. After The Corner, which is also David Simon, what do you compare it to? 227? Soul Food, Good Times?
Anyway yesterday on the dock was pretty cool. The weather was good. The view was nice and we were working in a fairly organized manner. Today was the exact opposite. rain, sleet AND snow. There was an absolute breakdown in project management and as a result we ended doing things, completely undoing them and then start something else only to undo it soon after. There was one point where work became this nightmarish version of one those stupid Real World/Road Rules challenges where we were building the huge mega-frame out of about 250ft of heavy metal truss of different sizes. In order to build the frame which ended up being 70ftx40ft we had to fit these various heavy metal pieces of truss together just so. Because the guys in charge didn't seem to have a really clear view of what they were trying to accomplish, we kept putting large pieces together, then undoing them then carrying the heavy metal(and might I add cold and wet because of the sleet and snow) truss to the other side of the frame. It was fucking miserable! Adding to the misery is the growing discontent that accompanies the growing belief the the bosses don't care about things like taking breaks and eating lunch on time. A vibe that goes down quite bitterly on a nasty New England day like today. Also the one guy in charge who does care about breaks and keeps work moving in an orderly, civilized manner got hurt and spent most of the morning at the hospital. Mix in news at the very end of the day about the 4am call time, and you got a real sucky, unglamorous day in the film business. Trust me kids, listen to your parents, don't do drugs, stay in school. Don't end up like me.