Home for the night

I'm home right now and I'm exhausted. I've never worked so hard in my life! It's almost non-stop. We get up at 6am and head down to the "kitchen" (which is the snack bar next to the football field at the highschool) and fix breakfast. This is breakfast for 60 people. Then we clean up and if we're lucky we'll get about an hour break. Then back to the kitchen to fix lunch. Then (maybe) break and then dinner. Then break (maybe) and then snack. Isaac, our chef, is young, energetic and creative. Damn, the food is good! But it's also labor intensive and creates a LOT of pots to wash. I'm the slavey. I do most of the cleaning. There's also another cook, Liz, who is Isaac's friend. She and I got off on the wrong foot but now things are pretty good. She's a Mojave indian. She's kind of like the indian Rosie O'Donnell. She's pretty bossy and crude but she can be pretty funny and she has good intentions. She and I work well together.

Ah yes, the heat! Holy shit! We've had several kids come to the kitchen with heat related problems. Yesterday on of our favorite boys came to us and said he had stopped sweating. We whisked him off to the band room, which is very well air conditioned. We put ice packs on his neck, head and under both armpits. We put wet towels on his legs and set up a fan to blast his with air. He cooled down pretty quick but it was a scary situation.

Keeping the ice chests stocked is a difficult task. There's a lot going on at the school with painters, testing, cheerleading practice and public swimming. Doors that are supposed to be unlocked are frequently locked. Policies change with every custodian you meet. I'm telling you, it sucks. Especially since we need ice so badly. Our kids are working very hard and it's been ridiculously hot. Yesterday I was ready to kill somebody if we didn't get ice soon. Finally a couple of the cooking staff went to buy some. We have to be able to cool the kids down when they get too hot.

They're doing full run-throughs now and the show looks great! Paige is an absolute demon on those mallet instruments now. Those of you who come to the show on Friday will get to see how amazing she is.

That's it for now. You probably won't hear from me until after the tour. I'm soooo tired and my feet hurt but I'm having a great time.

prskml- a rhythmic passage, kind of like a paradiddle but more chaotic.