And Away We Go

The title may be premature, but as of now, I will not see any of my crew again for our 3:00 call time or nightly show. Before I turn all sentimental on you all, I'll give you a run-down of the day.

I guess my body instinctively knew that call time would be earlier today, because I was out of bed and full of energy before 8am! I had a nice, quiet morning to myself where I fleshed out some blocking that I've been working on and trying to think up new ideas for shots in unblocked scenes.

At 12:15, I reported to work at the Medals Plaza where I nearly high-fived Usher, but then chickened out last minute as he was walking past me to go offstage. I did, however, manage to get a head nod from him, so that was at least something. In each of the sound-checks, there has not been a band as loud as Usher. In fact, as Al was practicing handheld moves, the speaker vibrated his shots so there was nothing he could do to keep them steady as he stood by the speaker. I was thankful to not be running cameras tonight as my knee is especially acting up now. No need to be alarmed, my left knee has been disagreeing with me since my figure skating days.

The show tonight was different because with every song, dance, and bad joke from our MC, I realized that it was the last. It has definitely come too soon, and I'm left shocked and still. Has it really been 3 weeks already? The show was over and it still hadn't hit me (speaking of the show, Usher is a great showman, though the dances he and his company performed were not exactly family-friendly).

(this was actually about halfway through coiling cable. We worked as a team, one cable at a time so it wouldn't turn into a huge knotted mess!)

After the applause died down and the crowd began to disperse, we brought all of the camera gear back to the "truck" and wrapped cable. It was a great time to bond with the rest of the crew as a sort of teamwork finale for the trip. As we pulled hundreds of feet of cable, we sang the songs that we had heard every night during the preshow and performed the dances as best we could. Before we knew it, we were done!

I thoroughly enjoyed wrapping with the crew which is a bit funny for me to say because the task in itself is generally loathed by all. But after the momentum from the last show and everyone's excitement for being finished yet overwhelming shock that it was over all led to a great bonding experience.

Our director gathered us around when the work was done and individually thanked/hugged each of us. At that point, tears started welling up in my eyes as I began to say goodbye to each of the crew members. I generally don't have a hard time saying goodbye, but this was different somehow. Yes, it's the Olympics, but I think for me it was much more than that. It was learning that I could be an adult, that I have at least the foundation of what it takes to make it in the "real world" and that I don't have to fear growing up.

What a trip!

I say all these concluding statements because work is over, but I'm not home free yet. Tomorrow I will be making a final trip down to Vancouver (for fun) to finally track down some of that bubble tea that seems to be evading me at every turn. We have also planned a trip to the Aquarium to see the Beluga whales and a stroll around the park for some photography. To top it all off, we will have lunch with our dear friend/professor, Don Mink who has come up to Vancouver to collect set pieces for the department that the networks cannot afford to bring back to their home countries. Then I'll get back in time to pack my things and get ready for the trip home on Monday! I will likely have a story about trying to fly on the busiest day in Vancouver airport's history, so I'll keep you posted as I am able.

As Team Canada DJ's would say, "stay warm and have fun!"