The Control Booth

For the last few weekends, I have been helping the group from the West Middlesex Presbyterian Church prep for their Dinner Theater production.  This was the 20th year they have done a production.  I remember back when they first started the Dinner Theater.  Things were really simple.  Limited sound equipment and lighting got them through the show.  As the years went on, more people joined the cast and more technology was added.  I got a call from a friend asking if I could give the Dinner Theater group a hand installing some new equipment.

It seems like such a long time ago.  As I looked back through my pictures, I count nearly 10 years.  Has it really been that long?!  Not only did I help them hook up the piece of equipment they bought, but I helped play the CD’s that year.  We used two portable CD players… Not the Boom Box kind, mind you… These were the little portable Discman type units that where the predecessors to today’s iPods and MP3 players.  It took two people because the person running the CD players had his hands full trying to see the little screens and push the tiny buttons.   Today, the show uses dual drive DJ CD players that will play just about any format of music you can put in to them.  Heck… You don’t even need the CD anymore.  The new units will take a memory card or jump drive too.  The old, hand-me-down, lights are gone.  LED lights with computer based control system now hang in their place.  Twelve wireless microphones tie the performers to the mixing console.

The final show ended Sunday afternoon.  As I sat eating dinner after leaving the church, I thought about how my life has changed over the years… just like the show.  There was a time in my life that I did sound on a much more regular level.  I busted my butt for very little money.  It wasn’t really about the money at that point in my life.  It was that I was doing something I loved to do and enjoying it.  Then as now, things changed.  I gave up that life and returned to West Middlesex.  My job now is very different from what I thought I would be doing at this point in my life.  The pay is much better but the enjoyment isn’t there.

I went to technical school for Electronics Engineering Technology.  I stayed away from anything related computers because, while I enjoyed messing with them, I got bored quickly.  My dream job was to work in the Imagineering Department at Disney.  I should have followed through on that.  Today, I’m an I.T. Project Manager for our Infrastructure group… Right in the place I didn’t want to go in my school days.  As I look back at the decisions I’ve made in life, I wonder what would have happened had I tried to get in at Disney. Where would I be if I stayed with doing sound?  There are a lot of “What if’s” I could ask.  I try not too let them get to me.

I do things like the Dinner Theater for the enjoyment of it.  As we setup the tech for this year’s Dinner Theater, I realized that I’m definitely not as young as I used to be.  Climbing ladders and running cable took a toll on my back.  If I tried to do the things now that I used to do, I’d probably end up in the hospital.  Maybe some day before I die, I’ll be able to work in the industry I dreamed of back in high school.  It would be great to retire from a career that you really enjoy working in.   As it is, I’ll keep plugging a long picking up little things to keep the memories alive.

~Cappy