Tool Box, Pint, and Midsummer Night's Pantomime

This was a great day...I say that with confidence and a smile on my face.  I went in to BAC at the usual time and helped the Rec Room group with a few minor things (moving ladders, footing the ladder in order to help prevent Ed from plummeting to his death, fetching lanterns and torches...and by that, I mean desk lamps and flashlights...I know, it sounded so dramatic before that clarification!).  Most of the rest of the day consisted of general tidying up, including several hours sorting stuff in the Tool Box with Greg, with my hands getting more and more gritty and the piles of stuff getting more and more organized.  The work can be dull at times, but I couldn't ask for better company.  I also did some odd jobs with Ed (including carrying a heavy dance-floor downstairs...can't escape them, I guess...) before taking a break to wish well to our coworker Maureen, who is leaving this week for her wedding in Jamaica.  She's a sweetheart, and really made me feel welcome during my first few days at work.  Our final task, which I stayed later than planned to assist with, was rigging up a track for a curtain in between the Heavy Store and Tech Playspace.  It was a feat, and might be a safety hazard, but it's in the air, at least.  Once again, I managed to grow a pair and deal with the often rickety ladder...although, since I got the ladder and Ed stood on a rickety stack of platforms, I can't complain too much.  :)

I planned to see a show tonight at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, which is not far from BAC, so I opted to stick around until closer to show time rather than dashing to King's Cross and back, and I'm really glad that I did.  The building has a different atmosphere after 5:00, and I was able to just hang out with Greg and Ed in the courtyard.  And Greg bought me my first pint (cider...after a few moments of confusion and slight mockery at my not having ever really had alcohol before...), and I could not have asked for a better pair to enjoy it with me.  I haven't felt like "part of the group" in any setting for a while now, so the hour or so of conversation in the courtyard was just what I needed.  So, for those of you who were placing bets on how long it would take Corrina to become fully integrated, in the last two days I have been asked directions to an obscure street in Vauxhall, ordered a sandwich with "to-mah-to," and had a pint with my coworkers.  Time to pay up.  :)

The show tonight was pure entertainment...no deep meanings here, but sometimes it's nice to just be amused.  It was "A Midsummer Night's Pantomime," performed on a tiny stage in a gay bar in south London (Royal Vauxhall Tavern).  And it was awesome...switching between original text and modern comments, filled with more innuendo than even Shakespeare intended.  They actually compared the RVT to the Globe in its heyday in terms of its purpose as a center for artistic expression and bawdy behavior.  :)  Hermia was played by the tallest drag queen I have ever seen (self-proclaimed as "six foot eight in heels"), and who can argue with a Puck with a red mohawk, tutu, and combat boots?  Oh, and the lovers were rearranged again at the last minute by Puck...apparently, Athens has pretty liberal views on same-sex marriage!  Oberon/Theseus was played by Dusty Limits (for those regular readers who recall my night at the burlesque show), who was charming as always.  I really wish that Indy had a venue similar to some of these smaller theatres that I have visited...maybe that's my calling.  :)