Working Sick or Sick of Working?

I woke up this morning feeling like I my immune system was trying pretty hard to fight something off. My first clue? I woke up after 11am. I didn't set an alarm last night because I didn't have to get up this morning at a certain time and I like to let my body wake up when it wants to. I had no idea that I would sleep 11 hours because of that. I was feeling sinus-y and had a bit of a scratchy throat and was dealing with some major cement head.

Getting sick in the opera world has a very different conotation than getting sick in any other world. At an office building, people can accomplish their work with soar throats, bad coughs, stopped up noses. This is not the case for opera singers. Having ear, nose and throat problems means no singing which means no performing. Everyone who works in the business is conscious of that and so we stay far away from singers when we are under the weather.

I was feeling a bit lucky that we are past the staging rehearsals tonight, because this meant that I didn't have to be as hands-on with all of the performers. I took some pills, pounded the Vitamin C, drank some antioxidant tea and laid down three hours after I got up to take another two hour nap.

Two hour nap? After 11 hours of sleeping?? Something's going on.

I woke up feeling much better. My sinuses were clear, my throat didn't hurt, I was clear headed. I went to work. My feeling better doesn't mean I let down my guard. I'll be cautious for the next couple of days.

We had a piano dress tonight. It looks good. The costumes are incredible and everyone was dealing with the huge skirts and odd shoes very well. I love the first dress rehearsal. There's a sense of a real show that suddenly happens when people walk on stage with costumes. The lights still aren't set, but it felt like a performance for the first time. I also love how much characters grow into themselves when they are finally wearing the proper clothing. It changes the way people walk, the way they stand, the way they do menial tasks. It makes everything come together.

Tomorrow is our first level session. I'll be in a dark theater all day and hopefully we'll get a huge chunk of the lights together. This is a monster show. The set is too big for the theater and has taken a lot of work to get it into place. Because of that, hanging and focusing the lights has been a slow and arduous process, so we are starting the actual lighting later than usual. Lighting sessions are a mix of boredom and hysteria for me. I love the camaraderie of sitting in a dark theater, but sessions get long and sometimes tedious. We'll see how this goes tomorrow.

Tonight my cat is sitting next to me on the bed looking about as adorable as he possibly can, I had a nice conversation with my incredibly patient fiance, and I'm watching an E.R. rerun on television. Sleep is calling soon. Tomorrow is a long day.