goldilocks

i'm not quite sure how i did it, but i was up at 9am this morning, very much against my will. even more astonishing is that i went into work on a sunday. going into an office during off hours is kind of interesting. during normal hours, you're just there like you're supposed to be. going in on a weekend or late at night, it's like you have to place to yourself.

one of my favorite hobbies in school was exploring buildings after dark. my greatest achievement was getting into the theatre at UH. the theatre building at UH has a front of glass doors that open into a small reception area. there weren't any lights on inside. i could only see by the lamp on the sidewalk. after trying a few doors, i found one that was unlocked and went in. actually, i didn't know this was the theatre building when i first walked in. i thought it might be a small art studio.

i opened a set of doors on the left side of the reception area, walked down a small hallway, and emerged into the theatre hall. it was dimly lit by lights above and some brighter light from the stage. it was huge. it was like three movie theatres put together. the chairs looked really comfortable so, like goldilocks, i took a seat. i was thinking that i had the whole place to myself when i saw three black cats walk slowly across the stage. good thing they weren't bears.

after sitting there a few moments, i got the idea to go stand on the stage. why not? nobody here right. so i did. looking out at all the empty seats, the place looked even bigger. i walked from one end of the stage to the other while looking out at the empty seats. i'm not any sort of performer so just imagining what it would be like to have all those seats filled with people staring at me made me nervous.

i wanted to explore some more so i walked off towards the left end of the stage. i saw some metal grate stairs that went down below the stage so i followed them and found myself in a dressing room area. amazingly there were still lights on. here, there were the mirrors and chairs where the actors would get makeup. i walked into the next room and found the costume room. three or four racks of costumes in styles that i can't remember and a box of wigs. i was starting to get a little nervous again. i was actually under the stage and i began to wonder why there should be any lights on in the first place.

the last room i found was the prop/set room. there were big wooden cutouts which were the set pieces and boxes and shelves of assorted props. i found an old style cash register, swords, guitars... it was pretty neat. and then i heard voices outside. two voices. i backed into a dark corner of the prop room and tried hard to listen to what they were talking about. i think they were drama students working on a new production. i heard them walk away and decided it was probably best that i leave.

i waited for it to get quiet again, then walked back the way i came. past the costume room, past the dressing room, up the metal stairs as quietly as i could manage, and found myself on the stage again. no cats, no voices. i went out the theatre doors, through the glass doors and back outside...

another good adventure was when i got into the control room for the big fountain at UH, but that's another story for another time.